Sonic and EccoTides of Chaos

Story by Okura - Art by Lizsama

Chapter OneFissure

“Scan the area. Is this the location of the abnormalities? And the location the tablets described?”“Affirmative Doctor,” a computerized voice replied.“Excellent.”Glancing about the area from his floating pod, Dr. Eggman stroked his crazy moustache gingerly, thoughts racing about his brain excitedly as he snickered to himself. Steering his Egg-pod through the temple, Eggman eyed about it, his beady eyes hidden behind his glasses.The bad doctor was wearing his traditional black trousers, with his large red overcoat as he began to adjust his gloves a little, letting the auto-pilot take charge. Easing back in his seat, considering the possibilities here, the overweight doctor scratched at his bald head a moment as he began to ponder all the facts he’d gathered once more.The Ocean Palace was an interesting set of ancient ruins that had been built upon the tropical island chain known as Seaside Hill. It had intrigued many a person the purpose of the ruins, their origins lost long, long ago when they had been built. It was believed they predated perhaps even the ancient Echidna race.But the reason Eggman had been so intrigued at it, was the fact there was something more about it all… He’d always felt that there must be a reason for all the ancient statues of whales and dolphins throughout the ruins. And then there was the fact that the live whales and dolphins seemed to feel an affinity to this location as well…There had been a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that there had to be something more here than at first appeared.So the doctor had started to search up any details he could find out about the ancient structures and their possible purpose. After extensive searching and scanning the ruins, Eggman had come to two big leads.The first lead was an odd energy reading emitting from the heart of one of the main temples. It was hard to pinpoint the type of readings, but Eggman had come to the conclusion that they were similar in ways to the energy of the Chaos Emeralds.The second was some odd hieroglyphs on several ancient tablets that Eggman had stolen from a museum several weeks earlier. It was difficult to decipher any meaning from the tablets, other than the images from them.Frowning to himself, Eggman reached for a small card on the dash of his Egg-pod. Holding it up, the holographic card presented several holographic diagrams scanned from the tablets. As Eggman studied them again, his brows furling over his goggles, the doctor rubbed his chin with his free hand, thinking.The ancient scrawls showed the temple and several small gems he recognized. But then, there was a larger gem he didn’t recognize. He was certain it wasn’t the Master Emerald based on its shape, so he assumed this was something else completely.But then, something about the whales and dolphins all congregating at the temple with… something, was the best word to describe it, inside the ruins that Eggman couldn’t make out.But it intrigued him nonetheless.The holograms fading away again, Eggman glanced about his current location as he set his pod to hover. He was inside the temple’s shrine, with the old ruins worn and weathered by the elements. He had to hand it to whomever built this place; not only had it lasted the test of time, but there was little water damage to it as well from the millennia of being partially submerged.Before him now, was a large altar constructed of three dolphins all leaping and pointed in towards a central stand in the middle. It floated in the centre of this camber, being watched by the many different statues of stone whales and dolphins, all focused to the altar.There was evidence that something was supposed to be there in the central stand, but Eggman had no idea what it was, despite him searching.If anything, maybe it was that large crystal that was shown on the tablet, but regardless of his searching, he’s not been able to find something that would fit it.But there were seven smaller alcoves on the central altar, each with the slot for what appeared to be a gemstone. Smirking his sinister grin beneath his bushy moustache, Eggman knew clearly what those were for.Pressing a button on the dash of egg pod, the small craft descended towards the altar, the obese scientist hauling himself from the vehicle and started towards the altar to examine it more closely with his own eyes. Strolling forward on his long legs, Eggman paused, turning back to listen. He’d thought he’d heard something, but no… It was just the faint dripping of water from the outside leaking into the shrine. Still, could never be careful with that blasted blue rodent…

Shrugging, Eggman approached the altar once more, beginning to examine the shrine, he tapped at one of the dolphin statues. Made of marble and painted markings with a red dye that so many of the effigies all about these parts had. All the whale and dolphin figures had such markings, but these ones seemed to be more lovingly detailed.Then, something caught his eye, as Eggman looked back to the altar. Raising an eyebrow, Eggman lifted a small device up from his pocket to some pattern of star markings that appeared to be chiseled into the central altar. “Computer. Scan these star markings. Report if they mean anything,” Eggman’s dominating voice echoing the silent chamber.“Scanning…” came the automated response, followed a few seconds by, “Stars are in the shape of the constellation Delphinus. Named after dolphin. Found in the northern sky, close to the celestial equator. Said to be--”“Pfft,” the doctor sneered. “Yet more porpoise nonsense,” waving dismissively.Returning the scanner to his pocket, Eggman reached into the opposite pocket, this time drawing out a red gemstone. To the untrained eye, it may have seemed like a large ruby, but Eggman knew so much better after all his attempts to gather them.This was one of the seven Chaos Emeralds, a gem with amazing powers. He knew; he’d used them many a time to power his diabolical machines… And just as many times had them used against him by his irritating pincushion of a nemesis.Carefully placing the gem into the slot in the altar, Eggman watered as the small alcove began to glow, red markings appearing down the side, written in an ancient, long since forgotten language glowing gently.The meaning didn’t matter to Eggman as he laughed manically, “Ohoohoohoo! Yesss… The Chaos Emeralds are the key. At least one of them…” as he turned back to his pod, parked on the edge of the altar.Pressing a button on the dash, a small flap opened on the side and Eggman’s ominous grin grew wider as the glow illuminated from it. Inside the small compartment, were six more identical gems, of varying colours; yellow, green, white and more.“Ah, perfect… All seven of the Chaos Emeralds. If this doesn’t do anything particularly spectacular, then at least I can always use you in some sort of doomsday weapon. Maybe another massive robot to flatten cities to dust,” Eggman mused to himself, as he pulled out the blue emerald, holding it up and smiling at it, underneath his crooked moustache.

Meanwhile, in another place, another time…

Deep within the sunken halls of ivory marble, Atlantis, the City of Forever, the fish darted out of the way, escaping the sounds that they heard, fleeing the terrifying predator the was possibly after them, fleeing through gaps in the decaying city.Clicking about, a bottlenose dolphin began to scout about the area, his eyes narrowed as he looked about and his hearing sharp for the shape of the world about him. As the sound echoed back to him, the dolphin mapped out the world before him by the sound waves.Flicking his tail, the flukes propelling him along some more, the dolphin wriggling his fins and tilted his body to steer through the ruins, between the rocks and brick that littered the shattered ruins.The dolphin’s body was sleek and strong built. Several markings were upon the skin as the dolphin had seen his fair share of battles.And boy, did he know battles.As the dolphin looked about, his eyes not able to see as clear in the darker depths of the ruins, but sharp enough to see closer to him, the markings upon his melon were shown to all about. Many a time in his younger years, the others in his pod would comment ‘The marks on your head look like the stars in the sky’.Back then, none had thought anything of it, but long since then, the dolphin, Ecco as he was known, had learnt that they did mean something special. And he had been a special dolphin to work towards saving the seas from a greater threat.Some time ago, a violent storm had struck his home and all life had been stripped bare, leaving only himself alone. Ecco had journeyed long and far, gaining strength to survive in the harsh oceans without the support of others. All of his skills had been tested as he’d come face to face with a threat greater than any of the sea bar one, ever recalled, save for the oldest creature within the seas, known only as the Asterite.An ancient race of creatures from beyond the sea of skies had taken his family and Ecco had eventually confronted them, destroying their hive. But it had not been over, as their Queen had followed him back to their waters, in the desperate attempt to feed.After learning much about the past, present and futures of his world, Ecco had led his kind and their brothers and sisters in a charge to defend their world, destroying the Vortex kind before the Queen had taken root.But the Asterite had advised Ecco to travel to the sunken city once more to destroy the time machine, and forever defeat the Vortex kind.Or so they’d thought…Where are you? Ecco frowned to himself, chittering again to map out the world about him, all the crumbling ruins and shapes about confusing him slightly.Upon entering the ruins, Ecco had encountered several Vortex larvae attempting to feed and grow in the waters, devouring the plentiful fish in these waters. At least it was cooler waters here; warmer waters would have made them grow faster. At once, he’d set upon them, killing those he was able to corner, but one had managed to get away, fleeing into the ruins.

