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Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos - The 8th Emerald

Ch. 1

By: Cutegirlmayra (I've been wanting to do this story for a long time. Yes, I'm still working on Metallic Need edits for season 2 and then I'll work on Instincts edits for its season 2. But it's nice to have other projects to focus on as well. That way, if I get tired or lose motivation in one project, I can work on another till I find motivation for it again. It works for me, anyway. Enjoy this story ^-^ EDITED: Everything's just going through edits for updates, no sweat ^^ Also, probably going to combine chapters, giving you more to read and fewer awkward spaces in chapters! :Db win for everyone, I'd think? Someone requested I update this too, so I'm working on a bunch of stuff right now, but I'm trying to keep in mind who wants what updated and all :) Here we go!)

Long, long ago… when the planet was still but an egg full of unfathomable energy just floating in the magnitude of space… two beings of immense power gazed upon what would be known as our world.

Soon, they combined their strengths—one of mass destruction, whose ocean blue created the seas and powerful earth, paving the way for mountains, deep rivers, volcanic creators, ravines, and streams… His masculine ability also created the creatures that would be the fathers of all living. He gave his infinite power time to wane, that destruction—although inevitable—might not consist continually forever, but eventually die.

The second was much gentler, with energy consisting of the pink, newborn makeup of beautiful life. She used her power to create flowers, trees, and fruits to grow within the chaotically sprung earth. She made the winds ascend over the raging seas to form the floating skies, and grass both above the land and below the tides to give harmony and order to the wilds of nature. Beauty and serenity to an otherwise catastrophic world. Her feminine ability created the mothers of the world so that her power of creation might never fade, and that destructive chaos may never destroy all harmonious life.

With this, the breath of life might always thrive and be forged upon the world, while the ancient ruins of old provide for the new, and the cycle may never truly end. With this partnership... This union of opposites, t ogether, created what was known to us as Order.

The Order of life and destruction here on our planet, as endless and eternal as both water and air... planted the foundations of our world. Through the births and deaths of its creatures, the two were hailed as Gods, and decided to watch over their creations, continuing to invent and destroy so long as they both… were one in purpose.

However, our people made a grave error. In seeking to conquer through war the power of control, that elusive, unfathomable treasure that forces wicked desires into the hearts of men... we tricked the gentle Goddess into using her power to create the Chaos Emeralds, powerful stones that gave our people what we sought. Wielding the immense powers of both time and space, though still not fully understanding what we had wrought, we abused her motherly kindness and committed the gravest of sins...

For our chief... wanted more.

No matter how many wars we won in the name of protecting our culture, people, beliefs, and traditions... seizing unrighteously the unholy conquest of land, the unforgivable, merciless extinction of our enemies, and so much more tears and bloodshed of the innocent lives our people devoured in their search for a complete, total reign... even our own,... our Chief sought nothing more... than to gain the very power of controlling the gods.

In great desire for the power of the gods, our chief convinced The Goddess known as Harmony to create a Master of all the Emeralds she had created. He deceived her into believing the power was to store away all the evil within the world, which he would defeat and control for righteous purposes. In her angelic trust of her creations, she willingly created the Master Emerald, and then… was attacked by our forces.

In her desperate cries, unable to destroy, she called upon her dearest and timeless friend, The God of Chaos, to help her in her time of great agony and torment through our deceit.

For we had not only betrayed the loving heart of a Goddess but also incurred the great wrath of the God of Destruction!

For gods cannot stand the power of the Chaos Emeralds… debilitating them powerless to fight against the wicked Chief of our people…

When Chaos arrived, our chief used the power of the Master Emerald Harmony had created to seal him away, entrapping him as a permeant power source to our people through the Chaos Emeralds.

In terrible sorrow do I now recall to tell you… that my father then turned the God of Destruction, who was regrettably under his control, to his equal—the Goddess of Harmony. Wanting to disrupt the Order of the world so that he may be undefeatable, he controlled and commanded Chaos to fire and destroy Harmony's power… Her arm was obliterated by Chaos, and she became the weaker god, no longer could life seamlessly be integrated into the balance of equality in the world when rivaled against death.

Because the damage was done by none other than Chaos, Harmony could not use her power to heal herself, nor could she now ever measure the strength to trust once more and rely on Chaos to keep the Order of the world. My father did this so that Chaos would be the ultimate power, and that no other tribe nor people may ever use Harmony against him. They then forced Harmony through Chaos to be sealed within a hidden Emerald, an Emerald formed of a magical crystal, and stored her away within that crystal's cave; This all was done so that this new, disrupted Order may ever be in the control of our Chief, and never challenged for all time and the great expanse of the universes.

I now go to the Chao Garden, for those creatures were created by Harmony, and therefore, Chaos protects them from all evil. I fear he is in great anger from the trickery that was done by my people, the Echidnas, and will rebel against them in great wrath. For now, however, he seems to be biding his time in wait. I, Tikal, shall persist in stopping my father from furthering injury upon this world for the vain and foolish desire of greed and undeserved power! I vow that if I cannot free Harmony and restore the true powers of Order to the world once again… bringing the two divided gods that no longer can communicate with each other for the necessity of the cycle of life into a unity once more, then perhaps one day… Another... more able hero, will take up my cause and reunite Chaos… with his Harmony.

"What a touching story." Cubot sniffed, wearing a miner's hat and carrying a pickaxe as a bunch of other robots drilled the crystal caves. Eggman yawned, then chuckled in his lazy way at the end.

"It is... isn't it?" He smirked, lying down and stretching out on a palanquin with robots carrying him underneath. He fanned himself with the ancient script he was reading and hosted a rather boastful and devious expression, letting his pearly white grin disguise his true feeling towards the written passage. He raised his nose a moment, "Echidna's tend to be so misleading with how 'bad' it really was... All those innocents sacrificed... so that gods could be ruled over, and not the other way around." He looked back at the script, "I know~" he puckered up his lips, arching his rather broad eyebrows back. "So tragic, and yet-!" he crumbled up the manuscript in his large, gloved hands,... that fake sympathy turning to a ravenous appetite for power and dominion. "So perfectly evil! Just my kind of reading!" He placed it back in his 'explorer's bag' looking like a proper English archeologist, but his getup's cleanliness suggested he hadn't actually worked since he got there. "Those fools didn't know what they had! Good thing, in the hands of a master planner as me, myself, and I—the true emperor of the galaxy, you could even say. Hohoho!—Their efforts can be fully exploited for all it's worth! The true gambit against Sonic and the very world!" He stood on top of the palanquin as the Egg Pawns' knees began to clank and shake from the massive amounts of weight now placed on them from that gravity shift...

"Hmm? Stop dawdling and get back to work!" Eggman stomped his foot down on the palanquin after feeling them slowly tilt and dip down, but they straightened out after a good talking to.

"Work? More? We've worked for sixteen hours straight, with no tune-ups, no oil breaks, uuhhh… I feel my circuits sparking with imaginary sweat." Orbot wiped his forehead, just for the expression of it all.

"If the ancient Echidna civilization didn't want to preserve their failures while also keeping them a secret, they would have made them all easier to find!" Eggman barked, throwing a fist up as he leaned over the palanquin, "Prideful little species... so annoying." He flicked his hand as though swatting it aside. "They weren't the greatest treasure hunters or hiders in all of history for nothing! You nincompoop!" He swung low over the palanquin, as though to punish Orbot with a quick head knock, but Orbot luckily ducked with a 'Yikes!', scampering off with his hands out forward. "Besides! Digging up an ancient goddess is half the fun!" Eggman then patted Cubot's head in a sense of glee.

A few robots were excavating still when one cracked a little slash into a rock. It turned its head to the side as though looking at it with one eye, leaning down to do so, since it had limited motion and facial expressions. It reached out to use its finger to pick its steely finger and scoop some debris down with flicks at the crack. Then, it wobbled back on one foot as colorful ripples of light appeared from it, blasting the cavern with a beautiful sight.

The robot toddled off with a wobbly step as it was spooked but quickly fell at Eggman's palanquin to his hands and knees.

Eggman turned around and looked up over his massive shoulder, his large stomach and rumpus of a butt shifted over in all its weight as the footmen beneath all struggled to counter-balance the other side so Eggman didn't slip off. One was lifted up and wiggled its feet as the others sparked in their efforts, looking as though Atlas trying to hold up the world.

"Is that the northern lights?" Orbot's tentative hands overlapped one another timidly, floating with light bounces over, his blinking eye-lights taking in the reflection of the ribbony colors swaying from the crack in the rock. "It's so... odd," How else could a robot describe something so beautiful?

Psychedelic patterns of color swerving in the air from the slashed earth... what else could he have said?

Cubot huffed, "Oh, so you were built with a compass for directional assistance… and I wasn't!?" he was referring to the 'northern' comment... Even he couldn't quite see the beauty before him.

But Eggman's glasses also reflected the same light... but his eyes saw nothing but untapped power... over beauty.

Gripping the side of his comfy, sprawled bed upon the palanquin, His glasses still glowing the bright, brilliant colors, he rolled off the palanquin and had to shake a leg free of the top as the robots beneath—once he got off—fell to their metallic bums and tossed the palanquin to land on its side behind them. It was a much-needed break for their circuits and worn gears.

Eggman's whole frame leaped upward the spectacle of light in excitement, his balled, large fists shaking like a teenage girl getting a brand new car on her birthday. He whispered, "Oh, Harmony..?" As he tried to look through the crack... but then threw his foot in and began tearing through the crumbling pieces of thin earth that had already been hacked away at for hours with his hands.

The lights dimmed... as he entered the chamber with a gruff, ape-ish look before dusting off his explorer outfit's shoulder. Clearly, he was eager and, most importantly, impatient above all things for this moment... leading with his foot through the crack first, he walked in awe back towards the sights... As though he didn't just break in and enter what the Echidnas' would call 'Sacred Ground'.

"You there…?" His creepy laughter drew forth from his throat as he watched the lights fade and then grow to a glowing light pink.

"Hehehe… hohoho… heheh…" He rubbed his hands together, as a few robots started to also try and get their hulking selves in, getting jammed up in the opening of the rock and having to practically bulldoze through it. As they marched forth, Eggman swiped one of their pickaxes from a robot's hand, making him double-take and flex his hands in and out as though it was so fast, that the robot couldn't compute it. "Give me that..!" The robot had its hands open and looked from side to side, trying to figure out where its pickaxe went as Eggman hacked into the earth. He hadn't even looked at the robot, just 'all smiles' to the buried Crystal in the center of the room... Walking towards it while the robot slowly turned his dome-like head to Eggman, as though flabbergasted in his motions that he'd just snatch it like that from him, but to Eggman? All these things were his, anyway... especially... this long-lost, undiscovered legend for countless years of time... the Harmony Crystal. "I've got a Goddess to save~" he sneered a sinister cheer, as the robot followed his movements, unable to express, but clearly showing through his motions what he must have felt. Another robot smacked his back, which made him lean forward, pause, and slowly look toward him... He then robotically switched his own ax's side to his other hand and gave the ax-less Robot his own pickaxe.

Eggman curled his hands a few times over the pickaxe... looming over the rocks that only concealed some of the imprisoned Crystal of old. With wild swings that frightened the tinier mining robots who stood back, Eggman carved the way for more light to flash through the darkness of their excavation.

His glasses shone with such heavenly aura... and yet, his smile remained bright with the dastardly dreams of another, more qualified, tyrant than the Chief spoken of in the tales of Echidna lore...

"She said a crystal cave, ha! More like a mountain! It's taken me a full-on year to track down the strange energy signals to this location! Hurrufh!" he threw the pickaxe back, having it hurl into a Robot's head as it whirled around in panic, and ran around like a chicken with its arms out in front of it, running into a wall and falling over.

The Robot who was just given a pickaxe saw that and immediately shoved the pickaxe back to the other robot, not wanting anything to do with it now, it seemed.

Hesitating, Eggman placed his hand out through the entrance he had created... A secret chamber..?

He waved his hand through the gap, turning it front and back, checking to make sure the light source was withstandable; and then, peeked his head in.

His nose rose up from the edge of the rock wall, the first part of him to enter, before slapping down on the flat surface of the corner to the inside, bobbing around as his eyes scanned the open cavern till they saw a crystal hanging on the top of the wall. It almost resembled a crab, his mustache against the side cave wall and his nose bouncing as he looked left and right to double-check that the coast was clear... no traps? No guardians..?

He already knew the Master Emerald had one... he would hate to find an ancient second...

"Hrm, even if one was here, they'd be dead long before I got here." He concluded and grinned once more as he stepped in.

the Crystal... was hanging in the middle of the hidden room... It was the one shining the brilliant pink through the buried earth.

Eggman slowly walked towards it, with long, calculated toe-then-heel placement as he stealthy wanted to take a closer look. "Hello,..? My dear~" he gleefully called to her in a friendly sort of way. "Harmony,... was it..?" he also growled a dark purr of excitement for power so close within his clutches but tried to lessen his tone to a cordial greeting to keep up appearances.

Just in case...

After all… it was his specialty to trick and deceive…

"I've heard of a most unfortunate story about your imprisonment… and your arm?" he gestured to his own. "Or, was it the other side?" he lowered his left and rose up his right, switching positions. "Would you be so kind as to show me..? I'd hate to make a grievous error about something so crucial important..." He held up his hands, as though meaning no disrespect, but he smirked as he saw the ominous colors from the crystal shine. They sounded out a ringing warning that made Eggman's smile turn worrisome, as he rubbed his hands again, licking his lips.

This was going to be tricky... A woman already scorned once...

'How should I do it again?!' He thought with such excitement at his new game... A new conquest... a new world Order...

"Yes, well, umm… heh." He tugged on his outfit's collar, stretching it out in trying to think fast how to rectify her obvious anger. He was literally speaking to a being that the ancient civilization considered a goddess, so this was no 'light' manner... 'Oh, I made a pun!'

He found that rather amusing... before realizing... 'That blasted Hedgehog is rubbing off on me...' he groaned in his brilliant mind, frowning most profusely as though getting deflated by the thought, but shook himself free of it and remembered his purpose here.

Deception... If he could fool a naive Echidna, could he fool an already hurt goddess?

"Some people can be so cruel, eh?" He opened up with, a strong start, he tried to encourage himself with a subtle fist bob in the air. "But you created them to be full of merciful Order, right? Back and forth they swiiiing~ between chaos and harmony, destruction and life." He flittered here and there, "All the while you try desperately to escape your cage. Such horrible GUILT at what you've done. To the Echidnas,... the daughters of the world,... and most gruesomely,..." He lowered his head a bit, darkly letting the shadows contrast his once 'friendly' features... "To your dear, timeless friend~… The God of Chaos…" his voice went grave as though accusations against her, which was exactly his point and plan~

Eggman leaped around, testing how far he could approach and having scanners upon his glasses reading the dangerous signals coming all around the crystal, going back to being 'light-hearted' about it all...

Another pun...

That darn Hedgehog...

"That's a rather large…" Orbot simulated a gulp. "E-E-Emerald…" He pointed a trembling, clanking metallic finger towards her, worried about Eggman's ruse failing them... and possibly being disintegrated by whatever otherworldly power this being possessed.

"Does the boss know it looks like he's talking to a rock?"

"Quiet, Cubot! This mission could be in jeopardy if we blow our cover!"

The two were hiding on the other side, staying right where they were with the other Robots, but peeking inside as carefully as they could... to not be spotted... if it even had eyes..?

"Oh right, cause she may backlash at us with her immense 'power of beauty~' at us." Cubot swayed at the whimsical words of the story, not looking very scared as Orbot face-palmed himself. "Maybe he'll keep it as a pet..." Orbot then gasped, turning to look at Orbot, "Oh! Ohh! Can we finally have a pet? Are we getting a pet rock!?"

"Power of life! Life, you dimlitted, broke circuit!" Orbot didn't even notice his own pun... "She could create something bigger and better to destroy you! Spontaneous creation... the power to bring life to anything and everything." Cubot warned, gesturing his hand out to show how truly 'dangerous' her power was. "The breath of life, never needing a battery recharge..." Orbot thought about it, but he didn't really want acne. "Ever heard of it? Wonder where it comes from? The very air that organic lifeforms breathe in and out every day... the origin of 'Mother Nature'..?"

"Oh, I thought that was just silly, poetic, personification..." Cubot wisely stated, putting a finger to his mouth.

"No, it's much more than that. It has a beginning... as all mythological things do." Orbot explained.

"If Chaos is a bunch of water, then she's a bunch of…" Cubot looked away and up towards the ceiling, the little rotors in his head moving as he chewed lightly on his finger near his mouth, turning to Orbot. "Dust?"

"Wind." Cubot's hand spread out towards him, then gently dipped back in a flowing, soft swish. "And something far more gruesome." Orbot shook in his bolts, "The Doctor has also hypothesized that... She's also made of…"

"Blood…" Eggman grimaced, leaning back as his nose twitched at the scent. "The Waters of Life… not of destruction… instead of paving the earth, you beautify it." he looked to see the crystal swarming about with liquid, and held his nose away from the stench.

"The pink color for flesh, red for the blood of all life, and the inner amniotic fluid of newborn creation... I figured as much." He muttered to himself, "Disgustingly beautiful, aren't you?" He seemed to grumble as though appalled but still took a careful step closer. "Not like birth was meant to be hygienic... You're a walking biohazard, but I digress~" he told himself, "Come, Harmony… you've been cramped up in that Crystal for far too long… Life was meant to be free, wasn't it?" He gestured his arms out, speaking plain hypocrisy. "Come,… I'm a gentleman, you know~" He extended his hand at first, like the proper way... before turning it around and trying to see if he could even 'touch' the crystal's surface...

The signals in his glasses told him to be careful, and he did so, watching the bars lift and fall at different intervals on his glasses monitors. He didn't dare to touch its boiling-hot surface just yet... At least, he thought maybe he was permitted to be this close... but wasn't sure.

The crystal let out a powerful heated light, another warning to stay back.

'Guess not,' Eggman scowled, "Hrrmghh..." he leaned back, standing upright at her refusal and rejection.

How was he gonna get it out of here..?

He raised an eyebrow... thinking... then put his arms behind his back.

"Must I take you to dinner first?"

The Crystal blared out a blinding light of hues, yellows, pinks, oranges, and reds.

Eggman ducked and guarded with his arms against the powerful light, "Eh-heh…" he looked up over his arms and put his lifted leg down, having been a bit frightened, but realizing she wasn't taking anymore of his 'joking humor' about her anymore.

He gulped, "Patient... aren't you?", 'And irritable.' he adjusted his tan, buttoned-up explorer's attire down. Giving her a strained, but mockingly warm smile again, as he tried to keep himself safe towards the elusive and aloof, female being... he started up his act again. "I'm a man of the heart, really… so very… very fond of the positive attributes of mankind…" he fibbed through his teeth and waited to see if the Crystal would cool down.

"You and I… we've both been deceived. Tricked and cheated of what is rightfully ours!" He put more passion into that 'truth' of which he believed... "The world can't stand people of actual talent and ability! Capable of nothing more than... greed, envy, and in spite of our good natures, they reject us... abuse us... when all we want... is to be loved and adored... help our fellow men, yes?" He put his hands on his chest, pouting sorrowfully, making himself and her out to be the victim.

Only one of them actually was...

"People always want what they can't have... whether that be control, dominion... edifices erected to their glory..." He looked as though that was what he wanted... looking up at the corner of the ceiling, scratching his chin before looking back at the Crystal and coughing into his closed hand, forgetting a second his act before continuing, "Ehem-ah-ha-hah... A shame, really." He tried to recover. "So... emm... What's that word I'm looking for? Irresponsible..!" He flicked out his fingers as though to dismiss people's idiotic ways. "Now… Wouldn't you love to see the world you've created once more? The world you were meant to share with Chaos?"

The Crystal suddenly lowered in temperature, turning a cooler blue and then green… Was it at the mention of Chaos?

His smile widened, seeing some success. "And your beautiful creatures! Even the Chao! Aren't you missing them..? Your faithful companions… so sweet and child-like… after all, it is you who allowed the continuation of life upon this world, am I right? And now… only Chaos controls the balance of things… terribly so, might I add." He tilted his head, getting closer…"So ugly and dull, wouldn't you like to beautify and give greater life to your creations once more? Instead of letting Chaos have all the fun..?" But as his hand went to reach for the cooled surface of the crystal, the padded tips of his fingers stretching out in his minuscule success that lead to such overbearing confidence in his schemes, the Crystal suddenly shone a bright yellow in rebuke. Crimson pools sloshed and blew up into the hollow core of the Crystal,... the rushing and boiling of a Goddess's blood within...

"Yeee!" Eggman strained his face back, seeing the temperature drastically rise, and withdrew his hand in fear of a burn or having his gloves melted through to the skin. It was like a lava lamp, The Crystal faded into many different colors full of torment. The blood inside splashed around, and on the tips of its crashing waves that curled on the edges of its encased prison, blobs of undefinable shapes to its defensive glow. "Oh right, you still love him, don't you..?" he giggled faintly, realizing his folly.

"Of course you do, I mean… it wasn't his fault, right..? It was… the Echidnas!" he threw his finger up, accusingly.

The temperature raged… like a volcano, the mush of liquids popped and blasted the front and edges of its Crystal...

"Not… the Echidnas?" he lowered his finger, confused.

The temperature cooled… as suddenly the lights and blood within the 8th Emerald known as the Harmony Crystal began a puppet show of sorts.

Eggman turned around, seeing the shadows on the wall behind him. The dancing lights and moving watery shapes began to perform, and Eggman stepped out of the light's way to not obscure the image… Watching the scene unfold...

He narrowed his eyes to a squint, searching for meaning in the shapes... two dragon figures?

They fought upon the cave's wall, as one shape showed a floating prism diamond, the lights shifting to a bright emerald green to reflect what could only be thought of as the Master Emerald. The dragon reared its ferocious head back, being sucked into the Master Emerald and then coming swirling out back into its previous form... but this time, with the large emerald as its core.

What looked like a small figure on top of a large cliff held out a staff and spread his arms, and the Dragon struck at the other Dragon... who seemed to cry out with a gaping mouth.

Eggman watched as this dragon, being controlled by the emerald shape, blasted the other dragon and wounded its arm, severing it off with a large beam... completely having it destroyed.

He then watched as other emeralds pulled apart the attacking dragon's body, separating its power into seven emeralds that then circled its core… Absorbing him into the Master Emerald... fully this time.

"It's power… was divided?" Eggman raised his eyebrow, pretending like he cared or possibly didn't know the whole story. He knew Chaos was controlled through each Chaos Emerald, gaining more power as he absorbed them, but he didn't really care how. the only thing that mattered to Eggman, was that he used them for his own purposes as power sources, much like the evil Echidna chief.

but the picture show didn't end there, the wounded shadow of the dragon he figured was Harmony's true form was sealed within the crystal's shape, many blobs that looked as though girls stood with arms spread out before each dropped back into the pool of blood... a forbidden ritual of some sort?

Was that what this Tikal spoke of? Was it... the blood of the innocent?

"Now I see…" Eggman grimaced as he watched the two shapes suddenly be parted, and the figures of Harmony and Chaos, non-dragon forms, reached for each other before Harmony's crabish, claw-like hand was withdrawn and placed to her missing arm's shoulder…, her head ducking down as the shadows of their forms faded... with Chaos and her being pushed back into their beautiful, but cruel capsules...

"You're ashamed…" he beamed, before turning to her in his best pity face that he could possibly muster, a pouting lower lip included. "Poor, poor Harmony… You fear he can't forgive you for your mistake… you were the one that gave the Echidnas all they asked for, without a second thought, not even questioning what they were really after… you were the one that created the means to seal away your friend… It was entirely your power that doomed his freedom and blessed, all-powerful, state… that caused him to destroy half your power…y our own arm… to enslave him to your creatures… aww... Poor, poor precious Harmony…" He rubbed his hands together, "All you've ever given to your friend is… well… HARM." He looked at his hands, before crushing them, losing his act. "That... really does make you quite the villain... doesn't it?" He was growing so eager for her power, for the control that the ancient world once had...

Sacrifices were a bit extreme, but he'll make do with what is to come.

He saw the temperature lower to extreme colds, and happily snapped his fingers, having the robots bring the palanquin in after destroying more of the protective cave wall to enter the sanctum. They lowered it under the Harmony Crystal... Placing it accordingly to have it raised up onto it.

It seemed that the blood was forming into her figure, tossing to and fro in what looked to be great torment as the crystal steamed out mist from becoming boiling temperatures once more... turning back to cold so suddenly. The pink liquid creature rocked back and forth in the crystal, gripping its head at the memory of regret. The image was barely seen through the crystal besides the shadows that came from within its light. Eggman smiled at its pathetic state, walking up with his hands behind his back to it, standing as if confidently in power over and before it.

He felt like the one in control now... 'Women's emotions are often easily manipulated... but she manipulates her own, I just had to discover what could 'cool her down', so to speak.' he smiled at the thought of a 'depressed' goddess but didn't pay it much mind.

He rolled his fingers off the others in a continuous rotation, scheming… "I could help you mend the pain and ask forgiveness of Chaos~ Of course… you'd have to do something for me~" he chimed in his deal-making... which he had no intention of keeping, obviously. Seems Harmony was still blind to guile...

The Crystal roared a metallic ring, and the blood suddenly seemed to disappear, as if diluted to form the pink liquid with the spiraling wind tunnel inside. Bright eyes glowed through the crystal then, as blood had crystalized to make the Goddess's eyes; her full body was now a liquid pink spiral of the breath of life's energy.

She leaned forward, but the Crystal blocked her from getting closer. She stared at Eggman, the only living thing in the room, as though trying to understand what was going on... Did he really want to help?

"Well, yes. I do know where he is, but… You see, times have changed here on this little planet you helped to grow, and gee… we all need something, now don't we?" he laughed with his hands now resting confidently on his hips as the robots clicked the palanquin into action. The trap mechanism sprang up from the 'cushiony overlay' and the crystal was surrounded by a metallic casing, seizing it perfectly in place.

Green bolts of lightning zapped and held the crystal in place while it tried to resist before a cry could be heard ringing throughout the cave.

Tossing in pain, the figure's one hand bashed the crystal, before her eyes bent to sorrow and she ducked her head, being dragged down further into the crystal till her form dissolved and the wind and bloodied liquid fell back within the crystal's clear but distorted vision.

It was now... just a hallow pink crystal again...

The metallic cage's electrical, green lightning seemed to be fueled by something strong enough to suppress her power... As Eggman pushed up the hood with the 'cushioned padding' to reveal... the glow of three Chaos Emeralds.

"Oh, you let another one of your creations into your tender heart, now didn't you?" Eggman smacked his big belly, before holding it as he cackled, "A rather uninspiring capture,... I confess I was expecting more of a fight... but nonetheless, I plan for every occassion~"

He looked down at the beautiful shines as though not afraid of this light... void of emotion, they were just tools to be used to control the power of gods... makers of worlds, and establishers of Planet Eggs... How foolish of Harmony to bring such things into existence unto man. "Good thing I could swipe these Emeralds before Sonic or his friends could show up... he must be antsy~ Not knowing what I've been up to... heheh..." He snickered, imagining how bored Sonic must be... "All in good time, Hedgehog... demise takes some... preparation~" he looked at the Crystal, seeing the light of it completely gone now...

"The world has changed, Harmony!" He gave out a boisterous, but almost proudly arrogant scold. A harsh school teacher now, he left all glee to the side, "But the evil that resides in it… will always be greedy and power-hungry…" his eyes shone with the green of the Emeralds' energy, piercing the Crystal and forcing it to stabilize as it continued to shine out in rebellion... a dim light at first... slowly growing at its realization that once again... it had been deceived...

Orbot and Cubot gripped their hands together, approaching cautiously.

"Hohoho! Girls' hearts are always so easy to fool. Their emotions so easily swayed." Eggman wiped a tear from below his glasses, flicking it off before smirking up at his latest 'damsel' he'd acquired and started pointing to the door.

"But I still keep my promises. Boys! Take this fair maiden out from the dark~" he gave a dramatic stance as the robots marched in military alignment, their lines perfect and their steps completely in sync... An emperor was being made... with a new power to test and weaponize...

The robots heaved and ho'd, stepping in lined formations, and carried both themselves and the crystal out of the cave, all the while, the shrill sounds of the pained Crystal rang through the air.

A heartbeat throbbed to reveal the pink figure curled at the bottom of the crystal... a heart actually in the center of its body pulsing out her continual anguish... the very symbol and evidence of life... wailing in its crystalized prison.

To all those who would free her... and bring back the lost pact between destruction and life... I thank you. For your honesty, your courage, and your heart of all greater golds. For you... are the truly humble and repentant.

But to those who would seek to abuse her power once more, the gift of her eternal longevity and nurturing heart for the sake of power and control... To you, I fear most...

For you will behold...

The wrath... of the eternal, Chaos god.

. . . . .

The Master Emerald was no stranger to the sound of the metallic crying... as well as the burst of bright light that rolled through the sky like a magnificent ripple of colorful aura.

The second the harsh sunlight of the world had once again touched the Crystal outside the cave's mouth... A blast traveled through the sky like an encompassing halo, spreading itself out over the sky.

Knuckles lay peacefully in sleep upon the top of the Master Emerald, a bubble of snot coming out his nose as he snored quietly, his hands behind his back and one leg up and crossed over the other... When, in a sudden burst of light, the arching beams swept through the island, at its perfect height for it.

The ringing of its metallic sound and the powerful push of its light caused the Master of all Emeralds to jump, waking Knuckles up instantly as it tilted itself in a roll, sliding him off its smooth surface as it was clearly affected by the sudden signal.

Almost as if being figuratively knocked awake, the massive Emerald looked as though it was spinning slightly on its axis at the wake-up call, but acted immediately.

Knuckles cried out in fright before flailing his arms about, crashing to the ground but grabbing the edge of the platform with both mittened hands and one leg up over the first step of the altar, not wanting to roll ALLLLLLL the way down the long, open stairway...

With no railings, mind you.

"Heeeyy..!" The Guardian, a physical sign of the Echidna's repentant actions against the gods, rose up with fury. "What's the big idea!?" He rubbed his head after lowering his raised fists, "Huughh... What was that all about?" He wondered and calmly stepped up, in a bit of confusion, to steady the Master Emerald. "I haven't seen you take life to yourself before... not since... Hmm..." He made a tight line with his mouth... not expecting it to be Chaos, not after all this time. He walked all around the Master Emerald, keeping one hand up on it to keep it back in its rightful, standing position, "Roooouge!?" he called out, looking behind and down towards the ground, then up to the sky's with a scowl, "Hmph... Not here." he commented, "Not a soul here... but myself and the Chao." he put his other hand to the Master Emerald, leaning to check in on it, looking up at its hulking self. "What could have possibly happened to create such a bright Sonic Boom..?" he had felt something... a tingling in his chest, a warm and pleasant feeling, but he thought that was just from basking in the sunlight... it made him smile in his dream.

Still confused, he looked around, forming an annoyed expression as he crinkled his muzzle and tugged hard on the corner of his mouth in agitation, "Soooonic?!" he continued to search before stepping out from the altar of the emeralds, their pillars still in place with none of the Chaos Emeralds placed upon them... having been scattered since the last adventure with... Super Sonic.

Had... Sonic found them all again? But... that large blast... didn't exactly rock or move the island.

It was just light... phasing through solid things... so, why..? The scattering of Emeralds didn't cause such a phenomenon.

"Huh," He looked to a Chao who was nibbling on some fruit. "…You push me off?" he asked.

The Chao looked up at him, innocently chewing with a pure expression on its face.

"Heh. Didn't think so." ...But then more Chao appeared, as though being summoned... They floated with what sounded like a musical chant, as though reverently singing in anticipation for something.

A few were cheerful and jumping, others looked more like they were saying prayers, their hands together, looking hopeful or respectfully still.

Some had their heads down, others their heads up,... but all were of smiles.

"That's weird." Knuckles watched the strange activity, "You all usually are acting like children... just playing and floating around here... Hmm..." He was surprised by their... pleasantly reserved natures all of a sudden,... they were normally very peaceful, but this was a whole new level.

Then the Master Emerald started shining again, this time, lingering and growing brighter. The Chao grew more excited... "H-Hey! What's going on!?" Knuckles stepped back and lifted up an arm to block the growing light, from a dim ring to a then powerful symphony of light dazzling like the top of the water's surface... almost a primarily green, but iridescent shine back.

"Woah!" Knuckles spun around as the Chao started to gather together and flap their little wings close to the Master Emerald, their wings reflecting the tint of the Master Emerald... and something pinkish... shining and shimming as though glittering magic...

What Knuckles didn't know, is that their pink wings were a reflection of their connection to Harmony... their source of life that created them... they were the beckons and ushers of new eras...

And now... a new era was stirring in the midst of Knuckles confusion... bearing the omen of things to come... a renewal?

Or a destruction of all life... as he knew it?

They cheered, for some unknown reason, even more profusely and hugged while spinning each other in the air, celebrating the reoccurrence of something...

Knuckles watched the Chao's odd behavior, "... Something I don't know about?" he asked, rather cluelessly, before hearing a familiar voice.

"She's been found. History will repeat itself. A great war is upon us. Order must be restored... Knuckles… take upon you my vow. Bring Harmony to reunite with her other half, Chaos! And re-establish the lost Order back to the world!"

"W-wha-wha-what!?"

Knuckles stood back as the Master Emerald shone with an even greater light, "Tikal!?" he covered his eyes from the stinging beacon with the back of his large hands, grunting at the brightness. He hadn't heard her since...

Then, another resounding pulse but this one traveled like a jagged heatwave, still a rippled circle, stretching out but with different colors of blue and green... Duller and darker hues, which turned Knuckles's stomach and made him clench all his muscles, bending over as his eyes twitched at such an awful feeling... "What... What really is happening on my Island?" he looked truly frightened by whatever that feeling was that pushed through him from the Master Emerald's returning blast...

Then, the light faded. As instantly as it began.

"…Uhhhh…" Knuckles lowered his arms, blinking at the blur in them before seeing a blue figure standing before him. "Ugh, my head, my stomach... I feel so... weakened... am I... seeing things?"

The figure walked out in the blue of the shimmering oceans, with the stride of one whose purpose was power. His essence had carved this land... the bubbles that formed in him were a reminder of the last remnants of life's breath. The energy that flowed through him apparent in the green of his eyes... glowing the powers of death and destruction, that which condemned life but paved the way for new life to begin. The mind floating within its mass commanded the knowledge of Order... but without the emotional pull of a heart to establish it completely. Nature bent to his presence... as the Chao recognized him and saw the serious obligation in his eyes.

They lowered their heads and softly floated to remove themselves from their Guardian's path.

"…It… can't be…" Knuckles squinted the more, then yelped.

"Chaos!?"

All the legends previously known of Chaos... were not fully lies... but the very mention of Harmony was stripped from their records... Only Eggman knew their cursed past in its entirety...

Within one script... within one scroll... was Tikal's truth, she had to keep silent for so many cycling eons of life and death.

The God of Destruction stood before Knuckles with a reserved fury, having learned what these beings could do when threatened in 'this' era...

Life had become mighty... but now...

Their mother was calling...

It was clear Chaos was upset about something, but Knuckles was too in shock at seeing him outside the Master Emerald's tight ensealment... what on the planet's goodly surface was actually happening here!?

It stood up to him and leaned forward, babbling with his bubbles rising at great speeds through his body and up to his head in his anger, but the noise made no sense to Knuckles.

"What... what's wrong?" He could tell instantly that Chaos was trying to communicate... but... what?

Knuckles scratched his head, before shaking it and letting out some air.

"Boy, I hope I'm still dreaming." He pulled out Tails's Miles-Electric given to him for emergencies or communication.

"I better let the others know..."

He turned around to start typing out his message, needing time as he was a slow 'texter' as it were, looking for each button—since he never used this thing—facing his back to Chaos.

Chaos stood still... before his bubbles shimmered down as though he was impatiently realizing Knuckles wasn't listening and leaned back. After a moment, he walked towards Knuckles again and leaned over his shoulder, putting a creepy, watery hand on his shoulder.

It freaked Knuckles out so badly he flinched with all his Echidna hairs flying up in his great alarm and pulled away to dash himself in front of Chaos, looking at him head-on again with his fist raised high, the Miles-Electric behind him. "Oui! What do you think you're-! H-Huh..?"

Chaos just glared at him, his emerald eyes shone with protest at his ignorance and ignoring him completely.

And thus… The third adventure begins for Sonic and his friends...

In Eggman's retrieval...

Of the 8th Emerald, The Harmony Crystal.

. . . . .

Rouge, sneaky as always, begins to stalk a mysterious figure ahead of her through the darkness of the Ancient Echidna ruins in the misty jungles near Angel Island...

Her wings bat an instant, looming above with her toe tapping a tree branch for added leverage. The figure turns around with the sound of the shaking leaves, revealing a rather large, pointy nose in his wrapped brown cloak, hooded in appearance. That was already suspicious enough for Rouge, who knew this climate to be hot and humid... She darted across the canopy for further cover as he scanned the treeline... his eyes moving slowly, truly searching with caution before continuing on with a flip of his raggedy, torn, and holed brown garb.

'…He's not supposed to be here…' Rouge blinked her eyes down to peek through the cover of leaves while balancing on a much sturdier branch. It was a close call, but she wasn't phased by it. Her thieving skills were still as sharp as ever, due to her spying becoming more of a lucrative—and less illegal—skill. She watched as he pulled something out of his circular garb around him, and her highly attuned bat ears heard the sound of something clip into place.

Curious, she took a small glide to another nearby tree, to get closer, trying to be silent through the air before the hooded stranger spun yet again around, firing a blast from a gun to barely tip her wing and send her crashing down, "Ahh!"

So that was the mysterious sound... the clicking of a loaded gun.

Faltering in her flight, she tried to level out her arms and wings, but the figure's menacing accuracy had perfectly taken her off route and brought her to a deadly, angled dive. The brown-hodded figure's piercing red eyes suddenly softened to a wide look when seeing who he had shot. "..Ah!" he dashed forward, appearing to skate along the dirt path before catching her expertly in his arms, bridal-style carrying. With a slide of his foot, he skid along the dirt as though a quick turnaround with his heels slowing his momentum to a stop. The dirt flung up in his wake as though it was a motorcycle breaking hard to its side... and his caped garb flapped wildly in the wind he had created before coming down to a calming lull, draping along his body yet again.

"Are you okay?"

She gritted her teeth, "Regret your hit?" She badmouthed, "And at a lady, too..!"

He had saved her before an unfortunate accident could prevail, but she kept kicking her feet out and knocked the gun out of his hand, flipping out of his hold to crouch on the ground, readying herself for a fight. "A bit late to ask forgiveness now... huh?" She held her fighting stance, but then she started to recognize the figure upon this closer range...

The figure stumbled back, shaking his head as he put a hand to it, then removed his hood.

"You should know by now…"

She gasped slightly, coming up to stand as her wings batted, one weakly and the other in strong emotion.

"I don't like surprises."

"S…Shadow?!"

She stomped up to him with fisted arms straight down by her sides, and in her fury, bashed his head down with the side of one of them directly on top of his head. "You shot at me, you hasty shoat! How was I supposed to know who you were with that ridiculous getup!?"

Shadow groaned in the new pain inflicted on his head now but willingly accepted it as ample punishment, taking the hit with a bit of a scowl, "I'm not making excuses, am I?" He let out a long, winded cycle of breath before continuing, "I wasn't sure your Echidna friend would let me come near here. I had to take precautions." He offered her his hand, which she looked away from with folded arms, pivoting to the side. "If I knew it was you, I wouldn't have bothered taking such measures... You've been well, Rouge?" Her eyes softened... before looking back at him and gently taking his hand.

"We've been worried about you…" she admitted, seeming to change her tone entirely.

Noticing that change, Shadow also reflected somewhat a more cordial manner, less stern. "…I've given enough help to G.U.N's services for an honest leave… I'm sure they'll manage without me." He pulled her lightly forward and took a look at the tip of her wing's rim. His gloved hands skimmed it and she looked down and away, flinching a moment. "How you'll manage though… eludes me." That gentle care made her tensed shoulders also drop as she looked back to him.

She gave him a stink-eye stare, playful but also clearly upset by his leaving her... "Was that joke?" she lowered her eyelids, slightly offended. "For your previous partner, you really haven't learned how to talk to a lady at all... have you?" she lightly teased back, smiling somewhat, "I'm glad you're doing alright... leaving G.U.N cold turkey like that... I just wished you would have kept in touch." she took her hand to remove his from her wing, being slow about it, to get him to focus on the current conversation and not even bother with the wound.

He tilted his head, wondering why she didn't want to address that anymore, but smiled at the quiet forgiveness with his eyes closed, before looking back to her with more care in his voice now. "Will you be alright?"

"There. Now that's how you ask a lady." She put her hands on her hips, leaning her face towards him in a more playful scolding. "Honestly. All that time working together. Have you not learned anything from me?" she tilted her face too, as he looked away from her, as though not wanting to engage in her silly banter.

"You're wanting to know more about me while feigning being upset,... I've learned to ignore you until you start making sense again." Shadow turned to head back down the path, but it was his own way of indirectly expecting her to tag along... which she was happily going to do regardless of his acceptance of it or not.

"So unamused…" She rolled her eyes, leaning up from sticking herself directly in his face before tucking in her wings and putting her hands behind her back, batting her eyes a bit at him. "My,… just my type, I guess." She shrugged and walked on after him. "You barely nipped me. Be thankful I don't ask for retribution."

He stepped back, looking to the ruins.

"Hmm? Ignoring me is also something I'm starting to get accustomed to." she sighed, "Don't expect me to change in any way for you now." She swayed her hips in her feminine way of walking and stood beside him... before losing the act and realizing with a pull of her neck back that he was seriously focused on something else now. "...What's so fascinating about historical momentums that's got you all riled up?" she looked at him curiously with a frown, before smiling mischievously. "A gem or two I could snatch as a side hustle?" she gave off an alluring appeal, tilting her hip towards him and letting the opposite side's arm dip down on her other side, but he was used to her thieving prowess and flirty attitudes.

"Treasure-hunting… are you sure it's wise to steal under your favorite friend's nose?" he walked forward, retrieving his gun she had knocked away from him and tucking it back under his cloak. Rouge blushed and widened her eyes, embarrassed he would even bring that up. She hollered back after him with an intense, strained expression on her face, stomping a foot down and batting her one good wing furiously as he continued his steady walk onward towards the Ancient Ruins.

"Favorite!? Now listen here, mister! If I had anyone I so happened to fancy, it'd be none of your concern!" She huffed at the end of her sentence, offended he would judge her for it, folding her arms and turning her head away again, "I should have knocked on your head harder... Hmph!"

"Your ties to the Echidna aren't important right now, nor a concern for me,… Not unless he's tied to these." He pulled out a device that fit in his hand, showing a rectangular screen of lights waved across the sky.

The Harmony beams of arched light were recorded on that device... which made Rouge's eyes scrunch up as she tried to think if she's seen those before.

She was losing patience with the picture, gesturing to it and looking at Shadow as though getting more frustrated with him. "Those look like the Northern Lights, nothing like the sparkle of my beautiful gems." She looked back to examine it further as Shadow spoke in response.

"I felt a Chaos Rift similar to the Dark Gaia incident… but worse this time. Much worse…" Shadow touched his chest, as though remembering the second beam of light too... the awful pit feeling in his stomach... the first being somewhat pleasant in nature. "These lights were rippling all over the world, spreading around it until mysteriously vanishing. According to these reports… they only lasted a few minutes or so." His thumb clicked the screen, revealing multiple images of the same occurrences of the light formation. "Those directly in the path of the beams report pleasurable feelings of peace or relaxation... But then there was a second blast, from the opposite direction." he flipped through the images to show the second wave. "It occurred almost directly after, and the results... are gravely concerning..."

"I thought those manuscripts stated that event wouldn't occur again till we were all long dead and gone…?" Rouge leaned up, focusing on Shadow's words as he pulled the device back, clicking it off and folding it back into his brown cloak. "Is Dark Gaia... really-..?" She hesitated as Shadow shook his head.

"According to the professor… Those manuscripts were documented here… at the Echidna's Mystic Ruins." He looked back to where he was so transfixed in his sights beforehand... "If it is Dark Gaia... we know how to stop him." He then looked back at Rouge, "If it's not..." he then stopped himself and looked forward, "Either way, I've come to investigate the strange occurrence..."

"You don't dillydally long." Rouge lightly teased, leaning the back of her shoulder towards him. "Hasn't this event only occurred a few days ago?"

Shadow smirked and closed his eyes while dipping his head down to move away from her slight leaning on himself and continue his advance forward, "I know disasters when I see them... I am one." he stated, quite grimly.

Rouge looked sorrowfully towards him, "Were... one." she corrected, "Don't make me remind you of all the good you've done since..."

Shadow just remained silent, carrying on as Rouge flapped out her hurt wing, looking at it a moment, but then flying on to show she was recovering well. It wasn't so bad, after all, just a graze.

She flew beside him, and he seemed to look at her injured wing and nod as though grateful she was back in the air and looked relatively unscathed by it.

"So… You're a calamity chaser now?" she smiled, just messing with him, but he was used to the teasing. "Still... Knuckle-boy is involved in all this..?" She let her hip come out a bit as she placed one arm down calmly upon it and the other down by her side. "I was hoping to avoid him today and reap some benefits from exploring this place by my lonesome." She sighed, "Guess plans change…"

"What's your real reason, Rouge?" Shadow shifted his weight, turning away from her but keeping his eyes locked on her deceit.

She closed her eyes, still smiling, but seeing she was caught in the act. "You can tell a lie that quickly from me, eh?"

"What does G.U.N want with the Ruins?"

"Straight to the point…as usual."

Rouge grinned and opened her eyes, batting her wings seductively as she slowed down and turned her body in the air, trying to seduce his attention off the ruins and back to her again. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you." She leaned her head up, before reverting to a serious look on her face. "All work and no talk, is that right? In that case… G.U.N's known about the lights for some time now. The energy signals threaten that of almost the Chaos Emeralds…"

"The Chaos Emeralds?" Shadow looked surprised to hear that, stopping to fully face her, looking up in the air where her wings brushed a pleasant breeze against his face. "So... I was right. You did know about the lights, and you were concealing your information to get all of mine." he deduced, which only made her lift the back of her hand up to her face, smirking.

"We know each other too well." she played.

"Not well enough." he looked away, thinking about her wing being clipped... and how he wished he would have known it was her snooping around sooner.

"Oh..? Something I know and you don't?" she flirted a little, leaning her head to the side and batting her eyes, flying down closer to his face as he kept it sharply turned away, thinking... "That certainly means some treasure for me,… right?"

"Or G.U.N." he was too clever for her ploys, and gave her a pretty straight look, not taking his chances. "Hmph. I don't have time for games, Rouge." Shadow glared a little, not putting up with her cheap tricks and gimmicks. "What has G.U.N learned?"

She pulled back and sighed, "Always ruining my fun..." she breathed out, but then caved, "I'll relent." she put her hands loosely together and bent herself a bit down, working her wings a bit more to show him she was perfectly fine after some rest now. "Here's the juicy details you're looking for, Shady boy... I was sent to investigate the Ancient Echidna ruins in hopes of finding what manuscripts might be missing. After all… you've probably assumed from the Professor that these old parchments might actually hold some future worth to them." She motioned her hand forward as she spoke, returning to her normal approach on matters.

"You've worked long enough with me to know I'm not one for small talk, Rouge…" He insisted... wanting her to hurry along with more details.

"Not when there was work to be done... and danger afoot…" she straightened up, agreeing with him. "Alright... You have a thing for mysteries… do you?"

"Go on, and no more dawdling." He verbally pushed again, seeing she was keeping something from him, and fully faced her with a narrowing of his brow. "You're here for the missing link. To find out what you can about what this may be… hoping it's written somewhere like the Gaia Manuscripts?"

"Exactly." She cooed, "Treasure-hunting was my alibi if Knuckles ratted me out too soon. What's your excuse?" she turned her well-defined body to the side a bit in the air to show off her natural curves, facing the ruins in which they were both headed.

"Something's not quite adding up… it's like this is all happening too neatly…" Shadow decided to lay off her avoidance, finding that she may have told him all she really knew, and continued to realign his sights as she did with her body. "I worry something is controlling all of this... organizing within the shadows something truly catastrophic."

"Such is fate, my friend." She leaned her elbow against his shoulder, making his eyes swipe over to her instantly. "You really should loosen up… the lights haven't reappeared for some time now." She seemed to see how deeply he was affected by this... "What are you thinking could happen with some magic lights..?"

"We've seen many things, Rouge, and none have ever been that graciously peaceful." he dipped his chin down as she looked back with a puzzled look.

"... What kinda threat do you think they impose..? Only those directly in its line, which was pretty high up in the air to be specific, felt such powerful feelings from it, right?" she held up a hand to show that she wasn't too concerned, but still investigating the strange behavior. "They're mostly harmless, all things considering. If they remain in the sky, why should it bother you so, Shadow? They're already gone."

"That's because they're traveling." His voice grew immediately darker.

He shrugged off her touch as she had moved her elbow off and replaced it with her hand, stopping him a moment. "You mean... they're still going on?"

The disagreeable agitation in his voice made her feel slightly 'brushed off', making her pout a bit as he barely paused at her hand on his shoulder either, but instead, she just glided along after him in the air.

"They're circling the earth… like a distress signal… a beacon no one can ignore…"

His voice... he certainly wasn't going to allow himself to ignore it.

Ever since Maria entrusted him to protect the world... his promise... and renewing it with Amy...

"You think the lights are signals?" She looked dumbfounded by that theory.

"Could it be some sort of distress call?"

"Or an act of war." He kept moving ahead, before pivoting to look back at her.

"Come on."

He wouldn't let anything threaten the world Maria loved... the world... he almost destroyed in his own vengeance and fury.

"Oh? Suddenly you want my company?" she looked just as annoyed with his behavior, seeing he was growing impatient by her stopping his ascent towards the ruins so many times. She put her hands to her hips, "You could spare a moment to talk, Shadow." she scolded, but he was done wasting his time. He got what information on G.U.N's side he needed, now... it was about execution and finding that possible manuscript.

Before G.U.N made any unnecessary plans...

"…I could use you to distract the Guardian you're… so fond of." His teasing was so dry, she felt every bit of her body quake holding in further aggression towards her stalling. "Wasn't it you who said I don't 'daddle'?" he continued the smart-aleck remarks, which made Rouge's lower lip rise in an even funnier pout.

"You've hung out with that blue wonder too much..."

He groaned and turned to walk on from her, not wanting to hear about Sonic.

"And your temper has escalated, quite like another red-faced friend of Sonic's we both know..."

He looked back behind him, being more mean than funny at this point, but hoping she'd tag along, regardless...

"You're walking on fine ice, Shadow…"

She warned, bearing her teeth as her eye twitched and she flew after him.

"…In this humidity?"

His voice completely showed his soaked sarcasm. He wasn't intimidated by her 'prideful anger'.

"Why you-!"

She flew after him, "I'll bonk your head again!"

But he raced with his skates onward, hoping she'd keep up...

and staying expertly out of her range...

A funny pair of old partners,...

At their best..!

. . . . .

Arriving inside the ruins, Shadow relied on Rouge's stealth and precision in locating hidden traps to move effortlessly toward the main library.

"So many floors…" he looked around him to see some debris of a previously destroyed Eggman robot. "…How long has this been here?"

"Since the era when Chaos first broke loose under Eggman's control… I'd assume." Rouge flew over him to hover above the hunk of junk, leaning down to see the abandoned mechanical remains. "Hmph. They've just become part of the scenery now... You'd think Eggman would at least do some cleanup duty... Where does he even get all his metal for these toys, anyway?" She looked over the robot as Shadow shook his head, walking on.

"Right,… ancient history." Shadow gave one last look to the robot from over his shoulder, "Some things even G.U.N hasn't figured out, yet." Then continued on as Rouge looked at it in a quiet farewell and then flew back to follow Shadow.

"Almost makes a girl feel pity for it." She sounded a bit drab in that sentence.

"It's not real." Shadow mocked with a monotone, dry humor.

"... Oh, they're real alright." She reminded him of Omega and he lowered his head... thinking of his old ally...

As they made their way to the large, cabinet-like housing area for the scrolls, they noticed how extensive the carved-in squares ran up along the walls…

"They sure were good bookkeepers." Rouge marveled, before flying up and looking for any empty squares… "I can't perfectly read these inscriptions… but I'll do my best." She admitted, before seeing Shadow pull out his device again, taking pictures of the walls. "... You got something on that thing I don't know about?" she put her hands on her hips, leaning down from the air as though looking annoyed, as though her body language was saying, 'Why am I even here if you have that?'.

"Oh?" She saw him not pay any attention to her and flew further down to where he was, "And what's that supposed to do?"

He clicked through the photos as she hovered just over his shoulder behind him, noticing the photos now had translated text upon the inscriptions.

"An automatic translator?" She smiled, "I expected no less of old G.U.N technology. Looks like I taught you something." she smirked over to him with her eyes lowering, as though saying he stole it when he left.

"Tails has many useful apps he's created for these independent servers… he's quite resourceful… when he doesn't know you're hacking into them." His blunt dismissal of her claim at making him a thief made her fly back in a flinch for a moment, before pouting once again at how he really was no fun to mess with. Still... wouldn't stop her.

He clicked through the photos before the Gaia Manuscripts listed on the screen, as Rouge saw a flash of something she recognized. "We already know what happened to that one," her comment made Shadow bend his head down, becoming more fixated on the device's results.

It was taking its sweet time translating…

Finally, Rouge motioned her pointer finger down and zoomed to the side of the device. "There! That one's missing! Go back!"

"Hmm?" He clicked back to show a square that was missing a scroll.

"If you were a thief, you'd have a good eye for that." She winked and lifted up the pointer finger she used to identify the missing space.

