A/N: WHAT ARE THE ODDS.

Okay, last chapter I had Sonic and the gang go to IHOP, and not even a few days later in real life, the official Sonic & IHOP promotion was leaked! For the record, I first started planning that scene on May 31, 2023, but I did not plan for this perfect timing! XD

Also, I finished creating the cover art for the upcoming Metarex Saga rewrite! I'll post a teaser for it in the coming weeks ;)

This chapter was originally finished on March 13! Here is part three of the Operation Endgame Saga!

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


13 Reviews

Monster King

Not even a minute after I posted the chapter, you have impeccable timing! Here is the next chapter!

Super duper waffles

1: Mobius does have a few regions that resemble Mexico and Japan, but they're not as well-known as other places like Chun-nan or Spagonia. The closest I can think of for now are certain parts of Northamer and Yurashia, the latter of which Espio is from.

2: After some careful research, Matt took Delta Airlines from Station Square back to Minneapolis. It's also the same airline he used to get to Station Square a few days before in the previous chapter.

3: They're currently dealing with other aspects of the United States' security, so they're leaving it up to GUN to deal with most things regarding Eggman. However, they're currently being kept busy hunting for Dr. Eggman since he went into hiding, especially now that his robots were seen at the tournament.

4: Assuming that Sonic fan has seen Sonic X, they would probably already know about GUN and Station Square existing there from Sonic X, but it would still feel like a big mystery. However, it might come as a shock that the Sonic franchise doesn't exist there, and yet everything else seems to be in perfect working order.

danielman21

That was one of my favorite scenes to write lately :) I know I've written similar scenes before, but sometimes Chris needs some extra momentum to keep him going. And yeah, that was rude of the GUN robots to shoot them down :(

On the bright side, I think you're especially gonna like this chapter!

blazenight01

I can always make an edit regarding that later, but maybe Sam could still receive government funding since he did work in a government job after all.

That's true, they always hang out with Danny, Frances, and Helen and take them on adventures in between chapters :) The only reason I haven't added that in the chapters themselves is because it would be filler material otherwise. I did, however, have an interaction between Tails and Helen several chapters ago, and they went bowling together. And they definitely told their parents about their adventures during dinner :)

Guest

I can see Chris using a suit kind of like Tony Stark, though not at first since he would still be learning the ropes of being in space in another dimension (did I use that phrase right?) But yeah, Chris going full Tony Stark could allow him to gain some agility and keep up with his friends. However, since he's still human, maybe using the suit for too long could lead to some repercussions like him having his energy drained.

As for Blaze and Silver, you'll just have to wait and see ;)

Five-Chosen (first review)

Since the captain is always the last to leave the ship, that will definitely explain why he's still at the ship throughout the episode. As for Cosmo, maybe she stayed behind because it was too dangerous.

It makes sense that the Planet Egg was already taken considering the planet is already pretty bare bones, and the Metarex don't care because they plan to forestate the planet and get rid of everyone on the planet anyway.

If Blaze does appear, I really like the idea of her being missing, and it could take a while for anyone to find her. Royalty doesn't seem to matter to creatures as evil as the Metarex.

Five-Chosen (second review)

I still need to familiarize myself with the Sonic Rush games, so I actually didn't know that the Chaos and Sol Emeralds being together was what was pulling the Sol Dimension and Sonic's dimension together! Which means if I have the Sol Emeralds appear, them being in close proximity to each other could not only attract or repel each other, but they could also bring destruction that not even the Metarex could control!

For this story in particular, while Earth is in a parallel universe to Mobius, they're not connected in the same way Mobius and Blaze's planet are connected. This is why there's no paradox that merges the two worlds in this story, and therefore no Freedom Movement. And I haven't thought about the opposite being true with Chris' belongings and spaceship being sent to Mobius! That could cause time stagnation as well. And it's very possible that Eggman was lying in episode 78.

I definitely plan on giving a satisfactory ending to this story! And yeah, it's very possible he could have been sent to yet another universe. There were too many unanswered questions at the end of Sonic X.

gregorian12

I still don't know too much about Eggman Nega, so he'll probably not appear in this story, and besides, the second half of the Metarex Saga is still well in the early planning phases.

Five-Chosen (third review)

Eggman coming from Earth is one thing, but if Mobius has no humans otherwise, then where did the humans in SA1, SA2, Shadow, 06, and Unleashed come from? And also, if Eggman came from Earth, then the logical conclusion is Maria, Professor Gerald, and Shadow did too. This is why I prefer the one-world theory over the two-world theory, because it makes a lot more sense that way, even if the official media don't have a lot of humans.

Grogarion12

It does make a lot more sense that Eggman Nega is from the same future as Silver as well as being the descendant of Eggman. I learn something new about the Sonic franchise every day!

blazenight01 & Bloodrick

Humans and Mobians inhabiting different parts of one planet makes SO much more sense than other theories people have come up with over the years! I mean, it's probably more likely to see Mobians living in human cities than the other way around, but maybe the reason we didn't see humans in Forces is because Eggman only took over the Mobian parts of Mobius. I don't know if we'll see humans return in the games, but at least we know they can appear again if they are officially part of the same planet. I think Sonic X is the main catalyst of the two-world theory in my opinion.

CreativeKitty975

If you thought the last chapter was intense, then hang onto your seat.

Here is the next chapter!


Chapter 48
Original Episode
Ride of the Valkyries


Jennings State Forest – Mon March 20 – Chris' POV

My eyes slowly drifted open who knew how much longer later. I felt something tugging on my body, which further helped to wake me out of unconsciousness. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw a pair of yellow-orange arms pulling me out of what I recognized as the wreckage of the X-Tornado.

I didn't realize until I started to leave my seat that I felt sore all over. I saw that the airbags went off, so I was lucky I wasn't hurt any more than I was.

"D-Did we get shot down?" I asked as Tails finished pulling me out of the plane, awkwardly catching me before setting me down on the ground. I was a bit wobbly, but I could still stand.

"Yup…" Tails told me as he looked up at his damaged plane. "I don't know who ambushed us. I know it's not Eggman… Actually, you know? I think it's that one group of people who stole the GUN robots."

As he stood there thoughtfully, I looked over as Amy pulled a shaking Cream and her Chao out of the back seat of the X-Tornado. The poor bunny was trying not to cry, but I could tell that she was trying her best to be strong for herself and all of us.

"Wh-What do we do now...?" Cream asked once she was back on solid ground.

Amy let out a frustrated sigh. "Sonic's not picking up," she said.

"He's probably out of range," Tails said as he opened his own comlink. I checked my own comlink to see if anyone was in range. I saw the dots representing Tails, Amy, Cream. However, I couldn't see the dot for Knuckles.

"Knuckles? Can you hear me? Knuckles?" Tails spoke somewhat urgently. However, there was no answer.

"I saw him getting hit with a laser," I said. "It looked like it knocked him out."

"That would explain a few things," Tails noted.

"We should try and find him, he fell somewhere back that way," Amy said, pointing in the direction we had come from, or so I assumed since I had lost consciousness.

"Then let's go find him," Tails said. He spun his tails and flew ahead of us, leading the way through the forest.

Curtains of sunlight illuminated our way through the treetops, and the shade the trees provided was a lot cooler than the rest of Station Square we had been in earlier. I had to be careful not to trip on any tree roots and undergrowth, since we were in the middle of the forest and not on any of the pathways.

The whole time, Tails occasionally checked his comlink, and I found myself doing the same in case Sonic ever came back into view. Unfortunately, neither Sonic nor Knuckles were anywhere to be found.

I felt uneasy about the whole thing. I would honestly feel better if it was Eggman who had ambushed us, but deep down, I knew it wasn't him.

"I see a bear over there," Tails pointed out cautiously. Sure enough, when I looked up, there was a black bear far away from us. Fortunately, I knew what to do in a bear encounter, and it helped that I wasn't alone.

"Maybe we should go this way," I said, gesturing away from the bear.

"Okay," Amy nodded as they followed me.

The four of us made it safely away from the bear, and I continued looking between my comlink and the bear behind us to make sure we were still a safe distance away from it.

"Yipe!" Cream yelped from behind me. I looked to see her picking herself up from the ground.

"You okay?" Amy asked.

"Mm-hmm, I just tripped," she replied, dusting off her orange dress. But out of the corner of my eye, I could see the bear suddenly bolting through the forest, fleeing from something I couldn't see.

"Oh, the bear's running away from something…?" I said.

"Hm?" Cream sounded confused as she looked back in the direction of the bear.

"It must've been spooked by something," Amy speculated with a shrug.

"Look out!" Tails exclaimed, suddenly pointing in front of us. I looked to see several GUN robots approaching us, specifically Beetles and Flying Dogs. Some of the Beetles whipped right past my face, making me flinch and forcing me to take a step back. I could feel the wind from their rapid motion.

"W-We're surrounded," I reported, looking around at all the Beetles cornering us from the front, back, and all sides, preventing any chance of escape. Sure, Tails and Cream could probably fly us straight up, but I was sure that our enemies had that base covered as well.

Suddenly I became aware of a rumbling sound approaching us, and Amy summoned her hammer from Hammerspace in preparation. Whole trees fell in the distance as a GUN Valkyrie made its way toward us. It stopped about fifty feet away from where we were standing.

I had seen them on TV, as well as when I was a hostage in the Eggsterminator, but it looked so much bigger in person. The low rumble of its engine was deafening, almost like standing next to the X-Tornado's engines when it was running in a closed space like the first time I heard its engine, and I almost had to cover my ears. I was scared, and I could tell that Cream and Tails were too. Amy, however, was on edge, and she looked like she was trying to be brave for all of us.

A voice boomed out of the Valkyrie's loudspeaker, obviously directed at us.

"Miles 'Tails' Prower, I order you to come with us immediately!"

Looking in Tails' direction, I could tell that his pupils were shrinking slightly in fear.

"Why are you singling him out?" Amy demanded.

"I don't even know who you are!" Tails defiantly stated, taking up a fighting stance.

"Heh… Who I am is not important, but what is important is I'm part of a society that's dedicated to maintaining the status quo, and you guys are in the way of that."

"Um, what does… 'status quo' mean?" Cream asked, looking up at the rest of us.

"That means everything that's normal," Tails briefly explained, his gaze not leaving the massive vehicle in front of us.

"That's right," the Valkyrie driver said. I couldn't tell if he was trying to condescend Tails or not. "You furries are changing what being 'normal' is on this planet, just by existing."

Amy's cheeks puffed out indignantly. "Do you have any clue what a furry even is?!" Without waiting for an answer, she took a step forward, holding her hammer ready for battle. "I won't let you have Tails, not while I'm here!"

"Oh, we'll find a way," the voice said. He sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn't place where I heard him before. "Besides, without Sonic and Knuckles around, I don't think you guys will be too tough."

