//------------------------------//
// Chapter 26: Countdown to Destruction 
// Story: Sonic Origins Vol 1: Rainbow Dash's Story 
// by LightWinzz 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 26: Countdown to Destruction

The black steel blast doors slid open before Sonic and Rainbow Dash, revealing the massive room beyond. Despite the distance, they had worked their legs to death to make it all the way here. Their arms/hooves were draped over one another, giving each other the support they needed to stay standing. Through it all, however, they had managed to reach the control room. There at the end was an observation window the size of the wall, sitting in front of it is what Sonic and Rainbow could only assume was the central controls for the whole station. As the two carried each other into the command center, they noticed that there were several figured before them, figures that they couldn't help but smile widely towards.

Their friends.

They were all at the control panel beneath where the Chaos Emeralds were placed inside a massive core. Tails was working on an open panel while Knuckles was setting the Master Emerald on the floor with great care. Amy was standing to the side, seemingly downtrodden. None of them had noticed the door opening, even with the room deathly quiet. Rainbow could nearly feel the sorrowful tone to them all. Well, she understood that feeling. But now…

Sonic was the first to speak up. "Tails! Knuckles! Ames!" he shouted to his friends, to which they immediately turned to his voice.

There were shocked expressions among the whole group, some frozen in utter astonishment. Tails got up, slowly inching closer to them. "S-Sonic…?" he muttered, the quivering of his eyes saying much for his flood of emotions. He walked up to meet them in the middle, looking as if any moment he would just break down and start crying. While they couldn't quite separate without one of them falling over, Rainbow scooched as far as she could afford away from Sonic. This was their moment, not hers.

The two partners looked at each other, one in ardent excitement while the other in disbelief. "You miss me, buddy?" Sonic asked, flashing his little bro a smile.

Tails quickly wiped his eyes with his arm, his fur becoming soaked. "More than you know *sniff* Sonic," he nearly whimpered with a joyful smile. He went for a sudden hug with his brother figure, taking care not to hurt him any more than it needed to. "I'm so sorry Sonic! I know you placed a lot of trust in me…b-but…I didn't do my job right a-and it almost got you killed and I—I…"

"Easy little bud," Sonic comforted, ruffling the scruff of his head. "You did great out there. You gave it your all, and that's all anyone can ask of you. At least you were better off than I was at that time."

"SONNNIICCC!" he heard a shriek, and his heart sank at the sound.

Tails was pushed to the side, Rainbow nearly thrown to the floor, and Sonic was suddenly tackled down hard, a mass of pink wrapping around the blue blur tightly. "Oooooohhhhhhhh Sonic! Sonic! Sonic! Sonic!" Amy bawled into his chest. "I'm so glad you're alive! I didn't know what we would do without you there! Dang it, you big idiot! You left a huge hole in my heart when you drifted out into space! How could you do that to me?!"

Her tears were like a fountain as she bawled, soaking the other three that were nearby, to their dismay. Sonic's face was turning as blue as the rest of him from her death grip. "A-Amy…" he choked, "ple-please…let go…"

She must've taken it another way, as she only started squeezing even tighter than before. Rainbow groaned in both annoyance and aching pain. Could this girl not give them a break? She was sure that she missed Sonic greatly once they thought he was shot into space, she did too. But she didn't need to add any more bones to the broke list. Her included. She groaned audibly before Tails walked up, extending a hand out to help her, which she gladly accepted.

"Are you alright?" Tails smiled nervously, a bit of a sweat drop on his forehead.

"I'm fine," Rainbow stated. "But what about him?"

"I'll take care of this," she heard to her side, a certain red echidna stomping his way over to the two. "Alright lady," he spoke, his massive boxing glove hands taking her by the midsection. He worked on prying her away from Sonic; only he was surprised at the amount of strength this girl had. He had an easier time lifting the Master Emerald than this. Geez, he was starting to feel bad for Sonic. This girl was completely nuts for him.

With one final pull, nearly straining his muscles to their tearing point, he was successful in pulling her off. This allowed Sonic some much-needed air as he writhed on the floor in aching pain, along with a now flailing Amy that was fighting to get out of Knuckles' grip.

"Hey!" Knuckles yelled in annoyance. "Could you calm down for just a second?! We're all glad he's alive, but you freaking out about it is going to break more bones than he already had!"

