In Westopolis...

"Well, now there's six left...Scratch that, let's call it five- the other one's in India!" said Tails.

The five heroes were having lunch outside of a local pizza shop, as the waitress had walked away to get napkins.

"Yeah, no. We'll get that one last." said Sonic, sipping his cola soda.

"Hey, remember what those hunters said when they first came? About the Emeralds?" Shadow chimed in after remaining silent the whole time since the battle.

"Yeah, why?"

"What if he's right? What if the Chaos Emeralds are destroying time and space?"

"Impossible," Knuckles corrected, "The Emeralds are considered the physical form of time and space combined."

"Actually, thinking about it more, Shadow may have a point. If Sonic kept teleporting to their world every time he used a Chaos Emerald, all fingers should point to the Emerald, not the user." said Silver.

"But Eggman had already done something wrong with time and space that day. Sonic teleported right after Eggman shot that thing into the sky!" noted Tails.

"And he did use nearly all of the Emeralds." reminded Sonic.

"Which further solidifies what Nathan meant by 'Our evidence is our presence,' because they would have never been here if it weren't for the Emeralds' prior abuse." Shadow again.

"Which may also explain why Ansem is here! Remember, he's not from our world either, and by the way those hunters reacted, it looked like they didn't know him either." said Tails.

"So that means we now have a three-world crisis?" Silver questioned.

"Possibly more."

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe this is the Emeralds' doing. Sure, Eggman did mess everything up, but when we used the Emeralds on Mephiles, our usage should've balanced out all the wrong done! As a firm believer in the Emeralds' powers, I will reject these beliefs." stated Knuckles.

"Knuckles, I want to say you're right, especially being that I'm usually the naíve one here, but the evidence stacks against your stance. And this is coming from someone who you all met in a timeline crisis involving the Chaos Emeralds." Silver now.

"OK, so then what, are you just going to give them the Emeralds?! Who's to say they know how to use them? I'm pretty sure they 'read' their stuff about 'em, but 'reading' gets you nowhere until you put forth experience. And as far as I know, we're the only universe who has the most experience with these Emeralds!"

There was no reply, as the rest pondered these words.

"Well, say if these Emeralds are the cause of those hunters and Ansem being here, I don't very much like the sound of handing over the Chaos Emeralds either."

"So then what are we going to do?" Silver again.

"How about we just find the remaining Chaos Emeralds, and just try not to use them? Simple." suggested Shadow.

Everyone agreed and continued with their meals.

Spontaneously, their table shot up into the air and scattered food and beverages about. Now in front of them was a familiar foe: a Heartless Soldier.

"Oh no, not these guys again!" Sonic jumping off his seat.

Silver thrusted a hand forward and sent the creature far down the road until it was no longer visible. Then, from the long row of stores along the sidewalk, glass windows shattered onto the pavement, followed by a dozen more Soldiers hopping out, scaring off the panicking humans.

Without further thought, Sonic rolled up into the air and spun towards the closest Soldier. Knocking it down, Sonic landed himself on its torso and spun himself faster allowing his quills to cut through the Soldier's armor like a razor. Upon its vanquishment, Sonic spun forward again and unrolled himself in the air with both legs out, kicking right through the head of an approaching one, and Sonic landed with a slide right through its vapor.

Shadow rolled and charged himself a Spin Dash, speedily launching himself at two of them lined up, cutting through like a bullet to a paper.

Tails balled up in the air and Silver assisted by telekinetically shooting Tails towards one, bashing through its head to submission. Tails landed on his feet again and whipped his twin tails around with a force that sliced the torso of an oncoming Soldier. Another tried its chance on Silver, but with a simple roll of his fingers, Silver crushed the Heartless into a black vapor.

Knuckles kicked one to the ground and pounded two violent fists into its helmet- and on reflex, did a spinning back fist to the one that just approached him, making the latter vaporize against a wall.

"Well, let's roll!" declared Sonic.

"I'll go with Knuckles to Angel Island. I wouldn't be surprised if Ansem's already aware of the Master Emerald given what we did to Mephiles." said Shadow.

"Oh really? And how do I know you're not going to take it for yourself like you've done before, Mr. 'Agent of G.U.N.?'" interrogated Knuckles, jabbing a finger into Shadow's chest.