Amy smirked. "Wanna try us?"

Taking a few running steps forward, she leaped toward the gigantic tank and hammered it with all her might. As satisfying as the metallic clanging impact was to hear, nothing happened. There wasn't even a dent in its armor.

"What'd you think was gonna happen?" the voice laughed. "This thing is made of tungsten!"

"Actually," Tails stated, holding up a finger, "tungsten is incredibly difficult to mine and manufacture, so it's practically unrealistic to design a whole tank completely out of tungsten, so that's how I know you're bluffing."

The voice chuckled. "You amaze me, kid. This is exactly why we need you. Yeah, it's made of titanium and steel, but it's got tungsten too. Mr. Browning built these things really well."

"Guys…" Tails said cautiously, looking at the rest of us. "We're gonna have to fight."

"Okay," Cream said without a moment's hesitation. She scooped up her Chao, flew into the air, and threw them both at the closest robots to her, destroying them on the spot. Some of the other robots fired at us as Amy and Tails joined the fight.

"You're making a very big mistake…" the Valkyrie pilot warned.

There were so many laser flying around, and I was forced to take a step back so I wouldn't get hurt. I hid behind a tree for about a minute as I watched Tails, Amy, and Cream and her Chao relentlessly fighting off the robots that were surrounding us. I felt a bit left out, and since Tails told me I was one of them, I knew I had to get in on the action somehow.

I took a step back, yelping as a laser almost hit me, but with a grunt, I grabbed the nearest Beetle out of the air. It was a lot heavier than I thought it would me, and I felt it trying to escape my grasp and pull me with it. But I held on tight as it fired recklessly. I was about to throw it onto the ground when one of its lasers shot a hole through another Beetle, causing it to explode on the spot.

I had an idea.

It shot lasers everywhere, and even though it was really difficult for me, I tried to aim it at the other robots. I was able to shoot down five more Beetles before I felt a sudden searing pain in my right leg. I cried out and dropped the Beetle, realizing a Laser Hunter had shot me in the leg.

"No! Mr. Chris!" Cream exclaimed, running over to me and holding me steady so I wouldn't fall.

As Amy worked hard to protect Tails from the increasingly thick horde of robots, the Valkyrie let out a hiss of steam and slowly ground forward toward us. My heart was pounding in my chest.

"Come on," Cream urged, taking my hand and guiding me away from the Valkyrie's direct path. It hurt to walk on my injured leg, so I had to limp, which was incredibly difficult to do with the forest's thick undergrowth.

"Are you okay…?" she asked, her hazel eyes full of concern.

"Chao…?" Cheese added.

"I-I think so…" I winced, leaning against a tree so I could rest. "But m-my leg feels like it's on fire."

"You were very brave, Mr. Chris," Cream said. "I didn't know you could fight like that! But don't worry, we'll work hard to protect you and Mr. Tails, and Cheese and Chocola will help too!"

"Chao chao chao!" the two Chao agreed eagerly.

The sudden sound of laser fire drew our attention back to the fight. Reinforcements were arriving in the form of Laser Hunters, Shield Hunters, and of course, more Beetles, and they were all firing at Amy and Tails. Both of them were fighting their hardest, and Tails tail-whipped the Beetles into trees, which was quite satisfying to watch, but he was forced to run back as the hailstorm of lasers impacted the ground all around him.

Left with nowhere else to run, Tails was forced to take off into the air. However, four of the nearest Flying Dogs spotted him and gave chase.

"Amy!" he called, trying to guide them away from the fight.

"I'm on it!" Amy called back. But the Flying Dogs were too far away for her to get close in a short amount of time, so she hurled her Piko-Piko Hammer straight toward the robot closest to Tails. The fox flinched from the near impact as the hammer flew past him. However, she missed and the hammer struck the side of the Valkyrie, once again doing no discernible damage.

She ran to retrieve her weapon, but a Big Foot emerged and stepped on her hammer, preventing Amy from getting it. It was flanked by several other robots, and when she ran to get it, the Beetles blasted at her, forcing her to scramble back. She let out a frustrated growl.

"Hey, just an FYI, your desperation is showing," the Valkyrie's pilot told her. "Thought I'd let you know."

"You are not taking Tails," Amy vowed through gritted teeth.

"I don't think you realize this, but it's for the greater good," the voice said. "Either you give us Tails, or we will mow down this entire forest and get him anyway. In the end, it all comes down to how much you respect nature."

Tails had just destroyed roughly a dozen more Beetles and a Laser Hunter using Sonic's spin dash, and it was fairly impressive to watch.

"You're not trying hard enough!" he exclaimed.

"Heh… You know what, you're right."

I watched as all the robots moving away from Amy, completely ignoring her as well as us, and they all gradually converged on Tails, outnumbering him roughly forty to one.

"Ahh! I-I take that back!" Tails squeaked, realizing his mistake.

"Too late."

My face went pale as I watched the Valkyrie's main cannon gradually charging with energy.

"R-Run!" Cream shouted, before flying back in the direction we had come from. I had to limp in order to keep up with her, which was very hard considering she was using her ears to fly, so the undergrowth was not a problem for her like it was for me. I was too scared to look back, so I didn't see if Tails and Amy were following us. But I recognized the attack as the same one that would have destroyed the Egg Fort II with me inside if it weren't for its force field.

I barely had any time to escape before it opened fire. I had never seen or heard anything so blind and deafening at the same time in my life. I collapsed onto the ground, covering my ears as the massive energy beam soared well over my head. Dozens of trees splintered into thousands of pieces. When I dared to look up, still covering my ears, I saw huge branches and tree trunks falling in front of me and all around me. One of them fell a few feet to my right, and I was incredibly lucky to still be alive after that.

Guys… Please be okay… Please…

When I looked around, I saw that the robots were okay at least. All of them had gotten well out of the way of the cannon's radius. But that didn't calm my fears at all.

I heard a yelp from nearby, and I saw two Laser Hunters grabbing Tails from under his arms and carrying him toward the Valkyrie. He was a little far away, but I could tell that he was trying his hardest not to panic.

"They got Tails!" I warned. That was all it took for Amy and Cream to break into a run toward the robots that were carrying him. I tried to follow, but I tripped on a tree root and fell. I reached out my hands and caught myself on the ground just in time.

Sadly, as fast as my friends were, they were too far away to get to Tails in time.

"I-I believe in you guys!" he called. "E-Everything will be okay!" That was the last I saw of Tails before he disappeared inside the back of the Valkyrie, and the massive tank slowly backed up and left us.

Even though I was at the back of the pack, I could tell that Amy was visibly upset, and this drove up her determination even more. She ran forward and reached for her hammer, but the Big Foot that was guarding her hammer took a step toward her, its guns primed.

"Give me my hammer back!" she exclaimed.

From where I was resting, I watched Cream and her Chao flying toward Amy to help her with the Big Foot that was still guarding her hammer.

"They're leaving!" she called. Sure enough, all the nearby robots were following the Valkyrie back where it came from, which I assumed meant we were safe for now. Even the Big Foot that was standing on Amy's hammer stood down and followed the others.

"They probably think we're helpless," I said. It looked like we were helpless, but I knew my friends always had extra tricks up their sleeves when the situation called for it.

"We're not helpless, we just…" Letting out a sigh, she bent down to retrieve her hammer and stored it back in Hammerspace. "Who do those jerks think they are?"

"I don't know," I said, wincing in pain again, and I glanced down at my leg, just now realizing that the laser had ripped a hole in the side of my pants near the bottom. "They don't like how the whole world changed after you guys came."

"I don't get it," Cream said, warily watching the robots as they disappeared from sight. "I thought everyone was happy when we came and stopped Dr. Eggman."

"I guess not everyone thinks we're helping, huh…?" Amy said, standing near Cream. "It's kind of the same back home in a way. Not everyone likes us there either, but at least most people don't go out of their way to harass us like these guys."

"Mr. Chris is hurt…" Cream pointed out. I knew they wouldn't forget about me, but my wound was really stinging now.

"Yeah, I know," Amy said, turning back to my direction and making her way over. "I was just making sure we're safe first. Okay, show me where you're hurt, Chris."

I gingerly reached down and slowly rolled up my pant leg, trying not to cry out as the material of my pants rubbed against the burn wound. As Amy knelt down to get a closer look, I realized this was my first time seeing my injury. Amy and I both winced when we saw the long burnt line on the outside of my right leg. There were actually two holes in my pants; one was an entrance hole and the other an exit hole. I was incredibly lucky the laser didn't draw any blood.

I heard a whimper, and I glanced over to see Cream and the two Chao looking away. I knew they couldn't stand to see anyone hurt.

"That looks bad…" Amy said as she stood up, looking up at me. "I know we have a first-aid kit in the X-Tornado. Do you know how to treat burns?"

I nodded.

"Okay, good," she said. "Listen, I really hate to say this, Chris, but I'm not gonna be able to help get you treated. I have to get Tails out of there ASAP."

That hurt to hear, and it probably hurt her more to say it since I could clearly see the stress in her eyes, but I knew she was right.

"It's okay," I said. "Tails is more important." I wasn't saying that to be negative, but even though I was hurt, in comparison, I was faring much better than he was right now.

"Cream can help you with anything you need," Amy told me, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cream firmly nodding. "In the meantime, I'm going in by myself. You two get back to the plane and wait for me there."

"But it's dangerous," Cream warned, taking a step back in the direction we came from.

"I know," Amy said with a determined smile. "Which is why I have to do this. I'll be okay, don't worry. At least I know you two will be safe this way."

With those words, she raced off into the forest, and the four of us watched her go until she was just a pink speck in the distance.

"Amy is so brave," Cream said, finally taking her eyes off the direction we saw the pink hedgehog disappear in.

"Mhmm…" I said. With a labored breath, I pushed myself off the tree I had been leaning against and limped back toward the wrecked X-Tornado. I had already forgotten how rough the undergrowth was.

"Be careful…" Cream said from right behind me.

"Chao…" Cheese added.

"I know," I said in a hushed tone, trying to ignore the searing pain shooting through my lower leg from the laser blast. I could tell that Cream was watching my every step, and I wanted to be brave for her and her two Chao.

Looking around, I could see fallen trees everywhere, and the air smelled burnt, but luckily I didn't see any fire anywhere, which was good. There were chips of exploded trees from the aftermath of the Valkyrie's massive laser blast, and as we passed them, I saw that they were even bigger than I thought. Some of the wood chips were the size of my head!

I suppressed a yelp of pain as the burn mark flared up. I wasn't going to let my weakness show in front of a child who was half my age, even if she had been through many harrowing adventures before with her friends. However, this didn't seem to prevent her from noticing anyway, because she scrambled forward a few steps across fallen logs and tree roots to get closer to me.

"I'm a little nervous, I never tried treating a burn before," I said, carefully stepping over another root on the uneven ground.