But Amy wasn't having any of it. "Let go! Let go! Let go!" she beat against the boxing gloves. "Can't you see he needs my help?! He's injured, and only my kisses can bring him back!"

"Say what?!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"You were the one who put him down there?!" Rainbow accused.

"H-hey…Amy…" Sonic said weakly, catching everyone's attention, including Amy's as she quit flailing. He was propping himself up, trying to look her in the eyes. "I'm…uh…sorry for worrying you so much. But right now…do you think I could get some R&R for now instead of…all that? I'm not exactly in perfect condition right now."

For at least a second, that looked to have silenced the pink hedgehog momentarily. She looked at Sonic with wondering eyes, a hint of guilt shining in them as realization set in. Oh gosh. They weren't lying. Taking a better look at him, he indeed did have many visible injuries, and she could only guess as to what internal injuries he had. She looked at him, downtrodden as she cupped her hands in front of her muzzle. "Oh, Sonic, I'm so sorry," she stifled. "I just…Knuckles, can…you set me down please?"

"Are you gonna go nuts again?" he asked.

She simply shook her head, her hands fidgeting nervously as her feet tapped together. Slowly but cautiously, Knuckles set the girl down. She could've easily rushed Sonic again, but in a show of restraint she went to him and gently picked him up, his arm slung over her shoulder. Rainbow herself breathed a sigh of relief. She in no way wanted to get into a conflict with that girl right now. Although, she couldn't help but feel disturbed at Amy's tendencies around Sonic. More annoying than anything else, and downright infuriating at its worst.

Both Tails and Amy set the two speedsters down as they leaned against a support. It wasn't long after that Knuckles came over, although not before moving the Master Emerald along with him. He extended his hands out to them, a gentle green hue coating them as it slowly began to flow across them. Rainbow and Sonic exhaled in content at the feeling. No matter what happened to them, it was always an amazing feeling to be greeted with the healing waves.

"Oooookkkaayyy…" Rainbow sighed happily, "that hits the spot."

"I'm surprised you're not berating me for all the wounds, Knuckles," Sonic chortled. "You sure you're feeling cool?"

"That comes later," Knuckles twitched in agitation. "Just sit still for a minute or two, will you?"

"Hey, you won't catch me arguing, pal," Rainbow leaned back with closed eyes.

"Sonic," Tails questioned, almost a whimper to his voice, "how did you survive? I…we saw you get blasted into space, a-and explode! How are you even here?!"

Sonic chuckled ardently. "Well, it was actually you and Shadow who gave me that idea," he answered. Tails was confused as to his response but was intrigued when Sonic pulled out the false Chaos Emerald, holding it before his best friend. Tails just stared at it, contemplating it before taking it in both hands.

"You mean…?" Tails drifted, eyeing his yellow-dimmed reflection in the emerald.

"Chaos Control," Rainbow finished proudly for him. "Spikes and Blues here can finally do it all on his own," she teased.

With a sharp squeal, Amy excitingly hopped to the news. "Oooooooohhhhh, Sonic! You're just amazing! But I knew that already!" She suddenly stopped in thought. "Wait a minute. I thought that emerald was the fake one. You can do that even with a fake emerald?"

"Well," Sonic rubbed his cheek, "I honestly had no idea if it would work or not, but I was kind of low on options."

"Interesting," Tails stated curiously as he eyed the emerald. "I was under the impression that it would only work opposite to the Chaos Emeralds, if it didn't just work at all. I may have to work out a few more kinks in the machine. Who knows; if this one worked out well enough, I might be able to make even more of these for us. Just think of all the inventions I could power with them."

"Not that there's anything wrong with making more jewelry," said a sultry feminine voice, and a familiar one to Rainbow, "but I'm sure we don't need any more powerful gems around for a certain doctor to use now, do we?"

The owner of the voice landed close by with gentle tapping of her white boots, the breeze of her bat wings brushing past the group. Rouge, in her lady-like display, walked over to Tails and picked the fake emerald from his hands; not forcibly, but not with much consideration either. "As clear cut as it is, it's surely not winning any favorites at the window display. Besides, I think the seven still up in that machine are enough for us, don't you think so fox boy?" she questioned with a flutter of her eyelashes.

"Umm," Tails stuttered, a bit taken back, "no, I guess not," he said in partial defeat.

