Authors Notes: It's been a while, okay I lie it's been a VERY long time since I last updated and 4 years is beyond a joke.

I truly want to apologize to those who have been eagerly awaiting updates who never got them I promised myself I would do it but I never got to it.

So there's a couple of people I really want to thank for reminding me how much I loved this story and that I left it unfinished.

From Deviant art: MokonaStephy88

From : Little Ghostie, dragonfyre and metal shadow.

Oh and as always to my beta's.

So this chapter is dedicated to you guys.

The dust clouds came to a halt as she scanned the grounds around the mountains checking multiple databases as she did. Below her lay a large area which according to her maps had been empty however her visual units were telling her otherwise, Flybots had noticed this before but it had not been deemed worth sending out others to investigate.

"Orders" A message was sent back to her Master for what was to be done.

"Investigate," was the answer she received and she started to descend the mountains heading for the new area.

"Will you get off!" The gruff voice demanded and after much struggling and a friendly fight of green scales and yellow and black stripes the mushroom collapsed and the pair hit the floor and had to brush off splattered mushroom from their bodies whilst their silent friend had seen the problem and moved out of the way just in time, his reactions as perfect as ever.

"You two should really have learned not to fight each other by now"

"Be quiet, we're finally home. Be grateful that I got us here"

"YOU got us here!" Shouted the now adult male bee. His voice deeper but he still managed to be as annoying as ever. "I was the one who found it!"

"Here we go again", the voice from seemingly nowhere said as Crocodile and Bee started to fight once again, this time for the false honor of getting them all home again.

"Say that again" Knuckles asked, slowly.

"They aren't anywhere on the planet. I can't find them. They've completely vanished!" Came Miles' voice in a panicked tone. Knuckles looked confused and Sonic took the chance and pushed up quickly making Knuckles' grip loose enough for Sonic to brake free and spun around and up into a tree before he stopped and looked down at Knuckles.

"Guess those robots aren't as good as you thought they were"

The reply he was given was a blaster shot from the robot currently battling Shadow. It must have been a misfire but it still took the branch clean off the tree and rather than fall Sonic jumped into the tree and then launched himself at Knuckles.

"Not at chance!" Knuckles exclaimed in a large amount of disbelief before he was tackled by Sonic and they started a brawl, Sonic's punches were fast but much weaker than Knuckles' slow but force filled strikes.

Shadow was hitting the robot as fast as he could, each blow finally starting to make dents until the robot finally keeled over, thanks to Knuckles who had been aiming for Sonic at the time but had missed when Sonic avoided the blow. Shadow zipped around to Knuckles and gave him a fast kick before he backed off.

"Where are the Chaos Emeralds Knuckles? Enough of this foolishness, if the world has any chance of returning to some semblance of peace you MUST tell us where they are"

"You mean the peace of death, of being encased in steel. Isn't that what you mean? Like AMY!" Knuckles got back up glaring at Shadow, hate filling ever fiber of his being as he stood there then.

"I had no idea that would happen and I did all I could for her. If it wasn't for that trip to Robotnik's Palace we would have lost nearly everyone. Blame the humans!" Shadow shook his head slightly; he could practically feel the glare Knuckles was giving off however his feelings were of deep felt regret and sorrow.

"Blame the humans; blame anyone other than yourself for the actions which you had direct control over?" Knuckles shouted, and then he dashed forwards with the full intention of ending Shadow's life.

Suddenly Knuckles was sent crashing into a tree. Shadow looked around in confusion as he certainly hadn't thrown a punch or a kick; Sonic was looking just as bemused as Knuckles was lifted up by the neck.

"Knuckles, calm down"

Knuckles glared at the seemingly empty space before him, he could feel the tight grip on his neck, he didn't splutter and thankfully there was enough of a gap to continue breathing.

"W-Who's that?" He asked confused, it couldn't be a robot of Robotnik's because he'd be dead or in a lot of pain. The voice sounded somewhat familiar but he couldn't think of who it might be.

Sonic walked over to Shadow looking confused.

