Four portals appeared. Then, different mobians, chao, robots and humans emerged from them. From one portal, out came Destinee and the Chaotix. From the second portal, out came the Royal Guardians. From the third portal, out came Silver's group. From the fourth portal, out came the Freedom Fighters and Monkey Khan. From the fifth portal, out came Runa, Team Dark, the five chao, Junior, Dalia, Bubbles, Lucy and Hope.

As everyone emerged from the portals, all faces were held with shock.

"Whoa..." Dalia reacted.

"Mon dieu..." Antoine reacted.

"Is this...?" Sally asked.

Right before them was a huge mansion-like building. Most of its features were gray, but the roofs were slate. Two large doors and stairs were seen in front of everyone in the large group. Hovering above the building were dark clouds. Lightning appeared from time to time and thunder banged in their ears a couple of times.

"Yes," a voice said.

Everyone turned straight ahead. Then, a split second later, Tenzia appeared. This time, she had the same average height of every mobian.

"It is the Temple of the End of Time," Tenzia said with a smile.

Confused expressions appeared on everyone's faces. Especially Sonic's.

Sonic took a step forward as his left hand slightly brushed his chin. "But... how? What about the challenges?"

"Those challenges you encountered are nothing but mere illusions. Every time a trespasser enters the area of the Temple of the End of Time, I would always give them challenges," Tenzia said. "If one completes it, they'll be welcomed. If one fails, they'll be banished for eternity.

"Since every one of you has completed the challenges, my master and I will let you come in. Then, you're free to act as you see fit."

A smile appeared on Sonic's face as he gave Tenzia a clap. "Sweet! That's great! Thanks, Tenzia!"

Tenzia nodded as her right hand moved to her chest. "You are most welcome. Farewell to all."

With that being said, Tenzia disappeared.

Monkey Khan and Sally turned to everyone else. Smirks appeared on their faces.

"Well, let's do it to it," Sally said.

"Yes. Let's go inside," Monkey Khan said.

T-Pup barked twice in the background.

With that, everyone went inside the temple. As they did, they started exploring the Temple of the End of Time.

The Temple of the End of Time contained the carpet that covered almost all of the brown wooden floor. On each side, there were three doors. Further ahead were stairs. Once you get to the top of the stairs, you would go to either of the two sets of stairs. One was located on the left while another was located on the right.

Once you got to each stair, you'd find yourself face to face with a combination of a hallway and a balcony. In one side, there was a wall full of five doors. In another side, there was a balcony railing.

Standing in front of the Freedom Fighters, Monkey Khan, Silver's group, the Chaotix, Destinee, the Royal Guardians, Team Dark, Runa, the five chao, Junior and four human girls was an elderly man.

The elderly man had slight warm tan skin with brown eyes and gray long hair from the sides of his head. The top of his head was shaved. He also had a gray thick mustache and a long, thick beard. He was wearing a gray shirt with brown pants, black shoes and a blue robe.

The elderly man held his hands together as a ghost-like smile appeared on his face.

"Welcome, honored guests. My name is Timothy Twickenham. I am the master of the Temple of the End of Time. I see you finally completed the challenges I gave you," the elderly man said.

The Freedom Fighters, Monkey Khan, the Royal Guardians, Silver's group, Team Dark, Runa, the five chao, Bubbles, Lucy, Junior, Dalia and Hope came to a stop. Then, they looked at the elderly man, surprised and confused.

"You gave us the challenges?" Lucy asked.

Timothy nodded. "Yes. Yes, I did. For a while, certain people want to assassinate me and take my place as the Host of Timelines, or to be precise, the Host of the Megaverse."

Surprised expressions appeared on everyone's faces.

"Why would they do that?" Lariel asked.

"And what's the Megaverse?" Clifton asked.

"Firstly, those people claim that they 'want to take control of everything because what they wanted to do didn't go their own way,'" Timothy said. "And so, upon learning that there's the Temple of the End of Time, they tried to attack me, but I gave them challenges. They failed and were banished for good."

"Oh. I see," Lariel said.

"Secondly, a Megaverse is where the group of multiverses reside," Timothy explained.

Realization occurred in Clifton. "Oh. Okay. I get it now."

"Now, what is it that you came for?" Timothy asked.

That's when Monkey Khan stepped forward a few times. As he did, he answered, "We came to look for the one who caused the MERGE to happen. Do you have any suspicions?"

"Hmm..." Timothy said. As he said that, his right hand moved to his beard. His index finger and thumb gently soothed his beard as he gave himself time to go in deep thought.

