Fake Emerald

''For the actual seven Chaos Emeralds, see Chaos Emerald. For other uses of the term, see Chaos Emerald (disambiguation). For other subjects named "Emerald", see Emerald.''

The Artificial Chaos Emerald or Fake Chaos Emerald is an object that appears in Sonic Adventure 2. It is an Emerald meant to bear similarity to a real Chaos Emerald, as well as have the same wavelengths and properties of one, but it does not possess the same amount of power, nor can it be used to properly power machines.

Description
The Artificial Chaos Emerald is an exact replica of the Chaos Emerald that Tails was awarded for his deeds at the end of ‘’Sonic Adventure”. Because of this, it is a large, diamond-cut Emerald with a yellow hue, being of the same size and structure as a real Chaos Emerald. The energy signature it creates is also identical to that of a real Chaos Emerald, meaning that the only way to tell the difference between the two is prior knowledge of which one is real and which is not.

The Artificial Emerald's exact strength is unspecified, although it seemingly still has Chaos Energy. Sonic the Hedgehog was capable of using the Emerald to execute Chaos Control, teleporting from an exploding escape capsule to the Space Colony ARK from a great distance, notably after only having seen Chaos Control in effect once before. This does not appear to be a common occurrence, however, as Shadow remarks that such a feat should be impossible. Regardless, Sonic uses this Emerald to perform Chaos Control throughout the entirety of [|his second boss battle].

History
The Artificial Emerald was created by Miles “Tails” Prower some time after the events of ‘’Sonic Adventure’’, after Tails was awarded a Chaos Emerald by Station Square for defeating the Egg Walker. Using this Emerald in ‘’Sonic Adventure 2’’, he developed his own artificial Chaos Emerald, having the same wavelength and frequency as a normal Chaos Emerald, allowing it to serve as the perfect duplicate. One of the major differences between the real Chaos Emeralds is that it becomes explosive when utilized with machinery, and because of this fact, Tails brings the Artificial Emerald onto the Space Colony ARK, developing a plan to place the Emerald into the Eclipse Cannon, destroying it and halting Eggman’s plan to take over the world. Sonic the Hedgehog went off to execute this plan, meanwhile Eggman noted that there was an extra Chaos Emerald signature in the vicinity, and that there must have been a fake. Sonic was about to insert the Emerald into the Cannon Core, when Eggman called him, holding Amy Rose at gunpoint. Sonic arrived on the scene, figuring that he could easily hand Eggman the fake Emerald, saving Amy and destroying the Eclipse Cannon. However, Eggman called his bluff, trapping the hedgehog in a capsule. Tails asks how Eggman figured out the Emerald was a fake, and Eggman reveals that he did not until Tails confirmed this. Sonic was then jettisoned into space, and the capsule exploded. However, having seen Shadow the Hedgehog induce Chaos Control with a Chaos Emerald, Sonic himself tries this, teleporting from the capsule in the nick of time and back onto the ARK. Sonic figures that he can make it to the Eclipse Cannon and manually insert the fake Emerald into it, which would ruin Eggman’s plan. On his way, Shadow locates him, and questions how he survived. Sonic then explains that he used Chaos Control, with Shadow noting that such an act would be an impossibility with a fake Emerald, asking what Sonic truly was. Sonic then introduces himself and the two fight. Sonic presumably defeats Shadow and inserts the fake Emerald into the Eclipse Cannon.

Sonic X
In Sonic X, the Artificial Emerald is created by Tails in the Season 2 adaptation of ‘’Sonic Adventure 2’’. It essentially serves the same purpose that it does within the game.

In Season 3, the Metarex initiate a plan by the name of Operation: Duplicate, in order to distract Sonic and his friends to prevent them from gathering all the real Chaos Emeralds. Hundreds of these Emeralds were mass produced, with similar abilities, but lesser power than the normal Chaos Emerald. They were incredibly brittle and could easily be crushed or burn out. These Emeralds were capable of inducing Chaos Control and could also initiate a Super transformation in the form of Dark Sonic. After Dark Sonic’s usage of the Artificial Emeralds, they were all completely rendered useless.

Trivia

 * In many older ‘’Sonic’’ games, such as Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Spinball, the number of Chaos Emeralds fluctuates. Many fans have attributed this to a fake Emerald.
 * In Team Dark’s Team Blast, there is a Chaos Emerald that is used to induce Chaos Control. Many fans have presumed that Emerald was a fake, but canonically, it likely was the green Emerald that Team Dark produced in the cutscene before the battle against Metal Sonic.