He just smiled and huffed a little, which made her happy, seeing he could have a sense of humor... when he wanted to. "We've got a good chance that this could be it." He looked up to try and identify which 'cabinet' the picture showed. His eyes scanned about before pointing to the upper right, "There. Near the corner."

"On it." Rouge flew up to take a look as Shadow made sure she was distracted, before zooming in on the blurred image of a crystal, quickly analyzing it without her knowledge. "…No translation,… huh?" There were no words under the cabinet…

"Shadow!" Rouge's voice exclaimed through the echoing, ancient world's library...

Shadow looked up, peering to see her holding something in her hands, waving it around. "I think I have a clue~" she chimed, looking confident and smug in her discovery. "Like old times, eh?" she flew down to reveal that between her thumb and pointer finger,... a single orange hair. "Ugh, I don't even need to scan it to know who this might be." she replied in disgust.

"Never hurts to not assume." Shadow took it and ran it through the device, finding the Doctor's DNA reading on the scanner.

"Eggman,..." Rouge sighed out in exhaustion, having figured as much. "He's behind this already?" She threw out a shrugged arm, lifting her hand up and back, "Can't a girl catch a break…"

"I think this may be important enough to get Sonic involved." Shadow tucked the hair into a compartment of the device, stringing it through for safekeeping.

"And you don't say that lightly..." Rouge lowered her eyes, teasing him a bit at how much he didn't like working with others... especially Sonic. But at least he pleasantly tolerated her company~

"Send G.U.N the Doctor's recent hair samples… they've been meaning to try and keep tabs on him through some means of identification." Shadow wondered if Eggman's health was something G.U.N was taking into consideration... he may look old, but he wasn't reaching that decline just yet...

"Hmm? How'd you know it was Eggman's if you weren't using G.U.N's Server-ah!" he tossed her the device, cutting her off as he began to turn back and walk away.

"Tails." He stated bluntly and sharply. "He's got all the information I ever need to know." He then wandered off as Rouge held the device, angrily looking down at it and squeezing it in-between her hands, glaring up at Shadow.

"He acts like I'm not even needed!" She huffed out, twitching an eyebrow. "And after all we've been through together!"

"You're not." Shadow's voice was quiet and yet, it rang through the halls to gently pass her honed bat ears...

"W-what?" She suddenly looked very hurt, as he stopped to turn around, spinning his finger in the air.

"These walls echo." He stated, again, quite bluntly. "They were hollow... until your bad mood showed up." he smiled to show he was teasing, but she was just embarrassed at that point.

She was half-tempted to throw the device, swinging her arm back. "I'll teach you to treat me like I'm second-best!" A game they had played for a while... but... Shadow never did get bored of it.

"If I only cared about your skills, I wouldn't have gone back for you." He kept trying to leave, but she always pulled him back... somehow. Smiling, and giving a bit of a wave back to her, he made one final remark. "I'll take care of Knuckles… Alert G.U.N of the approaching danger. The Doctor's awake from his long slumber…"

She held the phone back to her front, watching with concerned eyes as Shadow flipped the hoody back on and his shadow… faded with the last line of light before he disappeared deeper into the ancient structure. "Shadow…" She didn't like leaving him on his own... but... "You're the one that shot me, you sly ignoramus! Hmph." she swiped her head away from his direction, hoping he had heard that, and then quickly went to work as she went to contact G.U.N...

. . . . .

Shadow had managed to make it to Angel Island, the teleporting flash effect made it appear as though he used Chaos Control. He flipped his cloak behind him to fully take it off, letting it go flying into the wind before descending over the edge behind the floating island.

His stride was with conviction as he passed the peaceful Chao, all enjoying their lives and seeming especially invigorated today… As beforementioned, somewhat carrying on their earlier merriment.

He walked by a few who excitedly came to greet him, mostly flapping their wings out of his way as they warmly smiled at him, trying to seek his attention. Some flew to his feet, trying to latch on for a wild ride but he never stopped to scold them. So, they continued to sit on his feet or try and hang on behind his ankle as he finally made his way to the Master Emerald's Altar.

"Hey, look… You can't just-!" Knuckles's voice seemed to be growing strained and frustrated, as though he's been having this conversation or... arguement... for a while now. "G-Go back in the Master Emerald!" Knuckles tried to push against the God of Destruction, who protested being shoved back up against his green prison and held his ground, his feet skidding in added resistance against Knuckles's brute strength.

"I won't… tell you…grrr… agaaainn…!" Knuckles closed his eyes, twitching as he used all his force to try and get Chaos back inside the Master Emerald. He wasn't even sure why or how he could be out of it, again... Even though his watery feet were sliding back with slight flinching motions, he wouldn't budge. "Grrahh..! Your feet are made of water! Why aren't you slipping at all!?" Knuckles was just growing more agitated that he was losing to a shaped mass of water more than anything...

Bubbling noises brewed with the heat of Chao's anger from within his head, his exposed brain pulsing slightly as his eyes narrowed to show his frustrations at Knuckles's ignorance of what he was trying to convey.

"Augh! Why won't you move..?" Finally letting up, Knuckles let go of Chaos's body, having lowered his head to his chest to try and use more force against him, but the leverage didn't have any effect at all. "You're entire mass is water right..?" He nodded to Chaos and gestured his gloved hands out as though pleading for validation on this matter, "Am I weaker than water..?" he scratched the top of his head, confused. "You've never been like this before… you're not attacking me. You're not even looking for an Emerald to power up into your other forms with… so… what gives?" he shrugged, deciding to finally talk now that Chaos was showing how adamantly he was going to hold his own against Knuckles's best efforts to try and return things to normal.

With all the might and glory of a God, Chaos rose his head with pristine royalty… an ancient pride that Knuckles seemed to pick up on.

Knuckles moved back a bit, his feet slightly skidding rocks back under themselves as he moved away. "H-hey, buddy… come on now. I won't fight if you won't…" he held his hands to the side but up to show he had no desire for hostilities, looking worried. "We're all just… having a peaceful morning, right?" he looked a bit afraid that Chaos might rampage again, but somehow... this looked... different.

Still, he strained his teeth and had some sweat on the side of his face, "What on this green planet has gotten into you?" when he said that, Chaos nodded as though it was correct.

What was correct?!

Chaos lowered his head, bubbling up throughout his body again before turning to neutrally acknowledge something behind Knuckles.

"H-huh… what's behind my-…" Still spooked, Knuckles slowly turned his head. "YE-AHH-HAAA…!" He lifted his leg up and arched his body back, getting shaken up by Shadow's random appearance there. "S-Sha-Shadow!?"

"…What's he doing out here?" Shadow had his arms folded, momentarily looking at Knuckles before glaring at Chaos. "I thought he was supposed to be a great evil sealed into the Master Emerald… his power only ever being exposed when released through the combined power of the Chaos Emeralds."

Chaos equally glared back at Shadow, his bubbles now a bit bigger than usual...

For a moment, there was an intense glaring contest between the two, as if they both were unwilling to back down from an obvious 'size-me-up' challenge…

"Uhh… I should ask you the same thing..!" Knuckles threw up a fist and stomped a foot down... before calming down a bit and figuring it was probably best to talk to someone about Chaos's strange behavior anyway, "He's just..." He looked once again back with puzzled annoyance at Chaos's appearance. "... Standing there! Every time I move, he follows. It's like he can't go anywhere without me."

"…Is that so?" Shadow raised an eyebrow, cutting off the threatening atmosphere the two once had… "Ultimate Chaos… that's his final form, right?"

Chaos broke his piercing look as well.

"…I wonder what he would think… if he knew a part of his power dwelt in a being like me… giving me the same title as his own."

"...Uh…" Knuckles just looked between the strange 'power struggle' of the two, back and forth, "Yeah, I guess so… Anyway- WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ON MY ISLAND?!" he blinked a moment before yelling with a yapping jaw to Shadow's—equally strange—appearance here. "This is a protected wildlife reserve and ancient ruined treasure! You can't be here without-!"

Shadow swiped out an Emerald.

Chaos's eyes widened back, his body lurching forward a moment as his two-clawed hands arched on his sides. The fingers twitched...

"…Uh… Hey, what gives?!" Knuckles reacted with a step back, before looking to what he thought could be an offering of 'peace'.

Hardly...

Shadow had been trying to avoid Knuckles... now, it was inevitable to face him and ask his questions directly...

"…Do you know what those lights were?"

Chaos's eyes narrowed.

Shadow turned to directly hold the Chaos Emerald before Chaos, pivoting away from Knuckles... It wasn't Knuckles who he was meaning to address... But Chaos, the God of Destruction, himself...

"…Who were you trying to contact?"

"What are you talking about?" Knuckles stepped as a mediator out into the center of their views, holding his arms out to stop any hostilities he was sensing between them. "Let's all just calm down and try and understand something… what are you here for?" A bit of a hypocrite to his earlier actions... some may say.

But it showed that Knuckles had grown a lot, and wisdom from his past failures and gullible mistakes was not kept from this learning...

"Answers." Shadow stated firmly, tossing up the Chaos Emerald, "Now… step aside." He watched Chaos's head follow the action, "You want this..?" he caught it expertly as it came down, smirking as he held it across his chest, away from Chaos. Chaos leaned forward, ready to fight the obvious Hedgehog's whims for a competition... "You'll have to tell me what's going on first… Or I'll take out your Guardian here…" He gestured the Chaos Emerald threateningly over to Knuckles, who Chaos just tilted his head to, as though he wasn't really caring about such a thing.

"What?! S-Shadow!" Knuckles got into a defending stance. "Those are fighting words!" His gloved-hands came up in fists, ready to fight if necessary.

"They were intended to be." Shadow never took his eyes off Chaos until Knuckles moved more into view, then his eyes shifted to the right to see him intervening with the placement of his body.

"Grr… Look, I'm getting real steamed now!" Knuckles's eyes twitched in rage, but there was also a sweat of worry… "You're both acting really strange! What's gotten into ya!?" what was Shadow doing here? Threatening Chaos? And now, himself!? "You're acting like someone who's afraid!" he finally stated.

Shadow remained silent to that accusation... "I won't ask a second time… or do you not understand what I'm trying to say?" he lowered his head, looking like he was having fun interrogating a God, not even bothering to address Knuckles again. He lurched forward to punch Knuckles's in the gut, as Chaos's head flung up and he stood somewhat more erect, as though now showing he did somewhat care about what the Black and Red Hedgehog was doing.

Was it... Chaos Control that made him move so fast? Teleporting in a quick flash to jab him in the stomach... not really 'fair' conduct for a fight... Which resulted in Knuckles being unable to block in time. "AH..! Ahhhh..." Knuckles winced back at the pain but quickly threw Shadow off of him. "HuuurrrAHHH!"

Shadow spun back and landed with ease, holding the Chaos Emerald up again. "You're trying my patience… I know Eggman stole a manuscript from the Mystic Ruins… I know it has something to do with you, too."

Chaos dipped himself even further down, rage boiling his watery form from the inside as his whole body was bursting with bubbles streaming up his body.

"Grr… Erk… You were snooping around… my people's temples?!" he was really getting ticked off now, gripping his stomach's side. he side-stepped a second, not allowing himself to keel over that easily, and getting his free fist ready for another sucker punch. He stepped forward, "You..! I've had my hands full with this silent problem not leaving me be and trying to leave the island as it is!"

"…Leaving..?" Shadow's eyes widened suddenly in realization. He quickly took a glance at Knuckles before focusing his entire attention back to Chaos... "You said he didn't leave your side..."

"Yeah, only because it looks like he can't without me." Knuckles pounded lightly on his leg as though to redirect the pain from his side. "And it's my duty to keep him here… So either you take that sorry smug off your face and leave… or I'll throw you off the edge MYYYSEEELLLFF!" he came full-blown after Shadow, dashing up and jumping to throw a punch at him, the wind creating lines of actions along with hair spines.

"Hmph." Shadow jumped as Knuckles crushed the altar's foundation underneath where he once stood, dodging with minimum effort. "Chaos Control!" he teleported below the altar, confusing Knuckles.

"Huh? Heh, cheap tricks!" Knuckles pulled his fist up and readied for another hard swing, protecting his sides this time around. "I wasn't expecting a fight, but this time, I'm ready for it!"

"You're both full of them." He said this slightly under his breath, before standing upright and looking much less hostile. "I agree to a civil understanding. I'll yield… for now."

"For now? A civil, what? YOU GET BACK UP HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN, COWARD!" Knuckles stomped his foot down, about to rush down the stairs before seeing Chaos eager to follow him.

"Ah! Hey! No! You can't come with me! You have to stay here! No—I mean—back in the Master Emerald!" He turned his stomping feet to Chaos behind him, away from Shadow, acting like a child throwing a tantrum as Chaos just continued to look annoyed at him slamming him back up against the Master Emerald.

Knuckles tried to scoot him once more with a forceful tackle but Chaos bubbled as though to say it was pointless and to stop.

"Grr… I don't care how much you garble like a brook! You're not going anywhere!" Knuckles made a firm stance on the matter, as Shadow began to put two and two together.

"He's trying to find the source of those lights' power, too… He wasn't calling anyone." Shadow was getting intense again, realizing that it wasn't Chaos causing this disturbance.

"They were calling him."

A Chaos Rift streaked through the sky.

Since the floating island was close enough, level to the lights already, the sent blast rippled its wave straight through Shadow, Knuckles, the Master Emerald, and Chaos himself.

Shadow lurched back, quivering at the warm light that radiated the chaos he was fused with when Dr. Gerald Robotnik created him. The feeling soared power through him that he'd never experienced before, and shook a hand over his chest, not sure how to interpret the strange wave and the sensations it sent to him.

"Wha…What's happening..?" he felt invigorated as if energy just flowed through him all at once. However, it passed just as quickly as Knuckles felt it fly through his core as well, giving him pleasant sensations that left his knees shaking and face flushed somewhat.

"What..?" He was momentarily caught off-guard as his eyes shook and he looked down at the ground.

Chaos just rose his head, as though babbling a soft, sorrowful reply back to the sky with his bubbles... The Chao flew up and danced about, cheering and rotating with partners in the air as though dancing in joy.

Some looked at each other before the wave passed them and then were blown over by it, giggling and rubbing their tummies as it seemed to have the same effect on them, enjoying the 'tickles' as it pleased them.

Knuckles leaned back, feeling the effects and trying to resist them, although they relaxed every muscle and filled him with zero-weariness, absolute focus, and a feeling of peace. "GRRRR… WHAT IS THIS THING!?" He frustratedly asked, embarrassed how nice it felt as he looked at the palm of his hands. "It's making every fiber of my body... Grr... NOT MAD." he admitted, though strained to do so.

The wave continued to ripple as Chaos's head, leaned up towards the sky, now followed the passing beam of arched light behind him. He let a ringing sound escape from himself as his eyes glowed, and reached out to touch The Master Emerald's surface. Suddenly, a massive light force also burst and rippled from it, blasting the Emerald in Shadow's hand clean out of his grasp at its power. A shockwave in return to the iridescent rays of light, also circular and spreading out from Chaos's influence this time.

"Ah..!" Shadow looked behind him to see the Chaos Emerald curling its trajectory and landing with a few tinks upon the ground. It rolled towards itself, being magnetically pulled towards the light of the Master Emerald.

Chaos was losing control, it seemed. His eyes blared to life with an emerald green that shone as brightly as that of the Master Emerald. It was like he was crying out…

Then, as quickly as his reply of light was sent forth, a pink hue glistened within the Master Emerald, and Chaos's chest rose with its light as well.

He then cried out another metallic pitch as he threw his arms down in front of him, and a powerful Chaos Wave flew back over the island and through the sky again, knocking everyone down, and this time… not such a pleasant feeling…

It left them drained, feeling ill, and bruised.

Chao fell to hide behind rocks or their fountains, only to be left gripping their stomachs and looking about ready to barf.

It was an awful feeling… compared to the light they first endured.

Knuckles, having been thrown back to the edge of the stairs again, felt his legs finally come down and rolled his spine upwards. "Ugghh… What was that?" he held his head, "That wasn't pleasant at all." He shook his head and looked back to Chaos, "Felt like your punch to the gut, Shadow..." he confessed as Shadow was down on one knee, unable to stop his eye from twitching at the terrible sensation.

As though a fight with an upset stomach, crawling sensations of electricity that left the body tense and immovable... dizziness that ached the mind.

What... why was it so opposite from before?

"Ah! Chaos, you're-!" Knuckles suddenly got up, feeling the sensation pass just like the fluid wash of the last wave of light's sensations. He got up and hurried to Chaos, seeing him panting, his shoulders moving up and down as his body was completely arched over in a hunch toward the ground. His body… was melting.

Small puddles formed at his feet, the energy used to send such a blast back... but why? What was going on? His liquid made him seep somewhat into the ground, his legs becoming one and his body wobbling in his exhaustion.

But... was it physical or... emotional?

Little pieces of himself dripped down onto the yellowish stone foundation, but the Master Emerald now shined with a lesser light… a pink vortex, like galaxy sparkles, radiated and spun inside itself in another light show of power.

Knuckles slowly looked around Chaos at it, mesmerized by its beauty. "Woah… I didn't know you could do that…" he seemed innocent to it all, staring into it like that, before Shadow rapidly sped passed him and gripped Chaos's throat, struggling to contain him as he was already melted down quite a bit, mid-waist in fact. Shadow had no issue reaching his slippery throat...

"Who are you trying to contact!?" Shadow demanded before Chaos shook in his grasp, clamping his watery claw on his arm, and began to slowly rip it away from him. His water began to reform himself, raising him higher than Shadow and with his hand being forced away from his throat, brought it up with him to loom over Shadow's form.

He wasn't so weakened anymore... he was enraged again,... and Shadow needed to learn some manners in the presence of a supposed, ancient deity.

In amazement, Shadow's eyes shook in wonder as he tried to resist Chaos's pure power.

Even in his weaker form… without an 'Ultimate' title, Chaos lifted Shadow up by his arm and stretched his body up into one pillar of water, his other arm morphing into his body as he stared dangerously into Shadow's eyes, making him leveled with him.

He had had enough of the questions... it was time for the mortals to just do as they were told.

Shadow's whole body flinched… he was made of the same power as Chaos and yet…

Chaos was still a God…

(EDITED, and more to come! Stay tuned ;D)

Chapter Text

Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos

Chapter 2

By: Cutegirlmayra (I split these chapters up. Tell me if you like smaller chapters, yeah? Two in one night! Baller~ Hey, hey, hey! I'm excited about these new updates! As always, stay tuned~ EDIT: I'm combining them all again XD)

"Shadow!" A familiar voice rang through the air, like a comet or arrow piercing through the sky.

"Grr... Rghk… R-Rouge?" Shadow opened one strained eye that was shut, holding Chaos's watery, taloned crab-arm as it choked his neck.

While he struggled, his feet dangling in the air, oxygen passed by his throat at wavering intervals... he could hear the flapping of large bat wings.

"Let him go, you big bully!" Rouge spun a kick into Chaos's head, drilling her sharp-ended heart-shoe right into his brain, piercing his liquid hide and causing him to release Shadow from his bonds.

Chaos reeled back with another roar of metallic shrieks, causing Knuckles to somewhat cover his ears from it. Chaos turned away and had his watery appendage morph back into his tall pillared self once more, his eyes blaring green.

He swiftly changed his sights from Shadow to Rouge, shaking his head at the damage done to his watery skull as Rouge caught her falling friend and flew him safely down.

"Rouge! I should have known you were behind this, too!" Knuckles removed his hands from his head and rushed up to them, accusing her and shaking his fist around, flapping his gums off…

"Oh, Shut up!" she hollered back over her shoulder, "You really should learn to not cry out random garbage before you understand what's really going on!" she scolded.

"Why you-!" Knuckles's face flared in puffs of red, his muzzle showing his angered and flustered expression, but Rouge just saw Shadow hold up his eyes to her own.

"Rouge…" Shadow twitched his head up, seeing his vision blurred from lack of oxygen. "You came back?" He asked.

"Heh, you seem surprised." Rouge smiled, "An old partner is still a partner, Shadow." She took her hand and moved his arm over her shoulders, "It's okay, Shadow… I'm here." Rouge looked down kindly towards him, helping him up to his feet again, "And that's saying something... G.U.N doesn't know I'm here... though, they would probably want me to be. I've been charged with investigating this strange phenomenon. Thought you could use some help."

Shadow nodded to her, giving her a faint smile through the apparent weakness in his voice from being momentarily strangled, but was ready to fight again. Hits don't do much against the Ultimate Lifeform... he was ready to swing and duke it out again within seconds.

"Also... I saw those flashing lights bounce off from here." Rouge, once seeing he could stand on his own again, let him go and honestly spoke her mind. "I figured something must have happened... knowing you were coming here."

Knuckles turned back to notice the sweet exchange, before flipping out and approaching the two again after blinking his eyes back and frowning at the closeness. "I-I don't understand! Why are you both sneaking around Angel Island?!"

She kept her eyes fixed on Shadow before turning to Knuckles, frowning and narrowing one eyebrow to the dummy, "You really think now's the time to accuse people? What about you, Knuckle-head? It's not like you have any brains in that noggin of yours to know anything about what's going on with those lights, do you?" Her abrasive question left Knuckles stumbling and twitching an eyebrow at her boldness in insulting him.

"W-What did you say..!?" Knuckles flinched back, his fingers twitching too as his anger rose. He flopped his fists down and folded his arms once he saw Rouge take her focus off of him again, looking away from the two as he smushed his lips back and forth over the other in a grumpy fashion. Being 'called out' on his lack of information during this... strange event of sorts... Left a sour taste in his mouth.

who wouldn't feel that way? But it wasn't as awful as that returned beam of light made him feel...

"Ugh, The ruins… they didn't have anything." Shadow tried to grab at his head, rubbing it a moment to get clarity again and quickly explain to Knuckles the full account they had, but Chaos was quick to intervene. He turned back around and looked as though about to lunge at them again, causing the three to brace themselves for a battle, before a ball of light spun out from the Master Emerald.

It dangled its red self around his head, stopping him, and speaking, "They know not the cause for your aggression, Chaos! Please… I beg of you… let me help them understand… They simply seek clarity." and spirited passed him towards the trio.

Her words coaxed the revered and abused god back… as she hovered just slightly closer to him. "We will truly restore Harmony this time… I have given you my vow…" as the light withdrew from his face, Chaos returned to his original form, and looked away, bubbling as he stomped off towards the edge of the Altar's highest foundation, and waited.

"Did that light… speak?" Rouge felt something familiar stir in her memories, but Tikal's spirit dangled over them and circled, not allowing memory time to resurface as she was in a haste.

Her spark of red light suddenly flared out to encompass them, the three trying to shield their faces before blinking and adjusting their pupils to the new tone of foggy sight. "What is this?" Shadow looked out and tried to gently swat his hand through the fog, but nothing.

"A vision." Tikal reverently answered, flying in between the trio, their small flashlight in the fog. "I have momentarily teleported each one of you into the past memories of Chaos... from the Master Emerald's power, this is briefly possible."

The three saw the fog part in front of them, moving like a misty curtain before falling to the ground somewhat and showing them a devastating scene.

"These are the ruins of my people… the destruction of Order, which was the unity of the world… Harmony and Chaos…" All around them, they saw they were above large fires and people screaming. Ultimate Chaos bellowed out a powerful blast that carved large ridges into the earth. A massacre...

Knuckles's eyes shook as his teeth gritted, raising his head up as his eyes remained looking on the scene, "Chaos..." His anger was filled to the brim.

Rouge had to turn away, as Shadow just stood and looked about, studying the scene of Chaos's massive powers...

"I couldn't stop my father… and Chaos destroyed and destroyed… Without Harmony able to restore what was lost, balance became distorted, and Chaos's rage grew and grew… as their creations began controlling more and more of his will." Her voice sounded as though the emphasis was of deep regret and sorrow, as though none of this should be taken lightly... and seeing all the poor souls... crying out... knowing their own people did this to them...

"All the tribes were destroyed... but some were punished in other ways... The Twilight Cage..." The vision revealed Ultimate Chaos flinging his head up and summoning forth the portal, and people being shot into it or being sucked helplessly into its core.

"... It looks nothing like him..." Shadow commented, never before having seen Ultimate Chaos in all his grand and terrifying power.

"It's because it's not him." Tikal's voice rang true, "It was the desires of my father and those who sought power and control... instead of peace and Order."

"You've been saying that..." Rouge finally was able to look up, tears in her eyes, still not watching the scene as she put a hand over her mouth, disgusted and shaken by what she was hearing... Her bat ears absorbing every helpless cry and cruel death... "But what exactly does that mean..? It doesn't sound figurative when you speak of it..."

The water dragon shook its mighty head, an ear-piercing sound as Rouge covered her ears and flinched, turning around as her eyes widened to see that before the suffering tribes and people... the Chief grinned and held up an Emerald. "By Harmony's light!" he cried out, "Chaos… be controlled!"

Chaos reeled his head back but looked at the cowering tribes below, shaking himself but unable to stop his mouth from opening wide...

"Wipeout our enemies! Give us the land we have come to claim for rightly better hands!"

A child clung to its mother…

"In that moment… Chaos's heart became hardened to all its creations…" Tikal moved her light back, as Chaos's eyes—sharp and now dulled from the lighted shine that used to be in them—swung his head back, before firing down on the village again... His eyes saw the mother and child... before his beam covered his vision... and the vision faded with it...

"No..." Rouge collapsed down on her legs... "That just... couldn't be..."

Knuckles closed his eyes, "Tsch.., Kerk...!" The tears in his eyes began to grow larger... his large fists shaking before lowering down and more towards his body, near his waist, " PACHACAMAC! IX!" he blasted from his chest's lungs out through his mouth like a megaphone...

Shadow just lowered his eyes in respect for the dead, before turning back to look at Tikal by his side. "What then?" he asked, "After this all occurred... it still doesn't explain what is happening in our time... right now."

"Could this... be a premonition?" Rouge rose up to a knee, spinning around and glaring at the speck of red light with a shaking fist. "Are those lights trying to warn us that this will happen again!?"

Tikal didn't reply to either, but continued after a moment of pause, "The destruction left only grief and ruin… Another Emerald was forgotten… the only one that could appease nature's delicate Order was lost… for what seemed like forever."

"There she goes again," Rouge softened her anger, now more confused, "Calling this 'Order' like it's something real and tangible..."

"Without her gift of life, Chaos's destructive rage could not be challenged nor appeased, and his heart sank deeper and deeper into its darkened state…" Tikal shined her light once more out to encompass the three, who were already pretty shaken by the image they had witnessed but looked to see Chaos bound to the Master Emerald, huddled in darkness before turning his head to a metallic ring.

"The Chaos Emeralds may have been a deceit to wield the power of the Gods… but one Emerald remained uncontrolled." The image turned to the survivors of other tribes, some even Hedgehogs... working together to seal the Echidna shrine cave and carrying a pink crystal...

"Those are..." Rouge could tell it wasn't the Echidna people...

"Only a few remained..." Tikal floated by Knuckles, "Including your ancestors..."

Knuckles watched the scene... before seeing a small group of Echidna's waving their hands along to show support and guide the way of the other tribes of different species, helping them to hide the crystal...

"There was no anger in their hearts... only misery... and the deep, unwavering desire to make right their people's wrongs... mend and atone for what they had done."

Knuckles lowered his head, the tears finally, softly rolling down his cheeks...

Rouge caringly looked at him, worried. "Do you recognize them?" She had never seen him so emotional like that...

"No." Knuckles swallowed hard and used his arm to wipe his eyes, "But I can feel that I do..."

Tikal waited patiently... before speaking again the further truth she had carried, "Since she'd been weakened when Chaos was forced to destroy a piece of her power,… she had been in isolation within the very caves my brothern mined the Chaos Emeralds… before she granted power unto the lifeless stones…"

"Mined?" Shadow questioned, but tried to not interrupt. "If power like that can still be forged..."

"Without Order, there cannot be an Era of New Life, and the Planet Egg cannot sustain its powers... Currently, no such power can be made again... for the Planet Egg wanes in its life..." Tikal solemnly declared the first answer the three had gotten in a while...

"Life... is waning?" Rouge didn't understand, "What are you talking about?"

"And what does this have to do with Chaos and those lights?" Knuckles pivoted back to Tikal, "I'm starting to realize... this 'Lost Emerald' is extremely important, isn't it? And it's causing events to come to a conclusion, not a repeated tragedy,... but an even worser one... right?!" He stepped forward, boldly, "That's what you've been trying to say?"

Tikal moved forward after a moment of pause yet again, and the three began to move like a ghost-image through the center of the large cavern within the mountain, traveling at quickened speeds without obstruction through the rock and stone...

Deep in the tunnel's belly lay the sparkling cave, but the past flashed before the three's eyes and suddenly... there wasn't a Crystal anymore. Hanging from the cave's ceiling was now only the fallen rock... and beneath them, The Eggman Empire's logo upon some forgotten, metallic scraps. "This forgotten Deity has been freed from her exile… but the abilities she gave to wield Chaos have once again been used for wicked purposes by her creations. Order has been challenged. History will repeat its duel if Chaos is to battle her once more. She mustn't be injured again. If she is destroyed, then all life will cease to exist!" the vision blasted the three, causing them to cry out in a bit of fright and shock, as they were quickly taken to what seemed like a futuristic time.

"All the lives that she had given the breath of life to… will be drained in hopes of granting her power to fight against Chaos for strength," Tikal revealed herself, before millions of girls behind her… falling over and fainting. "All life she created… will forever be... no more. And the longer her power drains the Planet Egg, the more this world will remain completely desolate of all life that renews..."

Rouge's knees suddenly quaked and she felt weak, toppling over as Shadow and Knuckles quickly rushed to her aid, holding her up. "Rouge!" they cried out in unison.

She twitched under an unknown power… "Hnh... Uhn... uhh..." her sounds of pain and struggling to remain conscious made both Shadow and Knuckles's eyes shake in understanding...

"Anything that bears the mockup of life..." Shadow repeated, clarifying or making sure he understood Tikal's words.

"... So... anything that can produce it... but... can't we-?" Knuckles looked to Shadow but he shook his head.

"We're only one vital element of the process... we do not have the means to create life." Shadow explained, "Although important... we cannot carry life in the same capacity as... they can." He looked up to Knuckles, as though this was worse than he could have imagined.

Tikal waited once more in absolute patience, before drifting over to Rouge, placing a ghostly hand on her dipping head. "Although men are the source of great power in this world... Harmony controls that which creates life, not what sustains it." she looked to the two men, "You are born of water... as dust and oxygen gave you life, you remain in life by the water and substances found therein." She then looked back to the weakened Rouge, who gripped her heart as she could feel it slowing down... "Without Order, we are all doomed... Man... and Woman... Plant... and Beast..."

"It's all interconnected." Shadow realized then, looking to Tikal, "If we don't stop Harmony... the world will become infertile."

Tikal nodded, "That is correct." and removed her hand from Rouge. "Life will cease to exist... and the life that was here... barely able to hold on."

"She means us." Knuckles tightened a fist up as he scanned the ground, still using his other hand to help with Rouge. "My people... didn't just destroy other civilizations... they almost destroyed the very fabric of the world!" He swiped his hand out, "I can't stand the shame of my people's blunders any longer! I have to do something!"

Tikal's face grew hardened in compassionate fear, "Harmony will pull that life… unwillingly out of every female that still breathes… Out of every plant, out of every substance that gives life such as air that remains in the skies or in the waters… Soon, every creature or life form will perish... For it is Blood that gives life… and water that sustains that life. This is how Order is run. By the waters of destruction… that fill what is needed for life to begin."

She spread out her arms, the vision glowing around them before they were transported back to the shrine, her body forming into a prayer-like stance as her hands came together… then her body faded into a glowing ball of light again.

"Blood gives life… Water sustains that life… Harmony is peaceful existence manifested… Destruction paves ways for constant renewal of that peace..."

Shadow and Knuckles watched Tikal's light fade in horror, as Rouge slowly came too.

"U…Ugh…" she gripped her head, "What on earth was that..?" She started to gain power back to her legs, and her heart beat mightily as she began to rise with the help of Shadow and Knuckles, still somewhat taken aback by Tikal's declaration and words...

"Rouge…" After Knuckles's worried reply, Shadow looked down as Knuckles matched his concern with the same avoiding gesture, keeping his eyes lowered to the ground.

"If Chaos is the water that sustains the balance of life and death… then… this other god… she wields the balance of what is able to give life and use the powers of that which lives. In other words… She is creation itself..." Shadow began to get up, helping Rouge to her feet.

"You mean…" Knuckles also helped her from behind, seeing she was still a bit wobbly from before, but looked around her to speak to Shadow in front.

"The extinction of all life… The stale state of existence with no birth… no livable substance." Shadow shook his head, turning angrily to Chaos, a fist tightening as he held it up. "Which means… tsk. This is bigger than just Eggman! What is he doing with a power that can create anything!?"

"If that… thing can do all that… Then in order to restore balance to the world's.. uh… Order… she'll have to suck dry the entirety of the planet to equal what she lost from Chaos's attack?" Rouge thought she had gathered something from the vision of the two fighting, and all those women collapsing… but the aches that swelled in her kept her from fully being attentive.

"Not just women... plants... anything that can hold and create new life." Knuckles scratched his head, "If men are water, and women air and dust... uhh... Blood..? I'm a little lost, confused, but I think I get it..?" He held his head a moment, trying to better find words to explain what he thought he knew from Tikal's warning.

"Seems so," Shadow responded, his teeth gritted as he glared at Chaos, seeing him doing nothing in his eyes as he stared at the three... He never looked back at Rouge or Knuckles but kept his eyes fixated on how to help the world continue living... and Chaos seemed a huge threat to that planning and ultimate goal.

Knuckles still looked worried, seeing Shadow's reaction, his anger directed at Chaos, he didn't know what to expect after all this revelation... "But then…" he looped one of Rouge's arms over his shoulders, hoisting her up halfway, and then kept his words to Shadow alone, having Rouge look at him with a blush from his kindness. She may be recovering, but he was still willing to aid her while she needed time to fully restore her strength.

His chivalry didn't go unnoticed by her…

"We need to find Sonic and Tails!" Knuckles bolded tried to turn Shadow's anger from Chaos to something useful and more significant. "Tell them what Eggman's up to and stop this deity from doing exactly what Chaos started! Destroying the world!"

Shadow stood up from his bent, fighting stance... " What is Eggman up to? With so much power at his fingertips..." He muttered to himself, before looking behind him, calming down to be rational, somewhat. "In a way, I suppose that's what they both will do." Shadow looked down at the ground, lowering his fist as he thought of Maria's life being taken away… of how Rouge looked…

Only he knew what dying looked like…

"I can't stand a being with so much strength... that it picks on the weak of this world." He closed his eyes, remembering the day she was shot by a full-grown man... and she was just a child. "We have to stop it," His eyes opened with a vindictive spirit in this statement. "Before it leaves all mankind without any hope of survival, of generations to come." He began to walk passed Rouge and Knuckles, "... We have to kill it." His eyes squinted, narrowed in his sights. "Anything that threatens the hopes of this world..." Maria's promise... Amy's renewal of that promise... his life's purpose... the reason he remains the ultimate lifeform... "If everyone on this planet is dead-" he stepped firmly to the ground, dust flying up in his wake at such a strong footfall to stop his forward progression...

"Then there will be no dreams to be had... or to protect."

He looked up to the clouds...

The eerie world seeming drained of bright colors, muted by the new story unfolding for this world...

This planet...

And all those that dwelled in it, herein.

"Taking life already made… using it to power herself… You don't think that spirit was suggesting that Eggman would use this god to purposefully fight Chaos?" As Rouge spoke, Shadow still wasn't looking back at the two, just sending a straight message through to Chaos, a death threat that with any wrong move... he'd be forced into direct action. "She said that god wasn't strong enough to do so!" Rouge looked annoyed, not seeing the facts add up. "How on earth are we supposed to bring those two together then?"

"Unwillingly…" Shadow growled out.

He then continued as his gloves made a tightening sound with their fabric, his fists clenching even further at how useless and pathetic Chaos was... just standing there... observing their world crashing and burning before his stony, emerald eyes. "The spirit implied the fight wouldn't be by choice… If we somehow freed this deity from Eggman's grasp… she could combine her strength with Chaos to restore what has been lost." Shadow looked down to his side, addressing the two at last behind him more directly. "…Would that be suggesting resurrection?" he wondered a moment out loud before his thoughts became only directed toward himself, 'A renewal of all life..?'

'Maria... was it too good to be true?'

"Shadow…" Rouge noticed him deep in thought, worried that his mind would suddenly rampage with thoughts of Maria's life being returned to her. It was exactly what she had feared, and Shadow's eyes suddenly darted to reality and nodded to her concern.

"Knuckles is right… we need to find Sonic." Shadow quelled his curiosity nad maddening hope for a moment. He needed more answers, first... Chaos would have to wait...

"Then… you'll join the cause?" Rouge was now speaking more about G.U.N. "We could really use you on this one." She got up, but didn't part from Knuckles's help, which he didn't seem to notice was an issue anyway…

Her arm slid lightly from his back, almost like a gentle reassurance that she was gaining her footing back, but he still loosely kept his arm around her, lowering the other mitten that had been holding her hand in place, letting it rest on his back.

"… I'll take your offer." Shadow turned back to her, holding out his hand, "If you abandon G.U.N's mission."

"What?!" She stepped back, now letting go of Knuckles's hold on her as his arm caught her waist briefly as though he was worried she would trip, his large hold on her waist gave her somewhat a subliminal comfort, and she continued to address Shadow as she rebalanced herself. Knuckles looked to see her hand immediately place itself on his own, where he was holding her, and it caused him to innocently double-take from her face to her hand, before realizing she didn't even notice her actions at all. Her mind was too focused on Shadow's behavior... it wasn't like him to get so wrapped up in world affairs with such anger and animosity.

She knew then... Shadow was thinking about Maria... this just became oddly personal.

"For now… anyway." Shadow kept his hand extended, "I'll need you to do something far more important for me..."

"Hmm?" She rose her eyebrow up, "Like… what?"

Rouge stepped out of Knuckles's hold, "You can't seriously expect the dead to rise again, Shadow." but while she tried to speak reason, Knuckles's eyes widened as he naively thought she needed his support, but it turned out she faked needing more of it. "Hey!" he let her fully go as she ignored him, but he gritted his teeth in annoyance at her deception... she had been keeping him close this entire time, just wanting his arms around her. "Tsk..!"

How long had she been playing weak on him for!?

Shadow didn't respond to her, but just gestured his hand down more to show he wanted something, "First… I'll need my software back." Shadow looked a little annoyed he had to wait for so long.

"Ah! Ohh..! Haven't you learned anything!?" she looked extremely insulted, swiping her arms up to shake them by her face and then down to her sides, bending her back in her frustrations at him. "You're not selfish, Shadow! Quit acting like it's all about you when you know it's-!" She cut herself off... he'd never admit how worried he was about her, would he? Huffing and holding back the reins on her anger, Rouge took the device out and smirked smugly as she held it with two fingers,… swaying it up by her face. "How do you ask a lady..?" she teased, wanting him to show her that winning smile that proved he had a heart made for others...

He just stared at her... a strange sense of entitlement that suggested he wasn't going to beg.

Her eye twitched then in fury, seeing he wasn't willing to play along at all right now.

"Properly." She declared.

-Eggman's Hidden Headquarters-

Back in the large, empty, hallowed rooms of Eggman's domain…

Robots remained motionless as lights flared out with cries of horrific torture from within a holding area.

Eggman's goggles shone with each color that passed them, safely behind what looked like a slanted glass, peering into a chamber where the crystal was hoisted up by three claws near the bottom of it. A perfectly, stainless white covered that room, except for the flares of light as Eggman clicked a button down and the crystal was shocked by the three Chaos Emeralds.

They were held up by what looked like metallic pedestals. Each had a laser equipped to it, as he seemed to be trying to get the mysterious power to work under his power and control...

Orbot and Cubot flinch with each painful, metallic ringing of a cry as their whole circuits were affected by her screeches.

"Make it stop…" Cubot whined, flopping his stem-like arms up over his head, as though to hide from the sight. "Such beautiful lights... for such dastardly purposes!" Little did he know the significance of that poetic line...

"This is outrageous!" Orbot removed his hands from where his ears would have been placed and floated over to Eggman.

"Hurts… doesn't it?" Eggman grinned devilishly. "This is nothing… compared to what I have in store for you…"

"Doctor, this is torture!" Orbot gestured his arms up to Eggman, as though pleading.

"I know." Eggman leaned back a bit, as though stiff but trying to relax.

"Please, see reason..!" Orbot continued his plight for empathy. "This isn't like you..."

"Is it?" Eggman held up the button that his thumb was firmly holding down again, moving the wire it was attached to out of the way so he could lift a leg up over the other, "She's being stubborn and won't come out... how else do I devise a way to tap into her power? Even by force if I have to... I'll find a way to secure the power of spontaneous creation, yet!"

"But you're not even giving her any instruction on what you want her to create! At least… give her a blueprint to fashion your creation out of! What are you thinking? Are you just… expecting her to create it out of thin air!?" Orbot swayed his arms about in differing circles, "She may not even fathom your genius designs, Boss... Please, give her at least the understanding to accomplish that much!" He put his hands together, his eyelights bending in compassion, "This just... seems illogically unsupported... Like spraying a dog's face before it even learned what you wanted it to do right."

"…Oh?" he let the button his thumb was pressing down release, as the crystal's ringing cry slowly monotoned out and bounced along the walls, like an echoed hum. "I'm not asking her to make me anything, yet, Orbot."

"B-but… the torture…" he twiddled his fingers, "I don't understand…"

Eggman's lips curled.

"This is just intimidation."

He pressed the button again.

Another painful ringing of agony escaped the holding chamber, rattling the slanted glass as a beautiful display of shaking, almost like floating fabric lights danced in pain around the white, geometric room. The electric, color-coordinated with each Chaos Emerald's pulses shocked the Crystal, and the goddess trapped in its metal case. "How does one control an all-powerful being, Orbot?" Eggman asked, "A rhetorical question, mind you." He got up and spread his arms out wide, his goggles still on and blocking his delicate, beady eyes from the harmful rays of light, "Behold! Gods CAN feel pain!" he laughed, "And what better way to teach a god that greater power exists more than themselves?!"

The ringing began to increase in volume and pitch, causing Eggman's body to twitch as he suddenly couldn't handle the high frequency.

He released the button, falling back to his chair, as though jarred out of his moment of arrogant tyranny.

"Ugh, a light show for sure. But any more of that ringing in my ear and I might just go deaf." He wiggled his pinkie finger in his ear as he grumbled from being unable to sustain any more of Harmony's piercing cries.

He pouted, "Guess that's all I'm getting out of her for today..." He stood up to walk to the door. "Alright, enough fun." he put his hands behind his back, the button still in them...

He smirked and removed his goggles, adjusting his glasses for a second before putting his hands on some levers and contraptions, "Now,… I'm fairly certain there's a way to remove you from that crystal… considering Chaos had a weaker form before being in physical contact with the rest of his powerful body... Of which, I'll remind everyone present, you locked in the Master Emerald, using the Chaos Emeralds as types of 'keys' to utilize his power through. So that the poor, abused mortals you cared so much about could still wield the power of the unfair god. However... no such 'keys' exist for your prison, now, does it, my dear?" He moved a few things around, looking at them with a sneer of excellence in evil. "Oh, how little did I know, then! What little the ancients knew compared to me, and how awfully dreadful your tragic 'little knowledge' was of their betrayal and lies to you, Harmony dear... But good thing I like to keep an open mind about sequels to these eventful, fateful phenomena of history..."

He laughed as he pulled the three Chaos Emeralds to one side on their platforms, looking like a metal waiter's dish. The metal casing folded away like a flower from the crystal and opened the room up to its deadly powers, as it was now obvious to Orbot that Eggman was using the Chaos Emeralds to try and 'tap' into Harmony's crystal and pull her out.

"AHHH!" Orbot and Cubot held one another. "H-he's releasing her from the crystal!" Cubot whimpered a simulated cry, as Orbot just shook in fear at Eggman's planning. "You really are a genius! Though, you may have just unlocked your execution!"

The two trembled as Eggman pulled down the cranks and shoved up more levers, "The 8th Emerald is a terrible name." he began, spinning other devices and pressing multiple buttons, stepping on something like a pump beneath him as another machine came down, looking like it was to extract the god… "There were multiple Emeralds… I've seen them myself. Stole a few in the past, too, back when Sonic was but a hoglet in my shoe!" he moved to observe her closer, looking still as confident in his power over 'the goddess of nature' still,... "But over time they began to die and dwindle off… And you know why, don't you, my little.. Haaaarrmony? He purposefully emphasized that part of her name, before charging up what looked like a descending laser. Massive around its back, but precise and tight in its front barrel.

He shoved his face up against the glass, the button now supercharged and glowing at the tip of his hand-held, wired-up device...

"I don't like it when I can't see the face of my 'ethereal' slave…"

A power-trip...

Over an ancient being with such power as to be called a goddess...

What a madman.

A legend.

He shot out the laser, which split into five energy beams that zigzagged like the electricity out of the Chaos Emeralds. Using the Emeralds as a barrier from any 'backlash' she may throw, Eggman grinned even wider in excitement when the forcefield from the three's power was activated, powering the beam.

The energies moved like long, pinballing fingers that slowly concentrated themselves on the crystal, digging easily through its hot surface and reaching into where the blood and air mixed.

A figure began to form, looking as though it was running the opposite way before a mass of pink and red began to be pulled from the crystal. Dragging the figure from the core of the crystal, the lights tugged and pulled, as though the creature was desperately trying to fight being ripped away from its cruel prison... as though it would rather remain trapped in safety than defenseless outside of it.

The light in the crystal began to fade as the creature was finally gripped by the five energy beams and crushed out of the crystal, forcing it to be removed… shoving it against its prism prison until it gushed out in their thin but painful energy-hand hold...

"Those other Chaos Emeralds were drained of their power… slowly running dry as time went on… I wonder who could have taken and hoisted all that power..!?"

Eggman turned his face in towards her slowly morphing form, showing a round head that split out into two long triangle-like ears that rested down from her head. Patterns were formed out of the blood that moved like irregular bubbles in her pink fluid, and her eyes crystallized into the red ovals that Chaos bore, but in a different color. The texture looking like bug-eyes in a way, but solid and orbish, like stone. Her body was more feminine than that of Chaos, but still blobbish like his own. Her feet and one arm formed much like Chaos's stature, but the patterns that were associated with her head seemed only to consist there and on her triangular appendages that came down from it… The rest of her body was fluid of pink with hints of yellow, red bubbles that formed from air pockets that contained blood, and the blood vessels that formed the red triangle patterns on her head and back-'ears'... a feminine counterpart to the God of Destruction's kind...

She looked around, her eyes revealing her emotions to seem scared and hurt as her fluid morphed and bent like eyelids to express her distress.

The energy held her in as she looked down to Eggman, her blood making bubbling noises that were strangely different than Chaos's…

"... Her blood boils..?" He found that amusing.

"D-Do-Doc-Doc-Doctor..." Orbot's gears were clanking in fright, reaching shakily to Eggman's coattails.

Eggman just grumbled, a bit of a light scold for Orbot's cautious cowardness, and fanned his hand away from reaching for him from behind. Why wasn't he more concerned about the power he was unleashing back into the world..?

Her eyes bent back to reveal her suffering, and for a moment, even Orbot and Cubot fell for their pleas… as though she begged for mercy and isolation from cruelty.

Eggman was unphased, holding his hands behind his back, he revealed the button still held tightly within them, the wired chord that trailed around him was like a snake coiling around Eggman... seizing him in greed for power. "Obey?" Eggman's smirk spread widely across his egg-like complexion.

Her eyes widened, the fluid pulling back to give emotion to her rather detailless face.

He removed his thumb, his eyebrow going up. "And you don't get shocked." He explained, seeming to take Orbot's advice at last... or had he planned this all along?

She closed her eyes in relief, the pink fluid covering her stony eyes as she lowered her head, laying with her one arm tiredly down to hold her up, and her legs bent delicately as though docile in nature.

"But if you don't…" his voice grew grave as he leaned his head forward, before laughing as he clicked the button down.

Seeing her form being shocked, terrorized Orbot and Cubot, who looked away and ducked their heads, unable to bear this awful sight.

"I can't look! It's not the same as hurting a rock!" Cubot cried out, flopping his arms over his square head and clinging tightly to both sides, squinting his eyelights. "She's just a helpless girl!"

"She's no mere girl..." Eggman's merciless expression now made some sense... he saw her as power, not a lifeform... but one that was stealing power and life...

"You idiot!" Orbot shook his head to Cubot, "She's tied to the rock! She's not actually a rock!" He scolded, "The rock is made of the same material that the Chaos Emeralds are made of! She created the rock!"

"Say what!?" Cubot leaned up, looking to his friend, before turning around, "Ahh!" seeing the image again as though foolishly forgetting why he was ducking down and did so again, trembling.

"If my prediction is correct… the Chaos Emeralds still hold the power of Chaos's destructive forces. Not just time and space powers… they hold the source necessary to contain half a god's strength." Eggman watched the Chaos Emeralds' power shocking the crystal, inadvertently shocking her as she bent her body down and twitched, writhing in the painful experience as her form started looking as though it was being ripped apart. Her beating heart organ that had been stripped from the crystal pulsed in a hyper manner, mightly showing her struggle against the torture. She took her one arm and hugged it around herself, a metallic ringing and beautiful lights... the only cry she could muster now...

"I'm... not.. following~!" Cubot whined out, trying to sing through the cries of pain behind him as if saying in an obnoxious way- 'I'm not listening! Neh, neh!'.

"SHE'S BEING PULLED APART!" Orbot cried out, "The Emeralds were used to contain the power of the gods! She's being ripped from her own body by the Emeralds trying to pull her into them! By three different avenues!"

"This really is torture!" Cubot exclaimed.

"Exactly...!" Orbot proclaimed.

"On my ears! My whole metal frame is rumbling!" Cubot kept shaking his head, his lower square also trembling from the power and cries.

"Ah! You still don't get it!" Orbot stopped trying to explain the situation but just waited for it all to be over... for Eggman to be satisfied at last by her submission to his reign.

Eggman's clutch on the device shook and he suddenly released his thumb from the handle, revealing even he couldn't handle the painful shrill of metallic humming, affecting his body as well.

He had covered his eyes, but was panting…

Was something wrong?

He tried to chuckle… but felt the air in the room get a little…

Thin.

"Clever… You're-" he tried to breathe better, "Oh, so clever… hahh… haa… Taking the oxygen out of the room isn't very nice. Cutting off my flow of blood is also..." He gripped his heart, feeling like he was about to go into cardiac arrest as though that was the last she could do with her powers to fight against him.

He leaned back, bending his knees and putting a hand to one to stabilize his almost motionless body. The tendons in his body tightening and cramping from lack of oxygen, and his blood circulation slowing caused his senses to weaken, making him tingle in numbness.

He put his hand over his mouth, realizing then that as he looked up, she was twitching in the fingers of the lasers, pulled back up by the machines, to then be lowered yet against the ground once more. Up and down... once suspended in the air, then down before the button clicked again and she was raised back up in pain.

Eggman's eyes dried up, he rubbed them under his glasses and goggles... This was starting to get to him...

"… Haaa… haahahaa hoo… whooohoo…Ugh."

In a moment of compassion, he turned off the lasers.

This time, she fell harshly to the ground, splattering into liquid ooze that sizzled for a moment… but didn't steam.

She began to reform, trying to desperately lift her head up.

She looked just as spent as Eggman, who was struggling to keep his massive form still standing... bending on his knees as he looked at her, and then the button.

'It's like... torturing mother earth itself...' he wanted to toss the button but didn't... she was the breath of life... and if he pushed her too far to the edge... she'd take his life too, wouldn't she?

The soft, weakened cry of her would draw anyone to have compassion on her.

It was faint was pleasing to the ear.

The ring was musical, but also the sound of a suffering creature, still alien to the ear.

However…

Eggman stepped back,… feeling his lungs struggling, he looked to Cubot and Orbot, "Don't let her… hah haa... soft hums… haa, haa" He coughed, "F-fool you into forgetting what she actually is..." he leaned over his control panel, beginning to move to the door. "She's the mother of all living… sure… but she's not fooling me."

He waddled out of the room, gasping for air, coughing as he tried to breathe.

"She's a killer..! Haha… she's been draining power to try and regain what was forever lost... hah... hah... in her manipulated battle against Chaos." He caught his second wind, stretching out his back and trying to speak more clearly now, "To break free and restore Order… She is a threat to all life... She killed many in her quest to please her creations... Too bad I'll use all that stored energy to destroy and conquer the beings she loved most! Those that betrayed her will always be full of heartless greed and envy of the power of the gods!" he tried to laugh but choked, rushing to his eggpod and fleeing his headquarters for fresh air. For a moment, he really thought she might kill him, and looked in a mirror to realize his eyes were bloodshot, his complexion pale... He frowned deeply, his breathing now a rush of adrenaline and panic...

He had almost pushed the dainty goddess to killing him... and by some miracle, she didn't.

"She... can't drain my power..." he wiped his mouth, feeling it drying and his sweat trying to compensate as he also had to dab his forehead. "I'm a man... she can only take from beings that can carry life within them... plants, animals,... women." He shook his head, "Hoo, glad I'm what I am." He held to his eggpod controls and drove it through the air, before lowering the circular windows and letting his mustache feel the coolness of the planet's air. "Ahhh..." He breathed deep breaths. "Will be a shame when I pollute everything... I'll have to harness clean air somehow for myself." He was already planning the Eggman Empire... a stain of oil and metallic grim. His paradise, where life couldn't threaten him like she just did.

Back at the base... Once the coast was clear, Cubot and Orbot hurried down to her, feeling sorry for the Goddess.

"Your majesty?" Cubot blinked his eyes in concern, trying to lift her only arm up. "Please get up!" They weren't affected by her powers, being creatures of electricity and having no flesh to conceive any form of living substance.

The soft hum and wavering head that desperately tried to lift itself only revealed her terrible condition to be severe.

