GeneX Generations
Chapter 20 - Final Chapter - The Labyrinth of Eras
Stage - Time Collision - GeneX Generations

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.

"Gonna turn up the amp 'til the speakers are blown!
Rock off the roof 'til the cows come home!
Come on, come on, come on,
The thing's ready to blooooow!" - The Mobius Stomp, Sonic Underground


The story thus far:
After journeying through all the areas trapped in white space, freeing their friends and restoring color along the way, the Sonics and Copters were ready for the final confrontation. Sonic and Classic Sonic went to challenge the Time Eater, finally learning that Dr. Eggman and Dr. Robotnik were controlling it all along! At first it seemed they were outmatched, but as their friends arrived to cheer them on, the Sonics used the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonics and chased the Time Eater through a final portal! As the rest of their friends and allies arrived on the scene, however, Spiny led an army of Eggman's robots in an attack on them, saying Eggman had no further need for them! During the ensuing battle, Mephiles emerged planning on following the Sonics and the Time Eater through the portal, but Dimentime stood in his way! Meanwhile, Copter found himself pulled into a portal to the future by the Doomsayer! Furious with the Doomsayer's refusal to help save the world, Copter challenged him to a fight! The Doomsayer proved far too powerful for him, but Tikal suddenly appeared to give him a distraction and allow him to escape back to white space! Once there, Copter managed to strike Mephiles, who had the upper hand fighting numerous heroes, and with that opening Dimentime and Shadow defeated him! As the Super Sonics defeated the Time Eater, Bucky activated an Era Restoration Generator he'd invented and used it to repair all the damage the Time Eater had done to the world, sending everyone back to Sonic's birthday party! Using portals the Time Eater had left in the present to link to the locations it had accessed, Classic Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy returned to their own times. However, something wasn't right. Dimentime rushed off to find Sonic, while back in white space, a black shadow emerged and charged at the remains of the Time Eater, barely giving Eggman and Robotnik time to escape from it...
Now, on to the final chapter!

"I can fight the feelin' to resist it all the time.
But when it's just too much to take,
You sneak up from behind.
Is it me,
You say, you're looking for?
Let me show you who I am and what I'm here for... (here for)" - What I'm Made Of, Sonic Heroes


The party continued for a while, and Sonic chuckled at some of the uninvited guests who turned up as a result of the return from white space. Jet, Gemini, Marine, Big... Gradually, most of the people who were sent back seemed to be heading over to check out the party. However, as Copter, Punchy, Rainbow and Dimentime approached, darkness seemed to rapidly shroud the area, and a chilling wind seemed to blow from behind Sonic. "What's happening? Is it a storm?" Rainbow wondered. Sonic felt this strange wind and felt his quills stand on end. "Not again..." he murmured, spinning around and moving out of the way as quick as a flash in order to dodge a massive white beam coming from behind him! The beam was being fired from a hand reaching out of a portal in the sky, and as the beam ceased firing, a massive entity began to emerge from the portal! "Hahaha... HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!" The being resembled Mephiles, but he had taken on elements of the Time Eater's form, including having grown to massive size, smoke seemed to surround the lower portion of his body, he wore cog-shaped crystalline wrist bands, and the Time Eater's terrifying jaw had been added to his formerly mouthless muzzle! He wore a billowing, shimmering red cape and carried a large scepter in one hand, which ended in a clock with a cog encircling it! His eyes were still that of Mephiles, and he still wore crystalline quills similar to Shadow's. "M-mephiles!? What's happened to him!?" Copter gasped. Sonic stared at him defiantly. "Hey! No one invited you to the party!" he shouted. Mephiles chuckled. "Your celebration is now over! I now have complete mastery over the fabric of time! I am the Temporal Emperor!! Your powers and your defeat of the Time Eater have made this possible... Made it so I finally had energy enough to overpower the Time Eater and combine with it! I thank you, Sonic the Hedgehog!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" he cackled. With a giant creature hovering in the sky, everyone was now rushing over to see what was going on, even if they previously weren't interested in Sonic's party. "Ah... An audience gathers... Then why don't I give them a show? Behold, as I unravel time at its seams and create a world of my very own!!" Mephiles shouted. He waved his scepter and held it up, the hands of the clock inside it spinning out of control as a strange purple energy started to fly all around! The ground began to shake, startling everyone and forcing them to back away from Temporal Emperor Mephiles! "Wh-what's happening now!?" Knuckles yelled. "Here, you can HAVE the invitation!" Gator shouted, handing his stolen invite to Mighty the armadillo, its rightful owner. Suddenly, something started to rise up out of the ground behind Mephiles! Sonic stared, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "No way!!" he shouted. It was a familiar loop from Green Hill Zone! Mephiles laughed manically as more started to emerge, not just from the ground, but from everywhere! Ships from Eggman's various fleets started flying around overhead, Angel Island appeared in the sky, and was then pierced and shattered into its various zones by a Pumpkin Hill mountain rising under it! Streets and roads from all over time snaked around the massive new world Mephiles was forming, some colliding through walls and smashing ceilings as they passed through Station Square, Central City, Crisis City, Spagonia, Troblusk City and more! No easy entry could be found to this maze of the past, present and future, as a crumbling moat of lava from Crisis City, Lava Reef Zone, Red Mountain, and other locations made entry dangerous. "This is just plain impossible!! I did die when Bucky zapped me, didn't I?" Copter gasped. Bucky came up behind him and smacked him in the back of the head. "What possible help would that be to me!?" he growled. Sonic stared up at the jumbled world and whimpered. "Tails... explain." he said. Tails shrugged. "Sorry, Sonic. I've got nothing. I didn't know all these places were... underground." he stammered. Dimentime got up on the table next to Sonic's birthday cake and held his staff like a microphone, using magic to amplify his voice. "Listen, everyone! Mephiles the Dark has fused with the remains of the Time Eater monster and has complete control over time! He's used that power to bring places from throughout history here and create his own world to hide in, probably to store up power so he can finish us all off at once! This guy's a maniac, and he'll destroy your whole timeline if we don't stop him now!" he explained. Shadow nodded. "What we need are the Chaos Emeralds!" he said. Sonic looked worried. "The... Chaos Emeralds? Umm... I don't have 'em anymore... I have no idea where they could be..." he murmured. Copter ran up to him and shook him angrily. "You're telling me you just THREW THEM AWAY!?" he shouted. "Take it easy, Copter... They might not be far..." Tails said, glancing at the jumbled world in front of them. The Earth shook a bit more, and a bridge emerged to grant them a way to cross the lava, a glittering road of precious stones, shining in a rainbow of colors! It was Radiant Emerald, and Mephiles's voice called out as it was added to his world. "Come and find me, if you dare! I'll be waiting to put you out of your misery! Ha ha ha ha ha!" he laughed.

While everyone was discussing the situation amongst themselves, Lospecter flew over their heads, laughing at them. "Thanks for the lift back home, doc! Lovin' the party!" he said to Bucky as he passed by. He then flew into Mephiles's labyrinth and tossed some of his cards around! "Time to play, kiddos! Daddy's home!" he grinned as his cards summoned up swarms of Lost Ones, apparently being able to do so again now that he was out of white space! The Lost Ones scattered around the maze of colliding landmarks, and other enemies could be seen roaming around inside, too! "Looks like he even brought all the robots that used to patrol each area... Just great!" said Mia as she looked through some binoculars she happened to have with her. Vector turned to Bucky. "Well?! Did you zap the Chaos Emeralds with your machine??" he asked. Bucky looked at the ground nervously. However, SPOT started beeping excitedly, and Tails ran over to check it out! "Hey, SPOT! You made it! What's up?" he asked, looking at the robo-puppy's monitor. Sonic and Copter ran over to check it out, and Tails stood up smiling. "SPOT says the Chaos Emeralds are here!" he announced. Everyone who could hear Tails sighed with relief, and Sonic patted him on the back. "That's great! Where are they?" he asked. Tails pointed to Mephiles's labyrinth as SPOT glanced there as well, and Sonic and Copter frowned. "We're doomed!" Copter groaned. Sonic's frown quickly turned into an excited smile. "Sweet! This is gonna be the ultimate treasure hunt!" he snickered, always up for a challenge. Copter shook his head and turned to Dimentime. "The emeralds are in there!" he shouted. Dimentime used his staff as a mike again and informed everyone of the situation. "The Chaos Emeralds are inside that giant tangle of a... Time Collision! We'll have to work together to find them all before Mephiles destroys our world! Look!" he said, pointing out that the "Time Collision" was still growing. Mephiles was dragging more locations from all throughout time into his massive maze, causing more and more damage to the world! Blaze nodded. "Understood! Looks like we'll have to split up..." she said. "Worst party EVER!!" Gator shouted. "I'm going with Froggy!" Big announced. Dimentime nodded as everyone started splitting up into groups. "No arguments... Looks like this world is a step above mine." he muttered. Bucky ran up to Sonic and Copter, joined by Vortex, Zipp and Crash. "We'll be joining you from the air! I need to attempt repairs to my Era Restoration Generator and fast! It'll need to work overtime if it's going to fix this mess!" he said. "You sure it'll work?" Sonic asked. Bucky scratched his head. "Well... He's using the Time Eater's power... It may be a stretch, but it should work..." he said. As Bucky headed for Shadow Arcangel, Razor glanced at his younger brother. "Tommy, I want you to get on that ship again and stay there until I get you, okay?" he said. Tommy looked at him with frightened eyes. "What if you don't come back?" he whimpered. Cream's mother was nearby and saw this, so she took charge. "Go on. I'll watch over him, officer." she offered. Razor nodded. "He... he's all I've got..." he said sadly. Cream's mom placed a hand on his shoulder. "Believe me, I understand... Just make sure you come back. You're all he's got, too." she told him. As the rabbit lead Tommy to Bucky's ship, the groups started to head for the Radiant Emerald road serving as the gateway to the Time Collision labyrinth. Sonic and Shadow lead the way, while Copter fumbled with his Hurricane remote. "I think an air search is in order..." he murmured. "Can I go for a ride in your plane, Two? Can I, pleeeease?!" Rainbow pleaded. "You do know it's not a sight-seeing tour, don't you?" Copter groaned, rolling his eyes. As Sonic and Shadow stepped onto the shimmering road of Radiant Emerald, Sonic stared out at the maze ahead of him and smirked. "Give it all you've got, Mephiles! We've all come here just to stop you! You might be tough on your own, but now you've got a whole generation of heroes comin' your way!" he said, running off into the maze!

