CHAPTER ONE - CHAOS ZERO

  Amidst the usually quiet streets of Station Square, a blue blur ripped 
  through the air. Bouncing from the street, right up the side of 
  buildings, across the top, and then from building to building like a 
  pinball. Amy was holding a meeting of the Freedom Fighters in City Hall, 
  and he had been asked to attend, as a representative of New Knothole. 
  The Freedom Fighters were very different in Station Square.. their 
  efforts consisted mainly of patrolling the city for attack. The was 
  a rumour that Robotnik was looking to expand his empire, and Station 
  Square was the nearest city to Robotropolis. Sonic passed a large
   building labelled 'Casino'. 
  This must have been where Twinkle Park met Station Square.. the two 
  close cities grew so much that they now touched. Twinkle Park was a 
  huge combination of theme parks and casinos, mostly. The casino was 
  open.. it was about seven o'clock at night. Sonic breifly wondered 
  if he would have a chance to check it out after the meeting. He 
  heard a sound behind him. Sirens? What was happening? He stood at 
  the edge of the roof of the building he was on, and looked down. 
  Five or six police cars, maybe more, were screeching along at at 
  least 150km/h, and swerving all over the place as a result. Sirens 
  blaring, they screeched around a corner, regained control, and continued 
  driving out of sight. A police chase! "Oh yeah! THIS is happenin'!" 
  Sonic announced excitedly. He blared across the city, trying to keep 
  up with the cops. They were only doing around one-fifty, so it was 
  easy to catch up. Wait.. they were travelling towards City Hall! 
  Sonic began to worry about Amy and the Freedom Fighters. He stood 
  atop a building, and tried to make out what was happening. The 
  police cars screeched to a halt outside City Hall, and police 
  practically busted out and rolled, heavy automatic weapons on the 
  ready. This was interesting.. a hostage situation, maybe? The 
  building did not give much of a view, Sonic couldn't make out the 
  scene properly.. or what they were looking at. One of the police 
  stood up with a megaphone. "PUT THE HOSTAGE DOWN!" he commanded. 
  "PUT HER DOWN, AND COME OUT SLOWLY."
  'HER'? Sonic hoped the hostage wasn't Amy. He also wondered why he was 
  so worried about Amy.. she could take care of herself. There was a 
  sound in reply. A roar? It couldn't have been. A couple of the police 
  appeared scared, some were loading and re-loading their guns nervously. 
  "Must not have very professional police in this town.." Sonic thought 
  to himself. Suddenly, some action.. Something flew towards the police 
  at a high speed. A person? What could throw a person like that? He 
  checked to make sure it wasn't Amy. It wasn't.. it was a female 
  wolf. She was screaming her head off, and appeared soaked. "GOOD, 
  NOW COME OUT SLOWLY." the cheif of police commanded. There was a 
  long silence, and then the police began to back away. "FALL BACK! 
  FALL BACK!" one of them screamed. "NO! REMAIN!" another shouted. 
  One of the police was grabbed by something long and shiny, and 
  thrown into the bonnet of a police car. Sonic jerked his head up, 
  heart pounding. What the hell was that? He didn't like getting in 
  the way of police, but he had to find out what was happening. He ran 
  down the side of the building, and hit the asphault. He was nearly 
  kicked over by the crowd of people madly fleeing the scene. He 
  couldn't see over them. He could hear the police cheif shouting 
  commands, and the loading of guns. The cheif was giving the criminal 
  one last chance to give himself up. Sonic eventually pushed through 
  the crowd, and hit a striped police blockade. He had never been this 
  close to an armed police seige! It was a lot different and more 
  exciting than watching Freedom Fighters beat E-100s with large 
  sticks. He looked beyond the blockade, searching the night. He could 
  see City Hall.. the lights were on, but it was empty. Amy must have 
  evacuated the meeting. Yes.. he could see her on the other side of 
  the seige.. she and the other Station Square Freedom Fighters were 
  watching just as curiously as he was. At least they appeared safe. 
  Suddenly, there was a piercing scream beside him. He shot around and 
  almost fell over. A policeman directly beside him had some kind of 
  tentacle wrapped around him! He had dropped his heavy weapon, and 
  now took his handgun out of its holster and was shooting it randomly. 
  Sonic backed off in case he was shot by accident. 
  "FALL BACK!" he could hear somebody screaming behind him. Somebody
   grabbed him and pulled him up and away. "Back away, civilian." 
  somebody told him. He was taken behind the police and left.... he 
  stared back into the darkness. What WAS it? Then he saw it. It was 
  standing on top of a car outside City Hall. At first it looked human..
   but it was short, stumpy, pulsating, and Sonic could see right 
  through it. It looked like a transparent version of Nights. One of 
  its limbs was wrapped like a tentacle around the cop's waist, and 
  was waving him around. "PUT HIM DOWN, OR WE WILL FIRE." the police 
  cheif ordered. In reply, the creature seemed to... was it... was it 
  LAUGHING? It threw the policeman away, and then turned to a group 
  of curious civilians. It stretched a tentacle towards them. They 
  screamed and fell over themselves trying to get away. "CEASE AND 
  DESIST!!!" the police cheif ordered. The creature ignored him. 
  "OPEN FIRE, MEN!" the cheif commanded. Immediately, as if anxious to 
  hear that command, the forty-or-so policemen let their automatic 
  rifles rip, and the creature was hit by thousands of bullets a second. 
  They made a plop sound and a slight splash apon contact, and the 
  creature's body was violently distorted from the onslaught. The 
  cheif gave the command, and the firing stopped. Sonic looked through 
  the smoke to see if he could find the remains of the strange 
  creature. He could see a sphere.. a light blue sphere, just
   sitting there, not moving. But stranger still, it began to morph.. 
  it morphed slowly back into the human-like shape it originally was, 
  and stood there for a few seconds. There was an uneasy silence. The 
  creature extended one of its arms, opened its claw.. and dropped 
  thousands of bullet shells into a pile on the ground.
  "OH NO!" one of the police shouted. "OUR.. OUR WEAPONS HAVE NO 
  EFFECT! OUR WEAPONS ARE USELESS!"
  "FALL BACK, MEN!" the cheif commanded. Some of the police bolted, some 
  screeched away in their cars. In five minutes, everybody was gone, 
  one of the cars hitting a fire hydrant and causing a fountain in 
  its haste. Sonic was alone with the creature, now, even Amy and 
  the Freedom Fighters had escaped. The creature pulsated, and stared 
  directly at Sonic for a long time. Sonic brought himself to his feet. 
  "Who.. who are you?" he asked. There was a very long silence again, 
  as the creature eyed him. "Chaos could.. ask you the same quesssstion." 
  it hissed. A bubble formed in its chest, and slowly drifted upward.

