The GUN helicopter was now en route to the President's concealed bunker, situated directly beneath his vast house. As the helicopter took our heroes away from the battlefield, they waved a tearful farewell to the multitude of deceased soldiers, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for protecting their people.

"Will this suffering ever end?" Tails sobbed emotionally.

The GUN commander sighed deeply. "We are almost out of options," he confessed "which is why the president needs your input before it is too late."

Tails pondered for a moment. "Why can't we just talk to him from here?" he inquired.

"Since the power grid went offline, the bunker now runs on its backup generator. It must be used sparingly, so naturally we would drain their power considerably. The president has to communicate to his other commanders via the old wireless radio, though we don't have one on board."

Knuckles then chortled at this. "I don't believe it," he cried "you have to use old stuff with all the technology you have? You guys need to learn to use the power of the master emerald – but not mine!"

Amy laughed aloud at this remark, while the commander was skeptical.

"I don't think you understand the extremity of the situation, Knuckles. You do know that the end of the entire world could be upon us unless we act fast?"

The echidna nodded slowly, lacking attention as he dreamily gazed out of the window, thinking of returning to his luminous green treasure.

"Maybe I can convert my comm. link so that it can pick up analogue frequencies?" Tails thought aloud, staring at the glorious gadget on his wrist. The commander smiled warmly, as it had reminded him of his younger self. He saw a glimmer of hope amid humanity's darkest hour.

"I'm so glad that's over!" Amy remarked idly as she fiddled her thumbs. She felt as though the worst was over, like they were being flown away from the city never to return again. Shadow did not share that vision.

"Amy my dear it is not over yet," the dark hedgehog corrected "it does feel like we've won just because we're being flown away, but don't let that deceive you. We'll be back in that dangerous arena in no time, mark my words…"

"All of this fighting has to stop soon," Knuckles interjected "and speaking of fighting, Tails, what happened up on the Egg Carrier? What is that rotten Rouge up to?"

The unexpected question from Knuckles took Tails by surprise, and interrupted his conversation with the commander. As Tails opened his mouth to speak, however, the commander replied: "Rouge is a GUN agent undergoing a top secret mission. Her whereabouts will remain undisclosed until we abort the mission."

Knuckles flapped his arms casually and returned to his light dream about lying beside the master emerald in the glistening sun – Shadow wasn't complacent though.

"I thought the deal was done," Shadow pressed "we even saw a battalion of Egg Pawns help us down on the high street. Rouge should be either here with us, or with the President. I want answers!"

The commander grit his teeth and his hands began to shake slightly. Tails too began to glance out of the helicopter window, pretending to have no interest in the conversation. "All will be answered shortly," the commander eventually replied. The ambiguity further infuriated the ultimate life-form, but he merely sighed and closed his eyes for a quick moment of rest...

Tails, Shadow, Knuckles, Amy and the Commander all sat down in the board room, situated within the president's secret bunker.

"Greetings," the President announced from his chair "I am so glad you all made it out alive! You are all heroes and I thank you all on behalf of my people."

Tails and Amy beamed as a result of such a compliment, though Shadow's eyes frowned.

"What is Rouge up to," Shadow interrupted brashly "and what happened to the Chaotix?" Tails shot a worrying look over to Shadow, who was eying the president intently. The President stroked his chin for a while, as though he was carefully selecting every word to use. Eventually he replied: "good question, Shadow. It turns out that the negotiations came through, and I am pleased to inform you that the Doctor has agreed to join us in our battle against the evil Dark Sonic. You may have encountered some of his forces earlier, but he has assured us the rest of the Egg Fleet will arrive in due time. Ever since the negotiations concluded, the power went out in most places, and Rouge went off the grid. That is all I know, I'm sorry…"

Shadow thumped his fist hard on the table. "So "Rouge has not made an effort to reestablish communications with us," the President repeated "and as for your friends I only know what Topaz informed me when she flew back here: the Tornado 2000 flew off, and Rouge had split up with her. Rouge could be anywhere right now…"

The last line was uttered rather slowly, followed by the President's eyes widening, as though a tomb of treasure was revealed to him.

"Shadow," he exclaimed "you may be onto something! Rouge may have been playing us all along!"

"Ya see?" Knuckles added, "That bat is nothing but trouble! She's a gold-digger if ever I saw one!"

The President nodded in concurrence. His mind then raced, trying to piece together the pieces of the Rouge jigsaw.

