Soleanna Forest Zone

"Woo-hoo! Here we go!" Sonic cheered, standing on the airplane with Y/N while Tails is piloting it.

Him and the Freedom Fighters are flying after the big red train like a bull as Sally landed on top and dropped the small computer of Nicole inside the hole that happened to be opened. Nicole was taking a while when suddenly the train started go faster, causing Sally and Rotor to loose balance after they landed on top of the train, but luckily, Bunnie caught them.

"The train's accelerating! Fly faster!" Amy ordered, standing on the airplane where Antoine is also piloting.

"It's all I can be doing to be keeping us level!"

"Amy! Something's happened! Forget the plan! We're doing this car-by-car now!" Sonic shouted as he and Y/N dropped down to the train.

"You start from this end! We'll run up ahead!" Y/N said.

"You got it!"

Amy smashed her hammer onto the roof of the train.

"RRRGH! Open! Open! OPEN!"

Sonic and Y/N zoomed up ahead as Sonic spin dashed the door of the roof.

"I've got a good feeling about this one! Hold on, Chuck! We're—"

He stopped to see the army of scorpion robot and dragon fly robot. Good thing Y/N stopped on time before she went inside as she already had a feeling that this is not the right room, but she wouldn't tell Sonic since he thinks he knows this is the right one, and look where it got him.

"—in the wrong car."

The robots approaches Sonic with their weapons out.

"My bad! You guys can go back to sleep... or stand by... or whatever it is Badniks do. I know the way out, so I'll just—"

But they didn't listen to him as they begun to attack him, which he quickly dodged them.

"Sonic!" Y/N exclaimed, before noticing the flying dragon fly robots are flying up to Tails and Antoine. "Oh no!"

She brought out her katana and began to slice them off to keep them from coming with the help of Sonic's spin dash while the rest took care of them. Suddenly, the train began to screech to the side, causing them to fall off. Good thing Sally and Rotor landed on their Extreme Gear when they noticed they're missing someone.

"Where's Amy?!"

"She didn't have an air board! She came on the twister!"

"Don't worry! I got her!"

Y/N zoomed up towards them in her rocket roller skates, carrying Amy bridal style.

"Oh, thank goodness..." Sally sighed in relief.

"Nice!"

"Yeah-Yeah-Yeah, she's awesome!" Sonic said, zooming next to her.

"Oh, thank you, Y/N!" Amy smiled. "Though, I would expect Sonic to save me, but you're okay..."

"Let's save the rest of the hero worship for the victory party. We need to find Chuck and that professor guy." Sonic said.

"I've got an idea. Rotor, hold your air board steady."

Y/N jumped onto Rotor's Extreme Gear and then to Sally's with Sonic behind her before handing Amy to Sally.

"Stick with Sal and Rote. Me and sis need to move fast." Sonic said.

"Hmph! Fine!" Amy pouted as she was being carried bridal style by Sally.

Sonic and Y/N prepared to go back to running and skating.

"It looks like that last turn did us a favor and got rid of the Badniks! Still—we're playing the safe! I'll stay on my air board and act as your safety net!"

"I'll weaken the hatch with my omni-tool! Then Amy can bust it open!"

"'Kay! Man—I hope Bunnie and the others are having an easier time!"

The hedgehog siblings nodded and zoomed off as they spin dashed to the next roof.

"C'mon, professors! C'mon, no Badniks!"

They landed inside and they looked up to see Uncle Chuck and Professor Pickle who's a middle-aged man with fair skin. He has gray hair and very large eyebrows that cover his eyes. He wears a coat with brown buttons, pants and brown shoes. Below is a white shirt with a red bow. They are trapped in the glass tube.

"Uncle Chuck! Finally!"

"Sonny-Boy! Y/N-Sweetsop! I knew you'd come for us!" Uncle Chuck exclaimed in relief to see them.

"Hmm? Are you two the porters?" Professor Pickle questioned, causing Uncle Chuck to face palm. "I'll have you know I am quite displeased with the service on this train. I will have a cucumber sandwich posthaste, if you please!"

Sonic and Y/N looked at their uncle in confusion if this man is okay. He just shrugged it off to tell them that he's been like that all the time.

"Hang tight, brainiacs. We'll figure out the best way to bust you out."

"Hurry, you two!"

"I know, I know. This train is out of control."

"No, I—well, yes, that. But it's about the planet! Dillion's research—the gas samples I was taking in Wood Zone—they all tie together into something bigger!"

"Seriously? The world shattering apart isn't complicated enough?"

"Then what is it that's causing all of this?" Y/N asked.

Before Uncle Chuck to explain further, they heard a loud noise.

"Ah! That must be the lunch cart." Professor Pickle said, not knowing what danger they're in.

The giant robotic claw was dug out and everything broke through to reveal E-106 ETA.

"Gonna have to put that lunch order on hold, professor."

Sonic and Y/N got into their fighting stance as the robot raised its claw to strike them down when Sonic jumped over it while Y/N stand guard in front of Professor Pickle and Uncle Chuck as she brought out her whip.