As the heroes hurried into the labyrinth, their groups began to split up and leave the road of Radiant Emerald, finding whatever footing they could to explore and search out the Chaos Emeralds in all directions! Shadow sped his way ahead, going around a rainbow loop and jumping as the road suddenly came to a stop! He found a rail to grind on which appeared to be from one of Eggman's bases, presumably Bullet Station, as the two rails beside him in fact turned out to be forming a track for a spiky black and red train, which began chasing him! "Chaos Control!!" he shouted, warping behind the train as it sped by, crashing as the track abruptly ran out ahead! "Mephiles must have deliberately designed this place to feed his destructive desires... Every corner is a death trap." he said as he hopped off the end of the rail and landed amidst the ruins of a GUN base, toxic green sludge flowing next to the walkway he'd landed on. Shadow sighed to himself. "I've been here... Prison Island." he muttered. Some strange vehicles were hovering over the toxic substance, and Shadow could see that some Black Arms soldiers were riding them! "What!? So, these places really are from across time..." he realized. Before the Black Arms could reach him, some explosive blasts came down on them, blowing them into the green chemicals! Shadow glanced up to see Omega hovering towards him. "Shadow! Stay focused! Sensors detect the Chaos Emerald nearby! More enemies also incoming!" he said. Shadow nodded, and they hurried ahead, finding Mephiles Biters as well as Black Warriors patrolling the area! "GUN forces must have been obliterated. Pathetic inferior robots!" Omega grumbled. Shadow scoffed and jumped at the enemies, using his homing attack to knock them off balance while Omega finished them off! Some Black Oaks stomped towards them to check out the commotion next. "Hmph... I don't have time for this..." Shadow grumbled. Omega opened fire on the aliens as Shadow charged ahead, using Chaos Spears to clear the road of Mephiles Biters as he closed in on the Chaos Emerald. He spotted a light blue twinkle on a ledge above, but while he looked at it, a huge Killer Plant that was mutated by the Black Arms smacked him aside with its powerful stem! It then started to blow fire at him, but a torrent of Chaos Spears suddenly flew in the way, blocking the flames! Shadow stood up quickly and turned around to see Spiny, panting heavily. "Don't look so surprised to see me! If the world goes, so do I! There's nothing to be gained from siding against you anymore..." he grunted. Shadow nodded and Chaos Controlled up to the cyan emerald, glancing down at Spiny. "Will you be all right? I have to get this to Sonic." he said. Spiny rolled his eyes. "Right... Sooooonic... Well, I'll go find mister robot back there... You don't think he'll be mad about the whole me-siding-with-Eggman thing, do you?" he muttered. Shadow turned around and started to leave. "I suggest avoiding HIM for the time being..." he warned. Spiny jumped back as the Killer Plant blew more fire at him. "Suppose I'd better borrow me one of the aliens' little hover vehicles, then! Good luck, goth hedgehog!" he grumbled, running off. Shadow frowned at him. "Goth...? I... don't get it." he muttered before Chaos Controlling away.


Copter flew the Hurricane carefully through the twisted landscapes forming all around, ducking the plane under a falling statue of a soldier from Colosseum Highway, an area of Onyx Island. Rainbow held her head cautiously as she sat on the plane's wing, and glanced back at Copter. "Any idea where the gem is, Two?" she asked. He frowned. "I'm just looking for a good place to land... Hang on!" he said. As they flew through the maze, they saw many sights, but what stood out the most was the ominous presence of the Death Egg floating amidst dozens of varied ledges and roads twisting all around. "Creepiest...place...ever." Rainbow murmured. As they passed the Death Egg, several Eggrobos flew after them! As if that wasn't bad enough, more flying robots were coming at them from a yellow flying fortress ahead, Sky Fortress Zone! There were red jet robots that resembled birds called Balkiries and small turtle robots flying larger turtle shaped ships, called Turtloids collectively. As the Eggrobos started shooting at them and the other robots were coming their way, Copter took evasive maneuvers and growled. "OK, Eggman... Where'd you put the really nasty weapons on this thing? I gotta blast my way past these guys!" he grumbled. Suddenly, someone else flew by and started shooting at the Eggrobos! Rainbow waved cheerfully. "Thanks, Tails!" she said. Copter glanced back to see Tails fly by in his blue Tornado plane, which he was able to call with his remote now that they were out of white space! "Good... Now it's my turn!" Copter said, shooting with the Hurricane's guns as the Balkiries charged at him! The Hurricane passed safely as the robots exploded, and sped by the Turtloids quickly, evading their slow moving shots and heading for the Sky Fortress. Copter could see a faint glimmer on the deck of the ship, and landed the Hurricane near it. "What luck! The Chaos Emerald is right there!" he said as he and Rainbow hopped out of the plane. "Let's grab it, quick!" Rainbow said. "Not so fast, trespassers!" said a scratchy, squawking voice. They glanced around to see a chicken robot manning a gun turret, and next to it was a drill handed Burrowbot. "Thought you could sneak by old Clucker, huh?! Cuff 'em, Burrowbot!" the chicken robot ordered. "I don't have cuffs... And who died and made you boss!?" Burrowbot argued in a deep, goofy voice. "Robo-Robotnik, I guess... And this turret says I'm boss!" Clucker growled, pointing the turret at Burrowbot. While the robots were arguing, Copter snuck out towards the yellow Chaos Emerald sitting nearby, but suddenly yelped as he was hit by a shot from Clucker's turret! "Oww!! Hey, you could hurt someone with that thing!" he growled, suddenly noticing that Burrowbot was threatening Rainbow with his drills. "One false move and..." Burrowbot made a slicing motion across his neck to illustrate his point. "How'd this happen...?" Rainbow muttered. "Easy, boys... Don't make me get mad at you..." Copter said. Clucker laughed like a rooster crowing. "That's rich! Who do you think you are, Sonic?" Just then, a blue ball fell from the sky and bashed Clucker over the head, reducing him to spare parts! "Owww-oww-oww!!!" Clucker groaned. Burrowbot yelped and released Rainbow. "Yaaaah!! Sonic!!" he shouted. Indeed, it was Classic Sonic! Burrowbot spun his drills and ran at him, but Classic Sonic simply jumped over him and then jumped backward onto his head, smashing him apart as well and sending his head rolling away! "Nooo-ooo-ooo I hate when this happeeeens!!" Burrowbot groaned. Copter blinked a couple times before picking up the Chaos Emerald. "Eggman sure isn't a programmer..." he said. Rainbow hi-fived Classic Sonic cheerfully. "Thanks a bunch, Mini-Speedy! Uhhh... How'd you get here?" she wondered. Classic Sonic tapped his foot briefly, thinking about it, and then shrugged sheepishly. Copter shrugged as well. "Come on, then. I'll give you a ride." he said. However, Classic Sonic seemed mesmerized by trails of golden rings he saw leading away, and ran off to gather them! "H-hey!! What're you doing!?" Copter shouted. He watched as Classic Sonic ran along walls, bounced up springs, and then got stuck in a strange cannon device that shot him through a weird tunnel of lights that brought him around the deck and right back to where he started! "Are you quite satisfied??" Copter grumbled. "Oooooh, that looked like fun! I wanna ride that doohicky next!" Rainbow said excitedly. Copter sighed and shook his head. "Why me...?"


Classic Sonic wasn't the only past version of someone to be dragged into Mephiles's labyrinth. Classic Amy found herself lost on the deck of a large GUN aircraft carrier. "Awww... This is a Huge Crisis... Now how will I find Sonic..." she sighed, swatting her hammer at one of GUN's Hunter robots as it dropped down next to her. She was too upset to even worry about the strange atmosphere around the ship. Some of the Hunter robots were busy shooting at Mephiles Biters as she walked by, and she stopped to stare at them. "Where ARE you, Soooonic?!" she groaned. Suddenly, several flame bursts crashed down around the enemies, quickly eliminating the monsters! Heather the phoenix dropped down onto the deck and glanced at Classic Amy. "Hey, what are you doing here by yourself?" she asked. Amy shrugged. "I don't even know where here is." she sighed. "Grrrr!! You are on board a GUN vessel trapped in a dangerous time-related anomaly that threatens to destroy the world." said Guard from behind her, startling the young hedgehog! "Yaaah!! Don't eat me, monster!!" she yelped. Guard frowned. "Grrr... I must learn to approach children more... slowly." he sighed. Several GUN Rhino-tanks started speeding towards them, seeming intent on ramming them. "Grrrr!! Stand down, robots!" Guard ordered. However, the robots ignored him. "Grrr?? Could they... be from before I was made?" he stammered. Classic Amy and Heather attacked the robots as they approached, using hammer and flames to smash them with ease! "Hmph! Too bad, GUN! So, uh, any idea where we might find a Chaos Emerald?" Heather wondered. Suddenly, a purple weasel riding an odd vehicle raced by, seeming to be in a panic. "Run for your lives!! This place is done for!!!" he screamed. Classic Amy squinted at him. "Was that Nack...?" she mumbled. Guard growled in alarm at what the weasel was racing away from. Robotnik's Flying Battery airship seemed to be hurtling out of control towards them! Guard glanced around over the side of the deck and saw the grind rails of Final Rush just past where the ocean the ship was floating on seemed to be ending in a waterfall. Guard pointed them in that direction and Heather shook her head. "Too much water that way... No way!" she whined. Guard grunted and tossed her up to a hook attached to a large crane, which started to swing her around while Guard picked up Classic Amy and flew off! Heather let go of the crane as it swung her towards the rails, just as the Flying Battery crashed into the GUN ship and exploded! "Aaaaaaahhhh!!! No water!! No water!!" Heather cried, flapping her arms in an effort to make sure she'd land on the rails. She made it, and rode the rails in a wobbly fashion until she was dropped on a platform from Final Rush, staring an Artificial Chaos robot in the face! "Just my luck..." she whimpered. Fortunately, Guard arrived and drove his scythe through the robot's head before its tendrils could touch Heather! "Grrrr... Let's move on!" he growled. Classic Amy sighed with relief as she rested behind him. "I REALLY hate time travel..." she grumbled.