They were a few larvae and without their Queen, Ecco had been assured that the Vortex race was finished… But something was nagging to him. If just one of those larvae were an infant Queen and it took root somewhere, then the whole horror would just start once more.I can’t afford to take any chances, Ecco thought to himself as he swept about again, looking for the larvae that had escaped him, when he’d killed the others. I have to destroy that thing or it’ll just happen all over again…So now, Ecco was chasing the infant Vortex deeper and deeper into the ruins, along pathways he’d never taken before. Thankfully, there were plenty of air bubbles scattered over the place, from when the city had violently sunk into the ocean from the violent attack of the Vortex, thousands of years prior to Ecco’s time.It made the young dolphin curious how any of them had survived to use their time travel technology to escape. Perhaps they were out there, somewhere, sometime…In his travels, Ecco had visited the dark future, a grim and bleak place, devoid of life, the seas and land stripped bare, the Vortex having devoured everything upon the planet. He knew the price of failure and he knew that he couldn’t risk that larvae getting away or—Suddenly, it shot out, jetting away from Ecco. Almost jellyfish like, a large opaque body of an odd gelatinous origin, the larvae lunged at Ecco. Squeaking in shock, the dolphin rolled as the larvae lashed out with its two massive tendrils its maw wide open. At the size this one was, he wasn’t worried about being devoured alive, but it struck at his skin with the tendrils, Ecco’s skin burning, as if on fire. Squealing in pain, the larvae took this chance and jetted off the way Ecco had just came.Creaking in irritation, Ecco fought through the pain, attempting to ignore the numbness it made him feel. The dolphin knew it would end soon enough and he couldn’t afford to let that Vortex get away, as he began to pursue it through the broken walls and about the statues.Shrilling his own battle call at it, the infant Vortex hissed back at Ecco as it fled through a crack in the marble wall, its spineless body squeezing through the tiny gap. Clicking his frustration at it, Ecco began to click madly through the wall’s hole. There was no way he could fit through that to get at the larvae now but he…Something responded to Ecco, a low humming vibration, as the dolphin’s eyes lit up. Glyph! He thought to himself as he could feel the crystal within responding to his own call and the pained hiss of the Vortex inside.Excellent! If I can just follow that… Ecco thought to himself again as he began to race about the walls, feeling the vibration of the glyph within helping to guide him. After a few moments of following the vibrations where they were their loudest, Ecco found a fallen wall with a big enough gap for the dolphin to force his way in. Lifting his head at the air bubble, Ecco took a breath and refilled his lungs with stale, but clean air.As he began to sink into the shrine, Ecco wriggling his fins and tail, the dolphin looked about this chamber that he was in, becoming aware it was some sort of shrine. It was… Different from the rest of Atlantis ruins. The dolphin statues here in the shrine looked a different style and there was a golden ring within each dolphin’s mouth.As Ecco investigated the chamber more, there was a crystal glyph in the centre, but it was a darker purple than the usual clear crystal of the others. These crystals had aided Ecco before, with how they responded to certain sound frequencies, namely the ones dolphins and whales used. The glyphs would vibrate back communicating in ways to them with messages that the ancient Atlantean people had encoded to them.But there was more. There were several smaller gems… As Ecco investigated more, he realized they weren’t actual gems, more stones that looked like them. But, they were spread out about the altar in some sort of symbolic way.And those gold rings… Ecco’s natural curiosity got the better of himself as he nudged of them with his beak. What did they mean? He’d never been told of this place before. The Asterite had never mentioned it… Nor had any of the Atlantean’s records within the glyphs uttered a hymn of it before, yet it looked like it was something important. As he turned to the glyph, Ecco began to sing to it, trying to get it to coax out its message, the crystal vibrating in response as it called out its message;

Servers are the seven chaos,The crystal serves the peace.When chaos and peace clash,The doors will open two to one,And worlds will meet once more.

Huh? Ecco blinked in confusion. What are the seven chaos? And what does it mean by doors? This is unlike any of the other glyphs…He was about to probe further, when he was broken out of his trance by an agonized hissing. Lifting his eyes to the sound, Ecco spotted the Vortex larvae was there in the corner, writhing in pain. It was a good thing that the Vortex hated vibrations like that from the glyphs or even his own song. Prolonged exposure to certain frequencies caused their insides to rupture from the inside out.Perfect… Got you. Let’s end this once and for all... Ecco thought to himself as he flicked his tail, propelling himself towards the squirming and defenseless larva.But, before Ecco could do anything, the glyph started to hum more and louder, vibrating faster and faster, even Ecco starting to wince at the sound and turn back to the glyph. His eyes falling upon the crystal, Ecco watched as something began to react, the two rings beginning to respond to the vibrating and the water starting to churn and…

Ecco’s eyes shot wide as he began to realize he was being pulled backwards towards the glyph, a strange vortex, similar to the time warp, but darker and more sinister. He didn’t like this now… Something was terribly wrong. Flicking his flukes, Ecco began to try to pull away, but the current pulling him back was getting stronger and stronger, the vibrating getting louder and more painful, even Ecco’s ears beginning to hurt as the dolphin cried out in pain.The infant Vortex could not take it as the writhing jelly monster was sucked in by the portal, Ecco struggling to push forward, but the pain… his ears hurting…Finally, the current reached a point Ecco couldn’t fight anymore as the dolphin was sucked into the void, tumbling and twisting, shrieking in terror and fear at what was happening, where he was going…

“Ohoohoohoo!” roared Eggman manically as the seven Chaos Emeralds began to react with the altar, creating some sort of temporal rift, a purple tear in the very air before him. As the very fabric of time and space before Eggman was being torn open before his eyes, the doctor rubbed his hands eagerly with glee.What would it bring here? Hopefully something dangerous that he could manipulate towards his own devices, allowing him to crush the capitals of the world and from the ashes build Eggmanland.“Oho! What’s this now?!” Eggman exclaimed as the rift began to materialize something. A large crystal, shaped like the one on the tablets began to appear from the rift, the crystal vibrating and creating a sonic vibration that caused Eggman to wince. It seemed to be coming from the portal slowly, phasing into his world…And…There was something being hurtled through the rift!Grinning madly, his moustache dancing across in face in devious glee, Eggman chuckled to himself as he spotted the shape approaching, faster and faster through the rift towards…Suddenly, there was a loud shattering sound as the crystal exploded, the vibrations becoming too much, causing the crystal to break and a blast of energy that caused Eggman to be knocked off his feet onto the marble floor. “Oof!” Eggman groaned as he lay on the ground a moment, the sound of the crystal shards landing all over the shrine, bouncing about and landing in the water.Laying stunned for a few moments, Eggman happened to look up just in time as the rift was shut, something being thrown from it, shrieking, into the water with a loud splash.“Aha! Excellent!” Eggman exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet, excited and eager to see what powerful and great creature he had…

