26. Mercury Inferno Rising: Part 2
by NetRaptor
Mercury Inferno, part 2
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* * *

Back inside Mecha's flagship, Metal Sonic himself was reviewing the footage from his earlier combat trials. He, in his new form, had managed to destroy dozens of mass-produced robots all in the same battle, and the damage he'd taken had already healed.

Mecha had always suspected as much. The only reason that accursed blue hedgehog had managed to defeat him before was because he was organic, and Mecha was not. Sonic was more agile, more flexible, and could heal himself faster. But now Mecha was stronger, and more agile, because he was a living being in his own right. And being made out of improved biometal, he could repair himself almost instantly. Perhaps, with a little work, he would even be able to use the Chaos Emeralds now.

He'd tried being organic before, once. Even as far back as Robotropolis, he'd almost succeeded when he'd built the Omega project, which the foolish Doctor Robotnik had found out about and used to clone that other hedgehog.

Which made it the second time Robotnik had tried duplicating Sonic.

Mecha was still furious about the first.

He studied himself in the reflection of his full-length window now, still admiring the novelty of his sleek, armored design. And feeling it work all around him. Fluids pulsed through his new channels, clean air swept through him and refreshed tired cells. He clenched one fist triumphantly, and felt the fibers in his arm tighten.

Being a robot had been a very binary experience. Barring any interference, he either saw or he didn't. There was pressure on his fingertips, or there was not. His internal sensors had told him when he was overstressing himself, or when it was cold outside his chassis. But he had only known these as abstract readouts. Now, he could know them as sensations.

He strode to the front of the top deck, panoramic windows surrounding him in this large empty space ahead of the control consoles. A crew of dumb robots manned the flying fortress behind him, and they made very little noise as they worked. Metal Sonic ignored them, and looked out over the bow of his ship. The runway tarmac was vast before him, and a whole slew of smaller vessels was parked there, seemingly going on into infinity.

Yet none of these were as important as he was. He had seen what one hedgehog could do, before. Robotnik's armies had meant little to Sonic. Or him. Even if these all were destroyed, he still would remain. And he would finally show Sonic who was superior.

It was then that something very odd occurred to him.

He went back to pondering his reflection in the window, blue metal with red eyes. The eyes swept over him, as he pondered this new thought.

Then he willed himself to turn back to raw biometal, shining and liquid, and from there to a just slightly different shape. When it reformed, he was still looking at his reflection. Except this time, something entirely different was looking back at him.

"Ssss ... " Even in the hedgehog's own voice, he couldn't bring himself to say it. Both fists clenched, even tighter than before.

He stared daggers at his reflection, unable to bring himself to look down instead. This was the being whose very existence mocked him ... or was it the other way around? Mecha did not care either way. He just wanted the hedgehog dead.

Now he could outperform him, outdistance him, even become him. Or anything else, for that matter. There was nothing Sonic had that he did not. Nothing. That glare turned into an imperious smirk. He folded the hedgehog's arms, and looked down at him condescendingly.

A flash of light behind him, and a surge of chaos energy that blew out some of the consoles. Metal Sonic instantly reverted to biometal, changing himself back as fast as he could. Then he turned around to see Mekion, holding on to the red chaos emerald in his organic hand and struggling to keep himself upright. It looked like his metal half was not responding.

Mecha's new organic self was being flooded with the emotions of shock, fear, and embarrassment, and he tried to calm down enough to pay attention to Shadow's whisperings. "Master," he said. "I am experiencing technical difficulties."

Mekion fell over with a metallic clang.

* * *


Big the cat was a slow thinker, and he spoke less than he thought. But as he sat on the roof of a box car with the wind ruffling his fur and Amy and Cream chatting beside him, he began to think. Froggy had been taken by a black hedgehog who looked a lot like that Shadow person. But Shadow was part robot, so he couldn't have taken Froggy. So where was Froggy now?

Big scratched his chin and looked at his companions. Their fur and clothing was drying out in the wind, as was his own. He ought to take care of them until they were reunited with their families. He didn't know much about kids, or girls in particular. Should he take them to the police? Probably. Maybe the police would help him find Froggy. But what could they do? How could you track a jet like the one the black hedgehog used?

The train left the canyon and sped through the trees. Big smelled water and his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten since that morning. He would have to do some fishing after they reached the train station.

"Will we get in trouble for riding on the train without a ticket?" asked Cream.

Amy frowned. "Uh oh, I didn't think of that. Big, is it against the law?"

Big shrugged.

"I'll bet it is," said Cream, ears drooping. "Then they'll take us to jail, and I'll never see mom or dad or Monty again."

Amy put an arm around her. "It's okay, Cream, nothing bad will happen. For one thing, we're minors."

"But what about Mr. Big?" asked Cream, looking at the cat. "He's a grownup. What if they arrest him?"

"We'll jump off and run as the train steps," said Amy. "Easy, then we'll find a phone and call your mom."

"I hope we can," said Cream. "I don't want mister Big to go to jail because of us. I'll bet he's worried about that frog, aren't you, mister Big?"

"Yeah," he said, "Poor Froggy."

They felt the train begin to slow, and buildings appeared beyond the trees. "Do we jump off?" asked Big.

"Not yet," said Amy, crawling to the edge of the traincar and peering ahead. "Wait until I give the signal." Cream and Big crawled to the edge and waited.

The train slowed still more, and finally pulled in among a dozen other sidings and traincars, with warehouses and the station forming walls on either side. There were humans waiting on either side as the train stopped and they spotted the stowaways at once. "I think it's too late to jump," said Big.

Amy looked at him with wide eyes. "I think so, too."

Cream began to cry, and cried as they climbed down the side of the car. She cried as Amy explained why they were on the train, and the humans looked at her with pity. Then they ushered them into a car and whisked off to the police in Rio Del Fuego.

* * *

Sally was attending a lecture, seated near the back in case her pager went off again and she had to leave. She heard to lobby doors open and leaned back to peer through the partially closed lobby hall doors. To her astonishment Knuckles, Tails, and Sonic were walking in, all with iced coffees. They looked a little rumpled, but unhurt. Tails and Knuckles wore visitors passes around their necks, and looked around the lobby with interest.

Sally looked at the speaker, decided that Sonic was more important and slipped out the doors. She hurried up to him, and he turned with a grin. "There ya are, Sal! Look who came to rescue me!" He gave her an offhand hug with a sidelong look at Knuckles, who was slurping his coffee and poking a potted palm to see if it was real. It was.

"Cushy place," Knuckles remarked. "I should bring Zephyer for a visit."

"Sonic, are you alright?" Sally asked. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I'm fine, Sal," said Sonic with a grin. "They just wanted me to track emeralds for them. What they didn't count on was me beating them to one of them." He held up the violet emerald.

"Good for you," said Sally. Somehow the sight of more Chaos Emeralds made her heart sink. Any time all seven came together, Sonic went out and faced death. She didn't want him to go risk life and limb again, not after being kidnapped, too. She wanted to ask him what had happened, but was conscious of the drone of the lecturer's voice in the room behind her.

Sonic sensed her indecision and said, "C'mon Sal, stay with us. How many of these boring dudes can you listen to, anyway?"

Sally was caught in one of those moments where a choice could decide the course of the future. To one side was the call of duty, and the lecture hall with the other leaders of Mobius. To the other side was Sonic, inviting her to stay with him, something that seldom happened these days with both of then leading increasingly different lives. As she looked at him she felt herself encounter the bars of the mental cage she had built. She couldn't go with him. "But why not?" said the voice of the Freedom Fighter within her. "It's only senator Carda, and he's not saying anything new."

She was balanced between the two options, and Sonic waited, watching her, sensing the battle Sally was waging with herself. He held up his coffee. "I'll share."

There. How could she resist his charm? The cage was not yet complete--there were still gaps she could squeeze through. She smiled. "All right. Let's go out on the veranda--we can talk without bothering anyone."

As she walked out the rear doors of the lobby with her three companions, a snooty voice in her head said, "You'll pay for this, you know. The Mobian senators has already taken your power--next they'll retire your title because you're an unfit leader."

"Sue me," Sally thought. "Sonic is more important right now." The choice had been made, and the chips must fall where they may.

The veranda was a wood floored deck surrounding a heated swimming pool. It was fenced with a high stucco wall and screened with cedars for privacy. It was deserted, and the four picked the most comfortable chairs and dragged them into the shade of an umbrella. Sonic handed his coffee to Sally and said, "Okay, storytime. And I want to hear how you guys got Knux out here."

Sally and Tails grinned, and Knuckles leaned back and looked bored. "Start talking, Sonic. I don't have all day."

Sonic told about Shadow and Rouge, leaving out the part about Shadow strangling him. He also left out the part about Shadow making him crawl on his knees, because he still felt humiliated just remembering it. He told about Omega firing at the Cyclone, and Tails nodded. "So that's what that was. Scared us out of a day's growth, didn't it, Knuckles?"

Knuckles grunted.

Then Sonic related the battle with the Egg Hawk, and Tails and Knuckles added their sides. Sally listened, automatically analyzing their reports in light of the future missions and enemy movements. With a shock she realized she had slipped back into tactical planner mode. Did she love it that much?

"So anyway that's what went down," said Sonic. "What do you think, Sal?"

"It was a decoy," said Sally. "Drone pilot, air to air battle. Was there any other traffic in or out of the area at the time?"

Sonic looked at Tails and Knuckles. "You guys see any other jets?"

"No," said Tails, "but the train left before the ship launched, remember?"

"The train," said Sonic. "I didn't even think about it."

"It had a lot of cars," said Knuckles. "Who knows what was in them."

"Probably weapons," said Sally. "Seeing as it was a weapon testing facility. I wonder where the cargo is being shipped?"

"We'd better find out," said Sonic. "Amy, Cream, and Big were hitching a ride on it."

Sally's eyes widened. "Amy and Cream? What're they doing mixed up in this?"

"Remember Cream's chao?" said Sonic. "He was kidnapped by somebody disguised as Shadow."

Tails and Knuckles straightened. "That was the Chao who could see chaos fields, right?" said Tails. "Remember that email about a secret weapon?"

"We don't need another Chaos Storm on our hands," said Knuckles grimly. "Where would they take a Chao?"

"Do we know where Robotnik's recent base is?" asked Tails.

"No," said Sally. "He's constantly moving. He was out in the Samo desert, but that was a year ago."

"We ought to find out where that train goes," said Sonic. "It might lead us straight to him."

"I don't like the idea of Amy and Cream riding it," said Sally. "And who else?"

"Big the Cat," said Sonic. "You've never met him. Nice guy, but not real smart."

Sally stood up. "I'm going to call the shipping office. Be back in a minute." She hurried inside the hotel.

Sonic jumped up and paced around the pool. The things he had Chaos Seen were flashing through his head--mostly the one of Robotnik lying dead. So far he hadn't laid eyes on his old nemesis, and it bothered him. Was Robotnik dead? And if so, who had killed him?

Sonic wasn't exactly sorry if Robotnik died--for instance, if he received the death penalty after a trial--but the vision had been of Robotnik lying on the ground in such a way as to be undeniably dead. Murdered. But should he tell anyone? Chaos Sight was an unreliable way to tell the future. Nine-tenths of the things he had seen last time hadn't come true.

He circled the patio again, then returned to his seat. "Guys," he said to Knuckles and Tails. "When they made me Chaos See, I saw Robotnik dead."

They stared at him in horror. It shocked them just as it had him. "How could he be dead?" asked Tails. "Wouldn't we have known about it?"

"Hold on," said Knuckles. "This was only Chaos Sight. It might be true, or it might not."

"I thought of that," said Sonic. "But at the thing today, we saw a ship of Robotnik's, but no Robotnik himself. What if somebody else is in control, like Metal Sonic?"

"Mecha would just hunt you down personally," said Knuckles. "He wouldn't bother with remote ships and the like."

"And Robo Knux got fried, remember," said Tails. "Even though he got away, sneaking around as Robotnik isn't his style."

"Well, maybe it is Robotnik," said Sonic. "Sometimes he doesn't show himself until way later ... but still, like with the ARK, he was right in our faces the whole time."

"And this is still Chaos Sight you're talking about," said Knuckles. "You can't trust that as far as you can throw it."

The hotel door opened and Sally strode out to them, a bemused expression on her face.

"Well?" said Sonic as she sat down.

"Well," she said. "Amy, Cream and Big are at the downtown police station, being held for train-hopping. They can't reach Cream or Amy's parents, and it sounds like they're going to put Big in jail. They're in a real mess down there."

Sonic and Tails jumped up. "Let's throw their bail!" Sonic exclaimed. "Those guys don't need a record for hitching a ride on a train. Besides, I sort of told them to do it."

Sally blinked. "Oh. Well. All right. Let's go."

They walked off, and Knuckles stayed behind. Tails turned. "You coming, Knuckles?"

"Naw," he said. "I'll probably go visit the Chaotix. I'll meet you back here this evening."

Tails looked from Sonic to Knuckles and back, as if wanting Sonic to make Knuckles come. Then he shrugged and ran after Sonic.

