CHAPTER 1

How long were you gone for anyway? Days? Months? It could've been an entire year, even though you couldn't keep track of the days. The Twilight Cage, with all those different worlds, had different timelines, and you never really thought to ask Shade what day it was… All you were concerned about was finding Ix and getting the back Master Emerald.

Yet, the moment you all returned, you could see Metropolis was not only up and running, but was more powerful than before. In fact, as far as you could see, it looked like Eggman had even expanded!

"What in the world happened while we were gone..?" you wonder out loud.

As if to answer your question, the monitors on the Cyclone's dashboard fizzle, and Eggman's face suddenly appears in its place.

"Welcome back, team," he smiles deviously, "You've been gone a long time… Might have been better if you hadn't returned. But I was hoping you would one day, even after I was long gone. As you can see, I've kept quite busy in your absence. With you all out of the way, there was no one to stop me as I achieved my one and only goal…" He raises his fist triumphantly, "World domination!"

As he lets out a long cackle, you grit your teeth as your fist shakes in rage. No doubt the others were feeling the same way you were.

"The only thing I regret is not being around to see the looks on your faces as you come upon your new world," Eggman sneers, "If you haven't figured it out yet, this is a recording, set to play the moment you've returned, whenever that may be… Who knows how much time will have passed by the time this plays. But one thing I do know…

"You've entered the new and improved Eggman Empire. I have no doubt long after my death, my utopia will continue to increase and thrive, and there will be nothing you can do to stop us! Mwahahahaha!"

The moment the transmission ends, you hear the sounds of gun turrets and laser blasts below, followed by explosions and your ship rattling hard, throwing everyone to the ground. Red alerts blare, and you feel the ship losing altitude.

"Everyone hang on!" Tails cries, pulling at the controls, "We're going down!"

"Strap yourselves in!" you shout, jumping to the nearest seat and wrapping your seat belt tightly. The rest of your crew quickly follows suit.

Tails is trying hard to maintain control, but the ship is being rattled more with additional hits and explosions. "Tails, what about the shield?!" you call over.

"Our defense system is down!" he cries back, "Everything's offline! It's taking all we've got to not plummet!"

"If we keep getting hit, we're just as much goners!" Knuckles shouts.

You narrow your eyes as a crazy idea pops into your head. "Tails, go low and go fast!" you order your young friend.

Tails looks back at you, surprised. "What? But if we hit the ground at that speed-"

"We'll be killed if we just hang out up here!" you say, "We gotta get out of these guns' aims!"

Tails grips the controls hard. "Okay, Sonic," he says to you, "Here's hoping your plan works!" He pushes up, directing the Cyclone quickly into the ground below. "Brace yourselves!" Tails screams, just as the ship plummets into the ground, skidding several hundred yards before finally slowing to a complete halt.

You know the damage is heavy, given the fact that everything inside shuts off. It's completely dark. Not one thing hums to life. It's also disturbingly quiet.

"Everyone okay?" you call out loud.

At that, you ease in relief as you start to hear shuffling around, from seatbelts unbuckling, to unknown feet crossing the bridge, and even Omega's robotic joints sitting upright.

"We're okay here, Sonic," you hear Knuckles from the other side.

"I'm fine," says Amy.

"Ditto," Rouge responds.

Shadow makes a small huff. You assume that to mean he's all right.

"Running-Diagnostics," Omega drones, "All-Systems-Operational."

"Are you all right?" You hear Shade's voice by the front, where the control panel is.

"Yeah…" Tails' voice replies, "Just a bump…"

As you unbuckle your own seat belt, you hear a strange noise coming from outside. It's suddenly quiet on the bridge again.

"Robots..?" Amy asks, her voice quivering.

"Careful everyone," Knuckles warns, "We don't know what we're up against here…"

"I don't want to sit here like a coward," Shadow grunts, "Let's see just how much stronger Eggman's army has gotten."

"It's not safe," says Shade, "Knuckles is right. We don't know what we're up against."

"What if it's help?" says Amy, "We need to check it out at least."

It gets quiet again. Obviously everyone isn't sure what to do, but it won't be long before someone makes a rash decision… Better make an official one.

Even though nobody can see you, you grin and nod your head. "No use sitting around here and waiting for them to get us," you say out loud, "Let's see for ourselves what we're up against!"

"Heh heh," You can practically hear Shadow smirking, "Best idea you've had yet, Sonic."

Knuckles smacks his fists together. "Well, I always did want to go down with a fight."

