"You'll not defeat me this time you nasty little pests!" yelled Dr. Eggman atop his supercharged robot "This beast possess state-of-the-art weaponry unlike any you have ever seen. It's even more powerful than E-123 Omega. Ho, ho, ho, ho! You'll have to get through me and my robot if you want to stop the Ultimate Annihilator!"

Earlier that day

"Come on Sally, what's the problem?" Sonic continued to tap his foot against the metal ground. He was getting impatient. It had been an hour since Sally had organised a team meeting at Freedom HQ about Eggman's latest scheme. But finally the team had gathered around the table. They were all here. Sally walked over to the computer looking very uneasy and pressed a few buttons. An image fizzled onto the screen. A blueprint that looked slightly familiar to something the team have seen before.

"Rumour has it that the Dr has rebuilt the Ultimate Annihilator on Space Colony ARK" she said doubtfully as she pointed towards a large cannon-like figure on the screen. Everyone gave a sudden gasp.

"Sacre Bleu!" yelled out Antoine. "Zis cannot be!"

Sonic and the gang looked at each other like they were reading each other's minds. They turned towards the princess. "Knowing the Egghead, he has probably hired some of his goons to find the Chaos Emeralds for him" Sonic said. "If we can get them in time we can-Sal?" He turned to see Sally with her head in her hands. Everyone looked at each other with worried eyes.

Tails was the first to speak. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Sally looked up. "I'm afraid we won't be able to do much, because Eggman already has six of them!"

Everyone jumped out of their seats. "How is this possible?!" Sonic snapped, slamming his fist onto the table.

Sally kept herself together. "Using advanced technology. More advanced than ours. He has managed to locate and obtain the emeralds with powered up badniks and energy seekers" she said. "But that's not half of the story. He purposely used the Chaos Emeralds energy to rip a hole in the time-space continuum, bringing forth beasts from another world."

Sally and the gang returned to their original positions. A new image appeared on the screen. A monster that resembled a mutated Chameleon that glowed blue and purple was displayed. Everyone gave a disgusted look.

"Oh mah stars! What is that?!" shrieked Bunnie.

*These grotesque creatures are called Dark Gaia Spawns* Nicole said, appearing from her handheld. The moment she had said those words, Sonic, Tails and Amy looked at each other with frightened faces.

Tails stood up once again. "We have met these creatures before in the past. They are unpredictable and very strong" Sonic and Amy nodded in agreement.

*Yes. But they are normally controlled by Dark Gaia, a powerful beast. For some strange reason, Dark Gaia is nowhere to be seen…* Nicole replied.

Rotor was silent, scratching his chin in thought. Then he finally spoke. "If the Dr has ripped a hole in the time-space continuum, there's a chance Blaze and Silver have possibly been affected as well…"

"He's gone all out this time!" Sonic replied.

"Calm down" snapped Sally. "I have a plan!"

Everyone's faces lit up. "Go on" they all said.

Sally took a deep breath. "I have managed to locate the last chaos emerald in a cave not far from here. It has appeared to be created using dark energy." She said, pacing around the room. Sally stopped and looked towards the team. "We need to make haste! Eggman has probably located it as well. We need to get there and fast!"

Sonic smiled. "Don't you know who I am?"

As soon as the team were ready, they took off on their Extreme Gear with Sonic easily keeping pace beside them. Trees flew past them in a large green blur and the wind beat against their faces. Moments later the Freedom Fighters had reached their destination, Dark Shard Cave. They jumped off their gears and began to walk inside the caves gaping mouth, not seeing a large red robot heading their way.

"Remember be cautious. We don't know what's here and don't touch the crystals!" Sally whispered to the team.

"Let's hope we made it before ze Dr." said Antoine. They walked down a narrow, jagged corridor which had large, deep purple crystals protruding from the walls, ceiling and floor, giving off an evil vibe which sent shivers down Sonic's spine.

"I gotta bad feeling about this place…" he said with an uneasy tone in his voice.

"Me too" replied Tails.

"And I" said Amy further behind. Everyone looked quite worried.

"Let's find the emerald and get out of 'ere!" squeaked Bunnie. "This place is giving me the Heebie Jeebies…"

The team continued to walk until they stepped into an open room and in the middle was the Chaos Emerald. Everyone's spirits lifted when they saw the heavenly glow of the purple emerald illuminating the room. The area surrounding it was covered with sharp shards at least eight-feet tall. Some shards also looked quite fragile. Being cautious once again, Sally made her way towards the emerald while Tails and Rotor examined one of the thin crystals nearby. A somewhat violet mist was encased within them. They looked at each other and nodded.

