Fanfiction:The Metarex Saga

Hello everyone, Smash The Echidna here. I decided a while back to turn my old roleplay into a fanfic. For those of who who don't know, this is essentially Season 3 of Sonic X if it happened with my cast of characters instead. (interestingly enough, I felt it was best to portray it in the timeline of my own third season.) Unfortunately it didn't get far enough for anybody else's characters to be of any importance to the plot, so this will only contain people from my series. (I wouldn't use anyone else's characters anyway unless I really feel comfortable doing so/have the owners' permission.) Still, I left a few contributions from others in, so kudos and credits to them.

And yes, this is still Non-Canon.

Prologue 

Somewhere within the vast, empty space, a small space ship shaped as a star shot across the cosmos. It was enveloped with a bright glow as it flew through the empty sea of stars like a comet. Its course was unknown, but it was bound to pass by a certain familiar planet...

Somewhere far from its location, was a world everyone knew as Mobius. Just outside of the planet, several pieces of scrapped metal floated about, almost like an asteroid field. The sound of crunching steel followed by small explosions caused by a bright golden streak flying by, striking several bronze colored machines and destroying them, only added more scrap to the field. The golden streak slowed to a stop to reveal a golden colored echidna, enveloped by a powerful aura. He was panting heavily, and clutching his bruised arm. "And now for you..." He said, looking forward with a determined expression. Floating in front of him, was a massive and heavily armored figure, with a long split cape. The figure held up a large sword, nearly as big as he was, and charged toward the echidna. The two flew at each other and struck simultaneously. The sheer power of their blows caused a bright flash in between them. The echidna soon found himself being thrown backwards, while the figure remained in place.

"It's useless. Hand over the Chaos Emeralds." The figure demanded calmly, yet coldly. "If you surrender, I will spare your life."

"Hah…you’re even tougher than you look." The echidna remarked through heavy breaths. "But that won't stop me...If you want them so badly...you'll have to take them from me!" He bolted forward with a blast of energy, closing in on the figure quickly. The figure flew forward as well, holding his sword behind him as they approached each other.

At that moment, a bright light flashed in the distance. Seemingly out of nowhere, a large object resembling a comet shot towards them. The echidna and the figure reached attacking distance, and dealt their blows. However, the echidna managed to make it past the figure's sword, and strike his side. At nearly the same time, the comet slammed into the echidna and the figure, causing both of them to fly back. From smashing into them, it swerved off course, and fell down towards the planet below. The echidna was sent sprawling away as the 7 Chaos Emeralds suddenly scattered from him. He managed to regain control of himself, and faced the figure. He felt the power quickly drain from him, as he began to revert back to normal. His fur slowly faded from bright gold to deep blue. He began to fall back down to the planet below after the comet, losing consciousness along the way.

The figure silently watched as the two fell to the earth. Seeing the emeralds scatter was not what he’d anticipated. The fight however, proved one theory of his correct. He felt his side, noticing that there was a very large tear in his armor with red electricity sparking from it.

"Just as I expected..." He said to himself. "The chances of winning against him head on are slim, huh?" He looked upwards. "A Notification to the entire universe: Search for the Seven Chaos Emeralds, and obtain them. This is the top priority." He announced. "We will switch the operation to Phase 2. Troops, come and seize the Planet Eggs...And activate the Seed." He began to drift away from the planet, as another large being with robot like armor came from behind. It headed towards Mobius, ready to follow through with its orders...





Chapter 1 - A Messenger from the Meteor Shower
It was a cool autumn night, and most people would have turned in for the day. But some people stayed up, because there was to be a meteor shower tonight. A few people gathered early in the park of Green Flower City, wanting to get a good view of the shooting stars. There were seven of them; a purple female hedgehog, a silver, long haired fox holding two silver colored chao; one being a cat chao, a red cat holding a video camera along with a cyan cat chao, and a dark golden hedgehog boy. They had gathered at the top of the hill in the center of the park, looking up at the sky. The cat and the chao were both busy setting up a tripod to place the video camera.

"Wow, a real shower of shooting stars..." The fox said, letting go of her chao. "I've never even seen one before. This is exciting!" She looked at the cat, her eyes sparkled with excitement. "Gizmo, when will we be able to see it?"

"Hm, maybe when it gets a little darker." The cat said, not even looking up from the tripod.

"A meteor shower only appears once every 500 years, right?" The purple hedgehog asked, standing at the top of the hill.

"I'm not entirely sure that's correct, but it might be." Gizmo said, finally snapping the last piece in place. "Alright, it's all set, Kitty." The cat chao then helped him put the camera on and adjust it in the right direction.

"Still...it'd be perfect if you watched it with someone special..." She said, almost drifting off into a daydream as she spoke.

"Come to think of it, I'd expect at least Speedy to have showed up." Gizmo muttered. "Wonder where he is?"

"I'm also wondering where the others are." She added. "Not just Speedy, though I really wish he were here, but Smash, Splice, Tab, everyone else."

"I kinda hoped we could all watch this together..." The fox said. She then looked towards the camera, seeing her cat chao looking through the lens. "Lilia, please don't touch that." She said. The chao simply blinked at her, curiously. She flew back towards the fox, while the other chao flew next to Kitty.

"Heh, well there's one guy here who's spending some quality time with "someone special" to him." Gizmo chuckled, looking at the chao couple in front of him holding hands.

The dark golden hedgehog was silent the whole time, until he noticed something in the sky. He pointed upwards and broke his silence. "It's starting..!"

Elsewhere, several people had taken to watching the skies from the highest place they know of: | Angel Island. They gathered within a small village to watch the shooting stars. Amongst them were three cyan hedgehogs, all standing together. "Look, Kyle! It's starting!" One of the three exclaimed, pointing her finger towards the sky.

Kyle, her twin brother who had been distracted adjusting his gloves, quickly looked up. He managed to catch sight of the star she pointed at before it disappeared. The other villagers looked up into the sky as several more shooting stars began to fly across the sky. "Such beauty..." He said softly, as a small smile spread across his face. "It is a shame that something such as this happens so rarely. This may be the only time in life that we would witness a meteor shower."

The older hedgehog behind the two smiled gently. "I like to believe that is what makes it so beautiful." She said. "If we saw a meteor shower every so often, we would be used to it and it wouldn't be nearly as big of an event. Wouldn't you agree?"

Kyle and his sister both nodded. "That's true..." He said. "I suppose we should count ourselves lucky to have lived to see this."

“Look, Splice! It's...” The pale blonde hedgehog's voice trailed off as she gazed up in awe at the starry sky from the rooftop of a house in the middle of the city. Her red and blue companion looked up almost immediately, anxious to catch sight of it. “It's amazing...”

“I know, right?” Splice agreed. “I've always wanted to see a meteor shower!”

“Until I came here, I never even knew they even existed...” She said.

“Wow, really? I guess they never had anything like that in the Angel Kindom?” He asked. The girl shook her head.

“I don't really know.” She answered, thinking back to her times living in the Angel Kingdom. Cymbeline, or Cy', as Splice called her, was a half-angel, half hedgehog from another realm known as the Angel Kingdom. Now she was living in Mobius with her friends and, of course, her fiancé sitting beside her. “If there ever were shooting stars back home, I wasn't around to see them.” She looked down from the sky, setting her gaze on Splice. “But, I'm glad my first time seeing them was with you.”

Splice's cheeks reddened as he smiled at her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and let her lean on his. “Yeah, me too.”

Somewhere on a remote island, a familiar scientist was walking out of his large laboratory, and setting foot on the beach. He had a towel slung over his shoulder, and was just about ready to begin jogging. He glanced up into the sky and noticed the meteor shower had begun. He stopped to watch it for a few seconds, muttering something to himself in the process.