"Cubot, hold her head." Orbot lovingly directed, having slipped one hand from her only arm and pointing it to instruct Cubot. However, feeling her arm slip from his hand still holding it, he quickly returned it to her aid, trying to keep her up. "Hold on, Miss Life, hold on."

Cubot nodded and shifted, instead of trying to hold up her body with Orbot, just to her side, he moved to her front and held up her head.

"Oh! We're real sorry!" he moved quickly over to bring her head up more gently, stroking back her two large, long, and soft-edged spikes at the back of her head... They were flimsy, as though they could ripple in the wind... without bone or muscle, they were just like liquid in a thin, see-through bag.

Her gentle, half-closed gaze looked as though she was about to faint… Her head and body bobbing up and down as if trying to just keep its form together.

"Please, just do as the Doc says!" Orbot pleaded, coming over to her eyes. He held his hands together, wanting no more harm to come to her. "If you don't, he'll only hurt you more!"

She weakly opened her eyes to him, before folding her fluid over them again to look as though closing in weariness.

"Do you think she understands?" Cubot looked to his friend, who shook his head.

"I can't say…" He helped her lean against him from the other side, speaking to Cubot on the other. "We're not living, breathing creatures… We have no actual emotions for her to register at all. She probably can't understand what we're even made of." Orbot shrugged in a broken man's stance, before looking up to see the door open.

"We can't let her escape though." Orbot looked determined, "It's in our programming…"

Cubot sighed, softly switching her head to Orbot's for her to also lean again as her heart began to go back to a normal rhythm... her body moving up and down as though the bubbles were showing her breathing...

He hobbled in the air... looking back at her with crunched-up arms, not wanting to do this... but going up to the door, anyway…

With every amount of regret a robot could reveal on his face… he rubbed his hands over the other, having no conscience, but consciously understanding this was a mistake. He looked back at Orbot, who merely gave him the same grievance on his face... before Orbot reached up to the handle… closing his eyes... and slowly… closed… the door.

Tails's Workshop

Tails groaned, putting down his toolbox and locking it tightly with an added push on the lid. He hated watching this, it was like Sonic really didn't get it...

The blue blur himself had brought the drama over to Tails's house, not on purpose, though. He leaned against Tails's bedroom door, where the very epitome of drama had secluded herself—just as tightly—within.

'Hiding from him..? Probably as a way to seek attention,' Tails assumed, as he knew Amy would never usually pass up an opportunity to be with Sonic.

But this time... it was... pretty different.

"Amy…" Sonic exasperatedly spoke out, as though his voice was losing energy, and his patience for this moment was turning duller by the minute. He was at his wit's end. Emotionally drained, he moved the arm that was up and holding his forehead in place away, causing gravity to bump the front of his whole face against the door...

He mumbled against the door, his mouth squished against it in his exhaustion with this ordeal, "Please, just come out?"

"Sonic, why are you two even here?" Tails had just entered from his garage, walking into his home when Amy had barged in, hollering and crying incoherently, and then dashed to lock herself in his room when Sonic came following suit. He came down the small hallway that leads to his room, deciding that enough time had gone by and Sonic still hadn't gotten anywhere with getting Amy to open the door and come out. "And why does it have to be my room!?" He slumped forward, not wanting to be a part of their 'lover's quarrel' as he saw it. "Amy's usually pretty quick to forgive you, so whatever you did, just apologize now so I can get some sleep." He gestured his arms out for an explanation then, "If this is gonna be a while... then can you please tell me why Amy's here? And crying?" He had tried to be considerate with Amy, but now that Sonic was here...

He tried to understand Amy before Sonic speedily showed up, and by then, Tails had lost all energy to try and understand Amy to possibly help.

However... they were his dearest friends... of course, he wasn't just gonna walk away. "Do I seriously need to play the middle man, here?" he inquired. "Not that I wouldn't do it... I just really don't really want to." his ears split to the side of his head, bending back to show he really didn't want to have to mediate here.

Sonic rolled his mouth against the door to turn his attention to Tails, raising his eyebrows and looking pretty hopeless in his attempts. His eyes then rolled and a sad frown of accepting help was upon his face before he used his arms to push off the door and stand up straight again.

He then grew animated and energized when his ears flicked to hear some movement in the room, "Shh, shh, shh!" He held out a hand to Tails which he pumped towards him repeatedly, his face showing how curious he was to hear what was going on...

His head slid to the side to let his ear lean against the door. When he heard soft sniffles, his face dropped with deep lines, realizing she was still upset. "I'm sorry!" he blurted out, "Just come out! We can talk about this! You like talking!" He threw his arms out, then back to himself, "Specifically to me!"

Tails sighed, "This is gonna take a while, isn't it?" He realized he was in for the long run...

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Sonic!" The two boys suddenly straightened out their backs, hearing Amy's voice boom in a braced way from further inside the room. Now... they both leaned against the door.

To the absolute wreckage of any defense Tails may have had for his actions leading up to this point, he was really just being nosy towards his friends' affairs...

But to all graces towards Sonic, he was absolutely allowing, encouraging, and welcoming it.

"I looked like a… a…" With each stutter, the boys pressed themselves even more against the door, their eyes narrowing as though really focusing on hearing her. "A pitiful sack of unwanted… I don't know!" The boys leaned back and looked at each other, as though both were confused. "That's how bad I looked!" Her muffled reply of heartache sounded from the other side, and once again, Sonic's face drooped with a sweatdropped.

Tails mouthed, 'What did you do?'

He just shrugged but gave off a sheepish smile that told Tails it was indefinitely his fault, resulting in Tails lowering his eyes as though helplessly fed up with Sonic's crap.

Tails stood annoyed, still staring Sonic down for an explanation. "Well?" he lightly whispered, "You made this mess, you fix it!" He was at least trying for Amy's sake... but also for Sonic's, too.

And for his desperately slipping and declining sleep schedule.

Sonic leaned away at last, keeping a hand on the door for much-needed support and rubbing his face, annoyed, but trying to actively remain 'chill'.

"I apparently missed a date I wasn't informed of." He put a hand to his hip and blinked at Tails as though this was utterly ridiculous and he needed some validation on that.

"I told you where to meet me!" Amy's reply seemed to scream through the wood.

"You didn't say it was a date." Sonic accusingly leaned away from the door and held out his hands out like he was insulted. "Since when is that my fault!?"

"You slept through it!" If voices could cause physical impact, that door was suffering...

"I thought my day was free!" Sonic threw his arms up, and Tails had to physically cover his face in a small, soft facepalm. "Like it's supposed to be! I was tired! A man can't sleep when he's tired!?" Sonic wasn't raising his voice, even to be heard through the door. He knew Amy was attentively honing in on his replies anyway, so he didn't feel the need to. It was more comedic defenses and light arguing for reason and mercy, but Tails just dragged his hand down his face as though he also didn't see why he had to be wrangled into this.

Sonic looked tired, seeming to just try and resolve this matter or mess he had unknowingly created for himself.

"Please, just open the door…" He slumped forward, "Tails doesn't deserve this…"

"No… I really don't." Tails, in a moment of pity for his best friend, rubbed the bridge of his brows and walked away, deciding to let whatever drama Amy wanted to play out… well… play out.

"I'm going back to work on the X-Tornado." He picked up the toolbox he had momentarily left behind.

"Tails…" Sonic looked back, a hopeless man stuck in the middle of a woman's sorrowful and idealistic complex.

Tails just waved, already having heard enough, giving him a light smile as he did so. "There's some battles you don't need me for, Sonic." Practically telling him he had to deal with this himself, "I'm outta 'ere... Good luck on this one..." he grumbled his motivational friendship speech and opened the door leading to his garage again.

Sonic crashed his shoulder against the door. Defeat meant walking away and having to fight this again another day. Winning meant finally getting through to Amy, which would take more time and effort. He rubbed his face with both hands, 'Pull yourself together, Sonic! She's your friend! She's hurting because of something that can easily be resolved if she just-' He realized then, she was talking to him...

He found some sleep at the corner of his eye and flicked it off and away from his finger, 'Okay. Time to really mean business here.' he took a deep breath, trying to allow the softer emotions to come to the front, instead of the tired and miserably helpless ones.

'Tails is right. Amy always forgives me. It's my turn to actually deserve that favor.' he summoned up his strength once more and tried again to communicate with her.

"Just let me in, Amy." His voice was gentle and entreating, "I really do want to talk to you and figure this out." he paused a moment, looking to the door, "Together." Was that all she needed to hear?

"I waited…" Her voice broke a small piece inside of him... but it was a delicate fragment that made him flinch back, feeling that pain in her voice scrunch his brows into an arch of empathy. "I waited so long that someone tried to hand me money. Money! They thought I was… was homeless or something! Ohhh-ho-hooo…" she whined out her sorrows again, crying with her signature whines, but even then it granted some sympathy to anyone who heard it.

"Oh, don't cry…" Sonic finally let the drama get to him, whining right back as he flopped the upper half of his body down, his arms dangling a moment, carrying the true weight of 'feeling bad' now.

Finally, he brought himself back to an upright position and stuck out his chest, "You're prettier when you smile..." He wasn't going to allow this to bring them both down any longer. He despised this feeling, and he was gonna do everything and anything to make it right! "I'm gonna bust down the door, Amy." he lifted both arms up and ducked down his head, as though about to ram it.

"No, he's not!" Tails's voice shouted from the garage, making Sonic's eyes lift a little and look to where the voice was coming from, before kicking a foot back as though a raging bull about to charge.

"I might!" he cried out, making a determined and funny face.

"You better NOT!" Tails cried out, as Amy just whined out once more and Sonic dropped the act.

He sighed and rubbed his fingers through his quills as though running out of ideas and getting frustrated with his lack of success... 'Amy..!' he whined in his head, 'You've never been this stubborn before!' he thought and spread out his arms again, "Come on, Amy… I didn't know!"

"How could you not know!?" It sounded like a broken heart... and Sonic couldn't take that anymore.

"Ugh..!" he walked away from the door, unable to handle the sad fact that he was the reason she was crying. He looked... so upset... his eyes trailing the ground as though contemplating... When did she ever say it was a date?

'Right now, I shouldn't be thinking about right or wrong...' he told himself, his hands bundling at his sides into loose fists. 'Amy needs me... she feels abandoned and worst of all, alone.'

He made his way to the garage, leaning against the door frame, still looking weary from trying to make amends with Amy. 'And Amy... hates being alone.' he folded his arms, trying to think about what to say next... not willing to fully give up on her.

"…They gave her money, huh?" Tails joked, trying to lighten the mood as he looked up to Sonic, raising an eyebrow. The door was open, so he just ended up sighing and walking through.

"Looks like it." he kept flicking the sleep out of his eyes, "… must have been a while."

"Yeah..." Tails looked a little sad by that fact, too... even though he tried to make a joke of it, it wasn't making the moment any lighter. "You really... didn't know?"

Sonic gestured out his hands in another sad shrug, "Wouldn't be in this mess if I did..." He admitted, "I'm not even sure what happened... I know I was supposed to meet her sometime... I didn't know 'the time', though." He scratched the back of his head. "... Do you think I-?"

"Dropped the ball?" Tails looked at him as though he already knew the answer to that. "You should have asked for clarity, then." he then shook his head, "But then again... I don't think I can blame you. It sounds hard... having a female friend that close to you,... you know?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to understand Sonic, as Sonic just smiled fondly at that, leaning against Tails's X-Tornado... originally his own biplane, before giving it over to Tails's care.

"Sometimes... I really don't understand her, Tails." He let his arms swish about as he flopped his back to the hard wooden table near the plane, flopping back and forth for that moment between the two objects. "Women are mysteries... but... it's not a bad thing." he closed his eyes and kept that smile lighting up his face... which showed Tails that he really did want to make things right with Amy, but just needed a second to think and breathe.

Tails couldn't help but smile back, finding it contagious, as he also cared about Amy and wanted her to be happy as well. He looked down a moment, trying to think of a way to cheer Sonic up... so he would have the strength to get back in there and face Amy's feelings head-on again...

"You know,…" His voice sounded a bit more chipper then, as he tapped his fingers against the metal coating of the plane, one square panel pulled out for him to work on the inner mechanics of it all, "if you really did fall asleep and forget about it, then it is your fault." Tails jumbled his head around as though making a slight point that rang true, but Sonic just looked away and out at the opened garage door… gazing at the freedom of a nice, sunny day and a rolling wind that tumbled over green, grassy fields… just waiting for him to tread along it.

He seemed highly distracted, his mind somewhere else as Tails sighed again, getting back to his work as he pulled up his spinning stool and sat on it. "Sometimes… I wonder if you hear anyone at all."

"I hear ya, Tails… But that's the problem." Sonic scratched the top of his head, bringing it down so he could do so. "I don't know what else to say or do... She won't let me in. She was talking to me... but that wasn't enough." he tucked his hands under his armpits, bobbing his body against the plane as he had once again rotated himself in a spin on one foot and then flopped against it. Sonic couldn't remain still for the life of him... even while thinking... he had to be in some kind of motion.

"If only I could get through to her..."

He wandered on over to where Tails was working, his hands now on his hips and feeling the faint breeze that passed along and into the hot workplace.

"Sometimes… Amy just…" Sonic tilted his head, perhaps restraining from saying something too harsh. "Emmm..." He looked up, straining his eyes shut as he tried to think of a 'tactful' way to approach this.

Tails turned to look over his shoulder behind himself, wondering if he'd continue. "What?" he then glared and pointed his finger out to him and then the door, "Don't say women are crazy! I've had enough of her probably crying her mascara all over my sheets!" he stated, before pursing his mouth quite closed and then silently leaning towards Sonic and saying, "No matter how true that may be..." He winked, showing him he still felt for his side of the argument as well.

Sonic motioned with his hand a constant chatter of talking, and Tails rolled his eyes but continued to watch the pantomiming.

Seemed Sonic felt Amy talked more than she really was 'being' in a moment with him...

At least, that's what Tails got out of it. Remembering their time together, and seeing how Amy gushed or fantasized out loud while with Sonic... he could definitely understand somewhat of what he meant.

"And sometimes I just…" Sonic looked off, back towards the Mystic Ruins in the distance and the train station. "Yeah… uh-huh… okay." He even put in the shrug, but then tapped his head and looked to Tails. "What else do you do or say?" He asked as Tails swiveled on his stool and looked at him earnestly.

"You talk to her. You stay emotionally present." Tails smiled. "I'm no psychiatrist, but I'm pretty sure girls appreciate it when you pay attention to them." he gave him a light chuckle as Sonic rolled his eyes but smiled with him, turning his head away and up to the ceiling.

"You're too smart for your age, Tails." he complimented, as Tails just laughed.

"I've just learned a lot from watching you two's train wreck. Haha!" Tails patted his knee as Sonic just tilted his head left and right in his face.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Eat it up while you can, Tails." Sonic lowered his eyes and shook his head, putting his hands on his hips. "One day, you're gonna have to appease her!" He poked his head.

"Ha! Not as much as you do!" Tails snickered, swiping his hand to get Sonic to stop tapping him with his finger in such a teasing way.

"I guess you could call it whatever you want, Tails. But…" He walked towards the garage... his silhouette against the sun... back facing Tails. "I just... don't always pay attention. I get distracted. I like to… stare at the beautiful world around me." He closed his eyes and lifted his head up, letting the breeze trail and race through his quills, having his nose bend gently back against the wind like a leaf. "Amy has to … I don't know, to… talk about everything and anything!" Sonic took a few steps, talking with his hands as he motioned them about as he spoke. Then, he seemed to vent a little with his actions and show the chaos of her rambling as he threw his arms in loops all around him. "And then, it's not fun anymore! It's not 'enjoying the moment together', it's always, 'What do you think of this, Sonic? What are your thoughts on that? What are you thinking right now, Sonic? Is it not good enough to have thoughts about it, Sonic?' Yadda, yadda, yip, yip..." He rubbed the bridge of his eyes as Tails could tell he wasn't sure how to express what he was trying to say... But it did sound annoying.

"It's like... I don't need thoughts about it! I'm not thinking of anything! I'm just... trying to have this moment... with you."

He looked away, and Tails suddenly saw a side of Sonic he hadn't known existed in his friend.

Sonic walked as though all his strength was gone, holding a hand out to the sun... weakly making his way toward it.

"If Amy could remain... still... for just a moment... to see that it could be a really great memory in the making... if she just... let the moment happen, you know, Tails?"

Tails felt his body droop a bit... it was the first time... he saw Sonic care so much about Amy missing the mark with what he wanted to express.

He wanted her to find meaning in his company... and he didn't know how to say it without hurting her.

But he did care.

He really did care about Amy... it just... didn't come across that way.

Sonic lowered his head and shook it gently... folding his arms again, "Tsk... Sometimes… I wonder if I can just have a peaceful moment with Amy…" he looked up, "Just once, I'd like to hear nothing from her. Or if she does talk, it's nice to not hear her say something about what to do, something she wants me to do, or something about us all together doing something..!" he threw his arms around him again, moving quickly with his gestures before pacing back to Tails. "I don't know, Tails… It's hard. I can't tell her it's hard 'cause it'll only hurt her feelings…"

He rubbed the back of his head, looking away as though ashamed but in a predicament.

"... You two really need to learn how to communicate." Tails felt a weight in his chest, seeing how much both were suffering from not saying how they truly feel, and what they really wanted from the other. "You have… a certain way of life, Sonic." Tails bobbed his head again, keeping his eyes down and exhaling a moment, just slightly louder than normal. It could have been seen as a sigh, but it was more a reflex to stopping himself, really thinking out his words as he spun in his stool back to his plane he was tinkering with.

As he got back to work, he continued to speak, knowing Sonic was at least listening to this much. "No worries can sometimes translate to not caring. I know that's not true, and it rings true for Amy, I'm sure of it. Even I feel like you are sometimes... distant because of that 'quietness', Sonic. And it's a bit hypocritical to ask us to be still... when you yourself are always rushing about, not taking time to really be with us, either." Tails gestured out a hand, looking back to Sonic, but just seeing him back near the sun again... but his ears were back towards Tails, and it was the first heart-to-heart they've had in a long time.

He chuckled lightly, realizing that Sonic was really paying attention this time, and moved back to the plane. "There are times... where I just want to talk to you... but… it's hard to just 'talk' to you sometimes. You don't go deep. And Amy... Amy wants deep." He nodded back to Sonic, as Sonic stood feeling torn at his words.

He took a deep breath, looking towards the open fields near Tails's workshop... A hardened expression on his face, but his eyes were soft with feeling.

"Amy, and all of us, want something that same 'meaning'. We just got about it differently. We all want… invested time with you… Maybe more in Amy's case... but still." Tails tilted his head to the side, picking up a tool, and starting to crank something inside the plane.

"Heh, you got that right." Sonic kept his arms folded, but finally looked away from both scenes around him and just stared at the plane, looking up at the corners of its design. "I didn't know you all felt that way... Tails?" He looked back at him, "I'm sorry." He seemed to say that with a sincerity that bleed through glossy eyes.

Tails smiled at him, "I'm easier to please." he teased, "A girl's an entirely different matter..."

Sonic shook his head and turned back to Tails, looking more sympathetic. "How do I keep her happy without losing my own enjoyment out of life, Tails?"

That question seemed to cause Tails to look straight ahead, up and away from his work.

He slowly turned back to Sonic with an open mouth, as though ready to say something, but decided against it.

He looked down, "I… can't solve your problems for you every time,… Sonic."

"…I know." Sonic turned away again, "I don't mean you to, Tails." he walked back over to him, backward at first, before swinging his head down and putting a hand to his shoulder. "... Thank you." he lightly stated, and tightened the grip on his shoulder, "For everything... and listening to me." he then let the hand slip off and looked as though he was going to walk back inside...

"Yeah… I know." Tails rubbed the back of his neck for a minute… before an idea popped into his head.

"Hey! I bet you could start by doing something that both you and Amy like to do!" He watched as Sonic stopped his retreating advances toward the door.

"Oh..!" Sonic looked mildly intrigued, turning back to Tails. "Like what?" he gestured out, showing Tails he wanted him to keep going.

Tails's excited face suddenly froze and disappeared, "…I don't know. Don't you two have anything in common?" he turned his hands as if asking for some help on the subject.

The two were so animated, trying to 'reel in' with the motion of their hands for the other to keep going... But both were finding a strange impasse.

Sonic looked at the ground, the energy built up from standing around caused his feet to 'pitter-patter' on the floor as he tapped on the arches of his feet. They never rose from the ground too much, it wasn't like he was lifting his foot. But as he quickly tapped them at different intervals, he leaned his body down, bending as he closed his eyes and thought seriously hard about this...

Tails watched the strange 'thinking' pattern that Sonic did and chuckled slightly, realizing his friend was extremely expressive, and less so with words.

"Ugh, I can't think of anything but cloud watching…" Sonic leaned up with a disappointed groan as he arched himself back to stare at the ceiling. "Does this mean I'm doomed?" he comedically spread his arms out and flopped them down limp by his sides, smacking them against himself. He certainly looked out of ideas and compromises weren't his forte.

"Haha..! You're on your own there, buddy." Tails patted his back and turned back to his work. "Though,... I'm pretty sure Amy loves adventure."

"She loves shopping adventures... highly niche market of adventurers." Sonic slouched down, sighing. He kicked his feet out as he walked back inside, while Tails looked back over at him.

He really... didn't understand Amy, and maybe Tails was beginning to realize that they both didn't quite communicate how much they really did have in common with one another...

Sonic does care about Amy, and Amy does love adventuring and doing things with Sonic... The excitement they feel is expressed differently, but if only they learned how to show it properly to one another...

They both... were so similar, yet... so stubborn and fixed in their ways...

Sonic went back to the bedroom door, smushing his face up against it once again, "Amy..." having no other comebacks but just to keep trying. Was it enough time for her to blow off some steam..? Would she be willing to talk again, but this time, to his face at least?

"Can we just … talk about this?" He decided to just get it over with. Suck up, if he had to, though his pride hurt from it.

However, when he didn't hear anything, his sad little frown suddenly rose into a curious, neutral expression. "Amy?"

He leaned slightly forward to listen through the door.

Nothing…

His eyes blinked and his face scrunched slightly, wondering if she was even still there.

He moved quietly, reaching for the knob.

He wiggled it, and it wasn't locked.

His eyes shot wide for a split second before back to wondering what was going on.

His eyes shifted to the side of his face a second,... 'If she came out, me and Tails would have heard the front door, right..? Amy wouldn't have just left... would she have?' Usually, in this situation, Sonic was the first to exit.

But not this time.

Did she unlock the door?

He slowly opened the door as it creaked out his presence, peering in—nose first—before swinging it wide open with a harsh crash, "Huh!?"

She was gone!

He walked around the room, checking under the bed, seeing that there wasn't the slightest indication that she was there.

"Hmm…" Curious about where she ran off to, he placed his hands on his hips and stopped his investigation. "Hey, Tails!" he cried out, still looking around the room while not moving much. He just leaned to try and glance into the open closet and then the window, seeing it was closed and bolted, so that wasn't an option.

"Yeah?"

"Did you see Amy walk out just now?"

"No… Is she gone?"

That was different. Even Tails was surprised to hear she wasn't still sticking around to seal the end with a happy bow on top.

'That's strange of her.' He thought to himself, worried now, as his hands slowly lifted from his work, and his butt off the stool to go and investigate with Sonic.

"Yeah… must of booked it." Sonic smiled, "She must have. Considering the door was open to the garage…" he walked around some more, looking for some clues but finding none.

He smiled only because... this was so different.

He actually found it kinda... humorous. Was that bad?

'Maybe... Amy really is upset, and this time... a simple apology just won't do.' As he bent down to pick up a fallen photo on the ground, he looked up to realize it was part of something greater and bigger...

His thoughts halted as he got distracted by Tails's collection of planes and old-time pictures of themselves… before seeing one that had been taken down and placed on the desk as well.

Taking a closer look, he picked it up and noticed it was one with everyone in it, Knuckles, Tails, himself, and…

"Oh, Amy…"

With a lovable tone, he shook his head and looked fondly at the tear marks on the photo… He rubbed it with his thumb, "... Just wanna feel loved, huh?" his smile softened and grew, feeling the wet corner and then pining both photos back up on the board.

He thought fondly of those memories with his friends in the photos while he ignored Tails for a moment, looking over more photos on the wall and reminiscing on old but good times...

Not like those days were over, though. 'What was she crying about?' he teased, his eyebrows raising as he knew now what she wanted and possibly, needed to be reminded of.

"There aren't any tears or slimy snot pockets on my pillow, are there? Sonic?"

Tails hesitated in coming in, holding his head down and having one arm over his eyes as though too grossed out and worried to comprehend any answers to that question.

Sonic had a new resolve in his eyes, speeding out the door, he barely even gave Tails the time of day now. Something far more exciting and special was bound to take place today, and Sonic was thrilled to let it happen! "See ya around, Tails!"

"H-hey! What about the mess you two made!?" Tails spun his twin tails as he raced out back to the garage's open door and saw Sonic bolt out the front, speeding off in search of Amy.

"Hmph." He let the tension in his shoulders drop and then shook his own head. "Amy,… Why do you have to make him think so much..?" Tails hovered in the air a second... before giving up the idea of chasing after the two. 'They need their alone time.' he dictated and reverted back to his work, rolling his eyes as his feet touched the ground and seemed in better spirits. 'Sonic will take care of it.' he thought to himself, before picking up his tools. "You want him to be romantic and civilized, but that's not really who he is. He's more like… Tarzan." He laughed at his joke, moving back over to his creation. "And you're like the Little Mermaid."

Amy raced into the jungle, wiping her tears as she moved loose and hanging branches out of her way.

"He's like water and air, and you're like the earth and all things green upon it."

She found herself by a huge lake and stared out over it. Birds took off from before her and she marveled at the sight, admiring a moment the world around her.

"You both find joy in coexistence, but it's hard for you to understand each other."

She heard a twig snap and quickly looked behind her, seeming a bit frightened. She took off running again, panting as she went.

"You both share the same sky… the same horizon and sunsets,… If you both stopped pushing and colliding against each other,... then…"

She heard some form of engines revving against the natural sounds around her and feared it was Eggman, ducking down and dropping to her stomach, covering her head in hopes his forces would go by and she'd remain unnoticed. Instead, Extreme Gears flew by her and she was covered by the swaying, large and green foliage being beaten down by their passing tailwinds. She had remained completely out of sight when her head popped up, gasping at seeing the Babylon Rogues heading for the Mystic Ruins. She narrowed her sights, wondering what they were up to as she got herself up on her knees.

Being led by a feeling of adventure, and after getting a good look behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed, she slowly crept out of the bushy jungle floor and took off after them. She stayed low and hunched mostly but began to make her way to where they were headed, spying on them… it wasn't something she liked, but she knew how to not be seen…

"We wouldn't have the world we live in now."

Eggman's Secret Lair

Finally showing some signs of rebellion and anger, Harmony reached her one, claw-like arm up and pulled herself against the Chaos Emeralds' energy that tried to suck her form into themselves.

Literally being pulled apart, she willed herself up, hoisting her being up to rip her only arm free of one of the Chaos Emearld's rays. She leaned up to rear her head, unleashing a bloodcurdling, metallic, piercing shriek that filled the room with utter horror. Colors danced about, gloriously beautiful, but the tone didn't match the infuriated, sorrowful, and betrayed once again goddess's cry of misery and vengeance.

Cubot and Orbot stood back as fear replaced pity. They looked back at Eggman's smirking grin...

A man with such gall... as to try and tame a being of renowned power...

"There… now we see you finally making a comeback." He clicked a button and a few more lasers came down, threatening to harm her as well as they slank in jagged lines, their electric fingers looking as though ready to grasp her again...

"Like a hydra, ho ho ho!" Eggman looked gleeful, having become better prepared this time for her counterstrike. He wore what appeared to be an astronaut's helmet almost, but metallic and grey, void of color, with a dark steampunk flare to it.

His grin, the only white besides the radiant glasses, as the air fogged up the bottom of the shield that pumped oxygen to him.

"What do you think he's trying to accomplish by splitting her up?" Orbot looked to Cubot. "Do you think he's trying to seal her in the Chaos Emeralds? Much like the Ancient Echidnas did with Chaos?"

"No, you fools." Eggman grumbled, causing them to shake back and flinch in fright, their metal-casing rattling.

"He can hear with all that shrieking?" Cubot commented as Eggman let out another signature laugh. His helmet was also blocking half her sound-frequencies, able to only detect low-registered, and just enough to hear and see the textboxes of Orbot and Cubot on his built-in screen inside... which holographically showed him the monitored state of the entrapped Harmony goddess...

"Chaos and Harmony can't exist in the Chaos Emeralds together. One is of another substance, and just like oil to water, they can't merge in this form…" he explained, stopping the button as she seemed to fall back and look afraid at the new rays that appeared to seize her if she resisted so bold and bluntly again.

"This… form?" Orbot seemed confused, putting a finger up to his metallic jawline.

"Whohoho… just like man and woman… they cannot co-exist, due to the flesh. But-!" He held up a finger, showing he had released the button to Orbot and Cubot subtly. "By forsaking and mixing their two potential energies…" he watched as Harmony struggled, growing more enraged as her eyes blared the red coloring of her eyes, once dim... then slowly growing in great intensity...

Her body began to shine in lighted auras.

"Yyyeeess…" Eggman leaned forward, his eyebrows that overlapped his glasses also looked as though he was narrowing his vision, "Release all that energy you've collected over the years… through the emeralds, the lives of this world, and the power that is so wrongfully being forced within you…" His grin only lengthened as he moved closer to the protective, sheer window… He removed the helmet, wanting to better see the colorful lights, and put an oxygen mask on instead, a safety precaution from the last time,... He still wasn't going to trust her... nor was he willing to lack faith in her abilities.

He placed shaded goggles that were broad and had no bridge but were entirely connected as one whole on, when a rectangular screen appeared with almost musical levels of rising blocks... was he... measuring something else now?

Finally succumbing to his torture, Harmony rose up one last time and bent her back, declaring out a painful sound as power suddenly shone out from her being. She was feeling herself withering, without the power stored within her... she feared she would perish, and all life would die.

The very thing she feared... that Chaos would do to her creations... was now being done unto her.

She took her one, single claw-like arm and looked at it, holding herself in her agony of both spirit and body, and began to let the power out slowly... to heal and comfort her... something... something to ease the pain...

She lifted delicately her head as though about to faint... A blast of her signal beam spread out around her... calling... beckoning for anyone... someone... to save her...

Memories of Chaos returned to her... strong and protective, magnifying the land and seas for her creatures to grow within and upon...

The gentle feel of her hands cupping his cheek as bubbles rose and she could feel their tingling sensation as they rose by her touch...

In that great and dreadful memory of the fond affection they once shared... Harmony dropped her head back, let her arm slide to the side, and dipped her back as power sprang in such a wave that's magnitude shook the very foundational footing and skylined height of Eggman's Base's rafters...

For a split second,...

everywhere…

a booming pulse dropped all women to the ground. A light rose gently out from them, like a curling and twisting ribbon of light which drifted into the sky.

Then, once reaching the sky... the energies manifested blasted all towards one particular area…

As though having been summoned to aid what originally gave them life.

The Jungles near the Mystic Ruins

"Wave!"

Jet swung his Airgear to about-face, like a small, curled arch to bring himself back around while Storm pushed his back foot down on his Extreme Gear to have it rise up and completely lose its momentum, halting in place at Jet's shocking callout. Storm looked behind him at the sudden flopping sound of something hitting the ground hard.

Stopping their rides towards the Mystic Ruins, they both immediately hopped off and tucked the rider's gear under their winged arm, rushing over to the foliage of the dense undergrowth of the rainforest. Jet immediately stopped to look about the bushes, before ripping and shoving their leaves out of his sight to try and find his lost teammate.

Wave had crashed? Was she on the ground?

Storm just looked to Jet and then the area he was ruthlessly searching in, before dropping his Airgear down with a mighty swing and plowing through the bushes, tearing both branch and twig along with the leaves that Jet had attacked. He was a steam train, bulldozing a path through as Jet quickly looked over at his progress and moved behind him to follow the trail he was paving with his massive strength and force of power. His head scanned left and right on the ground for any sign of her, his eyes darting about in an angered worry he refused to let seep through his toughened skull.

"Tsk," His beak bent into a scowl, growing more and more concerned the less he saw of her. "Move faster, Storm!" he demanded, as Storm's eyes shone with a shine of moxie and maxed-out determination. His beak's nostrils flared as he thumped his fists mightly against his chest to empower his body and grow in dexterity. He then rotated his arms so fast it was like an ape carving through the jungle.

Unknowingly, Amy also fell to the ground. Some of her life's essence rose up and blasted away, much in the same way that had befallen every other maiden in the world. Gathering all separately into the sky, like individual aurora balls of misty, glowing lights with a translucent shade of iridescence carrying a prominent color that shone through to represent each unique girl's energy within it, they immediately were thrown like comets towards something... getting sucked through the sky as though called to some origin source...

For Amy it was pink, for Wave it was purple…

The lights danced and morphed into fine lines or ribbony, flowy movements as they weaved through the air, collecting and spiraling down as their beautiful forms phased through Eggman's hidden headquarters. Flying in gentle but rushed strands of balled light from the metallic structure and into Harmony's enclosed chamber, they were being harnessed into the raw power of limited creation by an enraged Goddess, Harmony.

Through this gathering of her once spread-out energy, her thinned resources could now help her fight back..!

But... at what cost?

Eggman could see the legends being manifested, his face suddenly shifting into a cold and hardened state of contemplation.

The Echidnas knew she was limited... that's why they chose Chaos as their weapon and had him permanently weaken Harmony from his rankings...

Because the power of destruction is endless... it forms itself through power from within, unleashing it out.

Unlike the sapping energy force necessary for creation, which brings its power from outside itself, to forge something within.

"D'aw, ha!" Storm cried out, parting with the cracking of sturdy, healthy stems and turning roots up from the soft, moist soil below to reveal their collapsed friend... "What a wipeout!" Storm laughed, happily scooping her up from the ground to bring her up against him, hoping to give her some leverage. Did he think she was just hurt from her tumble..? It would make sense...

She had struggled on the ground and now, even with Storm's arms helping her to her feet, she still felt exceptionally weak all of a sudden. She had clawed the ground to try and move again, but now, her limp body just draped against Storm's widened chest and her numbed legs wouldn't move to hold her up.

Angered by her weariness, she twitched a brow and gritted her teeth, not liking to look like this in front of anyone, even being aware of it herself was hurting her Babylon Rogue Rider's pride.

"Gnarly crash there, Wave…" Jet was suspicious of this, he leaned around Storm's massive form to narrow his eyes at her, "Unlike you though," He moved to the front and put his Airgear down by her own, tossing it before folding his arms as though scolding her a second for not explaining anything, "Being so precise in your movements, and calculating every strain of muscle to move properly... what on earth happened to you?" Jet walks around her and subsequentially Storm as well, putting his hands behind his back as though studying her lack of composure... Still very foreign for him to see in his usually stubborn, and strong-willed friend. She never let anything pass... she wasn't stoic by any means, but she wasn't exactly the 'soft and delicate' type of girl, either...

He stopped once he reached the other side, releasing his tense squint from his eyes and looking down at her legs. Something's wrong with her... but what?

"You were fine five seconds ago... what gives Wave?"

"First,... grk... stop circling me like a scavenger!" She cawed back with less force than usual, but it was still enough to have Jet lean his head back...

"So, you're not completely paralyzed then?" He half-joked with a sarcastic sense of humor... a bit dark too. He went back to his Airgear, deciding to somewhat let it go and he tipped his board towards himself and caught it with his hand, tucking it under his arm again and looking back to her. He reached down and picked up her board, looking it over... it seemed fine... "... I hate to ask..." He grumbled, then looked back to her and winced slowly away, "Is it a... girl problem?" He knew she would still ride regardless, but maybe it hit her harder this time?

Yuck. He just tossed her own board and went to fetch Storm's. "This gonna be a problem today, Wave?" They had wanted to train on this tougher terrain today... but what now?

Storm's laugh suddenly faltered into worry, "Ha..ha..! ho, ho..." he stumbles down to the moist, ancient jungle ground and set her on her back, suddenly worried she was more hurt than they had thought.

"Wave!" Jet noticed she didn't say anything, so he rushed to kneeling at her side and tossing Storm's board to the side shaking her, "Say something! Get mad! What's wrong with you?!" Jet calling out to her only meant she was failing to keep this quiet and unnoticeable. Did she really look that bad to them? She felt horrible... but a sensitive side of herself suddenly worried about her friends... how they may see her... She was weighing the options, breathing heavily and hot to the touch, what did those signs means?

Either way, she was just gonna have to fake it till she made it.

"You ignorant, insolent-" she sped up her talk before arching her back and gripping her stomach, breathing hard again.

Jet slowly leaned back from shaking her, and relaxed his shoulders a moment. For a second there, he was seriously panicking... but he was calming himself down now... hearing her finally answering back.

She turned her head over and couldn't help but expose the deep, uncomfortability of what had befallen her. She was exhausted... why?

"Is it a concussion?" Storm nervously lifted a hand up to his mouth, attempting to bite his feathers through his gloves in stress at Jet's recent, almost desperate actions to get a typical reaction out of Wave.

Jet glared up at him, getting one leg pushing up from under him at a time before whacking Storm's trembling hand away from his mouth, "Quit griping like a baby!" he scolded, and looked down at his hurting friend... "You idiot..! This isn't normal! Go make yourself useful and find something to rest her head on!" He marched off, gathering his Airgear together and trying to help move Wave's head at least onto it, hoping to get her elevated.

It was rather... tender but quick... they had gotten somewhat hurt on their training ventures before, but he had never seen something like this...

"R-right, boss!" Storm stumbled, bouncing back on one foot for a moment as he prepared to rush off to do just that. Regaining his balance with wide, circular swings of his muscular arms, he charged off before Wave finally came to again. Her eyes were dulled before dilating again as though she was in and out of it all over again.

"No… No, don't…" Jet's voice wavered, "Wave?" He snapped his fingers, seeing only the slightest flinching of her eyes before she scowled at had just enough energy returning to her to whack his hand away from her face.

"I'm fine, I'm..." She tried to lean up, but her head got dizzy and her hand moved to stabilize herself from falling back down and hitting her head on the board again.

Jet grabbed the back of her head before her shaking arm gave way, "Yeah, right, and pigs are flying too, yeah?" he teased, but was glad she had snapped out of it... "Quit the tough girl act, are you alright?" Now that Storm was gone... his voice was slightly more mature and serious, as though really trying to be the leader she needed right now.

She looked confused but smiled teasingly and fondly at his attempt to seem manly and concerned for her health.

She wouldn't let that slide... even if she felt as though she was dying a second ago.

"What... did happen..?" she allowed herself to fall back, causing Jet to freak out and fall with her, using his whole arm now to catch her head and keep her from fully zonking out again.

"Hmm..? Did you just... catch me?" Her eyes were a little weak, but the soft, loopy batting of them made Jet blush a second in flustered rage.

"No, I didn't!" Jet kicked his feet out, and that dorky, wanna-be cool punk she knew made her chuckle lightly.

Good, he wasn't completely a changed man...

Bummer... but good.

Storm look behind him, and seeing both Wave and Jet's heads suddenly fall below the heavy foliage of the jungle floor made his beak break apart in a startled squawk of horror. He started racing back, moving things out of his way again to reach them, "Guys! D'aw-ha-ahh! I was only gone a second..! What's going on!?" It was quite cute and comical for the bumbling strength of the team to fall to his knees and catch himself with his large hands, crawling slowly towards the two of them on the ground. "She's okay!?" he seemed to cheer, seeing her look over to him but still breathing weakly, smiling at his idiot-self too.

Aww... her friends love her... whoopie, she's made it in life, eh?

"No! She's… she's… Well, I don't know what's going on! Wave?! Explain yourself!" he shook his arm from underneath her and backed off, rubbing his arm and pushing a thumb into his hand as though it still tingled a bit from being so 'gentlemanly'.

Wave relaxed back a second on the ground, trying to keep her eyes open by giving them a long, paused rest before her expression turned from weakening pain to suddenly growing agitation.

Her arched eyebrows were now sharp and fierce, and she threw herself upright causing the two men to fall back in alarm. "Quick squawking right in my face! I told you I was fine, didn't I?!" she was right back to her old self, but needed help as she tried to get on her feet. Both men waited for a second, then realized she couldn't move on her own yet and quickly went to help by grabbing one of her arms. Holding her upright, they waited for her to gather herself again... seeming very confused but willing to lend a hand if that's what she needed.

They barely ever got a chance to help Wave like this... for a moment, they both remembered she was still a girl, and finally had the opportunity to lend her aid without her resistance.

It was quite... strange for the two men.

"Ugh… uhh…" she looked around her, "Get off of me!" and tried to summon one last burst of energy, slowly creeping back to her, to tug them off of her. Her arms ripped free of them, but as she stumbled and caught herself, feeling returning to her body and legs, she grew embarrassed at looking to see her two teammates had already shot their arms out, stretched and ready to catch her if she fell down again.

It didn't seem to matter that she had thrown them off from helping her before, without hesitation, they were right there to support her first steps in recovering fully again.

That kinda patience... she hadn't seen that look on either of their faces before and didn't know how to react to it.

For now, she was up on her feet thanks to them, but she still had her face grow red in fury at how pathetic she must have looked to wager such kindness from the two buffoons.

She bit her beak down, shook her fists up, and started smashing the ground with her feet in her conflicting emotions.

"Wave…" Jet bit down on his beak, but it was clear he was calling her bluff. "Just knock it off already..."

"Y-yeah..." Storm chimed in, both having sweat lingering on the sides of their faces, "You don't have to fake it..."

Jet moved with Storm to the front of her, their arms still out, and their legs bent as though still thinking she might collapse again, "What's gotten into you today, huh?" he then realized she might need a slight 'push', "Come on, Wave! Take a step! What are you playin' at, huh!?" he seemed to be egging her on in hopes it would help her forget about what she looked like and get her back to her old self again, realizing she really was somewhat afraid of what just happened.

They all were, but they'd never show it or say it.

She breathed heavily, it was as though her energy was swiped from her by some sky assassin... She definitely had fear in her eyes as she felt her body with her hand, trying to figure out why it was so difficult to move and breathe…

Knowing something wasn't quite right… She didn't dare speak it aloud and cause more worry and concern from the two louts... though, they certainly were acting very sweet right now...

She hated that.

But at the same time... something in her heart felt a sharp bit of pain, as though that meant so much to her...

She tried to shake her head but staggered back, still remaining on her feet, but looking wobbly as the two boys prepared and stepped forward, ready if she was to crash and fall again...

Her eyes flickered a moment in pained pride, and the two men's faces hardened in understanding, realizing this was hard for her to bare such shame. She gritted through the pain and shoved their outstretched hands away from her, breaking through their 'line of defense' and stumbling to stay upright, breathing hard and leaning up from her knees.

"Don't you dare look at me like some sorry case!" Her loudness was returning. "What? A girl takes a tumble and suddenly I'm in need of male nurses!?" she ruffled her feathers off, clear body language not to touch her again, but facing her back to her most trusted friends... they lightly smiled, but their eyes still showed glossy fear...

She still wasn't explaining herself, and it didn't go unnoticed by the two men who took glances one to another and turned to get their boards.

It's best to not show her any further comforts, but let her regain herself knowing they were acting casual and normal again... even if they were also somewhat conflicted on that... they understood it was to preserve Wave's pride as a Rider and didn't show any further concern about it.

"Well, then… Pick up your board. We'll walk to the ruins from here." Jet sharply countered back with a spitfire challenge, keeping his voice down and steady, holding back emotion as he knew that was what Wave was demanding of them.

"Walking..?" she breathed out, a moment of tenderness in her eyes before shaking it away from her. "What do you mean, walking!? We're Riders! Babylon Rogues don't walk!" She walked back with hard steps, straining as she pushed her weakened body, but gaining back strength at a steady pace now. "We ride!" she clenched her fist and stomped her foot down, growing more upset as Jet turned back to her, kicking her board to let her know where it was…

She grabbed her board, groaning a moment to reach down and then pull herself back up to do so. To both the men's credits, they simply watched and made no effort to help again this time, even though it was clear their hearts were secretly reaching out to give her the strength to do it on her own. Invisibly, their arms were by her sides the whole way...

It was a while to walk… and she realized this was a quiet test… Neither Storm nor Jet could hide their slight peeks back at her condition, as though still unconvinced, but no longer willing to fight in broad-eyesight of her.

Her eyes loosened only slightly in their glare… realizing she had to prove she was alright to them…

"I'm fine... both of you, quit your silent staring." She knew her voice wasn't nearly as convincing enough... the strength that used to resonate in it could shake mountains... she was losing confidence just hearing it herself... Her arm lessened its grip on her board...

"…We'll move on ahead. Just don't hold us up too long." Jet's smirk was faked, and as soon as he passed ahead of her, it turned to a leader's worry.

Storm already looked like this was being cruel. He could visibly tell Wave was off her game, and looked between her and Jet, before stepping lively when Jet called for him to hurry up, rushing to his side.

"Is this really okay..?" He whispered to him.

"Shush!" Jet spat back, "If she wants to tough it out, let her! Why should we show care if-" he stopped a moment to look back at her, then wrapped an arm around Storm and whispered again, "If she falls again, then she can't complain if we carry her back to the blimp."

So that was his plan, wait for her to fully succumb... fight stubborn with stubborn.

Let the stubborn fall...

With them far enough away, she understood the small mercy… Seeing that they were giving her time to emote without them watching her so closely... "Heh…" she tried to grin… but then rotated her arm and squeezed her shoulder lightly, massaging the area as she did fall but...

The feeling of having her life drained from her just then... that was before she fell off the board... something had sapped her dry, and left her a shriveled shell of herself on the ground...

Jet had realized her pride wouldn't allow her to ask for help, so he walked away, giving her space to hurt and feel without them seeing it... but now her mind raced with questions... what was that? Had something targeted her? It felt like it was a pull from within that seeped out of her quickly... she barely recalled... a wave of light... ascending out of her... before she felt herself flying off her board and soaring back to hitting the ground hard and tumbling at such high-speeds.

It was a leisurely pace for her, but still... the impact would probably leave some bruises... but nothing she couldn't normally shake off.

She looked ahead again, Jet was also punishing the behavior she had demonstrated in a sense… or at least… daring her to prove she could talk that way and get away with it. She wouldn't necessarily deny it, though... "That did… feel like... a million cramps all at once." She muttered and put her free hand to her stomach, then adjusted her grip on the board under her arm and tightened her fingers under it.

Seeing they were far enough away from her, Wave finally showed some of the pain she had felt. She gripped her lower abdomen, unsure what that was, but knowing it was pain and a feeling she had never experienced before.

"I felt years of my life fade away from me… and a strange light… what was glowing all around me?" she placed a hand out in front of her, looking at it.

"Did… Did I get a shade lighter?" she studied the purple on her arms, then looked behind herself. Shaking her head, she refused to speculate too abstractly for now. "Ugh,… must have been all this humidity."

She felt her feet not wanting to lift off the ground… the heaviness caused her to have to go to her knees, before the board fell out of her hands and she stumbled to her knees.

Jet and Storm paused, their faces a moment of concern before seeing her hit the ground, annoyed.

Jet walked over and kicked the board farther away this time, as though saying to get up and get it...

Storm looked to Jet worriedly... not liking this 'tough love' scenario, but realizing Jet wanted her to admit in humility what had happened and stop hiding it from them.

Communication... was not strong with these two.

"Tsk…" Wave shoved his foot away, and crawled with her hand searching the bushes around her for where it went. "Come on. Where did he kick it..?" she wouldn't even address him, she knew it was just a way to wait for her to faint again, and she wouldn't allow him to see her so pathetic and weak.

"... Wave..." Storm put a hand to his beak, he wanted her to just ask for help... why didn't she?

Jet's eyes looked as though guilty of being stubborn too, but he looked away, "Let her deal with it herself, Storm!" he sounded pained to speak that so loudly, as Wave flinched but pulled her searching hands back... her fingers touching her pendant and looking down in sorrow a moment...

She wasn't hopeless... why couldn't Jet have faith she could handle whatever happened to her on her own? She didn't need their help... just that they believed she'd be alright.

... would she be alright?

She felt something soft and freaked out silently, spreading her beak back and revealing her frightened expression, "Ahh..!"

The men jumped into action, parting the bushes, "What, what is it!?" Jet cried out, with Storm quickly gawking beside him.

"What's wrong, Wavvveee!? Huh?" He blinked his eyes in confusion.

Both men leaned forward...

Wave, slowly reaching forward... moved some of the long, broad leaves away to see Amy's face, her softly breathing, and looking up at Wave with the same weak expression Wave had tried to avoid the others seeing in her, and failing beforehand.

Her eyes widened... as Amy spoke the words she couldn't say for herself...

"Help…"

Amy then seemed to faint... and Wave felt her soft quills shift from her reaching fingers, wanting to aid her on the dirt floor of the jungle...

The three Rogues were in shock.

Floating Angel Island

The light sparked the interest of Chaos, turning on the boat as Knuckles stirred the drifting wood, rowing occasionally as the waves naturally brought it closer towards the shoreline. "You know," He began, "This would be a lot easier if you could help!"

Chaos's head frantically searched the skies, seeing the lights and knowing exactly what that could mean.

"W-woah! Hey!" Knuckles, sitting on his butt, lifted his legs up and looked down to see that all of Chaos's shiting was bringing an uneven balance to the raft, making it take on water at different edges, threatening to dip into the ocean and knock him off his 'usually' safe voyage to the mainland. "Quit it! You're rocking the boat, Chaos!" He turned around, holding a fist up to him and the oar tightly gripped in his other mitten. "Can't you be a god of 'Preservation' right now!?"

Chaos seemed to roar in defiance at whatever the lights could mean, causing Knuckles to look up and stare cluelessly at the sky. "What's that over there?" His eyebrows furrowed a bit, "The northern lights… again?" before leaning back as Chaos slashed the air to let out his own signal beam of lights, rippling at a lower altitude than before, and spooking Knuckles into 'limboing' back to avoid the wave beam. "Ge-ahhh! Hey, what's the big idea?!"

The lights, similar to the last rainbowic sonic boom that desperately phoned out to Harmony now trailed off to follow the lights.

As Knuckles continued to try and get the drifting piece of shoddily constructed driftwood to move them closer to land, Chaos lowered himself and dipped a hand into the water. Against the back of the raft, a rising bubbling of water began to surface…

"Useless piece of-, W-woah!" Knuckles was pushed back as a wave rushed up underneath the raft, lifting the rear of it to sail onward at greater speeds, hurriedly accelerating them towards the shore as Chaos's anxious feelings began to look as though he was 'surfing' as fast as he could.

"Well… haha! That's more like it!" Knuckles looked up and saw how fast they were traveling now, before turning back to Chaos with a grin.

His grin faded when he saw the sheer stillness and determination that held Chaos's eyes toward the shore.

He had purpose… but Knuckles finally knew the urgency.

"Your friend's not getting any better, huh?" Knuckles's eyes bent back, trying to share empathy for the god, but failing the mark somewhat. "I can't say I don't blame ya. If I had a Miss… I certainly wouldn't want her being forced to destroy the world." Knuckles sat back up, placing a hand to the top of his head as he let out an exasperated sigh. "Let's just get this over with… save the Goddess Harmony, and restore Order to the planet." He looked a little lazily towards Tails's house. "…Hmm… Wonder if he's even home?"

Harmony compiled the stolen power, though it was originally hers anyway, as her core began to light up into an iridescent ball of energy and lights.

Just like her crystal, the colors mingled, merged, moved, and bent like a beautiful light show as they spiraled around and down into Harmony's being. Her stance demonstrated the power she was gaining, with her legs now apart and her one arm bending and the claw-like hands forming into a tight-fisted ball. Her two long appendages behind her head, which were usually arched down similar to Chaos's form, rose straight up with the amount of power she was absorbing…

It was clear this wasn't a beautiful sight at all.

"Harmony!"

Eggman directed her attention back to him as she strained her entire body into a heavy turn to stare at him, her eyes glowing with the power she now contained from the world's life force and the essence of creation powers and abilities themselves.

"Create for me..! An Eternal, Robotic Army!" he rotated his hands in a circle with tensed fingers, giving a showmanship's flare in his performance of ushering out the command.

Harmony's expression turned to one of sorrow… fluid moving over the top of her eyes in a curved way, as though eyebrows to show her emotions blatantly. Once again… she was being forced to harm the planet she loved so much…

She outstretched her hand… syncing it with his own, outstretching them skyward, his mad expression in the multicolored lights truly made this more of a dark moment than a bright one.

All at once…

A powerful energy rippled the earth…

Mystic Ruins's Jungle

Jet and Storm stopped as they saw plants around them dying randomly, wilting in a slow but consistent lowering of their stems and having their colors turn dark and brownish. Only a pocket full of them created dead spots along the jungle terrain, as though spraying the land with death.

"What the-!?" Jet lifted a foot up, seeing the patch of brown grass that was once moist and green with with jungle grass dying on the edge of his foot, but the rest looked as though it was following slowly with the growing decay around it.

"Ehh.. B-b-bah-boss..?!" Storm held his Airgear closer to him and on his side, holding it vertical as he withdrew away from the strange phenomenon.

"Grr!" Jet pivoted with a stomp towards where Wave was, "Too much is happening all at once!" He spoke through gritted beak teeth, glaring with a clear concern on his face as he saw her using her floating Extreme Gear as support while she moved, carrying Amy along its surface… It was her crutch, she had both arms on it, breathing hard as she was still recovering, and walking alongside it as it gave her body support, and carried the unconscious passenger by her side…

His eyes opened wider and he lost his glare, wondering what on earth was going on…

Within the Mineral Cave

The crystals and materials that once were mined and excavated to form and forge the Chaos Emeralds suddenly shone their protruded selves from the ground.