She smirked in response, right before handing the emerald back to its original holder. Sonic looked perplexed at the newcomer but gingerly accepted the emerald, nonetheless. "Uhh, thanks, whoever you are."

"It's Rouge honey," she answered with a flick of her cheek hairs. "Just your innocent little treasure hunter."

At the drop of those words, Sonic couldn't help but smirk in sheer enjoyment of the situation. "Knux, I'm starting to see how you lost the Master Emerald to her. Her looks are—"

"Don't. Say. Another. Word," Knuckles seethed.

"Awwww, what's wrong Knucky?" Rouge shamelessly teased, moving over to drag a slender finger along his jawline, much to his embarrassment. "And here I thought you had already fallen heads over heels for me."

"I'm busy," he grunted through his teeth and the intense blush. "Go, away."

Rouge just have a small huff in annoyance but judging by the sly smirk she had on her face, she had accomplished what she was trying to achieve, much to the pleasure of everyone else in the room. Knuckles almost looked ashamed as he did his best to hide the red on his cheeks. That wasn't easy with his two patients, however, and they both knew it as they snickered to each other.

Rainbow was already enjoying this too much. With all that had happened up till now, this was all a breath of fresh of air. She could already see as if some of her friends were among her right now. Even with the temper, she saw a bit of her favorite cowpony in Knuckles before her. His sheer strength and sense of duty were enough to give that away. With Rouge and Amy, there was some of Rarity and Pinkie Pie in them. Perhaps it was in a different kind of case for the pink hedgehog, but Rouge's obvious love of gems was a complete giveaway. And for Tails, well, that was too obvious, even for her. The kid's love of science and math was certainly enough to make her mind boggle. It was like Twilight all over again.

Her eyes then shifted to Sonic. As she looked at him, she couldn't quite place him for a second. But…there was just an inkling…it was herself. The way he acted, the way he carried himself, and his love of speed…it was just like her. With a bit of a costume and attitude change, she might as well have been looking in a mirror.

'Great,' Rainbow thought. 'All we need is a shy hedgehog and we have our Fluttershy.'

Rainbow's eyes drifted over to the large core at the center of the room. So that's what was powering that huge cannon? If it weren't for knowing just how powerful those emeralds were, she'd have a tough time believing it. But she noticed something else about it; aside from the Master Emerald, all the Chaos Emeralds were still locked in place inside the machine.

"Hey, what gives?" she spoke up. "How have you guys not gotten those things out yet? You've had plenty of time for it."

"Cool your jets, Rainbow," Knuckles tired to defuse. "It's not like we had a bunch of time before you got here. We had enough trouble getting the Master Emerald out as it was."

"Didn't have enough time?" Sonic questioned. "It took us what felt like a year to get here since the whole place shut down. How'd you guys stop the weapon if you weren't here?"

The rest of the group looked between one another, looks ranging from confused to even worried in Amy's and Tails's case. "We thought you did it somehow," Tails stated. "Well, we thought Rainbow Dash did something. We were all on our way here once the weapon malfunctioned."

"You're telling us you had nothing to do with all that?" Rainbow questioned again, forcefully this time.

Tails just shook his head, his answer receiving nods of affirmation from the rest of the group. Rainbow and Sonic looked to one another, their own worry setting in. "But if you didn't do it," Sonic started, "then who was it?"

"Hmmm," Rouge spoke, "I think we have someone who can shed some light on that."

She flew away from the group, floating just a foot away from the center chair just short of the control panel. She proceeded to turn the chair on its swivel with the toe of her boot, revealing a familiar face to the two newcomers. There in the seat, with his hands and shoulders bound to the chair with duct tape and a similarly made gag wrapped around his mouth, sat none other than Eggman. Judging by the strain of his specs on his brow, he wasn't the least bit happy. He spoke in muffled grunts as he shook the chair, to no avail.

"We found him unconscious before we even arrived," Rouge explained. "That's not even mentioning the badniks we found in here with him," she gestured to the side of the control panel, prompting everyone else to eye a small pile of scrap. Particularly, red and yellow scrap. "They already were destroyed."

Sonic suddenly started laughing; his hand clutched over his gut. "Man, aren't you in a bind, Eggman. It's a good look for you."

Eggman grunted angerly in response.

Rouge flew in front of him, gently taking the tap on his mouth between her fingers, only to rip it right off with sudden force.

"Aaaahhhhhhhhh!" Eggman roared in pain. "You have some nerve you little sneak! This is the last time I employ any help from you!"

