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Chapter Text

Mobius Mania

Prologue: The Doctor Is In

Today had not been a good day for one Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik. Not only had Sonic and his entourage beaten him again but now he and the entirety of his Egg Reverie fortress were being sucked into a vortex courtesy of an out-of-control Phantom Ruby.

From what he could remember, Sonic had managed to use the Chaos Emeralds to get he and his friends to safety while he’d been tossed away with the rest of his latest masterpiece. The cherry on top of this misfortune sundae was when the trip through the portal finally ended and Eggman landed headfirst into a large pile of scrap metal.

“Gyaaaaaagh~! DOOF!”

The impact hit hard, but the pain only worsened as the rotund genius rolled over on the pile and landed on the muddled ground, followed shortly after by his trusty Egg Mobile.

“Blast that spiky blue rat!” Eggman swore. “He’s the one who got sucked in by the Phantom Ruby first, why couldn’t he just stay wherever he wound up and leave me and my world domination alone!” Expressing his intense frustration, Eggman slammed both fists on the ground before getting up and kicking his vehicle right in its hull. Once he realized what he’d done however, he quickly calmed himself.

“Easy Doctor. This thing is the only defense I have in this…wherever I am…so it’s best to keep it as pristine as I can.” He said to himself. “Speaking of…where exactly am I?”

Eggman surveyed his surroundings and from what he could see, it looked like he was on the outskirts of some sort of city. A heavily mechanized city at that, especially judging from the pile of metal he crashed into as well as the smell of burning oil and other fumes in the air.

“Hmmm…I don’t know where this place is, but I love how they operate, and speaking of operations.”

Eggman sauntered over to the Eggmobile and rolled it upright. Somehow, miraculously, it was still functional much to his delight. However, it wasn’t in the best shape to fly. Pushing a button under its panel, Eggman revealed what appeared to be an emergency tool kit and got to work on repairing it as best as he could. Unbeknownst to the Doctor, his work was being observed by a small drone with a lens between four rounded plates.

Viewing the drone’s feed was a small, balding man with a large nose clad in a green ensemble and a somewhat familiar looking large, rotund man in a mechanical throne clad in a red jumpsuit with a long, redhaired moustache and a cape.

“We’ve got visual on the intruder sir,” said the small work.

“Good work Snively. Is it a Freedom Fighter?” asked the large man.

“No sir. In fact, the intruder doesn’t look Mobian at all,” said Snively.

“Oh?”

“Yes sir. He looks…human.”

“Now isn’t that intriguing,” sneered the large man. “Capture him at once. Bring our new guest to me.”

“Right away Dr. Robotnik.”

[]

Eggman continued fiddling around with his Eggmobile until, “Eureka!” With the flip of a switch, the round vehicle began to hover above the ground. “Haha! Great to see you back in working order!” Hopping inside, Eggman began running a quick diagnostics. The Eggmobile couldn’t fly very high, or at full speed. But on the plus side, the weapon system was functional, as was the homing beacon. “Hmmm…I wonder if…?”

“Halt intruder!”

“Wha-!?”

Before Eggman could activate the beacon, he quickly found himself surrounded by a squadron of dark-blue, humanoid looking robots. Some of them piloted their own flying crafts while most of them were on foot, their fists aimed at Eggman.

Getting over his initial shock, Eggman gave the metallic soldiers his own sneer. “Well, this is quite the welcoming committee. I really do like how things work around here. Except…” Eggman pushed a button on the panel and the cockpit was quickly sealed with a clear dome. “I’d prefer when it isn’t done to me!”

Tugging on the joystick, Eggman took to the air and the robots started firing lasers at him. The Eggmobile took a moment to really get its proverbial footing, but its erratic flight patterns due to its damage made it a much harder target for the robots to hit. The downside was, due to its lessened speed, the robot pilots were quickly gaining on the retreating Doctor, and his room to dodge steadily began dwindling.

“So you want a little dogfight action, eh? Fine!” Pulling back on the joystick, Eggman flipped his craft upside down just as soon as the robots were closing in on him. At the last moment, the bottom of the craft opened up revealing a large, wrecking ball with a brown checkerboard pattern on it. The giant orb slammed into the flying robots, sending them crashing down into their grounded piers, leaving all present in a massive pile of scrap metal and flames.”

[]

“The first squadron has been…destroyed sir,” whimpered Snively.

Robotnik’s eyes narrowed as he viewed the mysterious intruder. He hadn’t gotten a good look at his face after he retreated into his vehicle, but something about him, he found appealing.

“Sir?”

“Dispatch another Swatbot unit to pursue. His machine is better armed than we anticipated. However, I’m sure even you can tell that it’s running on fumes.”

“Of course you moronic bean,” muttered Snively.

“WHAT was that Snively!?”

“I said, I’m sending a team sir.”

Robotnik laid back in his chair before extending a hand, which was promptly sat upon by a scrap metal, robotic chicken. “Ohhh, it’s going to be one of those days, isn’t it Cluck?”

[]

After dealing with the Swatbots, Eggman retracted his wrecking ball. He took a moment to survey his surroundings and that’s when his eyes finally lay on a giant, metal, monolith right in the center of the city. “Well now, that looks important. Maybe that’s the place I can get some answers. “In the meantime, it’s probably best to get to ground level. With the Egg-O-Matic being in the shape that its in, I’d rather not take any chances fighting any more of those droids.” ‘I’m certain that isn’t the end of them.’

Nearly on cue, Eggman’s dome was struck by a stray laser blast and the Eggmobile was knocked off balance. “What!? More already!?”

Sure enough, a second squadron of Swatbots, this time, all piloting hover vehicles were approaching Eggman with urgency, evidenced by their red lenses flashing. “Okay, change of plans. No sneaking around, I’m going straight for the heart!”

At takeoff, Eggman instinctively attempted to activate the Eggmobile’s jets. Unfortunately, the engines only spat out a small puffer of smoke and flames before petering out.

“I knew I should’ve gotten the turbo.”

BSSSSSH!

“Gyagh!” With little options, Eggman could only keep flying in a bid to avoid capture as the Swatbot squad continued to fire on their mysterious target. Unbeknownst to Eggman and the Swatbots, a small portal opened up right below their previous position, revealing a blue robot with a spiked head, a turbine in its chest, and an oddly shaped fuchsia gem in its hand.

[]

“They’re gaining on him sir!” beamed Snively.

“I see that Snively, and I must admit, it’s quite the spectacle,” said a surprisingly gleeful Robotnik.

The pair had been watching the exchange between their mysterious guest and the Swatbots, and to be honest they were both impressed with how he managed to avoid capture. Ordinarily, such a thing would be cause for unyielding rage (except of course, in the case of traps), but the fact that their target was using such a brilliant piece of machinery, quelled most of the ire they felt from their failures. ‘Most’ being the key word. The longer the chase went on, the more annoyed Robotnik would get. The fact that the Swatbots were getting thrashed by everything from bombs, to fire blasts, and f course that accursed wrecking ball, started to grate on Robotnik. Finally he’d had enough.

“I’ve grown tired of these games Snively. Capture that intruder now!” Robotnik demanded.

Quickly composing himself, Snively issued an order to their forces. “All Swatbots converge at point 6-91. Box in the intruder and capture him.”

The Swatbots did as commanded and soon Eggman had bogies on both his tail and dead ahead. “I can escape this. I just need to time this correctly!”

Speeding towards the blockade ahead of him, Eggman once again flipped his craft upside down, though instead of a wrecking ball, he instead launched a singular spiky bomb upwards. Under gravity’s influence, the bomb naturally fell, just as the rear pursuing Swatbots were gaining. Once there was little distance between the front and rear Swatbots, Eggman once again activated the jets, again getting little in terms of feedback. It did however, give him the small extra boost he needed to ascend his craft above the blast zone as the bomb exploded right in the giant mass of machine soldiers, launching the Eggmobile high into the air.

“Gyaaagh…!”

The force of the explosion was much greater than Eggman had anticipated however and he soon found himself tumbling out of control within his own aircraft.

Robotnik wasn’t so happy either as yet again, his target managed to escape capture.

"Snively, where did he go!? Find him at once!"

"Yes sir. It seems we’ve still got him on visual feed.”

“Good. Something around here still functions properly,” Robotnik droned. “Calculate his trajectory find out where he’ll land.”

“I’m already on it sir…though I…don’t think you’ll like the results….” Snively whimpered.

Robotnik narrowed his eyes. “Now what makes you say that?”

“Because he’s landing right in the command center sir!”

“Excuse me?”

Snively’s response was silenced by a loud crash and the vehicle in question landing on the far side of the room. With a quick click, its pilot tumbled out and onto the floor, in a puff of smoke clutching his head.

“Doh curse it all…that’s the second crash in less than two hours!” Getting his bearings, Eggman looked through the smoke to find a silhouette of a large rotund man in a cape. His most striking feature however, was the piercing, glowing, red gaze that shone down on Eggman.

“What in-ggh!”

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Eggman was barely given time to react before he felt himself getting tugged by his collar and hoisted into the air.

“Who are you?” asked Eggman.

“I do believe that’s my line. After all, you are the one who made a mockery of my army!”

While Robotnik stared down his newest capture, Snively could only tremble in disbelief at the scene unfolding in front of him.

“Th-th-th-th-there-there’s-there’s TWO OF-!?”

“Snively, quit your mumbling and get over to that vehicle of his. I want every nook and cranny inspected!” Ordered Robotnik.

“Yes sir!”

“Hey! You have no right to touch that!” Screamed Eggman.

“What makes you think you have the right to give orders to anyone?” asked Robotnik.

Eggman showed his captor his own twisted sneer before answering, “This!” From his sleeve, Eggman palmed a remote control and pushed the button, causing an orb shaped energy blast to fire from the Eggmobile’s front lens.

Snively yelped as he dove away to dodge the shot, and Robotnik instinctively covered his head, giving Eggman the opening he needed to counter. Striking the dazed Robotnik in the eyes, the dictator was forced to release his captive who quickly scurried back to his vehicle. He quickly tried to take off again but to no avail. With little options left, he started pressing buttons at random, intending to create a distraction by firing all weapons, and it seemed to be working as Robotnik and Snively took cover behind the throne.

Unknown to him, in his hastiness, one of the buttons he hit was the switch to activate the beacon and a signal was sent out. This signal would be received by the seemingly inactive spiky blue robot, who’s eyes flashed red before dying out. That small spark however caused a reaction to the gem in the robot’s hand which was quickly covered in a negative force that quickly dissipated. The robots red eyes lit up once more before the jet on its back quickly roared to life. Getting to its feet, the robot ascended before blasting off at high speed.

[]

Back in the command center, Eggman’s assault had come to an abrupt end as the Eggmobile was finally devoid of power, leaving Eggman defenseless. Peaking out from behind the throne, Robotnik sneered. “What’s wrong friend? All out of tricks?”

“Not quite!”

Reaching into a compartment under the seat, Eggman produced a blaster and subsequently fired it at his opponent. Robotnik dove back behind the chair, but with only one thing to worry about, he was prepared to counterattack. Sticking out his left index finger, Robotnik fired his own laser at Eggman who turned the Eggmobile upright and hid behind it for cover. This shootout would continue with both doctors shooting and ducking, but neither of them hitting their targets. It seemed like it could go on until an alert shone on the main monitor.

“Ehhh, what’s that?” asked Eggman.

“Hedgehog alert! Priority one!” shouted a robotic voice.

“Hedgehog?”

“The hedgehog is here!? Now!?” screamed Robotnik.

Hitting a button on the throne’s panel, the screen switched to the feed of the spybots which revealed a blue blur blasting past, over, and through all of Robotnik’s Swatbot forces.

“Where’s he going!?” Robotnik demanded.

Eggman held fire as he too watched the screen with intrigue. Things were starting to become clear, but there were still a few unclear factors. For starters, that blue-blur’s destination. As the visual feed switched in order to keep up with the incredible speed, it soon unveiled the blur’s destination.

“It looks like he’s headed straight for us sir!” Snively exclaimed.

Robotnik growled. “Let him come, he’ll never get inside the…!” The manic dictator bit his tongue as the blur took off from the ground and circled around the outer perimeter of the fortress. “The hedgehog flies now!”

“Ehehehehehe…Dahahahahahaha!”

Robotnik and Snively turned to find Eggman laughing almost hysterically. “What’s so funny?”

“Now I understand. It all makes sense now, as does the fact that you’ve lost this battle, friend,” he declared.

“So, you’re allies with the Hedgehog are you?” Robotnik accused.

“Perish the thought…Doctor. But then again, that isn’t the hedgehog.”

“What?”

On cue, the blur zipped in through the hole Eggman’s crash landing had provided and finally revealed itself to the trio. Robotnik and Snively could only watch in awe and disbelief as a mechanized marvel modeled after their greatest foe sauntered over to the newcomer.

“I’m so glad to see you in one piece, Metal Sonic,” Eggman greeted.

Metal Sonic lifted his hand, revealing the mysterious gem. “And the Phantom Ruby too!? I guess that explains why you’re still functioning after our latest little mishap.”

“Metal Sonic?”

Eggman took the Phantom Ruby from Metal before stepping towards Robotnik and Snively in a non-threatening manner. “Gentlemen, I do believe we may have gotten off on the wrong foot here. Despite what I may have done to your soldiers, I assure you it was all self defense, and not an attempt to cause you any inconvenience. After all, I am a new arrival to this world.”

“New arrival?”

“To…this world?”

Eggman nodded. “Allow me to introduce myself. These days, I am known as Dr. Eggman, but my truest name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik, and I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.”

The caped Doctor’s eyes went wide before lowering in a twisted sneer. “Did you say, ‘Robotnik’?”

Eggman merely let out a soft chuckle which Robotnik quickly joined in. As their maniacal laughter intensified, Snively could only cower as the shadow of the doctors bathed his diminutive frame.

“Great lords of Mobius, there really ARE two of them!” as Snively’ consciousness faded, the Doctors’ laughter echoed across the darkened skies of Robotropolis.

(A/N: [Cue Music] Look out when he storms through, Sonic the Hedgehog. Don’t doubt what he can do, Sonic the Hedgehog…is not in this chapter, but don’t worry. We’ll be seeing him real soon. The question is, which one? Anyways, yup. I’m actually starting another story. I’ve been wanting to write a Sonic fanfiction ever since I was a kid, before I even knew what fanfiction was. I’ve also wanted to do a crossover between SatAM and Game Canon.  I remember once reading an old fan-comic that crossed over Game Canon (pre-Generations I believe) with the Archie Comics (pre-reboot), and while I’m not trying to recreate it and it wasn’t exactly a direct inspiration for this story, I do want to shout it out (sadly its been canned for years so don’t bother looking it up). But here’s the twist: Unlike that comic, I’m only using Classic Era Sonic.  Modern Era Sonic and friends are FAR too powerful to not be completely game breaking in the SatAM world. Granted, I do believe game Classic Sonic is also more powerful than SatAM Sonic, but not to the extent that Modern Sonic would be. Also, despite me saying ‘Game Canon’, I will also be taking supplementary material into account when it comes to the Game’s side of things, mainly the Sonic Mania Adventures shorts and the IDW 30^th Anniversary Comic (may also take a cue or two from the Genesis of a Hero story from Reboot Archie, but that may be a bit much). Anyways, next time we get to see what Sonic and friends are getting up to, but again, which Sonic and which set of friends? Stay tuned to find out.)

Chapter Text

Mobius Mania

The Fastest Thing ‘Alive’?

In the outskirts of Robotropolis, hidden within an average looking pile of junk and scrap, a robotic blue hedgehog, with features of an elderly man was carefully reviewing footage he received from a hidden computer screen.

“Halt intruder! Hedgehog priority one!” came the voices of Swatbots on the video.

“Hedgehog? What’s that Sonny boy doin’?” The robot hedgehog reviewed the footage and watched as a blue blur tore through the Swatbots before heading to Robotnik’s command center. With narrowed eyes, he killed the feed before he began typing up a message.

“I should probably hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. Sonny boy’s got some ‘splaining to do.”

[]

In the heart of a large, lush green forest, one of the few settlements left untouched by Robotnik’s rule, stood a small village with houses put together from the natural materials that surrounded them. In one such house sat a red-haired chipmunk girl clad in blue boots and a matching vest. With the day being uneventful she opted to spend her rare moment of free time simply reading a book. She’d be pulled away from her book by the shrill chirping of an exotic looking bird.

“A message from Uncle Chuck?” she said aloud. Letting the bird perch on her arm, she took the message and read it silently before gasping. Her surprise turned to annoyed ire as she rolled up the scroll and called out, “Sonic!!”

In a matter of seconds, a gust of wind blew up in the village accompanied by a familiar blue streak. As the streak screeched to a halt, it revealed itself to be a young-blue hedgehog who struck a victorious pose. “Aaaaand that’s game!” he announced with a chuckle.

“Sonic!” the girl called again.

“In a Mobius Minute Sal,” Sonic dissuaded. “I gotta wait for Dulcy to catch up.” Sonic immediately placed his hands on his hips and began tapping his foot. Glancing down at his wrist, he droned out, “I’m waaait~!” Before he could even finish the word, a loud crash, accompanied by a pair of female screams sounded in the village. The source of said crash and screams: A large, teal dragon with a nose ring and a rabbit girl with a robotic left arm and legs.

“Huh…make that a Sonic Second instead.” As Sonic zipped over to the two, Sally quickly followed suit.

“Yo, you girls alright?” asked Sonic.

“Hey Ma, I made it home~,” replied the dazed Dragon.

“Looks like Dulcy’s alright Sugar-Hog, but I’m feelin’ a little jet-lagged after a crash landin’ like that,” said the rabbit.

“You and Dulcy can take five Bunnie. I need to speak with Sonic…alone,” said Sally.

“Oh, is that a fact?” Bunnie asked in a teasing manner.

Crossing her arms, Sally replied, “Yes it is,” and gave Bunnie a look that told her that their meeting was all business.

Moments later, Sonic and Sally were assembled back in her house and the latter did not look pleased.

“So what’s up Sal?”

“I think that’s my line,” Sally sharply replied. “Sonic, where were you last night?”

“Here in Knothole, why?”

“Sonic, you don’t have to lie to me. I don’t mind if you want to go on solo missions, but you’ve GOT to report back to me when you return, we don’t keep secrets when it comes to attacks on Robotnik. Also, you can’t go around ‘Quills blazing’ into Robotnik’s control room!”

Sonic quickly and defensively raised his arms up. “Hey whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I ain’t even done nothin’!”

“I have evidence to the contrary.”

“Say what?”

Sally reached into her vest pocket and pulled out the message from earlier, unraveling it and holding it in Sonic’s face. “What’s this?”

“It’s a message from Uncle Chuck, saying that last night, Robotnik’s “Hedgehog Alarm” was set off.

“Well whatever set it off wasn’t me?”

“Oh?” Sally raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “And I suppose you have proof?”

“You want proof? I’ll give ya proof! Let’s juice!”

“Hey wait, where are we…!?”

Before Sally could finish, Sonic grabbed her by the arm and rushed off, taking her along. Seconds later, the two arrived near a small two-tailed fox boy and a teal walrus with a tool-belt strapped onto him.

“Hey Sonic, Sally, what’s up?” greeted the walrus.

“Yo Rote, Tails, I need y’all to clear somethin’ up for us,” said Sonic.

“Clear up what?”

“Where was I last night?”

“You were with us helping spruce up the Freedom Stormer,” said Rotor.

“What?” Sally exclaimed.

“Yeah. Sonic, Rotor and I were trying to modify the wings so it could fly smoother. With Dulcy always crash landing, Rotor wanted to make sure that the same sort of thing wouldn’t happen in the airplane,” Tails explained.

Sonic held out his arms in an introductory manner. “And there ya have it Sal. While Rote handled all the machine-head stuff, Tails was our lookout and I was the equipment guy. I never left Knothole at all last night.”

Sally’s expression softened. From the looks of things, Sonic seemed to be telling the truth, and he even had Rotor and Tails to confirm his story. Still, some doubt remained Uncle Chuck wouldn’t lie to them, about something like this.

“Sal?”

“How long last night were you guys working on the plane?”

The boys all had their own contemplative looks as they tried to recall the time of night. “I could be a little off, but I believe we started at around 1800 and worked for…around three, maybe four hours after that,” said Rotor.

Sonic narrowed an eye in thought. “Yo, what time did Uncle Chuck say the alarm went off?”

“It doesn’t say in the note,” Sally replied.

“Then I guess we’ll have to hear it straight from the Ol’ hedgehog mouth.”

“Agreed,” Sally nodded. “Rotor, let the others know that Sonic and I are going to see Uncle Chuck. We need answers.”

“Sure thing. Though I think you may also need a ring,” Rotor reminded them.

“No problemo. Back in a Sonic Sec.”

As Sonic shot off to the grotto, Sally pulled out the note and read it over. ‘From the way things are turning out, Sonic might be truly innocent here, but then that begs the question. Robotnik’s Hedgehog Alarm wouldn’t go off unless he genuinely thought it was Sonic causing trouble, but then if it wasn’t really Sonic, then what set off the alarm?’

[]

Sonic, with Sally in his arms zoomed across the horizon. The two remained unnaturally silent as they each had their own thoughts on the current situation. “Yo Sal,” Sonic finally spoke up.

“What is it Sonic?”

“I just had a thought.”

“Now there’s a rare occurance,” Sally joked.

“Would you get serious?” Sonic snapped.

“Talk about your role reversals,” Sally chuckled.

“Listen Sal! I think Uncle Chuck might be in trouble!”

Sally immediately dropped the snark and replied, “What makes you think that?”

“The note you got. I just thought…what if Uncle Chuck ain’t the one who sent it?”

A look of dread flashed across Sally’s face as she quickly understood Sonic’s implications. “You mean…you think Robotnik may have found him and sent the note as…some kind of trap?”

“Or a way to turn us against each other.”

“Oh my gosh…I never even thought of that!”

“You? Not thinking? Now that’s a rare occurrence,” Sonic joked.

Sally crossed her arms. “I walked into that one didn’t I?”

“Oh-ho, big time!” With a victorious chuckle, Sonic sped off not stopping until they finally reached the secret bunker of Sir Charles the Hedgehog. Knocking on the hollowed-out pile of scrap, Sonic called out. “Yo Unc, you in there? It’s us!”

The side of the pile flipped open to reveal an entrance where Sonic and Sally were quickly greeted by the roboticized, elder hedgehog. “Great, you two are here. Come in quickly, we’ve got a bit to talk about.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

Once the young Freedom Fighters were inside, no time was wasted as Sally instantly pulled out the note. “Charles, we need you to level with us, did you really send us this note?”

Chuck took the note and quickly read it over before nodding his confirmation. “Yup, I sure did. I could hardly believe my eyes and ears myself when I heard that Sonny was goin’ around causin’ a ruckus by himself.”

“The feeling’s mutual except….”

“Whoever it was causin’ a storm in the city wasn’t me!” Sonic protested.

“Look Sonny, we all know you’re more than capable of handling Solo Missions but…”

“You can spare him the lecture Uncle Chuck, I already gave it to him. But the thing is, Sonic seems to be telling the truth,” Sally interjected.

“Seems to…?”

“I’m just saying, he has an alibi on where he was last night, and your testimony can prove whether it’s true or not.”

Chuck rubbed his chin then nodded. “Okay then. What do you kids want to know?”

“When did the Hedgehog alert go off?”

Chuck turned to the screen and began typing. Seconds later, he had his answer. “According to the logs it was…at around 1830 hours.”

“Bingo!” Sonic exclaimed.

“Bingo what?”

“According to Sonic, he was with Rotor and Tails at Knothole at around that time. They backed him up, and you just sealed it.”

“Thank you very much. Now to prove I’m the bigger man here, I’ll wait until we get home before I start askin’ for the apology you owe me.”

“Good grief,” Sally sighed.

Chuck crossed his arms. Even if Sonic wasn’t being wreckless, they still had a major problem to contend with. “Okay then, it’s my turn to ask a question.”

“Shoot Unc.”

“If Sonny wasn’t the one making a mess of the Swatbots…” Chuck paused to hit a button on the keyboard, bringing up the visual feed from last night. Sure enough, it showed a blue blur blasting through a horde of Swatbots. Sonic could only watch in shock and awe as Sally turned a displeased glance to the hedgehog.

“Sonic, an explanation?” said Sally.

“I don’t got one, but I KNOW that ain’t me!”

“Are you certain? You are the only thing that’s both fast and blue around these parts,” said Uncle Chuck.

“Come on you guys! I already told you, I was with Rote and Tails when this was happenin’. Even I’m n-n-nnnn-!” Sonic bit his tongue as he began to stutter.

“Sonny?”

“Even I’m n-n-n-n…!”

“Oh my gosh…are you trying to say what I think you’re trying to say!?” Sally gasped.

“I dunno, whadaya think I’m tryin’ to say?”

“It almost like you’ were going to say, ‘Even I’m not fast enough to be in two places at once,’” Chuck said in a light, teasing manner.

“Your words, not mine,” Sonic dismissed.

Sally couldn’t help but giggle. Even if he didn’t say it himself, she acknowledged his admittance. “Okay, okay. All joking aside, Sonic does bring up a good point. If he was in Knothole when the alarm sounded, he couldn’t have been here in Robotropolis which means….”

“Looks like you’ve got a bad case of impostor syndrome Sonny.”

“Uncle Chuck, that’s not what impostor syndrome is,” Sally began. “It’s the person themselves feeling like a fake when…”

Ignoring Sally’s explanation, Sonic made a wholehearted declaration. “I don’t know who this impostor is, but if he shows his mug again, I’ll be there to run him offa Mobius. I’ll show them what happens to people who impersonate the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog!”

Dropping her earlier definition, Sally spoke up. “Do you really think we’re dealing with an impostor Sonic though? I mean, anyone can make themselves look blue, but how can they mimic your speed?”

“Sal please, nobody can mimic my speed,” Sonic boastfully proclaimed.

“Robotnik’s Racer Robot,” Sally reminded him.

“Hey, that race had no conclusion. And I would’ve creamed that thing anyways.”

Realization flashed on Uncle Chuck’s face. “Hey wait…what if that’s the answer!?”

“Huh?”

“Robotnik’s racer. Do you think someone might’ve been able to find and reprogram it?”

Sonic and Sally mulled it over. That was definitely possible. The machine was able to keep up with Sonic, and given a blue paint-job, it’d be difficult to tell if it was the real Sonic or not if it was going fast enough.

“I don’t know Charles, but if that is the case, then who did reprogram it?”

“Now there’s the million mobium question. Unfortunately, we have next to no answers.”

“So what now?” asked Sonic.

“For now, you two should head back and continue doing what you best. I’m going to keep a special eye on things here. If Sonny’s doppelganger shows up again, I want a good look at the thing. Find out who’s side its on.”

“You do that Unc. Sal and I are gonna enjoy the rest of our day off before we get ready for our next big mission.”

“Sure thing you two, but be careful headin’ back home. I have a feeling that Sonny’s mysterious copy won’t be the only nasty surprise in store for us.”

After saying their final goodbyes, Sonic and Sally sped off back to the great forest with quite a bit to think about. Robotnik’s apparent Doomsday Project was still a concern, but now with an impostor Sonic running around, things were sure to get complicated. If Robotnik wasn’t already on edge, he’s sure to start taking more serious measures after the attack last night. It looks like rest for the Freedom Fighters wasn’t going to last for too long.

[Meanwhile, in Robotropolis]

The dual Doctors watched with glee as Metal Sonic stood beside Robotnik’s Racer Robot. On Snively’s mark, the two robots shot off at high speed. Despite initially starting off at even speeds, Metal Sonic quickly overtook his quadrupedal rival before crossing the finish line full seconds ahead of it.

