>>537011264
I've always had an AU in my head where the Chaos Emeralds and ME were themselves an incarnation of a celestial being that was using Sonic and Co. to manifest itself in a future timeline causing a time loop. This is very obviously based on Chrono Trigger's Lavos. It also explains how and why timelines like Sonic 06 and Prime are able to wipe themselves out of existence so easily. The emeralds decided there was no future in those timelines where said deity could manifest and gestate so it decided to wipe the slate clean and start over.