Kosmo the morph was flying along Chun-Nan's Dragon Road in his gargoyle form, followed along by Espio, Vector and Charmy. The long, dragon-shaped path was snaking its way through several areas, but right now they were passing by a large, cracked wall with water escaping through some of the cracks. Charmy was shivering as he looked around. "G-guys... I don't like this place... Look! A ghost!" he gasped, pointing out a Lospirit flying in the distance. "It's nowhere near us, Charmy." Espio sighed. Kosmo groaned and landed on the road, turning to the frightened bee. "Look, I'm far scarier than anything we're gonna run into out here, kid!" he said. Suddenly, the wall next to them was smashed open, and out of the hole peered Perfect Chaos! It roared loudly at them while their jaws dropped and they quivered with fright. "Um... I withdraw my statement... Let's all run that way... now." Kosmo muttered, prompting them all to flee along the Dragon Road as fast as they could. "No time for robots!! Outta the way!!" Vector shouted, charging right through an Egg Launcher before it could fire its missiles at them! They soon hopped off the Dragon Road and onto a series of streets zig-zagging past lit up buildings, some of which were being damaged by fragments of other areas crashing through them, such as sections of Stardust Speedway which appeared to be covered in trumpets and similar instruments. Cop Speeders, robots driving hover cars with police sirens, were driving around frantically, and a couple of them came at Kosmo and Team Chaotix. Espio jumped into action, swiftly hopping onto the hood of one of the cars and kicking out the driver, while Kosmo flew up to the other one and morphed himself into a variation of Big, flattening the robot with ease! "...What made me think of THAT?" he mumbled. As they hurried onward, they found other animals smashing the remaining Cop Speeders and also smashing the windows of the buildings! They were all wearing Covenant of Despair uniforms, and were probably lost and disoriented in the labyrinth. "Hey, guys! What're ya doin!? Don't you know it's dangerous out here?" Vector asked. The assorted animals glared at them, some growling. "If he's not with us... Cut him up and make a suitcase out of him! Hee hee!!" shouted Patch the fox from the back of the crowd. Vector gasped indignantly. "Why... I... Those..." he stammered. "Let's GET 'em!!" Charmy shouted. Kosmo shook his head. "We need the Chaos Emerald, guys..." he reminded them. Just then, Espio came charging through riding the Speeder he'd left intact after destroying the robot driving it! "Clear the roads!! I have no idea what I'm doing!" he warned, making the startled Covenant of Despair members scatter! "Me next! Me next!" Charmy giggled. Kosmo sighed and morphed into dragon form, flying ahead and blowing fire at Spinners and Cop Speeders as he hurried to the roof of a building ahead. On top of a helicopter pad, he found the blue Chaos Emerald waiting. "I had a feeling it'd be somewhere high and guarded..." he muttered, noting a swarm of Mephiles Takers flying up to greet him. "I sure hope the others follow me... This could take a while otherwise." he groaned. The others were busy navigating the streets below, bouncing off of flag poles as they made their way up to balconies they could stand on. Charmy stopped to ring a large bell that was hanging inside a building, and a bunch of rings fell out of it! "That's funny, I wonder why that happens?" he asked, hitting the bell again. An Omochao fell out next, rotating its head around nervously. "H-hey!! Find your own hiding place!" it shouted, flying back inside the bell. "Quit playing around, Charmy! Kosmo needs our help! ...I think." Vector said as he caught up to him. Espio appeared out of nowhere and nodded. "Our enemies are many. Even the mightiest warrior needs allies at times." he said. Just then, the Chaos Emerald dropped down onto his head! "Owww!!" he grunted. "One of you hold that and the others GET UP HERE!!!" Kosmo shouted. They glanced up to see that there was quite a large swarm of enemies up there. "See what I mean..." Espio sighed.


Cream, Cheese and Big were searching the maze themselves, trying to keep to safer areas as much as possible. Froggy hopped along next to big as they wandered through strange, cloud shaped platforms surrounded by balloons and bumpers. A PA message similar to what may be heard at Eggman's theme park played in the background. "We welcome you to Cloud Carnival! Remember, Eggman Enterprises is not responsible for sudden drops through real clouds. Watch your step!" Eggman said. Big looked down. "Clouds...? I thought I was standing on a big pillow." he said. Some Egg Pawns carrying trumpets and signs were wandering around, and they looked like precursors to the ones that would appear in Eggman's theme park shortly before his discovery of the Time Eater. "I wonder if this was supposed to be part of Eggman's park, but it didn't get in?" Cream wondered. A batch of Wrongos flew by to illustrate that she was incorrect, and Illusi appeared in a burst of smoke! "Yes... I can do that again!" he smirked. "Do what?" Big mumbled. Illusi hung his head. "Never mind... This so-called carnival was a disguise for Eggman's fleet a while ago. Come on, let's find some safe ground, and maybe a Chaos Emerald." he said. They proceeded on their way, having Cheese team up with some Wrongos to smash the Egg Pawns as they passed a large slot machine on the cloud-shaped ship. As they neared the back of the deck where the engines were, they found that the other ships had crashed into Babylon Garden, which was floating not too far from them. "Think there's a Chaos Emerald there?" Cream wondered. "I don't think you can fly that far, Cream..." Big frowned. Illusi waved his hands and caused a bridge of light to appear, hurrying across it. "I wouldn't dawdle... Illusion bridges aren't very sturdy." he warned. Big picked up Froggy and hobbled across the bridge quickly, following Cream and Illusi. However, robots were observing them. "Intruders located... Attack!" Some E-10000s flew out from Babylon Garden on Extreme Gear boards, raising their fists threateningly! Illusi teleported ahead in a puff of smoke, shouting from on the island. "Hey, glorified pawns! I'm over here!" he yelled. They spun their heads around in confusion as Cream and Big passed them, and soon they were both safe on Babylon Garden. The robots seemed not to take kindly to this, and charged back at them furiously! "Leave us alone!" Cream shouted, flapping her wings to fly after the E-10000s herself! "H-hey, wait!" Illusi gasped. Cream and Cheese quickly flew at the robots together, knocking them off their boards one by one so they plummeted onto random areas below, and once she was done, she looked exhausted. "Whew... That was more than I thought..." she said. Big cast his fishing line and pulled her back safely, letting her rest without having to worry her ears about flying back. "Whew... Cream sure is brave, huh Froggy?" he sighed. Illusi sighed as well. "Let's be a bit more careful and try to keep going... It's not really safe here." he said.


