A/N: I tried to get this chapter out as soon as I could, but I got hit with writer's block a lot along the way. But still, I think a month and a half is good! And what helped is that I streamed my fanfic in the VC in a Discord server I'm in, and it helps me make more progress. In fact, tonight, I wrote over 2,300 words to finish the chapter, breaking my own record!

And I also wanna say, I'm a bit surprised no one caught the Eggman's Announcement reference I made in the last chapter. You know I wasn't gonna pass up an opportunity to reference the famous SnapCube fandubs ;)

Anyway, I'm already nearly halfway done my entire Sonic X rewrite! I've been working hard on it for over four years now. I estimate that at my current rate, I should be able to finish in 2026!

Also, thank you SO MUCH for the 27 reviews I got since the last chapter, I have never gotten that many reviews in such a short time before! I feel honored, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day for checking out my story!

Like I said in the author's notes of the last chapter, I won't be having Gerald Robotnik or the Biolizard appear in this story, and I'll also be merging episodes 37 and 38 together, since I can't really make the rewrite of the Shadow Saga one-to-one with the original (for obvious reasons).

Also, there will be a WARNING for a brief moment of violence later in the chapter, so just a heads up for that.

I would like to thank toantakeri, Jenaku, and my close friend Jaytee182-88 for favoriting and following since my last chapter!

Shoutout of the chapter goes to my best friend OliviaGames1208 for helping out with my story! I really enjoy all the VCs we do together, and thank you so much for helping out and suggesting ideas! Also, she and I have been collaborating on a new fanfic, so check OliviaGames1208 on Wattpad for that soon!

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


27 Reviews

dbehi1

Jerome does seem like a troubled soul, but only time will tell what will happen next with him.

Gta

I'll make sure to check those out!

iron maker2 (Review 1)

That's an incredible theory! I never thought that Eggman becoming a villain could have anything to do with Maria, but that theory really makes a lot of sense when I think about it.

thor94

Don't worry, Chris will get his moment to shine soon! Though, it would be pretty tricky for him to get his hands on the Phantom Ruby.

Gregorian12 (2 reviews)

I actually didn't know that the Phantom Ruby combined with the Emeralds could cause rips in time and space. That could explain how the Chaotix arrive in episode 39, but only time will tell…

blazeknight01

While Rouge was able to explain the basics of Eggman repeating his plans, she wasn't able to get to the part about Shadow before she was interrupted by Sonic getting arrested, which was extremely lucky on Eggman's part.

The god wolf

Thank you so much for your review!

I've been meaning to get back to reading Recursion Error, I dropped it somewhere around chapter 20 because I got busy with other things, but once I finish reading through the Archie Sonic comics, I'll pick it up again! As for My Brother's Keeper, that will always have a special place in my heart, because it heavily inspired my stories.

My number one priority when writing this story was to make sure to fix Chris in every aspect. It helped that I could personally relate to Chris a bit, so I ended up putting a little bit of myself into Chris' character, and I was amazed that all of you really like this new Chris!

Super duper waffles

Technically yes, I've seen places where Sonic's planet is called both Mobius and Earth, but the early Sonic cartoons and the Archie Sonic comics always called it Mobius, so the name of Sonic's planet is nearly universally called Mobius, except in official media.

I'm still in the planning stages of my headcanon, but you raised a really good question. I kind of imagine Sonic 1 happening around the beginning of SatAM; however, it's placing Sonic 2 on the timeline where I'll run into some trouble. I'll need to figure that out, especially since the Death Egg and the Tornado don't appear in SatAM. Sonic 3 takes place near the end of SatAM, and the two Tails games and Knuckles Chaotix are also after SatAM. Sonic Underground and Sonic the Comic are not canon to my headcanon.

What does Sonic think of the Mario franchise? Story-wise, he thinks it's pretty cool, and he can see it making it really big, perhaps even become like the Mickey Mouse of video games. In general, Sonic and Mario patched up their differences and now they're buddies, and they even have their own movies now!

D.J. Scales

Oh boy, that would be traumatizing. The Solaris project is no joke, especially since Sonic and friends wouldn't be able to remember any of it. Come to think of it, neither would Eggman…

Though, I will say, I have toyed with the idea of a Sonic 06 adaptation in the Sonic X universe.

toantakeri

Yup, Shadow is a fake faker XD Perhaps all of this is just a game for Eggman.

As for Chris meeting new people, you'll have to wait and see ;)

Bloodrick

Thank you! I'm glad I was able to find a way to reference what happened with the negotiation with Passer, even if I didn't actually show what was going on. And I really enjoyed writing the interaction with Jerome and the rocket's countdown as well.

Exactly! No one would be able to remember what happened with Sonic 06 since the timeline was reset. It is still a good idea for an adaptation in itself rather than the Chaos on Earth universe.

star-warriors

If that's the case that the Metarex makes their move after Sonic Frontiers, then… I can only hope that there will be a Metarex Saga game and #SaveCosmo will achieve their goal.

snake screamer

Definitely! I still don't have a Switch, but I do have Steam, even though I'm not sure if my laptop can run Frontiers. And I still need to check out Sonic Prime!

Okay, that is really fascinating! If the show is canon to the games, then that means Chris, Cosmo, and the Metarex are all canon.

iron maker2 (Review 2)

It's okay, I didn't even realize what happened, so it's all good! (And also, thanks for clarifying that bit)

I didn't like that Chris didn't get to nap either in Episode 18, which is why I had him take a nap in the chapter. And it also meant I could give him a dream sequence!

Five-chosen (Review 1)

Thanks for pointing that out! As soon as I post this chapter, I'll go back and take care of that. For some reason, Grammarly doesn't pick up everything. I also realized I got the days of the week wrong at one point.

Oh yeah, thanks for pointing that out with Cream going in space!

I like that idea, having a Sonic Cafe with the actual Sonic cast working there! And I have never heard of the Sonic Cafe before, but if I go to Japan, I may have to try it out!

Thank you for your name ideas! I just put them in my notes for the Metarex Saga. I have yet to come up with final names for the ships, but I will definitely consider your names! I also want to say I have some names planned for the Metarex Generals' battleships (including Dark Oak) as well.

I haven't considered having the Babylon Rogues appearing in my rewrite, but that would be really cool if they do encounter Planet Babylon!

The Metarex would probably think they're superior to the Zeti, which means Zavok would have to talk fast in order to prevent the Lost Hex from turning into a forest!

iron maker2 (Review 3)

Thank you! I had so much fun rewriting the season 1 finale! Those last few chapters are some of the work I'm most proud of.

Kraken

Thanks for clarifying! I'm not familiar with some aspects of the games' lore, since I have honestly never played a Sonic game before; I'm familiar with it through videos and comics.

I really like your ideas! I actually have a headcanon where Tails created the Blue Typhoon during Sonic Forces, and I'll expand on that when I get to the Metarex Saga. And I like your ideas with Zelkova and Narcissus as well, I'll see if I can find a way to add them if possible.

Jaytee182-88

Oh, this time, all bets are off! XD Chaos is out of Control!

Five-chosen (Review 2)

I legit thought about that as I was writing that moment! So yeah, I guess you could say that's an Easter Egg reference to Tintin!

YES! I am editing all previous chapters for Wattpad, DeviantArt, and AO3, so I can definitely add that in for episode 8! And then I'll see if I can copy those edited chapters here on FFN as well.

VirgoDrago

It's okay, and sorry I'm about to make your review even bigger with this next chapter! Also, it's okay, take your time, reviews come from the heart!

BenjaminAnderson (2 reviews)

I never seen The Owl House, but I heard a lot of good things about it. But yeah, I'll have to hear her voice and see for myself as well. Mike Pollock did a good job voicing Ella, but it makes me wonder why Ella wasn't voiced by a woman.

I still need to watch Pokemon Abridged! I hadn't gotten the chance yet because I keep forgetting, and I'm also absorbing myself in my activities, but I really do need to go check it out!

Bloated Corpse

I definitely see your point, especially since I haven't seen a lot of cartoons made after 2010, so I wouldn't know who half the voice actors are. And it's okay, thanks for looking out for me and the community!

CreativeKitty975

I agree, even the heroes must be confused on what's real and what's not!

I enjoyed having Tails comfort Chuck as well :)

That's exactly one of the reasons why I wanted Cream and Cheese to go with the heroes, because I don't like how she was sidelined in the show either. Yes, I know she plays a bigger role in Season 3, but still.

Almond-Walnut

What do you mean? I rewrote Sonic's Scream Test in Chapter 18.

OliviaGames1208

Thank you for the review Olivia! I love how Tails was comforting Chuck as well, since he knows Chris' biggest fear is being alone, and seeing how Chris is alone in space overnight… He needed comfort.


Chapter 35
Episodes 37-38
All Hail Shadow! Tails' Strategic Battle Plan
Behind the Curtain


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:28 AM – Third-person POV

Even though he didn't sleep much last night, Eggman was not feeling tired. He was too excited to advance his plan for world domination, and frankly, he couldn't wait a whole twenty-four hours to do so. Even though he was in total control of his whole scenario, it was really trying his patience.

The Eclipse Cannon may have been nothing more than an illusion, but it was still fully capable of putting everyone on Earth in submission to him. It was convincing enough for the humans to think he really did blow a sizable chunk out of the moon. But as much as he wanted to construct a real Eclipse Cannon, he couldn't risk damaging the moon for real; he didn't want to cause permanent destruction beyond his control. Besides, he needed the Chaos Emeralds to power other aspects of the Space Colony ARK, as well as his master plan as a whole.

When Eggman returned to the Eclipse Cannon's control room, he found his hench-bots Orbot and Cubot managing the ARK's controls and preparing the Eclipse Cannon for launch.

"Good morning, Doctor!" Orbot greeted. "The Eclipse Cannon is nearly prepared to charge."

But before the doctor could reply, a notification icon appeared on the bottom right of one of the screens.

"Someone's trying to contact us…" Eggman noted as he pressed a button on the console. The screen showing the schematics of Eggman's ultimate weapon was now replaced by Bokkun's frustrated face.

"Bokkun," Eggman said. "What do you have to report? Do I want to know what went down on the Egg Carrier?"

"Jerome really messed up," he fumed. "Like, he messed everything up. I am so mad right now!"

Eggman prepared himself for the worst. "Bokkun… What happened?" he asked again.

"You told me and Jerome to stop Sonic at all costs, but nooo, Jerome opened his big mouth, and he told Sonic the code to the shuttle. I saw the whole thing on surveillance! Oh, and he destroyed all your E-100 robots. Only Beta made it out of there alive."

Eggman crossed his arms.

"It was all part of my plan," Eggman said. "You offered adequate resistance as I expected, and besides, if it weren't part of my plan, why would I have left an extra shuttle there to begin with?"

Bokkun blinked in confusion.

"You… wanted them to go up in space…?" he asked.

"Exactly," Eggman said with a grin. "You're catching on, Bokkun. Not having a worthy rival would take all the fun out of world domination, wouldn't it? No, let them come. I have other plans for them. It's been too long since my Mobian friends met with the dangers of space, anyway."

"Hey, don't look now, but these walls have ears!" Cubot said out of nowhere.

"What are you–" Eggman spun around, his initial confusion dying down. "Oh. Rouge. It's you."

Sure enough, the bat was leaning against the wall near the entrance of the room, and Eggman couldn't quite read the smirk on her face.

"How long have you been standing there?" Eggman demanded.

"Long enough to hear you talkin' about Big Blue," she said. "Hope you know how to work those guns outside, 'cuz you may have just sealed your fate otherwise."

Eggman squinted through his glasses. "What do you mean?"

"Well, let's just say you're about to have a little company, and knowing Sonic, he's gonna be super suspicious if you just 'let him in'."

"He's bound to be suspicious already about the rocket you left for him, Doctor," Orbot pointed out.

"Perhaps," Eggman said. "Fine, you have a point, Rouge. Orbot, Cubot, come with me."

As the doctor and his robots left the room, Rouge had to suppress a giggle. Deceiving him was much easier than she had anticipated. She didn't even need to talk him into defeating Sonic!

Now that her biggest obstacle was out of the way, she hopped off the ground, spread her wings out, and glided out of the cannon's control room. She made her way down several halls and corridors. No one else was in her way, so she had smooth passage to get to her destination. Even so, she glanced around to make sure she wouldn't be followed or even ambushed.

She would have done this a whole lot sooner, like in the middle of the night, but she didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. Besides, she could keep tabs on everyone better if she knew they were busy.

At last, she landed in front of the door to the room that Shadow had told her was off limits. She couldn't wait to see what Eggman was hiding from her. However, at a closer glance, she saw that it was locked. However, she knew a simple locked door was no obstacle for her.

Smirking, she coiled her body and Screw Kicked her way through the door. She was surprised that it came down easier than she thought. But what she saw within made her jaw drop.

"Oh my gosh… This explains everything…"

But in reality, what lay before her presented more questions than answers.


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:19 AM – Chris' POV

As much as I hoped that the room that I woke up in the next morning was my own warm and cozy bedroom back home, it was not to be. Instead, it was the sterile metallic room on the ARK that Shadow had assigned to me last night.

He told me that this was Maria's room, and I was going to sleep in the same bed Maria used to sleep in. As fascinating as it was, it pained him to say that, and he never once set foot in the room. It seemed that Maria liked to draw, because some of her drawings and paintings decorated one of the walls, while various portraits of scenes on Earth lined another wall.

I let out a yawn. All the stress from the past day had caught to me with a vengeance overnight, and I was surprised that I had managed to get any sleep at all. I had woken up twice in the middle of the night, and sleep did not come to me easily after that.

Needless to say, I was disappointed that my friends still didn't make it to the ARK yet. I tried to tell myself that they were still coming for me, and I even put myself under the false hope that I would wake up in their presence. But I couldn't have been more wrong. I couldn't even hear any fighting anywhere outside the room, which meant they didn't make it yet.

I felt a wave of depression pass through me, a feeling that had grown familiar to me over the past day. I was still all alone on the ARK. I barely knew Rouge, and I knew Shadow even less; and even worse, Eggman and his robots were up there with me too. Even though Rouge hinted that I could take one of the pods down to Earth, there was no way I would even consider doing that because there was a very high chance I wouldn't survive reentering Earth's atmosphere, and there was no other way off the ARK. Besides, the pods were just illusions, which meant they were highly unstable.