"Swing and a miss!"

"Careful, Sonic! That's one of Eggman's super Badniks!"

"I'm guessing you're not going to randomly 'turn good,' huh?"

"I don't think so, bro! Watch out!"

Sonic quickly dodged that claw again. Y/N swung her whip and whacked it away from her brother and then charged toward it and kicked it off in the face.

"That's it, Y/N-Sweetsop! Hit it where it hurts!"

"Gracious! Such a surely mechanical porter! Do not tip him, m'girl!"

Y/N kept attacking the E-106 ETA while Sonic helped her as they dodged its attack as the train suddenly took a turn, causing everything to move to the side and Uncle Chuck to slam himself into the glass, knocking him out. Professor Pickle checked on him in concern.

"Charles? My word... Charles! Wake up!"

Sonic and Y/N turned and gasped to see their uncle hurt.

"Uncle Chuck?!"

This gave the robot the upper hand and trapped them both against the wall. The hedgehog siblings started to grow angry as their body shook and their sharp teeth are shown.

"That's it! You wanna play rough?! We're gonna—!"

Suddenly, Amy comes down to their rescue and whacked the robot away with her hammer, freeing them. Sally and Rotor not too long came down to help free Uncle Chuck and Professor Pickle.

"Good work, Sonic, Y/N! Keep that thing busy while we get the professors!"

Sonic and Y/N held themselves together, trying not to get angry.

"RRRRGH... Right..."

"Got it..."

Amy and E-106 ETA both smashed both their hammer and claw together, causing their attack to push them away from the hard impact. The robot looked at its claws to see it gone and frowned in sadness. Sonic and Y/N quickly came back to the fight and together they spin dash.

"Croquet Special!"

"Comin' right up!"

Amy whacked her hammer and Sonic and Y/N like a basketball as they smashed through the body, causing it to no longer have limbs on its lower part. Meanwhile with Sally and Rotor as they freed the professors with Uncle Chuck getting his conscious back.

"Whoa... The 'glass' is a morphogenic semi-solid compound that..."

"Focus on the mission, please!"

"Whoops! My bad! I've got you, Uncle Chuck!"

"Right this way, professor!"

"Ah! Finally—some courteous service. Lead the way, my dear."

"Awesome! We've managed to make it mad!" Sonic cheered.

"Argh! Zero wasn't this annoying!" Amy pouted.

"We've got the professors! Biplanes are inbound! Get out of there!"

"You heard the lady!"

Y/N quickly picked Amy up in bridal style again, causing her yelp in surprise. Amy then noticed the robot was about to attack them when Amy hammered it away.

"Back off!!"

Sonic and Y/N with Amy jumped up to the surface and zoomed off.

"...Yeah. That'll do. That'll do nicely."

"What? What will do nicely?"

Y/N pointed at the bridge up ahead with the lake beneath them.

"...Oh. Oh, no. No-No-No-No—!"

"Oh, yes. Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes!"

Amy covered her eyes, screaming.

"Ahhh! I can't watch!"

"But you'll miss all the fun!" Sonic grinned.

Amy didn't notice E-106 ETA came up to them and was about to swing its claw at them when Sonic and Y/N jumped off the train towards the lake. Amy thought they're about to die when they landed on something. Amy uncovered her eyes and looked down to see that they have landed on the wing of the airplane where Tails is flying it.

"That... was... nerve wracking!"

"And yet you're standing on the wings of a plane." Y/N teased, placing Amy down.

"I... but... SHUT UP!"

This made Y/N and Sonic laugh as Sally and the others caught up to them.

"What's the Badnik situation, Bunnie?"

Bunnie blasted off the dragon fly robot, freeing the cute small chicken.

"That was the last one, Sally-Girl. We're in the clear." Bunnie said, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

"Not ze moment too soon!" Antoine sighed in relief.

"After much hassle, we've got the professors." Sally said.

"And the super Badnik is stuck on a train going nowhere fast. So... yay us!" Sonic added, lying down on the airplane.

"Good work, everyone. Let's get back to the Sky Patrol."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shortly after getting back to Sky Patrol, Sonic and Y/N were in disbelief on what they're hearing.

"What do you mean, 'we lost your stuff'?!"

"Precisely what I said, m'children. You failed to recover all the research material I'd acquired, as well as all the samples Charles had collected." Professor Pickle calmly stated.

"Oh, so you didn't think to bring it up while we were busy saving your lives?!"

"Yeah, what gives?! You could've told us and we wouldn't have to worry about it!"

"You two were quite involved with your fisticuffs. It would've been rude to interrupt form there, it must have... mmm, slipped my mind."

"My excuse is that I was unconscious." Uncle Chuck said, removing the pack of ice from his head.

Sonic pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration while Y/N face palmed.

"And this guy's supposed to be a 'genius,' folks..."

Sally calmed Sonic down by wrapping her arm around his while patting Y/N in the back.

"Sonic. Y/N. Professor Pickle—what was it you were researching? What did Dr. Eggman want with you?"