"Please be careful," Cream warned. "I don't want it to get worse."

"Do we have water in the X-Tornado?" I asked.

Cream thought for a moment. "I think so…?" she said, sounding unsure. With Amy's help, Tails was always prepared for any situation, so I was sure we had water in one of the side compartments.

I heard Cheese and Chocola calling from ahead of us, and I looked up to see the two Chao pointing somewhere up ahead.

"What are they saying, Cream?" I asked as they made their way back to us.

"They found the X-Tornado!" Cream announced, picking up the pace a little. I tried to run toward the plane by myself, but every time I moved, my pant leg rubbed against my burn, irritating it. It was quite painful, so I was forced to slow down again.

When I got to the plane, I looked for the small door on the left side where our accessories and spare Chaos Emeralds were kept. The fuselage was a bit crunched from our rough landing, so I hoped we would all be able to leave the forest together without inconveniencing anyone. But looking at the state the plane was in, I had serious doubts about leaving before dark, even if we got Tails back and he fixed the plane.

I found the door and slid my hand under the latch to open it. I was easily able to locate the first-aid kit; it was hard to miss since it had a red cross on it. Pulling it out, I looked around inside for some water. A few seconds later, I finished rummaging around and pulled out a small bottle of water, but it was just enough for me to treat my own injury. However, I wasn't sure if I could pull it off the way Ella did.

I sat down on a nearby tree stump and gently rolled up my pant leg. I remembered from school that if I got a burn, running cold water over the burn was the first thing to do. I didn't know if the water in the bottle was cold enough, but it had to do.

I hissed in pain as the water made contact with the burn, but after I used up about a third of the bottle, I finally stopped. Taking a deep breath, I waited a moment before opening the first-aid kit. There were a lot of things in there that didn't make sense to me, but at least I knew what the bandages looked like.

I knew that whenever I got cuts or scrapes when I was younger, Ella always put antibiotic cream on first before the bandage. So I was able to locate the small tube of antibiotic cream and gently apply it to my burn. Cheese helped me to choose a bandage and stick it over the burn.

"All better?" Cream asked me as she and Chocola returned to my side.

"Yeah," I said as I rolled my pant leg back down and carefully stood up. Fortunately my injury didn't hurt as much anymore. "I never thought I would get shot with a laser, but…" I trailed off, not knowing where I was going with that thought. "So do we wait here until Amy comes back?"

"I think so," Cream said with a small shrug.

"Okay," I responded.

My eyes darted around the forest, from the many destroyed trees in the distance, to the even greater amount of trees that were still standing immediately near us. The power of the Valkyrie's main cannon was incredible, but at least the X-Tornado was not in its path. If it was, I knew we were good as trapped in the forest.

Even though we had been in a battle minutes before, I could still hear the occasional chirping of birds in the trees high above us. It almost didn't feel natural, considering the fact that we were in a powerful enemy's territory right now.


The Egg Dome – Mon March 20 – Third-person POV

Tails' eyes rapidly darted around at his surroundings as the blonde-haired man took him into the Egg Dome, laser pistol pointed at his back. The man didn't seem to look familiar, but he knew he was the one who was driving the Valkyrie.

Even though he knew he was trapped, he didn't try to fight back against his captors. The dome he was in was airtight, and escape seemed all but impossible. Even if he were able to make it outside, there was still the issue of all the robots protecting the dome. Even though he was a bit scared, he was trying not to show it, even though his ears drooped a little. He was instead focusing on studying his surroundings.

While he wanted to ask the man guiding him into the dome why he was wanted, he knew he would find out sometime soon, even if no one told him. Even if no one gave off any subtle hints. Even though Tails was just a kid, his high IQ allowed him to pick up on subtle emotions that a lot of other Mobians and humans alike didn't seem to show clearly. Although, he wasn't as good at detecting emotions as Sonic was.

"Hope you're not planning on escaping anytime soon," the man told him. "This dome is pretty much impenetrable. So yeah, you're done. Your friends can't get in here."

Tails blinked. "Then how did you get in here to begin with?" he asked.

The man laughed. "It's 2023, we use remote controls. Also GUN left the door open and we walked right in. I'm surprised you're not asking the real questions here, Tails," the man said without looking at him.

"I don't have to," Tails shrugged. "I figure you guys will tell me anyway."

"Fair," the man said.

It only took about twenty more seconds until Tails was taken to the main control room. It was dimly lit with screens and control panels everywhere. Several more men were gathered in the room. But what caught his attention the most was on the other side of the room in the back.

Tails gasped.

"Tails!"

"Knuckles!" Tails exclaimed as he ran toward the echidna, who was secured to the back wall with metal brackets. "They got you too… Did they hurt you?"

"Not yet," a sinister voice spoke up. Tails looked up in surprise to see a grinning man standing there. "Boy howdy, I missed being a prison warden. I'm finally back in my element."

"Umm…" Tails said, taking a defensive stance in front of Knuckles. "A-Are you the same guy who almost… b-broke Sonic at Superior?"

There was no missing the worry and dread in Tails' voice. The man chuckled, leaning against the nearby wall.

"Oh, you should have seen the look on Sonic's face the whole time he was cooped up in there. The face of fear, the sensation of knowing he's finally on the receiving end of justice. Yup, you're lookin' at him." He spead his arms wide. "And you're also looking at the biggest organization in the world that's devoted to ridding this world of everything that ever came from Mobius; namely, Sonic, Dr. Eggman, and of course, you guys. We are the Society for Observing and Neutralizing Interdimensional Creatures and Xenomorphs!"

Knuckles tried to suppress a laugh, but he was quickly unable to and it escaped anyway.

"Stop! This is serious!" the man exclaimed. However, this only made Knuckles laugh even harder, and even Tails joined in.

"It's an acronym!" Tails said between giggles. "It spells Sonic X!"

"But why 'X'?" Knuckles asked, taking a few deep breaths. "That supposed to be an anime or something?"

"In the name of justice, stop laughing and listen to me!" the man shouted, not getting red in the face. Tails and Knuckles finally stopped laughing at the group's ridiculous name.

Over the next two minutes, the man, who introduced himself as Howard Watcher, explained to the two Mobians who they were and what their motives were. They had all gotten together because Sonic had ruined their lives in one way or another. They also mentioned that Jerome was one of them too before his arrest.

"But that doesn't explain why you captured me and Knuckles," Tails said, before becoming a little braver. "Besides, my friends know I'm in here and they're coming to rescue us right now!"

"I think not," Watcher said knowingly. "In case you haven't noticed, this place is unimaginably more impenetrable than Superior ever was. It withstood so many attacks, to say nothing of our GUN forces outside."

"So you're the guys who stole the GUN robots," Tails deduced.

"Well, obviously," Narasu explained. "And we also engineered the appliance attack last month as well as the breakout of Colonel Passer."

"That explains so much…" Tails said.

"All right, enough explaining our motives like Batman villains and let's get to the point already," Passer called from the other side of the room.

Narasu nodded. "Right, so long story short, one of our robots is broken and we need you two to fix it."

"You're asking the wrong guy," Knuckles said. "And even if I was a mechanic, you know I'd never fix any of your stuff."

"I didn't tell you everything yet, you'll get your turn," Narasu told him.

Tails took a few deep breaths, doing his best to stay calm in this situation.

"Okay…" he said at last. "Can you show us the robot?"

"There we go, first intelligent question you've asked this whole trip!" Dragg "praised". "For someone who claims to have Eggman's IQ, I was getting disappointed."

Tails tried not to let any of his nervous tics show in front of the Society. It was hard to not instinctively hold the tip of one of his tails, but he couldn't stop his ears from drooping. That nasty comment was not necessary. If there was one thing he hated, it was being belittled. However, he also held back the urge to fire off a retort like Sonic usually would in this situation.

"We know your kind," Passer said. "Our friend Mr. Browning told us you like to try and escape when the odds are not in your favor, and that you also like to break things, including security devices that cost tens of thousands of dollars each. So… do you promise not to escape?"

"No promises," Knuckles said with a grin.

"Wasn't talking to you," Passer told him. "But that goes especially for you regardless."

"All right, Tails, let's go," Narasu told the fox, who took one last look back at Knuckles before following the man further into the base. They entered what looked like a workshop, and Tails had to stop himself from getting too enamored at all the tools that were in there, especially since he was a prisoner in an enemy base.

"The guest of honors is here," Narasu announced to the room's sole occupant, whom Tails assumed was Ray Browning. He was bent over a robot of some sort, looking into its inner panels. Browning looked up.

"Huh, you're shorter than I thought," Browning remarked.

"I'm only two-foot-eleven–" he started to say under his breath, when he gasped. "Th-That's an Eggman robot! E-101 Beta I think, but somehow it looks a lot different. Is that a new cannon? I've never seen Eggman use cannons like that one before! Wow, you really made a lot of changes! And that's a saw arm! I don't see Eggman use saws on his robots too much either!"

"Yup. Beta Mk. III," Browning explained once he found a break in Tails' geeking out. "A robot we reverse-engineered to serve us. Sometimes it's necessary to fight fire with fire."

"And you want me to fix this?" Tails asked, inspecting the robot closer. "You didn't tell me what's wrong with it."

"For some reason, it lost the ability to detect Chaos Emeralds," Browning said, and Tails' eyes widened slightly. "We were out hunting for the Emeralds, and then it just somehow lost the ability out of nowhere."

"So you know how to engineer Chaos Emeralds…?" Tails asked.

"Not entirely," Browning said, "but we know the basics at least. And this is where you come in. Open the control panel."

"But I don't have my tools with me," Tails said, stalling for time.

"There are tools here you can use," Browning told him as he grabbed a heavy toolbox and set it down next to Tails. "Now get to work. We don't have a lot of time.

Tails bent down and hesitantly used a screwdriver to open Beta's back hatch. Once the panel was off, he carefully inspected its inner workings. Everything seemed to be in order, but after about two minutes of scanning all the connections, he noticed a few wires connecting to the wrong places, and the wrong kind of capacitors were used.

"So what'd you find out?" Browning asked when Tails finally looked up.

"Just a few missing parts," Tails reported. "And also, the capacitors are not big enough to store the kind of energy the Chaos Emerald is capable of."

Tails' excellent hearing detected Browning muttering under his breath.

"So does this mean we'll need a part we don't have?" Browning asked.

"Not necessarily," Tails said, looking up from his work. "I could just add a few more capacitors. That'll have to do as a workaround until we get something more powerful."

"All right, I'll go get them," Browning said as he walked to a set of drawers on the other side of the room and rummaged around inside it for a moment.

"Did I hear you guys mention a Chaos Emerald?" Knuckles called from outside the room.

