"Amy! AMY!" Tails couldn't help but cry out excitedly when he saw the pink hedgehog approaching the shrine.
She laughed up on noticing his excitement and ran the rest of the way to the monument. Tails jumped at her with a smile and the hedgehog scooped him up in an embrace, twirling the both of them around before releasing him into the air with a laugh.
"You're okay!"
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" She giggled lightly.
"What happened? With Havoc? What did he do?" Knuckles interrupted. He was smiling too but his seemed more out of relief.
Then the pieces began to click together in his brain. "You were with Havoc?!" He cried in distress.
"Well- yeah, but Knuckles is making it sound worse than it was, trust me, we just... Talked."
"Seriously?" The echidna asked in disbelief. The hedgehog nodded genuinely.
"It's kind of a lot to unpack. Hey wait- how did you guys even get back here?" She asked curiously, turning her attention back to the fox and the hybrid who looked distant.
"Oh well- that's also a lot to unpack? We saw..." He trailed off as he thought back to all the different parts of Havoc's past they'd witnessed.
The mindset that led to his creation, the hedgehog's looping descent into fear, the horrifying gaze of Iizuka as he towered over the other and annihilated his ability to even defend himself. The way the two laughed and smiled together, the way the elder moved Havoc to make things easier for him, the parent-like relationship the two had, the way Havoc changed Iizuka into a more compassionate person the longer they were with each other.
"... A lot."
Amy tilted her head in confusion and looked around at their group of five- er- six.
"Oh my Gaia who is this!" Amy squealed excitedly noticing the Koco Tails had neglected to introduce.
"Oh! This is... Uhhhhhh..."
"𐌍ል𐌌ቹ ክ𐌀ጮ𐌄! ⶴaⶴ𐌀! L𐌄ሠOክe!" The Koco giggled boldly and danced around the other in a circle.
Amy looked startlingly confused and turned to him as if to ask what in the world the other was saying.
"I'm... Just gonna call him Blue." Tails sighed loudly, gesturing to the little blue flowers sprouting from the Koco.
"Alrighty then Blue, it's nice to meet you!" Amy greeted him happily. The Koco made a joyous noise before releasing a loud gasp and trotting up the steps of the shrine towards Tikal.
"𐋅i ⶴ𐌉! ⶴቹረlዐ! 𐌋ዐng ፕ𐌉m𐌄! w𐌀ፕ𐌄ዪ ፏoጋ! 𐌁ዐom!"
Tikal looked increasingly more distressed with each excited noise the alien let out. "W- what? What is this thing?" She asked nervously.
"It's a Koco," Tails explained with a sigh.
"It's a talking rock with a speech disorder." Shadow supplied helpfully.
Amy shot him a look and Tails had never felt more gratified and couldn't help but smirk when the hybrid turned his eyes to the ground and muttered a quiet apology.
"They're remnants of the past, of Havoc's people." Amy further explained. "They're harmless."
"Well, looks like we've all been busy and we've all got something to say, but it's late so I propose an idea." Amy said happily, clapping her hands together.
"What were you thinking?" Tails asked.
"Campout!" The hedgehog cried excitedly. He heard a loud groan from Shadow and Tikal looked intrigued.
"Um well... Yeah? Where else are we supposed to go? Knuckles asked in confusion. Amy waved a hand at him flippantly.
"We'll all gather around and share what we've got then come up with a plan over some food. We've had a long week, we deserve it! Not to mention we'll need everything we can get if we want to beat Havoc."
As much as he was itching to get something done and work towards their goal Amy was right. They really couldn't go like this for much longer. Not to mention the idea of Amy's cooking sounded tantalizingly good right now.
The next few moments passed in a bit of a blur. In a whirlwind Amy had begun setting up a makeshift campground.
She'd ordered Knuckles to gather up some logs for seating and she'd managed to pull a large pot and supplies from seemingly nowhere.
They all chatted with each other mindlessly as Amy prepared the food.
"What are you making?" Tails asked. He was attempting to be inconspicuous while he secretly watched Shadow who was actually having a conversation with the ancient echidna priestess.
"You'll see when it's done." Amy answered, clearly only in this spot for the same reason he was.
It was about an hour later when Amy ordered everyone to gather around the circle of benches she'd created while she passed out bowls.
"Wait we're having ramen?" He asked.
Amy nodded with a smile "yep! Good ramen. Not that ridiculously fake microwavable crap you're always telling me is 'perfectly acceptable' because I know damn well there's nothing nutritional in that." She stated pouring some of the soup into his bowl.
He grumbled lowly at the jab. Microwavable ramen was easy, why should he be bothered to cook something extravagant that takes so long when the option was right there?
"But how come Shadow doesn't have to eat any?" He asked, trying to deflect.
"Because I gave up with Shadow, he's a lost cause." She stated flatly. Knuckles started at the hybrid with a look of horror as he bit into a raw brick of dry noodles with a sickeningly loud crunch.
The fox shuddered.