* * *

Two Mobian senators, Mortho and Jik, watched Sally leave from a window in the lecture hall. "There goes our monarch," said Mortho with a sigh. "That hedgehog is bad for her. Look how irresponsible she's become."

"I know," said Jik. "We're going to have to confront her about it. She can't go on like this--she's scheduled to give another speech tonight."

"Yes," said Mortho. "I don't look forward to confronting her. She's very close to her friends from her Freedom Fighter years."

"But will she risk losing her position because of her friends? I doubt it."

"No ... either she loses the hedgehog, or she loses her title. She can't have both."

* * *

Vector lay sprawled in his desk chair in the detective's office, eyes closed, headphones turned up full blast. Charmy was sitting in a miniature beanbag with a handheld videogame system in front of his nose, and Espio sat on the floor in the lotus position, trying to meditate, but in reality dozing while sitting up. Mighty was reading a camera magazine, and the only sound came from Vector's headphones and a fly buzzing in the window.

The Chaotix were tired out from their adventure in the Amile canyon. Vector, Espio and Charmy had run most of the ten miles back to Rio Del Fuego, lugging the fifty-pound box between them. They hailed a taxi as soon as they could, and were now exhausted and taking a break. Mighty had spent the morning playing dispatch for his friends, and working on some other cases that needed attention. Now they had eaten a late lunch and turned the sign on the door to 'closed' for a while.

Espio toppled backward, caught himself with his tail, and opened his eyes. "Nuts. I'm falling asleep." He stood up and stretched. "Vector, would it be a breach of protocol to see what's in the box?"

The crocodile opened one eye. "You say something?"

"Yeah," said Espio. "I was just saying how you're the biggest moron in history, and embroidering some elaborate insults to your ancestry."

Vector switched off his walkman. "Okay, what?"

Mighty and Charmy snickered.

Espio pointed at the box in the corner. "Can we look inside?"

Vector eyed the box. "I don't think we should."

"But it might be an explosive or something," said Espio. "That was a weapons manufacturing place, so what if this is the stuff for a dirty bomb?"

Vector stared at Espio for a moment. "All right, you've convinced me." He opened a drawer, pulled out a pocketknife and stooped over the box. The others gathered around as Vector slid the tape holding the lid shut, and peeled back the flaps. The box was full of packing peanuts. Vector brushed them aside to reveal the gleam of metal.

"What is that?" said Charmy.

Mighty pushed forward. "Here, let me." He grasped the object and lifted it from the box, showering peanuts all over the floor, and set it on the desk. They all gazed at it.

"Doesn't look like a bomb to me," said Vector.

"No," said Mighty, "but what is it?"

It was a cube with a hole in one side. The backside was an internal engine, as shown by the vents in the sides and the swell of the paneling. It had adjustable feet on the bottom for support, and there were slots and plugs all over it.

"It looks like one of those baseball shooters," said Espio. "Except really souped-up."

"Is it a gun?" asked Charmy.

"Maybe a cannon," said Mighty, peering into the hole in the side. "But there's a lot of accessories that go with it, see?"

"Something tells me we're collecting the accessories," muttered Vector. "I'll bet the tube we got screws into this hole. It's about this size."

They were interrupted by a tap on the door. They turned to see Knuckles standing outside, peering in. "Hey, it's Knux!" exclaimed Charmy. "Should we let him see this?"

"Eh, why not?" said Vector. "He's part of the Chaotix, too."

Espio unlocked the door, and Knuckles stepped in. "Hey guys! Your sign says you're closed."

"Hey Knux!" they chorused. Vector added, "Lunch break."

Knuckles nodded and spotted the machine on the desk. "What in the world is that?"

"That's what we were trying to figure out," said Mighty.

They let Knuckles examine it, hoping he might identify it, but he was as mystified as they were. "No idea what this is," he said. "It looks like a launcher of some kind, but with this motor back here..." He trailed off, shaking his head.

"We're supposed to deliver it to a client," said Vector. "Put it back in the box, Mighty."

The armadillo did so, and they gathered up the peanuts and heaped them on top. Knuckles watched them. "I couldn't stand a business like this. Too mysterious for me."

"Did you find Sonic?" asked Espio, breaking a peanut into fragments.

"Yep," said Knuckles. "He'd escaped like we knew he would. He's running around with Tails and Sally right now."

The Chaotix breathed a sigh of relief. "At least that's settled," said Vector. "Now, if only he'd stay out of trouble--"

"Impossible," snorted Knuckles. "He thrives on trouble."

"Don't we all?" said Vector with a grin. "What're you so grouchy for, anyway?"

"I don't want to be here," muttered the echidna. "My place is on my island."

"So go home!" said Espio. "Nobody's making you stay."

"Maybe I will," said Knuckles, looking out the glass door. "Is that you guys' car out there?"

"It's a bobsled," said Mighty. "We're fixing it up."

"Speaking of which," said Vector, "could you sell us a chaos engine when you get one built?"

Knuckles glared. "How do you know about my chaos engine stuff?"

The Chaotix grinned at each other, and Vector tapped his forehead. "Elementary, dear Watson. You've been collecting parts for ages now, and we used to live on the Floating Island too, you know."

Knuckles shrugged and turned away. "I have to get a prototype working first."

"Great." Vector rubbed his hands together. "We'll never have to buy gas again!"

"Gas is cheap compared to how much a chaos engine will go for," said Knuckles. "You'd better get lots of clients." He pushed open the door. "I'm outta here."

"Come visit again!" said Charmy. Knuckles waved and descended the steps to the street.

"What's eating him?" said Mighty.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Espio. "He misses Zephyer." The four snickered to themselves.

Vector picked up the Client's communicator and looked at it. "He'll send us after a new part immediately, I'll bet. You guys feel up to it, or do we wait until tomorrow? For all he knows, we're having trouble escaping from Rovieg."

"That would be dishonest," said Mighty. "If you don't want to hunt a part 'til tomorrow, just tell the guy."

"I'm game," said Espio. "Besides, Rio Del Fuego at night is loads of fun."

"I'm good, too," said Charmy.

Vector nodded. "All right, but you asked for it." He flipped on the com. "Mister? You there? This is Vector."

"Ahh, Vector," said the Client, sounding pleased. "You're safe?"

"Back at the office with the box," said Vector. "Safe and sound."

"Perfect," said the Client. "I've been in contact with my supplier in Metrocard. The next package awaits you there."

"Metrocard?" Vector mouthed at his friends in disbelief. Aloud he said, "That's awfully far from here, sir."

"You'll be compensated for all travel fees," said the Client dismissively. "Do you have a paper handy? I'm going to give you directions."

Vector snatched a notepad and pen from the desk. "Yep."

"All right. You are to take route 199 to the junction at 56, then follow that south to Anabaro Boulevard. 733 Anabaro is where you stop. Ask for Rufus Lynxara at the front desk. He will help you."

Vector wrote this down and said, "Got it. Anything else?"

"Leave immediately," said the Client. "Today is Wednesday. I must have all the items by Friday evening at the latest."

"Okay, leaving now," said Vector. "I'll be in touch." He clicked off the com to see everyone staring at him. "What?"

"Vector!" whispered Mighty. "That email!"

"What about it? Oh..." Vector trailed off and they all looked at the calender. Tails had received the email on Tuesday. It had given them four days, and Friday was the fourth day.

"Coincidence?" said Charmy.

"Maybe," said Espio. "Or maybe not."

Vector clipped the com to his belt. "Come on, there's not a moment to lose."

* * *

Metal Sonic's flagship was vast. Half the rooms were filled with machinery, and the other half were empty. It had been designed by Robotnik, so he wasn't sure what all of them were for yet.

While his robots cleaned up the bridge, Metal Sonic helped Mekion to the rooms he'd been using for his own purposes, in back near the engineering section. These were a series of small alcoves around one large, main room, with what looked like a swimming pool in it.

It was actually shielding for a nuclear reactor, and the top was glassed over so nobody would fall in. Monty still thought it looked like a swimming pool, though. He could just see the end of it, from his cage in one of the back rooms. He thought it looked cheerful somehow.

He listened to Metal Sonic work, as he repaired Mekion. The tools didn't make much noise, and Monty could just barely hear Shadow talk.

"How long will this take, Master?"

"About two minutes. The damage is not extensive."

Shadow paused for a moment before speaking, as if considering what he was about to say. "When I teleported in, Master, I thought I saw-"

"You didn't."

"The hedgehog was on board your ship, Master. And then he turned into you."

Monty strained to hear him. He talked real quiet.

"You. Were. Malfunctioning." The sounds of repair had stopped. Mecha was seething. "You were damaged, and your organic side was hallucinating."

"But-"

A smack of metal on metal. "Do not EVER suggest such a thing again, Mekion. Do you understand?"

His response was too quiet for Monty to hear him.

The chao started pacing the length of his cage. Whoever 'Mekion' was, he didn't see any reason not to trust him. So Metal Sonic had turned into Sonic. How?

The sounds of working with tools came from outside for another minute or two. Then Mecha told Mekion to stand, and there was a metallic clank as he regained his footing.

"Return to your duties," Mecha said. "I have more fully insulated you against the emerald's powers, so you ought to be able to teleport back."

"Yes, Master." Pause. "Chaos relocate!"

There was a red flash, and the chaos field in the room was swept toward the far end where they were for a second. Monty's eyes went wide. No wonder this guy was so interested in chaos fields!

More footsteps outside, after a few seconds. Metal Sonic went over to the aquarium, right across the room from Monty's cage, and examined the frog for a moment.

The chao hesitated. He wasn't sure if what he was planning was a good idea or not.

Metal Sonic began to walk away, and Monty cleared his throat. "Hello?"

Metal Sonic stopped, just past the edge of the door so the chao couldn't see him. "Yes?"

"I didn't know you could shapechange," Monty said. "Chao can only do that if we have a Chaos Emerald to use. How do you do it?"

"How do you know I can shapechange?" If Monty could have seen him, he would have known he was clenching his fists.

"I can see it in the room's chaos field," Monty lied, trying to get Mecha to admit it. "You're probably really good at it, too. Can I see?"

The Mecha-bot stepped back to the doorway and faced him, his arms folded. "Alright, little chao." His voice was almost casual. "Tell me what you would have me change into."

"How about ... " Monty almost said Sonic, but thought better of it. "How 'bout a rabbit?"

Mecha tapped one foot on the floor for a few seconds, as if he were impatient. Then he liquefied, turning into a bright quicksilvery fluid, and reformed into Cream in seconds.

He looked exactly like Monty's owner, too, except for the chaos field and the lifeless expression on his face. Cream smiled a lot, but Metal Sonic didn't even look sad or upset as her. He just looked.

"Okay." The chao nodded his approval. "Very realistic." He didn't want to let on that his portrayal was off.

"Of course it is."

"Can you do foxes?"

He went quicksilver again, and reformed into an equally lifeless version of Tails. The fox's twin tails hung limply on the floor.

"I have work to do, chao." Tails folded his arms. "Are you sufficiently amused?"

"Uh ... " Better not push his luck. Something else occurred to him, though, and he thought it'd be good to test it. "How 'bout Destro?"

"What does he look like?"

"Well, he's a fox. He's only got one tail, but he wears a helmet and a jetpack, and he carries a sword." Monty wanted to see if he could do equipment as well. "He's older than Tails too, and he looks more rugged."

Mecha-tails watched him for a moment. Then he had his first facial expression. His eyes narrowed. "Who is Destro?"

All of a sudden, Monty realized his mistake. "A friend of Cream's?" he bluffed.

The robot liquefied again, stepping forward and thrusting his arm through the bars. When he'd reformed into himself, his hand held the chao tight.

It hurt. "Tell me who he is, or you will wish you had."

Monty squirmed, and tried to escape. "I told you, he's a friend of Cream's!" A sweatdrop formed on the chao's forehead.

"And?"

"He's a soldier, or something. He lives in town. I think he's training the other people there."

Metal Sonic said nothing, and Monty began sweating all over.

"Mecha-bot four has dealt with him before," Metal Sonic told him. "I want to know how and under what circumstances."

"Destro beat him," Monty said.

"How?"

"I don't know, I didn't watch."

Mecha squeezed tighter. Monty gave a chao scream, as his insides began to squish together. "TELL me how he beat him."

He knew it was bad to tell him. He knew it would get people hurt. But he was scared, and Metal Sonic was hurting him. "He uses chaos fields! He can sense other people's chaos. And he can absorb it. And the Lightgiver tells him what to do-"

"Who is the Lightgiver?"

"I don't know!" Now he was starting to cry.

The Mecha-bot released him, and he ran to the far corner of his cage, almost throwing up on the way. He felt burning hot, especially his face, but for some reason he couldn't stop shivering.

"Thank you for co-operating," Mecha told him, and he looked back over his shoulder and into his glowing red eyes. "If Destro defeated my 'brother,' then he may be an ally. More than likely, however, he thinks of himself as a hero, in which case I will destroy him."

Another black-and-red hedgehog had been standing next to the cage, and had remained expressionless the whole time. Mecha addressed it. "Bring dinner for this chao, C-5. Monty, you may have extra dessert."

He walked out, the black hedgehog following. And Monty curled up in back of the cage, and went back to crying.