I was effectively a prisoner in space.

I got out of bed, put my shoes on, and started walking down the hallway toward the kitchen. I realized that the air around me was a bit chilly compared to Maria's room. There was metal everywhere, and the atmosphere was cold and clinical. There wasn't much to see besides doors and hallways and gray metal everywhere. There weren't even any signs anywhere to point me in the right direction.

I made it to the kitchen, and when I opened the fridge, I realized I had already forgotten that Shadow told me we got new food. This meant I didn't have to have another boring MRE.

Even though he was my enemy, Eggman was surprisingly generous. There were sandwiches and juice in the fridge, so I picked up a turkey sandwich, unwrapped it, and started eating. It felt weird not brushing my teeth in the morning, but the truth was, my toothbrush was hundreds of miles below me in Matt's apartment, so I had to make do without it.

What else felt weird was the fact that real technology was being blended with what was obviously an illusion. The fridge had real cold air, and the screens on Eggman's console yesterday looked real too. But Rouge had told me everything was fake. If it weren't for the illusion of Space Colony ARK, I would have been floating in space. And yet Eggman found a way to regulate the air for real. I couldn't begin to ask how he was doing it.

As I had my sandwich and bottled apple juice, I kept thinking about how I ended up here. I wasn't just a prisoner. I was a hostage. Although, it strangely didn't feel like that way, since I was allowed to freely roam the ARK to an extent, and I was even allowed access to the fridge for food. But it still felt wrong. The whole reason Eggman wanted me was so that my friends would give him their Chaos Emerald so he could have all seven. And the worst part was, this wasn't even the first time I was Eggman's hostage.

Once I was finished, I left the kitchen and walked in the direction of the main lobby I had spent most of my time in yesterday. The whole time, I kept wishing Shadow wasn't there.

To my relief, I found the room to be empty when I arrived. I was once again amazed at how huge it was. From end to end, it was a little longer than the driveway Tails always used to take off in the X-Tornado. And the giant panoramic window made it feel even bigger!

As I made it over to the window, the first thing I noticed was the sunrise. It was stunning, to say the least. The ARK was floating over the Pacific Ocean now, and while Asia, Australia, and the entire west side of the United States were still dark, the east side was slowly being bathed in light. It was really beautiful from up in space.

"The final time humanity will see the light of dawn," came a hushed voice from behind me. I turned, feeling a bit disappointed to see Shadow approaching.

I didn't know what to say to that, and I took a step to my left to distance myself from him.

"Your world is being filled with light… mine is forever in darkness. Because you took her away from me. Now I have nothing more to lose. And as a result… you have everything to lose."

I wanted to say something to him, but no words would come.

"The doctor is sure of Earth's destruction," Shadow said, looking down at the blue planet beneath us. "The hedgehog and his friends cannot hope to stop us this time."

"I… I know Sonic," I said in an even tone. "He's gonna stop you… just like he always stops Eggman."

"I know Sonic too," Shadow said, matching my tone. "And I have fought him to a standstill many times before, including twice in the past two days. Speak of Devil Doom, here he comes now."

"What? Really?" I ran back to the window to see if I could spot Sonic out there. It took a moment of looking, but I saw a speck slowly approaching the ARK. It gradually started to look like a space shuttle.

Unless I was mistaken, Sonic the Hedgehog was finally coming to rescue me!

However, when I looked over, I saw that Shadow was smirking.

"He's come to die," he said, a mixture of glee and melancholy in his voice. I was about to speak when he continued. "Come to think of it, the hedgehog is even more foolhardy than I thought. The doctor's plan is advancing at a much faster pace than Sonic can keep up with. In fact… I'm sure the countdown wasn't even necessary."

"Yeah, because you shouldn't even be doing this right now!" I argued, starting to get angry. "You and Eggman should both be in jail!"

Shadow sighed. "Don't ask me why I'm bothering to argue with the logic of a child," he muttered as he started walking away.

"But I'm not a–"

"You are under the age of 18, aren't you?" Shadow countered, shooting me down.

I looked down. "Y-Yeah… True…"

Shadow shook his head. "It's irrelevant," he said as he looked out the window. "It will soon become clear whether what you believe in is true or not."

All was quiet after that as Shadow continued looking out the window. It was pointless for me to keep arguing with Shadow. After all, I was just a kid.

Nearly five minutes later, the space shuttle flew out of view, and then there came a beeping from nearby. Turning, I saw Shadow answering his wristwatch. I could hear Eggman's voice coming from it, and it sounded urgent.

"I'm on it, Doctor," Shadow said. A high-pitched whine came from his shoes as flames blasted out the backs of them, and he quickly skated out of the room.


Space Shuttle – Fri December 24, 8:27 AM – Sonic POV

"Hey guys, we're getting pretty close to the ARK now."

I slowly opened my eyes as Knuckles' voice woke me out of my deep sleep. I was surprised I was able to get to sleep so soon.

But then it hit me. We were almost there. Chris was within reach.

I immediately sat up, forgetting that I had strapped myself in bed. So after I undid the straps, I bolted out of bed, only to realize my feet never touched the floor. In fact, I felt like I had lost a lot of weight. Looking down, I could see that I wasn't getting any closer to the ground. I was pretty surprised at first, but then I realized, of course there was no gravity in space. That would explain why I was floating around.

Regardless, I felt weird. I wasn't used to not having my feet on solid ground. I could count on one hand how many times I was subject to zero gravity like this without being in my super form. I felt strangely empty for some reason.

"Guys… I think I know what's going on," Tails said from behind me. I didn't know he was awake. I looked at him to see him starting to sit up.

"Yeah?" I said.

"I forgot to turn on the gravity regulator last night," he realized as he finished unstrapping. "That's why we're floating around like this."

He pushed himself off the bed toward the controls, but he had just as little control over his direction and momentum as I did, and as a result, he missed the console by a few feet. I saw him trying to reach for something to change his direction. He reached as far as could toward the command chair, but it was too far away.

"Coming, Tails!" I called. Since there was a wall behind me, I pushed myself off of it with my hands, except I put too much force into it, and Tails yelped as I accidentally crashed into him!

"Sorry, sorry!" I apologized as we both flew across the cockpit and slammed into the wall on the other side with a grunt.

I could hear Knuckles trying to hold back a laugh from the other side of the cockpit.

"It's not funny, Knuckles!" Tails shouted, even though I knew it would have been truly funny under different circumstances.

"Wh-What's going on…?" Cream asked, sounding a bit groggy. I looked over to see that she and Amy were both awake now. "And… Why do I feel funny?"

"We kinda don't have gravity in here, kiddo," I told her. "So you and Ames stay where you are 'til we get it fixed, okay?"

Cream nodded, and I tried to free myself from Tails and propel myself back toward the console. However, I shot past it before I could get a good look at the buttons. I hoped that I would be able to get the hang of zero gravity before we got it back.

"Aww… but it looks like so much fun though…" Cream whined.

I saw Cheese helplessly floating in the air, and I wondered how he escaped because I thought he was secure in his bed last night. One look over at the Chao's bed told me the whole story. He had managed to free himself from the safety straps, probably because he thought it was fun to float around.

"Yeah, I know it looks like fun, Cream, but there are buttons everywhere, and I don't want you accidentally touching any of 'em," I told her as I reached out for Cheese. "Here, catch!"

I gently tossed Cheese in Cream's direction, and I was delighted that my aim was precise this time. The bunny caught her Chao perfectly and held her close.

"You keep Cheese safe until we get the gravity back, okay Cream?"

"Mm-hmm!" Cream cheerfully nodded.

I looked around at my other friends, and I saw that while Knuckles was doing backflips in midair and enjoying this moment of chaos a little too much, Tails looked like he was starting to get a little sick from all the motion he was going through.

"Hey, try and take it slow if you can," Amy recommended.

"I'm… trying…!" Tails said as he pushed himself off the wall, but he overshot the command chair again. "Not again-!" he squeaked, letting out a yelp as he hit the opposite wall.

I winced. "Ouch… You okay?"

"Y-Yeah… J-Just… feeling a little sick…"

"Uh-oh… We better get this fixed quick," I said.

"Hey Knuckles, are you gonna help out or what?" Amy called, sounding a little impatient.

"Yeah, sure," Knuckles said partway through another flip. "It's not every day I get to do this."

Amy blinked. "So you'd rather do, uh… that, than find the Master Emerald, huh?"

I looked at Knuckles, who immediately became serious. I held back a chuckle at how fast he changed.

"She got ya there, Knux," I told him as I tried to swim backward in midair, but to no avail. "You're not gonna let Eggman keep that Emerald from you, aren't ya?"

"Absolutely not!" Knuckles said with a sudden boost of determination as he reached for the command chair. He was barely able to grab it and pull himself toward it. Clinging to the back of the chair with his right hand, he reached toward Tails with his left.

"Tails! Take my hand!" he shouted.

"Okay!" Tails said as he turned to Knuckles and tried to reach out to him, but he was too far away. He couldn't even generate any forward momentum by spinning his tails behind him.

"It's not working…" Tails muttered to himself.

"I got an idea, see if you can reach him," Knuckles told me as he reached toward me. Since I was closer, I took his hand, and he moved me toward Tails. Now I was able to reach him.

"Tails, over here!" I called to him. He took my hand, and I gently pulled him toward me as Knuckles did the same with me.

"Thanks," Tails said as he approached the console. "Now I just gotta find out which one of these controls turns the gravity back on…"

It only took my little bro ten seconds to find the correct lever. After pulling it, there was a hum throughout the shuttle, and I suddenly fell back into the command chair. There was a thud from behind me as Knuckles landed face-first on the floor. At the same time, Tails yelped as he landed on top of the console, and he scrambled to get off so he wouldn't accidentally push any buttons.

We were all left panting after that ordeal. It was not at all what I expected to wake up to. At least Knuckles was having fun for the most part, so there was that. Regardless, it felt so good to have my feet back on solid ground.

Amy unstrapped herself from her bed and climbed down the ladder.

"You guys okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," I said, standing up, before looking over at Tails, who was slumped on the floor against the console on the other side of the cockpit. "But check on Tails. He, uh… doesn't look too good."

Amy nodded before bending down to Tails' level. "Are you okay, Tails?" she asked softly.

Tails grinned and flashed her a thumbs-up.

"Y-Yeah, just… a little bit of motion sickness…" He started to stand up. "I'm okay though. But I do wanna say floating around like that would have been more fun if we weren't trying to save the world."

"You were pretty brave, little bro!" I praised, gently patting his back. "Just take it easy for the rest of the trip there, you'll be good as new in no time, all right?"

Tails smiled and nodded.

"But yeah… it's a-okay to walk around again, you guys!" I said, giving a thumbs-up to everyone in the cockpit.

I looked up to see that Cream had undid the straps on her bed by herself, and she stood up, flapped her ears, and flew down toward us, sticking a perfect landing next to me. Cheese flew next to her.

"You did good, Cream!" I told her, gently patting her head. "Were you scared?"

Cream shook her head. "Not really. I knew you could fix it, and now the gravity is all fixed!"

I smiled at her before looking at Knuckles, who had his eyes closed, and he was standing perfectly still.

"I can feel it," he said quietly. "The Master Emerald's in there."

"Good to know," I said. "Just make sure you don't throw us out of control like last time, yeah?"

Knuckles sighed. "Gimme a break, Sonic. That was then, this is now. Besides… you should be more concerned about bringing up Eggman's past flaws, not mine."

"Guys, are those laser turrets?" Amy asked, pointing out the window. I followed her gaze, and sure enough, there were a ton of laser batteries lining the entire front of the ARK.

Tails ran over and stood up on the chair as he scanned the controls.

"I don't see anything that can give us a shield," he said, "so if we take a single hit, we're done for."

"Just one hit?" Cream asked, sounding worried.

Tails nodded. "Yeah. This high up in the atmosphere, it's way more dangerous."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Knuckles asked as he stepped away from the command chair. "Why would Eggman leave this rocket for us to use and then shoot it down afterward?"

I frowned. Knuckles had a good point.

"I have a feeling this is some sick game Eggman is playing," I stated.

It didn't take long for the laser turrets to swivel in our direction and open fire. Amy yelped as some of the lasers missed us by only feet.

"Hang on!" Tails said as he gripped the yokes tighter. "I think I see a landing port in there!"

I peered closer at the ARK, and sure enough, I could see a large hangar bay. I didn't recall the ARK having a landing bay that big, so if Eggman really did create the whole ARK with the Phantom Ruby, then he probably got some details wrong. Granted, it had been a while since we were up there last.

After another close hit, Cream backed away before running off to hide. She was scared, and I couldn't blame her.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Knuckles asked between gritted teeth.

"Not if we're gonna land in a few minutes!" Tails shouted.

"We talked about this, Knux~" I pointed out.

"Sonic, not now," Knuckles said tersely.

Amy was just about to check up on Cream when a green laser inevitably struck the ship, causing it to shake violently. Knuckles and I stumbled and regained our balance, but Amy had to grab onto the side of the bed to avoid falling.

"They hit the tail!" Tails reported. "That means it's gonna be a rough landing, so hang on!"

Knuckles held onto the back of Tails' seat, anticipating another hit.

"Think we can make it?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'm gonna try," Tails said with determination. His tails were stiff and not moving, which meant he was in deep focus mode.

As we were closing in on the landing bay, another laser hit the side, forcing me to join Knuckles in gripping the back of the command chair. The lights flickered from the impact. Tails grunted as he pulled back on the joystick.

"Well look at that, we survived two hits!" Knuckles laughed.

"Let's not jinx it, Knux!" I warned.

"Brace for impact!" Tails exclaimed. But before we could do anything, the shuttle slammed into the ground, throwing us all to the floor. It slid forward several yards before finally stopping.

The deathly quiet that now filled the cabin was a far cry from the deafening roar of the shuttle's impact. I picked myself up and helped Tails and Knuckles to their feet. As Tails ran over to shut off the shuttle's engine, I turned to Amy and Cream.

"You guys okay-" I started to ask, but I stopped when I saw that Cream was not okay. She was crying into Amy's chest, and Amy was gently hugging her, stroking the back of her head. Cheese was joining in the hug too. It was painful to watch.

"That was so scary…" Cream whimpered.

"Shhh… I know… I know… It's okay, Cream… it's okay…"

Amy's voice was very soothing, and Cream started to calm down a few minutes later.