They were everywhere…

Along the sides of the wall, indented in crevices, sticking out from the ceiling and every which way… the shaking of the earth let ground that had been hardened for centuries suddenly tumble, crack, and fall. They crashed, smashed, and collided with sparks of magic aura unknown to this world by anything else other than Chaos Energy as the relentless shaking of the cave revealed more colorful rocks of uncut chaos crystals, emeralds, rubies, prisms, and all manner of magical stone one could possibly think of!

The robots that were still around were shaking in fear, having been abandoned from mining the cave after Eggman felt their purpose was served… Eggman had no use for the stones since no one knew how to mine and forge a Chaos Emerald anyway, except… the Rubies looked interesting…

The Robots stood around in their clanking parts from the tremors. Sitting ducks, they tried to scurry out of the cave but were being merged with the crystals, as light seemed to trip them and pull as though a ghostly hand, dragging them to be absorbed in a light that began to melt them into the powerful substances.

Could it be…? Was it Harmony's power that truly crafted the entities known as Chaos Emeralds? Or all magical stones to be used and wielded such as them?

It now made sense… why Tikal's saying included the 'Heart'.

Harmony… was heart.

Chaos… was the mind.

Eggman's Headquarters

Harmony shook herself up, the power was immense, and it was straining her physical form. Reaching her single two-clawed hand towards the Crystal that was her imprisonment… The Crystal shone and the stored power shot into it… a conduct?

The Crystal's integrity was being restored, cracks and dents began to heal up with creaking sounds and hard mallet hits showing the repair being done. It was a scary sight to see… but Harmony quivered and shook as the rays of light began to leave her being, causing her walk with uneven steps towards it, hunched as though being dragged herself. Was this… a painful misuse of power? She fell to her knees before blasting her power out… The appendages on her head dropped back down to their normal curved downward forms… she looked spent… as though birthing new life into this world…

Mystic Ruins

The Robots at the cave were mutated and glowed the same energy force, as the cave's rocks exploded with the same power Harmony had just transferred through her crystal! Chaos Stones unrefined suddenly embedded and spread themselves in odd, Frankenstein-like creations around the metal of the helpless Robots. Transforming, their rocky and metallic bodies merged unnaturally, now pumping oil and molten rock through their wires, the caverns carving half their rocky and metallic bodies. No two creatures looked the same now… one could have a robotic arm mixed with some rocky surfaces, while another could have retained its robotic eye but have a glowing green rocky socket as the other.

As each fell from being grappled against the walls and stones they now were one with, they breathed, their first dusty exhale of air. They didn't even look over their new stony and metallic prisons before marching or emerging from their fallen states, crashing through wall, glowing on their Chaos Stone energies pieces, towards Eggman's lair.

Eggman's HQ

"Emerald… Giants…" Orbot's entire frame watched in awe and horror as the monitors revealed the massive amounts of Rock and Steel marching their bulky ways in Eggman's direction.

"The boss didn't want to split her up then?" Orbot opened out his arms towards Cubot, thinking that this was a good result then.

"Stick with the program, Cubot." Orbot patted his head and rushed to see Harmony again, "This could be far worse… greater even!" he worriedly peeked over the railing to put one of his rubbery red gloves up against the windshield of their main control room… "If the Doctor keeps forcing creation… will the creation truly be controllable?" he seemed to make the most profound discovery of his circuitry's functions to communicate such a concept and idea. He rose his head up… not really looking at anything now… but realizing the madness of man and life.

"Can god really control the will of man?"

Eggman let out a low, signature chuckle… seeing the monitors also revealing something else lowering…

The monitors revealed the Emerald Giants, every step they took, sucking out life from underneath their feet. One shoulder, having a protruding piece of Chaos Stone, suddenly glowed and sapped the color and life out of leaves that touched its surface almost instantaneously.

In the Emerald Giants' wake was nothing but a massive arrow behind them of wilting death, of yellows and browns, black earth, and crumbling flecks of plant life blowing in the wind of their lifted and falling stomps.

"Look at that…" Eggman billowed as he slumped in his seat.

"The world is already starting to go infertile… unable to sustain the life upon it… unable to give any more life to it…" he took a drink and slurped the straw, letting out an 'Ah~' as he finished swallowing the delicious beverage. "The planet is dying… Its egg is being sucked dry of every little bit of power it held to sustain this world… this miserable planet… little by little… through her power…" He crushed the paper drink in his hand. "Into my army." He grinned at the empty drink, a jarring image to his two Robotic henchmen who cowered at every evil slurp of his metaphor before gasping in 'Oh no!'s together and putting their gloves up to each other's faces in their horror.

"You're misusing the powers of nature, Doctor Eggman!" Orbot dared to look up at Eggman, shaking out his hands as he removed them from Cubot's shocked expression, but Cubot didn't remove his hands from the sides of Orbots.

Orbot shaking heads and pleas phased Eggman only with a tyrannical raise of his eyebrow to show it. "Hmm..?" Eggman swiftly leaned down and looked Orbot dead in the face, "What do you care? You're not made of life. You're electricity. Man-made. You have no heart. No soul to worry about! You don't have a smidgeon of reason to be loyal to her!" He shook his fists out at him from above on his mighty, blue steel chair… a throne to his great power he now felt he alone wielded…, "You showing any amount of empathy for the girl is plain, irrational ludicrousy!"

Orbot fumbled with his hands back, and as a result, removed Cubots's hands from the sides of his head in his flailing.

Getting his bearings straight again, blinking his eyes down around the place as though to sort out his own feelings into words, he mimed dusting himself off and taking a large breath of courage. Again, only in miming, as he was still very much aware of his 'non-living' circumstances. "I may not be flesh and bone… but you created me to act like one!" Orbot stood bravely, moving away from Eggman to create some distance from him, holding himself erect and with dignity.

"Hmmm…?" Eggman leaned up but kept his body still over the chair's armrest. He seemed curious what this little 'rebellion' entailed… "And what do you plan to do about it?" a question Orbot wasn't expecting.

Orbot's bravery… soon faded away. His hands came down from their crooked raise from his elbow joints, and his 'chest' deflated and slumped as he looked away… clearly not being able to do anything about it.

"That's what I supposed." Eggman gave a muted snicker with the curling of his lips, exposing the pink of his gums, the life in him could care less about the life of others…

"By misusing this power… What do you hope to create?" Orbot hunched over, his hands drooping down, having no fight left in him at Eggman's logic and his natural functions to obey him.

"A new world."

"But…" Orbot had a thought, a thought to contend somewhat with Eggman's logic. With that thought giving him some amount of will power to speak again, he leaned up and put a softly bundled fist into his other hand as though believing he had something worth mentioning against the old mad man. "The laws of physic state that energy and life must come from somewhere!" He floated closer in a small, floating dip towards Eggman's seat, which was turned towards the wieldshield as Eggman had to look over to see him. "You can't spontaneously create something out of nothing!"

Eggman stroked his mustache… knowing his little minions couldn't go against their programmed obedience to him… but knowing he also programmed them to think and have personalities. This was just Orbot being a worrywart, "True, true…" He decided to humor his little metallic brain.

"…What are you forcing her to use!?" Orbot shook his hands out towards the doctor, "What power? What energy!?"

Eggman rose from his chair abruptly, having a strong and wicked presence to himself…

"Chaos once revolted against me… I won't have this power I now, solely harness, slip through my fingers once again!" he slammed the control panel as the two robots hovered away, holding one another's hands up by their faces, turning somewhat away from him and to their sides, cowering in a humorous way.

He slowly leaned himself up, taking in a breath and removing the oxygen mask, placing it down before holding his hands behind himself. There was a pause… He wiggled his fingers behind himself for a moment.

"Orbot… Cubot…"

He turned his head slightly their way, as they watched his back and the light from around them spiral away into the room where Harmony created…

"Do you know what the Ancient Echidna's did to craft the Emeralds..? What power they gave Harmony to then betray her and rule the entire planet?"

The two robots looked worriedly to each other.

"..No?"

With a strong swish of his hand, he turned his chair and jumped into it, leaning right in their faces as they flinched and withdrew back on their backs from his maliciously wicked grin, his insane genius intimidating them right along with his insanity.

"They sacrificed their own people!" He looked to Cubot, "They gave unwilling lives to give Harmony the power she needed…" he looked back to Orbot, "They gave for life for power… and power gives life to my creations!" He spun back around with a push and lift of his feet to face the monitors.

"B-But..! They went extinct!" Orbot protested, "See reason, Doctor! You won't have a planet to rule if it's all-!"

"Imagine the amount of lives they were willing to lose…" Eggman held out his open hand, "Just to wield the power of Chaos?" He crushed his hand inward, "But not just any life will do… Not everything was given… Women have the power to create life… Plants… even air has the ability to bring back life. Water and dust sustain that life… if you really want to get 'biblio-sophical' and go into the nature of religious psychology then…" he trailed off, but Orbot put a finger up to his mouthpiece and interrupted him quietly, causing Eggman to stop his train of thought and look over at him.

"So… So you're aware that the world is going to die… and you don't care?" Orbot looked disturbed and saddened. "But… it's the world you were born in…"

"I WILL CREATE MY OWN WORLD!"

Eggman turned his chair back to the lights still shining from the Harmony Crystal, opening his arms out to it and keeping that crazed grin upon his face. His teeth sparkled with the lights…

"A world… all my own…" his eyes shone with that promise of endless creation, obeying his will, at the palm of his hands…

Harmony hunched over, her one arm gripping her other shoulder as she felt years of Chaos Power she had harnessed to hopefully heal herself fade away from her in vain.

She looked down at her core… seeing her blood rippling and causing it to bubble uncontrollably in her rage. She touched the space lightly, hesitant as she twitched one of her pinchers off of her rolling and smooth, fluid chest, as though shocked by her own natural wrath.

She then felt the power of her creations… all those lives she just ripped power from… Looking up as though sensing their pain and agony from her so hazardously ripping some of her power from them…

The flashbacks of the Echidna women crying out in pain and falling to the ground, weakened and dying…

She looked up… her eyes turning to sorrow as wind swirled around her… such immense regret… she had no idea she was being deceived…

She had thought she was helping keep Order, the balance of this world's conflicting powers to work together to keep the circle of life… She was told Chaos had abandoned such a thing, the concept they both worked so hard to maintain.

Their joy… at least, all her joy came from them… the creations of her power…

She remembered the chao fondly… and water flooded over her eyes as she lowered her head, her arms coming up over her head as she remembered creating Chao, and Chaos bending down to look fondly and protectively over them.

Flowers she would grow for him to pluck and give to the Chao… then take a petal and let it fall over his head into his clear waters… watching as he fussed and squirmed to try and move the petal through his body and then out with a shake of his foot… how she laughed with air bubbles as well and thought it so cute…

Blood moved from inside her eyes to the corners of them, leaking and gushing out around the fluid of her face as though she was crying from the inside…

When the power began to fade in intensity, the lights growing dimmer in the faintness of the still, humming, and white enchamber room of Eggman's HQ… Eggman suddenly looked back down to Harmony's enclosed containment field, seeing if the performance had truly ended or not.

"Hmm?!" he got up, dancing slightly to the large, wide window. "Safe to say the preparations were complete?" he almost sounded too gleeful to be human, rubbing his massive gloved hands together and having a smile that pushed up the sides of his cheeks, as though a jolly old man.

"Oh, Harmony?" He mocked, making it seem like her actions weren't forced out of her, but putting the blame of injury to the planet and its inhabitants entirely on herself. "I hate to have you recall the sad tale of your life to your remembrance, but do hear me out."

She turned to him, her body rippling like moving water… so shaken by her circumstances, just trying to hang on and preserve her own existence…

"But I think you fail to appreciate the irony of this moment…" Was that… a blood joke?! Now of all times!? What a lunatic… enraging and kicking down a goddess, just trying to survive. The true irony was how Eggman always abused mother nature on this planet, so to speak, to turn everything into a mechanical empire where nothing could grow organically anyway. "None of your creations ever truly appreciated the 'ordered balance' you tried to give the world with Chaos right by your side…"

By her side? He probably hated her for what she had done to him now…

She shifted her head away, trying to block the beautiful image of her friend and companion from her mind and heart, as she looked disgraced by that terrible memory of being fooled into betraying him…

His powerful, hurt roar when being sealed into the Master Emerald…

Her creation… for her corrupted creations.

If only she had known the dangers lurking in their hearts… but she was clouded by her love and concern for them… that Chaos could destroy them off the face of the planet they forged together…

Did he even learn why? Did he know she was betrayed, too, soon after?

"Hohoho… You feel it, don't you? All the women you thought were willingly giving their lives to control Chaos… You thought they were being truthful, so honest and pure… just like you designed them to be…" He curled the corners of his lips and tapped in a wave-like effect the tips of his fingers against each other, lowering his head down, already having won but rubbing salt to the wound and kicking dirt in her face for good measure. Was he getting a high off of controlling and manipulating an already down and defeated being? Or did he feel jealousy at the fact that she was once known to be a deity? "But through Chaos's influences upon the world, sometimes, other forces interfere with such… happy thoughts, yes? Don't lie to yourself and say a part of you didn't want him to be sealed away…"

She immediately looked up in shock and turned to shake her head in misery to Eggman, as if pleading that wasn't the case.

Her hand gripped her chest as the bubbles kept rising and dropping within her, a vicious cycle of her emotions showing how truly intense she was feeling his words…

They swirled in her, the blood and bubbles, begging him to stop saying such horrible lies..!

She had done what she felt was to protect the life upon this planet, if only she had spoken and communicated how she felt to Chaos… her concern about his destructive powers over death and renewal… without solely trusting the entities of which they created…

Maybe… if she trusted him more than them…

The regret was overwhelming, and she seemed to violent sob, looking like a lava lamp within her, showing the true colors of the Harmony Crystal were modeled after her own body… Her arms reared up and covered her head, shaking herself back and forth in such horrible agony of soul.

Her heart seemed to contract, as though breaking from within at every beat, as small bubbles of blood moved through her body, showing her emotional state.

"No?" Eggman put his hands on his hips, raising an eyebrow, "Didn't want to be the most powerful being in the world? Well… it's still such a pity… All you wanted was to delight in your creations' peace, prosperity, and happiness… Death frightened you… as it did they, didn't it?"

She refused to look at him.

"You understand my words, don't you, Harmony? How peaceful it could have been… if Chaos was no longer a threat to your endless creation power… right?" He sneered, but that's when Orbot and Cubot looked at each other, and covered their mouths as though realizing what his ultimate goal was…

"If left to the well-being of life, which was your task, and with no more destruction plaguing the inhabitants you created, the need for renewal of a new order for every generation would be void, wouldn't it? Deleting Chaos's part in the equation… what you didn't realize was that all of this would lead to the decline of any order… Power getting sucked out of life until the Planet Egg would eventually die from lack of balance… You, unable to make more resources to flourish the natural land, and Chaos unable to sustain the flow of both life and time till a new form of life took over for the old… So, how does it feel, Harmony? Being thesole reason that death shall remain permeant forever?" He bellowed a laugh, clutching his stomach, "They should switch your roles, as you are the true goddess of destruction!"

His tone shifted, looming over the window as he gazed down to see her distraught and stressed, before flinging his arms out and shattering her very reality…

Did… Was she really just as corrupted?

That's not what she had been thinking… it couldn't have been… How could he say such cruel things..?

But she covered her eyes, the cries of the innocent women sacrificing themselves in vain… the plants withering under her being's deceptive ploy to control and manipulate her power of life…

She had taken life… whereas, Chaos had only preserved and sustained it.

W-Was… Was she truly the power that she was made to fear most?

She gripped her head and shook her body left and right, unable to control the amount of power that was now coming from her emotions.

"Such a feeling god…"

Eggman put his hands behind his back, his plan to mentally cripple her to his will was working… if she believed herself nothing more than destruction, she could cause the very wake of civilization collapse on a global scale… She could build him armies to destroy everything… and there was nothing Chaos could do about it.

Let alone Sonic, or his heroically pathetic friends, for that matter.

The light grew more intense, the Crystal ringing as Harmony crunched her body down and tried to tune out his words.

"How does it feel… to contribute to the creation of your own world's demise?"

She spiked, Her eyes now like flickering beams of light, the wind picked up around her, as though her whole being was denying it, defying his words. Her body liquidized up into the crystal, moving like fluid water that oozed back and sank into the hollow space within. Bubbling and boiling, her body splashed and ripped against the inside of her vessel and cage, now her hiding space, but in no way comforting. Powerful light shone so bright that the guns in the room were melted by it, the heat and the air were consumed in immediate fire… the literal flare of light…

"Hohoho!" Eggman laughed manically, seeing the room melting at her literal meltdown.

"Hell hath no fury…" Orbot began to quote, stepping away from the complete, white-consumed room as the three emeralds were the only thing unmelted… Metal was completely dripping to the ground, the hands that once tried to pull her apart in her torture now reduced to extremely hot goo…

The cage holding the Crystal melted and dropped it, having it crash to the center of the room, leaving a huge indent, just from its weight alone… It was tilted, spiked through the metallic, turning quickly to a liquid floor but for the most part, it was only sinking, not falling over.

"Like a woman scorned." Cubot finished, turning away and simulating crying as he sobbed into his rubber hands at how horrible the situation was. Eggman had completely shattered the feminine being to leave her nothing more than a tangible tool in his hands now…

All that torture… both mentally and physically on her… just to have her submit to his world-crippling demands.

The Crystal continued to blare its heat, creating waves in vision as Eggman fanned himself a second. Deeper into the floor it seemed to escape and sink, creating a strange lava-like substance around itself before the heat died down just slightly… and the light faded away.

All power ceased… and the Crystal remained groaning in agony of heart.

"Hmph, the cooling metal will make it hard to pull it out. I'll get some robots in there, heat-resistant ones, to pick it up before it wedges itself in there." He waved the idea as he turned around to take care of the matter. She had literally sank into despair…

On the Other Sides of Dimensions and Worlds

Blaze and Marine looked up to see a hole in the sun… an essence leaking through it… as though a cascading waterfall of… lights? Colors?

Modern World

Cream and Vanilla, still slightly recovering from the massively spread out absorption, turned to look out the window at the lights drifting in the sky… as though spheres of energies, like souls, moving with streams of mist behind them towards their maker across the endless blue…

Mystic Jungle Ruins

Amy and Wave were helped down by Storm and Jet as they had their heads leaning against each other, completely knocked out by that 'second wind' knocking them out instead of helping them back up. Unbeknownst to them, sitting under the stones of the Echidna ruins… they unknowingly rested under a depiction of women being sacrificed before the sun… strangely shaped…

Like a glowing Crystal.

Eggman's Elemental Army

The Harmony Crystal was moved to another location, being above and in the midst of her Emerald Giants, as Eggman danced and jumped around, hugging and kissing the new creations as though they were his own.

Harmony was shocked by the three emeralds at different times, before finally being blasted and pushed out of her Crystal again, falling down but gracefully, elegantly bringing herself back up… weakened but alive… as the Emerald Giants stepped back and made room for her entry.

They blinked as some tilted their heads, unsure why they felt a strange connection to her…

Eggman chuckled at her 'noble' act to try and seem revered to her new creations, but knew it was pointless to 'keep up appearances' now. He had won, too bad for you~

A light shone in through the metallic walls… it's light different from Harmony's…

…Chaos..?

She fell to her globbish knees, her arm placed out in front of her to hold her up, as her gem-like eyes–usually dried with blood–now wetted again and bleed in shed tears… Her head remained down, too ashamed before finally looking up to see the light, the signal sent by her once most treasured ally…

It blared once, a curved beam much like her own arched rainbowed that circled and expanded like a drop in water through the air, passing against the Crystal to deliver its message…

Her eyes widened in fright and she cowered as she leaned back and lifted her only arm up to cover herself from it. Whatever the message was… it seemed to make her cower before it…

Again, a hopeless look of regret and sorrow covered her body language and the red gems of her blood eyes were swelled over by her fluid, as though 'closing' her eyes to his signal.

Back with Knuckles…

Chaos's gaze remained undeterred from the skies…

Even when no answer was returned…

He narrowed his eyes into a sharp glare with the water flooding a goodly portion of it, shaking in rage…

His bubbles within himself boiled over and out of control throughout his being, lifting both his arms up as though writhing at having no response.

He hunched down before rearing himself up, crying out an angered, ringing sound of an enraged god…

Only the clouds of the sky could hear his want and longing…

Harmony…

(So intense, right!? Woo! Stay tuned as our women fall and the men must rise! But what can they all do to stop this calamity to befall… all worlds? EDITED: Speak with your heart is the THEME for this story XD It's all about communication between men and women to create a harmonized balance in the world. Cheesy? Maybe. But I love it! XD She left him on 'read' yo, I'd be pretty ticked too, lolol! Understandably relatable dude, haha! He knows you're probably going through a rough time, just say something back! Haha. ~Say something I'm giving up on you~)

Chapter Text

Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos

Ch. 3

By: Cutegirlmayra (Hey guys! I'm trying to write my stories like I did in the old days, but it's hard because I enjoy the new way I create them now. It's really coming together but I keep getting new ideas and ahhhh plot structuring! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story and find it delightfully EDGEY. Ohhhhh, the ending quote though! DANNNNNG That's it for this chapter, stay tuned for what happens next! Will Harmony reach out to Chaos? Will a battle unfold? And I know it's yucky, but hopefully no more talk of fluids and organs, okay? Lololol Till next time, stay tuned! EDITED: Yeah, I'm combining chapters and getting this ready to update, so as always, I'm working hard and hoping you're staying tuned!~)

The sun began to settle its hovering speed just above the bumpy, green horizon line. The terra was littered with patches of brown and slathered with a damp dewiness from the flying waterdrops off the coast of the sea. Tails's house remained half in light and half in slanted shadows, a piece of wood creaked slightly as Knuckles and Tails stepped outside by the twirling watermill, laid on its side instead of upwards and rotating. It was his personal energy source, with the sea winds always beating against the shoreline's cliffs, he was never in shortage of power. They leaned against his wooden signpost which he never truly did finish, meant to state whose house this was, but it became common knowledge after a time of living exclusively in the area. To Tails, the home was more like an observatory and workplace than a real abode. It held a library, garage, bedroom, and all that, but it was mostly to keep him working. For Tails, though, that was enough to call it one. His friends would visit as they passed by, and that would make it more special than anything else. Knuckles finally repositioned himself with a sigh, sitting on the cobble of the small wall that surrounded the interesting watermill, designed to lay flat down and rotate instead of up and spinning like it was supposed to. Staring at a figure with his emerald green eyes, Chaos fixated on the sun while Knuckles observed him. His arms folded, standing regally against the wet spray of wind that lightly drizzled the ground beneath him, the water sparkled at Chaos's liquid feet beneath him. The effect created a beautiful array of colors that shone like a glittering rainbow. This momentarily distracted Chaos as he looked down, his eyes softening into one of great sorrow at the beautiful colors that reminded him of times lost long ago…

Who was he grieving for?

"He's been acting strange all day, since this morning." Knuckles relaxed back, gesturing with a gloved hand to Chaos for Tails to see. The movement did catch Tails's attention, and he turned his head to Knuckles.

"A little odd that he suddenly took an interest in seeing the world." Tails stated lightly, just making small talk, but knowing full well this meant something was happening.

Something that spelled out adventure, most definitely upon that morning's horizon.

Knuckles shrugged, "He takes no interest in the Chaos Emeralds, so I'm not all that bothered anymore." He seemed unusually unfazed now by Chaos's actions, "As long as he's not rampaging and sending others into the Twilight Cage, I'm good." He rubbed under his nose, seeming almost apathetic, not wanting to burn his brain trying to understand the strange God of Destruction's reasoning.

"I can't relate to that, to be honest." Tails looked down, his twin tails flicking in rapid thoughts. "Why would anyone want to destroy the world? It's so…" he looked up and started walking a bit down the hill from his house. "Beautiful…"

The sky almost opened up with a shining spotlight as though on cue, the oncoming sunset caught Tails as he smiled at its agreement to prove his words true. Knuckles looked up, glazing his eyes over the long, sleek blanket of faded rays that draped across the once-bluish sky. Now, it was a golden orange, with yellows and reds to contrast each other as the descending sun bowed its massive head.

"It's kinda funny you should say that." Knuckles looked a bit nervous, sitting up more and placing his hands down on his knees, taking a deep breath. "I should tell you about this vision more… there was something really disturbing about it… something about…" he cleared his throat, surprisingly shifting to be very delicate and caring on the topic again. "Women."

"Women?" Tails turned around, but as he did so, Chaos shot out another homing beacon to once again try and communicate and find Harmony. She had first sent out a distress call, but when he replied, no answer…

Why was that?

Didn't she need his help?

Chaos, in his impatience, gripped his three fingers to his chest and squeezed. Something was clearly wrong with him, he boiled again in rage and seemed to be longing for something…

He let out a cry and swung his arms back, fully throwing his chest up to the sky and arching his back. The powerful blast was more fierce than the previous ones, it resonated so vastly that it knocked Tails down.

"Tails!" Knuckles jumped to his feet.

"No! Stop!" Tails tried to warn his friend, lifting a hand up but Knuckles was knocked back into the spinning watermill, sucking him around itself.

"W-ah!" he went around and around, splashing amok, wildly swinging water about in attempts to avoid drowning. Tails felt the gulf of his stomach make him sick, the strange power that Chaos released felt like a kick below the belt, and he wasn't sure why. With a leap of his feet, fighting the lingering sensation that made him want to throw-up, he flew up and grabbed one of Knuckles's flailing arms.

"H-Hold on!" he cried out, fighting the spinning of the laid-wheel's side and flying Knuckles out of the riptide it created around it.

The two landed back by the house, Tails falling to his knees and Knuckles gasping for air and rubbing his behind. "What… was that awful feeling?" Tails clutched his stomach.

"T-Thanks, buddy…" Knuckles also then felt his stomach… before dots began to align and his mind naturally drew a link between the two instances…

"I remember this feeling… or something like this… back on the island." Knuckles sucked in the pain and only showed the hurt on his face a bit, having his eyebrow dip down and twitch. He quickly swung himself up, "He's looking for Harmony..!" He concluded. "Tikal… said something about the end of the world… if Harmony and Chaos fought again. But… they've been communicating." He wasn't aware of Harmony's silence since then, only that the feeling was pleasant and not as painful as Chaos's colorful, circling blast that traveled in all directions. It even caught up to Sonic…

-Outside the Jungles-

Sonic was just blazing a trail with his super speed, still on the lookout for Amy with dirt spraying up behind him in his haste, looking about the rim of the jungle's border before hearing a sonic boom, and looking curiously with a tilt of his ears to that direction, still running strong. His eyes narrowed when he noticed light in the distance… but it was traveling so quickly in an arched slice across the sky that it took him completely by surprise! "W-Woah-Ahhh!" It then overwhelmed him as he didn't pump the gas in time to outrun the spreading arch of colorful waves, blasting him back and face-planting him into the ground.

Another rough landing for the Blue Streak's track record…

Sonic skidded the ground with his face before his body went flying up into the air, causing a muffled cry before an audible scream that faded as he was blown off course. His face took the total blow of the implant, but his body still hit the ground with enough force to spin and flop himself to a crash landing before rolling against the jungle's muddied floor until his speed slowed due to the sudden traction change. The new 'trail' he created was mostly from his nose grinding against the rock and soft, fertile soil of the underbrush… He closed his eyes as he was torn from the earth and flopped down on his stomach. Finally… he had settled, but the dust still rode the wind like a marker of his embarrassing wipeout.

His fingers gripped the loosened dirt under them as he flinched and twitched at the pain in his stomach… He wondered why that hurt more than his face… was his nose still even on? "Ahh… Yuck." He slithered an arm around his waist, arching his back as he fought through the moment of sickness. "What was that..?" He looked groggily to the sky, his eyes still tensed up from the inner-strain before lowering himself back to the ground. "Man… ouch…" That was an understatement.

He placed his hand on his face before pulling it away when his glove rubbed a reddened splotch on the skin between his eyes and scraped nose. "Yssh!" he squinted an eye shut and looked to his hand, then turned to the reddening sky, still showing the traveling wave of light arching like a wide arrow through the world… Was it sunset already?

Amy…

His eyes shifted left and right before he gripped his raised hand.

No…

"Chaos…" his eyes narrowed into a serious contemplation that left that hurt skin between his eyes bunch up to show his concern. He got up to his knee, feeling the weight of a hero once again upon them, knowing he had toughed out far worse things from Eggman, but—"Woah!" the spike in his stomach reacted and he curled a little inward, tensing and waiting it out…

He refused to fall back down… and just staggered a moment on his weakened, bent knees at the pain in his gut.

Why… was that more painful than getting wham-slammed to the ground face first?

"Heh… that's unpleasant." He remembered the first beam, but it wasn't at level with him that time. It just looked like two streaks of bright lights gliding over the sky… but because this one wasn't in the sky, it blasted him, and it hit. Hard.

He slowly felt the pain ceasing after a moment, and got up, shaking it off and letting his mouth go limp after clutching it tight for so long, gums flapping as he did so to loosen the tension he had made in his jaw beforehand. "Alright, let's see where you go." He raced more towards the inner jungles, in another direction from his typical search, hoping to find where these beams… were going to.

He already figured they were Chaos…

Now…

What were they looking for?

Little did he know he was heading straight for the Echidna ruins…

Straight …

To the Babylon Rogues.

-Tails's Home-

"Communicating?" This fascinated Tails, as he pulled up his Miles-Electric, starting to click buttons and hold it like a controller or console. He used his thumbs to press some inputs in, and the screen seemed to be engaged with green flickering lights that showed odd waves of sounds being measured for patterns in fluctuating lengths.

"What are you thinking..?" Knuckles slowly moved to look around Tails, over his shoulder at what he was working on. Trying to more accurately see what Tails was doing, he tried to lift his head higher but stumbled a moment on his weakened path, tripping a bit over his feet and gripping his stomach. He didn't fall, but he groaned as he slowly brought himself upright again and tried to grit his teeth to keep it together. "Ohh… that's a nasty voicemail if there ever was one." He joked to hide his pain, trying to laugh through the uncomfortable lift of his stomach. "Offph… I think I'm gonna barf..!" He plugged his mouth, gagging while Tails quickly clicked in some commands.

"I translated an alien language, I can translate a sonic boom!" Tails turned to Knuckles, "Let's ask Chaos to do that again but from a higher altitude this time."

"What-..!?" Knuckles sprang up, already feeling better after realizing Tails wanted him to make that awful feeling–Again.

Tails nodded, still having a smile on his face. "Em-hmm. I don't think it'll hurt anyone if it's high up." He looked over and down at whatever was downloading onto his screen, looking like code of some kind. Knuckles rubbed his stomach, his head moving incredulously left and right as though not believing Tails.

"You sure about that?" He asked, almost as though too exhausted to complain about it.

"Em-hmm, I think it just has to be at level with you for it to cause any discomfort… Ah! I'll use my old software to decode it! It's still here!" Tails was easily distracted from his hypothesis as he noticed the old code being brought up. "Haha! Still functional and useful, a real testament to my strengths, eh, Knuckles?" He felt cheery at his confidence, but looking over at Knuckles… he bent his ears at seeing the echidna's face look at him like he was gloating, and went back to being humble, "Eh… Moving on. Maybe we can even get some readings and see what the ruins have to say about this Harmony guy…" Tails continued to click some things in, sticking his tongue out and to the side of his mouth as he worked his 'strengths' on the computer, editing it slightly for a new purpose. "If not strange words… strange codes in light? I'm sure there must be a frequency change or force level… If it is a language or at least, a means to communicate, then I should be able to crack it!" He then gulped, "I hope…" he looked back at Knuckles, holding the device close to his chest as Knuckles just shook his head and smiled, reeling an arm up to the young fox's head and rubbing it encouragingly.

"Eh, it's a good idea, Tails. You should own it as such." The validation made Tails beam in delight, his tails wagging behind him at the glee of his friend showing him support for his skills and talents. At least he knew Knuckles was game for an experiment now… e-even if it risked having a nasty feeling in their stomach's again…

Tails showed his childlike excitement for a new adventure to test his mind out and be useful again. But…

Knuckles shifted his eyes about, looking down, and then looking almost guiltily as he realized he hadn't told Tails the… more… mature truths about Harmony...

"Tails…" he closed his eyes, squinting them shut in embarrassment. "There's… something I need to tell you about that vision…" his hand fell from the back of once rubbing his head in encouragements.

"Hmm?" Tails was happily at work, not really paying him much mind.

Seeing that, Knuckles opened his eyes, "Hmmph…" Gently, he lifted his hand up and pushed the device down so Tails would listen, stepping in to make sure his body blocked Tails from absentmindedly ignoring him again.

Tails was surprised at first but gave Knuckles his full, innocent attention then. "What's wrong?" He asked, not used to the gesture and unsure why Knuckles's tone turned so grave, and his posture became one that demanded respect and reverence in what he was about to say.

He tried to make eye-contact with Tails from the side of his head, but just couldn't look the boy in the eye… "It's… not something easy to say." He admitted, not knowing how to 'gently' nor 'lightly' bring up something so horrific up to a small boy.

No matter how ingenious he may be…

"This Harmony God… it's… well, it's bad news for women." Knuckles looked away, reasonably uncomfortable about this. He folded his arms, trying to clear his throat as he held his head up high as though an authority figure, but finally stated, "If she and Chaos fight-"

"She?" Tails blinked his eyes, learning this for the first time. "It's a girl god?"

"Ehem." Knuckles gave him a stern look from behind his shoulder, raising his eyebrow but narrowing his gaze as Tails's ears bent down, realizing he was being told to let him finish. Knuckles 'politely' then seemed to ask through a lean of his head towards Tails if he could continue; to which Tails, like a child, put his 'device' behind his back and smiled with tightened lips, blinking multiple times to show he was listening and not going to interrupt again.

With that stern upper lip from Knuckles, Tails closed his mouth and bent his head, waiting his turn and using his ears to scan upwards towards Knuckles to show he was actively listening now, even more so than before.

Knuckles sighed, not wanting to be so harsh… he was older than Tails, but he didn't want to seem like a stick-in-the-mud about this… "It's just important." He emphasized, taking a long breath in to 'reset' himself, and continued again, "If she and Chaos fight… Chaos would win." He unfolded his arms, then gestured his hand out as Tails showed him the device, and Knuckles placed his hand down on it again, "And if he does… that's… not gonna be good for our world." He then slid his hand off, removing it and himself entirely from the moment, pacing a bit away as he continued with his head down and trying to speak about it… but finding himself unable to sugarcoat it. "The Echidnas,... my people,... used Chaos to weaken her. They did so... so that no other power could challenge their own." He rubbed behind his neck, gesturing with one hand as he spoke, then kicking the ground before walking down from Tails's house.

"I kinda wonder…" He looked up at the sky, "Should we really let them talk… again?" He kept his back from Tails…

A stillness fell over the land they were on… then a burst of wind before a gentle stillness settled it again… blowing leaves in such turmoil, with dancing blades of grass before once more… nothing but frozen air… and light, drifting pauses from clouds in the sky above…

What Knuckles didn't understand was that there was no communication between Harmony and Chaos at that time… There was nothing but the poison of man in one goddess's ear… and the betrayal of turning on her dearest partner in another.

All because power leads to fear… which paves the way for control… Chaos was defeated, even though he had won the war of power… he was controlled into destroying the balance of life and death. Perfect equilibrium now wavered in the world, Life becoming more deadly than it had before, teetering on the edge of oblivion… on the verge of total, utter destruction.

Chaos was forced to weaken all life that could ever be forged on the planet… the Egg of life now dying than remaining immortal… and death prevailing faster than birth could supplement.

The Planet Egg would slowly die… without renewal, it would continue to wither more than replenish itself… and all life would slowly cease to be created…

The Planet Egg was the sole duty that fueled the power and duties of Harmony and Chaos, the guardians of Life and Death, but now one would always be mightier than the other…

Order in the world was lost that day… man and woman… once inseparable, became estranged.

"W-What do you mean?" Tails still seemed a bit confused but looked to his device and back at Knuckles, holding it in both hands.

"People have to talk, Knuckles." He stated, wiser than his years.

Knuckles was silent… as the grave he had witnessed…

Thinking about his vision and closing his eyes as the screaming of men, women, and children plagued his memory and ears. His eyes bent in mercy and compassion for a moment…

"…The Echidnas… My ancestors…"

More cries and then, the roar of a great, deadly battle of gods…

As though unable to bear it, his eyebrows furrowed and he turned back to Tails, more hardened this time.

"They did a terrible thing."

Knuckles lowered his head, a moment of shame coming over his features as he folded his arms and tightened his grip on their sides. Really… it was more a way to ground himself, comfort what little he could within his noble heart at what he knew had happened in the ancient past due to his people's greed and power-hungry ambitions…

"I wouldn't want you to imagine what me, Shadow, and Rouge saw in that vision from Tikal… but I will say this… a lot of it was just… given to us. It was like watching those moving pictures-"

"…Movies?" Tails seemed a bit confused, trying to help him realize there was a better name for it. "You know, like move-ing? But then-" He stopped when Knuckles looked at him funny.

"... This is no time for a word lesson!" he threw up his hands, "I'm trying to be real honest with you, buddy." He gestured a hand to him, hoping it would still his quick mind into swallowing even half of what he was trying to say. "Yeah, yeah, it was like that, alright? But faster. Some parts slowed down while she talked." Knuckles turned back around, pointing to Tails as if letting him know that was the thing he was trying to say. "I think Chaos might want revenge. He hurled my ancestors into another dimension for crying out loud! What will he do to Harmony..?" Knuckles slowly shifted his head over his shoulder to the God of Destruction, still fixated on the far horizon.

He wanted that reply from her more than anything…

His longing eyes turned back to a fierce desire, and his arms shifted out and waved with a self-control of a god controlling the wild waves of both nature that was his element and of his own personality, along with his mind, and his heart.

The waves, in return, crashed against the cliffs and shores, as though reacting to his sudden rage and worry. His arms swayed and the waves crashed in motion with them. The sea blared a soft roar as Chaos's emerald eyes remained fixated on the sky… its hue shining back in radiance against the clear gleam of their green surface.

"…He does have a lot of power." Tails mentioned, flinching a bit as he noticed the unsettled sea and Chaos's rippling and shaking form, moving like a disturbed glass of water just hovering in its form within the air.

A true standing body of water…

"…He practically drowned City Square." Knuckles shook his head, but Tails walked up and patted his back, trying to comfort him somewhat from his worries after seeing how distraught he was talking about all this.

"I want to hear the whole story, but I'm sorry it's taking so much out of you to even try and tell me about it." Tails looked away in empathy, not blinded by youth at how Knuckles was seeming to choke on certain word descriptions and keeping it simple, even if he didn't really want to. "The vision, and what you know are important for this mystery. I know I'm still kinda young, but… I'm not a child." He was firm on that and bounced his head a bit to try and give impact to that last part for Knuckles to see he could be just as serious about this topic, too. Something told Tails to be reverent and he was, to an extent, but the curiosity was too much to bear for the little adventurer.

He had to know what Knuckles wasn't comfortable saying…

"But for now, you said they were companions to one another, right? That together, they created the whole of the planet and its egg?"

Knuckles reluctantly nodded his head, grumbling and looking down because he knew Tails was going to still ask him to take Chaos to the ruins.

"Let's just give it a shot. If I can translate the message, we can know if he's asking for a rematch for revenge or not." Tails's face perked Knuckles's up, smiling as his faith in humanity was contagious.

"You really think Chaos can just… have a civilized conversation with Harmony about everything that happened?" He wondered to the young and hopeful Fox boy. "You really believe they can sort this out without a violent comeback?" He questioned again, "I just want to be certain… I don't want to put him in there if there's gonna be contention."

"It will be okay. I have a feeling that's not the case. He would have just charged off if it was, right?" Tails shrugged, "There's never gonna be a hundred percent certainty to really anything in life, Knuckles. Even with science, things we thought were hard facts turned out to have a lot more things about them. Whether simple or difficult, communication is the key to solving these riddles of issues. Trust me!" he put up a finger and nodded, as though instructing 'hope' to the doubtful Echidna.

Knuckles continued to scrutinize the young fox's face, then shook his head again, "Not without a host he can't." He lowered his arms, but Tails was relieved to hear he was saying he'd take him to the Ruins for the experiment. In Tails's mind, it wasn't that big of a risk to just have them 'text' each other, at least.

"Chaos has been antsy lately… but he can't travel too far from the Master Emerald," Knuckles looked over to him, also not seeing hostility, but definitely seeing the disturbed aura from his quivering water that looked as though he was standing still in the middle of an earthquake's tremor. "Not without a wielder of Chaos to host him." Knuckles then looked annoyed… "And you say Sonic just left?"

"… Eh… heh… Wielder?" Tails felt awkward at that poor timing, sweating a little as he rubbed the back of his head while removing the hand from Knuckles. "I haven't heard that one before, but that's… actually what I was gonna tell you. That Chaos reminds me of when Sonic looked worried."

"Huh?" Knuckles blinked his eyes, turning back to Tails, "You sayin' Sonic was worried about someone?"

"Sonic and Amy had a bit of a… uh… communication problem." Tails made a goofy smile and looked to the sky, "Skirmish would be too harsh of a word, they didn't physically 'fight' but they weren't… really in tune with how the other was feeling during the circumstance… I kinda wonder if Chaos and Harmony are on similar terms…"

"A communication problem?" Knuckles looked seriously interested in that, not because of the drama or gossip, wasn't his thing. He was more curious about how Tails was relating it to Harmony and Chaos…

He turned back to the sky, still seeing no lights. "…Yeah, she's not responding, right? But she must be getting the message." He waved his arms about, heading over to Chaos before stopping and looking to Tails, "What if she's not leveled with the blast?"

"I… Think that's only us… after all, the Master Emerald wasn't always perfectly in line with the colorful sonic blasts, right?" Tails countered.

"Oh… Yeah, huh." He nodded with a slightly opened mouth, his eyes furrowed as though thinking about it, not sure how that lined up but going with it for now as he didn't like overthinking about things and not actually doing something about it. "If I'm not gonna go and protect Chaos… I guess it's best to be his wingman and guard Harmony from a real fight to end all wars with him… I think that's what I–Knuckles, Guardian of the Master Emerald–am meant to do." He looked with duty up towards the jungle… staring at the top of the temple ruins…

"Let's get him to the ruins!" He seemed to have a newfound hope that Chaos and Harmony weren't enemies, and turned back to encourage Tails to help him. He bundled his fists and held them out in front at a comfortable angle, getting pumped about their new adventure! "He can't go too far, but the ruins are close enough to Angel Island that he should be alright."

They nodded in agreement.

"Any farther in, and we'll need Sonic's help for that." He stated, showing Tails he was willing to risk it if it meant the avoidance of pure, violent discord to occur back in the world again… and this time, deadlier than before.

If Chaos really did finish off Harmony…

Well, the last remaining Echidna wouldn't think about that right now.

Hope would guide his steps…

He was the Guardian of the Master Emerald.

Maybe… he was also meant to keep Harmony a secret, too.

Or better… bring an end to the Echidna's tainted past by setting all wrongs right again.

With that in mind, he feared nothing but screwing up… he couldn't let his ancestors down… and all those who had died or been banished to the Twilight Cage in vain.

"Right!" Tails sprung into the sky, his tails whirling to life! He turned to gesture for Chaos to follow them, who only barely tilted his head in the flying fox's direction to see where the sudden burst of energetic movement was coming from. "Come on, come on." He gently coaxed and flew off as Knuckles made sure to watch Chaos from the rear.

"Let's see if your message can reach her up there." Knuckles smiled lighlty, still feeling the heaviness of it all, and pointed his mitten glove towards the ruined temple in the distance, "That's where you're going to tell her enough is enough… and no more fighting." He put his hands to his hips as Chaos's shaking stopped… and the purr of the sea became calm once more. Knuckles heard seagulls cawing over now still waters… looking back at him with a tilt to his head, he wondered with a slight suspicion what Chaos was really capable of… even without the Emeralds… he still seemed monstrous in might.

"Alright, get a move on then." He gently coaxed as well, but his eyes were more in a slight glare, "Come on, old man…" He put his hands behind Chaos, as as he moved forward, Chaos took a step forward, also looking back over his watery shoulder at Knuckles for a small second, before walking on after Tails's 'Here~ Chaos, Chaos~' callings with his hands doing the motion for him to follow.

He seemed to realize they were trying to help him, and immediately walked after Tails, looking at the fox as though not sure what tone of voice that was but it… was odd.

-Ruined Echidna Civilization Jungles-

Chaos was a little hesitant about the jungle, he ducked his head and looked cautiously around at all the plant life.

"You think he's nervous about the jungle?" Knuckles inquired of Tails, noticing how Chaos was falling behind.

"Maybe he's feeling the pull from the Master Emerald, or even unsure of his new surroundings." Tails looked behind him, "Besides… it could be bad memories…" Still seeing Chaos wearily avoid stepping on a plant, he continued, "Harmony wouldn't have anything to do with it… right?" Chaos then ducked when he almost ran into a branch.

"Maybe he's just clumsy…" Knuckles scratched his head, "Angel Island still has plant life… but… never seen him enter the forest areas before… Usually, he just stays on the dirt paths…"

"That's peculiar… Maybe because plants absorb water?" Tails surmised, but it was clear they didn't really know.

The two were confused by his aloof behavior towards the vegetation but found it rather humorous of the once, destructive god.

"He's been in the jungle before, though… I think." Knuckles looked up, thinking hard about it before Tails just shrugged, smiling.

"Let's just focus on deciphering what he's saying to Harmony. We can figure out his odd fear of trees later."

Harmony controlled plant life… she had the power of oxygen it produced out of itself.

As Tails and Knuckles moved ahead, although Knuckles turned around after a few steps to keep an eye on Chaos, Chaos continued to look around as though expecting the plants to come alive…

If Harmony was around… he wanted to make sure his presence was known, but not attacked. Careful to remain somewhat undetected, he tried to respectfully avoid stepping on branches or small plants, not hitting anything, and not even touching large leaves about him. He would morph his body to do just that, worried she may strike him back, diligent in maneuvering himself away from causing any further wrath the goddess may still retain for him from years ago…

He wondered what she still felt… Was it wrath? Is that why she betrayed him? How was she feeling..? He missed her more than he could bear.

-Eggman's HQ and diabolical army site-

Harmony felt something in the earth and touched her weary hand to it. She looked up in the sky and saw the same curve of endless colors spread over the sky and didn't react to it.

She just looked heartbroken and lowered her head.

The army of Eggman stormed the land, destroying nature in its wake and building stages and obstacles for Sonic and his friends, littering the land with their junk and hostile war efforts. Eggman was preparing for Sonic's retaliation… but Harmony knew nothing of this.

All she saw… was another Echidna takeover… but this time, run by a human creation.

"You! Make sure that loop-de-loop has spikes at the end of it! I want to see him trip up and burst into rings! Haha! You! What are you dawdling for!? Put those metal fish into the water already! They're programmed to jump at light speeds, so you don't have to toss them in one at a time like they're gentle! AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Eggman, directing a bunch of bumbling robots and Elemental cyborgs to their tasks, giddily shouted about his commands.

He came up from his dictator's commands and relaxed on his hovering chair, "Marvel at it, Cubot! Orbot! My plans for Sonic's demise and the world's takeover is going so- Ah! Wonderfully terrible~" Like a French chef, he kissed his pinched pointer finger and thumb and then sharply moved it away.

"He seems really into himself again, Orbot." Cubot, looking up at his boss's gleeful laughter and shifting back into his infamous outraged cries and shaking his large gloved fists below at the robots and elemental cyborgs beneath him. He then turned to address his friend, "I know he's always like that, but this time, in particular, is unbearable." he poked at his fingers, speaking in a whisper, as though nervous about everything happening.

"Of course he is, he really has outdone himself on this one." Orbot put the speaker he was communicating through down and sighed, seeing his boss's happiness over something so controversial left him a bit uneasy. "It's as though he doesn't care he could be wiping out an entire planet."

Orbot looked over to see Harmony, wearily avoiding the Chaos Emeralds strategically placed around her crystal in case she acted out. He moved over the side of the balcony to look down at her, peering at her wrap her one arm around herself, looking back over at the open expanse of Eggman's mothership.

At least she was back to the dirt again… she didn't like whatever element he had her in before… she liked nature, it was her own, and after years of being stuck in a cave… she lightly touched the ground again, sensing Chaos once more, but not looking as though that gave her any comfort…

The mouth of the mothership was open as more elemental soldiers continued to bring supplies out, just following robotic orders but looking curiously at her as if feeling some sort of connection and affinity to her.

She refused to gaze at them too long, her crystallized eyes bending as she felt something beat inside her when another powerful and colorful blast lit up the sky again.

It startled her, but she turned away from it… ducking her head down as though to hide in shame.

"AHHH!" Eggman cranked himself back, moving further down and clutching his chest.

"Boss?" Cubot and Orbot both turned around, seeing him heaving and huffing in discomfort.

"Drat… he's really persistent… isn't he?" Eggman sneered towards the sky. "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" he shook an angry fist into the air, stomping on his EggMobile's edge and standing up. "She's mine." His glasses gleamed as Harmony turned around, tilting her head at the strange sounds but seeing the emotions dictating his refusal to let her go.

Eggman then held in a barf and covered both his mouth and his stomach, "Ugh… that's revolting…" He looked ill and leaned over the side of the eggmobile.

She looked down again, the fluid surrounding her body encasing her eyes as if she was 'closing' them, but they still shone through the diluted substance.

"…I can't stand to watch this any further." Orbot hopped down from the railing he was leaning over and started hovering quickly down the curled line of smooth stairs, not having steps on them. It spiraled as though a stairwell, but smooth and slick, not meant for regular people to be walking up or down from.

Cubot looked back and forth between Eggman and Orbot, his hands up in the air as if not sure who to follow. "W-Wa… Wait for me!" he took off after Orbot, "What are you planning to do, buddy?" his hands flail about as he hovered quickly down from the gravitational angle of the twisting down stairs. "If Eggman finds out we weren't following our directive-"

"I am going to follow my directive," Orbot stated firmly. He didn't seem to be messing around this time.

"But your directive is to-" Cubot began, trying to move to the side of him but Orbot pushed forward as though to keep Cubot behind his descent. He leaned forward to keep himself moving on, fists loosely bundled, but eyes narrowed as though with sound purpose behind their electrical, glowing sockets.

"My directive, Cubot, is to watch over Eggman's physical, mental, and emotional health!" Orbot began, "We let him abuse us, ridicule us, and even torture us. But this battle is too much. You saw him clutch his chest just then, didn't you? That was clearly his heart! Those blasts are not merely signals, they're an emotionally taxing wave that discharges a physical response in the body!" Orbot quickly swung around, explaining it more clearly to Cubot. "Didn't you analyze it?" He put his hands on his hips, "His stomach almost hurled, you couldn't have not seen it!" he held up a hand towards Cubot, "You'd be an idiot not to have noticed it!"

"That's your directive?" Cubot itched the top of his cubed head. "I think mine's something like… to be yelled at upon every occasion."

"…Ugh," Orbot dropped his hands and shook his head, clearly frustrated by Cubot's lack of computerized-cognitive skills, "Your directive is to perceive counter statements to further Eggman's communication and help him see beyond his own intellect. Plus, your… simpleness makes him feel better." Orbot placed both hands exasperatedly on Cubot's 'shoulders', before patting his head and continuing to move towards Harmony.

Cubot looked confused but continued to follow his friend. At least… Orbot seemed to care about his partner for work.

Whatever 'work' that really was, anyway…

What would you call it? Employment exploitation for metallic workforces?

Once the two hovered over to Harmony, a slight bounce in their float to stop their advances, they looked to each other uneasily and approached her with caution.

Giving her the same respect as royalty, Orbot put his hands together and lowered his head. "Harmony..? Might we speak with you?"

Cubot also seemed to notice Orbot's new stance, similar to submitting to Eggman, and immediately mimicked the action. "Just a moment of your time, your fluidship." He seemed to mean to say 'ladyship'.

Harmony shifted her being around, pulling back the fluid over her eyes and rippling her body with a glow like sunlight on water.

"It's so diffused, your light…" Orbot began trying to analyze why the light splintered off of her in many directions. When he did, he noticed an organ inside her chest, hidden by the-…

"UCK!" He flinched back, shaking his head and covering his robotic mouth with his large, rubbery red hands.

"What is it?" Cubot went over, attempting to poke her arm but Orbot immediately shuffled his hands forward, as if swimming through the air to stop him from performing said action.

"Don't touch that! It's amniotic fluid!" he ripped Cubot away from it, as Harmony stepped back and tilted her head, unsure why the two strange beings were functioning without the essence of life inside them.

She leaned forward as her red, hardened blood eyes tried to identify them better.

"What's that?"

"The liquid surrounding an unborn child!" Orbot seemed squeamish, his bolts clattering as he held Cubot back from behind, restraining him further with his arms.

"Oh. So she's expecting?" Cubot rose the blue slits in his eyes, trying to piece things together.

"No, Cubot… she IS the expecting!" Orbot looked back to her, "She's… what gives life to all things. She is life! Scientifically, she could be considered more than that." He looked at her beating heartbeat on the inside… "She is… the essence, quite literally, of all organic life." he shivered again, finding that disturbing.

As Orbot let Cubot go, Cubot still seemed rather puzzled but nodded as though he got it. "Ooookay…" he hovered around her, giving her a good look as she watched him with equal curiosity. "So… she's like a mother? Strange… she doesn't seem all that hostile from what Eggman's legend scroll or whatever say…"

"She's more like the organ of a mother." Orbot jittered in his disgust again, "But there's an actual… there's a … a heart inside of her." He fidgeted but pointed a shaking finger at her chest.

Sure enough, when Cubot squinted, he could see the blurred red mass inside of her, not connected to anything much like Chaos's floating brain, and turned back to Orbot.

"So..." he put a finger to his mouth, still trying to understand. "That liquid around Chaos… isn't water?"