"Wasn't gonna be offering it anyway," she chortled. She crumbled up the piece of tape, tossing it behind her as she walked off, the ball bouncing off the doctor's bald head. "He's all yours," she spoke to the rest of the group.

By now, the healing effects from Knuckles were finally coming to a close with Sonic and Rainbow. While they could still feel the aches and pains on every inch of their bodies, it was good to be able to move without causing themselves immense pain. They stood to their feet and hooves respectively, Sonic already stretching out his arms and legs. Rainbow, however, had another idea of stretches. With a gentle extension of her wings, she suddenly flew forward with great speed.

"This," she yelled, zooming right for Eggman. Before anyone knew it, she had socked him square across the cheek, his face contorting in shock and pain comically, "is for trying to turn me into a buckethead!"

She skidded to a stop on the other side of the chair, looking back at her source of frustration. Eggman was groaning loudly. He was dazed, to say the least, his head moving wobblily in place. She just blew on her hoof before seemingly polishing it on her chest fur; her smoke and gun per se, and she had used to great satisfaction.

"Well that one way to blow some steam, I guess," Knuckles shrugged.

"Heh, yeah," Sonic chuckled. "She beat me to it."

"Errrr…" Eggman groaned. "You're all insufferable…"

"I'll show you insufferable," he heard before feeling a powerful quake beneath his chair. He shook himself out of his stupor, now eyeing a certain pink hedgehog standing before him. Her hammer was in hand, smashed right into the steel floor. Her glare was as cold as ice, and it promptly froze over his blood. "You better start talking Eggman, before I take my little Piko Piko Hammer here and see if it was the fall to crack open Humpty Dumpty."

Eggman was quickly starting to sweat bullets at that statement. Normally he was the one doing the threatening, not the other way around. Plus, he knew full well that if this girl said it, she could easily go through with it. "You haven't even asked me anything yet!" he yelled in outrage. "What am I even supposed to answer?!"

"Well," Sonic spoke, "you can start with why your big fireworks display suddenly blew a gasket. We can work it out from there."

"You can't possibly be asking me such an idiotic question, not even someone like you!" Eggman roared.

This only proved to provoke Rainbow, the pegasus flying up to get right in the doctor's face with an angered glare. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Insolent…" he growled, but continued, "You should know exactly what happened up here! After all, it was your little friend that dared lay his hands on me!"

Everyone, Rainbow included, looked confused as to his statement. She looked back at the group, only to receive shrugs and strange glances toward Eggman. 'Little friend?'

However, Eggman went on without response from them. "I didn't realize you had brought a sixth companion with you! He just waltzed right in here without so much as a peep! The next thing I know a purple hedgehog is standing before me and disassembling my two compatriots over there!" He gestured with his head over to the two destroyed badniks. "Before I know it, I'm knocked out cold, only to wake up to you cretins tying me to my own chair!"

Rainbow perked up, quizzical in her looks. 'Purple hedgehog?' she thought. The only purple hedgehog she knew was…but…no. That wouldn't make a lick of sense. The only purple jerk of a hedgehog she knew was Zayn. But he wouldn't have a reason to do all this. Judging by the looks of everypony else, she could guess they didn't know of any other purple hedgehogs that she just hadn't met yet.

"I don't know where you're getting all of this Eggman," Knuckles challenged, "but we were the only ones to come up here. Besides, I'm sure we would've noticed a hitchhiker."

Sonic stood perplexed, curious. A third hedgehog? And he was having plenty of fun with just a second one too. He sighed. "Hey Colors," he questioned Rainbow, who looked to have been in deep thought. He wasn't above interrupting those thoughts, however. "Any friend of yours he's talking about?"

Rainbow broke away from her thoughts to look at her friend. Oh, shoot. "Umm, not a clue," she quickly said. She inwardly swore though. She was hoping he didn't notice her eyes intentionally looking away from his. Of course, she knew who it could be; she just didn't see how.

"I couldn't care less whether you were all pals or not," Eggman sneered. "You can see the results of his handiwork."

"Then I say give him a medal," Knuckles taunted. "He has good taste in punching bags if it's true."

