Wow! I haven't updated this story in a year. That's not very dedicated at all. You know that you've been gone from a story too long when you have to reread it to find out what it's about. I think that it's about time for me to continue. Now, this isn't my choice. I'm still doing my poll choice. Consider this an interlude. I'll do a few more chapters of this and then I'm going with my poll result.

Shadow and company were all sitting together under a tree. Dr. Eggman's corpse lay tied to a tree. They were eagerly awaiting him to regain consciousness. They decided that it would be foolish to take him back to Tails' lab in Red Mountain less he gain knowledge of their whereabouts.

Eggman slowly started to come to.

"What? Why am I tied to a tree?" he asked.

The entire group came over to the tree.

"Eggman, we need some answers, and we know that you're the one with them," said Knuckles.

"What makes you so sure that I know anything?" asked the doctor.

"Simple. There's just too many villains running around here for you not to know anything about what's going on," said Shadow.

Eggman smiled. It was the kind of smile that you don't expect to see from someone that has been captured. His smile alone could get him admitted into a mental institution. That's how awkward it was.

"I might as well tell you. After all, there's no way for you to stop Wraith," said Dr. Eggman.

"Who the hell is Wraith?" asked Vector.

"I don't know much about him, but here's what I know so far. He was created from dark matter stored in the chaos emeralds since their creation. Because of their frequent use lately, his power started to grow. Each time any of you pesky animals went super, you left a small trace of your darker selves behind inside the chaos emeralds until there was an adequate amount of dark matter stored. The last time the emeralds came together, the dark matter in each one came together as well. With the power of the chaos emeralds feeding it, the dark matter took on a form. As you can tell, Wraith the Hedgehog was spawned from you, Knuckles and Shadow, and Silver and Sonic as well. It was you four that created that monstrosity."

"That's a lie!" said Knuckles defensively.

"I can assure you that it's not. The blood of each of you runs through his veins. He's practically your son. Take a look at the destruction that he's caused the world in only a few short days. You four have created the ultimate evil and it can't be stopped. He's even brought the worst villains that your group has ever faced using only one chaos emerald. Do you honestly think that Sonic Team stands a chance?"

None of the group uttered a word. Eggman chuckled at his statement.

"It will be a long battle, but Sonic Team will prevail," said Amy finally.

"Besides that, we already have you out of the way," said Vector.

"Is that a fact?" asked Eggman.

Eggman reached and touched a button on his boot. As soon as he did that, an army of E-Series robots swarmed over the group. One cut down the tree holding Eggman while the rest fired on the group to distract them. As soon as Eggman was back in his Eggmobile, the robot army retreated with Dr. Eggman and headed back to his base.

"Another day," said Omega. He clinched his metal fist.

"Now what?" asked Scarlett.

"I guess we head back to Tails' workshop in Red Mountain," said Shadow

Back at the workshop, Tikal was busy watching over Silver's body. Hopefully, he'd soon recover. Somehow, Tikal felt as if this incident was somehow her fault. After all, he's only like this because he was trying to save her from Metal Sonic. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if he didn't return to her.

"Tikal?"

Tikal looked over to the bed and saw that Silver was awake. He slowly sat up and faced her. She rushed over to him.

"Silver! Thank the heavens," said Tikal. She wanted to hug him, but she was wary of his injury.

"How long was I out?" he asked.

"Most of the day," she replied.

"Bummer," he said. He looked around and saw that he didn't know where he was. "I guess we're not in the Mystic Ruins anymore."

"We are still in the Mystic Ruins. We're in Tails' workshop that's lodged into Red Mountain," explained Tikal.

Just then, Shadow, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Blaze, the Chaotix, and Omega all returned to Tails' workshop. Silver was startled by their noisy entrance.

"Hey, look who's up," said Knuckles. "How are you feeling, buddy?"

"Well, I've been better," said Silver.

"Has Sonic returned yet?" asked Amy.

Tikal and Silver both shook their heads.