* * *

"Shadow?" called Rouge softy. "Shad--I mean Mekion, where are you?"

Rouge and Omega were hidden in the brush that rimmed the Amile canyon. Below them, the Rovieg facility swarmed with GUN robots and personnel, and their calls and crackling radios echoed off the canyon walls. Rouge had barely made it to cover before they arrived, and found Omega already sitting among the bushes. "You're not attacking?" she asked in astonishment.

"No," he said. "They are not Robotnik's robots. I promised to harm no one else."

Rouge crouched beside the robot, thankful for his faithfulness. She hadn't expected him to keep his word--the flicky inside him must be a decent sort, despite its programming. "Where's Shadow?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Omega. "Scans do not detect him in the area."

Uh oh. Suddenly Rouge was anxious. What if he was down in the factory somewhere? She had lost track of him during his battle with the Egg Hawk, for he was teleporting too much. What if he had damaged Mekion with all that chaos energy? What if he was lying in some corner somewhere, unable to move or help himself?

The bat began to creep through the brush, calling for Shadow in a whisper. She was worried and exasperated. The big idiot, running off like that and racing Sonic. Racing, of all things! Of course, he and Sonic had been rivals from the start, so such a thing shouldn't surprise her. And playing chicken with a train ... she shook her head. One of these days, he'd get himself killed by taking on a challenge too big for him. And they still hadn't found the chaos emerald.

Rouge froze, eyes narrowing. Sonic had been teleporting all over the place, too. Sonic must have found the emerald! She cursed him under her breath. Those were HER emeralds!

Was that a twinkle of light back in the trees? She crept in that direction. "Shadow?" There--a black figure crumpled on the ground. His head moved as she stooped over him, and his organic eye blinked. "Are you all right?" she asked, hoisting him to his feet.

"Yes," whispered Shadow. "I went to my Master for repairs, and I have returned."

"Your Master?" said Rouge in surprise. "You were hurt that bad?"

"I want some chaos shielding for Mekion," Shadow told her. "At present we lack the knowledge for proper shielding. When my Master has a breakthrough in his research, I will receive the upgrade."

"What research?"

Shadow didn't answer.

Rouge stared at him to make him uncomfortable. "Metal Sonic is doing research on chaos?"

Shadow still didn't answer and gazed at the trunk of a tree in front of him.

Mekion reactivated, his other eye flickering on. He straightened and stepped away from Rouge with a look of disgust. "Do not question Shadow about my Master's doings. They are secret. For now."

"Oh?" said Rouge. "If you're so much in control, why do you need Shadow at all?"

Mekion turned away without answering and crept off to join Omega. Rouge followed him, fuming at both halves of Shadow for his cold arrogance.

She reached the robots and sat on the ground in the brush. "Sonic got the emerald," she said. "There's no use in staying here any longer. Mekion, do you remember where any others are?"

"No," he whispered. "So that's how Sonic was teleporting. I should have known he would find it."

Rouge unsnapped a pouch on her belt and pulled out the orange chaos emerald. She held it out to Mekion, who looked at it but make no move to take it. Omega watched in silence. "Chaos See again," said Rouge. "And find another emerald."

Mekion glared at her. "Do it yourself. I have no wish to put myself at the mercy of that power again."

"I can't do it," said Rouge. "You have to."

Slowly Mekion extended his organic hand and took the emerald. He held it a moment without looking at it, then sighed and bent his head over it. Within ten seconds his muscles locked and he froze, Seeing. Rouge timed him with her watch, and at 45 seconds she pulled the emerald out of his hands. He drew a sharp breath, as if about to scream, then exhaled and relaxed, eyes closing.

"Well?" said Rouge. "Did you see one?"

"Yes," he whispered without opening his eyes. "It's in the bottom of a sewer drain with a grating right above it."

Rouge's heart sank. That could be anywhere.

Mekion opened his eyes. "The water in the drain turned orange, and steam was pouring out of the vent. But it wasn't lava."

Orange water. Rouge remembered the ARK with a shudder. "Do you know where it was?"

A corner of Mekion's mouth curled upward. "Yes. Don't you?"

She looked at him, thinking. Orange water didn't ring any bells, but she didn't plan to admit it. "You lead the way," she said. "We need to get out of here before GUN searches the canyon rim."

Still smiling, Mekion lifted his red emerald. They three joined hands and vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

Amy sat with her hands in her lap, clenching and unclenching her fingers. Cream sat beside her, curled up in the chair. The police station was noisy and crowded, and people moved about on business, ignoring the two girls waiting in the corner. Big the Cat had been taken into a back room half an hour before, and Amy was worried about him. Big was harmless and not very bright, and he wouldn't understand what was going on.

She felt responsible for their predicament. Sonic had told them to follow the train tracks, but it was Amy's idea to jump onto a passing boxcar from the clifftop. Maybe they would call Cream's mother and they could explain all this. After all, they had been stranded out there ...!

The front doors opened, and Amy looked up. To her astonishment Sonic walked in, followed by Tails and Sally. Sonic's eyes swept the room and came to rest on Amy and Cream. Amy sat up and poked Cream's ear, relief flooding her. Sonic and Tails, and Sally, too! Everything would be all right now.

"Hi Sonic!" said Amy as he walked up.

"Hi Amy, Cream," said Sonic. "What's happening? Where's Big?"

"They're trying to call our parents," said Amy. "They took Big in the back. Sonic, he doesn't understand this stuff!"

She gave him a pleading look, and Sonic nodded. "Gotcha. Tails, wait here with them."

Tails sat down beside Cream, and Sonic and Sally went to the desk to talk to the officer on duty.

"You guys okay?" asked Tails.

"Yeah," said Amy and Cream.

"We rode the train without a ticket, and now we're in trouble," said Amy. "I hope they let us go."

Cream stared at Tails and put the end of one ear in her mouth. Tails smiled at her, and she ducked her head.

Amy was too busy watching Sonic to notice. "Do you think they'll let Big go?"

"Sure," said Tails. "They'll issue your parents a citation, and I'll bet we can get Big off. He had no idea it was illegal, right?"

"I guess." Amy was still watching Sonic and Sally at the counter. Sonic was frowning and talking in a low voice. He looked at Sally and she said a few words, lifting her ID tag. The officer nodded and vanished into the back.

Tails had seen, too. "Sally's got some clout, looks like. Being the princess will get stuff moving."

"I hope so," said Amy.

Cream continued to stare at Tails. It made him uncomfortable, so he stood up and walked a few paces away.

The officer emerged from the back, leading Big the Cat. Big was still carrying his fishing rod, and looked tired and grumpy. Sally signed some papers, and the let Big sit down with Amy and Cream. "You okay?" Amy asked him.

"I don't like this place," said Big with a growl. "I want to go home."

Sonic and Sally walked up, looking triumphant. "Got you off," said Sonic. "We explained what happened and Sally signed the release papers. You won't get fined this time. Just don't hitchhike on trains anymore."

"We won't," said Cream and Amy. Cream looked at Tails and dropped her eyes.

Sally introduced herself to Big, then said, "Anybody want some dinner?"

Big's face lit up, and he eagerly rose and followed the rest of the group outside.

As they crossed a street and headed for a restaurant, Sally whispered to Sonic, "I have to give a lecture at seven. Do you think you and Tails can manage?"

Sonic looked at her in dismay. "You're leaving me to babysit? No way!"

"Sonic, I'm sorry," said Sally, checking her watch. "I have to eat and run. I can't reschedule this late."

Sonic sighed. "Do what you gotta do. But you owe me one."

As they stepped into the restaurant, Tails whispered in Sonic's other ear, "Sonic, Cream keeps staring at me! What do I do?"

Sonic looked at Cream to see her watching Tails with a rapt expression. Sonic grinned. "She has a crush on you."

"I know!" Tails hissed. "What do I do?"

"Just be nice. I've put up with Amy all these years--you'll survive Cream."

"Oh, thanks a lot," said Tails, ears flattening. "You're no help."

Tails was edgy and didn't relax until the food arrived. Then all the Mobians ate as if starved. Sonic's metabolism had burned off all his extra calories during his adventures of that day, and he ate three servings of shrimp salad. Big the Cat ate a huge portion of fish, and Cream and Amy had two helpings each of carrot casserole. Tails feasted on steak, but Sally only picked at her salad. She was rehearsing her lecture in her head, and hating herself for abandoning Sonic like she was going to. But she had no choice. The conference took precedence over everything.

Sally left halfway through dinner, and Sonic watched her go with a wilting sensation inside him. Nothing he did for her was ever good enough. He had helped her, supported her, come to this conference with her ... he remembered how she had left a lecture earlier--at least she had done that for him. He reminded himself that he couldn't expect much attention while she was working, but still. Maybe she didn't really care, and he was kidding himself by courting her.

He finished his dinner in silence, and only Tails noticed. Everyone else was chattering about their adventure of the day.

After dessert, Sonic and Tails escorted Cream, Amy and Big to a hotel for the night. They hadn't been able to reach Cream's mother, and the phones in Knothole were down because of a storm, so Amy's couldn't be contacted. The two girls were on their own for a day or two.

As Sonic and Tails left the hotel, Tails heaved a sigh of relief. "Am I glad to get away from them! Cream was driving me nuts!"

Sonic grinned. "And here you've laughed all these years about Amy following me around."

"I'll never laugh again," said Tails, shaking his head.

Sonic shrugged. "You don't have much to worry about. She's like, eight or something. She'll get over you eventually."

"Yeah, that's what Sally told you about Amy," said Tails.

"One difference," said Sonic. "Cream lives in Central Mobius and Amy lives here."

Tails lit up. "Oh yeah!"

The sun was sinking into the ocean, painting a shimmering red path across the waves, and Sonic looked toward the beach with longing. There would be no entertaining Sally tonight. Besides, he was tired and comfortably full. He didn't feel like running. "Hey Tails, want to visit the Ocean Palace casino? I haven't been to that one yet."

"You have any money?" Tails asked.

"Gave my last cash to the girls," said Sonic. "Let's hit the UA building real quick and I'll grab some more from my backpack."

They trotted several blocks back to the UA building, showed their passes to the guards, and entered. There they found Knuckles standing outside the lecture hall doors, listening. He looked around as they walked up. "Hush," he said in a low voice. "She's giving a darned good speech. Listen."

Sally was giving an impassioned speech about racial equality, and how all sentient races deserved the same justice, whether they had fur or clothing. She didn't mention Amy, Cream or Big, but Sonic knew what was on her mind. He listened to her with sudden pride--that was HIS Sally in there knocking their socks off!

He forgave her for deserting him at dinner, and was proud just to know her. She knew her stuff, all right. How could she even think about hanging around with him? Sonic was nobody with no position or importance. She was a politician through and through, and he was a fleet-footed warrior. That was all. He really was kidding himself by courting her. He had lost her years ago. Lost her? Heck, he'd never had her.

With a slow sadness growing in him, Sonic listened to the rest of the speech, enjoying the rise and fall of her voice as Sally talked about equality, liberty and justice for all.

As she finished and applause filled the hall, Knuckles said, "Did you get the business with Amy cleared up?"

"Yep," said Sonic as they walked out on the veranda. It was dark by this time, and multicolored lights from the surrounding casinos illuminated the sky, drowning the stars. "They're camped out in a hotel for the night."

"Did you guys find out anything about that train?"

Sonic smacked his forehead and looked at Tails. "No, I totally forgot."

"Me too," said Tails. "Think it's too late to call and ask?"

"Don't worry about it," said Knuckles, with a sudden smile. "I went down there myself."

"You did?" Sonic stared. "After being a grouch about this whole thing?"

"Hey, I'm here, so I might as well make myself useful," said the echidna with a shrug.

"So what'd you find out?" asked Sonic.

Knuckles sat down in a deck chair and leaned back, looking smug. "They couldn't give me details on the freight, but the train was fully loaded and headed for the station in Metrocard. There it's scheduled to be picked up by a subdivision of a company called RedStar."

Sonic looked at Tails. "What do you think, weapons master?"

"Depends on what RedStar is," said the fox. "They might be another weapons lab."

"Nope, I looked 'em up," said Knuckles, looking even more smug. "They're an alternative energy company."

"Why would an energy company buy weapons?" said Sonic, raising any eyebrow.

Tails frowned. "Not for anything good. Not a whole trainload."

"Well, let's check it out!" said Sonic. "In the morning."

"Right," said Tails, yawning. "I'm zonked. I'm going back to my hotel."

"See you, Tails!" said Sonic as the fox trotted off.

He looked at Knuckles. "I'm gonna hit the sack, too. Where're you staying?"

"I'm not spending my money here," said Knuckles. "I brought a portable teleporter."

Sonic smirked. "Can't stand to leave the island and the wife for more than a day, huh?"

Knuckles shrugged. "You wouldn't understand. The longer I'm away from my island, the louder its call gets. And that's apart from Zephyer being ticked off when I don't tell her we've found you. She was going to come after you herself."

"Sally must have been very convincing when she called you."

"Sally nothing," said Knuckles. "Zeff and I tracked you with the Master Emerald and saw Shadow kicking you around."

Sonic flushed. "You saw that?"