"Ah, well... I had nearly completed decoding the Gaia Manuscripts. To put it simply, they tell of an ancient myth revolving around the death and rebirth of our world. Every ten thousand years, the world is said to shatter apart, much like our current predicament, mmm? Now, according to the manuscripts, there are seven Gaia Temples located throughout the world. They're said to have some sort of connection to the Chaos Emeralds, somehow tying into their power. From what I've deciphered, it seems that when the Chaos Emeralds are gathered and placed in the seven Gaia Temples, they will restore the world to order and begin the process of rebirth."

"Hmm... Eggman was easier for this information, so I'm betting the professor's on the right track." Sally hummed.

"Sure, why not? Given all the funky stuff I've seen, world-fixing temples don't seem like a stretch." Sonic said.

"And if this is a reoccurring phenomenon, it'd help explain how our atmosphere is still working. Do you know where the temples are, professor? How they work?"

"I'm afraid not, my dear. I hadn't finished decoding the manuscripts, nor had I verified the two locations I had found... And I certainly can't hazard a guess as to why Dr. Eggman would want my research."

"Oh, I can tell you that with certainty. He wants to control how the world gets put back together, or even hold the entire planet hostage. It's how he works—corrupting anything good that he touches and twisting it to suit his selfish needs." Uncle Chuck explained.

"Ah! Like he did with your roboticizer?" Professor Pickle said, making Y/N cringe.

"Yes, Dillon. Like with the roboticizer." Uncle Chuck sighed.

"Well... if the professor's notes point out only two of the temples, that doesn't give Eggman that much of a head start." Sonic said.

"Right. And while he's catching up on his reading, we know what we need to be looking for already!" Sally said.

"Booyah! Seven emeralds and seven temples! We've got the Sky Patrol! We've got the Freedom Fighters back together! We've got me and sis! How hard can it be?"

"Yeah! Plus, I am connected to the emeralds so it'll be easier for me to sense them." Y/N grinned.

"I'll get in contact with our friends abroad and get them to help in the search! Nicole can scan the Eggnet for any related data."

"I hate to undercut your optimism, but there's more." Uncle Chuck said sadly.

"Huh? Oh, right! Something about the samples you took from Wood Zone?"

Uncle Chuck turned to Professor Pickle.

"Did the Gaia manuscripts say anything about a sickness coming out of the Earth?"

"Hmm... Actually, I believe so! Something about a 'Dark Gaia' that instigated corruption and the supposed destruction of the world. A rather nasty, malevolent deity."

"Well, I don't know if any evil Gods are involved, but the strange dark energy seeping out of the ground is some nasty stuff! Just a few short tests proved it was highly dangerous, corruptive, and has incredible mutagenic properties. We're talking about the possibility of total cellular re-write."

Uncle Chuck gave Sonic and Y/N the look as he still remembered that dark smoke they inhaled, making them look away from him.

"We're fine, Chuck. Honest."

This made him sigh.

"Anyway—before, with the minor earthquakes, it was seeping out, but the concentration seemed quite low. With the world as it is, it's pouring out. We've got to fix things before we reach total global saturation."

"On top of the whole shattered-world thing."

"Hey—if anyone can handle this kind of adventure, it's you and your sister."

"Why do I feel like you're purposely leaving me out of the loop on something?" Sally asked, giving them the look.

"Well, we might have—" Y/N started, not wanting to see Sally's look, but Sonic cut her off.

"It's nothing! Really! We've got plenty of other stuff to worry about right now, Sal."

Y/N glared at Sonic for why won't she tell Sally about what happened. But he insisted her to keep this a secret and that they can handle it just fine and wouldn't want to worry her or their friends. Y/N sighed, nodding at him saying that she'll keep this a secret, but she will tell them or else.

"We certainly have our work cut out for us. Follow me, professor. We'll arrange for your trip back to Spagonia. I'll send word to G.U.N. that Eggman is targeting you." Sally said.

"Yes, thank you. I'm quite eager to get my office back in order. I do hope Muttski hasn't misfiled anything. I'm very particular, you know..."

"Yeah, Muttski sounded pretty rattled. It'll do him good to see you're fine." Sonic suggested.

"Right this moment, I'm more concerned about you two being fine."

"I keep telling you—We're fine! We just got a face full of the stuff and coughed it all out."

"Sonic! Quit lying! You know that there's definitely something wrong with us!" Y/N glared.

"Your sister is right. I've seen greater effects from smaller doses. You're sure you haven't felt... off lately?"

This made Sonic think that he indeed did feel off and had been feeling angry every time they see their friends and everyone they care about in danger and hurt. Y/N had been feeling the same way. Sonic placed a hand on Uncle Chuck's shoulder.

"C'mon, Chuck! It's me. I can handle whatever comes my way."

Y/N sighed, shaking her head, playing with her ruby necklace.

"If my brother says we're fine, then we're fine. We'll do what we can to control ourselves."

"Alright. As long as you two are okay, just... be careful."

"We will, uncle."