Key to Babylon Garden

The Key to Babylon Garden is an ancient artifact resembling a transparent cube with ancient symbols and markings on, that appears in Sonic Riders. Originating from the Babylonians or possibly their early descendants, this ancient relic has been passed down from generation to generation of Babylon Rogues since ancient times. Its purpose is to reveal the fabled Babylon Garden, the home of the Babylonians, from its hiding place and control the inner workings of this sanctum as well. Only the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds can activate it.

History
The true reason for the creation of the Key to Babylon Garden remains unclear. The Key to Babylon Garden's purpose was to reveal the location of Babylon Garden, reactivate it and bring it back into the sky where it belonged before it had fallen from the sky in the forgotten past. It also unlocks the many sealed doors that lied within this location. However, it required the power from the seven Chaos Emeralds in order to be activated, a fact that was apparently forgotten or left out by the Babylonians and/or their descendants.

The Key to Babylon Garden was one of the few things that remained in the possession of the descendants of the Babylonians after they scattered across the globe and had forgotten most of their history and knowledge about their ancestors over time. Eventually, the Key to Babylon Garden came into the possession of the possibly last group of Babylonians, the Babylon Rogues, an band of thieves, who passed it on from one generation to the next. The stories about the Key to Babylon Garden being able to reveal and open up for Babylon Garden, however, endured the test of time, since the Babylon Rouges continued to believe that their thieving ancestors had hidden valuable treasures inside Babylon Garden.

In Sonic Riders, the Key to Babylon Garden had been passed on to Jet the Hawk, the newest leader of the Babylon Rogues, by Jet's father, but he had no idea how to use it. Dr. Eggman, however, having discovered that the Babylonians' treasure inside Babylon Garden was actually advanced technology that he hoped he could use to conquer the world, wanted the Key to Babylon Garden for himself so he could use it to claim this treasure.

Rather than stealing the Key to Babylon Garden, however, Eggman decided to manipulate the current Babylon Rouges who had the key to do his dirty work by having them collect the seven Chaos Emeralds, having somehow learned how they could activate the Key to Babylon Garden, and have them uncover Babylon Garden for him. As a result, Eggman sought out Jet, Wave and Storm and requested an meeting with Jet to talk about a proposition to help him find Babylon Garden. At first, Jet was wary to trust Eggman, but as soon as Eggman revealed how the Key to Babylon Garden could be activated with the Chaos Emeralds, Jet accepted his help.

To gather the Chaos Emeralds, Eggman hosted the EX World Grand Prix with the Chaos Emeralds as the price of admission to bring the emeralds into proximity of Jet and the key. The plan was then to have the Babylon Rogues, now working for Eggman as his contestants, win the tournament and claim the emeralds as their prize. Though Team Sonic entered the tournament to stop whatever plan they though Eggman had, Eggman had anticipated that.

At the end of the tournament, all seven Chaos Emeralds had been gather as the prize and Jet had the Key to Babylon Garden ready. In the end, Jet won the tournament due to Wave destroying Sonic's Extreme Gear, and Jet claimed the seven Chaos Emeralds. With the power provided by the Chaos Emeralds, Jet could finally activate the Key to Babylon Garden and had it call forth Babylon Garden from the ground nearby Sand Ruins. At this point, however, Eggman stole the now activated Key to Babylon Garden from Jet and hurried to Babylon Garden to claim its treasure himself.

As Eggman made it to the main entrance to Babylon Garden to use the key, however, Sonic appeared, trying to stop the doctor, but Eggman kept Sonic at bay by holding Amy hostage. Before Eggman could use the Key to Babylon Garden, however, Sonic used his new Extreme Gear to blow Eggman (and Amy) away and took back the key. As Jet then arrived, having lost to Sonic in a race on the way, Sonic tried to give the Key to Babylon Garden back to Jet, but Jet, seeing this as an act of pity, refused his offer and tried to give it back to Sonic. However, Wave then arrived and took the Key to Babylon Garden back on behalf of Jet.

Back at the front gate Jet used the Key to Babylon Garden to open the main entrance and headed in to claim the place's treasure, but it ended up with the Babylon Rouges and Team Sonic confronting the Babylon Guardian.

After beating the Babylon Guardian and uncovering Babylon Garden's treasure, which turned out to be a Magic Carpet-Extreme Gear, the Key to Babylon Garden automatically activated the Magic Carpet for the display of the whole group. After this, the Key to Babylon Garden presumably remained in Jet's possession.

Archie Comics
In the Archie Comics, the Key to Babylon Garden was an ancient Babylonian artifact and was originally one of two components that made up the ignition matrix of the Babylon Garden, the other being the Gravity Ring. After the ancient Babylonians crash-landed on Mobius about a thousand years ago, they removed the ignition matrix and separated its two components to prevent Babylon Garden from being reactivated, as due to a malfunction its activation would destroy the planet. The Key was placed in a hidden location under the Gigan Mountains and guarded by Angelus.

In 3237, the Babylon Rogues discovered a book in ancient Babylonian that revealed the location of the Key. Not knowing the truth of Babylon Garden, Jet the Hawk only wished to obtain the Key to gain personal glory. Ignoring the warning given by Angelus, Jet removed the Key, causing energy signatures to resonate. This lead to the Key falling into the possession of the Battle Lord, who owned the Gravity Ring. Placing the Ring into the Key revealed the location of Babylon Garden, now buried deep beneath New Mobotropolis. The Battle Bird Armada and the Babylon Rogues attacked New Mobotropolis to gain access to the Garden, and the Rogues placed the combined Ring and Key into the Garden's systems, reactivating it and causing it to rise from beneath the ground. However, it was then realized that reactivating the Garden would cause a black hole to form, as per Angelus' warning, and destroy Mobius itself; while Jet, Wave, Storm and Speedy debated on a course of action, Sonic the Hedgehog removed the ignition matrix and destroyed both the Key and Ring. Losing power, the Babylon Garden crashed into the mountains.