Hidden Palace - Chaos and Pandemonium

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

Chaos stood there, glassy green eyes staring intently into the enormous gemstone before it with a look of concern. Bowing its head, the water spirit brought its talons together as if in prayer and made a soft, morose chirp to it, begging it for answers, acknowledgment, anger - anything. The sky outside looked wrong and the air didn't feel right. Worse yet, it couldn't feel the presence of the Seven Servers no matter how hard it concentrated. And the Master... begged though Chaos might, its energy wavered unstably and refused to speak. Chaos was worried, and for the first time it could ever truly remember in its eons of existence, scared. The watery entity's arms and legs shrank partially into its body in all manner of a frightened child's posture.

Solaris! Answer me! Chaos telepathically called out for its fellow guardian in desperation. But to no avail, for the fire spirit either would not, or could not, respond. Neither the Servant or the Seven Sovereigns could be felt either. There was a strange power source in this foreign world, both familiar and unfamiliar to the would-be deity. It was... it was almost as if Chaos Emerald and Sol Emerald energy were mixed into one... and yet... nothing like either at the same time. Something was wrong with it. Order here was not the same. This world was not balanced.

Chaos focused on that energy, attempting to tap its own power into it. Guardian of this plane! Hear me! I seek your assistance!

Nothing.

Even for all the incredible power the water spirit possessed it felt utterly helpless, continuing to stare at its charge much like a child would its ailing parent. Reaching a watery talon out, Chaos motioned to touch the Master Emerald, longing for the comforting sense of its touch, only to stop short mere inches. The energy that radiated from the massive stone felt wrong. It felt... broken. Separated? The positive and negative energies no longer worked in harmony as they should... It was cold and distant. It was almost as if as invisible force was physically preventing Chaos from contacting it on any level.

The Seven Servers, Chaos thought with a sudden sense of hope. They would know the answer! They would know how to help the Master! The spirit was sure of it! ... But... with a sudden reminder that stole the wind from that sail, they were nowhere to be found in this world. Only that strange, broken, waning energy...

Chaos' posture sagged even further. As it continued to mull and worry over its situation something suddenly snatched its attention, causing its head to snap up and stare at the direction behind it with a new kind of intensity. Intruders had entered the Hidden Palace. It could sense the energy within them... they were native to this world. Narrowing its solid eyes the spirit dissolved and vanished within the earth.

Water slowly dripped from cracks in the ancient carved walls, its steady sound amplified by the echo of the caverns that surrounded it. With it the sounds of heavy footsteps swept across the dirt and stone surfaces, unnatural and loud. The drip was hardly a concern to Metal Sonic, whom lead a small squadron of SWATbots behind him. What he didn't notice was that the collective puddle, as it grew in size, seemed as though it were trailing along behind them. No, he was more concerned with the strange power source whose energy radiated through these stone ruins.

The group of robots fanned out in search of its elusive prey. So far no further distractions had been met since his earlier encounter with those Freedom Fighters, but that hardly meant Metal wasn't on guard. As the metallix's eyes scanned with vague interest, his talons would twitch every so often in eager anticipation of further action. After awhile of wandering he eventually rounded a corner and halted dead in his tracks. At first all he could do was stare in amazement at the massive sized gemstone that easily dwarfed him in size. This was it, he realized. This was the source. The power that registered on his scanners...! It was incredible! Could... could this be one of those 'Chaos Emeralds' that other-worldly Tails had told him about...?

Metal's eyes gleamed excitedly, quickly calling for the other robots to join him. Boldly they approached the stone with every intent to seize it. As he drew in closer however he was suddenly interrupted, a loud screeching sound causing him to freeze. Following that was the unmistakable sound of metal hitting against the floor. Metal whirled around, spirals of electricity crackling around both arms as he searched for whoever would dare stand in his way now. Of the five SWATbots accompanying him, two now laid on the floor in dismembered pieces beside a large puddle of water. Absolutely no signs of their attacker could be recognized anywhere. Metal's eyes flared. Only one person was capable of moving THAT quickly!

"Get out here, hedgehog!" the metallix yelled, holding his ground beside the green gemstone. Even as he said it though he knew something wasn't right about this situation. He knew Sonic. He wouldn't silently try to pick them off - there was no way that hedgehog could resist blurting some sort of comment at him! Still charging energy around his arms, the metallix slowly began backing toward the Master Emerald, keeping a sharp eye on his surroundings...



