Episode 22 - Chapter One: Coping With Loss (Part One)

A week has passed since Sonic and TodStar disappeared from Mobius. And a large blimp with a beak-like shape on the front of it was seen soaring through the sky. Within the viewing window of the blimp was a green hawk, staring at the sky moving past.
"*sigh* I dunno if I can lead the Rogues as good as you did, Pop." He said while looking at a portrait of an older hawk. The hawk soon heard knocking at the doors out of the room. "Come in." As the doors opened, a purple swallow entered the room.
"Hey. How're you holding up?" She asked him.
"I'm okay." The hawk replied. "It just doesn't feel right for me to lead."
"C'mon Jet, you knew you had to take leadership of the Babylon Rogues eventually."
"Yeah I know Wave, but-"
"Boss!" Shouted a grey albatross as he barged in, scaring the Realm of Iblis out of Jet and Wave.
"Storm? You're s'posed to be cleanin' out my old man's room, like he requested!" Jet told him.
"I was. But while I was throwin' stuff off the shelves, I found this." Said Storm as he revealed an almost clear cube with a note attached.
"Could you at least knock next time, Storm?" Wave angrily asked him as he handed Jet the cube and note.
"Huh. It's a letter from my father..." Jet pointed out as he looked at the piece of paper.
"What's it say, Jet?" Asked Wave, somewhat curious.
"Dear Jet, if you are reading this, then I have passed on, and you have cleaned out my quarters as I requested." Jet replied, as he was reciting his father's written words.
"The cube I have attached to this letter is one of the eight keys neccessary to restoring the fabled Babylon Garden to it's former glory. In truth, I actually found this before the Great War even started. However, I kept it a secret from you and your friends because I feared that this cube would be dangerous, and I wanted to discover more about it. But now that I am gone, perhaps your friend Wave can find what I failed to see. The last piece of information I gathered about Babylon Garden is this: The seven Chaos Emeralds were used to seal Babylon Garden deep within the Great Desert all those years ago. Perhaps those same Emeralds can be used to help bring it back up to the skies where it belongs...
Your Extreme Gear is absolutely vital to restoring Babylon Garden, as is your friendships with Wave and Storm. I am sorry I kept this a secret from you for so long Jet, but I-" Jet stopped reading because Storm was blowing his nose. Jet then gave him the evil eve.
"Uhh, sorry boss." Storm apologized before Jet kept reading...
"-but I wanted to protect you, should the secrets of Babylon be dangerous. Keep you friends close, and be careful, Jet. Know that I shall always love you. Your father, Wind."
"Wow... so he was looking for Babylon Garden, after all..." Wave pointed out.
"Yeah... we always thought he was loungin', and bossin' us around! Added Storm as Jet scrunched the letter into a ball.
"Hah. Garbage." Said Jet as he threw the letter in the trash can. "But as for this..." Jet then held the small cube tight in his hand.
"So, now we just have to find those Chaos Emeralds, right?" Wave asked.
"Not neccessarily..." Jet replied as he opened a draw in his desk. "We're gonna be entering this!" Jet then pulled out a flyer for an event. Eggman was also on the flyer.
"EX World Grand Prix?" Storm asked as he read what was on the flyer aloud.
"Yep. We got an exclusive invite to enter this thing." Jet replied. "First prize is all seven Chaos Emeralds!" Wave and Storm were shocked to hear that! "Storm, set a course for our training grounds."
"Roger that, boss!" Storm replied as he saluted Jet, before leaving the room.
"Heh. Those Chaos Emeralds are as good as ours!" Jet pointed out as he looked back out the window.

Meanwhile, Sonic had just awakened in a huge bedroom chamber.
"Ooookaaay..." He said. "Last thing I remember, I was zoomin' through a portal of some sort... then I bounced off what looked like Eggman's ships and I crashed into a castle..." What Sonic didn't know was that someone was listening to him while hiding from him... "...so how'd I get here? And what this on my- YEOWCH!" Sonic was looking at his hands, when he noticed that his gauntlet had returned, but he also had a silver ring with a green orb attached to it on his left wrist, that shocked him when he touched it. "What is this, a shock collar?"
"It's a shock wristband, actually." Said a female voice. As the source of that voice came into view, Sonic saw her for what she was: A purple cat with a red pearl on her forehead surrounded by darker purple markings, wearing a purple tunic (with a red emerald-shaped jewel-like button holding it together), black short-shorts, purple socks and pink heeled shoes.
"Percival?" Asked Sonic, but she shook her head.
"My name is Blaze, and it is an honor to meet you, Sol One." After she introduced herself to Sonic, she knelt before him.
"Uhh... Sol One?" He asked. "My name's Sonic."
"It is said that the Sol One will help the firey princess seal the flame goddess Iblis within the seven Sol Emeralds."
"Iblis..." Sonic thought out loud.
"She is the living flame within me." Blaze replied as she a small stream of fire spiral around her hand.
"Man... I thought Iblis was just a myth..."
"Hardly. But these flames are my doing, not her's."
"Cool. So, where am I, and what's the deal with this shock wristband?"
"Oh. I'm sorry. That wristband is for my protection should you disobey me."
"Ah. So, if I were to do this... OW!" Sonic was about to try and punch Blaze, but his wristband shocked him again.
"Yes." Blaze replied. "And this is my Kingdom."
"Whoa. Are you the Princess, or somethin'?"
"Yes. All will be explained tomorrow, Sonic. For now, you need to rest." After Blaze left the room, Sonic got to thinking...
"(Iblis... Blaze... Sol One?)" He thought. He soon shrugged and went back to sleep.