Knuckles nodded. "Kind of humiliating to get tied up and have to put up with Shadow. Made me really mad."

Sonic glanced around the deserted courtyard and lowered his voice. "You won't tell anybody, will you?"

"Don't worry," said Knuckles. "I'll smash his face for you sometime."

"I appreciate the offer." Sonic stretched. "I'm off. You coming back tomorrow?"

"Probably. I'm interested against my will."

Sonic smiled. "Glad to hear it. Ciao."

He left, and Knuckles went to retrieve the teleporter from where he had hidden it.

* * *

Destro the fox sat in the corner booth at the restaurant, dejected.

He was in the back, right next to the counter, and the smell of hot grease was permeating the air. After the large hamburger he'd eaten it was only making him nauseous, but he didn't have the energy to get up. It was too hot indoors, nd there was no air conditioner.

He'd already cleared off his table. The only things left on it were a salt shaker, a rusted napkin dispenser and a glass ketchup bottle with the lid stuck on. The tables and benches were wooden and scratchy, and covered in chipping white paint. This restaurant was the only one in Carrotseed that catered to carnivores, and they didn't see a whole lot of business.

Destro folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on them. He'd taken his helmet off already, and a slight breeze from outdoors was ruffling the fur on top of his head.

He looked up and across the room, to the only other occupied table. A group of elderly foxes and rabbits were sitting around it, playing some sort of card game. They were all talking and laughing, and looked to be having a good time. More importantly, they showed no signs of stopping.

He sighed. This day was never going to be over.

The Lightgiver had told him to find people in Carrotseed who has chaos fields, and train them. So far he'd found only two, and one of them was a teenaged girl who lived with her boy-crazy sister. The elderly rabbit had seemed a far better choice.

Of course, he also hadn't been all that interested. He'd listened with a smile on his face, as Destroy had tried to explain.

"We-ell," he'd said, and taken his time about it. "I guess I could try it."

The fox had given a sigh of relief.

"Meet me at the Salad Bar and Grill," he'd said. "Tomorrow, five-ish."

When he'd arrived at four-thirty, Robert -- that was the rabbit's name -- had been playing cards. Now it was almost seven.

"Would you like something more to drink?" The rabbit waitress had just come out from behind the counter, and stopped next to his table. "Water, Coke, iced tea ... "

She wasn't going to go away if he said nothing. "Water."

"Alright, then." The fox's ear pivoted, as she went back behind the counter. He did not look away from the table.

A few seconds later, someone came in through the open doorway. Destro's eyes flicked upward briefly, to see who it was. Then he did a double-take. "Sonic?"

The hedgehog walked inside, past the table where the others were playing cards. They didn't take much notice. Jazz Jackrabbit was the local celebrity, and nobody there knew Sonic well enough to recognize him.

Aside from Destro, anyway. The two of them had met before. He stopped at his table, arms at his side, face expressionless. "You are the fox known as Destro, are you not?"

"Yes." He raised his eyebrows.

"I must speak with you outside. It is important."

Destro glanced about himself, and his ears pricked upwards. "Are you alright?"

"N ... no. That is why I must speak with you. Please come with me now."

The fox hesitated a second, then nodded. He slid out from behind the table and stood up, and as soon as he did so Sonic started walking away. He grabbed up his helmet, and hurried to follow him.

"Hey, where 'ya going?" Robert looked up at him, from his card game.

"I'll be back in a minute." Sonic had just gone outside. Destro squinted at the sunlight, and hurried to strap on his helmet.

* * *

Metal Sonic continued walking for a few seconds, before he realized that Destro was not following him.

Groaning inwardly, he turned around. The fox had just put his helmet back on, and was now standing still with his eyes closed and his head lowered.

None of the files about Robo Knuckles' fight with him had mentioned this kind of behavior. Mecha walked back over to where he was, self-consciously looking around himself, and over his shoulder.

This was the main street of Carrotseed, in the center of town, where most of the above-ground buildings were. It had all of four traffic lights, and no real traffic to speak of. A few pedestrians walked past them, taking no notice of Mecha but sparing the odd glance for the armored fox.

Mecha stopped in front of him. "What are you doing?" he asked, in Sonic's voice.

"Consulting with the Lightgiver." He opened his eyes, and looked back up. "You are not who you appear to be."

That startled him, and it registered on his face without his knowing it. "Of course I am!" he managed to say.

"Your expression hasn't even changed until now."

Mecha thought about that for a second. Then, trying to figure it out as he went, he made the corners of his mouth turn upwards in a smile that almost looked natural.

Destro bowed his head again. But only for a second. "Tell me your name," he said, after he'd looked back up.

Mecha blinked. The smile disappeared. "You know my name," he said. He was beginning to feel uncomfortably warm, and a drop of fluid was appearing on his forehead.

"I do." Destro nodded. "Now say it yourself. Out loud."

"Sss," he tried. "Ssss ... sssson ... "

Mecha did not know it, but his face was turning red with embarrassment.

One hand clenched into a fist. The other grabbed Destro's arm, and pulled him forward. "You will come with me now," he snarled.

Destro hit him.

*

The storefront window shattered, as an armored fox had just flew through it. The waitress gasped, and Robert turned around in his chair to look as all the other Mobians stared.

Destro regained his feet, drawing his sword as he did so. He had a few glass cuts, but his armor had taken most of it.

Outside, "Sonic" stood glaring for a few seconds. Then he stepped over the windowframe and walked inside. "You have data about chaos fields," he said, with a hint of a warble in his voice. "I require it. Come with me now, or I will make you come."

The fox didn't move, so Sonic came forward. Destro charged and slashed at him with his sword, but it passed right through him as if he were made of liquid. He caught Destro's hand on the other side, and twisted it around so that he fell over. Then he stomped on his wrist, and made him drop his sword.

"Yield," the hedgehog demanded.

Destro planted his left hand on the ground to steady himself, and brought his foot up to kick Sonic in the stomach. He let go, the breath knocked out of him, as Destro grabbed up his sword and leaped back into a defensive position.

The fox winced. His wrist hurt.

Sonic lunged at him, but slipped on a wet spot on the floor, lost his balance and fell. The elderly foxes and rabbits snickered, some of the tension having gone out of the room, and Robert just smiled.

The hedgehog saw this as he picked himself back up. "Stop that, NOW."

They stopped. Robert's smile, however, turned into a smirk.

"You think this is funny?" Sonic's eyes narrowed. "Prepare to be mauled."

Destro stared, horrified, as the not-quite-Sonic reared back and pounced at Robert. He instantly turned on his jet pack to intercept.

But Robert's chair collapsed at that moment, and Sonic went flying over him. A fraction of a second too late, Destro smacked into the wall, and Sonic crashed into a table, demolishing it and getting buried underneath a ton of wood.

Destro stood back up slowly, his head spinning, as the other Mobians helped Robert back up and Sonic thrashed about in the newly-made woodpile.

"This cannot stop me," he hissed, tossing aside the back of a bench and standing up to his full height. "Nothing can-"

But as he was talking, the cover came off of a rack of fluorescent tubes. The tubes came loose at one end and swung down to smack Sonic in the face, making the end of his rant sound nasal.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, all of the french fries caught on fire at once.

The foxes and rabbits all burst out laughing, the waitress ran in back to help, and Destro just stared open-mouthed.

*

Mecha staggered backwards, holding both hands to his nose. He tasted something odd, something salty and a little metallic, dripping down into his throat.

There was that feeling again, the same one he'd gotten every time he'd tried to beat that hedgehog and failed. He was humiliated and furious, and he wanted to kill them all.

But something was telling him that it wouldn't work. Something more than despair. A gut feeling, perhaps? The ... other organics put much stock in those. If that's what it was, then he would be foolish to ignore it.

Swallowing his pride and some of his rage, he stepped out of the pile of wood he was in and walked past everyone out of the restaurant, his face turning red even as he tried to ignore their laughter. When he got to the open doorway, he turned around to face Destro.

"You WILL die," he told him, and glared.

A bicyclist drove through a puddle just then, and splashed him with muddy water.

Mecha ran out of town as fast as he could, and imagined what he would do to them afterwards.

*

The cookstaff finished putting out the fire, and the waitress stood behind the counter tsk'ing at the mess. The restaurant owner was out in front of the building talking with the police, who'd told everyone else to stay inside until they were ready to get their statements. And the foxes and rabbits didn't mind, as they still had a card game to finish.

Destro noticed the police Mobians giving him suspicious looks. It was clear that they thought he and his weaponry were to blame. He hoped it wouldn't take him too long to prove otherwise, and that the others would vouch for him.

So much for chaos field training. The armored fox went up to the counter, and spoke to the waitress. "Can I please use the phone?"

"Oh?" She looked up, having been lost in thought. Then she nodded. "Sure thing. It's behind the counter, dear."

He went around to it, picked up the receiver and dialed, trying to ignore the fact that there was an attractive young female beside him. Meanwhile, Robert laughed, and raked another pile of plastic chips towards himself.

All the other players had just been cleaned out.

* * *

Omega walked along, listening to Mekion argue with himself. It was night in Metrocard, West Mobius, and Mekion was leading them to where he had seen the chaos emerald. Rouge was riding on Omega's shoulder with her arms crossed, miffed about not leading.

Metrocard, being a Mobian city, was crisscrossed with winding, curving streets, and the architecture resembled trees, mountains and other shapes from nature. Silent hovercars flew everywhere, and between the buildings were wide park-like avenues full of trees and flowers. A human would have found it bewildering, but the Mobians were right at home, finding the winding streets intuitive.

Mekion hardly paid attention to the directions, only looking up once in a while to check a street sign. He was walking with his eyes on the ground, completely given over to inner conflict. Omega could hear Mekion's side, but not Shadow's, because an organic brain did not operate on robot frequencies.

Mekion was saying, "You have no say in the matter, Shadow. Retrieving this emerald causes no harm to the Master." There was a pause, and Mekion turned his head as if physically listening to another person, instead of the other half of his own mind. Then he shook his head and said, "You and your failing memory. Emeralds are dangerous, yet you don't know why. Our red chaos emerald is extremely useful."

He stopped as if interrupted, then snarled, "Your fading memories are a byproduct of your own inferior cell structure. It has nothing to do with chaos power."

Omega said, "Prolonged chaos energy is harmful to organics and robots alike."

"You stay out of this," snapped Mekion. "You are an obsolete robotic model that requires a pilot. You know nothing."

Omega lifted an arm, rotated attachments to gauss rifle, and fired four rounds at Mekion's feet. Mekion sprang aside and whirled to face Omega, teeth bared.

Omega said, "I have the superior firepower. Remember that before you insult me again."

"Stop it, you two," said Rouge, who could not hear their network chatter, but knew they were communicating. "We're supposed to be a team, and we won't get anywhere if you keep fighting."

"This is not over," snarled Mekion over the network, and he whirled and stalked onward.

Omega followed him and said softly to Rouge, "He provokes me at his own risk. He is one of the robots I plan to destroy, and the only reason I do not is because of your interference."

"Leave him alone," said Rouge. "He's miserable enough without you stalking him."

"I do not stalk him," said Omega, increasing his pace to a jog as Mekion swept ahead in a skater's crouch. "We are wired to the same frequency, and his arguing with Shadow annoys me."

Rouge frowned. "He argues with Shadow?"

"Constantly."

"What about?"

"Everything. Shadow cannot guide Mekion because of Mekion's ninety-percent control, so they argue and bicker."

Rouge wanted to laugh. Mekion was unstable and pitiful at the same time, dangerous though he was. And Omega wanted to kill him. She had to continue playing politics between them or they would destroy each other.

Omega caught up to Mekion along the rear of a tall white building with curves instead of corners. Mekion was kneeling over a grating in the street, and Omega strode up. Rouge jumped off his shoulder and peered into the grating. Heat struck her in the face, and she saw an orange glow twenty feet down. The orange water. "Is the emerald there?" she asked.

"Yes," whispered Mekion. "It is white and submerged four feet deep." He stood up and moved away from the grate.

Omega looked in and took measurements. "Sensors detect plasma coolant runoff, charged with phosphorescent particles at 320 degrees Fahrenheit."

"Great," said Rouge. "How do we get the emerald now?"

Mekion looked up at the building. "What sort of place is this?"

"RedStar Energy Incorporated," said Rouge, reading a sign down the street. "We could wait for the coolant to stop draining, I suppose."

"Or turn it off long enough to retrieve the emerald," said Mekion. "Let's go inside."

Rouge smiled. A break-in--just what she liked best.

* * *

On the other side of the RedStar building, a red bobsled coasted to a stop, and Espio and Charmy slumped over the rear rails, panting. They had traded off pushing it down the highways, with hovercar drivers staring at them and jeering, "Hey, get a car!"

"Is this the place?" gasped Espio, who had been pushing last.

Vector checked his notepad. "733 Anabaro. This is the place. Some energy company."

"Now we need to find Rufus Lynxara," said Charmy, wiping his forehead under his goggles. "You think the bobsled will be okay out here?"

"Who'd steal this hunk of junk?" said Espio, kicking a rear tire as he walked by. "If they do, maybe we could get a real car."