As the group watched the stars on the hill, a red hedgehog carrying a picnic basket came running towards them from behind. "Hey, guys! Sorry I'm late!" he said, slowing his pace. "I was making us some sandwiches. I can’t believe it started without me!”

"We were wondering when you’d show up, Speedy!" Gizmo said. He looked through his camera, making sure that it was recording the star-filled sky. "Good, we're getting all of this."

"I'm glad you could make it, Speedy." The silver fox said, smiling warmly at him before looking back up at the sky. The purple hedgehog hugged him from the side, grinning at him. He hugged her back, smiling warmly.

"I knew you'd make it in time." She said. Meanwhile, Kitty was a little more interested in what kind of sandwiches he made, and began looking around in his basket while he was still holding it.

Speedy’s gaze then shifted to the sky, his eyes widening. "Wow! This is awesome! I've never seen a meteor shower before!" He put down the basket and got a few sandwiches out of it and sat back down. "Here, Violet." he said, giving one to the girl. She accepted wholeheartedly.

"Thank you." She said. She sat next to him, and looked back up at the sky. Kitty went and helped himself to a sandwich out of the basket, and looked over at Speedy.

"Hm..? That's strange..." Gizmo muttered, standing up and looking over the camera at the sky. "Guys, look at that one over there." He said, pointing off into the distance. He quickly knelt back down and adjusted the camera to catch it. "There's one star that looks like it's falling down to the earth. It's pretty far away."

Off in the distance they could see a single star falling down towards the horizon. It looked as if it were going to fall into the ocean, far from the city's beach.

Speedy quickly looked up to where he was pointing in the sky, seeing it immediately. "Hey, you're right. It looks like its heading toward the ocean." He shuffled around in his pockets for a pair of binoculars. Not finding any, he scowled and looked back up at the sky.

As the star fell from the sky, descending towards the ocean, another star caught Gizmo's attention. "Look at that one." He said, pointing up again. The star appeared to be staying in place, gradually growing bigger by the second.

"That's strange...Why is it...?" Violet suddenly gasped, "Wait, that star looks like it's coming right towards us!" She exclaimed. Everybody's eyes slowly widened as they realized that it really was coming straight towards them. "Look out!" Gizmo cried out.

"HIT THE DIRT!!" Speedy yelled before tackling Violet out of the way, sending them both rolling down the hill. Everyone else scrambled out of the way, and the star shot right over their heads. The camera on the tripod spun wildly, soon falling over on its side. The star crashed at the far end of the park.

Gizmo stood up at the bottom of the hill, shaking his head as he got a hold of himself. "I-Is everyone alright?" He called out. Kitty peeked out from behind a bush with his family. He and Krysi looked shocked, but Lilia's eyes were swirling around with dizziness.

"We're fine over here!" Violet called out as she and Speedy made it back over the hill.

"So are we!" Crystal called out from the other side of the hill.

Speedy looked down to where the star crashed. "That was no normal star..." He said. There was a large crater next to a fallen tree, and a huge cloud of smoke coming out of it. "C'mon, lets go check it out!"

Everyone rushed over to the crash-site, and looked into the crater. They saw a star-shaped spaceship inside. It had done a nose-dive crash, and the hatch was open. "That ship...It can't be..." Violet gasped softly.

"It Is!" Gizmo exclaimed, pointing down at the small, cyan figure resembling a ball lying unconscious on the ground. He jumped down into the crater and slid towards the little alien. Everyone else followed immediately. Gizmo bent down next to him, and turned him over. He had landed on what appeared to be his hat; a long blue cap with a star on the end. "He's still breathing, but he's injured." Gizmo said. He looked up at Speedy. "Speedy, your house is the closest one to here. Could you hurry on ahead and tell them what's going on?"

"Right!" Speedy climbed out of the crater and rushed back home.

"Wait for me, I'm coming too!" Violet called out as she hurried after him.

Gizmo looked back down at the puffball, and lifted him into his arms. "Crystal, Zap, Could you get his equipment that he dropped?" He asked. The two looked down and noticed his hat, along with two swords in their sheathes. They picked them up and climbed out of the crater.

Splice and Cymbeline stood at the top of the roof, looking at the dark cloud of smoke rising from the park. “What on earth was that?” Cy' asked, nearly frazzled from the loud explosion earlier. The two nearly leaped off the whole house from the shock.

“Did a bomb go off or did something crash land over there?” Splice added to the question.

“Did one of the stars make it to the ground?”

“I don't think so; they usually burn up in the atmosphere...” Splice scratched his head. “But then again, a lotta crazy stuff happens around here, so...” It was at that moment when Splice realized his shadow was growing taller. Cymbeline's, too. Eyes widening, he slowly turned around to see a bright light headed right toward them. “Oh GOSH!” He yelped. Cymbeline barely had time to react to his cry. “Cy', get down!” He pounced her from the side as another comet came blazing over their heads, just barely grazing the tip of the roof. The two tumbled down to the bottom of the roof and over the edge. Splice managed to grab hold of the ledge with one hand and Cy's arm with the other. She looked up at him, dangling from his grasp in total shock.

“Splice, what happened!? What was that!?” She cried out.

“I think a shooting star really DID make it through! And it nearly hit us, too!” He replied hastily.

They both glanced beyond the house just as a huge explosion took place in the dead center of the street. The following quake shook the roof out of Splice's grasp, leading to their fall.

“Ghaaa!” He yelled. The two landed in a couple of bushes, right up against the base of the house. With snaps and cracks from twigs and branches, they found themselves staggering out onto the ground.

“A-are you okay?” Cymbeline asked, shakily.

“I-I've had worse falls.” Splice muttered. “What about you? I didn't hurt you did I?”

“No, I'm alright.” She said. “More importantly...”

After regaining their composure, Splice and Cymbeline rushed out onto the street and found a large crater in the center of an intersection, almost right outside of Splice's property. Fortunately there was no traffic in sight, but the road would be completely closed off by morning. They walked to the edge of the crater, and collectively gasped at what they saw. “It-It's a...”

“A spaceship!?” Splice exclaimed. “And there's someone down there, too!”

Right at the bottom of the crash-site was a small, one-seater space pod, and a little girl of an unfamiliar species lay unconscious in front of it. Without wasting another second, Splice jumped down and slid to the bottom of the pit, with Cy' following after him. He knelt beside the girl and turned her over on her back in his arms. “She's hurt, but she's still breathing.” He said as Cymbeline caught up. “Let's bring her back inside.”

Cy stared down at the girl, unsure of how to feel about the sudden rush of events. “Is she...an alien?” She asked.

“I think so...”

Lying on a bed in an unknown facility, a blue echidna was just starting to regain consciousness. His eyes slowly struggled to fully open, until he came to realize something that made them snap wide open. He sat up quickly, and looked around. He had no idea where he was. It looked like some sort of laboratory, but the room was set up like a hospital. "Finally awake?" Came a voice from the other side of the room. The echidna looked over to his side, and saw the last person he expected to see.

"Eggman?" He asked in disbelief.

"You seemed deeply injured when I found you at the beach." The doctor said. "This is pretty tight."

''Dr. Eggman was jogging across the beach, beginning his new exercise program. He found it to be the best time to jog, under the night sky lightened by shooting stars. He then stopped as he noticed a blue echidna, washed up at shore. He was cut up, bruised, burnt, and overall in terrible condition. ''

"I don't know what happened, but I'd feel guilty if you died around my neighborhood." He said. He then put his hand to his chest with a wide smile. "You should thank my golden heart, which would even save an enemy!" He then laughed heartily.

The echidna scratched his head, unsure how to feel about the whole thing. "He would show compassion for anybody." One of the doctor's robots said.

"Though I don't really understand the meaning behind it." Another robot added.

‘You and me both.’ The echidna thought. He looked up as another small robot with a jet pack descended in front of him with a cup full of hot coffee.

"Why were you in such bad condition?" It asked.

