Chaos Emerald (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)

The Chaos Emeralds are objects that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. They are magical gemstones containing infinite power. Their ultimate origin is unknown, though they seem to be the physical manifestations of the Chaos Force - the all-encompassing energy of the universe. They previously existed all over the universe, until the Great Harmony, caused by the Chosen One, sent all of them into the Zone of Silence. The thousands of existing Chaos Emeralds were then merged by Feist to form seven different colored emeralds: peridot (green), aquamarine (cyan), sapphire (blue), ruby (red), amethyst (purple), topaz (yellow), and diamond (grey).

The Chaos Emeralds have been the center of conflict on Mobius for thousands of years, from the Forgotten War during the reign of Mammoth Mogul and his Order of Ixis ten thousand years ago, to the recent battles against Dr. Ivo Robotnik's ten year domination of the planet.

Coming of the Chaos Emeralds
The Chaos Emeralds' ultimate origin and how they came to exist across the universe is unknown though they are regarded as the rarest mineral of all. The history about the Chaos Emeralds on Mobius began roughly ten thousand years ago, during the Saurian Age where the Mobosaurs had cultivated the planet. One day, the sky turned green and a large quantity of green Chaos Emeralds began raining down on Mobius from space in a mix with hail. This event became know as the Coming of the Chaos Emeralds and supplied Mobius with its resources of Chaos Emeralds. However, their arrival was not a peaceful one. The emeralds triggered what is considered the second Days of Fury, which resulted in disastrous weather anomalies that wiped out all of the Mobosaurs.

Those who survived this event, began to discover the power that the green Chaos Emeralds held, inspiring cultural and technological wonders. Three Mobosaurs, who became known as the Ancient Walkers, managed to harness the Chaos Emeralds' power and unlock the secrets of the Chaos Force, gaining god-like powers, wisdom and insight. A Mobian hunter, named Mammoth Mogul, also discovered a Chaos Emerald which he fused with, gaining unbelievable power and immortality. As Mogul began seeking global conquest, he used his Chaos Emerald's power to develop Ixis Magicks for his Order of Ixis, but his ambitions were thwarted by the Templar Knights of Aurora.

Creating the Floating Island
Over four hundred years ago, two echidna scientists, Kayla-La and Jordann, discovered that the great White Comet was on a collision course with their city of Echidnaopolis and Kayla-La came up with a daring plan to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to lift their city off the surface of Mobius and into the sky and away from danger. Approved by the High Council of Echidnaopolis, the people excavated twelve Chaos Emeralds and brought them to the caverns below the city. There, their energies were used to negate gravity around Echidnaopolis, effectively lifting the city into the sky and creating the Floating Island. If the emeralds were removed, however, it would cause the island to fall back down.

Generations later, Kayla-La's and Jordann's great-great grandchildren, Edmund and Dimitri studied the island's Chaos Emeralds in hope of bringing the island back to its former site. The brothers' plan was to slowly drain the Emeralds with their Chaos Syphon and gradually lower the island down, but the High Council rejected their plan. Enraged, Dimitri proceeded with the plan himself. However, the Emeralds' powers got transfered into Dimitri instead, turning him into Enerjak, while destroying eleven of the Chaos Emeralds, though the one remaining could still keep the island afloat.

Usage for the Future
After Nate Morgan was taken into the Kingdom of Acorn by King Frederick Acorn and allowed to pursue his energy research, the scientist was given a Chaos Emerald to work with by Frederik. Using the bi-product from the Chaos Emeralds' energies, Nate was able to create the Power Rings. This clean and efficient power source allowed the Kingdom of Acorn to enter a golden age of technological advances.

When Locke tried to prepare Knuckles for the coming threat of Dr. Eggman, he used the Floating Island's Chaos Emerald to expose Knuckles' egg when it was just laid to enhance his strength. This eventually triggered Knuckles' evolution into Chaos Knuckles years later.

Modern Usage
During the First Robotnik War, Dr. Ivo Robotnik unleashed the Universalamander to destroy the Knothole Freedom Fighters. Sonic the Hedgehog decided to use the seven Chaos Emeralds and Power Rings he had collected beforehanded, to transform into Super Sonic. This form, Super Sonic was able to turn the tables and beat the Universalamander.