"It was rough, but hey, it sure beats being cooped up in an apartment with the police after you guys, huh?" Knuckles said, leaning on the captain's chair.

"You weren't the one having to go through that, Knux," I replied.

"Guys," Amy said. "You don't wanna make Cream feel worse."

"Oh, sorry," Knuckles mumbled an apology.

"It's not much safer up here, to be honest," Tails commented as he walked over to the trap door we had seen him emerge from last night. "Anyway, I gotta check on the X-Tornado and make sure it's okay."

I nodded as Tails opened the trap door and disappeared below deck, leaving the door open behind him.

"I gotta get going too," Knuckles said as he walked over to the console and scanned the various buttons and layouts. "Gotta find the Master Emerald… Where's the button that opens the door…?"

"Oh, uh…" I quickly scanned the console and found a switch labeled "Main Airlock".

"I gotcha," I said as I flicked the switch, but to my surprise, nothing happened.

"It says the main engine is still running," Amy told us, gesturing to the screen above us.

I mentally facepalmed. "Oh… So I guess we just gotta turn it off, huh?"

So after finding the sequence to turn off the shuttle, I did so. Once the main engine was off, I was able to get the airlock open. Knuckles immediately turned to leave.

"Good luck, you guys," was all he said as he disappeared out the airlock.

"Hey Sonic, can you come down here for a second?" Tails called from the cargo bay, almost the moment Knuckles was gone.

I zipped over to the trap door and slid down the ladder. Before I knew it, Tails had placed a Chaos Emerald in my hand.

"Just in case," he told me, looking straight into my eyes.

I was confused as I glanced down at the Emerald, until everything suddenly made sense. I nodded, knowing I would definitely need the Emerald this time.

"Thanks, buddy! Gotta juice!" I said as I climbed back up the ladder. But just as I was about to reach the airlock, Amy stopped me.

"Hey, wait!" she called, reaching out to me, and I looked back at her. "Sonic, we don't know if it's more dangerous out there than the last time we did this. I think we should stick together this time, like, you should come with us. That way, if we get ambushed, we can all deal with it together."

I thought about it. Sure, I could go on my own and easily fend for myself, but this was Space Colony ARK we were in. I knew that if everything went according to plan, Eggman would eject me into space, and I would use the fake Chaos Emerald that Tails gave me to save myself at the last minute.

"Yeah, I'll come with," I agreed as I went back down the ladder into the cargo bay. Amy and Cream carefully climbed down the ladder after me. We piled into the X-Tornado, and I sat behind Tails, and the girls sat in the cabin behind us.

"You doing okay, Tails?" I asked, sensing my little bro's tension.

"Um… I'm a little nervous," he said with a chuckle. "But I'm feeling pretty good about this, so…"

"It's all good, little bro!" I told him. "He'll probably do the exact same thing as before and try and take the Emerald somehow."

"Or he can do something completely different and throw us all off," Amy pointed out.

"True," Tails said. "We gotta be ready for anything, I really mean it. Literally anything."

"What he said," I agreed.

In the next few moments, Tails fired up the X-Tornado and guided us down the shuttle's ramp. We didn't have a remote to close the door behind us, so we had to make do with leaving it unattended and hoping nobody would go near it while we were away.

"Huh," I said after a little while.

"What's up?" Tails asked.

"There's no one around to welcome us," I said. "Reception's almost as cold as this place looks."

"Maybe it's a trap…" Cream realized.

"I'm starting to think the same thing," Tails said. "I mean, we know Eggman's up here. We're gonna run into him sooner or later."


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:31 AM – Third-person POV

Having recovered from her initial shock, Rouge took a few cautious steps toward the ARK's reactor. She was walking on a bridge that lacked railings and was only a few feet wide, and below her was a shaft that didn't seem to end. Three other similar bridges led to the reactor at the center of the room. Inside the reactor was a machine containing three powerful gemstones: the Master Emerald, the Phantom Ruby, and a third gem that she had never seen before.

She took a few steps around the reactor, examining the gems. They seemed to all be interdependent on each other; the bright glow they emitted was enough to make Rouge squint her eyes. She told herself she had to be fast. She could be discovered any second, and then she most likely wouldn't get a second chance like this.

She knew the Phantom Ruby on its own was powerful enough to create Perfect Chaos, and even create a perfect, one-to-one replica of water. However, there were other aspects that were unexplained. Eggman probably needed more power, which was why he took the Master Emerald. But what was the purpose of the third gem? Even more power than that?

She had a stroke of luck when she saw a computer nearby. She didn't have much time, so she had to be fast. But when she went over and activated it, she saw that it was locked with a password.

"Of course…" she sighed.

She typed the letters MARIA onto the keypad, then squinted at the screen to see "Invalid Password" appearing.

"Guess you aren't as clumsy as I thought, Eggman," she mused. Of course he wouldn't use the same password twice, let alone something as simple as a five-letter word without any numbers or symbols.

"Luckily… I came prepared," she said to herself as she pulled a flash drive from Hammerspace and plugged it into the computer, feeling grateful the USB drives really were universal.

A menu appeared over the password screen.

"Now what do you humans call these things? VPNs?" she mused as she navigated and activated a few settings. "Lucky for me the boys at GUN know how to put these things on flash drives."

After another moment, she generated a password and used it to bypass the password screen, accessing the computer's secrets.

"Now let's see what you got here…" she said.

But before she could get started, she was distracted by a notification icon in the bottom right corner. Activating it, she saw that one of the ARK's sensors was triggered by an approaching spacecraft. It was likely one of two possibilities: Sonic, or more backup for Eggman. Either way, she planned to download as much information as she could onto the hard drive and make her escape. She wasn't about to take any risks.

A second notification appeared shortly after the first one, this time displaying "ENEMY DETECTED". Definitely Sonic. Or GUN, But then she ruled out GUN, because there was no way they could have gotten up there that fast, practically overnight. But at least she felt better about escaping on her own, because Sonic would be able to take care of Chris.

She had to tell herself to quit getting sidetracked. She backed out of the notification menu and navigated the other menus until she saw a 3D map of Earth, as well as Space Colony ARK above it.

"Eggy's not like other humans, I'll give him that…" she said to herself as she saw things that looked like they should have been hidden better. Instead, they were out in the open, even with password encryption and other security details. She was amazed she had made it this far without getting caught.

She tapped on the icon for the ARK, and what she saw next truly surprised her more than anything. The description read:

"A near-perfect replica of the original Space Colony ARK still in orbot over Mobius, projected via the Phantom Ruby and further enhanced by the Master Emerald and the Corona Corundum. Its purpose is to serve as the final zone for Phase Two of Operation Second Chance, as well as Sonic's final resting place should Shadow's illusion prove successful in defeating him. This replica of Space Colony ARK will be deprecated once Phase Two is complete."

Rouge blinked in surprise. This was huge news.

"Corona Corundum…? What's that…?" she asked herself. But just as she was about to tap on the search bar, she was suddenly kicked from behind by someone powerful.

"Not something for you to know," a low voice said before she passed out. "I can't let you foil the doctor's plans."

Shadow removed the flash drive from the computer and crushed it in the palm of his hand. Then he walked over and shut off the computer.

"Shouldn't have entered that wrong password," he said. "You almost got away with it. That would have been–"

The sound of several heavy impacts startled Shadow, and he whirled to see Knuckles breaking through the door and storming into the room. However, he slowed down when he saw Rouge slumped on the ground.

"Did you do this…?" Knuckles asked, a mixture of surprise and anger in his voice.

Shadow crossed his arms. "I did what I had to in order to protect the doctor's secret."

"But it's not a secret," Knuckles insisted. "I know you guys took the Master Emerald, because I'm looking at it right here. And look, there's the Phantom Ruby right there next to it!"

Shadow smirked.

"Hmph, you're just as naïve as the doctor says you are," he said. "But I'm afraid you're too late. The doctor already has the humans on that wretched planet beneath us under his thumb. I can imagine they're all panicking, wondering if this is really the end for them. It's almost poetic, seeing how their fate will match Maria's."

Knuckles got into a fighting stance.

"Get out of the way," he growled.

"It's a 500-foot drop straight down to the reactor," Shadow warned. "Trust me, you don't wanna do this."

"Yeah, sure, and I can just climb right back up," Knuckles said.

Wasting no more time, he bolted straight toward Shadow, who fired a Chaos Spear in his direction. Knuckles jumped onto an adjacent bridge, then ran toward the center of the room where the Master Emerald was resting. But Shadow cut him off, forcing the echidna to glide to another bridge. While he was doing that, Shadow tried to drop-kick him, but he missed, rebounded off the wall, and cut Knuckles off again while he was advancing toward the Master Emerald.

"I can do this all day," Shadow said.

Knuckles stopped moving for a moment. "I guess Sonic was right about you," he said.

Shadow's smirk dropped. "What do you mean?"

"You really are a faker," Knuckles grinned, "and to prove it…"

He suddenly sprinted forward, catching Shadow off guard. Before Shadow could stop him, Knuckles was already behind him and reaching out toward the Phantom Ruby.

"You idiot!" Shadow shouted. "What are you–"

But it was too late. Knuckles had already ripped the Phantom Ruby out of its socket with brute force, and even though it was boiling hot in his grasp, he wouldn't let go of it. Suddenly Shadow started to pixelate, and so did the entire room around him. All Knuckles could see in that moment was red pixels flashing into and out of existence.

He panicked and immediately put the Phantom Ruby back. Everything stabilized once again, and Knuckles massaged his hand. If it weren't for his mittens, the burns he received could have been severe, or even permanent. He was scared, and, looking up at Shadow, he could see that the hedgehog was shaken.

"Didn't believe me, did you…?" Shadow said, a grin creeping its way onto his muzzle. "You could have gotten us all killed."

Knuckles was still shocked and recovering from his scare. He placed his hand over his heart for a moment as he looked around the shaft.

"So… this whole colony is…"

Shadow nodded.

"Well, my point still stands," Knuckles said. "You're still just an illusion like Chaos. And this whole history-repeating plan Eggman is doing is fake too!"

"Talk to the hand, Knuckles," Shadow said. "Like you just said, I'm only an illusion. The doctor can remove me from the scene if he so chooses."

"Aaaand I'm wasting time," Knuckles said tersely as he ran to grab the Master Emerald. However, he was forced to leap back as a Chaos Spear embedded itself through the ground right in front of him.

He immediately leaped back toward the giant green gem. In the blink of an eye, Shadow was directly in front of him, blocking his path.

"When will you learn this is pointless?" Shadow asked as he fired another Chaos Spear, forcing Knuckles to run a few steps back.

"Like the Earth people say, where there's a will, there's a way!" Knuckles grinned before lunging toward Shadow.


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:40 AM – Third-person POV

The X-Tornado roamed silently through the corridors of Space Colony ARK, carrying its four passengers as they mentally prepared themselves for what was to come.

"I don't like this…" Amy said, nervously looking everywhere outside. "This is just like the last time, except I don't see any robots anywhere."

"Mmhmm…" Cream agreed. "This is a trap, I know it is."

"You know what else is weird?" Sonic asked. "This place is supposed to be an illusion, and yet it feels super solid. Like, we're walking around in something that's supposed to not be here!"

"Yeah…" Amy said. "I don't know how it's happening either."

"I'm not sure about you guys, but something feels off about this place," Tails noted. "Like, we're walking around in here, and the floor feels like real metal… except it doesn't feel 100% stable. Like it can disappear at any time."

"Like… Like when I was holding Amy's hammer in the prison," Sonic realized.

"Yeah," Tails said. "Exactly like that."

"I don't understand," Cream said. "Everything looks real to me."

"I don't know how the Phantom Ruby is doing this," Tails said. "Like, I don't think it was able to do anything like this before. Not at this scale."

"Something else is at play here," Sonic said. "I can feel it. Something way bigger than we think."

"I mean, Eggman did take the Master Emerald," Amy said, "so maybe that has to do with it too?"

"Yeah, probably," Tails said. "I didn't think of connecting the two like that."

Amy let out a soft gasp. "I just remembered… If everything goes the same way it did before, Eggman's gonna take me as a hostage to make you guys give him the Chaos Emerald! And Sonic…"

"I'll be a-okay, Ames! Trust me. And Tails is gonna take care of everything, just like the last time. It'll take a lot more than launching me into space to put this hedgehog down!"

Tails nodded. "Yup! One step ahead, just like always!"

However, nothing could have prepared them for the huge metal claw that hurtled directly toward the back of the X-Cyclone. It smashed through its ultra-durable glass, forcing Amy and Cream to shield themselves from the shards with frightened yelps. The glass rained down on them, unfortunately leaving a few scratches on their exposed arms.

Amy sat perfectly still, fully expecting the claw to grab her. It even moved toward her slowly. As she uncovered her head, she told herself to grab her hammer if the claw came any closer.

However, the claw suddenly moved behind her. An extension emerged from the claw and sawed right through Cream's seat belt, allowing it to grab her right out of her seat. She panicked as she went airborne.

"Cream!" Amy shouted as she unbuckled her seat belt, stood up, and drew her hammer. "Give her back right now, Eggman!"

"Lightning doesn't always strike in the same place twice, you know," Eggman said as he floated into view in his Eggmobile, retracting the claw back toward him.

"You know, your little game with the Phantom Ruby isn't exactly unpredictable, Eggman," Sonic said as the front canopy opened. "We kinda saw this coming a mile away."

Eggman blinked. "Who told you about the Phantom Ru– Ohh, I guess it was a bit obvious, wasn't it?"

"You think?" Sonic scoffed.

"You probably realized by now how solid this place is," Eggman said. "And Knuckles probably told you about the Master Emerald I took. Well, it's amplifying the Phantom Ruby, along with one of my… top-secret ingredients to spice up Operation Second Chance. Now it's to the point where you literally cannot tell the illusions from the real deal!" He belted out a hearty laugh.

"Tell us something we don't know, Egghead," Sonic said. "After you let Cream go."

"Ah-ah-ah! All in due time, Sonic. Knowing you rodents, you'll probably find a way out of this one, but this time, I brought my Badniks with me. As we speak, there are hundreds of Buzz Bombers waiting in the wings, all of them ready to put an end to you if you dare deviate from the course of the redux, as your President likes to call it."

"L-Let me go, Eggman!" Cream squeaked in fright. She was holding on to Cheese for dear life, and the claw surrounding her was uncomfortable.