The echidna opened his mouth to answer, but stopped as a flashback of his previous battle played back in his mind. "...I've got no time to waste here." He stood up quickly, so quickly that he accidentally knocked the robot's cup out of his hands and onto his face, splashing hot coffee all over it. "Er, sorry about that." He jumped off of the bed and walked up to Eggman.

"Smash?" Eggman started to say.

"Thanks for the help, but I gotta head out." He said. "I've got some unfinished business to take care of..." He then rushed out of the room, leaving them all behind.

Eggman leaned back in his chair, looking somewhat concerned. ''I'm curious as to what happened to him, and how he ended up here. But now I'm wondering....what shall we do now? ''He thought.

Smash arrived in the hangar of Eggman's facility, and looked around. He found what appeared to be an escape pod and hopped in. "Not entirely sure how to operate this thing, but..." He muttered to himself. ‘Hm....If I set the coordinates here, then maybe...’ He began to type the location he wanted to fly to on a touchpad screen. The hatch closed above him, and the small air craft flew outside. He soon got a good look at the shooting stars. "Wow...To think that all this happened on a night like this." He said quietly. ‘''Maybe it's a sign...? Hmm..''.’

"nngh..." The ball shaped alien began to stir in the bed. He was resting in Speedy's bedroom after being rescued by him and the others. Hours had passed by since then, and the meteor shower had stopped. It was well after mid-night by now. Slowly, his eyes began to open, and he sat up. "Where...?"

"He's awake!" Violet exclaimed.

"Thank goodness!" Crystal said, with a sigh of relief. "Are you alright?" She walked towards the bed's side.

He looked around the room, his vision slowly clearing up from being a blur of light. "...I-I think so…Wait." His eyes widened, and he looked around at the people near him. "Crystal? Violet? Speedy, and Gizmo?" He gasped. "I'm back on Mobius...?"

"Yep." Speedy said. "Were you not trying to come back? Where were you trying to go, Frost?"

"More importantly, what happened to you?" Gizmo asked. "It's not like you to crash like that."

Frost shook his head. "I'm...not even sure in the first place." He said. "Something hit me as I was coming out of the warp drive, and I found myself careening down here. Everything went dark shortly afterward; the whole ship was spinning around so I must have fainted." He rubbed the side of his head, and soon noticed that his hat was gone. "Hey, where-"

"I put it to wash." An older female hedgehog answered from the doorway. "It had gotten quite dirty after the crash." She said.

"Oh. Thank you, Ma'am." Frost said. "Oh! I remember, now!" He jumped up to his feet, but soon felt a sharp pain on his side.

"Don't try to move too much." Violet warned him. "You still need some rest."

Frost shook his head. "I don't have much time. Something happened to Solo Star." He said.

"Solo Star?" Speedy asked. "That was your home planet, right? What do you mean "Something Happened" to it?"

"This gigantic robotic monster came down from space." He said. "It started destroying everything. I tried to stop it, but my attacks barely even phased it..."

Everyone's eyes widened at this. "Giant robotic monster? What in the world..?" Gizmo tried to think of anything that could be related to it.

"It seemed like it was trying to excavate something out of the ground. Whatever it was, it found it and tried to run off." He continued. "It was at that moment when I realized that I couldn't let it get away. In almost an instant, everything around me began to--" He stopped suddenly, his eyes fixated on the window.

"Everything began to...what?" Speedy asked, quietly. Frost didn't answer, and walked towards the window. He hopped up onto the desk near it and pulled back the curtains enough for him to see. His expression changed to a look of terror. "I-It's here..." He said bleakly.

Everyone looked towards the window, and gasped when they saw a large robot-like being descending from the sky along the horizon. It was far away from the city, past the beach and over the ocean. They could see Angel Island floating in the sky, and it seemed to be the destination of the robot.

"Oh my gosh..." Speedy said.

As Smash was headed back towards Green Flower City, he saw Angel Island in view, and was soon going to pass it. He smiled at the sight, thinking about how everyone was doing back there. He took his eyes and mind off of it, remembering his current mission. He needed to call a meeting at his house, and inform everyone of the mysterious space army he battled above the planet.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. He glanced up, and saw a massive robot-like monster descending down towards the island. "What the Crap!?" He exclaimed. He then realized; it was part of that same army. "W-What are they doing here? The Chaos Emeralds aren't on this planet anymore! Unless...no, they want the Master Emerald, don't they?" He punched a few buttons on the computer screen, causing the pod to fly upward. "Well I won't let them!" He pounded the glass above him, shattering the hatch to pieces. He leaped out of the pod, falling down towards the edge of Angel Island.

Then the robot touched down.

The entirety of the floating mass of land shook as a result, jarring anyone who was in the throes of the subconscious back into reality. Smash had just landed on the edge of the island merely seconds before it did. The following quake had caused him to lose his balance and nearly fall off. He fell to his hands and knees, trying to hold out until the quake ended. It didn't last long, fortunately, and he stood back up. "I might be too late..." He looked up and saw the robot had already landed somewhere in the forest. He ran into the forest, hoping to stop it in time.

Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the village of Tillia were all awakened at once, terrified of the quake that struck their homes. The ones outside, however, were even more terrified when they found that they could see the enormous robot in the horizon. Kyle, being the village guardian, was the first to take action. "Just what is this…a steel beast…?" He looked back at the villagers and raised his hand. "Everyone, stay here and get to shelter! I shall investigate further!" He ordered. Everyone obeyed, except for his sister. Knowing that she wanted to come with him, he gestured for her to follow before running off to higher grounds.

Chapter 2 - Attack on Angel Island
The robot had landed in the forest, a little ways from the shrine of the Master Emerald, which was in clear sight. Knuckles had woken up while it was descending, and was staring at it in shock. "A metal...Monster...?" He stammered, slightly. Suddenly, a bright red light turned on within its single "eye". Just as the light finished turning on, it spoke in a loud, yet strangely humanoid male voice. "Planet Egg acquired. Beginning the removal." It said, to no one in particular.

"What..?" Before Knuckles could decipher what that meant, the robot's eye sparked with red electricity, which shot out in several different directions, tearing down and through the trees of the forest. In only a couple of seconds, he had started a forest fire in 5 different spots. Knuckles was left with his jaw hanging open in shock. "W-What is this guy? Is he trying to destroy the forest!?" He exclaimed. Without a second thought, he leaped down from the top of the shrine, and rushed towards the robot.

The flames had spread quickly, and the sky was filled with black smoke within seconds. Birds fled their nests and all the other wildlife ran for their lives. The robot-like figure continued its assault on the forest without restraint. “Hey! Stop!” Knuckles demanded. He made a mighty leap from the top of a large tree and wound up a powerful punch. His fist slammed against the front of the titan's shoulder with the force to completely destroy the regular badniks he commonly fought. His eyes snapped wide open as he realized his hand stopped harmlessly against the steel armor, not even denting it.

The monster retaliated by swatting him away like a pest with his other hand. Knuckles yelled in pain, flying several feet away. He managed to pull off a backflip and land on his feet, skidding back even further. He clenched his fists and glared back up at the enemy, letting out a frustrated grunt.

Then, something else came out and struck the steel beast. A cyan hedgehog wielding a bright golden sword tried a similar tactic, but ultimately failed as his weapon merely bounced back off. He too was swatted out of the air. The swordsman landed near enough to Knuckles for him to recognize him. “Kyle!”

“I'm not hurt.” The guardian of Tillia said.

“Neither is he.” Growled the Master Emerald guardian. They stood together, looking at the robot destroying the forest. “What is that guy?”

Kyle shook his head, “I haven't a clue. I have never seen anything like it.”

“Well, whatever it is, we have to stop it!” Knuckles made another dash toward it. “Cover me, Kyle!”

“Understood!” Kyle followed after, positioning his sword for an attack.