When Dr. Robotnik and Snively crash-landed on the Floating Island, Robotnik discovered the island's Chaos Emerald and decided to use it to recharge their craft. By tricking the island's current Guardian, Knuckles the Echidna into thinking that Sonic and Tails, who were chasing Robotnik, wanted to steal the Chaos Emerald, Robotnik stole it while Knuckles was busy. However, Sonic quickly took the emerald back, and he and Knuckles beat Robotnik, before returning the Chaos Emerald to the island.

Robotnik later obtained another Chaos Emerald for his largest Mega-Engine. However, the doctor's machine accidently split the Chaos Emerald in half and sent the highly unstable shards across Mobius. One shard landed in the Great Forest, where it created an abnormal zone, and the other landed on the Floating Island, where it was attracted to the island's Chaos Emerald, threating to blow up the island due to the energy imbalance between them. Sonic soon found the Chaos Emerald shard in the Great Forest, only to have it taken by Nack who was hired by Robotnik to retrieve them. However, when Nack got to the Floating Island, he was knocked out by Knuckles, and Sonic and Knuckles worked together to rejoin the two Chaos Emerald shards before they destroyed the island. The reformed Chaos Emerald was then claimed by the Ancient Walkers in a flash.

Soon after, Robotnik launched a sneak attack of the Floating Island, secretly turning it into a flying fortress. There, Robotnik began syphoning the power of island's Chaos Emerald to power the engines that would direct the Floating Island over Knothole to destroy it. Ridden with guilt over letting Robotnik go so far, Knuckles destroyed the island's Chaos Emerald to stop the doctor's plans. As a result, the Island began falling from the sky and Robotnik fled. Before the island could crash, however, Knuckles revealed that he had an extra Chaos Emerald in storage, and used it to return the Floating Island to the sky before it hit the surface.

A while later, Bunnie "Rabbot" began stealing Dr. Robotnik's collections of Chaos Emeralds so she could wear them to the Knothole Charity Dance. Enraged, but unaware who the thief was, the doctor sent Coconuts to protect his remaining Chaos Emeralds on his Secret Island Base. All of Coconuts plans to stop Bunnie, however, amounted to nothing, allowing her to steal Robotnik's last Chaos Emeralds.

Battle of Super Forms
Having only one Chaos Emerald to keep the Floating Island in the sky, and no back-up emerald left, Knuckles decided to go in search of another Chaos Emerald for emergencies. Having consulted the Book of Myths, Knuckles began searching for the Power Ring Grotto, believing it held a Chaos Emerald. Once arriving there, however, he was attacked by Sonic, who thought he was there to strike a deal with Robotnik. In their ensuring battle, an unknown zone was revealed, filled with Chaos Emeralds and Power Rings. Sonic and Knuckles then went head-to-head with each other inside this zone, each collecting seven Chaos Emeralds and fifty Power Rings, transforming them into Super Sonic and Hyper Knuckles, respectively.

The two of them continued their brawl, their battle eventually causing the dimension they resided in to explode, destroying all the Chaos Emeralds inside of it. Knuckles, however, managed to salvage one Chaos Emerald before the Zone was destroyed, accomplishing his mission.

Further Chaos Emerald Exploits
When Sonic managed to collect his one billionth Power Ring, he was pulled into another dimension by the Ancient Walkers. Impressed by this achievement, the Ancient Walkers awarded him with knowledge (after a few trials, where a sea of Chaos Emeralds was involved), revealing the connection the Chaos Emeralds had to the Power Rings.

Some time in 3235, Dr. Robotnik finished his Death Egg, which needed a Chaos Emerald to be at full power, so the doctor attack ed the Floating Island with Death Egg to steal its two Chaos Emeralds. As Robotnik rammed the Death Egg into the surface of the island, its Chaos Emeralds in the Chaos Chamber just barely resisted the pressure, but the imbalance created threatened to make the Chaos Emerald's dispersed energy topple the Floating Island. Fortunately, the Death Egg's attack was quickly thwarted.