In a sudden unexpected move, Chaos rose up into its semi-solid state. Each of the three remaining SWATbots responded immediately, training their wrist mounted lasers on the watery creature and crying their warnings to halt in the name of Robotnik. Metal gawked for the briefest of moments, wondering just what in the world this thing was. His surprise quickly turned to anger however when Chaos thrashed its talons at the third SWATbot and sent it flying, forcing Metal to dive to one side to avoid being hit by it. The trashed robot slammed into the Master Emerald, and in a brilliant, colorful flash of light, vanished. Metal instantly recognized that light - It was the same as what had taken him to that other world and back! Did this mean the emerald was some sort of gateway...?

Deciding that could be thought more about later, Metal turned his focus back to more important concerns. "SHOOT IT!" he shouted. He needn't have yelled, for as soon as the spirit turned hostile the remaining SWATbots opened fire. Streams of hot plasma entered Chaos' body and shot straight through its backside, doing little more than create a few tendrils of steam from the points of entry and exit.

This slightly unnerved Metal. "Oh no! Our weapons are useless! DAMN IT, YOU ARE ALL USELESS!" Metal roared. Staying glued to his spot away from the creature he fired off a couple bolts of electricity from each arm. Unlike the inutile effect of the plasma, Chaos, being composed of liquid, arched back in pain as its body conducted the attack into its brain and dissolved into a puddle on the floor. Metal stared at the deceptive puddle distrustingly, unsure of whether or not he had actually subdued it. Deciding against taking any chances getting near it, he signaled a command for one of the remaining two SWATbots to approach the Emerald. Chaos' response wasn't immediate, but when it finally began to rise again it found itself quickly met with surprise.

"HA!" Metal shouted triumphantly at his assumption, sending another couple bolts flying for the beast. Whatever this thing was, if he could hurt it, he could definitely defeat it! Again the spirit liquefied, now turning its focus on the cobalt metallix at this point - clearly it was the biggest threat to the Master's safety. Metal's eyes brightened smugly upon realizing the puddle was now heading straight for him. Now confident in his strategy, Metal bolted straight for the spirit as it tried to reform, throwing up his shield and electrifying his entire body. Chaos literally exploded as Metal shot through it like a bullet. This time as Chaos tried to form back into one collective puddle Metal didn't wait for it to rise - electrifying his foot, he began stomping the beast repeatedly, his eyes bright and excited.

He quickly learned he had underestimated the water entity. A tentacle shot up from the collective puddle, wrapping itself around the non-electrified foot. Within seconds Metal had found his body completely enveloped in water, and quickly cut his energy, not wishing to accidentally electrocute himself.

"H-HEY!" Metal shouted, now struggling against his watery bonds. But that wasn't the worst to come, as once having secured the intruder in its grasp, Chaos began to actually force itself inside the metallix's body through the openings in his joints. Metal's eyes widened even further with a sudden rising panic. Though waterproofed, he quickly realized as the spirit was preventing him from moving. In fact - the spirit actually seemed to be controlling him and made him hit himself in the face repeatedly! The metallix struggled to maintain control over his arms and legs. "L-let go of me!"

Terrifying, but even that wasn't even the worst. Error messages suddenly began flooding Metal's HUD, warning him of the extreme amounts of pressure Chaos was now putting on him, and subsequent damage to his more delicate instruments. His armor began expanding, creaking and beginning to come loose at their seams. Th-this creature was literally trying to tear him apart from the inside...!

Struggling against his unorthodox chains just to move, Metal looked over at the Master Emerald. With a sudden sense of desperation he recalled the SWATbot that had vanished earlier, and began struggling toward it. His hand mere inches from the glowing stone now, at the last possible second Chaos realized what was about to happen, and instantly drained itself from Metal's body. The sudden release flung the metallix forward, causing him to tumble directly into the massive gem. A bright and colorful flash bathed the entire cavern, and when it faded Metal was gone.

Chaos quickly rose again. With the main threat now gone the spirit turned toward the remaining two SWATbots with an angry glare. Despite their ineffective efforts to shoot it down, Chaos swarmed then and easily disposed of the two.

Afterward, it took a few moments to compose itself... Peace having finally settled upon the shrine again, Chaos looked around at the carnage it had left. This complicated matters, it realized, and now the spirit faced a difficult decision. The answer, now, was clear to it. The Seven Servers must be reunited with the Master. Hopefully their combined wisdom and strength could restore the Master... But to seek them would require leaving the Master vulnerable, and Chaos now realized that wasn't going to be an option.

Where was Knuckles...?