"Yeah Eggman, let her go!" Amy demanded as she pulled out her hammer and leaped toward the claw.

"Amy, wait-"

But Amy ignored Tails and kept running. It took a warning shot from one of the Buzz Bombers above them to make her stop in her tracks.

"See what I mean?" Eggman shrugged as he moved the claw even higher out of Amy's reach. "And besides, even if you did manage to hit the claw, it's made of titanium."

Amy let out a sigh.

"Whatever you do, don't you even think about hurting Cream, or else I'm gonna make you pay," Amy threatened.

"Oh please, who do you think I am?" Eggman said in mock insult. "Enough wasting time. No one can save you, not even yourselves. And don't even think of backup. Rouge is out cold, Shadow is cleaning Knuckles' clock in the engine room, and Chris doesn't have any Quirks or stands or whatever you call them on this planet. So if you want me to give you Cream back, you will give me the Chaos Emerald you have in the X-Tornado right now."

"Sure, here ya go, Eggy!" Sonic said as he hopped down from the plane with the Chaos Emerald in his hand.

"That was… convenient, but okay. Now, place it down in the middle of the room where I can see it," Eggman said, pointing to a spot in the room.

Sonic walked over to the middle of the room and set the Emerald down before turning to Eggman.

"All done," he said.

"Good," Eggman grinned. "Now give me the real Emerald."

Sonic blinked in surprise. "Come again?"

"You heard me," Eggman said. "That one's a fake. I'm only detecting 5% of the maximum energy output from it. In fact, I'm picking up the real Emerald inside the cockpit of your plane. And just for your little trick, I'm taking the fake too."

He released Cream, but before Amy could move, several Buzz Bombers moved into position in front of her, all pointing their laser stingers at the pink hedgehog. At the same time, Eggman swooped toward Sonic, firing a warning shot from the Eggmobile at Sonic, before picking up the fake Emerald. Then he reached the claw back toward the X-Tornado.

Tails saw it coming and tried to grab it, but the yellow gem's raw power shocked his hand, causing him to cry out. He had forgotten the X-Tornado was still consuming power from it. In that moment of distraction, the claw sawed his seatbelt off too, then threw him out of the X-Tornado and onto the ground. When he got up, he saw the claw prying the Chaos Emerald loose from its socket and pulling it back to Eggman.

Meanwhile, Sonic realized there would be a tube that would drop around him before he was launched into space, so he ran out of the way. However, he didn't expect the tube to be much larger, and it closed around him anyway. Sonic was genuinely shocked at what had just happened.

Eggman belted out a hearty laugh.

"No bottle is too small to capture lighting with!" he bellowed.

"Let Mr. Sonic go!" Cream shouted.

"But why?" Eggman asked. "Why would I do that? I have him right where I want him. In a matter of moments, he'll be blasted off into space just like before. And now, thanks to the Phantom Ruby, I finally have all seven Chaos Emeralds! Operation Second Chance has been a success!"

"Sonic…" Amy whimpered as she turned to him. However, he was smiling.

"Hey… It's okay, Ames. He said it's Operation Second Chance, yeah? It means we get another shot at kicking Eggman's butt."

"Yeah… but…" Amy looked up at Sonic with pleading eyes. "I can't go through this again… I can't…"

"You'll be fine, I promise," Sonic assured her. "Just listen to Tails for the time being. He knows what to do."

Amy turned to Eggman, all the fight drained out of her. "Eggman… Have a heart and let Sonic go, or… or…"

"Or what?" Eggman asked. "I just told you rodents there's nothing you can do, didn't you hear me? You're surrounded on all sides, your precious Sonic is about to become a living meteorite, and my victory is imminent. Now if you're all finished being emotional, I hate long goodbyes. Orbot, Cubot! Eject the hedgehog immediately!"

However, Sonic smirked.

"Talk about a low-budget flight."

That was the last sentence Sonic said before he was launched into space.

Amy let out a scream as the capsule vanished. She pulled out her hammer, ready to punish those who took her Sonic away from her. However, the Buzz Bombers started closing in on her. Amy was getting emotional, and tried her best to hold back the tears. She still didn't feel as emotional as the first time this happened. Even if the redux was supposed to be staged, it still felt too real. The reality before her was that Sonic was being sent away from her forever.

Tails, however, looked a bit guilty, and his ears drooped. The memory of Sonic being ejected all those years ago came back to him, shaking him to his core like an earthquake. It was rough to watch, and he told himself not to cry too. After all, he had everything under control.

Everything was going according to plan.

…Or was it?

The Buzz Bombers moved away from Cream, effectively releasing her, and she ran into Amy's arms, sobbing her poor little heart out. Even though Amy went through this before, Cream didn't, so it was much rougher on her. Both of them looked out the viewport, but only a few seconds later, they wished they hadn't.

A tremendous yet silent explosion met their eyes, and Cream screamed in sorrow and anguish, before she hugged Amy tightly, sobbing freely. Amy felt extreme dread, and tears started flowing from her eyes. She couldn't go through this again. This was staged, nothing was real. The ARK was not real. The explosion was not real.

And yet… Sonic the Hedgehog's life had been robbed before their very eyes, at the hands of something that technically didn't exist.

Tails was stunned for a full minute, before he looked up and locked eyes with Eggman.

"I won't forgive you, Eggman."


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:47 AM – Chris' POV

I was left confused and surprised at what I had just witnessed. One of the ARK's capsules had inexplicably been launched, only for it to blow up roughly thirty seconds later.

But why…?

I assumed there must have been some kind of failure, but that didn't explain why it was launched to begin with. I knew it wasn't shot down; I had seen lasers being fired from the colony before when Sonic was arriving, but the colony's defenses didn't activate this time.

Speaking of Sonic, I hadn't seen him or any of his friends since they arrived. They were probably somewhere else on the ARK, but it was so big, and I wouldn't know where to begin looking for them.

Before I could ponder whether to find them or stay put, the space colony's intercom went off, startling me. Eggman's voice pierced through the otherwise silent room.

"Everyone, listen up! I am the greatest scientific genius Dr. Ivo Robotnik, and I am pleased to announce that I have officially defeated Sonic the Hedgehog! Now, if you take a look down at the planet beneath you, you may see some space debris floating around. That used to be the capsule he was in, which means he is now nothing more than space debris! Without your beloved blue blur, you are now officially powerless! I won't be taking prisoners this time because you're already weak, physically and emotionally, and besides, I already have all seven Chaos Emeralds. In a few moments, I will be powering the Eclipse Cannon with those seven Emeralds, and setting the next part of Operation Second Chance into motion!"

That news shook me to the core. That officially confirmed that my friends were there on the ARK, and they were all at the mercy of Eggman.

But Sonic…

Sonic was dead.

I felt intense sorrow and rage at that mad doctor for what he did to my best friend. Sometimes, it felt like Sonic understood me better than I understood myself. He was always there for me when I was sad, or lonely, or needed someone to talk to.

And then Eggman had to take him away from me forever.

Again.

A whimper escaped from me before I could control it. I had to figure out what to do next. Finding Sonic was clearly not an option, so my next bet was to find any of his other friends. Someone, anyone. Safety in numbers. I felt so alone in that moment. Being alone was my number one fear. I had been alone for most of the time I was up there on the ARK. I had been so brave up until now.

The death of Sonic made that fear skyrocket in a way I didn't think was possible.

I was truly alone.

I had to find someone so I wouldn't be alone anymore.

As I ran out of the room, I didn't realize I was uncontrollably crying. Tears blinded my vision as I ran, and my thoughts were a mess.


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:47 AM – Third-person POV

For the past several minutes, Knuckles and Shadow had practically fought each other to a standstill. Knuckles kept trying to get to the Master Emerald, and Shadow kept him at bay with every attempt the echidna made. However, both sides were careful not to touch the Phantom Ruby in the middle of the room. By now one of the bridges was heavily damaged and was at risk of collapsing.

"For a fake faker… You're really persistent!" Knuckles said between clenched teeth.

"Like I said, I can do this all day," Shadow said confidently. "I'm not a living being, which means I can have infinite stamina if the doctor desires. And besides, I am the Ultimate Lifeform."

Just then the colony's intercom went off, and Knuckles and Shadow stopped fighting as Eggman's voice boomed throughout the shaft, declaring his victory over Sonic.

Those were not the words Rouge wanted to hear as she slowly opened her eyes and regained consciousness. She was suddenly alert and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. No one said a word until Eggman was done speaking.

Knuckles was devastated at the loss of his friendly rival, and Rouge was worried. Shadow, however, had a confident smirk.

"It looks like you two are on your own," he told them. "With him out of the way, you won't act so tough anymore."

"Not afraid to break character, are you?" Knuckles said, anger rising into his voice.

"My one and only mission is to make sure you don't get in the way of the doctor's plans," Shadow declared matter-of-factly.

"I'll never forgive you or Eggman for what you did to Sonic!" Knuckles shouted as he tightened his fists. "It just means we're gonna have to fight a little harder to stop him."

"You couldn't even make it past me," Shadow scoffed. "What makes you think–"

Just then Shadow's comlink went off, and he answered it.

"Shadow, do you read me?" Eggman spoke. Knuckles and Rouge could hear him.

Shadow nodded. "Loud and clear, Doctor. What are your orders?"

"Disengage the protocol and get ready to leave," Eggman said. "The Badniks will cover you."

"Already?" Shadow asked in surprise. "But I have Rouge and Knuckles on their knees."

"…Are you questioning my order?" Eggman asked, a slight tone of irritation in his voice.

"…No, Doctor," Shadow said. But the moment he walked toward the computer and switched it on, he was suddenly Screw Kicked from behind by Rouge. He fell to the ground, then turned to look up at Rouge who was standing over him.

"Listen, I know Shadow better than anybody," Rouge told her. "He's blunt, but not this blunt, so give up the whole charade already."

"It doesn't matter anymore," Shadow said. "Because playtime's over."

He immediately reached his out and fired a Chaos Spear straight at Rouge, but she recognized the warning signs whenever Shadow used that attack, so she was able to leap out of the way in time. She slipped off the ledge, but a few flaps of her wings saved her from falling.

With his momentary distraction out of the way, Shadow was able to enter the password and deactivate the protocol.

"One of the only real things inside this fake space station," he mused as they heard a clicking sound from inside the device housing the three gems. He saw Rouge and Knuckles approaching them, but he cartwheeled out of their way and grabbed the Phantom Ruby.

"I no longer have time to waste on you two," Shadow said as he turned to leave. "If you value your lives, you better get out of here fast before the space station vanishes."

Rouge made a last-ditch lunge for the Phantom Ruby, but Shadow kicked her aside and swiftly skated out of the room. The impact was enough to send the bat tumbling over the ledge, but Knuckles took her hand and pulled her up.

"You okay?" Knuckles asked.

"I've been worse," Rouge said, dusting off her outfit. However, she stopped when she remembered there was no dust on the ARK.

"That was… intense," Knuckles said. But right as he was about to run toward the Master Emerald, there came the sound of something mechanical disengaging from the device in the center of the room, and a platform containing both the Master Emerald and the other gem fell straight down toward the center of the colony, hundreds of feet below them.

"NO!" Knuckles shouted as he ran forward in vain. He stared in shock as the two gems fell out of sight. He tightened his fists as Rouge followed his gaze, but she too was unable to see the gems by now.

"What a shame…" Rouge said. "That new gem was really gorgeous."

"Rouge," Knuckles said tersely. "Not now."

"I know, I'm just saying," Rouge shrugged.

There was no way he was going to jump down there after the Master Emerald, because he didn't know what was down there. Besides, he had bigger priorities ahead of him.

He started running in the direction he saw Shadow leave in, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rouge trying to access the computer.

"Corundum… Corundum…" she was muttering to herself.

"We don't have time for that, Rouge!" Knuckles shouted, not once stopping as he ran. Knowing the echidna was right, Rouge abandoned the computer with a sigh and followed him. The Corundum would have to wait.


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:49 AM – Third-person POV

Amy was still trying her best to comfort Cream, who was still grieving the loss of Sonic. There wasn't much she could do to help at all, because even Amy herself had a hard time convincing herself that all this was staged and not real. Sonic didn't have the fake Emerald with him; Eggman made sure of that.

"I'm so sorry, Cream…" Amy said quietly.

Cream sniffed, before hugging Amy tighter. "M-M-Mr. S-Sonic… H-He was the b-bestest big brother…"

Amy's heart was breaking. There was nothing she could do to comfort Cream or herself and reassure them both that everything would be okay. She desperately wanted the reality presented before her to not be real.

"H-He… Eggman's gonna pay for this…" Amy said, tears starting to fall from her eyes.

Eggman held up the yellow Chaos Emerald with glee.

"Now that I have the final Chaos Emerald," he said, "I'm off to finish what I started!"

But as he started to fly away in his Eggmobile, Tails fired several warning shots from the X-Tornado at Eggman. The lasers intentionally missed, hitting the wall next to Eggman.

"If that's the way you want it…" Eggman said under his breath. Tails looked over at his friends by the viewport.

"Hey Amy, Cream, you guys need to get out of here," Tails warned. "It's gonna get dangerous!"

"No way!" Amy exclaimed. "After what Eggman just did, I want my revenge now!"

Tails wanted to mentally facepalm, but when Amy was super determined, there was no stopping her. Besides, her wanting revenge was completely justified in a situation like this.

"O-Okay, fair enough," he said before looking back at Eggman.

"I wanna fight too!" Cream said as she brushed away her tears.

"Chao chao!" Cheese agreed as he took up a fighting stance in midair, before flying straight toward Eggman. The Buzz Bombers started to move in, but Eggman raised his hand to stop them.

"Stay back, Badniks," Eggman said. "I want to deal with these three myself."

"Four!" Amy corrected. "You gotta include Cheese!"

"Chao!" Cheese agreed.

Eggman shrugged. "Whatever."

Tails gripped the controls of the X-Cyclone, mentally preparing himself for the fight to come.

"It's three– four against one, and that means you're statistically outnumbered," he told Eggman.

Eggman smirked. "Yes, and unlike you, I have backup waiting in the wings. Two hundred Buzz Bombers, to be exact. So it's more like two hundred against four."

Tails grinned. "Heh… I'm Sonic's little bro, I can handle anything!"

Eggman grinned as well, his finger over one of the Eggmobile's buttons.

"Then let's see you handle this!"