After the Death Egg incident, Sonic and Tails went to get Knuckles' Chaos Emerald, hoping it could cure King Maximillian Acorn of his crystallization. The guardian initially refused to give it up, until Knuckles had thought it over and let them borrow his extra Chaos Emerald. Unfortunately, the power of the Chaos Emerald had opposite of the intended effect on the king, temporarily accelerating his crystallization.

Some time later, Robotnik went on a new hunt for the Chaos Emeralds on Flicky Island. After arriving there and Roboticizing some of the island's Flicky birds, Robotnik discovered that the Chaos Emerald was in another Zone. Despite interferences from Sonic, Robotnik found the Chaos Emerald embedded in a large sculpture. When the doctor took the Chaos Emerald, however, the sculpture came to life and attacked. As Sonic tried to save Robotnik from the collapsing dimension, the doctor's hand, holding the Chaos Emerald, was caught in the closing portal, but Robotnik refused to let go of the emerald until a Flicky inside the Zone bit his hand and made him drop the emerald. When the Knothole Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix were at the mercy of Mammoth Mogul after a failed scheme to eliminate them, Archimedes used one of the Floating Island's Chaos Emeralds in a risky gamble. The resulting overlapping energies from Mogul's Chaos Emerald and the island'sthen trigged an explosion that forced Mogul to retreat.

When Mogul later resurfaced and became Master Mogul to claim control over Mobius, the demi-god was beaten back by the combined forces from Super Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, Turbo Tails, the Ancient Walkers, Athair and the Brotherhood of Guardians. In a last-ditch effort, Master Mogul tried to drain the power of the two Chaos Emeralds on the Floating Island and add them to his total of twelve Chaos Emeralds. Locke and Sabre, however, managed to invert the power flow, thus trapping Mogul in the Master Emerald, a large emerald composed of all the Chaos Emeralds that Mogul had obtained.

Shadow's Revenge
When Shadow the Hedgehog was reawakened by Dr. Eggman, Shadow was enlisted by Eggman to help take over the world (though Shadow only wanted revenge at the world for the death of Maria Robotnik). Shadow then began a hunt for seven Chaos Emeralds needed to power the Eclipse Cannon which Eggman could use. After stealing a Chaos Emerald from the Bank of Station Square and a few more from Prison Island,, seven Chaos Emeralds were eventually brought to the core of Space Colony ARK.

Shadow, however, eventually realized that he had been misled by false memories, planted by his creator, Gerald Robotnik, and tried to stop Gerald's plan along with Sonic the Hedgehog. When the Finalhazard threatened to destroy Mobius, Sonic and Shadow used the seven collected Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and Super Shadow and save the world.

Evil Super Sonic Appears
When Sonic was tossed into space and arrived on planet Thoraxia, he discovered six of the red Chaos Emeralds that were native to that planet. When the friendly inhabitants, the Blodex, were attacked by the Bzzzz, Sonic tried to use the six Chaos Emeralds he had seen on a statue to transform into Super Sonic. While these Chaos Emerald did make Super Sonic appear, the Super Form instead existed as a separate entity from Sonic and was wild and uncontrollable. Fortunately, the energy of these red Chaos Emeralds soon ran out, ending the mad Super Sonic's existence.

The Threat of Mammoth Mogul
When Master Mogul reappeared and began destroying the multiverse, Tails transformed into Titan Tails and used his cosmic powers to trap Mogul inside his own Chaos Emerald. However, Mogul threatened to escape his Emerald when the Ancient Walkers were dying. Despite Merlin Prower's attempts to prevent this, the Ancient Walkers perished, allowing Mogul to break free and reclaim his Chaos Emerald.

Beginning of The Great Harmony
In the year 3237, Dr. Eggman's "son", A.D.A.M., enacted his plan to draw all of the Chaos Emeralds from around the universe to Mobius, using the "Chosen One" Miles "Tails" Prower, as a beacon for the Chaos Emeralds, and Shadow the Hedgehog's Chaos Control to create a shotcut for the Chaos Emeralds to travel through. The rogue A.I. succeed in his plans, and managed to gather all of the universe's Chaos Emeralds on Mobius (excluding the Master Emerald).

