End of the World

End of the World is the final Action Stage of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). In this Action Stage, all playable characters in the game, except Blaze and Sonic, work together in order to gather all seven Chaos Emeralds and resurrect Sonic before Solaris can completely destroy the fabric of reality.

Plot
Shadow the Hedgehog only succeeded in disrupting Mephiles’ plans to revive the Flames of Disaster. The malevolent force reforms just as victory seems within the heroes’ grasp and spears Sonic with a beam of energy. Sonic falls and the distraught Princess Elise cannot help but shed her ﬁrst tear since her father made her promise so many years ago not to cry. Unwittingly, the Iblis Trigger unleashes death and destruction, and without Sonic to aid in the ﬁght, all appears lost. However, at the urging of Sonic’s friends and even Dr. Eggman, who was duped by Mephiles into facilitating the release of Iblis a mission is mounted to search the far reaches of Soleanna for the Chaos Emeralds. The world is being pulled apart by a rift in the time-space continuum, so the heroes must hurry. The power of the collected emeralds should be enough to revive Sonic hopefully just in time to battle Iblis for the last time…for all time.

Tails
Tails vaults through time to retrieve a Chaos Emerald from the burning Crisis City. The metropolis is still consumed by ﬂames, so Tails has arrived before Silver and Blaze’s epic showdown with Iblis. The player begin the mission on a crowded street full of ﬁre monsters. As the player run across the wrecked avenue, the eyes of Solaris burst forth from the rip in the continuum. The player cannot touch the eyes, lest you lose a life, but neither can Iblis’s minions. If one of the eyes opens near a monster, the beast is pulled into the ominous orb and perishes. Collect Rings as the player run beneath the unblinking gaze of Solaris, and use the Springs at the end of the street to bounce up to a narrow ledge to the right. Run along the ledge and jump out to the overturned highway signs. Fly to the ledge overlooking the left side of the street and run ahead until the player see a gaping abyss full of eyes. The abyss is too wide for Tails to cross in a single ﬂight, so aim for the Boost Ring to get the necessary extra push to survive. Look for ornate sculptures of a regal bird on top of a mysterious orb. If you touch the orb, you temporarily banish the eyes and stabilize the time-space rip. The effects are ﬂeeting, though, and after several seconds, the eyes reappear.

After banishing the eyes, duck beneath a horde of ﬂ ailing ﬁre worms and ﬂy up to the top of a shattered skyscraper. As the player run down the side of the toppled building, watch out for attacks from the brutes of Iblis. Some are consumed when they step too close to an eye, lessening the amount of trouble the player face on the building. But that’s no reason to linger. Tails doesn’t have the offensive capabilities of Shadow or Silver, and taking down the brutes would be too dangerous. Fly up to the wrecked support column on the building’s left side. A 1-Up Capsule waits on the column next to the pipe, but watch out for the phoenixes that dart through the air. As the player continue down the side of the building, touch the next orb statue to remove the eyes for a few seconds. At the end of the building, ﬂy up to the balcony of a wrecked skyscraper to the left. The Chaos Emerald is on the balcony, guarded by several monsters. Before picking up the gem and ending the stage, though, be sure to grab the Ring Capsules and the 1-Up from behind one of the hulking monsters. The Chaos Emerald is in the balcony’s back corner, right next to the elephantine feet of a towering monster. Swipe the jewel to move on to E-123 Omega’s stage.

Omega
E-123 Omega risks his metal hide to recover one of the Chaos Emeralds from the volcanic Flame Core, where Iblis reigned supreme in its stretch of the now-warped timeline. Omega must jump across the rock platforms ﬂoating in the pool of bubbling lava in search of the Spring on the opposite side of the lake of molten earth. The Spring launches you up to a landing infested with Iblis’s minions. The player must destroy all the monsters to unlock a door in the side of mountain, so hold down the attack button and charge up Omega’s Homing Attack. This attack picks up the phoenixes with relative ease; it may take some stronger moves to bring down the titans. Run up to the big monsters when their skulls are exposed and deliver death blows right to their weak spots.

After the door in the mountain opens, The player must get a running start to cross the gap in the cave. When The player exit the cave, The player look down on a lava pool full of Solaris’s eyes and several Phoenixes. Jump off the ledge and hover gently to the platforms ﬂoating in the lava below. Jump across the molten earth via the platforms until you reach the edge of the lava falls. Bounce up the side of the falls, avoiding the ﬁre worms that erupt from the falls. The Chaos Emerald is on the topmost ledge jutting out from the cliffs that ﬂank the lava falls. Pick up the gem to switch the action to Knuckles as he raids the Tropical Jungle.