Knuckles, Punchy and Rouge found themselves passing through a section of Eggman's former pyramid base, though they weren't quite sure how they ended up there. They snuck past a few ghosts and slowly climbed a ledge to sneak up on an E-1000 robot, which resembled Omega's predecessors in his line of robots. Rouge flew up ahead when its back was turned and gave it a swift kick, smashing it to pieces and releasing a small rabbit that was trapped inside! "Coast is clear, boys! Hurry up!" Rouge called. Knuckles rolled his eyes. "We're coming! You know, maybe if you weren't in such a hurry, we wouldn't have gotten lost in this pyramid!" he growled, climbing up. Punchy scoffed. "Didn't YOU lead us in here?" he muttered. Before they could start arguing, however, the wall suddenly caved in as something smashed through it! The three of them backed away and stared up in surprise. "Is that a giant... doughnut??" Rouge muttered. It was a massive, chocolate frosted doughnut from Sweet Mountain, one of the attractions from Eggman's theme park! Knuckles peered out through the hole and spotted something within gliding distance. "Hey... Is that what I think it is? Angel Island!!" he shouted, gliding off! "What, you mean what's left of it?" Punchy muttered. Rouge grinned. "Oooh, he found the Master Emerald. I'll just pop in for a peek." she said, flying after him. Punchy's eyes went wide as he realized something. "Hey!! I can't glide!! Come back here!!" he shouted. Knuckles landed at the Master Emerald shrine, which was floating on a small chunk of land by itself now that the island was smashed into pieces. He hurried up the steps of the shrine, but was startled to find another Knuckles there! "...Huh? Oh, it's me. I've got it covered. Scram." the other Knuckles said. Knuckles scratched his head. "Wait a minute... You're not Classic Me..." he mumbled. Just then, another Knuckles climbed the steps and gasped. "TWO of me!? What the heck!?" he yelled. Rouge landed nearby and groaned. "Oh, this is just perfect..." she sighed. "STAY OUT OF THIS, BAT GIRL!!" the three Knuckles shouted at once. To add to the confusion, Classic Knuckles glided over from yet another direction. "Oh... I see the Master Emerald is... definitely being watched..." he said. "Wait a minute!! That's MY emerald!" one of the Knuckles said, prompting them all to begin arguing! Rouge sighed and glanced at Punchy as he walked over, glaring at them. "What's up?" she asked. "I just rode a jelly bean missile in this general direction. I don't know how that makes sense, but... Oh, this makes it worth it!" he smirked, watching the four Knuckles argue. Soon, Classic and Modern Knuckles stepped away, leaving the two others to continue arguing. "Clearly... I have issues..." Knuckles groaned. Punchy nodded. "Well, I spotted the Chaos Emerald. It's over in that cave." he said, pointing to a section of the labyrinth dominated by sections of Mystic Cave. Knuckles, Classic Knuckles, and Rouge glided over to it, leaving Punchy behind again, but this time he was somewhat prepared. "OK, little guy. Help me out!" he said, activating a Wisp color power he'd gotten while near Sweet Mountain and transforming into a cyan laser to zip across the gap! In doing so, he managed to beat the others to Mystic Cave, but stumbled around dizzily as the Wisp flew out of him. "Th-thanks, pal..." he muttered. The others ran right past him into the spooky cavern while he was recovering, but they were quickly stopped by a surprise attack from some Crawlton robots hiding in the walls! They were long, centipede-like robots with spiked bodies, similar to Caterkiller, and they jumped out at them in an attempt to catch them with their pincers! "Chaos Avalanche!!" Punchy shouted, tossing rocks from the cave at them using his chaos powers! He then hurried past the others, only to run into some firefly robots called Flashers which zapped him with a strange electric light! "Yeeeowww!!" he groaned. As the lights from the Flashers flickered off, Knuckles and Classic Knuckles ran by and gave them a quick punch to smash them, racing for the nearby Chaos Emerald! "Oh, no you don't boys! I'm gonna get it first!" Rouge smirked, flying ahead of them and closing in on the prize! "Wait, Rouge! Look out!" Knuckles yelled. Rouge took her eyes off the emerald and noticed a section of the roof falling down ahead of her. "What the!?" she gasped, stopping short and smacking into the falling, moss covered column as it fell, then landing on top of Knuckles as he caught up! "Oooof!! Why me...?!" he groaned. "Thanks for breaking my fall..." Rouge muttered. Classic Knuckles chuckled and went around the collapsed section of the roof, picking up the purple Chaos Emerald! "OK, I've got it! Now, um... Anyone care to explain... Anything to me?" he asked, prompting all the others to sigh loudly. "Can't you GUESS?" Rouge groaned.


Razor, Katie and Mia found themselves lost in a section of graveyard that was either part of Pumpkin Hill or Mystic Haunt. Either way there was a number of jack-o-lanterns decorating the area, but seeing as the area didn't seem very mountainous, it was likely the latter. Bombats were flying around the graveyard, but Razor was sure to shoot them before they got too close. "Shouldn't you save your bullets for more dangerous stuff...?" Katie asked. "Like what? You know... You girls didn't have to come..." Razor muttered. "Ha! And how will you ever find a Chaos Emerald without my binoculars?" Mia said, gazing around with them. She yelped as she spotted something she didn't like. "G-g-ghost!!" she stammered. Katie laughed nervously. "Nice joke, Mia..." she said, grabbing the binoculars for a look. She then handed them back and hid behind Razor. "OK!! I'm ready to go home!!" she shouted. Razor fired a shot at one of the ghosts as they came towards them, but it was useless! They backed away nervously, not sure what to do, when Katie suddenly tripped on something and fell over. "Yeoooow!!!" She landed on a switch on the ground, and some lights came on, causing the ghosts to screech and disappear! They sighed with relief, and Katie dusted her hands as she stood up. "There, you see? Aren't you glad we came along?" she grinned. Suddenly, another zone seemed to crash into the nearby mansion, creating a gaping hole and flooding the graveyard with water! "Whaaaat!? What the heck is...?!" Razor babbled as all three of them took cover behind a headstone, which broke against the force of the rushing water and became a makeshift raft, which carried them towards a cliff at the edge of Mystic Haunt Zone! They gasped and tried to paddle the headstone away, but it wasn't working! Then, they noticed someone else trying to swim against the current. It was Classic Tails! "This... isn't... working!!" he panted, jumping out of the water and spinning his tails to fly! "Tails! Help!!" Mia shouted, catching his attention. Classic Tails yelped and flew over. "Grab my hands, quick!" he said. All three of them jumped up and grabbed on to Classic Tails, making him lose a bit of altitude and groan loudly. "Aaaaugh!! Okay, I... THINK I gotcha!! Gotta... get... up!!" he panted, flying towards the hole in the zone above. He dropped them off on a ledge next to where the water was flowing out, and then collapsed on the ground, panting from exhaustion. They looked around, finding themselves in the Labyrinth Zone. "Good job, Tails... Hey, um... Didn't you used to be... taller?" Mia asked. "Bwahahahaha!! Now you face the wrath of Burrowbot!!" shouted a past version of Burrowbot as it drilled its way out of the ground nearby! Razor promptly shot him to pieces with his gun, sending his head bouncing away. "Awwww, come oooooon!!!" Burrowbot's head moaned.


Silver, Blaze, Gemini and Marine found themselves running along platforms on the side of the large clock tower from Spagonia. It was dark in the area, and some of Dark Gaia's minions were roaming the area. Blaze squinted at some of the Dark Bat Snipers that were flying around, shooting energy blasts at them from their tails. "Umm... Mephiles's monsters are looking a bit... goofier than usual." she murmured. Marine was busy defending herself from some Dark Frights that were nearby. "They sure are pesky 'lil drongos, ain't they? Ow! Bad whatchamacallit!!" she shouted. Silver picked up the Dark Frights with his psychokinesis and tossed them at the Dark Bats to kill two birds with one stone. "There! Now, uh... Anyone know where we can find an emerald?" he wondered. Gemini's wand was glowing, and she appeared to be concentrating. "Working on it... That way!" she said, pointing her wand to a volcanic peak covered in ice. "Wow... Those places really got smashed up bad..." Blaze murmured. Gemini shook her head. "I think it may have been like that." she said. To get to the Lava Glacier, they found a path between the clock tower and their destination made up of the remnants of Star Light Zone. Silver hovered his way over to a see-saw floating in midair, and Blaze jumped after him, blowing some fire under her to gain extra distance and land on the other side of the see-saw, launching Silver into the air! Gemini teleported herself and Marine to the platforms below, but they were startled to find some robotic bombs standing around, which suddenly lit their fuses! "Whoops!! Um... Abra-ka-warpra!!" Gemini shouted, warping herself and Marine to the see-saws and springs overhead as the bombs exploded! They made their way to the glacier, avoiding spiked bombs positioned on the see-saws as they went, and soon leapt through a hole in the icy walls of the glacier to arrive inside! Silver used his psychokinesis to catch them and guide them to solid footing in the volcanic crater. "Whew... Well, according to my search spell, the emerald is in here somewhere..." Gemini said, "Just my luck, the same place I got turned into a dragon and lost my wand before..." she frowned. Shadow Androids were roaming the volcano, but they were being overwhelmed by Losohsts, Loskulls, and Losolanturns! Silver, Blaze and Marine stared in surprise. "Why are there so many Shadows?" Silver wondered. "Hooly dooley! Those clowns are blowing up!" Marine gasped. "I think you mean clones." Blaze corrected. Lospecter chuckled at them as he flew into the glacier. "Hello, hello Gemini... Funny how we're always bumping into each other. Not. How about I bury you in ice as opposed to that mine from before?" he grinned, holding up a bomb robot from Star Light Zone! "Uh, oh... He's not gonna..." Silver muttered, only to watch as Lospecter hurled the bomb at the roof of the glacier! As the glacier started to collapse, Gemini immediately started flinging spells at the Lost Ones. "Find the Chaos Emerald! Quick!!" she shouted. Silver flew up to try to get a better view, but found himself scrambling to avoid falling ice chunks instead. "Whoooa!! Look out!! Yikes!!" he gasped, grabbing a chunk of ice with his psychic powers before it could crush Gemini! Blaze hurried from platform to platform, unconcerned with the lava as she looked for the emerald. She tossed some fire balls at the Losohsts as they came at her with scythes, but was startled when a Shadow Android suddenly fired a missile at her! "Whoa!! Where'd that even come from!?" she gasped, leaping out of the way! As the android came at the startled cat, Marine suddenly jumped in from the side and pushed it into the lava! "You leave Blaze alone, mate! Oh, crikey, it looks hot down there!" she yelped, "Oy, Blaze! Does that emerald look anything like this 'ere?" she asked, holding up a red colored gem! Blaze gasped. "How did you... That's the Chaos Emerald! Come on, let's get out of here!" she shouted. Silver flew down to cover them as they hurried back to Gemini, and she cast a spell to help them escape. "Morphicadabra!!" she shouted, transforming herself into a large, white dragon once again! She glared at them as they stared. "Don't gawk! Hop aboard so I can fly us outta here! This is embarrassing enough..." she blushed. "Cool! You gotta teach me magic, cobber!" Marine grinned. "Oh, please don't..." Blaze groaned.


