CHAPTER THREE: CHAOS FOUR

  Amy Rose stared at the locket around the bird's neck. "This is your 
  family, huh?" she asked, staring at the family of birds in the 
  picture. "Don't worry.. I'll help you get back to them! You must 
  have had it rough, being on Robotnik's ship and all... was he 
  going to turn you into a robot?"
  "It's not as bad as it sounds, honey." came a voice.
  Amy looked around.. and she saw the black robot that had chased 
  her before! She stumbled backwards. "You!" she exclaimed.
  "Yes.. ME!" the robot replied. "Maybe you should learn not to 
  run from Zero Tolerance! There's no escape.. I can track you wherever 
  you go! Now.. stand still.. I won't hurt you..... much."
  "Oh really.." Amy began, slowly reaching to a stick on her belt.
  "yeees, REALLY!" the robot retorted.
  "Well... TAKE THIS!"
  Amy grabbed the metal stick, pressed a button, and a hammer extended 
  from it! Before the robot knew what was coming, she brought it down 
  hard onto his metal head. He limped around, disoriented, and Amy and 
  the bird ran away.

  "Twinkle Park." Streak read. "Hey Big! You think that frog is 
  around here?"
  "I saw him hop in!" Big replied.
  "But which way did it go?" Streak asked.
  Big looked around, and his eyes rested on a large lake in the 
  middle of the theme park. "Maybe I could fish for him!"
  Streak sighed. "Of course!" he said, sarcastically. "Fish for a 
  frog! Why didn't I think of that?"
  Big cast his lure and waited.
  About three hours later, at nightfall, it was still silent.
  "Face it, Big, your pet has flown the coop." Streak said. "Can we 
  go home?"
  "We have to find Froggy!" Big insisted.
  "If Froggy was going to take your FISH bait, on your FISHING pole, 
  he would have already!" Streak argued. "Come on! You've caught ten 
  fish tonight! How would you like a fish for a pet?"
  "FROGGY!" Big replied.
  "Oh alright! I get the picture! The fish was a bad idea." Streak 
  exclaimed.
  "No, I mean.. Froggy!" Big yelled. He dragged in his line, and the 
  frog was on the end!
  "I don't believe it!" Streak exclaimed. He shook his head. "Well, we 
  have the frog.. let's go home."
  "Alrighty then!" Big replied. He cheerfully carried the struggling 
  frog towards Streak... and tripped over a lolly wrapper on the 
  ground. The frog went flying into Streak! The cat yelled and tried 
  to grab the frog as it bounced away. But it was no use, the frog 
  was gone.
  "Well.. tough luck." Streak lamented. "The one that got away, eh 
  Big? Come on.. let's go back..."
  "FROGGY! COME BACK HERE!" Big called. Streak frowned as his cousin 
  took off after the frog. "You're not seriously thinking of following 
  that thing again, are you?" he asked.
  But Big was gone. Streak growled and took off after him. "This is 
  getting under my skin.." he said.

  "Oh my gosh." Sonic cursed, looking upon the Floating Island. Not 
  only was it in the water, but it was nearly destroyed. It was now 
  more like an atole than an island. A huge hole was ripped in the 
  center, which was now an enormous salt water lake. Hidden Palace, 
  and probably Lava Reef, were completely obliterated.
  "Poor Knux.." Sonic said. "He'd be devastated! I wonder where he 
  went? No sign of him here.."
  "I dunno.." Tails replied, switching off the teleporter. He heard 
  a crack in the ice below him. "Sonic, I don't like Ice Cap.." he 
  complained. "Why'd we come here?"
  "I just wanted to see what happened to the island to break the 
  Master Emerald... this is the highest point."
  Tails heard another crack. "Are you sure this is safe?" he asked. 
  "Of course it is." Sonic assured him.
  Seconds later, they were both falling into the caverns below.
  They hit the ground with a soft thump.. luckily landing on a pillow 
  of snow.
  "Yeah, real safe, Sonic." Tails complained, staring up at the hole 
  above them.
  "Ah geez.." Sonic whinged. "Can this expedition get any worse?"
  They heard a rumbling, and Tails frowned at Sonic.
  "Oh man, I hope that's your stomach, Tails." Sonic said.
  I think this cave is unstable!" Tails announced. "We gotta get outta 
  here!"
  Sonic looked around for an exit. But he couldn't see one.. the only 
  things in the cave were icicles. HUGE icicles. One of them attached 
  to the roof would have to have been a hundred metres from base to tip. 
  There was another rumble, and a cracking sound.
  "Take cover!" Sonic warned, as the ground began to shake. They tumbled 
  into a corner, as the icicles began to fall. One by one, the sharp 
  spears of ice hit the ground and exploded. Then the big one fell. 
  When it hit the ground, that was the end of the entire cave. It 
  generated enough force to blow the entire thing open, and sent 
  Sonic and Tails careening down the snow covered mountain. Both of 
  them grabbed broken icicles and used them to snowboard down the 
  mountain.. and it was a good thing, because the entire mountain 
  was spraying after them in a massive avalanche.