“That’s over 500 miles an hour sirs!” Said Snively.

“Almost twice as fast as my old racer,” noted Robotnik.

“If you think that’s impressive, just wait until you see old Metal on the battlefield,” Eggman boasted.

Robotnik summoned a squad of Swatbots to Metal Sonic’s location and the robotic copy made short work of them with his chest blaster. After returning to the command center, leaving Metal’s maintenance in Snively’s hands, the Doctors struck up a conversation about their next move.

“Impressive Doctor truly. I have to admit, this demonstration has been most entertaining.”

“I am a man who aims to please,” grinned Eggman.

“Still, I’m not entirely sure I’m interested in this plan of yours,” Robotnik dissuaded.

“I understand your hesitance Doctor, but I can assure you, if you wish to be rid of those meddlesome rodents, you're going to need my resources," Eggman countered.

"Considering you’ve failed numerous times to conquer your world, I think need may be too strong a word.”

“And yet, despite you controlling most of your world, you’ve failed numerous times to catch a small handful of nuisances to make your conquest absolute,” Eggman countered, much to Robotnik’s ire. “Besides, I’ve got it much harder since I have to work my way up from nothing. You on the other hand, had a kingdom before you ripe for the taking with nothing to oppose you. That however, leaves your forces relatively weak as a unit.”

“Excuse me!?” Robotnik dangerously growled.

“Don’t misunderstand, I said ‘comparatively’ weak,” Eggman clarified. “You certainly are no slouch when it comes to maintaining order and control, but your offense is severely lacking.”

“My offense?”

Eggman nodded. “Your Swatbots are excellent soldiers, but that’s all they are: mere grunts, pawns going up against a full set. Where are the big guns? The bishops, the knights, the queen!? From what you’ve shown me in the past, you have had a share of heavy artillery, love the radar cannon by the way, but nothing stood out to me as game changing. I on the other hand have countless of weapons ranging from soldiers, to mechs to everything in between that, if given the necessary time could annihilate an entire country in minutes, let alone a single forest.”

Robotnik narrowed his eyes. It was obvious his counterpart loved boasting about his machines. A sentiment he could share, but he was starting to grow tired of it. Still, if even a fraction of what he said is true, it could be the edge he needed. If Metal Sonic was any indication, then Eggman may just be telling the truth.

“You drive a hard bargain Doctor, but there are still factors that I think you need to clarify for me.”

“Such as?”

“For starters, how do you intend for us to get back to your world?”

“Let me answer your question with one of my own; Can you please explain this ‘Void’ phenomenon to me?” asked Eggman.

“The Void!?”

Eggman took note of Robotnik’s reaction. There was genuine fear in his exclamation. “Was that a sour spot?”

“Apologies you had to see that, but if at all necessary, I’d like to avoid that pit as much as possible.”

“Just hear me out. Remember this gemstone Metal Sonic had with him?”

“The Phantom Ruby?”

“Yes. Well, let’s just say, I had a little theory. The Phantom Ruby brought me here, but since it was by accident, I unfortunately have no clue how to use it to send me back…which is where the Void comes in.”

“Are you planning to use that jewel to force open the Void?”

“Not just force it open. Turn it into our own little revolving door between your world and mine. We’ll be able to come and go as we please, granting us easy access to both of our resources.”

“That does sound promising, but how do you propose we go about doing such a thing?”

“I’ll need some more information on the void itself, but once you so graciously provide me the info I need, I’m sure two brilliant minds such as ours can construct a necessary apparatus.”

Robotnik paused to consider Eggman’s plan. It was undoubtedly risky. Whenever the Void is involved, that blasted sorcerer Naugus won’t be too far behind. Then again, if he leaves the Void, he risks death, which did a great deal to ease Robotnik’s troubled mind.

“I’ll need a to think on this a little longer. In the meantime, why don’t we discuss the other point of contention with your plan.”

“And that would be?”

“You already know.” Robotnik sneered.

“Oho, you’re referring to my little blue nuisance,” Eggman guffawed. “Don’t worry good Doctor. I already have a plan to keep that little rodent in his borrow. We’ll need to make some preparations, but once we return to my world, I’ll make sure MY Sonic won’t be an issue.”

Robotnik glared with glowing eyes at Robotnik but eased into a satisfied grin. “Very well then Doctor. Shall we get to work?”

“We shall.”

[Elsewhere]

Alongside the bright, white sandy shores of an island stood a small house, no bigger than a large garage. Beside the house lay a large red biplane with an emblem of two fox tails and the letters S-O-N-I-C emblazoned on it.

On the plain’s top-most wing laid yet another blue-quilled, red shoed hedgehog while at the plane’s front engine, stood a small, orange furred fox with two-tails.

“You Tails, how much longer till this baby’s back in flying shape again?” asked the hedgehog.

“Shouldn’t be much longer Sonic. Just need to untangle and reconnect a few more wires,” the fox replied. “Man…it sure has been a crazy week so far, hasn’t it?”

“I’ll say. I never expected to run into Mighty and Ray again,” Sonic replied.

“Well…yeah, but I was talking about you going back to the future world. I wish I could’ve been there too.”

Sonic’s expression darkened. “Trust me Tails, no you don’t.”

“But Sonic, that’s the second time where you’ve seen a future where Eggman wins,” Tails whined.

“And the second time I’ve prevented it from happening too.”

“It’s also the second time since we met you’ve gone on an adventure without me,” Tails huffed.

Sonic giggled. “Sorry buddy, didn’t mean to. I’ll tell you what. The next time Eggman’s fortress creates a dark portal to the future, I’ll mae sure you’re right beside me so you get sucked in too.”

Tails shuddered at Sonic’s description. While he hated being left out of Sonic’s adventures, when they’re described like that, they suddenly sound less appealing. “On second thought, maybe staying home wasn’t the worst thing after all.”

“That’s what I thought.” Chuckled Sonic.

The two remained silent for a moment until Sonic finally spoke up again. “You know something Tails…my memories of that whole thing are starting to get fuzzy….”

“You mean like after the first time we met our older selves?”

“Yeah…I’ve already forgotten about some pretty major things, but I haven’t forgotten how horrible Eggman’s world looked…at least not yet. So while it’s still pretty fresh in my mind, I want it to be a reminder of why we can’t slow down. As long as Eggman is still cooking up some crazy scheme, we’ll be first in line to scramble him!”

“For sure Sonic!” Tails agreed. “But Eggman’s been gone for a few days now. Even he can’t come up with something big in that short a time.”

“Not unless he just happens to find another jewel of power or something,” Sonic sarcastically droned.

“Sonic, you’re gonna jinx us!”

Sonic merely shrugged. If Eggman did come up with another scheme so soon, they’d be ready and willing to stop him again.

“Okay Sonic, we’re all set!” Tails announced.

“Sweet!”

 Shutting the engine chamber, Tails hopped into the pilot seat and fired the plane up. With a few sputters, the craft roared to life, it’s propeller spinning at speeds even Sonic himself could envy.

“Tornado…liftoff!”

As Tails ascended the craft, Sonic stood firm yet casually on the wings, set to enjoy the inviting breeze of the air.

(A/N:[Cue Sonic 1 and 2 intro music] Sonic the Hedgehog, you can’t catch what you can’t see, Sonic the Hedgehog he’s…wait, that’s from the wrong show. So, the Freedom Fighters are made aware of something that can move as fast as Sonic just as Eggman is making preparations to return to his world. There’s absolutely NO WAY that could have ANY negative impact at all. Joking aside we’re one step closer to a full on mix-up between the cartoon and games. When that happens, boy won’t it be a hassle trying to keep track of which Sonic and Tails is speaking. Speaking of speaking, I really hope I got the dialogue between SatAM Sonic and Sally down. I tried to make Sally reasonably upset with Sonic, but not so much to the point she comes off as overbearing. And don’t worry, we’ll see more of the other FF’s soon enough (I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with Antoine) as well as the game cast. Quick disclaimer, don’t expect all the chapters to be released as quickly as this one, especially when or if they start to get longer than 3K-4K words. I was just feeling very motivate and figured I could get a second chapter out without too much hassle. Here’s hoping things go just as smoothly moving forward cause the game’s just getting started. Until next time, I’m up, over, and GONE!)

PS: The ending bit about Sonic forgetting the events of Forces is why I mentioned Genesis of a Hero last chapter, as that’s where that plot point comes from. Tl;dr, as the timeline fixes itself, Sonic (and Tails’) memories of Generations started to fade so they won’t have knowledge of the future and the timeline would proceed as intended.

Chapter Text

Mobius Mania

Badniks and Bewilderment

“Its finally time!” announced a cheerful Eggman. Though it had taken nearly the whole night, he and Robotnik had finally completed a device designed to regulate the Phantom Ruby’s power. Now they just had to install it into Robotnik’s void generator.

“We’re ready to begin the test sirs!” announced Snively.

“Good. Send in Metal Sonic!”

In moments, Metal Sonic was set up in the Void’s chamber, the doctors and Snively watching him from the control room.

“Listen up Metal, we’re only going to keep the Void open for 30 seconds. All you have to do is confirm that our world is on the other side. If you can, feel free to bring back a specimen but you don’t have to. It’s currently NOT a priority. Go through, then come right back, understood!?”

With a few beeps, Metal nodded at his creator’s orders.

“Good. Fire this thing up!”

With a grin, Robotnik complied. Beneath the heavy machinery, the Phantom Ruby reacted, emitting its signature eerie chime as the void roared to life, sucking the robot hedgehog through its vortex. A few seconds later, the wind grew marginally stronger, slowly pulling apart the metal sheets in the chamber.

“Ummm…sir…the void is…!”

“I know Snively! Ivo, explain!”

“Ignore that for now, just keep it open!” snapped Eggman.

Through the void’s distortion, Metal Sonic zipped at high speeds, his electric field protecting him from the warped area around him. It wasn’t long until he finally reached the literal light at the end. With yet another chime of the Phantom Ruby, Metal Sonic soon found himself surrounded by fields of green and checkerboard covered land.

He was back in his original world. He couldn’t ascertain his exact location, but given the scenery, he had to be in either Green Hill or Emerald Hill. Regardless, he completed his task and needed to return asap. As he turned to head back, however, he spotted small something flying just in his vicinity; a lone flicky. His eyes flashing, Metal zipped over to the tiny bird and took in his grasp before jetting off back through the portal.

[]

“Huh…that’s weird?”

“What’s weird?”

Sonic and Tails’ flight had thus far been uneventful, until there was a small blip on Tails’ radar. It was quick, lasting for mere seconds, but Tails was certain he’d seen it.

“My radar just picked up something…and it looks like it was…Phantom Ruby Energy!?”

“The Phantom Ruby? Are you sure!?” said a now alarmed Sonic.

“Not entirely. Whatever did set off my radar is gone now. You think we should check it out?”

“Maybe…would you be able to follow up on it if we do?”

Tails pondered before nodding. “Probably not. If it was only enough to cause a small blip on my radar, there probably isn’t enough energy for me to trace.”

Sonic put a hand to his chin before making up his mind. “We should probably check it out anyways. Whenever that thing’s involved, it just means trouble.”

“Got it.” Tugging on the throttle, Tails turned the Tornado around and jetted towards the source. As the Tornado accelerated, Tails verbally shared the thought they both undoubtedly shared.

“Hey Sonic, do you think this means Eggman is back already?”

“I dunno Tails. It could just be the Ruby acting up on its own, but since Eggman got sucked into the portal it made last time, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were.”

[]

The return trip through the void was nearly as rough as the ‘going’ trip. Still Metal was able to make it through while keeping himself in one piece. Yet again, however, his exploits would catch the eyes of another; a bearded, sharp-toothed, horned being.

“What is this? A metallic quickster? Has he finally fallen to Robotnik’s power or…?” Raising his clawed hand, he focused before speaking aloud. “No…that isn’t the real Sonic, is it? What is that Robotnik up to now?”

[In Robotropolis]

The thirty seconds of the Void being open stretched for an eternity as the already intense wind intensified even further, practically pulling the chamber apart, bolt by bolt. A few seconds later, the protective glass from the viewing area shattered, causing the three to dart back.

“IVO!”

“Five more seconds! Four…three…two…!”

Before Eggman could finish, the familiar whoosh of an engine filled the air as Metal Sonic blasted back through the void, fighting against the intense wind.

“Yes! Close it now, close it!!!”

Slamming the button, the void was sealed, Robotnik and Snively still shuddering from the intense display.

“Yes I get it now, but it seems we may need to build a stronger unit. Half a minute more and this whole lab could’ve been obliterated.”

“Indeed, but first things first, Metal, report!”

Metal Sonic’s eyes flashed before he nodded his confirmation, much to Eggman’s delight. “Excellent! Just as I theorized, infusing your Void with the Phantom Ruby turned it into a gateway back home! We’re in business now!”

At his master’s delightful response, Metal then raised his hand showing off the flicky he captured and Eggman grew even giddier.

“Oh-ho-ho! It seems he did have the time to bring a little guest, Julian. You know what that means, right?”

Regaining his composure, Robotnik dusted himself off before replying. “Yes of course. Snively, get someone to tidy this place up while I properly introduce Ivo to the robticizer.”

“You do it, you fat, lazy, hornet…” Snively muttered.

“WHAT was that Snively!?”

“I said, I’ll get right on it sir!” Pushing the intercom button, Snively summoned a crew of cleaning robots while the doctors, flicky in hand made their exit.

“I’ve used the Void enough times before to know that its suction was markedly more intense than usual.”

“Tis but a taste of the Phantom Ruby’s true power,” Eggman boasted. “Unfortunately, its too unpredictable to use beyond opening the gateway between our worlds.”

“You say that, but I’ve yet to see this ‘unpredictability’ you speak of,” Robotnik noted.

“Hopefully, you’ll never have to. We were able to contain its power this time, but if left unchecked, it could very well bring your entire city into my world, and I mean that in the worst way possible.”

Robotnik shuddered as the image of his fortress getting sucked into the Void flashed in his mind. “Ughh…now there’s a haunting thought. Which reminds me, what exactly is your world like?”

“It’s a far cry from the mechanical utopia you’ve erected here, but that’ll change soon enough with your help.”

“Glad to be of service. I do love the thought of Roboticizing a whole other world…speaking of…

The two ended their conversation as they finally arrived at the Roboticizer chamber. As the two went on their way, they paid no mind to the scores of Swatbots and other servant robots patrolling the fortress. One such robot however, quickly made itself scarce from the rest.

[At the Roboticizer]

Eggman watched in awe as Robotnik tossed the frightened bird into the glass tube. Immediately, it frantically tried to fly away, but to no avail.

“Rest easy now, my fine feathered friend. This won’t hurt a bit,” Robotnik sneered.

As Eggman pulled a lever, the tube was alit with a bright, nigh electrifying flash that enveloped the flicky’s entire personage. A few seconds of mechanical humming and whirring passed before Robotnik deactivated the roboticizer. Where a flicky once flew now floated a mechanized drone of a bird circling the air of the lab.

“Incredible…to think its actually possible to transform flesh and bone into metal and circuitry!”

“Yes, it…really is quite a marvelous machine now, isn’t it?”

Eggman strolled over to Robotnik and extended a hand. “My dear, Doctor, I do believe I owe you an apology. Your offense may be a bit lacking, but you truly are one of the greatest minds I’ve encountered next to myself.”

With a grin, Robotnik shook his counterpart’s hand. “Apology accepted Doctor, though I admit, I can’t take…ALL of the credit for this one.”

“Oh?”

“Yes…in fact, I didn’t create the roboticizer…I stole it.”

“Stole it? From whom?”

“Why…one Doctor Charles Hedgehog.”

“Hedgehog!?”

“Tis a long story that would be best told another time. For now, let’s get back to the task at hand, shall we?”

“Of course…though you will explain to me who this Charles character is now!”

“Very well,” Robotnik sighed.

[]

While the doctors were in the roboticizer room, they as well as other patrolling bots paid no mind to a certain robot that had broken protocol and retreated to a familiar pile of scrap metal that opened to reveal a door. Once the coast was clear, Sir Charles hedgehog once again shed his disguise and mused aloud, “I’ve got to warn the kids pronto!”

[]

Sonic and Sally soon returned to the Great Forest, both still pondering the issue of Sonic’s ‘impostor’. It could be any number of things; The speed robot sent as a decoy to cause discourse, an illusion, some kind of newer speed robot built blue as a mockery. None of the theories seemed to add up. Whatever, they’d worry about that little nuisance later. For now, they had some bigger fish to fry.

“Ahhh, here we are, home sweet Knothole!” Sonic said as they approached the hidden passage.

“Sonic…I’m worried,” said Sally.

“Bout what? That impostor? It had to have just been a trap that went awry.”

“Sonic, I’m serious. If Robotnik made a robot to match your speed once, what could stop him from trying again?”

“He can try all he likes, he’ll never make somethin’ that can outrun me!”

Sally just sighed at Sonic’s typical response. ‘Maybe he’s right, but then again, maybe it doesn’t have to outrun him.’

“Besides Sal, we can’t even do anything about it until it shows its ugly mug again, so worryin’s only gonna make things harder.”

“Now that, I can agree with I suppose. Still…the idea of Robotnik having a robot with your kind of power on his side…it’s a little scary to think about.”

Ordinarily Sonic would have a quip ready, but the genuine worry on Sally’s face kept him quiet. “Don’t worry Sal. As long as I steer clear of the ol’ Roboticizer, Robuttnik is NEVER gonna match me. My speed is reserved ONLY for the Freedom Fighters…and the occasional chili-dog break.”

Sally rolled her eyes with a grin. “You and your chili-dogs…how do you even run after eating so many without getting sick?”

“It’s a talent.”

The pair finally made their way to and through the secret entrance where they were promptly greeted by Tails. “Hey guys! Welcome back.”

“Hey big guy,” Sonic replied.

Brushing hay out of her hair, Sally chimed in, “I guess if you’re here then Antoine’s on lookout?”

“Yup.”

“And the others?”

“Rotor’s in his workshop and I think Bunnie and Dulcy are out for landing practice.”

“So nothing else is out of the ordinary it seems…I just hope that we’ll be prepared for whatever’s going to happen.”

“What’s gonna happen?” asked Tails.

“We don’t know yet, but Sal and I have a bad feeling that somethin’ big is about to happen.”

“Normal big or mondo big?”

“Neither one sounds good, but I hope its just normal big,” answered Sally.

Sally was subsequently cut off by a loud rumble emanating from a flustered Sonic. “You’re hoping and I’m hungry. I’m headin’ to the kitchen. See ya!”

As Sonic blasted off, he was quickly followed by Tails. “Hey Sonic wait up!”

“You know…dinner does sound good right about now, doesn’t it? Wait up boys!”

[Meanwhile]

[Back in Knothole]

Tonight heavily mirrored the events of yesterday as a familiar bird drone flew across the darkened skies of Knothole village. It was still early in the night, so many of the Freedom Fighters were still awake. This included the team’s mechanic and their resident powerhouse.

Rotor was just finishing up a few final tweaks to Bunnie’s limbs as the repeated failed landings with Dulcy were starting to take their toll on her cybernetics.

“Just one more tight twist and…that should do it. Retreating from the robo-rabbit’s body, Rotor wore a prideful look on his face as Bunnie threw a few kicks to test out her repairs. The verdict: All systems green.

“Ah thank ya so much Rotor,” said Bunnie.

“No problem. It’s what I do.”

“Maybe, but I am sorry for keepin’ ya up so late.”

“Late? The sun just went down like an hour ago. There’s still plenty of moonlight to burn.”

“Maybe, but burn it on what? Nothin’ else needs fixin’ and we don’t have a mission right now, do we?” Bunnie noted.

Rotor’s attention was quickly drawn upwards as a familiar buzzing noise filled the night. “Hey look. It’s Chuck’s messenger!”

Bunnie mentally kicked herself. “Ask and y’all shall receive I guess.”

The drone descended towards the two before dropping the note in Rotor’s hand. As he read it over, Bunnie asked, “What’s it say Rotor?”

“Uncle Chuck wants to see Sonic again. He says its urgent.”

“Well then lets go find ol’ Sugarhog and let him know.”

“Okay. I’ll find Sonic, you tell Sally.”

[]

“And here I was gettin’ ready to call it a night.” Sonic groaned with an eye-roll.

Everyone had reassembled and news of Chuck’s abrupt summons put everyone on edge.

“I don’t like this guys. Uncle Chuck wouldn’t call Sonic back so soon unless he stumbled into something major.” Noted Sally.

“Whatever it is, I just hope it doesn’t have to be dealt with tonight. I still have a few chili-dogs left to finish.”

“Sonic!”

“Relax. If Uncle Chuck says it’s serious, then I’m bein’ serious.” Back in a Mobius minute.”

With the familiar whoosh, Sonic zoomed off towards the lake of rings. This might be a short trip, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. When he finally returned and continued off towards the exit, Sally watched with a dour grimace.

She said earlier she had a feeling something big was about to happen. Despite her hopes, it seemed that whatever it was would be mondo big.

[Later that night]

As ordered, Sonic reunited with Uncle Chuck and was met with the Elder Hedgehog’s stern gaze.

“Yo Unc, what’s so vital that ya had to call me back for tonight?” asked Sonic.

“Listen for yourself and you’ll see.”

Inserting a disc into a nearby player, audio of Robotnik’s conversation with that ‘Ivo’ character played, revealing not only Robotnik’s new partner, but also a bit of insight on what they were planning.

“Okay Unc, I got a LOT of questions right now. For starters, who the heck is this ‘Ivo’ guy, and what kinda name is that anyway?”

“Sadly, I couldn’t get a good look at his face since I had to keep up the façade of a worker bot, but whoever he is, he’s bad news. I don’t have much else to share right now, but I’ll keep digging. In the meantime, get this info to Sal and stay on standby. I’ve got a feeling they’ll be making their move sooner rather than later.”

Taking the disc from Chuck, Sonic flashed him a trademark thumbs up. “Gotcha Unc, we’ll catch up again soon. See ya.”

As Sonic once again blasted off into the night, Chuck was left to ponder. He was well aware of how perilous messing with the void was, but given his previous experience with the anomaly, it didn’t make sense for Robotnik to utilize it further than he’d done before. Just what was he plotting?

[]

It hadn’t been long since Sonic left, but the abrupt summons by Chuck did little to ease Sally who impatiently paced around the house.

“Gee whiz Sally girl, if you keep pacin’ like that you’ll end up diggin straight through the ground.

“Sorry Bunnie, but I just can’t sit still. I just know that when Sonic gets back, he’s going to deliver some bad news.”

“Maybe, maybe not. It could be something impertinent that he just couldn’t wait to share,”Rotor interjected trying to lighten the mood.

“Do you think it has something to do with Sonic’s understudy?” asked Bunnie.

Before Sally could answer, a familiar loud whoosh filled the air followed by the triumphant call of, “I’m baaaaack~!”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

The trio ran outside to meet Sonic who skidded to a halt before them.

“What’s the 411 Sonic?”

“Unc still doesn’t know exactly what Robuttnik’s up to, but he did have a thing or two to share with us.”

Returning inside the house, Sonic played back the recording Chuck gave him, leaving everyone, mostly Sally with more questions than answers.

“I can’t believe Robotnik has a partner,” Sally exclaimed.

“Now who on Mobius would willingly work with that ol’ rotten egg?”

“Someone with a scrambled brain,” Sonic joked.

“Back on topic, I want to know more about this Phantom Ruby.” Reaching into her vest, Sally pulled out her trusty handheld computer. “NICOLE, search subject, ‘Phantom Ruby’.”

“Searching Sally,” the computer replied. There was a pregnant pause with the only sound being NICOLE’s various beeps and hums.

“NICOLE, we’re waiting~!” growled an impatient Sonic.

Sally rolled her eyes just as NICOLE finally finished up. “No information available Sally. Subject Phantom Ruby is unknown.”

“Nothing huh?” asked Rotor.

“Looks like if we want more info on that thang, she’ll have to scan it directly,” Bunnie suggested.

“Or maybe steal some files on it?” Rotor suggested.

“Then I guess we’re goin’ on a mission tomorrow,” said Sonic.

“Don’t get too excited Sonic,” Sally dissuaded. “We still don’t know what Robotnik’s end goal is. Whatever we do next, it’s recon only.”

“But if we happen to find the thing, what’s gonna stop us from just takin’ it right then and there? Plus if we take too long to do somethin’, we might just be lettin’ Robotnik do what he wants.”

“You have a fair point Sonic, but we need to plan before we act,” Sally emphasized. “If we just rush in willy nilly, we could end up taking some unnecessary risks that won’t help us in the long run.”

A pouty Sonic crossed his arms but ultimately relented with a sigh. “Alright fine, but don’t worry about the long run when you got me on your side.”

“Whatever this Phantom Ruby is, I’m willing to bet its some sort of power source, possibly like the Deep Power Stones. If what Sir Charles said is true, then the Doomsday project may be small potatoes compared to what they’re cooking up now.”

A dreadful silent filled the room before being broken by Rotor. “Uhhhh Sal…I just had a thought.”

“What kinda thought?” asked Bunnie.

“Do you think Robotnik might be trying to destroy the Void?”

“Destroy the Void!?”

“Can he even do that?” asked Sonic.

“I…I don’t know….” Sally admitted. “The void is an entirely different dimension. I don’t think even Robotnik could find the power to destroy an existence so vast….”

“Unless he happened to get his hands on a new power source…” Bunnie added.

“Like whatever the Phantom Ruby is…?” said Rotor.

“And we know he’s crazy enough to try, especially since doing that would get rid of Naugus.”

“…And my father…!” Sally added.

A quiet dread loomed over the Freedom Fighters as they started drawing conclusions. Whatever Robotnik was planning with the Void, it could very well put King Max at risk, especially with his current condition keeping him trapped inside.

“Don’t worry Sally girl. Whatever ol’ Egg Belly’s up to, we won’t let anything happen to your ol’ Pa.”

Wiping a tear from her eye, Sally replied, “Thanks Bunnie.”

“Uhhh…Sorry I brought it up,” said a bashful Rotor.

“No, its fine. Its…tough to think about, but it is a genuine possibility to consider. My father aside, if Robotnik destroys the void, who knows what the ramifications could be?”

Rotor could see that things were getting more and more dour by the second. Attempting to brighten the mood, Rotor spoke again. “Hey uh, if t makes you feel any better, I could just be wrong…?”

Everyone took a moment to consider. While Rotor’s theory could be incorrect, it was the most sensible guess they had for now. Although, there was one bit of the recording that didn’t add up with it.

“You may be right that you’re wrong Rotor….” Said a contemplative Sally.

“Wait…so…is he right or wrong?” asked Sonic.

Sally rolled her eyes as she began her explanation. “Rotor suggested that Robotnik may be trying to destroy the void? Why? Possibly to remove Naugus as a threat…as well as my father…. While that ay be the case, it doesn’t add up with what Robotnik said in the recording. Something about, ‘Roboticizing a whole other world’.”

“Hey yeah…maybe he’s trying to Roboticize the Void instead?”

“That don’t make no sense, I mean why would he bother roboticizin’ the place if he’s already using it as a makeshift prison?”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” Sally interjected. “We all have our theories, but now’s not the time. All that matters is that whatever Robotnik’s planning, he won’t be able to do it if he doesn’t have this Phantom Ruby.”

“So we’re goin’ after it?” asked Bunnie

“Sounds good to me.”

“At the very least, we need to learn more about it. After that, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“So I guess we’ve got a plan.”

“Okay then. Meeting adjourned.”