Dimentime had hitched a ride on the back of Jet's board, and they were flying through a dangerous section of the labyrinth with Wave and Storm following. Crumbled sections of buildings, natural formations, and Eggman's bases were tumbling around like meteors. As they flew through the debris, they passed several fish-like ships from the Egg Fleet, which fired cannons at them as they passed by! "Can't catch me!!" Jet squawked, evading everything by moving as quickly as he could, while Dimentime did his best to hang on. Flying robots and monsters of all kinds soared around the debris, apparently scattered after the destruction of their homes. They all turned to attack the Babylon Rogues as they approached! "Oh, as if missiles from those ships wasn't enough!!" Wave groaned, flying off to lead some Lospirits and shark-esque Jawz away from the others. Storm flew ahead to take on one of GUN's Flying Dog mechs that had somehow gotten mixed in with the enemies. "Hey, big guy!! Over here!!" he grunted, drawing it away from Jet. Dimentime tried to aim his staff at some hawk-like Falco robots that came from the Egg Fleet, but Jet yelped and stopped suddenly when a huge system of gears from Metropolis suddenly fell down in front of them, nearly crushing them! Dimentime slipped, nearly falling off the board, but grabbed on to the edge! "Jet!! Could you possibly look where you're going!?" he yelled. "You try doing that in here!!" Jet growled. Wave flew by, tricking the Jawz into crashing into the Falcos, but they had bigger problems. The Egg Fleet had sent E-2000s after them, which were powerful robots equipped with an impenetrable shield and an impressive energy beam. It started to fire at Jet and Wave while Dimentime struggled to climb back onto the board, chasing them with the massive pink beam! Suddenly, a blast from behind took out the E-2000 with one shot! "Huh??" Dimentime mumbled. Shadow Arcangel was flying through the area in their direction, using its weapon systems to aid them! "The Chaos Emerald is in that general direction! Hurry!" Bucky shouted over the loudspeaker. Dimentime climbed onto Jet's board, and they sped through the meteor field into a new asteroid field. In fact, they arrived at the Asteroid Coaster from Eggman's theme park! "I suggest we split up here..." Jet said, "You're weighing me down." Dimentime looked for solid ground to jump to, but only found a roller coaster. "Are you crazy??" he mumbled, only to be dropped into a seat! "Enjoy the ride!" Jet grinned as the coaster took off! "You'll pay for thiiiiiiiiiiiis!!!" Dimentime shrieked as a PA announcement from Eggman played. "Welcome to the Asteroid Coaster, accident free for 45 minutes!" Mephiles Takers and bat-like Losoars were flying around the track as the spiky roller coaster zoomed uncontrollably, but they seemed unable to catch Dimentime during the ride. He saw the track about to run out ahead, so he got up from his seat and looked for a way out. "Great... Thanks, Jet..." he whined, jumping to another coaster as it took off! He heard the voice of Mephiles laughing at him as he struggled to keep from falling to his death on the dangerous coasters. "You know this is all futile... You've seen it before. Your own world fell once. How does it feel to watch it all happen again?" he taunted. Dimentime growled. "History... will not... repeat itself!" he growled. He jumped to a platform as the coaster passed it, though he found himself swarmed by Mephiles Worms and Egg Pawns carrying odd clubs. "Indeed... I will erase history!!" Mephiles sneered. Dimentime pointed his staff around at the enemies, when suddenly a beam of chaos energy tore through several of the foes to his left, and gunshots took out some of the Egg Pawns to his right! Finally, Crash smashed through the Mephiles worm in front of him! "Hey! You gonna help out or what?" he grunted as Vortex and Zipp ran up alongside him. Dimentime nodded. "Errr, right!" he said, turning to zap the other enemies with magic! Vortex glanced at Zipp. "Umm... Who'ssss flying Sssshadow Arc?" he asked. Zipp scratched his head. "Umm... Rabbit lady?" he guessed. Dimentime sighed. "You better head back. I'll get the emerald." he said, running ahead. There were springs leading into the asteroids, but there also seemed to be a certain Black Comet that didn't belong flying through the middle. "Hoo boy... Springs, don't fail me now..." Dimentime said, bouncing from spring to spring as alien Black Volts flew around, trying to catch him! "In space, nobody can hear you scream. Except for the person sitting next to you, so please be considerate of others, no one likes a screamer." Eggman said over the PA. Dimentime whacked a Black Volt with his staff as it approached him, bouncing off a spring and hurtling towards the Black Comet! He saw something sparkle on top of it. "Yeah... It would be up there." he muttered. However, as he approached, a giant violet monster appeared, resembling a black hole! "Whaaaaat!? No!! Don't eat me!!!" he shouted, feeling himself getting sucked towards the creature's gaping maw! The Chaos Emerald was pulled into the creature's mouth, and Dimentime flew onto the Black Comet, clinging to it desperately to avoid being sucked in! However, the vacuum from the creature suddenly subsided, and Dimentime looked back to see the creature turn into Jet, from whom a violet Wisp with a jagged mouth and no eyes popped out. Jet held his throat and coughed out the white Chaos Emerald, then holding his stomach. "Uggggh... What the heck...? That was the worst experience of my life... Did I eat some ghosts and monsters??" he groaned. Dimentime stood up and sighed, smirking. "Well, the important thing is we got the Chaos Emerald..." he said.


Mighty the armadillo had joined the Chaos Emerald hunt as well, and somehow ended up traveling with Gator and Ridley. "I still can't figure out why I'm wandering lost with you when I could be helping out Sonic or Knuckles or Vector..." he said. "Just lucky I guess!" Gator replied as they trudged through ice and snow on their way into Diamond Dust Zone, an area of Flickey Island. Ridley looked around at the penguin robots hobbling around and chuckled. "It's chilly, but at least it seems safer than the other areas..." he said. He would soon change his tune, as they each felt the ground beneath their feet crack. "What... was that?" Mighty wondered. Suddenly, the ice below them crumbled, and they tumbled down into a long ice slide below! "Wheeeeee-- are all gonna diiiiiiie!!!" Gator screamed as they slid to and fro through Diamond Dust Zone, passing odd snowmen that exploded into icy chunks as they passed by! The ice slide took them straight through the broken wall of an abandoned construction site from Station Square, The slide continued through the building, and they saw some Egg Pawns and laser-equipped bat robots staring in confusion at the ice slide as they passed through a hole on the other side of the wall. The slide continued to twist and loop around the labyrinth, passing Lava Reef Zone, where it began to thin out and crack! "Someone do something!!" Ridley yelled. "Like what!?" Mighty wondered. The ice slide crumbled as they slid, and they were hurled into the air! They tumbled into a street, rolling inside an open doorway nearby! "Uuuugh... I feel airsick, seasick and carsick all at once..." Gator moaned. Ridley glanced over at Mighty, who was rolled up into a bright red ball. "H-hey... Are you alive?" he asked. Mighty uncurled himself and groaned. "Now I remember why I don't visit..." he muttered. They looked around and found themselves in a small base belonging to Eggman, the Gimme Shelter. Guard Robos resembling old E-series robots were sitting around, apparently deactivated. In the corner, a green robot was under construction. "Heeey... Is that Xenegg?" Gator said dizzily. "Let's play! Let's play!" they heard a voice say nearby. They glanced nearby to see a robot that wasn't inactive. "Oh, look. It's a Gizoid. Hey, could that be the robot E-6X was based on?" Ridley said. The Gizoid looked at them curiously. "Hey, I'm Emerl. Who're you supposed to be?" it said. Just then, an alarm went off in the Gimme Shelter, and the Guard Robos started to stir! Emerl jumped excitedly. "Play time! I'll tear those rust-buckets apart!" he shouted, rushing off to fight with the other robots! Mighty stared at him blankly. "He's... weird." he muttered. Gator walked off towards the door. "No time for these pesky robots! There's treasure to find!" he said, only to get blasted by lasers from Mephiles Biters as he stepped outside! "Yooooow!! Know what? It's bad weather today. Let's stay indoors." he mumbled. Ridley sighed. "Okay... Chaos Splash!" he said, shorting out some of the robots with a splash of chaos-charged water. "Chaos Splash!" mimicked Emerl, copying his attack! "H-hey... Don't do that." Ridley grumbled. Mighty started spinning and dashed towards the Mephiles Biters, looking to clear the way out. "Take that!! I'll handle these guys, you handle those guys! ...By the time we're done here, the others will probably have found all the Chaos Emeralds." he reasoned. Gator frowned. "No treasure for me!? Awww... Life stinks, don't it Xenegg?" he grumbled, talking to the unfinished robot in the corner.