"Where could he be?"

Amy was very worried about Sonic. Sonic had been gone way too long. After what Dr. Eggman had just told them about Wraith, she feared for Sonic's life. He had gone to face Wraith alone. Who knows what all he's capable of? Sonic could be injured beyond comparison and all she could do was worry about him.

"I'm going to go find Sonic," said Amy.

"You can't be serious, gal. With all those bad guys on the loose, you actually want to risk being seen?" asked Rouge.

"If Sonic is in trouble, then I have no choice. Don't worry about me. The setting sun will conceal me," said Amy.

"Don't waste your time," said a voice from behind them.

They all turned around and saw the Babylon Rogues standing there in the doorway. The one that spoke was Jet.

"We found the blue furball stretched out in the middle of the Green Hill Zone. He was badly wounded, but he should be fine," he said.

Storm was carrying Sonic on his shoulder. Sonic wriggled himself out of Storm's grip and landed on his feet.

"I'm alright," Sonic hissed.

"You're welcome," scoffed Storm.

Sonic held his chest as he limped over to a chair that was close to Silver's bed.

"Sonic, what happened?" asked Blaze.

"What does it look like? I didn't fall down and hurt myself," said Sonic.

"It looks like Wraith is going to be a bigger problem than we thought," said Shadow.

"Wraith? Is he the guy that sent those battleships to Babylon Gardens?" asked Wave.

"Battleships? You must mean the Metarex. Did they attack you?" asked Amy.

"More like wiped us out. They took a chaos emerald that we had. Then, they sunk our whole floating kingdom. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. We lost some good friends in that fight," said Jet. He had a sullen expression on his face like nothing any of the Babylon Rogues had ever seen before.

"I'm sorry that this had to happen to you," said Scarlett.

"You best believe that we're going to get those creeps back," said Storm. He clinched his fist and sunk it into his other open palm.

"As much as we'd like to, we can't do it alone. The Metarex are many, and we are three. As much as I hate to do this, I have to ask for your help," said Jet. He lowered his head as he asked. It shamed him to be dependent on others for his own goals.

"The Metarex are a threat to us as well, but you must realize that they are not the main threat here," said Shadow.

"They are to us!" Wave screeched.

"I understand that, but the threat on the world goes beyond that. This is much bigger than your own personal vendetta," said Shadow.

"If you will not help us, we'll do this on our own," said Jet.

"Jet, please don't go," said Tikal.

She had been silent but thoroughly listening to the conversation while she sat with Silver. She got up and went over to where the Babylon Rogues were standing.

"Shadow wasn't downing your cause. The Metarex are a threat to us as well. It's just that we seem to be facing tremendous odds and we can't focus all our attention on the Metarex. I hope you understand. Please don't go. It'll be harder to defeat the bad guys without you," said Tikal.

Jet and the other two rogues thought it over.

"The Metarex will fall and all that are associated with them as well," said Jet.

"Yellow Zelkova is ours. He trashed our office," said Vector.

"Yeah, his foot stepped on my Gameboy. I can't wait to feed him my stinger," said Charmy.

"It's nice to see everyone working together. Right, Sonic?" asked Amy.

Sonic still had a sullen look on his face. He was remembering how painful it felt to be trapped in Wraith's dark matter. If he stayed submerged in it any longer, he could've gone insane. It angered Sonic to be so easily defeated.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" asked Amy.

"Wraith beat me so easily. I couldn't believe it. There was nothing that I could do," said Sonic. "On our next meet, I'll show him who's boss."

"Now, Sonic, don't go doing anything brash. We need to analyze this situation a little more before we act. Why don't we ask Tails to… Where's Tails?" asked Amy.

"He hasn't returned yet," said Knuckles.

"Most likely he went to check on Cream. Still, he should've been back by now. It's getting late," said Blaze.

"I'll go look for him," said Sonic.

He rose to his feet, but his pain quickly forced him back in his seat.