He launched several missiles straight at the X-Cyclone. Since Tails' mech was painfully slow, it took the brunt of all four missiles that hit it. Not only did the impact blow Tails out of his seat due to the lack of a seat belt, but it caused the X-Cyclone to stagger back a few steps. Tails spun his tails and caught himself before he would have hit the ground. Then he immediately flew right back into the cockpit.

As he was doing that, Amy leaped straight at the Eggmobile, but Eggman piloted it out of the way, causing her to fall short.

"You're not very smart, are you?" Eggman said. "Unlike you, I can fly."

"I can fly too!" Cream called as she flew toward Eggman. Before Eggman could react, she changed her position and kicked the Eggmobile with both feet, sending it back a few feet. Cream landed on the ground, but she was able to pick herself back up.

"Nice one, Cream!" Amy complimented.

By now, Tails had gotten back in the X-Cyclone, and the first thing he did was fire several lasers at the Eggmobile. Since Eggman's vehicle was much more agile than Tails', he dodged most of the lasers, but one of the blue beams struck the front directly.

"Where– How are you so confident all of a sudden, Tails?" Eggman exclaimed in astonishment. "I literally killed Sonic in front of you–"

No you didn't, Tails mentally added.

"–and right now, I have you and your friends on the ropes!"

No you don't.

"So how are you possibly keeping a straight face in the middle of all this?!" Eggman exclaimed as he fired several more missiles at Tails.

"You're underestimating me and Sonic's friendship," Tails replied as he fired lasers that destroyed the missiles in midair. "He taught me everything I know, and besides, you're not the only genius who knows how to stay one step ahead."

Eggman gritted his teeth. "What did you do this time?" he asked in annoyance.

Tails chuckled. "Sonic is gonna come back and kick your butt big time, thanks to the other fake Chaos Emerald I gave him!"

"You're bluffing," Eggman said.

Tails shook his head. "Nope."

Eggman let out a sigh. "And of course you don't need a Chaos Emerald to power the X-Tornado anymore… That's it, I'm out of here! I already have everything I need, and right now I'm wasting time!" He activated his wrist communicator. "Shadow, do you read me?" Anything more he said got quieter as he flew out of sight.

"We gotta go after him!" Amy called as she ran forward.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Tails said as he flew down from the cockpit to the ground. He left the engine running in case he needed to use the X-Cyclone again. "Sonic will be back any time now, and he can help us stop Eggman. Right now our best bet is finding Shadow."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked as she put away her hammer. "Sonic just–"

Tails smiled, even though that guilty look was starting to return.

"That's what Eggman wanted us to believe. I knew he would try doing something like this again, which is why I made two fake Emeralds instead of one last night, and I gave one to Sonic before we got here." His ears and tails drooped, and he looked down. "…Sorry I didn't tell you guys ahead of time… It's just that… I kinda wanted you to have a more genuine reaction so Eggman could get fooled better."

Amy was surprised that Tails knew about this the whole time, before she let out a quiet gasp of realization.

"Tails, you idiot…!" Amy said, before throwing her arms around the fox in a tight hug. "That was brilliant! You're a genius!"

Tails chuckled, not sure how to take that at first, until he realized it was a compliment, and he blushed a bit. Cream and Cheese joined in the hug as well.

"I'm sorry…" Tails apologized.

"You should have told us first, Tails," Amy said, looking him in the eye. "But this… I don't think I would have wanted it any other way."

"It's okay, Mr. Tails!" Cream said with a smile. She was looking and feeling a lot better now. "So does that mean Mr. Sonic is not… d-dead?"

"Nope, not at all!" Tails said with a thumbs up. "He's gonna use Chaos Control with the fake Emerald and come back up here. That's the plan."

"Oh, okay," Cream said. "Um… Are we going to use the X-Tornado to stop Eggman?"

Tails looked up at his plane. "Not really… It got pretty damaged, and even though I extended its ability to run without an Emerald, I still want it to have enough power to make it back to the shuttle."

"Good thinking," Amy said.

"Oh yeah… I still have to repair the shuttle too…" Tails remembered.

"Think you'll get enough time to do that?" Amy asked.

Tails shrugged. "I'm not really sure, but we'll see."

"The robots are coming!" Cream warned her friends. Tails turned around to see several Buzz Bombers approaching, and Amy whipped out her hammer.

"Calling it now, they're here to distract us from finding Shadow," Amy said.

"Don't worry, Sonic is on his way back, and we still have Knuckles with us," Tails said.

"What about Chris?" Cream asked.

It dawned on Tails that he hadn't seen Chris at all since they arrived. He had been so laser-focused on staying ahead of Eggman and finding Shadow that he had almost forgotten about the whole reason he and his friends were on the ARK to begin with. He told himself to not lose sight of his true goal like that.

"We'll find him along the way, I promise," Amy said as she gripped her hammer tighter. "But right now, we gotta take care of these robots."


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:52 AM – Third-person POV

Shadow already had a massive head start on Knuckles and Rouge, so they had to move faster than they were comfortable with to keep up with him. They kept running through several long corridors, and even though Knuckles thought they were lost, Rouge seemed to know where she was going.

"Man, this guy is fast!" Knuckles panted.

"Tell me about it," Rouge said as she turned a corner on a dime and glided down another hallway.

"How are you able to stay with him?" Knuckles asked. "I don't see him anywhere!"

"Echolocation," Rouge called back. "I'm a bat, hon. But up here in space, even I'm having some trouble. But for some reason, the ARK illusion is just strong enough for me to use it effectively."

"Then it's true," Knuckles realized, having to glide to keep up with Rouge. "Shadow wasn't just saying stuff."

"I know, and that's what scares me," Rouge said, catching a glimpse of Shadow ahead of them. "Aaand there's the edgelord himself. You sure he can't just use the Phantom Ruby against us? It's been a while, so…"

"He's not real," Knuckles said. "And it takes a real mind for the Phantom Ruby to interface with to make illusions. That's how Eggman's doing it." He ran out of altitude, so he landed on the ground and kept running. "But without the extra gems, Infinite had better control of them back then because of the prototype in his chest. Don't know how Eggman's making the whole ARK feel this real now… It's gotta be the other gems. Definitely the other- Hey! Where'd you go?!"

He had only blinked, and Rouge was nowhere to be found. Sometimes he underestimated just how fast she could fly. She was probably motivated by the new shiny gem she had discovered.

Speaking of motivation, Knuckles told himself to keep going. But at this rate, he didn't know if he could find Rouge again, let alone catch up with her.

Suddenly a bright light flashed in front of him, forcing Knuckles to squint. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Sonic on the ground in front of him. This surprised him, because he genuinely thought Eggman succeeded in his plan to get rid of Sonic.

"Uh… Hey Sonic."

"Hey Knux," Sonic said as he pulled himself up.

"I, uh, knew you'd make it through," Knuckles said, forcing a chuckle.

"Hey, it was all Tails," Sonic said. "He made two fake Emeralds instead of one."

"Pretty clever of him, like usual," Knuckles said as he started running. Sonic was a bit surprised, but he ran to keep up with the echidna. "Shadow's getting away with the Phantom Ruby."

"Wait, he's leaving already?" Sonic said, voicing his surprise. "Aw, but the fun's only getting started! Tell me, which way did he go?"

"Uh… Somewhere this way, I think," Knuckles said. "I don't know, I lost Rouge, she knows where he is."

"Say no more!" Sonic said optimistically as he ran forward with a sudden burst of speed. Knuckles tightened his fists and kept running even faster. He had to stop Eggman and Shadow at all costs.


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 8:55 AM – Third-person POV

Amy, Tails, and Cream were literally herded into a circle, back to back, as several hundred Buzz Bombers surrounded them, making escape all but impossible.

"Dr. Eggman was right," Cream said, trying to hold back a whimper as she held Cheese close. "It's hopeless!"

Tails' eyes darted from robot to robot, trying to anticipate if any of them would make a move. "He's just lying like usual," Tails said, trying to assure himself as well.

"Yeah," Amy agreed. "Tails, do you have a plan in mind?"

Tails looked around at all the robots as they pointed their stingers at them, monitoring their every move. Meanwhile, Cream considered throwing Cheese at the nearest robots, but that would only take out two or three of the two hundred robots. She decided that wasn't worth it in the long run.

"I'm thinking maybe a team attack…" he said, sounding a little unsure of himself. "But the one I'm thinking of, I usually do with Sonic and Knuckles. I don't think I ever tried it with you two before."

"Depends on what it is," Amy said as she held her hammer ready. "I'm down to try something new."

Tails thought for a moment before looking at Amy.

"Okay, I don't have time to explain, just take my hand," he instructed. Amy did that, and Tails spun his tails and took off into the air. Since he was holding Amy by one hand, it was at an awkward angle, and they tilted and flew to one side before he corrected himself.

"Ohh, I think I know what you- Whoa!" Amy yelped as Tails started spinning her around and around. As he gained speed, Amy gripped her hammer tighter. With each Buzz Bomber that fell victim to her Piko Piko Hammer, it further deterred the others from approaching.

"It's working!" Cream cheered. "Oh, let's help too, Cheese!"

She cradled Cheese in her hands, before transitioning her Chao to one hand.

"Ready? Cheese Shot!" she called as she threw him full force at the nearest Badniks to her. Several other Buzz Bombers opened fire at her, and Cream was forced to hop back to avoid the lasers that narrowly missed her. Looking up, she saw a number of the bee robots above her too, so flying was not an option for her. She was forced to stand her ground and fight.

Tails and Amy were spinning so fast and clearing so many robots out that they couldn't land a single hit on them edgewise. But none of the heroes were expecting the remaining robots to start retreating.

"Huh…?" Cream looked in the direction of the retreating robots. "They're leaving already…?"

"My turn!" Amy called to Tails once they stopped spinning. "How about a Croquette Bomber?"

"A Croquette Bo– Amy, are you sure?!" Tails exclaimed, his confusion suddenly turning into shock.

"Yeah!" Amy said with an air of confidence. "You taught Sonic how to spin dash, that means you know how to do it too, right?"

"Uh… W-Well yeah, but–"

"Then let's do it!"

"Okay…" Tails relented. "I-I'm a bit nervous though…" He wasn't as afraid of being hit by Amy's hammer as much as he was afraid of practically spinning out of control and crashing into several robots… after being hit by Amy's hammer.

Tails took a deep breath, before leaping into the air, executing a tight spin. Amy swung her hammer into him with all her might, sending the fox flying toward the escaping Buzz Bombers. Most of the robots were already out of the room by now, but Amy was confident Tails could get most of them.

To Tails' surprise, he didn't feel much pain or motion sickness at all. He did, however, feel the impact of his tightly curled-up body against each robotic bee as they crumbed to pieces. It was almost like his body was acting on its own as he home-attacked each of the Buzz Bombers.

After a few seconds, the ten remaining robots were destroyed, and Tails landed on the ground. Only now did he feel very dizzy, and he held his head. Amy and Cream caught up.

"That was awesome, Tails!" Amy cheered as she gently hugged her friend. However, she noticed that he looked a little sick. "Uh, you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, just gimme a moment," he said. "Th-This is kinda the reason I don't spin-dash a lot anymore."

"It's okay!" Amy said, winking at Tails. "It's all thanks to you that Sonic fights the way he does."

"Yeah," Tails said with a smile as he recovered from the Croquette Bomber. "I guess we taught each other a new combo move, huh? But yeah… I don't know how Sonic doesn't get sick, it's like he–"

"Chris!" they suddenly heard Cream exclaim from behind them. Amy and Tails turned to see Cream running toward Chris who had just entered from the other side of the viewport room, and they immediately joined him.

"Chris, you're safe!" Tails cheered, bouncing up and down a bit. He could not have felt happier in that moment.

However, Amy's expression softened. "You're crying…" she noted, seeing how red his eyes were.

As soon as Cream heard that, she immediately jumped up and gave him a big hug. Cheese, Amy, and Tails joined in, all making sure Chris felt safe. Chris, however, started crying all over again now that he was no longer alone, and tears were steadily flowing down his cheeks.

Amy felt really bad for him from the bottom of her heart. It was already bad enough that he had been trapped on the space station overnight, but Sonic had been taken from him, and the rest of their fates were unknown to him, leaving him truly alone without any other sign of hope. She remembered the time when she promised she would protect him and make sure he never got hurt. She told herself that he needed to be protected emotionally too, because like Cream, she didn't want to see her friends cry either.

Tails looked Chris in the eyes. "Did Eggman hurt you?" he asked, an unusually low and serious edge in his tone.

Chris sniffed and averted his gaze. "N-No, but… S-Sonic…" He couldn't continue his thought, and fresh tears formed in his eyes as he tried to hold back a sob. Tails knew what he was trying to say.

"I think he's gonna be okay," he quietly said. "He has a fake Chaos Emerald I gave him as soon as we got here, and he already knew to use Chaos Control to come back here."

"O-Okay…" Chris said, trying to calm down. "I didn't know you could make your own Emeralds…"

"Yeah, I can make fakes," Tails replied nonchalantly. "I did it before, no sweat. But this time, I had to make two of them in case Eggman was on to me."

Chris didn't reply for a moment, so Tails continued gently hugging him, as did the others. Chris needed this. He needed to know deep down that he was safe and no longer alone. He had been away from his friends and family for almost a whole day, which was way too long for him, and they knew it.

"Are you gonna be okay helping us chase Eggman?" Amy asked Chris once they finally broke the hug.

"I think so," Chris answered, sounding considerably calmer now. "It's just that I really missed you guys, and I didn't get any sleep last night." He wiped his tears away. "I feel like I was a prisoner in here."

"You were a prisoner," Tails pointed out. "But not anymore." Even if Chris was able to walk around wherever he wanted in the ARK, there was no real way he could have escaped.

"Come on, guys," Amy urged, taking a few steps away from them. "Sonic needs our help too!"

"Okay!" Tails said as he took off running toward the exit, and Cream followed her, flapping her ears to gain speed and catch up.

"No one gets left behind, Chris!" Amy told him as she went back over to him and took his hand. He looked nothing short of nervous, so she gave his hand an affirming squeeze as they got moving.

Chris made sure to be careful not to step on any scrap metal strewn across the floor around them as they ran.

"Sorry about the mess," Amy said. "Things got a bit dicey before you got here."

"It's okay," Chris mumbled as he accidentally stepped on part of a broken Buzz Bomber. He told himself to be careful not to do that again, just in case.