"I'm ready!" Amy's pipes up. You can hear the swish of her hammer that she's swinging around.

"Guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?" Tails meekly responds.

You leap from your seat and charge forward. Though it's pitch dark, you're certain you know where the door is. Everyone else is close behind you, following the sounds of your footsteps on the metal floors. Once you've reached the exit, you press your ear against the door. There is still a lot of mechanical whirring and static noises. Those were Eggman's bots all right...

You step backwards, out of the way. "Omega," you say, "Break it down. Twelve o'clock. Give it all you've got!"

"Affirmative," Omega replies. You hear his arm transforming… and the foyer lights up brightly at his awesome gun power, blasting down the doors and striking any bots that were in harm's way.

Two Badniks fall to the ground. You and your team dash outside to meet a group of massive Egg Pawns, lined up, ready for attack. Everybody manages to take a few down, but as you perform your usual spin attacks, you notice their exterior is harder than usual. More titanium? Stronger guard? You aren't sure, but you don't have time to figure it out as you and your friends are fighting for your lives.

The Egg Pawns are down, but soon you are met with a group of Heavy Hammers. From your one adventure along with Tails and Knuckles, you remember just how hard they are to attack, and just how powerful their gigantic hammers are. If the Egg Pawns gave you that much trouble, who knows just how much tougher these guys have become?

"Knock them on the ground!" Rouge shouts.

You nod, remembering their weaknesses. If they lose their footing and fall over on their backsides, they would be easier to destroy. You then curl into a spin, and slam against the chest of one, but bounce right off, having no effect. As you slide on the ground on your back, you also see Omega blasting every firepower he has on the Heavy Hammers. However, he was barely leaving a dent. Even the Kron creatures weren't this resilient!

There was no way you could all survive while finding out how to beat these enemies…

Suddenly, the Heavy Hammers freeze on the spot. They are completely engulfed with a bluish energy that seemed to have prevented them from moving even an inch. Nobody knows what's going on, but many of you take this as an opportunity to catch your breath.

"HeeeeYA!"

As soon as the mysterious voice rings out, one of the Heavy Hammer's heads is slammed clean off its shoulders, and the bluish energy releases, allowing it to fall forward. Another Heavy Hammer's head is sliced off clean, and that one falls forward as well. The third is suddenly lifted into the air, and flung clear across several blocks.

With most of them gone, you now have a clear view of your rescuers. One is a grey-furred female rabbit, wearing a white shirt, red jacket, jeans, and red & white sneakers. She holds in her hand a long, metallic rod, which was emitting electrical sparks on its ends. Another is a strange looking robot, with red, white, and blue stripes (designed to look like the flag of a particular country perhaps), carrying a rather sharp looking cricket bat. Obviously, you have no idea who these two are…

However, you spot the third rescuer… a silver-furred hedgehog with long quills, levitating by using a bluish energy that emitted from his hands. You know exactly who he is!

"Silver!"

The hedgehog looks down at you, and his eyes widen with surprise. "Sonic?"

You grin and wave. "Long time no see!"

"We can chit chat later!" Shadow shouts, "There're more Badniks where that came from!"

Silver catches a few with his psychokinesis and slams them into nearby walls, while his friends attack others. You and your friends manage to take a few more down.

"I'm afraid we can't continue to play around," the strange-looking robot says aloud, "My systems indicate more Badniks are ordered to this location. We've taken enough down to make an escape. We should take our leave."

"I refuse to leave a perfectly good battle," Shadow snarled.

"I'm sure there're plenty more where that came from, Shads," you say, "We need to situate ourselves. Let's get outta here while we can!"

Shadow looks back at the Badniks, as if ready for more. However, he is snagged by Omega and dragged off. Shadow shouts in protest, but eventually, he groans and allows himself to be carried off. Silver leads the way as you all quickly make your leave. The rabbit follows you all closely, and the robot brings up the rear, covering your hides in case of another attack.

Silver leads you all into an empty building. Inside, he quickly opens a plank on the floor, and ushers you inside. Once you're all in, he follows, and last to come in is the robot.

For an underground tunnel, you're surprised at how well-lit it is. There are fluorescent lights lining against the wall and ceiling, leading down a long corridor. Silver leads the way down, and you all follow. Shadow mutters to himself how he hates running from a fight, but Rouge is able to keep him in line, occasionally saying "Let it go, Shadow. Let it go…"

"Eggman won't find us down here, will he?" Amy says, looking worried, "Aren't these one of his buildings?"