  "Alright, hot-shot!" Sonic called out, gaining confidence. "Twenty 
  questions! What are you doing here, and why did you attack those 
   people?" The creature looked at him with a smug look. "What are 
  YOU doing here... and why do you not run? Do you think you can stand 
  up to Chaos? Chaos will CRUSH you!" "Is THAT your name?" Sonic asked. 
  "Chaos?" The creature began to approach him. "It is.." it replied. 
  "Chaos Zero, to be precise. What is your name, little bug?"
  Sonic frowned. "Sonic." he replied. "Sonic the HEDGEHOG. And I suggest 
  you leave this city before I lose my temper!"
  Chaos thought that was extremely hilarious, and to prove his point, 
  charged at Sonic. "WHOA!" Sonic shouted, dodging. Chaos bounced 
  back with an incredible spin, his arms flailing around wildly. Sonic 
  was hit by a speeding tentacle and flew back into the wall. Chaos 
  chuckled insanely, and melted into the pavement. Sonic picked 
  himself up, dazed, and looked around for the strange creature. Where 
  did it go? He stepped in something wet. When he looked down, he saw 
  he was in a puddle.. but the puddle transformed into a claw, and 
  clamped over his leg! He tried to escape, but fell over. Chaos 
  raised and solidified from the pavement, and, Sonic in his grasp,
  swung the hedgehog around and into a wall. "You can NOT defeat 
  Chaos!" the creature mocked. "Chaos is too powerful! Too superior!"
  Sonic suddenly jumped to his feet, and rammed full speed (which is 
  very fast) into the chuckling Chaos. Upon contact, Chaos made a 
  loud squealing noise, and burst into several globs of liquid. After 
  Sonic regained his composure, the globs all came together and formed 
  a dazed creature. Regardless, Chaos managed to snap a claw around 
  Sonic's neck and throw him, but Sonic formed a mid-air spindash, and 
  slammed into the creature's forehead like a circular saw. The impact 
  ripped through Chaos' body, throwing globs of liquid everywhere. Sonic 
  stumbled and used the wall to support his beaten-up and dizzy body. 
  The globs of liquid moved across the pavement to come together 
  into one big puddle, and then the puddle moved away from Sonic. 
  Sonic regained his composure and followed it. "Hey, where you going, 
  'ya big DRIP?" he shouted. The puddle ignored him, and moved over 
  a storm-water drain, disappearing under the city. Sonic, panting a 
  little, stretched to see into the drain. He couldn't see anything. 
  "What in the heck was that?" he asked himself. He shrugged and 
  decided to walk back to New Knothole for the night. As he left, a 
  figure stepped from the shadows. Robotnik. He had sent Chaos on a 
  mission to Station Square to stir up a little trouble.. he did not 
  want a calm before this storm. He had seen the city's defences feeble 
  attempts at attacking Chaos, and even Sonic himself almost met his
   match... and the creature was at his weakest and most vulnerable 
  state! "So, Chaos really is the monster I travelled so far to 
  collect!" he chuckled. "He can take over Station Square for me, I 
  can build Robotnikland, I can pay off the Arack Empire, and the 
  Freedom Fighters will fall to my knees! Sonic.. prepare to be 
  destroyed by Doctor Robotnik and Chaos - the god of destruction!"

  ***

  It was the next morning, and Tails Prower was in the sky. Not flying 
  by himself, but with the help of his biplane, the Tornado. It hadn't 
  been used in a while, and Tails was making it his project to beef it 
  up. He was using the yellow emerald from the Chaos Isle, installed 
  into the power supply.
  "All systems go.." he murmered to himself, looking like someone who 
  really knew what he was doing - which he was. He was flicking switches 
  and pulling levers to steady the plane.. but he didn't notice a 
  needle on the dashboard which was moving higher and higher up the 
  meter.
  "Ready to test full power.." he said, reaching over to a button. 
  He flicked up the protective casing, and was about to press the 
  button... when he heard a steady beeping. His finger stopped 
  three inches above its target, and Tails turned his head to the 
  source of the noise. A light was flashing.
  "This isn't right.." he complained, looking for the source of the 
  problem. Fuel tanks are above half full, velocity is fine.."
  He heard a loud explosion behind him which sent the plane into a 
  nosedive, and he could smell smoke.
  He slapped himself across the forehead.
  "Engine heat.. engine heat.. always check the engine heat.." he 
  complained. "Alright, I'm learning." He looked down to see how long 
  until splashdown. Unfortunately, he saw he was heading full speed 
  into a sand bank. Not wanting to be injured. He pulled up quickly. 
  The plane banged in reply, and was sent into the air again, 
  spinning. Then he began to fly sideways and lost control. He 
  gritted his teeth and started banging things on the console. The 
  plane righted itself, and Tails checked again.
  "Oh no!" he shouted.
  The plane had come inland, and was over the city!
  Tails imagined a crash in the middle of Speed Highway in peak hour.. 
  quite messy. He pulled the control stick hard to the left as he 
  began to lose control again and go down.. The cement rushed up 
  towards him as he pulled back to level the plane, and he just made it.. 
  about three inches to impact. He could see pedestrians' shocked faces 
  as he flew a plane along the footpath, almost colliding with a few 
  of them, who ducked out of the road or ran into telegraph poles. 
  Again the plane went into a spin, and shot into the air, the engine 
  spluttering. He could now see the beach again.. and the waterside
   resort that Sonic was staying at overnight. Tails squinted to 
  look, and sure enough, there was a blue person lounging in a deck 
  chair.