Sonic hurried through a strange loop of cards from Casino Street Zone, which led him into a hole in the side of Darkegg Fortress! Amy flew in as well, riding SPOT while it was in hover-scooter mode. "Oh, goody, Darkegg Fortress... You always take me to the nicest places Sonic..." she said sarcastically. Sonic scratched his head. "Well, gee, we passed Twinkle Park on the way. Doesn't that count?" he asked. They spotted another hole at the end of Eggman's control room, and started towards it when a computerized voice shouted at them from a nearby screen. "Hey!! What's all the hubbub?? Meowr?" Amy glanced to see Firepaw scratching at the screen curiously. "Wow. I didn't think we'd get wi-fi in this mess. Who knew?" Amy muttered, following after Sonic as they rushed out of Darkegg Fortress. "Hey!! Wait!! MEOWR!! I'm not on wi-fi!! I'm trapped in this dumb computer!!" Firepaw yelled. "Hey, Firepaw, do you think I should report that security breach?" asked BAS, the Base Alarm System. Firepaw sighed. "Well, at least I'm not alone in this dump..." he grumbled. As Sonic, Amy and SPOT rushed out of Darkegg Fortress, they found themselves on a wood bridge leading to a twisted version of Green Hill Zone, located at the center of Mephiles's maze! They ran down the bridge, evading Choppers and Mephiles Biters as they jumped out at them, and stopped at the first solid ground in the area as the Biters tore the bridge apart, falling into the water below! "Y'know... This isn't at all how I remember this place..." Sonic muttered. The Tornado flew over in a moment, and Tails pulled a lever, causing the plane to transform into its walker form, the Cyclone! It landed with a thud beside them, and he glanced down from the cockpit. "Does SPOT have a reading?" he asked. Amy checked the robot, which had changed back to canine form. "It seems to be... up there!" she said, pointing to a towering mountain with treacherous cliffs leading to the top, guarded by Lost Ones and monsters as well as robots! Mephiles's own eyes were ominously peering out from behind a veil of smoke and debris overhead, and Tails knew that to fly the Tornado up there would likely be suicide. "Sonic... What do you think?" he asked. Sonic nodded. "She's right. It's waaaay up there. Guarded by Mephiles. You two better stick down here and cover me. I've got a big hill to climb!" he said, hurrying towards the twisted version of Green Hill ahead of him! Tails and Amy went to work right away as Mephiles Biters and Motobugs charged at them, so they put Amy's hammer and the Cyclone's lasers to work straight away! Sonic started his run up the mountain, leaping up platforms and bouncing off Loskulls to start his journey. Lospecter flew over to observe him. "Hey! Don't crack my skulls! They just got over losing the rest of their bones! ...Well, actually, they never get over it." he said. Sonic ignored him and bounced up high with a spring, kicking off the wall next to him in order to launch himself into a Buzzbomber, which he grabbed onto and jerked around, causing it to shoot at some Mephiles Takers in its panic! "Thank you! Now try to land on a bad guy!" Sonic snickered, kicking the Buzzbomber down as he jumped off it and ran along the path ahead, speeding past Crabmeats and Mephiles Worms as he sped through a loop in the side of the mountain! As he passed it, he ran into a Mephiles Golem, and heard Mephiles laugh at him. "You'll never make it... All of time is here to stop you... You cannot outrun time itself!" he bellowed as numerous enemies flew from all over to come after Sonic! Egg Flappers, GUN Beetles, Egg Gunners, Balkiries, Eggrobos, Black Volts, Caterkiller Juniors, Artificial Chaos, Falcos, Mephiles Takers, and various Lost Ones were all among the armies that came to finish Sonic off! He looked around nervously, clenching his fists. However, as the Mephiles Golem started lifting a huge spiky ball to throw at him, bullets suddenly rained down on the creature, knocking it off balance! Sonic glanced around to see Copter piloting the Hurricane! "Quit daydreaming, Sonic! Get that Chaos Emerald!" he shouted. Sonic nodded and jumped at the Golem's head, knocking it down and continuing past it! The flying enemies started to attack Sonic as he continued his climb up the mountain, but the Hurricane was joined by Shadow Arcangel, the Babylon Rogues, Guard, Rouge, and Kosmo! With all that support, Tails changed the Cyclone back into the Tornado to join the aerial battle, and Amy was joined below by Shadow, Knuckles, Team Chaotix, Silver, and increasingly more people as all the groups began to arrive! "Go for it, Sonic!" Classic Amy cheered as she arrived on the scene, smashing a Motobug on her way to join Modern Amy. "We're with you, pal!" Classic Knuckles shouted as he joined the fight as well. Sonic nodded as he heard more and more of his friends cheer him on, and made a jump to reach the summit, using the homing attack to bounce from a Spinner to an Egg Flapper to a Buzzbomber and into a Egg Gunner before taking out the Mephiles Worm that was guarding the green Chaos Emerald! "Got it! And I'm betting it's the last one! Say your prayers, Mephiles!" he smirked, "Your little maze was fun, but nothing all of us together couldn't handle!"

Mephiles moved aside the smoke and debris in front of him with a swing of his scepter, glaring down at Sonic from above the green mountaintop. "You have all come so far... just to die! Your time is up!" he sneered, the clock face on his scepter beginning to glow as the hands both pointed straight down to 6. Sonic glanced around, expecting he'd have to make a quick retreat any second. However, Copter flew at Mephiles with the Hurricane, shooting at his face as much as he could. "Let's see how well you fight blind, Emperor Shakespeare!" he shouted. Mephiles roared at him, and fired a burst of dark energy from his scepter! "Curse your crystal eyes!" he growled as the Hurricane was struck hard, its wing snapping off! As the plane started to hurtle towards the ground, Copter jumped out and flew towards the mountaintop, landing next to Sonic. "...WELL?! You got any bright ideas?!" Copter asked. "Got a Chaos Emerald?" Sonic wondered. "Huh? Oh, yeah..." Copter realized, handing the yellow emerald he'd got from Sky Fortress to him. Rapidly, the other Chaos Emeralds made their way to him as well! Kosmo flew over in gargoyle form and tossed Sonic the blue emerald! "Um... Yeah... Go get him." he muttered. Rouge flew up and tossed him the purple emerald next. "Knuckles says to finish the job this time. Heh... Good luck, Sonic." she said, winking. Jet sped over on his Extreme Gear next, tossing Sonic the white emerald. "You owe me a race, Sonic! Don't lose here!" he squawked. Mephiles saw this was happening and tried to stop it. "You think I'm a fool? Ha! Take this!" he yelled, firing dark energy blasts toward the mountaintop in an effort to destroy them quickly! "Proplasmar!!" shouted Gemini, who had just warped to the mountaintop! She created a barrier to defend them, handing Sonic the red emerald. "H-hurry... I can't hold him long..." she said. "Chaos Control!" Fortunately, Shadow had arrived with the cyan emerald, the last one. "End this, Sonic... Hm, looks like I'd better take these two out of here..." Shadow said. Copter crossed his arms. "I can take myself down, thanks!" he said. Shadow shrugged and Chaos Controlled away with Gemini, removing the barrier! Mephiles's attacks started crashing around them, but the Chaos Emeralds surrounded Sonic and instantly started to fill him with energy! The flash of light from the emeralds caught Mephiles's attention, and he began charging an attack while Sonic was transforming. Copter took advantage of the distraction to start looking for the path down, but heard a plane engine approaching. "Huh...?" he muttered, seeing Tails coming their way in the Tornado! "Go back!! You'll be shot down!" Copter shouted. Tails held up something gold and shiny. "Copter! Take this!!" he said, tossing it! Copter caught the object as Tails turned the plane around, getting safely away from Mephiles. "What's this... It's... The other tailband!!" Copter realized. He glanced out at the Tornado and nodded. "You're right... I can't sit this one out..." he said, reaching back and slipping the golden band on his bare tail. "It's time for Super Copter to fly again!" he said, his black fur starting to shine silver as he transformed!

"Do you dare to fight (dare to fight)
Evil's might (evil's might)
I'll be the last one standing,
In a flash of light!
My eyes (my eyes) are filled with curiosity.
You think (you think) that you have power over me?" - With Me, Sonic & the Black Knight

As the two heroes finished their transformations, Mephiles fired a massive energy beam that blew off the top of the mountain! Tails, Knuckles, Dimentime, Amy, Cream, Cheese, SPOT, Punchy, Rainbow, Shadow, Silver, Gemini, Blaze, Marine, Espio, Charmy, Vector, Mighty, Gator, Rouge, Omega, Spiny, Ridley, Big, Froggy, Kosmo, Guard, Heather, Jet, Wave, Storm, Razor, Katie, Mia, Illusi, Classic Sonic, Classic Tails, Classic Knuckles and Classic Amy all watched from below with varying degrees of nervousness. However, when the dust settled, Super Sonic and Super Copter flew up and looked at Temporal Emperor Mephiles smugly. "Nice try, Mephiles. Is it my turn now?" Sonic grinned. Mephiles flourished his cape and roared like the Time Eater, drawing large chunks of the surrounding zones to him with a strange sort of energy. The chunks started to float around like a strange asteroid field, creating obstacles for Sonic and Copter to contend with. "Come, pitiful heroes! I'll take great pleasure in ripping those Chaos Emeralds from your body one by one!" he laughed. Copter shuddered. "Glad I'm not using Chaos Emeralds..." he muttered. "And I'll pull those pathetic tails of yours off by the roots!" Mephiles added. Sonic shrugged and flew at Mephiles, evading broken green buildings from Grand Metropolis and giant slot reels from Casino Night Zone as he charged at the Temporal Emperor's massive head! Mephiles smacked him aside with his scepter, shocking him with a charge of dark energy from it! "Yow! OK, where'd ya go??" Sonic muttered as he tumbled around in the air. Copter flew after Mephiles next, carefully dodging springs and spikes and even a sign post with Robotnik's face on it, all of which had been torn away from wherever they'd come from originally. Mephiles saw him coming and raised his free hand, generating crystal spikes and shooting them at him relentlessly! Copter smacked them aside with his tails, but soon realized that this was a diversion while Mephiles used his staff to manipulate the debris in the area, attempting to crush Copter by flinging several towers from Kingdom Valley at him! Sonic flew into one of the towers at high speed, knocking it off course and creating a gap between them so Copter could dodge them! "Yikes!! Th-thanks, Sonic... That might've hurt..." Copter said, glancing back at where the towers were falling. "Oh, no!!" he yelled. The towers, and some of the other debris, was falling towards their friends below in Green Hill Zone! They all started to scatter in their panic, while Silver attempted to grab some of the falling towers with his psychokinesis. "Arrrgh!! These... are heavy!!" he gasped. "Isn't it all in your head?" Punchy asked him. "That's the PROBLEM!!" Silver groaned. Kosmo morphed into his dragon-like Kosmogon form and tried to destroy some of the objects as they crashed towards the group while Omega tried to blow up some of the smaller debris. However, most of them could only try to take cover. Mephiles cackled at their predicament. "You see now? They are all going to die here, Sonic... You've led them to their death! How does it feel, hero? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" he laughed. Sonic shook his head. "You won't get away with this! I'm gonna wipe that crooked smirk off your demented face!" he declared.

