"So then, whatcha wanna talk about, big guy?"

The green wildcat and the red echidna had left Lilac to walk back to the crash site, where Milla, Amy and Sonic still waited. The two stood behind a small hill, just out of view of the others where Knuckles could speak to Carol in private.

Knuckles frowned and rolled his eyes as Carol rocked back and forth on her feet, a wide grin on her face. "Stop calling me that."

"Aw, c'mon. It's just a nickname, buddy. It means I like you." Her smile fell as she realized what she said. "I mean… I didn't… uh…"

Dang it, Lilac. You're making me act like a doofus. I don't like him. I don't! I mean, I do, I just don't like, like…

"Are you listening?"

Carol snapped out of her trance. "Sorry. What did you want?"

Knuckles glanced around, as though he was searching to see if anyone was spying on them. "You still have it, right?"

"Huh?"

"You know." He twirled his hand around in the air as though that would remind her. "It."

"Oh! You mean…"

She reached a hand into her pocket. However, as her fingers closed around the glowing, red gem, Knuckles quickly stopped her.

"Don't take it out." He glanced around again. "Listen, I need you to hold on to that for a while. Hide it from everyone, especially Sonic. I'm going to need it in a little bit, but I think it'll be safer with you right now."

Carol raised an eyebrow and huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "Will someone please tell me why people are so obsessed with this thing? I mean yeah, it's shiny or whatever, but people are treating it like it's the most valuable thing in the world."

Knuckles crossed his arms, and a slight grin curved at the edges of his lips. "You really are from another planet."

Carol's eyes narrowed as she glared at the echidna, which made him chuckle softly. "You're not too far off, but it's not valuable because it's shiny. That thing is called a Chaos Emerald, and without boring you with details, it's extremely powerful and extremely dangerous."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"I'll put it this way: That one tiny gem has got enough power to warp the laws of time and space."

The red crystal suddenly seemed to gain about 50 more pounds in Carol's pocket. "You're kidding, right?"

He shook his head. "Not even close. It's why Eggman was willing to kill you for it. He's apparently already got three of the emeralds, and getting that one will put him one step closer to his big plan, whatever that is."

"Wait, 'three?' There are more of these things?"

He nodded. "Seven in all, and they only get more powerful when you bring them together."

"So, this egg guy wants them to, you know, take over the world?"

"Of course."

"And, you're trying to stop him?"

He scoffed. "Not nearly. For all his talk, Eggman couldn't take over a playground, especially with Sonic constantly hounding him. I'm just looking for the Emeralds to find the Master Emerald."

"Uh, what's…"

He cut her off. "It's an ancient relic that I've been tasked to guard. It's disappeared, and I think that the Chaos Emeralds are the only way I can find it again. So I'm trying to find them all before Eggman or Sonic does."

"Oookay. Makes… sense."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Just hold on to it, alright? Don't tell anyone anything about it."

"Yeah, sure! Cross my heart."

"Good. And you don't have to worry about your hound friend, I've already talked to her about it."

"Oh, okay then. Good." Carol put her hands in her pockets and started to rock back and forth again. "Things have been kinda crazy, huh?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"W-well, I mean… more for me than you I guess… This kinda thing happens all the time for you, huh? Well, maybe it doesn't. What do I know? About you. I-I mean, I guess I…"

"Are you done?"

She sighed and mentally slapped herself for stuttering and making a fool of herself again. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

For crying out loud, Tea! What's wrong with you? Why are you acting like a little girl? Quick, just… change the conversation!

"So, uh, do you like sushi?"

Kill me now...

To her surprise however, Knuckles shrugged and nodded. "It's okay. I'm not usually a fan of fish though."

Before she even knew what she was doing, Carol was off. "Oh, I love it! Sushi I mean, not fish. Well, I like fish too; I'm a cat after all. But I mean, I could eat a bucket load of good sushi. There's this great restaurant out by our treehouse that's got some of the best sushi I've ever had!"

