Sonic and the Harmony of Chaos (UNDER EDITING)

by CGMayra

An ancient trickery has caused the Gods of Order to be separated, but believing in an old Echidna fable, Eggman discovers the lost 8th Emerald, the Harmony Crystal. History reveals heartache, and Chaos is desperate for Sonic's aid to free his friend from her long-suffering and bring Balanced Order back to the world as one. (Sonamy, ChaosxHarmony) CONTAINS:Mentions deaths/Sacrifices

4. Chapter 4

Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos – The 8th Emerald

Ch. 4

By: Cutegirlmayra (I have so much to do when it comes to fanfiction and tumblr prompts, however, I have made a promise to finish every story I ever start. So I update in orders and turns so each story is never forgotten. I love these stories. I love all of you. I'm thankful for those who have read so many of my stories. I hope this one continues to excite you and thrill your imagination. Shall we begin? EDITED: I am combining and editing still, sorry, I know it's been years, but I only have two stories -including this one- to finish, a whole lot of prompts -that I'm also trying to combine to make it easier on myself- and my own projects to work on. -A video game, novels, DnD campaigns, Roleplays with IRL friends, etc.- I appreciate your dedicated patience as I try and fulfill all these ambitions ^^; Too dark? Stay tuned for more, exciting, chapters of Sonic! And the Harmony of Chaos! The 8th Emerald.)

Chaos's bubbling sound subsided somewhat as he was being restrained. Knuckles, deciding to take a firmer grip on the ancient being, grappled under Chaos's armpit and secured his arm onto his shoulder, locking him in place. "I'll get a hold of him, Tails!" he bellowed a hardy declaration, as he moved Tails's flimsy hold of Chaos to then do the same lock on Chaos's other side while Tails quickly let go and flew back to let him use his might to restrain the god.

He was now directly behind Chaos, able to even lift the liquid god off the ground to keep him from squirming too much.

"Relax, Chaos! Is it Sonic?! He's not gonna hurt you if you don't hurt anyone else!" Knuckles sweated through his words, thinking maybe Chaos was still upset with Sonic, even though Tikal had said otherwise and calmed him the last time they had fought in Station Square.

"Grr..! He's really worked up!" Knuckles ducked his head to Chaos's back shoulders, keeping the tight hold and straining to do so against the wobbly substance but infinite strength of Chaos's might.

Chaos turned to mush and slipped through Knuckles's hold, something he was planning to do with Tails from the start anyway, and turned his head back to him as though wondering what he was doing.

It wasn't hostile, it looked more annoyed and curious, so Knuckles sighed and let one arm go, grabbing the other arm to keep him with them, in case his judgment was wrong and it was all an act to escape. "Alright, buddy. I get it. You're not gonna hurt anybody… but try and not act so suddenly. It spooks the rest of us." Knuckles's gentle guardian side was showing, and as though a chao being comforted, Chaos's eyes lightened down and he dipped his head to the ground, as though apologizing before–like a slinky, arching in rippled, watery waves through the Jungle bush.

"AHH!" The two cried out in janky, animated twitches of their faces. "He's getting away!" They both cried out and scrambled in hurried paces after him.

Chaos landed before the Babylon Rogues, Amy, but mostly Sonic. He bubbled a bit, as though communicating before looking behind him and having Knuckles and Tails stumble out of the bushes to then blink at the situation before them.

"Sonic!" They both stated in unison once again.

Tails flew forward, flying beside Chaos and reaching an arm out in greeting, "Boy, are we surprised to see you here! We were looking for you!"

Knuckles also then walked forward, "Sorry for the intrusion… You guys having a-ahh…" He stopped mid-sentence from his neutral approach when he noticed Amy looking woozy on the ground, and Wave in a bit of better shape but the three rogues looking like trouble. He narrowed his eyes, "Hey, what's going on here? What happened to Amy!" He rose up his fists, ducking his head as his teeth gritted and he readied for combat if necessary.

Sonic scratched the back of his head, "Uhh… No problem. But Knuckles? Tails? What's going on here?" He gestured out to Chaos.

"We were gonna ask you the same thing." Wave sighed, shrugging out her arms. "You guys just showed up out of nowhere and-" She closed her eyes and tilted her head, nonchalantly, about to mention being accused of foul-play–and mention how it's a terrible bird pun–when Jet took the pause as an opportunity.

"Take- THAAAAT!" He cried out and slammed a fist into the side of Sonic's face in revenge.

He held up the fist that knocked him back triumphantly, smirking a gloated look of satisfaction with a puff of air out of his raised beak, "There, how do you like it, huh!? Heh," He took the fist and lightly grazed it over the tip of his beak, "Guess this just goes to show I'm still the best at controlling the speed of wind! Considering you couldn't even see that punch coming!"

"D'awh, you didn't really give him a chance to, Boss." Storm's head intercepted into view, holding up a pointer finger to state the fact before poking it into his other finger nervously as well as he made his point. "You waited till he was distracted…" He sweat dropped as Wave just face-palmed and shook her head.

"Will he never learn?" She watched as Sonic retaliated, knocking Jet back with superspeeds.

Sonic held up a pointer finger and shook it about, "Tsk, tsk. You call that unexpected? You're a no-good thief with a no-good swing, Jet!"

Jet lifted his head off a pile of ruins that he was shoved into, the crumbling stone giving way to him as he growled his frustrations. "You-... YOUUUU-!" He threw himself back into the fray.

They gripped the other's hands up over their heads as Sonic smirked and held his footing, Jet glaring with a bite in his beak and keeping his ground. They then shoved their foreheads against each others as the rest of the two groups watched on awkwardly at the two boy's displays of competition, Amy still looking dizzy on the ground with her head swaying in cartoony circles going, 'Daw-aw-awh' in a goofy way.

She was starting to recover, but with all the loud noises, screeches, and fast motions… she gripped her head and tried to make sense of it all after the world stopped spinning for a change.

"Oh yeah?" Sonic gritted his teeth, still locked in 'combat' with a furious Jet, "I'm still the fastest thing alive! I am the wind!" Sonic countered back with his own confident statement as the two pushed back and forth with their strengths pinned against the other.

They traded with shaking muscles in their arms, straining their expressions forward and back, before Tails finally felt the need to intervene somewhat.

"If I may…" He comically stated, looking confused, "I would like to ask you and Sonic the same question… Why are the Babylon Rogues hanging around the Ancient Ruins? Why is Amy looking completely spaced out, and Sonic..?" Noticing Sonic was still locked in place, he sighed.

"Yeah, bud? Err…" He smiled as he continued to contend with Jet's force, Jet now ducking his head down and squinting his eyes to try and take a step forward, but having to place it back on the ground, unable to move at all without losing ground… and he wouldn't DARE let Sonic see him struggle!

"What are you doing here?" He really had so many questions… He landed on the ground and gave his tails some rest, "I'm completely out of the loop,… again." He leaned his body forward and down with his arms dangling in disappointment at being sucked into further 'drama that wasn't his' again.

"Huh?" Wave turned to Tails then, removing her hand from its 'really?' gesture with her fingers pinching the tip of her forehead at the immaturity of both 'team leaders'. "We ride around these jungles, they're extremely useful for precision training… but besides that, the ruins have a lot of traps that are fun to skate through and avoid. What are you all doing here?" She looked between the watery personage, and then Team Sonic.

Storm, while the others were distracted in conversation, began to slowly make his way to Amy as Jet had yelled out to shut up to him. She looked as though she was hurting… gripping her head, a little out of it still as Tails's comment had made him notice her again.

"Little lady..?" He bent down, speaking out the side of his mouth as though passing a secret, before bending fully to see the look on her face. "D'aww… are you alright?" He looked genuinely worried for her now… Wave had recovered… What was wrong with her?

"Hmm..?" Her eyelids bounced delicately, as though unable to fully remain awake. "Big..?"

"D'awwwh," He looked a little bashful on that, not realizing what she meant, and definitely not 'who' she was referring to. "I guess I am kinda big..." He looked up and scratched the side of his peak.

Amy rubbed her eyes, squinting to see clearly, and then gasped at seeing Storm wasn't a large purple cat friend.

"Ah!" she pushed him away, causing him to tumble and fall into Jet, who squawked at the surprise collision as the two rolled along the ground.

She kicked her feet to scoot herself back in startled fright, as Sonic blinked to see his hands free and looked off into the direction Jet and Storm had tumbled down from.

Storm had–once again–not been careful about her surprising might…

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Jet shook his fists in the air and kicked out his legs, having Storm land on top of him. "Get off of me, you big oaf!"

"Amy," Sonic turned his full attention to her then, seeing her suddenly spark to life. He began to walk over to her, bending down as Storm did to be at eye-level with her. With one knee down, he also pressed a hand near the ground closest to her side, trying to look at her face clearly to make sure she was alright, "You had us kinda crazy worried about you." He looked around her face curiously as though checking to truly make sure she was uninjured, and happy with the result, smiled, trying to be charming but Amy just stared at him…

Usually, it didn't take much for Sonic's consideration to make her squee with delight..! But… this time…

Instead of feeling the reward of her affection swarm over him in an affectionate embrace, her forehead usually pushing up against his cheek as he turned his head away from her doting splendors, she puffed up the side of her cheek and kept it far from him…

"Emm… Hmph!" she grumbled and quickly swiped her head to a swift left.

Sonic flinched back a moment, his eyes opening wider as though not believing that reaction, but seeming concerned. "Hey, come on, Amy… Was it something I said? I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." He hadn't really played out how he was going to talk to her once he found her, but seeing her act like this…

She squinted the eye that was closest to him… narrowing her sights before ducking her head down and beginning to get up, using the wall as support, but also having a 'figurative' one around her heart.

"If you think that's enough to forgive you-A-ah..!" She began to start toppling, her feet moving like a teeter-totter as though her legs refused to work. She may have gotten up, but standing on her own was a different matter.., especially for how long she had been out for…

"Ah! Here, let me help you." He straightened up and leaned forward, offering his arms but she just gave him a look again, pouting in indignation for him. She immediately was stiff as a board, forcing her legs to shake a moment but balance themselves out, refusing his help.

"Hmph!" She walked along the wall, keeping one hand on it, and held her nose up high to the sky to actively ignore him, causing him to sink a bit in his own skin.

"You've got to be kidding me…" He stated, a little disheartened about her attitude but also shrugging it off and moving back towards Tails and the gang. "Well, guess it can't be helped for now. Tails? You got a story for me?"

However, turning to face his back to her, she flinched and looked back, now having both hands on the wall and looking worried at his lack of pursuing her to truly make sure she was in good health.

It broke her heart a little… but Sonic looked back over his shoulder, smirking, and winked to her.

She gasped, grew angry, and turned away from him again with her head held high once more.

But her eyes looked back tenderly… her hand moved to her chest and bundled itself there… as though grateful to see his playful response meant he was still willing to help her if she needed it… at least… Even though she was trying to ignore him out of punishment for his earlier behavior of lacking proper timing skills for dates… he still seemed to care and wouldn't ignore her back.

If anything… her actions were to try and get more concern out of him… she did feel weak, and normally, she would jump into his strong arms… but her heart still failed her a bit, and wanted to stay angry for a bit longer…

…Would Sonic go beyond his normal caring to show he really did mean what he said? That he was truly sorry and didn't understand? But how could he not understand?

Why can't men and women comprehend what the other is feeling?

Why were their actions so complex?

Emotional responses, behavioral decorum, social and learned body language, what truly made them so distinctly unable to communicate what they really feel?

"Boy, do I!" Tails bounced to life, holding up his Miles-Electric for Sonic to see. Sonic took it as Tails continued, clicking through the spark notes Tails had made. "Apparently, Eggman's discovered a lost and forgotten goddess. Her name is Harmony, and she's the opposite power of Chaos, which is the power of creation." Tails began as Amy opened her stubborn eyes to peek back at the group and hear what they were talking about, moving away from her inner-thoughts of feeling a bit ashamed at treating Sonic like this if he wasn't even going to take it seriously…

"A god?" Enraged still, Jet popped his head up after Storm finally came too, rubbing his head and pouting at getting trashed by the same girl again… "You mean to tell me this is about someone's religion!?"

"Hey," Knuckles folded his arms, glaring a bit and raising an eyebrow at Jet, "Watch your manners… they were revered as gods… By my people." He looked back to Tails, nodding for him to continue.

Tails nodded back, thanking him for taking care of that. "Right. They're not really gods, but more like aliens with significant powers and abilities. They may even be related to the Chao's origins!" he exclaimed, before continuing on with his finger held up to instruct. "From what I could gather from Knuckles, she must have different abilities that differ from Chaos too." He looked to the group forming around him, "If Chaos controls 'The Waters of Destruction' then I have a feeling Harmony interacts with some form of nature regarding creation as well. My theory also states that Eggman might want to give her the Chaos Emeralds, similarly to how Chaos went berserk with them, transforming and powering up as well…" He put that hand with his pointer finger out to his chin, looking down as though collecting his thoughts more thoroughly on the matter. "I'm not sure, though… Only Knuckles can know that from Tikal's ghostly vision." He nodded, "Rouge and Shadow apparently have seen the same thing."

Wave, who looked annoyed, immediately spoke up after him, "But what does this have to do with anything?" she spread her arms out, "We're not a part of this!" She glared down at the fox boy, "And might I add, haven't wanted anything to do with it!" She swiped out her hand and held her head up, showing her distaste at being thrown into this. "So why does it have to involve us?!"

Amy began to turn around, slowly making her way back and still clinging to the wall for support. Her ears twitched to listen better and folded more towards Tails's voice.

She tried to peek around Sonic and Wave's backs, while also remaining silent, just observing…

Is that something that regarded her, too?

Tails looked to Wave, "There was a huge energy pulse, one from Chaos… another directly from Harmony."

"The signal?" Wave looked to Storm and Jet, who nodded to her.

"Sounds like it." Jet huffed out, still agitated as he walked up to help form a circle between the conversing 'foes'. He folded his arms, "Something took out Wave and your little boorish lady friend there recently." He looked to Wave again before Amy puffed up her cheek again.

Before she could say anything, Sonic chimed in, "She would have been worse if you weren't so polite." he teased, as Jet's anger rose and fumed towards him, his face turning red as a volcano erupting.

"We saved her life!" he exaggerated, holding up a fist to Sonic, "You'd do more care to watch your own, Hedgehog!"

Sonic… actually seemed to be affected by that statement but didn't let it show, just gave a wider smile a second and went back to listening to Tails intercept.

But something inside Sonic… was hurt and deeply affected by that comment.

If he only hadn't missed the date… would he have been around Amy to help her during that awful, big energy wave like before? The one that made his stomach turn like that?

"You registered it, too?" Tails looked intrigued but not surprised to hear that.

Wave looked at Jet, who nodded back discreetly, and so she cautiously went for her necklace's orb with his permission.

Wave unlocked it from around her neck and tugged on it lightly to have it break off, then clicked it to show the readings, "This is what we could find… it apparently drained me, and your friend there, of some of our life force."

"It- what?!" Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails stepped back, amazed to hear such a thing.

Amy also placed her hand up to her cheek, looking down and thinking about that horrible state she was in just before fainting… "Was something really trying to pull power from us?" She looked back at the party, who seemed to turn to address her.

They remained silent, looking a little solemn.

"Don't know… not yet, anyway," Jet responded, looking down before growing angry again and shaking his fist, gritting his teeth.

He turned to Tails, "Grr... Alright, Fox boy! You're a techie just like Wave! You two work together to decipher what those signals were and where they took Wave's power!"

"They're definitely from Harmony,... D'uhh… right?" Storm raised his eyebrow, not sure. "A little while back, a wave like that one but with different colors also-"

"Oh, yeah! That was gnarly!" Sonic seemed to know what Storm was referring to. "It hurt like a kick to the rear end."

"Heh, we were right under it." Jet looked back at him, smirking. "We didn't get side-swiped by that thing, but Wave was out, so we couldn't gain any data from it." He tilted his head up from the side of his cheek, "Must have sucked for you, Hedgehog! What? Were you running at top speed before it hit ya?" He mocked, as Sonic just sighed and held up his hands, shrugging.

"Yeah, big bummer, right?" He acted nonchalantly, not letting Jet get to him.

Jet leaned forward, head protruding out a bit, "I bet you kissed the dirt on the way here."

"Yeah, I'm not really one for dirty kisses." Sonic narrowed his eyes and lowered his eyelids as though to cockily block Jet's mocking schemes.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I bet you-!"

"Enough..!" Wave just bent her eyelids down, holding out her hand to cease their annoying banter. "I'm not enjoying your childish stomps and uproars, take your rivalry somewhere else then if you two can't think straight enough to focus on what we're actually talking about!" She rolled her eyes, knowing that at least Jet had tried to worry about her, even for a split second, he even tried to lead and stay on topic. "I suppose we can share our intel." She agreed, but half-heartedly, letting her arm swish a second in an arch to show she was letting any refusals she may have go about it.