Hundreds of small, crystal minions surrounded Mephiles, each resembling a twisted facsimile of one of the forms he had taken before! "Finish them!" he ordered, sending the demons out to attack Super Sonic and Super Copter! The creatures were small and weak, but served as distractions while Mephiles prepared other attacks for them. Copter smacked the little creatures with his tails, hesitating as he glanced at one resembling Classic Tails. "Oh, this is a new kind of sick..." he muttered as he shattered it with his tails. Sonic took a moment to collect some rings that were floating around while Mephiles charged energy for an attack. "Copter! Don't forget that your super form needs rings! I know it's been a while for you!" he shouted. "Yeah, yeah..." Copter muttered, only to find Mephiles firing huge blasts of dark energy in his direction! "Aw, quit picking on meeeeee!!!" he yelled, scrambling to get away. The blasts knocked around the debris in the area, sending glittering chunks of Ice Cap and an Eggman statue from one of his recent bases tumbling towards him! "This is all your fault, Eggman!!" Copter yelled, shaking his fist at the statue. Super Sonic charged into Mephiles's face while he was busy attacking Copter, but it seemed to do little other than annoy him into smacking Sonic back! "Pesky insect! I'll swat you next!" he growled, firing a huge, white beam at Sonic from his mouth! Similar to the Time Eater's beam attack, it held Sonic still upon impact, keeping him from fighting back or gathering rings! Copter flew over to Mephiles next and struck his chest with his tails, but Mephiles repelled him with a shockwave of darkness! "Yaaaah!! For crying out loud! We can't hit this guy!" Copter growled. Mephiles stopped firing the beam from his mouth and slapped Copter away, but his attention was suddenly diverted from Sonic and Copter as someone else started shooting at him! "What's that? Who else has a death wish?" he chuckled. Sonic and Copter glanced to see the blue Tornado flying nearby, with Dimentime in the pilot's seat! "I've got your backs, guys! Hey, Mephiles!! Care for some sunlight in this dreary world of yours?" he shouted, pointing his staff and shining a bright light at Mephiles's face! "Arrrgh!! You impudent fool!! You will wish you never left your world!" Mephiles growled. Something else hurtled down from above next, smacking Mephiles on top of the head! It was a blue ball. "Oh, geez..." Copter said, covering his eyes. Classic Sonic had managed to climb up the falling debris and make it to Mephiles, not wanting to be left out of the fight! "You pesky blue nuisance... Now I have you!!" Mephiles growled, trying to grab Classic Sonic in his free hand! Classic Sonic jumped and weaved, dodging the giant hand gracefully while sticking out his tongue and teasing him. "Hold still, you arrogant gnat!!" Mephiles roared. Super Sonic flew over and rammed into Mephiles a few times during the distraction, frustrating him into summoning more minions to keep them busy! Fortunately, Dimentime flew the Tornado in to give Classic Sonic a place to jump to. "Hop on, you idiot!" he grumbled. Classic Sonic ran for the plane, jumping to the wing. However, this was Mephiles's chance! He smacked the plane with his scepter, knocking it into a spin, and snatched Classic Sonic in his free hand, squeezing him in his grip! "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh, how priceless!! You came so far, helped by your past self... you never once imagined he would be your downfall!!" he said, laughing manically as he squeezed Classic Sonic tighter, making him grit his teeth in pain! Super Sonic tumbled backward, clutching his stomach as Mephiles harmed his past self. "W-what's happening...?" he gasped. Copter flew over to him and glanced at Classic Sonic. "It's just like Dimentime said... Your past self is being removed from the picture... and as a result, so are you! He's killing you both at once!" he realized. The Tornado continued to spin out, and Dimentime simply jumped out of it. "There's just one chance... I'll need all the power this staff... this wand can muster!!" he thought, tapping into the staff's power and causing it to glow, turning and touching it to his tailband as he fell in midair. "I hope this works..." he murmured, shutting his eyes tight as the energy transferred to his tailband, and then his tailband enveloped him in a bright light! He stopped falling and emerged with his black fur now glowing a soft gold color, not as bright as Sonic, but he had achieved his own super form with just one tailband! He'd become Super Dimentime!

Classic Sonic struggled in Temporal Emperor Mephiles's grip, while below the others were faced with armies of Mephiles's monsters and the Lost Ones! Debris was still falling as well, although not as much while Mephiles was distracted. Lospecter chuckled to himself while he watched everyone battle with his minions. "Anybody dead yet? Oooh, I got it! I spy with my little eye..." he said, only to have Amy's hammer tossed through him! "You'll want to wash tha-- hey, where'd you get another one so fast!?" he gasped, staring at her. "Shut up, you disgusting ghoul! I hope Sonic comes down when he's done and kicks your...um...tail!" she shouted. Bucky was watching the action from Shadow Arcangel, which was flying low and trying to avoid the debris as much as possible. "We have to do something... But I'm not sure the Flickies can fix all this damage with their energy alone..." he worried. Tommy stared out the window and nodded. "Fine... Hook me up!" he said. Cream's mother and Team GeneX all gasped, but then Cream's mom nodded. "Me as well! I'll do what I can... To protect Cream..." she said. Bucky shook his head. "I'm not sure it'll work..." he sighed, glancing out the window, "But... perhaps if you're willing... we'd better give it a try." he said. Back in the sky, Super Sonic flickered and started fading, but Super Copter and Super Dimentime wouldn't give up! They flew after Mephiles, smashing his crystalline minions as they went, but he started firing dark energy blasts from his staff at them! "You cannot stop me!! It's too late!" he roared. Dimentime snickered and teleported around the shots with his magic while Copter dodged them, staring jealously. "You...do nothing...but cheat!" he growled. "Can't build momentum this way! Get ready to attack, Copter!" Dimentime shouted. He used his magic to shine a light in Mephiles's eyes, blinding him so Copter could move in and strike! He built up speed and slammed his tails into Mephiles's hand, loosening his grip on Classic Sonic! Dimentime then turned and added his own tail whip, loosening the grip further so Classic Sonic could wriggle free! "Noooo!! Get back here!!" Mephiles growled in frustration as he dropped the blue hedgehog! Classic Sonic started trying to run in midair, panicked as he fell, but Copter quickly caught him! "I got ya, chubby!" he said, prompting Classic Sonic to chuckle awkwardly. Unfortunately, Copter suddenly began to fall as well as his fur started turning black again! "Wh-what!? Oh, no!! I didn't grab any rings!!" he gasped, spinning his tails to carry Classic Sonic to the nearest safe place he could get to. Mephiles cackled, his twisted grin widening as they dropped away from him. "Back down to two... But I still possess all the time in the universe!!" he sneered, charging his scepter again! Super Sonic flew over to Dimentime, now back to normal and ready to rejoin the fight. "Not sure how long my ring energy will hold after that... We'd better end this quick!" Sonic said. Dimentime looked around. "His scepter... It seems to be the source of his power!" he noted. He then pointed his staff at Super Sonic. "All right! Let's do this, Sonic!!" he said, casting a powerful spell over the hedgehog! They both started to fly at Mephiles, Sonic leading the way as Dimentime followed, feeding him power from his staff! Sonic began to glow brighter, his fur shining in a rainbow of flashing colors as he ascended to a more powerful form! "Now!! You're ready!! Go for it, Hyper Sonic!!" Dimentime shouted. "Prepare to DIE!!! Your universe is MINE!!!" Temporal Emperor Mephiles roared, firing an intense burst of dark energy from his scepter, which seemed to draw chunks of the nearby zones to it in an effort to smash Hyper Sonic and Super Dimentime! They charged into the blast, caring little as the remains of skyscrapers and mountains closed in on them! A massive explosion of rubble and darkness obscured Sonic and Dimentime from everyone's view, and they gasped, but no one gave up. "You can do it, Sonic!!" "Fight on, Copter!!" "Don't give up!!" It was unclear if they could hear the cheers, but they soon emerged, protected by a force field Dimentime had created with his magic! It had cracked, and soon shattered as they forced their way through the dark energy Mephiles continued to fire at them, but they continued to fly straight for his scepter, and soon, with a mighty crash, Hyper Sonic slammed through the clock face at the end of the scepter!! "NOOOOOO!!!!" Mephiles shrieked as Dimentime whipped his tails across his chest, cracking his crystal body! "St-stooooop!!!" Mephiles roared. Lospecter watched this and frowned. "Ooookay... I'm outta here." he frowned, flying off into the distance. Meanwhile, Shadow Arcangel took off into the sky, charging its restoration beam for one more use! Inside, Cream's mom, Tommy, Vortex and Crash were wearing helmets hooked up to the machine as well as the Flickies, with Zipp flying and Bucky managing the Era Restoration Generator itself. "If it hurts, um... try to... well... don't bite your tongue, that probably won't end well." Bucky warned. "Don't touch my hat if I die!" Crash yelled to Zipp. Cream's mom looked at Tommy worriedly and held his hand. "Don't listen to them, honey... It'll be all right..." she said hopefully. Bucky nodded. "Well, keep your fingers crossed. We're low on ring energy in this ship, so I'll have to improvise..." he said, turning to one of the Arcangel's power generators and firing bolts of electricity from his fingers at it! "Grrrrr!! FIRE, Zipp!!" he shouted. As Hyper Sonic and Super Dimentime made a few more cracks in Mephiles, who created some weak shockwaves to fight back but otherwise seemed to be losing power, Shadow Arcangel fired its restoration beam straight at him first, and he shrieked loudly as he seemed to vanish into thin air! Shadow Arcangel then set to work on the maze, restoring the damage with each blast of its beam. As it struck the Master Emerald shrine, all the pieces of Angel Island seemed to fly over to return to it, restoring the island to normal before returning it to its time, and similar effects occurred when each other location was hit as well! Sonic found Copter and Classic Sonic standing on the broken top of the Green Hill mountain, and once he landed there, he reverted to his normal form. "Whew... I hope I'm done with the emeralds this time." he said. Classic Sonic smiled sheepishly at him. "Hey, no hard feelings. I woulda done the same thing... In fact, I think I remember doing that..." Modern Sonic mumbled thoughtfully, hi-fiving his past self. Super Dimentime hovered over to the ledge, waving to Copter. "Hey! Good job, uh... me! Hey... how come your super form's gold?" Copter asked. Dimentime shrugged. "I have to go now, buddy. Stay outta trouble... well, time-trouble. Farewell, Copter... See you in the past." he said, vanishing in a small burst of light before Copter's eyes. Copter waved a bit sadly. "Yeah... Fancy way of saying never again..." he sighed.