Knuckles sighed quietly as the young wildcat rambled on beside him. This is going to be a long day, he thought.

Luckily, she only droned on about sushi for about another minute before her head caught up with her words and she thankfully changed the subject.

"Y-You know, it's kinda funny that you guys have got those Chaos Emerald thingies."

"How so?" He asked.

"Because we've got pretty much the same thing on Avalice."

"Really?" He asked, suddenly interested.

"Yeah, I mean sorta. It's called the Kingdom Stone, and it's this super important thing that like, powers the three kingdoms where we lived."

"Interesting." He said.

"Yeah. It's kinda the reason we're here now, since it got stolen by this big, green alien guy, and we had to go into his ship and beat the snot outta him to get it back. It was pretty awesome. Well, mostly."

"Where is it now?" He asked.

"I think it's still on his ship, 'cause we couldn't get it out before the whole thing crashed out here."

"So you still need to go get it?"

Carol shrugged as her hands slipped casually back into her pockets. "I dunno. Probably. Torque, our alien friend, is out there doing… something about radiation, I dunno. Once he gets back, I bet we're gonna go out and try to find it again."

"Torque?" Knuckles repeated. "So that's what he's doing?"

"Uh, yeah. How'd you know him?"

Knuckles shook his head. "I know about him. Sonic mentioned him when he was bringing us up to speed, and how your 'dragon' friend seems to be really worried about him."

Carol giggled. "Aw, she worries too much. He said he'd be back before nightfall, I'm sure he's fine."

"Get down!"

Torque barely had time to follow through with his own advice before a glowing, green ball of plasma detonated with a deafening blast just inches away from where he was standing a second ago. Had he not dived for cover in time, he would have been vaporized by the explosion.

In an instant, he was up and firing from his cover at the source of the blast: A Shade Trooper who, instead of the standard plasma rifles, carried a larger, high-grade fusion cannon; a huge device that could launch concentrated plasma bursts, the explosions of which were said to rival the heat of the surface a red giant star. Shrugging off the Chaser's glowing, red laser blasts that were punching into its armor, the emotionless soldier loaded and charged the cannon for another shot at its foe, ready to reduce him into subatomic particles.

However, as the Trooper prepared its devastating weapon, lifting it up and supporting it on its shoulder, it was jerked back as a series of blue plasma shots suddenly knocked it down onto its back, causing it to lose its grip on the fusion cannon. As the devastating weapon slid across the floor, the Trooper made its best attempt to dive for it. Unfortunately for it, the second it laid its hands on the launcher, one more glowing plasma blast hit it's mark: Directly onto the fusion cannon's core.

The resulting explosion was potent indeed, and Torque could feel the heat emanating from the blast even behind his cover. The moment it subsided, the Chaser peeked out of his cover to see that the only thing left of the enemy Trooper was a large scorch mark on the floor and walls, as well as thin trails of smoke.

"Nice shot, Buster." He said, a slight grin curling the edges of his lips.

The reprogrammed soldier stood at attention, lowering its smoking rifle and saluting the commander in response.

"Come on, let's go!" Without hesitation, Torque vaulted over his cover and took off, boosting down the hall past the black marks left behind by the explosion. Buster responded immediately and began following its new commander, hot on his heels as the two sprinted through the Dreadnought drawing ever closer to their destination.

Even though their journey down from the med-bay certainly wasn't uneventful, Torque was surprised at how easy it was considering the circumstances. All of the soldiers and Shade Mutants that the duo had come across had been disorganized and scattered, and some didn't even attack on sight. He had come to the conclusion that though Brevon was alive, the Dreadnought was in such shambles that he currently had no means of controlling and directing what remained of his army.

Even still, the thought of the maniacal warlord filled Torque with a sense of subtle fear, and he found himself increasing his stride slightly.

"There!" Torque said at last, as they turned a corner and caught sight of a doorway down at the end of the hallway; the very same that he had entered just a day before to find Milla's injured body. However, as he and his loyal follower burst through the doorway into the warp core, Torque was met with a very different sight.