  Sonic scratched behind his ear as he read the newspaper.
  "TWISTED CREATURE ATTACKS - COPS USELESS" read the headline. 
  "A strange, unidentified individual of unknown species attacked 
  Station Square last night, and took hostage a female resident. Once 
  again, police stupidity rears its ugly head, as cops blunder the 
  seige and are scared witless into retreat. Luckily the monster 
  disappeared by itself harming nobody.."
  Sonic snorted through his nose. "Disappeared by itself?" he asked. 
  "Come on, who was the one who had a duel with it, risked his life and 
  limbs and saved the city? A tiny bit of credit would be nice..." He 
  looked down to the bottom of the page. "Weather forecast." he read. 
  "Watch out. A tornado has been forecast to be heading in your 
  direction.." He was annoyed by a whirring sound which was getting 
  louder and louder, and someone shouting. "What the heck is that, 
  a lawn mower?" he asked, putting the paper down. He was met face 
  to face with Tails the Fox.. in the Tornado biplane.. out of control.. 
  heading top speed towards him, rotor blades spinning. The hedgehog 
  shouted an obscenity which wasn't heard over the noise, half-stumbled-
  half-rolled out of the deck chair, tripping over his own feet, and 
  ran as fast as he could, which was pretty fast. But the plane was 
  still gaining on him, so he dove headfirst into the resort 
  swimming pool. When he brought his head up again, the plane was 
  whizzing into the air, and Tails was shouting for help. Sonic, 
  shocked, saw the biplane go down on the beach somewhere. There 
  was a loud explosion, then silence.
  "Tails! What am I gonna do with you?" Sonic exclaimed, jumping out 
  of the pool and shaking himself dry. He then ran towards the gate 
  of the resort, with everybody cheering him on. There was no time to 
  bask in the glory of being a local hero... he had to see if his 
  buddy was alright!

  As Sonic left the city limits, a very different scene was playing in 
  the air quite a distance away. A giant craft flew through the air 
  absolutely silently, except for the whirring of the eerie jet 
  engines. But on the inside, alarms were blaring at an almost deafening 
  level.
  A single blue bird flew down the corridors of the craft, knocking 
  things over.. but not causing half the damage that the E-101 soldiers 
  were causing trying to catch it.
  "GET IT!!!" Robotnik's voice screamed through amplifiers. "STOP THAT 
  STUPID BIRD-BRAIN CREATURE BEFORE IT TEARS THE WHOLE %$#(!! SHIP APART!" 
  About ten robots tripped over each other trying to catch the creature.
  "I told you to increase the security levels on that thing's cell, 
  Epsilon." Robotnik growled, his voice leaking into the amplifier 
  system. "I'll make sure it gets its full punishment for crossing 
  me. Now, full speed, we are approaching the city.. I wish to give 
  them a taste of Doctor Robotnik before I show them the extent of my 
  wrath."

  A dark figure swept across the city, and ducked into an alley. Zero 
  Tolerance grinned evilly as he awaited his prey. This would be easy. 
  His target - Amy Rose. And she was walking down the street towards him.
  Zero had been watching Amy. She and Sonic were close.. and that was 
  why he wanted her. The easiest way to Sonic's heart was through 
  his friends - his greatest weakness. Zero un-clipped his helmet 
  from his chest, and equipped his head. Amy would walk past, Zero 
  would snatch her silently and blast off with her in search of 
  Sonic. The perfect crime. He braced himself.

  Amy walked down the footpath with a bag full of groceries. She 
  stumbled a little and an apple dropped out of the bag. She frowned 
  and picked it up.. It was bruised. She sighed and yawned.. She had 
  scheduled a meeting the night before, and as luck would have it, it 
  was cancelled due to monster problems. She might have been the the 
  leader of the Station Square Freedom Fighters, but she was also 
  very bored. The goings on in Robotropolis never found their way to 
  Station Square, and any kind of action was pretty much unheard of. 
  And anything that DID happen, such as the monster the night before, 
  was fenced off and taken care of by the town police. Freedom 
  Fighters weren't a legal substitute for law enforcement.
  "Every day, the same old thing... same place different day." she sighed 
  to herself. "I kinda miss the good old days.." Her mind wandered 
  temporarily to the previous year.. when she and Sonic had a short 
  adventure. She remembered the giant improved Mecha Sonic of the 
  Anti-verse, and the battle which ensued. She shook her head, picked 
  up her groceries and continued walking.

  "Come on, come on, what's taking her?" Zero grumbled impatiently. "Oh, 
  here she comes." He assumed strike position and gritted his teeth. 
  He was so tense that he almost screamed when something hit him from 
  behind.. but he stopped himself. He turned to see what it was.
  "A garbage can lid?" he asked, removing the metal lid which had 
  attached itself to his armor. "What the heck?" He frisbeed it away, 
  and turned back to his position. There was another sound behind him. 
  "Stupid alley cats.." he complained, listening to the noise of the 
  garbage cans. One of the cans, which was on its side, rolled 
  through the alley until it collided with his ankle, knocking him 
  head over heels. "JEEPERS!" he squawked, trying to pull himself 
  up. But more of the metal cans rolled from everywhere around and 
  covered him. "WHAT IS THIS?" he screamed at the onslaught of 
  cans, which seemed to be magnetized to his armor. "YAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!"