"There is a Chaos Emerald," Narasu said from near where Knuckles was fastened to the wall. "While Tails is busy fixing the robot for us, we need you to check and see if the Emerald lost its power. And don't play dumb, we know you can detect Chaos Emeralds."

"Okay, but… why would it have lost its power?" Knuckles asked, realizing this man was smarter than he thought.

"Don't ask questions, just obey us," Narasu told him as he released the metal brackets binding him to the wall. Knuckles stretched before he felt Narasu's laser pistol prod him in the back. "Move."

A moment later, Knuckles saw Tails tinkering inside the robot's circuitry in the middle of the lab.

"Well, I definitely sense it…" Knuckles said as he bent down next to the fox and looked at the Emerald. "Okay… Huh, I see the problem. This is a fake Emerald."

"Huh?" Tails looked up in surprise and confusion. He was about to say something when Knuckles secretly winked at him, something he rarely did, but it was a signal that Tails understood before he went back to his work.

"You're lying," Browning told him, looking right at Knuckles. "We used this Emerald to return here from Diamond Stadium, I was there. And only real Emeralds are capable of Chaos Control."

"Are you sure?" Knuckles asked. "Because Sonic used a fake to Chaos Control, and it saved his life."

"How do you… How are you able to tell the difference?" Browning asked, starting to feel a bit frustrated.

"Short answer, meditation," Knuckles said. "Long answer, I spend hours every day with the Master Emerald, and over time my mind has been fine-tuned to the power and will of Chaos, though there's a bit more to it than that."

Browning sighed in agitation. "Stop spouting nonsense!" he exclaimed. "I'm gonna ask you again, is it real or fake?"

"Hey guys, can I have some concentration please?" Tails asked, looking up at Knuckles and Browning.

Browning and Narasu looked at each other, before the former shrugged.

"Fine, but we will be watching you," Browning said before he and his companion left the room. Knuckles grinned at Tails the moment the two men were out of sight.

"I think I messed with their minds a bit," he said, trying not to let his glee show too much.

"Do they really think they know the Emeralds better than you do?" Tails asked incredulously.

"I don't know, but I get the impression these guys are sure gullible," Knuckles said with a smirk, glancing in the direction of the doorway. "They think this Emerald is fake now!"

"Haha, that was really clever," Tails said with a smile.

"Just wanted to throw 'em off their game for a bit," Knuckles said. "But yeah, these guys are cocky, they're not like Eggman."

"Depending on how you look at it, that could be a bad thing too," Tails noted.

He was just about to return to his work when his ears twitched at a sound outside, and he strained to hear what it was. It sounded like… struggling?

"Lemme go!" he heard Amy protest as she came into view, being restrained by Li Yan and Narasu. "My friends are in here and we'll kick your butts like there's no tomorrow! That's a promise!"

"Empty threats," Li Yan laughed as he and Narasu promptly secured her to the nearby wall with metal brackets. She was protesting and struggling the whole time, even though it was in vain. Tails noticed that her comlink was not on her wrist. The Society had taken it, just like how they took Tails and Knuckles' comlinks.

Once Amy was on the wall, Narasu entered the room Knuckles and Tails were in.

"All right, you're next, Knuckles," Narasu told him, holding out his hand. However, Knuckles let out a snarl.

"In your dreams, punk!" he roared before rearing his fist back and sending it flying into Narasu's chest, sending him flying across the room. He slammed into the opposite wall next to Amy with a crunch. Then the echidna ran toward Li Yan, but he quickly reached for his laser pistol and fired a laser straight into his shoulder, immobilizing him. Knuckles collapsed to the ground.

"Knuckles!" Amy and Tails exclaimed at the same time.

"'Resistance is futile' isn't exactly a throwaway phrase, you know," Browning said as he reentered the lab's entrance. "We will take extreme measures if we have to. Now get on the wall."

As Browning and Li Yan secured Knuckles to the wall to Amy's right, Tails felt dread in the pit of his stomach. Now there was no one out there who could save them, Sonic had no idea what was going on, and Chris and Cream were not strong enough to make it through the fortress' outer defenses.

"You set for stun, right?" Browning asked Li Yan as he inspected Narasu's injuries. He didn't seem to have any broken bones surprisingly, but the wind was knocked out of him.

Li Yan took a hesitant look at his gun before looking back up at Browning.

"No…?"

"What's wrong with you?! We're supposed to keep the prisoners alive! Now we have an injured echidna on our hands!"

"Just a fur wound," Knuckles shrugged.

"Doesn't matter! Li Yan, we are gonna get in so much trouble for this," Browning said as he stormed back into the lab. "All right Tails, show me what you got."

He spent a moment inspecting Beta's circuitry, and if Tails had to be honest, he wasn't expecting Browning to actually come and inspect it. He hoped he wouldn't be busted for any of the changes he made.

"Okay, good, good," he nodded. "Let's switch it on."

"Eggman always makes his robots sentient," Tails pointed out. "So why do you need a switch?"

"Control, in case it gets out of hand," Browning said. "We can also activate him remotely. Now let's turn it on not stall for time any longer, okay? That kind of thing makes me suspicious."

Tails hesitantly nodded before turning on the robot. Browning grabbed his nearby tablet and looked at it.

"All right, you did good," Browning said. "It's picking up two Chaos Emeralds nearby. Probably from the plane we shot down. All right, you served your purpose." He reached for Tails' arm and pulled him to his feet. "Let's get you on the wall with the others."

Tails knew he would most likely meet a similar fate to Knuckles if he tried to resist, so he let Browning take him to the wall, and he and Li Yan secured him on the other side of Amy.

"Organizer's calling!" Passer called from the other room.

"Coming!" Browning called back as he and Li Yan helped Narasu up and carried him into the Egg Dome's medical ward. Then they promptly arrived in the main control room where the rest of the Society were gathered.

"…Wait, where's Kai?" Dragg asked.

"Knuckles punched him, so we took him to the medical ward," Browning responded. "It's a wonder he didn't shatter any ribs."

"Then why'd you leave him there? He needs medical care ASAP!" Dragg exclaimed.

"We'll fill you in after, just go," Passer told them.

With a nod, Browning left the room. No one in the Society was a doctor, but Browning did have at least a little skill when it came to first-aid. When he was out of the room, Watcher tapped the button to answer the call, and the Organizer appeared on the screen.

"I just received a report that CLIP has finished evaluating the area surrounding the Egg Carrier," he said. "You have eight hours to commandeer it before CLIP does. In other words, it's time to move out."

"Yes, sir," Passer said.

"Uh, we have a couple things to report ourselves," Dragg said. "Knuckles, Tails, and Amy are officially our prisoners now, but one of them hurt Narasu pretty bad."

"Let me guess, Knuckles?" the Organizer asked.

Dragg nodded. "Yeah. I heard the whole thing go down, he was a feisty one." Li Yan nodded his agreement.

"This complicates things, but it's nothing you can't handle," the Organizer said. "Prioritize Narasu with immediate medical care, but you might not be able to do much until you're on the Egg Carrier. As for the prisoners, bring them with you, but make sure they are 100% secure. They are extremely dangerous. Do not underestimate them."

Tails was starting to feel hopeless, and straining his next to look at his friends, he could tell they were feeling the same way. The Society felt like Eggman in a way, but they were somehow worse, because he didn't know what to expect from them. He had heard their entire exchange with the Organizer, and he knew he would eventually be taken to the Egg Carrier.

If there was someone capable out there who could rescue him and his friends, he would not be feeling the dread he felt now. However, Sonic was preoccupied with Metal Sonic last time he checked, Chris and Cream were not strong enough to enter the base by themselves, and Tails and his friends' comlinks were taken.

It would take a miracle for them to be rescued.


The Egg Dome – Mon March 20 – Third-person POV

I didn't know how long I had been waiting around in the forest, but it felt like a really long time. Fortunately, I had my phone with me, and I was passing the time by playing Candy Crush, but I felt on edge the whole time. Cream, on the other hand, was exploring the area surrounding us with Cheese and Chocola, looking at the many flowers and wildlife in the forest we were in. None of them seemed to notice that I was anxious.

I finally put my phone away and weighed my options. I knew I couldn't just sit there any longer and wait for everyone, because that would take forever. I already tried calling Amy and Knuckles, but they weren't answering. Sonic was still out of range, so that ruled him out too. I got up and started pacing in anxiety. I felt so helpless!

After about a minute of stressing over the whole situation, I finally thought of something. I ran back to the side compartment of the X-Tornado and opened the door. I felt around inside before pulling out the Chaos Emerald we had found in the desert.

"Chao?"

I jumped, almost dropping the Emerald. Turning around, I saw Chocola looking at me in curiosity, the orb over its head shaped like a question mark. And it seemed like he got the attention of Cream and Cheese, who quickly made their way over once they saw me.

"What are you doing, Mr. Chris?" Cream asked me, before approaching a little closer. "Why are you holding the Chaos Emerald?"

"Um…" I struggled to form the words since I was now put on the spot. "Y-You're probably gonna think I'm crazy doing this, but I think I came up with a plan to rescue our friends."

"Please don't, Mr. Chris!" Cream said in worry, placing both of her hands on my arm holding the Emerald and trying to get me to lower it. "You can't handle it, you might die! A-And their base is surrounded by lots of robots!"

"Y-Yeah, I know," I said, nervously holding onto the Chaos Emerald. "But this is probably the only way we can save everyone, because I already tried calling everyone else and they're not answering. Which means…" I swallowed. "Which means we're the only ones who can do this."

"Hm…" Cream frowned as she let go of me and looked in the direction of the base, even though I couldn't see it from where we were. "It's dangerous, but…" She looked back at me, an adventurous smile on her face. "Cheese and Chocola and I can help you."

"Thanks," I said, attempting to smile back. I knew her well enough that she wasn't going to let me go into the forest alone. And now that I thought about it, I didn't want to go in alone.

So Cream and I set off into the forest together, and Cheese and Chocola fluttered near our heads as we went, all the while looking for any incoming threats. I didn't realize I was practically tiptoeing through the forest until my heart skipped a beat when I stepped on a branch, breaking it.

Cream flapped her ears and took off into the air directly above me, searching everywhere for any incoming robots. Satisfied that there were none, she landed back on the ground next to me.

"Are you scared too, Mr. Chris?" she asked me.

"Y-Yeah," I said, feeling myself grip the Emerald tighter. "But I feel like I have to do this because– because it's the only way we can get out of here alive."

"We can do it together, Chris!" Cream encouraged me. "But we have to be very careful because we don't wanna get captured too."

"Yeah…" I shuddered at that thought.

But when the first robots came into view, I paled. There were so many of them. I couldn't even begin to count them, there had to be hundreds of them! And since I couldn't see the other side of the dome, there were probably even thousands!