"You mean cerebrospinal fluid? I'm not sure." Orbot tapped his chin, squinting at Harmony again, "But the colors are wrong, aren't they? Then again, with the blood inside of Harmony, the clear color could have a tint of pink. But Chaos looks blue, but is actually clear as water…" Orbot shook his head, "Then again, they are aliens… Shouldn't they both be yellowish in hue?" he wasn't sure how this worked, but he figured to let it be for now. "Who's to say 'gods' make sense?" He shrugged to Cubot, "If humans can't even comprehend things outside their own universe, how on earth are we? Being made from them and all that."

"... Aren't all living things made of her, and maybe Chaos too, though?" Cubot then looked back to Harmony with a finger near his mouth, speaking as though innocent but actually saying something quite profound. "Is that why… Eggman can't really comprehend her? And what about our directive to Eggman?" Cubot seemed to be tired of trying to wrap his mind around this enigma, and instead, put his hands to his head and looked pleading towards Orbot to change the subject. "I'm all comfumbled."

"Y-You mean confounded." Orbot tried to help him and then looked back at where Eggman was still flying about in his Eggmobile. "R-right… Ehem." Orbot gestured out his hands in small bobs towards Cubot, showing him to calm down and they didn't need to discuss it further. He was a little too invested in the two life and death gods fable and realized he needed to stay on track.

He floated in front of Harmony, holding his hands together in a begging way. "Please. We don't want Eggman to hurt himself with things over and above his bulbous head." Orbot's sincerity mixed with his words almost came out insultingly sarcastic, but he seemed to mean well enough.

He held his hands and squished them a bit together as though looking down to try and collect his thoughts and words, "I pray you can understand me… even without having a heart that beats, and emotions for you to read, they are in similitude of them… of sorts… ohhh, this may be pointless." He looked to Cubot, "How is she to understand us if we don't have souls to understand?" his philosophical explanation and question only made Cubot rear his head back again, holding it as he scratched it profusely.

"To… many… complexed… thoughts!" Orbot was getting nowhere with Cubot by his side…

He sighed, "Oh well, up to me again." He looked back to Harmony, extending out his hands to her in hopes she may be able to read his 'body-language' more so than whatever else he could use to convey his word's meanings. "Is there any way to keep him from destroying himself? Even just a slight chance? We know he seems to not care about wiping women off the face of the planet but technically, I think that's because of a dormant fear that he'll never get the chance to be in love, father and reproduce, so-" As Cubot rambled and dissected his boss's inner-conundrum, another colorful blast exploded over the sky in an arch of light. Harmony ducked, looking afraid of the light and covering her head once more, rippling before it.

Orbot continued to ramble but Cubot began to see something… a start at least, to some forgotten connection… Looking to the blast in the sky, then noticing her knees wobbling, the boiling blood inside of her begin to fizz up again, and then looking back up to her face only to witness the distraught in it…

He nodded after having seen enough to conclude his findings, "You need to feel what he's saying." Transcending his programming, Cubot suddenly recognized the lights were opposite to Harmony's cries for help. The beacon she had released seemed to have a pleasant feeling to Eggman, while this other beam drained and ached him.

"If Chaos is Harmony's opposite, then perhaps together…" He thought about it, before moving passed Orbot and looking determined to reach up and grab Harmony's hand.

As he did so, the sticky substance made him react with a fake gag, "Oh, barf!" he exclaimed before pulling her along to the roof, "This way, Mi'ladyship."

"-but I'm sure with some trimming of that mustache and learning basic pleasantries he might actually find a future queen to his ridiculous Eggman empire and… where did everyone go?" Orbot became aware of his surroundings once again and spun around, looking under his arm and behind himself before forward and shaking his fist at Cubot leading Harmony away from the Chaos Emeralds, "Wait! Cubot! What are you doing? Stooopp!" he charged after them with floating, bobbing hovers.

"Romeo, oh Romeo!~" Cubot clutched his 'heart' or stem of a chest and then lifted his other arm out, letting go of Harmony as she stood upon the roof of Eggman's base.

She looked at the strange movable object mimicking a form of false life and then around at the view, being leveled now with the blasts of lights…

She shook her head, stepping away in fright, raising her one hand up over her face as though to shield herself, her knees wobbling again in clear signs of nervous energy. However, Orbot finally could tell that there was an emotional response in this Goddess regarding the colorful arches of sonic booms.

"…What are you afraid of, Harmony?" He gestured for her to step forward, and not back down, moving an arm behind her lower leg as she stepped forward tentatively. "If you called out for help once,… why don't you do it again?" Orbot didn't feel he was going against orders. They were asked to watch Harmony, and it wasn't like she was escaping at this moment so…

Besides, in all honesty, they were thinking of the health of their creator, not so much his happiness…

Harmony gazed out over the sky… the earth below her by the edge of the roof… the dying planet she wanted so desperately to heal again… But it was not to be.

She turned her head.

"Ah! She has forsaken us!" Cubot gripped his head in fake alarm for his nonexistent life, but Orbot just sighed and wondered what was keeping her.

"My dear…" He floated up, being gentle, "What is wrong?" he finally asked, holding out his hands as though to gesture he wanted something from her, any indication of why she would react this way to the blasts that–although different colors–looked similar in design to hers but had very different effects.

Harmony looked so… sorrowful. With her single arm, she slowly lifted it to point to her obliterated one, and her shoulders bounced as if attempting to cry as the blood softly bubbled up inside her.

The robots couldn't discern this emotion, and looked to each other, hoping the other one might have some clue but it was no use.

They had never seen such hopeless regret before…

"We know the legend… but…" Orbot then put his hands together, holding them.

"Do we… really… know them? The gods that made it?"

-The Jungle's Mystic Ruins-

Jet leaned towards Amy, still breathing soft, restrained breaths as she rested quite unconscious. "... Grr… Isn't this Sonic's friend?" he scowled from the side of his mouth for a moment, seeming almost enraged by her sudden appearance, leaning back up and stomping a foot down in his realization of who she was. "Yeah! I remember now! This is that Girly that swiped the Arc of the Cosmos!" he kept stomping his foot as Wave, who was allowing Amy's unconscious head to lean against her shoulder, glared up at Jet. "Jet, we've been over this before. You're acting like a child more than a leader." She huffed and looked to the side, "You can't honestly expect to gain our respect with a childish tantrum." Her comment froze him a moment as she mentally pictured steam coming out of his ears and giggled into her hand, "It's already happened, Jet. Let it go and focus on the now, like a real Babylon Rogue!" she scolded him, putting her hands to her hips and leaning forward to force him to move back from Amy, giving her some space.

He turned away from her, glaring with gritted teeth at her remarks, shaking his fists before folding his arms and flicking his tail back, trying to 'reserve' himself now. "Whatever! It's not like I forget who steals from us thieves!" he squawked with prejudice, simply because she was a friend of Sonic, and on the wrong side of the rivalry.

Storm bent down to Amy, gently reaching out a hand to her, "The little lady with a strong arm…" he twiddled his fingers by her head, as though thinking about a touch to the top of its pink, circular surface… but pulled back and rubbed his peak as though remembering a painful pitch and swing.

He wouldn't make the same mistake twice and got up from his knelt position to keep a distance from her.

Jet rolled his eyes back to Storm, nudging him with a swift kick of his foot, "Quit that! Don't touch her."

"I-I wasn't going to, boss. Honest." Storm stumbled a bit as he got up, worried his boss thought wrongly of his actions. "I was just remembering is all…" he placed his hands over his beak again, embarrassed by the misunderstanding.

"Both of you need to quiet down." Wave looked back to them, before pulling the computerized gem off from her necklace and clicking it. Diagrams and data floated up on screens that projected from it. She swiped her hand out and they went flying out of view before Wave began analyzing her body's condition, along with Amy's state as well.

"Strange…" she muttered as Storm and Jet crept around the screens in front of them and went to look at it from her angle.

Storm was careful to not fall as he tried to look at the screens over from Amy's head, balancing himself as best he could to avoid 'falling' on her, or–as Jet pointed out–accidentally touching her to steady himself as he lurched around and tried to keep his pose, straining to do so.

Jet squatted down, having come around from the side of Wave, and thus making Storm run around to that side and just put his hands to his knees to tower over the two and watch from the same side.

Jet leaned his cheek towards her, trying to see what she was reading. "What is it, Wave?"

"According to these readings, something just sucked the life out of us." She looked over the pigmentation on her arm, "... I'm fearin'... Literally. My colors are returning to normal… but that's so weird…" She tilted her head, still trying to deduce what happened, "What kinda signal can pull such an immense amount of power from so far away?"

"So, your life was sucked dry?" Jet turned back to her, putting some weight on his knee and placing a hand on it for stability.

She pinched his peak and made him stumble on trying to remain balanced, but it was his own fault for getting too close to Wave and blocking her view of her screens with his bulbous head. "Would I be here talking to you if it had? Genius!?"

He flailed a bit before she wiggled his beak around for one last strong hold and then let him go as he wobbled back to not fall over, Storm now lowering his head to take the place of Jet's previous viewing spot.

"Who would do such a thing..?" Storm worriedly put his hands up to his shaking mouth. "You mean it could of killed you..?" He looked genuinely wracked at hearing that conclusion…

Jet stared towards Amy, as though understanding the same thing happened to her, not just Wave.

Wave turned back to Storm, nodding to him, before sharing Jet's stare down to Amy. "If it only happened to me and the girl… then…"

"Then why didn't it happen to us?" Jet bit his beak down, angered. He stood up and swiped a hand out, "No one messes with my team! And I mean any member of my team!"

Wave suddenly saw him in a better light, swiftly turning her attention to him, she smiled at his maturely heroic and kingly stance, which made his childish behavior from before almost dissipate as she fondly responded to him, "Whatever it wanted, it got it." Wave rolled her shoulder and moved Amy's head down to the ground, hoping to not disturb her. "Let's not wake her up… I'd rather just speak to all of you and not have a crowd." She attempted to get up as she clicked the gem off and put it back on her necklace. "Emm…" she found herself still slightly wobbly and gritted her teeth as her eyes turned stricken with regret at moving too soon.

Immediately, Storm and Jet reached out and helped her up. She gave them a weak scold with her eyes, before surrendering to their help when a kind and concerned expression was returned to her, along with a 'forgive us and just let us help you?' smile was offered instead of just letting her go.

She relented with a sigh of endearment to their aid, getting back up and wearily holding herself with a bent back up on her feet.

"The signal was ranged so far that my systems can't locate its exact source, but I do know the central direction. Based on the arch of the signal, and the energy drained leaving a residual essence that we can track from here-" she pointed to the direction she had fallen, "-to here." And continued the motion to where her energy had departed too across the sky, "I'm pretty sure I could pinpoint more with higher elevation."

"Genius, Wave," Jet smirked, pretending to understand all of that, though he did get most of it. She knew the direction of where it had come from and gone, but not the exact locations of it, nor the motivation for now. He removed his hands from helping her up, seeing she was stable enough now, and walked towards the direction she had shown, clenching a fist. "Whoever did this to you… we'll get your life force back! One way or another… Anyone who dares to mess with the Babylon Rogues… Heh, gets a swift reminder how we're not ones to mess with!" the Rogues formed an epic pose to show their unity, Jet turning back to then fist pump them like musketeers, holding the shot with a smeared grin of satisfaction before Amy began to stir with soft, waking noises.

She slowly got herself up off the ground, just as the Rogues turned around to watch her stir.

"Well, look who's joining the living for a change." Jet looked over his shoulder, then put a hand on his hip as he looked annoyed with her. "I highly doubt she has any idea what's going on, too." He rudely decided out loud as Wave just side-eyed him, but smirked too.

"Probably not, she's one of the blue hedgehog's friends, and they're not worth much." She folded her arms, jeering her.

"D'wah, are you okay, miss?" Storm broke the 'air of mockery' as the two looked at him and broke their 'bullying' stances as he timidly moved between them to lower his body and approach Amy without looking too 'big and scary'.

But in all actuality, he was just afraid she'd powerfully swing something into his face again… Crouching down to avoid a rock or something flung at either his face or intercept if she threw it at one of his teammates' faces.

As they approached her, Jet noticed she was still shaking her head and gripping it, as though not fully there yet. "Heh, I say we interrogate her. See what she knows about the life-sucking lights." He looked to both Storm and Wave, as all three were now looming over Amy before a blue-blasting lightstream came through the trees.

"Do you know what happened?" Jet asked, not looking very friendly as Amy placed a hand on her head, trying to keep it from rolling as she got up.

"H-huh?"

Amy's head softly looked up for a second, her eyes looking hazy as though clearly not awake yet, even still.

Wave made an annoyed face, the side of her beak showing her gritted teeth at the situation only proving their earlier ridicule accurate. She had silently hoped that Amy would have given a clue about something useful to their investigations, but seeing that wasn't the case, was about to suggest that Amy didn't know anything more than they did when-

"Amy!"

Having seen the suspicious scenario, and then their smirking glances as they approached a faint-looking Amy… Sonic homing-attacked right behind the Babylonian descendants' gang.

Sonic uncurled in midair, reeling back a leg, "Hrrrrahh!" and slammed his foot into the back of Jet's neck.

"A-CK!"

There was an audible 'crick' sound as though bone snapping or hardened spaghetti breaking, but probably not so serious and just a hard hit to take while left in stupefied surprise.

"Ambushing 3 against 1? I didn't think that was your style, birdbrain!" Sonic spun up again from pushing off Jet's neck as his eyes went white and he fell to his knees. Sonic landed with a flare, one knee down and one hand up while two remained on the ground before rising like the true showy hero he was, standing now protectively in front of Amy with his arms down to his sides, an intimidatingly cocky aura. He adjusted his gloves and then pulled up his socks by slipping a finger under them with a raised leg behind himself, stretching a little as though preparing for a fight. "Babylon Rogues, now stealing from little girls? That's a new low," he smirked and lightly hopped on his feet, punching the air a bit before kicking out. "Why not pick on someone at your own speed? Or are you nothing without your airgears?"

He then looked down to smile at watching Jet twitch on the ground before anger marks appeared pulsing all over his head. He swung himself up in an outrage, taking dirt his twitching fingers had gripped from below him and spraying it up in his dramatic turnaround.

"SOOONNNIICC! You wouldn't know a brain if it hit you in the face!"

Suddenly, Chaos blasted like a water jet towards Sonic, wanting a host to find Harmony, but was immediately grabbed by Tails and Knuckles.

"Wait!" Tails exclaimed, wrapping his full body around at a diagonal across his back, his tails curling to really secure the grip as Knuckles grabbed Tails and hoisted the brute strength of keeping Chaos from bolting again… Though Chaos's body was of water, it had at least some density to get a grip on him…

"Where do you think you're going!?" Knuckles spat out, gritting against the strain of keeping the god put.

They were now so close to Sonic and the Babylon Rogues with Amy but were still covered from that view due to the thickness of the jungle. Only Chaos knew…

That Sonic…

Would be the answer to solving this mess of a failing world.

-Within the Ruins-

"I think the dimensional rifts worked," Rouge's voice echoed in the undistinguishable sounds over the ruins' walls, "I got my message through to the Princess, Blaze, and to Silver." The screechy recorder in Shadow's hand was kept close to his ear, but down by his cheek, letting the bottom of his palm rest there for support. He had been listening to her report for a while now, exploring the ruins with his eyes as he wandered about it, looking for further answers that may lie within its abandoned, decrepit state.

The dispersed noise was only intelligible while being that close to his face, otherwise, the wide expanse would leave her sounds almost void of understanding with all the ranged bounces of sound that would ring incoherently about the place.

He moved some stones and stepped up into an old chamber, looking around at the coffins all lined up in it. "Any news back?" he asked, blasting some traps that were set off with a powerful detonator that he threw out.

Using Chaos Control here would prove too risky, only destroying what little evidence they could hope to find that remained here in the first place… so he was careful to only use small tools to stop the activated trap system. Otherwise, he'd just make a run for it.

The less damage, in Shadow's mind, the better chances they could have at retaining some vital information on Harmony and her threatening force to the world…

The world he swore to Maria he would protect.

She loved the world… She wanted him to see it.

Even if it hated him…

He would fulfill that dying wish.

"Tsk… I should have kept that emerald." Shadow muttered as he walked by the cracked and tumbling stones, watching as an entire corner collapsed and revealed the sunlight from the edge of the caved ceiling. "I could have at least teleported about in here." His regretted chagrin only made Rouge chuckle from the speaker piece.

"Nothing yet." She responded to his earlier comment, deciding not to comment about his lack of foresight. Might as well keep his dignity… "I'll keep trying. What about the ruins?"

Shadow kicked away some loose pebbles before pushing a coffin's lid off with almost barely any effort, thus was it corroded to some degree. Letting the sound vibrate as it cracked the floor from the hard lid sliding off to almost break ground with its weight before having half itself shatter and break in splintered fragments along the stony ground.

He watched the mess and stepped back a second, letting the rest of it lean against the coffin's box before he stepped up to peer irreverently in.

"…At the moment..?" he reached in, pulling out an amulet with a crystal etched into it, using his thumb to wipe away the dust as it shone now in the exposed light from his earlier, small detonation causing a whole in the side wall. "Nothing." He looked at the crystal designs on the other coffins… so many women sacrificed for the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald to come to fruition…

"All I know is that death follows more than creation with this divinely ignorant goddess…" He threw the amulet down in contempt, "If Harmony gains her ultimate form… much like Chaos, you and the rest of your kind will be nothing more than dust."

Rouge remained silent on the other end of the line, but the scratchiness of the radio only made the atmosphere that much more eerie…

"... Then… the ghost girl's vision?" She finally spoke up, her voice breaking almost as though she barely found the will to speak it.

That image… that memory… it haunted all three of them to their core.

"Is it… really going to happen… all over again?" Rouge's voice quaked Shadow's lungs, making it hard to breathe.

Even Shadow's breath stifled in sections as though he was finding it hard to speak back to her inquiry, making the stuffy and free-roaming dirt and dust swirling around his long, extended hedgehog nose while he tried to keep his composure.

"I deny this Goddess her methods and powers." He finally stated, stomping on the amulet, "She may grant life as a blessing," He narrowed his sights on his hand that was twitching up by his face, "But she is nothing more than a robber of her own cribs!" and crushed his hand down as his gloves tightened and their sound even registered through Rouge's communicator…

She lowered the radio from her mouth, breathing out what sounded like could be her last breath.

Chapter Text

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.

Chapter Text

Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos

Ch. 7

By: Cutegirlmayra (Avengers... assemble! lol)

Rouge watched as tiny lights seemed to drop from the hole in the sun like golden tears, which were growing larger, but as she squinted to try and see her hand immediately shot up from the pain of looking directly at the sun on her eyes. It gave her some relief, but only for a moment. "Curse this Goddess!" she rubbed her eyes, closing them as the light of those dots got bigger and brighter. "What is she doing to our world!?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Rouge blinked her eyes open at the voice, and turned to see a figure standing directly in the harsh sunlight, her silhouette burning as though Rouge was directly standing in front of a hovering fire.

"B-Blaze?" she wasn't ever formally introduced to her, at least, not that she could remember well. So when the purple blazing cat finally landed, and the Sol Emeralds landed to her feet, Rouge was in a bit of awe. "Well, you put a new definition to 'spotlight entrance' don't you?" Rouge smiled and put her hands to her hips, the light dimming back to normal as Blaze had already powered down.

"My apologies again." She decided to not point out any previous meetings, since she didn't know Rouge that well anyway, and mostly has heard things about her. "I got your message, but found that the dark hole seemed to be leaking dimensional energy. Something is draining the sun and somehow, it connected multiple worlds together." She pivoted back to the sun, squinting her eyes to it. "There were others... I suspect they'll be here soon."

"Good. They better be." Rouge walked up to stand by her side, bending down as discreetly as she could to check out the new 'shiny gems' Blaze just happened to bring with her. Her eyes glittered at their shine in the light... And a devilish smirk crossed her thieving, eyeing lips. "Interesting... Do these act as Chaos Emeralds in your world?"

"Somewhat." Blaze didn't feel like explaining, but finally had to pull her eyes away from the sun and rubbed them subtly. As she did so, Rouge took the opportunity to store one down her heart-shaped suit, but Blaze was quick to grab her hand before she could drop it.

"Oh pooh." Rouge sighed out, pouting. "Seems someone caught me."

Blaze just held an intense stare as Blaze saw the Sol Emeralds fly back up and gather to Blaze. She let the one in her hand also go as Blaze stored them away. "Silver had warned me of your tendencies. He had to deal with something... but is prepared to meet here as well."

"Oh? And who would tell him that?" she put her hands to her hips and continued to look annoyed, side-eyeing Blaze in contempt.

"Shadow told him."

She kicked the ground and brought a shaking fist up, her eyebrows growing strongly defined, "That lousy-!" she mumbled more under her breath in her fury, but Blaze just seemed to note her as someone not worth paying extra attention to in those matters. Now that she had the Sol Emeralds safely rounded up, she just had to make sure Rouge didn't try and swipe them again.

Friend or foe..? A good question, but she did ask for Blaze to arrive here...

Blaze looked around, "Our planets are dying... we should look for signs of slowing the process down and destroy it's source..."

Rouge suddenly stopped her tantrum in surprise, "Ours..? You mean... it's not just our world?" That was shocking to say the least. 'Hmm...' she suddenly stood straight and thought immensely to herself, turning serious in her questioning. 'Could Harmony have links to other worlds? Or is she spreading out her awful, energy-sucking aura to lessen the effects of simply draining this one alone..? It seems more likely that maybe... those ancient manuscripts Shadow found... could Chaos and Harmony have created many planet eggs and thereby, having many worlds connected to Harmony's life-giving power?' Each and every one of these thoughts could have dire consequences, and Rouge just hoped they weren't too late in rescuing their chances of survival.

Shadow had phoned her not too long ago... Chaos and Harmony's interaction still put many of them on the fence about how to handle this situation. However, it was decided that Chaos was going to help free Harmony, but was that right? Shouldn't they attempt to control and harness her power like the Chaos Emeralds had done for the so-called God of Destruction?

There were so many uncertainties... but one thing was certain.

She looked back to the sun, the best she could, anyway...

Help was on the way.

In a green stream of light, like a panel opening up before spraying out the tinted aura, Silver seemed to fly about before locating Blaze, and flying down to her. "I found another." He turned from addressing her and there came a horned, body-suit figure...

He helped the person land to the ground, and then landed himself as Rouge inspected the figure carefully.

"Wait... I know that technology... you're-!" she was amazed to see her again, as the figure took off her helmet and revealed an echidna's face.

"Rouge... it's been a long century." Shade nodded her head, respectfully. "My people have sensed Harmony's uprising since the first aura beams. She's in great pain. Our Leech Blades haven't worked well since." She pulled out the technological blade as Rouge suddenly gasped at the realization.

"Of course! Why have we all been so stupid!?" She slapped her hand to her forehead, "Leech blades... they glow pink, l-like your suits!" she was connecting more dots, "You, more than anyone here, would actually—personally—know Harmony!"

Shade nodded, but there was a sorrow in her eyes as she slouched then. "It wasn't our faults... completely. Pachacamac's tricked us as well as Harmony. Sure, we were apart of feeding her power,... but..." she closed her eyes, "I remember... my mother... being offered as tribute. She was noble, never fighting the call... but her screams and groans of pain still haunt my memories." she took a deep breath, "After Pachacamac's plan to acquire and utilize the power of Chaos, much like how we weaponized Harmony's power for our own means, he had Chaos attack her and turned on us... we were always at war, but the last of Chaos's powers swelled until all were destroyed... except us, who were spared but still punished. We know the reasons... but a part of us still believes it's because Chaos knew we served Harmony... and Harmony served us."

Rouge inspected the Leech Blade, amazed as it flickered as though not strong enough to retain it's powers. "Interesting..."

Silver and Blaze, unaware of what was being told, looked to one another in curiosity. Silver shrugged, looking sorry he couldn't put any context to this for her. Blaze also concluded that she had no idea either and couldn't put things together as well, so she let out a heavy breath of air and nodded with her eyelids drooping slightly, unsure how to interrupt and ask further questions.

Bu they both had a shared thought together then... who was this Harmony? And why was she reigning havoc now?

"I acknowledged the wrongs of my people, and what they have done." Shade continued, not noticing Blaze and Silver's silent confusion, but they seemed to accept asking questions later, as Rouge continued to seem like she knew what was going on.

Though... they didn't noticing her twitching eyelid, so microscopic was her rage building... knowing what she knew.

"But wielding Harmony's power was only the start. Destroying Harmony's arm left us all unable to fight back Pachacamac's ambitious greed. The elders tossed Harmony, knowing her power could never contend against Chaos's now. Where... is Chaos?" she looked around, as though expecting him present.

"What do you mean?" Rouge kept her anger at bay... waiting for the right opportunity. For now, she wanted Shade to keep talking, and held her shaking fists to her sides and hid them the best she could.

"Chaos should have triggered by Harmony's awakening. Without a host, he won't be able to meet her. If Balance can be restored, that..." she cut herself off, "Sonic... is he going to have them battle?"

Rouge shook her head, "Though some think they still may."

"...They were like lovers. Partners that created and molded the world together. Though... it's uncertain if that's an accurate phrase. For now, we just refer to them as dual Gods." Shade explained, but Rouge kept her mouth in a tight line.

"I could honestly care less about their relationship!" She snapped a little, but calmed herself down, needing more information. "Shade... I'm glad you came. I sent out the distress signal into the Twilight Cage, guessing those telepathic stingrays might pick it up or something. I'm glad it reached you... but I'm also not happy about our situation."

"The Voxai did help, yes." Shade corrected. "But... the situation shouldn't be solely addressed to us-"

Then Rouge planted her foot down, stomping silence into Shade as she flinched back.

"You already admitted to your crimes..!" she blurted out, her anger unable to be contained or held back anymore. "Weaponizing the power of life? You're people knew no bounds... You've been sucking from Harmony for centuries, why shouldn't she want to suck it all back!?"

Shade remained silent, but found the courage to speak up again, "I don't justify ourselves, but I will defend our reasoning. With Chaos as a threat to our kind, we used our own Goddess and strengthened her to contend with him! The Leech Blade takes the life-energy of another and gives it to us. Yes,... this is one of the reasons Harmony could never fully be restored to her whole and complete self. But she needn't be... Chaos's power has permanently eliminated a good part of her power when he took her arm. We had to counter-move... to protect ourselves..."

"Protect?!" Rouge remembered everything she read with Shadow... she knew Shade had nothing to defend.

"Until you and the rest of Sonic and his friends helped put an end to our Lord Ix's scheming. I will forever be atoning for my people's mistakes." Shade was finding it hard to combat her, but remained as poised as possible. She knew in her heart the truth, but also couldn't help be drawn back to her roots...

"...They sacrificed you... your mothers and their daughters... why didn't you fight back? How can you stand to claim repentance on a race of murderers!?" Rouge lunged at her with every bit of her full force, verbally assaulting her case.

Shade remained still... but not emotionless.

Blaze and Silver were starting to paint a picture but hearing that they sacrificed their own tribe's women and children suddenly threw them back to square one. What on earth was being talked about!? And what kind of 'God' was this Harmony creature..?

They looked to one another, then back at the fighting women.

"I feel like I should stop this..." Silver whispered to Blaze, but not taking his eyes off the hostile situation.

"No... I feel like... this needs to be said." Blaze closed her eyes, "Something... doesn't seem right. We won't fully understand until Shade gives her side of the story." She then opened them to look to Silver, as a true princess and judge over her people, she seemed to understand the importance of hearing the defendant's side.

"...Is she not the guilty party?" Silver wondered out loud, but then turned to look back at the two. "I wonder... what she'll say... how she'll respond..."

After a contemplative moment of silence, Shade seemed to know that Rouge was still her ally, and that her rage was justified. "...You may know right from wrong... but you know nothing of culture... do you?"

"Hardly an alibi." Rouge swiped a haughty hand up, backing off a bit as her emotional anger turned to sorrow. She remembered what she felt in that vision by Tikal... that draining essence... what she heard and witnessed...

She turned away, walking slightly and hugging her arms, looking down in sorrow and then turning her narrowed eyes back to look over her shoulder at Shade continue to try and explain such awful crimes against life.

"For those who served life... you hardly protected it." she spat out, "Hypocrites. You took life to gain power, there shouldn't be an argument here."

"...Traditions and beliefs... don't just die with the echidnas." She looked up to the sky, "I would stake my life force that the world is no stranger to such customs as barbaric as taking life... even innocent ones. Many planets practice cruel and unusual acts, calling them 'their heritage'. But what acts should be preserved and how can one judge if not apart of such a people? I never... claimed to come from a perfect people." She held her Leech Blade out, knowing the blood she had split in the ancient past. "But I do say that I have seen first hand the false and foolish doctrines taught by my people. We were deceived. We have fought a tyrant, but continued to serve one. Innocent lives have been ruined by my people's traditions and beliefs..."

"Slaughtered, actually." Rouge's words cut deep, as though going for the girl's throat. "Times have changed somewhat. Evil may reside, but..." she looked away, "You're telling me your people willingly died? So that Harmony could seal away Chaos in the Master Emerald..? Only to then do it to her and drain her for eons after..?"

"...4,000 years... I have wondered what became of Harmony. Still trapped in our prison, my people never spoke of her again. She powered our technologies, but none taught of her... or her once kind... considerate ways. She never knew that towards the end, we were forced to give up our own. At first, it was Pachacamac's own people who left us first... then, he convinced our elders and leaders that Chaos would never stop his destructive ways, and so... I remember the day my mother was chosen. Walking nobly towards the alter of Harmony's shrine... I can never blot out nor try to erase her screams and groans of agony as Harmony drained to her to grey soot upon the ground..."

Blaze and Silver were visibly shaken by such an image.

Rouge opened her mouth for a counter, but feeling pity for the girl, stopped herself and swung her head away from the conversation.

She had seen it. The color lost from the world... the women dropping like flies... she felt her own power turn to barely embers at the simulation's power that Tikal revealed from the ancient past...

"How could you let them do it? Why not revolt?"

"We thought... we were being protected."

Rouge fought tears, looking up at the sky, "We'll all end up like those girls... if we don't do something. This isn't bravery... it's not noble! It's mass genocide! Even if they're willing to die!" she closed her eyes, "I'm not!"

"This isn't the first time your leaders have used your people for their own selfish ends, right?" She seemed to be quoting Shade's words from their adventure previously, turning around, it was clear Rouge wasn't going down without a fight, and was threw listening to Shade's perceptive. "In our last encounter... why didn't you already fight against your Clan? Why stay so obedient?! Knowing what they did to your mother!"

"That was Pachacamac's designs!" Shade finally threw her head into the fray, directing a stubborn foot forward, more determined now that Rouge wasn't seeing reason. "I, and the rest of the Nocturnus Clan, only served Harmony! We had no idea what Chaos could do, we had fought against them as enemies since before I was even born! But we truly thought that Pachacamac's words about destruction for us all were from fear of the inevitable end, and he gave us hope we could all band together to stop it. They tricked her as well as us! It was never our Clan's purpose to sacrifice innocent lives! We all victims here..! I..." she suddenly seemed to let her anger go, her eyes twitching but recollecting herself and standing straight again. "I came to help heal what we, all the echidnas, have sowed... not to argue about why it all began and for what purposes we made our decisions."

Silver and Blaze were now deeply concerned, looking at the ground, they sweated in meditative thought at all they were hearing...

Their own worlds... what would become of them if Harmony wasn't stopped? If her power not contained?

"Heh," Rouge crossed a seriously hateful smile across her face, letting her arms drop to her sides. "Where's your plow then, barbarian? This mess isn't going to till itself a new earth... a harmonious balance or a chaotic end? With men ruling the place... chances are they won't survive on their own means either..." she made the comment as a snide counter to how this all started from men's wars... but refrained from further mentioning of it. "You may have your ancient but powerful technology of the 'aliens' you deemed Gods, but that doesn't mean we're not raising our pitchforks to strike back and harvest some form of just existence! We deserve to be here! And we're going to fight for it. Tribe or no tribe, I won't just let a bunch of whiners declare my fate!" She actively struck a contenders pose, her fists exposed, and her obvious disagreement with Shade more evident on her expression now.

"Is that all we have to face a God? Pitchforks?" Silver also seemed to swallow hard and not like what he was hearing. "I've come to the past so many times... always striving for a better, more fuller future than the last one I saved... but no matter how many times I come back..." he looked at his trembling hands. "It's always further and further back in history that the root of the future's doom resides... Grrrrrr-rah!" he slammed his fist into the ground, bending his knees to do so, "Will it ever end!? How many times must I travel to set things straight! Innocent lives..? What about the future children of this world... or their children, and their children's children!?" he kept hitting the ground, "Banishing a people doesn't solve anything! Their traditions and beliefs live on in the heart's of wicked men... They are taught again and again for their own miserable ends! When will I really save the future!?" The girls all looked away from his display of emotion, not seeming to want to interrupt but also not knowing what to say in return.

Shade wasn't aware he was a time-traveler, but felt his anger was directed at her and her people, and again... feel into a silent, depressed state...

Blaze couldn't just stand still, though her eyes were closed, each hit of Silver's fists to the ground sounded a war cry in her heart. With each beat of her heart, matching his own tempo of his clearly upset with his black-and-white dilemma,... she finally swished her tail to balance her footing and pivoted again to the two other girls. "My skills are not great enough to do this alone." she got everyone's attention, as her royal presence seemed to shine through as she took authoritative strides to make her presence known and refusing to be ignored with further discussion on current and/or past events...

"Silver,..." she turned to see him flinch and slowly rise from the ground, watching her in a bit of frozen awe. "Shade..." she nodded to her as she met her gaze, showing her determination to heal the past mistakes as well, "Rouge..." Rouge seemed to want to ignore her at first, but her heart softened and she nodded her surrender. She would listen now,... "We need to plan to work together." She then addressed the group, as they seemed to have a unified goal now, instead of focusing on the differences of their ideologies. "According to what you have said, all life is in danger on multiple planes of existence. Whether that be dimensional, or even universal." she gestured to Shade and then Rouge. "My advice... is that we compare our new-found understanding and knowledge with that of what Sonic and his team knows." she looked to Rouge, who stepped up with a sly curve in her walk, very lady-like as she flicked the underside of her pointer finger out to direct it to Blaze, knowing what she was implying.

"The reason why I rang." she teased, "Shadow gave me a way to track their movements, and I should have communication channels still open with him. If we can get there before dusk hits, I'm sure we'll have time to 'compare notes' so to speak, before reunited Chaos and Harmony together."

Shade grew uneasy, "Is... that wise?"

The three looked to her.

"Care to comment?" Rouge raised an agitated eyebrow, not shocked that she would start up another time-wasting conversation, but wishing she really hadn't.

Shade held up her Leech Blade again, "Harmony's power is weakening... There's not enough life in all the planes of existence, as you have stated, to ever fully bring back what Chaos has destroyed." she then wiggled the blade and suddenly a miniature pink pulse spread out at light speed in a circled aura. "Harmony will know that my kind has returned... she'll be defensive of Chaos, and of all her creations... Including his own." she put the blade away. "Who's to say she wouldn't want to retaliate? When I knew her... she was motherly and kind. She trusted completely, and knew nothing of guile. She may not be the same Goddess I remember in my youth..."

The three weren't going to hang their heads anymore, but there was a solemn respect to that counter-argument.

"...If you did have to make your decision... on what you knew of her..." Blaze began, but Rouge cut her off.

"Before she was betrayed and sealed away." she intervened, "Would you... consider that Chaos may not want to fight her? If not being forced to combat her this time around..?" She turned gentler, as though hoping there was a chance to save the world.

Shade blinked her eyes and smiled, as though her eyes were imagining a completely different scene.

Shade, a young girl, stood like Tikal but at the Harmony Crystal's feet. She watched as the elders of her tribe hauled her away, and the fear and anguish of the blood and air inside of it, Harmony's very elements, splashing and flopping left and right as they carried her on their shoulders with strange mechanical devices like a metal, glowing her essence and power,  palanquin.

She saw her materialize slightly into a watery version of her upper-half, gripping her head with her one arm and seeming to be in such distress, as though a Goddess could cry...

"Yes." Shade finally responded, and watched as a small wave of aura blasted by her, a gentle feeling of warmth and overall good feeling that was now signature to Harmony's aurora borealis arched beam. Rouge and Blaze were stunned by it, but Rouge knew this wasn't the same feeling she had felt in the vision.

Silver, almost seemed like he would topple over by it's alluring aura that lulled him into a state of bliss... before the peacefulness disappeared as fast as the wave had carried and passed over him.

His eyes dropped and he caught himself from toppling over. "W-...What was that?"

Shade watched as a flower rose up from the ground... and kneeling down to it, bowed, before using her leech blade to cut it and watching it's life force drain into her by Harmony's power that was channeled through the blade.

"She has not forgotten... her love for us." she stood up, showing the flower. "Chaos fears nature, he grows uneasy with it due to her power to control and manipulate it. He is water, water that surrounds the mind. She is life, the waters that fill the womb, but carries the emotions of life. Chaos is able to destroy and bring pain to such emotions... but he is also not necessarily bad. If we did not have the pain, we would not know the good." she crushed the flower, before slowly opening her hand and letting the petals and steam drift out of her hand through the wind.

A powerful storm was approaching from far off...

As the gang looked to it, Shade once again set her sights to rectifying her people's wrong. "She deserves are apology... Chaos deserves his friend and companion back... but we must do so carefully. Scars of the past do not heal themselves. Nothing can bring her lost power back, her arm will forever be a reminder to her of our selfish lies and foolish ideologies... the era of idolatry... ends with Harmony."

-Else where-

Worried by the storm and where their friends and loved ones had gone off to, Team Chaotix—shielding a tired Vanilla from the powerful winds and helping Cream and Cheese up the hill to get a better look in the distance—set their sights on Eggman's moving army...

"Boy, some storm, huh?" Vector called out, keeping one arm over his struggling eyes to see and another to powerfully hold Vanilla up in his arms. "You doing okay, miss?"

Vanilla had lost a lot of strength during that last wave of whatever power made, as Vector put it, "Ya feel good but regret it later". She was panting, and through her pants, constantly looking back and checking on Cream.

"I'll... be alright... Cream?"

"C-coming, mother!" Cream's ears were flapping in the wind, Vector and Espio kept their arms either defending her from the front, or prepared to catch her if the winds knocked her back from behind.

"She's doing great, Miss Vanilla lady!" Charmy called out, his mouth growing in size as he tried to summon up all of his 'big voice boy' to reach her and Vector ahead.

"It doesn't make sense, why isn't anyone informed about what's happening?" Espio made a good point, but Vector didn't know how to answer it.

"Come on, Espio. We're detectives! It's our job to figure it out, or it wouldn't be much of an 'agency', now would it?" He kept his team and the three moving, looking up to see Cheese using his pudgy hand to fight the storm... but being blown away before hitting Vector's face. "Gwak!" he was able to secure himself though to grabbing his headphones, but seeing them slip a little under and almost fall off Vector's head, he grabbed the chains on his neck as Vector let go of Vanilla and she slumped to her knees, watching worriedly and weakly as she held a dainty hand up to her chest.

"M-Mr. Vector..." she looked so helpless in her current state, but Cream rushed to try and help.

"Mother!" she fell to her lap, gripping her as the two watched Vector get slightly choked from the Chao.

"G-ge-get-gwak! This chao o-o-offph me!" he struggled but Espio and Charmy were able to expertly pull the Chao down into their arms. As Charmy adjusted his chain necklace and headphones, patting his head and lightly going, "There, there, Boss~" in his usual, chimey voice; Espio securely hugged Cheese close to his chest, and lead him back into Cream's arms.

"Hold him tight..." He stated to her, and knelt by them. "We can't keep this up forever, Vector. We need the others. We have to know what's going on... Vanilla can't take too many more of those light blasts..."

Vector stomped his foot down, flinging Charmy forward as he was only trying to situate his 'look' back in order. "I KNOW THAT!" his large crocodile mouth snapped open and close in his words. He was growing worried too... frustrated in his own attempts at trying to help everyone...

He stared with trembling eyes at the two girls, looking to him for help... for guidance... for aid...

He closed his eyes, getting emotional, and seeing that they needed a hero so desperately. It was only right to seek out a hero and do what he could to help in a situation like this. "GAHHH! Detective agency, Team Chaotixxx!" he cried out, striking a pose with his finger pointing off into the distance.

"Hai!" the two jumped into position. (Japanese for 'Yes!' or complying.)

"AHHHHH It's time to find Sonic and his friends and get a good reading on what the heck's going on lately!" He nodded, flexing his arms out a little as though still trying to sound cool. "We'll get to the bottom of this mystery or die tryyyiinnn'!"

Charmy and Espio quickly jumped up, trying to signal to him that he's only making Vanilla, Cream, and Cheese even more scared.

"D-D-Die?" Cream's light, high-pitched and squeaky voice carried over the wind as she held her mother tighter, and in return, Vanilla sorrowfully looked to Vector and leaned closer down to her daughter. Cheese also cried out in 'Chao' like cries, as though scolding Vector with his eyes angled against his words.

Vector awkwardly recollected himself, "Emm... C-Charmy! You have permission to clamp my snapper if I'm about to say something off again!" he pointed to his muzzle as Charmy nodded, eager to begin.

"If you say so, boss~" he kicked his feet out, endlessly optimistic about the possibilities of that coming into play.

"Alright, gang. Let's move out!" he lifted his fist up and picked up the girls, helping them up as they continued to try and find a reading on Sonic...

Instead... they saw something bright from the sun, covered in dark storm clouds, and something... dropping from it...

"T-that's where we're going!" he suddenly stated, "Where that golden sundrop is burning like a comet towards!"

"You sure about that?" Charmy looked unsure but Vector just hollered back over his shoulder at him.

"I know what I'm doing!"

"If you say so, Vector..." Espio followed along... unknowing they were heading for Blaze, Shade, and Silver...

Other worlds continued to begin their stages of decay and were slowly dying...

Having their life sucked out of them... and wondering if the legends of a Harmonious spirit were preparing for another war...

All the while, a conniving villain, stroking his mustache, had once again trapped this Goddess between earth and sky...

He wanted to release her true form...

A form that could end all creation from every planet... ever... again.

Eggman sneered.

-Eggman's new zone and headquarters-

The wind against the windows were like high-pitched whistles as they cried by, howling in the storm as light taps from leaves hit against the base as Eggman had began his cruel experiment again.

"Why are you putting her through this again!?" Orbot worriedly watched him prepare, seeing Cubot also wringing his hands as Harmony covered her head with her one arm, shaking in fear as she looked to the two Chaos Emeralds surrounding her Crystal.

"She's done everything you asked!" He pleaded, but Eggman just tapped his nose.

"You're not thinking like a evil genius." he teased, smirking as he moved over to the window, and placed his oxygen mask on. "Sure, she's been forced to do my bidding, but who hasn't? She's still a variable that isn't completely useful yet until she becomes her true form..."

"T-true form..?" Orbot looked aghast.

The wind now intensified, as though the sound of agony as her being rippled like shaken water, falling to her knees and folding in a feminine manner, her blood-red crystals being covered by her body's fluid to show she was somewhat hiding, and the drips of lava-lamp like blood moving within her seemed to stream like drops of tears around her 'eyes'.

The storm was knocking over trees, which then grew out and were covered by plants that were then blown into the base, as though a hurricane was forming some distance away but rapidly approaching...

Eggman spread out his long arms, letting the flashes of lightning highlight his stature from looming above her in a sealed room she couldn't effect again. "Alright, little miss Goddess of life! My final request!"

Orbot and Cubot looked to each other, knowing that couldn't possibly be all he'll ever need. Their worry only grew when a tree's trunk slammed into the base, exposing a pocket where Harmony stood.

The robotic 'hands' from the top-sides of the base stretched out and patched it up fast while Eggman continued.

"For someone so subdued, your powers over nature and air carry quite a different spirit." he was noting the fact that even though she was cowering, her powers were very much fighting to free her, and he wasn't sure how to interpret that exactly...

"Lose your form, Harmony..." He slowly withdrew his hands behind his back... "And reclaim your ultimate form."

Orbot gasped, having not realized that if Chaos had an ultimate form, that it would make sense Harmony must have one too. "A final..?" he looked to Cubot, but neither of them had actually experienced Perfect Chaos...

But they knew the records, the affects had been catastrophic.

"You can't be serious," Orbot turned back to Eggman, but Cubot finished his sentence for him, "But he'll do it anyway."

Eggman kept a smile as his glasses shined across their reflective surface.

Harmony's soft hums seemed to shrill with a plea of mercy, but Eggman just shook his head.

"No, no, no. No amount of hopeless pretending is going to make me believe you can't possibly have the powers to dominate the world and bend it to my own shape and design." Eggman rubbed his fingers confidently into his extended mustache... "Once you're released from the prison of the Crystal, you'll be able to gather the powers of the world and then some, take all that female energy and shift rock, grow jungles, and I'll come in with all my half-metal army to completely litter the world with machines!" leaned forward, his true desires coming through. "Sonic will be so caught up in trying to get here, he won't have time to actually stop you like he did Perfect Chaos! This time, instead of destroying everything, I'll just build over it. You'll take all manner of life, leaving this planet desolate, and explode your power to make way for me to play God!"

Orbot and Cubot held hands again, pushing up against each other as they started to understand his purpose. "W-... Wipe out the world?" Cubot stuttered. "Only... to replace it all with man-made machine..." Orbot finished for him, and then two looked to each other in great concern.

"We won't have flowers?" Cubot began.

Orbot shook his head, "Streams made of oil, all of nature refined with a coarse metal coating... robotizing everything into a steel planet..."

"Glorious, right?" Eggman threw up a leg and stomped on the edge of the window, "Harmony! It's time to exact your revenge! Destroy life! And I'll make sure it never exists again!"

Harmony looked horrified, could this creature really be so bent on destruction? She looked down, remembering the words of the creatures that seemed so frightened before of extinction, of giving up their breath of life for the last time and leaving nothing to remain after them. Was that a lie too? The fear of absolute oblivion? Did no creature's soul wrack with a true love of life and joy in their sphere of existence?

Eggman, seeing her contemplating in bubbled silence, was still waiting upon a certain emotion before he began.

His bright white teeth glistened as he saw it then, her blood boil...

Her wrath that Chaos could create such creatures of man with her... She purposefully designed nature to be elegant and delicate, though surviving all disaster that it might never wane in it's existence... she gave life a way to create more life, to never fully let death end all things.

Her one hand slowly lowered to brace herself against the ground, her body hunching over as her patterns on her long appendages out of her head began to break off, looking like gaps between a spiderweb.

Eggman began to slowly laugh, a signature of his before slamming his foot on the button to activate the torture she knew all too well.

As her unique sound carried in her agony, her being ripped apart like water spraying up and began to splinter out into a bigger form.

The Crystal shook, and at last, began to crack as the Chaos Emeralds were blasted back, denting the metal around them but still keeping the torture in effect.

"Ah! She's doing it!" Orbot let go of Cubot and raced himself into the window's wall, putting his pudgy little gloves against the sturdy material as he watched her break away into a large being, absorbing the crystal's power as it's light show blasted and the base's walls began to rip asunder at the intensity of her unleashed rage.

"There's a woman scorned!" Eggman howled in a wicked triumphant. "There's the wrath of Harmony!"

Her long head, mimicking that of Chaos's ultimate form, cried out into the open hurricane above the base, finally reaching it's epicenter as Eggman didn't withdraw himself from his built-in bunker. The base shook as though threatening to lift off the ground, but Eggman had prepared for this, studying the manuscripts and learning from his past experiments.

Cubot did move away, grabbing a stunned Orbot and seeking shelter away from the view of her finally reforming some shape again.

Dragon-like, with one gaping spider-webbed wing that traveled all down her slug like body, releasing some globbish vines that only strengthened her one wing, she flew into the massive storm and let out a piercing cry that broke the wind around her as she controlled it to stay afloat with only one mapped wing. In all logical reality, the 'wing' had no webbing to actually keep her afloat anyway. It seemed her power over air kept her up, due to the thousands of large holes in her stem-like pattern that formed the shape of a wing-structure... but it was as if the 'bone' of it was all her substance. Plants began to die as she took power from them, exploding it out into the universe to displace this planet's energy into the universe.

And on many different planets... seeds of the last known Metarex tree began to sprout... as though that was the final ingredient they needed to live again...

In Tails's workshop, a small stem of a seedling, which had been in that state for years upon years... began to form a bud... as it tossed back and forth... and a bright light suddenly burst from around it. A saddled, small body and top of a head suddenly emerged from the bud, as though wrapped in a baby's blanket... but no sound or noise indicated of anything alive... just yet...

After Harmony successfully distributed her power out, she soared up to face the sun, as though her opponent, and opened her mouth to throw her head back and began absorbing power once again...

Plants weren't the only victims in her fury...

-Back with Sonic and the gang-

The wind was ferocious as the team trekked and battled through the insanely planned zone, finding it hard to break through the natural/metallic army of the giants made of stone, plant, and robot that were fueled off of Harmony's power.

Knuckles held up a hand to block the wind as he then dived through a sudden gap in it's pressure and crashed into one. He broke the rock easily, dented the metal, but when seeds and oil spilled out as one... he held out his hand to let the seeds drip away from him like sand rushing off a slope.

"What... does this mean?" He looked up and saw the half-smashed and crushed through giant turn back to him with one glowing pink eye and the other red like the metal robot it was fused with. "Erk!?" He gritted his teeth, surprised that even though half it's body was demolished, it still went to swipe out at him. He jumped, "Is all of nature out to stop us!?" he then saw the wind pick up again, "Huh?" Turning his head he was immediately swept up and flailed in the air, trying to swim and glide through it. "W-wo-woah!" his gliding ability only slowed his momentum but he still wasn't strong enough and landed against a raised wall of earth. "Grr... Eggman's forcing this storm out of her, right!? I'm no guardian if I can't correct this wrong!" he struggled to lift a fist up and turn his body against the zone's earth, reaching back and slamming his fist to dig into the ground. "If I can't fly, I'll fight where there is no wind!" he tunneled and began to pop his upper half up out of the ground to attack the giants, figuring if he can't 'destroy them', he'd at least make a pit fall to trap them.

Soon, he had many locations where the Elemental Soldiers were falling in, one after another, and weren't able to escape or move further.

He popped out like a groundhog again and looked around, then smirked and pulled himself out, rotating his shoulder a bit to stretch it out. "And that's how you get a tough job done!" he gloated, before looking to see a white and purple figure seeming to fly alright in the wind.

He squinted up, "Who's that..?" before he looks behind them and gasps, seeing a familiar set of black wings and a heart-shaped breast pendant struggling in the wind. "Ah! That Bat Girl Too!? What's Rouge doing here!?" he further pulled himself, with a few comical wiggles, out of the hole in the ground he was in and dove up into the air. "ROOOUUUGGEEE!"

Rouge suddenly stopped fighting the wind and glided back a moment, "Hold on a second... I know that angry voice anywhere." she looked around before her face lit up at seeing an increasingly growing in size and detail red echidna moving towards her through the wind.

"Knuckles!" she exclaimed, glad to see him before seeing he was using the wind to literally propel him towards her,... which meant...

He was shooting like a rocket towards her.

"Ah-ah!" She shook her hands out, trying to warn him to slow down, "You blockhead, stop!" she turned around, panicking before he slammed into her and they toppled through the air. "AHAHAHAH!"

Knuckles seemed serious during the whole ordeal, kicking a foot down to stop their constant circling and flip her back towards her friends like an aerial U-turn with a pivot.

"Darn it, Rouge..." He grumbled through his gritted teeth as he tried to fight the wind once again,... but wasn't doing so well as they slowed in their forward direction. "You know the risks of being here..."

Getting back her senses after momentarily getting light-headed, she suddenly looked amazed by his worry for her, and then smiled sweetly to him. "I'm at risk wherever I go, might as well call in my last few moments with a brave knight, right?" she caressed his head and squished it up to hers, making his face turn a bright red with a flowing blush as he suddenly kicked the air and began to move down as he stopped gliding.

"You're not gonna die here, you-!" He screamed out a bunch of unrecognizable sounds as though language that was muffled by gusts of wind in his face being shot straight into his mouth and making his words unable to really come out, but Silver and Blaze turned back, catching him with Silver's power.

"Huh?" Knuckles blinked his eyes as he was taken out of his raging fit to see he was being pulled up to the mysterious white and purple figures. "Do I... knoooowwww-ah! Silver!" He had to squint his eyes through the wind again, but immediately noticed it was Silver. He then squinted his eyes to the purple figure, "But what about..."

"This is Blaze," Silver was unsure if Knuckles remembered her, "It's been a long time, but now's not the time to race through memory lane. Where's Sonic?" Silver tried to get straight to the point.

"We have some important information for him." Blaze continued, as Knuckles vaguely remembered her name, and noticed Silver's telekinesis power was holding her up as well during this storm.

"Huh." He seemed to accept that, "Sonic moved on ahead, in hopes of getting Chaos closer to Harmony, but..." He looked a bit unsure of if that was a good idea or not. "We're all just trusting that Harmony and Chaos can sort out their differences without a huge dispute."

"Not a wise plan..." Rouge grumbled.

Then, from behind Knuckles, a pink glow...

He slowly turned around, and called out with a few shocked kicks-"Not Nocturnus!"

Shade let the helmet be removed and revealed herself, "It's been a while... Knuckles the Echidna."

"S...Shade the Echidna?" he was greatly shocked now, but seemed to recognize her better than Silver and Blaze.

"I am trained in stealth, forgive him. I tried staying on the ground level before Silver hoisted me into the air." She looked towards him with a nod, but there was a slight sting in her words as though she was hinting at not wanting to be revealed.

Knuckles seemed conflicted, but nodded to her being there, "How... Have you been?"

Rouge rolled her eyes.

"Enough of pleasantries. Where's Sonic?"