  Amy turned to the alley ahead of her. Why was somebody screaming 
  and throwing cans about the place? She failed to see that all the 
  cars on the road had simultaniously stopped.. she failed to notice 
  the eerie silence that accompanied everybody looking into the sky.. 
  but she did notice when the shadow fell over her. "Funny.. nobody 
  forecast a storm for today.." she said to somebody standing beside 
  her, who was to startled to hear her. She looked into the sky.. 
  as blue as always. Not a cloud to be seen. But the street and 
  footpath were shrouded in darkness. "What is this, an eclipse or 
  something?" She asked. She noticed that everybody nearby was 
  staring upwards at the sun.. so she turned and did the same. The 
  streets remained so silent that you could hear a pin drop if one 
  did. The only sound was Amy's paper grocery bag hitting the 
  pavement.. fruits and cans rolling into the gutter.. with no attempt 
  by anybody to pick them up. 
  Amy stood frozen, her mouth open in a strange way. The shadow was 
  caused by something flying low over the city.. blocking out the 
  sun.. some kind of huge craft which seemed more suited to space 
  travel than flying over the city. The only identifying mark as it 
  travelled silently overhead was a yellow disk on the side.. with 
  Robotnik's grinning face printed on it.
  "R...Robotnik?" Amy stammered, the only person in the city who 
  spoke. "Could it be?"
  She squinted, as something detached from the ship and fell towards 
  the ground. Then the ship, going into some kind of hyperdrive, 
  rocketed out of sight, the only sound it made being the whoosh of 
  air past it. It was only then that the noise piped up.. everybody 
  beginning to talk simultaniously. Some were confused beyond rational 
  thinking.. others were saying "UFO".. but Amy's eyes were still 
  fixed on something that came off the strange craft.. something that 
  was coming down very fast.. something that was zooming towards her 
  head..
  CRASH!
  Before she knew what hit her, Amy was on the ground, rubbing her 
  head. She looked on the ground beside her, and there was something 
  soft and blue.. a bird! It was feathery, but hurt nonetheless. It 
  wasn't moving. "Are you alright?" Amy asked sympathetically. She 
  picked it up, and it opened its eyes. It was a small blue bird 
  with some kind of locket around its neck. After it regained its 
  composure, it flew out of her hands and hovered right before her. 
  In the background, engines were starting up, and all the usual 
  city noises were going into full effect.. as if the ship had somehow 
  disabled all the machinary in the city.
  "Did you fall out of that thing?" Amy asked the bird, who obviously 
  couldn't answer her anyway. In the corner of her eye she noticed 
  a figure stumble from the alley. A strange, dark figure, that 
  seemed to be wearing heavy armor. It stumbled towards her, 
  disoriented. She didn't give it another thought, focusing on the 
  bird. "Where do you come from?" she asked, trying to figure out 
  a means of communication. "Are you.....HEY!" She was almost pushed 
  over by the dark figure, who continued to stumble down the path. 
  "Hey! Why not just push me into the gutter next time, creep?" 
  she shouted sarcastically.
  "HUH?" the figure retorted, regaining its senses. It turned to them, 
  and Amy could see that it was a robot.. metal covered every part 
  of its body. "Hey..you!" the robot shouted at her. "Come here!" It 
  began to walk back towards her. "Uh-oh.." she murmered. "QUICK!" she 
  shouted at the bird, grabbing its wing and running around the corner. 
  She ducked into a nearby burger store, and waited. She could see 
  the robot pass by the windows, looking around for her. When it 
  had gone, Amy let out her breath in a deep sigh. "Robots!" she 
  exclaimed. "That thing must have something to do with Robotnik! 
  Maybe we are going to have a little excitement today..!"
  "Hey, are you gonna buy something or what?" the attendant shouted 
  impatiently.