“What?!” Eggman gasped as he looked, seeing the creature he’d brought forth into his world. “A dolphin? One lousy stupid little dolphin?! Yaargh!” Eggman angrily kicked one of the crystal shards that were lying on the ground next to him as it flew and landed with a plunk in the water. Confused, the dolphin looked about this place it was in, clicking and squeaking loudly. It seemed lost and confused, unsure of its location. As it turned towards Eggman upon hearing the splash of the crystal shard, approaching Eggman and clicking at him, the scientist could see a few spots on the forehead, but he hardly cared now.“A dolphin… A dolphin?” he lamented to himself, covering his face with his gloved hand. “Of all the things, a dolphin…”

Sitting down, crossing his arms in an annoyed pout, Eggman frowned at the dolphin that sat there watching him expectantly. Truth be told, he hadn’t known what to expect, but a dolphin? If he’d known it would have just presented him with a pet dolphin, he’d have saved the time hunting down the Chaos Emeralds and instead have hired Big to catch him some fish.After a few minutes of Eggman glowering at the confused cetacean, the rotund doctor finally climbed back to his feet, dusting off his pants. “Well, whatever then… At least I still have the emeralds,” Eggman began as he approached the shrine, gathering up the seven emeralds again and making his way towards his pod. “I guess I can just find another use for these instead and write this off as a wild goose ch--”Eggman paused as he looked into his egg-pod, blinking at what was there. Some weird looking mutant jellyfish thing, the size of a medium sized dog, was sitting in the pod, waving two tendrils about menacingly, hissing at Eggman as it snapped its rubbery jaws. It had no legs, looking like a large slug of some sort, with huge eyes and tendril like appendages.Its opaque skin and visible brain reminded the doctor of and old minion of his, Chaos, the ancient guardian of the chao.But this, now this was interesting.Setting the emeralds down on the ground, Eggman began to reach for the creature cautiously. The jellyfish thing eyed the hand dangerously, before taking a swipe at it with a tendril.Drawing his hand back almost in time, Eggman’s fingers were hit. “Gahh!” Eggman frowned as he sucked on the finger a moment, feeling it start to go numb.Now, this was interesting.A smirk crawling across his face, Eggman chuckled darkly, “Well now… You’re something new. Better than a dolphin at least… Let’s get you back to the lab and study you then…”

Chapter TwoVacation

The wind ripping through his spines, Sonic the Hedgehog stood proudly upon the wings of his biplane, the Tornado. A young teenage hedgehog with long blue quills, Sonic stood upon the wing, eyes closed, enjoying the wind whipping past him, giving a feeling of speed.“So, how far are we Tails?” Sonic asked loudly over the propeller, turning back to the pilot of the plane, who was sitting in the cockpit just behind him.Looking up from the pilot’s seat was a young yellow fox named Miles Prower, the fox boy was nicknamed to all his friends as just Tails. “Not too far away now. We should be landing in Seaside Hill soon enough!” Giving his companion the thumbs up, Sonic turned back to watching the clouds rolling by.A few weeks ago, Dr. Eggman had attacked the central city with a couple of giant mechs and Sonic had worked to take them down. Oddly enough, Eggman wasn’t anywhere to be seen, though he had made his threats well known through loudspeaker on his robots.At least, until Sonic trashed them enough that the speakers no longer worked.Shrugging, Sonic grinned, looking forward to this possibility of a little rest and relaxation by the beach after he’d trounced Eggman’s lackies. “There it is Tails!” Sonic pointed down towards the lush island chain materializing upon the horizon’s edge. Seaside Hill was a great tropical place to get-away to, with lush sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. Granted, Sonic couldn’t swim, but it was nice for him to just kick back at the beach.“Alright Sonic! Going in for a landing!” Tails replied as he steered the plane down towards the islands, towards the beach that they knew had a long strip of the marble ruins on it, acting like a great runway. Steering the Tornado towards the marble walkway, Tails effortlessly touched the plane down, spinning the propellers in reverse to kill the speed.Sure enough, the biplane came to a decent parking on the structure, high enough to stay away from the high tide, but still easily accessed from the beach. Beaming widely, Tails gave Sonic thumbs up from the cockpit as the fox steered the plane slightly with his other hand. As the Tornado began to power down, Sonic leapt down effortlessly from the wing to the marble walkway, stretching his legs and shaking his muscles in preparation of a run.“Good to be back here, only this time without having to worry about saving the world huh?” Tails questioned to Sonic as the fox boy climbed from the cockpit, to join near Sonic. Tails grinned to Sonic, his two bushy tails idly twitching behind him as he made his way over to Sonic, scratching his nose slightly.“You bet… Be nice to be able to just kick back and relax. Though I may start by running a few laps of the island,” Sonic smirked back as he began to straighten his gloves and knelt down to lace up his red sneakers with their trademark white stripe and gold buckles.Barking a small laugh, Tails placed his hands on his hips and canted his head slightly to the side, “Not gonna help with the gear then?”“Oh sure, sure,” Sonic waved dismissively. “I’ll help you cart that stuff to the beach, then I may go for a jog to stretch my legs.”“Just be careful you don’t jog too fast,” Tails laughed. “If you go and see everything too soon, there’ll be nothing left for you to see and then what will you do for the next week?”Smirking widely back to Tails, Sonic gave a shrug. “Maybe we’ll find something fun to do!”Reaching into the cockpit, Tails pulled out a rather large looking tablet computer, colored yellow and a number of personal add-ons and additions created by the techno whiz fox. Tails had built it himself and proudly called it the Miles Electric Device or just M.E.D. for short. Starting to fool about with the device, Tails started murmuring to himself briefly, popping open compartments within the Tornado’s back end, containing a couple of deck chairs, a beach umbrella and more equipment.As Tails continued fooling with the MED, Sonic started to pull the items out of the plane. “Oh hey… This sounds interesting Sonic! Sounds like this is the time of year when whales and dolphins tend to pass through the area. There are lots of dolphins and killer whales that migrate through these parts and they claim it can be amazing to watch…”Shifting a little uncomfortably at the mention of ‘killer whales,’ Sonic tossed one of the chairs out onto the sand before adding, “I think I may just stay on the land thanks Tails. You know that I don’t like water very much.”Shrugging, Tails chuckled, “Suit yourself! I’m interested in them after all. Not often you get to see creatures almost as smart as us that close up!”Barking a laugh, Sonic placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head to Tails, “I’ve seen them close up more than enough times thanks. And smart? Aren’t they just silly fish like all the rest of them?”“Not fish Sonic. Mammals like you and me,” Tails corrected his friend. “They breathe air and think like us… Just from a different world than we are used to.”“Sure, sure. If you say so,” Sonic chuckled as he gathered up some of the gear. “So, are you going to give me a hand now, or are you just gonna play on that thing all day long?”“Oh! Oops! Sorry Sonic! Guess I spazzed out there a moment… Let’s get this stuff down to--” Tails began to say, when a loud roar interrupted the two friends, causing both to look up towards the sky. A black jet dominated through the skies, soaring right over them towards the ruins, before sinking down, no doubt landing somewhere near the temples that rested above the sea.Sonic blinked, “Tails? Was that a…?”Looking back to Sonic, the fox nodded. “Yeah. That was a G.U.N. jet. I wouldn’t have thought that they would have a need to come out this far…”Frowning somewhat, Sonic rubbed his finger underneath his nose. “Not to mention there’s no reason for G.U.N. to be out here… At least, I hope not.” Sonic suddenly wondering if it may involve Eggman somehow. Almost hoped it did for a little distraction. “Think we should go check it out buddy?”