  Sonic and Tails screamed as they missed tree after tree, collided 
  and smashed through thin ice structures, and leapt off rocks. The 
  rumble of the avalanche was getting closer and closer.. until 
  their paths skewed off sideways into a natural half-pipe, avoiding 
  the avalanche of snow, and sending them into an embankment. They lay 
  there in a heap, and another emerald shard fell from somewhere onto 
  Sonic's head.
  "I've seen more natural disasters in the last two days than I need 
  to see in the rest of my life." the hedgehog moaned.

  Knuckles' foot came down next to Sonic's head. "Well well, what a 
  pleasant surprise." he said, sarcastically.
  "Knuckles!" Sonic said in surprise. "Where'd you come from?"
  Knuckles looked at the emerald shards that Sonic and Tails were 
  holding. "What are you doing on my island, rummaging for my emerald 
  pieces?" he asked.
  Sonic looked at the shards. "Uhh.. hey Knux, I can explain!"
  "Oh, I have NO doubt!" Knuckles retorted. "But whatever the 
  situation, it doesn't change the fact that you're on MY island with 
  MY emeralds! Sonic, I've told you NEVER to touch my emerald, NEVER 
  to meddle with my affairs, and I must have told you a THOUSAND 
  times NEVER to come to my island when I am not there.. three 
  simple rules, yet here you are, breaking all three of them!"
  "Knux, please!" Sonic begged. "Robotnik has this creature, and.."
  "Get up!" Knuckles demanded.
  "You can't boss me around!" Sonic replied, frustrated.
  Knux raised his fist. "ON THIS ISLAND, I AM GUARDIAN, AND I HAVE 
  AUTHORITY OVER YOU!" he screamed angrily. "NOW GET UP!"
  Sonic got up. "You're being a real butthead, Knux!" he complained.
  Knuckles threw his fist and gave Sonic the right hook. The hedgehog 
  went sprawling. "How DARE you take MY EMERALDS, on MY ISLAND, and 
  CALL ME NAMES?" he demanded.
  "THAT'S IT!" Sonic shouted, throwing himself at Knuckles. The two 
  toppled over and had an all-in brawl, much to Tails' horror. But 
  Knuckles, being the better fighter, eventually threw Sonic to the 
  ground, sending the two emerald pieces he had flying.
  "You can get out of my sight, Sonic." Knuckles growled. "Tails 
  too. Both of you.. I want you off my island."
  The echidna didn't notice the liquid seeping out of the grass.. 
  forming itself into a shape.. solidifying and forming body parts.
  "Knu...Knuckles!!" Sonic stammered, horrified.
  "No more talk!" Knuckles retorted.
  "But... behind you!" Tails added.
  "What?" Knux demanded.
  "Knuckles..." Sonic gasped, pointing. "It's grown again!"
  Knuckles spun around, and came face to face with Chaos. He had time 
  to let out half a gasp before the monster sent him flying into a 
  nearby lake. He landed in the water with a splash.
  "Fabulous!" Dr. Robotnik shouted from behind Sonic and Tails. The 
  two turned to find him holding the emerald shards that Sonic 
  dropped. "I knew I would gain an advantage from following that 
  echidna here!"
  "Oh Knuckles.." Sonic sighed, shaking his head.
  "WHAT?" Knux asked, pulling himself out of the lake.
  "You were tricked again!" Sonic replied.
  "Like you WEREN'T?" Knux asked.
  Robotnik just laughed, and admired the emeralds. "You guys are 
  too easy!" he complained. "First come first served, they say! And 
  you three serve me better than you think!"
  He held the emeralds up. "Chaos!" he called. "Here, Chaos!"
  The giant gorilla-like monster stormed over to Robotnik, his feet 
  making a loud splat whenever they hit the ground. He grabbed both 
  emeralds and swallowed them in one gulp. They glowed brighter than 
  ever before, and once again, Chaos began to transform. "PREPARE FOR 
  CHAOS FOUR!" he yelled gluggily, before cracking up into fits of 
  horrendous laughter. His entire body grew longer and thinner.. 
  more prongs grew out of his head.. his arms changed shape into 
  blade-like appendages.. his feet grew together and flattened out 
  into one long, flat tail, and one huge fin grew out of his back. 
  He snarled deeply as the glow faded into four distinct points of 
  light in his abdomen.
  Sonic gulped. "Like something out of a Spielberg movie.." he stammered.
  Robotnik laughed. "SICK 'EM, JAWS!" he commanded. Chaos' arms 
  grew into tentacles, and he threw Sonic, Tails and Knuckles into 
  the lake.. then jumped in himself.