For Chris' first time in space, everything had gone so wrong. He couldn't even properly get the time to appreciate the beauty of Earth from above. Yes, he could look at it for the past twenty-four hours, but not without the dread of feeling like he was nothing more than a tool to make sure Eggman could succeed in his goal.

"Where are we going?" Chris asked, warily looking around him for more robots.

"I'm pretty sure Eggman parked his shuttle somewhere down this way," Tails called from ahead of the group, pointing ahead of them. "We gotta stop him before he leaves with the Chaos Emeralds."

"And Eggman said he has a scary ruby too," Cream recalled from Eggman's speech.

"The Phantom Ruby?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," Amy said. "Cream's right though, we gotta find the Phantom Ruby too… and find out how to stop it before it can do any more damage."

"This whole space station's not real," Tails reminded everyone. "You know about that, Chris?"

"Yeah, Rouge told me," Chris said. "But it feels really real, like I can feel air and I can breathe in here… How is that even possible?!"

"I don't know…" Tails answered. "All I know is Eggman enhanced the–"

"Guys!" Amy shouted, getting everyone's attention as they passed through a laboratory. They nearly missed seeing several red cubes materializing in front of them, a telltale sign of the Phantom Ruby's presence. Seconds later, they split into four groups and changed into the shape of four artificial Chaos.

"Forgot about these guys…" Tails said, preparing himself for a fight.

"Chris is scared…" Cream said, and Tails looked in the sole human's direction. Sure enough, he was already taking a few steps back from the artificial Chaos. Tails immediately knew he was reacting to trauma from when he got absorbed by Chaos twice last month.

"It's okay Mr. Chris, maybe we can go away from the fight for now," Cream gently told him. Chris nodded, and Cream and Cheese took him back to the adjacent corridor where they had just come from.

Tails smiled at them before turning his attention back to the fight. Amy was already dealing with one of them firing laser beams at her. Tails was glad he focused on the fight again when he did, because two of the artificial Chaos simultaneously fired lasers at him, forcing him to fly backwards out of the way. A third one stretched one of its tentacles at Amy, but it missed.

"I think I remember the head is the weak spot, so go for that," Tails said.

Amy nodded. "Got it!"

Tails looked back at the hallway behind him. "Hey guys, get back a little more. These things have really good reach!"

There was a scurry of footsteps as Cream took Chris to the other room, and he followed her. Once the bunny was sure they were far enough away from the fight, she gently hugged him again.

"Everything will be okay Mr. Chris!" she said with a level of confidence not normally found in humans her age. "You're safe now with me and my friends, and I promise I'll make you another flower crown when we all go back home."

Cheese floated over to Chris and snuggled into his chest. Chris felt calmer already after everything that happened. He could see why Cream loved Cheese so much; it was like Chao could form emotional bonds with Mobians, and apparently humans too.

However, there was a yelp from Amy back in the lab. Cheese flew out of Chris' arms, catching him off guard, and entered the lab to see that one of the artificial Chaos had tripped Amy.

"Chao chao!" Cheese called angrily as it flew over and punched the artificial Chaos with its stubby little hand. It didn't do much at all.

Cream was in a difficult situation. She wanted to help her friends, but she also didn't want to leave Chris alone in case something bad happened to him. So she decided to stay with Chris.

Amy was having a hard time avoiding the artificial Chaos' attacks. From the plasma lasers to the bionic tentacles, the illusions kept cutting her off, and they would have cornered her if it weren't for Tails whipping his namesakes into one of them, destroying it on the spot.

"It's not worth it," he realized as the debris disappeared in a cloud of red pixels. "Eggman's just using these to distract us."

"Okay, you're right," Amy said, keeping her hammer drawn as she used it to counter another tentacle attack.

Meanwhile, Tails was speeding back to the other room where Chris was. When he saw him, he wasted no time in scooping him up into his relatively short arms. Chris, who was not expecting this, let out a yelp and protested a for a moment until he realized what was going on.

"This is faster," Tails said as he flew back into the lab, and Cream followed. Once they caught up to Amy, the group, kept pressing forward.

They sped through even more hallways, even when more artificial Chaos were generated in their path to either distract or block them, but they kept moving on toward the direction of Eggman's shuttle.


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 9:03 AM – Third-person POV

At last, Knuckles caught up to Sonic and Rouge. He was mildly surprised to see them fighting Shadow already. The way Shadow was fighting defensively, he was obviously covering Eggman's escape.

"I'm coming!" Knuckles called as he joined in the fight. However, he was shocked at how Shadow was able to handle all three of them at once. He was firing Chaos Spears at everyone and rebounding off the walls. Due to the weight of his rocket shoes, his kicks hit hard.

"You call yourself Shadow, but you don't have one!" Sonic taunted.

"None of you fakers do!" Knuckles added.

One of the things that set phantom illusions apart from their real counterparts was their lack of a shadow. Sonic and Knuckles knew this from dealing with countless clones during the Phantom War.

"Are you blind?" Shadow asked. "Look again."

Sonic hadn't realized this whole time that Shadow did in fact have a shadow.

Shadow smirked. "One of the doctor's newest… enhancements," he said.

"Huh, go figure," Sonic said, narrowly avoiding another kick from Shadow.

"Got an idea, sit tight, boys," Rouge said out of nowhere as she took off down the corridor the first chance she got while Shadow was distracted with Sonic and Knuckles.

"Hey Rouge! Where are you going?" Knuckles asked. Shadow turned in the direction Rouge went in, only to be drop-kicked from behind by Sonic.

"Let her go, Knux, she probably has a plan," Sonic replied.

Meanwhile, Rouge was gliding down the hall as fast as she could go, looking for any indication of the hangar bay she assumed Eggman's shuttle was parked in. The ARK had two hangar bays, and since Sonic parked in one of them, she was sure Eggman parked in the other one.

Except the thing was, all the hallways looked the same to her. While some parts of the ARK were new to her, she got the feeling she had been through some of the rooms already. A map would surely come in handy right about now, she thought. Same with signs. Even though there were signs on the original version of the ARK, the phantom ARK didn't have any signs whatsoever, so she was left with no choice but to guess where some hallways led to.

It had been so long since she had been on the real ARK last that she didn't know if its exact layout was the same, but the overall design on the inside was the same as the original. It was eerily uncanny, and just being in a place like it gave her chilling flashbacks to Shadow's sacrifice and the fight with the Biolizard, which made her wonder if things would play out the same as last time.

At last, she found a particularly long hallway that widened toward the end. She knew she was on the right track, so she increased her speed and made a beeline for the end of the hall. Luckily for her, there was nothing between her and the spacious hangar bay ahead of her.

As soon as Rouge burst through the doorway, she found that her hunch was correct; the room was in fact the hangar bay. Eggman's ship was the only vehicle there, but she didn't count on there being several robots guarding the outside of the shuttle too.

"Boss, we have comp–"

But Orbot's warning came too late. Rouge was already kicking and smashing her way through the robots, reducing them to nothing to scrap metal. Even Eggman was a bit taken aback by Rouge's sudden entrance.

However, Eggman recovered from his surprise quickly enough to activate a secret switch on his wrist communicator, firing a stun laser that struck Rouge squarely. A blue burst of energy flashed around her for a split second before she collapsed to the ground. He let out a chuckle as he lowered his arm.

"You're so obsessed with jewels that you're blind to common sense… as usual," he said. "Though, I'm surprised you made it past Shadow this soon. Orbot! Cubot! Finish loading the gems in there and initiate takeoff sequence!"

"Yes, boss!" Orbot saluted as he and Cubot disappeared back into the shuttle. Eggman looked down at his fallen robots.

"Hm… A minor setback," Eggman noted. "But I'm still–"

His words died in his throat as Sonic zipped into the hangar, followed shortly behind by Knuckles. Eggman growled as he took a few steps toward the shuttle, but he felt even more anger as Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Chris rain into the room as well. Tails brought up the rear, and, pulling a screwdriver from hammerspace, he started unscrewing a panel next to the doorway.

"I don't know how you all evaded Shadow that easily, but I'm still prepared to make this space colony your grave!" Eggman shouted. "One step closer from any of you, and I will deactivate the Phantom Ruby! That means no more Space Colony ARK, you'll all be floating in space!"

"You too, Eggman," Knuckles commented with a chuckle.

"Oh, I'll be safe in this shuttle, don't worry about me," Eggman retorted.

There was a metallic clang as the door closed and magnetically sealed itself, thanks to Tails' handiwork.

"Okay, I just locked him out," Tails reported. "But I don't know how long the door will hold."

"Yeah, it'll give us a few moments," Sonic said as he turned to face Eggman. "Shadow's out cold thanks to me and Knux, so now it's your turn–"

There were several heavy impacts on the metal door. The heroes could see dent after dent appearing, and they were getting larger. Tails didn't even have time to let out a quiet "Uh-oh" before Shadow burst through the door…

…only his fur wasn't black anymore. Shadow's fur was now glowing an intensely bright cream-yellow color, and the sound of the aura burning around him sounded like a blowtorch. Everyone was shocked by Shadow's sudden appearance, especially Tails, who instinctively took a few steps back.

"H-How…? H-He doesn't even have any Chaos Emeralds…!" he stuttered in disbelief.

Sonic gritted his teeth. He was completely unprepared for something like this.

Eggman grinned triumphantly as he took a few steps up the ramp. Now he was standing in the doorway of his shuttle.

"Do you rodents have any idea who you're up against?!" he crowed. "Shadow is a Phantom Ruby illusion, so he doesn't need the Chaos Emeralds to achieve his super form!"

"Maria will be avanged," Shadow stated firmly. "And since all of you chose to side with the humans… you've officially sealed your own fates."

Without saying and word, Knuckles sprinted toward Shadow and leaped toward him with his fist out, ready to deliver a crushing blow. However, in the blink of an eye, Shadow moved behind the echidna and kicked him down to the ground. Then the hedgehog turned and launched a volley of Chaos Spears at everyone else, forcing them to dodge.

Rouge flew well out of the way of the blast, and Sonic and Chris were able to get out of the way soon enough. However, several spears narrowly missed Amy and Cream, and one of them hit Tails' shoulder, knocking him to the ground with a cry.

"Tails!" Sonic shouted in alarm.

"I-I'm okay!" Tails called as he stood up, massaging his shoulder. "Fakes don't do as much damage as the originals!"

"That's where you're wrong!" Eggman called. "You're forgetting that the Phantom Ruby's power is being enhanced a hundredfold!"

But that did nothing to bring relief to Sonic. Gritting his teeth, he ran up the shuttle's ramp, pushing Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot aside as he disappeared inside, right as the cargo door closed and sealed itself.

Eggman was just about to brag about how dumb Sonic must have been to lock himself inside the shuttle, until he paled when he realized what his real plan was. He didn't even have an override control for the door.

Meanwhile, Super Shadow was dealing with all the other heroes without even breaking a sweat. Knuckles seemed to be the only one truly brave enough to approach him, and he rebounded off a wall to try to get the drop on him, but Shadow saw him coming like it was instinct and kicked him aside. It was no distraction for Shadow, because he also saw Rouge trying to Screw Kick him from another angle. He grabbed her legs in midair and hurled her at Amy, who was barely able to get out of the way in time.

WARNING STARTS HERE.

Knowing he couldn't do anything to fight Shadow, Chris ran several paces back. He didn't want to get hurt more than anything. But Shadow was driven insane by his desire to purge the world of humans and their allies, all because they took Maria. Even worse, this wasn't the real Shadow. But Chris didn't want to feel completely helpless while all his friends were actively trying to do something to stop Shadow.

Even if this was an illusion, he wondered if he could wake something up inside him. This idea came as he remembered what Rouge told him about Shadow.

"Shadow…" Chris called before feeling a sudden surge of adrenalin and running toward him. "Shadow, stop! Maria doesn't want you hurting people! That's not what she–"

"SHUT UP!" Shadow roared as he launched a Chaos Spear straight at Chris' heart. Chris was caught off guard, and he barely registered the attack before it made its mark. The force of the Chaos Spear threw him violently into the wall behind him.

"CHRIS!" Amy shouted as she ran toward him.

"You don't get to twist Maria's words!" Shadow exclaimed. "You foolish humans took her away from me, you're the last person I want to hear talk to me about Maria!"

Tails gritted his teeth. "You just attacked a child!" he shouted.

"A human child," Shadow spat.

"You'll pay for that!" Knuckles shouted as he raced toward Shadow, with Rouge and Tails right behind him.

Shadow was focused on everyone else, which gave Amy plenty of opportunity to tend to Chris. She immediately ran to where he was slumped against the wall.

"Chris…" she said in worry when she found him clutching his chest. "Can you get up on your own okay?"

"I… I-I don't– AAAH!" Chris hissed in pain as he tried to stand up, but his pain flared up again. Even though it was only a flesh wound, it still burned like crazy, and Chris was sure he needed some kind of medical treatment.

"I'm so sorry!" Amy blurted, pulling back for a moment. She told herself she had to be slow and gentle with him because he was more hurt than she thought.

She gently took his hand, trying to figure out how best to get him to safety.

"Can you crawl at least?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah, I think so," Chris said as he slowly eased himself onto his hands and knees. His chest hurt a little bit, but not as much as before.

"Okay, good," Amy said as she walked next to Chris, keeping pace with him. "Listen, I know you were trying to be brave, but Chris, that's not the real Shadow. He's not gonna listen to you. And even if he did, Eggman can just change him back 'cuz he's an illusion."

"O-Okay… S-Sorry…" Chris apologized, wincing at a grunt from Rouge as she took a hit from Shadow.

"You wanna go super?" a familiar voice came from behind them. "Two can play at that game."

Amy and Chris turned to the voice, as did everyone else. Floating in front of the shuttle was none other than Super Sonic.

"Mr. Sonic!" Cream cheered.

"Chao-chao!" Cheese echoed.

"Wait, you didn't break your way out?" Knuckles asked in confusion.

"No," Sonic explained as he looked at Tails and his injured shoulder. "Because Eggman wouldn't survive returning to Earth if I destroyed his shuttle."

Knuckles nodded. "Yeah. Good point."

"Sonic…!"