I realized I had never done anything like this on my own. Sonic had always talked about breaking into Eggman's bases and sneaking through all the hallways to do different stuff, but I had never done anything like that before, at least not on my own. If anything, this reminded me of the adventure Amy and I went on to free our friends from the ghosts that came from Mobius.

"There are so many of them…" Cream whispered, as if she could read my thoughts.

"Uh, there's a problem…" I said, taking a step back. "How… do we get in? Like, do we set up a distraction or something?"

"Um… I can try to distract them with Cheese and Chocola, but…" She frowned and looked down. "Then we might get caught if we do that."

"And I don't have anything I can protect myself with if something happens to you…" I added, glancing down at the Emerald in my hand.

"This is why we need to work together," Cream said. "Let's go back and talk about how to get inside."

I nodded before taking a few careful steps back to safety. The more trees I could put between myself and the base, the better. Being detected by the robots was the last thing I wanted, especially since I wasn't properly prepared.

"Down here," I motioned to a part of ground that sloped downward away from the main path we had been on. Cream followed me down, and fortunately there was a tree that could hide both of us out of sight of the base for the most part.

"Maybe we can both go in together," Cream said, looking up at me. "And we can protect each other if something bad happens."

"Yeah, that sounds– Actually, um, if they have a trap and we're both together, then they can trap us together, and… I'm not really sure…" I said, doubting that plan.

"Then what else can we do?" Cream asked. "Normally Mr. Sonic and Mr. Tails come up with the plans… This is new for me."

"Me too," I said, looking at the base in the distance. "I know Sonic just kinda wings it, so we may have to do the same thing." I heard a noise in the distance and I froze, but no one came, so I released my breath. "If we go together, we'll be captured, and if we go in different directions, we'll be captured…"

Cream looked up, making sure we were still hiding behind the tree where the robots couldn't see us.

"Maybe we can do both," she whispered.

I blinked. "How?" I asked.

"Remember when we played kick the can last week?" Cream asked me.

"Yeah…?"

"Me and Cheese and Chocola can protect you while you go inside and rescue our friends!" Cream proposed. "Just like when Mr. Tails protected you and got tagged out while you kicked the can!"

Cream had already suggested that before but was having second thoughts about it, but now that she said it again, I started to think it was a good idea.

"What do you think?" Cream asked, her hazel eyes looking at me expectantly.

"I honestly can't think of anything better," I said, looking down at the Chaos Emerald and hoping no one would see it shine. I held onto it as if my life depended on it, which, for all intents and purposes, it did.

"Okay!" Cream said, looking invigorated as she started to stand up, but then she paused. "But you never said how you're going to rescue everyone once you go inside."

I already knew what I was going to do, but now I was hesitating to say it. I slowly lifted the Chaos Emerald.

"I-I'm… gonna use Ch-Chaos Blast to destroy the base from inside," I admitted.

Cream let out a soft gasp, and the emotion orbs above the two Chao's heads morphed into exclamation points.

"You can't do that!" she exclaimed, reaching for the Emerald once again. "I don't wanna see you get hurt, Mr. Chris!"

I was too determined to give in to reason.

"But Sonic was okay that one time he used it," I said, instinctively pulling my hand away. "He was just really tired afterward. Which means if he can do it, so can I!"

Cream was left standing there in surprise, and she took a step back.

"O-Okay," she relented. "But please be careful– Look out!"

And just like that, our cover was blown. In just the past few seconds, several Beetles were hovering over our hiding spot, but Cheese and Chocola wasted no time flying up and brutally impacting the robots with their tiny bodies, destroying them on the spot. I cautiously looked around for my signal to run. There were robots everywhere, and it hurt that I couldn't fight any of them, which meant I had to rely on Cream, Cheese, and Chocola to cover me. That was fine, since it was part of the plan anyway.

"Stay here," Cream told me as she too joined the fight, and I hid behind the tree. I watched the three of them destroying the nearest robots. Even Laser Hunters were falling victim to their teamwork. Cream was only six years old, and she could fight like the best of them. I was honestly impressed. Fortunately none of the Valkyries were active, which meant the mission was not as hard as it could be, but it was already hard enough.

"Go!" I heard Cream shout from up ahead in the air. She was looking urgently at me and pointing straight at the base.

I hesitated for a moment to question my sanity before suddenly sprinting toward the dome. However, just as I expected, a Shield Hunter leaped into my way, and several other robots surrounded me from behind me and from both sides, cutting off my escape. I looked around frantically as they all changed their lasers.

Help came in the form of a small blue Chao with a red bowtie as Cheese blazed through one of the robots, then pushed me to the ground with astonishing force as all the robots opened fire. Although I was shaken and really surprised, I looked up to see that the dozen or so robots had all destroyed each other.

"Chao chao!" Cheese called.

I was panting from my adrenalin rush as I stood up and looked around for an entrance to the dome.

"Do you see a way in?" I called to Cream when she got close.

"No," Cream said, scanning the entire dome. "But there has to be a way in somehow!"

"I know!" I called as I ran clockwise around the perimeter of the dome. There were many robots that tried to shoot me, but Cream and the two Chao flew in and destroyed them, clearing the path for me.

I had no idea how Amy got herself captured when Cream was doing so well destroying the robots all around me. Amy was scary whenever she fought Badniks with her Piko Piko Hammer, and she used her weapon better than many people could use swords. But then I realized, Cream had help in the form of her two Chao. And they were covering for me. I could do this. I had to.

At last I spotted a hole in the wall – or at least, something I was sure that used to be a hole. If it wasn't from when GUN broke into the base on the day we got the sun back, it was from something else. There was something that resembled flexible sheets of metal covering the hole, but they all looked like they were bolted into to the dome, so I couldn't get them off. In any case, it didn't look like it was part of the dome.

"I think I found it!" I called, making sure I was still holding onto the Chaos Emerald. Seconds later, Cream joined me, followed by Cheese and Chocola.

"Right there?" Cream asked, pointing at the sheets of metal that stuck out like a sore thumb. I nodded. "Okay! Cheese Shot!"

Cream balled Cheese into her hands before hurling him right at the metal. It was satisfying watching it bend inwards before falling inside the base. The rippling sound it made was loud, though, and I almost covered my ears.

"Be careful, Mr. Chris!" Cream called. "We'll help you out in any way we can!"

Taking a deep breath, I ran toward the gaping hole and climbed in, being careful to not step on the sheet of metal that now lay on the metal floor inside the dome. However, I had barely taken two steps into the base when two men I had never seen before came out of nowhere and ran toward me. They were joined by a third that looked remarkable like one of my uncle's coworkers.

Before I had a chance to be amazed at how many people were inside, the two men who were closest to me suddenly grabbed me and tried to pull the Emerald out of my hands. My grip instinctively tightened, and I refused to let go no matter what.

"I don't know how you got past our defenses," one of them said, "but I hear you are a lot of trouble. I'm putting you with the others."

"And how dumb do you have to be to straight-up waltz in here and give us an Emerald?" the other said.

"Now or never…" I whispered, ignoring the two men, even as they tried to push me forward. They also tried to grab the Emerald, but I grabbed it firmly with both hands. Even with all the distractions that I could see, hear, and feel, I closed my eyes and tried to focus. How did Sonic do it again…? Was I doing it right?

I started to feel a hand try to pull the Emerald out of my hands, but just as quickly as it appeared, it suddenly pulled away.

"AH!" he exclaimed. "Why is it so hot?! And it's glowing?"

That was weird, especially since it didn't feel any hotter to me than usual.

Now or never…

"Chaos Blast."

Even though I didn't yell it like my friends did whenever they used a Chaos Emerald, it seemed to work anyway. A deafening explosion ripped its way out of the Emerald, and I could hear absolute carnage around me, as well as the three nearest men being thrown into the wall with grunts of pain and surprise.

However, I felt all my energy being pulled out of my body at the same time. It was pulled into the Emerald before rippling out at a crushing force. All my strength gave out, and I collapsed on the floor. I didn't even have enough strength to catch myself. It was taking everything I had just to stay conscious.

Two other men I hadn't seen before grabbed me and carried me into the base. Even though my body was sluggish, my mind was racing. I felt like the biggest fool in the world. I had destroyed a large part of the base, but there was still a lot of base left where the rest of the men were gathered.

"Chao chao-chao!"

I craned my neck to see Chocola flying through the now much larger hole and smacking one of the men holding me, causing him to fall to the ground. Cheese was right behind him and did the same with the other. Now that there was no one left to support me, I fell to the floor once again. Bringing up the rear was Cream, who landed on the ground near me.

"Let him go!" she demanded.

"What are you fools waiting for?! Shoot them!" I heard one of the men shout.

"You said the order was to move out," another said. "This will only hold us back if we waste our time fighting them."

There was a pause, before the first man spoke.

"On the contrary, that actually speeds up our little evacuation. So Cream, that's your name, is it? Trust me, you and your friends haven't seen the last of the Society. C'mon, let's go."

There was a scurrying of footsteps, and I tried to prop myself up to see them. The man who had been speaking was wearing shades and a vest of some sort.

"Oh, by the way, don't follow us, okay? I know you're a good kid, you won't do that. Or else there'll be trouble. Our robot army will see to that."

"They're not yours!" Cream called.

"We don't have time to argue," another man said, before all the men finally left the base.

I was able to look up enough to see Cream scrambling through the various rooms of the base, looking for something.

"What are you looking for…?" I asked. My voice came out a lot quieter than I thought.

"What did you say?" Cream asked. Fortunately, Cheese, who was closer to me than Cream was, translated what I had said. "Oh! I'm looking for where Mr. Tails, Mr. Knuckles, and Miss Amy are. I know they're here!"

As Cream left, Cheese and Chocola stayed with me to make sure nothing happened to me. I tried to stand up, but my legs felt like jelly and I collapsed again, so I figured it would be best for me to stay on the floor for a bit. I didn't know if I had the strength to lean against something, but it was better than lying on the floor among all the debris.

"Cheese, Chocola, help me find everyone!" Cream called.

Both Chao flew off and out of sight, and the base was quiet except for the sound of footsteps that gradually vanished into the distance. I heard the occasional noise in the distance, but I couldn't really make out what it was.

While I felt incredibly weak, I tried to ease myself toward the nearest wall, hoping it would still support the roof. I wanted to lean against it, but my whole entire body felt like I pulled an all-nighter, on top of feeling like I had fatigue from a bad flu. It hurt like fire, and I could even feel my skin and hair hurting.

What felt like an hour was probably only four minutes, but I finally heard the sound of approaching footsteps. And it sounded like more than one pair, which meant Cream was able to free my friends.

"Mr. Chris is here too!" I heard Cream calling to her friends, her voice echoing through the corridors as she got closer.

I turned my head to see Cream, Cheese, and Chocola emerge from one of the hallways. Right behind her were Tails, Amy, and Knuckles. I couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed that they all had to see me about to pass out on the floor.