While doing so, Amy turned to Sonic. Sonic shrugged in reply.

With that, Sonic and Amy turned to Timothy, who was still in deep thought.

After about thirty seconds, realization came to Timothy. "Ah, yes. The crisis where portals appeared everywhere and mobians who know you, but you don't know them appeared in Mobius?"

Monkey Khan nodded. "Yes. That's the one."

"I see," Timothy said. Then, he laid his hand down and shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I don't know yet."

Everyone's heads lowered in sadness.

"But..." Timothy said.

Everyone looked at Timothy with curiosity in their eyes.

"...all I know... is that I have the same dream every night. About the one that caused the MERGE," Timothy said.

Everyone's eyes sparkled in amazement.

"Wait, you did?!" Tails asked.

"Chao, chao?" Shania asked.

Timothy nodded with a ghost-like smile. "Yes. Although I couldn't see her face, all I know... is that it looks like one of you."

Upon hearing this, everyone gasped in shock.

"What?" Shadow reacted.

"H... How can this be?" Monkey Khan asked. "There's no way any one of us would cause this!"

"Maybe so. Maybe not," Timothy said. "Until then, you have to figure this out on your own."

With that being said, Timothy turned behind him and walked up the stairs.

Silence occurred in the air. Nothing was heard except for the sounds of Timothy's footsteps.

Soon after, Timothy disappeared.

It took a few minutes until Sonic finally spoke. "So... should we leave?"

It took a few moments before Sally spoke. "I think we should." She turned to everyone else. "Now that we have our answers — so far — we should spend our time in the Sky Patrol, trying to figure out who caused the MERGE."

"Great plan, Sal!" Sonic said, giving her a thumbs up and a smile. Then, his smile turned into confusion. "But... how?"

"You can call me for help," a female voice intervened.

Everyone jolted to their surroundings. Then, before their eyes, Tenzia appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Tenzia!" Sally said.

"I will take you to the Sky Patrol. It has been stranded near the Temple of the End of Time for approximately ten minutes," Tenzia said.

"Wait, this long?" Bubbles asked. Then, she gasped in shock as she covered her mouth. "Oh no! It must've ran out of gas by now!"

Rotor turned to Bubbles and gave her a reassuring smile. He ruffled Bubbles' hair as he laughed. "You don't have to worry about it, Bubbles. The Sky Patrol doesn't need gasoline. We have rings to power it."

Bubbles turned to Rotor in surprise and slight confusion. "Really."

Tails turned to Bubbles with a smile. "Yeah."

As he said that, Bubbles and Rotor turned to Tails.

"Rotor's right," Tails said. "The Sky Patrol's engine room is designed to hold a huge jar of rings, so that it will have the power to take us anywhere without ever having to gas up."

"Oh, I see," Bubbles said. Then, her surprised expression turned into a bright smile. "Thanks, Tails—" She turned to Rotor. "—and Rotor!"

Rotor and Tails gave Bubbles a close-eyed smile. "No problem," they said in unison.

As everyone turned to Tenzia, she said with a smile, "Alright. I must take you home." She reached out her hand to them. "To the Sky Patrol."

With that, a white light enveloped the Freedom Fighters, Royal Guardians, Silver's group, The Chaotix, Destinee, Team Dark, Runa, the five chao, Junior and four human girls. They shielded their eyes as their eyes met the white light.

—————————————————————

Meeting Room, Sky Patrol

After a few moments, the white light faded. Everyone laid their hands down from shielding their eyes. As they looked around, smiles appeared on their faces. Especially Sally's.

"We're back in the Sky Patrol!" Sally said as she clasped her hands with a happy smile. Her eyes sparkled as she did so.

"You said it. It's great to be back home again," Rotor said.

After a few moments of sightseeing, someone cleared his throat. They turned to see Monkey Khan with a serious look on his face.

"Okay. Now that we're back in the Sky Patrol, let's discuss on who causes the MERGE in the first place," Monkey Khan said.

—————————————————————

A few moments later...

Everyone gathered around the table in the meeting room. After they did, they started discussing on who caused the MERGE in the first place. So far, everyone was in deep thought.

"Whoever is causing the MERGE must have gone through something significant, but also tragic," Sally said.

Sonic turned to Sally. "I dunno about this, Sal. Are we sure one of us is a big threat?"

Sally's eyes glanced at Sonic and let out a sigh. "I guess so. Apart from that, no information is involved. Timothy told us to figure this out ourselves. It's like he's been hiding something."

"There's also another information," Solomon said. "Back then, I heard Timothy saying 'her,' so it must mean that the one who caused the MERGE is a girl."