Amy's voice was faint, almost inaudible to everyone else, but Sonic's ultra-enhanced senses could hear her. His eyes darted in her direction, before they landed on Chris next to her. Chris looked like he was hurt, and Sonic knew Shadow did it. He looked at the other super-powered hedgehog, before bolting over to Chris in the blink of an eye. In the meantime, the others were making sure to distract Shadow so he wouldn't intervene.

When Sonic reached Amy, she let out a startled yelp. She had forgotten just how fast Super Sonic was at close range.

"His chest…" Amy said, looking in the direction of Chris' injury. Sonic nodded and gently placed his hand on Chris' chest, allowing Chaos energy to flow from it and through Chris' chest. eventually making its way through his entire body. Sonic was perplexed that even though Chris' skin was burnt from the attack, the illusionary Chaos Spear didn't burn through his shirt.

"Tails gut hurt too," Amy told Sonic.

He nodded. "I know."

Right as he was finishing, there was a sudden roar that startled everyone, Chris in particular. Eggman had started up the shuttle's engines, and it gradually began to lift off and move forward. Tails started running toward it, but Knuckles held out his hand and said something, and Tails stopped.

"What are we gonna do about Eggman?" Amy asked as Sonic flew toward Tails. Chris got up and followed him, and Amy followed as well.

"We'll catch him another time," Sonic said as he gently laid his hand on Tails' shoulder, healing the little fox completely from his muzzle to the tips of his twin tails. "Survival is key. Everyone, get to the shuttle now. I'll deal with Shadow myself."

"Okay!" Amy said, looking at Chris. She smiled when she saw that he could walk on his own, but she still knew that he needed some emotional help after all this.

"Come on, guys!" she called as she and Chris disappeared out of the hangar bay. Tails sprinted toward her to join her, and Knuckles, Rouge, Cream, and Cheese followed.

Oddly enough, Shadow had decided to wait until the others were gone before he did anything. At least, Cheese flew through the doorway, leaving just the two supersonic hedgehogs in the hangar bay.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Shadow said. "You're a true rival."

"More than you know," Sonic replied. "I'm the only one here who's true."

Shadow gritted his teeth before flying straight at Sonic at an unimaginable speed. As if by instinct, Sonic saw him coming and flew backwards out the hangar bay into space, leading Shadow out after him. Their battle had begun.

WARNING ENDS HERE.


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 9:10 AM – Third-person POV

Rouge led everyone though the winding corridors of the ARK, making sure not to get too far ahead of everyone like she did last time. Time was of the essence, but much to her satisfaction, everyone was able to keep up with her.

"Miss Rouge?" Cream asked as she flew to catch up to the others. "How do you know where we're going?"

"Oh, that's easy," Rouge said with a shrug. "You know how mall-dar is a thing? Like how us girls just somehow know our way around the mall like it's second nature? It's kinda like that, hon." She zipped down another hall, and the others followed her. "Didn't take much, just a quick trip down to the hangar was all it took for me to know my way back. And it helps that it's nearly one-to-one with the original, right down to the labs Gerald used to use."

"Where all the prototypes were being built?" Tails asked out of curiosity.

"You got it, fox-boy," Rouge said with a wink, even though Tails couldn't see it.

"Speaking of prototypes, we haven't seen the Biolizard yet," Amy pointed out.

"No, we haven't," Knuckles said, remembering how much trouble it had caused them.

"Don't expect to see him any time soon," Rouge said. "Not when Eggman's this far along with his plan."

"Oh yeah, good point," Amy said.

Chris was already starting to run out of breath from all the running he was doing, but he told himself that they were almost there and he could rest when they got to the space shuttle. Even though he was safe, he still felt scared about what could potentially happen.

"I think we're getting close now," Tails announced. "But it's gonna be faster if the rest of you guys keep running to the shuttle."

"Yeah," Knuckles said. "We don't know how much time we have before Eggman deactivates the ARK, so we have to get off this thing as soon as possible."

"The rocket you guys took is real, right?" Rouge asked. "Not a fake?"

"Yeah," Tails replied. "I think Eggman left it there for us on purpose. But yeah, I remember it felt more solid than the rest of the ARK."

"Eggman got us into this mess, and now he's gonna get us out," Knuckles said with determination.

Rouge chuckled. "Well put, Knuckie," she cooed.

Amy could hear Knuckles groan from next to her as they ran, and she couldn't help but suppress a giggle.

"I don't see any more artificial Chaos," Tails commented as they passed by the room he had last seen them in. "I guess we don't have to worry about 'em anymore since Eggman's not here to use the Phantom Ruby on us."

"Um, I just realized… I know it's a bad time, but… I kinda have to use the bathroom…" Chris said in a quiet voice.

"It's okay, you can go when we get to the shuttle," Amy told him. Chris nodded.

"It's so easy to forget Mobians don't have this kind of problem," Rouge said. "Uh, no offense, but… you know what I'm talking about."

A brilliant view of Earth met their eyes the moment the group of six, plus Cheese, made it into the main viewport room. Chris found himself looking over again, and he could see Sonic and Shadow coming into view outside. Both supersonic hedgehogs were evenly matched, and it was hard to tell one from the other because their yellow glowing forms were moving so rapidly, too fast for Chris' eyes to track onto.

"Hope Sonic's doing okay out there," Tails said as he too glanced out the window. "I know this Shadow's not real, but… he sure fights like him."

"Hey Chris, you doing okay after earlier?" Amy asked him, the memory of when Shadow Chaos Speared him fresh in her mind.

"Yeah," Chris said with a hint of uncertainty. "But… I'm honestly a little more scared of Shadow now."

"Oh, don't worry, he's nice once you get to know him," Amy said, trying to lighten up the mood. "The real Shadow, that is. Oh hey, there's the X-Tornado!"

Sure enough, on the other side of the room was the X-Tornado, still in its X-Cyclone transformation. It was slightly damaged, and Tails had completely forgotten until now that two of its seatbelts were cut during his encounter with Eggman, including the pilot's seatbelt.

"Okay, you guys go ahead," Tails said as he spun his tails and flew up to the pilot's seat. "I'll catch up!"

He tossed the remote for the shuttle down to Knuckles, who caught it perfectly in both hands. In moments, Rouge and Knuckles left the room, followed shortly behind by Amy, Chris, Cream, and Cheese.

"We're gonna have to have a talk when we get back in the ship," Knuckles said.

Rouge smirked at Knuckles' tone. "Ohh, what could that mean? Is my little redhead not happy with the prettiest jewel thief who ever-"

"No!" Knuckles snapped. "I'm talking about everything we went through in the last few days! Don't play dumb!"

"I'm not playing dumb," Rouge said, rolling her eyes. "If I was, I wouldn't have something very important to discuss with everyone as well. No, I'm just playing with you. Lighten up a little, it's Christmas Eve!"

In the midst of the adventure, trauma, and danger everyone had gone through recently, they had all forgotten that tomorrow was Christmas.

Knuckles shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right… Can't believe I just said that…" he added under his breath. "So what'd you wanna talk about? The new gem?"

"Who, me?" Rouge said with a small laugh. "Why would Rouge the Bat wanna talk about new gems?"

"New gem…?" Amy asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah, we'll talk when we get there," Rouge said, becoming serious once again. "Pretty sure fox boy want to hear about it too."

"Yeah, good point," Knuckles agreed.

By the time they reached the space shuttle less than a minute later, Chris started to realize in full what this meant for him. Even though he had dreams of flying in space years ago, he had never traveled in a spaceship for real before!

Knuckles fumbled with the remote to the shuttle, but he had a hard time trying to press the correct button because his hands were huge.

"Here, I can do it," Amy helpfully offered. Knuckles handed her the remote, and she had no problem pressing the button that opened the shuttle's airlock.

"We did this with a passcode before, right?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, because we didn't know there would be a remote inside," Amy answered as the group made their way up the ramp.

"Oh yeah, I remember now," Knuckles said as he followed everyone.

Chris brought up the rear. He was trying so hard to not show his fear in front of his friends and Rouge. He was going to return to Earth, something he had never done before. In fact, he was terrified.

"W-We should probably leave the door open for Tails," Chris said as he slowed down on the ramp.

"Good idea," Knuckles said. "Actually no, he's coming in through the cargo door with the X-Tornado."

"Oh yeah, true," Chris realized.

"Chris? You coming or what?" Knuckles asked when he looked back and saw him stalled on the ramp. Amy and Cream saw it too, and they both realized the reason why.

"He's scared…" Cream whispered. "And I'm scared too…"

"It's gonna be okay, Chris!" Amy said, reaching her hand out to Chris. "It's gonna be scary at first, but trust me, it'll all be worth it once you're safe and sound back on Earth."

Chris paused for a moment longer, before finally taking her hand. She helped him up into the shuttle, and he found himself looking around at everything inside. He had been inside various aircraft in his life, but none of them were like the space shuttle he was in now.

"Only six beds… Not enough for everyone," he could hear Rouge say. She was pacing restlessly, feeling a bit too eager to share her information.

"Oh… That's not good…" Cream said.

"Yeah… " Knuckles said. "But if we have the gravity thing turned on, it shouldn't be a problem."

"But it's not very cozy sleeping on the floor," Cream said, looking down at the hard metal floor.

"Oh yeah… Let's… not have a repeat of earlier," Amy cautiously said, taking a step back toward the beds.

"What happened earlier?" Chris asked, looking around for any sign of the bathroom.

Knuckles had to suppress a chuckle. "We, uh… accidentally forgot to turn the gravity thing on when we took off, so we were floating around there until Tails could turn it on."

"That kinda sounds like fun," Chris commented, and Knuckles nodded.

"You would probably get sick pretty fast," Amy cautioned as she sat down on one of the bunks.

"Yeah, that's true," Chris realized. "Uh, where's the bathroom?"

"I think I saw it over this way," Knuckles said, leading Chris to a different part of the shuttle.

Over the next several minutes, Rouge was pacing the room, her shoes against the metal floor being muffled by the otherwise silent and cramped cockpit. Amy was idly looking at her comlink, which didn't seem to have reception, and Cream and Cheese were playing together on one of the top bunks. Knuckles, who had since returned to the main room, was glancing at Rouge, making sure she didn't let the cat out of the bag too early.

At last, they heard mechanical walking, and the shuttle's occupants felt a small jolt with each step the X-Cyclone made as it entered the cargo bay. Cream was a lot less scared about it this time because she knew what to expect this time around.

"Mr. Tails is almost here, so you can tell him what you want to say when he comes back, Miss Rouge," Cream told her.

"Chao!" Cheese agreed.

"Good to know," Rouge said, still pacing the floor.

There were a few more noises from underneath the main cabin for another minute or two, and the trap door at the back of the room opened. Tails crawled out through the opening and closed the door behind him.

"Hi Tails!" Cream said adorably. She wasn't scared of the trap door now that she had gotten used to it.

"Rouge has been dying to tell you something," Knuckles stated as he leaned against the wall. Tails looked up at Rouge in curiosity.

"Well, not just you, fox boy, this goes for everyone," Rouge explained as she sat down in the command chair, casually swiveling it back and forth. "So… We got a new gemstone to look out for. And no, that's not my inner jewel thief talking. I'm serious, I'm talking about something as powerful as, if not more powerful than the Phantom Ruby."

She was met with worried looks around the room, except Knuckles, who had seen it already.

"And, uh, I saw this thing on a computer back in the reactor, and it's called the 'Corona Corundum'... and I couldn't find anything else about it, except I saw it with the Master Emerald and the Phantom Ruby… And that neat little jewel collection was all sitting together on some kind of platform in the reactor."

"Hmm…" Tails thought. "Corona Corundum?" he asked. Rouge nodded. "Okay… What did it look like?"

"It was big and round," Rouge said, pausing to make sure she was getting all the details right. "With lots of sides, and it was maybe the size of a basketball."

There was a small gasp from the back of the room. All eyes turned to see Chris who had just returned from the bathroom. Rouge was confused about why he gasped.

"I think that was the same gemstone I saw last year… Back when I was captured by Eggman when I thought you guys were going home," Chris recalled, thinking back.

"Okay, that does sound a little familiar," Knuckles realized. "But I didn't think much about it because I was busy with Decoe and Bocoe."

"A priceless gem like that would look gorgeous in my collection," Rouge commented almost automatically.

"Not now, Rouge!" Amy squealed in exasperation, rolling her eyes.

"That's what I've been telling her!" Knuckles said.

"What?" Rouge shrugged. "Jewelry looks better on me than Eggman."

"But we don't know everything it can do!" Amy pleaded, leaning forward on the bed.

"True," Rouge said before turning to Tails. "Tell ya what, kid. Next time I'm around that thing, I'll see if I can take it and give it to you, to see what you can make of it."

"Okay, good idea," Tails said with a nod. "And since both Chris and Knuckles say they saw it in E-99, that means it's not new. And I don't know where Eggman found it, but if he's using its power and combining it with the Master Emerald to power up the Phantom Ruby, that would explain how we're getting these really tangible illusions." Tails paused to let his own words sink in, looking from one face to the next. "Which means whatever the Corona Corundum is, it's really powerful."

"So I guess we make that our next mission," Amy said as she stood up. "First thing we do when we get back home is find the Corona Corundum! Uh… after Christmas!" she added with a chuckle.

"And the Master Emerald," Knuckles added. "Eggman still has that too."

Rouge looked outside. "So are we waiting around for Sonic, or…"

"No need to," Tails said as he sat down in the command chair. "He can easily catch up to us since he's super."

"Oh yeah, true," Rouge said.

"And besides," Tails said as he started the rocket. "Like Knuckles said earlier, we don't know how much time we have before the ARK disappears."

Chris' hands had flown to his ears as soon as the rocket started because he wasn't expecting the engines to be as loud as they were, but he found himself slowly and cautiously uncovering his ears. Cream was startled too, and the others seemed to be trying their best to get accustomed to the sound that practically surrounded them.

"Okay, most of us have never been in space before, especially you, Cream and Chris," Tails announced. He had to speak a little louder than usual because of the engines. "It's gonna be really rough when we go back into Earth's atmosphere, and there's gonna be lots of turbulence. So guys, please find a bed and strap yourself in, okay? And when we reenter the atmosphere, it's gonna feel like we're falling, but I promise we're gonna be safe."

"If anything, the takeoff was worse," Knuckles said. "It felt like we were getting crushed to death."

"But we made it, right guys?" Amy said.