Knuckles lunged at the robot again, this time aiming for its chest. A black orb lay in the center of the robot's abdomen; they quickly deduced that this could be a weak spot. Now the metal monster had its attention on them. He swung at Knuckles before he even reached him. However, his hand was met by Kyle's blade—which did absolutely nothing to slow it down. Both of them were smacked into a tree.

Just then, three star-shaped missiles crashed into the monster's face, resulting in a large explosion. A yellow starship flew by overhead as the two guardians landed back on the ground. “Knuckles! Kyle!” Gizmo's voice sounded from above.

“Gizmo!? It can't be!” Kyle called back, shocked to see the ship he'd thought left Mobius for good two years ago.

Inside the starship, Gizmo, Violet, Speedy and Frost were all seated, with Frost in control. He piloted the ship around for a 180,   firing the ship's laser cannons at the backside of the robotic menace. “Just what in the world is that thing!?” Speedy exclaimed, staring at it from the window.

“It's a threat to the entire universe as far as I'm concerned.” Frost answered bluntly.

“Gizmo! Do you have any idea what this beast is?” Kyle shouted from below.

“My guess is as good as yours!” The cat replied through the ship's speaker. “One thing for sure, it doesn't look like we're doing any damage to it.”

“Then I suppose I will have to try casting a spell!” Kyle declared. “I will need some time, so hold it down for me!”

“Got it!” Frost steered the ship around for another attack. Kyle's heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice.

It's true...Frost has returned!

 

“This is the last thing I expected to be doing tonight.” Splice remarked. In his arms, he carried a fully conscious, green plant-resembling alien girl high above the ocean, while they both were being held up by Cymbeline, whose exposed wings flapped harder than she was used to. Splice attempted to help ease the load by using his pyrokinetic power to propel them upward via fiery jet streams from his feet. The three of them were almost to Angel Island, and they could already see the battle taking place. “What in the heck is that thing, anyway?”

“Will we make it in time?” Cymbeline worriedly asked, watching the smoke rise from the forest, which was burning bright orange.

Splice gritted his teeth, fearing the worst. “Hang on, guys...just wait for us a little bit longer..!”

The girl looked up at them, feeling even more concerned than they did. Some time earlier, she awoke in Splice's bed all patched up. She looked around the room upon hearing voices, and was startled to find a small family of hedgehogs watching over her.

“You're finally awake.” Splice said, looking relieved. “You crashed like a meteorite in the middle of the street; it's amazing you're still in one piece!”

The girl began to sit up, slightly wincing in pain as she did so. “Don't strain yourself; you shouldn't move around too much in your condition.” An older, dark red hedgehog spoke. He was known as Burn, and he was Splice's father. The newcomer smiled weakly at him, turning slightly to face everyone standing at the side of the bed.

“Um...sorry for asking, but...” Cymbeline started, “Are you...from another world?”

“Mm.” The girl nodded, almost silently.

“I see...”

“I'm Splice.” The red and blue hedgehog introduced, “And these are my mom, my dad, and well, my fiance.”

“Nice to meet you.” Cy said. “I'm Cymbeline.”

“My name is Burn.” His father said.

“Aura.” The mother finished. “You're welcome to stay as long as you like, but could you please tell us your name?”

“I'm...” The girl suddenly stopped herself, cupping her hands at her mouth. Her expression saddened and her gaze lowered as she covered half of her face with the blankets of the bed. “No...”

“Huh?” Splice's eyebrow cocked upward. “What's wrong? You can't tell us?”

“I'm sorry.” She looked up at them, “The one named Smash the Echidna is here on this planet, right? I came to tell him something very important”

“HUH?” All four of them reacted collectively. “Wait, you came for Smash? Seriously?” Splice asked, bewildered.

“H-how does someone from space know...” Aura's question trailed off.

The girl was somewhat surprised by their reactions. “Do you know him?” She asked.

“Well, yeah. Smash is our friend.” Splice said.

“Friend...?”

“Yeah. But, Smash has been out of town for a few days. I have no idea where he went.” Splice scratched his head.

“You can talk to us, though!” Cymbeline offered. “We can always tell him when he gets back, or we could call him, or...”

“I'm sorry...” The girl apologized again. Cy's offer fell flat.

“So...does that mean you won't tell anyone but Smash about this 'important thing'?” She asked, disappointingly. The girl slowly nodded.

Splice folded his arms, feeling discouraged. “So...how exactly do you know Smash, anywa--” He was suddenly cut off by what sounded like a rocket on the horizon. “What the--!?” Everyone's gaze shifted toward the window. Splice rushed over and pulled back the curtains to get a good look out there.

Far off to the east, he could see a large figure descending from the clouds. “Wh-what the heck? What is that!?” Alarmed, everyone else hurried over to see it for themselves.

“ I have no idea, but it looks like trouble...” Burn said.

“Oh, wait you shouldn't be getting up just yet.” Aura said upon seeing the girl stepping out of bed. She held onto the night table for support as she sluggishly made it over to the group, before Aura walked over and gave her a helping hand. The other three made way for her to look out the window as well. The sight of the ominous being sent a jolt of fear through her.

“Metarex...”

“O Gem of Fire, Lend me thy power...” Kyle chanted from the top of a cliff. His sword, the Gemblade, was fixed in front of him with the end pointing skyward. He clutched the hilt tightly as a reddish aura began to surround him. Meanwhile, Knuckles and Frost were doing all they could to slow the enemy down, but little seemed to be effective.

“Will nothing stop this guy?” Speedy exclaimed. “What's this thing even made of!?”

“Gizmo, can you take over for me?” Frost asked, eyes still locked forward.

Gizmo looked surprised. “Huh? You want me to fly this ship?”

“It's very simple to control; even Speedy could do it.”

“And just what is that supposed to--”

“Okay, I'll do it.” Gizmo cut him off, standing up. He walked over to the cockpit and took the seat as Frost hopped off. “But what are you going to do?”

“There's only one thing left that I haven't tried yet.” Frost answered, standing in the center of a star-shaped outlining in the middle of the floor. “Warpstar, deploy!” He commanded. The floor beneath him opened up to reveal an orange star, which dropped almost immediately out of the ship. The floor closed up behind him within moments. They soon saw him flying off in front of the ship.

“Aaargh!” Knuckles yelled after getting knocked back yet again. He nearly flew right into Frost, and ended up grabbing onto the side of his warpstar, which made him spin around in a full circle. Knuckles used that to his advantage, and hurled himself right back toward his robotic opponent.

“Whoa, hey!” The little puffball complained, trying to keep the star stable. Knuckles now landed a direct hit against its large red eye. The robot flinched with a light grunt, but continued to shrug off the damage. His eye flashed brightly, and an electric shock sent Knuckles right back to the ground.

Frost's warpstar stopped close to the titan's side. In his hands now was a small, golden star-shaped trinket. “If this doesn't work...I don't know what will.” He muttered to himself.

“O incandescent locus, annihilate the vulgar before me!” Kyle's voice rang out. The Gemblade was completely ablaze, and his body was shrouded in an intensely powerful red aura. He rose the blade over his head and shouted, “Spiral Flare!” With a mighty swing, he set his aim toward the enemy and unleashed a large fireball more than twice his own size. The recoil sent him staggering backward.

“Power Star: BLAST!” Frost commanded, aiming the star at the robot. On cue, the star-shaped trinket fired a large beam, jerking him and his star back. Both attacks collided at the same time, resulting in an enormous explosion. They could hear the robot's voice exclaim in shock   through the blast.

Kyle stood back up and looked at the large cloud of smoke where the monster once stood. “Did we...?”

Before anyone could tell if their attack worked, a glowing blue figure leaped into the smoke cloud, and the sound of yet another explosion took place. The blast sounded different and weaker, but it was was just the extra punch they needed to down the robot. They could see it falling down out of the smoke cloud, crashing on its back.

The blue figure landed on the ground in the center of a clearing, its glow gone but its face totally recognizable. “Smash!” Kyle shouted.

“Sorry I'm late everyone. You guys okay?” Smash called out.

“We're hanging in there.” Knuckles answered, rubbing his shoulder. As the smoke cleared, the large robot stood back up, almost unscathed. “What!?”

“You gotta be kidding me...!” Smash's jaw nearly dropped. “It doesn't even have a scratch!”

Frost nearly dropped the Power Star in shock. “Wh-what...what the hyo is this thing...?” He stammered in fear. His warpstar gradually sunk down to ground-level, landing in front of the two echidnas.

“Hold up, what?” Smash's attention was yanked from the metallic monstrosity to the cyan ball in front of him. “Frost!?”

“I'll explain later...” Frost said, knowing exactly why he was shocked. “For now, we need to focus on trying to beat this thing.” He reached behind his back, and drew two swords from their sheathes; the icy blue Frost Blade and the fiery red Flare Blade. “We'll attack him together. Aim for the eye!”

“Right.” They said, as Kyle approached them. Frost took off first, shooting toward the robot's head. The other three exchanged glances and nodded, before heading off after him.

“Oh, man. It's worse than I thought..!” Splice said, the three of them now flying over the burning forest. “It's too dangerous to even land down there! Well, at least for you two.”

Cymbeline began to turn slightly, “There's a high cliff over there; that's as close as we can get for now.” She said. “Then we can try to help the others!”

“It looks like they'll need all the help they can get!” Splice commented, watching everyone's combined efforts nearly going to waste. “That thing's just tanking through everything!”

“Normal attacks won't work against that Metarex.” The girl informed, observing the battle.

“Then what will work against it?” Splice asked.

“You know this guy, right?” Cy' looked down at the girl below. “Could you tell us more about it?”

She glanced up at her, and back at the Metarex, as she called it. “That's the reaper of the machines, which robs the planet of its life.” She stated, bleakly.

“Wh-...What did you say!?” Splice and Cymbeline exclaimed in unison.

Frost buzzed around the Metarex's head almost like a fly, striking at its eye whenever he got the chance. The metallic being futilely swung at him, trying to get rid of the pest. His guard was down long enough for the other three fighters to take a shot at him. With their combined strength, Smash and Knuckles were able to stop its assault with a powerful blow to its huge eye, while Kyle attempted to finish it off by stabbing it from above. The Metarex let out a loud grunt as a visible crack formed on the large red dome; they were breaking its defenses!

Knowing that these heroes were becoming a bigger threat, the Metarex extended several clawed tentacles from its back. With a fierce swipe, it only took one claw to knock them all clean off his face. All three of them landed at the base of the cliff in a heap.

Knuckles looked up, tears forming in his eyes from the stinging pain as his face lay flat in the dirt, “W-we got em.”

“Sort of.” Smash uttered, lying flat on his back just a couple feet behind him.

“It's a start.” Kyle stated, prying himself out of the indented wall where he crashed.

Smash jumped back to his feet, “Just a little bit more and we'll have him. Let's try it again!” The other two stood beside him and once again rushed the Metarex.

“Hey, look!” Splice said as they landed on the top of the cliff, “Smash is down there!” He pointed down to the ground below. The girl gasped at the sound of his name and looked almost immediately, nearly stumbling over just to catch sight of him. Cy' caught her by the arm just in time.

“Be careful! You're still wounded.” She reminded her.

“S-sorry..” She said, sheepishly. She regained her footing and watched the trio heading toward the Metarex. “So that's Smash...”

“Wait, you mean you've never even met him before?” Splice asked, surprised. She simply looked down, not willing to talk about it. Cy suddenly winced as a flash of light sparked in front of them, and the three heroes were thrown back again. More fires began to sprout up all over the forest. She looked down to where Smash landed, and suddenly grew worried. “Hey guys...I think Smash is hurt.” She said. The other two looked over at the blue echidna, and saw that even though he landed on his feet, he was taking heavy breaths and clutching his chest.

“That's...not good...” Splice muttered.

The three met up again on their way to the Metarex, only to hear Frost cry out in pain. The small warrior had finally been struck down from the sky, falling off his warpstar and down toward them. His star took heavy damage from the hit, and was sent careening past them. “Frost!” Smash and Kyle both cried out. They rushed over to try and catch him, but were a second too late. He bounced off the ground and tumbled toward them. “Are you okay?” Smash asked.

“I-I'm fine.” He said, standing back up. His starship passed overhead, firing more missiles and laser cannons at the Metarex.

“This is getting out of hand. At this rate, we will perish before the forest does.” Kyle declared.

“We'll have to use the Chaos Emeralds, then.” Knuckles said.

“Umm...” Smash rose his hand midway. “That's not really an option right now...” He reluctantly stated.

“What do you mean?” Knuckles asked.

“You see, uh...Just before this guy attacked, I was fighting another person like em in space...” Smash explained, scratching the back of his head. “But something rammed into both of us and well, the emeralds kinda scattered all over the place.”

The two guardians froze, and slowly turned to face him. “...What?”

“I was going to tell everyone right away, but this happened and well...yeah.” He muttered uncomfortably. “If I had to guess, I'd say they're pretty much all over the galaxy by now.”

There was a moment of silence. “That thing that hit you...was probably my ship.” Frost admitted, his face drooping with guilt. “I was just coming out of the warp-drive when I slammed into something and crash-landed here. I guess I'm partly responsible for this mess...”

“So...what you guys are saying is...” Knuckles began.

“The Chaos Emeralds are lost in outer space?” Kyle finished.

“It's the bitter truth.” Smash confirmed with a sigh. He was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS!? WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!?” Knuckles screamed in his face.

“LOOK! Don't take it all out on me; there's no way I could've predicted that!” Smash shouted back.

Kyle set his hands on both of their shoulders, “Please, calm down! We can still--” He was suddenly cut off by one of the clawed tentacles from the Metarex coming and sweeping all four of them off the ground. “Aaargh!”

“They're in trouble! We gotta do something!” Splice exclaimed. Just before he could leap into action, another clawed tentacle came flying at him, too.

“Splice look out!” Cy' cried, repeating his action from before and pinning him to the ground. The alien girl yelped and ducked as the claw flew right past her. She quickly looked up and gasped as a new source of light opened up in front of them.

In the center of the clearing, a pillar of light extended from the ground and reached the skies. “For the peace of the tranquil universe.” The Metarex proclaimed with pride. The ground began to crack and tear away as the pillar extended in width.

“Don't!” The girl shouted and pleaded. The light grew brighter and brighter, until it was nearly blinding, causing everyone to have to shield their eyes.

When the light finally faded, the Metarex stood before a large pit that looked like the top of a volcano. In the center of the crater, a large, glowing, peculiar-shaped crystal with what appeared to be a vortex of cosmos swirling in the center of it emerged from the ground. It slowly rose into the air, catching the eyes of all.

“What...is that?” Knuckles asked.

“That's it..!” Frost exclaimed. “That thing took a crystal just like that away from Solo Star!”

Smash looked back and forth from him and the crystal. “What'd you say!?”

“The Planet Egg...” The green girl looked almost heart-broken at seeing the crystal rise from the earth.

“What's that?” Splice asked.

“The crystal of the planet's life.” She answered.

“Wait, so you mean...if that Metarex steals this, then...”

The girl stood up, “The planet which loses its Planet Egg will lose its vitality... and die.”

“Just like then, everything will begin to wither away and die!” Frost explained. It was true: As he spoke, the soil beneath them began to harden and crack, changing from a rich brown to a lifeless gray. The trees began to rot, the leaves fell like a storm and disintegrated as they neared the ground. Before they knew it, the entire forest was completely dead. They could now clearly see the sun rising on the horizon past the barren woods. Everyone was left in shock and horror. “This can't be happening...!” Smash could barely get his words out.