Eggman just growled in a seething rage. As comical as it was to watch the big man waddle in place, there were now just more questions that needed answering. Rainbow, despite probably knowing more than anypony else here, was utterly brain dead. What did all of this mean? Ok…think… Zayn was obviously using Shadow for something. All that aura earlier was a dead giveaway. But it couldn't have been to stall her and Sonic if it turned out to be him who did all this anyway. She ran her hoof all down her face. This was soooooo confusing. Where was Twilight when you needed her?

A loud rumble was heard, immediately catching everyone's attention. It was only a small shake amid the flooring, but a strong enough one to cause their balance to shift. "What the heck?" Knuckles stated in wonder.

Another shake came, this time much stronger as everyone in the room started to tumble. The reached for the floor, taking to the air, even grabbing onto Eggman's chair; anything that would keep them up straight.

"What the hay is going on?!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"No idea—whoa!" Sonic shouted, nearly falling flat on his face.

Soon, the shaking stopped altogether, allowing everyone to collect themselves.

"Is everyone alright?" Tails asked, his head in a daze as he tried to stand straight.

"More or less," Rouge answered.

"Arrrggggg," Knuckles growled, stomping right back over to Eggman. "Ok tubby!" he threatened. "What did you just do?!"

"I had nothing to do with that, you stubborn little echidna!" Eggman rebuked.

Rainbow had to admit; she thought Knuckles was gonna pummel the doctor right there and then if his raised first was anything to go by. He was only stopped when a loud kerthunk sound radiated through the room. Their eyes all shot to the machine holding the Chaos Emeralds. It was…closing. To sliding halves of a dome covering snapped into place right before their eyes, closing the emeralds off from their view. Then, the whole machine started descending into the floor.

"Hey!" Knuckles shouted, leaving Eggman to rush over to where it was descending. Rainbow and Sonic immediately followed suit, rushing over in their respective blurs. But, it was too late. The machine had quickly retreated into the floor, a blast covering sealing the opening behind it.

"Shoot!" Sonic swore. He was the first to reach it, but even he had no time get inside before it closed.

"Where the hay did they go?!" Rainbow questioned, immediately starting to tap away at the blast door, looking for any kind of opening she could find. There were none, not even some kind of door handle like the unicorns back home would use.

A static reverb had now sounded passed by their ears. They heard Amy give off a small gasp.

"Hey," Rainbow questioned. "What is it now?"

"It's…" Tails trailed off, almost as if he was unsure how to answer that. From what they could see, however, he was looking right at the central monitor.

At this time, Rouge spoke up for him. "That's…Gerald Robotnik!"

"What?!" Eggman exclaimed. His grandfather?! On the monitor?! "Someone turn this thing around so I can see!"

No one answered.

"Did you hear me?! I said turn me around!"

"We heard you. We heard you," he heard Sonic wave off. "Give us a minute."

With a quieted growl, he simply shook his body to the left. At the very least, he would see if he could at least get a glimpse of what they were seeing. He writhed, scooted with his feet, finally putting in enough motion to see the monitor and the familiar face that it held. His grandfather…Gerald Robotnik.

The whole group was looking at the screen intently. The man on the screen…he was the spitting image of a much older Eggman. His mustache alone was a dead give away of their relation. His specs were much brighter though, giving him an image that more perfectly represented a good man of science. However, his surroundings were in very stark contrast. While the quality of this video was cruddy at best, one could still see that he was not only chained to a chair, his hands restrained behind his back and his white lab coat riddled with muck.

There was something else though…in the background. A plain concrete wall of a jail cell, one that Sonic especially recognized; a cell that he himself was locked in not long ago…a cell that was riddled with the ramblings of a madman.

Without a minute wasted, however, the man on the screen began to speak, his voice raspy and filled with dust. "This is a death sentence to every human being on Earth."

With a single sentence, this man changed the entire feel of the room. The words ran cold into them all, Eggman included.

"If my calculations are correct," he continued, "the Space Colony Ark…will impact the Earth in 27 minutes…and 53 seconds."

"It'll what?!" Sonic suddenly blared, a reaction that was carried throughout the room.

"What is this nutjob talking about?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Impact the Earth?!"

"All of you will be destroyed, along with your beloved planet Earth…"

There was another sudden shift in the floor below them as if the entire station was on the move.

"I plan to give you all a taste of my revenge once all the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected," Gerald stated with pride. "Once I initiate this program, it cannot be disabled. All of you ungrateful humans who took everything away from me will feel my loss and despair!"