She put a hand to her hip, "You good with that, Tails, was it?" She smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Don't worry, I'll put all the big girl words into simple coding text for you." She joked, "I mean, for your age group, anyway~" she put a hand under her chin and cackled a second as obnoxiously as she could.

"R-right." Feeling reluctance in her voice at first, and now just the sheer haughtiness of it, Tails remained a bit quiet and just lowered his head and ears to her, "I'm not a baby…" he muttered to himself, looking up and following her lead as though remaining humble and not wanting to start any further 'fights' or unnecessary 'squabbles'... But he did glare with a pout behind her back.

They didn't go too far, just made some distance to show they were now a separate group. Tails continued, "Harmony, according to Knuckles's vision," Everyone suddenly gave their attention to Knuckles, apparently surprised he could have those, as their staring made him grow embarrassed and looked away. "Was tricked by his people into creating the Chaos Emeralds, but at somewhat a cost. When they were used to control Chaos, they also injured her beyond repair, resulting in her becoming the lesser of the two supposed deities." He held out his hand to see Wave's orb, but she gave him a squinted look that showed he couldn't touch it. He then pouted and she smirked to lower the orb down and have him read the screen better.

Amy, still feeling a bit weak around the knees, was able to manage walking over to the crowd without the need of the wall. When Sonic noticed her, she was too focused on the story and didn't say anything. He just smiled sweetly, but also let out a single chuckle. He knew she'd be too curious to stay away, and was just glad she dropped her act in time to listen in. Sonic tried to subtly side-step and position himself so that if she needed his shoulder, she could use that for support…

"She's weaker than him now? Hard to imagine." Sarcastically, Wave folded her arms.

Taking it as her disbelief, Tails turned to her, gesturing an arm out to her as he spoke. "She may be weakened, but even still, she's incredibly powerful." After Tails had thoroughly gotten a look at the data, he gestured for Sonic with a wave.

Sonic looked, nodded, and happily tossed him the Miles-Electric.

Tails caught it with a little bit of a lean and then turned the screen right way around again to hand it to Wave to look over.

She just looked down, and he realized that she expected him to hold it out for her like she had her orb… Well, at least she wasn't gonna steal it.

Tails sighed but continued to try and sum up his explanation of what he has also recently learned, "She's somehow linked to the energies within women kind. If we don't stop her, it could mean something terrible for the women of our world." He emphasized, causing everyone to turn to Wave and Amy.

Now they were the ones who were growing self-conscious, as the two girls looked perturbed by the men's stares and Tails's statement.

"O-Oui, let's not jump the gun here…" Wave held up her hands, not liking the attention… but looking at Tails's data, she scrolled through it… not liking what she was seeing.

'Not only does it match… it's even worse than I thought.' She narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth in her beak. 'This thing is gonna absorb our power… but for what purpose this time?'

She kept her thoughts to herself, taking a worried, quick, and subtle glance at her teammates… not wanting them to fret further about her health.

"R-Right, Tails, you're not certain of all this… are you?" Amy also asked, which led Tails to shaking his head.

"None of this is for certain," He looked to Knuckles, who looked as though he very much cared towards him. "We're only able to go off of what Knuckles was saying…"

"No need."

Removing a dirty, muddy, ripped, and ragged cloak… a Red and Black hedgehog appeared from the side of the ruins, coming around it.

The gang turned around.

"Who's this guy? Wait… Didn't I see him in a race or two?" Jet commented as the figure seemed to jog a forgotten memory.

"It's hazy… but I think I do remember this rider," Wave stated but looked a little cautious about his random appearance.

"It's-" Sonic began, but Amy's head jumped up from the side of him, cutting him off.

"It's Shadow!" Amy exclaimed, and ran towards him, gaining her strength back.

Sonic's head shifted from her to Shadow before looking a bit exasperated again.

He wasn't liking how this new dynamic between them was playing out…

Amy held her hands together, greeting him with a kind, excited smile.

Shadow gazed at her before seeing her color begin to slowly come back to her. "Looks like Harmony is its name." As he walked by, he pointed to Amy's hair. "Your life is slowly being restored to you through the Planet Egg's power… a mixture between Chaos and Harmony's abilities… without them, the Planet Egg would have never formed this world."

He stopped in front of Tails, putting a hand on his hip. "Don't bother researching any of these ruins for clues. I've got all the evidence that remains of her here." He tossed what looked to be a USP drive of some kind, causing Tails to think fast and jumble with it in his hands before it fell.

Wave also went to grab it but snapped her fingers and turned away when he was able to catch it first.

So, she wouldn't steal his Miles-Electric, but the small USP drive? Sneaky little swallow…

Tails gave her a slight squint of suspicion about her behavior but plugged in the USP right away, as he allowed Wave to look over his shoulder to see it. She was taller, so it wasn't a big issue to do so.

"You… You were looking into the ruins, too, Shadow?" Tails inquired while his eyes danced between Shadow and the downloading data popping up on the screen. "T-Thanks… But how did you know- Woah!" His jaw dropped, "This is..?!"

"You should really add more firewalls to your things, Tails. It's far too easy to hack into them." Shadow folded his arms, "Though, I hope you don't mind my intrusion of your private services… They prove quite a deal more reliable than anything G.U.N can offer."

"You… you stole my systems?" Tails looked amazed, "I'm surprised you even cracked through my security procedures! Not even Eggman has access to those!"

Wave mouthed, 'Doesn't sound hard,' to herself to mock the fox further, pulling the device closer to her own eye level and seeing it directly with one hand as Tails was distracted.

"I'm not Eggman." Shadow countered and looked to Wave. He examined her head to toe with his eyes before Wave finally placed two fingers up to her eyes.

"My soul is in here."

"I'm aware of that. I'm trying to figure out how you two are still alive." Shadow gestured to her arm's returning colors. "You should have been drained dry… but for some reason, Harmony only took some of your life… not all of it, and the Planet Egg is restoring the rest… albeit, slowly…"

"Beg your pardon?" Wave was growing restless and getting increasingly more agitated. "Your data is just a bunch of pictures on murals, and some ancient folklore by the look of it. How do we even know that blue blob there is a 'Chaos god' anyway?" She gestured skeptically to Chaos, who was fixated on Sonic before looking over at her hand movement in his direction.

"According to the ruins that even vaguely mention a female deity… many of the Echidna women were sacrificed to give her enough power to create the imprisoning stones we now call the Chaos Emeralds… the Master Emerald was created with even more lives from that of the female children. There's no wonder their species went extinct and the rest of them were banished to the Twilight Zone." He looked at Knuckles, shaking his head. "You have no reason to honor your ancestors." His eyes looked sharp and heavy, as though intensely judging the situation. "It's very real,..." He turned his attention to Wave, "The hundreds of thousands of tombs can't be ignored… all evidence suggests there are more women buried here than there are men."

Knuckles's eyes widened, "Why you… you… YOU-!" he charged him with a fist, but something hooked him and held him back. "You don't get to judge based on what little you know-! We don't really know if- W-what..?"

His eyes slowly gazed back… horrified to see Chaos's stretched arm had held him back.

Chaos just stared and bobbed slightly in motion, waiting for Knuckles to pull back.

"Heh, some god." Jet smirked, folding his arms, "Making peace instead of letting chaos reign? Sounds a bit like he's been mislabelled, too." Jet looked down, "I know what it's like… to have a bad set of ancestors… but you still look up to them… you still try to emulate the good you saw in them."

Storm and Wave also held their heads down, conflicted at their past as well, but still having pride in them…

Being somewhat hurt by Chaos's actions, Knuckles loosened up and fell to his knees, looking a bit broken by the whole scene.

"They… They couldn't have all been so terribly bad…" He seemed to not know what to believe now, "Their greed… we've always known about it… but… this?" He closed his eyes, his hands digging into the dirt below him, and he began to punch and make holes in the ground. "U-rah-urah-urah-urah!"

"Knuckles…" Amy moved over to him, dropping to his side and cupping the side of his face with her hand, stopping his punches as he held one back, up in the air. She comforted him as she gently pulled his head to her shoulder, giving him a side hug, and laying her head to his confused one. She then glared at Shadow, "That was an awful thing to say!" she shouted, "Apologize to him! Knuckles isn't like that! It was a different time and we're all aware it was wrong!" she tried to be sensitive, but…

What a situation they were all in, to be quite honest, no one knew how to address it.

"And yet, it's true." Shadow looked to Chaos, "Your past displays of anger weren't just directed onto the Echidnas… However," Chaos looked back at him, taking his crystallized eyes off of Knuckles's shaken state, his arms forming back to how they were before he whipped one out to curl around Knuckles's arm to stop him. "They were directed to the world."

Chaos just stared at him… True, he was angry, but if anyone was being misunderstood here… It was him.

He knew how awful the Echidnas were… What they were eventually becoming, but Harmony couldn't fathom any evils in her creations' hearts… not like he could.

"Who are you?" Wave asked as Shadow just chuckled beside himself.

"Who am I?" He angled his head a bit to her, talking to the side of his shoulder, looking at her from a tilt. "It's a long story."

Storm poked Knuckles, "Come on, buddy… Don't cry…"

"I'm not crying!" Knuckles smacked his hand away but missed. He started yelling, "I don't need anyone telling me who I am! I don't need anyone poking into my ancestor's past mistakes either!" in his rage, he pushed Amy aside, making her fall back a bit.

He rose to his feet, eyes fixed on Shadow, "You were in my people's sacred edifices!"

Sonic sped to Amy's side, who allowed him to help her up. She wasn't hurt, but more so worried about Knuckles…

In only a short time frame, he had learned so much… at what price? He didn't have much time to process it all, and hearing so many awful things about his ancestry… the ones he was trying so hard to redeem…

In his heart, did he wonder if all his efforts were in vain? Were the Echidnas, and their race… really that unredeemable?

It was clear he was fighting that, that was his life's purpose… how could anyone just accept that doomed bloodline and fate?

"…More like occult burial grounds…" Shadow defended himself and his standing, then looked at Tails's horrified face. "See for yourself." He turned with a loose swing of his arm to gesture to the data he had collected and then began to walk away. "If you intend to reunite Chaos with his partner… you're risking the destruction of all creation from the world. The infertile planet will rapidly begin to wither and die. Plants will stop producing oxygen. Wind will cease. The earth will stop turning on its natural rotation and axis… then… only we men will have our regrets and loneliness to accompany us at the end." Shadow lowered his head and spoke to those behind him, the gang remaining silent at his words. "Then… the Planet Egg will decay… and we'll all suffocate and drown in the seas…" He looked up into the sky, "This world will become a floating pile of wasted garbage… with no purpose or life upon it… just a hunk of dead space trash."

The edge of his words were cutting into everyone, as though he was twisting a knife deeper and deeper into their consciences.

"Shadow, you're giving us some hard and harsh things to swallow…" Sonic stepped forward, helping Amy a moment longer before moving towards him with his hand out and down as though to try and calm Shadow down. He recognized he was only causing more harm than help with his bold statements of armageddon. "Tails..?" Sonic looked to him for confirmation if any of this was true, but Tails's eyes just shook, reading what inscriptions and hieroglyphs Shadow had pictured and translated through his software. He just shook his head, and turned away from the screen, closing his eyes from the tragic past.

"So, it's true." Wave's eyes shook as well, then almost sparkled as though tearing up as she looked to Jet. "It's… all true." She had seen the depictions… something so horrible painted and inscribed forever was too heartbreaking to deny. It couldn't have been made up…

Jet, realizing her emotional state, lost his anger and just looked at her as though unbelieving that all that Shadow had stated could happen… and that Wave was in such critical danger.

His mouth hung open, not knowing what to say to try and give her any comfort himself… but Storm put his hands together, looking worriedly to the ground.

After a moment of everyone trying to wrap their minds around all this doom and gloom, Sonic stopped scanning the ground. He was trying to come up with a plan, but plans would have to wait. Action was now, and he wasn't a man to wait around for things to occur. Still a bit uncertain about any course of action, He still turned with strength of character to Shadow, not backing down from the 'assumed' end of the world. "Aren't you going to help?" He knew Shadow's promise to Maria made him want to fight for the world… wasn't that what made him bring them the data? To have them face the truth with certainty instead of all this questioning? He wanted them to be serious… So, Sonic was being serious.

"I've done enough." Shadow stated, "I'm used to walking this world alone… what difference would it make?" he turned to the gang, "I'm immortal… The power of Chaos is within me… giving me all manner of life. Chaos isn't connected to Harmony's power." He shook his head, "We men have nothing to fear but his wrath."

Men couldn't be harmed with what was happening in Harmony… the power of Chaos… Was it that much of a comfort?

Sonic touched his chest, knowing even his Super form had something to do with the Chaos Emeralds… "But she is a part of it." He stated, "All of us, should know that Harmony is still just as big a part of us as it would be for women."

Tails suddenly interjected, "X and Y chromosomes! You can't have a 'boy' without an 'X'." he gestured his arms out, "Sonic's right! Harmony affects us, too!"

Shadow just turned to narrow his eyes at Tails, "With that, we are just unable to continue life, it doesn't mean we'll perish… this world was doomed from the start. Whether by my hand, or this 'goddess's'... You lot have only prayers yet to send." He looked away, as though dismissing their lives entirely.

This sent Wave into a fury, "You-!" She launched herself at him but Storm held her back.

"Easy there, Wave!" He held her back by her stomach, worried Shadow might defend himself and attack back if he didn't keep Wave away from him.

"Shadow, you can't mean that!" Amy said, rushing to him but stopping some length away. "I know you loved someone. Someone who was very close to you! Why won't you help us?" her eyes pleaded, widening to show the soft sparkle of loving tears forming over her glossy eyes, but Shadow just smiled.

"I was joking."

The entirety of the team fell silent…

"That wasn't FUNNY!" They all shouted in unison, a few stomping their feet down in protest to his 'sense of a joke'.

"That wasn't the right timing!" Sonic cried out, "For anything!" he clarified, but Shadow just laughed in his amusement at their responses.

After calming down somewhat, Wave finally pulled out her orb again and rubbed her forehead, not able to really have the energy nor the emotional dexterity to keep her mind and heart on track with all this drama… "Ugh, I know the direction of the energy residue. What do you need?" Wave quickly turned back to Tails, exhausted from all this was an understatement. She just wanted to fix it all as quickly as possible and take a long nap once the world was back to normal again.

"Oh, y-yeah… I was hoping to have Chaos communicate with her again by using that aurora blast from before… but now…" Tails looked uneasy, holding his Miles-Electric in his hands and seeming to think back on what Shadow's data had concluded…

"What is it, buddy?" Sonic still seemed to be a little lost on everything besides that the world might cease to exist if they didn't solve this conundrum swiftly. His feet were antsy, he just wanted a plan or to move already…

"If… Harmony really is the dangerous one… maybe… Knuckles was right?" He looked up, "And we should keep him away from her?"

Knuckles, swallowing some pride, stepped up to Sonic with a hand on his shoulder to further enlighten the gang on the situation. "Sonic…" Gaining his attention, he continued, a bit more gently than before. "If Chaos is seeking revenge for his imprisonment… He has the power now to fully destroy Harmony."

Sonic turned to him, his eyes showed the innocence of a boy, and Knuckles sighed, "And even if not… Harmony may want to avenge herself."

"Meaning..?" Sonic raised an eyebrow, trying to understand Knuckles clearly.

"Meaning…" He continued, a little begrudgingly. He had to remember that Tails and Sonic were somewhat in the same boat here when it came to 'delicately' mentioning these things… "That everything Shadow said would come to pass… However, if Chaos wants to bring Order back to the world, restoring the balance of life and death, and renewing the planet's natural cycles… Well, then they're friends again. But we're not sure how that's gonna go just yet." Knuckles scratched behind his head, shaking it and swaggering away as though not sure he should be allowing this. "I'm not confident in letting Chaos contact her just yet… but I'm willing to at least try and figure out what he's saying to her. You know?"

"To destroy this blob of water is to destroy death itself?" Jet was catching on, looking over Chaos and then poking the air near him as he looked to the others. "Why not just destroy him, then?"

Although Sonic looked shocked by the suggestion, the rest just glared at Jet.

"What?" He shrugged, "Does that not sound like a decent plan?"

"Immortality is not what you think it is." Shadow pivoted towards him, taking on a very serious tone back to the front of his presence again. "Trust me… I would know."

"You would- what!?" Jet had opened a can of worms but no one was willing to dive down that rabbit hole tonight.

"Back to what you were saying," He turned his head, a bit more calmly, to the previous discussion at hand, "That would be unwise." Shadow responded, "Considering Eggman has located and brought the 'Goddess' out of her original resting place. Harmony can't be destroyed without the Planet Egg withering away, and Chaos must exist or the planet will overexpand itself, draining its power till every square inch of this planet is overgrown and inhabitable."

"Too much is no good." Sonic folded his arms and shook his head… but then blinking a second…

"Eggman!?" The team turned back to Shadow, speaking once again in unison at the discovery that Eggman was somehow behind this dilemma as well.