“What...what kind of sorcery is this..!?” Kyle stammered.

The Metarex clutched the Planet Egg firmly in its steely hands. “Removal Complete. Lift off.” On cue, the ground shook as it slowly began to take to the skies. Its clawed tentacles dangled in the wind as it hovered above the trees.

“Oh, no you don't!” Smash exclaimed. “Knuckles, gimmie a boost!” The red echidna nodded and got in position; crouching low with his hands together on the ground. Smash rushed toward him and stepped in his huge palms. They both summoned all their strength as Knuckles hurled him skyward with a mighty roar, and Smash suddenly exploded with energy, now surrounded by a sky-blue aura. His fur and hair changed from deep blue to a lime-greenish cyan as he entered his High Tension state. The timing of the transformation gave him the momentum he needed to reach the Metarex. He aimed for the enemy's arm and was about ready to unleash all he had against it, but was blind-sided by one of the tentacle claws. He was knocked to the side, and then swatted by its arm to the other side. Smash plummeted back to the ground, his powered up form fading almost immediately.

“Smash!” Kyle called out. He rushed out and dove for the falling echidna, just barely managing to catch him and break his fall, but not without falling over himself.

“Are you guys okay!?” Splice called out as he rushed onto the scene.

“I'll live.” Smash groaned, sitting up on the ground. They looked up into the sky, seeing that the Metarex had gotten too high for any of them to reach normally. They then saw Frost's starship fly off after it, as well as Cymbeline from another direction.

“I won't let you get away!” Gizmo declared, putting the ship in full throttle. Cymbeline caught up with him and landed on top of it. “Cymbeline!?”

“Hurry! We have to stop it!” She said, grabbing her now glowing pendant. The necklace then morphed its shape into a long bow, from which she began firing arrows of light at the Metarex. Gizmo took that as his cue to open fire as well. The Metarex was almost bombarded with projectiles, but paid almost no mind to them. Cymbeline then took off from the ship and tried to take the Metarex head on. Her bow formed into a sword, which she used to slice at the tentacles. The blade bounced off with a clang, barely doing any damage. She swung again, smacking the claws back and forth until one of them reached out and hit her in the face. She fell backward, and ended up landing back on the starship. “It's not working!” She cried out.

“Is there nothing we can do?” Violet asked helplessly.

“We have to keep trying..!” Gizmo said, almost desperately. Suddenly, he noticed the other clawed tentacles reaching out toward the ship. “Oh no! Incoming!” He yelled, yanking the ship away from them. Cy' squeaked and crouched low, trying to keep from falling off. He dodged one of them, but the others were still coming. Cymbeline clutched her sword tightly and tried to fend them off as best as she could, but there were far too many for her to handle alone. She was quickly overwhelmed, but the claws struck the ship more than they hit her. The starship took a pounding from the multitude of claws, until smoke began to rise from several cracks in the hull.

“This is bad.” Gizmo said over the critical alarm blaring through the ship. “There's no way the ship can make it through this. We won't even last long enough to chase it out of the stratosphere!”

“B-but we can't let it get away!” Speedy protested. “What do we do!?”

“We don't have a choice; we have to pull back.” Gizmo kicked on the reverse thrusters and boosted them out of its grasp. As soon as it cleared the tentacle assault, something blew up within the inner workings of the ship, nearly throwing everyone off balance.

“Gah! Now what!?” Speedy exclaimed.

“Gizmo what happened!?” Cy asked. “There's even more smoke coming out of the ship!”

Gizmo looked at the ship's status on the main computer. “Oh boy...there goes our engine.” He muttered under his breath. “Hang on tight everyone, we're gonna need to make an emergency landing!”

The ship's slow descent quickly sped up to a dangerous fall back toward the grounds of Angel Island. Suddenly, a large parachute deployed from the ship, slowing its fall. Everyone on the ground began to gather together where it looked like the ship would land. Frost was relieved to see that his ship was still relatively in one piece, and that they were okay enough to get the parachute out. He was the first one to arrive in front of the starship when it landed. The parachute began to retract back inside the ship as the main hatch opened up. Gizmo, Speedy and Violet hopped out as Cymbeline landed beside them.

“Are you guys alright?” Frost asked them.

“We're fine, but the ship is in even worse condition than before.” Gizmo said.

“It was a miracle it could even fly again in the first place.” Frost stated. “Still, this whole thing is a disaster.”

“We've got a lot to discuss.” Smash said. “We lost this battle pretty badly. We should try to figure out what we should do next.”

“Hey.” Smash turned around. Knuckles was standing behind him, wearing a look of concern. “You seem to have a lot of injuries. Just when were you attacked?”

“Are you sure you're alright, my friend?” Kyle asked alongside him.

Smash shrugged and wound up his shoulder. “Eh, it's nothing I can't handle.” He said. “I'm just tired after all that.”

“Um, excuse me...” Everyone turned around as the alien girl arrived on the scene. She walked up to Smash and put on a friendly smile. “Its a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Cosmo. You must be Smash; I've heard much about you.”

Smash blinked a couple of times, looking down at the shorter girl. “Yes, that would be me.”

“The hero who overcame incredible odds and obtained victory at the Cosmic Championship, as well as one who can manipulate the power of the Chaos Emeralds,” Cosmo clasped her hands together, “Please save this universe from a great crisis.” She lowered her head, pleading with her whole heart.

“Wh-...” Smash's eyebrows slowly rose until they reached their peak. He blinked a couple more times, almost baffled. “Um...I think you're exaggerating a little bit there...”

“The Cosmic Championship?” Frost interjected. “Smash, you entered the Cosmic Championship? And you won?”

“No no no no, well, yes kinda.” Smash cleared his throat. “See, I cleared the tournament itself, but I couldn't actually defeat the Cosmic Champion himself...” He corrected.

“Oh...so you didn't win, then?” Cosmo asked, looking almost severely disappointed.

“Yes and no.” Smash answered. “Like I just said, I made it past the final round of the championship, but I am not the Cosmic Champion.”

“Still, the fact that you were even accepted in the first place is incredible!” Frost exclaimed. “I hear only the best of the best are even considered to be chosen!”

“So you know about it, huh?” Smash asked.

Frost grinned slightly. “I've been all over this galaxy and the next. You hear lots of things out there.”

“Heh.” Smash turned to look back at Cosmo. “Back on it, though. You say the entire universe is in jeapordy?”

“Yes. What happened today has been happening all over the galaxy.” Cosmo explained. “Thousands of worlds are dying or vulnerable to these terrible devastators.”

The echidna's eyebrows furrowed. “I think we should find a place to sit down and talk about this.” He said. “There are other people I want to hear about this anyway.”

“Right, I agree.” Splice said. “Meeting at your house?”

He nodded, and started to walk away. “That's what I'd planned from the beg—oh.” Suddenly Smash staggered forward. He stopped and held his head, feeling woozy and lightheaded.

“Smash!?”

“I-I'm alright, just feeling...” He couldn't finish his sentence in time. Everything went dark, fast. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Chapter 3 - The Remodeling of the Great Airship
    

“ So, first off, what the heck was that thing anyway?” Splice asked, sitting in one of the many seats in the 'meeting room' Smash had set up in his house. The whole gang had come together and met up at Smash's house as planned, but for once, Smash couldn't attend. He laid upstairs in bed, with his wife Luna tending to him.

“This terrible monster you encountered is known as a Metarex.” Cosmo explained, sitting at the end of the long table. Her head hung low, her eyes closed as she began to tell them everything she knew.

“Metarex?” Kyle repeated.

“Many planets have already been the victims of these devilish robots. Their goal is to control the entire universe through violence, and unify everything under their dominion. Many worlds have already fallen to their power. Some have attempted to fight back, but they were all wiped out.”