Shrugging to Sonic, Tails replied, “Don’t see why not.”“Race ya there Tails!”

Glaring out from the corner of his eyes, the figure began to scope about the ruins, kneeling down to touch the ground and feel it. It had been in here… He could feel it. The final remnants of the energy still lingered about the chamber.Climbing back to his feet and walking slowly across the marble chamber, the sounds of the echoing footsteps and dripping water, the black hedgehog snorted to himself, crossing his arms as he looked towards the altar. Something had happened right there… He knew it.He just didn’t know what.While the hedgehog resembled Sonic in ways, the spines curled upwards and each was adorned with a dark red stripe. A tuff of white fur sat on his chest, just above the crossed arms. A strong scowl etched harshly upon the face, the hedgehog growled a little to himself.“This feels like a waste of time… But that energy,” he unfolded his arms, placing them at his hips. “It must have been--”“Shadow?! What are you doing here?” a voice called out, causing Shadow’s ears to twitch.“Not you,” sneered the black hedgehog as he turned around, glaring at Sonic.

“Well, hello to you too,” laughed Sonic back at Shadow as he strolled up towards him. Sonic enjoyed winding up Shadow any time he could. They considered each other rivals, but while Sonic saw it more as a game, Shadow took their rivalry far more personally. “Didn’t think that you’d be the one in that jet. But here you are… Come to race me a few laps about the palace?”“Hmph!” Shadow grunted, crossing his arms again. “Hardly. I have no time for games. I’m here on business.”“Oh really? What sort of business would that be? The beach just doesn’t seem to be your style after all…” Sonic pressed forward, leaning on Shadow’s shoulder to provoke the hedgehog more.“What would you care about it? Doesn’t concern you,” snapped Shadow as he gave Sonic a shove to back off, glaring darkly from his eyes.“I just find it rather odd, that you would be here, in a place like this on business from G.U.N. after all,” Sonic placed his hands on his hips. Panting a little as he managed to catch up, Tails jogged into the room, kneeling over a little to catch his breath near the entrance doorway. “After all, it’s not like that these ruins aren’t known to them… Why the sudden interest?”Glowering at Sonic, Shadow sighed, “Fine then. Fat lot of use it’ll do you though anyway. I happened to sense a disturbance of chaos energy in these regions in the last few days. A large flux of energy that even I felt from the mainland. Hence, I came to investigate.”Sonic eyed Shadow suspiciously. Sonic knew that Shadow was created as an ultimate life form years ago and had the ability to tap into the energies of the Chaos Emeralds to harness powerful time altering or destructive powers. If Shadow had sensed something, then…“S-Shadow?” Tails attempted to ask, stammering a little. “If… something had happened here, did you have any idea what?”

“No, but I believe it had something to do with that,” Shadow pointed at the dolphin altar in the centre of the room. “I can see slots for seven gems. I believe someone brought the Chaos Emeralds here and somehow caused a reaction that was similar to Chaos Control. But much larger. Much larger.”Sonic thought for a moment, before piping up, “Well, whoever it was must not have gotten anything as there’s nothing here. No signs of damage or such. You were too slow getting here,” Sonic smirked at Shadow in a challenging way.Rolling his eyes at Sonic, Shadow retorted jamming a finger at Sonic’s chest threateningly, “Typical of you blue hedgehog. You see only what’s in front of your snout.”“Perhaps,” Sonic grinned again, folding his arms. “But at least I don’t act all up mine!”Shadow growled aggressively, baring his fangs. He wasn’t prepared to have to put up with dealing with Sonic right. “Regardless, there is nothing here. The emeralds are no longer here and I do not need to be here any longer,” turning to walk past Sonic and Tails, the black hedgehog ‘bumping’ Sonic as he pushed past. “We’ll settle this some other time blue boy. Then you’ll see whose truly ‘too slow.”As Shadow stormed from the chamber, Sonic gave a shout to him, “Bring it on! I’ll be waiting!” as he turned back to Tails, tapping his foot a little. “Well, he was no fun. I was almost looking forward towards having a race with him.”Tails however, frowned at Sonic. “I don’t think that was good idea to annoy Shadow. He said something happened here like Chaos Control. That may not be a good thing and he could have maybe told us some more details about what’s happened here…”Shrugging to Tails as the hiss of Shadow’s jet outside expressed the hedgehog was taking off and leaving the islands, Sonic grimaced, “Well, so something big teleported in here. For all we know maybe those whales you were talking about used Chaos Control to teleport here!”Rolling his eyes now at Sonic’s attempt at wit, Tails started to comment something, “Even still you should… Hey. What’s that?” Tails asked, spotting a small something glinting from the corner of his eye. Spinning his twin tails into a propeller, Tails lifted himself off the ground, hovering towards a small glimmering object on the ground near the altar.Kneeling down, Tails picking up the small crystal shard, blinking as he held it up, Sonic trotted over towards the fox, “What’s that you’ve got?”“Not sure… It’s like a crystal shard… But unlike anything I’ve seen before and…” Tails closed his paw about the shard. “It’s… vibrating too…”“Huh?”“Here, hold it a moment…” Tails offered to Sonic with an outstretched paw.Taking the small piece of crystal, Sonic closed his gloved paw about it. Sure enough, in his palm he could feel the splinter shaking a little. “Weird…”“Yeah,” Tails added, taking it back from Sonic to examine it. It was definitely different… “I wonder if this could have helped Shadow figure out what happened here.”“Pfft, he’d probably have just given it to that batgirl,” Sonic shrugged, shrugging it off.Still, Tails was rather intrigued now. Shadow talking about a massive energy force like Chaos Control, this crystal shard… It was a real mystery in the making. “I think… This looks like it was broken off something recently too. I wonder if there are more of these shards about. I’d like to examine them more when we get back to the Tornado and my gear.”Throwing his hands up in the air, Sonic groaned, “You have to be so interested in all these weird things don’t you? Next you’ll be talking to that gem piece there.”“So says the hedgehog who talks to dead robots,” Tails grinned wildly back to Sonic.Slumping forward, looking defeated, Sonic moaned, “You’re never gonna let me live that one down, are you?”“Nope!” laughed Tails.Hanging his head dejected, Sonic began to walk towards the exit. “Well, let’s head back and finish unpacking our gear. It’s time to kick back and relax little buddy! We’ll leave the work here to Mr. Grumps to take care of huh?”“Yeah, sure,” Tails agreed, frowning as he looked back to the altar, his eyes narrowing.Something like Chaos Control… Only different… Tails knew that Chaos Control was an ability of the Chaos Emeralds to distort time and space… Could that have been done perhaps?And if so, what could have caused it?As Tails began to examine the altar, he noticed the star markings etched into it. In several places, the star pattern was engraved into the marble pedestal in the shape a constellation. Could that mean something as well perhaps?Was it related to all this?“Yo Tails! You coming or have you spazzed out again, little dude?” Sonic’s voice shouted from the entrance.“Huh? Wha? Oh yeah, sorry Sonic…” Tails blinked as she was snapped back to reality. Glancing a look once more at the crystal fragment in his paw, he closed it tightly about the fragment and turned, racing out after the hedgehog.