Once everyone had been served and Amy sat down with her legs crossed she started.
"Alright, first order of business!" She shoved a load of noodles and vegetables into her mouth. "How did you guys get back here? Tikal beam you up or something?"
Shadow let out a huff.
"We-" Tails paused and stared at the black and red hedgehog with a violent burning as he watched the alien empty a seasoning packet directly into his mouth.
"We used a wormhole!" Tails said excitedly. "Remember how when we tried to approach the islands I suspected a wormhole had taken us in? Well my theory was correct! In order to remain separated from the mainland I believe they integrated some kind of cyberspace based wormhole technology to meet with the echidnas!"
Despite his prior experience, and delight at being proven right, wormholes were probably the least enjoyable mode of travel he'd experienced. Maybe even worse than chaos control or- he shuddered- Knuckles' driving.
"I believe the wormholes were set to take visitors to specific locations based on their intent, and there had to be a way back and that would assumably be in a fixed location. I just sent looking for where a disturbance might be."
"𐌙ay! ሠ𐌀ዪp rጎng! 𐌵ክ𐌔ፕ𐌀blቹ, rቹ𐌔ፕricፕeጋ! 𐌍ቹw pዐrፕ𐌀ረ!" Blue cheered happily from Tikal's side. The echidna reached down and patted the Koco on the head.
"Hm, and what about him? The little guy seems a bit... Off." Amy asked, gesturing to the Koco with her utensils.
The stone creature giggled and babbled again as if it was aware they were talking about it "𐌔t𐌐ልngeዪ! Ꝋክe Ꝋቻ ል kiክ𐌃! ል ሠ𐋅ዐle ክ𐌄ሠ ፪𐌄inፏ!"
"That I'm really not sure, it was in Iizuka's lab but I don't think it's him. It was sealed in one of those sphere containment units, and while we were in the lab we caught a glimpse of where Iizuka died and it was on Kronos, not Ouranos."
"Hm," Amy hummed "well if that's the case then it's definitely not Iizuka because I'm pretty sure I met him."
"You did WHAT?!" Tails cried jumping up from his seat.
Knuckles laughed, "Amy's been pretty busy while you guys were gone."
Amy herself nodded. "On Kronos we met a Koco who was running around and freaking out about being to late to fix somebody named "One" and saying he needed to find him."
"One? That's what Iizuka used to call Havoc in his logs" Tails remarked.
"Mhm." Amy nodded "I found that out too, when I was talking with him."
See now that, that was distracting.
"What do you mean you talked to him? Did he attack you? Where did you even find him?!"
"Well, when Knuckles and I went out we didn't find anything, well, anything except Iizuka, so we came back to look around for any clues here." Amy explained
Knuckles nodded "But on our way to something promising we ran into Havoc. Amy stayed behind to watch him while I went to warn Tikal."
"I had already known, but I wasn't worried." Tikal whispered.
"But anyway," Amy continued "I stayed back and we actually just talked to each other. I really feel bad for him... None of what happened is really his fault, but he's handling it in the wrong way. We actually found out what happened to his Chao and how his experiment worked. He... Really misses his life."
"Hm" Tails mumbled and he didn't realize he'd made noise out loud.
"Tails? What's up?"
"Well when we were going through Iizuka's logs something weird happened, we saw you, Amy."
The pink hedgehog looked startled. "Me? How is that possible?"
"I don't know, but I think I might have an idea. You said he mentioned Iizuka?" Tails asked tentatively after a long quiet.
"Oh, yeah, he uh... He really misses him. I wish I could do something for the two of them, maybe I could reunite him with the Koco? Would that be enough for him to let go? They really loved each other." Amy said sadly.
"Yeah right." Shadow spat with his seat "We saw what those two were like. That wasn't love."
A dark look passed over Amy's face "what are you talking about?"
"I- it's complicated" Tails stuttered. "There was... A lot that happened between those two. Showing Havoc Iizuka might just complicate things more."
"Hm, well then I'm really not sure, I know Havoc doesn't really want to stay here," At that Tikal looked up and then let her eyes drop sadly. "But, he feels obligated to somehow. Something about him being the first incarnation is making him believe he has to live like this."
"Which is not true, he isn't even an incarnation." Shadow pointed out before taking another bite of his brick of pasta.
"He's not?" Knuckles asked.
Tails shook his head. "He's actually more like a concept. The first incarnation was going to come after Iizuka perfected him."
"But... Does he even know that?" Tikal asked "he's never mentioned that before, not even when I was alive."
"I think he does" Amy stated simply, cutting him off before he had the chance to speak. "I think he's in a bit of denial more than anything, you'll see."
Shadow raised an eyebrow, chugging down a cup of boiling water to complete his horror show of a reverse meal.
"You know, Sonic being one of these emeralds actually makes more sense than him being Mobian looking back on it." The hybrid stated.
Amy giggled lightly "you know Havoc actually said something similar to me."
Shadow briefly had a disgruntled look flash across his face before taking another swig of the steaming water.