The very first thing that Torque noticed that sent a jolt of joy through his chest was suspended in the middle of the room. Amongst smashed consoles and the general wreckage that was present throughout the rest of the crashed ship, the Kingdom Stone was suspended in the same glass cylinder, shining as brightly and flawlessly as ever.

However, as his eyes drew down from the shimmering crystal to the base of the cylinder, he was met with a sight he hadn't expected. A figure of some strange creature with large ears, and two fluffy tails was standing down below, silhouetted under the Kingdom Stone's gentle glow. Though he couldn't make out any precise details, he watched as the figure bent down over the console next to the glass cylinder, seemingly typing away.

"Hey!" Torque shouted, unclipping his blaster. "Hold it right there!"

The figure jumped in surprise and spun around at the sound of Torque's voice, watching as the Chaser and the reprogrammed soldier sprinted in his direction. As soon as he caught sight of the blasters that the two held in their hands, he quickly threw his own hands above his head defensively.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on!"

Torque slid to a stop, raising his blaster to point it at this new creature, with Buster following suit. "What are you doing?" He demanded.

"I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

As Torque looked up and down this stranger with a firm countenance, he noted its yellow fur, large eyes, and shorter stature, and concluded that it definitely wasn't one of Brevon's mutants. He also sounded very young. This must be that intruder that Syntax was talking about. He doesn't look that dangerous...

"What are you doing?" Torque questioned, not lowering his blaster from the stranger's direction.

"I… I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. I was just looking at this crystal. I didn't touch anything!"

Torque raised an eyebrow, and though he didn't lower his blaster, his body relaxed a bit. "Alright then, what are you doing here?"

"I… I just wanted to explore. I mean, I couldn't really resist. The technology you've got here, it's absolutely incredible! I could only imagine what half of it is even used for, but I would love to study it! I mean, with your permission."

Torque was taken aback by the sudden change in the newcomer's countenance. Though his arms were still raised in a submissive surrender, he seemed to have been struck with a bolt of energy, and the two tails behind him began swaying around with the same excitement displayed on his face.

"It's… not my ship." Torque said at last, lowering his blaster and motioning for Buster to do the same. The mutant obeyed, but it kept a wary, unblinking stare on the newcomer, searching for any signs of hostility.

"Oh." The stranger said, lowering his hands. "Then, could I talk to your leader? Maybe I could ask him if…"

Torque suddenly laughed out loud, surprising the stranger. "I don't think that's going to work out for you, trust me. Besides, the guy in charge of this ship is definitely not my leader. I'm not even really supposed to be here."

"Then, can I ask what you're doing?"

"Trying to get that back." He said, pointing up to the shining stone. "Speaking of, give me a moment."

With that, Torque slipped past the stranger to the console which held the Stone. Plugging in his hacking device, he got to work trying to open the glass case.

"So, what is 'that' exactly?" The stranger asked. He tried to edge closer to the Chaser to watch Torque's work on the screen, but a cold glare from Buster froze him in his tracks.

"It's called the Kingdom Stone." Torque explained without looking away from the monitor. "It's really important to my friends, and I need to get it to them as soon as possible."

"Oh, then can I help?"

Torque let out a quick chuckle. "You probably don't understand the…"

"No, no." The stranger interrupted. "I was studying this computer's programming just before you got here. It's actually kinda basic coding. Here, lemme show you."

He tried to step forward, but Buster's arm suddenly shot forth into his path, stopping him.

"Hey, easy Buster." Torque said, motioning to the soldier. "Alright, you can help."

"Great!" He practically bounced forward, nearly knocking Torque to the ground, and began typing away at the keyboard.

"See," he said. "you were taking the long way trying to access the system. That device you've got there," he pointed to the hacking device. "Already bypasses the primary system defenses, so you don't need to worry about that. See, what you need to do is..."

Torque listened and watched this young stranger work with a growing smile. With every word, the Chaser became more and more amazed at the level of intelligence this alien fox possessed. Torque wouldn't have hesitated to call him a genius.