There was silence, from both the video and the group. It was eerie, the sense of great dread acting as a domino effect as Amy was the first to fall to her knees. She, along with everypony else, looked at the recording of the old man with mixes of anger, confusion, fear, and disbelief. This couldn't be real…could it. Rainbow didn't want to believe so. After all that they had gone through just to get to this point…and it still wasn't over?! When was this going to end?!

"Is there anything else you want to say?" a new voice spoke from the recording, one who was out of sight from the camera.

Silence came again, the doctor looking as if he was deep in thought…or maybe even regret. "No…"

"Ready!" the new voice shouted again, the video starting to turn to grey static. "Aim!" As the final words drowned out from the corruption, the video suddenly ended.

"I…" Amy quivered, still on her knees and her hands brought up to her cheeks, almost like she was trying not to cry, "what is going on here?"

The shakes came again, nearly sending everyone to the floor.

"My grandfather," they heard, turning to the voice's owner, Eggman. He was looking at the screen with wonder behind his specs. Not out of admiration, however, but seemingly out of unwanted belief. "One of the greatest scientific minds in the entire world. But to see him like this…"

He was cut off by Knuckles' fist, the gloved hand slamming into the side of his chair. "I knew you were behind this somehow! Now you're gonna stop it."

"You best sit down with your leash on!" Eggman yelled back, unfazed by the threat. "If I had the chance, I'd have done this long ago!"

This time, it was Rainbow's turn to fly up to the man, hovering right in front of his face with readied hooves. "What're you talking about? You know something we don't?"

"Possibly," Eggman seethed through his teeth, still in anger about the pain in his left cheek from this pegasus. "If you could release me…"

"Yeah, not a chance buddy," Rainbow crossed her arms. Like she was gonna give this guy the chance to make a run for it now of all times.

"You really think we'd let you go?! After all you pulled?!" Knuckled growled.

"If you want to learn anything useful, I would suggest you do just that!" Eggman roared right back.

"Let's not be so hasty," Rouge intervened, making a point of walking between the two aggressors, putting herself between them and Eggman. "You never know what could be learned." She pulled out a small device from her glove, extending it out to reveal a tiny and deathly sharp blade. With it, she precisely started cutting through the tape on his wrists.

"Are you being serious right now?!" Rainbow yelled incredulously. "He's the bad guy here, remember?!"

"No joke!" Knuckles agreed. "Like I'm about to let you do whatever you wish with a prisoner!"

"It's not like I'm doing this without reason, you know," she sighed, not even parting them a glance.

"Yeah, I'm putting a stop to this!" Rainbow stated, immediately making her advance toward the bat…

…only to be stopped by a pull on her tail.

She looked down. It was Sonic. He was keeping a firm grip on her tail, his other hand on his hip in a nonchalant manner as he kept her in place. "Do you mind?!" Rainbow shouted at him. "Do you not care that she's about to let your biggest enemy go right in front of you?! He shot you out into space for fun!"

"Hey, calm down a little would ya?" Sonic spoke, giving her tail another slight tug. This prompted her to land next to him, at least for the moment. "You act like it's such a big deal," he smiled.

"Uhh, to me it kind of is!"

"Come on, Colors," Sonic eased, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think we could use every advantage we got here. If Egghead is offering to lend a hand, I say give him a shot and being a good guy. Besides, you really think he can outrun you if he decided to run for it?"

"You're joking," she deflated slightly.

"Not this time," he jested, flashing her a thumbs up.

She pouted, looking away in unease. Was this the best thing to do? After all that happened, she was worried about what he would try and pull. He already almost succeeded in killing Sonic once. She didn't want to give him the chance again. But in the end, she let out a heavy-ended sigh, giving in in a sulky fashion.

By now, Rouge had finished cutting the restraints. Eggman was free. He stood from the chair, rubbing the sore spots on his wrists. He looked weathered, but fresh all the same. He walked past them all. "Excuse me," he spat as he moved through them, the rest of the group still tense.

He reached the computer, fiddling with its controls as he searched through file after file. Rainbow had no idea how these things worked, but just from the looks of it, it wasn't something she would want to work with anytime soon. She doubted she could even work it properly with just her hooves. She grumbled. Not that she would want fingers either.

"There," Eggman stated, the highlight on screen enlarging before them as the file opened in a huge mix of encrypted numbers. "My grandfather's diary; documentation of what took place after an incident here 50 years ago." He backed away, allowing everyone else to see the screen as clear as he could.