"Only something born of pure chaos can be as annoying and attract as much danger as he does." Shadow pointed out. "Him being a gem also explains why Rouge gets along with him so well."
Knuckles barked out a loud laugh from across their circle and Tails swears he sees a brief smirk flash over Shadow's face. He couldn't help his own snicker escape him (because Knuckles' laugh was contagious definitely NOT because Shadow's joke was funny). Amy let out her own laugh and soon everyone (sans Shadow) were giggling, even the little Koco.
Knuckles grew flushed as he realized he was the one who started the uproar. He coughed awkwardly "uh- Amy! This food is good. Thank you." He stated gratefully.
Knuckles was a total sucker for the female hedgehog's food and the hedgehog in question always ate up the praise. It was actually how they convinced Knuckles to attend most parties. He was always "I have a sworn duty" until someone mentioned an Amy Rose bundt cake, then all bets were off.
When the laughter quieted down and food was finished Tails switched his brain back into gear. "Amy, was there anything else Iizuka said to you, anything that seemed relevant at all?"
"Uhm..." She tilted her head back and narrowed her eyes, glancing at Knuckles who was filling his fourth bowl of ramen.
"Didn't he say something about starting a code?" Knuckles called.
"Oh! Yeah you're right! He mentioned something about starting a code, he said the 'key was inside him' because he 'wanted him to have a choice' and something about it being 'up to him now' he was really distressed about the whole thing.
"Hm. It sounds like Iizuka probably put a code inside of Havoc to begin the cycles on his own time."
"Wait really?"
Tails nodded "if I had to guess I'd say Havoc could probably just let the cycles restart using that code if he chose to."
"Mm, problem is he's not just going to activate that code is he?" Knuckles remarked.
"Uggh-" Shadow groaned loudly. "Can't we just shoot the guy?" He complained with a wave of his hand before returning it to its crossed position.
Each piece snapped into place.
"THAT'S IT!" Tails jumped up startling the group aside from Shadow who simply raised a brow at the fox's antics.
"Shadow you just gave me the best idea! C'mon Knuckles," the fox said jumping over to the echidna. "You and I are going to Ares!"
"Ares? What? Why?" He questioned, the fox simply walking in place as he attempted to drag the other.
"We can't beat Havoc by convincing him, but we do know how to turn him back into an emerald!"
He could see the moment the words locked into place in Amy's mind.
Tails smiled at the older, "we're gonna take a page out of Eggman's book." He smirked.
. . .
Amy had insisted that their mission to Ares wait until they'd all gotten some sleep. The next morning everyone was bursting with a new kind of energy.
The trip to Ares had provided him with everything he's needed after Knuckles had taken down one of the capture bots for him.
As soon as he'd returned to the island he started working on his own abridged version of Eggman's light cannon.
He'd tinkered with the design all day and only paused to talk things over with the group or eat.
"So how does this work exactly?" Amy asked staring at the, admittedly, chunky looking contraption.
"This is a handheld version of Eggman's light cannon, this part will cover the user's entire forearm and the trigger is located inside. This part here can anchor to the ground to help stabilize the user too if needed." He began to explain in what Sonic had coined his "teacher voice".
"This machine is going to take a lot of power though, the emerald will go on this compartment here," he pointed to a small containment area the size of a small tupperware bin, "and it's extremely important that we nail him first try. We've only got one shot with this machine because as soon as Havoc notices the emerald isn't being held anymore he's going to take it back."
"So hit him, hit him hard, and don't miss." Amy summarized.
Tails nodded "and the one using the machine will be Shadow."
"What? Why Shadow?" Knuckles asked surprised.
"Well, he's got the most experience using a gun and higher accuracy, he's also got a better understanding of chaos control and is powerful enough to withstand the recoil."
His grin wilted slightly and one of his ears drooped. "He's uh... Also the least likely to hesitate." He pointed out at the manically gleeful expression on the hedgehog's face at the idea of shooting the Sonic look-alike.
"When the machine is ready Shadow will send out a flare in his chaos energy to alert Havoc to our location. Then we'll get the drop on him." Tails finished, going back to tweaking the weapon.
"Uh Shadow? I know I'm not one to say anything but you were listening right?" Knuckles asked and Tails' head shot up to look at what was confusing the echidna.
Shadow looked confused as everyone's attention turned to the faint green glow that was now emanating from the other's quills.
The hybrid reached up and pulled out the emerald. The gemstone was lighting up with a pulsing green, almost like...
"Well that's certainly not good." Amy remarked. A pulse of energy shot out in a shockwave.
Almost like...
Seconds later there was a loud BOOM that echoed and a cloud of dust that erupted from the edge of the clearing.
Sand forced him to cover his eyes but through the haze he could make out the details of something, someone, fighting their way into a standing position from within the smog.
Haggard breathing spilled out from the cloud, tearing through the silence. Two glowing white eyes split through the haze.
"There you are, coward."
Like a homing beacon.