Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Out in the mountains west of Sunset City, a young wolf was traversing the most difficult trails he could find. He had verdigris green-blue fur and fiery orange eyes, a peach-tan fleshy muzzle with a black nose, a relatively short and bushy tail, and tall triangular ears that curved inwards. He stood about 125 centimeters tall with a wiry build, and he had fur on the back of his head that fanned out like human hair. For attire, he wore military gloves with inverted chevrons on the front and tan patches on the back, matching boots with black toes and tan patches, and a pair of rectangular glasses with black frames. As far as accessories, he had a tan utility belt with a strap over his right shoulder while its three pouches were on the opposite side, a military green and black headset that was placed by his right ear, a black band around his upper right arm with the acronym “SF” written on it in red text, and a large black and silver band around his left glove’s wrist that also had a small mounted barrel.

This was Gismund T. Wolf, better known by his nickname “Gizmo” due to his penchant for making good use of tools and weapons. Nearly seven months ago, he was just another ordinary citizen of the world, captivated by the exploits of Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends. He’d admired the blue blur for never giving up, as well as Amy Rose’s compassion, and he would say that he had a little bit of a kindred spirit in Miles “Tails” Prower, as far as his love for tinkering. He’d always wished that he could go on grand and epic outings like they did, but he hadn’t possessed the physical or mental fortitude that they did. More than anything, his anxiety and low self-confidence had held him back.

Then the War had been set in motion. With news of Sonic’s defeat, many had been frozen by the loss, and pretty much the entire world was soon overtaken by Eggman’s forces. After fleeing his home, the wolf had signed up with the Resistance and gotten to know others in his squad quite well. For six long months, they’d trained, laughed, and cried together as they fought back against the armies of the doctor.

He remembered the day he and his fellow rookies had run into Infinite, the effective right hand of Eggman. The power of the Phantom Ruby, which the wolf had later learned was actually a prototype duplicate, had allowed the jackal to defeat Gizmo's group with minimal effort. In a cruel and sadistic twist, the barely teenage pup had been left the only survivor, forced to run away for the other canine’s amusement. Not long after that traumatic event, he’d been found by Knuckles the Echidna, and from there, he’d fought on the front lines, his doubts and fears slowly ebbing over time. Once the War ended, he decided to leave the Resistance and set out on his own to help clean up the stragglers of Eggman’s army.

‘Good thing they're mostly aimless now,’ he thought, ‘they attack places, yeah, but not in any big and organized way like they did during the War. Still, we've got lots of rebuilding to do, and they're not making it easy.’

The wolf had been doing this for about four weeks following the end of the War. Not every day had been filled with fighting robots and aiding citizens, but that was okay; Gizmo appreciated being alone sometimes. It gave him time to think about everything he'd been through, and consider what to do next. The wolf knew that when the doctor inevitably returned, he would likely become yet another target for his diabolical schemes. At that point, there’s no doubt he’d run into Sonic again, assuming the hedgehog didn’t take care of things first.

However, on the subject of the hero, he’d been having some more...uncomfortable contemplations as of late.

‘Hmm, Sonic,’ Gizmo mused, albeit with doubt creeping in, 'it feels like everyone relies on him too much. What if he loses again? I dunno about anyone else, but I'm not gonna sit and do nothing if that happens.’ 

Gizmo continued through the mountains, navigating a thick forest as well as intertwined stony corkscrew loops. He came upon a clearing only a few minutes later, discovering it to host a small and idyllic village. There were a number of buildings that were creamy white with red or blue slanted roofs, a sizable plaza for people to gather or hold events, and a large windmill that stood opposite of what appeared to be a storage tower. A plethora of mountain flowers populated the fields in and around the town, and numerous kids younger than him were out playing and enjoying the weather.

It didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary, but the wolf figured he could take a quick look. Gizmo put on a friendly face as he entered the village, causing several of the residents to stop what they were doing and look his way. He felt a bit anxious and halted himself, his ears perking up at the whispers he caught.

“Hey, it’s a Resistance soldier. Special Forces, too, if that’s what those letters on his armband mean.”

“That would explain why there’s only one instead of a whole bunch. SF are the cream of the crop, aside from people like Sonic and his friends.”

“Seems kinda young to be a soldier, though, much less SF.”

“Wonder what he’s doing all the way out here. I thought the War was over.”

Gizmo let out a sigh. Given that he’d kept his gear, it was common for people to assume he was still with the Resistance. Yes, he could simply discard it, get some new clothes and accessories, and perhaps upgrade a couple of things like his grappler and headset. But aside from the lattermost idea, he wasn’t that motivated to do so. Until he outgrew his digs, he was going to keep on wearing them and remain proud that he’d been part of such a group. Still, the townsfolk could do more than simply mumble about him while he was right there.

There was one fellow, however, that chose to walk up to him. It was a heavyset goat that stood somewhat taller than him, with gray fur and blue eyes, as well as pink flesh that was visible in his moderately long sideways ears. He had a wide black nose, bushy eyebrows, darker gray markings around his eyes, thick and lengthy fur beneath his chin much like a large beard, and dark horns that curved back and to the side. As for clothes, he wore a purple sweater underneath a green jacket, black fingerless gloves, and black shoes with golden buckles. One arm was folded behind his back while the other gripped a simple wooden cane, which he used to shuffle over to the wolf.

“Hello and welcome to Windmill Village,” he greeted Gizmo cordially, his voice a warm and pleasant baritone, “I’m Elder Scruffy, the head of this humble town.” 

Gizmo nodded politely. “Nice to meet you, sir. My name’s Gismund T. Wolf, though most people call me Gizmo.” 

“A pleasure to meet you, Gizmo,” Scruffy replied as he gave the lupine a handshake. While doing so, he also looked the boy over, perking one brow. “I must say, you look quite young for a soldier. But, leaving that aside, why would the Resistance send someone out here?”

“I’m a former soldier, sir. I left the Resistance after the War ended, and I’ve been going around helping wherever I can in the aftermath.” Gizmo rubbed at his hair a bit bashfully. “I just happened to find this place during my trek through the mountains.”

“My apologies if we made you feel uncomfortable. If you need to rest for a while, we can set up a space at the Community Center. Otherwise, you’re free to roam around and get yourself acquainted with the village.”

The wolf nodded, deciding to take him up on the offer. Once the villagers learned that he wasn’t part of the Resistance anymore and was just visiting by chance, they were much more welcoming and volunteered to show him around. There wasn’t a whole lot to take in aside from what he’d already seen, but the people made it a pleasant experience all the same. He got to see the Community Center, the bakery, tailor, and so on, eventually getting a look at the inside of the big windmill itself, all the while receiving tidbits of history about each landmark and business. He’d even gotten a slice of fresh honey tart once their tour was done, and after sinking his teeth into it...

“Oh wow, this is good!” he marveled, “can I get some of these to go?”

That got some laughs from the others, but since he’d asked nicely, the baker obliged his request.

“Gizmo!” squeaked one of the children, “you must have a lot of cool stories about the War!”

“Yeah, tell us!”

Gizmo wasn’t keen to share everything, considering he wasn’t proud of who he used to be, nor was he comfortable talking about his fallen squad mates just yet. However, he was willing to tell them about the missions he had gone on during the tail-end of the war. Of course, the one that received the most attention was the final battle. The children’s eyes were glued to the wolf and their ears open as he told them how the Phantom Ruby prototype he’d found had been the key to turning the tables against Eggman.

“Then after I stopped the Phantom Sun from burning us all to a crisp,” he went on, sliding one hand over his face and narrowing his eyes to mimic a certain jackal, “Sonic and I kicked Infinite’s butt and then stormed into the doctor’s main stronghold. We broke down the generator, and it seemed like we’d finally won...” He rose from his seat on a log and did his best impression of the doctor’s laugh, causing a few of the kids to yelp. “But, Eggman had one last machine to fight us with, powered by the real Phantom Ruby!”

One of the children, a brown wallaby with a green shirt and black shorts, gazed at him anxiously. “How did you beat it?”

“Well, Sonic brought down its force field,” Gizmo told them, reaching into one pouch to pull out his Cube Wispon, “then I broke the outer shell with this. The doctor’s robot showed its true form and pulled Sonic and I into Null Space.” He pumped his free fist triumphantly. “But even that was no match for our teamwork! With a Double Boost, we destroyed his final weapon, though there was no sign of Eggman or the Phantom Ruby after the dust settled.” He shrugged and smiled. “We had a nice party, and then I left the Resistance to go my own way. Now I just help people wherever I go, kinda like Sonic.”

“Whoa!”

“What was it like fighting along with Sonic?”

“Can you use any Wispons other than that one?”

“Can you ask the Resistance for favors even though you’re not with ‘em anymore?”

Their curiosity was insatiable, but Gizmo was happy to provide answers. And naturally, there came a point when those young minds shifted gears from bombarding him with inquiries.

“Let’s play!” exclaimed a purple rat boy in a blue t-shirt and blue denim shorts, with the other young ones clamoring in agreement.

“Now, kids,” an adult red rabbit said gently, “Gizmo is probably tuckered out from his trip. He did come all the way here through the mountains, after all.”

The teen wolf waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve got enough energy in me for a game or two. That honey tart gave me some extra fuel.”

“Then let's jump rope!” a blonde yellow cat suggested.

Gizmo glanced down at his wrist grappler, then over at a tree, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “Jump rope, huh? Well, how about this?”

He aimed the device over at the pine and fired his cable, which wrapped around the trunk a few times. The hero made sure to tug on it to check that it was taut, and once he was certain, Gizmo flipped his hand so that he could grasp the line.

“A rope long enough for everyone at once!” he declared, getting gasps and then excited shouts from the young group.

Once they were ready, Gizmo started the game off slow. The kids kept count with him, the pace picking up just a little bit after a few consecutive motions. Most of them were able to keep up, and for a few, it was too easy, but not so much for the remaining few. No one got mad when the cable hit anyone’s feet or anything else that forced them to start over, though, which the wolf found rather sweet.

“Oh my, that certainly looks like a fun and creative use of a grappling line!” came a voice that made Gizmo’s skin crawl.

The teen stopped what he was doing and turned his head, his eyes widening when he saw who had been talking. There was no mistaking that rotund and burly egg-like torso, those long and spindly arms and legs, that bright red nose, and that bushy mahogany mustache. Aside from his tinted blue pince-nez glasses and his white gloves, the man’s outfit was entirely different from what the wolf saw before. It now consisted of a simple pink shirt with a white collar, green overalls with a center pocket stuffed with a few tools, and pink and green slippers.

“Gizmo?” one of the children called to him, “what’s wrong?”

The wolf snapped the cable back into his grappler, momentarily startling the young ones. His other hand drew his Cube Wispon, orange eyes staring down the human and free hand gesturing for the others to stay back. He felt his head start to burn as white-hot anger welled up from within, and the jovial-looking fellow in front of him started to resemble a more nefarious figure. The same one that had taken so much from so many, including himself. He had survived the last battle and was right here in front of him.

“Eggman!” he yelled furiously, aiming his grappler at the doctor.

“I beg your pardon?” the human remarked with confusion, letting out a frightened shout when the wolf fired and bound him up.

Gizmo pulled him in while raising his azure hammer in preparation for bringing it down on the other’s bald, shiny head. He was positively incensed, intent on making the doctor pay for all the lives he’d taken and ruined, and all the destruction he’d spread across the planet. Sure, this would only be a taste of what the man really deserved, but dang it if it wouldn’t bring the ex-rookie some catharsis!

“No!” the rat boy cried out, putting himself between the wolf and the doctor with his arms spread, “Gizmo, don’t hurt Mr. Tinker!”

He was soon joined by some of the other kids, who formed a protective line in front of Eggman! Gizmo’s anger was replaced by bewilderment, and he lowered his weapon arm. However, he didn’t release the man from his grappling wire; he was certain this had to be some kind of trick. Eggman had previously fooled people into thinking he'd turned over a new leaf, including Sonic, so he was wary of this supposed change of heart.

“Why are you defending him?” he asked the children, barely holding himself back from screaming the words, “don’t you know what he’s done!?”

He felt a hand gently rest on his shoulder, and he turned to see Scruffy fixing him with a gaze that was serious, yet also understanding.

“Please, Gizmo, release him,” he implored the wolf, “I will explain everything.”

Between the elder and the children, the wolf relented and untied the human.

“If I’ve done anything to upset you, I apologize for not being able to recall,” Eggman told Gizmo, “but then again, I’m afraid I don’t remember much of anything.”

The teen pup was skeptical of the claim, but he kept quiet and looked over at Scruffy. The old goat cleared his throat and straightened up.

“We’re still not sure how he arrived, but we locked him up immediately after we found him. However, we found he’d broken out the next day just to reinforce his own cell.” The elder stroked his beard and sighed. “We questioned him and tested him for days, yet he never once showed signs of his old, villainous ways. Once we realized he wasn’t–well, himself–we nursed his wounds and took him in.” He glanced over at the windmill that made the village’s name proud. “From the largest, most grueling efforts to the smallest, most delicate work, he repaired anything we brought him.” He looked back at Gizmo with sympathy in his eyes. “I know Dr. Eggman is a terrible man. I’ve heard stories of horrors I can hardly imagine, and so I can understand the feelings you might have towards him.” He frowned a tad. “But Mr. Tinker has been a blessing to our village, and it would be a shame if he were to rot and do nothing when he has the chance to do good.”

Gizmo frowned and crossed his arms as he bowed his head. If Eggman was acting, he’d thoroughly fooled the villagers. But if that was the case, why go to such lengths? What was the point of hiding here, letting his forces run around without direction for nearly a month? Still, he couldn't entirely dismiss the possibility.

“I want to believe you, Elder Scruffy,” the teen said with some frustration, “but I just don’t know. I’d have to see for myself if this is for real.”

“Very well. I will defer to you on this, young hero. I only ask that you do not harm Mr. Tinker while you are here.”

Gizmo spent the rest of that day and the next one shadowing Mr. Tinker and asking him the occasional questions. He'd shown no signs of recognition with the latter, and there was nothing overtly fishy about his actions. It was quite the opposite, actually; the man indeed fixed anything brought to his attention, happily and readily to boot. The wolf eventually ran out of inquiries and reasons to tail the fellow, so on the third day, he decided to have a more normal conversation with him.

Or he would have, if matters didn't take another turn while he was on his way to meet with the man.

“What the?! Is that who I think it is?” came a familiar voice.

Gizmo spun around and was equally shocked at who he saw. It was none other than Espio the Chameleon, Charmy Bee, and Vector the Crocodile, the trio collectively known as...

“Team Chaotix!” the wolf exclaimed.

“You're here too, buddy?” Charmy wondered, before just shrugging and smiling, “neat!”

“An interesting coincidence, to be sure,” Espio remarked.

Vector came up to Gizmo and gave him a firm pat on the back, almost knocking the wolf over. “Good to see you, kid! But I gotta ask, what're you doing all the way out here?”

“I found this place while traveling,” he told them, “and I've spent the past couple of days here. What about you guys?”

Espio glanced at his boss, who gave him a nod of approval. “We received an anonymous tip that Dr. Eggman might be in this village.”

“Hopefully it's for real,” Vector said with a long-suffering sigh, “we've been trying to track him down after the War ended, and we've had no luck so far.”

‘If someone told them that Eggman's here,’ Gizmo thought, ‘does that mean whoever it was saw me too? But then, the Chaotix were surprised to see me, so maybe not?’

The wolf hesitated for a moment before deciding to spill the beans.

“Well, I haven't just been hanging around while I’ve been here...”

It took him a short while to catch the trio up to speed, who naturally asked many questions. Once he was done, Vector hummed and crossed his arms.

“Thanks for the help, kid,” he said appreciatively, “although even with you and the villagers vouching for him, we gotta make sure the doc's not pulling a fast one.”