"Let's get going, whoever is doing this must be on our side." Shadow said and Sonic nodded in agreement but as they turned to run off they saw that they had even more company standing looking over the complete mess that the three of them had created.

"Vector! Charmy!" Sonic said in surprise, he looked at the two and could see a fair amount of differences but the two were still familiar. Vector was still tall but instead of his usual headphones and armbands he was more muscled and had a robotic eye instead of his left, it just didn't look right but he supposed 20 years would do a lot of a person. Charmy wasn't small and a bit pudgy anymore, he had gotten taller, a hard hat on his head and his bright yellow and black stripes thinner until it made your eyes hurt looking too strongly at them.

"Sonic! I knew we'd find you" Charmy chirped, although with his deeper voice it just didn't sound right. Though he smiled and Sonic knew it was the same Charmy on the inside.

"I wouldn't get too excited Charmy, he's with Ihim/I"

Sonic rolled his eyes at that but then looked around, then over to Knuckles who was moving slowly to the ground.

"Espio?"

The only reply was a huff; Knuckles shoved the air and then glared at all of them.

"Chaotix, where have you been?"

"We'll tell you when things calm down, seems things are a bit problematic right now" Vector was keeping his eyes on Sonic and Shadow, making sure they didn't go anywhere.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Knuckles activated his communications device.

"Now what?"

"There's three extra people on the Island Knuckles what's going on?" Miles' voice resounded from his device, sounding more and more frantic by the syllable.

"Chaotix have shown up, how or why they won't say." Knuckles watches as Espio shifted back into view and walked around Sonic and Shadow.

"I'm getting fed up of being scrutinized at EVERY moment" Shadow growled, seriously getting fed up of being looked at, glared at and being hated all of the time. He hadn't agreed to help Sonic just to endure all of this.

"You're not the only one Shadow" Sonic replied and looked at Espio in a fed up manner. "What now?" he asked wanting to know what he was being looked over for NOW.

"Vector, it is him. I get the feeling that everyone's been thinking he's a fake but I think that this Sonic is Sonic"

Sonic raised an eyebrow, was it at all possible someone ELSE thought he was the real deal? He certainly hoped so! And about time as well!

"Knuckles! Something else is on the Island! It's one of Robotnik's robots… it's… oh no..."

Everyone turned to Knuckles in confusion, Shadow's brows were knitted together in concerned thought, and Sonic was looking at everyone else looking towards Knuckles who glared at them all whilst Vector, Charmy and Espio all looked thoughtful.

"Miles… what is it?" He asked cautiously.

"Mineral traces and foliage confirmed, location is Floating Island" The report was sent to his personal chambers, lounging in his soft but large chair he listened to the detailed analysis and smirked.

"Good, deploy troops and surveillance to last known Resistance location as well as Unit 1-13-25's location." This would be blood and fun.

"I…I'm not sure Knuckles, I can't keep up with it and make a visual lock but I fear the worst"

Knuckles nodded, "Chaotix, get underground. Miles is down there and will help co-ordinate, unless you want to help dispose of the garbage?"

Vector shook his head, walking between Knuckles and Sonic.

"Knuckles, it IS him. Didn't ya just hear Espio say so?"

"And I think you lot are delusional, you went off seven years ago and now show up out of the blue!"

Espio perked at this bit of information.

"Vector" he said quietly "we were in the Special Zone for only"

He finished his sentence but no one heard him as several trees exploded in a blast of fire and splinters. Sonic and Shadow leapt out of the way, Charmy darted behind Vector who like Knuckles shielded his face with his hands. Espio vanished from view and slipped away into the foliage until the moment was right.

Illuminated from behind by the crackling fire a metal being glided into view. Shadow took a glance and then looked away. Although metal all over there was still a hint of pink in the finish, probably a little joke on Robotnik's part to really rub the fact into the Resistance's face.

"Miles, sighting confirmed." Knuckles hesitated before he finished, the words were hard to say and they implied much more than just Robotnik's presence. "It's Amy" The worry and concern in his voice was heard down in the tunnels that riddled the Floating Island Miles froze in mid movement when he heard that mentioned, closed his eyes and prayed silently that it wasn't true he muttered.

"Oh no…"