"Don't worry, you're all safe," Silver replies, "This tunnel is located under one of his defunct factories. Doesn't give out much energy, so he doesn't think to trace suspicious activity here. We try to live around every loophole possible."

It's a long tunnel, and you have many questions. May as well start a conversation. "So Silver," you speak up, "What brings you back from the future. Did our leaving this dimension screw up your timeline again so you're back to fix things?"

The rabbit cocks an eyebrow. "What now?"

Silver gives a nervous chuckle, and looks back at you. "Actually Sonic," he replies, "This time, I'm not the time traveler. You guys are the ones in the future."

Everyone, including you, nearly stops in their tracks. "Say what..?" you mutter.

"According to history," the robot speaks from behind, "Roughly 200 years ago, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends disappeared into an unknown dimension, leaving Eggman behind to rule the planet."

"Two hundred years?!" Amy cries, nearly falling over.

The rabbit nods. "Yeah. Nice of you to come back, finally."

You lower your eyes as a feeling of guilt washes over you. You should've known Eggman would pull something like this while you were away. Somebody should've stayed behind to make sure he didn't try anything. Then again, you couldn't very well let Ix take over your dimension, especially with the Master Emerald in hand.

Wait… the Master Emerald!

"Knuckles!" you turn to your echidna friend, "You still have the Master Emerald on you, right?"

Knuckles' eyes widen suddenly. "No!" he cried, "It's back on the ship!" He turns and doubles back, but the robot stands in his way. "Move it, pal!" he snarls.

"Sorry, but no," the bot replies, "It's too dangerous to go back. You'd be risking another Badnik horde."

"'Sides," the rabbit says, "The Master Emerald was rumored to be gone forever."

"No, don't you get it?" Knuckles shouts, "Grand Imperator Ix stole the Master Emerald and took it to the Twilight Cage. That's why we went after it, and we brought it back… only I left it in the cargo bay!"

Rouge slaps a palm on her face, "What kind of guardian are you?"

"Give me a break!" Knuckles snaps, "We were suddenly up against a bunch of robots! I didn't have time to go back and grab it!"

"We'll worry about the Master Emerald later," says Silver, "We need to group up at HQ."

"Um, no can do, sweetie," Rouge speaks up, "You have no idea how powerful that big, beautiful gem is. If someone like Eggman gets a hold of it-"

"Listen, there's nothing we can do now," says Silver, "Oydax is right, we can't risk going back for it. Nega's troops probably ransacked your ship by now."

"Then we need to get the emerald back, ASAP," says Shadow.

Silver twists around fiercely. "Look, you want to run around blindly in a city you're not familiar with, with robots stronger than you're aware of, then be my guest!" He narrows his eyes, "Otherwise, if you just want to survive to fight another day, then trust me and let's go."

Knuckles doesn't seem to like that idea at all, but he keeps quiet and nods. You then all continue on.

After a long while, you finally make it out of the corridor and to an underground lair. There are several different rooms around, such as a rec room, mess hall, and barracks. Many people walk about. It was like an underground city.

"Welcome to the Resistance," says Silver, "We manage to hide under Eggman Nega's nose and foil any plans he has."

The rabbit grunts and looks away. "But after two-hundred years, yeah… Not much progress."

"It's only ninety percent of the world," says Silver, "We've still got a chance."

The rabbit scoffs in response.

"Oh, by the way," Silver gives a faint smile, "Guess we were all caught up in battle and escaping, we didn't formally introduce ourselves. My name's Silver." He nods and smiles at you, "Some of us have actually met before." He turns to the rabbit, "And this is Janae."

"Janae Lightfoot to be exact," the rabbit girl looks up and grins smugly.

Silver points to the robot-looking creature. "And this is Oydax. He's the strongest member on our team, and really reliable."

Oydax gives a bow. "Pleasure."

You smile and nod. "Same." The rest of the team introduce themselves as well.

"I'm sure you all have a lot of questions," says Silver, "But you also just came back from a 200 year trip… You may want to relax, catch your breath, eat, what not…" He points towards the Mess Hall. "I'll be grabbing a quick bite to eat. Come talk to me if you have any questions."

"I shall find Tech and inform him of the situation," says Oydax, "He'll most likely want to set up a team pow wow about this. We'll fill you in later, Silver."

Janae twitches her nose in annoyance, turns, and walks off towards the barracks. Tails quickly follows. "Hey, wait up!" he calls after her, "I have a few questions…"

Everybody else goes off in different directions, either to unwind, explore, or just to be by themselves. You now have a moment alone, and try to figure out what you'd like to do…