[]

The next day, after another quick visit to Uncle Chuck, Sonic, Sally and Bunnie roamed the heart of Robotropolis. Sadly, Chuck hadn’t gotten much new info worth talking about, but he would be able to help guide them to where the Phantom Ruby was being held. He hadn’t been able to lay eyes on the gem itself, but strolling around in disguise let him learn just enough. After corroborating theories with each other, Robotnik’s ultimate goal was still as in the dark as his city. Hopefully whatever dirt they could dig up on the Phantom Ruby would shed some light on the whole affair.

Taking shelter beneath a wall of scrap metal, the trio took the moment to hash out their plan of attack.

“Alright Sal, the floor’s yours. Which way to the Ruby?”

Taking out NICOLE, Sally scanned the surrounding area. Though they had no prior info on the gem, it was “According to NICOLE and the info we got from Sir Charles, this Phantom Ruby should be approximately 50 yards to the northeast.”

“Should?”

“We’re dealing with an unfamiliar energy source here Sonic. NICOLE can’t be as precise this time around.”

“Precise or not, ah thank we should get movin’ before we get spotted,” Bunnie noted.

“Right. So far its all we got and that’s good enough for me. Okay ladies, let’s juice!”

[]

Aside from the expected patrol, the trip to the Phantom Ruby’s holding zone was surprisingly easygoing. There were a fair few close calls with the ever impulsive Sonic nearly running out into plain sight, but overall, the trip was smooth sailing. Their run ultimately led to what seemed like a giant garage.

“Is this the place?”

Sally looked down at NICOLE and confirmed. “Yup. Whatever this Ruby is, it’s through here, but there’s something that’s bugging me.”

“What is it?” asked Bunnie.

“If this is where Robotnik is keeping his power source, there should be more guards stationed here.”

“You think this might be a trap?”

“Maybe, but it’s a risk we’re going to have to take. Bunnie, Sonic and I will go in and investigate that energy source. You stand guard out here. If any Swatbots show up, knock the signal. If worse comes to worse, head back to Knothole.”

“You got it Sally girl!” Bunnie gave a thumbs up.

Sally strolled over to a nearby control panel and plugged NICOLE into it. Pushing a few buttons, the panel shorted out and the door creaked open.

“Okay, ready?”

Giving a group high-five, the heroes split up with their signature, “Let’s do it, to it!”

Sally hopped into Sonic’s arms and the duo blasted off inside while Bunne went to find some cover as the door shut behind the co-leaders. Unbeknownst to the Freedom Fighters, their arrival was seen, just barely, by a patrolling spy-bot.

[]

“Sir, it seems we’ve got a hedgehog sighting, and he’s accompanied by the Princess and the cyborg.” Snively informed.

“The hedgehog!? Why is he here?”

“I don’t know sir, but it seems they’ve entered the vault where the Phantom Ruby is being held sir.”

“WHAT!?”

“What’s going on here?”

Snively and Robotnik turned to see Eggman, still in his pajamas enter the room.

“Now where have you been?” Robotnik glared.

“Getting some shut-eye after pulling a late-nighter.”

“A late-nighter?”

Eggman nodded. “After you turned in last night, I took a moment to sift through some of your previous machines, and a certain model caught my eye, so I had the factory-bots whip up a little something.”

Robotnik’s eyes narrowed. Despite his willingness to work with Eggman, he was none to pleased to hear that his counterpart was fiddling with his machines.

“What exactly did you have them whip up?”

“I’ll tell you after you get me up to speed,” Eggman challenged.

Robotnik growled but ultimately relented. “Long story short, we’ve got some unwelcome visitors heading towards our ruby.”

“Hedgehog?”

“And friends.”

The response made Eggman sneer. “Well then, it seems you’ll get to see my little pet project in action sooner rather than later.”

“Oh?”

“You asked what I had the factory build? Long story short, I had them build up a little something to guard the Phantom Ruby for us. A swarm if you will.”

“A swarm?”

[]

 With a clear road ahead, Sonic and Sally zoomed down a wide, empty corridor. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much in the way of resistance for the resistance members. Still, they followed NICOLE’s readings and continued onto the source of the large energy reading.

“How much further NICOLE?”

“Energy reading imminent. At current speed, in t-minus 20 seconds.”

“Make that t-minus 15 cause I’m crankin’ it up a notch!”

Sonic sped off until they finally hit the end of the tunnel. Searching around, the duo found nothing of interest.

“Hunh…dead end. Figures,” Sonic snarked.

“NICOLE, are you sure the source of energy is here?”

“Scanning Sally…affirmative. Energy reading is directly above current position.”

“Above us?”

“Would’ve been nice to know that a Sonic second ago.”

“Sorry Sonic, but the juice in that rock is throwing me off my game.”

“Oh I hate when she talks like that…” Sally muttered.

“Its cool. We just gotta get up there, no sweat.”

“No sweat how? Sure you have your anti-gravity sneakers to get on the ceiling, but how do we get through?”

“Hmmmm…guess we gotta backtrack and take the long way. Shouldn’t be a problem for….”

“Wait a second Sonic!” Sally cut him off before pointing to a spot towards the center of the ceiling.

“Am I crazy or is that some kind of hatch?”

“Looks like we got our way upstairs.”

Hitting a button on his right sneaker, Sonic then ran to the nearest wall before going up it and running upside-down on the ceiling towards the hatch. With a fervent grunt, he forced the valve aside until finally it opened, granting him passage.

“We’re in Sal.”

“Great work Sonic!”

Zipping back to Sally’s side, Sonic took a dramatic bow. “Thank you, thank you. Now let’s get to that Ruby!”

Once again carrying Sally in his arms, Sonic zipped back up the wall, dashing into the hatch, before flipping into the room above them. Upon entrance, the pair were bathed in a faint fuschia glow. Turning around, they came across a large, multi-pointed gem of the same color.

“Is that the Phantom Ruby?” asked Sonic.

“It might be…although its a bit too purplish for a ruby if you ask me,” Sally lightly joked.

“Yeah, but I guess ‘Phantom Amethyst’ is a bit of a mouthful.”

As the pair cautiously approached the menacing gem, Sally took out NICOLE. “NICOLE, analyze.”

After scanning the jewel, NICOLE hummed lightly before she started to beep sporadically.”

“Uhhhh Sal…is that normal?”

“NICOLE? Respond.”

“ANalYsis aNallYsi- An-aN-An-aN-Error-!”

“Ohhh no…!”

NICOLE’S glitch wouldn’t be the only problem as the familiar voice soon rang across the room.

“Well, well, look who’s decided to pay us a visit?”

“Robotnik.”

Sure enough, the menacing dictator announced his awareness of their presence over the intercom, cackling. “I’m flattered you lot are so interested in my latest…acquisition.”

“I’m flattered you’re flattered Doc. So how bout you do us a favor and spill what you’re plannin’ to do with The Void?” Sonic demanded.

“Sorry dear boy, but that is classified information. But don’t fret, a special gift has been prepared just for you two.”

With a menacing guffaw, the already low light in the room dimmed. The window where the ruby was quickly sealed up before being followed by a long, metallic screech. When the screeching finally died, a small pair of red lights did make themselves known. Followed by another, and another. Accompanying each revelation of the lights was a low hum that was…growing louder. Actually, it didn’t even sound like a simple loud hum, it sounded like…buzzing?

When nearly two dozen pairs of red lights were revealed, the room light reactivated revealing a large swarm of wasp-like robots.

“Are those…!?”

“Buzz-Bombers!?”

The pair couldn’t dwell too long on the scene as no sooner had the thought crossed their minds, the mechanized insects all pointed their stingers at the pair.

“Outta here!”

Yanking Sally by the arm, Sonic zipped away just as the Buzz-Bombers opened fire. After their initial volley missed, they took off after the pair.

“Sonic the hatch!” Sally shouted.

“No time to do this pretty! Sal, bust out the Power Ring!”

Reaching into Sonic’s backpack, Sally pulled out the ring and gave it to Sonic. The two of them were bathed in a brief golden glow before Sonic shot off even faster. Zipping up the wall to the ceiling, Sonic blasted them down, destroying the hatch door and taking them into the room below.

Sadly, the main entrance was still closed and given their hot pursuit, Sally wouldn’t have time to hack it open like before. Fortunately for them, the door did open with a harsh metallic creak and on the other side, stood Bunnie with her metallic arm lifting it up.

“I heard the commotion…and thought y’all might need a hand!”

“Mondo timin’ Bunnie, cause we gotta bail, Warp 8!”

Sure enough, the buzz-bombers came pouring in through the top entrance, heading straight for the Freedom Fighters, but thankfully, the ring wasn’t spent just yet! Raising it in his hands once more, an energized Sonic sped off, letting Sally grab Bunnie before zipping out of Robotropolis as fast as he could. The buzz-bombers did attempt to pursue, but were quickly recalled once Sonic hit the city limits.

[]

Back in the main room, Eggman, Robotnik, and even Snively all shared a laugh as Sonic and the girls were hastily chased out of the fortress.

“Ohhh, happy days gentlemen. That may have been short lived, but its always a fine day when the hedgehog gets completely outmatched like so.”

“A very good show indeed sir,” Snively concurred.

“Hehehe, if that was all your Sonic had to offer, then I have to say, I’m less than impressed. Although, I am intrigued about that golden ring.”

“The Power Ring. It isn’t a priority, but I do intend to one day uncover the secrets of their power,” Robotnik declared. “Onto current events, I must admit, I didn’t think you’d revive the Buzzbombers of all models.”

“Like I said Julian, that model was familiar to me since I myself use them as well, right down to the name,” Eggman revealed.

“Well…it seems great minds really do think alike.” The two shared a moment of laughter before being interrupted by Snively.

“Sirs, shouldn’t we move the Phantom Ruby to a more secure location in case they try to come back for it?”

“Its fine where it is. Its better not to have it so close to the main base just in case of any ‘accidents’,” Eggman dissuaded. “We should up security however, just in case, as well as move our plans forward.”

“Don’t you think we’re moving things a little too quickly?” asked Robotnik.

“Maybe, but when your nemesis is a speedster, if you take too long to act, he could leave you in the dust.”

Robotnik pondered with a hand to his chin. “Hmmm…good point. Speaking of our plan….”

“Right. We still need to finish that dampener, but after getting all those buzzbombers operational, I need some more time to recover. Though I do have some notes for you to look after.

Reaching under his sleeping cap, Eggman tossed Robotnik a small disc. “That has some extra details about my previous device to wield its power. If you think we should make some improvements to our regulator, your can refer back to that if you need to, and let me know but for now…I’ll return to my quarters.”

With a yawn, Eggman made his exit, leaving the uncle/nephew duo alone. It had merely been a few days at most and yet, already he was making some major bounds within Robotnik’s armory. He’d made an astounding first impression, but Robotnik, was less than enthused about someone else making adjustments to his forces, even if it had yielded a positive result. Maybe it’d be wiser to keep an extra eye on him.

[Meanwhile]

Sonic and the girls had made it back to the Great Forest in one piece, though needless to say, spirits were less than high.

“Talk about bummer majores. We go through all that mess just to get a glimpse of Robuttnik’s new toy and a bunch of bug-bots in our hair.”

“And to make matters worse, NICOLE is out of commission,” Sally groaned. “What am I going to…?”

“Halt! Who is going there!”

“Speakin’ of makin’ things worse…”

An exasperated Sonic rolled his eyes as Antoine made himself known from atop a nearby tree, cutting Sally off. Apparently, he was on guard duty today and, judging by that little outburst, was doing a solid job.

“Antoine, its us!” Sally called.

“Oh, bonjour, ma Princess, Bunnie! Who is being your guest?”

“Ha, ha, real funny Ant. Now could you speed it up before the ‘Buzz Bots come swarmin’ in?”

“B-b-b-b-b-b-b-Buzz Bots?” Antoine stammered.

“Knock it off Sonic. We shook off the buzz bombers miles ago.”

Hearing Sally’s rebuttal, Antoine let out a relieved breath before he reached over to lean on the post’s rail…only to miss it completely and come tumbling down the tree.

“Eyyyyyagh-!”

Wasting no time, Bunnie activated the lifts in her legs to spring up and catch Antoine with her robotic hand. “Y’all better watch that step now.”

“Ehheee…Merci.”

Moments later, everyone had gotten settled back into Knothole, Sally and the others gave a quick rundown of their recent mission. It was never fun to discuss a failed mission, but the one bright spot was that nobody was lost…well…almost nobody. The loss of NICOLE may only be temporary, but a loss is still a loss, and with her being down, it meant a wealth of information the had was now currently inaccessible. Not to mention Sally herself would be disadvantaged in the field without her guidance.

“So that whole trip was for nothing?” asked Rotor.

“I wouldn’t say that entirely,” Sally dissuaded. “Though it does leave more questions.”

“Yeah, like why would Robuttnik rebuild the buzz bots? We smoked em’ once and Robotnik never tries the same plan twice.”

Sally pondered before Bunnie cut-in. “Well, they were just guarding the Ruby. Maybe he just needed somethin’ to watch over it while he did somethin’ else?”

“That’s possible…but I don’t know how likely. Regardless, we should probably lay low in the meantime. We’ll let Uncle Chuck do the heavy lifting for now and move out again once he has sufficient information.”

“But what if Uncle Chuck doesn’t get the info fast enough?” Sonic interjected. “He may be family, but I’m the only one with the speed.”

“You make a good point Sonic, but unless we want a repeat of today, we should wait until we have a few more pieces to this puzzle.”

Sonic impatiently tapped his foot, but ultimately relented. “All right, you win Sal.”

“What should we do in the meantime?” asked Rotor.

“Everyone just do what you usually do, but keep your eyes and ears open. As for you Rotor….”

“We’re going to try and fix NICOLE, aren’t we?”

“Bingo.”

Of course, Sally didn’t intend to let that hold her back, but she did want to get NICOLE fully operational ASAP. Unfortunately, even with help from Rotor, it seemed like NICOLE would take quite a while to get back to normal.

[Meanwhile]

Sonic and Tails had arrived on Westside Island where the Phantom Ruby reading had appeared and quickly got to work investigating. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary and like Tails mentioned before, the energy signature had already waned.

“Tails, are you sure you can’t trace anything?”

“Sorry Sonic, but the signature’s too weak. If it had stayed active just a few seconds more, I might’ve been able to, but as it is….”

Sonic crossed his arms and sighed. “Guess this was a waste of a trip after all.”

“Maybe, but then again, we didn’t have anywhere else to be, did we?” Tails countered.

“I guess not. Still, I just wish there was something major going on.”

“Sonic, it’s been less than a week. Even Eggman can’t put something big together that quickly.”

“Unless he uses the Time Stones maybe,” Sonic chuckled.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Sonic was met with an ever-familiar calling of his name by a female voice.

“Soniiiic!”

“Speaking of the Time Stones….”

The pair were quickly approached by a young, pink hedgehog in an orange dress, accompanied by a small pink flicky.

“Hi Amy!” greeted Tails.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Amy responded, “I’m glad I caught you guys, cause we’ve got a bit of a problem here.”

“What kind of problem?” asked Sonic.

“This flicky says her brother’s gone missing, and I want to help her find him.”

“Oh sure, we can help,” Tails readily accepted.

“Hold on there buddy,” Sonic halted.

“Sonic…!”

“I didn’t say we weren’t gonna help, but I will say something’s probably not right around here.”

“What do you mean?” asked Amy.

“We only came to this island because I picked up traces of Phantom Ruby energy,” Tails began.

“And then you show up and tell us that an animal’s gone missing? Doesn’t that seem rather suspect?”

Amy may have been out of the loop, but it didn’t take long for her to catch the implication. “You think Dr. Eggman might be up to something again?”

“Calm down you two, it’s just one flicky that went missing. It could be a coincidence,” Tails noted.

“Maybe…but if any more animals start going AWOL, I reserve all rights to say I told you so.”

“Only if we actually find Eggman,” Tails added.

“Guys!” Amy interjected.

“Right, right, back on topic. Any ideas where Ms. Flicky’s brother went?” asked Sonic.

Amy nodded. “Sorry, but all we know is that he disappeared after a small wind storm.”

“Wind storm? What wind storm?”

“Apparently, there was some huge wind earlier today. It didn’t last long, but after it blew over, pardon the pun, her brother never came back to their nest.”

Tails wore a contemplative look while Sonic’s expression was smugger. Though nothing was definitive, this was starting to sound more and more like an Eggman plot. Phantom Ruby, missing animals, and a random strong wind; not the most natural of circumstances.

After giving it some thought, Tails finally came to a conclusion. “I think I might have an idea of what might’ve happened, but just in case I’m wrong, let’s take a quick lap across the island.”

“Alright. Tails, you and Amy search the West side of the island, and I’ll take the North and East since I can cover more ground.” After giving the word, Sonic took off leaving the young heroes.

“I know speed is his key, but I do wish he’d slow down sometimes,” said Tails.

“Welcome to my world…but then again, that’s just what makes Sonic ‘Sonic.’” Amy giggled.

Tails and Amy took off opposite Sonic, the flicky in tow but as they left, neither one heard the beeping of the Tornado’s radar.

[Meanwhile]

Far outside Robotropolis, Robotnik, Snively and Eggman were assembled with a Metal Sonic and a small squadron of Swatbots. The latter wielded the Phantom Ruby in a strange mechanical cage.

“You’re sure this is the spot?” asked Eggman.

“Yes…I could never forget where that blasted Naugus first escaped the Void.”

“Well then, here goes!”

Eggman hit a switch on the cage and the Phantom Ruby sprang to life with its unmistakable chime. A few beats later, and a vortex of fuchsia and yellow appeared.

“After you,” Eggman motioned for his counterpart and his company to go first, but Robotnik hastily declined.

“Oh no, dear Ivo, I insist. You first.”

Pressing a hand to his forehead, Eggman sighed. “Let’s not waste time with a gag that’ll go nowhere. Metal!”

His eyes flashing, Metal Sonic immediately looped around in midair, dashing into Robotnik and shoving him through the void.

“Gwaaaagh…!”

Snively barely had time to yelp as Metal grabbed him by the collar and flew in after him. Eggman quickly boarded his Egg-Mobile and followed suit, as did the Swat Bots who were preparing to shoot Eggman after Metal Sonic had manhandled their leader.

Once the final Swat-Bot passed through, the Void closed leaving Robotropolis unnaturally quiet.

(A/N: I’m finally back! Apologies this chapter took so long but in addition to taking an overall hiatus from writing for a few personal reasons, I’ve made a startling discovery: Writing the characters from SatAM is easy, but writing the setting is harder than I thought. Hopefully, I managed to cook up something on point this time around. Speaking of characters, on the game side of things, Amy’s here! I realized as I was writing that I’m sort of rehashing her story from Sonic Adventure to get her involved, but technically, Sonic Adventure hasn’t happened (yet) in their world so it’s fair game! On the show side of things…again, writing the SatAM setting is hard, mainly because you have to take into account things like time. The FF’s don’t go on missions every day, and not every mission will take them directly into Robotropolis or against Robotnik. This one did however and ended in failure (which I don’t think we see too often actually). Speaking of the mission, I thought bringing back the Buzz Bombers would be an appropriate little touch since its one aspect from the games that got directly worked into SatAM (even if it was just the pilot episode), and that Eggman would appreciate working with a ‘familiar design’. Also, since the plot of the pilot episode was Robotnik sending an army of the things to destroy the forest, I figured a small army of them would be just enough to be too much for Sonic to handle where retreating would be the sensible option.

Now that we’ve gotten through all the semi-tedious preamble, next time we can get through the more interesting preamble and maybe kick things off properly since now the Doctors can freely move between worlds and a plan is about to shift into motion. Until next time, I’m up, over, and GONE!)

PS: This chapter took three rewrites to finish. Seriously, SatAM’s setting is hard to write!

Chapter Text

Mobius Mania

A‘Void’-ing Suspicion

From his crystalline fortress, Naugus was once again roused by the sound of the Void being opened. Upon investigating, he was met with the most unsavory sight he could’ve imagined. Not only had that ‘Metal Quickster’ returned, but he was accompanied by not one, but TWO Robotniks!?

“What mad sorcery is this!?” the wizard exclaimed.

“What’s the commotion about?” asked a regal, male voice.

Naugus turned to see his fellow captive, none other than King Maximillian himself, a stern, curious expression on his face.

“The commotion, my liege, is of course none other than Robotnik,” Naugus replied.

“Julian…what’s he up to now?”

“Its something you need to see to believe,” Naugus stood aside, allowing King Max to look through the viewing crystal. Moments later, the king of Mobius staggered backwards, a hand clasped over his chest.

“Oh my word! Was that…!?”

“Yes. It seems our old friend has found himself, a Kindred Spirit as it were,” said Naugus.

“What does this mean!?” King Acorn demanded.

“That…I am unsure, but we should keep an eye on them. Whatever they’re planning, just might prove useful in getting us out of this limbo in one piece.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I don’t know what it is, but I can sense with them, an incredible source of power. It could very well rival my own magic. If…I were to acquire it….”

“You could cure our…crystallization problem?”

“I can’t say for certain…but there is a possibility.”

The duo could only watch as their captor and his cohorts continued through the vortex to, who knows where? Still, that small revelation did wonders to inspire hope in the both of them, though another thought crossed King Acorn’s mind.

‘Sally, please be careful, and Sonic, you’d better keep your promise.’

[]

After a rough ride through the windy tunnel of the Void, Metal Sonic let Robotnik and Snively down just as Eggman and the Swatbots exited close behind.

“Well gentleman, hope you enjoyed the ride,” Eggman joked.

Dusting himself off, Robotnik sauntered towards Eggman and said in a no-nonsense voice, “Don’t. Do that. Again.”

“I make no promises,” Eggman replied holding up his hand.

Robotnik growled, but backed off. “Whatever. On to important matters, where are we?”

“I believe we’re in some sort of jungle sir,” said Snively

Eggman glanced down at his radar and quickly got a blip. “Aha, it seems we’re near my Westside Island Base.”

“Westside Island?”

“This is the place where I arguably created my Magnum Opus!”

“Magnum Opus?”

“I’ll tell you the story once we arrive, for now….” Eggman hit a button on his control panel and a moment later, the group were met with a small squadron of robots including a couple of flying robotic turtles as well as a few familiar, hornet looking robots.

“Are those…?”

“Yup. My buzzbombers, along with a little something extra.”

Accompanying the robot bugs was another capsule similar in appearance to the Eggmobile, though a bit larger.

“Gentlemen…” Eggman beckoned his cohorts to their ride, which they both entered with a pair of mischievous grins.

“Now then, follow me!”

With the swatbots being carried by the turtloids, the doctors and their robots blasted off above the forest.

Moments later, the scientists and their robots were brought to a large, metallic dome with a familiar looking design. As they touched down, Eggman remained in his craft while Robotnik and Snively stepped forth to the giant blast doors.

“Now then, Julian, Snively, allow me to welcome you to my humble abode.”

With a push of a button, the doors opened leading the two newcomers to a veritable factory.

“Sadly, this is only one of my more temporary bases, but I do hope you’ll find the accommodations appealing.”

Eggman lead the two through the fortress, past various factory like areas where badnik shells were being built as well as numerous recreational areas (Even masterminds need some time to unwind). Operational badniks were patrolling and maintaining the place until finally, Eggman lead them to a room with a humongous computer screen.

“Well, I must say, you certainly do have an impressive control room,” Robotnik praised.

“I rather enjoyed the badnik factory sir,” added Snively.

“Yes. It is quite a feat you manage to get a lot done with such minimal resources.”

The backhanded compliment didn’t go unnoticed by Eggman who quickly retorted, “Minimal isn’t the right word, but let’s just say I know how to use my resources efficiently. After all…”

Eggman pushed some keys on his computer and it showed what appeared to be blueprints. On one side was the schematics of a giant robot in Eggman’s own image, and the other showed a large spherical fortress with the unmistakable look of the Doctors’ iconic mustache.

“You once mentioned a ‘magnum opus’ dear Ivo. Am I to believe it is one of those two machines?”

“Indeed Doctor. Unfortunately, both of them have since gone up in smoke, the former actually being what brought me to you. Like I said though, I use my resources efficiently, and while it may go against everything we stand for, recycling can be useful at times.”

Robotnik crossed his arms. The schematics were truly extraordinary. He had to admit that Eggman may have had a point in him having the deadlier machines, but if anything of that magnitude could be taken down, was that the fault of Ivo himself, or was that just emblematic of how problematic his Sonic was.

“What exactly do you have in mind?” asked Robotnik.

With a sinister glint reflected in his glasses, Eggman flashed his cohort a twisted grin. They had some planning to do.

[]

As the sky turned from bright blue to vermillion, the trio of adventurers and their avian friend returned to the Tornado, defeat evident on their faces. Time had all but escaped from them as their search for the flicky’s missing brother ended in failure. Despite her best efforts, even Amy couldn’t sate the little bird’s tearful chirps.

“Oh don’t cry little birdy. I’m sure we’ll find your brother sooner or later.”

“It might have to be later cause look, the sun’s already setting,” Sonic pointed out.

“I know but…I can’t just leave Ms. Flicky alone like this,” Amy protested.

“We can always pick the search back up tomorrow, but I think we may have to check someplace else. Face it, we’ve been all over this island with a fine toothed comb and between my running laps and you and Tails taking the more detailed approach, we still couldn’t find Flicky’s brother.”

As Sonic relayed the day’s events, the Flicky let out a wailing that startled both hedgehogs, urging Amy to narrow her eyes at Sonic.

“Too blunt?” he coyly shrugged.

“You think?” Puffing her cheeks, Amy turned away, petting Flicky and trying to calm her down.

“Tails, could you back me up a bit here? …Tails?”

Glancing back, Sonic found his trusted partner at the controls of the plane, a worried look on his face. Zipping over, Sonic quickly asked, “Tails? What’s wrong?”

Tails continued to push buttons, ignoring Sonic’s question until being prodded again. “Oh Taiiiiils…”

Finally acknowledging him, Tails frantically turned to Sonic and said, “I think we’ve got a problem.”

A short moment later Amy had returned with a currently consoled Flicky and Tails quickly informed everyone that while they were searching, the Tornado picked up yet another reading of the Phantom Ruby, this one significantly stronger than the last one.

“So where does that leave us?” asked Sonic.

“Well, whether or not the Phantom Ruby is acting on its own power or being controlled is still a mystery, but since its happened twice now, I don’t think we should ignore it anymore. If anything, this might also be the answer to our current problem.”

“How so?”

“Wait a minute boys,” Amy interjected. “What even is a Phantom Ruby?”

“Oh, did we not tell you? Sorry.” Tails quickly gave a cliff notes version of their last encounter with Eggman and how the Ruby had created a large portal that not only sucked in Sonic but also Eggman himself. On that note, Amy quickly understood Tails’ implication.

“You mean…!?”

“Its very possible Flicky’s brother may have gotten caught in the Ruby’s portal.”

“Does that mean…he’s gone forever!?”

“Of course not. I got back, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but you have an easier time navigating than a Flicky Sonic,” Tails noted. “Plus, not only do we not have a way to confirm whether or not the bird got caught in the portal but even if that is the case we don’t know when, where, or if another portal is going to show up…buuuut…”

“But what?”

“We can trace where this last portal opened up since the signal was much stronger this time.”

Amy’s face alit. “Do you think we’ll find a clue there?”

“I can’t say for sure, but its our only lead.”

“Alright then, we have a plan!” Grabbing Amy and Tails by the wrist, Sonic blasted off across the island.

Moments later, the trio would find themselves back in the jungle area of the island. Now guided by Tails, they were led to a random area.