As the world returned to normal, everyone found themselves standing just a few feet away from the setup for Sonic's birthday party, which was miraculously undisturbed! Some of the guests started to head back over there, while many of the others started to head home, being exhausted from the long series of time traveling adventures. Copter wandered over to the party table and grabbed a chili dog, though he quickly grabbed a drink after taking a bite. "Uggh!! How can Sonic eat these things!?" he groaned. "I can eat 50 after all that. There isn't enough food here." Punchy muttered, having walked over to join Copter. "Hey, One? Two? Where are we, anyway? How will we find home??" Rainbow asked worriedly. Copter sighed. "I know the way, Rainbow." he said. Nearby, Sonic was walking back to the party with Tails. "I'm so sorry, Sonic... This was the worst party ever..." he sighed. "That's what I said!" Gator remarked from nearby. Tails sighed even more miserably. "I wanted it to be great, but all those bad guys showed up and made it really crummy..." he said. Sonic chuckled. "Are you kidding!? I loved it! Not only did I get to see all my old pals, but I got to go on a sweet adventure! I mean, come on, it's not really a party until Eggman shows up!" he joked. Tails chuckled. "Next time maybe I'll invite him... It's less messy that way." he chuckled. Nearby, Shadow Arcangel had landed once again, and Bucky was lining up the past selves in front of the ship while Cream's mom and Tommy reunited with their families. "Let's see if Vortex and Zipp can do this themselves... We're going to send you four home, all right?" he said. Classic Tails nodded. "Sorry to trouble you, mister. We're not sure how to get back now." he said. The restoration beam fired once more, creating a time portal to Collision Chaos. "That's one..." Bucky said. Classic Amy hurried to the portal. "See you soon, Sonic!" she winked, making Classic Sonic gag. With an adjustment, the portal became Ice Cap. Classic Knuckles headed through it. "Stay outta trouble, Sonic... As if!" he chuckled. Classic Sonic stuck out his tongue at him as he went through the portal. Lastly, the portal changed to Green Hill Zone. "Let's go!" Classic Tails said. Bucky stopped him. "You, too?" he asked. Classic Tails nodded. "I wandered a bit from there without Sonic when we got to that white world, but yeah. Why?" he asked. Bucky shrugged. "Don't want to mess up time by sending you to the wrong place." Classic Sonic gave him a thumb's up, and the pair disappeared into the portal. Just then, the beam fizzled out, and due to the sparks flying from the ship, Bucky surmised that it wasn't because it was deactivated. "Hmmm... Maybe the Flickies turned into eggs again?" he said, "I think this machine is scrap, either way... They're all right, it skews too... Robotnik..." he muttered.


A dimension away, back at white space, Dr. Eggman and Dr. Robotnik were still trapped. After wandering the endless whiteness for a bit, Eggman rested and growled at Robotnik. "Are you sure you saw a door over here?" he asked. Robotnik hobbled over. "What?!? YOU were the one who said you saw a door over here!" he protested. Eggman stood up. "Well, I know it was one of us. Shut up and keep looking!" he ordered. They argued a bit longer before resuming their search. However, they proved unsuccessful and ended up lying on the ground exhausted before long. Robotnik glanced over at Eggman after a while resting. "What time is it?" he asked. Eggman started to sit up. "It's the exact same time as when you asked earlier, and it will be the exact same time when you ask later. There IS no time here!!" he shouted in annoyance. Robotnik sat up as well. "Let me just say that this was a brilliant plan that YOU came up with." he said smugly. "Don't get too self-righteous. It'll be your plan pretty soon!" Eggman replied, pointing at him angrily. "I'm going to dedicate the rest of my life to forgetting it." Robotnik whispered. "I heard that!!" Eggman shouted back. Robotnik stood up and decided to change the subject. "Do we ever win?" he asked. Eggman climbed up and considered the question. "That depends on your definition of 'win.'" he said. "Beating Sonic." Robotnik replied. Eggman smiled awkwardly. "There are times when we come close! Very, very close indeed!" he answered. Robotnik raised an eyebrow. "So... No?" he said. Eggman frowned and fell silent as Robotnik sighed. "That doesn't give me much hope. Maybe I'll go back and get my teaching degree." he said, stroking his moustache thoughtfully. Eggman's face lit up. "That's not a bad idea! I've always enjoyed telling people what to do." he grinned. Robotnik shook his head hopelessly. "By the way, Dr. Eggman... What time is it?" he asked, making Eggman's smile fade away as he growled in frustration. They weren't the only ones trapped in white space, either. Slash, Sting, Char and Alpha sat nearby watching them argue, and a distance away, someone else had actually found a door. It was Eggman Nega and Gunner, having been broken out of Dimentime's prison by Spy. "Well, there's a door, guys. Think it'll take us home?" Spy asked. Eggman Nega chuckled. "By all means, why don't you open it and check it out?" he suggested. Gunner rolled his eyes. "You fools can't do anything right. I'll check out this door!" he said, stepping over to the doorway and pushing it open with a little help from Spy. They glanced through the doorway and saw the interior of some sort of building. "That place looks familiar somehow... Spy, do you remember this place--" Suddenly, a giant lizard head peeked through the doorway. It was the Biolizard! It screeched loudly at them before drawing its head back through the door, and that was enough to cause both Gunner and Spy to pass out! Eggman Nega looked spooked as well, and hurried to close the door. "NOT home... But perhaps I can recalibrate this door using what's left of my Egg Timer or something... And then we can get out of here..." he said, glancing around. "Well, I can get out of here. Not sure if the rest of you are worth it... Eheh..." he muttered. Far from all of them, the cog-shaped platforms where the confrontation with the Time Eater took place were still there. Out of the portal, a black shadow seeped out. "This isn't over... I'll have my revenge..." Mephiles grunted weakly, his power greatly diminished after narrowly escaping. A pair of blood red shoes stepped in front of the black shadow, the hooded figure of the Doomsayer looming over him! "You... Why are you... here?" Mephiles hissed. The Doomsayer said nothing, but reached his hand towards Mephiles, hail pellets starting to fall as the black shadow tried to recoil from him. "What are you...? No!! Stop! Release me!! Aaaaaah!! Unhand... me!! N-NOOOOOO!!!!" Mephiles shrieked, his own shadowy form being drawn into the Doomsayer's body! "The power of time... will now be mine alone!" he whispered as Mephiles vanished from existence, completely absorbed by him! His golden eyes briefly flashed a dark purple, and the Doomsayer began to vanish into a time portal to leave white space. "Farewell, Mephiles the Dark." he hissed.


As the party began to draw to a close, Copter yawned while sitting under the tree. Tails approached him, and he nodded. "Yeah, here's your tailband. Thanks, Tails." he said, handing the golden band back to him. Tails took it and smiled. "Uh, yeah, but that's not why I'm here. I know it's Sonic's party and all, but I wanted to give YOU something." he said, handing Copter a gift wrapped package. Copter stared in surprise. "Huh??" he muttered. "Well... I don't know when your birthday is. I don't remember the cloning process, hehe..." he said. Copter took the package shyly. "A... present for me?" he murmured, not sure how to react. Tails nodded. "Open it!" he said. Copter glanced at him and slowly tore the paper, his eyes widening as he saw what was inside. It was a picture frame, but it was the picture framed that shocked him. It was himself, Kosmo, Razor, Mia, Vector, Chip and Dimentime in Shamar! A tear came to his eye, and a chuckle to his lips. "Chip, you little genius... Thank you, Tails." he said, giving the yellow fox a hug as he started chuckling even more. "What went through your mind when that picture developed?" he asked. Tails giggled. "Sonic did a spit take!" he recalled. Just then, Sonic ran over. "Spit take? When did I do a...? Hey! It's that... Oooooh, you know what? I STILL don't get that picture!!" he said, holding his head. Copter laughed loudly and glanced at Dimentime in the photo, standing beside him and leaning gently against his staff with a smug expression. "Thanks for everything, Dimentime. We'll be sure to make the future a good one." he said. Sonic yawned loudly. "Well, better get goin'. Gotta rest up for a new year! Thanks for coming, Copter." he said. Copter nodded. "Happy Birthday, Sonic!" he smiled.

"Joined at the hip, yeah your sidekick needs you.
Life is a trip down the road that leads you.
Look all around at all the mountains you haven't climbed.
It's just a matter of time, before we learn how to fly.
Welcome to the rhythm of the night.
There's something in the air you can't deny.
It's been fun but now I've got to go.
Life is way too short to take it slow.
But before I go and hit the road, I gotta know, 'til then, when can we do this again? 
Oh oh oh oh, When can I see you again? Oh oh oh oh, When can we do this again? 
Oh oh oh oh, I gotta know, when can I see you again?" - Owl City, When Can I See You Again?

Sonic the Hedgehog 20th Anniversary - 6/23/2011
Happy Birthday, Sonic!

The End!