"No you don't. You're going to sit right here and heal. I'll go look for Tails," said Amy.

"You're not going alone. I'm coming, too," said Scarlett.

"So am I," said Blaze.

"Alright. Girl power!" said Amy.

"Not exactly girl power since you're missing the best girl," said Rouge.

"She's just jealous. Let's go, girls," said Amy.

Amy, Blaze, and Scarlett all trekked over to Cream's house. They saw the rubble and stared in disbelief.

"I just can't bear looking at this destruction. My best friend lived here. Now, her home is…" Amy couldn't finish the sentence. The truth was that she wasn't a bit concerned about the house. Her concern was that Cream was trapped beneath the wreckage. Amy felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure that Cream is okay. Otherwise, Tails would've probably returned and let everybody know," said Scarlett.

Amy smiled.

"Thanks, Scarlett. I really needed to hear that," she said.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"Feel that? Something's coming," said Blaze.

"We'd better hide," said Scarlett.

Blaze hopped up a nearby tree, Amy hid in the bushes, and Scarlett used her camouflaging ability to blend in with the rubble. In the distance, a Black Arms tank could be seen. It was approaching the trio of females at a steady pace. Once the tank neared the house, a mixed group of E-Series robots and Black Arms warriors could be seen walking with the tank. As they approached the destroyed house, Blaze adjusted herself around the tree to stay out of sight. The three of them alone could not best the tank and the group of soldiers. They just let the tank and the soldiers pass by until they were out of sight,

"Phew. That was close," said Scarlett.

"I wonder where they are headed," said Amy.

"They're probably just looking for prisoners or something," said Blaze.

"I'd rather not stick around and be one of them. Let's look for Tails and Cream elsewhere," said Scarlett.

The three girls hiked through the nearby forest to stay clear of any more bad guys. Amy knew the area well since she and Cream used to play in these woods all the time. After crossing the woods, the trio found themselves in the outskirts of Station Square. They all looked down at the city. It lies in ruins. Half of the city was burning, the other half was crumbling. Black Arms had totally taken control of the city. Their influence could be seen spreading all over the ruins. Soon, Station Square would become a Black Arms city.

"This is unbelievable," said Amy. "I've never seen anything like it. Whoever would've thought that Station Square would ever be destroyed?"

"It has been destroyed before. Remember Chaos?" asked Scarlett.

Amy nodded. "But nothing like this."

Blaze came up and placed her hand on Amy's shoulder. Her touch was as comforting as it was warm.

"Don't worry. We'll find a way to stop this if it's the last thing we do," said Blaze.

"Thanks, Blaze. I'm sure glad that you decided to come along," said Amy. She felt a little better now.

Scarlett had scouted ahead while they talked. She quickly treaded across the rough terrain as if she was an experienced hiker. The terrain was getting rough due to Station Square's sudden downfall. The ground itself was becoming infected by the Black Arms. The trees and grass were now either lifeless brown shrubs or in a crystallized, dark form. The birds that once roamed freely in the skies were replaced by bat-like creatures of Black Arms decent.

Scarlett spotted a smoking aircraft in the meadow. She dashed closer for a better view. She recognized the aircraft immediately. It was the X-Tornado.

"Hey, you two, come over here quick," said Scarlett.

Amy and Blaze came running. "What is it?" asked Blaze.

"Isn't that your fox friend's plane?" asked Scarlett.

"Oh my God! Tails! We've got to get over there. He might be seriously injured," Amy shrieked.

She took off as quickly as she could and raced over to the crash site with her two companions not far behind. The plane wasn't too damaged. The only visible damage was a broken rotor. Other than that, the plane was still in mint condition. Amy immediately began her search for Tails. She looked into the cockpit and found him unconscious and lying on the steering mechanism. Amy tried to open the cockpit hatch, but it was stuck shut. She took out her piko piko hammer and banged the glass from the window. The glass shattered and landed inside the cockpit. Amy reached in and slowly pulled Tails out. There was a cut on his forehead but nothing serious. Everything else seemed fine.