"Oh hush," said Vector, climbing out of the driver's seat. "It's after nine--I hope the front office is still open."

"They might pitch us out on our ears," said Charmy. "What if Mr. Lynxara isn't there?"

"We'll try back tomorrow," said Vector. "Come on."

They climbed the brightly-lit front steps and entered the front doors, which were open. Inside was a wide reception area, deserted and silent. The three walked to the front desk and looked around. The walls were decorated with large photos of weird machinery producing glowing arcs of electricity, and behind the front desk was a wall-sized diagram of a plasma molecule.

"Hello?" said Vector. His voice echoed in the room.

"Why're they open if nobody's here?" asked Charmy. There was a service bell on the desk, so Espio reached over and rang it.

A door behind the desk opened, and a gray spotted lynx leaped into the room, brandishing a massive arm-cannon with a glowing red cannister mounted on his shoulder. "Who are you?" he snapped, covering them.

The Chaotix put their hands in the air, staring in shock. "Uh," said Vector, "we're looking for Rufus Lynxara--"

"Aha!" said the cat. "Come to steal my research, eh? Well, you can't have it! I'll melt the flesh from your bones!"

"Wait, no!" said Espio. "We're only here to pick up a package for someone!"

"Oh yeah? Who?" said Rufus, waving the barrel of the plasma rifle back and forth.

"We're the Chaotix Detectives," said Vector, trying to keep his cool. "We were told you'd been contacted about delivering some kind of package to us."

Rufus looked them up and down. "Let me see some ID."

Vector pulled out his wallet and tossed it to the cat, who looked through it suspiciously. Slowly he lowered his rifle. "All right," he said, tossing Vector's wallet back. "Lately the thugs from MG&E have been harassing me about my plasma energy research. But they won't get it!"

"Sorry to hear that," said Vector faintly.

Rufus beckoned with his rifle. "Come on, back here. But don't follow too close."

The Chaotix exchanged a nervous glance and followed him.

* * *

There were no outer doors or windows in the RedStar building, aside from the ones in front. Rouge inspected the whole structure and guessed the laboratory facility was underground. She returned to Mekion and Omega, who were standing in the deepest shadow, invisible but for their eyes.

"There's no way in," she told them. "Shadow, you'll have to Chaos Control."

"How did I know you were going to say that?" hissed Mekion through his teeth. "All right. Since this is a stealth mission, Omega should stay here."

Rouge nodded. "You heard him, Omega. If we're spotted, you're the distraction."

"Affirmative," said Omega, sounding pleased.

Rouge took Mekion's arm, and he held up the red emerald and focused on it. "Chaos relocate."

Their surroundings changed to a hallway, and as Mekion staggered and nearly shorted out, they saw a lynx striding toward them with a massive plasma rifle on his shoulder. He saw them appear and stopped dead, lifting his rifle. Thinking quickly, Mekion hissed, "Chaos control!" Time stopped.

To Rouge's horror, Mekion ran at the lynx with his teeth bared. "Shadow!" she cried. The black hedgehog kicked the lynx's feet out from under him and yanked the rifle out of his hands. Then Mekion turned and ran back toward Rouge. "Up the hall," he whispered. "Go! Go!"

She ran, hearing the whoosh of his hoverskates behind her. There were three doors at the end of the hall. As time started, Mekion grabbed her and teleported through one of them.

* * *

The Chaotix froze. There was a flash of light, and for an instant they saw Rouge and Shadow standing there, looking at them and Rufus in surprise. Then they disappeared, Rufus hit the floor, and his rifle vanished.

"Spies!" he cried, jumping to his feet. "Spies with teleporters! They're after my research!"

"Not spies," said Vector. "That was Rouge the bat and Shadow. They're thieves."

"Thieves!" howled Rufus, holding his head. "Rouge the bat! I'm having a seriously bad day!" He rushed down the hall to the doors, unlocked one and sprinted through it. The Chaotix looked at each other and followed.

* * *

Rouge and Mekion teleported into the middle of a dark stairwell, and nearly fell before they caught their balance. Then they clattered down the stairs, Rouge supporting Mekion, whose eye was flickering, but he had not shorted out. Perhaps his nanites were adapting to the power surges.

He recovered and led the way, pausing only to heave the plasma rifle over the railing, and they heard it crash to the floor below. As they reached the foot of the stairs, Mekion said, "Sensors detect large amounts of energy coming from that direction." He pointed down a hallway with walls covered in particle shielding.

Rouge didn't like the look of it, but she wanted that chaos emerald. "Lead the way."

As they entered the hall, they heard the door at the top of the stairs open, and the lynx roar, "If they're down here, I'll kill them!"

Mekion grabbed Rouge's arm and snarled, "Chaos control." The world froze, and the two ran on.

The shielded hall opened up into a circular room with three red pillars in the center. They were filled with glowing red semi-liquid that swirled and writhed up and down the glass. Plasma chambers. "Shadow, this isn't safe," said Rouge as heat struck her in the face and chest.

Mekion didn't respond. He was circling the room, scanning the pipes and equipment built into the walls. "Coolant," he whispered, stopping before three valve wheels. He grabbed them and spun them all shut.

Time started, and instantly alarms went off. A screen across the room blinked on with an overheat warning.

"Shadow, you idiot!" cried Rouge.

He tossed her a contemptuous look, snarled, "Chaos relocate!" and vanished in a sparkle of light.

He reappeared at the bottom of the pipe where they had seen the glowing water and chaos emerald. The pipe was draining with the coolant source cut off, but Mekion had lost track of real time while operating in a time freeze. The coolant had only been draining a few seconds when he teleported in, and thus he splashed down up to his neck in past-boiling water.

Half a second later he teleported back to the plasma chamber, hissing through his teeth, tears of pain pouring from his organic eye. He called another timestop and dropped to the floor, his spines and metal steaming even in the hot room. The pain was so incredible that he was incapable of coherent thought--both Shadow and Mekion were on sensory overload. He wanted to scream and cry, but lacked the voice to express the pain. Instead he beat his head and fists against the floor.

He thought the pain would subside, but it didn't. It went on and on, growing worse as his skin began to blister. The heck with this! Mekion was getting out of here! As the timestop ended, he rose, grabbed the frozen Rouge, and said, "Chaos relocate!"

* * *

Rufus and the Chaotix ran into the shielding plasma chamber just as Mekion and Rouge vanished. "They were trying to sabotage my work!" exclaimed Rufus, hearing the alarms and seeing the warning screen. He ran to the valve wheels and cranked them open, then sprinted around the room, turning this and closing that, channelling emergency coolant through the system.

As he worked, Espio nudged Vector and pointed to the floor. There was a puddle of water, and in the middle of it lay the white chaos emerald. Vector's mouth fell open. "Maybe it's Rufus's," he whispered.

The alarms shut off, and the screens displayed a chart of heat levels sinking back into the green. Rufus watched it and breathed a sigh of relief. "Foiled 'em that time!" he said, hands on his hips. He turned to the Chaotix and his eyes narrowed. "Hey. Were you guys a distraction to keep me occupied while the thieves teleported in?"

"No!" said Vector. "We're just here to pick up a package, not thieves."

Rufus gazed at them for a long moment, then shrugged. "Come on, then. This chamber is dangerous at the best of times." He walked out of the room without noticing the chaos emerald. Charmy whisked over, picked it up and tossed it to Vector, who put it into a pocket on his belt. Then they followed Rufus out of the shielded hall and into another room full of computers.

Rufus lifted a plastic box with clamps holding the lid shut. "Here it is," he said, looking at their faces.

Vector took the box, which weighed about fifteen pounds.

"What is it?" asked Charmy.

"Drylcorz acid," said Rufus. "There's eight pounds of the powder and a liter of the catalyst. Don't open it unless you have an expert handy. That acid will eat anything--cement, flesh, bones, you name it. I hope the guy who bought it knows what he's doing."

Vector looked at the box in horror. "Me too. Um, should I sign something?"

"Yes," said Rufus, pulling a paper off a pad on the desk. "That way when this chemical is dumped in the Metrocard water system, I know who to blame."

Five minutes later the Chaotix were out at the curb, loading the box onto the bobsled as gently as possible. "I don't like this at all," Vector kept muttering. "Until now we haven't handled anything inherently dangerous. But this stuff is deadly!"

"And so was the nut we got it from," said Charmy. "I've heard of paranoia, but that guy was scary!"

"You said it," said Espio. "Did Rouge and Shadow drop that chaos emerald?"

"Seems like it," said Vector. "Rufus didn't even notice it. I imagine Rouge and Shadow are pretty upset right about now."

"Well, let's get out of here," said Charmy. "I don't want them chasing after us when they hear what's happened."

"Righto," said Vector, moving to the back. "I'll push and Espio steers."

"About time!" said the chameleon, jumping in the front seat.

* * *

"You left the emerald!" Rouge was shrieking in a whisper. "You warp back in there and get it, now!"

Mekion was grasping his red gem in his hands, shaking and breathing through clenched teeth. "Rouge, no," he whispered. "I am in incredible pain and must seek repairs at once."

"First get me that emerald!"

"Not now. Later." Mekion gripped his emerald as if that could dull the pain. "I'll meet you in the park in the city's center tomorrow."

"Shadow!" Rouge grabbed his organic arm, but he snarled and pulled away from her. "Don't touch me. Goodbye." He vanished in a flash of light, leaving Rouge angry beyond reason. She looked at Omega. "Come with me. We're going after that emerald."

"Affirmative!" said the robot, his eyes lighting up several watts.

* * *

Mekion knew he couldn't break down in front of Rouge and Omega or he would lose face. But it was another matter when he was alone with his Master. Metal Sonic would excuse Mekion's behavior as reaction to pain, and as Mekion appeared on the bridge of the Egg Fleet's flagship, the Annihilator, Mekion's control over Shadow dropped to 80%, then 70%. Mekion had no programming to deal with pain, and Shadow did, thus Shadow rose to the surface as a self-defense mechanism.

Mekion nearly went offline, but experienced a brownout and slowly returned to full power. He was crouching on the floor of the control room, head bowed, breath coming in shallow gasps. He connected to the network, located Metal Sonic and said, "Master, please come to the Annihilator's control room. I am injured and request repairs."

"You are damaged again?" came Metal Sonic's outraged reply. "What have you been doing? Challenging the hedgehog again? I can't spend all my time repairing you!"

"No Master," said Mekion meekly. "I apologize. My pain tolerance was exceeded and I was not thinking clearly." He rose to his feet and limped out of the control room, looking for medical supplies.

After a moment Metal Sonic's voice came again, this time softer. "Your pain tolerance was exceeded?"

"Yes Master. Both Shadow's and Mekion's."

There was a long silence, and Mekion fought to stay coherent. Shadow's remedy for the pain was to fall asleep, a natural organic reaction. The touch of air was painful to his skin, and when one hair brushed another it was like being stabbed.

"Stay there, I am coming," said Metal Sonic. Mekion stopped, relieved. He didn't know his way around this ship, and he was in so much pain that the map readouts didn't make sense. After a few minutes he heard Metal Sonic approaching and turned his head.

Metal Sonic was in full battle armor, and a foot taller. Mekion had to look up to him, but he didn't mind. This was his Master.

Metal Sonic stopped in front of him and looked him over. "First-degree burn. I am not going to ask how you managed to burn your entire body equally. Come this way."

Mekion followed him in silence to a side room, where several robots were hooked into assembler chambers. Adjoining this room was a repair facility. A metal tube like an MRI was built into the wall. Metal Sonic motioned to it. "Climb in there and close your eyes." Mekion obeyed, wincing as the cold metal touched his body. It was dark inside, and for a moment he lay in the cool darkness, imagining the pain already lessening.

Then his body was sprayed with mist from jets along the sides of the tube, and Mekion shut his eyes. Over the network he asked, "What is this substance?"

"An organic burn medication," said Metal Sonic. "Nanites do not heal external burns very well. But there are remedies in nature that work almost as quickly, and this is one of them."

The treatment continued for half an hour, and Metal Sonic watched as Mekion's distress faded. With amusement, Metal Sonic observed that Mekion had actually fallen asleep. Like a small child, he responded to pain by escaping from it.

Metal Sonic looked at his reflection in a monitor, and flexed the biofibers in his face. The metal shifted like flesh, and he smiled. He had done so many upgrades to make himself organic that he had a real mouth, as well. Once Mekion was taken care of, Destro would regret making a fool of Metal Sonic ... he bared his teeth in a snarl at his reflection. It was satisfying to express himself. Due to his injuries, Mekion had not yet noticed.

The treatment ended, and Mekion slept on. Metal Sonic gave him another ten minutes, then walked to the tube and shook his patient. "Wake up, Mekion. The treatment is over."

Mekion blinked and lifted his head. "It is? I feel better." He slid out of the tube and sat on the edge, gingerly rubbing his fur with his robot hand. "Thank you, Master." He looked up just as Metal Sonic smiled, and jumped, eyes widening. "What--how--?"

"Biometal is a fascinating substance," said Metal Sonic. "I have emulated the facial muscles necessary for expression, as well as a synthetic larynx for speech. Notice how there is no trace of robotic origin about my voice."