“Uhhh Tails, where are we?” groaned Sonic.

“I’m not entirely sure, but this is where the sensor is leading.”

“Okay…so what exactly are we looking for?”

“I don’t know…anything out of the ordinary?”

The trio split up to search the area, but nothing seemed to be out of place. After a few short moments of investigating, Sonic couldn’t help but complain again. “Man, if I’d known how time consuming investigations could be, I’d have hired a detective by now.” ‘But where would I even find a detective?’

“Hey boys! I think I found something!” Amy called, rousing Sonic from his thoughts.

Sonic and Tails rushed over to Amy’s position asking, “What’s up?”

“I found these footprints.”

Sure enough, a set of footprints littered ground. “Are we sure these aren’t just ours?” asked Sonic.

“Nope. I count four different pairs of feet here and there’s only three of us,” Tails noted

“Okay, but what does it mean?” asked Amy.

“I’d say a portal opened up here and somebody either entered it willingly or came out from it…of course, this is just speculation.”

“Well can you speculate what those holes are too?”

“What holes?”

Sonic pointed forward, to where the footprints ended and could make out two holes in the ground. They weren’t very deep but they were fairly wide and perfectly circular.

“Tails, any ideas?”

“I’d say that whoever made these footprints got into some kind of vehicle.”

“A round vehicle?” Amy added.

“A round flying vehicle,” said Sonic.

The trio shared a look, knowing they all came to the same conclusion.

A shaky Amy grabbed the now trembling flicky. “So…does that mean…?”

Sonic and Tails nodded. “Eggman’s back.”

[]

The scientists watched on in glee as Eggman’s badniks slowly but surely began putting their newest creation together. It had taken quite a while to recover the discarded pieces of the Egg Reverie (all day in fact), but whatever they salvaged would be put to good use alongside Eggman’s fresher parts.

“Ahhh, the joy of autonomy. It truly is wondrous, is it not?” beamed Eggman.

“Oh yes. It…truly is a beautiful sight Doctor,” Robotnik wiped away a faux tear.

The pair continued along across the assembly line, pleased at the progress being made.

“Just think, in due time, we’ll be in control of the most powerful weapon of two worlds!”

“Yes, your ambitions are quite lofty, though I do wonder how you intend to deal with our ‘rodent problem’,” said Robotnik.

“My rodent requires a bit of finesse to handily deal with. Yours on the other hand could be dealt with in just a few days time, once we have enough foot soldiers.”

Robotnik narrowed an eye at Eggman’s proclamation and replied. “You know dear Ivo, though your confidence is admirable, I don’t quite appreciate the implications your sending.”

“You mean about how your blue nuisance compares to mine?”

Robotnik’s gaze sharpened as Eggman let out a dismissive chuckle. “Apologies if I offend sir Julian, but the Sonic of your world left quite the bad first impression. I don’t mean to undercut the efforts you’ve gone through to snuff out him and his companions, but I also won’t say I couldn’t have his spiky head on a platter in a heartbeat…though only because of what I’ve dealt with thus far.”

“Oh? Now what exactly would that entail?” asked Robotnik.

Before Eggman could reply, an alarm went off around the base. As the scientist duo turned to the screen, Snively’s voice rang out.

“Pardon me sirs but we’ve got incoming!”

The monitor shifted to a view that would show Sonic, Tails and Amy all blasting in their direction.

“It’s…the Hedgehog!” Robotnik sneered.

“My Hedgehog to be more precise,” said Eggman.

A twisted grin grew on Robotnik’s face. Rubbing his hands in anticipation, he asked, “Oh? Is it time to observe what your blue nuisance is capable of?”

“Sorry to disappoint you Doctor, but now’s not the time for a fight. We’ve still got too much work to do and I’d rather not waste said resources on a clearly disadvantageous fight.”

Robotnik’s expression instantly fell. With a sigh, he replied. “Fair enough I suppose. Still, I trust you have a plan to get them away?”

“But of course,” Eggman flashed his cohort a cheeky grin before jaunting off.

[]

“Tails, how much further till’ we get to the base?” asked Sonic.

“T-Minus 90 seconds!”

As the trio blasted through the forest, they’d surprisingly encountered very little if any resistance. There was the odd roaming Badnik here and there but ultimately, their dash to Eggman’s base was relatively uneventful, much to Sonic’s dismay. Finally, their trek would reach it’s end as they braked before a large metal door.

“Man, at this point, I almost hope Eggman’s back. I need something to really light the fire under my feet.”

As if responding to Sonic’s plea, a monitor drone descended before the trio. On it, stood an irate Eggman in his pajamas.

“What do you want!?” he snapped.

“So, you are back,” said Sonic.

“Yes, yes, thank you so much for that vacation by the way, now again, what do you want!? You’ve already beaten me and I just got back to base! If you’re looking for a fight, I’m so sorry to dissapoint you!”

Before Sonic could make a snarky remark, Tails spoke up. “We’ve been noticing some erratic energy traces of the Phantom Ruby and apparently more portals have been showing up.”

“Oh? So you suspect me of being involved with them in some way?”

“You were the last one with the Phantom Ruby, Doc.”

“Yes, because of you!” Eggman barked. “Still, those erratic energy patterns are likely what enabled me to get home, so who or whatever is causing that thing to go haywire has my thanks.”

“Where did you end up anyway Doctor?” asked Amy.

“That’s none of your business. Nevertheless, I’ll say it again; I’ve had no involvement with the Phantom Ruby beyond my return here and frankly, I’d rather not dabble with that hot mess again. I prefer my power gems to be more…predicatable.”

The trio shared a look. Judging from Eggman’s face, he didn’t seem to be lying, and there was nothing concrete linking him to the random portals, but there were still a few things that didn’t add up.

“Are we done here now? I just got back and even I need time to recharge my batteries.”

With a dismissive sigh and a roll of his eyes, Sonic relented. “Fine, we’re outta here, but we’ll be watching you Eggman.”

“Hmph, you’ll never see me coming!”

With Amy and Tails in hand, Sonic blasted off back into the forest as the monitor cut the feed. Inside the base, Eggman let out a relieved sigh as he pulled off his pajama shirt.

“So that was your hedgehog, was it?” Robotnik teased. “If that’s how your encounters normally go, then it’s no surprise you’ve yet to take your world.”

“Don’t get snide with me, Julian. It’s called giving a false sense of security,” Eggman argued.

“Yes, that’s exactly what that was,” Robotnik replied, rolling his eyes.

“Trust me, when you see what this Sonic can do, you’ll be thankful that your Freedom Fighters are merely an annoyance in comparison to the menace I’ve got to deal with,” Eggman countered. “Don’t forget, Metal was created to be my Sonic’s superior, and you’ve had a great taste of what his capabilities.”

“True, but surely you’re just trying to upsell you’re mechanical marvel a little?”

“You’ll see what I mean in due time. Back on topic now, the fact that they’re tracking Phantom Ruby energy is troubling. They aren’t onto us yet, but if we keep going between our worlds as haphazardly as we’ve been doing, then they’re sure to catch on sooner rather than later.”

“Then that just means we’ll need to move much much faster,” Robotnik concurred.

“I think it may be best to continue in our own worlds for the time being, and figure out a more…concrete schedule for our combined works. It may also be worth it to find something to keep them occupied without drawing attention to ourselves.”

“Any ideas?”

Eggman paced around the room pondering a solution. Creating a distraction would be simple enough, but nothing he could think of wouldn’t lead Sonic and his friends to the conclusion that he was involved somehow. If only there was someone or something he could use as a scapegoat. Someone who’d make the same sort of plan as him…someone who was also against him. With a snap of his fingers, Eggman’s eyes alit.

“Eureka! I’ve got it!”

“Oh?” Robotnik raised an eyebrow as Eggman dashed to the computer and started pulling up files of schematics. Schematics for a quintet of robots all in various…costumes? The one being focused on currently sported a large cape and wielded a staff.

“This is admittedly a risky plan, but it may be just what we need to keep Sonic’s friends off our trail. Plus, we may have an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.”

“And what bird might that be?”

“In addition to keeping Sonic distracted, our masterpiece is also going to need a power source, and I know just where to get one…as well as someone else to keep Sonic busy.”

“Alright Doctor, you’ve piqued my interest. Care to elaborate?”

With a chuckle,Eggman beckoned Robotnik over to the monitor and began to explain.

“Interesting, but how do you propose to obtain said power source without…poking the hornet’s nest as it were?”

Pushing a button, the screen then showed a robot similar to the caped one, butsmaller and colored yellow with a large hat. “I’ve got just the thing, though it is in dire need of repairs. On my own it would take the whole night, but with you and Snively at my side…”

“We’ll be done by dinnertime?”

“Bingo!”

“Ahhh, then let’s get to work!” beamed Robotnik. “I must say I’m looking forward to viewing more of your…presumably ‘higher end’ creations.

“Well then, I shan’t disappoint you.”

With a gleam in his glasses, Eggman led Robotnik deeper into the base. It was time to work some mechanical magic.

[]

Sonic, Tails and Amy continued until finally braking near the coastline.

“Okay guys, what’s the verdict?” asked Sonic.

Amy and Tails pondered before the latter spoke up. “I…think Eggman’s telling the truth about not being behind the portals.”

“But…”

“…But I do still think he’s up to something.”

“So we’re all on the same page here,” Sonic concurred.

“Not that I trust Eggman or anything, but how can you be sure he’s up to something? You said yourself he was telling the truth about the portal,” asked Amy.

“I think he’s telling the truth,” Tails clarified. “He is a good liar, but the thing that catches my attention the most are the footprints we found. From what I could tell, there were two sets of prints that didn’t belong to Eggman or Metal Sonic.”

“Could they have just been made by some other robot?”

“Call it inventor’s intuition because whether it’s a robot or not, the point is….”

“Someone or something came out of that portal with Eggman and Metal,” Sonic concluded.

“Exactly! If Eggman is telling the truth and he doesn’t know about it, then who or whatever could just be acting on its own.”

“But if Eggman is lying then he’s probably got himself a brand new partner!”

“Bingo!”

“But…what if whoever came out of the portal is friendly?” asked a quavering Amy.

“That’d be nice, but we’re never that lucky. Still, I don’t think we should leave Eggman alone.”

The young fox put a hand to his chin. “I agree we should keep an eye on him, but we can’t stop a plot he hasn’t started yet, so it might be best to call it a day Sonic.”

“Awwww, how come?” Sonic whined.

“Even Eggman can’t build an ‘ultimate weapon’ or something in just one day, he said himself he needs down time.”

“Don’t forget, we still have to find the missing Flicky,” Amy reminded him.

With a defeated sigh, Sonic relented. “Fine, we’ll head back but dinner’s on you two since this adventure was a massive dud.”

“Oh! In that case, let’s head to my place!” beamed Amy. “I can rustle up dinner and dessert in a flash!”

“What kind of dessert?” asked Tails.

“I may have just enough ingredients left to make a pie.”

"Good enough for me! Let’s jet!”

Grabbing Amy and Tails, Sonic jetted off to the opposite end of the island.

[]

Before long the sun had descended completely and the heroic trio had turned in for the night. Though still heavily concerned about Eggman’s return, there was nothing they could do if he hadn’t started anything yet, so the group decided it was better to spend their time on their own rather than worrying about what the latest scheme would be.

Chances are, it’d be back to business as usual with Eggman trapping animals again, and if that’s the extent of his plans, then there truly was nothing to worry about. Speaking of animals, they still had no leads on the pink flicky’s missing brother. They’d decided to scout around some more tomorrow, but ever the hostess, Amy had set a spot for the little bird to build a nest right outside her bedroom window, and all was quiet for the night. At least, it was.

“Wuzzat…?”

In the deep night, a Amy was roused from her slumber by a light rapping on her window. Through her hazy eyes, she found saw the Flicky fluttering about her window in a perceived panic.

“Ms. Flicky? What’s the matter?” as Amy opened the window, the bird turned her beak upwards motioning to a couple of shadows flying overhead. The combination of moonlight and the fiery exhaust bursting from their back ends gave enough illumination to unveil the shadows’ true appearance.

“Those looked like…badniks!” Amy realized. “What should we do?”

The bird began frantically chirping before Amy replied, “We could wake the boys, but its only a couple of Badniks…maybe we should see where they’re going first then wake the guys if it gets serious.”

Amidst the bird’s disagreeing tweets, Amy threw her dress on, and hopped out of the window chasing after the flying bots, the Flicky right behind. The chase eventually brought them into the jungle. Despite usually being a bad idea to trek after dark, but the light from the robots’ flames served as a perfect guide for the young hedgehog. Her curiosity winning out, Amy nstintively upped her speed, sadly causing the poor bird to lag behind,though nonethelless, the Flicky continued after Amy. Before long, the bots finally descended and Amy stealthily approached them. Quickly hopping back, she hid behind a tree and bore witness to a veritable Badnik assembly. Though not overwhelmingly so, the amount of badniks present was alarming.

“What’s going on here?”

Her thoughts were paused as a small human man in green was seen amongst the various robots.

“Those are Eggman’s robots, but that’s not Eggman…is he the one behind all this?”

Her question would be answered in the form of a descending, jet sound, courtesy of a familiar round hovercraft.

“Wait…is that…Dr. Eggman?”

Taking a cautious step forward, behind another tree, Amy gleamed the newcomer and quickly surmised that this wasn’t Dr. Eggman. At least, not the Eggman she knew.

“Who is that?”

From what she could notice, though some features were similar, the differences she noted were a far cry from the Eggman she knew. Most notably, the pinhead, pauldrons and…was that a metal arm?

“We’ve a baker’s dozen Badniks accounted for sir,” said the small man.

“Good,” the larger man sneered.

Amy couldn’t help but shudder at his deep, gravely voice. Menacing was too weak an adjective to describe the sensation Amy felt as the new face then began to speak into some sort of communicator.

“Are you sure you’re willing to part with so many soldiers Doctor?”

“By all means. They may not be infinite, but I do have plenty to spare. Think of it as a show of good faith, and please, do feel free to add your own personal touches to my design.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer, and maybe I’ll return the favor when we next meet.”

“I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

As the two let out a pair of twisted laughs, Amy could only tremble as she quickly recognized the voice on the other end of the line. So Eggman was up to something after all.

“I have to get the guys!”

“Hmm? Snively, did you hear that?”

Amy hastily clamped her mouth shut, sweat rolling down her head. She hadn’t meant to say that last thought aloud, but apparently, the shock from the currently unfolding events was too much for her to remain quiet.

“I didn’t hear anything sir,” Snively replied.

Robotnik put a hand to his chin. “Just in case…you! Go check it out,” he ordered a random Caterkiller.

The robotic insect slinked its way towards the surrounding trees, eventually closing in on the one Amy was hidden behind. Now what? She could destroy it easily, but whether she attacked or fled, she’d be a sitting duck for the two men and the rest of the robots.

While the young hedgehog braced herself for a nigh inevitable showdown, the lagging Flicky finally caught up to Amy only to fly face first into the Caterkiller’s face. As she shook off the dizziness of the impact, the bird let out a mortified tweet before ascending and dashing right out of the Badnik’s range. As it flew past a nearby tree, the hidden Amy managed to snatch the flickyright out of the air and cover her beak, thankfully remaining inconspicuous.

“Seems t’was just a bird sir,” said Snively.

“Hmph, probably roused it awake. Leave it be, as tempting as it is to robotocize another…flicky are they called? I’d rather not give Cluck more reason to act out. He’s worried I’m replacing him.”

“That flying, metal, rat,” Snively mumbled.

“What was that, Snively!?”

“I just can’t wait to get back, sir.”

“…Very well. I’m feeling rather homesick myself. Let’s get moving.”

One badnik, specifically an Eggrobo was soon bathed in a misty light before semingly transforming into a larger, yellow version of itself in a matching top hat.

“Heavy Magician, open the portal!” came Eggman’s voice.

From its hat, Heavy Magician produced a familiar gem and from said gem rang an eerie, warbling chime. As the area was bathed in an inverted light, a purple vortex opened up.

“All badniks, come forth!”

With the order given, Snively proceeded through the portal, the badniks right behind. Once the final badnik was through, the Eggman look alike flew through. With the new comers gone, Heavy Magician waved its arms and in a misty haze, disappeared.

Amy remained still, taking care to make sure the coast was clear. Once she was certain all was safe, she fell to her knees, exhaling hard.

“That was…way too close,” she panted. “Sorry for leaving you behind back then,but they’re gone now,” she then apologized the flicky. The little bird responded by nuzzling against Amy’s chin.

Taking a moment to fix herself, she got to her feet and peered out to the portal that was, surprisingly, still there. “So this is the kind of portal that took Sonic to…the future? Or did Tails say it was an alternate world?”

She only pondered for a moment before deciding her next course of action; “We need to tell Sonic and Tails, pronto!”

The bird nodded and fluttered off. Just as Amy went after it, the portal made another noise. Instead of the eerie chime, a loud boom came from the portal before it briefly expanded before turning from a mere portal to a powerful vortex.

“What’s going on!?” Amy barely had time to think before the insane winds began to pull her in. Naturally she tried to run, but ultimately her efforts proved fruitless. Despite her knack for pursuing the blue blur, she herself was no speedster.

The flicky who’d, managed to get out of the void’s range before it started sucking in, flew back towards Amy but she quickly dissuaded her.

“No don’t! You’llget sucked in too! Just get back to my place! Warn Sonic and Tails!!!”

With her warning delivered, Amy finally succumbed to the void’s pull and was dragged inside, the last thing the Flicky heard being her scream before the void finally shut. The frazzled bird steeled herself before flying off. If nothing else, she could fulfill Amy’s final request.

[]

The pink hedgehog could only yell as she was rapidly swirled around and around the purple vortex. Though Amy had been through her share of loops, this was far beyond what she could tolerate, at least on such short notice. Before long, the wild ridecame to an abrupt stop and Amy found herself spat out on some strangely shiny ground.

“Owww…that wasn’t fun…” Amy groaned as she picked herself up.

“Where am I?” Taking in her surroundings, Amy found herself in what appeared to be a large, crystalized cave.

“Pretty~! This place reminds me of the Quartz Quadrant…but what is this place?”

“Well now…who pray tell, do we have here?”

A gasping Amy turned to the voice, shuddering as a mysterious figure approached her. Readying her hammer, Amy braced herself as she then came face to face with the void’s horned controller.

‘Sonic…wherever you are, please get me out of here fast!’

(A/N: Sorry to keep you waaaitiiiiiiing~! Yup, this story’s back! Admittedly not much has happened between then and now IRL, I just plainly got stuck. I had ideas on how to continue from last chapter, but no idea how to make them work. The fact I got stuck on my other ongoing story as well didn’t help things either. Writer’s block may be the most common author’s foe, but burnout is arguably the greatest. My year long hiatus finally came to an end in late 2024 where I managed to update the aforementioned story and slowly but surely found a path to progress for this one (sorry it took another six-ish months though). What was that path? Welp, it may be antithetical to this series, but I needed to slow things down just a bit more. I’m dying to have Team Heroes and the Freedom Fighters meet, but we need to do things right. Funny thing to note is I think this is the first chapter to primarily take place in the game universe. No telling how long that’ll last as we move forward. As for the actual chapter, more Doctor Duo plotting as the heroes inch closer to the truth. I’ll admit, coming up with a reason for them to not immediately suspect Eggman to be up to something was…a thing to say the least, but we can’t have the heroes learn things too quickly now, can we? Speaking of Team Heroes, I mainly just hope their interactions were on point. I feel I can write their modern counterparts well (despite not having done it before), but this was my first time writing these three substantially. Their previous appearances were brief so their dialogue and interactions could be basic and not entirely defined, but here, everyone’s appearance is integral so their words and actions have to be more carefully considered. Regardless, I just hope I can keep an even pace. I can’t say when I’ll update again in the future, but I’ll at least assure you it won’t be another year. This time, I actually know what’s gonna happen next. Hope everyone will stick around to see it with me.

Until next time, I’m up, over and gone!)

Chapter Text

Mobius Mania

What You See Is What You Get

Early morning on Westside Island, an azure wind blazed across the entire land as one Sonic the Hedgehog ran laps across every available zone. How could he not after the rude awakening he and Tails received last night?

[]

The night was quiet as Sonic and Tails slept peacefully in Amy’s living room. Their slumber would be jarred however as the pink Flicky rushed in tweeting like an alarm.

“Tails, can ya turn the alarm clock off…?” Sonic mumbled.

A sleeping Tails ignored the comment but the two would finally be wholly awakened by the frustrated bird furiously pecking both of them in the head.

“Dow…! Okay, okay, I’m up!” Sonic groaned.

“What’s going on?” asked Tails.

Flicky flew in circles tweeting frantically. The boys sadly couldn’t speak Flicky like Amy could but…actually, speaking of which….

“Wait, where’s Amy?” asked Sonic.

The flicky would then lead the two to Amy’s empty bedroom before then guiding them to the area where she and the robots disappeared. Though they couldn’t understand the bird directly, they understood the message, loud and clear; Amy was gone.

[]

“Maybe I should take some lessons in Flicky lingo.”

Sonic’s inner musings were jarred by radio static. Pulling out a communicator, he answered the call from Tails.

“Sonic!”

“What’s up Tails? You find anything?”

“Nope. Even from the sky, there’s not a trace of Amy anywhere. How about on your end?”

“That’s a negative pal. I swear I’ve been around the whole island like, thrice now.”

Tails briefly went silent before replying, “I’m bringing her down Sonic, I think we should regroup and think. I don’t think we’re going to make much headway just running blindly like this.”

“Roger that. Race ya to the shore!”

With Sonic rushing off, the Tornado U-turned and jetted after him. Moments later, back on the beach, Tails paced about while Sonic lay on the Tornado’s wings, his foot impatiently twitching.

“Okay, so from what we can gather, it’s likely Amy got sucked into one of those Phantom Ruby portals that have apparently been spawning all over the place.”

“I could’ve guessed that Tails, but how do we get her back?”

“The old fashioned way I suppose, but we need to find a portal first, and their appearances are very sporadic.”

“Well, we’ve been all over the island and come up short…think maybe we oughta try someplace else?”

“Like where?”

“Maybe where this whole thing started?” Sonic shrugged.

“Where it started? Oh! You mean Angel Island?”

Sonic nodded. “That is where we found the Phantom Ruby in the first place. If there’s one place it’s likely to act up, I think Angel Island’s a safe bet.”

“That makes sense I suppose, but even if we do find a portal, who’s to say we’ll end up the same place as Amy or the flicky? They disappeared here after all,” a contemplative Tails noted.

“You know what they say kid, ‘no risk, no reward’,” Sonic replied.

“I thought it was high risk, high reward and vice versa.”

“It is, but same principle.”

“Fair enough,” Tails shrugged.

“Well, we got a plan now. Let’s hit the sky road.”

Re-boarding the plane, the Tornado rolled off for take-off, Sonic standing at the ready on its wings. As the scarlet biplane re-entered the sky, a single thought crossed Sonic’s mind.

‘Wherever Amy is, I just hope she’s in a better place than I ended up.’

[]

Getting sucked into a strange portal is not what one would usually consider a fun time. The primary potential positive is one could end up in a very nice location, like a sunny island, or a serene forest, or in Amy Rose’s case, a cave made of gorgeous crystals.

Unfortunately, even with those positive aspects, the glee in experiencing them could easily be hampered when faced with a menacing presence, such as the horned, bearded old man who greeted Amy at the mouth of the cavern.

Gripping tightly to her trusty Piko Hammer, Amy in a firm yet quavered tone called out, “W-who are you!?”

“Interesting….”

The bearded stranger stepped towards Amy who quickly leapt forth, bringing her hammer downwards.”

“Get back!” she demanded.

The horned man merely raised his crablike claw hand and fired a blue beam at the pink hedgehog, encasing her in crystal from the neck down, making her plummet to the ground.

“H-hey! Let me out of here!” Amy cried as she struggled.

“Calm yourself girl. I shall release you, provided you can answer a fair few questions for me.”

Continuing to struggle, Amy shot back, “Haven’t you ever heard of ladies first? If you want me to answer your questions, answer mine first; Who are you? Where are we? And why’d you…freeze me!?”

The mysterious sorcerer let out a hearty laugh. “Ahhh, fair enough, where are my manners. I…am Nagus, the legendary wizard. This…is The Void, a dimension which amplifies my magic. As for why I’ve immobilized you, tis’ only a natural response when one is being attacked, is it not?”

“…I guess,” Amy deflated.

“Now girl, tis your turn to answer my questions; Who are you and how did you get here?”

“My name is Amy and I was sucked into this…void after some guy who looked like Dr. Eggman went through.”

“Doctor…Eggman?”

Amy then gave a brief description of Eggman and his doppelganger. As she recounted the events, Naugus looked to slowly grow more and more agitated until finally erupting in frustration.

“Blast that cursed Robotnik! How many more must he trap within this forsaken prison until he is sated!?”

“Wait, Eggman trapped you here too?” asked a now confused Amy.

“Negative, girl. I’ve yet to meet this…Eggman you speak of.”

“But…you said Robotnik trapped you here, and Eggman is Robotnik.”

“…Say again?”

“Dr. Eggman’s real name is Ivo Robotnik. Eggman was a name we came up with to mock him and he just sort of accepted it.”

Amy’s revelation left Naugus both enraged and stupefied. “There are…two Robotniks!?”

“Two?”

“The one you saw enter the Void, he is the Robotnik I was referring too.” Naugus informed.

Now was Amy’s time to be shocked. “Wait, if Eggman and your Robotnik are working together….”

“Surely their machinations will be catastrophic.”

“Please, let me go! We need to get out of here and stop them!” Amy pleaded.

Complying with her request, Naugus dispelled the crystal, but was quick to dash her hopes of escape. “Release you from immobility I shall, but escape from the void is a fruitless effort.”

“What!?”

“Though I can open the door of the Void as it were, the portals only work inward. I know not how the Robotniks are able to come and go at will, let alone bypass coming through this crystalline fortress, but without whatever apparatus they possess, the only hope of escape lies with the blue quickster.”

At Naugus’ last line, Amy’s expression perked up. “Blue quickster? Are you talking about Sonic!?”

“You…are an acquaintance of his?”

“Oh I’m more than an acquaintance,” a flushed Amy replied.

Taking note of her response, Naugus stroked his chin. “If tis’ true, then am I right to assume you are an ally of the Freedom Fighters?”

“Freedom Fighters?”

“You’re…unfamiliar?”

Amy nodded and Naugus continued to theorize. “You know of the quickster but not his team…you also face a Robotnik yet not the tyrant I know…could it be…!?”

Listening along, Amy understood Naugus’ conclusion. “Are you saying you have your own Sonic too!?”

“Tis would seem to be the case,” a contemplative Naugus concurred. “I’ve more questions, as I’m sure you do as well, but tis probably best to discuss these revelations in a more comfortable setting.”

Turning around, Naugus started towards the cave’s mouth, Amy following a safe distance behind. As they exited the cave, the young hedgehog’s face alit as she laid eyes on a huge crystalline castle.

“Oh my…! It’s beautiful!”

“Come now youngling. We shall finish our discussion indoors, for there is one more whom I believe needs to hear of your tales.”

“You mean someone else is trapped here with you?”

Naugus nodded before making his way towards the castle, pausing only to motion to Amy to follow him. Despite some understandable hesitance, she was left with little other choice and ultimately followed the mysterious sage to the castle, again from a safe distance.

She was wary of the old man, but she had faith that despite his apparent great power, he wasn’t a threat. At least, for now.

As Naugus led her into the castle, he called out, “My Liege, we have a visitor.”

