"The Fake Emerald so far reacts to that Rodent's Emotions, based on the data that I had gathered from my brutal testing...the Rats, Chaos Energy, or Patho-Energy is a unique type of Chaos Energy that I haven't seen before, it explains a lot on how Mentally Stable he is throughout all of our battles against enemies like Gods, and my more powerful of robotic creations."

The Mad Genius was sitting down in his chair, at the computer in front of him...his meeting with the Mercenary and the New Addition to his Eggman Army went smoothly...now that he didn't have to worry about the blue hedgehog going against his orders. The look in his archenemy's eyes remained of someone who still had hopes not for a rescue or freedom but of someone willing to do their best to help achieve the goal...it was sickening to see, mostly because of how kind-hearted the broken hero is. But the blue hedgehog wasn't that hedgehog...not after the years of torture he's been placed into since his downfall, that hopeful feeling of freedom, and his friends rescuing him...had been crushed.

The mercenary only nodded at the order that he had been given during the meeting, it was simple and he understood the Mad Genius's distrust in his pet, and the Resistance...it was of course to get his pet situated into his new role, this new power that he was gifted. If anything he would have preferred if the blue hedgehog remained on the Death Egg, isolated from the eyes of Everyone but the jackal and his son, but with the Resistance getting recruits and building up an army of their own, he can under the Egg-Shaped Humans requested for Recruits, that are just as strong as the Mercenary and the life form on his side. Even if his pet didn't realize just how powerful he was even without that emerald.

The two had long gone to Mobius to start on the plan that they had agreed on leaving the Mad Genius alone to watch and document on his new project.

Stroking his mustache as he was looking at the words that he had written out about his latest project. To his right were unfinished notes from his grandfather.

The label read "Different Forms of Chaos Energy" based on how old the file is, dated back sixty-six years ago. And around the creation of the Biolizard and of course Project Shadow. The notes had been long hidden away much like most of his grandfather's works...getting the information wasn't easy, not when those Government Agents were aware of his many attempts to hack into the database and steal documents that rightfully belonged to him. Either way, working together with the black hedgehog allowed him to get these documents rather easily.

There was a sudden theme song playing at full volume that caused the mad genius to jolt out of his thoughts and stumble backward in his large chair.

"Note to self...never be lost in thoughts...During a War"

He mutters to himself as he picks himself up from the floor and answers the sudden call that he is receiving.

"Hello, Doctor."

Upon looking up at the large screen, he saw a familiar female face, a green pronghorn that he had tricked with false hope of a cure for her sister, but putting her consciousness into a robotic body...when the egg-shaped human had collected himself from the sudden falling out of his chair.

"What is it Clove?"

"Hmph...I just wanted to make a report on the Attack in Ababat, So far the Resistance has gotten stronger...but their hope is fading to much disappointment, Mimic had given me the details on that Blue Nuisance and Infinite."

"Project Chaos is incomplete...but the Emerald had successfully bonded with the rodent and his unique chaos energy, as to why I sent him down to aid in combat, is to get a physical observation on just how the emerald reacts in combat. As for Infinite...besides Shadow having a good questionable history with the rodent, I prefer to have Infinite be in charge of the commands."

There was silence on the other end of the call, as the pronghorn only crossed her arms over her chest, she only looked off to the side before rolling her eyes. She had yet to see this broken hero in action but even the Mad Genius could see that she was judging the situation.

"That is all I have to report on...good luck on this Stupid Project."

The pronghorn ended the call, leaving the Mad Genius...to pick up his chair and sit back down on it, he only rubbed his bald head...before he clicked through the different areas where had sent his hidden drones to monitor the progress of the war.

A single hum escaped his lips when saw some activity at an old plant that had been long abandoned since that blue rodent had shown up in his life, sixteen years ago...he had completely ignored the plant to build a new one that was more hidden within his empire. He had learned from his past mistakes...somewhat...he decided to ignore it for now but he made a note to have someone check out the area later. It was one other member of the Resistance, he wanted them eliminated for invading private property that he had paid money for.

Flipping the camera elsewhere...his glasses reflected off a hint of blue in the deep jungle area.

"There you are, Rodent."

He muttered to himself as he had his hands ready on the keyboard, to get to documenting the changes in the blue hedgehog's combat, speed, and just how well that emerald that he had created using blueprints that he stole from that fox friend of the hedgehog's. Back on the ARK.

✤ ✤ ✤

✤ ✤ ✤

I had to admit...I was a little scared getting back in the atmosphere, and the gravity of the planet that I was born on...I...I know the Death Egg was designed to mimic Mobius when you're inside it...but...I was so confident in that location that everything looked so alien to me.

The moment that Master and I stepped foot onto the ground of the...I think White Jungle, I felt this very strong surge of energy that coursed through my body as if I had been struck by a large bolt of lightning. It...it hurts. But as quickly as that feeling came it left, I just looked down at the emerald that had reacted to a sudden shift of energy.

Wait...how...How did I know the energy on Mobius and the Death Egg were so different?

"You alright Pup?"

Master held onto my chin, as he lifted his mask a little so that his white muzzle was visible, he leaned in to lick the warm liquid that rolled down the side of my mouth.

"Yeah, I'm okay...Master, there was a big energy shift from the Death Egg to here,"

The mercenary only rubbed his pet's ear with his thumb, while readjusting his mask back over his face.

"It has been a while since you have been on this floating rock."

The jackal only pulled his hand away from his pet's ear. He knew that the Mad Genius was watching them, so couldn't take this opportunity to screw around with his pet.

"Master, what are you doing?"

The mercenary had only stepped back. "You have my permission to run...and don't worry about going too far...I can find you no matter where you are."

The blue hedgehog had his tail wagging when heard that from the jackal, his love for running hadn't disappeared much like the rest of his morals. "T-Thank you, Master!" He said to the mercenary as he got into a running position, the moment that his hands touched the ground he could feel the chaos energy that came off of the planet...no...It was everywhere on the planet, it was just small amounts that he could feel, but it was chaos enough.

Like atoms Mobians and all living creatures had some sort of chaos energy that ran throughout everything...some had small amounts that did very little to the mobian or creature while others like the broken hero or any of his friends had large amounts, mostly did the exposure with a chaos emerald of sorts.

Cyan sparks started to come off his quills as he just started to take in that little bit of energy from the grass that he was standing on, something that he was aware of doing...his jaded eyes sparked the same color as the emerald before he took off.

"Hmm?" The Mercenary hummed, as he saw that flash of blue dart past him. As he followed behind after his pet, a red aura formed around his body allowing him to levitate off of the ground.

While the blue hedgehog was running, he couldn't stop the smile that was curling on his face. As he just felt the wind in his quills...without thinking and just following his instincts he curled up into a sharp spike ball that was just rapidly spinning, creating this illusion of a buzz saw.

Unknown to the broken hero...but to the Mercenary and the Mad Genius who was monitoring everything, the location that they both had decided on to start this test of loyalty.

The Jackal rested himself onto a tree that looked out at a small little camp of fighters...the camp itself didn't have much besides some mobians that came here to rest after getting back into action with helping the progress of the war, they had simply hammer weapon on them with a floating dark blue cube like alien floating beside them. They were just looking at a map of the jungle to this...hidden base that was close by.

The Jackal didn't flinch when his pet suddenly collided with the Mobian, from behind causing them to grunt out in pain, from the powerful impact to their back. The sharp quills pierced the flesh of the mobian leaving a nasty gash into their back coating their pelt with the crimson liquid.

The blue hedgehog spun in place before uncurling and landing on his feet, he let out a slight chuckle...as the emerald in his chest continued to spark...his eyes shifted to the mobian that he had collided with.

"Y-y-your alive!"

Was all that they said with realized who had collided with them, with a slight whimper and help from their little alien friend they got up to their feet, with their weapon in their hands...they had a mix of emotions, one of which was utter confusion as to why the hedgehog would attack them, weren't they on the same side? And the other was shocked cause it's been thirteen years since anyone had heard from the blue hedgehog after his defeat.

"Awe it's nice that you remembered me~"

The blue hedgehog teased, as he raised his fists into the air. With a quick motion the hedgehog had bolted forward...this time the mobian saw this attack coming but just wasn't fast enough to dodge the attack, so they used their weapon to counter the sudden punch. When the hedgehog's fist collided with the metal of the weapon the mobian holding it whimpered slightly at the electricity that was shocking their hand.

The hedgehog was suddenly hit with a strong kick pushing him back...but it didn't do that much damage thanks to...well the Hero being rather immune to stuff like this...mostly because of his experiences of fighting bad guys his whole life.

"Stop...I'm not the bad guy here!"

The mobian said as their alien friend zapped itself inside the weapon giving it a blue glow of power and activating it.

"Tsk...You're a Member of the Resistance right, therefore you are my enemy"

The mobian was shocked by those words, and their ears suddenly twitched at the sound of spinning blades, acting face they swung their hammer hard at the spike ball only for it to bounce off of the tree and right back at the mobian, hitting them dead on in the face.

A cry of pain was heard when the mobian took the impact, and they felt the tear from their face from the hedgehog's quills, the impact sent them flying back onto the ground...blood was blocking their vision, and their eyes weakly shifted to their communicator in a slight change before they could get attack again they sent an S.O.S message to whoever.

"GAH!?!"

They choked when they were grabbed by the neck. They looked into the eyes of their idol...nothing was different about them, they had the same hopeful look, the same friendly look...but this wasn't the hero that this mobian knew, the hero wouldn't kill and could tell enemies apart from allies. Before the mobian could open their mouth, to get some air a sudden yelp came from their lips when they were slammed hard against a tree. Causing some blood to coat their lips. The mobian was slammed into the tree repeatedly...each time harder than the last.

The noises only stopped the moment that the sound of flesh smacking against the tree was heard...it was a brutal sight to see...the poor mobian was unrecognizable from the back, and face...thanks to his sharp quills piercing into the mobian body.

The hedgehog lets go of the Mobian's corpse, his left hand stained with their blood, and the one tip of his quills stained as well.

The Mercenary wasn't that surprised, by his pet not betraying him...but then again this was just some Mobian that the blue hedgehog wasn't close to, but he had a feeling that even the closest of his pet's friends wouldn't be able to get that Hero of Mobius back. He only transported himself to praise his pet for doing a good job with his first kill.

"Didn't think you had it in you,  Pup."

"Was it too brutal?...or too fast?"

The jackal only placed his hand on his pet's head. "No, you did great Pup"

The blue hedgehog only smiled as he purred happily, the energy from the emerald started to soften.

"Come we still have more work to do"

The blue hedgehog only shook his body to get the blood off of his pelt, before following after the mercenary.