Tails was finding it hard to maneuver through the extra spikes and obstacles in their path, "W-woah! Sheesh... It looks like Dr. Eggman really wanted to slow us down." he kept his arms up tight by his body and was feeling the strain of keeping himself strong enough to keep pushing through the wind, but at least they were making progress.

"Up top!" Sonic called, jumping up as Tails moved into position and caught him, swinging him into a Giant that then hit another of it's kind, the elemental soldiers.

"Heh, this will be a lot more trudging through than I anticipated." Sonic dusted some loosened rubble from the Giant stone and metal soldier off his shoulder, then blowing on it to keep the dust off too. "How's Amy?"

He looked back to see a pink dot still struggling to climb over an edge in the distance, but finally making it, sighing, before her dress threatened to blow up and had to push it down like Marilyn Monroe.

Tails and Sonic looked back to each other, "Dresses." they then chuckled to one another.

"I wish I could help, but I can't go back." Sonic was referring to the necessity of getting Chaos to Harmony as quickly as possible, he smiled up at his buddy, and Tails knew.

Nodding, he flew back, "Good luck, Sonic! And stay safe!" he waved and called back to him.

Sonic nodded, a part of him didn't want to see Amy struggling so much... or any of his friends for that matter, but looking ahead, the Babylon Rogue's had already harnessed the wind to create plenty of speed for their Extreme Gears.

"Time for me to break through the limits." Sonic smirked, and hunkered down in a runner's position. He then skirted to the side, after taking a sharp breath, and bolted as a stream of blue out towards them.

Curling up, it took no time at all to catch up to them and bolt like a missile passed before having to stop at a steep, high cliff.

"Wah-ah!" The jet-stream he created for the Babylon Rogues was amazing, but Jet just formed a fist and pulled it a bit forward, grimacing but muttering in his mind the curses against Sonic.

"Who does he think he is..?" He dived into the jet-stream, "I'm the biggest show off there is when it comes to wind!" back and forth, he did flips through the wind's curved downward arch and easily made it back to him.

His team followed, and as he jumped off his air gear, he flicked his a finger off his beak in a haughty way. "That's how you ride the wind, Sonic! You utilize it, not cut straight through it without style!" He gloated.

Sonic just smiled back over his shoulder at him, "Says the loser." he joked, before looking back at Eggman's base. "We've really got to make up for lost time... all of us do." He narrowed his sights on Eggman's base, seeing a tree knock into it.

The four flinched back, "Wah!" before seeing the trunk shoved out and some sparks as though repairs were being quickly made.

"I don't get." Jet shook his head, recovering from the shock of a tree truck piercing the domed base. "Why is Eggman purposefully ticking off a God?" He gestured his hand out to the others.

Wave felt uneasy, not sure when another one of those blasts may drain her energy again, but Storm noticed this subtle fear and placed his hand warmly to her back, smiling gently to her to give her some optimism.

She was amazed he could pick up on her emotion like that, since all she was doing was looking at the ground, but smiled politely back and nodded, not wanting him to alert Jet to her behavior.

She was lost in her thoughts... never having to contemplate death at such a young age...

"D'ah... Wave?" Storm grabbed her attention.

"Huh?" She had thought his touch was meant as a kindness, but it turned out he was just like the clueless males around her. Turns out, Jet had apparently been talking to her, and the gentle tap by Storm was his way of telling her to try and answer back. "O-oh!" Noticing all their looks at her, she realized they figured her to be the smartest around.

She sighed, stepping forward, glad not one of these ignorant men could have that high of emotional detectors. "What would you blokes do without me?" she pulled out her necklace and started to assess the readings.

'Good thing emotional empathy is predominately a lost concept to most men,' she didn't mind her sexist comment, she worried that if they did see something off with her, that it could be just like the jungle... and she was tired. She didn't want to play anything off again, and she really didn't want anyone asking about it. Her own feelings... were not a big deal to her.

"Sorry, I don't really think I picked up on your questi- Ah!" her mouth practically dropped in a dramatic fashion, seeing the levels of intensity coming from the base. "This is bad! This is like, really bad!" she dropped her act and immediately started to send the readings to Tails and Shadow. "These-!"

Before she could explain the abnormal levels of activity going on inside the base, the base seemed to be shredded in a spiral up towards the massive hurricane that didn't form like usual. Clouds should be evident, but instead, the clouds remained above and as a pink, large body and slender snake neck with the look of a dragon's head suddenly split the sky and blasted the clouds and storm away. The wind still howled and pulled them forward, forcing Wave to lift her hands over her head, still gripping her magnetic bead that was still sending the live information tightly in her hand.

The wind scooted her forward and she fell, as the men around her quickly surrounded her to protect.

'Not again...' she covered her eyes, biting down on her trembling beak. 'I don't want to die... Jet,... Storm,... what will they do without me?'

As her despair set in, the boys remained fixated on the strange wing, seeming to beat through the air but not actually draw any wind, instead, the wind hoisted the monstrous body upwards.

Plants around the area began to turn to grey ash as their colors flew through the air and spiraled around the being.

"Is that..?!" Sonic leaned forward, feeling the 'water in his ear' like sensation intensify and he had to grip the side of his head.

"What? Is Chaos telling you something?" Jet was down by Wave, but Storm turned his eyes away from the beast as the wind continued to be harsh. He was large, he could block the wind, but worried Wave might be drained again.

He saw that she hadn't removed her arms down from her head, and that her beak was softly clattering against the top of itself.

His eyes bent, suddenly realizing that Wave was not okay.

He looked to Sonic and Jet, back and forth, as though used to being told what to do, not sure how to handle this situation.

"I think..." Sonic began, then teetered unsteadily before lowering his hand and looking back to Jet, showing a bit of a weary certainty. "Yeah, that's her."

"Harmony..?" Jet gawked, "Well, I'd be scared to see her too!" Jet remarked, but as he did so, saw Storm bend down over Wave. "Huh!?" his feathers stood on end, "Storm!? What are you doing!?"

Storm shut his eyes tight, wrapping his arms around Wave in a tight hug, and securing her against the wind... he kept Jet and Sonic from seeing her state, acting as though he was simply blocking her from the wind, and keeping her safe.

In reality, he was keeping her pride and dignity safe too.

Jet continued to look oddly towards him but tried to see Wave underneath, but Storm just looked sorrowfully up at him, showing that something was wrong but it was probably best not to let Wave know they knew.

Sonic looked confused, looking to Jet, who knew Wave just as well as Storm did, and figured this was another one of her ways to look tough without showing anyone weakness.

He turned his head away, gritting his teeth, "Tsk." but he thought to himself, 'That darn girl...' and felt that if Storm was keeping whatever she was experiencing away from his sight, it was probably what Wave wanted anyway.

Jet looked back at Sonic, "Just get rid of her already!" he stated, throwing a arm to his leg and pushing him forward. "Or whatever it is your supposed to do! Just don't keep me waiting." He was speaking on behalf of Wave, but Sonic looked to the three and didn't seem to understand.

He nodded though, accepting that he wasn't picking up on something, but hoped Wave was alright.

Right before he was about to face her, Harmony had thrown her neck back so far that it almost laid over her fattened, slug like body. She gathered the energy into a single, glowing and circling with lights ball that she shot or threw forward like a beam. Her holed wing also, like a bunch of threads connecting together, flung forward as the wind carried the beam towards the sun.

Sonic gasped as the other two men turned to watch the beam and gasped as the sun... looked as though it was exploding.

The light was immense and the whiplash sent them all to their knees, as Jet threw himself over Storm's body, another act of love for their team before the hole in the sun looked like someone had shot the sky...

The sun didn't explode... but it's hole looked as though a strange, dripping solar eclipse.

"Soooniiccc..!" A voice suddenly cried out as the wind and storm ceased for a brief moment.

Sonic launched his head upright, looking around as his body was pumping with adrenaline. 'Really wish I had all the Chaos Emeralds right about now!'

He saw in the distance... could it be?

"Vector?" he said the name as though disbelieving, seeing the crocodile waving his hand vigorously before pointing to what looked like Knuckles and Rouge... with a weakened Silver and Blaze.

Turns out the beam had shaken the whole of the earth, and when the sun was hit, it cut into every other world, making the passage to obtaining Harmony's lost energy even more effective. To put it simply, imagine a pool had a small hole in it, it was still leaking, but you weren't getting a lot of water out to tell. Now, imagining ripping a huge hole that completely matched the circumference of that pool's bottom?

Massive amounts of energy were now floating through the hole, like streams of ghostly light.

Shadow, who had traveled on alone and on a different route than the others, stopped to see the beam and the sun look like it was taken out. His anger grew and he saw Silver and Blaze practically get wracked by the energy of their worlds being drained. In so much that Blaze fainted, but Silver completely lost most of his ability to concentrate and use his power so evenly.

Rouge and Knuckles flew, but Shadow moved fast, catching the two and showing Rouge the data Wave had live-streamed.

Shade, even though connected to Chaos's powered realm in the Twilight Cage, looked to her Leech Blade as Rouge had caught her. It was flickering... before blazing into new life. "The Lost Chaos Emeralds powers..." she concluded, "She is gathering her lost power... but she can't... she can't harness that much anymore. She's been weakened, what is she doing?"

Rouge thought the worst then, Kamikaze...

Her eyes widened, but she dared not speak her thought.

Amy and Tails made their way back to Sonic, holding onto one another with one arm around the other as they tried to trek through the wind before it suddenly seemed to cease... they were coming from another angle towards the cliff Sonic and the Babylon Rogue's were on before seeing Team Chaotix, and a mostly recovering Vanilla and Cream.

Then they all seemed to collide as they all moved in the direction they saw the beam. As luck would have it, they had all gathered at a distance beneath Harmony's wing.

Chapter Text

Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos

Chapter 8 (Unedited)

By Cutegirlmayra (I know it's been too long, I'm so sorry. I'm trying to edit, work on original stories, and do pet projects of mine... plus, living life, working, so much happens after school! But it's very liberating too, hehe. It does get better, folks! Now, on to the new chapter updates! Long overdue, sorry about that! lol I'll try and make it worth it, promise..! Also… I’m gonna quit editing for a while to update more chapters XD)

With everyone now gathered beneath the powerful wingbeat of Harmony’s airy throne, a hurricane beneath her like a seat upon the now dispersed sky… the storm that Chaos had created was spread out to create a spiraling hole of wind, much like the now gaping hole of the sun where dimensions, worlds, and all manner of forgotten magical gems like Chaos Emeralds, Sol Emeralds, and Phantom Rubies were now drained of all their power to assist in Harmony’s Perfect form… and the resurrection of her might was still incomplete.

As was mentioned previously, due to her missing army, even Perfect Harmony was only half-baked. The power swirled in colors around her, slowly turning into a vibrant pink like a ball of light around her person.

“Even with only the powers she’s able to retain-!” Tails stated, trying to speak out over the winds that had now died down due to her transforming as much as she could wield now. “She’s still so massively powerful!”

Storm moved off of Wave, her breathing irregular and looking as though her panic attack had finally waned on her spirit. She was starting to blink her eyes a bit more, the wind ceasing it’s howling, forceful fury made her calm down somewhat.

Maybe… men could pick up on emotions far more than she had supposed.

“...Ee-urk…” She slowly got up as Storm moved back, and Jet put his hand to her back instead to keep her up.

“You okay?” He asked, his eyes showing a serious look. He wanted her to be honest, but knew she wouldn’t be.

“G-...” Ungritting her beak, she did her best to fake an excuse, putting a hand to her stomach, one eye still squinted shut, “Got the wind knocked out of me, that’s all.” she lied, and he just accepted that, squinting his eyes and looking down as though not wanting to argue it.

“... Alright, then.” He looked out towards Sonic as his body began to shake, his quills rippling as though… watery… waves…

“Sonic?” He called out, as Sonic hugged himself, and looked back up at Harmony.

“I need…” He was struggling, feeling Chaos wanting to emerge again. “I need the Chaos Emeralds…” He was worried, for the first time since Dark Gaia, that he wouldn’t have the power to control himself again.

With the werehog, it was different, he hadn’t ‘lost himself completely’... But Chaos wanted control, and he was struggling to give him his will…

In its entirety.

Still uncertain if Chaos would fight Harmony instead of saving her, he turned to his friends, “Everyone…” He then looked to see Team Chaotix rushing to join them, and the two downed companions being carried in as well.

Blaze, Silver, Cream, and Vanilla… Cheese flew by their sides, worriedly cooing as Rouge, Knuckles, and Shadow graced the scene.

“Looking for these?” Shadow held up more than just one Chaos Emerald!

Everyone gasped, “Where’d you get those!?” Tails shouted out, as he pulled out his own, and so did Knuckles.

“Heh,” Knuckles winked to him, cockily, “When Harmony took out that outer layer of that facility, these whoppers flew out!” He threw them to Sonic, as Shadow did the same, along with Tails.

“Make sure you use those wisely…” Shadow muttered, as though still not fully trusting that giving ‘Chaos’ the Chaos Emeralds was the best approach, but like Amy had said, he was willing to try and trust Sonic’s win streak again… “We’re counting on you.”

Sonic winked to him, still struggling to hold Chaos back, “Heh!” He smirked, “As you all should.”

That typical confidence was somewhat playing down the fact that Sonic was trying to keep Chaos under the surface… but a wild seafront was beneath his skin… his stomach felt ill… his head growing dizzy.

“Harmony… how did she-?” Sonic looked up to ask as Knuckles stepped forward.

“If the Chaos Emeralds harness Chaos’s power… who’s to say the other Emeralds, lost to time and space, also contained some of her power, too?” He hypothesized. “In a matter of seconds… she has already regained power from every Planet Egg but this one… that’s why the sun’s like that, right, Blaze?” He looked down to see her struggle to get out of their arms, falling to her knees.

“The… The Sol Emeralds… they’ve… disappeared.” She was looking in rough shape, “I feel… I feel almost… a disconnect… like my whole realm… it’s… gone.” She put a hand to her forehead, “Everything… I am… just… gone .”

Silver, seeing her pain, also moved out from the other’s help and crawled with one hand to his chest, moving towards Blaze and putting a hand on her shoulder, “My powers… blipped out of existence… The future… I’m not sure if there is one anymore …” He worriedly stated his fears, his powers pretty much non-existent now.

Was that… the ending of all things? Of worlds and science of life?

The literal apocalypse leading to armageddon… was the being who created it in the first place?

“The Planet Egg…” Tails’s eyes shook, “It’s the last to go.” He looked to Sonic, “Are we… too late, Sonic?”

Sonic didn’t answer him… He rose his head forward as though trying to think of a way to keep everyone calm, say something to inspire them…

He flapped open his mouth but nothing came out, his jaw tried to force itself to move but again, no words formed…

Then Amy stepped forward.

“We’re not dead yet !” her voice triumphant when Sonic’s couldn’t. He smiled and lowered his head, he needed her more than ever. For that brief moment, he looked back as though giving her permission to be the voice inside himself that he couldn’t articulate.

She spread her arms out, as Cream and Vanilla raised their heads to look back to her. “This is our world! It may be broken up,” The earth was quaking at Chaos trying to have Sonic take in the Chaos Emeralds floating around him, wanting him to relinquish his spirit back behind the curtain of his body and let him take over to confront Harmony… but Sonic wouldn’t yield it. Not yet… “Shattered,” City windows shook violently in the winds, until finally, one broke and then–as though a domino effect–many windows and planes of glass began to break at stores and with street lamps.

“Tossed left and right,” The sea broke itself asunder and then came crashing back together, a threatening sight. “But it is still our world!!!” Amy’s voice rang out over the landscape of trees being pulled out from their roots, ripping off terra with itself and plants turning to ash as their colors were stripped from their sides… and just a bare, brown dirt remained in its place…

Flickys fought the storm and fell in flocks, tiny herds, and some just clung to each other in comfort…

None had the strength to even try and outrun the end…

“We have the power to save it!” She held her fist tightly to herself, “While we yet live, we will fight!”

Harmony, still in pain, looked down to see the bunker Eggman was safely away in, shoot out a beam that split like two electric arms.

“Though I don’t have the Chaos Emeralds…” His voice was directed to Cubot and Orbot, as the hands kept shooting through the air and then gripping Harmony’s body, making her screech out a metallic ring like glass hitting itself.

She struggled in the air, her wind starting to make her toddle in its open space…

“I still have the technology to replicate their power!” He swung his arm out, as three more replica Chaos Emeralds, fake and with a dim comparison to the originals, now sent a shockwave of power up before turning to dust…

Harmony then had metallic coating latch onto her, clipping to her one wing and spreading out to mechanize and create a robotic layer over her organic, fluid wing.

She shook her head, enraged. The fake power that withheld her was only meant to hold her as Eggman had fired out mysterious rockets, which exploded and started crafting steel technology over her Perfect form.

“Now… Let’s play a new game… Sonic, I cannot lose now! This time-!” he started pressing many buttons, and her wings glowed a hot magenta, forcing her to reel herself back as her fluid tentacles flew out and dug deep into the earth.

“Now, Harmony!” He cried out, “Create for me… my perfect world order!!! ”

Eggman threw out his hands as the lights on her wing-joints glowed metallically, turning red as plants rose up from the falling world and shapeshifted into monuments of Eggman, which the Elemental Soldiers than took to like ants, constructing what looked to be ‘robotized’ versions of that structure.

“Now all the powers of life will be at my disposal!!!”

More, festival and theme park-like structures emerged and were then covered in Elemental Giants and robotic earth, terraforming the landscape into a steel wonderland of a carnival empire …

“Eggman..!!!” Knuckles roared over the cliff, seeing that he was only attacking the area closest to him… for now…

“You guys… You… take out those weird fusions of metal and earth.” Sonic, rising from the storm inside him, gripped his head a moment as his eyes glowed the green of the Master Emerald… of Chaos’s eyes …

“No matter what Chaos does, now…” He gritted his teeth, “I have to do something..!” He powered up into Super Sonic, “I’m tired of talking…” He narrowed his eyes, but then the whole of the cliff started to shake as a few fluid tentacles had made their way through the earth towards them.

“Look out!” Tails cried out, before the wiggling appendages of Harmony’s arms began to pull the life out of the girls by them.

Vanilla felt weak, but pushed Cream towards them, “F-fight, my child.” She then fell to the ground on her stomach, struggling… This triggered Shadow… not only did it look just like Maria… it also reminded him of the vision Tikal had showed them.

“She’s… She’s taking them all!” He cried out, as Storm and Jet turned to see Wave’s colors fading, her smiling to them a moment.

Before they could cry out her name, she fell back and was as white as snow…

Rouge rose up and flew, though her colors were being sapped like her life force, she drill-spun into one of the tentacles, fighting her own weariness, and shredded one into splashing out in gooey slim that sprayed everywhere.

Cream, looking to her mother, then angled her eyes and grabbed Cheese, “You’re hurting me and mama! My friends! Everyone!” With Cheese, being a boy, still at full health and vigor, he flew up to the other pink, liquid tendril as it wiggled to absorb the lights within itself and spun to throw Cream’s large feet into it.

It severed right through it, and the light show ceased with it as well.

Blaze, taking the last of her power, threw a flaming blast towards the other, having it shrivel and, instead of breaking off, melt back into the ground.

“WAVVVEEE!!!” The two remaining Babylon Rogues’ shrieked cut through the deafening silence now…

“Mama!!!” Cream flew back and fell to her mother’s side… only a faint amount of color remained on her, as she was still leaking what looked like rays of different colors… flying up to Harmony. 

“My child…” She soothingly stroked Cream’s head, “It’s alright, Cream dear.” She hugged her close to herself as Team Chaotix began to tear up and cry.

“This… can’t be happening… what on earth is going on?” Vector rubbed his eyes, still not certain what was happening, “You can’t just die, it was just a little smudge of some colorful lights, why is this happening?”

Jet kept shaking Wave’s body, “WAVE. WAVE. WAVVEE!!!” his voice was growing hoarse and dry, as Storm’s bottom beak trembled and his arms came up and back, unable to fathom the reality of what just happened.

Blaze… then also fell as Silver, Shadow, and Knuckles moved to try and catch her, but were too late, just crowding around her. “Blaze?!” Silver called out, as Blaze smiled warmly while her chin tilted somewhat on the dusty ground.

“I couldn’t save my world… my dimension… the people that revered me as their princess…” She closed her eyes lightly, the colors continuing to fade… her lights flying off towards Harmony as well. “Silver…” She looked to him fondly, and for a moment, a spike in Silver’s memory made him tear up and start crying…

“Why…” He began, putting a finger up to his cheek to touch the warm tears present there, “Does this… scene… feel… so familiar?”

“I believe in the future you’re trying to save.”

Silver’s eyes glossed over as though his own spirit had been shattered by her encouraging…

Last… words…

Knuckles, seeing Blaze go stark white… slowly lowered his hands before rising up and rushing to Rouge… who was gliding wobbly to the ground. “RRROUUUGGGEEE!”

“The infertility of man…” Shadow’s eyes were shrunken and shaking, seeing the men crying over their female companions and friends… “The world will be stilled…” He gripped some grass near his hand, seeing he couldn’t lock the color in as–no matter how hard he squeezed his fists tight–the lights still slipped through the concrete-seal of his hands…

“Men… will be powerless to bring life back.” His body trembled in anger… in sorrow… “Maria…” He lowered his body and face to the ground, crying… “I have failed you… I couldn’t save… the world you loved so much…”

Tails ran to Cream, holding her as she cried but her mother’s life was still being drained.

He tried to move her away from the horrific sight, almost like a delicate pull of her beauty, but Cream fought him.

Cheese also tried to help fight Tails back, crying out his pebbles of tears like any child would.

“It’s not forsaken, Shadow.” Vanilla grabbed his attention, looking over to him in her weary state, “Women help set things right. We are the natural affection of this world… But without men, we would certainly already be lost.” She smiled to him fondly, “Men are the defenders… the providers of more than just physical strength… you are our hope . Women make the world a bright and happy place to dwell upon… because we become the mothers that must make sure everything is successful for our children to thrive… but Fathers…" She then looked up to the skies, “Fathers are what give purpose to meaningful life… the grace of courage, the knowledge of noble ambition, the foundations of a sure and true set of principles that one may live by… It is not enough to simply create the makings of life… but men are what changes that life. Evolves it to become stronger… by breaking it down with adversary and continual strife, can a life be refined into an endlessly glorious new creature. Far greater than its original design from birth…”  Her voice grew shaky, with the last breaths of life she could sustain, she wouldn’t allow herself to fall without speaking these words of truth.

“Chaos is not only destruction, nor simply the foundation that creates the space for new life… It is… the changes that define a life, the odd circumstances and events that pave the way for that life to create an indomitable soul .”

She took in her last breath of life, pulling in as much as she could muster to say her final lesson to the children of the world…

“Chaos… is what gives life its reason to be . To… purposefully … Exist. ”

The men all held their breaths as Vanilla, Blaze, and Wave’s forms were turned to white ash… the last of their colors flying off to be absorbed by the originator of all life… in the skies.

Amy and Rouge held themselves but slowly got up, Amy being fine as she wasn’t exposed nearly as close as the others were, and Rouge’s colors–although having become somewhat fainter–were beginning to be restored by the Planet Egg.

Rouge took Knuckles’s arm, trying to wait for herself to remain stabilized, before sighing in relief that they had survived.

Cream wept and wept, Tails holding her firmly to his chest, not wanting her to see her mother’s last ashes… nor as the wind softly picked up… and carried them away.

“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” Jet spun around to Sonic, but as he grabbed him to turn him around, gripping his shoulders, his eyes running with tears… He noticed the green glow of Sonic’s… and realized that Sonic–after such a speech from a beloved Mother–was surrendering his body and will to Chaos’s control.

Twitching… Jet let him go and backed up, punching the ground, “WAAVVVEEEEE!!!!!” he cried out, and fell to his knees, in anguish.

‘You want to save them?’ Sonic asked Chaos, but before Chaos could answer, Harmony had felt her liquid pink, see-through tendrils get attacked, and crying out in pain, she brought one last one that was hiding out to grab at the emotional female energy she was sensing.

As it went for Cream in Tails’s arms, Amy rushed forward and threw a hammer out to it. It broke off the tip of it’s arm, and as it reared to turn its attention, it seized Amy.

“AMYYYY!!!”

The voice of Tails and Cream cried out as Sonic turned, his body already moving like Chaos’s water, almost formed with him, when he saw Amy trapped in her substance.

Harmony saw an opportunity, lowering her snake-like neck to have her dragon-like head look towards where the lifeforms were.

She sent her heart shooting down her appendage, swimming down at rapid speeds through her fluid form, straight down into the tunneled earth to follow the stream of her being till it attached itself to Amy.

Everyone’s eyes could only watch as this happened in a matter of seconds, and because Sonic was trying to relinquish his will, Chaos didn’t act fast enough to use Sonic’s speed to save her.

The Heart fused and pulsed, moving with ripples into Amy’s chest… down… covering her own heart with its own beating one.

Just like with Sonic… it made Amy’s it’s host, as her eyes shot open with a red glowing ring around the pupils.

The pink liquid shoved itself into her body, before cutting off as Amy stumbled and threw her head back, crying out in unison to Perfect Harmony’s metallic ring of pain.

“ WHY ARE YOU HURTING ME!?!?! ”

Chapter Text

Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos

Ch. 9 (Unedited, will be 7 or Combined later on when I get back to edits someday XP)

By: Cutegirlmayra (Hands speeding past the mortal limit, all thoughts being typed down quickly, a movie playing in my head, and the sound of the angels begging me to have a life.)

-The Ground Beneath Harmony's Wing...-

Shade began to move stealthily in her suit further towards what looked like an underground bunker. Her eyes narrowed as the wind picked up more but she wasn't pelted by the dirt due to her getup. She took out her blade, seeing it shining brilliantly now, Harmony being sustained but at what cost?

She looked to the sky to see three lights flying towards her, and recognizing the colors as she squinted through her suit, widened her eyes at them in realization.

Without another thought, she jumped up into the winds, and much like Knuckles, glided a moment as she swiped out her blade multiple times. The pink then turned to Blaze's purple, Wave's violet, and Vanilla's gentle oranges...

She landed and rolled, dodging trees being uprooted and also the ground shaping into Eggman's odd paradise... She watched as the Elemental Giants and Robots constructed over the earth-made objects and figures, wondering why they were serving Eggman over Harmony, their creator.

'That madman... He's no better than our leaders.' She looked to see his arrogance in a giant sculpture of himself, '... Maybe... somewhat worse.' She put a hand to her mask, thinking how Eggman was wiping out the whole world and conjoining dimensions in his craze for power over just this world...

She held out her blade, closing her eyes while the suit powered up. She pulled away the helmet-piece and chanted, "Great Harmony of our old ancestors, heed my plea." She then cried out and spiked the ground.

Wave, Blaze, and Vanilla manifested... their ashes were pulled from their spot with the others, spinning like a cloud of dirt, mixing with the earth, and retook their forms.

Coughing out the dust that just created them, they fell to their knees, hacking and trying to breathe. Seeing their agony, Shade's eyes lit with compassion, and looked around for any life around her. There were only blades of tall grass remaining... everything else was barren and striped of itself...

She hurried, taking Blaze's hand and holding her Leech Blade in it, swiping to cut at the grass to restore her health, then doing so for the others.

With the wind whipping by, she pulled as they crawled in desperation for air towards the bunker, then used her blade to hack a sharp stab through the top, starting to saw it open.

Shade had been weakened with the others, but seeing her blade going out, had requested to be left to heal herself. At first, they refused, but she insisted, saying she'd catch up.

Really, she was the reason the Chaos Emeralds were found flying about and was able to catch and throw them to the others while caring for Rouge and Blaze.

She wasn't going to let a lack of energy stop her, with her suit powered by Harmony, the more power she gathered, the more the suit gave her strength that her body didn't possess.

Recharging after being drained, it was quite useful unless she ran out of life completely... that is...

She carved a slot and just pushed the slumped girls through it, then jumped in herself and dragged them into a corridor to start pulling out items for them.

She pulled out a Med Emitter, clicked some buttons, and let the soothing pulse heal her recently revived comrades.

"Not all of Harmony's power has been destroyed." She seemed to say in relief, realizing that some powers still remained well intact.

Vanilla clutched her throat, able to start breathing regularly again, "W-... What happened?" She asked, panting as she put a loving hand to Blaze's back, then turned to Wave, making sure she was okay, too.

"... Harmony was meant to give life." She showed her blade, "We make her take it." She helped the weakened girls to their feet, as Wave took her bead off and tried to contact the others...

"Darn... it's completely void of any battery life." She cracked open the necklace's bead and found not a spark within it but the casings of what looked like her metallic components and circuit boards.

"Harmony can't replicate technology." Shade explained, "You're lucky your clothes and objects are made of earthy things, she can't make electricity." Shade pointed to her gear, "We do that, too."

"Sounds like we pull our own weight," Wave smirked but tried to adjust her pants and stretch out her arms, rolling her shoulders, and flexing her back muscles. "Is that why she's powerless against Eggman?" She turned to Blaze and Vanilla, before raising an eyebrow, "And who the heck are all of you?" She squawked out as though annoyed there weren't any introductions.

Vanilla dusted off her clothes, "Kind of Harmony..." She somewhat gave a sarcastic undertone to her thanks... "She can give and she can willingly take..." She joked a little but didn't show any sign of it, mostly just fixing her ears and the top of her head.

"We... We need to regroup with the others." Blaze wobbled a moment, but her tail swished and she regained balance. "That was a nasty fall." She looked a bit judgementally at Shade, who shrugged.

"I couldn't carry you all down here." She admitted.

"And I thought cat's landed on their feet." Wave teased, gesturing out a hand as she flinched with a smirk back at Blaze lurching forward a bit across Vanilla to mutely hiss at her with gritted teeth.

Her ears drew back before forward again, as though a warning to Wave...

"Where are we?" She asked, ignoring the 'bird' and focusing on the task at hand, looking around. "Looks like an old Eggman look." She thought to herself, "I read up on Rouge's documents... He's usually the one with all the tech." She put a hand to her hip and looked casually to Shade with a flick of her tail. "Should we find him?"

"He put something on Harmony's wing, didn't he?" Shade inquired, "I saw it... She's directly above us, to the right some." She pointed skyward and slightly angled her arm. "Whatever he did, it's either enhancing her powers or making her create things by abusing her power."

"Wait... That blade thing." Wave took a look at it, "Can it recharge my-" She was cut off by Blaze stepping forward.

"If this is where Eggman is controlling her terraforming, we should try and find the signal and jam it. She may be able to free herself from that control..."

"Or better yet-!" Wave stepped forward, not liking to be overshadowed, "We use that device to control Harmony! No Chaos fight, keep her 'wing' tethered and we can stop her from draining the planet and worlds, right?" She spread her arms out wide, "I'm thinking this is the most logical plan of action." She leaned forward, looking between the two girls as though trying to get some validation that she wasn't the 'only' smart girl in the room here.

Though she pretty much figured she was the smartest.

She usually did.

No matter who was in the room.

"Uhmm..." Vanilla put her hands in front of herself, looking a bit sheepish to step in, "I'm not sure what all this... i-is really about. I have heard very little about 'Harmony'..." She needed some help. She closed her eyes sweetly, embarrassed by her lack of information, "You see, I only heard a bit from the others... and by then, I was already a bit drained of life,... I figured those giant pink liquid things were her, and that those lights she was pulling were my own life force." She cutely twisted her hands up by her face to demonstrate the fluid, see-through vines and the colors of life being drained from the girls. "I connect the dots very well." she tapped the side of her forehead, being cutely cheeky.

"Ah, a civilian was involved." Shade seemed to conclude, as Blaze shook her head.

"I'm sorry, we won't be able to protect you very well while we're solving this mystery ourselves..." She held out a hand as though to mime 'stay here' in a way, "We can't guarantee anything..."

She put a hand up to her chest and looked a bit scared, but shook her head, "N-No... that's alright. You all need to focus on far more important things. I'll be alright." she smiled, trying to be brave. "This old gal's still got a kick left her feet, em-hmm~" she winked and tried to giggle off her nerves.

Blaze nodded, smiling at her courage, as Shade also thought about her mother... but looked to Wave.

"If this is an Eggman facility, there may be electricity to charge your pendant." She concluded.

"Uhhh... Sure, that sounds like a plan!" Moving on from the weird older woman's strong but dainty vibe she thumbs-upped Shade at the sound of something that actually benefited her.

'Who knows how panicky the others are being right now...' she thought about Storm and Jet... 'Just be okay, you guys. I'm coming.'

"Let's find Eggman," Blaze stated, pivoting her pointy shoes towards a direction down the corridor. "We may find some clues on Harmony here..."

The others nodded, and Blaze led the charge as they followed her.

Taking out some minor Eggman robots, they came to the room where Harmony had been torn from the Crystal, now lying split and shattered. Her hurricane had also torn up the room, leaving it an open space where the wind blew heavily now. "... So, she's gotten enough energy to break her seal." Shade concluded, walking over to pick up a piece and move it around, having water slosh around inside it due to gravity.

"... Could we... seal her back in it?" Wave picked up another piece, but dropped it instantly, "It's like magma!" She shook out her hand.

Blaze, burning her own hand with fire, walked over, "Let me see that." She stated, "I have an usual resistance to hot things..." She bent down and picked it up as her hand showed heat waves.

"Darn... love to get a reading on that." Wave folded her arms, upset she didn't have her tools and devices anymore...

"I can do it." Shade didn't hesitate, "If you can burn the pieces back together, I can seal her away." She looked to Blaze, walking up to her and keeping her eyes fixated on the burning piece. "It still... seems to contain her, even broken apart." She looked at the piece she was holding, noticing that she didn't feel any heat because her suit was absorbing it for her. "It must have been forced asunder by Chaos's power... Which means-"

"The Chaos Emeralds." Vanilla was looking up,... the girls looked to then have their eyes turn to a scary observation...

The Bunker below... had been made purposefully knowing that it was going to cause a massive power leak, and the explosion must have been caused from equal force tearing it apart.

"... He tortured her..." Shade closed her eyes, dipping her head in respects to Harmony, an old goddess of theirs, somehow, still honoring her. "He ripped her out so he could command the stars..."

"She's going to supernova into a star if we don't do something soon!" Wave stepped up, "I could care less about her distress!" She swiped out an arm, hunching down, "The power readings I read... there's no way she can absorb that much power into her... she's gonna ignite the skies with light!" She threw a hand back behind her, "And when she finishes off the sun-!"

"All life vanishing... at the speed of light." Blaze then turned to where she figured the cliff was, "... Sonic."

She could see through the heavy winds, Sonic's blue... "Through it all, it always comes down to him." She looked down, "...Knuckles told us that Sonic was chosen to be a vessel for Chaos's form."

"What?" Shade turned as though shocked to hear that, "A vessel?"

Vanilla went to investigate, walking over to something and kneeling down daintily as she pulled on it, moving some debris, and looking delighted as she found a cellar entrance way...

"If Sonic is the only one that has sustained Chaotic Energy within his body... and can move at the speed of light... maybe... Chaos actually is anticipating the need to cut off the death blow?" She wasn't sure, but thought deeply about the possibility, "If I'm correct... Only Sonic could be the vessel for Chaos. With him, and his natural abilities, Chaos could stop the supernova... but that would also mean getting close to Harmony and draining her of her power." She looked behind her to Shade, "Could Chaos drain life?"

"Yes." Shade lowered her chin and nodded, showing a bold sense of seriousness, "Harmony was only meant to give, as I have stated. Chaos... is the true taker of all strength."

"Which is why they fired on her, taking him as their 'weapon' instead of her." Wave saw what Vanilla had seen, putting a hand to her shoulder in what Vanilla thought was praise, smiling at that, before being shocked as she was pushed away without a single shred of care.

Wave began to tug on the two doors, trying to open them, using her foot to strain as she spoke to the other two, "RRRRahh! ... Hah... Hah... Harmony shouldn't absorb life, but she is. She's not 'removing it' but 'displacing it'. KIIYYAHHH!" The handles pulled off and she stumbled backwards, looking at them and then getting so mad she broke into a fast-forwarding record again, stomping the ground and becoming incoherent.

Blaze looked to Shade, not sure how to take the dramatic fit, but walked past her to help Vanilla up, who was pouting at Wave's rudeness.

After all, she had found it first...

"If Chaos does that, then no one can be revived." Shade quickly interjected, "I was only able to bring you all back because I held onto your life forces." She held up her blade, "Without that ingredient... Chaos can't make anything... but Harmony can remake a soul!" she swiped it out, "You'd be leaving the world barren yet."

"What do you care? Not your dimension, anyway." Wave tossed a hand back, fanning her off after seeing Blaze walk over to the cellar doors and start blazing them with fire. It melted, cracking... and soon curled to open a hole at its center... "Heard you two aren't even from here..." She had overheard them talking while fighting the eggbots...

Shade made a face, but closed her eyes to twitch an eyebrow, trying to restrain her anger. In that sense, she looked a lot like Knuckles in that moment... with better self-control, "This was my original home long ago... in a way, it still is home."

"As for me," Blaze stopped firing her continual blast of heated flame to look back at them, "We could use Eggman's machine to bring it all back... then have Chaos stop her."

"If she returns life, she won't have a supernova, nor a catalytic event to trigger it." Shade held up a hand and walked over to her as Wave followed.

"All this talk, talk, bak, bak, you guys need to settle on a course of action!" She complained, animatedly through her hands speaking and moving them as though mouths. "My advice in the beginning was sound. Only now you're considering it?" She held up her hands and then folded them with a pout, "Even Storm and Jet aren't this dense..." She tsk'd, not really meaning that, but surprised the girls weren't paying her any heed.

"Only Order can restore all things to a new era." Shade reverently closed her eyes, "And that is through the union of the united forces which are the gods. Any other attempt leads to catastrophic consequences." she then opened her eyes only to narrow them at Wave, "That is why we talk. Talking can sometimes solve everything."

"Not everything..." Wave rolled her eyes.

"... Communication." Vanilla looked up at Harmony's form, the wind keeping her up in the sky. "... Can Harmony and Chaos even communicate?"

As they headed into the hole made by Blaze, Wave explained quickly, "Sure, they can, and they did."

Shade and Blaze had already heard of this from Rouge, so kept hacking and slashing through any robots they found, making their way deeper into Eggman's bunker.

"However, turns out men still suck at any form of communication." She snickered a little at her own words, but Vanilla's eyes bent.

"That's not very nice." She blinked lightly, "You seem to have a lot of opinions on men..."

"I live with them." She looked over at Vanilla and put her hands on her hips, "Sorry if I'm a bit 'jaded' about it."

"... Then you should know," Vanilla put a hand to her cheek, smiling as she leaned into it, "How warm and kind they can be..."

Wave's eyes twitched from her cruelness to a sudden gentle look at being scolded.

It was such a heartfelt look in Vanilla's wise and caring face... Wave looked away as though conflicted.

"You must have wonderful memories with your friends," Vanilla continued, seeing her look away and opening her eyes to show a bit of confidence in herself now that Wave was reacting the way she thought she would. "Memories... that bind you together with them. Like a family... you know of their hearts, and couldn't bear to live without them... yes?"

Wave said nothing, but her eyes drifted down as her mind flowed with an outpour of memories that held laughter, thrills, and great adventures within them...

Jet and Storm's moments of kindness and affection... Since the jungle, to the shrine, and even at the cliff with them looking down on her as her world went black...

"... Yeah, okay? I need them." She looked away, not liking to admit that as she wiped her arm over her beak's nose, not wanting Vanilla to see she was getting emotional.

"See? How can you say men don't feel the same?" She looked ahead, holding her dress up down the stairs as there were multiple levels. "I have known a great and marvelous many men. Young ones like Sonic and his friends, or older ones... like my beloved." She stopped to put her hands to her heart again, then looked ahead with sparkling eyes as Wave looked at her, puzzled.

"Cream's father was a man of purpose, reason,... and although he tried to communicate with all his heart, I still had to learn how to read him." She tilted her head with a soft giggle, "He was a man of few words, but when he did speak, I always laughed!" She covered her mouth, "Oh, sure. There were times we argued, got upset with one another... but we never let ourselves go to bed angry." She closed her eyes, remembering, "Some men are blessed with wonderful, patient women that take the time to get to know who they really are. Despite their flaws or weaknesses, men are truly just as lonely and desperate for connection as we are." She turned then to look lovingly at Wave, then look overly understanding at her, as though asking her to trust in what she was saying.

"My dear, the sooner you learn how much you love the men in your life, the quicker you'll realize how hearts are communicating with each other all the time... whether with words, or actions,... Even a gentle look or smile can say a thousand words." She looked down and closed her eyes again before bouncing up as though cheery. "Now, then! Let's help Chaos win back his Harmony! Shall we?" She lifted up her dress and continued on.

Her merriment... it hit Wave a bit too hard, and she rubbed behind her neck and just groaned, walking after her.

"Ughhh, I hate you sentimental types!" she blurted out, but Vanilla just lifted her head, confidently stating–

"Takes one to know one~"

She replied in a chiming, sing-songy way.

"Ohhh, shut up! You old hag! Acting like you know everything! What are you?! My Mother!?"

Vanilla threw back a powerful foot into her stomach.

"OHHH-HOOOO!"

"Manners~" She smiled but then puckered her lips, muttering, "So crass."

As though that was the most insulting thing she could ever politely say...

As they journeyed farther into Eggman's bunker, him completely unaware until an alarm signal went off and he looked down from his infamous gloating to notice it. He ground his teeth together and started clicking more buttons, "See to it they don't make it past the doors!" He called out, as many normal Eggbots scrambled about, hitting one another, and then raced to try and stop... a truly unstoppable force.

-Sonic and Team on the Cliffside-

"Amy..?" Tails held out a hand to her but stepped back when she flung herself about, gripping her head, and then crying out a piercing cry that synced with Harmony's in the air.

"I never meant to hurt anyone!" Amy's voice sounded in so much pain that it startled everyone, even some out of their moments of shock and grief to turn and see what was happening. "I was just trying to protect them all!"

Jet took his head out of his hands and looked over his shoulder with one eye to see what was going on, and Storm couldn't even close his open mouth, this all happening far too quickly.

He had had a hand on Jet's back, leaning up to try and see what was happening with the hedgehog girl.

Silver, clutching a fist tightly and shaking it about, closed his eyes tightly before opening it to reveal some ash from Blaze had drifted out of his glove... He got up with so much righteous fury, holding out his hand but the power surrounding him seeming to flash and blip off and on around his body. "W-What?" he looked at his hands, "I'm... growing weaker..."

If the future wasn't saved, he wouldn't even... exist?

If the world was barren... he'd never have been... born.

The future was  extremely  uncertain...

He gripped his arms, shaking as he realized this... Having not quite let that reality settle from the first time he somewhat gave it a thought, but had moved on thinking all would be alright if they worked together.

Existential dread set in then... as Amy continued.

"The Echidna's lied to me... A human has tortured me... Why... Why are all my-... your creations against me!?" She hunched her body and swayed, as though so emotionally tired, before pointing a finger towards Sonic. It was as though she wasn't taking responsibility for the creation of 'men'... what was going on in her mind? In her heart?

Sonic took a step back, but Chaos burst with water behind him, showing her true target... was him.

Sonic looked behind him and stepped back, seeing Amy's finger stay on Chaos.

"Is it..?" He looked to Tails. "Harmony?"

Tails nodded quietly, worriedly looking between Chaos and her.

Shadow gritted his teeth and rose from the ground, "She's trying to take Amy as a host." He was about to summon a Chaos Spear but Knuckles held up a hand.

He got up, slowly, wobbling a bit and still recovering from the shock of Rouge's supposed death, and turned to Amy.

"Harmony... I won't let you end my world." He stood to face her, "Our world!"

He gave such a threatening, intimidating pose, that when Amy turned to see him looking as though ready to fight... and an Echidna, her eyes widened and she screamed, falling backwards off the cliff.

"YOU ARE TRYING TO DESTROY ME! You're still entrapped by the Echidnas!"

"No!" Sonic raced and slid against the cliff's edge, holding out his hand for Amy.

He strained... but her body kept falling back, the pink tentacle reaching up and moving like a living root from the earth, twisting and spiraling, before sucking Amy into its being and flinging her up its form... all the way to Harmony's center.

Amy looked fainted, her body like a ragdoll as Harmony's fluid began to seep into her body at a quickening pace in the sky.

"AMMMYYY!" Sonic cried out, turning back to Chaos, "What it is you really want!?" He got up, his fur turning darker shades a moment, grabbing Chaos, "You want to save her, right!?"

Chaos, remaining surprisingly calm, looked up to Amy being forced into Harmony's vessel, then down to Sonic, knowing what must be done.

Sonic twitched a noble eyebrow, his anger completely justified. "Grrr... What do you really want to do, Chaos?" He asked again, lowering his head in his contained rage, "Because all I want to do... is save Amy and do what's right!"

Chaos lowered his head as though to show he was matching the wrath Sonic was portraying, and this made Sonic loosen the tense muscles on his face, looking as though he was seeing Chaos try and emote that he felt the same for the first time since-

Sonic felt his consciousness get sucked into his mind, and a memory brought him to a scene where he had never been before.

He looked around the memory, "Am I... in Chaos's mind?" He looked over, "Huh?" And saw Harmony and Chaos sitting in a beautiful meadow, both up on a rock, their faces close as though rubbing foreheads together, as multiple Chao appeared in still-images, showing how many eras of Order they had created together...

Sonic walked up to the boulder they were sitting on, "Ohh..?" He was in awe at the beauty of the scene, and the many, many Chao he couldn't even number.

He lifted his arms as many more stilled images of unique Chao appeared, starting to litter his feet, before he looked back up with a serious look in his face to Chaos, "... If you love her, why are you allowing her to get hurt?" He asked, accusing Chaos. "You're a coward!" He swiped out his hand, "You may have hurt her without meaning to before, having your hand forced by another-" Sonic extended his hand out to the side and bounced it a few times, jerking his arm, "But that doesn't mean all is lost. You're angry at what they did to her, not yourself, right? Or is it both?" He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, "I can understand that much..." He then closed his eyes and lowered his head, showing some Empathy.

"Tikal calmed you, I fought you... but the real enemy all along... was how much grief you weren't allowed to process... all this time... you had thought she was lost forever. You remember attacking her, don't you?" The scene rapidly changed as Chaos's form moved at last in the picture of the perfect meadow in his mind, and a scene lost long ago to time...

Now, it was Perfect Chaos, Firing a slow-moving beam with his head coming down from being reared up and back, heading towards Perfect Harmony, her wing completely splattering as a shrill cry echoed the one he had heard from Amy, but even more heartbreaking of a sound.

"For the longest time... you thought you destroyed every part of her... or you worried you did something unforgivable... and wanted to punish the Echidnas... isn't that right?" He looked to his side, and Chaos's image appeared as though through the rippling of a faded dream, still looking like the reflection of Sonic upon the water, but a different image replacing his own.

When Sonic looked at him, he waited a moment before turning his head to Sonic.

Sonic nodded, "Okay. I can get that." He felt like he was finally connecting to Chaos, "You sent them to the Twilight Cage... But that wasn't enough, you hated what you created together. Everything reminded you of Harmony... and the times you could never get back." It showed all of time moving quickly by them, like a blurry, sped-up tape.

"You mourned and grieved, but it was never enough... You wanted to find her, if there was any part of her remaining, but couldn't leave your imprisonment she crafted for you by the Echidna's commands and orders... their deceit made it so you couldn't even leave Angel Island and pursue your true wish... to see her again... to go back to those times of peace that were only made through her... by your side." The scene showed Chaos's bubbles flowing backwards, looking up from the rain, and using the teardrops to mix with the flowing bubbles and make it look like he was lamenting.

"Every day... every year... you longed and yearned for your friend to come back... back to your side... back to the meadow... back to a perfect Order again..." Sonic continued as he spoke for Chaos, the words that he didn't have a voice for.

"One day, you got your wish." The scene then stopped on a powerful signal beam of colors.

Sonic then heard Amy's voice, as though Chaos was trying to give Harmony a sound, too. "Chaos..." So fearful and quiet, though the blast was hugely powerful... Its range intensified by the desperate but soft voice that called so sweetly out into the universe.

A blast followed, one of urgency, "Where are you!?" Sonic responded, speaking for Chaos again.

Another gentle sound, but a beam that pulsed through the world, "I regret... I loved being with you... so much... I'm so sorry..." Amy's voice began to fade, and Chaos's beams upon the shrine became exponentially more desirous, prominently pressing, and despairing.

"Where are you..?!" Sonic's voice shook in his delivery of Chaos's desperate replies, but Sonic shook his head, gritting his teeth in the anguish he felt from how pathetic-...

He had been with Amy...

Through the door...

No wonder she was still giving him a hard time, but...

"She could never stay mad at you forever."

He gripped his fists tightly, "You scared her... but you just have to tell her..." He remembered Tails's words and paraphrased with a soft sigh to refocus himself, and not get too upset with himself. "How much she means to you." He knew it was different, a completely different misunderstanding between the two of them... but Sonic had still failed to really communicate to Amy anything...

And it led to further misconstrued actions between each other... Even Sonic having deceived her to try and resolve the conflict without actually doing anything to cure the root of it.

Sonic... closed his eyes as though trying to not accept his flaws, but nodded as though needing to. "No... not a coward." He remembered how Wave had called to Jet, and how that was probably the worst thing a girl to say to a man...

"It's not cowardice..." He touched his fist to his heart, "We just don't know how to say it... what we're really feeling... It's not hiding it, it's not knowing how to put it into words that make sense even to us."

The scene dimmed and Chaos was now in front of Sonic, turning around as though he was watching the past memories as well.

The two, face-to-face... we're now communicating as one.

"You need my form to calm Harmony down." Sonic declared, opening his eyes with a newfound seriousness of a true 'worlds' hero. "You don't hate her creations... but she believes you hate her now." He held his chest up high, closing his eyes again. "... Chaos..."

"For the sake of those we love..."

"I give you..."

"My spirit, my will,... and my heart."

Chaos formed into a wave that encircled Sonic, the water flashing with light before Chaos seemed himself into Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds glowed their brilliant color from his Super Form still being activated.

He rose into the sky as his friends watched in awe.

Sonic curled slightly, his arms and legs ducking in before spreading out his body into a large cry, his eye-sockets now glowing green.

"HARRMOONNNYYYYY!"

At the same time, while Perfect Chaos had formed to have Sonic's body at the center of his chest, straight below his long, dragon-like neck that he flung around with Sonic's head mimicking the same crying gesture, Harmony had reformed into Perfect Harmony.

Amy was in the same location as Sonic, but Harmony's heart pulsed over her own... as Sonic's head revealed the same ghostly image of Chaos's mind pulsing over Sonic's... the strings attached were tightly now over the organ of each lifeform, and they were finally one in host...

-Eggman's HQ Bunker-

"Blast it..!" Eggman bit the end of his gloved thumb, stretching the fabric out and grinding it between his teeth, "She's escaped the Harmony Crystal." He looked to see a blue image doing the same, "Gah! And Chaos had the same idea! Hmm..? Who'd he get as a new host for his power..?" He leaned towards the screen, raising an eyebrow. "No... that can't be..." Seeing a blue dot, he doubted it, shaking his head and leaning upwards. "Not a chance, not even one as fat as me... For Sonic to dare give up his indomitable will? Pah! Humbug!" He cleaned his glasses, but hearing a blast from behind him, he shrieked as Robot were thrown in to the right and left of his feet, sparking as the girls walked in.

"Mind if we drop in?" Rouge haughtily moved her body in a sexy form, putting a hand to her protruding hip and lowering her eyes. "Quite the shindig you've got here, Egghead, but..." She winked and held her hand palm-up, pointing out her index finger towards him, "You wouldn't mind a woman's touch to it, would you?" She suddenly flew up as Blaze littered the room with fire, and the oxygen tanks began to take effect from the instant, rising heat.

Eggman threw off his oxygen mask and jumped, as his technology blew up into flames.

Shade rolled in to block the door from the Eggbots that had been racing after them. "Do what you gotta do," She hit the door and it slammed shut behind Vanilla and the gang.

Orbot and Cubot tried to sneak away, but Eggman grabbed them and rolled under his control panel to the left side of the room.

He covered their mouths... waiting...

Wave rode in on her hoverboard over the fire, "... I can't see him!" She called back to them, "Think we fired him?"

Eggman smirked, pulling out a device that whirled as he pointed it and endued the flames on his long arm to send a red laser to the Air gear.

"AH!" Wave cried out as it began to malfunction, making her wobble and about to topple into the flames before Rouge dived in with a twirling save, catching her as her Air gear fell to the flames. "That son of a-!"

Vanilla lifted her skirt by where Eggman was, kicking the device out of his hand. His eyes widened in surprise before Vanilla reached under the control panel and pulled him up to her face, also looking confident as he went limp and just gave her a weary smile.

"Eh-heh... heh... Ehem, ladies~" He greeted in a comical way, as though knowing he was beat.

He was slammed into a chair, tied up, and spun out before hitting a wall and trying to hop to not fall over, Orbot and Cubot rushing to his aid.

"Wave, you get on those controls," Rouge instructed, as Vanilla put on an oxygen mask and coughed.

Orbot and Cubot, seeing that, gasped as their programming made them care deeply about Eggman's state of being, turning to see him coughing as well.

Their arms reached out, twitching forward in their hovering as though wanting more than anything for this to stop so he'd stop ruining his health.

"We need to put out the rest of the flames," She spoke while coughing into the back of her wrist, smoke coming out of the mask.

Rouge nodded, "Blaze?" She looked over as Blaze was already ripping out a fire extinguisher from the wall and putting out her own mess. "Good." Rouge sighed in relief, then turned to Wave, more determined than ever.

She put her hands on her hips, "We're commandeering this goddess!" Rouge declared, and pointed to the controls, "Wave! Turn us around!"

Wave smirked, typing in things as the code flew up on the glitching screens, "How about a world completely made for Air gear?" Wave's greediness was showing as Vanilla then stepped up to her, smiling down at her, extremely intimidating, as the lines between her eyes were black and foreboding.