“I'm not entirely convinced,” Gizmo admitted, “but at the same time, I can’t see why he’d go through all this trouble.” He shrugged a bit. “Anyway, I guess I'll leave the rest to you guys. I'm going to keep on moving.”

“If you run into Sonic, please send him our way,” Espio requested, “I'm certain he would be interested to know about all of this.”

Charmy giggled. “See ya soon, buddy! Don't be a stranger!”

Gizmo smiled and went to do as he intended to. He thanked each of the villagers for their help and hospitality, and while he was still unsure, he kept up a friendly face when he got to Mr. Tinker.

“I'm sorry for jumping the gun the other day,” he apologized to the man while shaking his hand, “I hope next time we meet, Mr. Tinker, it'll be more normal.”

“I look forward to that, Gizmo,” Mr. Tinker replied kindly, “and if you ever need something fixed, I'd be happy to help!”

“Heh, I'll keep that in mind.” He started towards the edge of town and waved at the crowd. “Take care, everyone!”

With that, Gizmo took his leave and became a verdigris blur as he dashed off into the distance. Although he wasn’t sure where he should start looking, the wolf concluded that finding Sonic was probably the best course of action right now. Like Espio said, the hedgehog would definitely want to hear about what happened.

Deep in the jungle of the Mystic Ruins, the old base of Dr. Eggman, known as the Final Egg, had recently been occupied by someone new. This person went through the trouble of activating units that the human would’ve considered obsolete and got the place in working condition with their aid. He hadn’t done this for his own sake, though, and that aside, there was yet more work to do.

The being was an anthropomorphic platypus with white fur that covered most of his body. His bill was dark gray and narrow, and he possessed red eyes with even deeper gray eyelids, and a thick tail. He also sported three thick hair turfs that were combed over the right side of his head, the front-most one possessing a gray highlight. For attire, he wore a satin purple shirt with golden cuff links, a red-violet vest, and orange pince-nez glasses. He had a webbed brown glove over his left hand with a gold insertion clip and golden-tipped fingertips, as well as a darker brown ring on the palm of the glove. Lastly, he wore brown boots with golden buckles, red-violet soles, medium-high heels, and upward-turned pointy toes with light red-violet socks underneath.

“Even with all the refurbishing, there are some things that simply cannot be done without the doctor present,” he said to himself while working at a console, “if only I had some hint as to where he may be.”

The platypus swapped through the displays to monitor the units he’d sent from here and other former Eggman Empire bases. A few towns fighting back against robots here, other Badniks moving supplies there, the Rookie Hero of the War running towards the location of the last Chaos Emerald–

“Wait a minute.”

He zoomed in on the feed of the green-blue wolf that sprinted down the mountains and across the plains just beyond them. Sure enough, it was the teen that had become a rising star during the last days of the conflict. The one observing him was honestly a bit surprised that it had taken this long to locate the newest ally of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sure, he didn’t exactly stand out compared to the Blue Blur, but given his contribution during the War, the wolf wasn’t someone he could ignore.

“Hmm, now this presents an interesting scenario,” mused the monotreme, “I could simply warp to where the Chaos Emerald is and take it before he arrives.” He steepled his fingers together contemplatively. “However, perhaps I should use this opportunity to nip a potential problem in the bud. A competent enough ambush would suffice for getting rid of him.” A smirk crossed his beak as he momentarily regarded his left hand’s glove. “Although, bringing him over to my side could be rather beneficial.” He changed one screen yet again, its contents reflected in his glasses. “And in the event I cannot end him or sway him to my cause, there is another tantalizing option. It may delay my plans for this project, but I believe the results would be well worth it.”

Chapter Text

‘Man, if only I had a clue where anyone in Sonic’s gang was,’ Gizmo thought as he kept up his rapid pace, ‘I should've asked the Chaotix when I had the chance. Oh well, too late to turn back now.’

The teen wolf wasn’t sure how long he’d been running since he left Windmill Village, but he did eventually come across another heavily forested region. Upon entering it, however, the young wolf felt that something was seriously off about the place.

‘Where are all the Flickies and other Animals?’ he wondered anxiously, peering around as he sprinted more leisurely, ‘it's way too quiet...I can’t hear anything except my boots and the wind.’

Over the hills and through the woods he went, crossing creeks and rushing through clearings. Yet even after several minutes of searching, there was no sign of any typical wildlife. The eerie silence and lack of sightings started to make his fur stand up on end.

‘Nope, I don't like this one bit,’ Gizmo thought as he brought out his Cube Wispon and slowed his pace, ‘either the Animals here are scared of something and are hiding from it, or said something's gotten to them already.’

Not much further ahead, he found the answer as to why the forest seemed so barren. A formidable number of Badniks had rounded up the local fauna and were placing them into Egg Capsules. There wasn't any trace of an Eggman base, from what the wolf had determined while running about. Thus, it begged the question: why were these ones so organized compared to those he'd encountered up until now? Gizmo figured that he would find out if he kept poking around, but there was a pressing matter to deal with first.

“I'll just need you for a second,” he said as he started with a Wire Attack, hooking a Hoverby and pulling himself to it in a snap.

A well-aimed kick smashed it apart and freed the Ricky inside. The wolf converted his move into a flipping strike as he brought down his hammer, generating a short-range cyclonic force that shredded a couple of Laser Flappers. The head of his Wispon slammed into the ground, trapping the handful of Egg Pawns in his immediate vicinity in blue cubes. The wolf went into a Spin Dash and bounced off of them like a pinball, shattering each machine and freeing yet more Animals.

The teen stood back up and countered a charging Motobug with his hammer with a swing like he was wielding a baseball bat. This also sent it sailing into a few more of its kind, bowling them over and breaking them apart along with the first.

“Whoa!” Gizmo yelped as he narrowly avoided several blasts from a squad of Buzzers, using his grappler to yank himself up into the tree branches.

He kicked off the trunk of a broad oak and hooked one of the wasp-like robots with a Wire Attack, performing several more in rapid succession to take out the rest. An Egg Knight attempted to skewer him with its spear, but Gizmo used his Wispon’s Color Power to manifest a cube in order to block its attack. The wolf vaulted off the platform he’d created and swung into the Badnik’s undefended back, defeating it and consequently destroying the handful of Pawns that had been with it.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” he remarked, glancing around at the critters he’d liberated, “let’s get the rest of you guys out of these capsules.” A few hops later, all of the creatures that Eggman’s robots captured were released. The Animals were quite thankful for his efforts, and he appreciated their gratitude in turn. “Good thing I decided to come this way, otherwise you all would’ve ended up as Badnik batteries, and we know how awful that is.” He lowered his Wispon and relaxed his shoulders, only for the first Ricky he’d saved to tug at his free hand. “What’s up? You want to show me something?”

The little squirrel nodded and led the wolf over to an oak tree close to the site of their capture, momentarily disappearing into a hollow. The teen didn’t have to wait long to see it emerge, presenting him with a brilliant cut blue gemstone. Although Gizmo had never seen one in person, he knew of this mythical mineral through pictures and videos, so he immediately recognized what he’d come across.

“A Chaos Emerald!” he said excitedly as he took it from the Ricky, “no wonder there were Badniks snooping around the place. Thanks a lot, little guy.” He put the stone away in the hammerspace of one of his belt pouches. “I better get this to one of the others, like Tails. I bet he's got plenty of things to help keep it safe.” Just as Gizmo was about to leave, there was a strange noise and not even a second later, a huge shadow loomed over the wolf. “What the–”

The ground quaked as an Egg Hammer brought down its namesake weapon in an attempt to crush the wolf, though the teen just managed to hop away in time. As he landed and brandished his Cube Wispon once more, he saw that the bulky Super Badnik was flanked by several more Laser Flappers and Pawns. What’s more, Gizmo also noticed Spinners and RhinoBots to his sides and behind him, leaving him surrounded. How had they snuck up on him like this?

“Where the heck did you guys come from?!” he exclaimed in alarm as he gripped his weapon tightly, “I didn’t hear you approaching at all! Unless, that noise I heard was–”

Since the Badniks weren’t capable of giving him a proper retort, they simply initiated their assault. The RhinoBots were first to attack, revving up and charging at him full speed. Gizmo jumped high into the air and used a Wire Attack on the one roughly in the middle of the pack, bouncing up and coming back down with a Cube Slam. The converted Badniks provided him some temporary cover from the remaining numbers’ attacks, allowing him to weave his way to a better position and strike at the Spinners.

“Get over here!” he yelled as he snagged one with his grappler and whirled it around, smashing it into a couple of other units before it broke apart. The Egg Hammer stomped forward and attempted to crush him once again, only for Gizmo to spring up into the branches the instant before he would’ve been flattened.

“Don’t take me lightly!” he shouted as he braced against the trunk of a nearby pine with his boots, “I helped Sonic beat Infinite and Eggman, and you’re nothing compared to either of them!”

Gizmo rolled up into a verdigris orb and ricocheted off the back of the Super Badnik’s head, going into a Mid-Air Hammer Spin as he was launched towards the Egg Flappers. The whirling dervish of a wolf busted up the flying machines gracefully, then performed a Stomp to land behind one of the Egg Pawns. He batted it towards the Egg Hammer, which blocked and broke its comrade apart. No sooner had it defended itself when Gizmo brought his Wispon down to turn the other Pawns into cubes.

“How about this?” the teen challenged as he started lobbing them incessantly at the huge robot. It was soon too much for the Egg Hammer, knocking it off balance and onto its back, where Gizmo took the opportunity to jump up yet again.

“Hyaaah!”

A deafening crack sounded through the forest as the teen’s Cube Wispon broke through the Egg Hammer’s head and split its heavy armor in half. He leapt clear of the explosion and snapped towards the last few Spinners, eliminating them with consecutive Wire Attacks. Gizmo stuck a three-point landing as the last Animals were freed, unable to help but pant a little from exertion.

“Sheesh,” he grumbled as he took another good look around to make sure there weren’t more Badniks about, “someone definitely wants the Chaos Emeralds and seriously has it out for me.” The wolf took a moment to help calm the recently rescued critters before slightly relaxing his guard. “But if it’s not Eggman back in Windmill Village, then who is pulling the strings?”

“I would be willing to answer those queries of yours, among many others,” came a smooth and almost theatrical tone, “if only you'll allow me.”

Gizmo spun around to face the source of the voice, finding a curiously colored platypus greeting him. And while the tones were different, the manner in which the monotreme was dressed brought to mind a certain diabolical doctor. The wolf could already tell that this guy was bad news even before he said anything else. Still, it was better to know one's potential enemy.

“Who’re you supposed to be?” the teen asked with his brow raised in suspicion, “some kind of Eggman fanboy?”

“I have spent a significant amount of time studying the illustrious doctor, I will admit,” the platypus responded without shame, though the smallest glint of irritation could be seen in his eyes, “but do not count me as a mere ‘fanboy’ of his.” He gave a dramatic bow and sported a wide grin on his beak. “I am Doctor Starline, and I’ve taken a keen interest in your abilities and exploits, ‘Gizmo the Wolf.’”

Gizmo didn’t feel at all honored to hear that, and made it known from the unsettled expression on his face. “Okay?” A look of realization crossed the wolf’s visage. “Wait, you’re the one who sent those Badniks against me, weren’t you?”

“How astute of you to come to that conclusion so quickly,” Starline commended him un-ironically, “yes, I set them upon you, and you’ve proven more formidable than I initially calculated.” The doctor tightened his one glove and stood tall. “But that is more of a boon than a bane to me. I would’ve been rather disappointed if the Rookie Hero of the Eggman War were to fall to such a force.”

The pup didn’t like the tone of his voice, even if he truly meant all of the adoration sent his way. There was no mistaking that sort of intent as he activated his Cube Wispon for the third time in such a short period. Still, a part of him was curious.

“Why fixate on me?” Gizmo asked, “why not someone like Sonic?”

“Oh, I've done that enough already,” Starline replied smartly, “and I'll deal with that volatile punk and his unchecked ego in due time.” He pointed at the wolf. “But to answer you properly, the growth you showcased during the final days of the War has been a great mystery. How could an unremarkable teenage civilian become so formidable so quickly after spending months training and achieving minimal progress?”

The wolf had wondered about that himself, as he was pretty sure his case was nothing ordinary. More than that, though, he could tell that the platypus really liked hearing himself talk, which only annoyed Gizmo more. But hey, if this guy wanted to see what he was made of, why not oblige him? After all, Starline did admit that he’s the one who sent those Badniks after him, so there was no way he was getting off scot free.

“Look,” he said as he let out an exasperated sigh, “if you want to fight me, then just shut up and put ‘em up already.”

“Straight to the point,” Starline chuckled, taking on a battle-ready stance, “very well then, come at me. I normally wouldn’t get my hands dirty like this, but there’s a certain satisfaction in collecting valuable data directly.”

Gizmo was prepared to rush in and strike, but something about the doctor's confidence didn’t sit right with him. The platypus was far too relaxed for someone that didn’t seem to be particularly predisposed towards physical combat. The wolf reacted almost too late as he went into a feet-first Slide, narrowly avoiding a strange portal that manifested right in front of him.

“What?!” Starline uttered in surprise at the split-second intuition of his opponent.

However, this revelation only served to make his smile grow ever wider as he warped away from a slam of that hammer at the last instant. He’d intended to lead Gizmo into that wormhole as well, though the wolf simply vaulted over it and went for another swing. When he ended up missing again, Starline popped up behind him and tried to deliver a roundhouse kick, but the teen reacted faster and blocked it with his Wispon. Gizmo shrugged him off and went for a leaping strike, and he would’ve gone through a portal if he hadn’t reflexively grappled to a nearby pine. From there, he launched himself up above the treeline, hoping to lure his foe up to his level, who showed up to his rear just as expected. Gizmo managed to catch him with his cable and kicked Starline back through his portal, following him as they reappeared near the ground.

“Excellent showing, young hero,” the platypus praised him as he swiftly recovered and blinked out of the way of a multitude of swings, “it appears your contributions to the War and your performance earlier were no mere flukes.”

“I said shut up, you weirdo!” Gizmo snapped back at him, failing to catch his foe with his Wispon time and again, “hold still and stop teleport-spamming, you coward!”

Despite his clearly superior stamina, speed, and strength, Gizmo was steadily growing more frustrated at the relative lack of contact between him and Starline due to the monotreme’s technological trickery. The teen soon regrettably discovered that throwing him off his rhythm and making him act hastily was part of the scientist’s scheme from the beginning. Gizmo shot his wire forward, but it was intercepted mid-flight by yet another orange and yellow portal, resulting in the line wrapping around the back of his right ankle. This caused the wolf to genuinely trip himself up and land face-first in the earth with a painful grunt. No sooner had he gotten back to his feet when Starline stepped forward and let his glove glow with a bright yellow light. Waves of the same tint emanated from the platypus’ hand, and in seconds, Gizmo started to feel a bit woozy and out of sorts.

“H-huh?” he mumbled, his orange eyes unfocusing as his tense posture slackened, almost dropping his Wispon, “what’s going...on...”

“There. Thanks to my Hypno-Gear, you should now be much more agreeable than before,” Starline said with a victorious smile as he held out his other hand with an open and expectant palm, “now then, kindly hand over the last Chaos Emerald to me.”

Under the doctor’s suggestion, Gizmo couldn’t help but numbly stumble towards him, his free hand reaching into the pouch with the gem. It seemed as though it would be an easy victory for Starline, and with the compliance of his new acquaintance, however unwilling, he would imminently have what he desired. But just as the wolf was about to drop the blue Emerald into the waiting palm of the doctor, he stopped and slowly withdrew his hand. The scientist clicked his beak, not pleased that Gizmo’s will was more resilient than anticipated even when he was caught off guard. It simply wouldn't do to allow him to overcome the effects of the Hypno-Gear so readily.