Mekion rose to his feet, lifted his organic hand and touched Metal Sonic's face. Metal Sonic would have shredded anyone else who did such a thing, but with Mekion it was an act of reverence, so he permitted it.

Mekion lowered his hand and gazed at his Master in awe. "You are truly a genius."

"Thank you," said Metal Sonic, feeling pleased despite his sullen mood.

"And Master," said Mekion, hesitating. "Could you replace my damaged larynx with a synthetic one like yours? So I could speak above a whisper?"

Metal Sonic frowned, enjoying his ability to flatten his mouth and lower his eyebrows. "The organ is highly delicate and takes many hours to fabricate. In addition, it would be highly difficult to replace your own larynx. It might cause irreparable damage to your esophagus."

"Please, Master," said Mekion, looking desperate. "You don't understand the hardship of being shouted at and not being able to respond at a similar volume."

Metal Sonic smiled again. "When my plan is complete and I have the resources to spare, I will see to the operation."

"Thank you, Master." Mekion looked around in sudden panic. "My chaos emerald. Where is it?"

Metal Sonic scanned the ship. "You left it in the control room."

Mekion sprinted out of the room and Metal Sonic followed him. He came upon Mekion in the control room, holding the red gem and polishing it against his fur. "Without this I am powerless," said Mekion. "I don't set it down even to sleep."

Metal Sonic's eyes narrowed as he looked at the chaos emerald. Just as before, as soon as he set eyes on it he wanted it, wanted its power. And now, in his new biometal body, there was a possibility that he could touch the emerald without instant shutdown resulting. "Mekion," he said, "let me see your emerald for a moment."

Mekion looked at him, but it was a command, and he could not disobey. Slowly he held out the emerald, and just as slowly, Metal Sonic reached out and took it.

Metal Sonic found himself holding a chaos emerald without pain for the first time in his memory. He turned it over and over, feeling the sharpness of its corners and the smoothness of its facets. But he could not feel the power inside it. There was still too much robot in him, and not enough organic. He handed it back to Mekion. "Return to your business. I must attend to my work."

"Yes Master." Mekion teleported away, and Metal Sonic flinched at the rush of chaos energy.

Blast it. Even after all his upgrades, he was only a chaos neutral.

* * *

Rouge slipped through the main doors and scoped out the entrance. Deserted. She could hear the throb of machinery back in the lab, but no sound from a living person. She beckoned to Omega, and he stepped inside, treading softly to avoid clanking. His shield was on full, and Rouge felt her fur crackle with electricity when she moved too close. If they met that crazy scientist, they would have a fight on their hands, and a fight in a plasma lab could be dangerous.

Rouge looked through a side door, recognized the hallway and darted inside, Omega following. She wanted that chaos emerald so badly she was willing to kill for it. The white emerald held special significance for her because she had bluffed her way onto the ARK by faking it. The real article had intrigued her ever since.

The hallway was empty. Rouge hurried down it, Omega's footsteps grating on her ears. She reached the three doors at the end and tried the one on the right, which she remembered teleporting through. Locked, of course. She pulled a lockpick from her belt and set to work. Omega moved up behind her and waited, ominous and silent.

The lock clicked and the door opened. Rouge returned her lockpick to her belt and peered around the door. There was the stairway leading down to the lab. She listened. Her sensitive ears detected movement down below; footsteps, keys clicking. She descended the stairs one foot at a time, listening for any change in the sounds of motion. Behind her, Omega began descending the stairs sideways, placing each foot carefully.

Presently the lab came into view, and Rouge knelt and looked in. She could see the lynx stooping over a computer console, reading a screen with a pen in one hand. As she watched, he glanced over his shoulders as if he felt her gaze. She kept perfectly still, and he returned his attention to his computer.

Above her Omega's foot slipped, and he caught himself on the railing with a clang.

Rufus whirled around and saw her. "Aha!" he yelled. "I knew you'd come after me! It was a bad idea coming into the lab itself, very bad idea indeed."

Rouge drew a pistol from her belt and pointed it at him. "I'm here for the chaos emerald."

Rufus picked up a small plastic stick from the desk. "What's a chaos emerald?"

"Don't play stupid," said Rouge, descending the stairs the rest of the way. Omega remained in the stairwell, but crept low enough to see into the lab.

"I left the white emerald here, and I want it back."

Rufus grinned, and Rouge's resolution wavered. Nobody grinned when you had a gun pointed at them, unless they knew something you didn't.

"There's no chaos emerald here," he said. "Although they sound fascinating. I'm sure you're really after my plasma data, aren't you?"

"Hand over the emerald and nobody gets hurt," said Rouge. "And drop that thing you're holding."

"What, this?" said Rufus, holding up the plastic stick. "You don't want me to drop this." He was still grinning.

"Put it down," said Rouge. "Slowly."

"Why don't I give it to you?" said Rufus, pulling off the end. "Here, catch!" He threw it and dove to the floor.

Rouge automatically put up a hand to catch the stick, and subconsciously realized what she was doing. She cringed aside instead, and the stick hit the floor and exploded in a flash of light. Rouge screamed as pain exploded inside her head as her optic nerves overloaded, and she heard Omega's chaingun rattle.

There was a deafening screech of a plasma rifle firing, and Rouge felt intense heat brush her face. She dropped flat, temporarily blinded, and listened as Rufus and Omega exchanged fire. She heard things explode and sparks fell on her, and she realized she had to reach safety. She began crawling toward where she remembered the stairs were, her head throbbing. She had challenged the wrong lunatic.

"Omega! Omega, help me!" A burst of plasma passed close to one wing, and she clamped them tighter to her sides. She felt one of the steps in front of her and began climbing. Omega was up there somewhere--she could hear him laughing as he fired. "Omega!" she yelled. "Retreat!"

She felt his hand close on the back of her shirt and lift her in the air. Then he was clattering up the stairs grumbling to himself. His other hand closed around her middle, and she felt the crackle of his shield against her legs. Behind her she heard Rufus yell, "Ha, that'll teach you thieves to break in here! Go on, run! Run before I put a hole in your back!"

Rouge smelled fresh air and heard the open-air ambience of outdoors. Omega ran for a while longer, his feet clanking on pavement. Then his feet fell muffled on grass, and he stopped, setting Rouge down. "Where are we?" she asked, lifting her head. All she could see were the after-images of the flash burned into her retinas.

"This is the park where Mekion is to meet us," said Omega. "It is a pity you were stupid enough to let him throw the flash grenade."

"Sorry, gee," said Rouge sarcastically. "I didn't know it was a flash grenade."

"He put up a good fight, too," said Omega. "I would have enjoyed finishing him off. I might have perhaps taken damage." He sounded delighted at the thought.

"Why would you want to take damage?" asked Rouge, massaging her eyes with her fingers.

"When I am damaged to one hundred percent, my pilot will be ejected," said Omega. "The pilot is me. Therefore my only hope of escape is to destroy myself in battle."

"Oh." Rouge thought about this. "Can you be taken out apart from being destroyed?"

"Perhaps," said Omega. "I was inserted somehow. I supposed I could be extracted the same way."

"When I get my sight back, I'll see if I can open you up," said Rouge. "Is there anyone around here?"

Omega's instruments hummed. "No one. I will keep watch. Keep your eyes covered so they will recover faster."

Rouge threw an arm over her eyes. "All right. Wake me up if anyone comes along."

"Affirmative."

* * *

The Chaotix returned to the office at dawn.

Charmy and Espio went to their apartments across the street to get some sleep, but Vector was too upset to rest. The thought of picking up a deadly chemical agent for an unknown client ate at him. Should he report it? What if the Client was some kind of terrorist? What was all this for, anyway?

He carried the sealed box into the office, put it in a storage closet with the other parts and locked the door. Then he pulled out the communicator and snarled, "Hey! This is Vector."

It took a moment for the Client to respond, and he sounded sleepy through the synthesizer. "Oh, Vector, hello. A bit early, isn't it?"

"We just got back from Metrocard," growled Vector. "We picked up a strong chemical used in biological warfare."

"Oh really," said the Client. "Glad to hear that. Let's see, the next item on the agenda is--"

"I'm not getting any more items!" Vector roared. "Not until you explain what that chemical is for! I will not help start the second Great War!"

"Calm down," said the Client. "No one is starting a war." He hesitated, then said, "I am working against Dr. Robotnik. You are constructing a type of weapon that will counteract his secret weapon."

"Sure," said Vector, scowling at the communicator. "What if I'm BUILDING his secret weapon, huh? And you pin the crime on us?"

"Ten pounds of chemical is hardly enough to harm a country," said the Client quietly. "Was the catalyst included?"

"Yes."

"Good. Lynxara must have neglected to mention that the chemical is harmless until mixed with the catalyst. It goes without saying that I don't want you to do that."

Vector felt his blood pressure drop. "Harmless?"

"Harmless," repeated the Client. "Are you ready for your next set of instructions?"

Vector realized he had been up all night, and dropped into the desk chair with a stifled groan. He pulled a notepad toward him and uncapped a pen. "Yep. Go ahead."

* * *

Sonic passed a restless night plagued with half-remembered dreams, tossing and turning, wishing for his hammock in Knothole. When he did fall asleep, he dreamed about Mekion throttling him, and Rouge's smile, and of Sally following a road that he could not, and leaving him forever. Sonic's anguish over the day's events had been shoved into his subconscious to avoid thinking about them, but now it all boiled to the surface to torment him.

He was glad to look at the clock and see that it was 5 AM at last. He got up, put on his shoes, and went for a solitary run along the beach. It was deserted, and the sun was rising over the city behind him. A cool breeze blew off the mainland and Sonic inhaled it as he ran, leaving a fading trail of sneakerprints along the waterline. It felt good to run. It drove away the night's ghosts and cleared his head. Mekion hadn't killed him, after all, and Sally was still here. He still had a chance to win Sally and beat Mekion, along with whatever Mekion was scheming.

Today, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles planned to track the train's cargo in Metrocard and see if they could spot Robotnik. It would be exciting to visit Metrocard anyway, because it was a big Mobian city. Sonic liked Mobian cities more than human cities, simply because he was Mobian and understood his people's ways.

He turned around and ran back down the beach toward the UA building's street. The sun was just touching the crests of the breakers, and Sonic was hungry. Sally would be up by now, and Tails would probably join them for breakfast. Sonic wondered if Sally would accompany them to Metrocard, and shook his head. She was too busy with her political work to bother with his small doings. She'd stay behind, as usual.

Sonic slowed as he entered the Rio Del Fuego streets again. There were a few cars and pedestrians moving about, and the dull roar of the awakening city. He entered the pyramid, displayed his pass to the guard, and went to the hotel restaurant. Sally and Tails were seated at a table, and looked up as he entered.

"I thought you were still in bed!" said Sally as he sat down. "Where were you?"

"Running, where else?" said Sonic. "So, are we going to Metrocard today?"

"Yeah!" said Tails.

To their surprise, Sally said, "Of course!"

Sonic and Tails looked at her. "You're coming?" asked Tails. "I thought you couldn't leave the conference."

"I give the opening speech at eight," said Sally. "After that, I'm free for the whole day. Today the lectures are rehashes of the last two days, and I can afford to miss them. I need a change of scenery, anyway."

Tails saw Sonic's face light up like a lantern. "All right Sal!"

A waiter appeared, and they ordered their breakfasts. As they waited for the food to arrive, Tails said, "Will we take the Cyclone today?"

Sonic looked at Sally. "Want to? It has that car-mode. You could ride with Tails and I'll run."

"Sure," she said, "but what about Knuckles? Isn't he coming?"

"He can ride on the tail," said Tails. "We won't be driving very fast, so it'll be okay."

"Great," said Sonic. "I can already tell today will be loads of fun."

Their food arrived, and they were halfway through breakfast when Knuckles walked in and pulled up a chair. He looked more relaxed than he had the previous day--he was here on his own initiative, and tracking a train was less stressful than rescuing Sonic. "So what's the plan?" he asked.

Sonic told him about taking the Cyclone and finding the station where the train unloaded. Tails listened, finding it funny that Sonic was giving orders and Sally was listening. Usually it was the other way around. Tails also saw that Sally watched Sonic as if he was a popular TV comedian she was dining with. She enjoyed everything about him. Tails had never noticed that before. He had it on good authority that Sonic was losing momentum in his courtship, thinking that his efforts were in vain. If that look on Sally's face was any indication, Sonic's work had not gone unnoticed.

After breakfast Sally left to give the opening lecture, and Sonic, Tails and Knuckles went outside. Sonic had remembered Amy, Cream and Big, and wanted to make sure they were all right. Their hotel was around the corner from the UA building, and they found Cream and Amy out front, watching as Big fished for goldfish in a fountain.

Big was so focused that he didn't notice when Sonic, Tails and Knuckles walked up, but Cream and Amy looked up and waved. "Shh!" said Amy, putting a finger to her lips. "Big says there's a ten pound koi in there that he's trying to catch."

"Cool," whispered Sonic. "We're going to Metrocard today. You guys need to hang around here so the police can find you if they reach Cream's mom."

"Hang around here?" said Cream. "But there's nothing to do!"