Chris climbed onto the bunk closest to him and looked over at the straps. They looked a little confusing, but he was able to secure them onto himself at the legs and chest. The others got into their beds too and secured themselves in. Cheese had to share Cream's bunk, and it was a bit difficult to secure the Chao along with Cream, but they managed it.

Chris was nothing short of scared. This was not like flying in an airplane or riding a rollercoaster. He was going to reenter Earth's atmosphere, and it terrified him.

"Um… A-Are you sure we're not gonna burn up in the atmosphere…?" he asked cautiously.

"Yup, I think we're gonna be okay!" Tails said as he activated the countdown and scrambled to his bed. "Lots of space shuttles are made to survive the atmosphere."

"Oh, okay," Chris said, still trying to control his fear.

"Liftoff!" Tails called as the countdown reached zero.

The shuttle's engines became louder than Chris thought was possible, and this time he had to keep his ears covered for real as the shuttle took off from the ARK. It gradually arced toward Earth and made its descent.


Space Colony ARK – Fri December 24, 9:14 AM – Sonic's POV

Super Shadow was showing no signs of letting up.

For a Phantom Ruby illusion, he was just as strong as the real one from what I remembered. However, as the fight dragged on, I did notice a few important differences. The biggest thing that set the fake Shadow apart from the real one was the way he was fighting. He didn't seem to know all of my tactics, so he was tending to fight more recklessly than the real Shadow. Even so, he was still very powerful and kept me guessing what his next move was going to be.

Shadow hurled another volley of Chaos Spears straight at me, but I was able to dodge out of the way with ease. With each spear he threw afterward, I kept avoiding them as I got closer to him. He was throwing them straight at me, but with his last spear, he switched tactics and anticipated where I would go. The bolt of pure green energy nearly grazed my shoulder, and I told myself not to get too cocky.

He was ready for me by the time I reached him. I reared back my fist to punch him, but he punched first, forcing me to block his attack. Before I realized it, we were trading blows in space at the speed of sound.

I grit my teeth, trying to think of how to get the upper hand over Shadow. I knew it was possible, but it would be very tricky. Even though he was reckless, Shadow was learning fast and becoming more difficult to fight by the minute.

I saw the shuttle leaving the ARK, and I smiled, knowing my friends were getting to safety. However, I had to keep Shadow busy so he wouldn't get any ideas.

However, Shadow chose this moment to make his move. Taking full advantage of my distraction, he suddenly warped behind me and kicked me toward the ARK. He then followed me as I tried to slow my momentum, something which was very difficult to do in space, but not impossible with my super form.

"Even with your instincts, the idea of you defeating me is merely wishful thinking," he taunted.

Being super was the only way we could communicate in space like this. I looked him straight in the eyes.

"Dreams so come true," I told him.

Shadow pretended he didn't hear me. "And even if you do win, you'll never survive post-super exhaustion or re-entering Earth's atmosphere."

"I did it twice and I'm still here today," I told him. "And you did it too the first time we were super like this."

Shadow let out a growl as he cast his inhibitor rings off his wrists.

"CHAOS-"

But before he could finish speaking, Shadow suddenly disappeared in a cloud of red pixels, and I looked up to see that the entire Space Colony ARK was vanishing too. I waited a moment to see if Shadow would reappear and continue fighting me. However, after a few moments, he did not return.

Huh, I thought. That was both… anticlimactic and disappointing. Did Eggman really spare me…? Oh well. Whatever just happened, I'll take it.

I was sure that I was still within the range of his newly-enhanced Phantom Ruby. But it felt so strange and even wrong that I was suddenly safe like this, that Eggman was letting me off the hook this time.

Even though my friends' shuttle was just a speck in the distance, I was able to locate it thanks to my greatly enhanced senses. I flew after it and made sure to stay with it until we returned to Earth.

As far as I could tell, my adventure had come to an end at last. Even though it started off roughly the same way as it did the first time everything happened, it took several wild turns, and now it ended completely differently than I was expecting.

Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog… And Eggman… You win this time, but the next time we meet, it's gonna be one for the history books.


Eggman's shuttle – Fri December 24, 9:17 AM – Third-person POV

"And that's a wrap."

"Doctor Eggman, Why did you recall Shadow so soon? He was winning!"

"Because, Orbot, I've already finished Phase Two of Operation Second Chance. It would be redundant to keep Shadow deployed, especially when I need the Phantom Ruby for… other reasons. It's already near its maximum capacity as it is, even with the Master Emerald and Corona Corundum."

"So yeah, that means Sonic can go home and have a great Christmas this year!"

"Except for one thing, Cubot."

"Yeah, Doc?"

"Did you forget about everyone framing him? They must still think that he committed all those crimes, when it was really Shadow setting things up for Phase Two."

"Oh yeah…"

"But yes, other than that little detail, I'm letting the hedgehog and his friends off the hook for the holidays, give them a well-deserved Christmas break. But as soon as it's over… They better get ready for Phase Three. Ohohohohoho!"

"Hey, you sound like Santa Claus! You know that, right?"

"Can it, Cubot! I have to spend the next six hours cramped in this tin can! I don't need you two making it worse!"

"Speaking of tin cans, Doctor, what happened to all the food and technology we brought with us?"

"Did you not just pack the storage room? You would have packed it in there, Orbot! As much as I would program you both with bigger brains, I will not have you surpass the IQ of the great scientific genius Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik!"

"It's like… 300, huh? That's pretty heavy…"

"Shut up, Cubot!"

"Uh, o-okay! Kinda need to focus on flying this thing anyway. Gotta make sure the humans don't see us!"

"That's the spirit, Cubot. Perhaps the doctor should start paying us for all the things we do for him."

"Money's tight, you two. I need it for my other robots, and to further enhance my plans. And besides… you know what else is money? Time. The more you two talk, the more filler material you inadvertently make for this chapter. I don't care if it's almost Christmas and we just came off a dark story arc, the show must go on."

"Yes, Doctor."

"Aye-Aye, Doc!"

"Speaking of shows… Have I got a show for you, Sonic… Just you wait…"


The Egg Carrier – Fri December 24, 1:51 PM – Third-person POV

Jerome was sitting in his designated surveillance office, monitoring the ship. Nothing else happened since Sonic took off for Space Colony ARK, and he had gotten bored. But chances are Eggman would have his head if he got distracted and something happened on his watch.

More importantly, GUN did not make a single move in the past day, which meant he was safe for now. He was downright scared of being found out by GUN or any other authority, because it was public information by now that he was guilty of high treason against the United States for his assistance in Dr. Eggman's plans. Eggman was literally the only thing keeping him from going to jail.

Furthermore, he had to use a VPN just to use the Internet, until Eggman told him that the Eggnet has a built-in VPN he could use to browse the internet incognito. And even then, his internet time was limited because he had other tasks to do on the ship, but it made sense in the long run.

What hurt him most since joining forces with Eggman was when he found out on Twitter that his old girlfriend Vivian Turner had broken up with him over this. She was the love of his life, and now she wouldn't answer his calls or respond to his messages. In fact, she had completely ghosted him. He stopped messaging her because it would have risked him being found out.

He had a huge scare yesterday when Sonic and his friends stopped by his room, and he practically gave them the code to the rocket. In return, Sonic had told him information that led him to believe that Eggman was leaving him behind when he was going to blow up the planet. That thought didn't settle well with him, and it kept him up the whole night. Plus, he didn't really trust Sonic to keep him a secret from society. They knew he was here, and so did Bokkun, who really gave him an earful when he learned the news.

Eggman had called him with an update, saying Phase Two was a success, and it was time to move onto the next phase of his master plan. Eggman said it was more like Phase 2.5 rather than Phase 3 because everything that happened in the past three days was all a setup for Eggman's real plan. All Jerome knew about it is that it would be quite complex, and it would involve a lot of waiting and Jerome's expertise. He didn't know if he should look forward to it or not.

Furthermore, Eggman had told him that he never really intended to blow up the Earth with the Eclipse Cannon. After all, he couldn't build the Eggman Empire on something that has been blown to bits. That made Jerome feel so much better about his fate. Eggman wasn't going to betray him like that after all.

An hour later, his phone rang again. Jerome thought it was Eggman with another call, but when he picked up his phone from the desk, he saw that the caller was unknown. With trembling fingers, he answered the call.

"H-Hello…?" Jerome apprehensively asked.

"Is this Jerome Wise?" a masked voice asked.

"Uh… Y-Yes it is," Jerome said, hoping he wouldn't regret saying that.

"I'm an ex-GUN operative, and I'd like to make a proposal."

Jerome already regretted saying that. He was about to hang up, but something inside told him not to. He was interested in hearing what his proposal was. Furthermore, this seemed a bit familiar to him.

"Uh… Did you say GUN…?"

"Ex-GUN. I'm a former operative. I got laid off last month due to allegations surrounding the origins of the GUN robots we received."

"So they found out about them?" Jerome asked against his better judgment.

"Yes. Commissioner Perrault of Station Square raised the alarm when he realized something was off about them, and he traced them back to CLIP Colonel Passer. You may have heard about the scandal that happened."

"Yes. Passer got arrested, and at least fifty other GUN soldiers got fired."

"I was one of those soldiers, Jerome, and I managed to do in a week what the rest of GUN couldn't do in a month. I was able to trace the origins of the GUN robots beyond Colonel Passer, as far as not just Eggman, but the only person associated with him who could have any form of contact with Passer: you."

Jerome felt a pang of dread. He felt like his crimes were being exposed. This person knew about where the GUN robots really came from!

"Uh… Why are you telling me this? Who are you?"

There was a pause.

"Call me the Organizer."

This seemed very different than what Jerome expected. But he still didn't have a reason to trust him yet.

"I have made contact with several other individuals who share a mutual hatred of Sonic the Hedgehog and those closely affiliated with him for various reasons, I myself being one of those individuals. And with your access to Dr. Eggman's technology, you are the most prominent person I have had contact with so far. So here's the deal. I want you to join my organization. Together we can put an end to Sonic."

"Um…" That was a very big offer the Organizer had given him. He didn't know if he could do it. However, it was very tempting, since he hated Sonic, and Eggman's goal was to defeat him. But did Jerome want to defeat Sonic? He wasn't sure.

"I… That's tempting…"

"Should anything go wrong with you and Eggman, we will do everything in our power to offer you protection from Eggman."

"Um… Okay…? So… I would join you, but the government's out looking for me, and-"

"Trust me, we'll make the means to protect you from them too."

"Okay…" Jerome was still uncertain, but now he was interested in potentially having revenge on Sonic with like-minded people, even at the risk of Eggman finding out. Even if Eggman got rid of him, he could still have a chance against Sonic.

"So, what do I do to join?"

"You're going to meet your new comrades in the basement of the house that we're currently using as a temporary headquarters."

As he gave the address, Jerome wrote it down on a memo paper, then put it in his pocket so Eggman or his robots wouldn't find out about it.

"Great. I'll organize everyone else to meet there on the day after Christmas at 7pm."

"So does everyone in your group have a personal vendetta against Sonic, and you brought them together because they all have something in common?"

"Exactly. The purpose of my organization is to monitor the aliens' movements and neutralize them aas quickly as possible, because they are overrunning society as we know it."

"True, true," Jerome said, feeling a little bit calmer now. "So who all is in your group?"

"It may be better for you to be surprised, but let's just say there are quite a few familiar faces," the Organizer said.

"Okay," Jerome said. "Then I accept. I'll be there, but I'll call you back if Eggman needs me on that day."

"Very well," the Organizer responded. "But you must swear that you will not tell Eggman or anyone else about us, this call, or any of our motives."

"I swear," Jerome said calmly.

"Good. Then I anticipate your arrival in two days."

Jerome let out a sigh as the Organizer hung up. At least he would get Christmas Day off.

He was not expecting anything like that call. Apparently he was not the only person out there who had a big distrust in Sonic like he did. It was true, Sonic was overrunning society, and he played a part in him getting fired. Even though the real reason was everyone's knowledge that he was working with Eggman, he felt like it stemmed from Sonic destroying Eggman's old base. It was Sonic, not GUN, who did it. He believed that they were going to overrun not just America, but the world, from that day on.

It was going to be interesting from here on out.


A/N: And that concludes "Robotnik's Revenge" and "Showdown In Space"! Apologies if some parts of this chapter came off a bit rushed, but I did my best to make it not look as rushed.

I have to admit, it was way harder to plan and write the Shadow Saga than it was to write the Chaos Saga, and that's not even mentioning how it took me literally a year (and a whole lot of writer's block) to plan episodes 36, but I'm glad it's finally out of my way. Like I promised before, I'm not gonna go on any more hiatuses for this story; any breaks I take are unplanned. From now on, it's full speed ahead to finish this story!

I originally considered having the first scene of this chapter be the last scene of the last chapter, but I wanted to stay true to the original episode and end the last chapter with Sonic and friends going into space.

Speaking of Sonic and friends going into space, I thought it would be a lot of fun to have a zero gravity scene where everyone floats around for a bit XD

I also wanted to explain how the Phantom Ruby got so strong since Sonic Forces. As for the Corona Corundum, you'll learn more about it in future chapters.

I wanted to keep the scene where Shadow attacks Chris, but I didn't like how Tanaka prevented Amy from helping him, so that was one of the first things I wanted to change. I was originally going to replace Tanaka with Matt, but later decided not to because Tanaka didn't do anything on the ARK, which means Matt wouldn't have done anything either, so I removed them from the scene.

And yes, I know a lot of people were upset that Chris stole Amy's scene where she would have convinced Shadow that not all humans are bad. I wanted Chris to still try to get Shadow to change, except he's more frontal about it here. Amy doesn't try because she knows it wouldn't work, since Shadow isn't real.

I planned on having Super Sonic and Super Shadow fight since the early planning stages. And I was originally going to have Tails explain the story with Maria in this chapter, but I decided it would have been better for Rouge to do it in the last chapter.

Also, if you're a die-hard Sonic fan who's read all the comics, you may have an idea what's going on with the last scene, but if not… you're in for a surprise ;)

Just a heads up, this isn't the end of the Shadow Saga quite yet! The next two chapters will be a two-part interlude that will serve as the epilogue for the Shadow Saga, one of which is a partial rewrite of episode 39. They're gonna be short (maybe 6-8k words), so expect them to come quickly.

Also, I don't remember the last time I had the ending author's notes be this long XD

Next time in Chaos on Earth: Christmas with Sonic and friends, and tying up some loose ends! Don't miss it!