“I already asked you nicely, boy,” Starline reminded him, growing somewhat impatient as he administered more hypnotic waves in the teen’s face while reaching for the gem with his other hand, “but now let me be firm and clear: give me the final Chaos Emerald!”

And Gizmo likely would’ve handed it over or had it forcefully taken, had the Animals he rescued from the Badniks earlier not come to his aid. They weren’t really known for fighting much at all, but they could see what Starline was doing. They wouldn’t let him control their new friend and take the gift they had given him. They leapt in to help, most of them climbing up and around the doctor’s form to try and distract him while others bit, pecked, and scratched at him.

“What in Gaia’s name?!” the platypus growled in surprise and agitation, frantically trying to pry them loose or shield himself, “get off of me, you little pests!”

However, this left Starline distracted and unable to focus his Hypno-Gear on Gizmo. The wolf snapped out of his trance after a few seconds, surprised at the sight before him and reeling at the realization of what he’d nearly done. His shock swiftly turned to anger, which was only amplified when the critters that saved him started taking some bumps themselves.

“Get clear!” he yelled at the Animals as he charged up a Spin Dash.

The instant they did, Gizmo rammed into Starline as a solid verdigris sphere, sending the scientist sprawling several meters across the forest floor. The wolf zipped over with his wire and prepared to end the fight with his Wispon, but the doctor proved hardier than he expected, stopping the head of the hammer with his feet and rolling away to get to his feet once more. Starline went for another attempt at hypnotizing the boy, but Gizmo interposed a cube between them to block the waves, parkouring off the top with his hammer in both hands. The doctor just managed to avoid a direct hit, only to get thrown back a bit by the Wispon’s shockwave. He reoriented and repositioned himself with those wormholes of his, succeeding in catching his opponent napping and grabbing at the wolf’s hair with his gloved hand.

“Hey, hands off the mane!” Gizmo growled as he back-kicked the platypus in the gut.

This had the unfortunate side-effect of causing more than a few strands of fur to be yanked out of his head, the teen covering his muzzle as he snarled and swore. Starline stumbled back and held his stomach while letting out a hoarse laugh.

“Not bad at all, Gizmo,” the doctor commended him, “but I shall take my leave now.” He smirked and held up the torn-out hair as he called another portal. “Oh, and thank you for this contribution of yours. I’ll be sure to put it to good use.” He then jumped through the gate. “Ciao!”

“Wait!” The wolf attempted to overtake Starline before that warp point closed, but he couldn’t make it in time. Gizmo snapped his fingers as he let out a disgusted grunt. “Dang, he got away.” He let out a sigh and smiled as he looked around at the Animals and patted his utility belt. “Well, at least he didn’t get the Chaos Emerald, and it looks like none of you got hurt too badly, so that’s something.” The teen played some with his hair to try and even it out so the small missing patch wasn’t obvious. “That’ll do for now, I guess. Anyway, I should get going.” He waved at the Animals as he went to continue his quest. “See ya, thanks for all the help!”

Despite his technical victory, Gizmo was now more concerned than he’d been after finding “Mr. Tinker” in Windmill Village.

‘Now there’s some strange Eggman fanboy with his own gimmicky tech,’ he considered, ‘and not only can he control Badniks, but he’s after the Chaos Emeralds, too. I’m sure he’s got his own big plan, but what could it be?’

“Unfortunate though it may be that I did not retrieve the Chaos Emerald,” Starline said to the camera recording his latest video log, “I managed to come away with something that will prove valuable in the long run.” He held up a long and thin glass tube with the tufts of Gizmo’s fur he’d acquired. “With this, I can now analyze the bio-data of Gizmo the Wolf and gain insight into the rapid growth he displayed during the final days of the Eggman War.” The platypus stroked his chin as he contemplated the matter. “Perhaps the Phantom Ruby prototype he found had a hand in that? It could also be that his development was entirely natural, possibly linked to the adolescent changes his body is still experiencing.”

The scientist placed the test tube in a retort support stand, then folded his hands together as he returned his attention to the camera. “Whatever the reason, once I harness it, I will be able to create a robot that can adapt and develop just as, if not even more expediently, than the lupine teenager.” His smile turned into a frown the next moment. “Though making it a mere combat unit feels like it would be a waste of potential. Imagine if I were to...yes, that may work.”

Starline hummed as he went to work across multiple displays, his hands never losing speed as his eyes went between each of the monitors. From the image reflected in his glasses, he was putting together a template heavily based on Gizmo’s physical profile. It all seemed well put-together, except for one important detail.

“If I’m to have you act as an authentic person,” Starline mused to himself, “just how would I go about that? I suppose that’s another reason to find the good doctor as soon as possible...”

Chapter Text

“Finally, I'm back near a town!” Gizmo exclaimed with no small amount of relief, “I could use a place to rest after today.”

After spending a good amount of time getting there, especially taking his run-in with Starline and the Badniks into account, the wolf was glad to see the edge of the woods. In a valley between the forest he emerged from and the mountains beyond, the teen wolf came upon the settlement known as Vista View, now bathed in the light of mid-sunset. The boy remembered visiting the mostly unassuming village years ago with his parents, but it had changed since back then. It appeared to be significantly larger than when he last saw it, with more modernized buildings and a high stone wall surrounding the whole town. Some of the structures he could spot looked like they were built to serve as emergency shelters, too, rather than houses meant to be inhabited. He supposed those latter features were only to be expected, given the events of the War.

‘Looks like they’ve been having some trouble with Badniks,’ he thought as he peered over the city’s damage from the hill he was on, ‘but no one’s fighting at the moment. Guess they’ve already been dealt with.’ He shrugged and made a dash towards the village all the same. ‘They could probably still use some help with reconstruction, though. And who knows? Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find Sonic or one of his friends.’

Once he got to the outer wall, Gizmo saw that the front gate had been forced open, and he wasn’t surprised to see broken Badniks behind it. Likely a forward unit meant to help penetrate the town’s defenses, if the bodies of robots beyond it were any indication. If that was the case and they were showing organization here as well, Gizmo figured that there could be only one person that was making it happen.

‘Doctor Starline's handiwork, I bet,’ he assumed, ‘but why would he have them attack this place? I mean, it's not really that big or important, no offense to the people living here.’ He pondered the matter while he circled around to see if there was another entrance. ‘He doesn't strike me as the kinda guy to do this just for kicks, though. Maybe this was just meant to distract Sonic and the others while he does whatever he's really up to? It's something to consider, at least.’

After traveling the perimeter, Gizmo came upon the rear gate, which had been shut tightly and had yet more destroyed Badniks behind it. Judging from the marks on the portcullis, some of them had run into it, likely in an attempt to escape and get reinforcements. With that in mind, he decided to make his way back around the main entryway.

“Here's hoping no one has an itchy trigger finger,” he mumbled to himself as he calmly walked through the opening in the two bent doors.

A couple of the town's local militia members were startled by his sudden appearance, one reflexively aiming a Burst Wispon at him while the other had a model that Gizmo had never seen before. However, they soon relaxed and holstered their equipment upon noticing his gear and armband.

“Sorry about that, kid,” apologized a male brown dog sporting a red scarf and similar gloves and boots as the wolf, the same guy holding the mystery Wispon.

“We’ve just been on edge because of the recent Badnik attack,” a female gray rabbit in a purple body suit explained, “we’re fortunate that Sonic and Tails showed up when they did, or else it could’ve been a lot worse.”

The wolf’s ears and spirits both lifted at that news. “Heh, just like them to arrive in the nick of time. Are they still here?”

“Tails is helping people patch things up,” the dog informed him, “but Sonic left a while ago, probably to rush over to Riverside, since that’s the next nearest town.”

‘Even if I left now, he’d probably be gone by the time I get there,’ Gizmo considered, ‘but if Tails is still here, I can at least give him the Chaos Emerald and pass on the news about Eggman and Starline.’

“Alright, you guys know where Tails is right now?” the wolf asked the other two, “I have some important news he and the others need to hear.”

The rabbit pointed him towards the center of the town. “Last we saw, he was helping clear out the scrapped Super Badniks in the square.

“Cool, thanks! And keep up the good work!”

Gizmo took off in a verdigris blur down the streets, the other folks shielding their eyes from the wind he kicked up. Once he was gone, the pair of militia members glanced at one another.

“Dang, that kid’s really fast,” the rabbit remarked, “not Sonic fast, but still way faster than anyone here in town.”

“Yeah,” the dog agreed, “hey, you think that wolf might’ve been, you know, the ‘Rookie’ folks have been talking about?”

“Who knows? That’d be something, though.”

As he zoomed over to his destination, Gizmo saw the sorry state of some things in Vista View. There were civilians in tears, smoke was still pluming from spots, and of course, a good number of buildings had been busted up. The wolf wanted to do something for them, but at the moment, all he could do was show sympathy.

‘Even almost a month after the War, people still have to deal with this,’ he thought grimly, muzzle set in a toothy frown, ‘I know everyone's doing their best, but I still hate seeing it almost every place I go...’

Not even half a minute later, Gizmo arrived in the town square, where he found numerous people cleaning up the recent carnage. A certain amber two-tailed fox was simultaneously directing them while analyzing downed Badniks wherever he could, sporting his usual inspective expression.

For a long and lingering moment, the wolf found himself flashing back to when he’d met the boy in the Mystic Jungle. While he’d been investigating the area, he’d come across Tails while the fox was doing the same, albeit for different reasons. He remembered the joyous look on the kit’s face after telling him that not only was Sonic alive, but that he had been rescued from Eggman’s clutches. He also recalled the conversations they had on the way back to Resistance HQ, exchanging what they’d learned about the doctor and Infinite’s plans as well as updates about Resistance activity. There was also the heartwarming scene where the boy had been reunited with his friends, including his blue best buddy. And of course, the faith that Tails had placed in him when it came down to stopping the illusory sun that would’ve otherwise destroyed them all.

‘Now it’s my turn to trust Tails with something big,’ he thought, ‘I just hope he can get the news to Sonic as soon as possible.’

“The Egg Hammer’s armor is highly durable,” the fox boy was telling the people helping him salvage the Super Badniks, “with some work, it could be repurposed to help reinforce the shelters and city wall.”

“We don’t have many metalworkers, though,” said a lavender bird in a blue and white t-shirt, “and we might need some tips from you.”

Tails whipped out his trusty multi-tool, the Miles Electric, and worked the various buttons. “I can just relay the relevant information to whoever needs it. It looks like your communications and Wi-Fi are still in working order, so that shouldn't be an issue.”

“Did Resistance HQ send more help?” asked a female red cat wearing a black jacket and white pants, the feline being the first to notice the wolf.

“He’s not a local, that’s for sure,” commented the bird.

The fox continued to fiddle on his device as he turned around, only to immediately stop once he saw who they were talking about.

“Yo.” The taller canid smiled and let out a sheepish chuckle as he waved at the smaller one. “It’s been a while, Tails.”

“Gizmo!” Tails ran up and gave the wolf a fist bump, appearing both happy and perplexed to see him. “I didn’t think we’d run into each other again this soon. What are you doing here?”

“Well, I’ve got a couple reasons,” the wolf explained, “but let me start from a few days ago so you’ve got the full story.”

And so, Gizmo recounted the events from earlier that week until his arrival in Vista View. Once he was finished telling his tale, Tails stood there tapping away at the Miles Electric to make sure he’d gotten it all down.

“So you found Eggman, who supposedly has amnesia,” the fox boy summed up, “and while the Chaotix were investigating that, you went to try and find us, discovering the blue Chaos Emerald and running into this ‘Doctor Starline’ in the process.”

“That’s the gist of it, yeah,” the teen confirmed, “I have a feeling he might be behind the recent organized attacks, but maybe you’d know better.”

Tails tapped a foot as he bowed his head in contemplation. “If he really can control Badniks, then it’s possible. Those tools of his sound troublesome, too.”

“The Hypno-Gear seems limited to single targets, so that’s an exploitable weakness.” Gizmo’s expression changed to an uncertain one. “I don’t really know about the other thing aside from what I’ve seen, though.”

“At least we'll know what to expect if we run into him.” The fox continued to multitask as he carried on the conversation. “By the way, do you really think Eggman’s lost his memory? I’m skeptical myself, since it wouldn’t be the first time he’s pretended to turn over a new leaf.”

Gizmo shrugged. “Like I told the Chaotix, I'm not fully convinced, but I fail to see the motive for keeping up the act this long if he’s really faking it.”

“That’s a fair point. He usually bounces back by the following week whenever we beat him, if not sooner.” Tails glanced up from the Miles Electric at the wolf. “Either way, even if it was an accident, you've really helped us out again, Gizmo!”

‘Not the most tactful thank you, but I'll take it,’ Gizmo thought as he tried to laugh off the fox’s unintentionally backhanded appreciation.

“We just need to get the news to Sonic,” the teen reminded the kit. He paused when he thought on how to go about that. “Does he even have anything like a communicator?”

The fox tapped at his multi-tool. “No, but word travels almost as fast as he does. I can easily find out where he is with a little digging.”

Coming from any other kid, it would’ve been dismissed as a rather arrogant boast. But Gizmo knew how smart and resourceful Tails was, and thus he wasn’t as ready to write off the kit’s claims as others might be. With the suggestion that Sonic had headed to Riverside after his hero work here, the fox decided to try there first. He was able to successfully link up to the forces there, but the one answering their call wasn’t who they’d hoped for. All the same, it was better than if an enemy had intercepted their transmission.

“Tails?” asked a familiar pink hedgehog in a red dress, “I was just about to try and contact you.”

“What's the situation over in Riverside, Amy?” the kit inquired, getting straight to the point.

Amy’s serious expression brightened up a little. “It was under attack from a big Badnik force a little while ago, but thanks to Sonic and I, it's okay now!” While she hadn’t noticed at first, the hedgehog girl let out a gasp after taking a moment to acknowledge the wolf’s presence. “Is that who I think it is?”

“Hi there, Amy,” Gizmo replied with a bashful wave, “I'd like to catch up, but I really need to talk to Sonic.”

Amy frowned apologetically. “Sorry, but he left a little while ago. I told him Knuckles went to Barricade Town to check things out, so he sped off after we took care of the Badniks.”

The teen wolf couldn't help but feel a tad frustrated at missing his chance again. At least they had a lead on where Sonic had gone after meeting up with the hedgehog girl.

“Thanks, Amy, we'll try there next,” Tails said appreciatively, about to do just that.

“Wait! Before you go...” The hedgehog focused more intently on the taller canid. “I know you chose to leave after the War, but the Resistance could really use your help again, Gizmo. Not only are you capable, but lots of people look up to you, believe it or not.”

Gizmo was surprised by the request as well as the praise heaped on him. It was true that if he went back, it would be easier to keep himself fed and well-supplied. He would have access to global communication and facilities to help keep his skills sharp. There were probably some more he could pick up as well, and he’d have the chance to pass on his own personal wisdom to others. Really, it wouldn't be a bad deal, and it'd also give him a place to rest his feet for a hot minute.

But there was one stark reality that came with returning to the Resistance: he wouldn’t be able to act freely. Whether it was Knuckles, Amy, or someone else entirely, Gizmo would be taking orders like he once did. The wolf didn’t necessarily loathe the idea, though he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t developed a taste for being more independent. He now better understood Sonic’s preference for moving about at his own pace and helping out whoever he came across. It would be weird to give up that lifestyle after having had a fair amount of time to settle into it.

“I...need some time to think about it, Amy,” Gizmo answered her, trying to avoid the issue for now, “maybe after I’ve given Sonic the news I’ve been trying to deliver, we can talk about it.”

“Honestly, everyone needs to hear this,” Tails commented, “so how about we all plan to meet at HQ once we finish up with what we're doing?”

“That sounds good to me,” Amy agreed, “I need to go back there anyway. See you guys soon!”

With that, she ended the transmission, leaving the two boys to attempt the next locale Sonic went off to. It took notably longer to patch through to the folks in Barricade Town, for reasons the fox kit couldn’t explain. Regardless, a few minutes later, Tails and Gizmo got in touch with one of the locals, another brown dog that was mostly similar to the one the latter encountered earlier.