“‘My Liege?’” Amy repeated. “Wait, am I meeting royalty!?”

Her answer came in the form of a soft yet authorative male voice. “A visitor, you say?” From the stairs descended a tall, mustachioed, fox man with a crown.

Amy’s eyes grew as wide as plates as she laid eyes on the newcomer. “Oh my…! Wait, wait, I’m not presentable! My quills, how are my quills!? I need a comb!”

“At ease my girl. I can’t exactly say I’m presented as a king ought to be myself,” he chuckled.

Amy took a breath to calm herself. Despite the King’s assuring words, she couldn’t help but wish she’d been wearing her new red dress. Still, Sunday best or not, it was probably best to at least act presentable, despite the less than appropriate wardrobe.

“As you wish, your highness,” she said with a curtsy.

“Please, I just said you needn’t be so formal young Miss…?”

“Rose. Amy Rose.”

“Young Miss Rose, I told you to be at ease. In this world, we are all but Robotnik’s prisoners.”

“Speaking of Robotnik, remember his new partner in crime?” Naugus interjected. “Our new ‘cellmate’ as it were, may be able to shed some light on him.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s not all. Apparently, she’s quite familiar with the quickster.”

The King’s face alit. “Really? Then…can I believe you’ve also met with my daughter!?”

Amy couldn’t help but feel bad to dash the poor king’s hopes but with a flushed face, Amy nodded. “Sorry, but I can’t say I that I have, although I’d love to meet a princess!”

Despite his best efforts, The King couldn’t hide the distraught on his face, though he also couldn’t hide his curiosity. If this girl knew Sonic, why didn’t she know Sally?

“I can see you’re confused your highness, but worry not, she will explain everything, for you see, the Quickster she knows is not the one we are familiar with.”

King Acorn’s face showed even more confusion now, but also great intrigue. “Well then, feel free to start at the beginning. After all, we’ve plenty of time.”

Amy nodded with a warm smile. “Of course.”

[]

“Tails, how much longer till we get to Angel Island?”

“We should be coming up on it soon.”

It had taken a bit, but the flight to the floating island was finally nearing its end. As Tails brought the Tornado to it’s descent, the young pilot asked, “Hey Sonic, I just thought of something; if there really are portals popping up on Angel Island, don’t you think Knuckles would’ve told us?”

“You know him, always the lone wolf until he can’t help it. Then again, even if there are, maybe he just missed em’?”

“I suppose…Angel Island’s pretty big and Knuckles can’t be everywhere at once plus they fade quickly. Not impossible to think Knuckles may miss a couple…although now I wonder if he’ll be okay with us snooping around his island.”

Sonic shrugged. “I dunno. He’ll probably be mad at us for tresspassing, but we’re cool so he’ll probably get over it.”

“Sonic, we both know Knuckles doesn’t just ‘get over’ things.”

“Doesn’t hurt to hope.”

The banter ended as the Tornado touched ground and skid to a halt.

“Twenty rings says Knuckles is at the Emerald Shrine,” guessed Sonic.

“I’d guess he’s probably somewhere in the jungle, but I don’t have the rings to bet.”

“Then let’s get moving.”

With vigor, Sonic and Tails dashed into the familiar jungle. Shortly into their run however, unbeknownst to them, a sharp pair of eyes viewed them from a hidden vantage point, slowly but surely narrowing into a fierce glare.

The duo barely managed to get a few extra feet before a large shadow loomed over them.

“HEADS UP!”

“Agh-!”

Sonic and Tails hopped off in opposite directions to avoid the boulder that came crashing down on their previous position.

“What was that!?”

“A giant rock?”

“Sonic! Incoming!”

Tails warning came just in time as a small barrage of boulders came raining down on them.

“Hang tight kid!”

Grabbing Tails by the arm, Sonic blasted forth, weaving through the incoming assault. One final boulder, much larger than the others quickly rolled towards the two, but Sonic, kept up his speed, briefly winking to Tails who quickly understood.

Spinning his namesakes around, Tails took to the sky, with Sonic in hand, narrowly avoiding getting squashed by the big rock. Unfortunately for them, they’d find themselves getting snatched out of the sky by a figure tackling them in midair. While Tails was tossed aside, Sonic found himself being driven into the ground.

As the dust cleared and Sonic regained his senses, he finally faced his assailaint, none other than the island’s red-quilled guardian himself.

“I finally found you,” he growled.

“Yo, what’s up, Knuckles?” Sonic nonchalantly greeted.

“Stuff the niceties Sonic, and tell me where you’ve hidden the Master Emerald!”

Sonic rolled his eyes before asking, “Knuckles, what the heck are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me!”

Shoving Knuckles off of him, Sonic himself off and deadpanned, “What did Eggman say to you this time?”

“I haven’t seen hide nor moustache hair of Eggman, but I did see you make off with my Emerald…with my own two eyes!”

Sonic’s expression shifted from sarcastic apathy to light intrigue. Knuckles may be gullible, but not gullible enough to claim he saw Sonic unless he truly thought it was him.

“Wait a second Knuckles,” A newly recovered Tails interjected, descending to Sonic’s side. “Whatever happened, it couldn’t have been Sonic. We just got here.”

“I know what I saw,” Knuckles doubled down.

“Okay then…what exactly did you see ‘me’ do?” Sonic inquired.

A frustrated Knuckles crossed his arms as he recounted the previous events.

[Earlier today]

It had been a short while since the (second) fall of Eggman’s Egg Reverie, but Angel Island was finally peaceful again. As much as Knuckles wasn’t fond of uninvited guests, he couldn’t deny the satisfaction that came from fighting Eggman’s forces. Still, his own gratification was a price he was willing to pay to keep the Master Emerald out of the wrong hands. Speaking of the wrong hands, he couldn’t help but wonder what happened to Eggman at the end of their last battle.

Sonic had apparently gotten trapped in another world when he was sucked into the reverie’s first implosion. Maybe with a bit of luck the same would happen to Dr. Eggman and no one would have to worry about him for a long time.

So far things had been uneventful, but duties are duties. Casually chomping on an apple, Knuckles made his way towards the inner palace of the island. As he approached though, a loud crash echoed about.

“What was that!?”

Discarding the apple, Knuckles dashed off to the palace, busting his way in only to find a familiar blue-quilled figure standing on top of the Master Emerald.

“Sonic!? What are you doing back here? And get off of the Master Emerald!”

Sonic remained silent but shot Knuckles a smarmy grin before leaping off of the Master Emerald. Before Knuckles could act, the Master Emerald ascended from it’s pedestal, bathed in a bright pure light while being lifted up by Super Sonic.

“What the…!?”

Super Sonic snickered before flying up and out of the palace through a hole in the roof of the cavern.

“Where the heck are you going!?”

Knuckles dashed off, leaping off the stone emerald replicas before launching himself onto an adjacent wall and climbing up it. Bounding off the wall, Knuckles glided towards Sonic only to just narrowly miss as Sonic flew out of the cave, the Emerald in hand.

Turning back around in midair, Knuckles glided towards the warping orb in the adjacent room. Warping to the outer Sanctuary, Knuckles growled as Sonic had apparently disappeared.

[]

As Knuckles finished his recollection, Sonic quickly called for a time out before stating his case. “Whoa, whoa, hold up! First off, whatever you saw, it wasn’t me. Secondly, I don’t have the Chaos Emeralds, so how could I have become Super Sonic? Thirdly, if I had stolen the Master Emerald, wouldn’t Angel Island have fallen into the ocean?”

“Firstly, I know what I saw wasn’t Metal, Mecha, or whatever fake Sonic Eggman could’ve made. It was an actual person who looked just like you. Secondly, with the Master Emerald, you don’t need the Chaos Emeralds to transform…although the power lasts significantly less, it’d be more than enough time for someone as fast as you to make an escape. Thirdly, that is a fair point that I did in fact consider, so I came to the conclusion that you only took the Emerald out of the alter, but didn’t actually try and get away with it…assuming you had no intention to,” Knuckles lightly growled the last bit.

Sonic and Tails shared a look. It seemed that Knuckles truly believed he saw Sonic take the Emerald, but his theory still had a couple of holes.

“Knuckles, what would be the point of removing the Emerald from the alter if we weren’t trying to just take it?”

“So you did try to actually steal it!?”

Sonic rolled his eyes. “No, I’m just asking hypothetically, if I wasn’t trying to steal the Emerald, why would I even take it out of the alter?”

“You do have a penchant for ticking me off hedgehog,” Knuckles countered.

“You serioulsy think I’d do something that petty as a prank?”

“Would you?”

Sonic opened his mouth to retort, but quickly paused to think. Giving it a second thought, he couldn’t deny that he’d pull a quick harmless prank on Knuckles, but involving the Master Emerald in any way just seemed a bit too serious, even if it never leaves the island.

Surprisingly, even at Sonic’s rather dismissive shrug, Knuckles didn’t seem as angry as one might expect in this situation.

“You know Knuckles, you’re being surprisingly chill given the circumstances.”

With a shrug, Knuckles replied, “I got most of it out of my system when I tackled you out of the air.”

Regaining his serious expression, Knuckles continued, “Look I don’t want to believe you were trying to steal the Emerald outright, but I know what I saw. Since the island is still floating, I’m willing to just chalk this whole thing up to a bad prank and let you two off with a warning if you just tell me where you hid the Master Emerald, now!”

“I’m telling you Knuckles, whichever way you slice this, I don’t know where the Master Emerald is. We just got here like five minutes ago.”

Clenching his fist, Knuckles’ tone slowly became more confrontational. “Sonic, I’ve been lenient this whole time, but you know how thin my patience is.”

Lowering into a combative stance, Sonic replied. “That’s my line.”

“Wait guys, you two don’t have to…!”

Tails’ attempt to talk the two ultimately failed as Sonic revved up a peel-out and Knuckles crouched into a lunging position.

“Why do I even bother?” Tails stood aside, prepared to assist if necessary but for now, he was going to let this play out.

In a burst, Sonic sped off as Knuckles leapt towards him, his fist raised to strike. Dashing into a roll, Sonic accelerated before bouncing off a nearby rock, launching himself into the air, foot first. As Knuckles descended, he brought his fist down, striking at Sonic and causing both of their limbs to collide and make a small but instense shockwave, shaking all the nearby small plants…and the trees…and the rocks…and the ground…?

“Uhhh…Sonic…Knuckles…!?” called a shaken Tails.

As the two landed, they felt the full effects of the apparent shaking.

“Uhhhh…did we do that?” asked Sonic.

“No…the island’s falling again!” said a panicked Knuckles.”

“Still think we’re just pranking you?” Sonic snidely chided.

“You can burn me for this later, right now we need to get to higher ground!”

“We need to get back to the Tornado!” said Tails.

“On it! Hang tight boys!” grabbing Knuckles and Tails by the wrists, Sonic jetted off, the ground shaking beneath their feet.

It didn’t take long to reach the Tornado’s ‘parking spot’, the trio instantly boarding with Sonic and Knuckles hopping on the wings. In a flash, the Tornado shot off into the sky just as Angel Island splashed down into the ocean.

“No…not again…,” Knuckles lamented.

“No time for pity Knuckles, we need to find out what happened to the Master Emerald,” said Sonic.

“Look, over there!”

Off in the distance, the three could see the Master Emerald being carried off by a squad of Eggrobos into what looked like a large mechanical blimp.

“There it is!”

“So, Eggman is involved in this after all!” Sonic snapped.

“Involved in what?” asked Knuckles.

“We’ll tell you later, right now, we’re going in!” Tails proclaimed.

Sonic and Knuckles grasped tightly onto the wings as the Tornado shot off in hot pursuit. Unbeknownst to the airborne trio however, a round shadow shot off from beneath the island, blasting off in the opposite direction.

[]

The flight to the Egg Blimp was silent, not only with the air of determination emanating from Sonic and Knuckles, but also from the rising tension between the two. Sensing the hostility, Tails attempted to change the silent subject.

“Hey guys, I was just wondering, what exactly did Eggman use to impersonate Sonic? If it wasn’t Metal or Mecha but was still convincing enough to fool Knuckles, then we may be in for a messy encounter.”

At Tails’ mention of being fooled, Knuckles clenched his fist. He hadn’t seen Eggman at all, so when he thought he saw Sonic, he jumped to conclusions again. Even if he didn’t immediately accuse them of theft, Sonic being the only prime suspect made the real culprit, whether Eggman or not escape with the Master Emerald.

They were still some moments out from the blimp, so Knuckles braced himself for the Sonic’s inevitable berating spiel, but surprisingly, it didn’t come…yet at least. He’s probably waiting until the mission’s done. Well then, they’ll just have to get it done quickly.

“Tails, take us higher!” Knuckles requested.

Though slightly confused, Tails didn’t question it and complied. “On it!”

Once the Tornado reached peak altitude, Knuckles leapt off the wings and headed for the blimp alone.

“Knuckles!”

“Relax Tails, he can glide remember? He’s probably just anxious, not that I can blame him of course.

“What do we do?”

“Make it fun. If Knuckles wants to hog all the action, we’ll just have to beat him to it! Full speed ahead!”

“Aye-aye!” Tails saluted.

The Tornado jettisoned ahead and hung right above the Egg Blimp. In close enough proxmity, Sonic leapt off the plane and curled up, shooting off as soon as he boarded. As he sped through however, he quickly found that he was merely following a path of destruction, likely carved through by Knuckles. With the Master Emerald at stake, it wasn’t surprising that he was giving Sonic’s speed a run for its money.

With a grin, Sonic accelerated. “Knuckles, you better leave some for me!”

With Sonic bringing the fight to the pilot, Tails remained on the rear-guard with the Tornado. He had a few blips on his radar, but he was prepared for the ensuing dogfight. Surprisingly though, it never came. Part of him had hope that the lack of an attack came from all the crew focusing their offense on Sonic and Knuckles, but a part of him had to wonder if this was something else.

[]

Knuckles’ onslaught shook the Egg Blimp. As soon as he landed on the craft, he began throwing his fists in every direction, smashing Egg Robos left and right as he smashed his way through. Though not as fast as Sonic he was more than quick enough to tear the badniks apart before many of them could fire a single shot, and the ones lucky enough to shoot didn’t get a second chance.

“Need to keep moving…!” Before long, Knuckles had forced his way into the center of the craft where he finally found the Master Emerald being presented on a pedestal, a certain blue hedgehog lying atop it.

“Sonic!? How did you…!? Never mind, stupid question. Tails should be close enough to fly us and the emerald out of here, so come on, let’s bust out of this joint!”

Sonic rolled his eyes at Knuckles before standing up. Shooting the guardian a smirk, his quills began to stand upright and glow a gleaming gold.

Knuckles raised a hand prepared to object, but held his tongue. “You know what, fine. I’d normally tell you not to abuse the Master Emerald’s power like this, but under the circumstances, I’ll allow it. Now let’s hurry back to Angel Is-!”

Knuckles was cut off by Super Sonic dashing at Knuckles and Spin Attacking him right in the gut. The wind knocked out of him, Knuckles crumpled to the ground, holding his stomach.

“Sonic…what the…!?”

Picking himself up, Knuckles clenched his fists and stood ready to strike back. “I don’t know what your deal is Hedgehog, but if you wanna go, bring it on! Don’t think your Super Mode will save you after what happened last time!”

Super Sonic merely smirked before zipping back at Knuckles who counterattacked with a single, heavy strike.

[]

Elsewhere on the Egg Blimp, Sonic was starting to get bored for no matter where he ran there was nary a badnik still standing

“Man, Knuckles really did a number on this place. I know I can’t reallyblame him, but come on. He could’ve saved at least one badnik for me to smash.

Sonic’s plea would be answered with a large crash echoing across the entire craft.

“I should’ve complained sooner.” A freshly amped Sonic sped off until finally reaching the aircraft’scenter interior. The moment he bounded through the door however, he was slammed into the metallic wall, courtesy of Knuckles who’d been launched away himself.

“You know Knuckles, I don’t think this is the right time to finish what we started on the island,Pal.”

“Sonic!”

Knuckles quickly grabbed a confused Sonic by the scruff of the neck, but before he could act, the two were quickly bathed in a bright light, courtesy of an approaching Super Sonic.

“What the…!?”

The impostor Super Sonic floated menacngly above the two, Sonic just staring absolutely dumbfounded.

“Hey uh Knuckles.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think I blame you for getting tricked this time. This is a pretty impressive fake.”

“Praise Eggman later, move now!”

Knuckles dashed aside, Sonic in hand as ‘Super Sonic’ dashed at them once more. Sonic then took point, zipping forward taking Knuckles by the wrist.

“Got a plan, Red?”

“Remember when we first met? I just need a clean shot!”

Sonic fought the urge to roll his eyes at the callback, but he understood. If Knuckles could neutralize the real Sonic’s Super Form with a strong enough punch, then surely a fake would fall even harder.

Releasing Knuckles, Sonic pulled a quick U-Turn, prepared to face his newest doppelganger.

“I dunno what brand of nut case Eggman used to make you, but I’m about to show you there’sno substitute for the real deal!”

Sonic took up position and revved up a peel-out just as ‘Super Sonic’ flared his energy. In a flash, the two blasted right at each other, colliding and trying desperately to overtake the other. More than the attempt to win the clash, it also emphasized that this “Super Sonic” was an even bigger fake than they realized. If this copy really HAD transformed, Master Emerald or otherwise, Sonic would’ve been blown away instantly. The fact he could even match this clash likely meant that who or whatever this thing was, it was just as vulnerable as any other person or badnik. A fact proven true when Knuckles dropped in from seemingly nowhere and ended the clash immediately with a full strength sucker punch right into “Super Sonic’s” face, launching the impostor into the wall.

As the fake hedgehog slid off the wall, the façade finally dissipated revealing the impostor to be none other than the yellow plated Egg-Robo itself.

“Hey that’s the…!”

“Heavy Magician!”

“Wow…now I can’t say I blame you for falling for the trick. This thing even got me when it disguised itself as Mighty,” said Sonic.

“Not to mention turning into the Hooligans.”

“Man…kudos to Eggman for actually trying to trick you here and you not just buying whatever.”

“And there it is,” Knuckles rolled his eyes.

“First and last, I promise.”

With a huff, Knuckles strolledover to the Master Emerald, but before he did, the pedestal was quickly surrounded by a transparent tube.

“What the…?”

“That’s far enough!”called a deep, mechanical voice.

“That’s…not Eggman’s voice,” Sonic noted.

“No…but I recognize it all the same!”

A monitor descended in front of the Emerald and on it appeared Heavy Magician’s team leader.

“Heavy King! So Eggman put you together again after all!”

Heavy King glared. “Doctor Eggman has long since abandoned my team and I. Our latest ressurection was brought about by mere happenstance, though I’ve no intention of letting this rare opportunity go to waste!”

“Happenstance?”

“It probably has to do with the Phantom Ruby energy Tails and I have been chasing. That is how they were rebuilt the first time.”

“But wait…if Eggman didn’t rebuild them then wouldn’t that mean he also didn’t send them after the Master Emerald?”

“Right you are Guardian. This scheme to possess your precious Emerald was all mine, and mine alone.”

Sonic and Knuckles took a moment to consider Heavy King’s words, and given that they’ve eached experienced Heavy King rebelling against Eggman, this tracked.

“I’ll still say, kudos on the ol’ impostor play, your Heavy Highness. At least now it makes sense how you tricked Knuckles since there’s no way Eggman could do it a third time right?”

“What happened to first and last!?” Knuckles snapped.

“Your praise is accepted, but what will be more appreciated is your demise! Get them!”

The room then began flashing red as an alarm blared about and the Master Emerald began ascending into the tube. To make matters worse, all the remaining Eggrobos began rushing towards the room.

“No you don’t!” Frantically, Knuckles smashed the tube, causing the Emerald to drop. As he lifted it above his head, Sonic started revving up.

“Knuckles, there’s only one way out before their reinforcements arrive. You ready!?”

“Always!”

Once Knuckles stood clear, Sonic spin-dashed right through the wall. Thankfully, Heavy Magician’s impact cracked it just enough for Sonic to be able to break through. Once the path was clear, Knuckles leapt out after him,the Master Emerald in hand just as the Egg Robos began flooding into the room.

The two braced themselves as they surrendered to the force of the freefall. While Sonic had his limbs spread, Knuckles was clutching onto the Master Emerald for dear life.

“Sonic, where is he!?” A few seconds later, the sound of a propellor filled the air.

“Right on time as always.”

The duo braced themselves as the Tornado dove beneath them, Sonic rolling onto the wing while Knuckles climbed atop the Emeraldas the Tornado’s holder grabbed it.

“Hang tight guys, we’re bringing her home!”

Tails dove once more, retreating back to the fallen Angel Island all while the Egg Blimp continued on its way.

Heavy King could only glare as he watched his foes escape. That glare soon softened to what could only be viewed as a pleased expression.

“It is done.

[]

The flight back to Angel Island was a smooth one. The gang had partly expected for Heavy King to send someone after them, but given he’s an Eggman creation, he must be able to know when he’s beat. Alas, the Tornado finally touched down and the Master Emerald was back where it belonged.

“Whew…that was pretty crazy, but I’d call that another win,” Sonic boasted.

“Speaking of, what happened up there? I had to stay in the plane so I missed it. Please tell me I didn’t miss anything too crazy,” said Tails.

“Hate to be the bearer of bad news kid, but I think it was that crazy.”

Sonic then proceeded to give Tails a quick rundown of the events while Knuckles stared suspiciously at the Master Emerald, placing a hand on it. After a few contemplative seconds, Knuckles glanced over the the edge of the island and gasped as he made a startling realization.

“Wow…so it was the Hard Boiled Heavies this whole time?”

“Well, they’re the ones who tried to steal the Emerald at least, but we still don’t know who, what, or if someone else is behind the portals. Any input here Knuckles?”

Sonic received a silent response before he and Tails turned to see Knuckles absolutely seething.

“Uhhh…Knuckles?”

“Sonic…Tails…they got us….”

“Who got what?”

“The Hard Boiled Heavies! They tricked us all and got away with the Master Emerald!”

Sonic and Tails turned to each other confused. “What are you talking about? The Emerald’s right there.”

“This isn’t the Master Emerald,” Knuckles clarified. “I’ll grant you that it looks just like it, but it’s just a huge green rock! If you need more proof, look to the water.”

“The water?”

Tails yelped, finally understanding Knuckles’ point. “Wait, he’s right! If this was the real Master Emerald, the island would be floating, but we’re still in the ocean!”

Sonic palmed his forehead, disbelief on his face. “Man…now I really can’t blame you for falling for the fake me. This guy got us all good!”

“But…how? How did I not notice it was a fake until now…?” a dejected Knuckles fell to his knees.

“Probably more of Heavy Magician’s illusion business. I’m more curious about where Heavy King got the big, normal emerald,” said Sonic.

“I think I may have an idea,” Tails interjected. “Sonic, remember that one secret cavern, palace place we found in that South Island cave?”

Sonic snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah! That makes sense.”

“If you two are busy reminiscing, we’ve got to get back in the air! The Tornado’s fast so we MIGHT be able to still catch Heavy King!”

“Wait a second Knuckles…if they went through all the trouble of making a decoy, is the real Master Emerald even on that blimp?” Sonic suggested.

“That’s a good point actually,” Tails added. “My scanner was set to track Phantom Ruby energy so I couldn’t have checked back then, but give me a moment and I can have it set back to Emerald Energy.”

Taking a page from Sonic’s book, Knuckles crossed his arms and impatiently tapped his foot. “Do whatever you need to Tails, just do it quickly before they get too far away!”

“I have to be quick to keep pace with Sonic. This’ll just take a sec.”

After a few seconds of tinkering with the Tornado’s radar, Tails noted a blip heading opposite the direction of the Egg Blimp. No sooner than had he discovered it though, it disappeared.

“Uh-oh….”

“Uh-oh what!?” Knuckles demanded.

“Well, I got a reading but....”

“But what? Let’s go after it already!”

“It disappeared Knuckles. It headed off in that direction before vanishing.”

“Again, let’s just get after it! I’m sure if we get close enough you can pick up the signal again!”

“It didn’t just get out of range Knuckles, it straight up disappeared,” Tails clarified. “Distance wise there was still a bit of a ways to go before it escaped the Tornado’s radar, and it wasn’t moving fast enough to escape the range that quickly.”

“But…what does that mean then?” asked Knuckles. “Maybe your radar’s malfunctioned?”

“The radar’s fine, Knuckles, but I think I’ve got a better idea of what happened,” Sonic interjected.

All eyes turned to Sonic who gave his theory with a simple question. “Remember what happened to Amy?”

“You mean…!?” Tails trailed off.

“Wait, what happened to Amy?” asked an out of the loop Knuckles.

A few moments later, Sonic and Tails had gotten Knuckles up to speed and the red guardian was still trying to process everything.

“So a bunch of portals have been popping up, you think Amy fell into one, and you guys came to my island for answers because Eggman found the Phantom Ruby here first?”

“Yup, that’s the gist of it.”

“…A fair enough assumption, but if there were portals popping up on Angel Island specifically, don’t you think I’d know about it?”

“I mean, you didn’t know the Ruby was there in the first place,” Sonic shrugged.

Knuckles wanted to retort but he truly had no counter. “Yeah well…okay fine, that’s fair…wait, are you saying that the thief took the Master Emerald through one of those portals?”

“It’s not a flawless theory for one big reason, but it does make sense,” Sonic confirmed.

“What’s the reason?” asked Tails.

“The Phantom Ruby and Emeralds don’t mix well. When I got sucked in, the Chaos Emeralds scattered away. If they can’t go through a Ruby portal, I doubt the Master Emerald can.”

“Maybe the Master Emerald’s superior power allowed it pass through with no issue?” Knuckles suggested.

“We can figure out the ‘Why’, later you guys! Right now we need to make a plan!” Tails exclaimed.

“Okay…what are our options?” asked Sonic.

“We can either go after the Emerald reading just in case our theory’s wrong, go after Heavy King and try and get answers from him, or keep looking for portals.”

The trio took a moment to consider their next course of action and ultimately decided to go after Heavy King. Thankfully, blimps weren’t known for speed so while it was rather far out, it was still within range of the Tornado’s Radar. If the gang was going to make any progress in this hunt, that seemed to be their best lead. With any luck, they might just come across a portal on this chase.

Boarding the Tornado once more, the trio took off into the sky, their sights set on the Egg Blimp once again.

[]

“That went swimmingly!”

Dr. Eggman let out a loud, hearty laugh before glancing back at his green, glowing prize; The Master Emerald, hooked up to a similar but larger dampening machine, from within his mobile, acquatic vessel. His boasting would be cut short by an incoming transmission. Answering it, Heavy King appeared on the monitor.

“The plan has succeded Doctor. Sonic and his friends bought the bait.”

“Excellent! By the time those rodents realize they have a fake, I’ll be long gone! Sonic’s likely to chase after you since you’re the easier target so keep him and his friends busy for as long as you can. They’re bound to realize my involvement sooner or later, and we’d like to delay that for as long as possible.”

“Understood sir.”

Once the feed cut, Heavy King’s eyes narrowed. After being rebuilt for a third time, Heavy King was determined to break away from his creator once and for all. This affair on Angel Island would’ve been a perfect opportunity to make off with the Master Emerald, had it not been for a certain set of guests around the blimp.

As the Egg Blimp proceeded through the air, a squadron of four-pointed, eye-like drones orbited around the aerial base. Just as Eggman had lent his badniks to Robotnik, the metal armed dictator had leant Eggman his stealth bots. True to their name, they managed to keep themselves away from Tails’ sight while in the air, though in contrast, Heavy King noted them quickly. So long as these literal ‘eyes-in-the skies’ were hounding him and his team, Heavy King would have no choice but to follow Eggman’s orders to the letter.