"What happened…?" Knuckles asked Cream quietly. Meanwhile, Amy and Tails wasted no time rushing to my side. I felt a pair of gloved fingers against my neck.

"He what?!" I heard Knuckles exclaim from the end of the hall. Even though I didn't hear what Cream had said before that, I knew she had broken the news to him.

"He has a strong pulse," Amy reported.

"I saw a chair in the other room, let's take him there," Tails said, picking up the dropped Chaos Emerald. Amy nodded, and they both carefully lifted me off the ground and carried me toward the other room.

"I can take him if you guys want," Knuckles offered, and Tails and Amy passed me over to Knuckles, who swiftly carried me into what looked like a control room of some sort. There were screens everywhere, and the room actually looked like it was lived in. I swore I even saw kitchen appliances and a Kleenex box.

"Chris, did you really use a Chaos Blast?" Knuckles incredulously asked me as he set me down in what looked like a command chair. I tried to speak, but nothing came out no matter how hard I tried to speak. It was like the Chaos energy temporarily damaged my vocal chords. I hoped it was nothing more than a side effect. I finally had to nod my head.

"I heard the explosion when I was outside, so I know it worked," Cream explained.

"Chao," Cheese responded.

"We didn't just hear it, we felt it all the way from in there," Knuckles said. "…How'd you do that?"

I tried to speak again, but my larynx felt tight, and I was starting to get frustrated.

"Is there something wrong with your voice…?" Amy asked in worry, gently placing her hand on my arm.

"I think it's… a side effect of you using Chaos Blast," Tails speculated. "Try whispering, see if that works."

"Okay," I whispered, surprised that it actually worked. I looked at my six friends and took a deep breath before continuing. "I… thought that if Sonic could do it, then I could do it too," I said. I hoped I was at least loud enough for my friends to hear me.

"Even though you knew it would make you feel like this?" Knuckles asked. I slowly nodded. The look on the echidna's face was one of amazement. "You have serious guts, Chris. You actually came through."

"You saved us all," Tails added softly, his smile growing.

"You're a hero," Amy added. She looked visibly proud of me, before she let out a small gasp of realization. "This was your big moment! I knew it would happen eventually!"

She immediately gave me a big hug, and I felt bad that I didn't have the physical strength to return the hug since I was so weak. So the next best thing I could do was sink into it. Looking at all my friends, I could tell that they were all immensely proud of me. I averted my eyes; I wasn't used to getting so much attention at once.

"I… didn't know there were more men here…" I whispered.

"What'd you say…?" Knuckles asked. He was standing the farthest away of all my friends.

"It's okay, Mr. Chris," Cream told me. "Me and Cheese and Chocola saved you from them, and we're heroes too!"

"I didn't think humans were able to tap into the Chaos Emeralds like that…" Tails said, tapping his chin in thought. "But then again, you did have a dream once while you were holding onto an Emerald."

"But what does that have to do with this?" Amy wondered, finally letting go of me.

"I don't know," Tails said. "There's still a lot we don't know about the Chaos Emeralds. But at least this does prove humans can use them… even though it takes a lot more out of them than it would if a Mobian uses them, or especially someone like Sonic."

I saw stars everywhere, and my vision started to get blurry. I had a hard time locking my focus onto any single object.

"Oh no…! Please don't die, Mr. Chris…!" Cream whimpered.

"Chao chao…!" Cheese and Chocola repeated in unison.

"He's not gonna die," Knuckles said calmly, eyeing me. "He'll just be really tired for a day or two. Probably longer than Sonic after he goes super, so maybe three days?"

"Yeah…" Amy agreed. "The Emeralds can take a lot out of anyone who uses their powers like that."

"Hey guys, let's go find our comlinks and get back to the X-Tornado," Tails said. "I'll try and make some repairs, but if we can't make it out of here in a reasonable amount of time, I can always call Chuck for an emergency pickup."

Those were the last words I heard before my eyes hazed over, and I lost consciousness.


California – Mon March 20 – Sonic's POV

After a solid fifteen minutes of chasing Metal through California, I finally managed to catch up to him somewhere in the back country near the Sierra Nevada, or so I assumed. I had been there many times before. As long as he was holding onto the small black box, I knew he still had the Emerald.

"Not one to talk much, huh?" I said as I got close to him. Just as I thought, the robot didn't reply back.

I accelerated and leaped toward Metal, but he shot forward himself and shook me off, and I landed back on the ground beneath me. Clenching my hands into fists, I ran even faster and jumped high into the air toward him. To my surprise, he was able to counter all of my punches, kicks, and spindashes with one hand behind his back, the same hand that held the box containing the Chaos Emerald.

"Pro tip, might wanna use two hands next time," I told him. "Cuz I'm just getting warmed up!"

However, as if for an answer, Metal flew straight into the air before arcing toward the mountaintops. Our chase had gone offroad a long time ago, so fortunately there weren't a lot of people around if Metal were to really heat things up.

I leaped from rock to rock as I scanned the mountain, and I was surprised at myself that I could keep up with him even though I was disadvantaged. Once I found a rock that was close enough to Metal, I vaulted myself off of it as mard as I could, and I sailed toward Metal. He seemed to have seen me coming from a mile away, because he summoned a ball of plasma and hurled it into my face. Sparks leapt between my fur and limbs as the force sent me hurtling to the ground. When I looked up, my robot duplicate was nowhere to be seen.

I took a moment to cat my breath as I looked around at my surroundings from the mountainside. I was almost above the tree line, and there were patches of snow here and there, but I was not in one of those patches myself. I could see pretty much everywhere below me.

"You win this one, Eggman…" I said as I made my way back to Station Square. I knew full well that the more Emeralds the doctor had, the closer he would get to setting Operation Endgame into motion, whatever that would mean for us.

About two minutes later, I felt my comlink buzzing against my wrist. I raised my arm to answer it, and the moment I saw it was Tails, I answered the call.

"Sonic? Can you hear me?" he asked. He sounded a bit exhausted, like he had been saying it over and over.

"Loud and clear, buddy!" I responded.

"Are you still chasing Metal?" he followed up.

"He kinda shook me off," I told Tails. "I'll get 'im next time for sure though. What's up?"

"Uh, something happened," he said. "Come meet me right away and I'll tell you everything."

"Right-o!" I said. "Where are you at?"

"There's a small radar on the screen of your comlink, it'll show you where we are," Tails explained. "We should be in a forest north of Station Square."

"There's a lot of forest north of Station Square, little buddy," I said. "You're gonna have to be a little more specific for me."

As I ran, I consulted the radar, nearly running into a tree in the process. Now I knew why I saw all those 'don't text and drive' PSAs.

"I kinda didn't catch the name of the forest," Tails said. "Sorry about that…"

"I got it," I told him, slowing down a little so I could read the radar. "Jennings State Forest? That it?"

"I think so…?" Tails said.

"I see five dots all together," I reported, squinting at the tiny screen. "That you guys?"

"Yup!" Tails said enthusiastically.

"Great, see you in a Sonic second!"

I picked up the pace once again, rushing through many towns and countrysides and frequently looking at the radar screen until I found myself back with my friends again. When I skidded to a halt, I couldn't believe what I saw.

"Whoa, what'd I miss…?"

Everywhere I looked, there were fallen trees, and even chunks of destroyed trees. The X-Tornado was heavily damaged; the two left wings looked heavily bent, and so did the nose. It was a wonder the canopies weren't cracked. Tails looked up at me from where he was trying to repair the plane, Amy, Cream, and Knuckles were just kinda standing around, and Chris was unconscious and lying against a nearby tree.

"You missed a lot, Sonic," Amy said.

She, Tails, Knuckles, and Cream explained to me what happened since I left then. As I listened, I realized we may have been in over our heads. I had no idea that everyone except Cream and Chris had gotten captured by this new mystery organization. Knuckles told me they had a very strange name, but unfortunately he couldn't remember what it was. However, Tails remembered it, and when he told me, I nearly bust a gut laughing.

However, things got serious again when I learned about their real motives, and I was especially concerned when I heard that the reason Chris was out cold was because he used Chaos Blast to destroy part of the base from the inside. He was braver than I thought.

"Are those guys still in there?" I asked tensely, turning in the direction of the dome.

"No, they just left a few minutes ago," Amy said. "I heard them say something about the Egg Carrier, and then they all left."

"They're on their way to the Egg Carrier," Knuckles explained, taking a step forward. "They seem to know where it is."

"If these guys are lookin' to get rid of us and ol' Eggy, then I won't let 'em beat Eggman at his own game!" I said, before immediately taking off.

"Sonic, wait!" Tails called, and I skidded to a halt and ran right back. I was being hasty again.

"Yeah, Tails?"

"Can you get Chris and the Chaos Emerald back home first?" he asked.

"You got it!" I said before running over and gently scooping Chris into my arms. "Up you go, champ…" I gently said, before simultaneously grabbing the Emerald. But before I left, I looked back at them.

"What are you guys gonna do once you're back in the air?" I asked.

"Look for more Emeralds," Knuckles automatically answered.

"I might have to switch to the Tornado 2," Tails explained. "These are just field repairs I'm doing. They're not made to be long-term."

"Do what you gotta go, good luck with the repairs!" I said before racing off in the direction of home.


A city somewhere – Mon March 20 – Third-person POV

A quick flash preceded the arrival of two figures in a city park.

The first figure stood there in surprise, saying nothing as he looked around at his surroundings. It was clear he didn't expect to be sent there.

"Was that… Chaos Control…?" he mused. "Omega, where are we?"

"Connecting to GPS."

The second figure, a large bulky robot, stood still as he scanned his systems for a short while. After about thirty seconds, he looked back at the first figure.

"Unable to connect to GPS," he reported.

The first figure blinked in bewilderment. "What do you mean, you can't connect to the GPS?" he asked. "If that was Chaos Control we just experienced, you shouldn't have lost the ability to–"

"Scanning for new location devices…" Omega droned. "New GPS detected. Recalibrating… Our current location is Seattle, Washington, United States of America."

"That doesn't sound familiar…" the figure noted.

"All locations have changed," Omega explained. "The only location that matches the previous map is Station Square."

"Previous map…" the figure pondered. "Then… This means Chaos Control was powerful enough to send us both to an entirely different planet or dimension altogether. But then why is Station Square here too?!"

"I second your query," Omega said.

"Hey, is that Sonic?" a passerby on a nearby trail casually asked.

"Sonic–" The figure sped toward the figure at an incredible rate until he was within feet of the pedestrian. "Did you say Sonic?"

The young man was startled and scrambled back, quickly realizing that the black Mobian hedgehog was clearly not Sonic.

"Y-Yeah…" he said, trying to regain his composure.

"Where is he?" the figure asked, sounding impatient.

"I-I don't know, he could be anywhere and–"

"Where does he live?! Where does Sonic live?!"