“This is Barricade Town, over,” he reported dutifully.

“This is Tails, hailing you from Vista View,” the fox answered him, “what’s the situation there?”

The canine paused for a moment. “Well, these two mercenaries helped fight off the Badnik forces, but took over the town for themselves. We’d been under their thumb until Sonic and Knuckles showed up and kicked them off their high horse.”

Both Tails and Gizmo were surprised, yet also relieved to hear the news as the dog filled them in further. They were under no illusion that Eggman wasn't the only villain in their world, but it still disgusted them that people would take advantage of the conflict. This “Rough and Tumble” duo sounded no better than many of the lesser fiends they’d dealt with, at least for Tails and the others. Gizmo made a mental note of the skunk brothers, as while Sonic and Knuckles may have handily beat them, the mercenaries were still formidable enough to fend off Badnik hordes between just the two of them. And unfortunately, even minor villains didn’t tend to stay locked up for very long, so the wolf doubted this would be the last time Sonic’s gang would have to deal with the pair.

“And so, we’re having a party to celebrate now that we’re truly free!” the guy on the other end concluded.

“That’s awesome,” Gizmo commented, “you guys definitely deserve it! But, uh, any chance we could talk to Sonic and Knuckles?”

“Oh, sure! Let me just go over to where I last saw them.”

‘I hope the third time’s the charm,’ the teen wolf thought, ‘I don’t wanna take too long trying to get the news about Eggman to Sonic.’

However, it wasn’t the Blue Blur that appeared on the other line after a few moments. Instead, it was the red Echidna that showed up.

“Hey Tails,” he greeted his young friend, then caught a glance of Gizmo, “ah, Rookie! Good to see you, it’s been a while.”

Gizmo chuckled a bit. “Yeah, nice to see you too. Nothing against you, Commander, but I’ve got something really important to tell Sonic.”

Knuckles hummed a bit. “Sorry to say, kid, but you just missed him. He left a few minutes ago, saying he’d rested enough to keep going.”

“No surprise there,” Tails snickered, “sitting still has never been easy for Sonic. Do you have any idea where he went, Knuckles?”

The Guardian rubbed at his chin. “Nah, you know I’m not familiar with too many of the surface towns. I do know that he went northeast, though.”

“Hmm.” The fox momentarily reduced the size of the feed of his friend as he checked what appeared to be a GPS map. “According to my device, the nearest settlement to Barricade Town that’s to the northeast would be ‘Spiral Hill Village’. It’s actually not too far to the west of my main workshop, now that I take a closer look at the coordinates.”

It seemed a safe bet that Sonic headed that way, especially so if Spiral Hill Village had come under any sort of attack from Badniks. Given how frequent they’d been, according to what Tails had told him, Gizmo actually thought it was rather likely. The words of Doctor Starline came back to him, too, about how the platypus would deal with the hedgehog in due time. It was hardly the first boast made against Sonic, and the wolf wasn’t exactly concerned, though he kept it in the back of his mind. If the monochrome monotreme meant well on his threat, then it would have to come sooner than later, the teen considered. But with news of figures like Rough and Tumble, Gizmo started to wonder if there wasn’t another power in play. Perhaps some contingency that the doctor made in the unlikely event that even his ultimate plan with the Phantom Ruby failed.

“Considering he had stuff in place for when the Death Egg was destroyed and whatnot,” the wolf thought out loud, “it’s not out of the question.”

“Huh? What’re you mumbling about, Rookie?” Knuckles asked.

“Well, I was just thinking about how Eggman often had contingencies.” The wolf folded his arms. “And that there are other villains besides him that may take advantage of any that might still be around.”

“You mean like Dr. Starline,” Tails assumed.

Knuckles blinked. “Who?”

“And this is why I wanted to wait until we got a hold of Sonic,” Gizmo sighed with some exasperation, “having to repeat myself over and over isn’t fun...”

After giving a more succinct summary of the past few days, partially for the sake of Knuckles himself, Gizmo had caught the Guardian up to speed. The Echidna was clearly experiencing a range of emotions after receiving the news.

“Not sure I buy the amnesia bit,” he said about Eggman, “not after he’s tricked me before.”

“It’s dubious,” Gizmo agreed that much, “but if it’s an act, why keep it up this long? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“We could stand around theorizing all day,” Tails remarked while pacing around, “but regardless, we have to get the news to Sonic, one way or another.”

Knuckles nodded in understanding and held up a fist of confidence. “I’ll see if we can get through to him. Whatever happens, let’s meet up soon once Sonic’s up to speed.”

“Sounds good, we’ll be in touch,” the fox affirmed.

Sonic could say without any hesitation that he’d had a pretty fun and exciting day, not to mention productive. He was proud of Tails for not only keeping up with him, but being a trooper for remaining to help the folks in Vista View. Likewise, while he wasn’t too keen on Amy’s company, he could see she was coming into her own as a fighter and a leader. Knuckles was the salt of the earth, as always, but it’d been cool to fight side by side against some bad guys again.

Then there was the new girl he’d met some minutes ago after entering Spiral Hill Village: Tangle the Lemur. True to her name, she was a ring-tailed lemur with orchid-purple eyes, dark gray eyelids, and minor tufts on her head and cheeks. Her fur was mostly light gray, while her muzzle, the space between her eyes, and her ears being a darker shade, and her long and bushy tail sported alternating rings of the two tints. For attire, she wore a cropped amber-yellow sleeveless top over a short-sleeved black bodysuit with dark orange stripes on the sides, and amber hi-tops with white laces and soles, black details, and orange cuffs. These were complemented with amber sports tape around her forearms, and fingerless gloves made from black sports tape with dark orange backings.

Like Tails, much of her talent was with her lengthy rear appendage. While she couldn't fly like the fox, her tail was prehensile like his, it could stretch like a bungee cord, be used as a makeshift lasso, and so on. She had been fighting the Badniks well enough, managing to prevent them from causing serious damage. But even as skilled as she was, she would've likely been overwhelmed without Sonic’s help. The two of them beat back the Badniks more efficiently, yet the waves of foes kept on coming.

In the face of such an onslaught, a rather unexpected ally had made a genuinely fiery entrance. It had been none other than Blaze the Cat, the keeper of the Sol Emeralds and princess of flame from another dimension. With the duo becoming a trio, the team finally reached the source of the Badniks: a massive carrier modeled after a Buzz Bomber. With a combination of Tangle’s tail and Blaze’s powers, Sonic was launched up onto the transport, where both he and his feline rival in speed brought it down along with its remaining cargo.

Afterward, Sonic gave Blaze a very abridged account of what had happened in his world during the past seven months. This left the cat wondering what the purpose of the Sol Emeralds bringing her here could be, claiming that she would remain until that was made clear. The lemur had been starstruck by their teamwork, but more so by the cat’s talents, especially once she learned that the princess was able to control fires other than hers. And so, as they went off to do that, the speedy hedgehog waved them off with a smile.

“Whew!” he let out as he slumped over and held one hand against his head, “man, after all that, I need a breather.” He folded his arms and put on a relaxed smirk as he started up at the starry night sky. After only a handful of seconds or so, he got into position to run off again. “That’ll do!”

“Wait!” One of the Resistance members that had been in the city, a bear that was a different shade of blue than Sonic, came running up to him. “Sonic, I’ve got the Commander on my comm, saying he wants to talk to you!”

“Hey, hold on a second!” protested a pink coyote gal that also sprinted up to the hedgehog, “I’ve got a call from Tails saying he needs to speak to Sonic!”

Sonic held up his hands and chuckled. Whatever his two best friends needed to tell him, it had to be important if they were both trying to reach him right after he’d seen them today.

“Guys, it’s okay,” he assured the two troops, “I can just talk to ‘em both at the same time. It’s much easier that way!”

The two soldiers hummed and decided to just go with it. Both Tails and Knuckles had said it was urgent, and since Sonic was so easy going about it, they figured they may as well.

“Sonic!” the fox exclaimed, “thank goodness, we finally managed to catch you before you’d moved on!”

“Hey there, Tails!” Sonic gave his young friend a two finger salute. “What’s up that you’re so eager to get a hold of me?”

“We’ve got some big news,” the Echidna answered, gesturing across from him at the other comm, “and you’ll never guess who brought it to us.”

Sonic quirked a brow and peered back over at the screen Tails was displayed on. Albeit shyly at first, Gizmo soon stepped into focus and showed a fist, motioning that he’d bump the hedgehog’s if he could.

“Hey there, Sonic,” the wolf hailed him, “it’s been a hot minute, huh?”

“Gizmo, buddy!” the hero replied cheerfully, “I was just thinking about you earlier.”

Gizmo was surprised to hear that. “Oh, really?”

“Yep! Ran into a guy who used the same kinda Wispon as you.” The hedgehog rubbed under his nose and smirked. “So, whatcha got for me? Tails and Knux made it sound important.”

“Ah, right, right.” The younger teen inhaled and let it out slowly. “Well, to make a long story short, I think I know who might be behind the recent string of organized Badnik attacks.”

“Nice, buddy, that’s awesome news!”

“That’s not all.” Gizmo fixed him with a serious look. “I know where Dr. Eggman is.”

For many, it was rare to see Sonic without his trademark grin or even a slight smile. But upon hearing that his long-time arch-nemesis had finally been found, no one could blame him for sporting the frown that was now on his face.

Chapter Text

Gizmo wasn’t able to sleep well that night for a multitude of reasons. Yes, he’d finally delivered the news to Sonic and friends about Dr. Eggman’s fate and the involvement of Doctor Starline. But while the former’s amnesia and persona as “Mr. Tinker” was potentially permanent, it could easily be temporary, so the wolf couldn't drop his guard. As for the latter individual, Gizmo knew that Starline had a vested interest in him and could locate him with little trouble if he were to focus his efforts. Not only that, but the platypus also had command of at least some of Eggman’s forces, though how many exactly was still unknown. Gizmo wondered if the malicious monotreme had been watching him since their encounter, which made him worried for his safety and that of Vista View’s citizens. While Tails was there to help him in case something did happen, the fox's presence did little to alleviate the teen wolf’s concerns.

Given what he’d learned from the heroes’ observations so far, there was also the possibility that Starline wasn’t the main Badnik commander. There weren’t many options that Gizmo could think of, however, considering how organized the recent raids had been. Orbot and Cubot came to mind for only a brief moment; they were built to submit despite their occasional smart-alecky talk, not lead. The doctor had likely had his fill of strange beings, so it wouldn’t be the Deadly Six, especially given his rocky history with the Zeti. And although he was known to work with animal people from time to time, Gizmo knew there was no way Eggman would leave one in charge of his operations.

‘Then who does that leave? Metal Sonic?’ he postulated as he laid in one of the spare beds in the community center, ‘I thought Sonic and I...no, that’s right, that one was a copy made by the Phantom Ruby.’ The wolf sat up straight and folded his hands over his lap. ‘But the last time it led the Badniks was as Neo Metal Sonic, and that rebelled against the doctor. Would he really bring such a dangerous thing out again?’ He paused and shook his head, grabbing his glasses off the end table near him now that he felt even more awake. ‘Who am I kidding? If Eggman found a way to ensure it wouldn't turn against him again, of course he would.’

Gizmo quietly got out of bed and grabbed his gear just in case enemies came or someone contacted his head set. The wolf made as little noise as possible as he crept out of the community center and walked down the street. It was still about an hour before daybreak, so most of the lights were out aside from those along the path. The teen strayed into them out of habit, preferring to be visible if anyone was going to be nosy or try something. Not that he cared much for that at the moment, what with everything that was going through his mind.

He wasn’t given much time and didn’t get too far when his ears picked up a very soft whoosh noise. Gizmo glanced over at where he’d heard it, but saw nothing. The thought of someone stalking him this early in this kind of place prompted him to reach for his Cube Wispon. 

“Someone’s a little jumpy,” came a sensual feminine voice he vaguely recognized. It was none other than Rouge the Bat, who gracefully landed in front of him and winked. “Though given what’s been going on, I don’t blame you.”

Gizmo let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in and moved his hand away from his weapon. Given her association with Sonic, the wolf knew he was safe for the moment, if a little annoyed.

“You snuck up on me on a dark and narrow street,” he pointed out bluntly, “kinda sketchy no matter how you slice it.”

“Maybe, but I have to wonder what a kid like you is doing up so early,” Rouge said in turn, though her tone suggested she already knew the answer.

‘Pretty weird how she’s acting like we just saw each other recently,’ the wolf thought, ‘but hey, guess I'll just roll with it.’

“I’ve got too much on my mind to go back to sleep,” he answered out loud.

“Still dealing with the shock of finding the doctor in that little village?” the bat prodded.

The wolf froze for a moment when he heard that. He shook it off soon after, figuring that since she worked with Sonic and the others on occasion, of course she would know.

“I guess the news got around, huh?” he assumed.

“Puppy, I’ve known since the first day you were there,” she replied amusedly, flashing him a cheeky grin, “who do you think it was that tipped off the Chaotix, hmm?”

Well, that certainly explained why she was speaking to him the way she was. She had seen him very recently, albeit without him catching on. Then again, Rouge was supposed to be a world-class agent with plenty of experience under her belt. Taking that into account, it didn’t completely surprise him that she escaped his notice while spying on him. And weighing those points, it seemed logical enough that she would’ve been the anonymous tipster the trio mentioned before.

“Hmm, that makes sense. But then, why didn’t you tell Sonic and the others about Eggman?” Gizmo inquired, “why’d you wait until I delivered the message?”

Rouge put one hand on her hip. “I think you already know why, Gizmo. You're a smart kid.” Her savvy smile fell a little. “But to be clear, Sonic and the Resistance aren’t the only ones looking for Eggman, and not everyone is interested in understanding his situation.”

True enough; the wolf himself hadn’t been so willing to leave Eggman alone until he’d watched him for a few days. He still had his reservations, but he was willing to give the human the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. He imagined that there were plenty of people that didn’t have the patience for something like that, though. Some civilians that had lost more than most would likely want to seek vengeance. There was also E-123 Omega, a rogue Eggman robot that sought little more than the destruction of the doctor and his other creations. And then there was Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic’s more serious and anti-heroic rival, who had his own turbulent history with Eggman. The latter two were part of Team Dark along with Rouge, so Gizmo reasoned they were the ones she was referring to when she meant “not everyone”. Thinking about it a little more, that made him come to another realization.

“You haven’t told your teammates yet, have you?” the wolf theorized, “you wanted to wait until Sonic found Eggman first to avoid things getting messy.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” she said innocently as she looked away from him with a smile on her face.

Gizmo rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Did you come here by yourself or is Shadow around too?”

“I’m here, wolf.”

The teen stiffened like a board when he heard that intense and determined, yet also fairly soft spoken voice. He turned around to see the black and red hedgehog emerging from the darkness he took his name from. As usual, he was sporting that permanent scowl, regarding Gizmo with those crimson eyes in a way that made the canine shudder. He liked to think he’d gotten braver after his encounters against Infinite and Eggman, but it was hard not to be intimidated by that glare.

‘Speak of the devil and he shall appear,’ Gizmo quoted internally.

“Shadow, you remember Gizmo,” Rouge said with a soft and smooth chuckle, “the kid that really helped us out during the Eggman War.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” Shadow folded his arms and fixed his gaze on the lupine. “More importantly, Rouge claimed that you have information I’d be interested in.”

The wolf lightly swallowed back a lump. ‘Way to put pressure on me, lady.’

He knew he couldn’t lie to the hedgehog, but at the same time, he was hesitant to tell the truth. And regardless of whether or not Sonic had already arrived in Windmill Village, telling Shadow about Eggman would lead to some kind of confrontation. The Chaotix might try to dissuade him or even fight him if it came down to it, but Gizmo didn’t see that going well. Even if he gave the trio a hand, he knew they didn’t have any realistic chance against the dark hedgehog. In the end, it was better to just be honest and not get on Shadow’s bad side.

“I suppose you were gonna find out in any case,” he started, “but...I know where Dr. Eggman ended up after the War.”

“Is that so?” the spiny fellow asked as he narrowed his eyes at the boy. Upon getting a nod, he undid his arms and pointed at the wolf. “Tell me what I need to know.”

Gizmo tried his best to keep his composure before the Ultimate Lifeform. “I found him in a remote mountain settlement called Windmill Village. It’s south of Barricade Town and west of Sunset City, though I don’t know the distance offhand.”

“I’ve got you covered,” Rouge said as she studied the GPS on her personal device, “it’s about...” She flipped it around to show the two guys the display. “...this far away from here.”

Shadow hummed and glanced back at Gizmo. “Have you mentioned any of this to anyone else?”

“The Chaotix showed up in the village yesterday before I left, so they know,” the teen replied, “aside from them, I've told Sonic and a few of his friends.”

“Hmph, no doubt that blue hedgehog has already made his way there.” He turned to face away from the others and signaled with one hand. “Alright, we’re leaving.”

Gizmo let out a sigh and was glad that this encounter didn’t end up ugly. He about-faced and was ready to head back to the community center to try and get some more sleep. However, he’d only taken a couple of steps when he stopped and noticed Shadow standing in front of him, frowning un-amusedly.

“That means you as well, wolf,” he said, slightly annoyed.

“Oh, come on!” the pup protested, now getting a bit irritated himself, “I might be awake, but I don’t have that much energy. I spent the better part of a day getting here, no thanks to that dang Eggman fanboy!”

The bat smirked and tilted her head curiously. “Oh? And who might that be?”

“He can tell us on the way,” Shadow decided for them.

“Why do I even have to come along anyway?” Gizmo grumbled quietly.

The dark hedgehog fixed him with an unreadable expression. “To give you perspective.”

That gave the wolf considerable thought for pause. What exactly did Shadow mean by that? Rouge tittered to herself at the exchange, then reached behind her back to grab something. To Gizmo's shock, it was the blue Chaos Emerald, which she casually tossed to her hedgehog teammate.

“Hey, hey, wait a second!” he argued as he tried, but failed to snatch the gem out of the air before it reached Shadow, “I busted my butt getting that here!”

“Relax, hun,” Rouge replied nonchalantly, “we’re just borrowing it for a little bit. We'll give it back once we’re done.”

The teen gave her the side-eye while lightly clenching his teeth. “I'm holding you to that...”

Shadow grabbed onto one of Gizmo’s wrists with his one hand, the other holding the Emerald high. “We’ve wasted enough time.” He waited long enough for his partner to grab onto the wolf’s other arm, then called upon the jewel’s energy. “Chaos Control!”

A bright blue light enveloped the trio, expanding out to become a sphere before they all blinked away. Just as quickly, they reappeared out in the wilderness, and without waiting on them, Shadow began to skate away. Rouge was quick to catch up and fly just off to one side of him, while Gizmo required a couple extra seconds to warm up and come in line with the other flank. He had no idea where they were relative to Windmill Village, but he figured that they had a little while before they got there. And since they had the time...

“So, who’s this ‘Eggman fanboy’ you mentioned?” the bat asked the wolf.

The teen frowned a bit. “Some platypus guy called Doctor Starline. Apparently, he’s studied Eggman’s tech extensively and has control over at least some of the Badnik forces.”

“Any idea what he’s after?” Rouge continued with her questioning.

“Nope, but he wanted the Chaos Emerald and he took a bit of my fur before he ran off. Dunno why, though.”

Shadow hummed a bit. “Most likely to study your bio-data.”

Gizmo would’ve asked why Starline would be interested in such a thing, but then he remembered what the monotreme had said. He’d been particularly curious about the young lupine’s exponential growth during the last days of the War. After all, it wasn’t everyday that someone went from being average to extraordinary, much less in the span of a week or so. That alone was enough to answer why Starline took his fur, but it left him with a different question about it as well.

‘What does he need my bio-data for?’ he wondered.

“Tell me about the doctor's activities while you were in the village,” Shadow all but ordered him.

Gizmo shrugged. They had a ways to go, so he might as well fill them in. The only concern was whether or not the hedgehog would believe him about the more positive things he'd seen Eggman do as “Mr. Tinker”.

“Dr. Eggman’s technology is truly astounding,” Doctor Starline remarked to his video log, “while I tended to other endeavors, the automated systems here have already completed construction of my latest project.”

The platypus grinned as he marveled over the results of the machines he’d left his task to. Within an egg-shaped pod, there stood a dormant wolf that was almost an exact copy of Gizmo down to the barest details like his gear and glasses. The only observable difference from the original being it was based on was that it had red fur instead of green-blue.

“I took inspiration from the doctor’s Shadow Android project and used it to craft a duplicate of Gizmo the Wolf,” he said with no small amount of ego, “every single component is in fact artificial, but he appears so genuinely organic that it’s impossible to discern his mechanical nature from appearance alone.” He stroked his bill thoughtfully. “Although, I’m uncertain as to why it chose to make him vermilion rather than verdigris ...perhaps some minor error in the process. Oh well, it doesn't really matter.” He hummed softly. “That aside, he is still but a blank slate at the moment. In order to make him truly formidable, I will need more bio-data than just Gizmo’s. In addition, I require a means to grant him a fully sapient mind, or as close to one as possible, to complete the deception.”

Starline folded his arms and paced around for a few moments, racking his brain for answers. There were some artificial intelligences that Eggman had made in the past, but as for their compatibility with the platypus' plans...

“Unfortunately, none of the doctor’s more advanced creations serve as a suitable base personality,” he concluded, “Metal Sonic is loyal only to him, and the duo of Orbot and Cubot are...less than ideal. And while I could potentially program one from scratch, the process could take weeks, if not months, with the resources at my disposal.” He let out a bit of a sigh. “And I do not have the luxury of such time. To that end, I’ve searched many bases that remain after the War, and none have yielded a clue to Dr. Eggman’s whereabouts.”

He went over to the recording console and sat down. After a few seconds of typing and scanning over the screens, he continued.

“The Badniks that are investigating other areas, though unsuccessful in finding the doctor, have discovered something intriguing,” he noted, “someone or something else is organizing their numbers, though I cannot say whom or what it may be.” A slight smirk crossed his features. “All I know is that their authority overrides my own when it comes to controlling Badniks. It would be good fortune if it turned out to be the doctor.”

Starline pushed himself back towards the computer and resumed what he was doing. While in the middle of these cursory searches, the monotreme did come across something within the base’s files that piqued his curiosity.

“What's this?” he murmured as he read the information, “a blood sample of ‘Infinite the Jackal’ is being stored here at this very base. That was the fellow that effectively served as the doctor's right hand during the Eggman War.” His beak turned up into an insidious grin. “Such bio-data might provide some rather interesting results if properly implemented. I wonder what else we could throw into the mix?”

He gazed back at the synthetic wolf and pondered about it some more. He also wondered how realistic Dr. Eggman could make its personality. And while least important, in Starline's opinion, there was the matter of a name.

“As for my project's designation, ‘Gizmo Android’ simply won't do,” he decided. The platypus thought it over for a few moments, then snapped his fingers. “Ah, I've got it!” He wheeled his chair over to the pod and rested his right hand on the glass over the head's position. “You shall be known as ‘Gadget the Wolf’. A fine parallel to your organic ‘twin’, if I say so myself. And I expect you will meet your ‘brother’ sooner than later...”

Though Sonic had been eager to confront Eggman, he’d arrived at Windmill Village pretty late. The Chaotix assured him they were keeping a good eye on the doctor, and that come morning, he’d get his chance to speak with him. So, to pass the time, he went out for a long run, and by the time he got back, the sun was creeping over the horizon. The hero snuck in a quick nap, then headed over to the square to meet up with the detective trio.

Espio and Vector were waiting for him, while Charmy was playing with some of the local kids his age.

“Yo, Sonic!” the croc hailed him, “how's it goin’?”

The hedgehog gave him a friendly smile. “Can't complain. Can’t say I feel good about Eggman being here either, though.”

“Understandable,” the chameleon told him candidly, “but it seems he really does have amnesia.”

Sonic gestured over at the human with his brow perked. “You sure it's not an act? He’s pulled similar stunts in the past.”

“We’ve thoroughly investigated and interrogated him,” Vector replied as he glanced over at the doctor, “and I can say it’s legit; he remembers nothing even after a whole month.”

“The testimonies of Gizmo and the villagers corroborate this conclusion,” Espio affirmed, "which brings up the question of what to do next.”

Sonic shut his eyes in thought. Even if they were the only detectives he knew, he considered the Chaotix the best in the business. Talking to Gizmo last night had also made him reflect on the times they'd teamed up during the War. Case in point, he trusted those guys as much as he did the rest of his friends. If they were positive that Eggman had lost his memory, he believed them. But even so, he had to be sure.

“I still wanna see for myself,” he told them.

The two reptiles escorted him over to one of the larger cottages, the tapping of a hammer coming from the open doorway along with content humming. Vector went over and knocked on the frame, causing the commotion inside to stop. Though the man that came to greet them certainly didn’t dress like Eggman did, Sonic knew without a doubt that it was the doctor.

“Oh, good morning, detectives,” he said politely to Espio and Vector, “how may I help you today?”

“Sorry for bothering you when you’re busy, Mr. Tinker,” the croc apologized, nodding towards Sonic, “but my friend here’s got some questions for you.”

Mr. Tinker let out a good-natured laugh. “Oh, it’s no bother, Vector.” He held out a hand to the hedgehog, not to shake, but as if to offer assistance. “How may I help you then, young man?”

Sonic eyed him for a moment, then glanced back up at him. “So, you don’t remember anything about what happened before you got here? Not even our fights over the Chaos Emeralds?”

“My muscles seem to remember more than my head does,” the human joked, “but no, I’m not familiar with that gem cut.”

“Okay, how about the Lost Hex?”

“Is that some ancient magical spell?”

“The Ark?”

“...has a parabola?”

The hero sighed and pressed a hand against his face. This line of questioning wasn’t getting him anywhere. Surely there had to be a more definite way of determining whether or not this whole thing was a ploy.

“Mr. Tinker!” a young brown wallaby with a green shirt and blue sneakers called out as he came running, looking up at the man hopefully, “d-did you fix my wagon?”

Mr. Tinker snapped his fingers and smiled. “Ah, that’s right. I was so wrapped up in my work that I almost forgot!” He briefly ducked back inside the workshop and came out tugging a pristine reg wagon. “Here you go, good as new!”

“Yay!” the little marsupial exclaimed, jumping for joy and then hugging one of the human’s legs, “thank you, Mr. Tinker!”

“You’re quite welcome!” He gave the kid a pat on the head. “Now, do listen to your parents and be more gentle with it, okay?”

“Okay, I promise!” the child agreed as he waved and took off with his beloved item.

Sonic knew for a fact that Eggman wouldn’t do something like that for anyone, and he especially wouldn’t be so cheerful about it. And while that scene might not have been enough to fully convince him of this supposed change of heart, it did cause some doubt to creep in. And it continued to build as the supposedly amnesiac villain was inundated with requests from other villagers, children and adults alike. One girl came to get her teddy bear stitched up, while an elderly fellow had his pocket watch repaired. These were followed by yet more requests from the townsfolk, and Mr. Tinker happily and expertly tended to each and every one. It got to the point where, after seeing his old nemesis in this light, Sonic simply walked away. He needed to mull over what he'd witnessed versus what he knew about Eggman.

“Ugh, it was so much easier when it was just ‘I hate that hedgehog!’” he groaned as he rubbed his temples.

“We could continue monitoring him,” Espio offered.

“Nah, that’ll only delay things. We need to figure this out before it becomes a problem.”

“At least we agree on that,” came a brooding voice the hedgehog knew well.

Sonic gazed ahead at where the voice came from, just past the town border. Shadow emerged from the edge of the forest, followed by Rouge and...Gizmo? The wolf timidly waved at them but didn't say anything; it must’ve been really awkward for him to show up like this.

“I figured you'd show up at some point, Shadow,” the Blue Blur said in his usual easygoing and confident way, “guessing my buddy gave you the scoop on ol’ Egghead.”

“And I’m not convinced,” the other hedgehog replied, “the doctor wouldn’t waste time with any of this.”

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, normally, but he hasn’t shown any signs of even thinking about typical evil stuff.”

“Still, you said it yourself that we need to figure this out before it becomes a problem, Big Blue,” Rouge reminded him.

“Sure,” the hero conceded, “but it doesn’t feel right to punish him for things he doesn’t remember. The folks in the village depend on him too.”

The bat glanced back at Shadow, who weighed the other hedgehog’s words for a moment. Gizmo took an opportunity to slip away so that he wouldn’t be in the middle of a potential brawl between the rivals. The teen may have been a force to be reckoned with in his own right, but compared to those two, he was obviously outmatched.

He was still curious what the hedgehog meant by what he said earlier about perspective, though. The wolf knew that Shadow and Sonic pretty much had the same goal of creating and protecting a peaceful, happy world. However, they each had a different way of going about it, which significantly contributed to the occasional scrap between them. There was Sonic, who believed people should be free to choose how they lived and would only face punishment if they decided to infringe on the freedom of others. Shadow, on the other hand, utilized a more pragmatic approach, often preferring to nip potential problems in the bud and permanently settle existing ones.

Gizmo had mostly paid mind to the former’s way of doing things, primarily due to being inspired by him in the first place. The pup didn’t necessarily condemn the latter’s methods, but he knew they weren't things a hero would typically do. And a hero like Sonic is what he swore to be if he ever grew brave and strong enough to step up. Even so, he couldn't deny that he sometimes wished certain problematic people would just go away and leave the rest alone for good. Maybe part of him empathized with Shadow more than he’d like to admit.

In the middle of his pondering, Gizmo’s ears twitched as they picked up the sounds of people in distress. Without waiting on the others, he ran south towards one of the houses and used his grappling wire to launch himself from its angled roof. He landed near a purple rabbit wearing a yellow shirt and blue shoes, who was startled by his sudden appearance.

“Hey!” Gizmo shouted to get the guy’s attention, “what’s the situation?”

“Badniks coming in from the south!” the panicked lapine answered, “they’re making their way up the mountain!”

“Rather inconvenient timing,” Espio commented, catching wind of the conversation just as he and the others got there.

Sonic gave the chameleon a thumbs-up. “You guys go take care of the Badniks while I deal with Egg–”

Shadow interrupted them as he zoomed past, no doubt eager to get to the human. Sonic put on his game face and went after the other hedgehog, while Rouge flew after them to see how things would pan out. That left the Chaotix and Gizmo to tackle the more pressing matter.

“You heard him!” Vector exclaimed, trying to rouse the rest of them. He cupped one hand at the end of his snout. “Let’s hustle, Charmy! We got work to do!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” the bee mumbled. Though annoyed at being pulled away from enjoying honey tarts and company with other kids, he brightened up a bit when he saw Gizmo. “Oh hey again, buddy! Here to help us out?”

The wolf activated his Wispon. “Wasn’t on the docket for today, but the villagers have been kind to me, so I can’t let them get hurt!”

“You got that right, kid!” Vector concurred, “now let’s go bash those Badniks!”

With that, the four dashed down south to meet the robotic forces coming up the mountain. Regardless of whether Eggman or someone else was controlling them, they wouldn’t let a single Badnik make it past them!

Chapter Text

Gizmo rushed down the unmarked mountain path, weaving his way through the trees towards the invading Badniks. The group of robots seemed rather small for an attack force or a rescue effort, but perhaps more were hiding in the brush. Whatever the case, the teen wolf went for one of the Buzzbombers, dodging its stinger shots and snatching it with his grappling wire. He swung the mechanical wasp around and smashed it right into a Hoverby, releasing a couple of Animals at once. A Motobug sped his way in an attempt to run him down, only for it to get slammed by his Cube Wispon. The pup used a Spin Dash to avoid more fire from the remaining ‘bombers, bouncing off some tree trunks as he closed in. Once he was below them, he leapt up high and swung his hammer in a wide circle, taking out the remainder of that group.

“Nice one, kid!” Vector complimented him as he yanked a Hoverby out of the air and tore it apart, “good to see you've been keeping your skills sharp!” 

Three more flew in to try their luck with the croc, but Charmy took care of one with his stinger while the other two were dispatched by kunai that appeared out of thin air. As Espio came back into view and scanned the area on the ground, the bee kept a lookout high up in the treeline. He didn’t see any more Badniks during his initial sweep, but on his second pass, he spotted a Flapper spying on them. It attempted to escape once it realized that it had been found out, though it was a futile effort.

“Can’t hide from me!” Charmy exclaimed, charging in and busting the Flapper apart.

With only a few other Badniks left, it didn’t take long for the four of them to mop things up. Gizmo used his grappler to latch onto one last Buzzbomber, yanking it his way and swinging his Wispon like at it like a tennis racket. The mechanical hornet broke into pieces upon hitting a tree, releasing the Ricky that had been trapped inside.

“Looks like that’s all of ‘em,” Vector declared, “unless Charmy found more.”

“Just a Flapper. Already took care of it!” the kid reported, annoying the croc as he dropped down and bounced off his head.

Gizmo put his hammer away and knelt down to give the liberated Ricky a gentle pat on the head. “Kinda weird that there weren’t a lot of Badniks. I was expecting at least twice as many as this.”

“Perhaps it was a scouting party,” Espio theorized, looking over at his insect friend, “you said there was a Flapper, Charmy?”

“Yep!” Charmy confirmed, “it tried to get away, but I was too fast for it!”

Vector folded his arms and hummed in thought. “Dr. Eggman normally used those for recon. If he’s not controlling the Badniks right now, then someone else is snooping around.”

The wolf had to wonder if Starline was the one responsible for sending them out. Given how enamored he was with Eggman’s technology, he wouldn’t put it past the platypus to be looking for him. Or perhaps it was Metal Sonic like he contemplated earlier, considering the one he defeated with Sonic had been a phantom. It could’ve even been Orbot and Cubot, but Gizmo had his doubts about that possibility. Whatever the case, he couldn’t let any of them find the doctor, or else they would certainly try to “fix” him.

On the subject of fixing, if certain parts of that one Badnik were still viable...

“Charmy, where's that Flapper you found?” Gizmo inquired.

“Oh, it's over here!” the boy answered, leading them to the place he’d trashed the bot, “whatcha gonna do with it?”

The teen bent down and sorted through the scraps. He found the head, which was thankfully mostly intact, and started picking at its insides a bit.

“Ideally, crack its memory and trace where its footage was being broadcast to,” he answered.

“And then we might find out who's been behind the recent Badnik attacks,” Vector concluded with a grin, “you’d make a good gumshoe, Gizmo!” He hummed as he watched the teen go to work with his examination. “You sure we can salvage anything from that, though?”

The wolf gave the head another once over, then tucked it under one arm. “It seems alright, but I need a second opinion. No doubt Tails would know.”

“In any case,” Espio said, “we've dispatched the Badniks here. Let's return to the village.”

“Yeah, we gotta make sure everyone's okay.” Vector frowned a bit. “I hope Sonic and Shadow haven't thrown down.”

The quartet quickly made their way back to Windmill Village to deliver the good news. Fortunately, once they got back, it appeared that not a single Badnik had made it past the four of them. Better yet, it didn’t seem like any kind of scuffle had broken out between the two hedgehogs. The people were still a bit skittish, at least until they spotted the boys, where Gizmo gave them an assuring thumbs-up with his free hand.

“It's okay everyone,” he announced, “no more Badniks to worry about!”

Immediate relief swept through the villagers, more so once they spotted the Badnik’s head the wolf was carrying. It wasn’t long after that Sonic arrived along with Shadow, and Rouge. The dark hedgehog regarded him for a moment, then retrieved the blue Chaos Emerald from his hammerspace and tossed it his way. Gizmo handily caught the gem and put it into a belt pouch.

“Rouge and I are leaving,” he told the others brusquely as he began walking towards the limits of the village.

“This gig is all yours, boys,” Rouge said to the Chaotix with a sly smirk, “I might’ve given you that tip, but you can keep the finder’s fee.”

Vector grinned happily. “Hah! Yer a class act, Rouge! Thanks a lot!”

“Not that we could afford to split it,” Espio mumbled quietly.

As the two members of Team Dark took their leave, Gizmo turned his attention to Sonic. “So, what happened to Mr. Tinker?”

“Found him in the community center,” the hero answered, his smile showing a little more warmth than normal, “saw him trying to help the villagers by fortifying the place. Guy was scared of his own Badniks.”

“I told you he was good now!” Charmy exclaimed, bouncing off of Vector’s snout like it was a diving board.

The crocodile got pretty heated and started chasing after the bee, the former shouting and the latter giggling. Espio simply shook his head before calmly going after them to try and get them under control. Gizmo stood there and watched them go before returning his gaze to the blue hedgehog.

“So, Shadow’s just going to leave things up to us?” he wondered out loud.

“Eh, he just said not to make him regret it.” Sonic chuckled a bit. “But hey, now we definitely know that Eggman’s not the one controlling the Badniks.”

“That’s true.”

Even so, it left Gizmo feeling uneasy about a few things. The possibility that Eggman could sooner or later regain his memory and malicious mannerisms was one of them. The fact that there were those like Starline seeking him out was another. And of course, the identity of the true culprit behind the string of organized attacks. With that last thought, the wolf showed the Flapper’s head to Sonic.

“We found one of these spying on us while we fought the other Badniks,” he informed the hedgehog, “Tails might be able to find out who’s been watching us if it’s not too banged up.”

“Sweet! Let's go run that and the Chaos Emerald back to him!” the other teen suggested.

Gizmo hesitated for a moment, then held out both of the items to Sonic. “You can go on ahead. I think I should stick around Windmill Village for a bit longer.”

“How come?” Sonic asked, “don't tell me you still don't trust Eggman.”

“No, it's not that.” The wolf hummed in thought. “Do you remember what I told you last night? About Starline and his weird fixation with Eggman and his tech?”

Sonic digested the younger guy's words and smirked. He went over to give him a pat on the shoulder while his other hand took the Emerald as blue as him.

“I think I get what you're saying,” he said confidently, “if he finds Eggman, he might try and restore his memory, right?”

“That's what I'm afraid of,” Gizmo admitted, casting a glance at the villagers, “and I wouldn't want anyone else here getting hurt.”

Sonic grabbed the Flapper’s head and put it in his “hammerspace” along with the gem. He raised one hand in a fist towards his friend. “If that's what you wanna do, that’s cool. We'll probably see you again soon anyway!”

“Yeah, for sure.” The wolf bumped the offered fist. “Take care, Sonic. It was good seeing you!”

Sonic nodded and flashed him a thumbs-up before speeding away with his signature blue streak, vanishing into the woods and beyond. At about the same time, the Chaotix had settled down after noticing the recent change in atmosphere following their antics.

“Another case closed, boys,” Vector said proudly, acting as though he hadn't just lost his temper.

“Aww, does that mean we gotta leave?” Charmy whined, “the honey tarts here are the best!”

“It can't be helped,” Espio told him, “we need the money sooner rather than later.”

The croc flashed a toothy smile at the wolf as he turned to leave. “Thanks for all the help, kid. We'll probably meet up with ya once we find out who's in charge of Eggman's robots.”

“See ya, buddy!” the bee called, waving at the teen pup.

“Until we meet again,” Espio said with a respectful nod.

After they were gone, Gizmo made his way over to the community center, hoping to find the man of most concern. Luckily, Mr. Tinker was still around, helping to return furniture upright and deconstruct the makeshift barricades he’d erected for defense. Elder Scruffy was also present, appearing happy to see the wolf again.

“Guys, Gizmo’s back!” one of the kids shouted happily upon seeing him.

Before he knew it, the teen wolf was surrounded by several of the energetic children he’d gotten to know over the past few days. Gizmo couldn’t help smiling and feeling his cheeks warm at the attention, giving each of them a fist bump, a low-five, or a pat on the head.

“I heard you beat all the Badniks!” another child exclaimed.

The wolf laughed modestly. “Well, not all of them. The Chaotix got quite a few of them, too.”

“All the same, thank you, Gizmo,” Elder Scruffy said gratefully, shaking the boy’s hand, “I suppose you’ll be moving on again?”

Gizmo rubbed the back of his head. “Actually, I’m gonna stick around in case something like that Badnik incursion happens again. At least until Sonic and the others need me.”

“Yay!” came the cry of pretty much all the children.

“Well then, if you’re going to be here for a little while,” the old goat remarked, “might I trouble you to help around the village while we accommodate you?”

The teen nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. “Sure thing! I’d still like to be able to do some scouting here and there, though. I need to check on my equipment too.”

“I could help you with that,” Mr. Tinker offered, “and if you have any other requests, I can see what I can do.”

Gizmo was admittedly still hesitant about completely trusting the man, more so with his personal items. But if there was ever a way to test if he was genuine, perhaps this was it. And besides, he wasn’t completely defenseless without his tools.

“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt,” he said as he handed over his grappler, headset, and Cube Wispon, “and I think my friend could use some time to stretch anyway.”

At that remark, a small cube-shaped creature with three horizontally aligned yellow eyes and a trio of rectangular tentacles emerged from his weapon. Naturally, this caught the attention of the kids and excited them, as well as drew a few looks of confusion and curiosity.

“Whoa, w-what’s that?” asked a rat boy.

“A Blue Wisp,” Gizmo chuckled as the creature bumped his fist with one of its tendrils, “thanks to its help, my Cube Wispon can hit as hard as it does.”

The human perked up at that information. “Fascinating. A weapon that requires the cooperation of another being?”

“That’s right, a Wispon can only function properly if the Wisp is willing to help the wielder,” the wolf confirmed, “otherwise, it’s pretty much just a glorified paperweight.”

“I see.” Mr. Tinker looked the item over. “I’m unfamiliar with its construction, but I’ll do my best.”

“You can do it, Mr. Tinker!” a bear girl cheered him on, “you’ve always been able to figure out complicated things!”

The man received many more votes of confidence from the young ones gathered, making him chuckle modestly. They followed after him as he made his exit, leaving the wolf and the old goat alone together.

“Do you still not trust Mr. Tinker?” Elder Scruffy inquired.

“It’s more like I see him as a ticking time bomb,” Gizmo replied honestly, “from what I understand, amnesia is temporary more often than not. There are also some people that want him back to how he used to be.”

The goat sighed and leaned a little more on his cane. “Then those Badniks from before?”

“Most likely sent by someone I fought recently,” the wolf answered, “but we don’t know for sure. He’s definitely someone who wants Dr. Eggman back, though.”

“I see.” The old caprine fellow stroked his beard. “I will have to deliberate on this with the other villagers, but for now, Mr. Tinker is here to stay.”

Gizmo nodded in reluctant understanding. He could warn them all he wanted, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t his place to tell Elder Scruffy how to run his village. He just hoped that nothing else happened while he was there.

Dr. Starline had felt like slapping himself once he realized what he could actually do with the Warp Topaz. Rather than stepping through portals himself, he could simply open “windows” in space that he could view. Not only did it require less energy of the gem, it also allowed him to gather more recon in significantly less time. Granted, it did nothing to help his sleep, but he was used to going a night or two without a single wink.

Fortunately for him, it had taken less than a day to finally locate his target. To think that Dr. Eggman had been in some backwater village this entire time, wearing clothes that clearly didn’t suit him. Not only that, but from what Starline could see, the man wasn’t acting like his usual self, nor did it seem to be a ploy. And to top it all off, Gizmo had been there as well, helping to thwart a Badnik incursion that wasn’t under the platypus’s directive.

“He’s no doubt alerted the others about me,” the monotreme mused, “although he currently seems to be the only one watching the doctor. I imagine Sonic and the others are busy trying to unveil the identity of my mysterious potential ally. At the very least, I’m grateful for them keeping the majority of the Resistance’s focus away from me.”

He gazed back at the budding masterpiece he and the old systems had put together over the past dozens of hours. This facsimile of Gizmo, dubbed Gadget the Wolf, had now been imprinted with the original canine’s genetic data as well as Infinite the Jackal’s. All that remained was giving it a semblance of free will to make it more convincing, like a “real” person. Alas, that final component still eluded him, leaving him with three ways to go about it. It was either months of research, copying existing advanced AI, or “rescuing” Dr. Eggman, who would be able to put something together in no time. The choice was obvious.

“Still, I cannot face the boy on my own,” he considered, “not yet at least.” His beak curved up into a grin as he opened a gate to Barricade Town. “Fortunately, I have a brotherly pair in mind for this endeavor, and they should be easy to convince.“

Without any hesitation, the platypus stepped through the spatial fold and instantly ended up at his desired location. The skunk brothers Rough and Tumble had been stunned at his entrance, but quickly grew irritated.

“Hey bro, who the heck is this guy?” the bigger of the two mustelids growled.

“Dunno,” the smaller responded gruffly, “but it seems like he’s offering us a way out.”

Starline smiled at the two. “My name is Dr. Starline, and indeed, this is your chance to escape.” 

“So what’s the catch?” Rough asked suspiciously, “you don’t look like some goody two-shoes. You must want something.”

“Quite astute despite your appearance.” He grinned at the fact it took a moment for them to register the backhanded compliment he’d given. “But not inaccurate. We can discuss the details after we get out of here.”

Without much further fanfare, the platypus brought the sibling mephits back to his hideout. They checked the surroundings for themselves until they were satisfied, then confronted the doctor.

“Alright, Doc, not bad,” Rough said with a smirk, “but I gotta wonder what you want us to do. Better not be somethin’ stupid...”

Starline chuckled softly. “It’ll help us both.” He manifested a portal to Windmill Village. “I need you to retrieve Dr. Eggman from this place. He’s not himself at the moment, but I’m sure he can assist you in enacting vengeance upon Sonic once he is.”

“That’s all we needed to hear,” the shorter skunk growled.

“Yeah, if we can get back at Sonic, we’ll do whatever you need us to,” the burlier one agreed.

“Excellent.” The platypus changed the view in the town to focus upon a certain teenage wolf. “This is Gizmo, a friend of Sonic who is currently guarding the doctor. He is also the Rookie Hero of the Eggman War, so do not underestimate him.”

The brothers laughed at the notion of having to try hard against a kid. Starline failed to see the humor, but then, they didn’t need to defeat Gizmo. They only needed to distract him long enough in order to extradite Dr. Eggman.

“Don't worry, doc,” Rough assured him, “there's no way some geeky string bean can get the better of us.”

“No way at all,” Tumble echoed his brother, “this job's as good as done.”

Starline hummed at their enthusiasm. “I shall keep watch until the best opportunity presents itself, then I'll send you over. With any luck, you may not even have to fight the boy.”

“Might make our job quicker and easier,” Tumble considered.

“No big deal if we gotta, though,” Rough said unconcerned.

And so, the doctor and his two new minions decided to wait. Starline had a good feeling, however, they wouldn't need to sit idle for too long.

“I'm glad Gizmo's okay,” Tails said as he tinkered with the Flapper head Sonic had brought him, “I was worried when I woke up and both he and the Chaos Emerald were missing.” He pouted and puffed his cheeks a little. “Can’t believe Rouge bested my security measures so easily.”

“Eh, you made ‘em in a hurry and didn’t have much to work with,” the hedgehog said nonchalantly.