Wave winced, her beak spreading out to reveal her teeth as though submission. She turned back to the computer, "How it was, then... Boring and dull of life, anyways..." She typed in the code.

Shade opened the door, "What did I miss?" She walked in without much emotion, but behind her... a massacre of robotic heaps... sparking or twitching in their cold, hard sleep...

-The Skies of the World-

Amy reared back as Perfect Harmony did the same, her metallic contraption glowing again and instead of Eggman's landscape, they were protruding out of the metal casing and destroying the Elemental Robot army, disfiguring the already created monuments, and crumbling other constructed zones that Eggman had sent his goons to work on.

-Eggman's HQ Bunker-

"NOO! My perfect world!"

Eggman rocked in his restraints, "Orbot! Cubot!" he stomped both feet to the ground, trying to roll around to catch their fleeing forms and roll over them, "Untie me this instant!"

Shade was standing guard of Eggman, but folded her arms and watched the funny scene play out, just making sure he couldn't escape his restraints.

She noticed a strange scroll... and went to collect it, reading it lightly while keeping her ears and perception open to whatever Eggman might try next... Light reading, truly... skimming the pages... of her people's lost and wishing to be forgotten history...

"S-So-Sorry, Boss!" Orbot cried out, running with his arms outstretched in front of himself, "But for your own safety, it's actually best you let this one slide!"

"WHAT?!" Eggman slid to a stop, roaring his confusion.

Cubot was running with arms moving like a runner, but also turned around to hug Eggman's leg and plead with a crying voice, "Doctor, sir! Pllleeeass-he-he-he-eeeaseeeeee! Our programming is to protect and care for you, you're making it very difficult to do that protocol objective..!" He simulated a sobbing sound by his leg.

"... Hmm?" Eggman raised a very angry eyebrow but seemed to be receptive. "What do you mean?"

He looked to Orbot as he twiddled his fingers nervously and came forward, "O-Our objective... the one... you gave us?" He looked up, sheepishly, "We care about you, Doctor Eggman." He finally admitted, and spread his arms towards him, trying to show sincerity before placing a hand to his heart. "We may be robotic entities without real emotions and natures... but we... still... can compute the different intricacies between relationships, and well..." He rambled a little, before also rushing up and hugging Eggman's other leg, "Please, Boss! Just let us help and love you!"

Eggman looked at the two oddly crying robots at his feet, his face still a bit hardened, before leaning back in his chair with a 'Hmph'.

"OH, THANK YOU, DOCTOR!" The two cried even louder, seeing his mustache twitched as though adhering to her genuine pleas to not ruin his health any further... and that meant not completely destroying all of nature and the world that he belonged to as well.

Vanilla looked behind her at them, but Eggman just shrugged.

"I may have accepted my defeat, but that doesn't mean Harmony will likely do the same." He darkly lifted his grin up and snickered to the girls as they all then turned to look at him.

"... Old geezer." Wave 'pfft'd the comment away and went back to work. "Someone ought to lock him in a home."

"I would have made my own too, if it weren't for you rotten, meddling kids and you're giant rabbit with kicks-Oh, heh-heh...OFFPH!" Eggman tried to fight his own restraints, kicking out a leg before Vanilla's heeled footfalls rang on the floor, coming towards him. Shade put her blade at his throat and he smiled up to her with a goofy smile of 'I'll play nice,' but Vanilla arrived and turned around once making it to him, back-rearing a powerful bunny kick into his stomach.

It sent him hitting the back wall, spinning with stars flying over his head, and his tongue sticking out before falling on his chin to bite his tongue and have little birds hatch from eggs and join the stars flying around his head.

Shade smiled at Vanilla, who nodded, satisfied with shutting him up, and dusted off her hands, "Now then, Orbot? Cubot? Let's clean up a little bit, shall we?" Vanilla walked calmly over to a bucket and mop and smiled warmly to them.

The two robots looked at each other, checking on Eggman's knocked-out form, and nodded with a sigh to Vanilla. "Yes, Ma'am." They both conceded.

"I'll take the mop..." Orbot outstretched his hand to her and she nodded sweetly back, giggling as she handed him it and gave Cubot the bucket.

"Where do we start first, tall lady?" Cubot asked, as Vanilla nodded, bending down to them and putting her hands on her legs.

"Em-hmm, why not start at the corner there?" She pointed to it, "Where Blaze has finished putting out the fires with the extinguisher." She put a hand to her mouth then, "I, oh, so admire young, strapping men who like to help clean around the place every now and then..." As she returned to a standing position, the robots suddenly held up their items proudly, sticking out their stem chests, and immediately went to work with vigor.

"Yes, ma'am!" They called out, wanting to do a good job now and be praised by the kind, womanly rabbit.

"Way to go, Wave. We're doing it." Rouge put a hand to Wave's shoulder, looking at the screen to see what she was doing.

"Are we?" Shade lightly spoke, coming up to stand by Eggman to continue to guard him, letting her hands hold tightly to her twin-blades that she just pulled out for the robotic army in the corridor a moment ago.

"Yeah... but there's no way to reverse what is done." Wave frowned deeply, looking back at the controls that her hands now hovered over, "I can only manipulate what structures she creates... I can disfigure and distort them, even destroy them by spiking them through, but there's no guarantee... the land is still wrecked, gals." She looked to Blaze, Shade, and Vanilla, too, rolling out from another chair from the room that she was in.

There was a quietness, as though they all already knew there was nothing else they could do here...

"What now?" Wave looked to Rouge, then lifted up a suggesting hand. "Regroup with the others?" She longed to see her teammates again... deeply worried about how they were taking her 'loss'.

Rouge was silent... looking at the controls with narrowed eyes and brows twitching.

She raised her hands up and hit them into tight fists upon the keyboard, making a hard hit sound as some electricity sparked from that, startling Wave.

"H-hey!" she rolled back from the controls but looked to Rouge.

She had her eyes closed, "Is there... nothing else we can do?"

Blaze took in a calming breath, and walked over to her, putting a hand to her shoulder, leaning so that Rouge's downward-facing eyes could see her.

"We should remove the device from Harmony... It's up to Sonic and Chaos now to sort this out." She then looked to the screen, as Rouge looked up and her eyes opened wider.

"That's..." Her mind raced to the image and vision of the Ultimate, Perfect Harmony rampaging with the the Ultimate, Perfect Chaos duking it out as the world suffered under their wings and tendrils.

Her eyes shook... before seeing Amy and Sonic within their beings.

Wave shook her head, folding her arms and leaning back in the chair, one leg propped up to have her ankle resting on the other's knee. "How are those two gonna command giant gods?" She skeptically stated before Vanilla stepped forward and she looked to her.

"They're going to have them talk." She declared and looked promisingly towards the ensuing battle.

"... You look at it... as though it's not the destruction of our, or any, world," Blaze stated, pivoting to address her.

"Or all our people," Shade reminded everyone, giving a side-eye to Vanilla.

"... Em-emm." Vanilla closed her eyes and shook her head delicately, looking back at the two with love and hope. "They shall give the gods... a voice."

Her eyes arched back, "And with it... their minds and their hearts... shall become one... and they shall save and restore the world... All worlds," She nodded to Blaze, "to their proper forms, place, and Orders..." She then grinned back to Orbot and Cubot.

"Then, it will be up to you little ones to take care of that world. Clean it up!"

She chuckled cutely.

-Skies of the World-

The device began to break off in chunks, disconnecting itself as Harmony flapped her one wing and got all of it off of herself, ripping and tearing it with her mouth to get it off of her.

The parts fell hard to the ground below, spiking it or leaving huge craters of burning metal in it.

-Cliffside Viewpoint-

"HARMONY!" Sonic's voice rang from the cliffside, as the others had quickly moved and gotten out of the way of his transformation. "Cease this right now!" He called out, "You're only hurting things, making the world, and the Planet Egg, worse!" He swiped out his arm as Chaos had swiped out a few of his wiggling appendages. "You're taking everything!"

"He's too harsh." Tails looked to Knuckles, "He needs to be gentler!"

Knuckles looked worriedly to him, and then to Sonic, "SOOONIIC!" He cried out, as Chaos turned his head and Sonic did the same. "You gotta speak from your heart, pal! You can't fight Harmony!" Knuckles was conflicted, he wanted to take down the goddess for Rouge's sake, but-

"Now there's a voice that can beat out over anything!"

"H-huh?"

Knuckles turned his head, seeing a flying image of Rouge carrying Blaze back, Vanilla riding on Wave's scorched but still operational Air gear.

"WAAVVEE!" Storm and Jet cried out, Storm hugging Jet as his hands were in front of himself, but palm-facing up as though incredulous but so incredibly happy.

"You're alive!" He cried out, as Storm just sobbed and blabbered as though unable to speak through his joy.

"Blaze!" Silver's desperate cry had him trying to use his powers to reach her, flying up in spurts before Rouge swung her to him, and Blaze and him took blipping spurts of jerks back to the ground. "I'm so glad..." He cried into the back of her shoulder, rubbing his muzzle to it, "That you aren't hurt because of me..."

"It wasn't your fault, Silver." She stroked his head, not knowing him very well, but feeling like... they probably make a pretty great team.

She leaned her head into his, comforting him silently.

Rouge landed and Wave turned her Air gear to let Vanilla off, offering her her hand.

"Mi'lady." She joked, as Vanilla kindly took it but then was swarmed by Cream, Cheese, and the entire Team Chaotix.

"VANNILLA!" – "MAMA!" – "CHAO-CHAOOO!"

They all cried as she patted Cream's and Cheese's head, then smiled to all the Chaotix.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry I worried you all so terribly much."

Her voice made the whole scene a tender one.

Rouge then was about to flap down to the ground as though collapsing to sit back and take a breather, when a pair of duo-hands caught her and she looked to see Shadow and Knuckles.

"Welcome back... Partner." Shadow smiled.

"Good to see you're still 'stealing' the spotlight,... Bat girl." Knuckles also smiled down to her.

Hearts appeared in her eyes, "Wow" She seemed to be swooning over them, "Two handsome and broody men to my rescue? Can a girl be dreaming?" She fawned in a mischievous way, which made Shadow close his eyes with an understanding smirk of her antics and Knuckles just roll his eyes and make a frown.

He 'hmphed', but the two helped her back to her feet again.

She put a hand on both their shoulders, "Harmony... and Chaos... are we sure they won't fight?"

"No." Shadow admitted, "But if they do... Chaos will have to take more than her wing... this time... and all life will be affected because of it."

Shade had walked up the cliffside, using her blades as rock-climbing tools, jamming them into it before making it over the top.

She looked at Chaos Sonic, then at everyone reunited... thinking no one cared about her and just was going to be fine with that.

Then...

As she was getting up, neutrally just putting her blades to her sides, a mittened hand reached out and she paused in shock at it, looking up at Knuckles gently, but confidently with kindness, smiling to her.

"I'm guessing... you had something to do with this?"

Referring to the revival of their friends.

Shade looked away, blushing slightly, "It was... nothing. Ah!"

She was even doubly surprised by his hug.

"... Thank you, Shade."

She blinked her eyes rapidly.

"I owe you one."

He put a hand behind her head, and she softly... embraced the hug back.

"... We must atone," she stated.

"I couldn't save my mother." She looked away.

"I would be a disgrace to the Echidna race... if I didn't at least save them."

She looked at the girls reuniting with their people, as Rouge and Shadow smiled at the sight as well.

Rouge batted her wings, another small thank you.

Shade smiled, and nodded to her, letting Knuckles help her up.

"That still leaves the same question asked before," She stated, looking... upwards...

"Will they fight? Will Order be restored? Or... will the past repeat itself?"

Everyone looked to the skies...

-Skies of the World-

The sun still dripped with black...

Harmony reared her head back, and fired out a warning shot as Perfect Chaos moved back, then fired out his own as she twirled, and as though slow-motion, revealed how her other dodge had made her lose her wing...

Rouge, Shadow, and Knuckles remembered that scene... now seeing it play forth as though a rewind.

Chaos Sonic's face turned to one of deep pain from the horrible deja vu.

"Harmony... We have to end this mess..."

He tried to sound gentler... but ...

"By ending me!?"

Amy's voice rang through the sky, along with the iconic cry of Harmony.

Harmony Amy shook her head, "I cannot allow you to destroy what we have created... no matter how wicked or evil they have become... I shall not let the rest of all life be wiped out by your anger towards me!"

She began to pull life again.

-Cliffside Viewpoint-

All the girls fell to their knees.

"NOT AGAIN!"

Jet grabbed Wave, "I won't let her take you again!" He held a hand to the back of her head and one to her back, pulling her into him, closing his eyes, "NOOO!"

"Get a hold of yourself, everyone!" Silver got up, one hand using the remaining strength of his power to keep Blaze up as well as she twitched an eye, all the girls turning a fainter color. "Let's strengthen Harmony! If that's what she's after, we can give her an alternative other than them" he called out, gesturing to Blaze, but his eyes remained steadfastly to his fellow men.

"Look!" He gestured to the Elemental Robots still moving about. "She hasn't drained them, yet! If we destroy them, the power will replenish her, but it will keep her from draining our friends!"

Chaos Sonic looked back to everyone and nodded his head.

With his approval, the men gently set the girls down, Knuckles looking to Team Chaotix, "Alright, old chums. You take care of the women." He looked very serious about this, "I mean it, don't leave their sides!"

Team Chaotix nodded, but Charmy flew up to Knuckles with his fists bundled up, "W-We want to help, too!" He admitted.

"Y-Yeah... we agree someone should stay, guard, and take care of the girls, b-but..." Espio gestured back to the weakened girls, but it was clear he wanted to aid in the battle, too.

"You guys go on ahead," In a kneeling position, holding Vanilla close to his chest, and one hand also holding her own, Vector spoke up with true, brave chivalry.

"Ah! B-B-Boss!" Charmy kicked out his legs, holding his hands to the side of his face.

"Are you sure, Vector?" Espio asked him, watching Vector nod with a serious look in his face.

"I'm the older gent here, and not just that, but I got the real muscle to keep those earthy bots away from these ladies!" He gently placed Vanilla's hand to Cream's head, Cream laying in her lap against her stomach.

He looked up at Cheese, "Cheese, you go in my place. Be a strong boy, now." Cheese looked nervous, his pudgy little hands up by his mouth as he looked worriedly between the two women, then hugged Vector's face, and flew to join Team Chaotix.

The three turned around one last time to Vector...

He gave them a confident wink and supportive thumbs-up, "You guys all GOT THISS! YEEAHHH!" He gave his best warcry out, using a loud voice like he would in his rapping, as Espio and Charmy smiled with twinkling eyes at their leader.

"Okay." They both said in unison, walking away and wiping their eyes as they were unified in proud they were of their cool and awesome boss man.

With the men going to war, the women guarded and taken care of by Vector, Wave looked to see Storm and Jet walking off...

She held out a hand... "Jet... Storm..." Her voice was weak, her vision blurry. "This... sucks..." Her hand dropped, the exhaustion getting to her.

Storm suddenly stopped and looked back, before Jet saw him do so and looked as well.

She was breathing weakly but saw their blobby images stop and smiled faintly. "Ah... Guys..."

As she tried to lift her head, she saw the green blob get bigger and bigger... closer and closer... before leaning down and feeling a feathery head pressed to her own.

Then, his voice, "Don't worry, Wave. We're gonna kick some butt and then have you do the rest of the clean-up work!" He tried to encourage her, which made her so happy, quipping back with her eyes closing as the two of them weren't looking down on her weakness with pity or ridicule.

She smiled the brightest she had ever done in her life, feeling his hand gently guide her head delicately back to the ground so it would stop straining her to look up. "T-Typical men..." She shed one tear, beaming with joy, "You better clean up... after yourselves... or else I'll... clean you up... off the floors of the blimp." Seems she was quoting a typical dialogue between them all, and Jet tenderly smiled back to her, his eyes bending in compassion and love for her, and lightly sliding his hand from under her head as she seemed to drift off into a forced sleep...

The rest of the girls started to drift, Rouge hanging on for dear life, trying to grip the ground with soft twitches that yielded no strength.

"Knuckles... S-Shadow..." She strained to speak, "I don't want to go."

Shadow placed a hand on her head, "I promise... you won't go anywhere."

It was the third greatest promise he had made in his life... and he intended to keep it... with all his fury and might.

He walked away as he passed Knuckles, just standing over in the front of her, judging him for his silence.

Knuckles went to open his mouth, "Rouge... Ah..!" He noticed her strained breathing fall into a sleep... and seeing he had missed his chance, lowered his head and walked over to adjust her hands that were once clinging to conscious life.

He put them up on her stomach, turning her head to face him. He leaned down, and gently placed his forehead to her own, closing his eyes.

He got up and walked to follow Shadow, who seemed to now respect his silence and walked on ahead.

Silver and Tails looked back at the others before Tails pulled up his Miles-Electric. "I'll be here with Sonic and Chaos, you guys-... Ah... take care." He looked down, as though feeling guilty for not coming.

Silver shook his head, "You're a real man, Tails. Choosing to fight the toughest battle by far." He put a hand to his shoulder, smiling, "Supporting a great friend."

Tails, showing his deep appreciation for Silver's validation and acknowledgment, had his eyes gloss over with shine as he gripped his technology tighter, and nodded with gratitude, "Em! I'll do my best!" his bottom lip quivered, "Em-hmm... I won't... let Sonic or Amy down!"

But... how was he supposed to help Chaos and Harmony communicate!? When he could barely give any good advice that helped Sonic for when he and Amy were having a dispute!?

He looked out over the skies and nodded, narrowing his eyes, "I just... have to try."

And thus, the greatest wingman stood upon the cliffside... while a line of soldiers glared down with murderous intent on the fused abominations of both robot and nature... the Elemental Army... their red eyes from the robots they were combined with, and their pink eyes from the life Harmony gave them...

Soon to be temporary...

One Elemental Giant looked up from his littler earth robot brethren and saw the line of men rushing towards them. He was working on repairing the new earth that shot through some metal casing they had just finished.

He looked to Harmony... then to the corrupted earth.

In some part of his somewhat alive energy...

He knew what was to come.

That energy was being used wrongly.

They all would have to return it... somehow.

Then a black and red spindash broke him apart into pieces.

And his pink energy floated back to its origins... gathering... into Harmony's heart.

Chapter Text

Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos - the 8th Emerald

Ch. 10 (Unedited)

By: Cutegirlmayra (I'm still so, so burnt out from everything going on in life, especially creatively. Though I did get some stuff done, I've also been editing like crazy when it comes to my old works and have had little time for Tumblr Prompts, it's been a lot. I appreciate so much that all my Cuties -followers and readers- have been incredibly supportive and patient with me. I love writing, and I just need to write by and for me. It's getting over the hurdle of the initial starting, and actually doing it. I've been re-reading old works while I've edited, and write new stuff while editing, but… it's not the same as freely typing whatever comes to mind and looking back at notes to make sure you're somewhat on the right track for the story. You've all inspired me with how caring you are to someone who just wrote Fanfiction for fun practice in what was my only creative outlet as a kid. I struggle with things due to a disability, but it's always beautiful to see how much people love my mind and making up new stories, character development routes, and interesting takes on things that end up lasting in someone else's mind for years to come. I write for me, but I want to share it in case anyone was looking for that sort of thing I just happened to think of and enjoy with all my little heart. I write because it brings what's in my head out, and this author's note is getting far too long xD I love you guys, you make me so emotionally ecstatic to write and see what you think. Your reviews keep me going in my imagination some days, when other days, I just wish I could turn my brain off. Stay tuned, my Cuties, and know that each one of you has the potential to reach a heart. Since my stories have already done that, and I've already told you you've touched my heart, you can't really argue with that mutual experience, now, can you? Lol

On with the show!

-Game voice from Mario games- Start!)

-Eggman's False Zone…-

Shadow, since he had given his Chaos Emerald to Sonic to help him fully take on Perfect Chaos's form, reared back his hand as though to summon his Chaos Spears and 'tsk'd as his eyes swiped back to his hand flinching to only have air.

"Shoot." He jumped to dodge what he thought was an attack by the Elemental Robots, thinking they'd see him readying an attack, but… "Hmm?" He was surprised, it just looked at him, two glowing pink eyes before picking up a steel beam and dragging it to where his robotic programming told him to set things up. "... They're non-hostile?" he looked to see the rest of the men, fighting and pausing to realize the same thing.

"Not a violent bone in their… uh… bodies?" Silver put down his hand, watching as he had already crushed a few Elemental Soldiers into just stacks of metal and boulders crumbling down over each other. Pink light flew gently from their beings as their eyes dulled but any electrical component still worked, and they sparked.

One even had a red eye still glowing… showing that their 'cyborg' parts that weren't magically lit up by Harmony's animation powers were still operational, although damaged by the attacks.

"What's going on?" Frustrated, but also gritting his teeth at the odd spectacle, Knuckles held up his fists after crushing ones rocky head and watching it slump over without a fight, its light flying to Harmony… "They won't even fight back…" He had that very same fusion of earth and rock, steel and electricity, right in front of him as the other Elemental Soldiers carried on with repairs and building.

"... Are they… mindless?" Storm asked, looking back at the others with a once thrown fists slowly being pulled back as the robot's crushed chest released Harmony's power and it flew away into the sky…

"Does it matter? They aren't actually alive, everybody!" Jet, without hesitation, was hitting down more and more, spraying rocks and rumble as he used his Extreme Gear to use wind and force to hit them rapidly down. "Quit standing around! They're killing our friends, remember?!" He gestured his hand with a few short pumps, looking to his teammate behind his shoulder and then standing firmly on his board to address the others, "You sacks of lose weight can't get that in between your skulls or something!?" He bent his knees, and like a horse, the Air-Gear reared up and blasted more wind out, theatrically.

However, it had purpose, he was blasting–with the stored up air he had from following Sonic's turbulence beforehand, the remains of those he had busted to fly out and shoot into the ones still trying to work.

"We have clean-up duty, Storm!" He angled everyone back on-track, as Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles looked back at the horde.

"He's right, we can't think morally on this one." Knuckles concluded, hitting his fists into the other. "They're holding back Harmony's power at Eggman's doing…" He held up a fist, "And in order to save the girls, we have to give that power Eggman forced out back to Harmony!" he threw the fist forward.

"... Harmony… maybe, the life and organisms she controls can't be violent?" Shadow looked to Perfect Chaos, still trying to dodge beams of spiraling, bright white light angled at him from Harmony. She rested still on her pillared, swirling throne of wind… her one wing flapping majestically. "This world's fate… rests entirely upon Chaos not destroying her." Shadow realized his own error, looking down and away as though cricking his head at his own folly. "Foolish-… I should have known. According to what we dug up, she was never meant to a weaponized device… that's why the Echidna's moved to Chaos… Realizing she was useless in their war efforts." He pulled out a device and started to work on it, making Silver, who was midway about to take a cluster of Elemental Soldiers and crush them in the air, shooting their parts like Jet did at the rest of the horde working, before looking back at Shadow.

"Is this really the time to be looking up something?" He asked, almost innocently inquiring before shooting the mass of Elemental Robots into others without crushing them, watching as they sprang with pink light like exploding, clay balls.

Shadow ignored him, his eyes searching through the depictions. "Harmony didn't take those lives…" He looked back at the girls, "... They did."

-Eggman's Destroyed HQ-

"Grah… They busted everything!"

Eggman hit his fists to the computer. Did he know Harmony would have to drain all life to give him what he wanted? Yes. Did he feel remorse..? Well…

He looked up slowly to the damaged computer screens…

"... How did they live?" He asked himself, and turned to Orbot and Cubot, walking briskly up to them cowering together before grabbing their steel, stem-y necks and hoisted them up off the ground and raising them up his tall and large body. He shook and yelled at them in front of his large mouth, spraying out spit as he shouted out his question again, "How did they do it!?"

Orbot grabbed his gloved-hand, "I-I don't know, Doctor! I don't know!" He shook his head profusely, as Eggman dropped them and looked disappointedly upset, seeing he wasn't gonna get answers from those bozos, he rubbed the bridge of his nose… thinking… tapping his foot on the ground below him.

After years of hunting down Sonic, he had gained that further impatient gesture from him… though, the two were naturally impatient people.

"There must be something I'm missing… something about Harmony I overlooked…" He walked up to his chair and sat in it, as though exhausted over a long work day, and rested back… before leaning forward with his hands together by his nose… deep in thought…

"... The Echidnas had to work with what god they had… So? They knew she was an endless fountain of life… Or did they?" He spun in a swirling loop to a side monitor, cracked and burnt, but still visible with some screen left.

He typed in some things, and hit the keyboards in annoyance, "Exactly! She wasn't limitless!" He peered over the far corner of the screen, his mouth slightly opened as he tried to see what little of the screen he could… even leaning his big rhombus butt up off the large chair to try and see better if possible.

"According to these readings… the stats…" He looked down to the keyboard and up again, typing without looking. "Yes…" His glasses had unreadable text moving across them, showing what was on the screen.

Both Orbot and Cubot, rubbing their heads or their steel, stem necks, looked to Eggman and then themselves.

"Harmony… ain't all-powerful?" Cubot asked, still a bit shaken up from before. "As in… She isn't like Chaos?"

"The Echidnas plans were never her… it was to use her to weaponize Chaos." Eggman continued typing, smirking. "Yes,... Yes, of course… I thought I could do what they couldn't… I thought I could help Harmony gain the missing power she had lost… but that's just the thing. When Life ends… it can't be restarted… not that easily, anyway." He clicked on more screens and shortened their frames to fit in the only viewable part of the monitor, having multiple screens as though many tabs open as he investigated further. "There are signs of Harmony all over the world's cultures… I thought to look into them, but none showed that Harmony was limited…" He looked back at the window that showed Harmony's graphs and statistics. "Harmony… can store the powers of creation into a mass… She can 'transfer' life… So long as that life force remains somewhere in the universe…" He continued to write, "Yes… Yes… I get it now! Hoho! Only Chaos can fully destroy anything! Leaving it completely outside Harmony's domain!" He flung his arm out, "In that case, I should have used Harmony… to imbue me with Eternal Life!" He was giddy again… before realizing… with a slight adjustment to his weight on his feet… he slowly twitched his outstretched hand as his face was fixated on his keyboard.

… Realizing his own flaw in his plan, he smashed the keyboard excessively with that raised hand, grunting in great power as the two robots held one another.

"THE TWILIGHT CAGE!" he almost roared out, shaking his hands to the monitor, "THEY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! It's why Chaos had to banish them, there! It's why normal decay didn't affect them in that dimension! Harmony… has her power source in EVERY dimension!"

He shook his hands more and more, enraged at his own lack of knowing how Harmony's powers worked.

"Harmony… She had her limits, but every account of her made it seem like she had unlimited power, was the perfect counterpart to Chaos…" Orbot looked to Cubot, "In reality… she is only the pencil that marks a new creation, and he is the eraser that ends it."

Eggman smashed his palms to the now scattered pieces of the keys, and their old board. It hurt his hands, but he didn't care. He let out a long exhale… his frustrations finally subsiding as he tried to recalculate…

"... What are Sonic and his friends doing?" He had had the power to travel his life force throughout creation, and he used it instead to try and 'build' instead of 'conquer' all of life.

He could have been sucking Harmony dry of her power… The Emeralds… they were only created to harness the power of Chaos, because even the Echidnas had already concluded her use had peeked for them and their schemes.

It was Eggman… who was late to the ball game.

"Gahh… no use looking on the past." Eggman was used to rolling his shoulders back as though tossing off one failure to plan for yet another conquest. He looked over to Orbot and Cubot, "If Sonic is planning to fight Harmony… then we all–in every dimensional plane that life is sustained in–... is doomed." He crunched up his fist in the air, holding himself at his full height. "... Confidence, Eggman." He looked to his busted screens. "... Confidence."

He marched out of the control room, making both Orbot and Cubot worried about what he was planning to do… now…

They rushed after him, weary of what he may be scheming this time…

-The Skies of Dread-

Harmony roared out a gruff grunt, shaking her slender snake-like neck till her dragon head swayed. Amy's voice mingled with the sound, showing frustration.

"I held out hope… but I should have known your anger would lead to this, Chaos!" Amy's eyes were wet with tears, but her face showed only the angular, sharp edges of rage. "You would destroy every piece of me! Bit by bit! Until nothing remained in any of the worlds we've nurtured!" Amy's eyes were bright, fuchsia pink. Compared to her pale, light pink, it was easy to tell she was being manipulated by Harmony having possessed her.

"I agonized over the day I would have to face you again…" Her quills rose with the wind around Harmony's gooey body, "I slaved in my mind over how I would plead guilty… how I would seek mercy in my unknowing indulgence in the creations of my heart… But now, I see they were right about one horrible thing..!" Amy opened her mouth and moved her head back, as Harmony reared up her neck to almost lay upon her pudgy body, looking like the dinosaur liopleurodon in shape. Except, without fins, replaced with wings, and a long neck like the lochness monster.

However, Harmony's Perfect form did show the same head as Chaos, more feminine and dragon-like with almost beautiful features like a head piece that showed the tentacles that matched Chaos… also beneath her, small appendages like tiny tentacles except for the ones that had combined to pierce the ground below, making her look like a one-winged kite.

Chaos Sonic remained silent… his heart aching at her words… Did she really believe that?

That he would… be so angry with her… that he'd destroy everything they've ever created together… the worlds without number… the life and fusion of elements to create planets through the Planet Eggs…

His time spent with her… How could she think him such a monster?

He saw the beam get launched towards him again, her body completely being thrown into its descent towards the ground, and moved like a rippling dolphin over the earth to dodge the explosion nearest him.

"W-Woah!" Tails grabbed hold of the top sticking, clear-fluid of Chaos's head. Sonic was at his chest, the brain still lighting up down there… but Tails wasn't sucked into the water.

Instead, he grabbed at what looked like a vein, as Chaos's eyes turned to him and he tilted his head while speedily making his retreating dodge.

"Wa-ahh!" Tails, freaked out by seeing a literal god of destruction's slitted eyeball wide and staring at him kicked out his feet and swung his body to cling more to the base of the strange appendage. "You have to talk to heerrr!" Tails cried out, closing his eyes as he tried to hold on for dear life, now on his knees. "Do something, Chaos! Don't just stay silent!"

Sonic's body, looking like he had gritted teeth from emotional restrained, looked up as though showing what Chaos was doing. It was as though Sonic was looking up towards the top of his head, before looking down in great pain of heart.

"... How?" Chaos answered through Sonic's form.

Tails, surprised to hear the strange sound of emotion from Sonic's voice, looked over to Chaos's head, seeing he had re-aligned himself to the front, bouncing up and down like a creature of the water, but also slithering at times to change directions and dodge more of Harmony's attacks.

"She believes me to be a monster. That I am created to destroy her and nothing more. When… in reality… there was so much more." Sonic's voice sounded with so much longing, it pierced Tails's ears instantly, never having heard such tenderness and heartache from him like that before.

"... Chaos." He bent his eyes, "You really do love-" He stopped when Chaos was thrown to the side by a white, blaring beam of light. "Ye-AHHH!" Tails lost one grip but used his twin tails to fly him with the tumbling Chaos. "Chaos!" He cried out, seeing the supposed god hit the side of the ground with the explosion so close to him.

"I may not have the power to end all and any life…" Harmony 'flew', or rather, used her perch of endless wind in the sky to swish her form to be in the direction Chaos was traveling while trying to scale his form along the ground in large bodies of rushing water, "But I do have the power to protect it!" With Amy's voice ringing out, Tails also had never heard such dire urgency in Amy's voice… that pain… that fear…

With a great scream of tortuous decision-making, as though having steeled her mind to fate, Harmony blasted another beam towards Chaos and simultaneously pulled life from around her and from the black, dripping sun like running paint along a wall…

"No!" Sonic spun his head around, Chaos doing the same as they were one, and fired off a blast to collide with hers while still on his side. "HARMMOONNYYY!"

The blast vaporized the earth in between the blast zone, which immediately destroyed a good quarter of Eggman's forces.

Her power was being restored… but at what cost?

Silver had used his powers to pull the other men back to the cliffside, Jet and Storm still on their Air gears; but while Jet crouched on his, holding it with a hand gripping its edge, Storm was barely up with a leg on it.

His eyes… twitched with seeing a massive crater in the ground… and the clouds having been caught up and vaporized in the blast as well… empty… it all just looked… empty.

Harmony swung herself in the air, groaning and crying out.

"... See what you're doing, Harmony…" Sonic's voice took on a tone of disbelief, as Chaos rolled his body to be on his belly again, his tentacles slamming against the ground as he tried to turn back to her, his head reaching up with his large mouth slightly open.

"Harmony… Beauty…"

Amy's eyebrows continued to twitch down.

"All the beautiful things of nature… They remind me of you… I thought you were fully destroyed by my power." Sonic put a fist to his chest, "Do you know… how that wracked me? For millennia… I only sought revenge… for what they made me do to you." He reared his chest forward, as though to have Sonic's voice carry his message for him. "To us!" He moved forward as Sonic's body spread out his twitching arms, as though truly trying to convey what he felt.

Harmony turned her head a few times, as though trying to comprehend what he was saying.

"I wanted to look for you… any remnant of you… but every cruel reminder of what they made me do to you… It was tortuous to exist without you!" Sonic's voice was growing almost raw, his eyes bending in such great emotion as he spoke. Chaos moved forward again, as though inching closer to where she was above the sky. "I have been trapped in that Emerald… Trapped in a cage that only reminded me of what was used to hurt you… to attack you… to end the one thing that gave me solace in the endless expanse of time and space…" It was scratchy, hoarse, as though desperate to speak but not knowing what to say…

"From my mind… I relived that memory… before this entity brought me and my rage down." He gestured behind him, but it was clear he meant Sonic. "He had a righteous fury for this world, a sense to protect it. Through him, I realized my rage could be kindled against your creations… No, our creations." He gestured to himself again, "... Amy…" Sonic's voice rang more through, his eyes twitching as though fighting Chaos's control.

It was barely a whisper, but Tails looked down from the dragon's–god's–head, "Ah! Sonic, let him speak!" he cried out, "Don't-!" he almost slipped and had to reach back for the appendage, feeling Chaos move and swivel.

"No… I need to tell Amy..!" Sonic tried to reach for his head, "Chaos… Let me… Let me speak..! Let me help you!" Sonic fought the control as Chaos shook, his host resisting him.

Tails was also trying to hold on, "W-Why!? Can't it wait!?" Tails looked at his monitor, throwing it to one of his tails as they both caught it and he was now free to grip Chaos's head with both hands. He squinted an eye and looked to see the readings. "She's… gaining so much power…" He looked at the plants below them… their greens, browns, and all manner of color being drained and turning to ash around them…

"Sonic… hurry." He looked worried, as Sonic finally broke through a bit of Chaos's mind pulsing against him.

"GRAAHHH! Amy! You have to help Harmony understand! Show her what you know!" he cried out, "You're the most empathic person I can think of! Show her all you've felt from Chaos's Aura beams!"

Amy looked completely absent, Harmony and her still one, gritting her teeth.

"Try." He voiced out, holding out a fist, "Amy, TRYYY!"

With Harmony gaining so much strength… could Chaos's words even reach her in time? And his emotions… his feelings…

Were they enough to stop the end of all worlds… and eras of Peace and Order?

-Back on the Ground-

"There," Shadow withdrew his hand as the last Elemental Soldier fell to one knee… then… slowly hunched over and fell as pink lights flew like a refracted glimmer in the air to fly to Harmony's heart and side… "That's the last of them." He looked to the others, huffing and puffing, but noticed Jet eyeing the jetstream of Harmony's winds…

"... Don't do it." Shadow barely narrowed his eyes, it was a millisecond of understanding what he was thinking…

Jet smirked, "Heh, you think you can read minds now?" He looked over to him, "If that thing is hurting Wave…" He was cut off as he glared towards Shadow, "... Can you really read minds?"

"Can you really defeat a god?"

Jet chuckled again, shaking his head a little as he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Haven't tried."

"B–Boss…"

Storm bumbled a little, but came up to his Air Gear and gripped it, looking up as though trying to calm him down. "We almost lost Wave today… d-ah… Don't make me lose you, too…" He slowly lowered his head, bowing it as though unable to bear the thought onto the front of Jet's Air Gear.

Jet looked at him, bobbing with the fast winds near them… thinking… before turning his head and frowning, "Tsk… Gah, fine! You gosh darn, sap!" He bounced his Air Gear, making Storm rear his arms up in the air in a goofy manner.

"Ah-ah-aaah!" He regained his balance as Jet put his hands on his hips and turned the Air Gear around slowly.

"Hmph,... you twist my arm and words, why don't'cha?" He looked to Knuckles then, "Hey, your kind started this… why not end it?" The wind blew by each of them… but Knuckles looked still as he faced the ground.

His bundled hair swayed… as he looked up from closed, reserved eyes. "I'm aware… but I'm not who they were." He strode forward, placing his feet deliberately below Harmony's winds and looking straight up through the hurricane tunnel… They weren't even in the eye of the storm, but close enough to its edge to feel the razor sharp tearing of its shrieking sound, ripping earth from below its scraping, airy nails.

"... I am the future of the Echidnas." He looked back to the men, "That means… I'm their last hope at redemption." He then fully turned his back to the air. "... I accept… that I'm not one of them." That… was an extremely hard line for Knuckles to swallow.

"I am a new breed. I have accepted my fate." He gripped his fists tightly against the fabric of his gloves, as Shadow lowered his head and narrowed his eyes, as though testing Knuckles's resolve, he wanted to be proven that was true… "My ancestors left me this duty… This weight that is unparalleled to any deed done in history… I understand it's foul curse upon this world… and I accept the responsibility as though it was my own doing." He stepped forward, eyes as deeply invested in this acceptance of his grief at what his 'revered' ancestors have done. "I will atone." He repeated Shade's words, and held his stance…

The ground moved all around him… but Knuckles stayed strong and true in the howling winds… and Shadow… his judging gaze staring him down with such instilled hate and intent…

But at last, Shadow blinked and smiled, looking up with a newfound respect for Knuckles.

"I know that how feels." He smirked, and held out his hand to him.

Knuckles smirked back, lightly 'hmph'ing at having won over Shadow's confidence, and gripping his hand firmly in brotherhood.

"Let's put an end to Harmony's discord." Shadow looked up at her, "We must make her hear him… Sonic… and Chaos combined… Their voices can't reach through all this turmoil and heavy, traumatic sounds." He looked at the winds, "If this reflects Harmony's mood… we can safely discern that she's guarded. Above the chaos, quite literally, she's protecting herself and trying to defend what she knows is a lost cause already…" He looked back to Knuckles, "She thinks she's going to die in this fight… and might want to… trying to be the martyr and take the full blame for what she has done… As I once did… following the orders still of men already long gone from this world." He shook out his head slowly, remembering his own past. "I admit, I hated her… I even hated you and Chaos…" He nodded once with a sharp look of reprimand for himself, "But that was also a self-reflection of how much I hated the actions of my past… how I have… not truly forgiven myself… no matter how much I strive for the world's peace," He looked at his hand, "... I seem to only bring the end to it." He curled his fingers in to make a lose fist.

Jet and Storm watched, as Silver flew a little closer… all were listening to his silent confession.

"I know what I did was wrong…" he lowered the hand, as though defeated within himself, "But I refuse to let the world Maria adored end." He opened his eyes to the rest of them, still a bit hunched in his honesty. He looked to Jet and Storm, "I… know how Chaos felt… waking up and wanting revenge for the wrongs done to him… and… someone he loved, cared about even-" He turned to Silver, who tightened his lips as he listened in concern but respect. "Enough to want to die with the world he tried to destroy."

Shadow walked in an arch as though giving an empowering speech now, "Come on… now that I've accepted the truth, it's time to make two gods kneel down and accept their own flawed feelings, too…. If not, the world is going to end." He looked up, towards Sonic this time… and Perfect Chaos. "Along with all our feelings… taken with it."

-The Cliffside-

Bashing away debris from the roaring winds, Vector held up a hand and punched another rock from hitting the fallen girls.

They breathed lightly, still pretty weak and passed out, almost all their colors gone and turning to white…

Stirring, Vanilla tried to open her eyes, and Vector turned from the flying debris control and noticed her awaken.

He looked back several times over the horizon, trying to be ready to defend again, before rushing to her side and cupping his hands with some water in a nearby puddle, pouring it over her head to try and keep her cool.

"You okay?" He asked, looking to the other girls and seeing their faint breathing, flushed faces… as though sick.

"Emm…" She tried to smile up to him but coughed, "Death… doesn't always look very beautiful, does it?" She tried her best to be brave in front of him. "Guess I can't say that…" She coughed again, rolling to lay on the back of her head instead of on her side where she was. "Technically… I've already died once." She tried to tease, but shook her head, "Peaceful… but still quite scary. I wonder if that's what Harmony is… That… strange, lulling peace that still makes you fear the life you've lived… question your decisions… wonder… if there was another way… before the end?" She looked up at the swirling mass of wind that kept Harmony afloat in the air, and the clouds–looking as though they were trying to flee from being sucked in any closer to her. "I wonder if that's why… we say we love life… but we really fear every choice made within it. Even though life… is very much unpredictable… making chaos in its wake." She coughed harshly and Vector tried to pull her up to himself again, just like before.

"Please…" He begged, "Stop talking, you're hurt… injured… you're something bad about ya!" He really looked sympathetic, but worriedly, he knew he had no idea what was going on.

"Shade explained more to me." Vanilla comforted him, patting his resting arm over her body to keep her held up. She looked for Cream, patting her head as well when seeing that Cheese wouldn't leave her side... They had fought the debris until Cream got faint... "It's funny… I didn't like death." Vanilla chuckled lightly, a bit morbidly as Vector held his mouth open a second, but she stopped him from scolding her.

A dainty finger went to her mouth, winking faintly in her lack of strength, "I know… I like the terror of life far more than the peace I felt being pulled from it… I felt I could do more… I felt there were so many options I haven't thought of before… roads and routes left unmarked… things I still wanted to try and do… like raising dear Cream… and seeing how strong she and Cheese became." She closed her eyes softly, "And what kind of woman… she would become…"

"Vanilla…" With crocodile tears, Vector worriedly thought he was gonna watch her die again.

She giggled weakly, "No need to fret." She tried to reach to his arm and rubbed her thumb against it, humming lightly before coughing and dropping her hand, in pain from her lack of strength again. She winced, and smiled again, making the slow death look beautiful, even in itself. "Vector, dear… You've been so good to us… Me and Cream can't thank you enough for checking in when we called… I'm sorry we've scared you."

"Vanillaaaa…" He really was sobbing. "I'll hold ya up, don't be afraid to go limp in my arms now." He adjusted his hold on her, closing his eyes as his lips trembled all the way down his muzzle, "You'll be okay this time… Sonic's on it… he and his friends… they always work things out… somehow."

She nodded lightly, "That's right. They'll never give up on life." She looked to Harmony, "I wonder… if that's how she feels… Staring down her own death..? Or looking into the face of one she loves..?" Vanilla's eyes opened just a bit more, though her chest bounced as though she was struggling to stay conscious. "I… I believe… she's just like any other woman…" She reached a hand out to her, as though trembling with every ounce of empathy, to reach out to her… "She just… wants to live her life… watching her children prosper… keeping them safe-" She fainted as more color drained from the girls.

"NOOooo…!" Vector's cry wasn't enough, he gently cradled her in his arms, rocking up and down, "Vanilla, don't go again… please..! Cream needs her mother… I… I need you, too…" He sniffled, putting her down gently and rubbing his eyes, "No… I can't let this stand! I can't just stand here any longer!"

"Vector!"

"H-huh?"

Surprised by his name being called, he saw Charmy and Espio rushing back with something being dragged in a black bag behind them.

"Wha…"

Vector rubbed his eyes, having a little squeaking sound effect with it as he blinked them open again, seeing his trusty teammates… but...

"Wha… WHHHAATT? Aren't you guys supposed to be fighting with the rest of'em!?"

His mouth opened wide as they rushed to him, dragging the heavy object.

"Shadow had a brilliant back-up plan!" Charmy grinned from ear to ear. "Heee~" He chimed.

"What do you… have?" Vector held out his arms, as though something was gonna jump at him.

"A way to stop the world from perishing under Harmony's confusion." Espio pulled the tarp off the object, revealing that the bag was just a improvised, last-minute thing.

Vector's eyes… sparkled at the green of the Master Emerald.

"Oh my gosh…" He opened his elongated mouth wide, "You're gonna seal Harmony and Chaos away again!"

The two nodded in unison, "Hmph!" Showing their plan.

"With the Harmony Crystal being broken, like the girls told us before, we have no other device strong enough to hold them." Charmy basically repeated Shadow's words.

"Therefore, if they do make nice, Shadow proposed Knuckles's idea of sealing them away might not be a bad resort." Espio gestured back to the Master Emerald, "It's dull right now, but with the seven Emeralds in hand… Ah… Where's Sonic?" He looked around before Vector had a bead of sweat slid down his face, awkwardly.

"About that…" He scratched the side of his chin, "Ahh… just look!" He pointed out as the two both stared at Chaos Sonic… Against Harmony Amy!?

They made goofy faces of alarm and cried out, jumping to Vector.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEIR ALREADY FIGHTING!?" They said together, Charmy by Vector's neck, pulling on his chain and hitting his chest, while Espio was on the other side with his feet still on the ground, shaking his belly.

"Are you saying the end of the world is already happening!?" Espio stated, "I thought they were going to talk?"

"Did it not go well? WHA-HAH-HAAA!" Charmy began to cry like a child, as Vector held him up with him sitting in the palm of his hand and then put another comforting hand on Espio's back.

"You both know that ain't true." He looked up, "See? They're trying to talk… but Chaos is getting no where with her all the way up in the air like that." He removed his hand from Espio's back, trying to remain strong, and pointed to Harmony. "That's our new target!" He looked to the Master Emerald. "We gotta get that thing below her somehow. Right in the eye of her storm!" Vector then gestured his head between the two crew members of the Detective Agency.

"What do you say boys? Up for one more delivery?" He smirked widely with all his teeth spread across his face, as the two nodded eagerly.

"Right!"

Vector looked one last time to Vanilla,... he walked over and put a hand to her neck, feeling for a pulse.

Before he could get a reading with a feel, his hand gently twitched slightly from reaching and pressing against her neck to hear faint breathing again.

He sighed in relief.

Espio took the black tarp and put it over the girls, almost like a blanket or covering, as Charmy flew about and tucked them under it.

"That should keep them warm!" He tried to speak over the winds, which were gaining more and more range as Harmony flew up into higher altitudes.

"Does she not want to talk?" Espio held up a hand over his eyes, "Why is she attacking?"

"I think she thinks Chaos is here to finish the job… hurting her won't solve anything, though. And I really doubt the big lug knows how to effectively tell her that!" Vector admitted, looking to Chaos.

"I can't hear a word their saying…" He gripped the ground a second, "But someone's gotta get that Emerald to the base of her feet! … Er… Tentril… things!" He tucked the tarp below Vanilla's feet carefully.

The three then moved back away from the girls, checking to make sure the tarp stayed on, and instinctively holding their hands out in case it flew off.

Seeing the tarp shake heavily in the wind, but not go anywhere, they gasped as more light flickered from the black tarp and was pulled to Harmony.

"They aren't being drained as much as like beforehand." Vector explained, his speech showing his care in his voice. "There weren't many rocks heading this way either." He looked up to see the boulders and things were flying far overhead, the winds becoming that powerful now.

"... Them Babylon people ought to like this weather." He commented, and looked to his team with an arm around each of them, "But we gotta dodge these obstacles and get to the prize! Who's up for another team building exercise!" He pumped a fist up and the other two looked just as riled up to succeed.

"Alright… now get that thing behind me!" Vector took a strong stomp forward and bent his knees, holding his hands out behind his back.

Hurrying, Espio and Charmy rushed to both sides of the large, imposing Master Emerald. Tucking their hands under it, they began to try and side-step in a crab-like walk towards him.

Once in his hands, Vector rose up, and the weight of the Master Emerald was child's play to his strength.

Now just supporting, Espio and Charmy's faces lit up.

"That's our boss." Espio praised.

"Nothing can stop him! Speed train ahead!" Charmy flapped his little wings and kicked his feet out.

Vector, blowing out some gust of air from his nostrils like a bull, swung his mouth around in flaps of encouragement and power, "Then let's gooooo…!" He cried out a battle cheer as the two also followed-suit with their own cry.

The three then, just as Charmy described, full-steamed ahead. Dodging left and right as they raced down the cliffside and jumped..!

They had managed to dodge the flying earth pieces… but how were they going to land!?

"AHHHH!" Their eyes shrunk as Vector admitted,

"I think I might have not planned this through!"

"Vector!" the two cried out in shock and scolding.

As they all began to fall, helplessly, a green Aura flickered weakly around them.

Silver, on his hands and knees, squinted through the pain of trying to summon a failing power, and held out his hand, "Come on… For my last… stretch of… strength..!" His hand flickered with green light, holding the trio and the Master Emerald… guiding them down to a safe descent before his hand burst into what looked like pixelated dots…

It flew like sand… and he watched as time was rewriting him out of history… as the world was turning infertile… he would have never been-…

"Born…"

Silver looked in horror as he suddenly… disappeared.

The others stared in terror.

Shadow rushed to his side, looking around for evidence of him… but the earth only showed where his knees had pressed into the ground, and where his nails had gripped the earth in strain to save Team Chaotix and the Master Emerald.

Shadow looked back and forth at the three marks on the ground… before shaking his head and gripping his fists. "We can't be too late." He looked to Vector. "Where are the girls!?" He cried out.

Vector and the others had fallen the rest of the way, but although aching, weren't hurt enough to not respond.

Vector got up and rubbed his butt, "We covered them in a tarp… They were still breathing when we-" He looked up… seeing the steady stream of colors… "Ah no… Ladies…" He looked back up at the cliff… when the last of the faint colors… ended at last.

The men remained silent… mourning yet again.

"Are we… really too late?" Knuckles looked to Shadow, "We can still seal her… We can control and command her to use her power to bring them back… Like Shade did!" He narrowed his eyes, "They did so much for us to get this far..!" He was also trembling in his fists…

Shadow just held his head down, his eyes blocking all light from them…

Silence… except for a roar form the wind's master, as they all looked with anger towards Harmony's outstretched wing, absorbing the powers, charging up another attack.

"Then why are you here, Chaos!? What have you come for..!? If not revenge!" Harmony was powering up into a large ball, radiant as a prisms colors, but as brilliant and large as the sun she had dimensionally blew a hole in.

"Ahhh~" Amy charged up power and held her one hand up, the other flopping about in the wind as though unable to be used… "HAAAA!" She flew herself down, going to attack.

Chaos shook his head, wanting control of Sonic again, but Sonic just stood his ground, crying out with a more commanding voice this time.

"Stop this right now… AMMMYY!" His call to her suddenly made Amy twitch.

"N-No…" She weakly tried to speak for herself, the heart pulsing with colors on her chest trying to squeeze at her and keep her in control. "No… I won't let you… let me … hurt SONICC!" She cried out and pulled up, as Harmony faltered from her swan dive and arched back, the blast that surrounded her backfired into herself, and she began to be pulled by the wind to safety, away from Chaos, Harmony shrieking in pain.

Chaos responded, lurching out his neck and crying out for her, with her…

He moved to catch her, but the wind was pulling her away.

"Now's our chance," Shadow grabbed Jet and Storm, "Go! Ride the wind!" He shoved them back to their Extreme Gear, making them collide with it to fall somewhat on their backs to it, surprised by his sudden hold on them and being thrown.

"Go!" Shadow ordered, "Do what you do best! And steal us some time!" He flung his arm, then looked to Team Chaotix with the Master Emerald, "I'll protect you." He looked to Knuckles, "We can clear a way and get the Master Emerald beneath her safely, we can seal them both through you, Knuckles." He waited until Knuckles nodded.

"For Shade and Rouge." He stated, "And every innocent female that ever had to deal with this horrific event…" He looked down, shaking his fists, "The selfishness of man ends here…" He turned to glare at Harmony, "Harmony… goddess of suffering for life… We deserve to livvveee!" He reared forward and began to make a trail in the earth, digging vigorously with a loud voice, "URA-URA-URA-URAH!"

"Now!" Shadow swung himself back, gesturing for them to move, "Vector!"

"Right!" Team Chaotix hoisted the Master Emerald up back into position, without Vector's strength, they'd have had to drag it yet again the whole way.

They went down the path Knuckles carved for them, as Shadow couldn't teleport without a Chaos Emerald in his hand, he kicked and punched away while skating by their sides to keep them running. "Go! Now! Don't look back!" He then looked over his shoulder, as Knuckles shouted out from still trailblazing the earth to make a curved walkway for them, beneath all the dying vegitation and tearing earth.

"ROOGGGUUEEESS!" Knuckles swung his head up from digging, rearing himself to let his mouth open as far as it could to cry out to them. Flying in dancing trails overhead his call, the remaining two Babylon Rogues flew through the whirling, vicious streams of air currents.

"We hear ya, we hear ya!" Jet smirked but also looked as though concentrating, straining to keep his board under his feet. "These are the most wildest winds we've ever rode, Storm!" He bent his back and gripped the Air Gear's side behind him, moving more like a skateboarder to get better control of his Extreme Gear.

"Just how we like'em, Boss! Dah-haha!" Storm cheered with support from behind, as Jet chuckled and did a tight tuck-and-roll maneuver to try and start scaling upwards from the downward moving winds.

Surprisingly, they moved so fast that they were like streams of their original forms, blurry and without a trace besides the stream of lights behind them.

Like ascending to the heavens, they rode the wild air currants, masters of their craft. Using their wings feathers, they spread out their arms and navigated their balances, coming up to fly around Harmony, stealing her attention and making her head swish about.

Storm looked to see Amy doing the same motions as Harmony, being her 'voice of her heart' as it were. He flew back around and looked down to Sonic, a speck within the blue menace, but his eagle-eye vision helped to see the details of his own expression.

He was 'speaking the mind' of Chaos… How interesting these metaphors he created in his inner-thoughts were.