Knuckles
Knuckles must go through the Tropical Jungle to ﬁnd his Chaos Emerald. The gem is on the far side of the crumbling temple, and it’s guarded by Iblis’s beasts. The jungle ﬂoor is covered in water, so it’s a good thing the echidna can glide through the air and avoid trouble that might knock him into the drink. Knuckles certainly has a powerful Punch that can destroy these fire monsters, but since time is of the essence, it’s better just to glide over the beasts and stick to climbing up the ruins to safe ground. The ruins are tall enough that you can cross them without ever touching the jungle ﬂoor except to pick up the Chaos Emerald. The eyes can interfere with ﬂight paths, so be sure to touch the orbs to clear the air.

Iblis’s defenses increase as you close in on the Chaos Emerald in the swamp opposite the ruins. The player must eventually glide down to the ground, but soar over the ﬁrst batch of monsters and aim for the rickety wooden walkway that leads up to one ﬁnal brute. The Chaos Emerald is on a small earthen mound at the edge of the ruins. Pick up the gem before the monsters can attack. After grabbing the emerald, you join Silver as he ﬁghts through the Dusty Desert.

Silver
Silver begins his search at Dusty Desert. Now, the sands slowly consume the crumbling temples and city walls. Silver must push through the remains of the city and scoop up his Chaos Emerald to help revive Sonic and save the day. When the mission begins, jump into the air and Levitate to the ﬁrst platform in the sands. Use PK to raise the platform, then soar through the air and reach the orb statue in front of the massive staircase. The orb forces the eyes to vanish, clearing a path to the stairs.

A pair of massive monsters attacks as soon as you climb the stairs. Use PK to lift the crates on the landing to daze the brutes. Finish them off to raise platforms from the desert ﬂoor beyond the landing. Levitate across the platforms, carefully avoiding the eyes as they blink into existence. After crossing the gap and landing safely on the temple remains, start running up the spiral ramp that ascends a central tower. Iblis’s minions really step up the challenge now, but you can push right back by picking up crates, jars, and Spiked Balls with PK. Hurl the objects at the monsters to daze or destroy them, then rush past and jump across the gaps in the path. Continue up the trail until you reach the pair of brutes at the top.

After disposing of the monsters, jump up the sliding platforms to the top of the wall. Sand lies just beyond the top ledge of the wall, so don’t jump out too far when The player reach the last sliding platform. If you land on the sand, you’ll sink and no amount of PK will rescue you. Float across the sand. The player must pass two more giants in order to reach the Chaos Emerald. Multiple crates are on the landing. The player can throw them when the monsters ex- pose their glowing skulls. The monsters alternate between smashing the ground with their huge ﬁsts and throwing Spiked Balls at the player. The Player can catch the Spiked Balls and throw them back with PK powers. Hit the monsters in the exposed skull with a caught Spike Ball only once to destroy them. Jump up on the high ledges ﬂanking the two monsters and Levitate out to the platform with the Chaos Emerald. Pick up the gem to move on to Rouge The Bat, who is soaring over Wave Ocean in pursuit of her quarry.

Rouge
Rouge must cross a large marina at Wave Ocean to find her Chaos Emerald. Fortunately, her bat wings allow her safe passage over the water; she glides effortlessly through the air. To maintain height over the monsters that patrol the area, the player must land on the rock spires that punch out of the waves. Climb to the top of the spire and then jump off, sailing through the air en route to the beach on the opposite side of the marina. Look out for ﬁre worms that attach to the bases of rocks. Sometimes, an eye will appear close enough to inhale one of the monsters, but steer clear nonetheless to avoid getting clipped by one of the worms’ ﬁreball attacks. To avoid absolutely any engagement with the monsters, climb to the tip of the spires and never glide more than a third of the way down the spires before landing and crawling back up to the top.

Rouge’s Chaos Emerald is sitting on the beach. The heroes now have ﬁve of the seven Chaos Emeralds. It’s up to Amy Rose and Shadow to complete the collection and revive Sonic.

Amy
Amy Rose pushes through the wintry White Acropolis to ﬁnd another of the Chaos Emeralds and save her true love, Sonic. Her Double Jump technique helps her scale the steep inclines and vault over high ledges in pursuit of the gem. As soon as she starts ascending the Acropolis, the eyes of Solaris appear, siphoning off energy from the monsters that Iblis has issued forth to stop the heroes.