  ***

  It was raining on the Floating Island. Knuckles had been thinking.. 
  but the dry spot he had chosen was so comfortable that he just fell 
  asleep. The pitter patter of rain had stopped, the silence waking him 
  up. He was strange that way.. he usually slept by a waterfall or 
  something, because he couldn't sleep in silence.. it was too 
  suspicious. He yawned and stretched.. and saw something blue on the 
  horizon. What was that? He squinted hard.. something was definitely 
  flying towards his island. He stood up and braced himself for the 
  uninvited guest. It was moving quickly, and the shape bagn to 
  become familiar.. a little TOO familiar. Sweat beginning to run down 
  his face, he picked up a small metal nail off the ground. Another 
  nail was attached to it. He pulled them apart, then let go.. they 
  were magnetized together.
  "Oh.. no..." Knuckles stammered. "Oh, no no no! NO! Th.. the ChiChichi 
  B..Bobo!" He stumbled on his own words as he frantically tried to get 
  a grip. "Gotta.. call the mainland! Get help! THEY'VE COME BACK FOR 
  ME!" His mind wandered to the time he had invaded their planet, 
  and wondered how they got to Mobius so fast. He was completely 
  unprepared for this. The alien ship hovered over the island as 
  Knux frantically attempted to pull himself together. The ship's 
  boosters stopped when it was at the center of the island, and 
  there was silence. Then beams came from the underside.. bright 
  blue beams from the ship to the island.. and things began to come 
  out. Chichi Bobo warriors. Knux was terrified. They kept pouring 
  out by the hundred.. and marching almost robotically. In fact, 
  very robotically. TOO robotically. They burst out of the bushes 
  in front of him..
  E-101 robots.
  "WHAT?" Knuckles shouted, eyes wide in shock. "E-101's??" He ran 
  through the bushes closer to the ship. And he saw Robotnik beam down.
  "Robotnik?" Knux asked, raising an eyebrow. "What the heck...?" He 
  angrily burst out from the bushes and confronted the man.. who 
  seemed unafraid. "Why, Knuckles!" Robotnik greeted, grinning.
  "Get..off." Knuckles said, blinded with rage both at his intrusion, 
  and his ability to scare the echidna witless.
  "How about....no?" Robotnik asked. "I've got your island crawling 
  with my robots! You're not going to just.. throw me off, are you?"
  "I can give it my best shot." Knux retorted through clenched 
  teeth. Robotnik snorted in reply, and broke his eye contact.. 
  seemingly admiring the scenery.
  "Is this some kind of a sick joke?" Knux asked. "What interest do 
  you have in my island? And what are you doing showing up in a Chichi 
  Bobo fighter craft, for G**'s sake?"
  "The Master Emerald." Robotnik replied, ignoring the second question.
  Knuckles laughed. "And you will get it off the island how?" he asked. 
  "There's no way you're taking the Master, even with all these robots!"
  "Not in one piece, at least." Robotnik said in agreeance.
  "Y...what?" Knux asked.
  "Things are so much easier to move if you take them apart first." 
  Robotnik replied. "Now, if you'll move aside, I'll just take the 
  emerald.. or what's left of it.. and be on my way and leave you 
  alone!" He lifted a microphone to his mouth. "All in position?" he 
  asked. "Good. Lay your mines."
  Instantly, each and every E-101 robot began to lay something on the 
  ground.. large round mines of some kind. Knuckles suddenly caught 
  on. "BUT YOU'LL BLOW UP THE BLOODY ISLAND!" he protested. Robotnik 
  shrugged. "Yeah. Well, most of it. We're just going to blow a hole 
  in the middle, really. You can still live on the rim."
  "YOU SON OF A...!" Knuckles screamed hoarsely, throwing himself and 
  his fist at Robotnik's face. But he was grabbed by two strangely-coloured 
  E-series robots.
  "Tsk-tsk.." Robotnik said sarcastically. "Such a temper. You have 
  three choices for the five minutes before detonation, as far as I 
  see it. Choice one, you can kill me and rip me to shreds, after 
  which you will promptly be given the same treatment by my robots. 
  Secondly, you can try to disarm each and every bomb.. I'd say you'd 
  get through about three of them before the rest of them blow you into 
  the molecular level. Or three, you can run for the hills, echidna, 
  'cos you'll be needing that life in the future." he motioned for the 
  robots to release the squirming echidna. Knux just looked at Robotnik 
  helplessly. "You are a madman.." he said. 
  "Really?" Robotnik asked. "Am I mad? Or am I... a genius? I've got 
  ALL the technology at my hands!" He pressed his face so close to 
  Knuckles' that the echidna could smell his breath. "It's time.. 
  to take over.. the world!"
  He spoke into the microphone. "Robots, set your timers and get out 
  of there! Unless you want to be a robot carcass!" He turned back to 
  Knuckles. "Run, little echidna!" he shouted. "Run, run for your 
  life! Scamper away little bunny!"
  Knuckles wanted desperately to kill the scientist with a sharp 
  right hook right then and there. But his island would still blow 
  up, and the only difference would be that he would be target 
  practice for all of Ivo's cronies.
  It was one of the few times Knuckles would ever run away from anything.
  Sometime amidst the ear piercing explosions, he lost conciousness. 
  Perhaps he veered a little too close to a mine. When he woke up, 
  most of the trees were burned, the island was floating at a funny
   angle and losing altitude, and the most visible difference was the 
  enormous hole where Hidden Palace used to be. It stretched from 
  the edge of Sandopolis, to the mountains, to the forest. Much of 
  his island was gone.. irrecoverable. Knux looked down at a glowing 
  green object.. a shard of the Master Emerald. He clutched it as a 
  tear went down his cheek.
  "ROBOTNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIK!" he screamed 
  into the air.
  The Floating Island hit the water with a crash, sending a tidal 
  wave from coast to coast of the mainland.

  ***

  "FROGGY!" came a booming voice that shook the trees. Streak the Cat 
  woke up with a start. "The heck?" he asked, getting off the hard 
  bed and looking out the window of his cousin's forest shack. His 
  cousin Big was walking around, holding his head, searching for something.
  "What's up, cuz?" Streak asked.
  Big turned to him. "I can't find my little pal Froggy!" he complained.
  "What, that big green frog?" Streak asked. "He'll be around somewhere."
  "No, no!" Big replied. "He would have come when I called him! He 
  ALWAYS comes..!"
  "Don't sweat it.." Streak replied, trying to calm him down.
  "Ooh, I miss him already.." Big said. "What if he's in trouble? I 
  gotta rescue him!"
  "Rescue?" Streak asked. "A frog?"
  "Yeah!" Big replied. "I'll go to the city and see if anybody's seen 
  my good buddy!"
  With that, the large cat leapt through the trees and bounded through 
  the forest.
  "Hey.....WHAT?" Streak shouted, running outside. "Hey, come on, Big! 
  Wait for me, will you?"

  The frog let out a long croak and jumped down the street. People 
  were startled to see it.. but they were more startled to see its 
  tail. Yes, the large Mobian green frog was hopping around with a 
  thirty-centimetre pointed tail following behind. It had sprouted 
  after the strange encounter with the robots and the craft, and 
  was dumped. The frog had tried to find its way back home, but 
  couldn't think straight. There was something else clouding its 
  mind... it just knew that it wanted to find Chaos. The word 
  pounded in its tiny frog skull, and it couldn't rest until it 
  found Chaos. It knew not what Chaos was, but it wouldn't rest until 
  it found out. So, it hopped around in a random path in the hope of 
  putting its mind to rest...