"These crystals look like they have some sort of poison or chemical in them." Rotor said still looking closely at the shard. He them straightened himself. Antoine and Bunnie kept patrol at the corridor in case of thugs.

"Y'all take care in there!" yelled Bunnie as she looked over her shoulder. Sonic cautiously walked towards Sally whom has the Chaos Emerald in her hands.

She had a smile on her face. "We have foiled Eggman's plans for now" she said. "Let's get out of here."

Just as they were about to walk away from the centre of the room, the ground began to violently rumble beneath their feet.

"You're not getting out of here alive unless you hand over the Chaos Emerald!" boomed a familiar voice. He was nowhere to be seen.

They cringed. "Eggman!" they yelled. The rumbling finally stopped.

Sonic snickered, putting a hand on his hip. "Well, well, well. Baldy Nosehair finally decided to show up." Some giggles were heard but they were immediately interrupted by an even more violent rumble. The Freedom Fighters began to lose their balance. They could faintly hear Eggman's cackles.

"Let's see you get out of this! Feel the wrath of the Quakebot!" He said over the rumbling. Sally tripped over a small shard in the ground, slightly cutting her arm on a shard. Fortunately it wasn't fragile but the Chaos Emerald was sent flying out of her hand.

She shrieked. "Sonic!"

Sonic nodded and pointed towards the exit. "You guys get outta here! I'll find the emerald!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Sally stumbled to her feet and the Freedom Fighters cautiously but swiftly made it to the exit. Sonic worked quickly through the fallen rubble, not caring about the cuts that tore his gloves and hands. He kept a sharp eye out for the glow of the Chaos Emerald. "If Eggman keeps this up, the whole cave's gonna collapse right on top of me!" he thought as he frantically kept on searching. CRACK! The noise made Sonic stop and he looked up. A jagged line stretched from one side of the roof to the other.

"Shoot!" He quickly went back to rummaging through the debris and "AHA!" At last he had found it but time was of the essence. He had to get out and fast! As he entered the long corridor the room he was once in instantly collapsed with the sound of crumbling rocks and shattering crystals. Sonic looked behind him to see he was being chased by a violet cloud and it was catching up quickly. "If only there weren't any crystals in the way…" he said avoiding the shards. "I would be outta here in no time."

He attempted to speed up but it was no use as he tripped, slowing him down. The cloud quickly caught up. The mist burned his skin, like acid as he cried out. In an attempt to get their attention, he called out for his friends however it was no use as the corridor was too long for them to hear. Finally the mist surrounded him, burning him all over. He winced in pain, clutching his arm. He was desperate to get out. "I need to escape" he thought. Every step Sonic took was excruciatingly painful. He let out a final loud cry before he succumbed to the pain, collapsing and slipping into darkness.

Outside the cave, everyone immediately looked up when they could feel the tremor no more. Eggman has probably thought he has done the job as they saw a red robot walk away from the scene. They heard an echo from the cave which caught their attention, before a massive purple cloud billowed from its mouth and they knew exactly who that echo belonged to. "Sonic!" they cried. The team began to worry. There was no response.

"This… this is not possible." Sally said falling to her knees. Tears began to well in her eyes and she put her head in her hands. All of a sudden, footsteps could be heard coming from inside the cave. Sally looked up to see the gang eyeing the entrance. Out of the darkness came… Sonic! Sally jumped to her feet with gleaming eyes and she ran towards him with open arms. "You're alright!" she piped and gave him a hug.

Rotor looked uneasy. "There's something not right about him…" he whispered to Tails. He nodded in agreement. Sonic just stood there, not looking very happy to see his friends, and no smile as he stared at the ground. Sally let go and looked at him with a worried face.

"Sonic?" He closed his eyes.

"Why do we risk our lives to save this pathetic world?" he said in a deeper tone than usual, his voice gaining a reverberating Echo. Another deeper voice spoke in tandem and just slightly out of sync, making the illusion of another person talking at the same time. "Why is it me to always risk MY life?!" Sonic opened his eyes and they glowed white; no irises could be seen. A dark aura surrounded him; his fur grew dark, almost black. His spines raised and he began to levitate. He looked very much like his super-state, but an evil version. Sonic smiled. "Let's see you suffer!"