"What would Rouge want to do with Eggman?" The President thought aloud.

"It was Rouge who gave me your files on a chaos emerald's location," Shadow informed "I think she may be after one herself."

The President then gasped. The cabinet and the heroes were all looking intently at the President, during the moment of his discovery. His face then saddened, and he looked Knuckles directly in the eyes. "My dear friend," the President said "I don't know if Tails has told you this yet, but Vector forgot his role in the meeting. He did manage to obtain Eggman's chaos emerald…but at the expense of…your master emerald…"

Knuckles saw red. He thrust himself out of his seat and began to vent his sheer fury at the metal wall behind him. He screamed in anger as his fists dented huge holes into the cocoon of the bunker. Shadow approached the raging Echidna and put his hand on his shoulder, but it was no use. Knuckles was now in a violent rage, unleashing his power on his surroundings, much akin to how Dark Sonic acts upon the negative power of the chaos emeralds he touched a long time ago.

The cabinet hurriedly rushed out of the boardroom, leaving Tails and the gang to calm down the livid Knuckles. After several minutes had passed, Knuckles collapsed tiredly into his chair, emotionally and physically drained. Amy gave him a soft hug, one that wasn't too forceful but comforted him nonetheless, like when a friend comforts you before going onto a stage for a concert.

Tears began to trickle down his cheeks as he plowed his face into his hands.

"How can Vector be so stupid?" He asked rhetorically, "It is my duty to protect the master emerald at all costs."

His speech became less stuttered as his articulation improved.

"This role has been the duty of the echidna for many generations; it's not only that, but if Eggman can harness its power then Tails will be proven right! Dark Sonic really is a distraction for his master plan. We're doomed…"

Tails pondered for a moment. "Doesn't the master emerald require you to activate it?" He inquired.

Knuckles shook his head.

"It may to get 100% of the power, yes, but with modern technology who knows what that madman will do to unlock it. If he breaks it, it will take many years for it to heal." He then shot an icy look at Tails. "I shouldn't have followed you and Rouge that day. I should've minded my own business, that way everything would've been alright."

"It's no time for what ifs," Shadow replied "Tails needed you, we all needed you, so don't beat yourself up about the past." Knuckles scoffed at this and stood up.

"Easy for you to say," he retorted "mister 'I can walk in whenever I want'." Tension was escalating in the room now. The President had remained a silent witness to this talk, which was now coming to an end.

"I'm off to get my emerald back," Knuckles stated as he marched towards the ladder "I wish you the best of luck, but Rouge must pay for everything she's done." And with that, Knuckles left the gang in the search for the reunification with his beloved master emerald. The room was left with a plethora of blank faces, unable to comprehend what had just occurred.

Minutes later, the cabinet begrudgingly clambered back into the room, to discuss the Government's next plan of action. Intel was coming in of further sightings of Dark Sonic, though interestingly he was showing signs of fatigue!

"The beast was not moving as fast as usual," the President's adviser reported "this may be due to the negative energy being depleted last night or Sonic regaining control over his conscience. We should act now sir."

Multiple suggestions were raised. Everything from quarantine to nuclear weaponry and even flooding was proposed, but to Amy's outrage the cabinet decided to use artillery on Station Square!

"Haven't there been enough deaths?" Amy snapped, "you won't even hit Sonic that far out. There are still soldiers and civilians stuck in the city that you'll kill if you do this."

"In times of war, sacrifices have to be made. We cannot risk waiting for Eggman to come to our aid, we need to act now while Sonic is weak." The President's adviser was certainly not in Amy's good books. Her eyes reddened as her finger began to twitch.

"How dare you say that?" Amy screamed, "I may have amnesia, but I can still see good in him. He will come round, I know he will." Her voice trailed off as she paused in deep thought about the memory she had of Sonic from before. Sonic used to be so pure, so noble, so brave; surely the negative energy must wear off soon? Suddenly, a scary scenario popped into her head: if the negative energy behind Dark Sonic is actually all the good energy converted, then has it already been too late for the poor hedgehog?

"We need to act now," the President demanded "Amy, Tails, Shadow, Knuckles, I understand this is not something you will be pleased to see. It isn't easy for me either; Sonic was a great ally for us before, but the situation is dire. I want those mortars in place A.S.A.P!"

This was met by the sudden 'yes Sir' from the adviser, and also looks of despair and outrage from Sonic's friends.