Realization came to Sally. "Oh, right." She let out a nervous giggle. "That's a good point, Solomon."

"So it all comes down to two clues. Firstly, the one who caused the MERGE is a girl. Secondly, it could be any one of us," Leo said.

"So far, the only females around us are Runa, Hope, Dalia, Bubbles, Lucy, Rouge, Rosy, Shania, Juniper, Nicole, Destinee, Bashiri, Lariel, Sally, Amy, Cream and Bunnie," Intellizo said. He let out a sigh of relief. "Phew! Wow. That's a lot of females."

"I agree," Sonic said. "The larger the group is, the more members we have to count."

"Arf! Arf! Arf!" T-Pup barked.

"T-Pup is right," Tails said. "We all have to be careful and look out for signs of the one who caused the MERGE. If you see anyone acting weird, keep an eye on them until their secret is revealed."

Just then, Nicole appeared above Sally's mini-computer.

"I heard your conversation. Have I missed anything?" Nicole asked.

"Long-story-short, Nicole. We got stopped by Tenzia and sent us in different places to complete the challenges. We completed them and we're able to go inside the Temple of the End of Time and meet the master of this place, but... he told us that one of us is causing the MERGE and it's a female," Sally explained.

"I see. Since I've been missing a lot since ten minutes ago, I don't think I've done a thing like ths," Nicole said.

Sally gave Nicole a kind and compassionate smile. "We know, Nicole. We know."

Bubbles laid her chin on her forearms. Her forearms laid on the table. She looked at Sonic, Sally and Nicole as she asked, "So, who's the one causing the MERGE then?"

Sally glanced at Bubbles with concern. "I'm not sure yet, Bubbles. Maybe when we investigate each other, we'll find out."

Upon hearing this, Schlemmer's, Silver's and Antoine's skins shook in nervousness. Sheepish smiles appeared on their faces.

"I... don't think I'd feel comfortable with zhis," Schlemmer said.

"Y-Y-Yeah. Me neither," Silver said.

"Moi non plus," Antoine said.

"I see," Sally said as her hand moved to her chin. "Let's find another way to figure out who among us, females, is the one who caused the MERGE."

"Um, excuse me... Sally," Dalia said, raising her hand.

Sally turned to Dalia. "Yes, Dalia?"

Dalia raised her hand down. "In detective movies, true culprits are revealed to be the most unlikely suspects," she said. "Maybe something similar could happen in terms of the one causing the MERGE.

"I suggest we'll wait and see. Then, if there's a clue, we'll put pieces of a puzzle together, make evidence and figure out who's the one causing the MERGE."

Sally thought about it for a moment. After a few minutes, she turned to Dalia.

"Maybe," she said.

"Good thing we're here in the Sky Patrol and we're the Chaotix!" Vector said, smiling as he gave Sally a thumbs up.

Everyone else — except the Chaotix — turned to Vector in surprise.

"We'll investigate the true enemy of this crisis thing! We'll figure this out sooner than you think!" Vector reassured Sally.

Charmy gave Sally a thumbs up with a joyful smile. "Yeah! We'll investigate!"

Espio and Destinee turned to each other, smiling.

"It's about time we'll solve our first case since the MERGE happened," Espio said.

Destinee nodded. "Yes. I agree."

Sally nodded as she smiled. "Very well, Chaotix. Feel free to investigate as you see fit. I'm counting on you."

Espio, Destinee, Vector and Charmy rose from their seats. They nodded with determined smiles.

"Yeah!" Vector and Charmy exclaimed.

Just as the Chaotix started their investigation, a large bang suddenly occurred on the Sky Patrol. This caused the room to shake.

Half of the group screamed, but every one of them was spooked out by a sudden bang. In the background, Lariel was seen caressing her abdomen to keep the baby calm. That's because she felt multiple kicks when she experienced hearing a sudden bang on the Sky Patrol.

Sally was seen holding her mini-computer close to her, so that she won't lose Nicole when she accidentally dropped it.

As everyone looked around, Leo asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, we have to check it out," Sally said.

—————————————————————

Meeting Room, Sky Patrol

Everyone gasped in shock as they stood in front of the screen in the meeting room.

"What the—?!" Clifton asked. "How did they escape?! We defeated them?!"

"I don't know, Clifton, but whatever it is..." Leo said.

On the screen, many familiar figures were seen landing on the roof of the Sky Patrol and punching it after making a proper landing. As everyone saw what was on the screen, they realized that the one who were attacking the Sky Patrol... we're the Underworlders.

"...it can't be good," Leo finished.