After running across the ﬁrst clearing, The player need to scale the ledges. Watch out for the wriggling ﬁre worms that lash out. If the player jump all the way to the top ledge to the right of the clearing, the player can touch an orb statue and cause the eyes to vanish for the time being. They’ll soon return, but getting rid of them now makes your descent toward the next clearing much easier. As The player cross the clearings, watch out for the sweeping spotlights. If you are picked up in the beam, an alarm calls more monsters to the area. Between each clearing, always ascend to the top ledge and use the orb statue to eliminate the piercing eyes.

After you pass through three clearings, The player square off against two squirmy ﬁre monsters that refuse to stand still along enough for you to plan a really solid strike. Use Amy’s Invisibility to sneak up on the monsters and then swing the hammer just as you become visible again. After you destroy the two monsters, a giant steel door slides open, revealing the inside of Dr. Eggman’s base. Run through the interior corridor, passing the ﬁre worms and eyes that try to get in the player way. Don’t bother launching any attacks on the monsters just get to the Chaos Emerald at the end of the hall. Rush up and collect the sixth Chaos Emerald to end Amy’s mission in White Acropolis. Now it’s up to Shadow The Hedgehog to retrieve the Chaos Emerald in Kingdom Valley and return with it to revive Sonic.

Shadow
Shadow the Hedgehog must traverse the dizzying heights of Kingdom Valley to recover the ﬁnal Chaos Emerald. The jewel is on a ledge at the very top of the outer wall that once protected the royal castles from attack. When the mission begins, The player must start your ascent by jumping onto the tightrope in front of you and leaping high into the air. At the apex of the bounce, slam into the phoenix with a Homing Attack and drop down to the ledge on the other side of the water before the bridge above you collapses. If The player caught under the bridge, The player will be dropped into the water. Use the Springs on the side of the wall to bounce up the ledges until the player see a brute raising a lava ball high over its head. When the monster’s skull is exposed, initiate a Homing Attack to lurch forward and take the beast down.

After the monster has been destroyed, an eagle drops out of the sky to pick you up. Jump up and grab the eagle’s talons to soar over the water. The eagle drops The player off in front of a narrow bridge, but as soon as the player touch down, three ﬁre worms explode out of the ground. Skate between the monsters and zoom across the bridge to continue your quest for the Chaos Emerald. On the other side of the bridge, use two tightropes to bounce across the water. The second tightrope vaults the player over to the outer perimeter and drops you right in front of a nasty brute. It’s impervious to Chaos Spears, so just zap the Phoenixes to keep them from attacking the player and defeat the massive monster so that the eagle feels safe landing by the orb statue on the next ledge. Touch the orb statue to get rid of all eyes in the valley. When the eyes are gone, jump to the eagle and ﬂy back across the water to the valley’s other side.

The eagle drops the player over a small platform covered with worms and Spiked Balls. Use a Homing Attack to launch Shadow through the Rainbow Ring. The Ring rockets the player back across the water to the wall. the player fall right in front of a green sphere. Attack the sphere to unleash a jet stream the player can ride up to the Chaos Emerald. As you ﬂy with the wind, look out for Phoenixes that try to knock you down with their ﬁreball attacks. The birds can also buzz the wind, so if they get too close, jump up and use a Homing Attack to drop them, and the jump back to the jet stream. The jet stream deposits the you right in front of a Spring. Jump on the Spring to reach a ledge with more monsters. Circumvent the beasts and hit the green sphere to create another wind the player can ride even farther up the valley. The rushing wind drops the player on an extremely high ledge, right in front of the Chaos Emerald. However, if you look over to the left, you can see a ledge with two Ring Capsules and a 1-Up. Jump over and use a Homing Attack to slam into the Capsules, then return to the Chaos Emerald. Once Shadow collects the ﬁnal Chaos Emerald, he rejoins the heroes in the center of the nexus created by the warping time-space continuum.

Trivia

 * Each segment in End of the World has a different theme, depending on what character plays through each segment (e.g.: Amy's version of the theme is a slower, sadder toned part of Sonic's theme, His World, most likely depicting her sadness towards Sonic's death).
 * Radical Train and Aquatic Base are the only levels that do not have segments in this stage.
 * Likewise, Blaze and Sonic are the only characters to not play in this level, due to the former being sealed into another dimension and the latter being killed by Mephiles.
 * The black holes in this stage are capable of sucking up rings that have been dropped.
 * Both the red time rifts that are part of Iblis and the purple ones that are part of Mephiles, turn blue when time starts falling apart, resembling Solaris.