"I won't let you hurt Sonic!" Amy yelled melodramatically as she grasped her Piko Piko hammer, and in a fit of fury she hurled it towards the large table, smashing a great circular hole through it. The President's jaw dropped at this shock.

"Commander, I want these in that corner, now. Take this gun, and don't let them leave your sight."

"Yes, Sir..." The commander replied in a deflated manner.

It took reinforcements to meander Amy into the corner, but eventually she cooled down.

"You all have uncontrollable tempers," the President denoted as he pulled up his tie "but trust me, in years to come you'll thank me for the choices I've made."

The President and his colleagues turned to the front screen, to witness the operation unfolding outside the city...

After a long time of trudging through the grotesque sewers, Cream and Cheese had encountered a junction. There were multiple routes to take as the sewage congregated in the circular space in the centre. Rouge had taken Knuckles and Tails to see the President earlier on in this adventure.

"Which we do we go?" Cream said as she shepherded the citizens into the middle of the room.

"Chao chao!" Cheese exclaimed as Cream's blue friend pointed at the interactive map on the mech's dashboard.

Cream was bemused. She squinted her eyes and bit her lip as she gazed closely at the beeping red dot signalling their location. It turned out that this is the evacuation point!

Cream and Cheese both looked at each other and shared the same blank expression.

"What's the matter?" Anna asked as she strolled over. Her mother was conversing with some of her friends, so Anna was left alone by the mech.

"Our map is playing up," Cream confessed "it says that we've arrived..."

Cheese's head stooped with disappointment and despair. Anna, however, gasped as she articulated her theory.

"Well, maybe this really is the place?" She admitted, "Maybe we're the first ones here or something. If this 'Tails' guy is as smart as you say he is, then it can't be faulty."

"I suppose," Cream agreed "so now we just have to wait here until the others arrive."

Then she stared at the ceiling as she said coldly: "if there are any survivors at all..."

On board the Egg Carrier, Doctor Eggman was alone on the bridge. He was chuckling and cackling as his sinister mind concocted the next phase of his plan.

"Finally," he thought aloud as he patrolled the windows overlooking the sky "I may finally win! After all these years of coming second to that pesky blue rodent I have managed to fool everyone. My Egg Fleet is on its way to Station Square, to blast the city to pieces! And on its ruins I shall build Eggmanland, the ultimate robotic utopia. Everyone shall be forced to obey me, or else they will be roboticized. Oh, the joys of being such a genius!"

Eggman then waltzed into his Eggmobile and stretched his arms as he watched the sun rise on the horizon. He then tapped away at his on-board computer as he commanded the ship where its new destination will be. Surely enough, the Egg Carrier turned left and broke off from the rest of the fleet. On the large green screen at the front of the bridge, next to the Eggman logo, was a message: 'destination Angel Island'.

"Oh, I've waited a long time for this!" Eggman remarked joyfully, "Once I get my hands on the master emerald, I will be able to power my ultra death ray. I will then be able to rule this world from the safety of my new Death Egg up in space; should anyone attempt to rebel and I'll blow this world into smithereens! And the best part is, it's...all...legal. Oh those fools, how could they give me the greatest source of power in the galaxy and the freedom of every person, when I was the one who turned Sonic against them in the first place..."

Eggman then put his feet up and being snoring away, as loud as an ogre. Suddenly, a pointy shadow was seen lurking on one of the walls; it was Espio's horn! The cunning chameleon had blended in with the surroundings in the corner as he overheard the entirety of Eggman's outrageous plot for world domination.

"I must warn the others," he whispered as he made for the exit. The doors automatically opened for him, but shut with a loud bang as the doctor was prematurely brought back to his senses. Aware of this, Espio began to sprint down the corridor. He needed somewhere to hide, somewhere to extend the range of his comm. link. Where could he go? Moments later, the answer arrived. Whilst at a standstill, Espio encountered a map of the Egg Carrier, labeling every room and facility on board. The communications array was located on the sky deck outside. Determined to warn his friends of the intentions of the doctor, Espio grabbed a nearby maintenance kit and rushed towards the exit. Subsequently, down dropped Rouge the bat, her wings uncoiling as she stood up.

"Sneaky little Espio wants to call 999?" She taunted, "It's a shame that nobody must know this ship is heading to Angel Island..."

And with that, Rouge too paced outside and onto the sky deck...