When Sonic arrived to stop the A.I.'s plans, Sonic used the gathered Chaos Emeralds during the battle to become Super Sonic, but A.D.A.M. retaliated by using the Chaos Emeralds as well to become Super A.D.A.M., and fought Super Sonic to a standstill. Unbeknownst to A.D.A.M., his plan ultimately allowed Tails to fulfill the prophecy of producing the Great Harmony; while A.D.A.M. was distracted, Super Shadow assisted Turbo Tails in opening a portal to the Zone of Silence. There, Tails sent all of the Chaos Emeralds so they would be safe and out of reach from villains, thus fulfilling the prophecy set out by the Ancient Walkers.

Shortly after being sent into the Zone of Silence, every Chaos Emerald was fused together with the other emeralds of the same color by Feist, (the Mobian trapped inside the Zone), creating seven Chaos Emeralds and giving him god-like power in that Zone; using that power, Feist reshaped the Zone of Silence into the renamed "Special Zone". Feist following decided to present challenges to those who wished to obtain one of the seven emeralds.

Seven Emeralds to Share
After A.D.A.M.'s death, Sonic and Tails went on a mission to what they believed to be the Zone of Silence to obtain a Chaos Emerald they needed to power Chuck and Doctor Quack's machine that would wake Maximillian Acorn from his coma. After arriving in the Special Zone, Sonic and Tails came across Feist who explained to them that he had now merged all the Chaos Emeralds into seven gems in total, and used them to reshape the Special Zone into what it was now. Due to their shared antagonism of his former master, Ixis Naugus, Feist gave Sonic and Tails the grey Chaos Emerald to the duo upon their request, though he warned them that they would have to participate in his challenges if they wanted any more. After returning to the Prime Zone, the grey Chaos Emerald was used in Chuck and Quack's machine, and was successful in in bringing back Maximillian. Sally then gave the grey Chaos Emerald back to Sonic and Tails, and they met up with Merlin Prower, who planned to use the grey Chaos Emerald in conjunction with Knuckles' Guiding Star Gem to travel to Argentium to retrieve Amadeus and Rosemary Prower. The plan was successful, and, after having found Amadeus and Rosemary, the group used the grey Chaos Emerald to return to Mobius, which was then returned to the Castle Acorn. (StH #169)

Sometime later, however, the grey Chaos emerald was stolen from Castle Acorn by Sonic and Ash Mongoose, who had been forced to retrieve it by Mammoth Mogul, or he would kill Tails, Mina Mongoose and Mighty the Armadillo. As promised, Sonic gave the grey Chaos Emerald to Mogul, who placed it in his chest, regaining his lost immortality and god-like powers, before escaping the prison with his accomplices using the emerald. (StH #170) At some point afterwards, the green Chaos Emerald ended up in the Sol Zone under unknown circumstances, where it was found by Marine the Raccoon. After Sonic and Tails had crash-landed on Seagull Island and had met Marine, the green Chaos Emerald was quickly taken by Johnny. With help from Blaze the Cat, Sonic, Tails and Marine retrieved the green Chaos Emerald from Johnny, Captain Whisker and Dr. Eggman Nega. Sonic then gave it to Blaze to help her in her search for the lost Sol Emeralds, and allowed Blaze to find some of the Sol Emeralds.

A few weeks later, when Shadow the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic v3.3 accidentally appeared in the Sol Zone, Metal Sonic went on a rampage, but was stopped by Shadow, Blaze and Marine. Appreciating his help, Blaze generously gave the green Chaos Emerald to Shadow as thanks for protecting her zone. Shadow then used Chaos Control with the green Chaos emerald to return to the Prime Zone, where he handed it over to G.U.N. Headquarters where it then would be used to develop better and stronger robots. Later on, Team Dark–Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, and Omega –were sent on a mission to the Special Zone to acquire the red Chaos Emerald. They went twice into the zone to get the emerald; Shadow and Rouge went the first time to get it, but failed Feist's challenge to get the Chaos Emerald.