"Could we go to Ocean Palace?" asked Amy, pleading. "It's supposed to hit a hundred today, and they have a waterpark."

Sonic looked at Tails and shrugged. "I guess if you leave a message at the front desk, so they could find you."

Amy smiled, and Cream clapped her hands. "Goody! We get to go on the waterslides! Hear that, Mr. Big?"

Big's ear twitched, but he didn't reply.

"He's thrilled, I'm sure," said Sonic, smirking. "We'll check on you again this evening. Look out for each other, okay?" He looked at Amy and nodded toward Cream.

Amy understood. "Right, Sonic."

Cream was bouncing from foot to foot, chanting, "Waterslides! Waterslides! Waterslides!" Then she saw Tails and fell silent, staring at him with round eyes. Tails felt himself blush under his fur, and studied the ground.

"Okay," said Sonic, intervening. "We're off to pick up the Cyclone. Be good, you guys."

"We will!" chorused Amy and Cream, as the three older Mobians walked off down the street.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Knuckles elbowed Tails. "Looks like you've got a girlfriend."

"She's not either," said Tails, ducking his head. "She has a crush on me or something."

"A bad one," grinned Knuckles. "What'd you do, save her from Shadow?"

"I didn't do anything!" said Tails. "She saw me and went all funny like that. I'd never laid eyes on her before that."

"Yep, get used to it," said Sonic from Tails's other side. "A fan for me, a fan for you. You've hit the age where girls start noticing you."

"I wish they didn't," said Tails, secretly thrilled.

"Yeah," said Knuckles. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Sonic?"

"Yep!" said Sonic. "All the chicks dig me. Except one."

"Who?" said Knuckles.

Tails and Sonic looked to see if he was kidding. "You know who," said Tails.

Knuckles looked blank. "I don't, really. Who're you after, Sonic?"

"The same girl I've always been after," said Sonic. "I didn't realize you were so dense, Knucklehead."

"I've been too busy chasing my own girl to worry about yours," said Knuckles. "And I caught mine." He held up one hand, displaying the ring on his finger.

"Yeah, the hard part's over for you," said Sonic. "Lucky dog."

"I wish," said Knuckles with a wry grin. "Being married is like waking up one morning and your life's been turned inside out."

"You caught her, though," said Sonic. "I can't catch Sally and I doubt I ever will."

"Have you proposed to her yet?"

"Well ... no."

Knuckles grinned. "That's your problem. I proposed to Zephyer three or four times before she accepted me. And you haven't done it once!"

Sonic became interested in a seagull flying over.

Tails grinned. "You're forgetting something, Knuckles. You only proposed to Zephyer the first time because you thought you'd both die in the next ten minutes."

"Sue me," said Knuckles. "And Sonic, I recommend waiting until you're really ready, so she won't have to turn you down."

Sonic snorted. "What are you guys, the romance gurus? I'm outta here." He flashed off up the street in the direction of the airport, and Tails and Knuckles laughed.

* * *

Espio unlocked the Chaotix's office door, glanced around at the usual untidiness, then tried the storage closet door. Locked. Vector must have put the chemical in there for safekeeping.

Espio turned on the computer and checked the answering machine, then glanced at the notepad on the desk. Vector must have been in contact with the Client, because another set of directions had been written down in Vector's generous scrawl. Espio squinted at the pad. They were directions to an address in Rio Del Fuego. "Why couldn't he have given us that one first?" the chameleon muttered, pulling out a phonebook.

He looked up the address and discovered it was a second-hand electronics store. It struck him as odd-everything else had come straight from a manufacturer. And now a part from a seedy repair place?

Espio made coffee and manned the office until eight, when Charmy wandered in, his antennae crooked, rubbing his eyes. "I hate all-nighters," said the bee, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He added four packages of sweeteners and sipped the resulting sludge.

"Want a little coffee with your sugar?" said Espio, smirking.

"I'm all out of nectar," said Charmy. "This will tide me over until Novadeer opens."

"Wish I could live like that," said Espio. "Check it out. Vector got more instructions from the Client."

Charmy took the notepad and read it. "Hey, that's like two blocks from here!"

"I looked it up," said Espio. "It's Hardy Harvey's Electric Powerhouse."

"No way!" said Charmy. "Hardy Harvey's? But he sells trash!"

"My thoughts exactly," said Espio. "You think Vector would mind if I ran down there now and picked up the part?"

"Shoot, Vector will sleep until noon," said Charmy. "Might as well go now. I'll watch the office until you get back."

"Right." Espio tore off the page of instructions and darted out the door.

The only member of the Chaotix who visited Hardy Harvey's was Mighty, who loved electronics and cameras. Espio had gone in a few times, but was so disgusted by the run-down condition of the merchandise that he didn't go back. Now, as he trotted down the street, blending with every surface he passed, he wondered what Harvey might have in his plunder that the Client would want.

Espio pushed open the front door of the shop, and an obnoxious buzzer announced his presence. The dark, dingy shop was crammed with loaded shelves. As he walked to the back, Espio reflected that this was where bad appliances went when they died. Everywhere was a tangle of glass, cords, plastic and dust.

Harvey himself was behind the counter, a shifty-eyed raccoon who had to have something in his hands at all times. Today it was a remote control with the back taken off, and he was tweaking the insides. He looked up as Espio walked in. "Hey Espio! Ain't seen you in a month of Sundays!"

"Been busy with work," said Espio. "I'm here on business. I need to pick up a part for a client of mine."

"Oh, the high-paying client?" said Harvey. "If I got orders like that every day, I'd be rolling in dough. Just a minute." He vanished into the back, leaving the remote control on the counter.

Espio picked it up. Inside was a row of tiny switches that Harvey was reconfiguring. Espio pressed the power button, and two televisions across the room flicked on. Espio turned them off, replaced the remote, and was examining a broken microwave when Harvey returned. He was carrying a square object wrapped in plastic.

"Here you go, Espio. Had this in storage for years, never thought I'd find a buyer."

"What is it?"

"One of those old nuclear batteries they used in the D39 hovercars. It's non-standard, and you can't give 'em away. But your client was sure eager to get it. I quoted him a stiff price."

"It's not damaged, is it?" said Espio, looking suspiciously at the plastic. "I won't die of some weird radiation disease from carrying it?"

"It's safe," said Harvey, waving a hand. "It's in good condition. It's just old."

"Right," said Espio. "So if I drop it, there goes half the block."

"Don't drop it," said Harvey.

Espio carried the battery back to the office as if he was carrying a time bomb, which, in a way, he was. He stowed it in the closet with the other parts and locked the door. "So what was it?" asked Charmy.

"An old nuclear battery," said Espio. "First a chemical, now this. I'm beginning to fear our Client."

* * *

At dawn Rouge awoke to find her eyesight returning. When she opened her eyes, she saw the sky as a bluish blur, with darker patches against it where trees were. She sat up, putting her hands out to find out what was around her, and touched something warm. She jerked her hand away and saw a dark blur move to her right. "Mekion?"

"Yes," he hissed. "I'd thank you not to scare me like that again."

"Sorry." She wondered if he had been arguing with Shadow. "Maybe next time you should be more alert."

"I was conversing with Omega."

Omega said, "Rouge, how is your eyesight?"

"Blurry," said Rouge. "But I can see, and that's something. I'll have to ride on your shoulder until I recover, Omega."

"Yes," he said. "Mekion says that Dr. Robotnik has ordered an attack on Metrocard. Robots are assembling in hiding everywhere. I must destroy them."

Rouge looked toward Mekion, and thought she could see the red glow from his eye. "How did you learn that?"

"Purely by chance," he whispered. "I returned here at 2 AM, and to amuse myself I scanned frequencies. Among them I discovered one of Dr. Robotnik's codes. It was activation instructions to a legion of robots hidden here in this city."

"Oh great." Rouge had an image of herself riding on Omega's shoulder during a firefight. "Shouldn't we tell someone?"

"Who would listen to us?" whispered Mekion.

"You are a thief, I am a fused-mecha, and Omega is one of Robotnik's robots."

"What about Sonic?"

Mekion snorted. "After what we did to him, why should he believe us any more than the authorities?"

"But we can't fight a legion," said Rouge. "That's ten thousand troops."

"I suggest we teleport to safety," said Mekion. "Only Omega wishes to fight. What do you suggest?"

Rouge thought about it. In the long run only her own skin mattered, even if Metrocard didn't survive a sneak-attack from within. "Let's get out of here."

"Leave me here," said Omega. "I wish to fight to the death. Destroying this body in battle will be a glorious end for it."

Before Rouge could answer, Mekion said, "Done. Chaos relocate."

They appeared in Rouge's apartment in Rio Del Fuego. Rouge recognized it by the smell, and groped to the couch. "Thank you, Shadow."

"Omega desires death above all else," said Mekion, moving to the window. "Although I despise him, I find him fascinating."

Rouge pulled a pillow over her eyes. "We can't leave him there to die; you have to go get him."

"Why?" said Mekion. "It's what he wants. We discussed it while you were sleeping."

"Yes, he explained it to me," said Rouge. "The flicky inside of him wants out. If we could take apart the robot hull, we could take it out without damaging the robot itself."

Mekion said nothing. After a while Rouge asked, "How are your burns?"

"Better," whispered Mekion. "My Master was kind to me. I understand you did not locate the white emerald."

"No," said Rouge. "But I'm sure it's still in the lab somewhere."

"Undoubtedly," said Mekion. "However, there are other emeralds that would be easier to locate."

"Oh? You saw some?"

"Yes. Sonic has an emerald."

"Oh." Rouge's mind clicked into high gear. Sonic's emerald had come from the Amile canyon and made him Shadow's equal. Robbing him would remove his teleportation ability. It might also lure Sonic to Metrocard, where he could take steps to stop the invasion. "Yes," she said, beginning to smile. "Do you want to rob Sonic?"

"It would give me pleasure."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Yes."

Rouge pointed toward her room. "Go in there and bring me the box on the dresser."

Mekion obeyed, and she sat up, trying to focus her eyes. All she could see when he brought the box was a dark shape. She fumbled over it, undid the catches and opened it. Then she ran her fingers over the parts inside.

"Here," she said, picking up a small piece of plastic. "This is an earpiece radio. This way I can stay in contact with you. I'll wear the other earpiece, and here are the voice pieces." She located two watches by touch and handed one to him. She heard him put it on without comment. "Can you figure it out?"

"Yes," he whispered. "I will notify you when I have Sonic's emerald." And he teleported in a whoosh of air.

Rouge covered her eyes again, and fell asleep on the couch.

* * *

It was a warm summer morning in Knothole, several time zones apart from Carrotseed, and hundreds of miles north of Rio Del Fuego. Half the village was busy making breakfast, it seemed, and the other half was either beginning their work or playing and swimming.

The sky was clear and the weather was great, unless you were an arctic peregrine falcon. Tachyon stood perched on a bench inside the community hut, trying to concentrate on the chessboard and wishing they had air conditioning. All the doors and windows were open, a strong breeze from outdoors was ruffling his feathers, and he was still sweating profusely. He'd even detached his watch from its wing clip.

His opponent was his chao, Perry, a royal blue swimming chao with an orange-colored underbelly. Careful not to mar the wooden table with his long talons, Perry walked back and forth across it, surveying the board. After a minute's deliberation, he picked up a piece in both adhesive flippers, and set it down four spaces away. "Check."

Tachyon sighed. "You've been taking lessons, haven't you."

He nodded. "Pip's been teaching me on the Internet."

"It figures."

Then the phone rang. Tachyon hopped down from his perch and hurried over to the stack of electronics near the window, claws clicking on the floor. Prehensile wingtips deftly fluttered and curled about the receiver, and brought it to his beak. "Hello?"

Static. He reached up and adjusted the satellite dish near the window. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"This is Destro," a flat voice told him. "Let me talk to Sonic."

Perry had come close, so that he could hear. He gave Tachyon a questioning look.

"Um ... he's not in right now," the falcon replied. "Can I take a message?"

*

"Is he anywhere near a town called Carrotseed, in Central Mobius?"

"No," came the high-pitched male voice on the other end. "He went with the princess to the Overlander colonies for the peace conference."

The waitress' tall rabbit ears perked, even though she was on the other side of the dining room from him.

"Let me talk to someone in charge."

"I'm afraid we can't ... er, hold on a second."

*

Tachyon held Perry up, who was holding the phone for Slasher. The winged raptor knelt down next to them so they could reach her. "Hello?"

"Who is this?"

"A friend of Sonic's," she said. "Who are you?"

"The same. Are you in charge?"

"As long as the princess is gone, I am. Why?"

Destro explained what had happened, in as few words as possible. She missed the first second of his explanation, because the Mobian-sized telephone was so small to her that Perry had to move it from her jaws to her earhole, every time she stopped speaking.

Tachyon's wings quivered, and a few beads of sweat traced down his sides as he tried not to let go.

"Now, you know he can't have attacked you," Slasher said. "He's not even there."

"I know. What did?"

She looked down at Tachyon, but he had his eyes shut. Perry just shrugged.

"We'll get back to you," Slasher told him. "What's your phone number?"