  Far away in Robotropolis... a different scene was playing out.
  "I am your brilliant creator, Doctor Robotnik." Robotnik insisted. 
  "Do you know that? That means I am your master. And what I say, 
  you do. Is all this clear, Gamma?"
  "It is clear, Lord Robotnik." E-102 Gamma insisted, intimidated.
  "Good." Robotnik replied. "It has been brought to my attention 
  that you have a fault. That there was a problem in your creation. 
  I intend to straighten it out. You will be the same as your brothers, 
  and it will require extra training. I have set up a shooting range 
  for you.. get to it!"
  The scientist walked away, leaving Gamma to his own devices. 
  "Shooting range.." he mumbled, walking through a doorway that had 
  been left open for him. He walked into a large room, and immediately, 
  something red shot up in front of him. Startled, he blew it to 
  pieces with one shot. Stuffing went everywhere. Gamma looked 
  down at what it was... the head of an echidna lay severed on 
  the ground. Not a real echidna.. a plush representation of one. 
  He had no time to contemplate this before something orange flew 
  through the air towards him. A fox doll.. He shot it in mid air 
  like a clay pigeon. Another echidna doll popped up, and he spun 
  around and blew it away. Two more dolls, and he jumped into the 
  air and spun his head around, laser targeting and firing homing 
  missiles. Stuffing flew everywhere. Gamma spun like a tornado, 
  shooting doll after doll after doll after doll after doll after 
  doll. Red and orange material everywhere. Suddenly, something 
  blue popped up, attached to a moving lever. A Sonic the Hedgehog 
  doll. Gamma raised his gun and pumped it full of holes. It fell 
  to the ground, an unrecognisable mess. When nothing else happened, 
  the robot, mission completed, walked back into the main hall. 
  Robotnik stood there, looking startled. "I was monitoring that, 
  Gamma!" he announced. "One hundred percent accuracy! And incredible 
  speed! I can't see where the FAULT is, if you ask me!"
  Gamma raised his cannon in salute.
  "I am going to collect the Master Emerald shards for Chaos." Robotnik 
  announced. "Then we will re-launch the Egg Carrier... we're going 
  to have some fun, Gamma!" He laughed maliciously and left Gamma to himself.
  "Fascinating display, brother!" came a voice from elsewhere in 
  the room. Gamma turned to see Beta approaching. "Absolutely 
  fascinating! You're a real crack shot!"
  "That is appreciated, Beta!" Gamma replied.
  "SHUT UP!" screamed Beta, almost knocking Gamma over. "You think 
  you're pretty tough, huh? Robotnik's favourite, huh?"
  "Favourite?" Gamma asked. "No, I don't think.."
  "You don't think! Of COURSE you don't think!" came the reply. "Do 
  you wanna fight me, Bolthead?"
  "No, I do not wish.." Gamma started.
  "Maybe then we'll see who's the king of the castle, huh?" Beta 
  yelled, raising his gun. "Come on, Gammaaa! Give me your best shot!" 
  Beta started shooting homing missiles at Gamma. The startled Gamma 
  ducked out of the way, targeted and blew up the missiles before 
  they got to him. "I do not wish to fight you, Beta!" he complained.
  "I don't care what you wish!" Beta replied. "You can either fight 
  back, or you can let me destroy you! No sweat, bro!"
  "Do not force me to do this!" Gamma warned, raising his gun. Beta 
  started shooting again, laughing. "Whoooooooooo! Big man!" he shouted.
  Gamma jumped into the air, activated his laser targeting system, 
  and targeted all the missiles. Then he let rip a cluster of his 
  own homing missiles, each one colliding with one of Beta's, and the 
  last shot hit Beta himself. The attacking robot let out a loud 
  noise and flew backwards. He hit the ground with a crash, and 
  didn't get back up again.
  "Beta?" Gamma asked. "Beta? Are you operative?"
  He recieved no reply.
  "Oh dear..." Gamma said. "I should find Father.... I mean Packbell..."

  "GONE?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'GONE'??" Robotnik screamed at the top of his 
  lungs.
  Mecha Sonic's eyes dimmed. All the cargo in the Egg Carrier was 
  lost before it got back to Robotropolis, sire... there was damage 
  to the cargo hold.."
  "That bird.." Robotnik muttered, remembering the escaped animal 
  causing havoc on the flight. "That stupid little bird cost me my 
  emerald shards... I will KILL it if I ever catch it!"
  A strange puddle suddenly formed at his feet. He would be confused 
  if he didn't know exactly what it was. The body of Chaos began to 
  form and solidify. "You.. do not have the power source, Ivo Robotnik?" 
  he asked.
  "No I do not!" Robotnik shouted, frustrated. "I shall have to find 
  them myself!"
  Chaos looked a little annoyed, but sustained his composure.
  "It is no trouble, Ivo Robotnik.." he said in his liquid voice. 
  "Give to Chaos the frog so that his power may be increased and he 
  can assist in locating the power source.."
  "The frog?" Robotnik asked, side-eying the liquid monster.
  "The frog that you fed with grey so bright glowing.." Chaos replied.
  "You need the frog?" Robotnik repeated.
  "Yessss.." Chaos hissed. "It absorbed a part of Chaos when Chaos 
  spoke through it... now Chaos must absorb part of the frog so that 
  he might be complete, and assist you to the fullest extent.. 
  Perfection cannot be acheived without the frog."
  "I DON'T HAVE THE FROG!" Robotnik erupted. "I DUMPED the stupid frog! 
  I had no idea we needed it again!"
  "The frog is gone... the power source is gone..." Chaos assessed the 
  situation. "Ivo Robotnik, this is not good."
  "I KNOW THAT!" Robotnik yelled. "DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT??"
  "We must locate the frog.." Chaos announced.
  "How could we do that?" Mecha asked. "We have no means of telling 
  it apart from other frogs.."
  "As Chaos has said, the frog absorbed a part of Chaos.." Chaos 
  replied. "The frog is posessed by Chaos.. and has the appearance 
  of Chaos.."
  "Get the E-102 robots, Mecha." Robotnik said. "We're going on a 
  frog hunt."