The second time, the entire Team Dark went to the emerald, which Feist had them try to retrieve from inside a maze, but failed once more. This time, however, Omega shot at Feist as a distraction, allowing Shadow to take the red Chaos Emerald from the god. Shadow then used Chaos Control with the Chaos Emerald, allowing his team to escape to the Prime Zone before Feist retaliated. Back on Mobius, Shadow proceedingly handed over the red Chaos Emerald to Abraham Tower for G.U.N. to use. (SU #4) Later on, Sonic and Geoffrey St. John went to the Special Zone to acquire the purple Chaos Emerald, hoping that acquiring it would settle Maximillian Acorn's delusional mind. After the duo had arrived in the Special Zone, Feist challenged them with race, where they had to get to the purple Chaos Emerald and bring it back to the start. Sonic easily passed the challenge and got back to the start with the purple Chaos Emerald, only for Geoffrey to paralyze him with a shot in the back, before throwing Sonic into the void of the Special Zone and taking the emerald.

After having exited the Special Zone, Geoffrey took the purple Chaos Emerald to the Casino Night Zone, where he met with Mammoth Mogul. Mogul told Geoffrey that he had no interest in another Chaos Emerald, only for Geoffrey to reveal that he intended to use it to to restore Ixis Naugus's sanity. After hearing that restoring Naugus's sanity would bring Sonic misery, Mogul allowed Geoffrey to use the purple Chaos Emerald on Naugus. With the emerald's power, Ixis Naugus regained his sanity, and the wizard made the purple Chaos Emerald a part of his wand, allowing it to augment his various spells and lead an Ixis Resurgence. (StH #169, #170, #219, #220)

Genesis
Shortly after, Dr. Eggman and Snively went to the Special Zone to acquire a Chaos Emerald for Operation: Clean Sweep. There, Feist challenged Eggman and Snively in a race against each other for the blue Chaos Emerald. Eggman defeated his nephew in the race, but before he could have the emerald, Feist had the doctor choose between the Chaos Emerald or Snively, as he was only allowed to bring one of them back. Without hesitation, Eggman chose the blue Chaos Emerald and return to the Prime Zone, though he teleported Snively back to him afterwards. The blue Chaos Emerald was then used to power Dr. Eggman's Death Egg Mark 2, and launch the Genesis Wave, a reality changer that used the blue Chaos Emerald's Chaos Energy to rewrite the Prime Zone's timeline.

In the rewritten timeline of the Prime Zone following the initiation of Operation: Clean Sweep, the seven Chaos Emeralds' history were rewritten as well, causing them to end up in unspecified locations that fit their new history. They were eventually collected by Eggman as part of his plan to conquer Mobius by having them reenergize the Death Egg Mark 2. During Sonic's battle with the Egg Destroyer Battlesuit, Sonic harnessed the seven Chaos Emeralds' energies that was flowing through the Death Egg Mark 2 to become Super Sonic and destroyed Eggman's mech, before returning reality to normal.

With the restoration of the Prime Zone's reality, the seven Chaos Emeralds were returned to their original place as their history was corrected. In the aftermath of Operation: Clean Sweep, however the blue Chaos Emerald was inexplicably transported to the Lanfront Ruins in an alternate dimension.

Worlds Collide
The blue Chaos Emerald was found by one of Dr. Albert W. Wily's Robot Masters and brought to Dr. Wily, who decided to analyze it which brought him into contact with Dr. Eggman. Deciding it was in their best interest to meet, Wily created the Skull Egg Zone with the blue Chaos Emerald for them to meet in. Deciding to join forces in conquering their respective worlds, Eggman and Wily devised the agenda to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds to unleash a "Super Genesis Wave" that would let them reshape their universes to their liking.

Using the blue Chaos Emerald's power inside their Wily Egg, Drs. Eggman and Wily initiate a regular Genesis Wave, reshaping the Prime Zone and the Earth in the year 20XX to their benefits. This Genesis Wave, however, scattered the other Chaos Emeralds across both worlds, leaving the doctors to collect them.

Using the Roboticized Masters, Eggman and Wily collected five of the Chaos Emeralds. At some point afterwards, the Roboticized Masters found the sixth Chaos Emerald inside the National Bank in Mega City. Despite some interference from Mega Man and Proto Man, the Roboticized Masters got the sixth Chaos Emerald to the Wily Egg. Not long after, the last Chaos Emerald was found by Silver Man and Blaze Woman and brought to the Wily Egg as well.