"So, he's a part of this too!" Tails exclaimed as Shadow nodded to his reaction.

Turning to Sonic, Shadow couldn't help but relay his message further, "As of now, Rouge has informed me that half-robotic stone monsters are forming a legion around Eggman's location. They're building some kind of giant zone…"

"Eggman…" Sonic gripped his fist into a tight hold, then looked over to Amy…

She was unaware of his gaze until a moment after, turning to him and blinking in unknowing curiosity as to why he was staring particularly at her…

Sonic's eyes traced her face back and forth… a world without Amy? Without girls?

Children… lives that were postponed forever… Whether Chaos killed Harmony or the opposite, and they injured each other… the world would never be the same again if they fought at all.

"How do you fight something you can't control?" Sonic finally blurted out, as everyone looked to him, staring at his fist as he opened it up, "Death… life… we think we can control these things… but Chaos is the want for control… and Harmony is the hope that we can live in an uncontrollable world." He gently formed a fist again, after having flared out and flexed his hand in a graceful manner. "How are we to fight something so intangible as that? Give them form… but make them impossible to touch, even still."

The realization that his friend was at stake made his eyes crush themselves shut, his body crunch in, and his fist shake. "How do I fight something that can't be fought? How do we win against a power that must be… How do we punch balance into existence? Or even kick down what is making them fight so hard against the other?"

"... You communicate." Tails held up his Miles-Electric, now certain of what they must do. "You talk it out."

Sonic looked to Amy who looked from Tails back to him.

Silently… their eyes apologized to the other… and softly bent to express care and consideration for each other in them.

Amy walked over and took hold of his fist, closing her own eyes.

"You state your wrongs… and you seek forgiveness for them."

She looked into Sonic's eyes, and the two smiled, finally making up a bit for their earlier disagreement and misunderstanding of each other…

The gang watched but only Tails teared up a bit, realizing that they conveyed their strong and relevant love for one another in a beautiful way, through simply forgiving the wrongs of the other and moving past it…

"Now,... if only we can get Harmony and Chaos to look that way… to each other." Tails looked to Chaos, who was watching Sonic and Amy interact, frozen in his observation of them… his water refracting light from the sun through itself.

"Eggman's gone too far this time…" Sonic, with his eyes now fully opened to the situation and how to prevent the end of the world from happening, turned back to Shadow again. "We can't let Harmony suck the life out of women all over the planet. We've got to do something." He looked to Chaos, seeing him patiently observing the gang. "We have to see what his feelings are towards all this first." He took Amy's hand in a returned gesture, as her heart skipped a beat by it, making her blush. "Is there any way we can understand him?" He looked to Tails, hoping for some logical solution to this madness. "If he wants to talk to Harmony… we just have to get her back from Eggman, and give them a chance to reconcile with one another… All they need is an opportunity to communicate their true feelings, right?" He tilted his head in a kinda nod, encouraging the matter to proceed and not waste time any longer.

He put down his hand but kept Amy's in his own, making her squirm a bit in delight, shaking her head as though trying to remain focused on the serious matter at hand but… but HAND. IN. HAND.

She put a fist to her chest and turned away to hold in a silent squeak of joy.

Sonic looked back, wondering what was wrong, but just smiled after seeing she was just happy to make up with him, looking back to the gang.

"The planet's been slowly dying for years, Sonic." Shadow stated, "Every circle of the sun… ever encroaching upon the darkness of eternal restitution… Life must come from something, the theory of spontaneity is false and a lie… The universe takes its power from something… somewhere… even if Harmony and Chaos make up, the end will still inevitably come to pass sometime." Shadow's doom and gloom made Sonic shake his head.

"And they'll be a hero in that time for it, but for now, I'm here. We're here." he looked to everyone, "And we can stop the hands of fate from speeding up too quickly." He smirked, confident in his hope as Amy nodded and held his hand tightly back.

"Shadow… we won't lose hope." She stated, "And neither should you."

Her eyes made him smile, "I haven't." He looked to Tails, putting a hand to his hip, "Aren't you going to say something clever now, fox boy?" He then chuckled, "Rouge has gotten to me." he seemed to have been mimicking her for another 'joke'.

Knuckles folded his arms and rolled his eyes, "You weren't just joking about my ancestors… were you?"

With that, Shadow just gave him a very serious look, and Knuckles looked away, knowing full-heartedly now that Shadow was completely serious about his contempt for that.

"How could I lie and say I was?" He stated, "On something as horrible as that past… where no hero was found… Not in that awful place of death and ruin… all for selfish greed and power."

Knuckles and Shadow didn't make eye contact or speak to each other again for the duration of the meeting after that… Their blood running hot or cold on that line.

"There's only so much Harmony can pull before everything just… isn't there anymore." Tails explained, "Like with Eggman's machine on Lost Planet, eventually, there won't be anything left to sustain itself… or her power, for that matter." He then began to click some buttons, working fast to still the hostilities that Shadow and Knuckles were portraying. "The Planet Egg… It only has so much life it can give. Every star has its course, as Shadow said, ours will one day supernova at the ending of its natural stages… but not yet. We'll be far into the dust and ground before that ever happens." He then looked down at his screen, "But… I can say this… Harmony might accelerate that depletion, and if she feels threatened by Chaos then-" he was cut off then by Shadow once more.

"If we're all just going to stand around here and talk about 'what ifs' then my information to you was pointless." He swiped the Miles-Electric out of Tails's hands.

"Hey!" Tails reached for it, but Shadow expertly kept it away and used his arm to push Tails back.

"You either listen to my plan or go your own path, you decide." He was done messing around…

Not that he did that much, but he was done making lighthearted comments only for them to not realize the severity of what his words conveyed.

"Although not an immediate threat for the present… right now, we must safeguard the future." Shadow held up the Miles-Electric, "No more games, all jokes aside, I intend to use you all as backup."

"You have a plan?" Sonic raised an eyebrow, almost mocking him. "That's a first." He kept a hold of Amy's hand as he moved towards Shadow, making her step forward a little to keep the hands together, continuing to wonder what he meant by holding her hand for so long…

Did he… really care and worry about her that much? It was a scary topic… the discussion took a terrible turn… but…

It made her heart feel light, to know he wanted to hold her and keep her safe… so much…

After feeling abandoned, like a second thought to him earlier,... it was refreshing to see Sonic so gung-ho about protecting her life… again.

She didn't mean to be a damsel in distress, but it seemed all of womankind was suddenly thrust into captivity by Eggman gaining ahold of Harmony…

Sonic's smirking face only made Shadow narrow his eyes at him, but continued to the others, "No one wants that fight to happen, except maybe Eggman. I've already begun gathering people. With enough forces, we could prevent Harmony from acting under the direction of Eggman's control."

The others looked a little skeptical but nodded.

"Other… forces?" Jet asked, "What are you talking about? You have multiple backup plans!?" he almost acted as though he was offended by that, "What? Are we plan B or W!?" he teased in his fury, not sure what significance Shadow placed on them.

"... I didn't really have you in the plan." Shadow side-eyed Jet as the insult made him lurch back, "I just wanted Sonic… and his friends." He looked to them, "Who have proven their might countless times… Who are you again?" Shadow looked back to Jet as Jet's face reflected swift murder in them…

"What have you got in mind? Shadow?" Sonic gestured a hand out to him, ready to hear, but also to move the conversation along and sedate Jet back a bit.

The distraction was enough for Wave and Storm to intervene and hold Jet back, also shutting his beak as many squawks against Shadow began to profusely protrude from his mouth… Good thing they couldn't hear what words he was using, though…

Before Shadow could answer Sonic, Jet had broken free of his teammates, shouting out, "Are you all mad!? We should be leaving the planet!" A funny callback to his own kind's dilemma of trying to race back to the stars… but now wasn't the time for reminiscing on past adventures…

"If we leave, I'll still die." Wave glared at him, but put a hand to her chest to show him the significance of what was happening. "I'm…" she looked away, "I'm connected to the life force on this planet now… Harmony stole some years of my life away… who knows if they were even years? But regardless." She looked down and closed her eyes, pivoting away from her team to look back up at Sonic and his crew of motley friends. "I highly doubt that grabbing our tails and fleeing is going to keep anyone safe. Her power seems… far-reaching." Wave looked up into the sky.

"…I'm still all for Chaos contacting Harmony."

The group remained silent at her declaration. It wasn't just courage… it was bravery.

Her wits knew she couldn't just run… it would take her one way or another.

"Might as well fight death." she concluded, and looked to Amy, "Women fight it all the time."

Amy gave her a kinshipped nod and look of proud heritage. As women, they would fight for their own right to live.

"We all will." She responded her to her speech, "We all have the right to live. On our own terms."

She looked to Sonic, who nodded at her repeating his own philosophy. Although, this one was expanded upon in ways he hadn't imagined it would be used for.

Knuckles shook his head, "You of all people should know what you're risking." He argued, but it was gentle, like the protector he truly was. "Think this through."

"I…" Everyone then set their eyes on Amy again, who looked a little timid… but as her eyes came up, a strong woman then stood there. "I want to try too. Wave isn't the only one who is speaking her truth. I, too, want to fight for everyone to live… for children and young people, for even the old of years… We all have dreams worth defending!" she tightened her hold on Sonic's hand. "We all… want that opportunity… to speak our minds, to have our hearts uplifted, and bear each other's pain."

The men all looked at the two girls, surprised by their joined comradery in this.

"Are you serious? You're both just gonna let Harmony drain you dry!?" Jet was getting emotionally invested, and to help him calm down, Storm twiddled his fingers and tapped his shoulder. "WHAT?! You too?!"

Storm nodded, "I wanna protect little ladies, too…" He meekly stated, "Jet…" he put his full hand on his shoulder, lightly shaking him up a bit, "Don't you want to have a family… at least… someday?"

"Whhaa… I… Uh…" Jet was without words.

"For once, that's a nice change." Wave joked, smirking at him as he looked at her and shook his fist in rage but gave up, looking away with gritted teeth.

"Heh!" he spat out, "And what? Sonic said we can't just hit this thing into reality… we have to just… talk it out!?" He motioned his hands around, "What does that even mean!?" He gripped his head, clearly confused on the whole concept of 'peace-talks', it seemed. "I don't talk, I do!" he protested, but Sonic could kinda relate to him on that one… that was the point of his whole 'speech' earlier, too.

So he couldn't blame Jet for speaking his mind, now, and nodded in agreeance to it. "We'll have to… learn to communicate." Sonic stated, "Which will still take action… and work." He smiled and nodded to Amy, mouthing, 'I'm sorry' as she smiled back at him and nodded with her eyes closing for a second, then mouthing back, 'I'm sorry, too.'.

This made Sonic look glad, and gently… he released her hand, and she understood that he was waiting for confirmation that they were okay again before letting her go.

"It's not just our lives we have to think about." Wave walked up next to Amy, matching her resolved expression. They nodded to one another, then turned to the boys. "If Harmony was once a good alien who gave life to the planet, who's to say when she's free and able, she won't do it again?"

"Or Chao." Tails coughed into his hand, "Evolved, mutated Chao." he coughed a few more times… but no one gave any regard to him.

"Alien Chao?" Knuckles leaned towards him, raising an eyebrow as he whispered with a hand up over his mouth to make sure only Tails could hear him while Tails shrugged, not knowing all the facts just yet.

"You really think she's that compassionate?" Jet kept fighting this, putting his hands on his hips in defiance but by then, Knuckles just let out a laugh and patted his other shoulder after making his way from Tails, over to him.

"Goes to show ya! Women are a force to be reckoned with!" He looked to Wave and Amy, "Let's follow their example and lead."

Wave smirked at him, and Amy just smiled warmly with a determined nod of approval.

"Very well." Shadow turned to Chaos, "Assure us you're on our side… if not, we'll take you down with the very stones that cursed you two to remain apart." Shadow glared his threat with a heated hiss to his words, biting almost at his syllables to make sure Chaos knew he meant it. Moving up to Chaos's face—a move he knew was all too dangerous from last time—but squeezed his hand shut in front of him, "And don't have us witness you repeating the same mistake…" He gestured to his arm and then threw it down as though to hint at Chaos blasting off one of Harmony's arms… for good.

Though Chaos didn't do that of his own will, his water bubbled in anger at Shadow's gesture…

The intimidation wasn't very effective, but suggesting that Chaos willingly hurt Harmony… that was something that got him boiling. Chaos just stared at him, pulling up his own three-talon-spiked hand, and crushed it as well.

The Sonic gang all stepped back, "Ohh..!" It was the first time Chaos had mimicked their own gestures for 'Let's do this!' in a sense, or determination of might and will.

However, when you looked at it, it almost looked like a sign of camaraderie, too.

Was he just mimicking them or actually trying to convey the same feelings they had shared while doing the actions? It was hard to say, without words, but the body language seemed all but too clear.

He was with them, so long as he could see Harmony again… But what would befall if the two did meet again?

Even Chaos couldn't answer that on her behalf…

With that, the gang set out, not losing another moment of the light of day–no more halting conversations, they were off to save the world.

Jet grumbled a bit, but ended up grabbing his air gear, following the crowd of humble heroes to meet once again death and life head to head… but to conduct a test of sending a text message? A voice mail?

Didn't these youngsters know… talking face-to-face was more effective? But they didn't want to risk a planetary showdown… so an indirect message across a large distance was best.

And what of Eggman? What kinda mischief would he do to intercept?

As the group traveled through the jungle, now pressing forward to the tallest temple they could find to conduct their experiments of communication between the two deities, Tails followed after Shadow, trying to keep up with his pace and remain next to him as they ascended up the large and continuous steps towards the top shrine portion at the tip of their climb. "But that doesn't add up! If it was so significant for the Echidnas to take over everything, why didn't they record more about Harmony? Why is so much lost?"

"Would you want the world to learn what you did to your women?" Only Shadow's eyes looked back at Tails, but the horror of his truth made Tails lower his Miles-Electric… then his head in submitting to that viewpoint.

So much sorrow… and for what? Power never lasted throughout the years… Everything would end up rubble at some point.

Might as well live fully to the best of one's capabilities, instead of trying to live forever in endless wanton desire for more than your fair share.

"I also suspect Eggman has a missing link to all of this," Shadow admitted, perking Tails's hope up a bit as he directed his attention back to him.

His ears flexed a bit, as though wanting to hear more, "What do you mean?" He innocently asked his question, hoping Shadow would elaborate further.

"A manuscript in the library was missing. Rouge and I found a trace of Eggman's DNA there…" Shadow's comment suddenly halted the rest of the group in that revelation.

The pause didn't last long, "You were snooping in my ruins!?" Knuckles flung himself back, insisting to guide Chaos from the front of the line. "Eggman, and YOU ALL, will pay for this!"

Shadow just gave him an unamused look, "Does all your friend know how to do is be loud and aggressive?"

"You were quiet and hostile, what's the difference?" Sonic joked but then went to nudge Amy, "Right? Right?" He winked an eye down but she just gave him a quiet look with a raised eyebrow and a smirky smile.

"Hmph." She stuck her nose up, closed her eyes to avoid him, and walked forward. It seemed She was going to let him 'chase' her instead. Storm, who was spooked into crying out when he saw her slide up next to him so fast, made a quick jump to the side to let her pass, flinching as he wouldn't underestimate her again.

"Huh… Tough crowd." Sonic put his hands to his hips and smiled, knowing a little bit of what she wanted… attention, probably to prove his apology sincere.

He jogged a bit to make his way back up to her, smirking as he easily caught up to speed with her walking away, "Can't look at where you're going if your eyes are shut closed." He was referring to her shutting him out, leaning forward with his hands behind his back and looking up at her. She peeked an eye open and flipped her hair out towards him, making him stumble in his stride as she increased her speed.

She suddenly rushed up to Knuckles, glared back at Sonic, then grabbed Knuckles's arm and continued to walk ahead of everyone.

Sonic staggered a little back, coming up beside Jet, and looking a little defeated. "Oohhh…"

"... What was that about?" Jet inquired, looking weirdly suspicious of that whole interaction. "Weren't you holding hands a second ago?" He then laughed, clutching his stomach, "Haha! Miss the mark or something?" he nudged his elbow annoyingly into Sonic's side.

Sonic slumped forward a bit, "She's blaming me for missing a date she set up… but that I had nothing to do with. I think she's forgiven me… but…" He leaned back up and shrugged with both arms crooked, his head still down and eyes closed, "Women."

"Huh? You took me seriously?" Jet looked a bit surprised that Sonic didn't fight him back but openly told him the situation. "Hey, look… We're not buddies or anything, so I'm not gonna hear you out and help you, you got that!?" he fumed, pointing his finger accusingly at Sonic's 'horrible mistake' at daring to trust him or thinking Jet was actually there to comfort. Visibly shaken by Sonic's sudden chill demeanor, a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his head and he continued, "Tsk, besides… the way she's tugging on that Echidna bloke… looks like you've already lost your stance with her. Ah~ If only you were as smooth as me." Jet patted his back, raising his other arm up and shaking his head in his boasting. "Watch this." He winked, moving up to Wave.

"How's it going, gorgeous-IEEE!"

Before he could finish leaning forward, his hands behind his back, trying to slip in a flirt—Wave threw her elbow back into his gut.

"Ah-…hack!" he spat out and gripped his stomach, falling to his knees as Storm quickly came to him.

"Boss!"

But Sonic just kept on walking, turning around only for a moment to stick his tongue out at him and place his hands up to his head, wiggling them around in mockery. "Bleeh-heh-heh!" he then quickly made his way over to Wave.

"Wave! How's it hanging?"

"What do you want?" She practically growled out.

"Oh, uh… sorry, you've had a bad day, huh?" he looked kind, but she shifted her eyes to him suspiciously.

"Yeah, getting the living essence pulled out of ya does that to a girl." She scoffed, "What do you really want?"

"…Actually…" He leaned a little closer, gesturing with his eyes to Amy.

Amy was looking back, clearly not comfortable with the action going on of Sonic being close to another girl, but when Wave turned to look at her, she immediately squeaked in surprise and turned forward again.

Knuckles faltered a bit in his step, "O-Oui!" He wasn't used to her just grabbing him like that. "What's going on?" He whispered, looking back to her as he had to walk sideways from her tugging.

"Shh!" she scolded him, "Quit fidgeting or we'll both fall back!"

"M-Me!? You're the one knocking me off balance!"

"I said quiet, you!"

Wave smiled, "Oh. Lady troubles?" she grinned, narrowing her eyes, "How unfortunate. I might be able to lend a hand… for a small fee…" She wiggled her open hand out, as Sonic rolled his eyes.

Jet only saw Wave extending her hand out to him, and immediately his eyes bulged out of their sockets, "WHAT!? She's-! Ohh! That girl!" he roared through the caws of his open beak, "She's fraternizing with the enemy! Storm! Quick! Hoist me up!"

Sonic heard some squawking from behind and snickered.

"What?" Wave raised an eyebrow, "Don't want my help?"

"Not exactly." Sonic took her hand.

Both Amy and Jet suddenly let out a howl of a response.

"That two-timing-!" Amy began.

"-Traitorous pigeon brain!" Jet continued, enraged as he threw the binoculars down from sitting on Storm's shoulders, now having fallen quite considerably behind from the two in the center of this fiasco on their group ascension up the tall temple stairs.

"I think we're actually helping each other." Sonic winked, but Wave was too shocked to really react just yet.

"Why you-…" She looked back to see Jet's annoyance and Amy's anger fuming… She glared with angry veins pulsing on her head to Sonic, shaking her fist up and gritting her teeth. It almost looked like she was stifling back a snarl from her beak, "Nasty little flirt!" she was about to punch him before.

"wwwwwaaaAAAAVVVEEEE!" Jet was launched between the two by Storm's powerful throw, parting their hands and then taking Sonic down with him.

"Ah, Sonic!" Amy worriedly cried out, seeing him get attacked and pummeled by an enraged Jet. Her heart couldn't take it, and she let go of Knuckles who stumbled and fell on the stairs, chin first into the hard stone which really wracked his head.

"I'll teach you to flirt with my teammates!" Jet threw one punch after another as Sonic skillfully made sure Jet only hit the tip of his head.

"Keep it coming~" Sonic chimed, making Jet stop a moment and look confused.

"Come again..?" He blinked, before seeing Amy come at him with her hammer.

"Hyyyahhh!" she charged and swung, flinging Jet off of Sonic as he was launched back and fell into Wave's arms.

He looked a bit disoriented at first, his head wheeling about a second before throwing his typical tantrum, "You used my jealousy for your own ends!? That's low, hedgehog! That's-!"

"…Did you just say 'your jealousy'?" Wave raised a curious eyebrow, still holding him as he was practically about to sit on the steps without her hoisting him up.

Jet froze and slowly rolled his eyes up to her, seeing he was almost on the ground without her support.

It wasn't Storm who caught him..!?

"Uhh… heh, heh…" He twitched forth a nervous, open smile. "Ehem, as your Boss, of course, I'd be offended if you grew relationships outside the team." He tried to recover, but her eyelids drooped a little at the cuteness of his actions.

"Oh, of course, Boss." She teased, helping him up but making sure to ruffle some feathers along his neck while she was at it. "Whatever you say~" she lined her finger across his beak and then continued to walk on.

Jet stumbled but clearly looked a little twitterpated, but then Storm peeked his head out into his vision from behind him, "B-bah-bah-Boss? You kinda look red as a lovestruck dove…"

Jet twitched with red pulsing anger veins and struck Storm on the head, "Shut up! I'm out of her league!" he cried out, walking on with a few added grumbles of disdain. "I'm the son of the Leader of the Babylon Rogues! Of course, she's gold-digging. Don't be so sentimental, Storm..!" he mumbled in shouted whispers to him as Storm rubbed his head and nodded submissively after Jet.

"Y-yes, Boss… Okay, Boss… but… Uhhhhh… D'aw, don't you think you two have spent a lot of time together? Maybe love just naturally formed between you two-EEK!" Storm's beak was gripped by Jet's silent hand bending around his bulbous beak.

"Another word out of you…" Jet threatened, twitching at his words…

"Sonic!" Amy bent down by Sonic, lifting his head up. "Oh, Sonic…" She lightly stroked the side of his cheek, as though to stir him to open what looked like squinted in pain eyes.

Sonic faked his painful groans and light tossing, gripping his chest and having his eyes flinch to slowly look up at Amy. "It… kinda hurts…" He was playing on her tenderness, hoping it would get her to drop the act she was previously trying for.

"Ah!" Amy's kind heart immediately kicked in, forgetting their feud, she helped him up and rubbed his head gently. "There, there… I'll get you some nice cool water to put on it when this is all over…" she cooed while Sonic also faked a hurt arm. He nodded as though humbly to her request, and as she got him up and helped him walk forward, her arms supporting him as he moved, he smiled giddily and then faked some further pain.

"Ohh… ow, ow… it hurts." His voice sounded so frail, but he was happy to see her arms holding him tighter from it. "T-Thank you,... Amy."

Amy gasped, reaching up and rubbing the tip of his head again, bringing him closer and letting his head rest on her shoulder, making Sonic smile with a devilish smirk as he looked back at Jet, silently thanking him for helping in the ruse to get Amy back to her usual self again. "Ohhh! That no-good thug! There, there… Nothing to fear, Amy Rose is here…"

Chaos stopped a moment, turning to watch the strange scene behind him. He placed a foot down on the step and leaned back a moment, his emerald eyes just seeing Sonic's head on Amy's shoulder… her holding him and rubbing her head…

His memory fogged over to see a murky scene as though looking through water of Chaos and Harmony sitting together looking over all creation and life they had helped the Planet Egg create and sustain. The endless cycles… She gently pulled with both arms his head to her shoulder, bubbling sweetly beside him and stroking his head appendages as her heart beat lightly soothed him to a calming rest… chao jumped and danced around the cliffside, just playing while the two first guardians watched over the planet they had helped put into eternal balance…

Knuckles also stopped in direct response to Chaos's action, "What's wrong now? Hmm?" He turned to look behind him, shocked to see how far everyone was down the steps compared to Chaos and himself. "WAHH!? What is going on? Why is everyone so far behind?!"

Chaos ignored Knuckles's booming and dramatic reactions, but simply watched as Amy patted Sonic's head, and how he purposefully leaned down and softly smiled at the attention, accepting her gesture of comfort.

Chaos's eyes dimmed more… further memories making his body ripple and sway in his daydreamed remembrance of them…

Harmony lightly placed petals along Chaos's surface. The flowers streamed down gracefully through his waters.

She burbled in her own unique way, a gentle sound, tilting her head to him.

He looked back at her and she lightly stroked the strands of turquoise blue appendages on the sides of his face once more, something she loved to do in the past…

Before everything had changed…

He stared at her as she swayed her head and bobbed as though making music with her sounds.

He listened silently, before leaning his head towards her, bubbling something.

She stopped her music to lean back, before excitedly brushing up against his liquidy cheek, nuzzling sweetly in bliss.

Chaos's body shook and rippled as the sound of crashing waves hit the steps of the temple. He mutated into his more watery form where only his head showed his previous look, looking as though a torrent of wrath and distraught emotion.

"Woah!" Knuckles saw him hurriedly splashing up the steps and quickly tried to follow after but kept slipping on the wetness he now created. "H-hey! Hold up! Wait for me!" He was moving so quickly up the steps, due to his haste in finding Harmony again, that it almost looked like a watery slinky toy going up instead of down.

"Oh no!" Tails looked ahead, seeing Chaos get dangerously away from Knuckles.

Shadow also appeared to be tensing up, not liking what could be happening, "If he fires off a beacon of light, we won't have time to decode it!"

Worriedly, the two hurried up the steps, dodging Storm, Jet, Wave, Sonic, and Amy to finally pass Knuckles and zoom towards Chaos…

"Chaos! Wait for uuuussss!" Tails cried out as Shadow huffed in annoyance and spin-dashed in angled zig-zags like a reverse bouncy ball up the steps to catch up to him faster.

Chaos stopped suddenly, a pull forcing him to take strained steps. The Master Emerald… it could now be seen by its light shining from Angel Island…

He reformed into his normal bipedal shape, trying to keep moving, but feeling the cage of his imprisonment trying to drag him back within the boundary lines…

"H-huh?" Knuckles stopped running after him a moment, seeing the Master Emerald and Chaos's desperate attempts to reach the summit. "…Ah, it's not letting him go much further, is it?"

He looked down at Sonic, remembering how Chaos was originally trying to get to him.

His brain tried to connect the dots, it took him a moment of straining, but he did so and turned fiercely to Tails and Shadow up ahead of him. "Wait! He needs a host!"

Shadow stopped, "A what?" he seemed confused and angry at the statement, having reached Chaos, and looking ready to fight him if needs be. His eyebrows were furrowed so far down, it was like a bridge of his eyes, angling them to look as hostile as possible. "Are you sure!?" he seemed to not care, wanting to just punch the god in the face.

"What are you talking about?" Tails, still flying in the air, also halted his advance and turned.

"… A willing creature that he can control and dwell within…" Knuckles looked uneasy, biting his lip. "This is bad…" He began to think to himself out loud for a moment, before closing his eyes and focusing his thoughts more inwardly, 'It's clear that Chaos might be choosing Sonic as its first choice for a temporary host… but Sonic would never surrender his will so easily… this isn't gonna work out… but Sonic has the most experience when it comes to controlling Chaos's power… probably better at it too, though Shadow would likely not like that…' Knuckles looked up to Shadow, who was clearly still waiting for an explanation.

"Chaos is acting antsy. He can't be this far away from the Master Emerald… He needs Sonic." Knuckles tried to explain, as Sonic was still faking his injuries before looking up to see what the commotion above was all about.

As they all caught up, Amy watched as emotions burst from her heart at how desperate Chaos was trying to fight the pull of the Master Emerald, reaching for the top that was so close… but having to revert his hand back to his body and slowly slink away from it.

He had reached his boundary line… he couldn't progress any further… So close… a moment away from hearing her again…

Harmony…

Chaos's body warped, bending and shifting in his agony and frustration.

A couple of steps more… His eyes shone with determination, but the Master Emerald's power was too great to fight alone…

His head kept wiggling, trying to push through… Amy covered her mouth, letting go of Sonic as she didn't even notice him stand upright and drop the act himself.

"The only one who has wielded his power on multiple occasions… having a perfect mastery over his destructive, chaotic powers… is Sonic." Knuckles explained but saw Shadow's prideful eyes grow offended at that statement.

"I was born with his power… and you call him more worthy than I?" Shadow gestured out, as though shoving Knuckles's reasoning to the side. "You must be joking."

"However…" Knuckles glared a bit, then turned tenderly to Sonic, "In order to do that… Sonic would have to give up his will and become a living host to Chaos…" Knuckles then assumed, 'Something I don't think Shadow would be willing to quite do with his distrust of Chaos's motives, either… I'm not even too sure Chaos is really on our side either… after all I witnessed… the gods are terrifying in their power over this world…' he gritted his teeth, shaking his fist. 'But Sonic… We've always trusted Sonic.' He worried over this conundrum, 'What is the right choice?' he closed his eyes, conflicted on every front.

Sonic stopped stepping up but looked rather seriously towards Knuckles.

Shadow continued for him, "What are you suggesting?" he descended the steps closer to Knuckles.

"I'm saying…" Knuckles kept his eyes shut, as though not wanting to see anyone's reaction to this necessary suggestion. "If you won't surrender to him… You should at least let him dwell within you… It's risky… especially if you gather all seven Chaos Emeralds…"

Sonic's naturally loyal team all recalled the terrifying experience of Ultimate Chaos, how Super Sonic defeated it before any more destruction could prevail against Station Square and the rest of the world…

"The Master Emerald's influence is crucial to keeping him in check… but I also believe that you—Sonic—can prevent the floods of his wrath from seeking revenge as well." Knuckles finished on a solemn note, opening his eyes at last to look at Sonic from a very humbling angle. "I trust ya… buddy." He looked sorrowful, "I know this isn't an easy ask of ya… nor something that works really with your ideologies… But…" As though wishing he could trust himself with this task, but knowing Sonic was the better fit for the job, he shook a fist and looked away, before continuing up the steps towards Chaos, "We need you, Sonic. You're the only one that would even somewhat trust he's not in it for an unrighteous cause… right?" He turned back around to look at him, then gestured to the others. "We're all suspicious of Chaos, none of us would really be willing to give him a shot other than this message doohicky thing." He motioned to the top of the temple and Tails's device further below the stairs where the fox boy stood.

Tails looked disturbed he didn't know the name, "Miles-Electric." He reiterated, but Knuckles just waved it off. "It's not that hard to say!" He shouted up, but Knuckles kept ignoring him. "I literally named it after myself! And Electronic! For itself!"

Sonic narrowed his eyes, remaining silent as he tuned out everything for a second to think… Amy also looked at him, wondering what was to come from his decision.

'Sonic… yielding his own free will?' She didn't think it possible, it was everything he ever fought for… everyone's freedom included.

He walked up to Chaos, those long but purposeful steps made everyone stop and stand aside, watching such a serious expression take to Sonic's usually cocky and smug face… When reaching Chaos, he looked him in the eyes… and stopped.

The foot fell with a silent tap to the temple's step, and Chaos turned from his efforts to get to the top, his water still rustled and agitated, bubbling as though boiling…

After a moment of watching Chaos's emotions present themselves over his body, and seeing him look behind his shoulder to stare at Sonic, he pushed up to stand on the same wide steps as him, seeing him look helpless… almost like he had.

He looked at Amy, seeing her worry as her eyes darted left and right across his features, trying to figure out what he was going to do.

Then back to Chaos, seeing him fully turn around and look as though ready to fight for Sonic's body, looking as though desperate in his frustrations…

"You want to protect her?"

Sonic gestured his head towards the direction those arched beams of light kept coming from.

Chaos slowly raised his head to Sonic, lowering his arms which looked ready to pounce and grab him…

"… Harmony." Sonic elaborated, his voice even and straightforward through his delivery, and carrying the weight of his question with it. "Do you…?"

Chaos's frame seemed to melt and crumble, his body tilted left and right, as though in agony, and soon was on his hands and knees, as though… grieving his own deficiencies.

"You want to save her… don't you?"

Chaos raised his head, staring at him, ... before rising up, one foot picking him up, then another.

At that moment, that long look into Chaos's determined, crystalized emerald eyes, a feeling profoundly struck Sonic, making his eyes open slightly more in realization and his frown a slight bit more.

Then… he lowered his head, closing his eyes… before shooting them up with a jump of his chin, and smiled. "Alright buddy," He smirked, putting his hands into fists to show a new resolve. "The Echidnas separated you two, turned her against you…" He slightly angled his body as he stepped a foot forward towards Chaos, repositioning himself better as he spoke from his heart… what he felt Chaos was saying with his own. "With doubt about your destructive powers being used wrongly against them, she was fooled and you were left betrayed, but her memory was never forgotten. Am I getting it so far?" Trying to connect with an alien water creature was proving a bit challenging, but Sonic took it in stride and with a grin on his face.

He motioned his hand forward, "However, she was the one only being tricked into using her power for wicked purposes, not you." He lifted up a finger and closed the others, wagging it a moment, "But that means it'll be easier to forgive her, right? You will forgive her,... Cause it wasn't her fault in the first place." He then tilted his head, raising an eyebrow a bit in mischievous innocence. "Won't you..? After all, you've done some evil acts too, ya know… In that, she's not the only one…" He pulled back his pointer finger and folded his arms, tapping his toe. Now, he swayed his body back and forth, as though thinking out loud his thoughts, his eyes closed and head pointed straight down to do so, "Hmm… She created the Chaos Emeralds… without really realizing what that would do to you." He was recalling the story he read through the Miles-Electric and everything he heard so far. "She might forget… how strong you two are… as one." He looked up at the sky and put his hands on his hips, "...How much good you two can do together." He blinked a second, staring at the empty sky, "... How terrible it is… when you two are apart." He closed his eyes and lowered his head, before that smile turned to something genuinely hurt and sad, looking up softly, his emerald eyes rested on Amy, who felt her breath get caught by his gaze and held a hand up to her chest.