  "You did WHAT?" Packbell asked, as Gamma carried his brother robot 
  into the Commander's workshop.
  "He forced me to fight him..." Gamma replied. "I didn't want to, 
  but.. it was self defence, Packbell."
  "Oh Gamma..." Packbell sighed. "Rivalry between your siblings... 
  here, give me a look."
  "Can he be repaired?" Gamma asked, setting Beta down on a table. 
  Packbell studied the robot. "It will take some time, but he is 
  able to be repaired." he replied, at last. "I will fix him.. you 
  go, I think Robotnik has some orders for you."
  "Thank you for helping..." Gamma replied.
  "Don't mention it." Packbell said. "He will be repaired shortly."

  ***

  Sonic ran past palm trees on Emerald Coast, the name of the beach 
  where Station Square met the ocean. He went over a bridge, and 
  passed deck chairs and people having picnics. Tails' plane must 
  have gone down quite a distance from where he thought it had.
  He looked at the ground and noticed something half-buried in sand. 
  It was green and glowing. He picked it up.. what was it? It was 
  relatively small, and looked as if it was a shard of something 
  bigger. It also seemed to be creating its own glow. "Weird!" he 
  exclaimed, picking it up and taking it with him.
  Sonic saw a number of people crowding around a section of water 
  near a jetty. They were fascinated with something.. Sonic forgot 
  his mission for a second to see what they were so interested in. He 
  looked over the side of the jetty.. something was squirming around 
  in the water. It was small, black and white, and appeared to be in 
  crisis. A baby orca whale! It was stuck in an old fishing net.
  "Somebody help him! He'll die!" someone shouted.
  "Ah well, I guess it's up to me.." Sonic said. "It's a bird! It's 
  a plane! No, it's a blue hedgehog who doesn't like getting wet!"
  Sonic jumped off the side of the jetty and grunted when he touched 
  the water. Oh how he hated water.. he never had been able to swim. 
  Obviously, years ago on the Floating Island's Hydrocity section 
  wasn't his favourite adventure.
  He waded over towards the baby whale and began to un-tangle the 
  ropes. When it was free, he was greeted with cheering from the 
  people above. But then something bumped his feet hard under the 
  water. He froze.. what was that? He began to swim towards the 
  jetty.. oh how he HATED water. He grabbed onto the wooden support, 
  when something clamped his leg and pulled him underwater.
  Squirming frantically, he tried to keep his bearings, then, as a 
  self-defence act, he buzzed into a spin-dash. At least it freed 
  him. And he saw what was attacking him.. the orca whale's mother. 
  And she wasn't happy. Sonic practically leapt out of the water 
  and onto the long jetty... and the furious adult whale followed 
  him! It was MASSIVE! It actually broke up the jetty on it's 
  rampage. Lucky Sonic was fast!
  "I've never seen a whale act like this!" he shouted aloud. The 
  jetty swayed left and right as the orca rammed and broke it. 
  Eventually, when Sonic was far enough away from the baby whale, 
  the orca calmed down and sank into the water.. slightly bloodied 
  from its attack. As for Sonic, he had to jump off the jetty 
  before it collapsed completely! He jumped off the side as the 
  wooden structure came to a spectacular end.. and he hit the sand 
  with a thump. Tails looked down at the hedgehog. "Whoa, Sonic.. you 
  okay?" he asked. "Tails?" Sonic asked. He looked up and saw the 
  fox and the broken Tornado. "Tails, be happy... I just destroyed 
  half the beach and nearly got myself killed coming to look for you." 
  Tails just grinned.

  Gamma walked up to Robotnik, who was already talking to Delta and 
  Epsilon. "Get over here, Gamma, you're late!" he shouted, impatiently. 
  "You three, I need to recover that frog. It is absolutely vital to 
  my plans! Part of Chaos was absorbed in it.. he cannot achieve 
  perfection without it! So split up and look for it! Chaos informs 
  me that the frog should have his tail. Therefore, it is easy to 
  distinguish. Also, any Master Emerald fragments you can find on 
  the way, bring them to me! You are dismissed!"
  "A tailed frog?" Gamma thought. "What a bizarre feature."

  "So, what's the story?" Sonic asked, back at the resort. "It's not 
  like you to just crash like that.. you're too good a pilot!"
  "I've been fixing up the Tornado.." Tails replied. "It's not quite.. 
  perfected yet. It still has a few bugs." He smiled. "Hey Sonic.. 
  what's that?"
  "Huh?" Sonic asked. "Oh, this green glowing thing? I dunno! I found 
  it on the beach! I thought it looked cool, so I kept it." He held 
  his head. "Ugh.. funny, I feel really light-headed.."
  "Light-headed?" Tails asked.
  "Yeah.." Sonic replied. "Like there's a little less gravity or 
  something.. I feel lighter. Weird.."
  "Probably that run-in with the whale back there." Tails replied. 
  "Got you all worked up. Hey Sonic, do you wanna help me get the 
  Tornado back to the hangar in the forest?"
  "Sure thing, Tails!" Sonic replied. A strong wind blew his quills 
  back. "Wind is strong today.." Tails commented.
  "Yeah, they're forecasting a tornado to hit." Sonic replied.
  Tails laughed. "The tornado DID hit, Sonic! Too bad I was IN it!"
  Sonic laughed also. "C'mon Tails, let's wing it to the Great Forest.
   You take the plane, I'll run by foot..