Chapter ThreeConvergence

“Computer! Progress report,” Eggman’s voice barked as the doctor stormed into the control chamber, blinking buttons and digital graphs starting to light up the panels before him. The automatic doors closing behind him as the doctor strolled in, Dr. Eggman approached the far wall, a massive pane of glass before him.Through the glass, a light began to illuminate the featureless room of steel panels, a creature inside beginning to become active at the sudden introduction to the light.“Creature is growing at accelerated rate from the time you brought it in four days ago,” the digital assistant began to convey to the doctor, a graph appearing on the computer terminal near the window. “It is believed the creature responds to heat as temperature speeds the growth process. Creature has progressed through larvae and pupa stages overnight.”“What?” Eggman’s eyes went wide. “That fast?”“Affirmative doctor.”Glancing into the chamber, the mad scientist took a glance towards the creature within the chamber to see what it appeared like now. No longer was it just a gelatinous blob with an eager maw, but now…It looked almost humanoid. A grayish-green shell, the creature gave a hiss as it looked up at Eggman, its beady eyes staring from empty black sockets that were positioned low on the large flattish head, the eager mandibles about its mouth clicking hungrily. Four arms where erupting from its torso as it seemed to crawl about on them, lacking legs, each arm ending in a three fingered claw.And then the long tail, spiked and barbed, whipping about. That was certainly some sort of weapon, if the arms and teeth weren’t enough. Though there appeared to be a small bulging growth at the base of the tail“Amazing…” gasped Eggman to no-one as he looked down at it. The way it scuttled about the chamber with speed and agility even without legs. Turning back to the computer Eggman snapped again, “And the biology reports? Where my theories correct?”“Affirmative doctor. This creature bears an uncanny resemblance towards hive like insects such as bees or ants, but appears to be alien in origin. We have taken your orders and been feeling it royal jelly from honey bees and believe this creature has metamorphosis into a brood mother. There appear to be eggs in the far right corner that have been laid by her.”Standing up higher, Eggman glanced about the chamber, and sure enough, there were several oval shaped items in the corner. So he had been right! A twisted smirk crept upon his face as Eggman realized what this meant. His own army he could breed from this creature.“Furthermore,” the computer continued. “Feeding has increased in demand and size. The creature is devouring food at a faster rate as the heat is increased. Calculations suggest this is in relation to the accelerated growth, however further tests must be preformed.”“What is the temperature in there now?” Eggman demanded.“Seventeen degrees Fahrenheit, with an accelerated growth rate of two hundred percent over fourteen degrees. The access to food and temperature appears to hasten the life cycle.”Coughing at that figure, Eggman choked a moment. “Two hundred percent?!”“Correct doctor.”Glancing back down at the beast, Eggman eyed her carefully and cautiously. Something that grew that fast could be a problem if it got out of control. And then… “How about its intelligence? Has it shown any degree of sentience or higher intelligence?”“Negative doctor. No observations of any sign of intelligence. Appears to just feed and exist.”“That’s a relief at least,” Eggman considered as he pressed himself up against the glass watching his creature carefully. She had a thick looking exoskeleton that seemed rather protective and all the claws, teeth and spikes…As he watched, something caught his eye as Eggman’s eyes flitted back to the egg pile. There were similar larvae to the one that had grown into this creature now crawling there, the eggs having hatched and the brood mother now scuttling over the floor, starting her laying of more eggs in the other corner.The computer sure wasn’t kidding about their growth rate!Stroking his moustache, the doctor decided he wanted to see what she could do. “Computer. Send in a pawn to fight this… thing. Program it to go soft though.”“Understood,” the computer confirmed as it beeped and whirred a bit, before a panel in the chamber opened up, one of the doctor’s Egg Pawn robots marching into the room. The alien twisted its head to look at the pawn, hissing loudly.The robot was a short, squart little orange robot, baring a resemblance to Eggman himself. It marched into the room as the panel slid closed behind it.Let us see what you can do, Eggman pondered to himself, continuing to stroke his moustache in interest at the gladiator battle he’d just commenced.The pawn charged at the alien which, confused, stood there as the pawn slammed its fist hard at the creature’s forehead. A blow like that from his pawns could cause some serious injury, even break bones perhaps.Flying backwards the creature howled in pain, limbs and tail thrashing in frustration. Eggman had half expected it to sit back up, its head shattered. But as it sat back up, there wasn’t even a dent on that shell, as the beast spat in anger.Charging again, Eggman’s little robot minion threw another punch, connecting squarely from the side of her face. The jaw was torn clean off from the force of the impact, bouncing across the metallic floor and spraying its dark green blood about.“Oooh… That’s gonna hurt,” cringed Eggman.

The young alien looked up, glowering at the Egg pawn. Her face starting to distort and shift and with a cracking sound, a new mandible slid into place. The little brood mother clacking idly at her brand new mouth, still coated in bloody slime.“Unbelievable!” exclaimed Eggman, his own jaw dropping open at that.Even the Egg Pawn was a little unsure of that, attempting to register what had happened within its own CPU and formulate a new…Shrieking in anger, the alien pounced, wrapping its arms about the robotic drone as the pawn began to thrash wildly. Undetered, the brood mother began to stab at the robot with her tail. Eggman’s drones had been designed with a tough metal alloy to make them harder to destroy, but the bladed tail went through it like a knife through butter.Again and again the tail struck, as the clawed arms reached at the openings, the alien began to tear the drone apart from the edges, the robotic frame being shredded apart effortlessly as the beast dismantled the robot with relative ease.Panicked and relieved to be freed from the robotic prison, the small bird that Eggman had encased inside attempted to make a break for it. As if it had known it was there all along, the creature snagged the helpless bird and shoved it into its maw, effortlessly devouring the bird whole.Staring with his jaw wide open, Eggman wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it himself. The alien had just torn apart one of his robots apart in mere moments and suffered no damage from its attacks.“Hehehehe… Now, this is more like it,” Eggman chuckled to himself. “That blasted blue bombshell won’t know what hit him,” Pressing a button on the console before him, the chamber’s roof opened up, dropping a supply of meat into the chamber, the alien and her larvae pouncing upon it and starting to feed ravenously.As the doctor glanced down at his control panel, he considered the dial that controlled the heat to the chamber. Maybe he should crank up the heat and provide more food… grow his army faster and stronger before he was eventually discovered.A low hiss broke his train of thought as Eggman’s eye snapped back up towards the window, the brood mother clinging to the glass, eyeing and staring at Eggman from the soulless pupils within those black eyes.As the two stared at one another, a chill ran down the back of the doctor’s neck. For a moment, he felt as if she was studying him.Then, recalling what the computer said, he snorted dismissively. They’re just stupid insect like creatures… he assured himself. I’ll start developing some backup plan in case they do happen to go rogue on me though.Glowering at the creature, Eggman’s hand reached for the dial and turned it up. “Computer… increase the feedings. I want my army prepared soon enough.”“Understood doctor.”Leaning into towards the glass, Eggman smirked widely at the alien, whilst she clung to the glass, her mandibles twitching. “I need something to call you. Something other than ‘alien’ or ‘creature’… What on Earth should I call you, hmm?”Hissing at Eggman, she scrambled a bit a bit across the glass, before pausing to stare at him again, her mandibles working overtime.“Something like ‘Insectoid’ comes to mind, but surely I can do better than that,” mused Eggman as he thought to himself. The alien pressed her large egg-shaped cranium up against the glass as if trying to press through it at him. Then, it hit him, “Yes, I have it. Egg-Sectoids! Yes, perfect! My own army of Egg-Sectoids! Mwahahahahahaha!” Eggman roared with manical laughter.The alien just clung to the glass and watched.

“… Tuesday, Wednesday, so is Friday; What ‘bout moons and headlights?” hummed Sonic as the hedgehog tapped his sneakers to the music jamming through his headphones. “What I say and what I think; A-B-C-D-E-F…”Whilst Sonic relaxed listening to music upon his armchair, Tails was meanwhile sitting down the beach, tinkering with the MED with the crystal shard he’d found nearby. Having set up their little camp on the beach, two armchairs decked out with an umbrella and a cooler full of snacks and drinks for the duo.Tails meanwhile, was sitting down on a towel, under the afternoon sun. Entranced at what had been presented to them, Tails was trying to piece together all the information he’d gathered so far from what was happening and entering it into the MED.A strange vibrating crystal. An event of Chaos Control that unnerved even Shadow. A strange altar with a star constellation upon it…What did it all mean?He wanted to find out and work it all out, because it certainly seemed as if Sonic wasn’t going to be much help at the moment.Scrolling through photographs of different star formations, the foxboy was looking for a match. So far that seemed the most solid lead so far to work out anything that could be happening here. Nothing else made any sense yet.“Hmm…” Tails mused to himself as he flicked through the star charts. Surely there was something that matched right? The pattern he’d seen of the stars seemed more planned rather than just a simple scrawling of stars, it had to mean…“Aha!” Tails shouted out as he found it. A perfect match of the star markings to a constellation. It was of Delphinus, the stars in the shape of a dolphin. Scratching behind his ear a little, Tails considered that fact. Dolphins and whales were very common about these parts and the ruins all about had plenty of effigies to them.Turning his gaze back to the crystal shard, his eyes narrowed at it. I wonder…

Scrolling through the internet on the MED, Tails loaded up a simple dolphin call and played it, pointing the speaker of the MED at the fragment. Instantly reacting, the shard vibrated madly to the sound of the dolphin’s call upon the sand. Playing it again, the crystal reacted again.“Sonic! Sonic!” Tails cried out excitedly, leaping to his feet, eyes wide with glee. “I think I’ve found out something!”“Hmm?” the blue one murmured, lifting off his headphones and glancing to his friend from the corner of his eye.“There were some markings in that chamber Shadow was in,” Tails told Sonic. “I looked them up and found that is was in the shape of the constellation Delphinus, the dolphin. This whole place is a shrine to worship whales and dolphins right? Well, I tried to play the sound of a dolphin to that gem fragment we found and watch this!”Handing Sonic the fragment, Tails played the sound through the MED once more. The chirruping of the dolphin erupted from the speakers of Tails’ tablet making the shard quiver within Sonic’s gloved paw.“Whoa. Now that’s kinda cool,” Sonic commented, actually impressed how Tails had worked all that out. “But how does that fit into what Shadow said about all that chaos energy he’d sensed?”Shaking his head, “I haven’t worked that out yet Sonic. But we have something to start with… This is somehow related to dolphins I believe and maybe we can find out more if we can find some in the area.”Sonic lifted his eyebrow skeptically as he closed his fist about the crystal, “And how do you think that would work out? Do you just plan to ask them? Cause I don’t think those fish speak much Tails.”“Hey, I made a translator that could translate alien’s speech right? I think I could configure it to help with translating what the dolphins were saying.”Laughing a little, Sonic added, “As if they have anything to say. They are just fish. All they probably have to say is ‘glub glub’.”Sighing a little, Tails pressed the button on the MED again, the dolphin sounds playing again, as the crystal shook within Sonic’s hand once more. However, this time…“Hey… I can feel this thing pulling…” Sonic commented, his fist moving as if by itself in a direction further down the beach. Sonic stared at it as he opened his fist again, the shard no longer moving in his paw.“That could be it Sonic!” Tails cried, his eyes suddenly lightening up again. “This could lead us to something. Close your fist again and let it guide us. I’ll keep playing the sound!”Drawing a sigh, Sonic commented, “Why can I never get a vacation?” as he closed his fist about the crystal, Tails beginning to play the dolphin call again, as Sonic began to walk in the direction the splinter pulled him in.Following the guiding hand of the crystal, both Sonic and Tails travelled rather far down the beach, away from their little camp. It seemed that the crystal continued to draw them further and further away from the temple and ruins, neither of the hedgehog or fox knowing what they would find, though Tails was starting to get rather excited.“This thing is starting to shake harder Tails…” Sonic commented as he held out his fist in front of himself. “I think we must be getting close now.”“That little lagoon there Sonic,” Tails added, pointing in the direction they were travelling. Before them was a small lagoon. It didn’t look anything too special at first glance, but there must be something here if that gem splinter drew them there. “Think that looks promising?”“Maybe. I’ll scout ahead,” Sonic stated as he turned to Tails, tossing the crystal at him. “Catch buddy!”Scrambling to catch the small splinter and not drop it, Tails somehow managed to balance the MED and catch the crystal in his outstretched paw. Glancing up, there was already a cloud of upturned sand as Sonic blazed on ahead of him.Rolling his eyes and curling his tails up, Tails lifted himself off the ground, hovering over towards the water, carrying the MED and crystal shard close to his chest as he did so. Floating in over to the lagoon, Tails found Sonic sitting on some nearby rocks looking towards the centre of the body of water. “Take a look at that Tails…” the hedgehog pointed.The lagoon was rather shallow and waters clear, the white sands beneath the surface a lovely shade of orange from the early evening sun. But amongst the tiny fish, Tails spotted what Sonic had seen and what had summoned them here.Crystal shards. Many, many more of them gathered at the bottom of the bay in a pile.“Someone or something is gathering those crystal splinters for them to be gathered like that. Looks like they were trying to keep them for safe keeping or something,” Sonic suggested to Tails as the fox landed next to him. Turning towards the fox, Sonic suggested, “Think they might be attracted to one another; sort of like how the Chaos Emeralds act right?”“Yeah,” Tails nodded in agreement.Both fox and hedgehog looked at the pile of crystals in the centre, staring intently as both seemed to be considering the next step. Breaking the silence, Sonic stood up as he started to tug on the ends of his gloves, “Well, I’d say lets grab those things and take them to Knuckles. He’ll know what they are most likely…”“Yeah, I think that would be the best,” Tails nodded as Sonic seemed to glance uneasily at the water, unsure. Tails knew Sonic didn’t particularly like water as the hedgehog couldn’t swim. “You okay there Sonic? Do you need a hand with them?”“Uhh…” Sonic considered. The water didn’t seem very deep in the lagoon, perhaps up to his armpits if that. Considering how close it was to land as well, “Ehh, I don’t see any problems with it here. Just keep an eye out for me little buddy,” Sonic grinned, giving Tails a thumbs up as the hedgehog climbed down from the rocks into the water. He was expecting it to be rather cold, but Sonic was pleasantly surprised to find that while cooler, the waters were actually more a tropical cool. “Hey, this waters kinda warm.”“Tends to happen in tropical areas,” Tails commented, his voice eager to share his knowledge with Sonic. “The water is usually warmer cause of the climate here. It allows animals to thrive and grow

faster, hence there’s so many fish living in the reefs and the larger creatures come to feast on the fish!”“A simple ‘Yeah, it is’ would have been suffice,” Sonic shook his head with an amused smirk to Tails as he began to wade towards the crystal shards.He was almost at the fragments when Tails gave a yell. Sonic hadn’t been paying attention, so he turned back to face Tails to ask what was going on when—It struck fast and hard. Sonic only catching sight of the shadow when he felt the sharp kick to his guts, lifting him from the water. “Ommffh!” Sonic yelped as he was knocked backwards, landing in the water a few feet away from the crystals.

He was underwater! He couldn’t breathe! Sonic panicked, thrashing his arms and legs about in terror at the thought of drowning. His mind racing, looking up at the surface above him, Sonic crawled desperately at the water to reach that surface and the air and—Pausing a moment, Sonic climbed back off his backside and onto his feet, his head poking from the surface as he stood up. Got to remember not to panic so much when underwater… the hedgehog thought to himself, while he finally was able to look back at his assailant.Between Sonic and the pile of crystals floated a single dolphin. Nothing too special to Sonic’s first glance; just an irritated gray dolphin. No robotic parts or anything. In fact, the only thing that made this dolphin look any different from any other dolphin was several markings that looked like stars on its melon.“Hey, so not cool fish,” Sonic frowned as he tried to go about the cetacean, only to get butted back and angry chitters and clicks from it. Trying to go about it the other way, a swift slap from the tail sent the hedgehog reeling back.“Sonic!” Tails called as the fox hovered over onto the nearby shoreline. “Think that it’s protecting those fragments?”“Yeah, and it won’t let me past,” the blue hedgehog frowned. “Maybe I should give it a fish?”Again the dolphin glared at Sonic, making sure the hedgehog stayed away from its precious hoard of crystals. Snorting through its blowhole the dolphin chattered angrily again, floating in place not taking its eyes off Sonic.“Hmm, what could be so important about those crystals?” Tails frowned as he rubbed his nose a little in thought.“Forget the crystals… Why’d it have to be so rough towards me?!” barked Sonic as he began to inch backwards out of the water, towards the shoreline.As he sat down upon the sand, Tails began to tinkering with the MED again, technical beeps and buzzers from it as he said to Sonic, “I think we should ask the dolphin. Give me a bit and hopefully I should be able to tune my translator function to possibly a dolphin frequency, then maybe we can communicate with him! Think of all the things we could learn from it Sonic!”Rubbing his tender stomach, the hedgehog grumbled as he glared at the aggressive cetacean, “Right about now, all I want to learn is a good recipe for sushi!”

Chapter FourContact

Snorting at the surface with a sharp puff, Ecco’s eyes narrowed towards the two strange creatures that were sitting on the shoreline, hearing the garbled noises that they made and the odd gestures that they were making.Just what is this place… Ecco wondered to himself as he glanced at the blue hedgehog and orange fox that were sitting, watching him. The blue one stood up again and Ecco’s muscles tensed again, eyeing the blue creature. It had attempted to take the shards of the glyph from him a couple of times again since the first encounter.It was fast on the dryside, but Ecco was faster in the water than it was and each time that it tried to get back to the fragments, the dolphin would repel him.As he watched, the blue creature pointed to him and made the garbled sounds once more as Ecco chattered in a threatening manner to tell him to stay away or he’d just be chased back out of the water.The orange one though was doing something with its land fins to a stone slab it looked like, odd sounds coming from it occasionally and the part that had made Ecco sit here guarding and watching them. It had a piece of the glyph…Having searched all over the shrine that he had been summoned into, Ecco had not been able to locate anymore glyph pieces yet the pieces still wouldn’t try to reconstruct themselves. He knew he had to be missing a piece or two and that creature had one.But unlike the blue one, it never came close so Ecco could take it.The blue creature garbled some more, the orange one replying. It was starting to get later in the day, the sun starting to fade into a twilight of orange and red as Ecco floated at the surface. Perhaps they may venture closer at some point and he’d have his chance…Or the tides may change so he could reach them.Clicking with excitement, Ecco watched as the orange one stood up and took a few steps forward to him. Could this be his chance?Garbling something, the fuzzy creature fiddled about with the stone tablet, placing the glyph piece into a small crack in it, Ecco tilting his head curiously at this action. What was this creature doing with the glyph?Suddenly, the glyph vibrated and gave off a sound.A crude and rough sound that translated best as a primitive version of “Hello” in song.Blinking, Ecco tilted his head the other way. There was no way that could have just… Could it?The orange one did something again with the stone slab and it repeated the word, the blue creature garbling something alongside it.Now, Ecco was intrigued more as he clicked back a greeting to the creatures.After a few moments, the one holding the stone started jumping up and down excited as Ecco watched, the blue thing moving its land fins in a shrugging gesture. As the stone was touched a few more times, it made the glyph shard vibrate again.This time, the message was a little longer; “Hello. Do you understand?” was the best translation for the message that the glyph started to give out towards Ecco.In awe at this, Ecco responded with a song of agreement and the creature gave off a squeal, jumping up and down in excitement once again, Ecco watching in wonder.He was starting to communicate with these creatures, as Ecco began to respond once more, demanding the glyph shard with his song, causing the slab to spark. The fuzzy creature seemed to sigh a little as blue thing rolled its eyes as they moved away from the surface, back up the beach and out of Ecco’s reach again.But now, the dolphin was fascinated. Was that creature actually using the glyph to find a way to communicate with him?It seemed to be working.But the glyph piece he had was small. It may not work strong enough.Considering it, his interest piqued in this encounter, Ecco turned away and back to his collection of the crystal fragments. Nosing about with his beak, Ecco located a larger shard. Not too large, but big enough that if the size of the glyph was the issue, this should help correct the problem.Surfacing near the beach again, Ecco whistled and clicked as he wriggled a bit onto the sandy shoreline, the two beings looking up at him as Ecco presented the glyph piece towards them to get their attention by holding it between his teeth.Now, how to get them to trade? Ecco considered as they approached slowly, babbling to one another in their sounds.As the orange critter reached out, Ecco turned his head away. As the land fin retracted, Ecco turned his head back, clicking loudly as he motioned towards the slab.Again, the creature reached for the shard and Ecco turned, repeating the process as Ecco’s eyes connected to the blue eyes of the other. Ecco motioned towards the piece within the stone it was holding and held up the piece in his mouth.The blue thing garbled again, Ecco shooting him an angry look, the orange one seemed to understand as it reached and removed the glyph shard, placing it down within Ecco’s reach on the sand.Satisfied, Ecco dropped the larger piece and wriggled his body back into the water, gathering the smaller one in the process.It felt odd trading off like that, when Ecco needed all the glyph pieces, but something about that intrigued him. He didn’t know where he was and if these creatures could communicate with him somehow… They could be useful.But he still didn’t really like that blue one.