The wide-eyed pedestrian stuttered for a moment. "I-In Station Square, Th-Thorndyke Mansion!"

The hedgehog relented. "That's all I wanted to know," he said. "You can go on your way."

The pedestrian wasted no time continuing his walk, albeit at a quicker pace than he was.

"Omega, can you connect to this world's internet?"

"Attempting to access the internet…" Omega droned. A small radar dish extended out of the top of his head and swiveled around. The figure had a moment to ponder his predicament.

Sonic had to have been on Earth for quite a while if he was already living in a house, let alone a mansion. He didn't know how anyone as casual as Sonic would settle in a mansion, when he heard Sonic once turned down certain huge promotions from the government because he wanted to be free and do things his own way. And he wouldn't be surprised if his other friends were on this planet with him too.

Sonic being on this new planet would explain why, he, Tails, and the others had gone missing for the past several months. Even the Chaotix had gone missing. The best-case scenario was that they were all coming up with a way to return home, be it through a portal or an unrealistically large explosion of Chaos Control like the one he learned had happened at Eggman's old base.

Commander Tower had explicitly told him and Omega to not go near the base, especially when it took them two weeks to learn that Rouge was not accounted for, and there was mounting evidence that she was there at the base when Chaos Control happened. While he didn't go near the base at first, he had learned that he couldn't, because the entire base was gone, disappeared into thin air without a trace. Even Eggman was unaccounted for.

Finally, nearly two months later, when no action was being done about the disappearance of the hero of Mobius and his friends, the hedgehog took matters into his own hands. He and Omega infiltrated the base, and felt a mist-like substance all around them. And then before they knew it… they were here.

He could only hope Sonic and his friends were creating something to send everyone back, and as much as he despised the thought of teaming up with the Faker, he realized it may be the only way for him and Omega to return to Mobius.

"Shadow the Hedgehog!"

The sudden voice in the bullhorn startled him, and he looked around to see several approaching jeeps and helicopters. A few dozen soldiers approached him, semi-automatic rifles trained on him.

"We order your immediate surrender! Put your hands in the air!"

"Why?" Shadow asked. He was astonished that GUN was on this planet too.

"Don't question authority," the voice in the bullhorn repeated. "You are one of our prime targets. Put your hands up!"

Prime targets…?

"And you're annoying pests," Shadow retorted, gritting his teeth. He formed a Chaos Spear in one hand and hurled it at the nearest jeep, puncturing it straight through the middle and forcing the soldiers in and around it to scatter. Then he spin-attacked the next three closest jeeps, even as the helicopters opened fire on him.

"And that's our cue to leave, Omega," Shadow said tensely as his rocket shoes ignited, and he skated out of the park. Omega hovered alongside him as they accelerated faster and faster. Their goal: Thorndyke Mansion.

Where am I?

Why are Station Square and GUN here?

Can we get back home?

And why on Mobius am I a primary target for GUN?! How do they know me?!


Nevada – Mon March 20 – Sonic's POV

After I dropped Chris off at home, I explained the situation to Chuck, who was deeply concerned about the Society's motives. While it was bad enough that they stole all the GUN robots for their purposes, when I told him that their endgame was getting rid of me and Eggman and resetting the world to the way it was before we got here, that seemed to send him over the edge. He argued that life was actually better with us around.

So once Chris was tucked in bed and resting, I was off and speeding through the desert. He was such a brave kid. I didn't think he had it in him to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds like that. I remember when we warned him about using the Emeralds, but it didn't seem like he had much of a choice, and even if I wasn't preoccupied with Metal Sonic, I wouldn't have known where my friends were, or that they even crashed, had Tails not contacted me.

The Society was making a beeline for the Egg Carrier, and I was the only one who could intercept them. I wanted to see my fanboys in person and prevent them from using Eggman's own tech against him or me.

About five minutes passed with no sign of them. It was almost like the time I was looking for Area 99, except this time, my destination was moving, not to mention they already knew who I was.

And then I saw them in the distance: six GUN Valkyries and thousands of GUN robots flanking them. I was in way over my head, but I wasn't going to let that show.

"I hear you guys are big fans of me, huh?" I quipped as I ran alongside the gigantic flying tanks. "Gotta say, I'm flattered!"

"You know who you are, Sonic," one of the voices told me from the lead Valkyrie. "Don't act arrogant around us, not when you ruined us. Ruined this whole planet. It was perfect until you showed up."

"Look, it's not in my nature to ruin people's lives," I told them. "What's your beef with me, anyway?"

"You may or may not remember us," the voice said. "The name's Hector Dragg. I used to work with Sam Speed. Always bragging about how fast he was and 'I'm the king of the highway, white comet, speed of love,' all that nonsense. He never took his job seriously like I always did. And then you showed up. Forced me down to third fastest guy. And then I got fired for being too reckless. That wouldn't have happened if you didn't come here, Sonic!"

"Sounds like a you problem," I said as I sped up a sloped rocky hill, leaving a cloud of dust in my wake.

"Don't you dare 'skill issue' me, hedgehog!" Hector fumed.

"We've never met until now, but I am Li Yan," another voice from a different Valkyrie spoke. "I don't know you as much as I know Knuckles, but he ruined me. He ruined my reputation in Hong Kong. He stole the Chaos Emerald we were planning to sell through the black market. Money was tight, and our group eventually collapsed. I was forced to move here to make ends meet."

"My name is Ray Browning," another man spoke. "I believe you had a run-in with my staff at Area 99. You know, the day we learned about your kind's biology. Utterly fascinating, I might add. You will never know how excited I was that night. But then you came along and ruined my experiment, you destroyed so many of our multi-million dollar cameras and equipment. I was so ecstatic to learn more about an alien race… until you came along. We still haven't fully recovered financially from that, thanks to you."

"Well, sorry if we're not too keen on standing around in tubes and getting stared at by creepy humans," I said, increasing my speed to keep up with the Valkyries and robots. "That kind of thing doesn't fly back home, just an FYI. So who are the rest of you guys?"

"Wouldn't you like to know…" a voice that sound all-too-familiar said. I gulped. "I bet you know who I am. You spent the night in the Box of Madness, and it was quite funny watching you run around in there like a hampster. I finally had you, until Amy Rose showed up. Don't get me wrong, I don't play favorites. I hate all of you equally, but there's something about you that doesn't sit right with any of us."

"Watcher…" I said.

"I see that name rang a bell," he said with a laugh. "You're next, Narasu. Tell 'em about yourself. And everyone else, try not to laugh."

"Try not to laugh, huh? It's that bad?" I asked with a smirk. "All right, hit me. I wanna hear this."

"I'm Dr. Kai Narasu," the fifth man said. "You probably don't know who I am, but I was with the University of California Station Square up until a year and a half ago. I knew alien life couldn't exist, I was sure of it, so I had to prove you weren't flesh and blood. I had a ton of evidence backing me up that you were just a government machine from Area 99. But when you had the gall to be a flesh-and-blood creature, all my evidence was thrown out with me. I was a laughing stock."

I laughed hard, almost slowing down in the process.

"Oh man, now I remember you!" I said between wheezes. "I saw your interview, I still don't know how you kept a straight face!"

"I was there at Area 99, and I can confirm we were not working on anything remotely biomechanical back then," Browning said.

"And to add insult to injury, a certain stupid echidna punched me into a wall earlier today!" Narasu complained.

"That's gotta hurt," I said in mock injury. Knuckles was never a compliant prisoner. He was always the type to break out the first chance he got.

"And last but not least, our friend Colonel Card Passer," Watcher said. "Busted for smuggling all these GUN robots from Jerome's hands to GUN's. They said they weren't authorized, but they programmed the robots to serve them 'cuz they didn't know any better. And then we broke him out because he had the override code to make them all serve us! Weird how things come full circle like that."

"I could have introduced myself, you know…" the sixth and last man said.

I glanced up at the lead Valkyrie as I ran. "So why are you tellin' me all this instead of, y'know… dukin' it out like old time's sake?"

The man I assumed was Watcher chuckled. "Because we're confident you won't be around much longer. You're just a speed bump on our road to re-establishing the status quo."

"You're all about this 'status quo' business, huh?" I squinted. "Well, talk to all those fans who showed up at the tournament, I think they liked the change of pace around here. Things were getting slow anyway. But you guys, you're the one rotten apple on a tree full of good apples. You think the whole world is gonna turn against me just 'cuz of you guys? Listen, you don't get to control how the world wants to run. Let it run the way it wants to."

"You're gonna dig yourself an early grave with that mouth of yours," Dragg exclaimed as his Valkyrie suddenly opened fire on me. I had to leap out of the way at the last second to avoid becoming Kentucky Fried Hedgehog.

That attack prompted the other Valkyries to attack me as well.

"Nya-nya! Missed me, slowpokes!" I taunted as I bobbed and weaved my way through the shower of lasers.

"You made us happen!" Dragg exclaimed. "This is all your fault, you hear?! You cost us our jobs! Even Jerome Wise's girlfriend broke up with him over this!"

"I missed the part where that's my problem," I shrugged.

"Well, it's about to become your problem even more, hedgehog," Watcher said. "If you were trying to stop us, it's too late now."

"Hey, if you guys wanna be bootleg Eggman, you gotta work on the evil monologues a little more, that one's a three out of–"

My banter stopped in my throat as all six Valkyries fired a white beam at something ahead of them. I almost gasped when I saw the outline of the Egg Carrier appear ahead of us. A hole appeared in the side of the outline from where the lasers impacted it.

So this is where Eggman's been hiding…

Suddenly several jeeps and tanks on the ground near the Egg Carrier opened fire at the Society. I hadn't noticed them before until now. But they seemed to underestimate how powerful the Valkyries were, and they all but ignored them as they flew inside. I hadn't been able to get any hits in either because all of them were flying too high for me to reach. As they entered the Egg Carrier, they vanished along with the white outline, and now there was nothing but desert once again. I realized the Egg Carrier had been cloaked this entire time.

Even though I couldn't see the Egg Carrier, I knew it was still there, and it wouldn't keep me out forever. I wasn't sure where to land since I lost sight of where the Society entered, but I had to take my chances. And since I couldn't see any of the Society robots anywhere, I assumed they were cloaked with the ship, which meant I would be cloaked too once I entered.

I vaulted myself off the ground toward the general direction of the Egg Carrier. Near the peak of my jump, the Egg Carrier suddenly came into view, just like I expected, and I could see everything. I was sure GUN couldn't see me now. I landed on my feet on the roof near the Sky Deck. I knew the Society guys were hiding somewhere in the Egg Carrier. I could even see their parked Valkyries.

Suddenly I heard a low rumble that gradually intensified into an incredible roar, and I realized what was happening. I tore through the Sky Deck as the Egg Carrier slowly lifted off the ground into the air. There were many GUN robots everywhere, and I was able to kick and home-attack them out of the way, but they were not making my mission any easier.

In fact, my mission suddenly got a whole lot harder when a new robot made its presence known to me. It vaguely looked like E-101 Beta, except it must have gotten a whole ton of new upgrades. It transformed its right arm into a buzzsaw and lunged at me at a speed that actually took me off guard. It would have cut into me had I not dodged at the last second. When I turned around, it was already facing me. I started to realize this was not an ordinary robot.

I spin-dashed it, only for me to end up not doing much damage at all. I was shocked; it was clearly an Eggman robot, so why weren't my attacks working? Yet it looked like the kind of robot Eggman would make.

I was so wrong about that, as I immediately found out when it fired a spray of green acid from a small shoulder-mounted cannon. I narrowly dodged, which was difficult considering it was predicting where I was trying to move. Eggman never utilized acid in any of his robots, which was how I knew it had to be modified by the Society. I had no idea how they did it.

I was only able to deal a few hits of my own, but as I took hit after hit, I gritted my teeth. The Sky Deck was quite narrow, and it didn't leave a lot of room for me to fight. So I rebounded off the nearby wall to score another hit, then ran in the opposite direction. But when I rounded the corner, Beta was there waiting for me.

"Man, you're fast!" was the last thing I said before it blasted me point-blank in the chest with a massive energy surge. The force threw me into the opposite wall, and before I could peel myself off, Beta grabbed me and threw me into the air.

I felt myself losing consciousness from the damage I took. It took a lot more out of me than I thought it would, and as I tumbled through the air, I was dismayed to see the Egg Carrier vanishing. I had fallen outside the range of the Egg Carrier's cloaking device.

I landed roughly on the stubby grass and rocky terrain below, feeling the impact ripple through my entire body. I tried to stand up, but my strength was already giving out. However, I could see the Egg Carrier gradually uncloaking high above me. It was too high for me to reach now even if I tried.

Several tanks, helicopters, and planes began to shoot at the Egg Carrier, but seconds later, the flying fortress opened fire and effortlessly shot down several planes. A few other jeeps and soldiers were running toward me in the distance.

The last thing I felt before my eyes hazed over was a pair of cold hands lifting me off the ground and into the air.


Thorndyke Mansion – Mon March 20 – Third-person POV

About an hour later, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Chocola had returned to Chris' house. Tails secured the two Chaos Emeralds they had in the stabilizer in Chuck's lab before joining his friends in the living room. They had noticed that Chris' parents hadn't arrived yet.

"We found one Emerald today," Tails said. "I think we're doing good so far."

"Yeah!" Amy said. "Only five more left to find. We don't know how many Eggman has, but he won't have them for long!"

"He has at least one, the one he lost to Metal Sonic," Knuckles said. "And the Society has one inside their robot."

"So Eggman has anywhere between one and four Emeralds," Tails deduced. "We gotta step up our game if we wanna get them all."

"Oh, absolutely," Knuckles nodded.

"I almost forgot about the party!" Cream said as she ran back into the room. "Oh, do you remember the big party Miss Ella and Chris' mom were having last year?"

"Oh yeah!" Tails realized, his namesakes twitching at the memory.

"That was a fun day," Amy said. "That was when Ella finally found out about us."

"Yeah," Tails said with a fond smile. "It was funny in hindsight."

"Mhmm!" Cream agreed. "I'm gonna help Mama and Miss Ella get ready for the party!" And she dashed out of the room, with Cheese and Chocola following right behind her.

"I'll take your word for it," Knuckles said as he plopped onto the couch. "Nice that I finally get to stick around for one of these big Thorndyke parties I keep hearing about. I mean, while I would rather be out there looking for more Emeralds, we only have so many leads, and we'll have to work together from here on out, especially if Eggman's taking over the world in three days like he said."

"Yeah, let's enjoy the party today," Tails agreed, "and then we can all go back out tomorrow, but if I somehow detect more Emeralds on the Miles Electric, I'm not gonna wait until tomorrow to find it. And you guys are always welcome to come join me."

"Count me in, always!" Amy said. "And speaking of helping, let's go help everyone get ready!"

"Yeah!" Tails agreed.

Everyone, even Knuckles helped Ella, Tanaka, Chuck, and Vanilla set up for the party. It was a lot of work, but with everyone working together, the process went relatively quickly. Lindsey called to say she and Nelson would be over in an hour, which was perfect timing. The Mobians also made sure to shower and get rid of the sand they accumulated after their adventure in the desert.

Everything was going smoothly until there was a knock on the door, and they knew it wasn't Chris' parents since it was still too early.

"I wonder who that could be?" Ella said as Tanaka made his way over to the front door. The front gates were left unlocked since they were expecting Nelson and Lindsey over that day, but the security system didn't pick up any intruders.

However, as the Thorndyke butler opened the door, something small whizzed past his head and into the foyer, emitting a high-pitched laugh. Immediately registering it as a threat, Tanaka took up a karate stance as everyone else rushed into the room.

"Bokkun?!" Amy exclaimed.

"Yup! Didja miss me?" the messenger robot said with a toothy grin. "I got a special message for everyone! Boy, it's been a long time since I said that…"

He wasted no time pulling one of his yellow TVs out of his bag and turning it on. However, he saw in dismay that it was playing an episode of The Loud House.

"Oops! Wrong channel, that's embarrassing…"

"And awkward…" Tails added as Bokkun found the right channel with the actual message he wanted to show. Eggman appeared on the screen.

"Greetings, rodents!" the scientist said. "This would normally be a live recording, but I've been far too busy lately to get around to doing that. But anyway, I'm sure you're all enjoying a lovely Chaos Emerald hunt, but I regret to inform you that you seem to be down by one member."

The image on the screen changed to show Sonic in a prison somewhere. He looked groggy, not to mention miserable. Gasps arose from the room. Tails' pupils shrunk, and Amy covered her mouth with both hands.

"Does this scenario look familiar?" Eggman asked. "So will the death machine I'm launching tomorrow morning. That's the only hint you're getting!"

The screen cut back to Eggman, who was now holding the Phantom Ruby for everyone to see.

"With this, I intend to conquer this planet within three days. And in case you feel like being a hero, don't bother looking for me, because I guarantee you can't find me and get your precious Sonic back before my endgame takes full effect. It's been nice knowing you rodents!"

He burst out into hearty laughter as the call ended and the screen went black.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered I'm past my curfew," Bokkun told the room, which was stunned speechless. "Sorry I can't stay for the party, but make sure to save me a slice of cake!" And before everyone realized it, the messenger robot was gone.

Everyone was left shocked and a bit scared after Eggman's message. Tails and Amy immediately knew what this entailed, and it indeed brought back painful memories of a painfully familiar situation in the past.

"I… may have to skip the party…" Tails said in a low voice, his ears drooping. "I'm sorry…"

Cream looked very worried at this, not to mention disappointed.

"How come?" Ella asked.

"Eggman kidnapped Sonic, we have to go and save him right now," Amy said with determination. "And besides, it's not a party without Sonic."

While Cream and Cheese stayed home, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles took off again to search for Sonic, this time using the Tornado 2, since the X-Tornado was heavily damaged.

The three of them spent a solid eight hours searching the entire state of California for any sign of Eggman. They even searched the nearby states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona, and even parts of Montana and Utah. However, there was no sign at all of the hedgehog, or Eggman for that matter. Tails even brought a Chaos Emerald with him, but nothing turned up.

The whole time, Amy was scared, and Tails was desperate. He had to repeatedly tell himself to stop burning out the engine from flying so fast. They didn't talk much because they were so focused on trying to find Sonic. Eggman was sick for trying to repeat the unspeakable atrocities that happened during the Phantom War. Sonic had gone through things that no normal Mobian should ever have gone through on the Death Egg.

The three heroes finally returned home at almost 12:30 in the morning, and they were all exhausted. They slowly shuffled into the house, feeling dejected that they couldn't find Sonic anywhere.

They found Chuck sitting in the living room reading a book. Everyone else had already gone to bed a long time ago. Tails sounded very tired as he reported the bad news.

"This is serious," Chuck said, lowering his book. "We have to find Eggman before his death machine takes off."

"I know," Tails said. "We couldn't find it either."

"You'd think Eggman would be easy to find," Amy said, flopping on the cough opposite from Chuck.

"He is when he wants to be found," Knuckles said, sitting next to her. Tails sat down next to Chuck on his right.

"How's Chris…?" Tails asked, looking up at the aging professor.

"He's still out like a light," Chuck said.

Tails sat up more. "You mean he hasn't woken up yet since we left?" he asked in surprise. Chuck nodded.

"Using Chaos powers like that really does take a lot out of ya… especially if you're human," Knuckles said.

"Yeah, I can imagine," Chuck said. "I remember when Sonic used Chaos Blast on my son's anniversary."

"I remember that," Amy said, trying to suppress a yawn. "It took a lot out of him… but not as much as Chris today."

"Chuck… I'm really worried about Sonic…" Tails said quietly. Chuck didn't know if he was going to break down then and there, but he could tell he was trying his best to stay strong for everyone. "Sonic getting kidnapped like this, and the Phantom Ruby… This happened before. This is what happened at the very beginning of the Phantom War." His eyes were shimmering, and he averted his gaze. His tails rested on either side of him, not moving like they usually did. "It's happening again…"

The familiar feeling of helplessness was filling Tails' core, and Amy couldn't help but feel the same way. Knuckles wasn't as helpless as much as he was frustrated. Even when Chuck tried to assure them that everything would work out in the end, it didn't seem to do much to help.

After absent-mindedly eating a midnight snack, Tails worked on repairing the X-Tornado for the next two and a half hours while everyone else went to bed. He had to be ready to fly out as soon as he got enough rest.

It was a wonder that anyone was able to get any sleep that night.


A/N: That concludes part three of Operation Endgame! Chris and Cream get to be heroes! Shadow and Omega join the story! And Sonic... he's not exactly having a good time right now.

It's really fun writing the Society, especially the part where they vent their anger on Sonic. It was tough to work in a part where Sonic himself encounters them, but I was able to make it work.

The scene with Shadow and Omega was originally going to take place after the scene where Sonic and the Society meet, but I felt like it would make more sense if it happened before.

Even though I have experience writing Shadow before, this is my first time writing Omega into the story. Let me know how I did with them, especially since I know Shadow is a huge fan favorite.

...I feel like I'm probably forgetting something in the author's notes like usual XD But if I do forget, I can always go back and edit the chapter. (EDIT: Turns out I DID forget something! The next Chaos on Earth chapter will be posted in two weeks! Next week I'm gonna be posting the first chapter of a new story, which is the Sonic X oneshot collection I've been talking about for a long time, and it'll finally be here!)

Next time is part four of the Operation Endgame Saga! Don't miss it!