  Sonic remembered the orca whale the instant he saw Chaos dive into 
  the water with him. "I hate water!" he complained. "And I hate 
  Chaos Liquid!" Chaos, when underwater, looked the same as the water 
  did. The only difference was that he was a little thicker, and 
  distorted the water, like a glob of transparent oil underwater. 
  The three were huddled in the center of the lake, being circled by 
  Chaos. He was closing in on them. Knuckles, thinking quickly, jumped 
  out of the water and began to glide. Chaos, afraid of Knuckles 
  escaping, came out of the water to catch him. As soon as his head 
  showed, Sonic slammed into it with a spindash. Globs of Chaos 
  flew off in every direction, and came together again in the center 
  of the lake, where he was attacked by Sonic and Tails.
  Meanwhile, Robotnik was watching the skies. His airship, piloted by 
  Mecha, could be seen approaching from the clouds. "Right on time.." 
  he said to himself.
  Chaos didn't seem to be a match for all three of his attackers at 
  once. As soon as he would attack, they would be one step ahead of 
  him. He vanished under the water, while Sonic, Knux and Tails 
  waited nervously for something to happen. The sun was blocked out 
  by something, and a shadow passed over the lake. The three looked 
  up, and saw something massive flying close to the ground. 
  Sonic gasped. "Is that... the Chichi Bobo?"
  "Aw, no!" Knuckles replied. "It's just Robotnik's dumb egg-whatever ship."
  "Behold, my floating masterpiece!" Robotnik shouted "The Egg Carrier!"
  "It's not your masterpiece, you fat idiot!" Knuckles shouted "You 
  ripped it off some aliens when they had their backs turned!"
  "Details!" Robotnik replied. "It can still knock you insignificant 
  pests head-over-heels! But even it is weak compared to the power of 
  Chaos!"
  "We just splattered your power of Chaos all over the bottom of the 
  lake!" Sonic shouted back.
  "He is not yet complete!" Robotnik replied. "CHAOS!"
  A huge puddle dribbled out of the lake, and towards Robotnik.
  "I have yet to unleash his true power!" he chuckled. "But when I 
  do.... BEWARE!"
  He gave the signal, and the Egg Carrier shot down a beam to carry them up.
  "ADEIU!" Robotnik saluted. "Until we meet again, my friends!"
  With that, both Robotnik and Chaos were gone, and the Egg Carrier 
  silently blasted away.
  "We are getting nowhere.." Sonic grumbled. "Every emerald we've 
  collected has been stolen again and fed into that thing."
  "Well let's not let him get away!" Tails replied. "We can go back 
  to the Great Forest and take the Tornado to follow him!"
  "You guys go.." Knuckles said. "I have some unfinished business to 
  take care of."
  "Sure, Knux!" Sonic acknowledged. "We'll take care of Robotnik!"
  "Okay... just don't come back here again, alright?" Knux asked. "I'm
   going to be gone."
  Sonic shrugged. "We won't need to!" he replied.
  "Good." Knuckles said. And with that, they both went their seperate 
  ways again.