He found out, and gave it to her before hanging up. Slasher picked up the phone in her teeth and carefuly hung it up, shifting it around with her foreclaws, while Perry jumped down to find something to write on and Tachyon just panted, wings drooping.

He was still tired when Slasher began pacing the room. "So ... " He looked up. "Who and what was that?"

"I have no clue."

"None?"

"Nope," Slasher said. "He said he's a friend of Sonic's, though." They rarely spoke, now that the hedgehog had grown up.

Tachyon bobbed his head in a nod. He looked over at Perry, who was swimming around in a tall, metal washbasin in the shade. "Any idea what attacked him?"

"No. And that," Slasher remarked, "is what worries me."

They got out a few encyclopedias and rolled-up maps from the bookshelves, and set the chess game aside to pore over them. Perry climbed up to the table and waddled in close, almost getting the paper wet.

"He said he thinks he sword went right through him. Biometal, maybe?"

"Um, maybe." Tachyon held out his wing to keep Perry back.

Slasher looked the maps over, but there weren't any large cities or industrial centers near Carrotseed. There was a military base of some kind, though ... the New Coronado Proving Grounds, controlled by the humans. It was only five miles away.

"Perhaps it was an illusion," Tachyon offered.

"Illusions can't grab you like that."

"I've known a few that could ... "

The raptor sideyed him, but he just twiddled his wingtips.

"Well, there's no way to track a kitsune anyhow," she said. "Not unless I'm out there in person."

She thought for a moment, crouched down next to the table. Then she got up. "Tachyon, call him back and let him know I'll be there by tomorrow. Call Sonic too, see if he knows anything ... about this, I mean. Then run an Internet search, on the New Coronado Proving Grounds." She pointed them out, on the map. "I'll call later to see what you found." Slasher went over to the electronics as she talked, and picked out a headset radio that had been specially fitted to her.

"Um, okay." He started to roll up the map. "Who's going to be in charge while you're gone, then?"

"You, unless you've got any better ideas." She turned her head to the side so she could adjust the headset with her foreclaws.

"Me?" Tachyon's voice squeaked. He cleared his throat. "What am I supposed to do if something goes wrong?"

"Lock the door," she said, on her way out. "And hope they don't have blasters."

She took off just outside, golden wings beating hard against the wind. Tachyon hurried over and watched her leave.

Perry stood next to him. He looked up. "Can we get back to chess now?"

*

Slasher flew into Riverbase, and soon had a jet chartered to fly her to a city in Central Mobius. The Freedom Fighters had always had a good working relationship with the Riverbase government, and even though it was on very short notice she found them easy to persuade.

Not so in Central Mobius. The people there eyed her suspiciously and kept their distance, as they had no idea who this huge dinosaur was. After a few minutes of speaking with the clerks inside the terminal, she noticed airport security was carrying grenade launchers and long rifles, and there were a lot more of them around than usual.

Her instincts told her she was being surrounded, and that she had to escape. Tired from her long plane ride, she had to struggle to control herself.

"Ma'am ... " She glanced upwards at the Trans-Mobius Airlines logo, and forced herself not to look to the side. "I already understand my 'country' doesn't have an embassy here."

Slasher looked back down at the vulpine desk clerk. "But I need a ride to Carrotseed, right now. What do I have to do in order to get one?"

The fox had a white-knuckled grip on the edge of the counter. "Our r-rates are posted on the screen. How many seats will you n-need?"

An inward groan. She hadn't thought to bring any money. "None right now, thanks anyway."

She walked away from the counter, slowly and deliberately, not sure where to go next. It was dark outside, through the overhead windows, and what few people were in the airport kept their distance from her.

A confused-sounding voice came over the speakers. "Miss ... Slasher, you have a phone call at the courtesy desk. Miss Slasher, you have a phone call at the courtesy desk," it repeated.

Her radio headset could autopatch into the phone network, but it couldn't take incoming calls. Relieved, she hurried towards the desk, and people jumped to the sides even though they weren't in her way.

*

"Slasher?"

"Yes?" She sounded breathless.

Tachyon checked his notes. "It took me awhile, but I was able to get Sally on the phone," he said.

"Sally? Not Sonic?"

"He was kind of ... busy, at the moment."

"Did she say with what?"

"No." He fidgeted. Perry shuffled through the notes on the floor beside them.

"Okay ... what DID she say, then?"

"She said she doesn't know what's pretending to be Sonic. She also hasn't seen anything that looks to be biometal."

Slasher gave a snort of disgust.

"It's still a good guess, though," he offered. "And she did say she and Sonic flew over those proving grounds of yours."

"Great! What'd they see?"

"An airfield. With a fleet of high-tech aircraft parked at it. Tons of them."

"Did you look the place up on the 'net?"

"Yes." He nodded. "It did belong to the colonies, but during the biotic war they sold it to a private developer."

"Any idea who?"

"No. It didn't say. There weren't a whole lot of articles about it, for that matter."

Slasher sighed. "Anything else?"

"Nope. Oh ... "

She waited a few seconds, for him to remember what he was going to say.

"Sally thought you could probably use some money, so she borrowed a thousand Mobiads and had them wired to a bank near you."

"Really? Which one?"

Perry held up the sheet of paper in his other flipper, and read it off near the phone. "Citizens' Bank, Grand Airport West."

"I'm there! Thanks for remembering to mention that, Tachyon."

She was being sarcastic. He winced. "Sorry ... "

*

Slasher nodded to the armadillo behind the counter, who put away the speakerphone and pressed the button to hang it up. After consulting a directory just across from them, she made for the shuttle to the west wing of the airport.

That armadillo hadn't seemed too impressed with her. As she left, Slasher heard her mention "that big ol' dragon" to someone else. She winced, and hurried to get out of earshot.

Behind her, a roof-mounted plasma TV was tuned to a cable news channel. The ticker at the bottom read "DOWNED AIRCRAFT IN CENTRAL MOBIUS -- INVESTIGATION STALLED."

* * *

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles dug the Cyclone out of its hanger spot in the Rio Del Fuego airport, and Tails transformed it to a car. Tails and Knuckles climbed aboard, and Sonic was amused to see that Knuckles was too big to fit into the back seat.

"Dang it Tails," growled the echidna. "I thought you expanded this thing."

"It's wider in plane mode," said Tails apologetically.

"Maybe you should lose some weight, Knux," said Sonic, grinning.

"Right," said Knuckles. "And maybe you should lose some sarcasm."

Knuckles wound up sitting crosswise across the seat with his feet over one side and his elbows over the other. Tails pulled out of the hangar and drove back to the hotel, Sonic running alongside. None of them saw the black figure that ran from rooftop to rooftop, watching them.

"I'll see if Sally's done," said Sonic, darting into the UA building. He found the lobby was full of people on recess, and spent a few minutes looking at the clusters of people, trying to spot sally. When he didn't see her, he dashed upstairs to check her room. As he entered the hallway he saw her just leaving her room, dressed in her regular vest and boots. It was a relief to see her in normal clothes again--she had been in formal clothes since they got here.

"Hi Sonic!" she said, spotting him. "Back already? How were Amy and Cream?"

"They're all fine," said Sonic. "Hang on, I need my emerald." He entered his own room, and Sally followed him.

"Tachyon paged me from Knothole. Supposedly you've been spotted in Central Mobius."

Sonic laughed. "Central Mobius? Yeah right! I'm fast, but I'm not that fast."

Sally shook her head. "Slasher's gone to investigate. I hope it's not something serious ... remember the last time someone was mistaken for you? You wound up in jail."

"Yeah, but this guy's in Central Mobius," said Sonic with a shrug, walking to his bureau. "He shouldn't bother me. Oh yeah ... I have two emeralds now..." He opened a drawer and pulled out the green and violet emeralds.

"You found one yesterday, right?" said Sally.

"Yeah," said Sonic. "I can't use the purple one very well. It changes too much all the time. But... I don't want to leave it here..."

"We can put it in the hotel safe," said Sally. "Toss it here."

Sonic tossed her the purple gem, and Sally caught it.

As soon as she touched it she understood it. It wasn't so much feeling the chaos power inside it--it was as if her being resonated with the violet emerald, as if she were a tuning fork and it was another. She stared at it, perfectly still, marveling. She was afraid to move for fear she might set off one of its powers indoors.

Sonic noticed her. "Sal?" You okay?" When she didn't answer but continued to stare at the gem, Sonic went white. He jumped at her and snatched the emerald from her hands. "Sal! Don't look! Chaos Sight isn't real, okay? Only a fraction of that stuff comes true!"

Sally blinked at him. "What?"

Sonic looked from her to the violet emerald and back. "Weren't you Chaos Seeing?"

"No," said Sally. "I just--I've never handled a chaos emerald like that before. It responded to me."

Sonic stared at her, then slowly handed the emerald back to her. Sally cupped it in her hands and gazed into it.

"Sal," said Sonic quietly. "Can you use the chaos emeralds?"

"I've never tried," said Sally. "I've handled them a little, but they never... never clicked like this."

"Well then, keep it," said Sonic. "I can only use one at time for teleporting and stuff, and nobody will think to frisk you for an emerald."

With an effort Sally put the emerald into her vest pocket, and followed Sonic out into the hall. Her mind was reeling. How was this possible? She had been a chaos neutral--that is, a Mobian without a chaos field--since she was born. The chaos emeralds had no effect on her. Her thoughts flew to her encounter with Robo Knux that spring. He had forced chaos energy into her in an attempt to kill her, and she remembered the crushing sensation as if the air pressure was increasing. Being neutral to chaos had saved her then. Had such large amounts of chaos changed something inside her to chaos positive? There was no way to tell without instruments.

Sonic guided her through the crowd of politicians, trying to ignore the stares and dirty looks he attracted. He didn't like this kind of attention. They knew he was Sally's boyfriend, and that he was about as opposite a politician as one could get. And they hated him for trying to win her from them, despite the numerous times Sonic had saved civilization from being wiped out. To them he was a rebel whose usefulness had ended. He knew they thought such things, and they knew he knew. Wading through the crowd was like running the gauntlet. Then Sally moved up beside him and met the looks coming their way, and the others looked away. If she wanted to cut her career's throat, that was her business.

They made it out to the curb unscathed, but Sonic was muttering about the snobs running the country under his breath.

"There you are!" Tails called. "What took so long?"

"Needed my emerald," said Sonic, holding up the green gem. "Move your bo-hunkus, Knux."

Knuckles rose from the back seat, and sat on the tailfin as Sally climbed in. She fit in the seat without trouble, and Sonic made silent jeering faces at Knuckles as she buckled herself in.

"Alright, hang on!" said Tails, pulling away from the curb. "Lead the way, Sonic!"

Sonic ran down the street, and Tails followed in the Cyclone. Above them, Mekion broke into a run, jumping from building to building and teleporting over what he couldn't jump. He had seen Sonic hold up the green chaos emerald, and felt a rush of excitement. The ruling green! Sonic had found the ruling green! Shadow's memory by this time was a blank, but in Mekion's databanks were stored snapshots and glimpses of the things Shadow had been trained to do with the green emerald. It was his personal favorite, the one he knew inside and out. He had to get it away from Sonic.

He considered teleporting down and grabbing it out of Sonic's hand, but Sonic would put up a fight and probably teleport, so that was no good. Mekion's best chance was to surprise Sonic when Sonic was busy with other things. Fighting robots, maybe. Maybe a green emerald chaos relocate wouldn't harm Mekion so much. Mekion had a brownout with each teleport, but he no longer completely shorted out. Perhaps he was growing his own kind of chaos shielding. His Master would be interested to learn of this development.

The buildings ended, and Mekion ran along a mile from the highway, keeping trees and other obstacles between himself and his rival. Sonic must not know he was being hunted.

* * *

In the car, Sally pulled out the violet emerald and studied it again. She could use this emerald, if only she knew what to do. Above her, Knuckles saw the emerald and leaned forward. "Keeping it for Sonic?"

"I can use it, I think," Sally replied over the roar of the wind. "But I don't know how."

Knuckles sat up and didn't reply for a few minutes. Then he leaned forward again. "You don't have a chaos field, do you?"

"No," Sally said, "but when Robo Knux tried to kill me, he might have changed something."

Knuckles looked thoughtful. "You know, I read that one of the emeralds favors a female user. I'm not sure which it is, but maybe..."

Sally remembered that Sonic couldn't get the violet emerald to do what he wanted, and smiled. How funny it would be if that was true! "Knuckles," she said, "can you tell me how to use it?"

"Kinda hard to do on the road," he said. "Do what Sonic does. Identify the frequencies and what they do."

Big help, thought Sally. All she could feel was the resonance, not a particular frequency. She tried increasing her own resonance, and her vision went white at the edges. She stopped in alarm, and the sensation faded. This was too scary. She tucked the emerald back in her pocket and folded her hands in her lap.

* * *

Big succeeded in catching the ten-pound goldfish from the hotel fountain, but was immediately jumped by the janitor who fed the fish, who made him release it, and ran them off the premises.

"Boy, what a grouch," said Amy as the three walked down the sidewalk. They were headed for Ocean Palace for the day--at least they'd get to have some fun before they went home.

"Yeah," said Big. "All I did was catch a fish."

"It was a fountai