"There you go!" He said at last. "Total access!"

He stepped back, giving Torque room to walk to the screen to confirm that he did indeed have complete control of the console.

"Color me impressed." He said with a grin. Immediately, he began searching through the console's databanks, looking for the procedure that would free the Kingdom Stone from its glass prison.

"What's your name?" He asked the stranger as he worked.

"Oh, I'm Miles. But you can call me Tails."

"Well I'm Torque. It's nice to meet you."

"Wait, Torque?" Tails repeated. "You're Torque the alien?"

The Chaser glanced to the side with a raised eyebrow. "Do you know me?"

"Yeah! You're Lilac's friend, right?"

"Lilac? How do you know Lilac?"

Indeed. Please explain how you are associated with the Chasers.

Both Tails and Torque jumped in surprise at the sudden robotic monotone, and Buster instantly took an offensive battle stance with his rifle. All three of them spun around to see Syntax teleport in behind them with a green flash.

But the surprises didn't end there. Before any of them had time to react, the room suddenly reverberated with a chorus of steel doors clanking open, followed by a flow of metal feet marching on a metal floor.

"Get behind me!" Torque yelled to Tails, who complied as Shade Troopers began pouring in from all angles. Within moments, a squadron of over thirty enemy Troopers had the Chaser, the fox, and the rogue Trooper completely surrounded, while Syntax watched calmly from above.

"What's happening?" Tails tried to ask from behind Torque and Buster, as the latter two raised their weapons in preparation for a fight. However, Syntax began speaking before Torque could.

Good evening, Commander. She droned. I do hope this trap wasn't an inconvenience, but I'm afraid Lord Brevon requires your obliteration.

Immediately, Buster aimed his rifle at the AI's new body, but Torque stopped him before he could fire.

"Hold it, Buster!" He yelled. "Don't shoot; there's too many."

The trooper obeyed, lowering its rifle but still retaining his battle-ready stance.

Thank you for your compliance. Syntax droned. Now if you will be so kind, please remain still for your termination.

One by one, each of the Troopers surrounding the trio raised and aimed their weapons at their captives.

"Wait!" Torque said quickly, trying to buy time. "You, um… Brevon would want us alive so he can interrogate us. You'd be terminating an asset to him."

Syntax seemed to process Torque's words for a moment before responding. I'm afraid your logic is flawed. Your usefulness expired when you revealed the status of the other Chasers. You have no information that would be of use.

"You're wrong! I… I told the girls to stay away if I didn't come back! You wouldn't be able to find them without me!"

At this point, Torque was grasping at straws, hoping to give them time to come up with some plan that could get them out of their predicament. Unfortunately, Syntax was not one to be fooled so easily.

I'm afraid you're displaying basic characteristics of misdirection. You have no information, and you have no further use to Lord Brevon. Please remain still for your termination.

"No! I… I…"

There was nothing he could say. As fast as he could, he tried to lift his blaster to fight back, while Buster followed suit behind him. The room filled with the hum of charging plasma rifles, and Torque knew that he likely wouldn't even get a shot out before all three of them were gunned down. Even still, with the few seconds they had left, he got himself ready to die on his feet.

Every one of the enemy Troopers fired in unison, the chorus of plasma shots echoing throughout the warp core. Torque gritted his teeth, and with a final burst of determination, pulled the trigger on his blaster.

Author's note: I feel like I owe the biggest apology to the people following this story. I shouldn't have kept you all waiting so long, and I'm deeply sorry. I really don't have any good excuse for not working on this, but I promise that I won't keep you waiting like that a second time. I don't care if it kills me, I will get this story done, and then I will continue on to what I've been planning for more than a year now.

Anyway, I don't have much to say about this chapter. It all pretty much turned out how I wanted, even though it's a little longer than I expected. But that's certainly not a bad thing. I would still appreciate any and all feedback any of you have to offer.

Anyway, thank you all so much for viewing and reviewing, I apologize one last time, and I'll see you later.

Yours Truly, Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman.