With Destinee...

Once Destinee entered the portal, her eyes widened in surprise. The first thing that she met was a grassy environment with a couple of trees and bushes scattered everywhere. In the middle of the environment was a rectangular wooden table with Thanksgiving food on it.

Surrounding it were Vector, Espio and Charmy, who were all white and frozen like statues. Their poses looked like they shielded their eyes.

Destinee's confusion became more prominent when she noticed the Thanksgiving food on the table. At the same time, worry became more prominent when she saw the Chaotix all white and frozen.

Today isn't Thanksgiving yet. It's the first week of October now. Thanksgiving day is only a month away, Destinee thought as she analyzed the Thanksgiving food.

Destinee looked at the Chaotix. Her eyes shifted from Charmy to Vector, then from Vector to Espio.

Tears of worry appeared in Destinee's eyes. Her arms became stiff and her fists clenched. Although, she's calm and collected like Espio, she couldn't help, but worry about him.

Destinee walked towards Espio. Once she's in front of him, her hand reached his left cheek and brushed it softly with her fingers. Once she did, she could feel Espio's presence.

Destinee's tears welled up more. She blinked her eyes causing them to roll down her cheeks. As that happened, Destinee leaned her forehead against Espio. Then, she closed her eyes tightly.

I'll do something to rescue you... Destinee thought as she leaned back to her standing position. She wiped her tears with her forearm. Then, determination spread across her face, body, mind and veins. As for her gut, desperation occurred in her, but she knew that if she kept sulking and going crazy, there's no way the Chaotix would be rescued. ...and your friends.

With that, Destinee looked at her surroundings, wondering what to do.

Just then, the ground shook, causing Destinee's body to wiggle. She gasped. She managed to regain her balance after she let out a grunt.

A few shakes later, Destinee turned behind her as another portal appeared before her. This time, a dark presence occurred in Destinee. At that point, she knew she had to be aware.

A new threat is coming, Destinee thought. I have to be prepared.

With that, whilst the ground was still shaking, Destinee formed her fighting position as she glared at the portal.

A few moments later, out came a huge red badnik. This badnik had a vertical rounded rectangular-shaped torso with mechanical arms and legs. The small, square-shaoed head was sunk halway in the top of its torso. The black stripe was applied across the center of its face. Turquoise glowing eyes were applied in the middle. On the back of its torso were six rocket boosters. Three were on the left and another three were on the right.

As Destinee examined his features, her eyes widened a bit as she realized. A badnik. But who's riding in it?

Destinee glared at the huge badnik. "What business do you bring here?"

Unfortunately, no answer was heard from the badnik. Instead, it formed its right fist. Then, its right fist turned into a pointing sign as it gestured to Destinee herself.

Upon seeing this, Destinee knew she had to defeat the huge badnik.

With that, Destinee's eyes scanned for the moves the badnik was going to make himself. After a few seconds, the badnik charged towards Destinee. Once it got to her, it launched a forward punch against Destinee, but she jumped and landed ontop of its fist.

Destinee ran across the badnik's arm. As the badnik flew and got back on its feet, it laid his arms down. As ti happened, Destinee clinged onto the part of its arm to prevent herself from falling.

The badnik turned towards Destinee and raised its arm. This was enough to keep Destinee steady when running towards it.

Destinee rose back on her feet and sprinted towards the badnik. A few seconds later, something popped up from its shoulder.

Destinee's eyes widened in surprise as she saw a gun with six holes pointing at her.

At that point, Destinee knew she had to be careful when dealing with something like this.

As Destinee continued running, six missiles were launched from the gun. She responded by flipping over one missile towards her right. Then, she ran towards her left as she evaded another. She slid below the third missile.

Destinee stopped herself and rose back on her feet. With no time to waste, she kept running.

Before she could get close to the badnik's head, the missile hit her on the back, causing her to fall off the badnik's arm.

"AAGH!" Destinee exclaimed.

After a few seconds of falling, Destinee landed on her back. The great and painful impact occurred in her. A pained expression appeared on her face as she slowly flipped herself, so that, her belly was facing the ground.

Destinee's palms laid on the ground and did her best to push herself up. So far, the time she had to get herself up was slower than she anticipated.

A few seconds later, a shadow hovered over Destinee. She looked up to see the badnik looking at her. She let out a gasp of surprise. The badnik raised its fist just as it was about to give her the final blow.

As the badnik moved its fist further to punch her, Destinee quickly rolled over her body to dodged the attack. Fortunately, she barely managed to escape her death path.

Destinee landed on her belly. She turned to the Chaotix, who were still frozen. Then, she glanced at the badnik, who just raised its fist from the ground. Worry appeared in her eyes. Most especially when she glanced at Espio.

A few seconds later, motivation washed over Destinee's body, mind and gut. In order to save the Chaotix... she thought as her palms laid on the ground. She pushed herself up. ...I must defeat the badnik first.

Destinee's pace in getting back on her feet was slow, but a burning feeling of perseverance was inside her. After about thirty seconds pf pushing herself up, her right foot finally landed on the ground.

With the help of her right knee, Destinee pushed herself up even more. It didn't take long before her left foot landed on the ground.

Destinee kept rising until she was back in her standing position.

As Destinee formed her fighting stance, the badnik turned towards her. As the badnik's eyes met hers, confusion appeared on her face.

The badnik's not targeting them. Is it programmed to defeat only me? she thought.

Either way, Destinee knew she had to find the solution to defeat the badnik.

After the badnik approached her enough, it sent a kick towards Destinee. This sent Destinee flying backwards. She landed on the ground.

Destinee refused to give up. She got back on her feet the same way she did a few minutes ago.

Once she's back on her feet, Destinee thought of the solution in order to defeat the badnik. So far, nothing came to her mind.

When she saw that the badnik enclosed on her, Destinee knew there's no time to think more. She chose a split-sexond decision as she saw the badnik's fist rising over her.

Destinee ran from the fist. She stepped out of the fist's shadow just as the badnik punched the ground.

Destinee turned behind her. Right now, the fist was stuck on the ground. Because the badnik was huge, the impact the fist gave to a thing, a mobian or a person was huge as well. As the result, the harder he punched, the more damaged a thing, a mobian or a person is.

Seeing this caused an idea to pop into Destinee's head.

Destinee ran towards the fist and began climbing on it. Then, she climbed towards the back of the arm. Once she did, she put herself into focus. As a result, she became invisible.

While her focus was stable, Destinee continued climbing the badnik's arm. Along the way, she took a glance at the badnik's chest. Something that's glowing shone through its translucent chest. At that moment, her eyes widened in realization. That's it! That's the one powering the badnik!

This also caused her to lose focus. As a result, Destinee became visible. At that moment, she knew she had to act now.

Destinee gathered up her focus. As a result, she became invisible again.

While maintaining her focus, Destinee continued climbing the badnik's arm. It took about two minutes before she reached the badnik's shoulder.

Destinee crawled across the badnik's shoulder before climbing down its chest.

Once she got to the badnik's chest, Destinee pulled out her katana and sliced it open.

It crossed Destinee's mind to widen her eyes again, but she knew she had to remain focused if she wanted to defeat the badnik.

What Destinee saw in front of her was a green Chaos Emerald. It was connected to the tubes.

Destinee entered the badnik's chest. She grabbed the Chaos Emerald and pulled it out of the tubes. The tubes snapped in half.

A few seconds later, Destinee felt herself leaning forward, but she was still standing. It took a split second for her to realize that the badnik was falling backwards.

At the last minute, Destinee turned behind her and jumped off of the badnik. Then, she landed on her feet.

As Destinee removed the remains of the tubes, the badnik dropped to the ground and exploded.

After Destinee removed the tubes from the Chaos Emerald, she saw it dissolving into disappearance immediately. As she witnessed it, a shocked expression appeared on her face. This Chaos Emerald... is an illusion?

Destinee turned to the Chaotix to see if they're okay. A split second later, sparkles appeared at the bottom of their feet. Then, the sparkles rose from their feet to the top of their heads. As that happened, The colors changed from white back to their usual colors of their features.

Once the Chaotix's physical appearances were back to normal, their hands laid down from shielding their eyes. Right after that, different reactions were seen.

For Vector, he was stunned. He looked around in confusion. "Hey," he said as he turned to everyone else present in the area. "Where are we?"

For Charmy, he was confused. He flapped his wings and took off in the air. He looked at his surroundings. Once he saw it, his left index finger scratched his left temple while being in mid-air. "Huh?"

For Espio, he looked around as his eyes sharply scanned his surroundings. As he did, he spotted Vector and Charmy standing beside him, but Tenzia was absent.

Just as Espio looked around for Destinee, he felt arms wrapped around him. This surprised him, but a few seconds later, he smiled in relief because the one who was hugging him was Destinee.

Espio chuckled as he hugged Destinee in return. He closed his eyes as he let the feeling of embrace rush through his veins.

Charmy flew nearby Vector. Once they saw the moment between Espio and Destinee, their hands clasped together and awed smiles appeared on their faces.

"Awwwwwwwwwww," Vector and Charmy reacted.

Just then, Espio felt tears rolling down his back. His eyes shot open in surprise. The next thing he heard... were Destinee's sniffs.

Espio came to the realization. She's crying. She must have been desperate to save us. Come to think of it, this is the first time I see her cry since the day she explained her backstory to me.

At that point, Espio could hear Destinee muttering with a croaky tone. "Espio..."

Espio smiled as he tightened his embrace a bit. His right hand stroke Destinee's back for comfort.

"It's alright, Destinee. I'm here," Espio said.

As Destinee felt Espio's back stroking her for comfort, she tightened her embrace in return. Her eyes closed tighter as more tears filled her eyes. It took about thirty seconds before she became completely comforted.

Espio and Destinee pulled away from the hug. Right after that, Destinee was about to wipe her own tears, but Espio's thumb brushed the tears away.

A grateful smile appeared on Destinee's face. "Thank you, Espio. I really appreciate it."

Espio smiled at Destinee in reply. "You're welcome."

Just then, something rang in Destinee's, Espio's, Vector's and Charmy's ears. Like last time, they couldn't figure out what made that sound.

A few moments later, there appeared a portal located near them on Destinee's right.

Destinee closed her eyes and tried to feel an aura coming from inside the portal. It took a few seconds until she heard Espio telling her, "It's alright."

Destinee opened her eyes and turned to Espio.

"I sense no threat inside the portal," Espio said.

Destinee smiled in relief.

As Charmy spoke, everyone turned to him. "Well, if there's no threat, that means there's something good inside that portal, right?"

"Perhaps so," Espio said.

Vector turned to everyone else. "Well, what are we waiting for!" Then, everyone turned to the portal. "Let's go inside!"

"Yeah!" Charmy cheered as he raised his right fist in the air.

Destinee and Espio nodded with smiles on their faces.

With that, the Chaotix — plus Destinee — entered the portal. Seconds after that, the portal closed.

—————————————————————

With Leo...

Once Leo entered the portal, his eyes widened in horror. The first things he spotted was a castle. Not only it's a castle, but it's also a place that's so familiar to him.

Am I... back in the Leone Kingdom? Leo thought. But how? Why? What happened to it?

Leo wondered this because the Leone Kingdom Castle was surrounded by dark green thorned stalks. Dark clouds covered the sky and you could hear thunder cracking nearby the castle.

Leo walked towards it as he looked at the rest of his surroundings. Cars were hung upside down, lamposts were bent, and windows, roofs, walls and doors of houses were broken. No one was also present.

Leo's face was still held with horror, but distraught and rage washed over his veins. Fortunately, Leo managed to keep his emotions within him, but he still looked around.

It took a few minutes until Leo closed his eyes. Then, he gathered up determination inside of him. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes. Then, he turned straight ahead.

With that being done, Leo kept walking.

Leo carefully walked past the thorny stalks of the Leone Kingdom Castle. He continued doing so until he reached the castle doors. The edges were full of thorny stalks, but there's still space for him to knock.

Leo's fist reached the door and knocked a couple of times.

Surprisingly, the door opened by himself. Leo pushed the door quietly, opening it further. As he did, his eyes widened in horror. Again.

Before him was a black-hooded mobian, sitting on the throne. Surrounding the throne were Lariel, Intellizo, Solomon, Clifton, Billie and Bashiri. They were all white and frozen like statues. Lariel's pose looked like she's concerned while looking at her abdomen. Her right hand even caressed it. The rest had poses that looked like they shielded their eyes.

Leo's worry became more prominent when she saw his wife and friends were all white and frozen.

Leo looked at Lariel, Solomon, Intellzo, Billie, Bashiri and Clifton. His eyes shifted from Clifton, all the way to Lariel.

Nothing occurred in Leo until he heard the black-hooded mobian speaking.

"It's such a shame, really."

Leo's eyes widened in shock immediately. I know that voice. That's Arrogan.

That's right! The voice he just heard now... was Arrogan. Arrogan stood from his throne as he continued, "You, all alone, with no one to stay by your side."

Leo slowly and slightly lowered his head. As it happened, his shocked expression slowly turned into a glare. A few seconds later, he raised his head and glared at Arrogan. "What business do you want with me?"

"Business?" Arrogan asked. "Hmm... if I hadn't known better, I think you're the one who came to have business with me. After all, you came to me first."

Leo continued to glare at Arrogan. "Give me back my friends. Give me back my wife."

"Ah, your wife," Arrogan said as he took a glance at the frozen Lariel. He chuckled evilly. Then, he turned to Leo. "I see you got married to her. Congratulations."

"That's enough!" Leo exclaimed. "Give me back my friends. Now."

"Now?" Arrogan said, surprised.

Leo nodded. "Yes. Now."

It took a few seconds until Arrogan nodded. "Alright. But only if you win the duel against me."

Leo's glaring expression turned into a surprise.

"If you win, you can have your friends back," Arrogan said. "But if you lose... I'll keep them for eternity."

Leo's eyes widened in worry. A few moments later, his worry turned into determination. He pulled out his lance and shield. "I accept the challenge... Arrogan."

"That's King Arrogan to you," Arrogan said.

With that being said, both Arrogan and Leo formed their fighting positions.

Both stared into each others eyes, wating for their opponent to make the first move. After a few seconds,  Leo let out a battle cry while charging towards Arrogan. Arrogan also let out a battle cry and charged towards Leo.

Once Leo and Arrogan got to each other, they clashed.

Arrogan launched a forward punch at Leo, but it was deflected by his shield. Despite that, the impact of his punch sent Leo backwards. Leo managed to stick his feet on the ground.

Leo ran towards Arrogan and attempted to trust his lance at his stomach. Unfortunately, Arrogan dodged his attack and landed a roundhouse punch on Leo. This sent Leo falling on his right side of the body.

Leo slowly got rose on his knees. Just as he was about to push himself further on his feet, Arrogan's words caught his attention.

"That was a warning punch."

Leo turned to Arrogan in surprise.

"The next punch..." Arrogan said. He clenched his right first tightly. You could feel Arrogan's serious and terrifying smirk shooting through you. "...will be deadly."

Leo's surprised expression turned into a glare. He let out a "tch" as that happened. At that point, Leo knew he had to be careful when dealing with Arrogan.

Leo got back on his feet. He formed his fighting position again as he glared at Arrogan.

Leo and Arrogan let out battle cries as they charged towards each other again. Once they got to each other, Arrogan launched a forward punch at Leo with his right fist. Leo evaded his attack by moving towards his right. Right after that, Leo moved to Arrogan's left and thrust the left side of his torso with his lance. This time, he succeeded.

The lance pushed Arrogan towards the right, but he managed to regain his balance.

Arrogan turned to Leo and glared at him. He ran towards him and launched a roundhouse punch to his right head. Leo ducked and pushed Arrogan using his shield while running forward. After a few seconds, he let Arrogan fly backwards.

After Arrogan stepped backwards a couple of times, he fell on his butt. At that moment, he let out a "tch" as he glared at Leo deadly.

Leo could feel Arrogan shooting his deadly glare at him, but he didn't care. Leo glared at Arrogan back.

"It's over, Arrogan," Leo said.

Arrogan's head lowered as rage rushed through his veins. "No." He rose back on his feet. "It's not."

Once Arrogan is back on his feet, he formed his fighting position. "It's the fight... to the death."

A shocked expression appeared on Leo's face. Fear occurred in him, but a split second later, he set that aside. At that moment, his shocked expression turned into determination.

"Very well," Leo said. Then, he formed his fighting position. "Let's do it."

Arrogan smirked under his hood. "Good. Very good."

With that, Arrogan and Leo charged at each other. This time, they were silent.

Once they got to each other, Arrogan launched a forward punch to Leo's face, but he ducked under his fist. His nose barely touched Arrogan's fist.

Right after that, Leo sent a kick to the lower part of Arrogan's stomach. This sent Arrogan flying backwards. Arrogan tried to maintain his balance, but he ended up falling on his butt.

Arrogan quickly got back on his feet and charged towards Leo. This time, he let out a battle cry. Once he got to him, Arrogan launched a really hard punch on Leo. Leo deflected it using his shield, but its strong impact sent him flying backwards.

Leo's back hit the wall. Then, he slid to the ground and landed on his butt.

At that point, pain washed over Leo's back. A pained expression appeared on his face as he continued glaring at Arrogan. He could feel Arrogan's evil smirk surrounding him.