"I could've easily just melted the hinges instead of breaking the glass, Amy," said Blaze.

"Oops!" said Amy with an animated sweat drop and an embarrassed smile on her face. "I never take subtle approaches when a friend is in need."

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Scarlett.

"TARGETS IDENTIFIED: DESTROY!"

A group of basic Metarex swarmed around the three heroines. Their eyes began to glow red. There were eight of them total.

"We're surrounded," said Scarlett.

"What are these?" asked Blaze.

"These are Metarex soldiers. Don't worry. These are the easiest to destroy," said Amy.

One of the Metarex opened up his hand and revealed a spinning turret attachment. It opened fire at the girls. They quickly retreated behind the X-Tornado. Scarlett dragged Tails as fast as she could and laid him behind plane as gunfire rained all over the X-Tornado. The gunfire split one of the wings, and it fell from the plane onto the ground.

"We can't stay here," said Blaze.

"If we leave, that gunfire will tear our cute bodies apart," said Amy.

"Just leave it to me," said Scarlett.

She got on all fours. Then, her natural camouflage ability kicked in so that she was now invisible. She crept up on all fours and grabbed the Metarex from behind. The Metarex resisted, but Scarlett held it by the arms.

"Amy, batter up!"

Scarlett did a juno styled toss and tossed the Metarex over her head. Amy pulled out her piko piko hammer and gave it a big swing. The impact caused the Metarex to shatter. Parts went everywhere. The rest of the Metarex turned their sights on Scarlett, who now stood in the midst of them.

"A little help here, girls!" she screamed.

Blaze and Amy joined the action. The Metarex dispersed and went after all three of them. Blaze flamed up. Her hands and feet caught fire. Blaze did her spinning kick move. Her flame melted the metal on one of the Metarex, causing her to skewer it. Two more crept up on her simultaneously. Blaze jumped into the air and landed on one. Because she had ignited, she melted it to the ground. As she sunk to the ground, she kicked the head off the other one. Scarlett was caught between three Metarex still. They all were shooting lasers from their arms. She got back on all fours and crept over to one.

"Over here!"

The other two targeted Scarlett. They opened fire. She quickly blended in and the other two Metarex destroyed the third one. Scarlett reappeared again directly between the two opposing Metarex.

"Make my day!" she said.

The Metarex readied their lasers. Upon firing their lasers, Scarlett jumped out of the way. The two dumb Metarex blasted each other clear across the meadow and destroyed each other. Scarlett landed next to Blaze. The two of them eyed the last Metarex.

"Well, what's it going to be?" asked Blaze.

She cracked her knuckles as she and Scarlett walked toward the last Metarex. It slowly backed away from Scarlett and Blaze. No sooner than it backed about two steps, Amy's hammer collided with its back. Its torso was thrown in one direction as the rest of it fell to the ground. Amy smirked at her triumph.

The sun was setting quickly. There was only about two minutes of sunlight left. The 'new' Station Square began to light up with some strange energy. It wasn't electricity that was powering the city. It was something else, something cryptic. It glowed with a purplish light.

"Now what do we do? It's too dark to see how to get back," said Amy.

A bright, green flash suddenly appeared in front of them. After the light disappeared, the presence of Shadow the Hedgehog was before them.

"Shadow," said Blaze.

"You three have been gone for quite a while. Sonic and the others were worried about you; so I decided to come looking for you. Did you run into trouble?" he asked.

"Nothing that we couldn't handle," said Amy.

Shadow gave a small smirk. She almost sounded as cocky as Sonic. He then raised his blue chaos emerald. "Let's go."

"Wait. We have to get Tails. From what we can tell, he crashed here and was rendered unconscious," said Blaze.

Shadow walked over to the plane, picked up Tails, and put him on his back. Then, he used chaos control to transfer them out of there just before nightfall set in.

All I can say about this is that I was due for an update. Please read and review.

ICY KNUCKLES