“Soon Doctor, I will head this army and the Empire you seek to create, will be mine!”

[]

“Unbelievable….”

With a nostalgic grin, Amy finished her tale to Naugus and King Acorn, recounting the time she first met Sonic on Little Planet, as well as a secondhand recount of Sonic and Tails’ most recent adventure with the Phantom Ruby. While the emponymous gem quickly caught Naugus’ attention, King Acorn was still stuck on the existence of another Sonic and Robotnik.

“To think, there’s a world where the dictator that my daughter and her friends are at war with is just a troublemaking miscreant more than anything else.”

“Eggman may be a goofball, but he’s a very dangerous goofball when he wants to be.” Amy crossed her arms over her body. “I still get chills whenever I think about Metal Sonic’s piercing red eyes.”

“Yes…as intriguing as it is to hear of your quickster’s exploits, I’m more intrigued by this…‘Phantom Ruby’, was it?” Naugus interjected.

Amy shrugged dismissively. “Sorry, but I wasn’t around for that adventure so I can’t really say much more about it.”

“Shame, but what you have shared has given me hope!”

“What kind of hope Naugus?” asked the skeptical King.

“Hope that maybe…with its power, I could save us from our unfortunate fate.”

Naugus and the King had shared the tale of their most recent encounter with their Sonic and his friends as well as the consequences of being in the void for so long.

Sensing the downtrodden aura, Amy spoke up. “Don’t worry, whether its my Sonic, your Sonic or a mystery third Sonic, I have faith that he or they will find us and save us…sooner or later!”

King Acorn flashed her an inviting smile. “Your optimism is a nice relief from this bleakness, I must say.”

“True, though I do have to wonder how one could possibly be so cheerful under these circumstances,” Naugus interjected.

With a giggle, Amy reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a card with a flying Flicky on it.

“Let’s just say I have a strong feeling that freedom is on the cards.”

Amy had earlier demonstrated her skill at card reading, and while King Acorn was intrigued, Naugus, as a magical ace had largely discounted it. Still, if the girl’s intuition had even the faintest accuracy, then maybe there would be hope for the three of them yet. If nothing else, if her quickster was anything at all like the one he knew, then assuredly would come to save his friend. T’was only a matter of time.

(A/N: And that’s the goal! To the one reviewer who asked if we’d see more game characters, well you got your wish, Knuckles is here! While the jury’s still out on whether or not Mighty, Ray, and/or the Hooligans will appear, I will say right now however, we WON’T be seeing Trip at all. This is Post-Mania/Forces and Pre-Superstars. Also, while I may use the current day ‘Classic-Era’ material for reference (Mania Adventures, the Seasons of Chaos comic, etc.), they haven’t happened (yet) in this story.

As for this chapter, again, Knuckles! I didn’t want to do a whole, ‘Knuckles gets tricked’ spiel again, but I figured by using Heavy Magician, I could at least make a believable enough scenario to have an angry Knuckles keep Sonic and Tails busy for the M.E. to get swiped. Also, before anyone says it, while Modern Knuckles would totally be able to tell the fake M.E. at a glance, I’m in the camp that says Classic Knuckles can’t sense Emerald Energy (yet) hence why the switcheroo worked. As for H. Magician turning into Super Sonic, remember, t’was just an illusion. They didn’t actually use the Emerald’s power, hence why Sonic and Knuckles were able to defeat it so easily.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have Amy chatting with Naugus and King Acorn (real quick, according to the Wiki, King Acorn in the cartoon specifically IS in fact, a fox, so spare me the ‘actuallys’). Naugus is tricky, but given the circumstances, I doubt he’d be hostile to Amy, given all of his ire falls squarely on Robotnik. For now, everyone is just exchanging notes while they await a rescue. Sadly, this does mean Amy may be MIA for a bit, but don’t worry, she’s not wholly out of the picture yet.

Onto the newest player, Heavy King. Should’ve seen this coming since I brought back Heavy Magician last chapter, but I knew from the start I wanted to get him involved. Before the Hard Boiled Heavies, Classic Eggman had no henchmen to bounce off of the same way Robotnik has Snively so I thought they’d be a fun addition. Sadly they don’t get to do much beyond being ‘bosses’ here, but I look forward to having them interact with Robotnik and Snively.

While today we adventured in the game world, next time we return to Robotropolis and get to see just what Robotnik can do when given EggTech.)

Chapter Text

Mobius Mania

Assaults and Batteries

“How’s she looking Rotor?”

“The same way she looked when you asked me five minutes ago Sally.”

The brains of the Freedom Fighters were assembled in Rotor’s workshop with the eponymous repairman trying, and evidently failing, to repair NICOLE.

Sally’s trusty handheld had yet to recover from her contact with the Phantom Ruby and the Princess was beside herself with anxiety. Since the past couple of days had been rather uneventful for the Freedom Fighters; Robotnik hadn’t made a move of any kind and they’d received no serious intel from Uncle Chuck, the team had mostly remained home, giving her and Rotor more time to try and fix NICOLE.

Though the break in the action was much apprciated, Sally couldn’t help but feel a bit unnerved by the radio silence. There was a feeling in her gut that they’d need to take action again soon, and she was hoping to have NICOLE fully operational before their next big mission, whatever that may be.

“Sorry if I’m being a bit impatient, I just feel…incomplete without NICOLE.”

“It’s no biggie,” Rotor assured her. “Though if you’re any more impatient, you’ll even give Sonic a run for his money.”

“Geeze Rotor, I already apologized, you don’t have to be mean about it,” Sally huffed in faux offense.

“Sorry,” Rotor snickered. “You’re right, nobody can be as impatient as Sonic.”

“Somebody call my name!?” Right on cue, Sonic zipped inside the hut, hands on his hips with his trademark, cocky smile.

“Just discussing you’re bad habit of leaping before you look,” Sally immediately jabbed.

“Well, when you’re just that good….”

“Jokes aside, what are you doing here Sonic?” Sally asked.

“Just passin’ by since I ain’t got nothin’ better to do.”

“In that case Sonic, I’d say you showed up right on time, cause I think I may have figured out what’s wrong with NICOLE and we may need your help to fix her.

“Really!?” Sonic and Sally beamed.

“Yeah. First off, from the looks of it, whatever kind of juice that ruby thing was packing, NICOLE took in a lot of it. So much so that it’s making her go haywire.”

“So what you’re saying is, if we can find a way to get rid of the excessive energy, she’ll go back to normal?”

“That’s the hope at least,” Rotor confirmed.

“Whatcha gonna do, turn her into a blaster?” Sonic joked.

“Sonic will you get…serious….” Sally was prepared to scold Sonic, but after giving his words some thought, that actually didn’t sound like a bad idea. “Actually on second thought, can we stick a pin in that one?”

“We’ll make that our Plan B. Plan A on the other hand, is simple: We just transfer NICOLE’S extra juice to something else.”

“What kinda somethin’ else?” asked Sonic.

“A power cell!” an enthused Sally answered.

“An empty power cell…” Rotor added. “…and the best place to get one is…?”

““Robotnik’s junkyard!””

“Now you’re talkin’ my language Rote!” said a newly enthused Sonic. “I’ll grab one for ya in a Mobius Minute! Catch ya later!”

Sonic revved up prepared to zoom off, but was quickly halted by Sally. “Sonic wait! You should take Bunnie with you, just in case the cell is too heavy for you to carry back on your own.”

“Sal, NICOLE’S the same size as a chili-dog, how much juice could that ruby thing possibly have given her?”

“I don’t know Sonic, how much juice is in a power ring?” Sally sarcastically replied.

“…Okay, good point, and speakin’ of rings, I better go grab one. You comin’ with, or will we be enough?”

“You two should be fine. In the meantime, Rotor and I are going to try and find a good spot to release the energy in. It’s probably best not to do it here in Knothole, just in case things get…unpredicatable.”

“Got it. Catch ya later!”

With a quick, three-way fist bump, Sonic sped off while Sally and Rotor pulled out a large map. With NICOLE eighty-sixed, they’d have this the old fashioned way.

[Meanwhile, in Robotropolis]

A casual Snively watched as Dr. Robotnik’s infamous swatbot factory chugged along, constructing the newest additions to their forces. While Robotnik hadn’t made any major advancements in their war with the Freedom Fighters these past days, the mad doctor wasted no time in dissecting the badnik squad they’d received from Dr. Eggman. Long story short, though the designs certainly left a lot to be desired, the actual robotics work was top notch. They’d be fine additions to their army indeed, as soon as Robotnik added his own ‘personal’ flourishes to them.

“Yes, it seems the new Swatniks are ready for deployment,” Snively proclaimed as perused his handheld for confirmation. “That idiotic swine…” he quietly added.

“Pardon me, Snively!?” Robotnik snapped as he entered the room.

“I said, I was about to set the Swatniks online sir!” yelped a shocked, shuddering Snively.

“Good…,” Robotnik hissed.

Taking the handheld from Snively, Robotnik powered up his new foot soldiers. As the perilous ‘Swatniks’ awakened, Robotnik let out a wicked cackle. One by one, the lifeless eyes of various robotic beings alit, each of them with a sinister, red glow. Moments later, Robotnik and Snively reassembled in the control room as the new robots moved to their respective positions.

While Robotnik monitored the new foot soldiers, Snively spoke up.

“Sir, if I may, do you believe that Dr. Ivo will be a worthwhile partner in the long run?”

“Care to elaborate?”

“It’s nothing major sir, he just seems rather…eccentric for your usual tastes.”

Robotnik pressed his fingers to his forehead. “Well, I can’t say you’re wrong. Honestly, part of me feels ashamed that such a clown shares my name. Yet, at the same time I can’t help but feel a certain…kinship with dear Ivo. Tis rare for me to meet an intellectual peer, and his robotics work speaks for itself. Especially that…Metal Sonic.”

As Robotnik grinned in delight, Snively asked, “Does that mean you’re not planning to betray him?”

“Of course I’m going to betray him!” Robotnik snapped. “If I’ve told you once Snively, I’ve told you a thousand times, never trust anyone. Especially me.”

“Y-y-yes sir….” Snively shuddered.

“Still, he’s impressed me enough to where I’m willing to play nice for…at least a little longer, and who knows. Perhaps given enough time, dear Ivo will be willing to share something more…bombastic of his with us.”

“Very good sir…” Snively paused as a light alarm went off. “…and speaking of very good, the Swatniks are now in position.”

“Yes, that is very good.”

A second, much louder alarm went off almost immediately after, an alarm that was oh, so familiar to the sinister duo.

“Snively, is that the…?”

“Hedgehog Alert? Yes sir!”

Shifting the visual feed, the monitor showed Sonic and Bunnie sifting through one of Robotnik’s various junkyards.

“How fitting to have the Freedom Fighter’s leader sifting through trash like the rat he is,” Robotnik sneered.

“I’ll send a Swat-Bot squadron sir.”

“No. I think its time we put our…‘new recruits’ to the test.” Pushing a button on his chair’s panel, a silent signal rang out to Robotnik’s new soldiers. It was time for an ambush.

[]

“Hey Sonic, Honey, I know it’s already your thang, but can we speed this up a little more?”

“Nothing would make me happier, but we can’t leave until we find an empty power cell.”

“Ah know, but we’ve been at this for a while and we ain’t found squat.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sonic sighed. “Maybe we need some kinda Plan B.”

“What kind of Plan B?”

“Well Sal and Rote just said we need an empty power cell. They didn’t say it had to be an old one.”

Bunnie was set to retort but quickly calledattention to some unnatural movement amongst the scrap. “Hey, now what’s that?”

Sonic turned to where she pointed and took an instinctive step backwards. As he and Bunnie regrouped, a small metallic sphere arose from the rubble.

“What in tarnation is that?”

“I dunno, but it’d probably make a cool toy for Tails,” Sonic joked.

Barely a chuckle escaped Sonic’s mouth before suddenly, the trash surrounding the floating sphere began to orbit around it.

“Ooookay, maybe I spoke too soon.”

The orbiting junk spun faster and faster until a small wind began to pick up and suddenly, the whirring sphere rushed at the Freedom Fighter duo.

“Uwhooah!”

Sonic and Bunnie dove in opposite directions, avoiding the drone’s attack, the cocky hedgehog quickly beginning to taunt it.

“Missed us.”

As if taking Sonic’s bait, the debris ceased spinning and shot out from the robot in all directions. Again, Sonic and Bunnie dodged, but if the chunks of scrap lodged in the ground were any indication, that attack would’ve been lethal if it hit.

“Strrrrrike 2! Try again for a chili dog?”

The sphere bot once again charged at Sonic who merely sidestepped it and let it crash into an adjacent pile where it promptly exploded.

“Strike 3 and you’re…!”

Sonic’s taunt was halted by a small but swift explosion that threw the startled hedgehog to the ground before his cyborg companion.

“You alright there, Sugar Hog!?”

“I’ll be fine…provided you don’t tell Sal about this…or Antoine.”

Bunnie could only giggle as she helped Sonic back to his feet. The duo would quickly be downed again as Sonic exclaimed, “Look out!”, tackling a stunned Bunnie to the ground just as a set of spikes shot out from seemingly nowhere.

“What in tarnation…?”

As the two got up again, they soon found themselves surrounded on all sides by what appeared to be…metal starfish?

“Uhhh…those aren’t Stealth Bots right?”

“Ah don’t think so…but ah don’t like the looks their givin’ us al the same.”

Their guards raised, Sonic and Bunnie prepared themselves for what surely could’ve been an intense onlsaught, but it never came. Instead, the metal stars just slowly floated towards the two. Though Sonic and Bunnie were glad to have some breathing room, they both knew they weren’t in the clear yet.

“Think we can zip outta here before these things decide to try and shish-kebab us?”

“I think we need to take this one slow Sugar Hog.”

“Bunnie, you know ‘slow’ ain’t in my vocab, and didn’ you ask me to go faster a minute ago?”

“Yeah, but I think we may be best off not tickin’ these thangs off.”

“Fine, we’ll do it the careful way.”

With extreme caution, the duo retreated. Maybe with some luck they’d be able to slip away from their assailants without a struggle. With their eyes fixated on the starfish, the two failed to notice the spontaneous appearance of what appeared to be…some metallic lizard clinging to a nearby junk pile?

With Sonic and Bunnie still unaware of its presence, the chrome chameleon opened its maw and fired a single laser blast between the Freedom Fighters and its fellow robots. In that instance, the starfish all erupted,firing out their sharp, metal points in all directions. Bunnie barely had time to yelp before Sonic grabbed her arm and dashed for dear life.

“Hang on!”

As Sonic ran through the junkyard, they’d continued to get bombarded by spikes and lasers courtesy of the star and lizard robots that one by one, continued to unveil themselves amongst the metallic trash. Thankfully, Sonic’ speed kept them a step ahead of the barrage, though with this much heat on them, they likely wouldn’t be able to search for what they needed.

“Bunnie, I’m callin’ it here! We need to bail!”

“No arguments here Sugar Hog, step on it!”

With Bunnie in tow, Sonic sped off until the two eventually found themselves nearing the exit. Right before they could reach the proverbial finish line, an intense something tugged Bunnie back, making Sonic trip up. Glancing back, they found what looked to be some big robotic crab clamping its claw around Bunnie’s metallic foot.

“Hey-! Hands off!”

Bunnie quickly kicked at the cyber crustacean to seemingly no avail as the crab reeled its claw back in and the pursuing mechs began closing in. Sonic quickly came with the assist, spin-balling atop the the robot crab and splitting it in two.

“Talk about getting a grip huh?”

“Sonic look!”

Amidst the wreckage of the robot, a certain part stood out to the two, right in the center was a small, metal brick.

“Is that a…?”

“Looks like it.”

“But it needs to be empty.”

Their exchange was paused by a stray laser blast just barely missing the two. His patience exhasted, Sonic exclaimed “We’ll drop by Unc’s place, see if he can help! Right now, we gotta juice!”

Snagging the metal brick, Sonic then grabbed Bunnie by her flesh hand and zoomed off.

“Bunnie, trade ya the cell for a ring!”

“Deal!” after grabbing the ring from Sonic’s bag, Bunnie and Sonic tossed their respective cargo to each other, the latter accelerating as the Power Ring illuminated.

“Bailin’ warp seven!”

At full speed, Sonic zoomed out of the junkyard, the robotic squadron falling at ease.

[]

“The Freedom Fighters…have escaped sir…!” Snively shuddered.

“Hmph. Disappointing, but no matter. Whatever they were aiming for can’t have been too vital.”

“Are you certain sir?”

“Yes. Scrounging for scraps is in the rodents’ nature. Far be it from me to keep the vermin from their precious rubbish. On a brighter note, the Swatniks performed quite amicably, wouldn’t you say Snively?”

“Oh of course sir.” Snively beamed. “Does this mean…?”

“Yes,” Robotnik sneered. “Pull up the schematics on the Badniks we’ve yet to modify. It’s…time to get to work.”

“Yes sir.” Snively saluted.

With the push of a button, a handful of inactive Badniks were rolled in, all modeled after animals: one a bat, one a caterpillar, and one a mantis. A gleeful Robotnik,looked at the drones and rubbed his hands. This was about to get fun.

[]

After escaping from the robotic assault, Sonic and Bunnie made a beeline for Uncle Chuck’s bunker. After getting a recap of their idea to fix NICOLE, the robotic hedgehog was more than willing to help, though not before admonishing the them for not coming to see him first.

“Geeze Sonny, if you needed an empty power-cell, all you needed to do was ask.”

“Say wha-?”

Pushing a button revealed a hidden wall. Behind it was about a half a dozen sizable, metal bricks.

“Are those…!?”

“Yup.”

“But how…?”

“You think a hideout like this gets its power from the weather? Its not flawless since I have to be online 24/7, but these bad boys will last you quite a while. When they do run out however…well, dead weight is an understatement.”

Sonic and Bunnie could only give each other the same exasperated look. “Y’all mean to tell me we nearly got exploded on for nothin’!?”

“Sorry to hear that Bunnie, but it does sound like you two have quite the tale for me this time.”

“That’s puttin’ it mildly,” Sonic snarked.

Sonic and Bunnie continued their story, giving Chuck the details of Robotnik’s new foot soldiers, that detail catching Chuck off guard.

“That’s strange…there was no notice of any new kind of Swatbot being developed.”

“Couldn’t Robotnik have just made them on a whim?” asked Bunnie.

“A single prototype, or even a handful of them maybe, but with the amount you say chased you kids out of the junkyard, they have to have been in the works for a while now, and that’s the kind of juicy info that would be realyed to all of his forces.”

“Could you have maybe just missed the mailman, Unc?”

“Not likely Sonny…though not impossible either I’ll admit,” said a contemplative Chuck. “Regardless, you two have what you came here for. Fall back for nowand make sure you tell Sally about Robotnik’s ‘new recruits’. I’m going to see if I can find anything concrete about them, and anything else of interest.”

“Gotcha, and thanks.”

With an assuring thumbs-up, Sonic and Bunnie sped off while Uncle Chuck began scanning the area. If there were new drones afoot, it would help Sonic and the others to know what they were up against. They could not afford to be caught off guard like that again.

[]

“Okay girls, are we all set?”

“I’m ready whenever!” Dulcy boomed.

After Sonic and Bunnie left, Sally and Rotor quickly concluded that the safest spot to try and drain Nicole would be in the Great Unknown. It was risky due to the previous Void nonsense they had to deal with, but with nothing significant out in those plains, it was their best bet. With the rest of the team assembled, they just had to wait for Sonic and Bunnie to return.

Taking a page from the hedgehog’s book, Sally frantically looked at her wrist every few seconds, her foot tapping as the seconds rolled by. “Shouldn’t they be back by now?”

“Heh, perhaps zee Hedgehog ran out of zee juice on ze way back?” said a smug Antoine.

Sally was quick to dismiss Antoine’s small jab as a harmless joke, but then the implication made her clench her fist. “I swear, if Sonic stopped for a chili dog…!”

“Ohhh Soneeeeek, we are waitin-!”

“Shut-up Ant…!”

“Gyaaaaagh-!”

A startled Antoine leapt high with a squeaky squeal, landing in the surprisingly comforting grip of Bunnie’s metal arm.

“As the shivering coyote glanced at the cross-armed hedgehog, Sonic quickly added, “That’s my line.”

“Oh good, you guys are finally back,” sighed a relieved Sally.

“Don’t get comfy yet Sally girl,” Bunnie interjected as she let Antoine down. “We got some good news and bad news.”

“What’s the good news?” asked Rotor.

Reaching into his backpack, Sonic presented the goods. “Got the cell.”

“W-w-what is being ze bad news?”

“Well first off, we didn’t even need to waste away in that trash heap cause ol’ Doc Chuck just had some spare cells layin’ around…and I really need a bath after all that…” Bunnie lamented.

“…Sorry you guys had to go through that, but at least that explains what took you guys so long,” a relieved Sally breathed. “Now what’s the second part?”

“Robuttnik’s got some new toys.”

Sonic quickly gave a run down of the junkyard ambush (again), instantly putting everyone on edge.

“That is very concerning,” said Sally. “Even more so that Uncle Chuck didn’t warn us before hand.”

Sonic shrugged rather dismissively. “Evidently he just missed it, and even he doesn’t know how. Still, he’s determined not to let it happen again and right now, he’s tryin’ to do some diggin, see if Robotnik’s got anything else up his sleeve we should know about,” he assured.

“That’s good to hear at least. Still, I think we may have our work cut out for us when we get back.”

“Speaking of getting back, we should probably get going,” Rotor interjected.

“Right!”

Having played her part in this adventure, Bunnie opted to stay behind as the restmad their final preparations. Sally rode with Sonic while the guys rode atop Dulcy’s back. Ina massive burst of wind, the Freedom Fighters blasted out of Knothole. As they exited the Great Forest, Sally pulled out her trusty handheld.

‘Hang in there NICOLE, we’ll have you fixed in a jiffy.’

[]

“How much longer until we’re airborne again?”

“Tis should only be momentarily your highness!”

The Heavy Rider continued rolling back and forth across the grounded Egg Blimp alongside the rest of her squadron and their soldiers. Their previous encounter with Team Sonic had left their team all but in shambles. Thankfully the damage wasn’t too extensive but being on repair duty was far from a fun time.

She and the rest of the Heavies were eager to clash with Sonic and Knuckles again, but given what happened to Heavy Magician and the primary goal of leading the heroes astray, they couldn’t be too mad. Heavy King on the other hand was conflictingly angry.

On the one hand, losing to Team Sonic again was never a good time. On the other hand, the fact that they’d stolen a fake Master Emerald was an extremely satisfying development. But then again, the fact that Dr. Eggman entrusted them with a fake emerald in the first place was frustrating. He’d been so close to harnessing that power himself and blowing both Sonic and his creator out of the proverbial water.

If anything, Heavy King was a little surprised Eggman had the foresight to not trust him. He’d hoped he couldwrite off his previous attempt at overthrowing his creator as corruption due to the Phantom Ruby’s energy, but the upgraded EggRobo was quickly reminded how crafty his creator truly was despite his buffoonish tendencies.

Still, maybe there’d be a more rewarding task awaiting when they returned to base.Or maybe if they were lucky, they could even learn where Dr. Eggman was hiding the real Master Emerald.

“Uhhhh…Heavy King?”

“Yes Gunner?”

“I think we have a problem.”

“What problem?”

The answer came in the form of a propeller sound, a sound that the Heavies knew all too well. Glancing up, the Tornado was quickly descending on their location.

“No…it can’t be! How’d they catch up so quickly!?”

“I mean…Sonic is the fastest thing alive.”

“They’re in a plane you fool! They aren’t moving at those kinds of speeds…! Never mind, you and the robos just shoot them down already! The rest of you, on me and standby for battle!”

With a salute, the remaining Heavies took up position around their leader as Heavy Gunner and any Robos not on repair duty opened fire on the diving plane. Immediately the Tornado took evasive action, twirling about avoiding rockets and gunfire. Straightening out, the Tornado rushed just above the heads of the metallic batallion, forcing them to duck for cover. As the Tornado ascended once more, Heavy King scanned the skies to prepare his team for a follow-up. Just as he was set to give the order however, he then scanned his surroundings to find that he was suddenly all alone.

“What is the meaning of…!?”

Heavy King was interrupted by a taunting whistle. Turning towards it, he came face to face with Sonic and Knuckles, surrounded by a pile of scrap metal and the deactivated forms of his fellow Heavies.

“WHAT!?”

“Wassup HK?”

“HOW!? How the heck did you manage to take out all of my men so quickly!?”

“So quickly? Did you forget who I am?” Sonic boasted.

“Don’t be a glory hog, Sonic. You couldn’t have taken them out so cleanly without Tails’ little diversion,” said Knuckles.

“Diversion...?”

The duo quickly explained that while Tails went full frontal in the plane, they went low and glided onto the island slightly ahead of him. With all attention on the Tornado, zipping in and picking everyone off one by one wasn’t hard, especially once Tails pulled up, blocking everyone’s vision.

Speaking of the fox, the young pilot touched ground, dismounting the plane and adding to the taunt, “…And it worked like a charm!”

If robots could sweat, Heavy King would be drenched in it as the trio slowlybut surely closed in on him. Still, despite the major disadvantage, he wasn’t about to let himself be overwhelmed like this.

“You’ve done well in snuffing out my subjects…” Raising his scepter, he jammed it down into the ground before proclaiming, “But I won’t fall so easily-!”

He was quickly cut off by Knuckles sucker-punching in the head, launching him into the hull of the Egg Blimp.

“………Curses.”

As Heavy King attempted to pick himself up, he was held down by Sonic’s foot while Knuckles cracked his namesakes, pointing his spiked fists to the rotund robot.

“All right Royal Pain, if you don’t wanna end up like your ‘loyal subjects’, you better start talkin,” said Sonic.

“Where. Is. The Master Emerald!?” Knuckles demanded.

Heavy King scoffed. “Hmph, even if I knew, I’d sooner deactivate than tell the likes of you.”

“What do you mean ‘if I knew’?” asked Sonic.

“Don’t fall for it guys, he’s just trying to confuse us! We know he’s the one who stole the Master Emerald, and he’s obviously hidden it cause he knew we’d figure it out!”

Sonic agreed with Knuckles deduction and quickly realized the one mistake they made in their ambush. “Maybe we shouldn’t have scrapped all the other heavies. I’m sure they’d have been easier to crack than the main man here.”

“Oh no worries, I can make him talk,” Knuckles assured.

“Do your worst!” Heavy King challenged with narrowed eyes.

“If you insist!”

Knuckles then proceeded to drag Heavy King behind the felled blimp. In the next moments, the sounds of clanking metal filled the air.

Shaking his head, Sonic zipped over to a nearby tree and made himself comfortable “Sit tight Tails, looks like we may be here for a bit.” When he received no response, Sonic glanced around tofind his trusty partner missing. “Tails? Tails!?”

Sonic would finally get a response in the form of a small drone crash landing right in front of him.

“What the heck’s that?”

“Sonic!”

The furry flier rejoined his friend and quickly explained his absence. Apparently, when they started grilling Heavy King, he’d noticed the drone floating right above them. He didn’t want to damage it too much, but he also needed to ensure it didn’t try to fly away so, he cautiously ascended behind it before grounding it by smacking it with his tails.

“Okay…so what is it?”

“I’ll have to examine it more closely, but it looks like some kind of surveillance bot.”

“Surveillance?”

“Yeah, but something about it is…wait, where’d Knuckles go?”

“Oh, right. Yo Knux!”