Profoundly, he looked up as though realizing how difficult this all would be. Not only are they trying to save the world, but they're also trying to save a relationship.

Between, likely, gods-like entities…

He gulped, looking over to see Jet making faces at Harmony's angular eyes, spitting out from his tongue some raspberries and having his palms outstretched and up to the sides of his head like a moose.

Was this… the only way?

Storm gazed back down at Chaos, his heart now feeling the brisk air of the swirling wind… Harmony's anxiety manifested, and Chaos's grounded appeal void to her airy 'high and mighty' resolve of staying far above the actual issue at hand…

He looked to her as he rounded her again and again, avoiding the swishing of her massive but concaved and holed wing, then the thrashing of her long and slender neck to swat at them. They were like flies around a swan…

"We have to ground her, too." Storm deduced, looking at them trying to get the Master Emerald in place. "Jeeettt!" He called out, trying to fly close enough for the wind to not drown out his sound, "Booosss!"

Finally, getting close enough, Jet looked over to him, "Can't you see I'm busy?" He snarkily replied, only looking at Storm from the corner of his eye behind him.

Jet flew down her body and did a 360 full spin as though going up a ramp and flying back down the liquid spines of interconnecting webs along her wing.

She tried to trash her head back, almost like a giraffe swatting its neck around. He laughed as he flew to dodge, "Your head may be massive, but I'm much faster!" he sneered in delight.

"D'ahhh…" Storm realized Jet wasn't in the mood to hear reason, either…

"I don't think we should seal her away, just yet, Jet!" He tried to cry out his alternative thinking, "Maybe… we just need to sedate her long enough to hear Chaos's pleas for peace?" He arched his eyebrows, a feeling of something being right sitting in the large cavity of his chest.

It made his whole soul burn as though he truly felt that peace of mind, the peace that Chaos was aiming for, was after all right and correct.

"The truth is…" Seeing Jet wasn't listening, he looked up at Harmony as she swung her neck back forward, and turned her head slightly as though picking up on Storm's feelings, "He just really doesn't want to lose you again…" He looked as though understandingly… He halted his Air Gear, pivoting it in hopes she was listening to his own heart.

He held up his hands, trying to plea to the defensive goddess, "I know you're upset, but… Because of you, we were really upset. You took our friend away from us, and it was definitely the hardest thing me and the Boss had ever had to overcome. We had to fight those robots with your power inside them, and we were so angry and distraught, we bashed and trashed them without a second thought. In reality… they were apart of you, and we wanted to hurt you for hurting us… and our own people." Storm moved his Air Gear and little more forward, directing it at her as she whipped her head about, roaring as Amy's voice cried out from her center chest below.

"Harmony… you're the one wreaking havoc because you think that's what Chaos wants to do. He wants to hurt you for hurting him… but that's just not true!" He swiped out his hand, then bundled his fists together. "You're the one he's lost! He's already hurt the world, through the city, I-I think?" He looked up a second, trying to remember what he overheard through his travels with Sonic's friend this whole adventure. "A-And he's trapped the Echidnas..! S-Somewhere..?" He looked at the sky, pointing to it lightly as though still unsure, but certain he heard something about that..? "We're descendants of Aliens, too!" He then proudly put his hands to his chest, trying to find common-ground with her, "Which means… our life might have been granted by you eons ago, too… Harmony, not all your creations seek your destruction… and not all destruction… is coming from Chaos's wrath." His face turned so truthfully tender… as though he really wanted to convey to her that–

"You're… Your safe, Harmony… If you just calm down, and listen to what we have to say… you'll realize no one really wants to hurt you… we just want our lives back. With our planet, our friends… Our… treasured family." He lowered his head with a smile, as a stroke of light came up from Harmony's heart. Purple and light, it graced over Storm's neck…

"Storm… It's working..! She can feel what you're saying…"

"D'AH! Wave!?"

Storm looked around, back and forth, before opening his mouth wide at seeing the purple hue of his friends colors.

She giggled, as the light returned to Harmony's core… which was now Amy, being her host.

He looked down through the clear liquid fluid, a light pink, almost obscuring where Amy was due to her blending in.

He looked worriedly at Amy, realizing that Harmony was using her, but then nodded as he also came to the conclusion that his friends weren't dead and gone.

Just like Shade had proven, they can come back… So long as Chaos doesn't permanently destroy their life force, it exists still in Harmony's power.

"Harmony doesn't have the power to take life…" He looked up, realizing what Eggman had. "She only has the power to store it… to remove it and place it elsewhere… Only Chaos can destroy life." He looked over to Chaos, "That's why she fears him… she fears a resounding death."

With newfound understanding, he looked to Harmony and turned his Air Gear around, surfing back over to Jet and rushing into him, grabbing him and his Air Gear in one swift retreat.

"W-WHA!?" Jet was so disoriented, as Storm began to dive back down from the hurricane, gliding through the eye-of-the-storm…

He was so determined, his eyes fixed on the Master Emerald… He had to stop it… there had to be another way to get Harmony to remain still and speak to Chaos head to head… heart to heart…

"What are you doing!?" Jet cried out, "She killed Wave!" He reminded him, his voice shrieking out her name in his usually shrilly, bird-like voice but carrying the emotional weight of his message.

As Jet kicked out his feet, his arms locked under Storm's massive, muscular wing, it was clear he wasn't willing to listen to reason either.

"She's still here." Storm spoke with absolute certainty, which paused Jet as he opened his mouth, still in anguish but now in full disbelief to his words.

"Are you… stupid or something?" Jet's expression softened, "How can you be so sure?"

Storm tucked his head for forward and down, one fists bent and ahead of himself, guarding against the heavy winds as Knuckles had made a path beneath the winds to get the Master Emerald into position.

"We can't let them seal her away yet… or they'll end up like that girl they told us about." He looked back at Jet, "Ti… Tea… Teal-kala..?"

"Tikal?" Jet raised an eyebrow, "I vaguely remember they had a vision from a ghost girl who-" His eyes widened.

The two said in unison, "Dwelt in the Master Emerald!" Jet kicked his feet out, finally convinced their was a way that wave was still in existence with them. Storm, overjoyed he understood him now, laughed cheerfully as he held him out in front of himself, no longer restraining him or his Air Gear.

"D'ah-haha! See? But if we don't get Harmony down from the sky, we can't see her again like last time she died." It was weird saying that line, but maybe…

"Storm, you're not as dense as you look." Jet smirked, only joking, but Storm nodded with his eyes closed as though understanding the compliment was just Jet's way of showing affection with sarcasm.

"Let's get those blokes to hold off… at least, until Chaos can charm the dickens out of that hysterical woman!" Jet nodded, having Storm help him back to his Air Gear and them swerving down the airstreams full-forward dive to where Shadow, Team Chaotix, and Knuckles were…

They had to bide time away, alright! But not from Harmony… they were interfering too much with 'political conferences' being held by superior beings of the universe's creation and cycle of life..!

During the time that Storm's emotions had connected with Harmony, it was enough of a distraction to allow Amy to break free of Harmony, looking around the strange fluid and realizing she could breathe just fine. She looked at her hands, moving through the light and fluid… she then put a hand to her throat as instinct of drowning, but realized it wasn't necessary. "Sonic..?" She looked around, as the heart in her chest thumped against her own heart, causing pain as she gripped her chest with both hands over the other, "Ugh… all this… fear and… sorrow…" She knew this regret… "You… You have to let Chaos back in your heart again… realize he had never left it to begin with… Chaos… he rampaged for you, but we all didn't realize it. We were told it was because of the Echidnas that a great wrong was done to him… but now, we have the full story, Harmony… he fought so hard because he felt he had lost you… it was never about him, it was always about his anger at losing you." She tried to sway her hand out into the fluid beside her, as though trying to calm Harmony's fears down.

"He could never hurt you of his own, free will and accord, Harmony… Storm is right, you're safe. You're alright. He's not going to betray you… Augh!" Amy was wracked as Harmony's form violently shook herself, as though trying to expel Amy's feelings from affecting her.

Amy was controlled again, possessed as Harmony's heart beat wildly over her own, not allowing its calming and peaceful tempo to affect itself.

"I betrayed him!" The voice carried far over the smited earth.

Amy was led into a memory, Harmony growing glowers and having Chao walk behind her as she bubbled in joy at their presence, looking behind her and swaying her two arms out in joy.

But then she stopped to see Chaos bending down to an Elderly Chao, who was weak in his knees, his back crooked and hunched all the way over, carrying a cane barely visible under his long, white mustache and beard combination. His eyes were barely able to stay open, as he willingly laid his head to Chaos's hand… finally… closing his eyes as he dropped his cane while Chaos…

Took softly his fading light… and as Harmony's fluid withdrew from her crystalized, dried blood eyes–her blood bubbles boiled frequently throughout her body in alarm.

Chaos, still kneeling, erased the life she had given right before her eyes…

The Elderly Chao disappeared… and in a desperate attempt to save him, Harmony tried to suck what remnants of his life remained, and reformed an Egg to give him reincarnation.

Chaos, pulling his arm gently back, saw the Egg form and looked surprised, getting up to look to her.

He had no idea… how she then perceived him since…

As the Echidnas pleaded for mercy against death, against destruction from their enemies and to save their tribes… she remembered how Chaos could make all her power go into nonexistence… he could make it so that she couldn't suck the life back and reform it again… How all her precious creations… what she once thought were their own… could be stripped from ever having existed at all.

Like a painter watching someone destroy their beloved craft… she would not stand for such a sight again.

Draining the Echidna women wasn't death, it was displacement. It strengthened her, and she could always reform them once Chaos was sealed.

She would protect her children, she would make it so that death could never prevail.

She would defeat Chaos… so that her creations need never fear such a sight, such a…

Permanent… destruction.

"Harmony…"

Amy's eyes watered at such a sight, seeing Harmony admit to her being the cause of so much pain.

She may have been fooled… but that was only the excuse.

She wanted to put an end to Chaos's power,... She was at fault-

After all.

"All things have to come to an end," Amy put her hand to her heart in the vision, "If they don't… new life can't be created… The same picture remains posted for forever… and no new creation, better and even more grander than before, can take its place… all creatures deserve to live, Harmony. And death is not always a bad thing… it can be gentle, and it can be good for those still living as well. Compassion… mortality… realizing we only have so many days and nights… It brings us all closer, it makes us all care more about one another… It reminds us to not take for granted what was given, and pave the way for new life to discover itself and what the world has to offer."

Amy spread out her arms, "Harmony..! Your anger towards Chaos was unjustified! He may have the power to destroy your creations, but that is so that a new life can be created instead of recycling the same mistakes by the old generation time and time again! He was washing away the past by carving the way for future enlightenment! One generation even more prepared and better than the other!"

She was thrown out of the memory as Harmony dove to crash into Chaos, "NOOOO!" Amy cried out, but this time, it was Harmony speaking, repossessing her. "I will not let you destroy my creations!"

She clung so tightly to the souls she loved and cherished, it didn't matter about being fooled…

All that mattered now… was that she didn't want Chaos to destroy what she had already made.

She refused to see life and the planets without end as their creations… not just her own.

Chaos Sonic then braced for impact, "If things weren't displaced and taken from these worlds… then you'd have no more power to give life… You're even more limited now than you were then..! Harmony! If I didn't take the life you have given, then eventually, you'd have run out of power to create anything ever again! You would have spread your power too thin!" He swiped out his hand, then bundled them as he prepared to catch her.

Chaos's tentacles spread out in front of him, as though to catch a 'ball of light' as she thrust her head and ball of light surrounding herself from her decent–pulling from the worlds and dimensions through the dimensional leak around her–to collide with him and push him back against the ground.

"At least she's on the ground," Jet… teased at the most inopportune time.

Storm watched with horror shaking in his eyes how Harmony pushed back Chaos against the land, leaving a wake of mayhem and desolation in her comet-like trail.

Chaos, forced to fight back, reared his head and grabbed her body with his appendages, throwing her like a body-wrestler to the ground and biting her neck, draining her power as he shook his grip around to leak out light from her… which… permanently was taken from ever existing again…

Harmony cried out as her power leaked and was destroyed, thrashing her being around on the ground while Chaos tried to get a hold of her… Tails's voice growing hoarse as he kept trying to convince Chaos to speak more than take action..!

"She'll destroy the world…" Storm realized, "All worlds… her power will be spent and there will be nothing left to repair it…" He realized that the more she fought, the more Chaos had to permanently destroy her power to defend himself, and with her already weakened from him destroying 1/3rd of her power beforehand… the more crueler the reality of them possibly losing the remaining life force of-...

"Waaaave!" Storm's eyes shook in terror, moving so fast down that he almost flew off the Air Board, trying to get to Knuckles, "STOOOPP!" He cried out, tears spraying from his eyes as the wind flapped against his feathers and body.

Team Chaotix set the Master Emerald down, wiping some sweat off their brow before looking up at Storm and Jet flying back down.

"Uhhh… Are they supposed to be coming back?" Vector asked, putting a hand over his eyes to look from the blinding light show to see them hurling down from the within the eye of her hurricane, and turned to see Knuckles positioned a ways out from the Master Emerald, taking a deep breath and then holding out his arms skyward, preparing for his chant in a reverent manner.

"Oh, great Master Emerald-"–"Stop..! Cease your prayer!"

"Huh?"

Knuckles turned to see the apparition of Tikal, her hands tightly clasped together, fear and worry stricken upon her countenance.

Shadow, seeing her as well, immediately stepped forward.

"What's wrong? Don't stop him!" He swiped a hand out, annoyed.

"Harmony has heard one of your hearts," She gestured to Storm and Jet, now landing in a big, windy pile as they braced for impact by releasing all their stored up air to propel them from a harsh landing.

"If she can hear all your combined feelings… from all the worlds and creations of her heart… then she will know that what she is doing is wrong."

"But… she's on a rampage!" Knuckles threw his arms out towards Tikal, having lowered them from his previous stance. "How do we get her to listen to us? If she won't even listen to Chaos! She can't see reason!"

"She's blocking her heart from us," Storm, a little nervous to speak to a ghost, took his Air Gear in front of himself, holding it in place a bit tilted, as though shyly hiding some of his face from her. He peeked around the Air Gear, "D'ah… Miss Ghost Lady?"

"Tikal," Jet coughed into his hand.

"R-right, Miss Echidna Tikal?"

She turned to him.

"D'ahhh… You see," He shyly dipped his head a bit, blushing, before gesturing out a hand again to continue this train of thought. "I tried to reason with her, she felt my emotions, Wave told me so."

"Wait, Wave told you?" Jet looked at him, incredulous. "How?"

Storm looked between him and the ghost, "H-Hold on, Boss, Please." He politely shut him down as Jet folded his arms, annoyed he had to wait on that answer.

"If Harmony is closing off her heart, and guarding herself with her walls up, how is anyone or anything supposed to penetrate to her heart?"

He then ducked and hid behind his Air Gear a little, sheepishly having only one eye peek around it, "M-Ma'am."

Tikal, looking concerned, nodded to his fears. "You are right, Harmony has steeled herself from her creations and even her most beloved friend." She turned to Knuckles, "... Which is why… Sonic is the only one that can even begin to open her sealed heart…"

She held out a hand to Knuckles, gently, "You know this… I have spoken to you before about it…"

"Sonic?" Knuckles looked confused, "I-... I thought you meant Sonic as Chaos's host..?"

Tikal smiled sweetly, tilting her head in a type of nod, her lower eyelids bunching up slightly to show great care for Knuckles's confusion. "He is." She replied, "But his heart is now within Harmony's power…" She looked up to see Harmony Amy's motions within Harmony, mimicking her actions as though one and the same, and Chaos Sonic doing the same but for Chaos.

"Together… He will help Chaos reveal the inner-workings of his mind, where the chemical emotions are produced, and Harmony, will have to accept the feelings of her heart, and overcome the body's weaknesses of fear and power… She has been corrupted by life, and only through Order will all things be restored to their proper, renewed, and restored forms… for all truth is this, that Life and Death have no bounds. Forever shall they reign and rule… side by side… till the very eternal song is sang to its last, unmistakable trumpeted reply."

"...What?" Vector looked a little lost.

Charmy put a hand up and whispered into the side of Vector's head, "I think she means 'Until the fat lady sings'." He explained.

"... Oh." Vector looked a lot more chilled now, "Then why didn't she just say so?" He shrugged.

"Had to wrack your brain on that one,... Eh, Vector?" Espio lowered his eyes in somewhat disappointment of Vector, but smiled in fondness nonetheless at his 'brave and noble' leader.

Being a detective, they had to have their wits about them, maybe not their 'social phrasing ept' skills, though.

"Once all of Harmony's powers have been expended, no new life can come forth." Tikal took back on a warning tone, as her eyes fixated on Harmony… "Such pain…" She closed her eyes, putting her hands into a prayer-like gesture as her head bent down, "Harmony… hear our heart's cries…"

All over the world, women suddenly held to their hearts… the young and the old…

"Your wrath is justified in that you care for your creations… but as our mother, you must allow life to continue forth… Only you hold the power to nuture giving… do not take, for it is not within your nature to."

A little girl, holding her weakened mother's hand, looked out to the sky as her heart glowed with the colors of Harmony's combined lights.

Many more… looking like the Harmony crystal, then resonated in all life across space and time…

Chaos stopped his shaking his grip on her neck about, and looked to see her heart glowing with light…

Tikal continued her prayer,

"So life must die… that it may return to you in honor, that you may refine and weave it into the next, to start the process once more. Until a perfection is found, your power will never have end… And this is Order, to accept that the life is beautifully spent, and has no true end."

Chaos Sonic, hovering over Harmony Amy, moved back slightly as Chaos's form did the same.

"... Harmony… All Life is precious… but the life we sow… cannot last forever."

Harmony's eyes now flowed with streams of falling light, as though rivers of aurora lights.

"I feel them… They live, Chaos… they live even still."

Harmony Amy shook her head, crying.

"Even without me… they found the will to live on."

Chaos Sonic smiled warmly to her, as Chaos placed his head to her own, to still it.

"Be consoled…" Chaos Sonic gently motioned a kind rub of his head to her own, even though him and Amy were far apart, Harmony and Chaos were now extremely close to one another.

"I do not hate you…"

Harmony cries turned to a beautiful, piercing sound almost like a song's note.

"In great love… Do I end the suffering of life well lived. Spent to its fullest, and in love for you, I return it to your being… that you may bring forth even greater creations… that we might have joy in that which we have made. Your life wanes, your power–although omnipotent–is not ever-lasting… You must be restored, and that is my role. To take back what is rightfully yours."

Harmony Amy reached up with her hands, as well as Harmony's own tendrils to lightly spin around Chaos's body…

"You should end me…" Harmony Amy's lips trembled as her breath began to wane from so much emotion, the world's women pouring their desires to live into her. "I have hurt so many… including you."

Chaos Sonic shook his head softly, "You needn't end."

She sobbed through heavy breaths.

"The joy you bring… even to me… that has no end in memory never forgotten… never lost."

"I… must atone. For betraying you… and the life we have made… together." Harmony's cries still, and one tentacle graces Chaos's head…

His mouth opens as though relieved to have her back… but then…

"I forgive-"

A large blasts shoots into Harmony's back, the nape of her neck.

Her body flails, as Chaos is forced to move back.

"What!?" Chaos Sonic's voice rings out, as Eggman laughs in the distance.

Holding each other once more in fright, Orbot and Cubot watch helplessly as Eggman has a canon strapped over his shoulder and around his body like a body-brace that camera men sometimes adorn for bigger cameras.

"He's lost his mind!" Orbot exclaimed.

"He's gonna blow us all up! Living or not!" Cubot pointed out to Chaos Sonic, "He's gonna force her to retaliate and end the world!"

Tikal turned to Knuckles, "Knuckles, if Chaos and Harmony are one now, then the souls she has trapped within her being, the lives not yet returned, will be trapped forever like I am!" She warned him, "For this is how I came to be, my life was pulled into Chaos's entrapment through Harmony's abused power. If you seal her away, then trillions of women will be forced to live out eternity trapped with her!"

Knuckles's eyes shook at such a heavy weight, "No… I don't want to bear the sorrow of any more tortured lives…" He gripped his head, the pressure now getting to him, "Rouge… Everyone…" He fell to his knees as Espio rushed over to him, kneeling beside him.

"Vector, we have to stop Eggman." He looked to him and then to Charmy, "If Harmony fights, the world is over."

Charmy nodded, looking to Vector, "Let's beat him up!" He kicked out his fists and feet, "Plus, still owes us money!" Referencing their time working for him during their time fighting Neo Metal Sonic, even though… they figured out it was him and not Eggman that was making them work so hard for nothing.

"Harmony..!" Chaos Sonic tried to pull her body away from another canon fire, lifting her to turn her direction from it. "Together, we can preserve the natural order of the worlds… of all life… you mustn't think me a monster for that… cease this fighting… death is inevitable for all creatures and living things!"

Harmony threw her head back and charged up a beam.

"NOOO!" Chaos Sonic had to cross his arms over his head, as Harmony shot out a blast and pushed Chaos away.

Eggman did a giddy dance, clicking his heels, "Hehe-hoho~" Wiggling his butt before waving his arms widely out as though jumping-jacks, "Harrrmmoonnyyy~ Grant me eternal life! Give me access to dimensional planes and let me rule all of the unknown galaxies!" His eyes flashed with her aurora beam hitting Chaos.

His smirk only widened, the darkness surrounding him more apparent by the contrast of the light coming in front of him.

"You have tricked me!" Harmony Amy believed the blast came from Chaos Sonic!?

"No… Harmony, no!" His voice was falling, so wracked by almost having his dearest, beloved friend back… only to lose her once more to the wicked tricks of man. "Harmony, please!"

Chaos shook his head and roared, but Harmony fired another powerful blasts and Tails cried out as Chaos took it willingly, having no more desire to fight.

"You can't give upppp!" Tails felt the impact of Chaos hitting the ground, flying off as he flew to Sonic at the center of his chest, pushing his hands against the surface of the hard water, watching gentle ripples come off from his touch. "Sonnniiccc! You have to do something! We were… so close…" His tears began to fall, "I believe in you, Sonic… Chaos can't be the hero… you are!" He closed his eyes, his tear drops making light, beautiful sounds against Chaos's chest… the ripples increasing… as Sonic remained motionless upon the inside of the water's depths…

"You found a way to connect to Amy through your bond with her…" Tails hit the chest, a even greater ripple waving out across Chaos's chest. "You talked to me about it… remember? Chaos… you have to talk to Sonic, you have to get advice and stick to it! You love her… you have to fight for her, but that doesn't mean fighting against her!" He shook his head. "Love should be able to withstand any hardship, any war of hearts against minds,... Love… Love can endure even the poison of outside influences, right?" He squinted his eyes open, "I may only be a kid–an orphan at that!–But even I can recognize that love shouldn't be this complicated or hard! Stand up, Chaos! Sonic! You have to have Harmony see reason..! She's fighting against her own heart, you have to reach her no matter what..!"

Tails's heart began to show lights… lights that resonated with Chaos's mind pulsing ghostily over Sonic's own head…

Shadow, Knuckles, Jet, Storm, Team Chaotix… all the men around the world began to look ahead, as though sending their thoughts and feelings to Chaos…

Chaos stirred, his dragon-like eyes trembling a moment, as power began to soar through him.

"Chaos is not just the happenings of life or the death of it all..!" Tails's feelings swirled around him, his light growing and growing… "It's also the immense feelings of things we can't express! Things that have no words to describe! They are our memories, hopes, and dreams! Chaos…

You are the spontaneous joys of our lives as well!"

Chaos Sonic's eyes blared open with such light that even rivaled that of Harmony.

With her power not equal to his own anymore, Chaos roared and pulled himself off his back, landing with a dust cloud around his being to stand as his tentacles rippled at his sides, his power looking like refracting light against the surface of a large sea.

"Harmonnnyy…!" Sonic's voice rang out again as Chaos summoned a large body of water to cover the land, Jet and Storm grabbing the others, using their two Air Gears to keep the Master Emerald afloat as well.

"If I can't make you see reason… I'll tame your anger out of you..!" Sonic held up a hand, "Direct that anger… all of it… to me!" Chaos held up his head, "I'm ready for you!" Sonic smirked, "Chaos, let's take whatever she throws at us, she's bound to weaken, and we can take it..!"

Chaos, in agreeance and with confidence, swung his head about and narrowed it to her, ready for her. "HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOOOTTT!" Sonic threw down his hand as Chaos launched himself to Harmony.

"No!" Knuckles cried out, "The world..!"

Shadow gritted his teeth, holding onto the Air gear from its side, them all now in the water and holding the Air Gear as though a drifting pile of wood, the Master Emerald tilted on the two Air Gears to stay above the water.

They moved in the crashing waves… all trying to cling to the airboards.

They watched… helpless… only their feelings able to give Chaos the full strength of his power needed to contend with the mother of all living…

"I'll never lose anything again!" Harmony Amy charged up her power. "CHAOOSS! I will never be enough to protect my creations..! But I can at least protect them from you..! Just a bit longggerr!"

Then, from the stars… a voice rang out.

"My Children… our great mother of all has been wroth with wrongful worry… we must hold her fast and true down to this earth. For the Planet Eggs sake, for all our sakes, and the many living organisms still found in this universe… Do not fail me..!"

That voice…

Seeds dropped from the sky, bursting as they hit the ground and began to surround Harmony… then…

From their buds, Seedrians bloomed and held their viney or branch-like bodies to her, binding her down.

Tails's eyes turned to the sky, his eyes already clear from fresh tears… seeing a face he never thought he would again.

"Cos… mo?"

"Go, my children! Restrain our great mother so that the balance of all life may still commence!"

Knuckles looked to Tikal, "If Chaos can take all of Harmony's hits… till she's completely drained of life… will that life… return to what it once was?" His eyes shook, shrinking, "Will…" He looked up at the Master emerald she was floating near, not taking his eyes off of her, but looking desperate for an answer. "Will our friends be able to come back… because their life forces will be placed back where they originally were given?"

Tikal's face looked afraid, but she blinked her eyes to smile and nod to Knuckles.

"That is a way." She agreed.

"But Chaos must not fight back." She narrowed her eyes.

"If his anger can be turned to compassion… then if he takes the hits on behalf of the world… the world and all other worlds… will be spared, but not saved."

She looked to the Master Emerald, "Then you must chant." She looked to Chaos and Harmony, "And the gods must reign as one… creating a new Order for the universe to thrive off of… yet again, and once more… the measure of creation will be completed for this era of existence… And a new time will commence forth and be forged."

Vector looked to Charmy, trying not to swallow water.

"Meaning..?" he gulped down some water and started flailing.

"You're an alligator!" Jet kicked him, annoyed, "You can't drown!"

"Crocodile!" Espio corrected, sticking his head out of the floods.

"What's the difference!?" Jet angrily cried back.

"Enough!" Shadow looked to Tikal, "For this new Era, Sonic has to keep Chaos calm while getting hit by Harmony over and over again until she's sedated and satisfied!? How's that meant to be healthy or correct!?" He looked pretty ticked off. "What are you saying!?"

"That when her energy, through anger is spent, your friends may return to you… I never said this was a good way." Tikal admitted, her ghostly form clinging to the Master Emerald with one hand as the surf made the boards ripple in the troubled waters. "But it is 'a' way."

"Not every relationship is sound." Knuckles muttered, groaning out his frustrations and shaking a fist to Chaos Sonic, "Heeeyy! Get that girl to really wham you, alright!?"

Shadow just grimaced, "Ugh… This doesn't sound right."

"Hey, they can go into marriage counseling later!" Jet kicked himself up onto the boards, holding the Master Emerald, "Now, get on! Let's focus on ourselves for a change!" He pulled Shadow up, "What's with the freaky alien flowers and sticks, anyway!?"

"I will not be deceived any further, no more shall life be given! I shall pull from all my creations, and end your power once to hurt and destroy once… and for all!" Harmony Amy's eyes sprayed droplets of blobby tears, as Harmony Amy held up her one arm and threw it down, Harmony firing off blast upon blast at Chaos.

The men around the world narrowed their eyes, giving all their feelings to Chaos. The thrills from the unknown, from the jumps, leaps, and bounds they've taken to make their lives the way they are. The will to keep on living with the ones they loved… to keep experiencing the different courses life could bring to them.

"Chaos… You make the joys in our life memorable… From the pains, comes the knowledge of what true happiness really is." Tails turned his attention away from Cosmo, in his heart, knowing it was only her voice and not really her… just the existence of her life force still within Harmony.

Each blast sprayed out more lights, which floated back to the worlds…

The little girl holding her mother's hand gasped as her mother's colors returned to her, and her blinking as two more hands reached down.

The mother looked over, her husband holding her shoulders in an attempt to help her up a bit, and smiling warmly down to her as her son wiped his tears and gave her another resounding open-smile that touched her heart and soul.

Their hearts empowered Chaos, as he took each hit, having Harmony release her power back into the sky…

She was shooting out shots of large collections of life, and when they hit him, a Aurora arched circle blasted out of them, releasing the colors of the spreading rainbow…

Cosmos seed held tightly her to the ground, binding her as she released more and more of bullets of life.

Under the gloomy, morbid black tarp came stirrings…

Gasping for air, Rouge threw off the tarp, coughing.

Then Blaze, pushing the tarp off her back and coughing on the ground.

Vanilla then rolled it off of her, as though getting out of bed, covering her mouth a moment.

Kicking the stupid tarp off of her, Wave rose with a dried voice, "That's the last time I'm dying today..!" She coughed out, ticked off she had to go through that 'TWICE'.

The girls rose up, as Harmony's last shot at Chaos was a long beam that when connected, forced Chaos to lay his head down as he struggled under it, but many rainbowic bows stretched across the sky from it…

Sonic whispered through gritted teeth, on his knees within the watery chest of Perfect Chaos's body. "Endure it,... don't get angry… don't fight back…" Sonic strained himself, trying to help Chaos remain submissive. "It's not fair, you're justified in that she's acting crazy." He told him, "I know. I know because Amy doesn't make any sense to me either." He tried to push Chaos's back up, as Chaos tried to let Sonic… take over himself this time around.

"I know… that you just want to help her, and save what's left of your friend." He tried to get a tentacle under Chaos, to help him rise up. "Do you feel that? That's the desire of every man on this planet… from every world ever created… they're giving you everything they can… all their thoughts, feelings, the desires of their hearts, and ambitions of their minds… they want to live… and Harmony can't be destroyed for that to happen! You don't want that!" Sonic pulled himself up, "Pull yourself together, Chaos! You are the only one that can reach her! You gotta open that door and get her out of hiding!"

He clenched his fists together, "Amy… You have to say you're sorry, Chaos!"

Chaos swung his head around, he did nothing wrong!

"It's good you forgive her, but you also admit she did nothing wrong…" Sonic gritted his teeth, "She was manipulated… maybe, she allowed herself to be,... but you can't save what was, you can only move forward with what is and try and repair and make a newfound relationship with her!" He got Chaos to stand against the oncoming beam. "She can't destroy you… She can't really hurt you… She's already been lost before, do you really want to lose her again!?"

"Together!" Chaos Sonic returned, his eyes glowing with such power, spiraling around him as the Chaos Energy intensified. "Harmony, let's create a new Order, a new fresh start!" He cried out, leaning his head forward, "Harmonyyyy! What if we tried again!? Together this time! Not holding back how we're feeling or thinking..!"

"The world needs a heart." Tails looked over to Harmony, "Please?" He flew off of the chest and to Perfect Chaos's back, trying to shield himself from the heavy, hard-hitting blasts. "This is just like when Chaos woke back up… It's the exact same…"

"Without defeating her, how do we stop all this with just talking?" Vector asked as Jet nodded profusely, having asked the same question.

"Hm-hm-hmph!" He then wiggled a pointer finger to him, "What the big Croc said!" He looked to Tikal.

Suddenly, from the horizon, glowing in brilliant colors… the girls flew through the skies…

"Wha…" Shadow looked in awe, like jet planes, the men followed the lights as the girls then began to attack Harmony.

"For the sake of our ancestors to be laid to rest and peace!" Shade charged up her new Super form, and blasted Harmony while she was restrained by the Seedrians.

"For the future and the past, that all time may be healed, and continue forward!" Blaze, already used to the Sol Emeralds power, also shot a powerful flaming head towards the head, careful to spare the vines and branches that were holding her in place.

Harmony Amy winced, looking restrained, "What's going on? Why are you continually hurting me!? Do you despise me!? Do you love death and Chaos more than me!?" The hysterical confusion of Harmony rang true through Amy's voice fo struggling.

"For all worlds to remain and be fruitful, we, your creations, will end your reign!" Rouge drilled through Harmony's hide, causing a ring to cry out as she pushed against Amy, trying to force her out. "Without a host, you're toast!"

Tails, hearing this, opened his eyes wide, looking through Chaos's murky form to see them. "Of course… Without a power source, she can't keep absorbing life!" He looked to see the others floating with the Master Emerald, "... Ah! That makes sense!" He understood and nodded, "Soooniiicc!" he called to him, "We have to get Harmony to release her power! If she does, we can safely use the Master Emerald to seal them both away!" He cried out, "It may be our only way!"

Sonic turned to address him, his eyes still glowing to show he was Chaos Sonic.

"Sealed… again?" Chaos looked towards Harmony, "... Is there… really no other way… we can dwell with you… in these worlds..?"

"Oh… uhhh… Chaos," Realizing he wasn't talking to Sonic, Tails changed tactics, arching his eyes in sympathy.

"There is no other way."

Tikal flew up to Chaos, looking sweetly to him, but in great pity. She put her hand to his nose, and bowed her head, "What has been done is done, the past cannot be reversed." She looked back up into his eyes, smiling, "But generations can be saved… by both your sacrifices to continue to live… in peace… and no longer hold rage at your past creations' works."

She took her hand off his nose and the Perfect Chaos seemed tamed, looking to Harmony.

Seeing her in so much pain, his heart swelled and Sonic could feel the overriding sensation of letting Chaos take control again.

Vanilla, also in a type of Super form, moved to Harmony's head, "Peace… you become so unseemingly when you're upset… be reasonable… there, there… shuusshhh…" She tried to coo, holding out her hands to show kindness as Harmony stopped struggling to look at her, as though amazed to see anyone or anything showing such love towards her.

"You… You all attack me…" Harmony Amy was holding back Rouge's drill with her one hand, "Am I… is life really so horrible to you… that you would choose to surrender to the force of death… rather than accept one who loves you?"

"Who said I did not love them!?" Perfect Chaos drove himself through the waters, splitting them in a powerful propulsion towards her.

"Who said I did not love you!?" Perfect Chaos collided with her and the girls moved back, Rouge getting thrown out of Harmony's body but getting caught by the green vines and hard, woody branches of the Seedrian people.

Sonic moved through Chaos's mass to swim to Amy, sticking his hand through Harmony's chest, "Ammmyy!" He called.

Harmony Amy shook herself, trying to get freed from Chaos's grip.

"Take over, Amy! Make her release her power!" he cried out, reaching desperately for her, "AMMMYYY!"

Amy powered up, a Super form emerging from all the powers of Harmony Energy coursing through her.

She broke from Harmony's control, and had her shoot a beam up into the air, creating multiple layers of rainbow-arched beams. "Give it back!" Amy cried out, "Our lives! Who's to say you can control what to do with them!? They're ours now! We decide if we live or die!"

Harmony's form slowly retreated, falling and deflating, oozing into Amy's as Chaos slowly did the same.

The worlds were in ruins… but Women rose up, and Silver… returned from the dust and blinked his eyes wearily, laying on his stomach.

He shook his head, grabbing it a bit and looking back up to the team. "... They… did it?" He looked at his hand, and while powering up, was amazed to see how much power glowed from it.

He looked at his other hand, swirls of light… "Chaos… energy?" He was amazed, "It's never… been so full… I feel so much… power!" He charged himself up, "Haha! Imagine if we can restore the planet!" He looked to Sonic, seeing him holding Amy and coming down to the ground as the water's receded.

"Now?" Knuckles looked to Tikal, who flew back to them, turning seriously.

"Not yet," She held out a hand, which ticked Jet off even more, stomping the wet ground and spraying mud everywhere, swinging his fists down like a tough guy.

"Not yet!? The nerve! When's too late for you, ghost lady!?" Jet threw a temper tantrum, and without Wave to scold him, Storm just leaned down politely and stated,

"Tikal." With a firm nod and leaned back up.

Jet twitched with multiple anger marks popping up all over his noggin'.

He pouted and turned to Storm as he crunched his shoulders up and head down, eyebrows indicating he would strangle him for such an insulting reminder of what he did for him…

"I'm so annoyed." Was all Jet could say, "This whole fiasco is just uncalled for!" He threw his arms up and waved them around before folding them again. "Hmph! Treating us like therapist… We're Babylon Thieves for crying out loud!"

"Boss, look!" Storm excitedly pointed out into the sky, putting a hand to Jet's side-shoulder as he turned around and gasped.

Wave flew softly down to them, "Bickering again, I see? Can't stand one minute without me, can ya?"

The men tried to hold back their tears, straining… before rushing out to greet her, no longer able to contain their 'manly' attitudes at the sight of her, "WAAVVEE!" They cried out, hurrying to where she was gliding down.

The Master Emerald was lifted off the Air boards, and Knuckles looked to Chaos, waiting… if Tikal gave him the signal, he would begin again.

Sonic held Amy, drifting to the ground to land in a puddle of clear water… enough to reflect the sky.

Amy's eyes blinked open slightly, still glowing faintly with Harmony's light.

Sonic's eyes bent and took in a solemn breath, closing his eyes as they opened to reveal the light of Chaos.

"... How long have I called your name?" Chaos Sonic asked, as Harmony Amy looked to him in fright, pushing off his chest somewhat.

"W-where?" She looked around, but noticed she was still in Amy's body.

Her eyes trembled… Then she turned away, "Like them, you should despise me… I… I let myself get fooled by the Echidnas… I willingly went against you… I deserve this punishment…" She turned to Amy's limp arm, as though reminding Chaos of her missing power…

"If I am gone… then…" Her eyes lowered, softly in depressed regret. "Then Life can cease once and for all…"

Chaos Sonic placed a hand on her cheek, pulling it towards himself, so she couldn't look away anymore.

He then looked to her limp arm and put that same hand over her shoulder. "... These beings… they do not live as infinitely as we do… but they… they hold a sense of will… the will to strive whether in Chaos or Peace… to simply have the right to live the lives they so choose to." He looked into her eyes. "Why not us, Harmony? Why not embrace that sense of adventure..? Why not… create a new Order… within ourselves?"

She gasped, "Oh, Chaos… How can you still forgive me… after everything I've ever done to us? I stole your freedom… I allowed them to abuse my own…" She cried, unable to stop.

He smiled, "Agency… This time around, let's give all the many lives this gift. A gift to choose good or evil, to live according to their desires, good wants, and righteous needs… Harmony, Let's no longer serve them, but simply just…"

He lowered his head to her own, "Be."

With her one arm, she held him and cried into his chest, as Chaos Sonic rubbed her head lightly, "... With these new hosts… let's create a world befitting of us being free… a world we would want to dwell upon." He looked down at her, her eye sockets shining up at him. "A world… they wish to save."

Grabbing her hand, wind and water combined…

Sonic embraced Amy as Chaos and Harmony blasted out of them, spinning and swirling to create a purple around themselves.

Then, Sonic and Amy shot into the sky… and traveling through the hole in the sun, a Sonic Boom of rainbowic light healed the many worlds… and they flew through galaxies already created, and healed what had been hurt.

For a moment, all of life fell to the ground, dead…

Then, in another blaze of light, that life rose again, renewed and restored, rejoicing in their momentary fright being done with and hugging their families and loved ones, watching the skies as purple light spiraled in two spinning forms…

Amy and Sonic suddenly regained consciousness, as Amy screamed and held him, not knowing what was happening.

Sonic held her close, "Woah, woah, Amy! Calm down, Calm down!" He laughed, "I think we're rebuilding the worlds and restoring power to the Planet Eggs..!" He grinned, seeing they had somehow convinced the two gods to work together again.

"W-We are!?" Amy scoffed in a humorous way, looking back up at him, "Does that mean..? Ohh, give the world more pink! Heheh~" She giggled and spread her arms out as Sonic had to hold her up, watching as suddenly multiple worlds were turned with a shade of pink.

"Amy!" He threw out his arm and they were returned to normal, "Responsibility, please!" He gave her a funny scold, and she just laughed.

"So, that's it then? We have the powers of gods!?" She looked at her fingers, wiggling them, "OoooOooohhh…" Then moved them to Sonic and giggled as he shook his nose away from her goofy demeanor. "Not gonna lie, thought she was gonna control me forever…" Amy's ears lowered, sorrowfully, "Sonic… I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see you again."

Sonic felt his heart get soft and warm, but this time, he didn't resist it.

"Come on, Amy." He turned her so her back was to his chest, holding her under him as they flew, "Let's set the world in order."

She nodded, holding his arms around her waist, "Em!" She cheered.

Eggman scowled… "I won't be bested..!" He saw them disappear and began to get his Eggmobile back up, hitting it to turn on and rolled it back upright, but…

Super Rouge, Super Wave, Super Blaze, Super Shade, and Super Vanilla all slowly rose up over the hill he was on…

"... Going somewhere, Eggman?" Rouge unfolded her arms, putting them to her hips.

Eggman flinched, slowly turning around.

His glasses broke, revealing his beady little red eyes, as he smiled goofily and put a finger to his mouth, "Oh, boy… Eh-heh-heh-heh… Hello, gir-OFFPH!" He was sonic-rear-kicked by Vanilla's super-boosted Bunny-Kick.

She cleaned off her hands as she heard the most beautiful sound in the world, calling her name, "Mama!"

Super Cream flew and embraced her mother, they spun in the air, and the girls sighed a breath of relief at seeing it.

"Hehe, come Cream, let's make sure Eggman learns his manners." She tapped Cream's nose and the two, along with Cheese, flew off after Eggman, to 'gently' torment him into not interfering with the world's healing… again.

Super Blaze floated down as Super Wave returned to her team, powering down, but showing it off before doing so.

"Silver?" She landed as Silver nodded, "The worlds are safe." She knelt down beside him, offering her his hand.

"Guess we really could trust those two, after all." Silver beamed a smile and tenderly… took her hand.

She looked at how slow he had done so, looking between him and their now held hands, and then away with a slight confused blush… as though not knowing how to take this strange, new feeling of familiarity…

As his fingers curled to hold her own, he got up and looked to the sun, then the moon. "Ah! It's restored!" He noticed, then looked under his own feet, "And-and..! This is the greenest grass I've ever seen!"

Blaze looked around, "It is, Silver… It's good." She nodded.

"It's…" Silver looked to around,... then to her. "Beautiful…" He squeezed her hand a moment, "Blaze."

She blinked a few times, then looked at him… as then, Charmy's voice cried out.

"HE PUT A WATERMARK ON THE PLANET!" Pointing at a group of blue flowers that spelled out, 'SONIC THE HEDGEHOG WAS HERE'.

Espio cried out, "He's not alone!" And pointed to a valley that had pink and blue flowers, forming a shape of a heart, and between the flowers was a purple center.

"You can't just decorate the world according to your ridiculous designs…" Shadow folded his arms, twitching an eyebrow…

When a shadow graced by his side, and he looked to it.

"... Shadow?"

He turned around, his eyes widening…

Tikal was holding… Maria's hand, and guiding her to him.

She ran and fell to him, holding him tenderly.

Shadow… was in shock.

Having his moments of reconciliation and closure… Maria's form returned to a splendid color of light and ash…

Her ash spread far and wide over the beautiful fields… as that moment was for Shadow and Shadow alone to know what was said and expressed.

Shade returned to Knuckles's side, holding a new Chao egg.

"Now, the restoration of the Planet Eggs, and the new Order is complete." She set the egg down as it rocked back and forth… before springing out a tiny purple Chao that looked just like a mixture of Sonic and Amy, cooing and reaching a hand out for Knuckles.

Knuckles, seeing the familiar three quills both on the side of the Chao's head and the three protruding as bangs on the top, just frowned deeply but took the little guy and put him on his shoulder.

"It's time." He said, looking to see Tikal nod in agreement.

"Oh, great… Master Emerald!" He still had a hand on the new baby Chao, the evidence of another generation of Order restored, and the continuation of balance between life and death.

"Take their beings… and give us hope yet again… that even we may dictate our lives given… as a gift, to be wielded by us and us alone…"

Sonic and Amy were laid against the grass of the Master Emerald, as it rose up and took the purple liquid into itself like a glass… rocking in the air back and forth with brilliant, green light.

Sonic and Amy rested gently with one another… before smiling from ear to ear, giggling and chuckling together, as their hands came together… and a fresh new start for them was had…

As well.

Everyone returned to their proper places, worlds, dimensions, and times…

And Tails got to see Cosmo… as he showed her the pot with the seed Sonic had given him, before it bloomed and yawned a little baby girl, and he literally freaked out as Cosmo's light dimmed while she giggled at his reaction…

Once more, the world was saved.

By opening hearts, to speak from within.

Chaos and Harmony reformed upon the Master Emerald, just as they had sat on the boulder many eons ago, nuzzling one another as the Chao all cheered… their mother had returned at last.

"Come 'ere, Knuckle-boy~"

"Rouge! Wait, Stoopp!"

At least some things... can possibly change now?

(I lied, I wrapped it up in one chapie. Don't hate meeee)

Chapter Text

(Someone requested a Tumblr Prompt of Harmony and Chaos! So I included it in the main story instead of the 'Tumblr Prompt series' :3b Enjoy~)

overandbeyond724:

Hi There! I'm so excited to hear that you're reopening your prompts! Can't wait to read them! For a prompt though, may I request a prompt for Chaos and Harmony? Good luck! And stay safe!^^

Cutegirlmayra answered:

Unfortunately, the prompts are fully closed and suspended for the foreseeable future. But luckily, you got yours in on time! 3 So here you go, beautiful friend!

For those of you unaware, Harmony is an OC created for the Story: "Sonic and the Harmony of Chaos" Which is featured on all my writing sites, Archive ( /works/14115129/chapters/32523255), Wattpad ( story/125715860-sonic-and-the-harmony-of-chaos), and Fanfiction ( s/12689044/1/Sonic-and-the-Harmony-of-Chaos-UNDER-EDITING). Please click the links in the 'x' to view them on whatever site you're more comfortable with!

Admittedly… I haven't re-read my old story in a long time XD So I'll just… Do what I want~ lolol Have fun with it! 3

Prompt:

It's been quite a long time. The two gods sat comfortably upon their now unified prison, The Master Emerald. Within it, a skinny pink crystal sparkled to create a stunning mixed hue that sparkled light throughout it clearly.

Dazzling rays of power… they sat like they were on a couple's love swing than a throne, as Sonic walked by with hands low to greet the Chao that came cooing to his feet.

Each Chao represented a different 'era' of Chaos and Harmony's powers united, and the newest Chao tripped over his feet and cried to try and get to Sonic, but was picked up with both hands and placed lightly back down with a flop of his teardrop body by a lovely pink hedgehog.

She smiled to him as he looked back up and waved to her, waddling away to be greeted by Sonic as she giggled at that cute response.

She scrunched up her nose as she spoke to herself, "Reminds me of someone I know…" Reminiscing about her old days of pursuing the young blue hero…

She gave him a quick glance again… mischief spraying its alluring colors over her eyes like the Master Emerald and Harmony Crystal's mixed glimmers…

"Well…" She looked away, remembering how they literally re-crafted the world together after Harmony's powers were sucking it dry… like the machine upon the Lost World… "I'm not that old..!" She bolted off with a laughing spree, carelessly jumping into Sonic and having the two roll down to the ground.

Thinking it a game, the Chao had exclamation points where their floating balls once hovered, before jumping with cheery cries to also hug and jump on Sonic.

"Pah! Amy! Offph! Y-You're a terrible influence!" Sonic recovered rather quickly from the surprise, already used to it from time-to-time, and quickly turned Amy over with a reach of his arm.

She was pinned but didn't mind, kicking her feet and laughing, as Sonic smiled a cocky grin from above, but his eyes were relaxed… it was nice to see they were getting along so well.

"I'm the best influence." She gasped lightly when she saw a grass blade get blown to Sonic's muzzle. Lifting her head up slightly from the ground, she blew gently for it to fly off, and the two watched it take flight yet again…

The Chao all freely chased the blade of grass, as Sonic slowly got off of his hovering stance over Amy and offered her his hand.

As she took it, Harmony also leaned to Chaos and offered her hand.

His crystal eyes looked to her bloodred ones, and took it, bubbling the surface of his claw-like hand as she seemed to respond with her own bubbles rising up her head.

It looked as though she was giggling just as carefree as the hedgehogs were.

"It really is peaceful now… a new generation of life and…" Amy swallowed a bit, "Destruction." She looked to Chaos and Harmony, sitting comfortably and leaning their shoulders into one another, resting their heads together.

"... They really are happy, aren't they?"

"... Still think they're a couple?" Sonic teased, folding his arms but adjusting his footing so he was comfortably next to Amy as well.

"Emm… makes me jealous." Amy wiggled her nose towards the two of them. "So happy. Such bliss. What fun." She sighed in a monotone way, as though suggesting quite bluntly to Sonic that she wanted that.

He rolled his eyes, "It's never enough for you, is it?" He put his hands to his hips and shook his head down, winking an eye to her with a smile.

"So? What's the on the agenda for Amy Rose today, then?" He clapped his hands together, rubbing them as though suggesting he was going to be with her–no matter what those plans were.

"Weeeellll~" Amy swirled a finger around one of her pink quills…

"Don't try to act demure now." He narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "What do you have in mind… Huh, Amy?" He raised a cheeky eyebrow, as though not falling for that old trick.

She giggled, "Chase!"

She spread out her arms and hands towards him, hunching her body down as though about to pounce.

"Ye'Ah!" Sonic leaped up as though to avoid her, and took off, having her chasing behind him in a beautiful cascade of laughter.

Meanwhile, Harmony rose from the Master Emerald, twirled in the lightness of her body now flying as though made of bubbles in the air, and controlled the wind to bring her towards Amy.

In seconds, she lifted Amy with her wind and had her begin to fly, matching Sonic's pace.

"H-Huh?" Sonic saw her grinning brightly next to him, and had to double-take. "Hey! That's cheating!"

"I don't mind~" She chimed, turning to her back and acting as though she was swimming in the air.

Seeing his cute pout, she hugged her stomach and laughed again, her spirit feeling free as Harmony carried her along, farther than Sonic was going around Angel Island.

"I know why they call it Angel Island, now, Sonic!" She called from the air, now high above them, "Because I can feel heaven from up here!" She stood straight with her legs together, her arms out wide, her chest out as the wind encircled her, and head completely back to take in the sun undeterred by the clouds below them.

She then free fell with Harmony at her side, spinning around her and flying with the same level of peace and tranquility, lifting her gently to a rise to scale the trees and ancient ruins of the island.

More blades of grass were brought up to follow Amy and Harmony's flight path, as Sonic looked to the lazy god of destruction, just watching the two fly about.

"What? Aren't you gonna help me?" Sonic stuck an accusatory finger his way, and the god only looked at him.

"You really are just an alien, mutated from a normal Chao and playing Guardian, aren't ya?" Sonic mocked, turning his pointer finger in a twist motion from its 'underbelly-side' up.

Chaos narrowed some water over his crystals, as though to take that as a challenge.

His form leaned forward as two pillars of bending water crawled themselves up from the water fountains around them, and held as though about to strike.

"... Uh, oh." Sonic's ears bent back as he went to bolt, but Chaos snagged his leg and hoisted him up.

"I-I hate to inform you, since you p-probably don't know," He began to ramble in a type of humorous panic, sweating a bit as the second pillar turned him around and helped him upright, pushing against his back's natural curve. "But me and water don't get along! Ulrmp!" He was silenced by water encompassing him.

Amy continued to play with Harmony before seeing a fused Chaos Sonic surf by on more watery fluid from Chaos's form making a curved pillar of a 'wave' except still with its spiked end.

Amy gasped, looking to Harmony as she nodded, and merged with her form to create Harmony Amy.

Now spiraling around each other in pink and blue watery fluids, the two made a spiral and the rainbowic blast created flowers spontaneously, killing the old and reviving the new seeds yet to grow.

The water fell away from the two and they were in an embrace, pulling lightly apart before Chaos Sonic stroked the side of Harmony Amy's cheek.

She smiled.

His gaze softened.

Finally… Chaos Sonic matched her own happy grin.

The two spun as though a dance towards the ground, the water and air circulating by their waist to keep them steady, and landed with ease.

The Chao began to swarm them, mimicking the two guardian alien spirits grasping on to a partner nearest them, laughing and dancing in a circle to try and play the lovely scene out.

Harmony Amy took both of Chaos Sonic's hands… looking down at them… her only active arm looking as though a single anchor point for the two hands that lightly began to hold her own with a squeeze.

She looked up and Chaos Sonic leaned forward…

Their foreheads touched… and the watery fluids of both Chaos and Harmony slipped off in gushes of blobs away and down Sonic and Amy's forms…

When their eyes closed during the process, they could only hear the muffled waters receding, before opening them to see how close they were again…

"Oh, um… eh-heh." Sonic awkwardly chuckled, sweatdropping but… not pulling away.

His eyes darted behind him but he didn't move, looking back at her as she just giggled… waiting to see what he'd do.

Neither pulled away first…

So their laughter slowly ceased… as their eyes flickered to their still-smiling lips…

And the Chao were the only ones to witness it. Some covered their eyes while others cheered.

Some even pulled in other Chao to give them a peck on the cheek.

But Harmony and Chaos reformed on their usual love seat, the beautiful Master Emerald with its inner-encasement of the Harmony Crystal.

Their hands were together… bubbling before Harmony leaned over and bubbled by where her mouth would be some 'popping' love kisses to him.

Clearly… these ancient beings were lovers… as clearly…

As our blue hero and pink hopeless romantic… were well within each other's arms… also merging at the lips…