Unlike the last entry, there was no video. There was only a single wavelength that was followed by audio in the background. Audio from Gerald once again. "I don't quite know what happened or what went wrong. Was it a mistake to create the ultimate life form? I thought that it would be something that would benefit mankind. But then the military guards landed on the colony that day."

'Ultimate life form?' Rainbow thought. 'He doesn't mean Shadow, does he?'

The video continued without giving her time to think properly. "They were sent to destroy the research project that I had been working on. My colleagues at the research facility, my granddaughter, Maria…

Rainbow's ears perked at that. 'Maria again?'

"I hope you are all safe."

The entry leaves in silence, moving onto another segment. "The colony was completely shut down, probably to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. The Ark was shut down under the premise that there had been an accident… I found Maria's name among those who died when the Ark was shut down…."

…what?

Did he say what she thinks he said? Was she really dead? She suddenly felt a chill go down her spine. She could only guess as to how old she was but…she could barely even fathom that… After all this time…Shadow…what….

"She meant everything to me," it continued, "and I couldn't bear the thought that she died because of my research. I lost everything. I had nothing more to live for…I went insane. All I could think about was to avenge her…somehow, someday. I got scared as I no longer was able to control my thoughts. All I could think about was that I wanted it all to end."

It shifted entries again. "Based on my original projections, I was able to complete my project, Shadow."

The drop of that name weighed heavy amidst the group. While it was no surprise to Rainbow, Rouge or Eggman, the effect it had on the others was all too visible.

"I designed its mind to be perfect, pure. I will leave everything to him. If you wish, release and awaken it, to the world. If you wish to fill the world with destruction…"

The entries all closed in unison.

"So…" Rouge spoke, the first to speak since the recording started, "that's why you released Shadow in the first place, wasn't it?"

Eggman nodded, his hand placed beneath his chin in thought. "Yes. He was the key to retrieving all seven Chaos Emeralds and activating the Ark. But if my grandfather's words speak true, then he must've had a far more insidious plan from the start."

"That's great and all," Rainbow started, annoyed, "but how are we supposed to stop the Ark from crashing into the Earth? Can this whole thing really destroy it all?"

"No," Eggman answered. "I don't know who it was who shut down the Eclipse Cannon, but when they did, they must've released all of the excess chaos energy from the core. If it were at full power, the impact would shatter the planet to pieces."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Sonic asked. "If the core is running on empty, all we need to do is jump on a shuttle and get off this thing before it blows."

"I don't think it would be that simple, Sonic," Tails broke in. The kid was in frantic thought, trying to piece it all together. "The Earth may not break apart during the impact, but that doesn't mean it won't have repercussions."

"You're quite right my two-tailed friend," Eggman affirmed. "If the Ark were to impact with the Earth at this speed and force, it would render the entire surface of the planet uninhabitable. No one would be left to walk it."

"Then we have to stop it before it reaches the Earth's atmosphere!" Tails concluded.

"Alright then you two," Knuckles crossed his arms. "Any ideas in those heads of yours'?"

Eggman was the first to speak. "Even though the energy from the core was released, it would still need a plentiful supply in order to move the station. That's where you'll find the Chaos Emeralds."

"And if we can reach the Chaos Emeralds," Tails continued, seeming to be on the same train of thought, "then…Knuckles!"

"Huh?" the echidna questioned. "What about me?"

"You're the guardian of the Master Emerald! If you can take it all the way down to the core, you may be able to use it to cancel out the Chaos Emeralds! If the station isn't receiving energy from them, we may be able to stop it!"

Knuckles looked to the Master Emerald. It…that could work. No matter how much power the emeralds had when they were all together, they still obeyed the will of the Master Emerald. If they could just get down there… "Yeah," Knuckles agreed, suddenly getting pumped up. "I think you're right! Heh, not bad, kid!"

"Then what are we sitting on our butts here for?" Sonic exclaimed, slamming his fist into his other hand. "Come on Team Sonic! We have a planet to save!"

Everyone cheered in unison, baring Eggman, who simply settled for a single nod. "The core is bound to be tricky to get to," Eggman stated, moving to look at the monitor. "If these readings are correct, it isn't just the core that is at work. So are my blasted badniks! The Ark has rewired their programming. They're forming a barrier between you and the core."