Knuckles and Heavy King popped their heads out fro behind the blimp, both of them looking scuffed, but Heavy King looking significantly worse.

“What’s up?”

“We think Tails might have a clue.”

“What kind of clue?” Tossing Heavy King’s damaged form aside, Knuckles rejoined his friends.

As Heavy King pulled himself together, he turned to the trio to make another empty threat, but instead let out a startled yelp once he saw the stealth bot Tails was holding.

The reaction didn’t go unnoticed by the trio who instantly turned their attention back to Heavy King. This may be what they needed to finally get some answers.

“You recognize this thing?” asked Sonic.

“That’s…one of Dr. Eggman’s new experimental drones! That might explain how he found out about us!”

“Found out?”

“Eggman is involved?”

Clenching his fists tightly, Knuckles demanded, “You’d better start explaining!”

“Very well, but only because I want the Doctor to pay for what he’s done!”

“What’d he do?”

Heavy King went onto explain how after their battle in the sky, he and the Heavies were set to make a getaway with the Master Emerald. Once they were out of Angel Island’s airspace however, they were attacked yet again by Dr.Eggman who, after blasting them out of the sky, was able to snatch the Master Emerald from them with the help of Metal Sonic and Knuckles, subsequently abandoning them on this island. The attack had been a complete surprise as the Heavies were positive Eggman didn’t know where they were, but they’d forgotten he’d started development on new surveillance tech and chalked up his finding them to that.

“So when he said he didn’t know where the Emerald was…?”

“He was telling the truth?”

Sonic was still very skeptical, but things did seem to be adding up but something about this whole ordeal seemed fishy, though he couldn’t quite place it…yet at least. One look at Tails told him he had the same idea, and possibly more. Still, this was the best lead to anything they had all day.

“Alright we’ll bite. You and Eggman ain’t on the same side this time. You got any clues where he might be?” asked Sonic.

“No. We haven’t looked for his new base since we were repaired,” HK replied.

“Not a problem,” Tails proclaimed. “Gimme a moment with this bad boy and I’mpositive I’ll be able to trace the signal to where it’s being broadcast.”

“Then all we’d have to do is follow the signal…!”

“…And we’ll find Eggman and the Emerald!”

The trio got to work on their preparations while Heavy King sat and watched in silence. They could’ve asked for more details, but given the circumstances, they figuredHeavy King had been humbled enough for the day. Once Tails announced he hada lock on the signal, thethree jetted off, leaving Heavy King to his own devices.

Once the heroes were out of sight and earshot, Heavy King let out a sigh. He didn’t know if Eggman had directly seen this whole exchange or not, but if he had then hopefully he knew he had to both prepare for Team Sonic’s arrival as well as send him and his team aid. If he hadn’t, then maybe Team Sonic could surprise him and gain an upper hand. He’d considered remaining silent, but after giving his team a second glance, he figured Sonic and friends were a much larger priority than attempting to overthrow Eggman, especially since at the moment,he’d very much need Dr. Eggman’s assistance.

Entering the blimp, Heavy King opened comms with his creator. “Dr. Eggman, this is Heavy King with an urgent update!”

[]

The flight off the unnamed island was pretty silent, given the team was prepped for a fight. The silence was eventually broken by Sonic who asked, “Yo Tails, you think Heavy King really was telling the truth back there?”

“A lot adds up, but I have my doubts.”

“Really? Everything seemed kosher to me,” said Knuckles.

“Aaaaand that’s why you keep getting tricked,” Sonic snarked.

Quelling the ensuing fight before it could begin, Tails quickly exclaimed, “Knock it off you two!”

Sonic and Knuckles turned their attention to Tails who quickly began explaining his suspicions. “Firstly, the blimp didn’t look any worse for wear than when we attacked it. Granted, that’s not definitive proof as an ambush can take many forms. Secondly, Heavy King’s claims that the drone we’re using is an experimental model. I kind of blitzed through it while tracing the signal, but one thing I can say from a glance is that, despite the rather antequated design, the actual machinery is some top notch stuff. Way too advanced to be ‘just a prototype’.”

“Doesn’t that just mean Eggman finished his experiment?” aksed Knuckles.

“That’s possible, but that’s where my third point comes in; the design.”

Sonic shrugged. “What about it? You said it looked old, right?”

“Old or new, the point is whatever this thing is supposed to look like, it’s not an Eggman design.”

“How can you tell?”

“You guys will probably develop an eye for Eggman’s designs in the future, but as a fellow mechanist, I can say that every machine we make has a certain spark to it. Something that distinctly shows that we’re the ones who made it, and someone as egotistical as Eggman would make that super obvious, even for the untrained eye. This drone however, really doesn’t fit Eggman’s style. I know he’s made more…basic or generic robots in the past, but they all have a certain…whimsy to them…despite their functions.”

Sonic and Knuckles shared a look. A similar thought had crossed the hedgehog’s mind, but the echidna, ever the layman when it comes to technology was falling behind. Though he did understand the concept of signature design.

“So what’s the conclusion?” asked Knuckles.

“Who cares?” Sonic interjected. “All that matters now is that Eggman is involved in something and we gotta stop it.”

“It may not be that simple,” Tails countered. “True we have to deal with Eggman either way, but there are still questions. What exactly is waiting for us at the end of this trail, and what’s the deal with this weird drone?”

Though Sonic and Knuckles understood Tails’ point, the confident glance they gave each other said it all.

“There’s only one way to find out kid, punch it!”

With Tails, tugging the throttle, the Tornado accelerated. Team Sonic may not know what’s coming up, but they were determined to put an end to whatever Eggman was scheming.

[]

The Freedom Fighters had finally arrived at an indescriminate location in the midst of the Great Unknown. While Sonic, Dulcy and Antoine stood guard, Sally and Rotor got to work hooking Nicole up to the empty power cell.

While a process like this would normally take only a couple of thick wires, Sally and Rotor didn’t want to take any chances and came prepared with a handful of safety apparatuses for the mini-computer.

“Yo, how much longer is this gonna take?” asked an ever impatient Sonic.

“Should be ready with the setup in just another minute.”

“All this time just for the set-up? Geeze guys, can’t you crank it up a little?”

“Sonic, we have been here for less than five minutes. Chill. ” Sally deadpanned.

Pulling out a mirror to ogle himself, Sonic snarked, “You’re tellin’ me to chill? I’m always cool as ice.”

“Mmmhmmm, and how are you to be being cool when your impressions are steaming me up?” Antoine interjected.

“I think you mean, his impatience is burning you up,” Dulcy corrected.

“Zat is what I am saying.”

The banter was halted by the sound of electric sparking filling the air. All eyes turned to Sal and Rotor who were similarly taken aback. From the looks of things however, it seemed to just be a minor surge. Once things calmed down, NICOLE’s monitor sprung to life.

“Excess Power at 200%. Decreasing now! One-Hundred-Ninety-Five Percent, 190%, 185%....”

“Looks like its working,” said a cheerful Rotor.

“Thank goodness…though I can’t help but worry if she’ll ever be the same.”

“Okay then…what do we do now?” asked Sonic.

“I guess…we just wait for the charge to finish.”

Sonic rolled his eyes. “If that’s what this whole trip was buildin’ to, I shoulda stayed at Knothole.”

“Relax Sonic…judging by how quickly NICOLE’s numbers are decreasing this shouldn’t take too long,” Sally assured.

“How long will this take Sally?” asked Dulcy.

“Power at 150%”

“Should be just another minute or two at this rate.”

“Awwww, and I even brought the deck,” Dulcy lamented as she produced a deck of cards from her pack.”

As the count kept decreasing, the gang kept their eyes on NICOLE, who’s display slowly but surely shifted back to her operational light blue. Unbeknownst to the Freedom Fighters however, a familiar purple tint would illuminate the cords.

A short while passed and NICOLE’S screen appeared to finally back to normal.

“She good?” asked Sonic.

“I think we’re about to find out.

“Power level at 100%. Restarting now. One moment please!”

NICOLE’S screen flickered before powering down. A few seconds later, she slowly began to reactivate.

“NICOLE?”

“All systems operational Sally.”

The whole team let out a massive sigh of relief, with Sally wiping away a lone tear.

“Welcome back NICOLE!”

“How’s it hangin’, babe?”

“Hot as always, Sonic.”

“Sonic!”

“What!? Was just sayin’ hello.”

While Rotor and Dulcy snickered at Sonic and Sally’s banter, Antoine, who was avoiding the watching his crush and rival pal around, glanced about until his eyes fell onto the power cell which was bathed in a familiar, purplish tint.

“S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-Sonic. M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-my Princess….”

“We just got her fixed, I don’t want her to get corrupted again.”

Antoine shivered as the power cell seemingly began to expand. His fears would be confirmed as the cell began to leak sparks. “S-s-s-s-Sonic…! My Princess!”

“Are you callin’ me a virus?”

“SONIC! MY PRINCESS!!”

“What, Antoine!?”

“Look!”

All eyes turned to the power cell which began to expand and shake sporadically.

“Uhhh…that’s not normal, right?”

“I don’t think it is…but I do think we need to move it!”

“Bail time guys, warp 7!”

The guys mounted Dulcy who flew off in a huff as Sonic zipped away with Sally in his arms. Taking cover behind a set of rock formations, the Freedom Fighters watched the cell continue to overload.

“Can someone please to be telling me what is happened!?” yelped Antoine.

“I guess NICOLE had more extra juice than we thought. So much so that not even the mondo cell could hold it all.”

“Not how I’d have phrased it, but, spot on Sonic,” Sally confirmed.

“Wait, if that thing’s gonna blow, then shouldn’t we just keep running?” asked a frantic Rotor.

“You’re not wrong Rotor, but something in my gut tells me we shouldn’t miss the fireworks. Thankfully we’re far enough away from the blast radius……I think.”

Sonic raised a skeptic eyebrow. “You think?”

“We don’t know how potent that energy is. We should be safe, but just in case, Sonic, be ready to run whenever!”

“Got it!”

Everyone ducked behind the rocks, bracing themselves for whatever may come as the power cell continued to expand until it finally began to physically crack and crackle with energy. Finally, the large metal brick burst, emitting a familiar hum as purple lightning struck the surrounding area and a similarly familiar black orb formed in midair. The hum crescendoed into a familiar warble as the orb expanded into what appeared to be a portal.

The Freedom Fighters watched the anomoly from behind pairs of binoculars, Sally breaking the startled silence with a, “What in the world?”

“What’s the scoop Sal?”

“It’s a portal…is that an entrance to the Void?”

“I thought the void was like a giant vaccuum,” Rotor noted.

“You’re right Rotor…this might be something else.” Instinctively, Sally reached for NICOLE, but before she could ask for an analysis, she stopped herself.

“Sal, we’re waiting, give us the down low!”

“I….”

Sally would be spared the indignity as the portal began to dissipate. As it finally faded from sight, Sally quickly gave the retreat order. “We did what we came here to do, let’s go home.”

“But Sal-.”

“Now, Sonic,” she sternly emphasized.

“Yes, yes, Sonic. You heard my Princess. We are to be returning to Knothole!”

“Shut up Ant….” With a sigh, Sonic relented. “Fine, but we ain’t done talkin’ about this.”

“I know….”

With everyone loaded onto their respective rides, the Freedom Fighters fell back. As they vanished into the evening, the shrinking portal suddenly stopped decreasing, returning once again to its dark, spherical form. It seemed it had yet to fully close. Alarming, but probably nothing too serious, right? What was serious was how the ball began to expand again, this time accompanied by a low powered suction.

[]

Another day had come and gone within the Void’s crystal palace. Despite the endless brightness, the time for shut-eye had come for young Amy Rose. Unfortunately for the pink hedgehog, her beauty sleep would be interrupted by the Void’s first prisoner.

“Miss Rose!”

“Yaaagh!”

Amy tumbled out of bed as a frantic King Acorn burst through the door.

“What-?”

“There is no time! You must come with me!”

Grabbing her by the wrist, King Acorn hurriedly pulled Amy out to the front yard. Amy could barely get a word in as she asked over and over what the situation was. She’d receive her answer as the two were brought before Naugus who stood besides a portal.

“Is that…!?”

“Yes. I know not how it formed, but this is indeed a portal that I believe can get you out of the void!”

A stunned Amy stared at the opening beforeher expression brightened. Finally she’d be able toget out of this…admittedly gorgeous jail. Although….

“But what about you two?” she asked.

“I’ve already explained, if we leave, we are goners! His highness has faith in his daughter to find a solution sooner or later, but until then, we shall remain.”

“Yes. As regrettable as it may be, you must stop both Robotniks, whatever it is they’re plotting.

Amy’s concerned hesitance quickly shifted to determination. With a nod, she strolled to the portal only to pause as it began to shrink.

“What in…!?

“Miss Rose, hurry!”

Amy dashed to the portal but by the time she’d caught up to it, it had already shrunken to a size too small for Amy to pass through

Naugus however, wasn’t about to give up. Before the portal fully disappeared,he thrust his hands forth and began to concentrate, great strain showing on his features.

“Ummm…Mr. Naugus, what are you doing?”

“I’m…attempting to keep this portal open…by opening the Void!”

“What!?”

“Naugus, are you mad!? We don’t know what that could do!” King Acorn chided.

“True, but we must get the young bud out of the Void! She is our current hope, is she not?”

King Acorn held his tongue. This seemed beyond risky, but Naugus was right. Although, given how Naugus could usually open the void at will,the fact that he was seemingly struggling was cause for alarm. Perhaps the force behind this mysterious portal was powerful enough to match Naugus’ magic. Either way, they’d have to be patient and hope Naugus could succeed.

[]

Another mostly worldess flight was nearing its end as the Tornado was finally approaching the source of the mysterious camera drone’s signal.

“We’re almost there guys, be ready for anything!”

“Ready for what? Eggman definitely won’t expect us to….” Sonic’s boastwas quickly proven wrong as a lone laser blast just narrowly missed the hedgehog’s head. Out of seemingly nowhere, a squadron of turtloids and buzzbombers were surging towards the plane. Looking just a bit further ahead, a familiar floating pod with a familiar red-clad, mustachioed man inside could be seen jetting away from the beach of the incoming island.

“I stand corrected,” Sonic yielded.

Clenching his fists, Knuckles asked, “You think Heavy King gave him the heads up?”

“Doesn’t matter, we can’t let Eggman get away!”

Knuckles and Tails nodded before the latter made a bold proclamation. “Get ready guys, we’re going in!”

Tails accelerated the Tornado just as the badniks unleashed a barrage of laser fire. Tails quickly took evasive action before ascending above the strike squad andletting Sonic and Knuckles do their thing.

Leaping off the Tornado’s wings, Sonic curled up and spun into one badnik before launching off and shooting into another. While his memories of his future self still remained, he wanted to see if he could learn at least one of his future moves in the present. While that instant acceleration move was off the table, that sort of air dash attack thing seemed to be his best bet. He hadn’t mastered it yet, but even his curent ‘proto version’ seemed to be doing the trick.

Knuckles merely glided forth, letting his fists take care of any robot unlucky enough to be in his path. When he began losing too much altitude though, he’d wind up taking a similar approach, using the remains of each smashed badnik to launch himself higher and keep gliding. As the badniks thinned out, Tails wasable to cruise through the blockade, catching a falling Sonic and overtaking a gliding Knuckles.

Finally, the whole gang touched ground and before Sonic and Tails could dismount, Knuckles ran ahead. Eggman no doubt had the Master Emerald and he was going to get it back. Before he got far though, Sonic sprinted forth with Tails in hand, grabbing Knuckles’ wrist and blasting ahead. No time to slow down if they were going to catch Eggman.

[]

A panicked Dr. Eggman could be seen frantically pushing buttons on a large control panel. Getting that call from Heavy King had to have been the worst thing to happen at this junction. Sending the Heavies assistance was already resource heavy enough, but now Sonic and his friends were onto him!? Of all the rotten luck. He didn’ want them to know about Julian and the other world just yet, which meant he can’t just leave all this equipment here. He needed to backup and scrap everything before…!”

“Eggman!”

Before exactly this happened. Thankfully, his head start and ambush had given him ample time to save all the necessary data, but he still needed to ensure that Tails didn’t try and recover them and for that, he needed a bit more time to set the self-destruct.

“Metal, get them!”

In a flash, Metal Sonic zoomed in, nearly bowling Team Sonic over, though thankfully they were able to avoid him.

“Sonic, go after Eggman! We’ll take care of Metal!” Knuckles ordered.

Sonic could barelygive a thumbs up before Metal Sonic swooped in and sucker punched his doppelganger, launching him into Knuckles and blowing them back. Tails attempted to slip past Metal, but was quickly cut off by the robot’s superior speed.

At last, Eggman let out a gleeful chuckle as the monitor on his panel began to flash red.

“Perfect! Metal retreat, we’re leaving now!”

Metal quickly grabbed Tails by his namesakes and tossed him towards a recovering Sonic and Knuckles before flying back to Eggman who’d just mounted his Egg-Mobile. While Knuckles caught Tails, Sonic blasted ahead, determined to stop his nemesis. Just as he ran past the panel however, the machine exploded, blasting Sonic away.

“Sonic!”

As Tails went to check on his friend, Knuckles went after Eggman and Metal who disappeared into the forest.

[]

Knuckles took pride in his strength and was confident in his speed. Still, this is one of the rare moments he could admit to himself that he really wished he could move like Sonic. Since Eggman had gotten a head start, chasing after him like this was going to be a pain without Sonic’s speed to move things along. Granted…maybe he should’ve stayed back to make sure he was okay…but then again it was Sonic. He’s not going to be felled by just one random explosion. Plus Tails was there to help, so he was sure Sonic was fine. Right now, he needed to focus on finding Eggman and the Master Emerald, and he couldn’t afford to slow down.

[]

Elsewhere in the forest, Sonic and Tails were zipping along, following the path so graciously left by Knuckles’ footprints. Like Knuckles surmised, Sonic was none the worse for wear after tanking that explosion. It certainly wasn’t a pleasant moment, but it certainly wasn’t enough to slow him down for too long (though he’d be brushing soot out of his quills the rest of the day), and true tothat philosophy, he grabbed Tails and booked it as fast as he could.

[]

‘Darn it, this is pointless! Am I even going the right way!? Can I just get some kind of sign that…!’

Knuckles inward lament would be answered by the sound of a familiar hum warbling through the air.

“…I know that sound!” Reinvigorated, Knuckles accelerated forth until finally coming to a clearing. As the light once again hit his eyes, he was met with the sight of Eggman and Metal Sonic floating besides a Phantom Ruby portal, the eponymous gem in Metal’s hand while an animal capsule hung from the Egg-Mobile

“That portal! So it is the Phantom Ruby!”

As Knuckles dashed at Eggman, it seemed he hadn’t yet noticed Knuckles presence, but ultimately, it didn’t seem to matter as the mad genius and his star creation casually flew through the portal.

“Eggman!”

His call went unanswered as the two disappeared. His cautious instincts quickly kicked in, urging Knuckles to halt right in front of the portal. Now he had a major choice to make.

Obviously he had to go after Eggman to get the Emerald back, but should he go it alone or wait for Sonic and Tails? According to them, the portals, that he now knew Eggman was creating, disappeared very quickly. If he went back to get them or waited, the portal could be gone and who knew when he’d get another chance?

The choice slowly became more and more narrowed as the portal began shrinking. Knuckles already looked, it was time to start leaping. Just as Knuckles took a few steps back for a running start, Sonic and Tails finally caught up, just in time to find Knuckles sprinting towards the portal.

“Sonic look!”

“Knuckles wait!”

“No waiting! I have to catch Eggman and get the Master Emerald back!” As Knuckles leapt through the portal, he gave a single parting phrase as the portal disappeared.

“Catch you later, Sonic!”

[]

It took some effort, but Naugus eventually succeeded in widening the portal. Before Amy could pass through however, a familiar chime echoed across the Void, a chime Naugus had come to recognize all too well.

“Curses! That Robotnik…one of them is forcing the Void open again!”

“What? How?” asked Amy.

“I believe tis the work of that mysterious ruby! Unfortunately, its influence has left me unable to interrupt their travels as they pass through the Void between both worlds…and it seems as though…it is taking its toll!”

Naugus’ voice once again became strained as he was struggling to keep the portal open. It seemed Robotnik’s second portal was forcing this one to close much quicker. It seemed the Void could only be opened in one spot at a time no doubt.

“Little Bud, you must go NOW!” Naugus exclaimed.

With no time for words, Amy nodded and leapt through. Once she was safely inside, Naugus let his hands rest, letting the portal close.

As Naugus tried to catch his breath, the King wore a look of concern. That was quite a messy procedure. Hopefully Amy would be fine and with any luck, she and the Freedom Fighters would be able to assist each other.

“You’re right to be concerned my liege,” Naugus panted.

“How so?” King Acorn gasped.

“I can usually direct where I want the void to appear to varying degrees, but that little kerfuffle with the surprise portal and Robotnik’s breach has caused a minor complication.”

“What complication?”

“The little bud should arrive at her destination in one piece, but I know not where that destination is. All we can do now, is hope for the best.”

[]

“What do we do now, Sonic?”

The hedgehog’s silence was all the answer Tails needed; he had no idea. On the one hand, the confirmation that Eggman was involved was kind of refreshing, but that didn’t help the matter. With first Amy disappearing and now Knuckles, the situation had only gotten worse. Since straightforward thinking didn’t seem to be helping, maybe it was time to try something drastic.

“Tails, can you mark this spot?”

“Come again?”

“Make some kind of checkpoint or something for this area,” Sonic explained.

“Sure, but why?”

“Cause we need to step away for a bit, and we need to remember where this exact spot is.”

“Why? What do we need Sonic?”

“A Chaos Emerald.”

“A Chaos Emerald?” a stunned Tails repeated. “For what?”

“We’re gonna try and make our own portal.”

Sonic would then elaborate, telling Tails that his plan was to use an Emerald to try and potentially force a portal open, using it to either resonate with or enhance the residual energy of the Ruby left by the portal.

Tails quickly understood the plan but quickly reminded him that the Ruby’s energy dissipated quickly. The Emeralds can’t enhance something that isn’t there, so if they missed their chance here, they’d be back to square one. In order for this plan to work, they’d have to hope with all their heart that there was an emerald somewhere on this island, and to figure that out, they’d need the Tornado’s radar. Time to fall back.

Sonic revved up, prepared to zip back to shore, but not before Tails spin-dashed a circle in the ground around where the portal was. Not exactly a checkpoint, but a fine indicator regardless. Flying over to take Sonic’s hand, the duo rocketed back into the forest. Time to rush.

[]

The inside of one of the Phantom Ruby’s singularities is nothing short of an enigma. One may thrust your airborne self down a long road of light while anothermay force you down a seemingly endless road of darkness. A certain red echidna and pink hedgehog would both learn this experience rather intimately

While the former would use his airborne capabilities to navigate the turbulent tunnel of energy, the latter would be left completely to the portal’s mercy, just like her first trip into the void. Before long, the two would be released from the crazy ride, though not fortunate enough to cross paths with each other. Wherever they ended up, they’d be on their own.

As Knuckles exited the stream, he’d find himself in what can only be described as the middle of nowhere. Amy however would find herself tossed in what appeared to be…a city? A dark, gloomy, mechanical city?

A each of the dimensional travelers viewed their respective surroundings, the same question escaped both of their lips.

“Where am I?”

(A/N: Okay, I was genuinely not expecting this chapter to be as long as it is at almost 9K words, but things are moving. On the cartoon side NICOLE is fixed and the Freedom Fighters have been introduced to Eggman’s tech. On the game side, they got a small glimpse of Robotnik’s tech and finally learn that Eggman really IS involved. Speaking of Eggman, wonder how things will go for him when he has to shake off betrayal from two fronts. As two more game characters arrive on Mobius, we’re closer to the long awaited team up. Speaking of, apparently Amy’s not gonna be as AWOL as I expected, but she’s not out of danger yet, given where she landed. Sonic and Tails will get their turn, soon enough. For now let’s just wait and watch as Amy and Knuckle get acquainted with the best and worst of this whole new zone. Until next time. Up, over, and gone!)

[PS: On the topic of Sonic crossovers, a few things. First, the DC Comics crossover was great! It was like a decently solid fanfic made official (Kudos to Super Sonic going toe-to-toe with Darkseid). Second, REALLY looking forward to Crossworlds. I played the closed beta earlier this year and am excited to play the open beta at the end of the month. Third, speaking of Crossworlds (Insert ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ scene here), they invited Pac-Man! I grew-up with Pac-Man World 1 so while Re-Pac 2 doesn’t have that same edge for me that RP1 did, but the Sonic collab sold me (Kidding, I was gonna buy it anyway. Sonic or no Sonic).

Chapter Text

Mobius Mania

Return to Robotropolis

After needing to backtrack to the Tornado, Sonic, with Tails in tow, took off at full speed back the way they came through the forest,

“Tails, how much further!?”

“I think less than a minute…!”

Mere seconds after the exchange, the duo finally came upon their trusty biplane. “Made it!”

Quickly taking action, Sonic spun into a roll and chucked Tails ahead towards the plane. After rolling into his own ball in midair, Tails uncurled and hovered into the pilot seat before fiddling with the control panel. When Sonic finally caught up, a loud beeping was emanating from the plane.

“What’s the verdict kiddo?”

“We’re in luck Sonic, there is an emerald on this island!”

“Sweet! What’s the catch?”

“It’s East from where the portal spot is,” Tails explained.

An annoyed Sonic replied, “So we have to go back there how many times now?”

“Just twice Sonic; Once to get to the emerald and once more to actually use it on the portal energy.”

“Yeah, I gotcha. At least now I’ve got another excuse to go full tilt!”

“Race ya there!”

As the Tornado roared to life and took to the sky, Sonic ran the path back once more!

[]

Today had not been a very good day for Angel Island’s guardian. First the Master Emerald gets swiped from the temple, then after Sonic and Tails show up, it’s taken off the island. Then he gets suckered into recovering a fake Master Emerald, and to wrap it all up, he followed Eggman into weird portal and wound up…who knows where?

“Where the heck am I?”

Surveying his surroundings, Knuckles came to one simple conclusion; he was in the middle of nowhere.

“I don’t know where or what this place is…but it’s no Eggman base at the very least. Speaking of…where is Eggman?”

Knuckles started examining the area again, this time more closely. Hopefully if he searched hard enough, he could maybe find something, anything that could give him a bit of guidance on where to proceed. Eventually, he finally came upon some footprints. They looked a bit faded in the dusty ground, likely from the wind, but they were more than legible enough to track. Interstingly, these footprints didn’t appear to be Eggman’s or Metal Sonic’s. What did catch his attention was how some were made by shoes and some were barefoot, one set of barefoot prints being significantly larger than the other. Still, being his only lead, Knuckles followed the tracks that eventually took him to behind a large rock.

“It seems whoever was here before was hiding from something,” Knuckles pondered aloud. As he examined the hiding spot, he came across yet another set of tracks, but these were vastly different. Gone were the standard looking footprints. Replacing them was what looked to be…were those wheel tracks?

Knuckles wasn’t sure what to make of these tracks as they appeared to be from a vehicle, but something about the space between them, as well as their form wasn’t exactly adding up.

“Hmmm…I suppose a new world would have vehicles I’ve never seen before but I don’t know…. Heck, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Sonic made these tracks…but that doesn’t make any sense. I left Sonic and Tails behind…they can’t have gotten here before me…could they?”

Knuckles thought back to Sonic recounting his time on Little Planet as well as their first foray with the Phantom Ruby where they apparently time traveled again so it might not’ve been as impossible as he initially thought. Regardless, this was as good a path as any to start on, so it was time to get moving.

