Interdimensional conflict was the specialty of all those connected with Team JAG, sharing the common ground of peaceful existence for all those sentient and innocent. Unfortunately, simultaneous battles done so by the Brotherhood of Darkness has not only called the attention for any and all available heroes and allies, but cutting the search efforts for the missing Tails and Cosmo down a severe percentage. The leaders of the heroic syndicate, the Master Four, had come up with a plan to help the search more while each battle in each different dimension took place, involving the seven Chaos Emeralds.
Sonic and his friends had three in their possession, soon four after meeting with the Chaotix trio. Hours would pass until the word of the emerald search spread its way to Synthesis, and a total of six emeralds were collected together at the Seedrian utopia. Waiting on a few straggling searchers to return with an update on the last emerald, everyone else discussed the progress that was made.
“I don’t think I’ve ever worked so fast to find the Chaos Emeralds before,” Amy said, sounding slightly tired in her voice.
“Me neither,” Cream added with a long yawn to follow. Many of Team Sonic stayed up as long as they could to keep searching, anything if it meant finding their missing friends. “With all the emeralds, we may have the chance to find Tails and Cosmo.”
“Here’s to hoping, Creamy,” Vector said, and showed her his fingers crossed for good luck. He then whispered to his team of sleuths “I can’t believe we got roped into this. I haven’t slept in a full day.”
“We got roped into this after you offered our services, and with a 99% discount,” Charmy pointed out.
Espio didn’t respond at all, just sitting on the floor in sleep meditation, thinking about how much of a pain his fellow detectives could be at times, but always try to have their best interests at heart.
Knuckles, standing closest to the emeralds with his arms crossed, openly thought “What’s taking those two so long? You’d think at their speed that they’d be back by now.”
“They still had a lot of ground to cover that was never checked out yet, and that was as far as the other side of the planet,” stated Maria. “Sonic and Shadow are doing the best they can, and they’re the best to try and find the last emerald right now.”
“Hate to argue with you about that, but superfast feet doesn’t guarantee an easy hunting trip,” Rouge said, “but who knows. Both of those boys have done things like this before, so let’s see them pull it off again.”
Standing a distance away from the group, Earthia, the leader of the Seedrians, stood out in the open field and looked out towards the direction of her missing daughter’s home. All she has done since the occurrence was try to lead her people to the best of her abilities, and having them help in the search efforts for the emeralds, and the couple they all were searching so hard for. At the same time, her behavior was different and more direct than other times, and given the circumstances at hand, her people just respectfully obeyed.
Kim Possible, who was staying at Synthesis with her fiancé Ron to help in any way possible, stayed close to keep the Seedrian leader company. Allowing so much silence to pass, one of them finally spoke up.
“You know she’s faced much worse than being lost. I’m sure Cosmo and Tails are fine,” Kim said.
“That is all I hope for,” Earthia said in return, not making eye contact. “It is not the first time my daughter has gone somewhere without a choice, but it is still unfair for her.”
“We all know that too,” the Middleton icon replied, and put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Earthia, she’s accomplished so much since the first war with the Metarex. We all have.”
“But will it ever end, at least for longer than just a matter of months, or weeks, or days? Dr. Eggman was correct after the second war, for as long as the Brotherhood is out there, who knows what might happen next,” the Seedrian leader stated sadly.
Kim tried to think of the best response she could, but all she could say was “That’s why we’re here.”
Two trails of color could be seen coming from two distances, one blue and one black with small traces of red. Finally returning to Synthesis were Sonic and Shadow after searching across all corners of the planet for the remaining emerald. They both returned at the same time, greeted with hopeful expectations that their mission was accomplished. “Alright, you guys are back,” Ron said enthusiastically. “Where’s the last emerald?”
“I couldn’t find it anywhere,” Shadow replied, “even after trying to sense Chaos energy, and checking the Doctor’s base, just in case. But there was no sign of it at all.”
“At least you tried, Shadow. I’m happy that you did all you could,” Maria said to him, trying to put positivity into him.
Everyone’s attention then turned to Sonic with hope he had what they needed. His expression, however, was far from what they expected, for instead he crossed his arms and showed a concerned look. “Sonic,” Amy said to him, “please tell us found the Chaos Emerald. Please tell us…”
“I’m sorry Amy, but I didn’t,” he answered. “I searched as high and low as I could, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. If we all tried, and Shadow and I tried our best everywhere on top of it, then that tells me…”
“The Chaos Emerald is not on Mobius,” interrupted Earthia.
This thought began to bother them all the same as it had the hedgehogs. Having nearly all the emeralds in their possession, but only one still alludes them, and they began to fear the worst. “You don’t think the Metarex somehow still have it, do you?” Cream stated, asking the big question on their minds.
“It’s a possibility, but I hope that’s not the case,” Kim said next. “There’s been no signs of the Metarex since the battle, but I would believe that what happened to Tails and Cosmo almost happened to them, given what I know about Chaos Control.”
“Well what we all know is that after Chaos Control, the seven emeralds disperse to seven different places, and wait until whoever finds them takes them. So if it’s not here or with Dark Oak, then where could it have gone to?” Knuckles asked.
“You got me, Knuckie, but wherever it is, I bet it couldn’t have gotten too far away,” Rouge stated.
“I hope so. Without it, we can’t use the complete power of the emeralds to power the scanner," Chris added. Silence fell for a couple moments as the others thought about what to do next, and he spoke again by saying “Perhaps it’s best to take the emeralds to Team JAG Headquarters and have Dr. Eggman use them while we still try to find the last one. That way some of the energy will be used.”
“That’s probably the best way to go,” Espio said in agreement.
“Right,” Sonic said, agreeing as well. “Why don’t you go and take care of that, Chris, while we figure out what to do next here?”
Chris agreed to do so, and was offered to use the dimensional gate Synthesis had by Earthia, so he left through that. For now, none of them knew what to do next, after all the effort they’ve put into finding the emeralds already and have run out of their best ideas to try and find the last one. The questions that flooded their consciousnesses made them ask themselves-
What happened to the last Chaos Emerald? Without it, could the remaining emeralds power the interdimensional scanner well enough for its current use as other worlds fought numerous battles? What if the emerald… wasn’t on Mobius? And to their surprise, why was Mobius seemingly peaceful as multiple dimensions were under attack?
They couldn’t answer all their questions, but hiding himself on the planet, Dark Oak would shed them of what ‘peace’ they had, still waiting for just the right moment…