"All the more fun for us," Sonic spoke with confidence. "You and Tails handle whatever you can from here. We'll do what we do best and start smashing up your favorite toys."

"So, you truly do trust me Sonic?" Eggman goaded. "You never know if I might pull a fast one on you."

"Nah," Sonic waved it off. "I trust Tails to keep you under wraps more than anything. But I'll trust ya to look out for yourself."

Eggman growled in aggravation. But…he could not deny that part about him wishing to look out for himself. It was the only way any of them would survive this.

"Ok," Tails interrupted. "Then I and Eggman will do what we can to lower the security. That'll leave you, Rouge, Amy, and Rainbow to keep Knuckles and the Master Emerald safe."

"No need to worry, Tails!" Amy exclaimed with a new pep in her step. "We'll take care of it all the way through!"

Everyone nodded in affirmation. Rainbow was confident in everyone's abilities. After all, it was all their strengths working together that brought them this far. But she wasn't gonna lie to herself on this one. She was shaken. She had thought that it was all over from the moment the cannon had shut down. Only if they failed this time, none of them would survive the aftermath. She could feel her knees buckling behind her excited smile.

"Nervous?" she heard, turning to see Sonic. Just like her, he wore an ever-confident smile. The only difference is that she could tell his was genuine. Despite everything, he still hadn't given into despair. Geez, he was starting to make her look bad.

"Sonic?" she nervously began. "Do you think we can pull this off? Even after all that had happened?"

"Well yeah," he spoke as if it was already said and done. "If we don't the whole world is a goner. And hey, you ever get doubts about that, you raise that head high and move like you never have before. As long as you're moving forward, you'll always reach your destination."

She smiled at his words, this time in genuine. It was an ease to her heart, and she couldn't explain why. He spoke with so much certainty that it was dang near radiating off the guy. She was…warmed by it. She was still nervous, sure, but she could tell that as long as Sonic was driving them forward…they may have a chance.

"Man, since when did you have such a way with words, Blue Boy?" Rainbow jested in earnest.

"About the same time someone needed them," he chuckled, scratching his head in nervousness. "Kind of just made them up on the spot."

"If you're both quite done," Eggman interrupted, "we're on board a station that is rapidly losing altitude by the second. I suggest you all move it!"

"Don't sweat it Eggman," Knuckles heaved, walking over with the massive Master Emerald held over his shoulder. "This should all be a piece of cake. Alright you two," he said to Sonic and Rainbow, nodding at them, "lead the way."

"Way ahead of you!" Rainbow grinned widely, right before taking off toward the door at breakneck speed, leaving Sonic in the dust.

He stumbled from the force, but quickly righted himself. "Heh! Like I'm letting you hog all the glory before I can even get there!" He shot off right behind her, no intention of being left behind, especially by her.

"Sonic!" Amy yelled out, immediately running after him. "Wait!"

"Oh boy," Rouge sighed, but with hints of mild amusement. "We better get moving, or else we may never catch up."

"Just be sure you're up front," Knuckles warned, making it a goal to keep the Master Emerald leaned in any direction away from her. "I'm not letting you out of my sight, you hear?"

"Honey," she brushed her hand across his chin once again, "you can't keep your eyes off me as it is." With that, she flew off in pursuit of the others, leaving Knuckles there redder than he should be and his mouth hanging open. Hehe. Score 3 to 0.

"But—I—you—" he stuttered, but immediately forced it down to a loud growl. "Come back here!" he yelled as he chased her down.

And with that, there was now only two left in the control room. Tails sighed to himself. Now that they were gone, he was starting to feel he made a bad choice with grouping some of them together. Well, there was no helping it now. There was no time to work out the small details. "Ok, time to get to work," he stated, moving right over to the control hub. If there were any chance they could make their travel any easier, he and Eggman would find out how.

He took a bit of a pause. Whoa. That sounded a bit odd now that he thought about it. Working with possibly their greatest enemy up till now…

"Oooohhh!" Eggman chortled, moving right to his own side of the control hub as he quickly began running through all the encryptions. "Isn't this splendid? Two of the world's greatest minds, if I must say, working together for the better of everyone. I have to say; this should be quite an interesting development."

"I hope so," Tails solemnly agreed. "As long as we can give them the time we need…"

'Sonic. Rainbow. You're both the best we've got right now,' he prayed to himself. 'Please...get there in time…"