"You're... Tikal, aren't you?" TodStar asked an echidna girl who had ran into him (not literally) after he saw the Master Emerald at the altar.
"Y-yes." She replied. TodStar figured because her appearence matched her description: An echidna girl with tribal clothes and ancient jewelery around her head, neck and wrists. "But who are you? I do not believe we have met before..."
"Oh, sorry. I'm TodStar." The male echidna replied, almost as confused as Tikal was. "(Enerjak must've sent me to the past, or something... Meh, just go with it.) Sorry. I'm kinda new to Downunda, but I've heard of you from friends of mine."
"I see..." Tikal replied as she shook TodStar's hand, which was on fire almost instantly. "Aah!"
"(Bugger! Not now!) Oh. Don't worry about that."
"But... you're hand is on fire!"
"Relax. I'm fine. In fact..." TodStar said before grabbing Tikal's arm with his flaming hand.
"Aaaa... Hey... it doesn't hurt..." Tikal pointed out as she only felt TodStar's touch.
"Yeah. After some training, I managed to control the flames so they can or can't harm others. But enough about me. What're you doing here, Tikal?"
"I was about to visit the Emerald Shrine before you arrived here. Maybe you could come with me!"
"What?"
"My father doesn't want me here alone, so if you pretend to be my escort, he should be fine with it!"
"Uhh... okay." As he and Tikal got closer to the shrine, TodStar felt uncomfortable as he saw the seven Chaos Emeralds. "(Uh-oh. I think Shahra's spell might be wearin' off...) Uhh, Tikal? I think this might be close enough..."
"*giggle* Are you scared of being caught?" Tikal teased before she grabbed TodStar's hand. "Come on!"
"Ay, Tikal!" TodStar shouted as Tikal pulled him closer to the the shrine. Soon, both TodStar and Tikal made to the top of the shrine, where they both gasped in awe at the sight of the Master Emerald.
"Wow... it's so beautiful... and big..." Tikal pointed out. "Although I can't help but wonder why it is so much larger than the seven Chaos Emeralds..." The Master Emerald suddenly glowed brighter, as if it was answering Tikal's question... "I understand... the Servers are the seven Chaos... Chaos is power, enriched by the heart... the Controller exists to unify the Chaos..."
"*gasp* (The ancient prayer... I really have travelled back in time...)" TodStar thought as Tikal recited what she heard in her head.
"Servers... Controller... What does it all mean, TodStar?" Tikal asked him after she finished.
"I think it means that the big Emerald in front of us is the Controller, while the seven Chaos Emeralds are the Servers." TodStar replied before Tikal gasped in realization.
"Of course. Then, perhaps we should call this the Emerald Controller." She said, but TodStar shook his head.
"Nah, that doesn't seem right." He replied. "How 'bout the 'Master' Emerald?"
"Yes, that sounds much better..." Said Tikal. "Henceforth, this large gem shall be known as the Master Emer-"
"TIKAL! What are you doing up there?" Yelled a voice unfamiliar to TodStar, but it made Tikal jump.
"Father, I can explain..." She started as she and TodStar came down to the bottom of the shrine.
"You shall do nothing of the sort!" Said Tikal's father, before he pointed at TodStar. "Now, I demand to know who this is with you!"
"Oh. Um, this is TodStar. He is new to our home." Tikal told her father.
"And you took him to the Emerald Shrine? For all you know, he could be part of the Noctu-"
"I came from the Master Emerald." Said TodStar, inturrupting Tikal's father.
"The Master Emerald?" He asked, staring at TodStar.
"Yes. It's uh, what that large gem is called..." TodStar replied. "See, I was sent here to protect Tikal from a future threat."
"Hm? Well pray tell, what is this 'future threat'?" Asked Tikal's father.
"I cannot say, for I fear that Tikal's spirit could be taken away from us prematurally." Tikal gasped when she heard that.
"I see. Well, I am Pachacamac, chief of the Knuckles Clan." Said Tikal's father, introducing himself. "Please protect my daughter at all costs."
"No worries, chief. I got it covered." TodStar replied before Pachacamac walked away from the shrine.
"You didn't mean any of what you said, did you?" Tikal asked TodStar with great fear in her eyes.
"Course not!" TodStar replied with a grin on his face. "It looked like you were gonna get grounded for a while, there, so I threw you a rope."
"Oh, thank you, TodStar." Tikal said as she hugged the green echidna.
"(Man, I wonder how things are going in the present...)" TodStar thought.

In the present day Mobius, TV screens all over the planet had started to fuzz up. Before anyone could attempt to fix the problem, Dr. Eggman was seen on every single screen, cackling away.
"EGGMAN!" Shouted everyone watching.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome everyone!" Said Eggman. "I hope you're all ready for a show. I've got an exciting event, just for you. Hoh hohohoho!"

END OF CHAPTER

Special Thanks to fire-ice-n-lightning on deviantART for letting me use his design for Blaze in this story.