  Robotnik hovered along the ground in one of his machines. He called 
  it the Egg Hornet.. an upgrade on his Egg-O-Matic, his usual mode of 
  transportation. And acting as navigator was none other than Chaos.. 
  he could detect the presence of the frog, seeing as it contained a 
  part of him.
  "Chaos was observant to notice that you have in your posession a 
  craft of the Chichi Bobo.." Chaos spoke up, wavering.
  "Yes.." Robotnik replied. "Quite a piece of work.. I stole it myself."
  "You stole from them..." Chaos replied, stopping and looking 
  Robotnik in the eyes.
  "Yes... how do you know of the Chichi Bobo?" Robotnik asked curiously.
  There was a long uneasy silence. "The frog is this way.. come." 
  Chaos hissed, finally. Robotnik was confused, but didn't argue.

  "Wow.. this place is really neat, huh?" Sonic asked, looking over the 
  hangar. It overlooked a cliff at the edge of the forest, which dropped 
  into the ocean below.
  "It was built by architects of Mobitropolis for King Acorn's army, I 
  think.." Tails replied.
  "Wow.. cool!" Sonic exclaimed. He scratched his chin with the green 
  shard, just as Tails had finished putting the plane back in the hangar. 
  "Can I have a look at that?" Tails asked.
  "Yeah.. here, kid." Sonic replied, tossing the shard to Tails. The
   hedgehog looked into the forest strangely.. he could hear voices.
  "Who's there..?" he asked, listening carefully. Suddenly he recognised 
  one of the voices. "Robotnik!" he announced. "Tails, wait here!"
  The hedgehog ran into the forest and, in a clearing up ahead, saw 
  what was distinctly one of Robotnik's machines. And the doctor 
  himself was inside. Not seeing anybody else, Sonic didn't feel 
  threatened.. he stormed out of the trees.
  "Well well!" he announced loudly. "It's a giant talking egg!"
  Robotnik turned his head, and almost fell out of his hovercraft. 
  "Sonic!" he stated in shock. "Well, this IS a surprise!"
  "You're a bit stupid to leave your big city all alone with no 
  protection!" Sonic said in frustration that, over the years, 
  Robotnik still apparently had no fear of him.
  "Stupid? I am Doctor Robotnik! The greatest scientific genius of all 
  time, you insignificant mammal!" Robotnik gloated.
  "Whatever you say, egg-man." Sonic replied sarcastically.
  "You would be wise to go back to wherever you came from, Sonic.." 
  Robotnik commented. "I am looking for something and it isn't you.. 
  don't kill yourself by sticking around and irritating me."
  "I'll irritate whoever I want, egg-man!" Sonic replied. "Maybe I'll 
  call you that from now on, huh? Egg-man! Egg-man!"
  "As you wish..." Robotnik growled, pushing a button. Instantly, missile 
  launchers appeared all over the contraption he was riding in. "Say 
  bye-bye, Sonic!"
  The small rockets flew around like wasps, and made quite a sting 
  when they collided with something. Perhaps that was why the machine 
  was called the Egg Hornet. Sonic had quite a task to avoid them all, 
  but managed to come out panting and unscathed. "Is that...the best...
  you can do?" he asked, catching his breath.
  "Lucky..." Robotnik muttered. "But don't flatter yourself, you know 
  more is coming."
  Suddenly an orange fox ran into the clearing. "Sonic! Are you 
  alright?" Tails asked. "Robotnik! What are YOU doing here?"
  Robotnik didn't reply.. he was staring at what was in Tails' hand. 
  "Where did you find that, you little scamp?" he asked.
  Tails looked down at the green jewel, but didn't reply to Robotnik's 
  question.
  "No matter.." Robotnik said. "CHAOS! You want a power source? That 
  fox over there! It's dinnertime, Chaos!"
  "Chaos?" Sonic asked, thinking of the night before.
  "Who's Chaos?" Tails asked. He was given an answer by a sticky 
  tentacle that came out of a tree, wrapped around his waist, and 
  pulled him up in ten seconds flat.
  "TAILS!!" Sonic screamed. The jewel in Tails' hand fell to the ground.
  "It is!" Robotnik announced happily. "A shard of the Master Emerald!"
  "A shard of the Master Emerald?" Sonic asked. He was silenced when 
  Tails was thrown out of the tree and landed on him, throwing him to 
  the ground.
  "FETCH, CHAOS!" Robotnik shouted.
  Drops of water began to drip from the tree and run down the tree 
  trunk. Sonic had seen this before, but it still horrified him - 
  this bizarre liquid creature who could practically hide anywhere. 
  The liquid began to solidify and form bones, eyes, limbs, and one 
  big brain. The transparent wavering Chaos monster walked up to the 
  emerald shard and picked it up.
  "A fragment of the Master Emerald.." Sonic repeated. "The emerald 
  is broken?"
  Chaos hissed as he absorbed the emerald shard.. it floated around 
  inside him, glowing brightly. Then the glow spread to the rest of 
  his body, and he began to grow... his arms grew huge, and the bones 
  inside thickened to form a massive crab-like claw. Chaos laughed 
  loudly. "BEHOLD!" he shouted. "Chaos Zero has become Chaos One! 
  One seventh of perfection!"
  "Chaos One?" Sonic asked. "Robotnik... where did you dig up this 
  thing? What are you up to?"
  "I have plans.." Robotnik snarled evilly. "Lets just say that I 
  think Station Square is a rather strange name... Robotnikland has 
  more of a ring to it." He laughed, and signalled to Chaos. "Come, 
  Chaos!" he shouted. "Lets find that frog of yours! And if you're a 
  good little monster, there's even some emeralds in it for you!"
  The Chaos monster leapt off the cliff into the water below, and 
  Robotnik and the Egg Hornet followed suit.
  "This is so weird.." Sonic murmured. "That monster kind of 
  evolved when Robotnik fed it the emerald shard.."
  "And that shard was part of the Master Emerald!" Tails added. "I 
  wonder if Knux is okay?"
  Sonic shook his head. "I think we'd better see if we can find 
  any more emerald pieces.." he said. "The bigger that thing grows, 
  the harder it's gonna be to stop..."