“My gosh...” Speedy said, staring wide-eyed.

“They seize the world's Planet Egg, seal it in a crystal, and add it to their ever-growing collection.” She shook her head, “I do not have any idea what they seek to gain by doing this, however, I do know that many planets have already disappeared.”

“D-Disappeared?” Splice replied in fear.

“Yes. Every planet that loses its Planet Egg will initially see all signs of life fading away.” She said.

“Is...is that what's happening here?” Pearl, Smash's little sister, inquired. Cosmo nodded.

“Th-that's horrible...” Violet whimpered.

“Angel Island's already pretty much dead.” Frost said. “It's only a matter of time before the rest of the world is affected as well. And I can only imagine what Solo Star is looking like right now...”

Knuckles, folding his arms and reclining in one of the chairs, looked over at Cosmo with a frown. “I understand that, but who are you?”

Cosmo blinked. “...Me?” She asked, taken off guard.

“Yeah, you. And isn't it you who brought these robots here?” He accused. “You and that Metarex showed up at the same time: I highly doubt that's a coincidence!”

“Absolutely not!” Cosmo stood up. “I have nothing to do with these heartless monsters! I swear to you that I am not on their side!”

“I don't trust you.” Knuckles said bluntly.

“Hey hey, lay off a bit, man.” Splice said. “I mean, you got a point about them showing up at the same time, but if she were really on their side, why would she ask us to help stop them?”

“She could be luring us into a trap.” He argued back.

“And just what would the point of that be?” Gizmo asked, butting in. “Our whole world is already dying. If things stay like this, we'll be next. What more could the Metarex possibly want from us under conditions like that?”

“It's true.” Frost said. “The only reason I left home was to chase after the Metarex and recover the Planet Egg. Right now it seems that's the only thing they're currently after. Why they would lay out a trap like that after leaving victorious is beyond me.”

Knuckles grunted, somewhat frustrated with having everyone counter his argument. “This is why I wanted to see Smash.” Cosmo stated, her mildly angered face changing to one filled with sadness. “The hero of the Cosmic Championship, the one who can manipulate the power of the Seven Chaos Emeralds, and the one who helped save the universe once before from a nightmarish army...He will be able to oppose them.” Her voice began to crack, and her eyes began to well up with tears. “My planet...all the people of my planet were killed by the Metarex. I don't want anyone to know the terrible ordeals I passed through!”She slumped back down in her chair, covering her face as she wept.

Now Knuckles felt guilty. Speedy nudged him in the side. “Look what'cha did.” He muttered, irritated with his attitude.

 

“Man, I can't imagine what she's been through.” Splice said as a few of them stepped outside of the room to give Cosmo some time to calm down. “It's gotta be rough.”

“I can relate.” Frost noted. “But everything worked out for me in the end...relatively speaking.”

“Yeah. But hey, speaking of which, it's pretty great that we ran into you again at a time like this!” Speedy said. “We could really use your help!”

“I could say the same thing!” Frost agreed. “I'd never be able to do this on my own.”

“Yes. What Cosmo has told us about the Metarex, and from the battle you guys had last night...” Tab, a quiet purple cat and close friend of theirs, spoke from the staircase. “I can only imagine what we're up against.”

“That's why we need to be prepared for the worst.” A voice spoke from above. Startled, everyone looked up the staircase.

“Smash! You're awake!” Speedy exclaimed.

“Hey, you okay there? You just passed out on us.” Splice said.

“Don't worry, I'm feeling much better now.” He reassured as he walked down the stairs alongside Luna.

“What a relief.” Gizmo said. “Well, now that you're back, we should probably continue the meeting.”

“Right. What've we got?” Smash asked.

“Well, the robot we fought is called a Metarex, and there's a whole lot of them.” Frost recollected. “They're stealing Planet Eggs from all over the universe, causing worlds all over to wither and die. The Metarex are trying to conquer the universe, but we don't know why they're destroying worlds by collecting Planet Eggs. They're also known to commit outright genocide, it seems...not that causing an entire planet to die isn't technically genocide in the first place.”

Smash's face hardened. “I see. There's a lot more to this than I initially thought.” He said.

“We need your side of the story though. You were in space before all this happened, right?” Frost asked.

“Wait really?” Speedy blurted out.

Smash nodded. “I'll explain with everyone else. Let's get back.” He lead everyone back into the meeting room.

 

“Alright, let's start back where we left off.” Smash announced, standing in front of his seat. He looked over all the people who had come. Aside from the ones he already met up with, there was Crystal, Zap and his three elder brothers; Lightning, Electric, and Thunder. Keela, Kyle's twin sister. Pearl, his own little sister whom he expected to be here. Lucy the Cat, Tab's best friend and a local genius, but fairly ditzy. Shade, a rude dark chao who tends to show up on a whim. Burn and Aura, Splice's parents. Speeder, Speedy's father and a cop of Greenflower City. And finally, Amber the Cat, a girl who lived in the forest down the road from Smash's house. A lot of people had shown up, and it was just as well. People needed to know what was going on.

“Last night, I encountered who I believe to be the very leader of the Metarex.” The whole group reacted in collective shock. “We had a duel on the edge of space. I was using the power of the Chaos Emeralds to battle him. This man attacked me because he wanted the emeralds for himselves. At the time, I simply took him for some hotshot supervillain wannabe with some robot flunkies. But now we know that he is far more dangerous than that. I don't know how the battle would have played out if it continued until the very end, but...”

“It ended abruptly short when I crashed into you guys.” Frost said, looking down in shame.

“Yeah. So, because of that incident, the Chaos Emeralds are now scattered all over the galaxy.” Smash finished his summary of events.

“Wait hold up. The Chaos Emeralds scattered in space?” Shade blurted out. “Just how...”

“To put it shortly,” Smash said,

“And bluntly,” Frost added,

“We screwed up. Big time.” They both admitted.

 

“Okay...so what's the plan?” Tab inquired, after a moment of silence.

“Well it's kinda obvious what we should do.” Smash said. “However...” He folded his arms, sitting back in his chair. The one major setback that prevented them from pursuing the Metarex and recovering the Chaos Emeralds, was the lack of a spaceship both in working condition and large enough to carry everyone. Frost's ship could only hold five people and was currently out of commission, so they couldn't even get a few people outside Mobius right now.

“Smash.” Cosmo stood up, holding a hand to her chest. Smash glanced over at her, raising a questioning eyebrow. “Lots of my people traveled through space to battle the Metarex, in hopes of defeating them. The Metarex killed all who resisted. It's for those innocent lives that were lost that we must stop the Metarex. Please avenge them.”

“Of course.” Smash said. “We'll do more than that; we'll go out and find the Chaos Emeralds, stop the Metarex, and return the Planet Eggs!”

“Yeah!” Everyone else cheered.

“But how exactly are we going to do that?” Violet asked. “We can't all fit in Frost's spaceship. And with the condition it's in...”

Gizmo leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his back and grinning confidently. “Juust leave that to us.” He said, giving Kitty beside him a wink. “We got this one covered.”

“What do you mean..?” Speedy asked.

“I'd be glad to show you. Right now, even.” Gizmo glanced over at Smash, who gave the okay with a nod.

“Alright then, meeting adjourned. Let's see what Gizmo's got in store for us.” Smash said. Everyone stood up and began to leave the room. 

 

Some time later, everyone found themselves entering a large, darkened room within a cave in Greenflower Zone. (Everyone but Knuckles, that is; he left back to Angel Island.) They were right next to the Cat Chao Garden; had they gone straight upon entering the cave instead of turning down another path, they would have walked right into it. Instead, they walked into the hangar of Gizmo's large airship.

“Hey, this is where you keep your airship, right?” Smash asked. “Can it really make it into space?”