Puffing his chest, Knuckles steeled himself before dashing off after the mysterious tracks. Sonic may be faster, but Knuckles was no slouch in speed either.

[]

Amy wasn’t someone who often had regrets. Sure some of the decisions she made had unwelcome consequences, like being captured by Metal Sonic, but in the end she’d go through with them with no remorse. This however, might be the first time in memory where Amy might say, “I wish I’d have stayed put!”

After yet another mysterious portal appeared in the Void, Amy seized the opportunity and used it to escape. While she’d been warned that she may not wind up home, there was still the possibility she’d wind up somewhere favorable (the Void’s crystal palace was very nice to look at for instance). The last thing she hope for and expected was to wind up in an industrial dump.

“What is this place…?”

Everywhere she looked, there was metal. Metal walls, metal doors, metal containers littering the streets, and the smokestacks. The gaseous odor was bad enough, but the lingering smoke made it almost impossible to even see clearly.

It didn’t take a ‘Tails’ level IQ to realize that this was very much an Eggman base, though that still left a number of questions to answer; Was this their Eggman’s doing or that other ‘Robotnik’ Naugus and the King mentioned? If it was Eggman, then was this his evil future (this reminded her way too much of Eggman’s Metallic Madness base)? Most importantly, which way should she go?

That last question would receive an abrupt answer as a loud siren sound filled the air. With a startled gasp, Amy dove aside, avoiding the gaze of a trio of red and white robots riding what appeared to be…some sort of flying motorbikes?

Once the coast was clear, Amy finally had a chance to breathe and weigh her options. Something she noted immediately was that whatever those robots were, they weren’t badniks. That may at least answer the question of who’s base this was. If what the King told her about Robotnik was even remotely true, then Amy knew she’d have to put it into stealth mode if she wanted to make it out of this mess in one piece. Where would she go afterwards? She didn’t know yet, but almost anything would be better than this rank, metal dump, even a regular Eggman base. At least she had experience with those.

More immediately however, Amy needed to pick a direction. If she went the wrong way, she could very easily wind up in deeper trouble.

“Oh! I know!”

She’d have to do this quick and move even quicker. Taking another glance from her hiding spot, Amy made extra sure the coast was clear before pulling out her Tarot deck. After shuffling the cards, she pulled one with the image of a clearly older person reading a book.

“Hmmm…so I’m going to meet someone with great wisdom and/or great intelligence.”

Ordinarily, such a reading would be reassuring, but given that their adversary was a mad genius, there was always the possibility that ‘great intelligence’ could imply Dr. Eggman himself. Still, no sense in lingering on ‘maybes’. Taking another careful glance, Amy tiptoed out of her hiding spot before shakily strolling into the unknown fray.

As the young hedgehog jaunted off, a wheeled robot with claws rolled up behind her. “Now that’s interesting.”

[]

After what felt like a long while, Knuckles finally lost sight of the mysterious tracks. As discouraging as that was, the good news is that he was long gone from that wasteland and managed to find himself in the midst of a large forest. At the very least, this place was more visually appealing than that dusty field.

“Still…which way should I go?”

The moment the words left his lips, a low grumble filled the air. His cheeks matching his quills, Knuckles thought aloud, “It has been a while since I’ve eaten hasn’t it?”

How unfortunate to get hit with the hunger pains in the middle of a forest…actually that might not be the worst thing ever. Getting hungry in the wasteland would’ve been much worse. At least in the forest there’s the possibility of finding fruit. Or if he was lucky enough to find a river, he could probably go fishing real quick.

The downside is, this was a forest he was vastly unfamiliar with, so even if he was right and this forest did in fact have fruit and fish, finding it wouldn’t be easy. Worst case scenario, the whole idea could very well be a wild goose chase and there was no fruit in this-!

“Doo-!”

Knuckles flinched as a small, hard something dropped on his head after he leaned on a tree to think. His guard fully raised, he quickly surveyed the area, searching for his assailant. Turning back around, he didn’t find a person, but…an apple?

Glancing up, Knuckles saw various spots of red adorning the tree he was under. His wandering had brought him to an apple tree.

“Well…that’s certainly convenient.” He grinned.

Wasting no more time, Knuckles leapt up and continued up the trunk. Grabbing half a dozen apples, Knuckles made himself comfortable amongst the branches and started chomping down. It had been a tiring day thus far for the young guardian, so a small break was certainly warranted. Can’t fight at your best on an empty stomach after all. The thought of taking a small nap did cross the echidna’s mind, but business always comes before pleasure. Once he was finished eating, it was back to emerald hunting.

[]

Amy’s fearful stroll had accelerated into a cautious jog. The darkened skies of of this industrial backdrop was perilous enough. What didn’t help matters was the near constant patrol of flying bots all over the place and the sinking feeling that someone or something was watching her. That latter sensation had persisted for quite a while, but after turning back and finding nothing but scrap metal, numerous times, Amy continued on her trek to find safety, chalking everything up to nerves and paranoia.

“Stay calm old girl,” she said to herself. “You’ve been to Eggman bases before…just…once or twice….” Shaking her head, Amy tried to steel herself. “Come on, this is nothing! You’ve managed to make it this far! All you can do now is keep moving forward at full speed! Just like Sonic!”

As soon as the blue hedgehog’s name left her mouth, a low but audible thud rang up behind her, startling the girl so hard, her quills went rigid. Whipping back around, Amy made out the visiage of…something moving. She wasn’t sure what, but she could tell it wasn’t biological. On instinct she dashed away from it just as a voice called out, “Wait!”

Stealth had been all but forgotten in Amy’s frazzled stupor, for not long after she took off from…whatever had been tailing her before, unbeknownst to the pink hedgehog a small squadron of Stealth Bots had flown in and were now tailing her.

[]

As the video feed showed up in the control room, Snively who was monitoring the monitor, gavea befuddled report. “Ummm…Doctor Robotnik…should I sound the Hedgehog Alarm?”

“Hedgehog!? Here, now!”

While Eggman continued their little ‘pet project’, Robotnik quickly made his way to the monitor.

“Well it is a hedgehog sir, but not the hedgehog,” Snively clarified.

“Is it Sir Charles?”

“No sir, this one is organic and female.”

“Female!”

Upon hearing that detail, Eggman quickly joined his wayward comrades and asked, “By any chance, are her quills a bright shade of pink?”

“Affirmative, Dr. Eggman.”

Eggman’s surprised face slowly twisted into a wicked sneer. “Well, well, well. I knew my Sonic was digging his nose in our business, but I’d have never expected little, Ms. Rosy would be our first new guest.”

“Ms. Rosy?” Snively and Robotnik shared a look.

“Nevermind. You’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted with the girl once she’s promptly brought to us, right?”

Robotnik snickered. “Of course. Belay the Hedgehog Alert, but do send a team of Swat Bots if you please.”

“Yes sir,” Snively saluted.

[]

A panting Amy finally found what she thought was a safe spot, in the shadows. Unfortunately for her, she’d be proven wrong as more fliers began zooming towards her location.

“Okay, just wait them out and then you can….”

“Freeze! Come out with your hands up!”

Though she avoided being spotted directly, the harsh demands coupled with the bright beam being shone in her sector told Amy that she’d been found out.

“They found me…!? I’ll bet it was that robot!” she huffed. ‘But how did they know I was hiding here…!?’ As Amy tried to find a way out, her eyes glanced upwards and she finally found the source of her unfortunate circumstances.

“Hey what’s that…?” Leaping up, Amy reached for the Stealth Bots which all scattered. Lucky for her, she managed to grasp one and began to examine it. “What is this thing? Some kind of camera robot? Eggman, are you seeing this!? Or is it that other Eggman? The one who still calls himself Robotnik?”

The Doctors and Snively were understandably frazzled not just by Amy knowing about Robotnik, but also the unsettling view of her eye taking up the entire monitor.

“Egads…end transmission and capture that brat already!” Robotnik demanded.

The former request would be granted by Amy dropping the Stealth Bot on the ground. Before the feed died however, the trio heard her call out, “Fore…!”

[]

With the flying spies gone, Amy still needed to find a way away from the holdup. Maybe…if there weren’t that many, she’d be able to fight her way out? Three, four tops shouldn’t be a problem, right? As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the sound of sirens filled the air as a second searchlight swept across the ground.

“Okay…fighting’s not an option anymore…I’ve just gotta run for it.”

With a gulp, Amy braced herself. Just in case, she also had her hammer at the ready. At the count of three, she’d dash out and not stop until she was positive she was ‘invisible’. With a steeled resolve, Amy raised her leg, prepared to book it until…!

“Hey…!”

Before Amy could move, she heard avoice from behind her. She wasn’t sure why, but it sounded familiar.

“Over here!”

Scanning the area, she could vaguely make out the silhouette of a person in the shadows. She couldn’t quite tell in the dark, but…were those quills? Another hedgehog probably, but judging by the voice, not the one she was hoping to see.

“Who…are you?”

“Just a friend who knows how to navigate this hole,” said the stranger. While motioning with his hand, the shadow strolled off. “Follow me if you don’t wanna get roboticized.”

“Roboticized…?”

Though the term was foreign to Amy, she could already imagine what it entailed and she had no intention of finding out how right or wrong she was. Ordinarily, one would think following a stranger in a mysterious, dangerous city would be a very bad idea, and Amy would usually agree. However, something about this stranger’s tone of voice felt assuring to the young hedgehog. Although a different kind of something about it was also putting her on edge…or maybe it was just the minor echoing…? Under the circumstances, it’d probably be better to take a chance than toface certain demise.

With little option, Amy chased after the mysterious stranger, vanishing in the shadows just as another search party swept by.

[]

“The pink hedgehog is…g-gone sirs….” Snively stammered.

Robotnik growled. “Keep looking! She can’t have gotten far! Unless….”

Robotnik turned to Eggman who quickly answered the silent question. “No. The girl’s pretty quick, but she’s nowhere near Sonic’s speed, which means she’s most likely hiding somewhere amongst the wreckage.”

“Yes…then search the area, posthaste!” Robotnik ordered.

Eggman chuckled. “‘Posthaste’ he says. If you wanted this done quickly, you should’ve just said so from the start. Metal!”

The robot clone gave a stern salute before blasting out of the control room. “He’s done this before so this should be a simple task for him.”

As Metal Sonic’s image appeared on the monitor, Robotnik kept a close eye on the automaton. He’d only had limited time to see him in action, so he wantedto take every opportunity he could to study the blue robot. Who knows, maybe it’d spark spark some…inspiration.

[]

The friendly stranger had already goten quite a head start while Amy was still deciding whether or not to follow them, but Amy’s higher than average speed helped her catch up in no time, though she still couldn’t make out their appearance in the dark.

“Hey, where are we going?”

“You’ll see soon enough, just a bit further ahead!”

Amy shuddered. Though she dismissed it earlier as echoes, being this close gave her a cleaner listen to the stranger’s voice and it still had that…unknown something that made her uneasy. That unease only grew as they passed a strip of light and she noticed a very blatant reflective glint off of…their skin!?

Amy stopped suddenly, urging her companion to urge her on. “What’s wrong? We’ve got to keep moving?”

“Who…exactly are you?” Amy asked while taking a cautious step back.

“There’s no time to explain. Let’s just hurry!”

“No!” a huffing Amy crossed her arms and stomped her foot before demanding, “I’m not taking another step until you tell me who you are.”

Just as the stranger turned back to confront Amy, another Swatbot patrol passed by. Though they didn’t see the fleeing hedgehogs, the light from their vehicles gave Amy just enough illumination to witness her ‘savior’ in the flesh. Or rather…what should’ve been flesh. Instead of a living, breathing, hedgehog Amy quivered as the passing light revealed a metallic, blueish, hedgehog with red-eyes.

“Y-you’re…METAL!?”

The stranger sighed. “Yes, yes I am, but don’t worry. I’ve got control of my…WHOA!” The metal hedgehog dashed backwards as Amy leapt at him, swinging down…a giant hammer? Where did she get that from!?

Unfortunately, he dashed backwards into a wall which made a loud, ‘clanking’ sound. Coupled with the impact of the hammer, the Swatbots would probably be on their tails in no time. To make matters worse, the girl had already abandoned the hidden path and now sprinted out into the open.

“No wait!”

He tried to call out to her, but her speed was genuinely remarkable. Mere seconds had passed since she knocked him back and she was already out of earshot. She may have been fast, but sadly she wasn’t fast enough to escape the Swatbot patrol that predicatably approched the noisy area before taking off in her direction.

Chuck let out a defeated sigh. There was nothing he could do for her now, but knowing Robotnik’s sadistic side, she likely wouldn’t be roboticized immediately. That’d be his chance to go for the girl, but he’d definitely need backup and intel for this one.

Thankfully, his disguise bot wasn’t far away so he could go back incognito and signal the Freedom Fighters, though he’d have to wait for the heat to die down. Slipping behind a massive pile of scrap metal, he waited for the Swatbots to disperse before making a break for it.

The moment he turned his back however, a loud and powerful ‘Whoosh!’ blew by.

“What in blazes…?”

Zipping back to the ‘opening’ Amy made, Chuck could barely make out a flash of blue that disappeared in the same direction as the Swatbots. But that couldn’t be…could it?

“That…wasn’t Sonny…was it?”

[]

Amy ran. She didn’t know where she was going to go, she just knew she had to keep running. Of all the rotten luck, why did she have to run into Metal Sonic…or…was that Mecha Sonic the guys told her about? Either way, running into a robot hedgehog was the worst possible thing to happen to the poor girl.

“Freeze! You are under arrest!”

Correction, second worse,considering she was now being chased by these mook robots. Thankfully, it was ONLY mook robots, and just a couple at that, which meant it shuoldn’t be a problem to shake them. Brandishing her hammer, Amy skidded to a stop before turning to face the incoming, metal soldiers. Turning her self sideways, Amybroke into a horizontal spin before chucking her hammer at the robot’s vehicle. The bad news was, it didn’t do much damage. The good news however, was that the impact was enough to knock the aircraft aside and cause it to bump into it’s partner, causing them both to crash out on some large things of rubble.

A proud Amy dusted off her hands, before sticking her tongue out at the piles of scrap that used to be Swatbots.

“You clanking cretins will have to do better than that to catch me!” she boasted.

As if on cue, there was a loud woosh accompanied by a the sound of a powerful turbine, and Amy’s bravado nigh instantly evaporated. “I…know that sound…! D-don’t tell me….”

With her eyes starting to water, Amy slowly turned back only to come face to face with Eggman’s infamous vanguard.

“Metal Sonic…!?”

With his eyes flashing menacingly and his engines jetting, Metal reared hishand back before launching himself at a startled Amy, who could only let out an ear piercing scream.

“SOOOONIIIIIC!”

[]

“Capture confirmed sirs! They’re bringing her in now.”

“Excellent!” The doctors said in unison.

“Bring her in at once!” Eggman demanded.

“Ivo, I will thank you to not make demands of my minions if you please,” Robotnik deadpanned.

“I was talking to Metal,” Eggman huffed. “Besides, the prisoner is my nuisance.”

Before the argument could continue, the aforementioned prisoner was brought in by Metal Sonic and a pair of Swatbots.

[]

To say that today had progressively gotten worse for Amy would be the biggest understatement of the decade. First she was sucked into a portal, then spat out into a dimension used as a makeshift prison (though the place itself wasn’t so bad) only to escape and wind up in an Eggman coded city and run into that one robot hedgehog, get chased and ultimately captured by THE robot hedgehog. Now here she was, tied up on some kind of conveyer belt, and if her intuition was right,she was on the way to encounter the one thing that would make this infinitely worse.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to pay us a visit!”

As expected, Amy was now faced with not one but two…“Doctor Eggman!”

The eponymous scientist graced her with a sneer before Amy continued, “Can I assume your friend there still goes by Dr. Robotnik?”

“Smart girl,” Robotnik snickered. “At least this saves me the trouble of having to introduce myself.”

“What about him?” Amy tilted her head towards Snively who was about to give his own introduction until Robotnik cut him off.

“He doesn’t matter.”

Eggman quickly chimed in, “What does matter however, is how you knew about Julian.”

“Who’s Julian?”

“Not in front of the enemy Ivo.”

“Apologies, but my point still stands. When you yelled at our stealth bot, you made it known that you were aware who he was. Would you be so kind as to tell us where you got that information from?”

Amy gulped before regaining her nerve and snapping away from the doctors. “You won’t get a single word out of me!” she denied.

Robotnik sneered. “You put on a brave front, dear girl, but while you may be more accostumed to Ivo’s brand of threats, I can assure you, I have ways of making you talk.”

Amy couldn’t help but shudder. Whoever this Robotnik was, he certainly at least carried himself in a more threatening manner than Eggman, but she wasn’t ready to back down yet.

“Forget it! Though I will give you props for setting up that other robot hedgehog to try and make me lower my guard. I’ll admit, it almost worked but you’ve got to do better than tha to pull the wool over my eyes Doc!”

Both doctors shared a look with each other before saying in unison, “What robot hedgehog?”

“The one that tried to lead me into a trap before Metal Sonic appeared?”

The scientists were still at a loss at to what Amy was talking about until Robotnik began to inquire with Eggman.

“Ivo?”

Eggman nodded. “Can’t be mine. I have made other copies of Sonic, but they’ve all been trashed. Metal’s the only one who’s operational, let alone here with us.”

At that explanation, Robotnik quickly realized who it was. “That must mean…Sir Charles! That treacherous little gnat is still lurking about now, is he!?”

‘Treacherous?’ That word caught Amy’s attention. Did that mean…the robot she met before was actually working against the Eggmen? If that were true then…!

‘Oh no…!’

“You! You will tell us exactly where Dr. Hedgehog is right this instance!” Robotnik demanded. “If you do, you have my word that you will not…wind up like him.”

“What do you mean ‘wind up like him’?” asked Amy.

The doctors shared a look and chuckled. “Dear Doctor, I think Amy needs a demonstration, wouldn’t you say?” Eggman urged.

“Agreed dear Ivo. Snively?”

With a grin, Snively pushed a button and anoter conveyer belt rolled in, this time with one of Eggman’ classic animal capsules.

“No…!”

“Yes!”

“What are you going to do to those animals!?” Amy snapped.

With a dramatic wave of his hand, Eggman gleefully replied, “Watch and be amazed as the Great Robotnik Duo demonstrate the power of ‘roboticization’!”

“Ohhhh…the ‘Great Robotnik Duo’. I like the sound of that,” Robotnik beamed.

There was that word again, ‘roboticization’. Initially Amy had just imagined Eggman’s usual forte of shoving animals into robot shells, but considering what they’ve been saying about that other hedgehog ‘Charles’, she was starting to piece things together and she didn’t like it.

Robotnik stepped up to the capsule and, reaching his hand through the window, blocking it with his arm so the critters couldn’t try and escape, he pulled out a random small rabbit.

“Yes…you’ll do nicely.”

Dropping the rabbit on a metal panel, it was then covered by a glass tube.

“We’re ready sirs!” said Snively.

““Activate!””

Amy could only watch in horror as the desperately hopping rabbit was struck by a powerful looking jolt of electricity. After a massive flash of light died down, then roboticizer opened up, revealing an iron rabbit where a flesh and bone bunny once sat.

Amy gasped as the true weight of her situation began to sink in.

“Now little Rosy, I’ll ask you again; Where. Is. Sir Charles!?”

[]

Unbeknownst to the group in the control room, the eponymous robot hedgehog had managed to return to his bunker and was now eavesdropping on the conversation at hand. Sadly, he’d only managed to return in time to catch just the latter half of things where Robotnik and this ‘Ivo’ character had found out that he was involved in this whole charade.

On a positive note, his prediction that the doctors wouldn’t Roboticize her immediately, was spot on. Although given that they only gave her a few hours to change her mind certainly put a damper on things. If he was going to save her, he’d need to move fast, and there’s only one guy he knows that fits that bill.

“Gotta call Sonny and the others now!”

[]

With the rest of the team out in the field, Bunnie took the moment to relax at home. All was quiet until a deafening, but familiar ‘Boom!’ filled the air.

“Now ah’d know that big bang anywhere!”

Hopping out of her hut, Bunnie rushed to the hidden slide to greet the others, but held her tongue when, upon laying eyes on Sonic and Sally could immediately feel a palpable tension in the air.

“Is…everythang alright?” asked Bunnie.

“Everything’s fine Bunnie. Sonic’s just being pouty because I was…being extra cautious.”

“Extra cautious? Right…,” Sonic sarcastically droned.

“Extra cautious, ‘bout what?” asked Bunnie.

After quickly filling Bunnie in on the portal business, a snide Sonic added how Sally botched the chance to gain some major info while the portal was up.

“Well that don’t sound like the Sally-girl I know.”

Rolling her eyes, an exasperated Sally exclaimed, “Alright, I get it! I was too slow for the ‘Fastest Thing Alive’.”

“That’s just it Sal, you weren’t slow, you straight up froze. What was that all about?” asked Sonic.

Sally continued to try and find an angle to argue back with, but after some brief stammering, she finally relented.

“Oh…fine, I froze, but can you really blame me?” Sally strolled by before taking a seat at some tree roots and continued. “I know we need more information about…whatever this energy from that ruby is, but when I reached for NICOLE back then, I got worried that she’d malfunction again if she tried to analyze that energy. We literally just fixed her and I didn’t want to risk making all of our efforts today meaningless.”

Sonic’s expression softened as he joined her at the tree, leaning on its trunk. “Okay, you’re right. NICOLE getting busted again immediately would have sucked.”

“But now what? If NICOLE can’t get any info on that ruby thing, how are we supposed to know what Robotnik’s planning? Or how to counter it?” asked Rotor.

“Maybe we can just smash it so then it won’t matter?” Sonic suggested.

“I don’t know if it’ll be that simple Sonic…but it doesn’t hurt to hope a little,” Sally replied.

“If I may my Princess, perhaps we should, how you say, ‘turn off’ for ze day?” Antoine suggested. “Between Robotnik’s junkyard and zat terrible trip to ze wastelands, I am thinking we should be needing ze rest?”

“That’s ‘turn-in’ Antoine,” Rotor corrected.

“It’s not a bad idea though,” Sally concurred. “NICOLE’s operational again so I’d call today a victory, and unless something major happens, then its probably best for all of us to recharge.”

“Sounds good to me. I need some grub,” Sonic added.

“Oh! Speakin’ of food, that reminds me. Tails went apple pickin’ while y’all were gone. He should be comin’ back soon.”

Sally let out a relieved breath. “Good. I need something sweet right now.”

[]

Tails wasn’t in the best mood lately. Even after being officially named a Freedom Fighter and promised to be allowed on more missions, the young fox was still getting left behind too often for his liking.

Still, as much as he wanted to get more involved, he couldn’t deny how nice it was to have some quiet days like this, and at least he was still being helpful. After all, who doesn’t love apples?

“Huh…?”

Tails stopped in his tracks upon stumbling on the peculiar scene of a handful of apple cores scattered about the usual apple tree. It wasn’t odd for some of the fruit to drop from the tree thanks to weather or plain old gravity, but who or what ate them? As he pondered the situation longer, the question slowly shifted from what did eat the apples to what could’ve eaten them. There weren’t that many animals left in the Great Forest and the ones that were couldn’t have eaten this many.

A shuddering Tails continued to throw numerous theories around from just being a bunch of animals together to maybe a creature far more…menacing before shaking himself back to reality. Whatever ate the apples was probably long gone by now, and he still needed to collect some himself, he’d just do it very quickly. Also, he’d have to remember to tell Sonic and/or Sally about this because this wasn’t normal.

Taking a breath to calm himself, Tails spun his namesakes and ascended into the tree. After grabbing and pouching a few apples, Tails paused as he managed to spot a large patch of red through the leaves just above him.

“That’s weird. Did a bunch of apples grow really close together or something?” Tails paused to ponder for a second but shrugged it off. Reaching up, he grabbed the red thing let out a yelp as instead of a smooth, round red fruit he instead tugged on a red, roughish…vine-like thing?”

“What the-?”

“Gyaagh-!”

A startled Tails yelped again as a deep voice spoke out, causing the young fox to lose his awareness and bump head first into a thick branch, knocking him out of the air.

“Hey who was…? Gyaggh!”

In a similar vein, the owner of the deep voice also seemed to be unaware of their surroundings and after leaning aside, tumbled off of the branches they’d apparently been lying on.

After taking a second to get reoriented, Tails and the stranger finally adressed each other, the former taking a cautious step back as he laid eyes on a guy with long, spiky, red hair, a white crescent on his buffed chest and…were those spikes on the back of his hand?”

“S-sorry about that,” Tails shakily apologized. “When I saw your red hair, I thought you were an apple.”

“No problem. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep in that tree in the first place, but it was surprisingly cozy up there.”

Dusting himself off, the red newcomer started his own apology. “Anyway, I’m sorry too for startle…TAILS!?” The imminent apology paused as the newcomer laid eyes on the young fox who slowly started backing away.

“How…how do you know my name…?”

[]

“Tails, how much further!?”

It had only been a couple of minutes since Sonic and Tails made their break for the emerald hidden on the island and with the former’s speed, they were already closing in on its location.

“Just a few more yards, but we don’t know the exact location. It could be underground for all we know and we don’t have time to dig for it or anything!”

Sonic growled in frustration. Even after all this, they’d still probably be too late, and then what?

Just as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Sonic’s ears were filled with whistling. Glancing around, he’d found himself surrounded by a small flock of flickies.

“Well that’s interesting.”

The birds flew in the northeast direction prompting an instinctive Sonic to follow them.

“Sonic, where are you going?” asked Tails.

“I had to ask for directions, but I think the emerald is this way!”

“You think...wait, ask who?”

“Never mind that, just have a little faith!”

Sonic quickly upped his pace as he followed the path laid out by the birds, Tails trailing behind. As the flickies flocked back together, their path eventually led Sonic to a small group of Rickies (A/N: Ricky is the squirrel animal critter from the games) and their burrow. From the hole in the ground, one more squirrel popped up holding a familiar, glowing, purple gem.

“The Chaos Emerald!”

Once Sonic grabbed it, the flickies flew around as if performing a victory while the rickies waved Sonic off.

“Thanks for the assist guys. Catch ya later!”

With the emerald in hand, Sonic sped off, quickly reporting back to Tails. “Yo Tails, I got the emerald!”

“Already? Even for you that’s too fast! Unless…did we get lucky and it was just out in the open?”

“Lucky but not that lucky. I’ll tell ya later, right now, just put that baby in reverse and let’s get back to the portal spot.”

“Roger!”

Twisting the Tornado into an aerial U-Turn, Tails followed Sonic’s path back, hoping they wouldn’t be too late.

(A/N: Another chapter, another step closer to the crossover craziness going full speed. Although, I think its fair to say we’ve hit the ground running with Amy treading through Robotropolis and ‘meeting’ Uncle Chuck. Part of me DID want their meeting to be amicable, but given Amy’s prior experience with robot hedgehogs, I do think she’d be less than willing to go with him. Sadly, that onlypushed her towards the exact robot hedgehog she DIDN’T want to meet. Quick note, while Modern Amy wouldn’t be afraid of Metal Sonic, I’m still in the camp that says Classic Amy would be (I used the IDW Anniversary oneshot(s) as a reference and Amy mainly hid and ran from Metal Sonic when she was on her own). Knuckles got off easy since all he had to do was walk into a nice forest and eat apples, but don’t worry, he’ll get his turn in the mashup mix as the Master Emerald guardian meets a mesmerized Miles Prower and the Freedom Fighters receive the mother of rude awakenings. Also, game Sonic and Tails aren’t too far behind).