Her eyes danced in pools of emotion, "Sonic…" She lightly spoke out, as though he resonated with more than just Chaos's heart… right in that instance…

He kept staring at her, his eyelids lowering as though feeling guilty… "You two may make up after this… but will that ever ease the pain of what happened?" He smiled, leaning up from bending over to think aloud about it. "Hmm, I think so! After all, you're friends! Right?" He turned back to Chaos, lifting a hand up as though to shrug the latter history off. "The world needs this… This 'Order' thing." He fanned his hand about, being very expressive, as he was known for. He scratched his nose and looked away from everyone, back up at that open sky… "You… You both need this… don't'cha?" He lowered his hand and looked softly to the temple steps. "All the steps you've taken thus far… were for her sake… weren't they?" He looked at the long path they all had taken… to even get this close to the summit.

He looked to see the rest of the way, and his heartstrings were tugged when he even lifted his eyes to the floating Angel island… how far that was… even compared to how high up they got on the temple.

"... I can feel it." He took a big breath in, "The ocean's current… the air's current… They're one and the same… moving in the same direction…" He took it in through his nose for a second, letting the wind and droplets of moisture move past his quills. He looked up, the clouds were nearby all of a sudden, and he smiled, thinking about that. "The balance of life and death must be restored, and to do that,... seemingly impossible trick." He held out his arms and gave Chaos a snarky look with his lowered eyelids, "You need a hero to intervene and act as your 'in-between' guide in this little mishap of communication, right?" He sighed and dropped his hands, one going to his hips, shaking his head. "I can't say I know what she's thinking… I often don't know what anyone's thinking…" He let out a chuckle and then looked just as sweetly determined as Chaos's fierceness on the matter of it. "But I can maybe guess that she wants to make amends, too… Right?"

His soft approach wasn't unnoticed by Amy, she could see the parallels, as though Sonic was respecting her silent treatment a moment ago, and speaking to her indirectly through Chaos's crisis.

'That hedgehog…' She lovingly sighed out in her mind, placing her hands together as her heart melted towards him. 'Ohhhh, Sonic~ How could I stay mad at you for so long?' She felt her heart swell with admiration for her hero… and seeing him tell Chaos all he's learned from his own little mishap… she rejoiced silently to herself, tightening her hands and arms to herself in her gleeful joy.

"You can't govern this world alone." Sonic, once again, reached his hand out even further and extended his fingers out to show he wanted to shake Chaos's hand.

"I won't surrender my will,"

The party looked amazed by that statement.

"But if we're one in purpose… then I won't have to."

Feeling the Chaos Energy spark in Sonic, and a sense of fellowship, Chaos Finally took Sonic's hand without another moment to spare.

There was an immense light from the Master Emerald in the far distance as Chaos encompassed himself around Sonic, locking him in his waters as his mind attached to Sonic's head.

"Sonic!" Amy cried out, but Knuckles held her back. She gripped his arms, leaning forward over them, her eyes pleading for understanding.

"Hold on!" Knuckles had caught her, but her heart was falling forward, tumbling out of her chest towards him. Seeing him enveloped in Chaos's liquidized form, it was truly a horrific thing at first… "It's okay…" he tried to assure her, "Everything's…" He worried a second, looking to her and then to Sonic again, seeing the combining of water seeping into Sonic's skin and the brain slowly recoiling as though magic within his skull… "Fine." Even he looked worried.

A large, mitten glove finally released her as she gained her footing again. Her eyes shook as she watched Sonic return to himself… but…

The mind pulsed once, like an image of color where everyone could see it through Sonic's mind, but the water had already slowly receded, and he felt exhausted from absorbing Chaos. His head lifted up and his knees started to come down, his eyes half-closed as the mind glittered in lights and suddenly disappeared as though a mirage on his forehead and sides of the head… a ghostly image… it faded as Sonic fell to the stone steps, rolling down a bit before Storm caught him at his feet.

"Gotcha." He stated, helping him up as the others rushed to his side.

Sonic blinked his eyes, breathing a bit more calmer than he was used to. His heartbeat seemed more reserved, his mind more clearer… the fog in his eyes becoming almost as crystal clear as perfect vision. The colors were brighter, the air lighter… his lungs had strength, and his muscles had energy… He looked at a flimsy arm and moved it a moment, feeling the noodliness tighten with a flex of power, then go back to being agile and loose again. "Sonic…" Jet started, "You're eyes are glowing green!" He shrieked in alarm, or rather, merely saying 'surprise' wouldn't cut it.

Everyone was looking down at Sonic, as he opened his eyes wider and looked at everyone's expressions, innocently unaware of what he meant. "M-My eyes are always green… g-guys?" He nervously tried to figure out what was happening when he looked into Amy's eyes, their reflection along the glossy surface left him wondering what awe was occurring in them before seeing himself at last.

Around his irises, glowing neon green, much like Chaos's own emerald crystalized eyes, were now reflecting back through his friends' gazes. He looked into each of their eyes, spinning around to get up somewhat, and then looked at his hands, would his gloves pick up the glow?

Not really. He shook his head and smiled up at Storm, thankful. "Thanks. I appreciate it." He weakly stated, getting to his feet fully and placing a hand on the back of his head, a bit embarrassed that everyone was staring at his shimmering, halo-green eyes around his pupils.

"How… How do you feel?" Tails asked, Knuckles having his mouth open as though about to ask the same thing before Tails beat him to it.

He looked to Tails and then quickly, with a brief sound, clamped his gaping jaw shut.

"Like…" Sonic staggered a minute, one foot lifting up and 'dancing' about a moment in the air before he regained his sense of balance and placed it down. He felt like… he had a lot of water in his ear, or something. It threw him off his usual groove he had, having mastered his body's reflexes and motions, he wasn't used to this… foreign element that had embedded itself into him now. Still, it didn't feel... Bad?

Still having looked at his hands, seeing now a faint green glow in them, he touched his chest and looked back at his little buddy. "Like there's a storm inside of me… and an ocean muffling my thoughts up here." He pointed to his head, tapping it in a very cute manner that made everyone question if he was really alright or not. "I think we're seeing eye to eye now… I won't let him take over, but I think he understands that." He looked up and rubbed his head, sensing a 'swaying of fluid' movement and feeling a bit queasy from it.

Suddenly, water burst from Sonic and Chaos formed himself again, everyone screamed and moved away, Wave falling back and then pushing Shadow to the water to duck under his body, Storm grabbing Jet and tucking him under before then grabbing Amy to do the same, and Knuckle throwing Tails over his shoulder to rush up the steps to avoid the sudden water gushing out of Sonic's pores.

Seemed like everyone literally grabbed anyone around them and tried to book it and dive for the hard, sand-colored, gravelly steps without a thought of anything other than safety and escape.

Sonic, humorously, wagged his arms about and looked shocked out of his mind, his legs lifting up and down in intervals as he goofily also didn't know what was going on.

Everyone turned back around to cry out a second at the disturbing image of Chaos missing his crystallized eyes of green, and that of his brain. Like a true horror fic, he looked at the company and they all fell to the steps as though cowering, Wave and Jet jumping to Storm's stomach and holding on fiercely in their fear.

No one took their eyes off of Chaos, but Sonic… he even tapped his fingers together, "Huh, completely dry…" He looked at his body, then pulled at his extremely thin fur. His gloves and shoes, including his hair and quills, had no sign of water on them. "G-Guess I was overhydrated… Heh-heh…" He scratched the back of his head as everyone shouted out his name, scolding him for his lighthearted take on this terrifying, eventful explosion from him.

After a moment, the figure formed Sonic's silhouette, then reformed into Chaos's original form and the mirage effect swiped over the face, making it look as though a 'watery image' now solidified as the eyes and brain, right back into their respected places.

The brain pulsed and the eyes sparked with green light again.

Chaos looked at Knuckles.

Knuckles nodded, "R-Right," He slowly got up, bringing Amy and Tails with him, "We should begin that e-experiment now, Tails."

Sonic, after walking by his friends and holding out his hands as though to awkwardly tell them sorry with his apologetic smile, stepped up to the top of the tall temple looming over the jungle like a mountain. He turned back to wait for Chaos, "You coming?" He seemed to look gently to him, as Chaos immediately started to rise up the steps and move with vigorous determination once more.

With that problem solved, Chaos didn't gawk at the mortals gasping at his abilities, he just proceeded as like before, eager to hear from Harmony once more…

"No funny business now." Sonic teased, his irises glowing green for a moment as though reminding Chaos why they chose Sonic in the first place.

Chaos just looked at him as he walked by, then stood in the center of the platform.

He could care less what he threatened, he knew the man of which he inhabited and didn't second-guess him either.

Everyone lowered themselves a few steps down, ducking, since they figured a nasty, arched beam like before wasn't something they wanted to endure again.

Sonic held out the Miles-Electric, having Tails pass it along while scurrying back to below a few steps, peeking out at the two of them at the top pavilion with a unique overhead roof held by pillared columns. "I guess I'll hold this up then." He lifted the device up, "Let it rip, Chaos!" Sonic cheered out.

Chaos dipped within himself, as though powering up, his memories of Harmony swarming him again as he turned his head left and right. Something that could connect to her, and only her… he lurched his chest skyward and threw out his arms, blasting out a wide and circled beam of light. A Sonic Boom cracked like a whip in the sky as lights raced through the typical blue like a horizontal rainbow, the halo moving fast, like a wavelength going all around the world's global sphere…

Sonic bent the device down, his eyes suddenly shaken at the words written there. "What..?"

[WHERE ARE YOU?]

He didn't understand, "Does this mean..?" He lowered the device, looking up as though in thought, really wondering whether he should question Chaos or not… his decision in letting him host him… but that wouldn't help his friends right now.

"Sonic?" Tails called, lifting his head fully up as everyone was fine, the beam didn't hurt them, and honestly… Sonic didn't feel affected by it either. "What did it say?" He asked, sweetly, about to get up and walk over to him when Sonic held out a hand behind himself, still not looking back at anyone.

Everyone grew worried and still… Tails lowered his raised knee that had placed a foot down at the top of the shrined temple, realizing this might not be good.

"…He's asking where she is, but…" Sonic looked at how it was all-caps in the translation, the graphs also showed high readings… there was a lot of power in that 'delivery' so to speak… Sonic looked behind his shoulder, shaking his head to show Tails he couldn't make out a conclusive answer to his question. "I can't tell if it's hostile or not." He admitted, looking somewhat sorry as he couldn't really reply with any certainty. He ducked his head down, having a bead of sweat drip down the side of his face. "Chaos… You do want to be reunited with your friend,… right?" He looked up at him.

"... I believe you." He narrowed his eyes, banishing worry, and running with his decision from before.

Chaos… slowly looked over his shoulder, his water rippling in sunlight…

-Back at the Eggman base-

The light reached out, pausing Eggman at his computer desk as his fingers hovered over the keyboard… He was furthering his plans of operation when a light flickered largely across his glasses from an angle, and he swiveled in his chair to look at the window… The reflectiveness of the glasses only showed the clear blue sky…

He narrowed his large brows over the rims of his circular, small glasses, before raising slightly in suspicious thought, "Where are those two buffoons?" He looked around on the ground for them, his hands now on the sides of his armrest as he couldn't spot Orbot or Cubot anywhere.

Orbot and Cubot scooted Harmony towards the edge of the building, but she shook herself free of them, falling to her knees, turning her head away from the light. She raised her only arm up to block the light, not wanting to be leveled with it…

"My dear, it's now or never!" Orbot urged, seeing the urgency of her situation. He knew Eggman had daring, devilish plans for the sweet goddess, and hoped with all his metallic being that the world might be somewhat spared if Harmony could get away in time.

"Yeah! You can't just ghost like this!" Cubot pleaded, using texting terms as Orbot just looked at him with slited eye-lights, annoyed by his use of the term for not replying to a sent message. "That's so cruel. At least give him some closure!"

"Cubot," Orbot began, his tone extremely sassy, "You honestly believe this is a nasty break-up, don't you?"

Cubot looked around Harmony's body to directly address Orbot's question, as though a senator, "I can never confirm nor deny that this is probably a relationship matter of which the highest level of sensitivity needs be to addressed to further the collective efforts of the community, I.E you and me, to give this couple a fighting chance. I suggest-" He raised a finger up, truly giving a literal 'address' to Orbot when Orbot face-palmed with his red rubber gloves.

"Quiet, Cubot! You imbecile!" Orbot brought his fists down in simulated emotion, "They're partners! Why must you always make everything a romantic-... Look!" Orbot saw her gently raise her head and shakily… reach her hand towards the light. He hovered back a second, his arms coming out, "I… I think she actually does want to reach him…"

"Told ya, so!" Cubot put his hands to his hips and leaned forward, "If you actually looked and listened to her feelings, you'd know she's mainly mad at herself! This is just the fear of being rejected all over again for the mistakes she made in her past relationship with him!" Cubot was bringing out a whiteboard, wearing a philosopher's scholarly hat. The whiteboard was crudely sketched with art from a doodling child, in different colors to represent the 'players' in this tale, such as Sonic and Eggman, as well as hinting at future fights to come… Easter eggs? Or Cubot's imaginings of how 'Armageddon' would go down? He stretched out a silvery, metal stick and pointed, "We can see here that the lack of communication over the last several thousands of years or so has created a giant, huge rift in the space-time continuum of their love and-"

Orbot smacked him, "Cubot, for the last time!" He shoved his arms down, booty-bumping the whiteboard off the roof. "You can't treat everything like one of your fanfictions!"

The blood around Harmony's eyes, almost looking like inward tears, suddenly stopped and her eyes widened.

She received the message, and Cubot and Orbot stopped bickering to see her shake her head, curl inward, hug her body with her singular arm, and cower in fear… she lowered her head… was it… not the message she wanted to hear?

Orbot and Cubot looked at each other, their comedic feuding ceasing a moment. "You think he's not being very nice?" Cubot asked.

"Well," Giving a long, exasperated sigh as he hunched his metallic stem of a back and flopped his arms forward to drag down at the new angle, Orbot voiced his hypothesis, "I don't know him well enough to know if Chaos's romantically challenged or not… Hmm… Maybe we should just let her be- Cubot!" Orbot gasped as Cubot made his way to the edge, clapping his hands and dancing around.

"Oh, Mr. Chaos! We've got your girlfriend! If you want her to talk back to you, then you better start sounding more appealing!" Cubot kept clapping and bobbing around at different angles of his metallic square toosh.

"Cubot," Orbot changed his tone to one as gently 'matter-of-factly' to what he perceived as a 'lovable although annoying' idiot and held his hands together as he approached him at the edge of the rooftop. "I'm sure it's just a lot of misunderstandings…"

"Just like I said!" Cubot turned around and went to put the scholarly hat back on but Orbot put up his hand to stop him from doing so.

"After all," Orbot quickly cut him off from starting up again on his fantasized rantings, "Harmony clearly had a partnership with him in the past…" He tried to emphasize, knowing full well that there were many different types of 'love' in the world. "There must be… something there she can hold on to." He looked back at her with such pity, not knowing what to say or do to help her overcome her fears.

Harmony covered her eyes in her fluid, as though to close them like mortals do. Leaning to her side, She used her only arm to support herself in that gentle turn away from the sky… now just sitting on the side, looking heartbrokenly ashamed of herself… unable to communicate back to Chaos… not knowing what painful emotions of wrath he may have held rotting in his memory of her…

Her mind wandered to sunset beaches, to wind storms that they'd spin and dance in. To meadows where they would interlock their fluid around their hands, making a beautiful lilac color of mixing and enjoying the feel of one another so close to each other.

The Chao all gathering around them, and Harmony giving some for Chaos to hold, his awkward reactions to it, before a Chao cutely smacked its dewdrop-shaped arm onto his face to make a little splash and ripple of his cheek, spreading over his face as Harmony would bubble in giggling laughter.

Then… the image of his mighty dragon-like form, rearing its head as the Master Emerald had the hand of the accursed Echidna's chief upon it, the other hand outstretched to her. His men carrying the artifact she had created for them with her own hands and through sacrificing their own people for.

She remembered… one of her brilliant wings… torn and shredded as her agony forged lights like aurora borealis in the sky as though bleeding out the powers of life she had obtained. The energy went out into the universe… creating multiple different alien species, and affecting all manner of light in the known dimensions, galaxies, and worlds beyond…

Thus, the Planet egg's power began to wane, from that day on, leaking as death became the prominent power over life.

Through her bloodied tears from her large, crystalized dragon-form eyes… She remembered the glowing green of his own… staring her down… as she was then sealed within the Harmony Crystal…

Forever.