With all seven Emeralds, Drs. Eggman and Wily plugged them into the Genesis Reactor from the Genesis Chamber and had them power it up. At the time where Eggman and Wily had captured Sonic and Mega Man inside the Wily Egg, the Emeralds had finished charging. As the doctors gloated over their impending victory, however, Knuckles and Proto Man attacked. In an attempt to get rid of the duo, the doctors drew power from the Chaos Emeralds and super-charged their Egg-Wily Machine X. Then, just as the Super Genesis Wave was unleashed and rewrote the two universes, Sonic and Mega Man harnessed the seven Chaos Emeralds as well, transforming into Super Sonic and Super Armor Mega Man, allowing them to defeat the doctors. The two heroes then tried to restore their worlds to normal with Chaos Control, but while Mega Man succeeded without interference, Sonic's attempt was disturbed by an attack by Dr. Eggman.
 * Note: From this point, the Chaos Emeralds' history continues from their new existence in the altered timeline.

Powers and traits
Each Chaos Emerald contain an unlimited reserve of pure and highly potent Chaos energy which can be harnessed from each emerald by both living creatures and machines. The current power levels after the merging is unknown but most likely incomprehensibly great. Alone they can enhance and empower the holder, granting enhanced power and mystical abilities, while together they have theoretically unlimited potential, literally capable of reshaping the face of reality and can induce a powerful, nigh-invulnerable state.

Origin controversy
The origins of the Chaos Emeralds on Mobius and the other planets is rather questionable, due to the revelation that remarkably-similar Chaos Emeralds existed all over the universe. Furthermore, the robot Isaac claimed that the green Chaos Emeralds on Mobius were a bi-product of the Gene bomb's radiation reacting with beryl deposits beneath the planet's surface.

The Gene Bomb origin story does not account for the Emeralds across the universe, nor for the Green Emeralds that exist in Mobius's pocket dimensions. The most current storywriter, Ian Flynn, has very solidly denounced the "Xorda Gene Bomb" origin for the Chaos Emeralds and has purposefully left their origin vague and untouched, so as to accentuate their "mystical qualities" and leave it open for interpretation by the reader. Thus, the "Gene Bomb" theory is considered not-canon, though other details provided by Isaac about Mobius' history are, as there is no contrary evidence to these in the books.

Trivia

 * "Chaos" in the English language means disorder and an irregular, unpredictable action that was remarkably sensitive to regular changes in environment, similar to how the Chaos Emeralds in the series act. "Chaos" as used in Greek refers to a large emptiness, or space. "Space" in English came to be a general term meaning both everything outside of the Earth’s atmosphere and the placement of objects in relation to one another.
 * Chaos Emerald Mischief.jpg color of the Chaos Emerald that Team Dark obtained in Sonic Universe #4 has been switched. Originally, it was colored green in the original issue, but when it was reprinted in trade-paperback novel Sonic Universe: The Shadow Saga, it was switched to red.
 * Chaos Emerald Messup.jpg messup happened in Sonic the Hedgehog #235; when Silver the Hedgehog asked Mammoth Mogul to go over what happened in the time period 3237, he mentioned Ixis Naugus and his plan to make a new Ixis Resurgence. However, the flashback shows Naugus having the purple, red, and green Chaos Emerald. The comics only shown Naugus having the purple Chaos Emerald, thus it could be a possibility that Naugus could have stolen those Chaos Emeralds from G.U.N. or, it could be just a mess up.
 * All of the flashbacks involving the characters using the Chaos Emeralds are all colored green, which is true to the continuity, as all of the Chaos Emeralds prior A.D.A.M. summoning the gems on Mobius were green.
 * The colors of the chaos emeralds were chosen based on the three primary colors of light (red, blue, and green), the three secondary colors wich are mixtures of the primary colors (red + blue = purple, blue + green = cyan, and green + red = yellow), and finally grey which is a mixture of all three primary colors (red + blue + green = grey).
 * Writer Ian Flynn has stated that each Chaos Emerald started with infinite power and that has not changed despite the thousands of Chaos Emeralds have now merged into seven, saying "there's nothing to be gained when you already have everything."