"Knuckles, how hard did you get hit with that pole? There are three sides in all of this: us, Ansem and the Heartless, and those hunters. G.U.N.'s been compromised thanks to one of those hunters. The Heartless have been giving us hell for quite some time now. Then there's you guys, keeping the Chaos Emeralds out of the wrong hands- which by the way, is a shared goal I have with you. So tell me, do I really seem like I want the Master Emerald for myself at a time like this?"

Knuckles this time had no reply.

"Oooh, burrrrn!" Sonic, Tails, and Silver teased.

"Then it's settled."

Shadow and Knuckles hopped onto Tails' plane.

"I'll meet you guys later at my place! Here, Sonic!" said the yellow fox.

Sonic gave a thumbs after catching the keys, then everyone split up.

Meanwhile...

"This day just keeps getting better!" hissed Nathan.

"No worries, just wait for like twenty minutes and I'll have the ship working for you guys." said Geo.

The ship's door shut leaving Joseph and Nathan to wait outside while Geo made the repairs.

"At this rate, those Mobians will be able to find two Chaos Emeralds before we even decide where to find one!" snapped Nathan.

"Tell me about it. You know, for being able to control space and time and whatever, those Emeralds really do a good job at screwing it all up!" said Joseph.

"I guess that's why they're called 'Chaos Emeralds.' But, you do have a point, and for interacting with them for so long, you'd think these guys would know what they're doing."

"Shadow seems to know his stuff. All I saw him do was teleport."

"When I faced him alone, he was able to slow down time. Although, that still doesn't seem damaging enough for the dimensions- I know plenty of gods that have done that!"

"I don't know, and I honestly don't care. Space is weird and I just wanna get this done."

"Preach."

Out of nowhere, a large orb of darkness formed in mid-air and a giant creature spawned from it. Nathan and Joseph scurried to stand before this Large Body. Nathan noticed it shared something with Ansem.

"What the hell is that?!" exclaimed Joseph.

"It has that same symbol Ansem has; he probably sent this thing!" Nathan responded.

Joseph grew out into a werewolf and bounded towards the Heartless. The Large Body pushed out its stomach and it deflected Joseph out of the air.

Nathan spectated as his best friend tumbled back in an awkward fashion.
He then snorted into hearty laughter, "That was great! My day is better all over again!"

He looked back to the Large Body and a giant blue fist whammed down on Nathan's shoulder, dropping him immediately.

Joseph peered over chortling. "Dumbass."

"And my day sucks again..." said Nate.

A fist came Joseph's way and this time, the latter caught it. Joseph grasped the wrist tightly with both of his hands now and started spinning the nine-foot Heartless around and around. Joseph lowered his arms a bit, and after a final rotation, he released the Large body way above himself. Nathan morphed a rocket launcher and took his aim; a chrome rocket busted out of its chamber and in seconds, a burning darkness decorated the blue sky.

Joseph shape-shifted to a human again as him and Nathan walked back to the ship.

Nathan gave a hard knock and the door slid open, "Yes?"

"Did you see that? What the hell was that? Who is this 'Ansem,' because he was not on that file you sent?!" bantered Nathan.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. I have no clue what you're talking about, so let me check the camera feeds."

"Those fucking creatures have been bothering me since the war on our Earth!"

"Our Earth?...Oh...Oh no."

"What?" Joseph now.

"This can't be good. I know for a fact that they're not Mobian, and they do not even belong on that planet you're on now! I think I know what that thing was- and you said you saw one on Earth? Our Earth?"

"Sort of. It was on the day of Pride, where I told you to watch Vincent at the inn, and the Reaper was there too. It came after you all left, and it wasn't the exact one we fought now. It was smaller, but they had a familiar energy surrounding them." informed Nathan.

"This isn't good. I'll be back, now I have to do some more research. Be careful, the ship can fly, but its navigation systems need more attention. My mind will still be repairing, but slower now that I'm going to be doing other things."

"How slow?" asked Joseph.

"Now it'll be roughly forty minutes."

"UUGGGHHHH!" the Loose Cannons groaned, as the door closed in front of them.

They plopped down on the grass, doing nothing but stare at the sort of familiar sky and rub their uncommon facial hair.

*And let the war begin! Vote, comment, and/or follow for more! Thankz.