  "Big! The frog.. is not.. HERE!" Streak yelled. "Now, come on, why 
  are you really so desperate to find this thing?"
  "He's my friend!" Big argued. "He's ALWAYS been my friend! For 
  years! And now he's sick!"
  "Sick?" Streak asked.
  "Yeah!" Big replied. "He's grown some kind 'a tail! And he's 
  never avoided me before!"
  "Maybe he's just turning into some other kind of lizard!" Streak 
  complained.
  "A frog isn't a lizard!" Big corrected. "It's an amphibian! Like 
  axolotls and salamanders!" 
  "Alright alright, Professor! I guess you've used up all your brains 
  on frog knowledge, huh?" Streak replied. He looked around the 
  streets of Station Square. "Hey.. what's that?" he asked.
  "What?" Big asked.
  "That!" Streak replied, pointing. Hidden in a dark corner was 
  something large and round.
  "I dunno..!" Big replied, curiously. The two cats walked over to 
  it. It was hard and sticky, and throbbing a little.
  "It's kinda creepy!" Big exclaimed.
  "Looks like some kind of...cuccoon!" Streak commented. "That's 
  one flipping huge caterpillar, I can tell 'ya!"
  The strange throbbing cuccoon suddenly began to move... the 
  shell was melting away. What was inside it began to reveal 
  itself. It was green.. it had rabbit's ears, the paws of some 
  kind of squirrel, and, stranger still, appeared to be made out of 
  water. It stepped out of the cuccoon and looked around.
  "What the heck IS it?" Streak whispered. "I've never seen an 
  animal like that in my life!"
  Suddenly, the creature turned to him, and jumped onto his face! 
  Streak thrashed around with the thing grappling onto his head, and 
  then let out an electric shock. Taken by surprise, the creature 
  fell off, and landed face down in the pavement. Streak noticed 
  something new about it... It had a small purple tail sticking out 
  of its rear.. bent into the shape of a lightning bolt.
  "It mimiced my tail!" Streak gasped. "What the heck is it?"
  The creature got up and walked away, further into the dark 
  crevice. Streak could see several large eggs lining the area.
  "I don't know what laid these..." he said. "But there's something 
  awfully spooky going on."

  "Sonic! Wait here for a second!" Tails said, before vanishing into 
  the hangar. Sonic stood outside and shrugged. There was a loud 
  noise from within the building.
  "What is he up to?" Sonic thought.
  Suddenly, all the trees between the hangar and the edge of the cliff 
  parted, leaving a long path.. and the ground itself split apart, 
  revealing a massive runway! Sonic was beside himself as the hangar 
  door opened, and Tails was seated in the Tornado, ready for takeoff.
  "Tails! How did you do that?" Sonic asked, shocked.
  "It was built-in to the hangar!" Tails replied. "I just never 
  showed anybody before!" He patted the top wing of the biplane. 
  "Hop on!" he said. "Just like old times!"
  "Are you sure this thing is safe after the crash?" Sonic asked.
  "It doesn't have an emerald power supply, but I think it should 
  work just dandy!" Tails replied.
  "Well, okay!" Sonic said, jumping onto the wing.

  Then they were off! They caught up to the Egg Carrier in no time, 
  which had defense systems on the ready.
  "We'll pass over once, then double back and land on it!" Tails announced.
  "Sure thing!" Sonic replied. The plane whizzed past wave after wave 
  of attacking missiles and rockets. When they were close enough to 
  the ship, they opened fire on the missile launchers and attack pods.
  "YAHOO!" screamed Sonic as they barrel-rolled alongside the Egg 
  Carrier. More missiles were released, narrowly missing them, and 
  they increased speed, shooting ahead of the giant craft.
  "That is one huge ship!" Sonic announced. "Lets circle back and
   put it out of commission, Tails!"
  "Sure thing, Sonic!"

  Doctor Robotnik watched the plane on his view screen in anger. 
  "Mecha.." he ordered. His robot co-pilot looked at him in reply.
  "Do you remember the big red button we tested during a test 
  flight?" Robotnik asked him.
  "Yes.." Mecha replied.
  "Push the big red button, Mecha."

  The little biplane circled back, and Tails pulled up on the joystick 
  to level it. "Ready Sonic?" he asked.
  "Ready as I'll ever be!" Sonic replied.
  The pointed nose of the Egg Carrier split in half as they headed 
  towards it, revealing a spinning circular contraption which 
  extended, and began to generate little zaps of electricity, which 
  grew after time, and started making a loud whirring noise.
  "What's it doing?" Sonic asked, growing nervous.
  "I dunno, Sonic!" replied Tails. There was a crackling sound on 
  the two-way radio. Tails took one hand off the joystick to answer it.
  "Yo?" he said.
  "Merry Christmas." came Robotnik's sinister voice from the other
   end. Sonic looked up to see the biggest beam he had ever seen 
  in his life heading straight for his head. He jumped to the left 
  just as the Tornado veered to the right. The beam collided with 
  its right wing, sending it spiralling out of control and hurling 
  Tails from the cockpit. Sonic flew in one direction, Tails flew 
  in the other direction, and the Tornado went straight down the 
  center in an inevidable collision course with the ground.
  Sonic landed with a loud thump in the sand. Head-first. After a 
  while, he pulled himself out of the sand and tried to shake 
  himself off. "Tails? Tails?" he called, before things came into 
  focus. There was an inquisitive little girl fox standing beside him. 
  "You're not who I'm looking for!" he realised. "Where'd Tails go? 
  I hope he's okay..." He looked around and sighed. "I'd better go 
  find him.. hope he's not hurt.."
  It was nightfall again.. This night, the city was ablaze with 
  activity, and all the Twinkle Park casinos and theme parks were 
  opening. Sonic briefly wondered if Tails was inside one of them, 
  when he saw a familiar figure.. Amy!
  "HEY AMY!" Sonic shouted over the noise of the crowds of people.
  Amy Rose turned around.. she was holding some kind of wounded bird. 
  "Hey Sonic!" she called back, waving. Sonic walked up to her. 
  "Have you seen Tails?" he asked.
  "Tails? No.. why?" Amy replied.
  "We were chasing after the Egg Carrier and it shot us down." 
  Sonic blurted out.
  "Egg Carrier? What's that, a poultry shipment?" Amy asked.
  "No, it's Robotnik's new ship.." Sonic replied. "We wanted to get 
  to it so we could stop Ivo from feeding Chaos into something 
  unstoppable."
  Amy laughed. "Sonic, what are you talking about?" she asked.
  Sonic sighed. "Amy.. there's something seriously going down, and I'm 
  not kidding. You know Robotnik is up to something, right? We worked 
  that out before, when we went to Robotropolis on recon... well, now 
  I know what it is."
  "What?" Amy asked.
  "A monster." Sonic replied. "It calls itself 'Chaos'. It's probably 
  even eviller than Robotnik himself.. and every time Robotnik boosts i
  ts power, it grows.."
  He looked into Amy's eyes for a minute. "Aww, don't worry Amy.. I 
  don't wanna drag you into this." he said at last.
  "I'd love to help.." Amy admitted "But I've kinda got problems of my 
  own right now. I've gotta find a home for this bird, here, and get 
  away from this robot who wants to steal it.."
  "Huh? Robot?" Sonic asked.
  "Yeah... some really creepy looking robot has been chasing me. I'm 
  sure he's after this bird, because it fell off one of Robotnik's ships.."
  "That'd be the Egg Carrier." Sonic commented.
  "On a lighter note, have you ever been to one of the Twinkle Park 
  theme parks?" Amy asked.
  "Nope.." Sonic replied.
  "Wanna go?" Amy offered. "You haven't lived until you've been there!"
  "Aw, I dunno, I really should find Tails.." Sonic replied.
  "Tails can take care of himself, I'm sure." Amy announced. with a 
  smile. "Let him be independent."
  "I haven't any cash, either.. Sonic replied."
  "I'll shout you!" Amy offered. "Besides, there's a special on.. 
  'cute couples' get a discount."
  "You think we'll be judged as 'cute'?" Sonic asked, jokingly.
  Amy laughed. "Let's go!" she said.
  From the shadows, Zero Tolerance grinned evilly. "The cat's in the 
  bag!" he declared.

  Sonic and Amy spent an hour or so in Twinkle Park's biggest amusement 
  center, but it was easy to get lost in the crowds. After a while, 
  Sonic realised that they had been completely seperated.
  "Oh great, Sonic, great." he said to himself. "First you lose Tails, 
  now you lose Amy. You're on a roll!"
  He found a door marked "Twinkle Circuit".
  "Huh? What's that?" he asked. "Maybe she's in there?"

  ***

  "What's your name?" asked the fox, wiping his eyes. "Sonic." replied 
  Sonic. "Sonic Hedgehog. What's yours?" "Miles." replied the fox. 
  "Miles Prower. Although my friends call me Tails." "Why's that?" 
  asked Sonic. Miles stood up. He had not one, but _two_ tails 
  attached to his rear end. Sonic nearly jumped out of his skin! "Holy 
  shemoli!" he exclaimed. "How'd that happen?" Tails began to sob 
  again. "I know.. I'm a freak." he said. Sonic grinned. "Think so?" he 
  asked. "Ever seen a hedgehog with fused spines and blue skin?" Tails 
  giggled. "Guess not!" "We're just special." Sonic reassured him. 
  "And you wanna know something else?" "What?" Tails asked. Sonic 
  stood up, and ran down through Knothole at 200km/h! Then he ran back, 
  and sat down. "NEAT-O!" Tails yelled. "I can do something, too!" He 
  suddenly began to spin his tails like a rotor blade. And he 
  _actually took off_ like a helicopter! Sonic, and a few other villagers, 
  just stared, until Tails sat back down. "COO-OO-OOL!" Sonic exclaimed. 
  "Wow, you've got quite a few tricks up your sleeve!" Tails giggled. 
  "You too!" "I can tell we're both going to enjoy living here!" said 
  Sonic.

  Then Tails woke up, and realised he was dreaming. A very vivid 
  dream, about when he and Sonic had first met. Since then, they had 
  gone just about everywhere together.
  "Wow.. that dream brought back memories." Tails exclaimed. "I owe 
  so much to Sonic.." he realised. Upon looking around, he noticed 
  he was in the forest. He had used his tails and the trees as a fall 
  breaker, but he still hit hard enough to pass out. He shook his 
  head to wake himself up. "I wonder where Sonic landed?" he asked. 
  "I think I'd better find my way back to familiar territory before 
  anything else."
  He walked for what seemed like ages, before he noticed something 
  that caught his eye.
  "WOW!" he exclaimed, looking at a glowing green gem. "A Master 
  Emerald fragment! But what's it doing here?"
  He ran up to the gem, but its glow became so intense that he had 
  to block his eyes. When he opened them again, he was standing in a 
  strange village. "Huh?" he mumbled in confusion. "I thought I was 
  in the jungle!"
  He walked through the strange place, and was faced with a massive 
  temple! At the base, was a girl. She seemed to be deep in thought. 
  What was strange about this place, despite the fact it came out 
  of nowhere, was that everybody was an echidna!
  "The servers are the seven Chaos Emeralds.." she was saying. She 
  looked up and noticed Tails standing there. "Oh, hello friend!" she 
  greeted him. "A visitor to the village! We don't get many non-echidnas 
  in these parts.."
  "What were you saying before?" Tails asked, interested.
  "Something my grandmother taught me." the echidna replied. "The 
  servers are the seven Xnaoo. The controller is the one who unifies 
  the Xnaoo. Since Xnaoo and Chaos mean the same, I was just saying 
  that instead.. it's silly, really." She giggled. "What's your 
  name?" she asked. "I'm Tikal."
  "I'm Tails!" Tails replied.
  "Croooo-oooak."
  "What?" Tails asked in surprise.
  "Rrribbit."
  The fox realised he was staring down at a frog. And he was back in 
  the jungle again. He shook his head. "Was I just dreaming?" he asked 
  the frog. The animal croaked in reply. Tails noticed that the frog 
  had a strangely long tail growing out his back.
  "FROGGY!" came a yell. Tails looked up just in time to see a 
  gigantic blue cat leaping through the air towards him! He fell 
  backwards, and the cat landed in front of him. The frog croaked 
  and hopped away. The cat cursed and ran off.
  "Weird!" Tails exclaimed. Then he noticed a familiar face running 
  towards him! It was another cat.. Streak! He stopped in front of 
  Tails. "Hey, Tails!" he greeted. "What a surprise!"
  "Streak!" Tails replied. "What are you doing here?"
  "Running after Big." Streak replied. "He's my cousin. Would you believe 
  it? He's been chasing that darn frog all over the countryside!"
  Tails laughed. "Hey, have you seen Sonic?" he asked.
  "Nope.." Streak replied. "Sorry. Why, you lost?"
  "Kind of.." Tails replied.
  "Me too!" Streak laughed. "Hey, you can come along on this wild 
  frog chase too, if you like!"
  "Naw, I'd better not." Tails replied. "I have to find my way back
   to the hangar and go help Sonic."
  "Okaly-dokaly!" Streak saluted. "I gotta go catch up.. be seeing 'ya!"
  "Bye!" Tails replied. The cat ran into the forest, and Tails bent 
  over and picked up the emerald shard.
  "Now.." he said. "I'll get to the hangar and use one of the other 
  planes to look for Sonic. Robotnik, here I come!"

  Amy sighed. "Where'd Sonic go?" she asked herself. She wandered 
  around Twinkle Park, looking for him. "Ugh.. so many crowds in 
  this place! You'll stick with me, won't you, birdie!" She tripped 
  over something, and almost fell over. "What was THAT?" she asked. 
  She bent over, and picked up a glowing green emerald. It looked 
  like it was broken off from something bigger. "Weird!" she said, 
  putting it in her pocket. Suddenly a hand dropped on her shoulder. 
  She turned around, and saw the black robot standing there, 
  grinning evilly. She dropped back and nearly fell over.
  "Nice to see you too!" the robot declared.
  "Ugh, you stupid persistant mutant coffee machine!" Amy shouted.
  The robot looked surprised. "THAT'S a new one!" he declared. "I'd 
  much prefer it if you call me 'Zero', girlie, it'll save some time.. 
  less to get your tongue around."
  "Zero, huh?" Amy asked. "Zero Intelligence, more like it!"
  She turned and bolted, the bird following suit. Zero shook his head. 
  "She just won't learn.." he said. "I'll have to do this.. the hard 
  and painful way."
  He walked through the crowds, and disappeared into the darkness.

  Streak and Big stood at the entrance to Emerald Coast. Inside, they 
  could see the frog hopping around, madly.
  "What is WRONG with it?" Streak asked.
  "He's sick!" Big insisted. "I gotta help him!" The cat trundled 
  into the beach. "Then can we go home?" Streak called, running after him.

  E-102 Gamma walked across the beach. People looked at him and gasped, 
  as they always did, but Gamma was unfazed. His mission, for over 
  twelve hours now, was to capture the tailed frog that he had been 
  tracking. He walked for ages across the sand, until he saw it.. 
  plain as day! It hopped happily on the sand. Gamma was about to 
  approach it, when two figures appeared... two cats.
  "Hey Big! Look, there's the frog!" one of them yelled.
  "FROGGY!" the other shouted. The cats ran after the frog, which 
  hopped away, evading them. Gamma followed in persuit.

  "GOTCHA!" Streak shouted. He held the squirming frog in both hands. 
  "Here you go, Big! One insane little tailed amphibian!"
  "Awww, Froggy!" Big exclaimed happily. "Am I glad I finally caught 
  you, buddy! I missed you!"
  "Here ya go, take the thing.." Streak insisted, holding the frog out.
  A red robot blasted past and grabbed it. Streak still had his hands 
  held out, and his jaw open.
  "I don't believe this." he stated.
  "Oh no, he's got my buddy!" Big shouted.
  "Look, you!" Streak yelled at the robot. "We have been chasing that 
  dumb frog all over the city... my small minded cousin here isn't 
  going to let up until we catch it, so maybe, if you didn't mind, 
  you could let me have it?"
  "I cannot." the robot replied.
  "Why not?" Streak asked.
  "It is my mission to recover this frog." the robot said, turning 
  around and starting his rocket pack.
  "No! COME BACK! What mission?" Streak shouted.
  "We have to follow him and get Froggy back!" Big shouted, running after.
  "How did I guess?" Streak asked, starting to persue.

  Knuckles was searching his island for any fragments of emerald 
  Robotnik might have missed when he ransacked it. He had recovered 
  surprisingly many, and left all the emeralds in a stack until he 
  could find a way to fuse them. He was searching a temple in Marble 
  Gardens, when suddenly a bright light came over him. He shielded 
  his eyes and waited for it to pass over. When it didn't, he opened 
  his eyes and realised he was staring at the sun. But he was inside 
  a temple! When he looked around, he realised he had no idea where 
  he was. He was standing before some kind of altar, with a huge 
  emerald of some kind on top of it. Suddenly he recognised it.. 
  the Havoc Gem!
  "Am I on the Chaos Isle?" he asked. "What's going on? Where am I?"
  He noticed another echidna standing there.. Tikal!
  "Please!" she begged the Havoc Gem. "You have to help us! I know 
  you have before... when we did combat with that horrendous monster, 
  Xnaoo!"
  Knuckles pondered what she said... Xnaoo.. in the old echidna 
  language, that meant Chaos!
  "You gave us the Xnaoo Emeralds!" Tikal recalled. "And when six 
  of us stood in a circle with them and held up the controller in 
  the center, it trapped the creature inside! I know it's asking a 
  lot, but my father will soon do combat with the gods, and I fear 
  what may happen to us! So I beg you... as our protector... help 
  us now!"
  Tikal fell on her knees and began to sob. Knuckles walked up to 
  comfort her, but only ended up hugging the dirt. He was in front 
  of the pile of emerald shards again. No Havoc Gem, no Tikal.
  "Unggghh..." Knux moaned. "This is beginning to blow my mind!"
  He dropped the remaining emeralds on the pile and waited. Nothing 
  would happen, but he was a very hopeful echidna. After a while, 
  he let out a long sigh. "Who am I kidding.. It's still incomplete. 
  If I'm gonna fix this thing up, I'm gonna have to reach into Chaos' 
  guts and pull the shards out myself."
  There was an uneasy silence, then he lifted his head and clenched 
  his fist. "Maybe that's exactly what I'm going to do!" he said. 
  "Chaos is on the Egg Carrier, so that's where I'll go! I just need 
  a way of finding it..."
  At that very moment, something red streaked past. An E-101 robot? 
  It had a large frog tucked under one arm, as it landed.
  "Gamma reporting... come in Master Robotnik.." he said. "I have 
  aquired the frog. Permission to board Egg Carrier?"
  "Since when does an E-101 get this far away from Robotropolis?" 
  Knux thought to himself. Then he had another thought. "If he's 
  boarding the Egg Carrier... I can follow him there!" He grinned 
  devilishly. "Watch out Chaos... now you've messed with Knuckles 
  the Echidna!"