Gizmo closed his eyes and smiled, flipping a switch beside him. Suddenly the room began to light up as several floodlights activated across the room. In front of him stood not the large, red and silver airship they once used to reach and defeat Dr. Eggman a year ago, but instead, an even bigger green and blue space craft. “Tadaaa!” Gizmo and Kitty chimed. “Say hello to my new and improved ship!”

Everyone took a moment to marvel at it. Its shape still looked relatively the same, but it was nearly 50% bigger than they remembered it being. “Holy cow.” Splice muttered in awe.

“Oh my gosh, you guys. This is amazing!” Violet exclaimed.

“Wow! Did you two do this all by yourselves?” Cymbeline asked.

Gizmo scratched the back of his head. “Not quite; we had the rest of the Cat Chao Garden to back us up. But we were still the ones who ran the whole operation. It took us a full six months to get this done!”

“And not a month too soon.” Smash said. “Who would've guessed that you'd finish it right when we needed it most.”

Lightning whistled. “Gotta hand it to ya; you're a real whiz, Giz.” He gave him a pat on the back.

“I almost can't believe you actually just said that.” Gizmo remarked.

Frost stepped forward, analyzing the exterior design. “I have to admit, I'm impressed.” He praised, rubbing his chin. “I've rarely seen anyone with a ship this big. In fact, the only ones I've seen were part of Nightmare's army.” He glanced back at him. “With a vessel like this, we'll definitely have a chance at winning.”

“I'm glad you think so.” Gizmo said. “However, there's just one major problem.” He looked up at the large starcraft, “We don't have a power source for it. I planned to use Chaos Emeralds for it, but well...we kinda need the ship to find them in the first place.”

“I guess that's what you'd call ironic.” Pearl commented.

“Is there nothing else we can use?” Smash asked. “How about Elemental Rings?”

“No.” Burn disagreed. “Put too much strain on an elemental ring and it'll burn out entirely. For a ship like that, I highly doubt even a full box of the strongest rings they got will last however long it'll take us to get there and back.”

Gizmo gave a blank stare in his direction. “I didn't even know that.”

“Well I guess that rules that out.” Splice folded his arms. “What else can we use?” The group thought for a moment, before Speedy snapped his fingers.

“I got it. How about the Power Sta--”

“Dahyo no.” Frost cut him off.

“What?”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Aw c'mon, why not?” Speedy protested.

“For your information, the Power Star isn't all-powerful either.” Frost explained. “Even it has its limits. If we use it for this giant thing, it'll run dry before we make any progress. That and I need it close by. Preferably in my hands at all times.”

“Well that's another idea for the gutter.” Splice remarked.

“Well, what now?” Smash asked, looking at Gizmo. The cat folded his arms, going into deep thought.

“I'm afraid we have no choice.” Kyle spoke up. “I shall ask the Master Emerald Guardian to lend us that which he guards.”

“The Master Emerald?” Gizmo's eyes lit up. “Yes, that would definitely work! But...would he really be willing to..?”

Smash folded his arms, “Oh trust me, he will. Whether he likes it or not.”

“Great! Then the rest of us will add the finishing touches to the ship and get ready to insert the Master Emerald.” Gizmo announced. “Let's go, guys!”

 

“What? You need the Master Emerald to go into space?” Knuckles asked, clearly not willing to give up his treasured emerald so easily when they asked.

“Please, Knuckles. I know that the emerald is needed here just as well as you do, but we have nothing else to turn to.” Kyle pleaded. He and Cymbeline were the only ones who came back up to Angel Island in hopes of negotiating with the stubborn guardian.

Knuckles gritted his teeth. “And so you just expect me to give it to you and watch you blast off into space?”

“Why don't you come with us?” Cymbeline asked. “If this emerald is so important to you, then you can still keep an eye on it as long as you're with us, right?”

Knuckles grunted, giving it some thought. “Please remember that the world, nay, the entire universe is at stake.” He placed a hand to his chest and knelt down before him, surprising both of the other two. “We need your help. Please, lend us your aid.”

“O-okay okay, I get it.” Knuckles said. He sighed heavily and turned around to climb the steps up the shrine of the Master Emerald. “Wait here.” He said.

“You have our gratitude.” Kyle rose from the ground.

As Knuckles made his way to the top of the shrine, Cymbeline looked over at Kyle with raised eyebrows. “Wow, Kyle. I didn't think you would really go that far.” She commented.

“If you want to get through to him, you have to be straightforward and sincere.” Kyle stated.

Soon enough, they could feel a slight tremor in the ground. The island began to sink back down into the ocean. After a while, Knuckles returned with the Master Emerald in his arm. “Alright, let's go.” He said as he walked past them.

It was a short trek back to the edge of Angel Island. Once they reached the beach, they were met with a large white ship docked nearby, and its captain stood on the sand in front of it. The yellow hedgehog waved them over, seemingly waiting for them.

“Hello, Thunder.” Kyle greeted as they approached. “I did not expect to see you waiting for us here.”

“I had a feeling you might need help bringing that large emerald overseas.” The captain reckoned. He looked at said emerald in Knuckles' grasp. “So this is the Master Emerald? It's quite beautiful; more so than most jewels I've ever laid eyes on.”

“Hm.” Knuckles looked past Thunder and toward his ship. “So we're going back to the mainland on this?”

“Indeed. Welcome aboard the Thunderbolt.” Thunder walked up the ramp, gesturing them to follow. “I ought to let you know, though; it won't be as fast a ride as it usually is.”

“Why is that?” Cymbeline asked as she and the others followed. Thunder stopped and turned to face the sea.

“Because...The wind has stopped blowing.”

“So, do you think we got enough?” Speedy asked, looking over all the provisions they had gathered. He, Violet, Crystal, Pearl, and Amber had all gone shopping for food and supplies for their long voyage ahead, and were carrying quite a haul through downtown Greenflower City. It had been a couple hours since everyone split up from the hangar.

“I hope we’re not forgetting anything.” Pearl said, running a hand through her long hair. “Once we’re in space, who knows when the next time we’ll be able to stock up will be?”

“How long do you think we’ll be out there?” Crystal asked, tugging on a red wagon that carried her side of the luggage.

“That’s a good question.” Violet looked up, wondering just how long it’d take them to find all the chaos emeralds.

“I’m more worried about whether or not we can win this rather than how long it’d take.” Speedy said. “Nothing worked on that last Metarex without the Chaos Emeralds, and Smash couldn’t even beat their leader with the emeralds.” He rubbed the side of his head with an index finger. “Granted, he kinda got interrupted before he could, but still…By the way Smash made it sound, the guy was super tough.”

“Yeah, that was scary last night.” Violet agreed. “Just what kind of monsters are we dealing with here?”

Pearl set her bags down for a moment, “Hey look, even if Smash couldn’t win with the emeralds then, just remember that it was one-on-one back then.” She reminded them. “Now he has an entire crew backing him up. He’s not alone anymore. Together, we can take on anything, no matter how tough. That’s what I believe.”

“Yeah! We can do it!” Crystal chimed in, with her chao cheering behind her. Speedy looked a bit unsure at first, still unnerved by last night’s events, but soon gave a smile and nod. He had faith in everyone.

Just then, they heard a beeping sound. Violet held up her arm and pulled back her sleeve, revealing a watch-shaped device on her wrist. Gizmo’s face blurred onto the screen, “Violet, how’s it going?” He asked.

“We’re on our way back now.” Violet answered as the others huddled over her shoulders to see the new wrist-communicator Gizmo had created.

“Good, because we need you guys here ASAP. We’re going to launch soon.”

“What? Already!?” Speedy exclaimed. “What’s the big rush all of a sudden?”

Suddenly, Frost’s face showed up beside Gizmo’s. “It’s because we’ve sighted enemy Metarex in the sky. We’re under attack.”