The fox sighed softly as his expression deflated. “True.” His face took on a more determined look. “Anyway, we need to know where this Flapper was transmitting to.”

Sonic flashed his young partner a thumbs-up. “Should be easy for you, little buddy!”

“I appreciate the confidence, but you know Eggman tech is notoriously weird.” A moment later, he fiddled with the Miles Electric. “Time to see if we can determine our hidden observer's location.”

It didn’t take long for a ping to sound from the fox’s trusty device. Tails tilted his head a little in confusion at the reading, tapping a few buttons to narrow it down.

“It looks like it’s coming from somewhere between the old Emeraldville ruins and Angel Island,” he reported to his best friend, “way up in the air.”

“Maybe leftovers from the Egg Fleet?” Sonic suggested.

“It’s plausible.” He put away the Miles Electric and looked at the hedgehog with a serious expression. “In any case, we’ll have to check it out.”

“Then let’s get to it!”

The duo raced out of Vista View to where Tails had last parked the Tornado, taking off after only a few moments. It took them a while to close in on the area the Flapper had been transmitting to. They found a lone sawfish battleship flying westward through the sky, the clouds below it concealing it from being seen by anyone on the surface. However, that wasn’t the strangest thing about it.

“How’s that thing not showing up on the radar?” Sonic asked with confusion.

“I dunno, but it’s gotta be where the footage was being sent to,” Tails confidently concluded. He brought out the Miles Electric and handed it off to his partner. “Here, take this, connect it to the first computer you see, and download all you can. Hopefully, we’ll get some answers once I analyze the data.”

Sonic took the multi-tool. “I’m not really a computer guy. What do I plug in? What button do I push?”

“I customized it to have universal WiFi accessibility!” the fox exclaimed as he flashed a thumbs-up, “just hit the ‘Go’ button!”

“You think of everything!” The hero gave his protege a thumbs-up in return. “See ya soon!”

Like he’d done countless times by now, Sonic jumped from the top of the wings and dove towards the deck. First he laid back with his arms crossed, then did a few flips and tricks before sticking a three-point landing. Just as quickly as he’d touched down, he sped off across one of the upper landings, too quick for patrolling Egg Pawns to detect. In seconds, he was at the base of the bridge and ran straight up the outer wall, bounding into one of the ventilation holes and smashing through the grate at the end. 

Luckily, there was a big computer next to where he’d entered and once the WiFi connected, was ready to download its contents. But before he could, he was forced to dodge a sudden blast from an Egg Pawn, hopping away as he stared down a whole squad. He was prepared to fight when evil laughter he knew all too well came from behind him.

“Well-well-well! What a surprise!” came a familiar voice, “I knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up to spoil my fun. Just didn’t realize you’d come all the way up here to find me!”

Sonic turned around and was stunned for a moment to see Dr. Eggman and even more Egg Pawns targeting him. Except, given what had happened just recently, he knew that the man in front of him was not the doctor.

“But no matter,” the impostor went on, “you’re still too late! The gears are already turning! My latest genius plan is–!”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa!” Sonic cut him off before he could finish his speech, hopping on top of the nearest Egg Pawn and making the “time out” sign with his hands, “save the rant, faker."

“Eggman” was caught off guard by the claim. “...’Faker?’”

“I’ve seen the doc. He’s fine–and he’s not here. You’ve got his act down pat, though.” The hedgehog put his hands on his hips and leaned in. “So who are you really?”

The lookalike recoiled in what seemed to be fear for a moment, then his mustache drooped in disappointment. A moment later, it rose with the man’s face in a wicked grin.

“Hmph, of course you’d even ruin my feint, my loathsome copy,” he said with cold malice.

A shi–ng echoed through the bridge, followed by a low whirr as the Eggman doppelganger tensed his body. It revealed that the doctor’s appearance was a projection, one that fell away as a crimson hexagonal pattern undid the illusion. Much like the man pretended to be a moment ago, Sonic was genuinely, albeit only momentarily stunned by its true identity.

“No way,” he muttered in disbelief, “Metal Sonic?!”

But it wasn’t the Metal Sonic he was accustomed to seeing; no, it was a form of the robotic hedgehog he’d encountered only once before. Five long quills as opposed to the regular three were on its head, white stripes on each one and white markings around his eyes. The interior of its ears were red instead of their usual yellow, while its hand plates had become white. Its nose was longer in size and the bolts on its muzzle and shoes now had spiked ends. It possessed more pronounced body armor with black and curved shoulder pads, larger gauntlets, and leg armor with pointy silver kneecaps. A plate covered its pelvis and elven-like shoes, and it also sported a spiny belt with a black cape that protruded out of the back of its waist.

“Neo Metal Sonic,” Eggman’s most powerful creation corrected him.

Chapter Text

The day after all the other heroes had left, Gizmo took a walk around the village with his Wisp companion. The various children, eager as ever to spend time with the former soldier, pelted him with questions as usual.

“Hey Gizmo?” one of the children of the village asked the teen wolf, “does your friend have a name?”

Gizmo glanced over at the blue Wisp with a smile. “I don't know what his real name is. But, he likes ‘Sledge’ as far as the ones I've come up with.”

The blue Wisp dubbed “Sledge” chirped happily and floated around his lupine partner. The wolf smiled and raised a fist to the alien, who bumped it back with one of its blocky tentacles.

“How long have you guys been fighting together?” another child inquired.

“Since the last days of the War,” Gizmo replied, “so it’s been a little over a month now. He’s not only been helpful in combat, but he’s kept me from being lonely while I’ve been running around.”

“Is it really true that your hammer can’t work without him?” a third kid wondered.

Gizmo scratched his muzzle. “I can still use it, but without Sledge, it’s no better than any other hammer its size. He’s what makes the Wispon able to do all the cool stuff.”

Sledge warbled with what sounded like pride, prompting the children and his wolf companion to laugh. It seemed that even Wisps could get swollen heads at times. Moments later, they were approached by someone that gave Gizmo a momentary fright.

It was a robot with a casing made entirely out of oak hardwood, giving it a marionette doll-like appearance. He could tell it was modeled like some anthropomorphic animal, one with orange fur and a tan muzzle, along with braids that were held together by green hair ties,and a large fuzzy hair tuft on its forehead. It had blue eyes, three freckles on each cheek, buck teeth, and a large pink round clown-like nose. Its arms and legs were tan and rectangular in shape, and it had an orange thread with a tuft at the end for a tail. As far as attire, it wore a pink shirt with puffy shoulders and a white collar, a pointy green cap, green overalls with yellow buttons and short puffy legs, white socks with frills, and pink Mary Jane shoes with yellow buttons. Lastly, it had white hands attached with fake white frilly-designed cuffs.

“Um, hello,” the female-looking construct greeted him timidly, “you’re Gizmo, right?”

“A Badnik!?” the teen shouted in alarm as he got into a fighting stance and ran forward, “stand back, kids, I’ll take care of it!”

The robot flinched and cowered from his aggressive demeanor, holding up her hands placatingly. “W-wait! Please wait!”

“Don’t hurt Belle, Gizmo!” some of the kids pleaded.

The wolf, taken aback by the protests, skidded to a halt. Both the robot's face and body language displayed genuine fear. That wasn't exactly new for Badniks, but the desperate tone “Belle” used certainly was, as was her approach. On top of that, he noticed that none of the children showed any signs of anxiety towards her.

“Okay, I’m lost,” Gizmo admitted, “I didn’t see you when I was around before, but the kids here seem to know you.”

“Allow me to explain,” came the voice of Mr. Tinker.

The wooden robot noticeably relaxed at the man's presence, even managing to crack a smile. Gizmo also saw that the portly fellow had returned with the items he'd handed over earlier.

“I created Belle here from the bits and bobs of other robots to be my little helper,” he started to say, “I can only do so much by myself, after all.” Mr. Tinker rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I sent her to tell you your gear was ready, then I remembered you had quite a...history with robots, so I rushed over myself.”

Gizmo let out a sigh and allowed himself to completely relax. He walked over to Belle, who once again appeared nervous as he approached. The teen held out a hand and offered her a gentle smile.

“Sorry for almost jumping the gun,” he apologized, “I've just...been through a lot.”

The marionette gingerly shook his glove. “It's...it's okay. I hope you can become more comfortable around me like the villagers have.”

“Well, my dear, I’m sure they’ll love you even more once they see what we’ve put together!” Mr. Tinker said with warm confidence.

That bit of news caused the teen wolf to let out a noise of understanding. “Is that why you’ve kept people away from the old storehouse?”

“Why yes! I have a surprise for all the children there.” The man gave the lupine boy his headset, grappler, and Cube Wispon back, all of it looking as good as new. “I apologize for not getting these back to you sooner, but I was ‘in the zone’ with my other project, as the young ones say.”

Gizmo empathized with the human; he’d certainly had moments of “flow” when messing around with gadgets himself. He slipped his grappler back into place and put his weapon into the hammerspace of one of his utility pouches. After donning his headset, he turned it on to make sure everything was in working order. He was startled when not even ten seconds after doing so, he got an incoming transmission.

“I'll be right back,” he told Mr. Tinker. He briefly sprinted to a quieter spot, Sledge following after him, and then tapped the side of his device to take the call. “Hello?”

“Gizmo!” Tails practically shouted in his ears, “what’s been going on? We’ve been trying to contact you since yesterday afternoon!”

Gizmo readjusted his headset. “Sorry about that. I was getting my equipment serviced and only got it back just now. What happened on your end?”

“You’re probably going to want to sit down.”

The wolf shrugged and found a tree stump where he could take a seat. He listened as the fox kit told him about his discovery following the analysis of the Flapper head he’d handed over. How it led him and Sonic to a lone sawfish ship that was otherwise invisible to the Miles Electric’s radar. The blue blur had been ready to download the data on its systems, only to be intercepted by none other than Metal Sonic. To be more accurate, Eggman had upgraded the artificial hedgehog into its Neo design, meant to be a last resort for the War. However, the process had taken too long and finished after the Resistance had already won.

“And so, he’s been organizing the remaining Badnik forces for something,” Tails concluded, sounding a bit worried, “all we know is he’s doing it in Eggman’s name and wants to bring him back. Sonic’s investigating old bases to try and figure out what exactly Neo’s been plotting.”

“I’d help you guys, but I’m still wary about Starline,” Gizmo confessed, “like I said before, if he knew where Eggman was, he’d try to jog his memory.”

The fox hummed contemplatively. “Well, it’s good you’re keeping an eye on him. But if we need your help, come to Resistance HQ ASAP, okay?”

“I will. Good luck to all of you.”

“You too, Gizmo. We’ll keep you posted!”

With that, they cut the transmission. Now that Neo Metal Sonic was on the board, matters had certainly become more complicated than before. The heroic hedgehog’s doppelganger was the bigger threat, but the devious platypus that was Dr. Starline couldn’t be ignored. Both had a common goal in bringing Eggman back, though it was apparent that Neo was currently unaware of the doctor’s amnesiac state and location. As for Starline, it’s possible that thanks to that strange teleportation, he was already aware of both, which would be bad if true.

‘Just need to keep a closer eye on Tinker,’ he thought as he slowly made his way back to the man, his assistant, and the village kids.

“Gizmo! Gizmo!” exclaimed a familiar wallaby, “Mr. Tinker says the surprise is finally ready!”

The wolf chuckled lightly. “Oh yeah? I’m kinda curious what this is all about.”

Moments later, they came to the storehouse that had been off-limits since the first day Gizmo had arrived in Windmill Village. Not just children, but many of the adults had also gathered, including Elder Scruffy. Content with the turnout, Mr. Tinker undid the lock on the front door and prepared to open it as he turned to face the crowd.

“Allow me to introduce you to: Eggman Land!” he announced as he swung the door so all could see inside.

Gizmo had tensed up at the name, but the reality of “Eggman Land” made him relax. Partial and entire Badnik shells had been fashioned into myriad carnival rides, from Motobug teacups to a Crawlton coaster, and much more aside. The adults murmured and mumbled with intrigue, while the kids cheered and ran inside almost immediately. Sledge, surrounded by the collective good vibes, let out a contented chirp of his own.

“So this is what you were building,” Elder Scruffy marveled with a warm smile, “this is quite the surprise, my friend.”

“I'll say,” Gizmo concurred, “what made you wanna do all this?”

Belle, now in an even better mood than before, folded her arms behind her back and smiled. “Father noticed that the kids in Windmill Village don’t have a lot to do.”

“So I thought that a nice play space, one out of the elements, would make them happy,” Mr. Tinker finished for her.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” the old goat commented with a deep chuckle, “and just look, the children already love it.”

The wolf among them quietly nodded. ‘It really does seem like Tinker’s a completely different guy from Eggman.’ His muzzle drooped into a slight frown. ‘But that’s just gonna make it all the more heartbreaking for these people when he eventually regains his memory.’

Part of him hoped the doctor would never recover from his amnesia. It was a nice thought, but in all honesty, the teen wasn’t that optimistic. He earnestly believed that even without Starline or Metal Sonic’s intervention, Eggman’s return was inevitable. If nothing else, by keeping those two away, maybe he could delay that day from arriving.

“Are you alright, Gizmo?” Belle asked softly, “you've been staring off into space.”

Gizmo blinked and realized the kids were now playing on the rides while Mr. Tinker played on a baritone ukulele. He blushed and scratched at his ears in embarrassment.

“Oh, sorry,” he laughed slightly, “I was just...thinking.”

“What about, if I may ask?” she inquired politely.

Gizmo didn’t want to lie to her, but it did feel awkward bringing up his thoughts to someone he’d just met. That, and he wasn’t aware of just how much the marionette knew about her creator’s true nature. Did she know anything? He didn’t really want to ask, so he brought up a related concern that he’d also been thinking about.

“I was thinking it’d be nice if this could last,” he told the wooden robot, “but it feels like ever since the War, trouble always seems to find me and my friends sooner or later.”

“You mean like the attack earlier?” Belle wondered, “it is a bit concerning. Do you think more will come?”

The wolf crossed his arms and hummed. “Maybe, but I have a feeling something worse is on the horizon.”

“I hope not.” The robot pressed her fingers together. “I...can’t fight. Father didn’t build me for that, and even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.”

Gizmo hummed at that. Belle certainly didn’t look like she was designed for combat. That meant if more peril came to Windmill Village, the teen would effectively be on his own unless he reached out to Sonic and the others. A heavy responsibility, but it was a burden he was willing to shoulder.

“Well, as long as I’m here, I’ll keep the village safe,” he promised her.

“That’s reassuring.” Belle touched a finger to her chin. “Um, you mentioned the War, which I’ve heard about from some of the villagers. What did you do before that?”

“Ah, well.” Gizmo shut his eyes as he recalled. “Up until then, I’d been living with my folks in Emeraldville...”

(That night...)

Although fighting Eggman for so long had taught Sonic to be ready for anything, he hadn’t quite expected what had happened so far today. He’d infiltrated one of Eggman’s old pyramid bases, finding it full of plenty of traps and Badniks despite the doctor’s absence. After making his way inside, the hero ran into Silver the Hedgehog, who’d returned to the present due to another problem. In his time, the Eggman Empire had disappeared, but so had everyone else, leaving nothing but water and sparse, metallic plant life. The future hedgehog had also told him about the “Guardian Angel,” someone who’d helped the Resistance during the War, but never joined them.

A short time after that, they’d met the mysterious individual in question, who’d been hesitant to speak to them. Without having to explain herself, Sonic knew that she obviously preferred to work alone, otherwise she would have signed up with the Resistance. After he offered to help her, the Guardian Angel had been surprised to see her five Wisp companions playfully greet the hedgehog. Given their friendly interaction with Sonic due to him saving their planet in the past, the stranger finally decided to relax. She introduced herself as Whisper the Wolf, and without another word, had accompanied him and Silver to the main computer room.