“Computer! Progress report!” Dr. Eggman barked at the computer as he pressed a button on the control terminal, the window into the holding pen of the alien creatures he’d found opening up before him.“Egg-Sectoids are growing and reproducing at a strong rate. Alarming even. With warm temperatures and food supplies, they breed fast and grow to adulthood quickly. Recommendations that we lower the heat and start to ration their meals,” the automated voice responded.Glancing into the chamber, Eggman responded, “Explain your reasoning.”“Very well Doctor. Analysis shows a fast breeding and growth rates. If creatures were to continue to spawn at such a rate, they could become a plague themselves that devours everything in their wake should they become free.”“But they are stupid creatures,” Eggman retorted as he gazed into the chamber, looking as the drones all continued about the chamber that had been a spotless steel cage, now stained with egg shells, slime and stored food. Drones all over scurried about, gathering food and tending to eggs and building things.It was like watching a giant ant farm.Except… Eggman glanced about suddenly, not seeing the Queen. As he twisted his head from side to side looking for her, suddenly a large claw reached down from above. Eggman took a step back in shock as the Queen, having been clinging to the ceiling, began to climb down, eyeing Eggman with her soulless black globes.Startled for a moment, watching her and placing his hand on the glass, Eggman was surprised as the alien did the same. The monster inside was staring at him, placing her clawed limbs to his hand at the pane. For the briefest of moments, Eggman felt for a moment, that perhaps there was more intelligence in these creatures than he was giving them credit for.

“Unknown doctor. They seem to both exhibit intelligence but do not act it. It is difficult to determine their IQ based on this. However, we do believe that regardless, these creatures will need to be contained and controlled.”Dr. Eggman considered this, as his palm remained pressed against the glass, the Queen watching him in return. It made the hairs of his moustache tingle. Were they just brainless creatures he could exploit or was he playing with something dangerous?As if to answer, the Queen turned her huge bulbous head from side to side, looking about and mouthing her mandibles at the glass somewhat experimenting as if…“Reflection…” Eggman sighed. The Queen was probably reacting to her own reflection. He was pretty certain now that they weren’t smart. Rubbing at his moustache, Eggman began to consider maybe it was time to see what these creatures could do.But not the Queen, no. He had to protect her… If she was harmed or destroyed, then he would lose his entire Egg-Sectoid army.“Computer. Arrange for the pawns to capture two of those drones and fit them with shock collars. I plan to take them out and see what they are capable of.”“Doctor, are you sure this is a good idea?” the computer responded. “Analysis says that--”“Override directive. Follow orders,” snapped the scientist.“Understood doctor.”

Smirking to himself as he watched the creatures down below, Eggman was eager to see how his Egg-Secoids would perform in the field. Walking away from the glass, Eggman approached the computer terminal, pressing several buttons upon the panel.The room began to flood with azure light as the metal panels out the front opened, revealing the coral reef and water all about. Remembering that hedgehog’s fear of water, Eggman had constructed a hidden base underneath the ocean surface, amongst a rich reef, teaming with life.Looking about the reef, schools of multicolored fish darting past, followed by turtles and sharks and countless other creatures. Eggman grinned, stroking his moustache once more as he considered this concept of an army of creatures from another world at his own command.Twisting a knob on the terminal, there was a loud mechanical clunking and the entire room shuddered as the secret lair began to rise up towards the surface, Eggman chuckling at first before launching into a mad cackle as he began to ascend, both physically and morally.

Sighing a long sigh as he laid back on the sand, watching as the sun began to near the horizon, knowing that soon there would be no more light and that their first day was wasted sitting at this pool with this silly fish. “Are you gonna be long Tails? I mean, it’s fun and all, but I would like to get back to our stuff and relax there as well. Have a snack and that you know?”“Just a little longer Sonic,” Tails smiled to the hedgehog. The fox had been beaming ever since he had got the crystal piece from the dolphin and his device had been giving clicks and squeaks, the dolphin responding and Tails pointing to his tablet. “I think… I almost…” Tails started, before the fox went quiet a few more moments as he focused on his work.Flopping back upon the shore, Sonic gave a groan. This wasn’t his idea of a vacation.“Aha! Got it… I think,” Tails declared as he hopped up to his feet, the young fox trotting over towards the dolphin that was floating in the shallows. “Let’s see if this works now!”Tapping something into the MED as he stood in the surf, Tails paused a moment, taking in a breath as he hovered his finger over the translate key. This was it.Pressing the button, the device made several computerized sounds, like a dolphin’s calls to the strange cetacean before them. Sitting up and shaking the sand from his quills, Sonic asked, “What did you say?”“I introduced myself as Tails. Asked its name and what it was doing here.”“Asked its name? Tails, it’s a fish… Fish don’t--” Sonic began as the dolphin began to click and squeak back, both hedgehog and fox turning to the tablet as it began to record and translate it. Tails began to read it with held breath.“Hello Tails. I am Ecco and I’m looking for the crystal pieces I need to rebuild this glyph,” Tails read out to Sonic proudly, puffing out his chest just a little at his accomplishment.Blinking, Sonic added, “Well, I can’t believe it. Guess they are some smart fish alright! I guess that’s why it is hoarding those crystals… and attacked me.”The dolphin clicked a little more as Tails turned back to the MED, reading as it began to translate Ecco’s speech. Tails read through it, mouthing silently as he frowned a little at it. “Well, seems Sonic that this ‘glyph’ is a large crystal that shattered and these pieces fit together. He says that it sent him here from ‘his world’ and…” Tails paused at the next part of the phrase, his eyes narrowing.“What Tails? C’mon, spit it out,” Sonic tapped his foot a little.Turning to Sonic, Tails continued, “Well, he mentions there was a creature that looked like a cross between a man and a blowfish, was red and black. Like a big red walrus.”Placing his head his hands, Sonic sighed, “Eggman? Again? Well great, so much for a vacation… Does this… Ekon, know anything more?”“Ecco,” Tails corrected to Sonic as he turned back to the MED. “I’ll ask and see if he knows anything more. But Sonic,” Tails turned back to the hedgehog with a frown. “If Ecco is from another world… That could mean Eggman is trying to mess about with something again.”“Story of my life,” Sonic smirked, shaking his head.