Until just recently…

The whole of the world would lose the powers of life… should the mortals make war with them again..!

Something she couldn't risk… above all else, as atonement for the sins she's committed ignorantly…

All from the fear… that was placed there by the corruption and manipulation of mortal eyes against what she used to see as the softest, most gentlest light of green that would comfort her in the deepest, cricketing darkness of the world's gorgeous nights that they had crafted and created together…

"…Well," Orbot sighed again, giving up. "If he really loves you… I suppose he'd have tried to do more than contact you by now…"

Harmony pulled some of the liquid off her eyes then, hearing his strange sounds and sensing some form of feigned emotions she knew in them.

She turned her head slightly to the strange, animated, constructed, and refined stones before her.

"Don't say that!" Cubot turned around, angrily flapping his hand in Orbot's face, "Shame on you! It's her fault too for not putting in the effort too, you know!"

"Effort?! She's clearly in the wrong here." Orbot gestured to her with a blatant hand swishing down to her, but she looked at him and then down to his hand.

"Wrong!" Cubot slapped his accusing hands away from Harmony, as she looked then to witness the yellow refined stone, also trying to emulate emotions as she tilted her head to listen and try and perceive what faked 'feelings' these odd objects were trying to convey. "If Chaos was around to stop her from hearing the Echidna's out, things might be different! Plus, she did send out signals first! He ignored them!"

"That… That doesn't make any sense!" Orbot started up, "The signal–apparently–can't be detected without being leveled with the plane it was started on!" He flattened his hand to Cubot, "Though… I suppose it could descend… but either way," He shook his head, getting frustrated as he lowered his flat hand but then bunched it up again by his face. "Chaos is not at fault for being controlled! He was forced into manipulation, and she kept her relationship with the Echidnas from him, right?! He could have helped her if she was just honest from the start!" The two kept bickering, causing Harmony to get up and stand before them.

"Yeah, well! If he wasn't made of destruction, maybe he wouldn't be going around destroying his relationships with people then! Maybe she didn't tell him 'cause he'd blow up the planet in his overreaction to it!" Cubot threw his arms up, waving them around in accusation against Chaos. "He practically tantrumed and destroyed most of Square City if it wasn't for Sonic! And honestly, Eggman was STILL manipulating and controlling him in fueling his revenge! Still not Harmony's fault!" Cubot folded his arms and bent his head down in his rebuttal, glaring his eyelights at Orbot as he continued from there.

"You believe Chaos to be on the same level as Dark Gaia?" Orbot raised an eyelight and lowered another in a sense of a 'brow raise' before continuing, "Chaos, if Harmony was a real partner to him, would have been trusted with such rituals and things! Clearly, since he protects the Chao already–confirmed to be her creations, might I add?–would have stepped in to at least shown her the error of her ways! But no, like a typical woman, she went off and did her own thing and now she has to deal with the consequences of her actions! I want Chaos and Harmony to be unified and fine as well, Cubot, but under these circumstances, do they even deserve each other? Or to be 'reformed' as the gods of this world again!? After all the secrets and distrust she did behind his back!?" Orbot pointed an accusing and 'I'm right' finger at Cubot a few times, ticking him off with each 'jab' of the gloved finger.

He knocked it away, "Quit pushing my buttons, pal!" he began to whack Orbot in flimsy batting as Orbot tried to hold up his large gloves and just have him 'hit' those. "If Chaos was truly her lover, he'd forgive her and embrace her in his arms! That's what people in love do, Orbot!"

"Well! Maybe they're not lovers, then, Cubot! And you're talking nonsense, placing emotions on ancient, deformed alien gods! N-Now… S-stop hitting me!" Orbot tried to slap his hands back and they suddenly were like squabbling children, turning their heads away from the other and making faint lines as though showing their 'eyelights closed' as they tried to 'shoo' the other away from hitting them.

Harmony… just looked between the two non-living creations, clearly unable to tell what they were discussing, but seeing 'emotions' displayed on their outer movements… she watched to try and gain further understanding.

Do even… non-living things fight among themselves?

"Harmony has the power to bring life to things, right?" Cubot pushed Orbot back and held him there, arms on his thin shoulders, as though gripping him in lock. He looked to Harmony, "Even you can't deny her humanity! O-Or that she doesn't have any feelings! Of course, I can personify her as being in heartbreak! Isn't it obvious?!" He gestured his hand to her, and Orbot couldn't help but lose his anger… somewhat… looking at Harmony's staring complexion… kindly.

Seeing that shift, a change in the gears of his programmed heart–though probably not what Eggman anticipated, sometimes being more of a genius inventor than he realized–Cubot put a hand to gesture to his 'figurative' heart as his hand hovered over his steel stick as a 'figurative' chest. "Can't you revive an old friendship?"

Harmony looked in the direction Chaos's blast came from… If even non-living things could fight and then stop themselves from destroying each other… could… could they somehow end the feud of power between themselves?

"If you don't even try, how will you know he's mean and scary like the Echidnas kept telling you, eh?" Cubot began to directly talk to Harmony now, as though sensing she was interested in what they were communicating between each other, seeing the fighting had ceased to something more tender. "Maybe he's still that sweet, lovable puddle of water you're still so fond of, right?" Cubot lowered his hands and held them girlishly together, batting his robotic eyes as though they had eyelashes on them. "Lovers fight all the time, but they find a common middle-ground to work up from. You have the foundations, you've created this beautiful world together by nurturing a little lost Planet Egg into an entire living ecosystem!" He spread out his arms, "Just because people fight… doesn't mean they don't ever love each other again… but it's a choice." Cubot lowered his hands and bent his eyelights to show he was trying to teach her out of simulated empathy.

He then put an arm around Orbot, and pulled him into a bro hug, Cubot making crying noises softly and using a gloved finger to wipe his non-existent tears off his eye-monitors. "That's just what people do… when they care about each other… they… they make up!" he tilted his head into Orbot, as though to touch foreheads from the side but Orbot just looked like he had already surrendered and was just agitated by his persistent, dramatic meddling.

Orbot wanted to help Harmony, too, but if she wasn't willing to help her own situation, then…

What's the point?

Harmony continued to think as the refined rock continued to give sounds of mocked emotions from within itself.

The Echidna's lied to her about Chaos… she tried to sedate and control his power, in fear that he might lash out and fully destroy the precious life she loved so dearly upon the world…

The living creatures she adored placed doubt in her heart about his nature… and then, he became the thing she feared most… by the very hands of the creations she had tried to protect from him.

"Cubot, you're not making matters-" Orbot began before being amazed as Harmony lowered her head, her one hand touching her liquidized chest over where her beating heart organ inside of her was. "…any… better?" Orbot tampered off as he noticed something was happening…

Cubot then moved away from Orbot, hovering in soft, wavy bumps along the air to her, and gestured the same hand to 'heart' motion again, as though asking her how she was feeling. "If you say what's really in your heart… this time around… I'm sure he'll understand." His words of comfort only made her think about how she could communicate emotions as well… as these two were doing in front of her, towards each other… even being void of life… they still found a way to communicate… one to another.

They had embraced each other… even after 'attacking' the other.

She raised her head and approached the edge of the roof as the non-living entities continued to make strange sounds that held tones of emotions in them.

"She's doing it!" Orbot cheered, waving his hands about and reaching to grab Cubot, "You did it! She's really doing it!"

The sweet gesture and praise made Cubot's eyelights bend upwards, "Haha, I could be a good couple's counselor, couldn't I?" He lightly joked but enjoyed the affection Orbot gave him.

Harmony summoned up some air, as though taking a deep breath.

With a new resolve, she blasted forth another aurora wave, a beautiful array of lights that moved straight through the robotic entities, not phasing non-living things.

They moved from each other and looked as the wave rippled by them in a boom. "Remarkable…" Orbot watched the lights, moving his arms up a moment, "It's… so fast." He looked off at it spreading about, the colors now gone from being around them. "Truly, this should be the thing that Eggman studies. This… power of-" Orbot held out the palm of his hand to Cubot, who danced in twirling spins as his hands reached to the sky.

"Emotions of life~" he laughed and laughed… and Orbot couldn't help but smile at his… yes, at his friend.

It was stronger than last time, more powerful as Eggman's eggmobile flew up from beyond the edge of the roof, glaring down at his creations and leaning fully forward on his control panel within the transport creation. "What do you blabber-mouths think you're doing!?"

"EEEEE!" Cubot latched onto Orbot, who tried to pull him off.

"S-sorry, sir! We were just… o-o-obeying your orders and watching Harmony at all times!" Orbot stuttered, not necessarily lying.

"What he said!" Cubot supported, still gripping him as he almost looked as though he was trying to climb him out of fear. "Also looking out for your well-being and health, too, Boss! After all, can't rule a planet that isn't around!"

Eggman flew in their faces, hollering, "WHO ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION!?" the two huddled before jumping behind themselves and laying flat on the ground, their circular and square behinds up as their arms outstretched to show a full-face plop down.

He twitched an eyebrow down and gritted his teeth, groaning a second through his bared teeth, but then looked over at Harmony…

He flew down to her, "Think all will be well if he comes for you, eh?" but she only turned her head and stared boldly at him.

The way the non-living refined rocks almost turned backwards and bowed full… prostrated on the ground made her think of the countless Echidnas who did their chief's bidding…

Then… the bodies that lay before her at the end of all that destruction… destruction that she had caused by allowing them access to Chaos's almighty powers…

She looked back at Eggman as though realizing that she was just back with corrupted life again… her being flowing with the bubbles of blood.

"…Think this changes anything,… Do you?" he eyed her again, repeating the question in a different way, and holding up the button that she knew all too well… He grinned wickedly as he saw her turn her attention to it. "You forget who still holds your Crystal prison?"

She remained unshaken, the blood boiling down and colors swirling as though makeshift light within her.

"Hmm?" He seemed surprised by that. "Not even gonna flinch?" He swirled his thumb over the button, leaning back up, "Hmmm… You are still connected to your Crystal… A powerful emerald encasement, but not nearly as backed up as Chaos's Master Emerald… You also created your own prison, didn't you?" He thought out loud a moment, tapping the remote to his chin, "Interesting… they must have somehow convinced you to create the Harmony Crystal… without you knowing it was meant for you all along… or was it Chaos?" He smirked, "If both of you can create gems of massive planet power… maybe I really do only need one of you…" In all truth, he knew Harmony was easier to handle, and not just that… but… "You probably made the Harmony Crystal for Chaos… the Master Emerald was meant to contain his power, not actually his entire being…" He sighed at that cruel twist of fate. "You were both sealed by objects created when you had your full power, Harmony… how… disappointing you can't recreate such objects of god-like capacity again." He shrugged with a deep frown. "Could have tried to catch and seal Dark and Light Gaia in those things…" he put a hand to his chin, thinking about the possibilities, "Ohhh! I could have put many god-like entities into many sparkling gems to use again Sonic!" He giddily realized, before slumping back in his seat as his eyes stopped twinkling with the limitless outcomes his evil mind could surmise. "Ughh… But you had to have a goodly amount of your power blown off… this really is depressing. For an entire conquest of the world to be realized, I would have wanted more… who wouldn't?" He shrugged to you. "Oh, well. Stick to the plan, then. Get up!" He clicked the button and her crystal, still stuck in its torture chamber, was zapped and attempted to be drilled into, as Harmony winced in great agony on the rooftops…

"I have more work for you,... and the weaker power now or not, you're going to make them all for me! ME! Whoo-hohohoho!"

He threw his arms back and laughed to the still-bright sky… His thumb ever pressed still on the triggering button…

-Back with the gang upon Jungle Ruins Temple Shrine-

"Did she not respond?" Tails wondered, looking at Knuckles who looked tensed up at the idea of her not getting the message, but also of what Sonic was saying… He sighed out in a bit of worry.

"I honestly don't know if they can ever be back together, Tails…" His tone was grave, "If they even should."

Tails tightened his lips, looking disappointed in hearing Knuckles voice that opinion again.

"They used their powers to restore the world so many times… what if we just… have to go on without her?" It was a sad thought, but one Knuckles felt needed to be addressed. "So far, the world hasn't been renewed since the time of my ancestors… if the Planet Egg doesn't receive a tune-up… then what? We just… keep existing till our star explodes?" Knuckles was referring back to what Tails had said to Sonic.

Tails… went silent, looking down and having his ears bend back. "…Do you think… they could be friends again? Even just a slight possibility of that ever happening again?"

"…Is it even a friendship?" Right as Knuckles turned back to look over at his side and say that to Tails, the northern lights show spread out in an arch beam with a powerful wind blast that echoed back another sonic boom.

"Hit the deck!" Storm cried out, covering the others with his massive body as the gang all bent down and clung to the stairs and each other, ducking from the powerful winds. Their hands skidded against the sandy stones, as gravel flew off in pieces and Tails's feet started to kick off the bridge of stairs before twirling his twin tails and flying back to safety with Knuckles reaching out for him.

Knuckles tucked Tails under him, then looked over his shoulder to see Storm gritting his teeth, his beak by Knuckles as he gave him a strained wink and thumbs up, before slamming his hand back down to take the brute force of the wind's power for his friend's safety.

Everyone was low enough that the colorful, arched beam passed over their heads and even Storm's back.

"Sonic!" Shadow raised a hand up, squinting his eyes down, "The translation!" Shadow shouted out, shielding Amy beside him as she kept her head down.

Sonic struggled but put an arm up to shield himself from the harsh winds, the device shook in his hand, threatening to fly off in the wind. "Come on… Come on…" Sonic waited… till words started to fly across the screen as the colors flew by.

"Ah! Got it!" Sonic looked down at the message.

Chaos's head… sank, as Sonic's own eyes dipped in empathy for the god, looking up at his sad stance as though feeling his pain.

[I FEAR YOUR WRATH. MY ACCIDENTAL BETRAYAL. JUSTICE ASKS THAT YOU FINISH ME. BY DOING SO, YOU LEAVE AS THE SOLE REMAINING FORCE. I DEFEND MYSELF. DESPERATELY LONG FOR YOU. FEAR. CANNOT BE. UNFORGIVABLE. A MORTAL CONTROLS ME. HE FEEDS ME PAIN. I AM CONFLICTED. I WILL NOT FEEL YOUR POWER TAKE ANOTHER PART OF ME AGAIN. THOUGH DESERVE. WILL NOT LET THE WORLD DIE.]

Sonic's shoulders dropped…

"What's she saying!" Tails cried out.

Amy looked up, her bangs affecting her vision as they swished into her view… She saw Sonic's body language, then Chao's… as though mirroring the other in defeat.

She knew Sonic wouldn't stand like that forever,... But Chaos?

What would… make even a god feel so much disparity?

She couldn't watch it. She looked up, wondering what Harmony's feelings were… wanting to know… what sorrow could make such beautiful lights?

She tentatively, but with the assurance of her resolve to know the truth, reached her hand up to the light.

"What are you doing!?" Wave countered but saw Jet do the same. "You too? Are you both idiotic?! Do you remember what that thing did to us!?"

"It… doesn't feel bad… not like how Chaos's wave felt." Jet felt the force of Chaos's message from a distance, but even then, it felt sickening to be around. "I assume it was him… but hers… when it took you out, me and Storm talked about it." He looked at his big buddy, "It felt…"

"Nice." Storm nodded and reached a hand up, too.

"Pleasant." Jet nodded and didn't hesitate to continue reaching.

The lights were already fading and gone, and yet…

However… even with being this close… The gang felt the lingering signals of a pleasing sensation from her aurora message.

"She says…" Sonic felt his mouth grow dry. He shook his head, choosing a different approach, "I sincerely think Chaos knows the truth! I believe he wants Harmony back, and she wants to be back with him, too. With all their hearts… I think they really do want to save this world." He took another deep breath, "Alright… You want to go to her, but Eggman is holding her back. That's what I think she meant. We have to get them to talk more!" He turned to Tails, "Hey, I'm gonna ask Chaos to keep sending her messages, okay?" He didn't wait for a reply, only hearing Shadow and a few other voices shout out, 'What!?' as he continued to encourage Chaos, gripping his fist up by his head and narrowing his eyes. "You ready for this, buddy? Just tell her how you really feel."

He smiled, and Chaos looked back, perking up a moment as though a strong sense of determined pride, and nodded. He looked back to facing forward on the shrine, even though the signal came from the west, he faced north.

He summoned as much power as he could to himself, having to bend down a bit to do so.

The winds brought a heavy, dark cloud over the area… thunder rampaged as Chaos suddenly stopped charging… and looked too heartbroken to respond back.

His arms lowered,... he couldn't bring himself to do it.

He was… shattered… and Sonic could feel the mind he was conjoined with now pulsing in a spiritual connection of sorts…

He touched his head, before moving over to him, "Come on, Chaos. She's hurting." He put the Miles-Electric down to his side, still a tight grip, in case she sent another signal back.

No response. Not from her or from himself.

His water just rippled quietly… disturbed but softer little waves crashing in light 'plops' than before, spraying a single droplet up from his back before landing to form his outer look again.

Sonic gritted his teeth, his patience waning, he wasn't one for 'sob stories', but still felt for Chaos. "You have to say something to her!" He stepped forward, a powerful new tone coming to him as the others looked to see and Chaos just stood frozen by her last response… She didn't want to be around him, she still perceived him as a monster… "Give her courage! Give her your strength to know she's not alone!" He walked up, shaking his head with the might of a man, and placing his hand gently on Chaos's back, giving him support. "You know it wasn't her that did all those things back in the past. She was manipulated. You have to convince her to fight back!" He narrowed his eyes, "She needs you! You can't be satisfied with this!" He jerked his body a moment, showing his emotional restraint, but also how desperately he wanted Chaos to take the reins, to fight back. "If you remain passive, what then? Will you let her suffer even more?"

Chaos swiped an arm at him, warning him to keep his distance, turning around to face him as though to fight. Now his waters looked agitated and aggressive, he didn't want to hear what another mortal had to say about this…

"Woah..!" Sonic moved out of the way, lifting his arm away from his back, "Oh? So you want to give up just like that too, eh?" Sonic grew upset, gesturing his arm out, "I thought we were in this together, for everyone we care about's sake!"

Chaos bent inside himself.

"... Guess you really are in it for yourself."

Chaos's head lurched up and swiped out his arms, choking Sonic's almost non-existent neck as the others cried out his name at seeing it.

Sonic held up his free hand to his friends behind himself, palm towards them, and then put the Miles-Electric shakily up to the clawed hands that were gripping him, tilting his head up. "I know… what it feels like… to feel like you failed them…"

Chaos's eyes glowed green, his water boiling.

"To regret… is not my style. But to make them feel afraid… to lose their confidence in you…" Sonic strained against the tightening coils of Chao's grip around his airflow. "But… You can't leave her… to doubt you anymore."

Amy's eyes twitched in compassion, watering at hearing him, and looking with an agape mouth at how vulnerable Sonic was emoting… more so than she had previously seen in the many years she has known him…

"Comfort her…"

Tails gasped, realizing… this was somewhat his words to Sonic, back in the garage…

"…That's all she wants from you…"

Sonic's realization from before hit him with memories… He closed his eyes, thinking of his friends… then of Amy and the precious moments he's spent with her. "Joking around…" He felt the grip of Chaos's arms loosen, and lowered his head a bit, his feet were up on their tip-toes for a moment, before coming back down comfortably to the soles of his feet. "Smiling… laughing with each other…"

Chaos's grip weakened and finally… he slowly withdrew his arms back to himself, and Sonic was back to standing calmly again. He looked over the top of the edge of the shrine's stairs, where his friends were ducking below the signal point height, seeing the tip of Amy's bangs flying in the newly produced storm's winds and her eyes sparkling up at him.

"She just… needs to know how you feel about her."

Amy raised her head a bit more, showing her smile as her eyes bent in true appreciation that Sonic finally understood her feelings.

"And you… have to tell her yours." He also bent his own eyes in returned affection for her, and gave her a small, simple but charming smile, "No matter how uncomfortable or hard it is to articulate," He turned back to Chaos with a small tilt in his head, as though shrugging, knowing that feeling. "You gotta tell her how you feel. She deserves to know… at least, that much… of how much she means to you, in this world. And is there anything greater than seeing someone you care about, someone important to you, smile?" He stepped away and held his fist to then open it in a slight flick, proving a point.

Chaos stood up straight, looking back a moment at Amy's expression,... then seeming to look to the forming rainclouds… his power he had acclimated… He held his head straight up… and brought his arms to his chest.

He crossed them, then shot them down to fire out another wave of chaos power, which blasted through the air.

Everyone dropped their heads back down but Sonic stood firm, gripping his stomach a second… but blinking his eyes to realize it wasn't as bad as before.

He smiled at Chaos, "That's it, buddy." He smirked.

"Give it all to her. Everything you've held back and more… these several thousand years."

-Eggman's HQ base-

Eggman laughed and laughed, clicking the button at his leisure and doing a silly pose with each one, ending the sequence with his butt in the air and one leg up to click the button under himself with his back towards the suffering goddess's form. However, this time, the powerful chaos energy blasted him out of the sky and had him landing face first like the rotten egg he was onto the ground. Humpty Dumpty would have been proud, laughing his little cracked head off, knowing Eggman was the real splattered-brained one, and not him now.

Eggmobile began to toddle in the air, before slowly hovering like a disk, turning as Cubot and Orbot rain to Eggman before it flew down and spun like a bottle-top on the roof, then… proceeded to fall over, rolling along its edge to a halt.

Eggman was gripping his… Ehem, cringing on the ground and kicking his legs up in the air, as though being hit in the-... Uhhh… W-Well, you know…

Orbot and Cubot tried to attend to him, attempting to help him up when he reeled with the pain and lurched forward, up and panting with a reddened face. "Oui-! Haven't felt a kick in the pants like that in a while!" He tried to get himself up, but was clearly tender, dancing as though a toddler needing to use the restroom. Orbot and Cubot worriedly put their hands up to their face before being dragged back a bit by the windstorm, trying to push Eggman by his butt to keep him steady and on his feet still.

"Doctor Eggman!" they cried out in unison, trying to swim through the air before being blown away from him, and swishing their arms and reaching for him again.

"Harmony…" Orbot stopped reaching and put a hand up to eyelights, turning his head away before back to her, "Is he challenging you?" Orbot asked, not sure what this could mean as dark clouds rolled in overhead…

"Stop this madness!" Cubot pleaded, his hands coming together, "Please!" The thunder boomed loudly, and the two robots clung to their creator's legs, as Eggman raised an eyebrow, still wincing but trying to make heads and tails of the new weathering storm.

"Rain… and Wind…" He looked far out and squinted his eyes, "... That isn't the direction of Angel Island… Hmmm…" He rubbed his chin.

As he made guesswork of it, Harmony could see the fear in the refined metal. Convinced then that this was an act of hostility, as the evil mortal was injured as well, she looked up.

-Moments more with the gang at the Ancient Ruined Temple Shrine-

Sonic thought his days dealing with Chaos's power were through, but all of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain from his lower regions that scaled up his belly. "Offph!" he felt as though punched back, and fought back the awful feeling, squinted through the pain in his stomach, and looked at the device. "Yeesh, Chaos! You'd think you've give me a break for being your host!" It was as though his reaction to it was delayed for a moment.

Did this just mean he had better resistance to it? Eggman fell hard, but Sonic? Still on his feet.

The force of the wind storm had his hand shaking, flapping the device in his hands, continually seeming to threaten that if Sonic loosened his grip even for a moment… it would slip away.

[I FREE YOU.]

The message rang loud and clear for Sonic… Chaos was gonna fight the wrongs, he was gonna get his… whatever she was to him, back!

This time… no evil would befall her.

Even if she believed that evil could be himself… he would prove her otherwise.

Hope was within Chaos, he lowered his arms and stood erect, waiting for her signal back… She may have been deceived about his true character, but he would win her back from the wicked mortals… and this time… this time she'd be by his side, and no longer manipulated by criminal hearts.

"He says he's gonna try and free her!" Sonic shouted over the wind, placing two hands on the device, keeping his legs adjusted as he tried to fight the force of the wind before it died down.

"Ha! Typical of a guy! One-line responses!" Wave laughed, having been reading the signals the entire time on her bead device, making Tails shout out.

"H-huh? How are you doing that!?" Tails peeked over to the holographic screen she's been hiding, tucked under her chest as they have been laying face-first against the steps this whole time. "You've been reading the signals this whole time!?"

She moved it away from him, "What? Didn't see me swipe this?" She held up the USP drive in her hand.

Shadow and Tails both blinked their eyes in response before Tails gasped.

She winked, "Oh-ho! Looks like some people forgot they were in the presence of generation-old thieves, eh?"

Storm billowed out a conjoining sentiment, "The best of the breed! Dah-ha~" He looked so pleased with her, he gave her his best goofy, open grin, closing his eyes in his glee at their shared pride in their heritage.

Jet shook his head, "Look, I want nothing to do with a 'false god's marital status' alright!? We're going home!" Jet began to crawl backwards down the steps. "Come on, Wave. Storm!"

"Hold on! Are you just gonna let women all around the world die?" Wave watched in sincere confusion at his apathy, looking back at him in shock.

Jet turned his head back to her, having been watching the steps he was taking crawling backwards down, before grabbing her ankle, giving her a hard glare of truth. "I only care about you, Wave!"

Storm kept his mouth open and dropped it to a frown, gasping quietly at how cruel that sounded, his eyes bending, but Wave looked with sincere flattery instead at Jet.

He stared at her… the wind moving his feathers about, but he bent his head down and the reflection of his glasses showed Amy… looking scared back at the retreating form.

Wave thought about it… without Amy's image, she'd have probably gone with him… but…

All women? Everywhere?

Her black heart had a tinge of white, just barely, in the shade of pink and all the colors of her gender rang out in song of her heroism… and she couldn't ignore it.

"Come on! We'll solve this some other way!" Jet continued to try and crawl down, but Storm stopped a moment from following him, looking up at Wave.

He looked torn, his eyes sorrowful, but continued to follow his leader…

Wave softened her eyes to her brotherly comrade, even he wanted to protect the world's women… and whatever else Harmony could destroy with it.

"…I care about Wave, too, Boss." Storm, taking some resolve, looked back with determination towards Jet, seeing that Wave turned her face away and gripped the steps… not willing to move. When he saw that, his mouth opened again, then turned to a growling glare towards–"Jet," He finally stated and stopped crawling down with him, kicking his leg at him and turning to his back, his arms lifting him up from behind, showing his impressive strength. "We should stay! This is important."

That got Jet's attention, Storm… using his real name?

"Huh? What are you blabbering on about?" Jet tried to glare up, but then… seeing how strong Storm's eyes looked, determined…

He glanced over at Wave… Her whole form was turned and gripping the steps, refusing to leave…

"More than gold treasures?!" Jet got up from the steps, walking back up to where they were with fists swinging with each step, holding it out to them and stomping at his last footfall. "And racing trophies?!"

"If you really cared, Jet, you wouldn't turn tail like this. You're acting like a-!" Wave bit her tongue, then turned around and stood tall over him, having been up on the last steps anyway. "Coward!"

The sound of her voice echoed through the jungle, as many flickies flew from the treetop canopies…

The storm began to lightly beat its drums… but never daring to be above a whisper at her declaration.

She glared down at him, as he lost his anger… his eyes softening… looking amazed she would even say that.

After a moment of sorrow in her eyes… his eyes raged back,... before turning tender towards her.

"I'm no coward." He shot back, "But… I'm trying to save you." He held his arms out to her, "And I can't do that for the rest of'em!" he swung one reaching arm back, pulling the other away, showing his insecurity about being a heroic figure again…

"I may have done that stuff with Sonic…" He looked back down the steps of the Temple Shrine. "But that was… different. This is serious… That's why… we can't be a part of it no more."

"... But you've done it once." She consoled him, having fears in her own resolve, too. "We all have." She gestured her hand back to the others, even Storm, and then placed her bead back on her chest, gripping her heart. "Jet… You're not the 'bad guy' here." She shook her head, realizing what he may have felt like with what she said. "But you're no yellow-belly, too…"

He gripped his gloves tightly… before giving her a strong look, "I am the Babylon Rogues' Leader." She smiled at that, and so did Storm, who raised his head, very approvingly.

With less force than before, he climbed back up to her, "Fine, let's do this and win this blood-bath of a war!" He smirked to his team, now standing beside Storm's step as he looked up at him, and then glanced to Wave as she kindly nodded to him. "Only because the Babylon Rogues wouldn't be much of a team without you! Wave!" His cockiness made her let go of her held breath in relief.

"Good," She stated, holding out her hand, "Then don't leave me."

He gave a kinder look to his face, still focused on looking cool, but grabbed her hand in a strong embrace.

"And don't leave us!" Storm reached a hand up, and like a true third-wheel who doesn't know it yet, he grabbed the top of both their gripped hands and shook the figurative bond between them sternly.

Truly, they were one in purpose.

A family.

-Eggman's evil fortress, well, just his HQ Base, again…-

"Like a gunshot to the GUTT!" Eggman groaned, "Or kicked where it hurts the most!" he kept complaining to the two robots, who cooed and treated him like they were comforting a whining child.

"You!" He pointed crudely to Harmony, wobbling over to her, "You tell that son of an alien waste pit that we'll be waiting for him! You hear me!? We'll… Ohhhh… Ohhhh, I'm gonna be sick." He wobbled back with his legs bent and falling over the other to Orbot and Cubot, as he puked over the edge of the fortress.

Harmony turned back to the edge of the roof, her arm putting her hand to her chest where her racing heartbeat was like the drums of Chaos's thunder…

She felt love and hope… maybe he didn't hate her for what she had done… but… was he really coming to save her? Or 'free' her of this world… and destroy the last of her being, for good?

That scary moment of doubt made her hunch back and step away from the edge, her crystal, blood eyes shimmering in the lightning that flashed as the rain came down…

"Oh, great!" Eggman hollered out, wagging an arm up at the sky, "Now it's RAINING!" He plopped his little tush on the ground, kicking and crying out in his tantrum, "Curse you, Chaos! The god of Destructiooooon!" Almost as though his signature cry about Sonic The Hedgehog.

-Back with the good guys on Ancient Ruins's Temple Shrine, cause these transitions aren't getting the least bit repetitive or annoying..!-

Amy smiled at seeing Jet return to his place beside his team, realizing that that's exactly what should happen for Harmony and Chaos. She wasn't sure why this all had to happen this way… but seeing how Sonic's resolve was more assured because of his own experience through presenting his heart and correcting a miscommunication, she knew it had helped him realize why Chaos needed to assert himself in the end. It made her happy to see that her hero was beginning to learn to open his heart, and express himself, just as Chaos was now learning to do as well.

'Maybe… the world just needed a woman.' she thought to herself, smiling even more tenderly and tilting her head at the thought of how brutish the world seemed, but how absolutely lovely it was as well. 'They have a lot of catching up, and tidying up, to do.' She giggled to herself, making Knuckles think she was just charmed by the exuberance of the regrouped Babylon Rogues.

She looked then to Shadow, having surmised what this was all leading up to. "It's a love story," Everyone turned to view her strange 'cheeriness' during this whole fiasco. However, Sonic smiled widely, still focusing on Chaos and getting a signal back, but through the rain and wind, he seemed to love the fact that Amy was still Amy Rose. "I know it is." As though encouraging them not to give up on Chaos and Harmony just yet, she stood up in the storm and put her hands up, leaning forward, her dress swaying rapidly to her knees from the force of the storm. "He'll save her!"

Chaos looked up into the darkened sky, then forward as though reserved in the fact that these creatures wouldn't betray Harmony… He had fought them in his wrath, he had destroyed their cities, and stolen back his split power… He had done all manner of fear and destruction to them in his anger, but they still were willing to help.

Since a portion of Harmony's power dwelt in all living things, even his own, he knew he could trust that a good amount of her–and her personality–resided in them as well.

He would have to hope that their 'spark of life' he saw in them was enough to keep whatever mortal was holding Harmony at bay, while he went to get her.

He wouldn't have trusted anyone, if it weren't for the maiden of the Echidna's… who escaped death to find sanctuary with the chao and him, and reminded him so much of his time with Harmony…

Tikal… She risked her own life to try and stop her people from abusing power and control. She knew Harmony would already be threatened, but was powerless to stop the ambitions of evil, wicked men.

Chaos didn't hear or see any signal back, and his head moved around, anxious to know why she hadn't responded yet.

…Was he… too stern? He would have thought his determination and direct-forwardness would have conveyed his intentions purely by the force of his message and willpower.

… Why was she so afraid? Had she forgotten who he really was? His purpose? To protect and be by her side was all he wanted, to terraform the world so she could spread her beauty upon it… The creations they made together, the new eras of peace and divine Order they re-established upon the world…The renewal of the Planet Egg's shining light and sparkling wonder of life…

His anger and misery rose yet again, the waves in his chest rising up and pushing his chest forward as though choking or drowning him in his anxiety at not seeing her respond.

His Harmony… was he to forever be tormented by missing his other half? Was he to remain a sole god and be left to govern this accursed and forsaken world alone…

His mind showed Sonic the image of him walking along a desert, the sand being lifted up and seeping into his form. The wet sloshes of his feet hitting the hot sand with a sizzle, and steam rising up from the footfall. He looked around, the world dead, the flowers gone, the people only bones left to be buried by time…

He… the sole remaining entity on the entire planet… the dead planet… and the rejected god.

Chaos began to form a large blob, sinking down as though becoming depressed by the idea of Harmony's destruction or leaving his side for good.

Sonic, coming out of the vision, shook his head and touched it, trying to figure out what Chaos was feeling and why he would show that image… only having his mind, not his-

"You're… missing your heart." He thought the metaphor turning literal was something Amy would just go nuts over, but then…

"A what?" Shadow looked a bit confused, turning sharply his upper body back to her, looking doubly stressed and agitated by her 'naive' outburst. "Don't be ridiculous." He waved a dismissive hand down in her direction, as though miming to put such thoughts at rest. "This is serious, Amy. Let's just get Eggman before he tears the world asunder." He looked back up at Sonic and Chaos, "Hurry up!" He practically barked, squinting his eyes for added effect to get a move on. "Or she'll blow us away with this storm!" He looked back to Amy, "Save her or destroy the world himself?" there was still some doubt there… "Is there a difference? It might as well be an 'and' statement." He looked to the sky, thinking it was… Harmony's doing? "We should keep them apart…" he concluded, his resolve speaking volumes about his knowledge of interpersonal relationships. He'd rather bypass the emotions and stick to trusting only himself and his own strength and spirit. "She clearly doesn't trust him. She's not going to answer back! We should take that as a truce, for now!" He swiped out an irritable arm and started to march up to Sonic at the Temple Shrine's peak, "Sonic, this is insanity. It's foolishness to think a figurative 'god' would care about another entity other than himself!" He held up a fist, but Sonic didn't turn to address him, he kept the device firmly in his hands and tightened the corners.

Even he didn't know what to expect, but…

"We can't save Harmony without him!" Knuckles argued, stepping up as well but not fully into the space with Sonic and Chaos like Shadow had done. "She's too powerful!" He succeeded in getting Shadow to turn around and lose his hasty hostility. Raising his head up from ducking due to the cold winds while coming up the steps, he continued with his arm up instead to block the rain. "We need Chaos to free her! Restoring balance is the top priority right now!"

"You saw the same vision as me." Shadow narrowed his eyes, "Or need I remind you of the blood-curdling screams of women and daughters being picked clean from this world to empower a deranged goddess!?" He leaned forward and held out his hand, crushing it tightly and slamming it to his head. "That image… that pain and the destructive power of both the god of destruction and his exact opposite of life… will forever be ingrained upon my mind! I have seen death before-!" he slammed the fist into the top of his forehead again. "I have seen a young, innocent child die to save my own pathetic existence!" he slammed it again, getting emotional, his eyes trembling and his jaw clenched with clattering teeth as he let out a sigh and lost all of his composure in that exhale…

He bent forward slightly, lowering his hand to cover his face… the wind blew as though threatening to lift him off and carry him and his sorrows away… "I know…" He shook, "What it truly means to want to save someone… and how hopeless and miserable it is to not be able to." He lowered the hand to his chest. "I woke up in fury… I never stopped being mad." He opened his eyes to a glare, turning to Chaos. "What makes us trust that he isn't still upset? Who's to say he's wanting revenge!?"

Amy hollered back, "Shadow!" and raced up to his side,... slowing down to a trot when she caught up to where he was and put a hand on his shoulder… sensing how emotionally unstable he was getting.

Shadow was panting hard now… his jaw had released but a cry of agony and pain came from his throat and blared out his hidden empathy…

"They need each other…" She spoke softly, before coming up behind him and giving him a hug.

His eyes shook, breaking their enraged, red glare at Chaos…

"They're one and the same… Harmony is… is still alive. You would do the same, you're both wanting the same thing!" She closed her eyes, trying to not cry…

Shadow lowered his outstretched hand, adjusting his footing as he turned his head somewhat, not really looking at Amy, but lowering it as he remembered her embrace from the first time he met her… to the time she spoke to him on the Ark… Amy… his promise to her…

He began to catch his breath.

"They create Order, right?" She lightly looked up, feeling Shadow's body twitch but begin to look as though it was drained from that emotional outburst… He felt more limp in her eyes.

Her own eyes softened tremendously, 'The world needs women.' she looked up at Sonic, still not really looking back, but his head tilted to listen before a small nod showed her he was with her.

"I'm with Sonic!" Tails blurted out, "I think he may really try and rescue her!" Tails stood up and walked up a bit too, his damp blonde and white hair blowing large drops of water off of himself, but held up a fist, showing he was aware of what Sonic was trying to convey, too. "Chaos can be like you, Shadow! He can change for the better! His anger can turn to righteous fury!"

"Righteous..?" Shadow chuckled a moment, rolling his spine up to stand straight again, lightly removing Amy's arms from around him. "Never imagined that word to be associated with me."

"But it's true." Amy put a hand on his cheek… "Shadow… Trust in him as you did yourself… as you did us… as you once promised me." She revealed she had purposefully reminded him of that moment so many years ago, and his eyes bounced with the light of that knowledge skimming his pupils. He turned around to her, eyes widened as she smiled and stepped back, putting her hand down and nodding to him, reassuring him that she understood he had thought about that as well.

He lowered his eyelids and closed his mouth, as though contemplating…

"We trusted you." Amy put her hands behind herself, "Now trust Chaos and-... Most importantly," She turned to smile at Sonic, "Trust Sonic."

Shadow narrowed his eyes again but turned to see Sonic smiling and actually looking back now, before holding out a thumbs up and winking an eye, keeping the device from flying out of his other hand.

The Babylon Rogues remained silent, the wind still thrusting them against the steps of the temple. Just like the Miles-Electric, if they loosened their grip or lifted their bodies up just a little bit, they would be flown off the temple.

"W-Woah..!" The gang suddenly felt something like an earthquake, but it was actually the wind shaking the old stones…

-...-

-...-

-... Oh, what? Sorry! I was on my break. Everyone was just arguing about what they're gonna do and who they're gonna believe, so… Ehem. Re-do please!-

-Eggman's HQ Lair-

Eggman reeled himself around, "Go! My Emerald Giants! Attack and rebuild the world," After having recovered somewhat, he was back in his Eggmobile, and done with waiting around. He swung his arm out and the horde began to march, some tripping or stumbling about and causing a domino effect of falling, but for the most part, they obeyed without much thought behind it. It was as though the clumsy robots they were fused with also made up some of their obedient personality. "With Harmony's power," He clutched a fist tightly, holding it up in the air as though ready to conquer! "Create my Eggman Empire!" His fists shook for a second, the excitement of being so close to his dreams was evident! But…

"Hmm?" He looked over his Eggmobile to below him, raising one of his defined, protruding eyebrows to see one of the Emerald Giants looking up to Harmony, who had made her way to the edge…

She got the signal from Chaos…

But…

The Emerald Giants waited long enough, and they began to march forth.

Eggman didn't like that. He narrowed his eyes, seeing his makeshift army of organically fused robots with technically magic minerals could in fact think for themselves… but didn't.

"Not what she wanted to hear?" Cubot questioned, but Orbot also remained solemnly wanting to take care of his creator, looking at the brewing storm that blackened the sky…

Orbot was more concerned about Eggman, "If he hasn't confessed his true feelings yet, then it may be too late to salvage anything now." He sighed, "Whatever he told her… I'm sure it's not quite what she was looking for…"

"Reassurance? A declaration of his love? What? What could he possibly have-!?" Cubot gripped his head, spinning himself in a wobbly head toss round and round in spot, but being cut off as Harmony took one step away from the edge… then another… her hand coming to her heart and then down, dismissing the new message and leaving no reply.

-... Again with the Temple Shrine thing?-

Chaos searched the skies, his mind racing with more memories…

"... Still no reply?" Shadow raised an eyebrow to Sonic.

"Maybe… Eggman's not giving her a chance to." Sonic narrowed his brows, thinking something might be wrong.

"... Or she's gone silent." Knuckles, still concerned about the deafening silence, folded his arms. "The wind… it's… stopped." He looked up.

Everyone turned their heads towards the west and could hear wind… but not feel it this high up, all of a sudden…

"A down current of wind?" Wave wondered, "It's barely a draft up here, now…"

He shot another one out. Same message. Some flowers and leaves had gotten stuck in his watery body, delicately falling down to a puddle near his feet…

Once more. Then another. Surprising the gang as they ducked quickly below the blast, the soft burbling of Chaos's voice as he shot out the message almost sounded like crying through tears in a shouted soundwave.

Wave quickly braced, but pulled out her bead device again, gritting her teeth against the onslaught of arched, colorful signals before her eyes widened open.

"These aren't being translated," Wave stated, looking at a fuzzing holo-screen. "What… Is this not communicating anymore?" She shook her bead, hitting it lightly against the steps for a second to try and see if her device was breaking or malfunctioning at all. "What's going on?" She examined it, but then Amy spoke up, quietly looking at Chaos's troubled state.

"…It's because it's not words." Amy knew Chaos's beam gave off awful feelings, but… she reached her head up from ducking beside Shadow.

"Amy, don't-!" Shadow reached to bring her arm down, but suddenly felt the pain of the blast…

He squinted his eyes… but his immediate memories were of Maira. "This…" he looked back up at the sky… the powerful blasts that kept being shot out by Chaos. A continuous pour of rain now weighed the clouds even further down…

Shadow… touched the side of his cheek… feeling something wet. He looked at his glove and noticed a tear had seeped into the white of it. "This is…" He was putting two and two together.

"…It's bittersweet…" Amy closed her eyes, allowing the emotions to pulse through her with each wave he sent out from his powerful, chaos energy rays of arched light. "Painful, and yet,… touching." She let a small tear fall from her smiling face. "Everyone should know this feeling… he's calling to her. He could never hate her."

Everyone, a little afraid, looked at one another before bracing and allowing their chests to be up and open to the beams. Tails's breath stumbled a moment over softly emoting his pain.

He clutched his chest, "Cosmo…"

His tears began to flow.

Wave, Storm, and Jet began to squint their trembling eyes, before closing them and hugging one another. Although they'd never say that they loved each other, or were grateful for one another,... they meant it with their tight, strong hold on one another.

Such tough guys…

Knuckles gripped his chest, thinking of his people, their suffering, their mistakes… the Twilight Zone with Sonic and Shade…

"I've failed them." He began to have tears swell up in his eyes as well, "I've let them all down." He closed his eyes and cried silently in the straight downpour that didn't follow up with any wind anymore…

Just… a shower of emotional longing,...

Amy suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, and opening her eyes, her pupils shrunk slightly as Sonic was kneeling beside her…

She understood that serious look. Although he was refusing to cry, the two embraced. "Oh, Sonic..!" She knew exactly what he was conveying… just that look in his eyes…

He didn't want her to shut herself off in Tails's room… and he certainly didn't want her to wait forever just for him to say he was sorry.

She bunched up some quills just under his neck, rubbing her nose deep into the side of his head, behind his beige cheeks.

"I'm not going anywhere." She replied.

Chaos almost fell to his knees, trying to remain upright and not completely break down.

Why couldn't Harmony say and feel the things he really wanted her to know that he felt?

Why couldn't her aura match the aura of the pink organism behind him with his host?

Why..? Why was she being so distant and silent..!?

His arms raised up, and a metallic ring echoed into the air…

What agony… a god could feel… after an eternity of being alone,

And without his dearest, most treasured friend?

-...Oh, we're just gonna ignore that and transition to Eggman's HQ lair again!?-

Eggman kept getting knocked down by the continual beams shooting vigorously across the sky with such magnitude and ferocious might of will. His hands went flying back, his body barely able to take much more as the Eggmobile began to slowly turn like a spinning top before descending gently down out of the sky. He spit out in the bittersweet pain curses and bewildered threats, landing once again before Harmony's feet…

He hit the floor and laid upon it with his hands trying to push him up, the pain in his stomach–among other things–was making his eyes twitch to try and not feel the aching emotions the beams had inspired within him.

The device bounced against the ground, somersaulting, and finally clacking so close to her… Freedom within reach…

Harmony could only stare at it, realizing she could only slightly move her foot closer and pull it into her body… breaking its components down and destroying it. The foot began to move… Her hand outstretched as she leaned down to make her way towards the device, but she twitched it back when Eggman gripped the device with both hands, tears in his eyes at last from Chaos's emotional rays.

"Whatever he wants, he's certainly going to try and get it!" Eggman held onto that device as though his life depended on it, suffering each whiplash from Chaos's many beams as the black sky darkened his appearance.

"But I won't let him take you… I won't let you go… You're the key to endless possibilities." His glasses suddenly fogged over with the clouds coming closer.

A darkness had entered Eggman… one so profound, the Echidnas would have shaken.

Harmony shook her head, what creature of her creation could ever be so void? So evil?

Had she already forgotten the cruel trickery of the Echidnas? No. She was witnessing the foul treatment done to her and the world, not to one's own people, but to every and all people that ever was on the face of this planet…

The Echidna's used Chaos to harm her, they hurt their own selves to gain power and control, but this creation was fighting against all emotions better than himself to conquer and reign–not out of fear–but out of sheer self-glory.

At least the Echidnas were frightened of losing wars and were willing to sacrifice the few in hopes of ultimate power to defend and protect, they acted out of selfish hate.

Eggman… acted out of selfish desire, having nothing to fear and nothing to lose, he simply didn't want to lose.

She watched him hold the device higher above his head, a wicked grin on his face as he rose up from the ground in small increments. His malice within his grin of pride spread out as the waves of Chaos's responding lights finally stopped.

Harmony looked about, why had they ceased? She was too afraid to speak to him, but not out of hate or narcissism. Had… Chaos finally realized she was too afraid to stand beside him again? As the weaker god?

Did that make her… just as prideful and selfish as her corrupted creations?

"Don't mistake him." Eggman cut off her thoughts and made her look at him, trembling in confusion. "He created me!" Eggman held the device high, but stuck his other hand's thumb into his chest, making a point. "The echidnas might have tricked you, I might have manipulated you, but you're only deceiving yourself!" He stepped to adjust his hunched body, still weary and weakened from the chaotic energy blasts in the storming black sky…

Lightning illuminated his glasses… a truly horrifying sight.

She shook her head, stepping back and away from him, cowering.

Lightning cracked down as her eyes went wide, the fluid and blood bubbles receding from her crystalized, dried blood gem eyes as her two large, flimsy appendages that formed a type of two-pillared hair spikes flapped mercilessly in the wind she created at her own emotional plight against what he was saying.

"You fear man…" He chuckled to himself, "Because your energy does not fully consist in us… but in women, right?" He began to laugh, "A goddess who fears a god's creations… even though she helped to breathe life into them..?" He held out his hand, and crushed it, glaring down to her, "You're nothing but the weakness you made for yourself!"

She fell backwards, crawling away from him as he rose to his full height, casting a devastating shadow over her as the lightning continued behind him. "You're the reason… why man seeks further power… because you allow us to have so much, don't you?" His white teeth glistened in the dark and rain.

"You're a disgrace to all women… and all life..!"

He shoved his thumb down on the button, laughing maniacally as the three Chaos Emeralds shocked the crystal and a painful metallic cry rang so violently that the Emerald Giants turned to watch the lightning strike all around Eggman's fortress…

Her head leaned up to the sky that begged her to let him save her, as the wind picked up violently and her body wavered in crashing shakes of its liquid.

"All the powers of life…" Eggman stepped forward, holding the device directly up above her turned-up head so it was completely in her sights, the ripples in her liquid from the soundwaves piercing the air. Blood by her eyes began to boil down her body, as though tears. "And not using a single ounce of it… to save yourself." He let go of the button and she flopped into a barely formed puddle at his feet.

"Eh, ew..!" He shook a shoe that had the tip exposed to it and wiggled it out, then looked to see the sky and smirked, "What do you see in her, eh?" He frowned then, "And why are you fighting so hard…

To get it back..?"

He wondered what he was missing… He had used the remaining power Harmony had after some of her power was obliterated. Life was no longer immortal because of it… but what else?

Eggman couldn't understand…

What Chaos wanted…

What these feelings were…

Why he wanted such a useless entity that had betrayed him, made countless unforgivable mistakes…

And was practically going to drain the world dry just to attempt at protecting herself.

"Why do you stand for it?"

Orbot and Cubot heard Eggman's words and looked at one another.

Eggman could never understand…

Love. Pure and true. And just that and that alone.

Harmony drew upon the powers of life, to protect herself, to defend against the pain…

As all the powers of creation combined to be swept up into their original source once more, it sent the ruin of the Planet Egg into full effect…

-Sniff,... that was kinda beautiful… and scary… Oh, right.-

-Secret, Abandoned G.U.N Base-

Rouge finally turned off the communication device, having the lights flicker on her monitors as she could now no longer hear the hum of computers processing over the loud rainstorm outside.

"There, I contacted everyone I could think of." She had pictures littered on a screen. Shade, Blaze, Silver, The Chaotix, Vanilla and Cream…

"I just hope I haven't left anyone out." She looked at the rattling walls of the G.U.N shelter. "What?" her resigning letters were being blown slightly by the little crack in the window.

She pushed it more open and gasped, sticking her head out and seeing the storm get sucked in like a drain within a black hole inside the sun outside her home base.

"What is that!?" she cried out, seeing the sight so suddenly… The sun having a black hole at its center.