There, they came face to face with E-107 Theta and a large company of Spinas. Whisper started off with her Orange Wisp’s help, firing an energy rocket from her unique Wispon before switching over to Pink and launching a few spike balls. Sonic and Silver rushed in to tackle and smash several of the Spinas, which caused the latter to lose his psychic grip on the door and seal them in the room. The wolf took to the air with the Green Wisp’s hover, then swapped to Cyan and put on her mask once she had a vantage, firing several lasers at Theta and the other Badniks. While the Spinas were easily destroyed, the shots couldn’t penetrate the E-Series robot’s armor, which caught Sonic’s attention.

“Silver!” he called out to the other hedgehog, “we need to finish off the little ones so we can focus on the big guy!”

Silver moved himself into position and beckoned the Blue Blur over. “Right! Come at me!”

Sonic hopped into the air with a Spin Jump, which the other hero caught in his Psychokinesis. With a bit more power, Silver was able to effectively use him as a whirling flail, dismantling everything in their path. Though Whisper managed to get a hit on Theta’s head, this caused it to retaliate with a cannon blast that knocked her from her perch. Wedged between rubble and unable to reach her Wispon, her five friends all came out, ready to defend her from yet more Spinas. Fortunately, Silver came in and used the Badniks as a shield from Theta’s missiles, allowing Sonic to run in. The blue hedgehog smashed his way through the huge robot’s body and freed the animal that had been powering it.

“It’s okay if you prefer to work alone,” Silver said to Whisper after they mopped up the rest of the Badniks, “but it looks to me like you’ve put together quite a team.” He held out a hand to the wolf. “And I’d be proud to be a part of it.”

Whisper considered the offer for a moment, then tentatively reached out to put her glove in his. “...Maybe.”

Now with the computer in front of them, Sonic was prepared to let Silver take a crack at it. However, Whisper stood up quickly, her squinted eyes opening more to reveal themselves a cadet blue. The Blue Wisp flew into her Wispon, causing the barrel to retract and an energy construct in the shape of a hammer’s head to manifest. Seeing how intent she was on destroying the machine, Sonic quickly skidded in front of her and held up his hands in a stopping gesture.

“You can tear this place apart when we’re done!” he tried to appeal to her, “first, we need vital intel off the computer!”

Whisper glanced at him with a pained expression, considering whether to listen or give in to her emotions. After a few moments, she turned away from him, her eyes once more almost completely shut.

“Okay,” she mumbled reluctantly, an undertone of sadness in her voice.

While Silver searched the Eggnet for clues, Sonic couldn’t help but be a little concerned about their new ally. “Man, what did Eggman do to you?”

The wolf said nothing, hiding her face behind her mask with one hand as the other clutched her weapon. The awkward silence didn’t last long, however, as a horrified expression crossed the future hedgehog’s face.

“Oh crap!” he shouted, drawing Sonic’s attention.

The blue hedgehog scanned over the contents and clenched his teeth. “We need to call Knuckles...now!”

(The next day...)

“Starline Log,” the platypus began after making sure he was recording, “the implementation of Infinite’s bio data into the android wolf ‘Gadget’ was a success.” He walked over to peer down at his inactive, almost complete creation. “While manifestation of the jackal’s Phantom Ruby powers are doubtful at best, his contribution will certainly have an effect on Gadget’s physical and mental states.” He chuckled and grinned confidently. “Well, regardless of how he turns out, he’s made to be loyal to me. All that remains is making him capable of expressing such an intriguing contrast of personalities.”

Dr. Starline had the camera follow him as he went over to a display and turned it on. It began playing back footage he’d taken from spying on Windmill Village via the “windows” he’d made with the Warp Topaz.

“And I do believe I have discovered a way to do just that,” he continued. He gestured at the screen for his imaginary captive audience as a clip of Gizmo and Belle peacefully chatting showed up. “It appears that even in his deluded state, the doctor is capable of making remarkable things, such as this robot with a wooden shell and the apparent capacity for emotion.” The platypus returned to gently place a hand onto the capsule. “If those two fail to return with Dr. Eggman, then perhaps we can take his new creation, analyze what makes her tick. And then, once I have the data I need...” He pointed a finger at the figure through the glass. “Gadget will finally be able to be completed.”

Much to his annoyance, a loud banging at the door to his laboratory interrupted his recording time. The monotreme heaved a dramatic sigh and shut the camera down for the time being, then moved across the room towards the commotion. On the other side, he saw the Skunk siblings, both of whom were blatantly restless.

“We're getting tired of waiting around, doc,” Rough complained.

“Yeah, I’m bored!” Tumble growled, echoing his brother's aggravation, “when are we gonna do this?”

Starline ran his right hand through his hair, trying not to let his own irritation show. “Patience, my dear associates. As I said before, we need to find the right moment to send the two of you in.”

“We’re sick of hearing that too!” the taller skunk growled.

“It’s been two days since you busted us out, and nothing’s happened!” the shorter one added as he almost got up in the doctor’s face.

The platypus slowly let out a breath. While the pair did have a point, he couldn’t simply let them loose on a whim. But then, sometimes opportune moments came without any warning and regardless of planning.

“Then let us take a good look today,” he attempted to compromise, “and if even a slight chance presents itself, I will send you two in.”

Though the two didn’t look any happier at that, his offer did seem to relax the tension a bit. Rough clicked his tongue and stepped back from Starline, folding his arms.

“You better,” he said with narrowed eyes, “we’ve been itching for action ever since you sprang us.”

Starline nodded and took the Warp Topaz from the place he kept it when it wasn’t in use, slotting it neatly into his left glove. With a small flourish, he opened up a window that let the three villains take a gander at Windmill Village. There, they saw Mr. Tinker playing his ukulele while Belle, Gizmo, and the wolf’s Blue Wisp companion supervised the kids that were on the rides. Definitely not an ideal situation, the doctor thought.

At least, that was until the young teen’s head set started going off, prompting him to step outside. Curious, Starline opened up another portal in an inconspicuous nearby spot. Once he was sure Gizmo wouldn’t spot him, he poked his head through just enough to catch wind of whatever conversation the wolf was having.

“What’s going on, Amy?” he asked.

“Sonic and Silver found out what Neo Metal Sonic’s been planning!” came the pink hedgehog’s urgent voice, “it’s really bad, so we need all hands at Resistance HQ ASAP! We’ll explain once everyone is here!”

Gizmo appeared to hesitate for a moment, then adopted a more determined expression. “Got it! I’m on my way!”

“Please hurry!”

Starline chose to withdraw, dispelling that window and returning to view the first one. He and the Skunk brothers watched as the wolf hurriedly explained his situation to the man and the marionette robot. After that, his Wisp friend slipped into his Cube Wispon, and he ran off towards the northeastern part of the forest. With that, Starline stepped back from the view and smiled in smug satisfaction at the two mephits.

“Well now, what a fortuitous bit of timing,” he told them as if he’d been expecting that to happen.

“Just hurry up and open another door so we can snatch the old man already!” demanded Rough.

The platypus obliged, creating a gate big enough for both siblings materializing behind the building that housed Eggman Land. “Go now, then. If you can bring back that wooden robot as well, that would be great. At the very least, make sure you return with Dr. Eggman.”

“Yeah, yeah, we know,” Tumble said while rolling his eyes and waving him off.

Once the two had gone through, Starline returned his attention to the window to monitor them. Hopefully, this would go off without a hitch.

Belle had been a little disappointed that Gizmo had to leave, but she understood the urgency. After talking about his civilian life, he’d gone on to discuss some of the things he’d done during the Eggman War. It was difficult to imagine anyone going through something like that, but the wolf had come out a better person by the end of it. And now, it seemed the world was in danger once again, and his friends needed his help.

“Eggman?” she heard an unfamiliar voice inquire, taking her out of her thoughts.

A couple of skunks, one big and bulky while the other shorter but still athletic, walked up to Mr. Tinker. She didn’t like the look in their eyes, nor the frown of the former and the grin of the latter.

“Oh gracious! You startled me!” the man exclaimed as he glanced over his shoulder at the pair, “but no, I get that a lot. My name is Mr. Tinker.” As they both got close and loomed over him, he started to get nervous. “Y-you’re welcome to come in. The only price for admission is a s-smile!”

Rough chuckled and punched his left glove into his right one’s palm. “Uh-huh. The doc said you might be a little ‘off.’ You’re coming with us, old man.”

“I-I’m not sick, though,” Tinker stuttered in protest.

“You thought you had a choice in the matter?” Tumble snorted derisively, “now that’s funny.”

Belle gasped when the bigger guy lifted her creator up in one burly arm, making him drop his ukulele. The other skunk caught it before it could hit the ground, then unceremoniously ripped out all the strings and tossed it aside.

“No! Let my father go!” she cried out as ran over, making some of the children stop and look.

Rough smirked and taunted her with one hand. “Go ahead and try to make us, girlie.”

The marionette knew she couldn’t take him on, though, much less both of them. She attempted to bypass the one trying to provoke her, only for him to grab her by the tail.

“Hah, gotcha!” he crowed as he gave it a good tug, “that was easier than–”

WHAM!

In response to the pulling of her tail, Belle had acted on reflex and donkey-kicked Rough in the face. He was sent flying for a few meters and landed hard, making Tumble gawk and stop in his tracks.

“Bro!” He snarled and lumbered over, reaching for her with his free hand. “You’re gonna pay for that!” Just as he was within arm’s reach, a wire came in from his right and wrapped around his wrist, momentarily restraining it. “What the!?”

A blurry sphere sprang from the same direction and slammed him right in the face as he turned to look. Tumble grunted in pain and fell back on his behind, subsequently losing his grip on Mr. Tinker. The ball uncurled to reveal itself as none other than Gizmo, retracting his grappling line and brandishing his Cube Wispon.

“Gizmo!” Belle exclaimed in shock, “but I thought you were–”

“Get the kids and Mr. Tinker outta here!” the wolf barked over her, “leave these two to me!”

She didn’t argue, hurrying over to help her maker back to his feet and fleeing towards the storehouse. Tumble stood back up as Rough rushed to his side, both of them glaring at the wolf dangerously.

“Looks like we gotta deal with the pup after all,” the bigger one said as he cracked his knuckles.

“What a pain in the butt,” the smaller guy whinged, pointing at the teen, “we saw you run off to go help Sonic. Why'd you come back?”

Gizmo smirked at them. “I had a gut feeling after I left, and I decided to listen to it. Now, I'm gonna take care of you guys!”

The Skunk brothers shared grins with one another at that. They then stood with their backs to each other, which confused the wolf.

“You think you're so tough?” Rough questioned as he tilted his head and looked at Gizmo.

“You're just gonna stumble!” Tumble chimed in, mirroring his sibling.

“When you try to take on Rough and Tumble!” they finished simultaneously, both striking up a pose.

Gizmo stared blankly at them, wondering whether that just happened. Once his brain accepted that it had, he simply shook his head, raised his free hand, and flashed a thumbs-down.

“Lame,” he said in a deadpan tone.

“Oh, what do you know!?” Rough snapped, his face showing he was clearly offended by the criticism.

“The only lame thing here’s gonna be you when we’re through with you!” Tumble threatened, putting up his dukes.

Gizmo wasn’t sure about his chances against two guys that were much stronger than the average person. But then again, after everything he’d been through, so was he. If Sonic and Knuckles could beat them easily, then he could overcome them if he at least tried his hardest!

“Bring it on!” he dared them boldly.

Chapter Text

(Windmill Village)

Going into the fight, Gizmo knew that he would have to keep all of his senses sharp. It was troublesome enough that the Skunk brothers had a numerical advantage over him. What made it more daunting was that, from what he’d heard, they were highly coordinated and experienced combatants themselves. Definitely not the sort of guys to take lightly, even if they seemed pretty dim.

He watched and waited for the first move, and it was Rough that rose to the challenge. The shorter of the siblings came at him with surprising speed as he went into a Spin Dash, nearly catching him off guard. Gizmo jumped and flipped out of the way, tensing up as he saw Tumble rush in and prepare to slug him with a meaty fist. The wolf immediately went into a Stomp and swung his Cube Wispon to meet the punch, gritting his teeth as pain shot up his arms from the collision. The bigger skunk snarled and shook his hand to get rid of the tingling, then reached for him with his other glove. The teen dove between his legs with a slide and whirled about, snagging one of the mercenary’s ankles with his grappler and tripping him over. He had to retract his cable almost instantly due to Rough closing in again, blocking another Spin Dash with the shaft of his hammer.

As the smaller skunk was forced away, his brother caught his curled up form and set him back down before running in. Gizmo went for another grapple at the legs, but Tumble punched down so that it went around one of his arms instead. The wolf teen yelped as the brute yanked him off his feet by the wire, curling up into his own Spin state defensively. While this shrugged off much of the impact of Tumble’s uppercut, it still hurt something fierce. He recalled the cable and straightened out just in time to use his feet to spring off the storehouse, redirecting himself back towards his foes. He saw Rough hop into his brother’s hand, who wound up and threw him hard as though delivering his best fast ball. Gizmo dropped straight down and quickly swung his Wispon, prepared to smash the skunk away.

“Stink Bomber!” Rough shouted out as he bounced just in front of the wolf and avoided the hammer strike.

The mercenary expelled a green gaseous cloud that was so thick, Gizmo could barely see anything in front of his face. Far worse than that, though, was the sheer stench of the musk. The wolf fell to his knees and coughed violently, one hand clutching at his burning throat while the other wiped at his stinging, watery eyes. That gave Rough ample opportunity to zoom back in with yet another Spin Dash, this time finding his mark and sending Gizmo sprawling. Unfortunately for the teen, he’d been knocked right into Tumble’s path, who caught him in the gut with a ferocious hook. Already short of breath from the earlier pungent attack, Gizmo had the rest knocked out of him and bounced several meters over the ground. Once he came to a stop courtesy of some shrubs, the two sibling thugs chuckled darkly as they made their way over to him.

“Dunno what the doc was so worried about,” Rough sneered.

“Yeah, you ain’t so tough!” Tumble agreed, eagerly pounding his fists together.

They stopped when Gizmo got back to his feet with less trouble than they expected, almost mocking their amusement with his own snickering. He slung his Cube Wispon against his shoulder and let a grin return to his muzzle.

“I’ll admit you guys aren’t too terrible,” he said, winking and sticking out his tongue, “but you’re pretty dumb if you think I’d give up after just a few little lumps.”

“Little!?” the larger skunk snarled, “must’ve hit your head if you thought those were little!”

Gizmo flashed a “come at me” gesture with his free hand. “Or maybe you’re not as strong as you claim you are? I’d ask if you ever thought about that, but you don’t look like you do much thinking.”

“Why you...!”

“Easy, bro,” the smaller mephit told him, his smirk a bit more tense, “he’s just yapping ‘cause he’s losing. We’ll shut that trap of his soon enough!”

The teen lupine shook his head and pointed at the two before giving them a thumbs-down. “Nah, I’ll win now that I’ve seen how you two fight in person.”

“We’ll see about that, you smug brat!”

Rough ran in from one side while Tumble moved in from the other, both hoping to catch him in a pincer attack. Gizmo acted as though he’d slam the Wispon at either of them, but instead swung down once the former got close. Rough let out a pained hiss and stumbled back after he slammed into the blue cube the wolf now stood atop. Gizmo followed up by bonking him hard on the head, then flipped away and dismissed his platform just as Tumble came in with a straight. This caused him to inadvertently hit his brother, momentary panic overtaking him as he realized his mistake. That lapse in attention was enough for Gizmo to use a Wire Attack and close the distance, first bounding off the skunk’s head, then driving his Wispon into his back. Tumble fell forward into the ground with a grunt, while his shorter sibling hopped over him with an angry look.

“Nobody makes my bro hit–”

Rough was cut off by Gizmo’s cable wrapping around and pinning his arms to his torso. The wolf threw his hammer into the air and used his now free hand to tug the grappling line while simultaneously retracting it. The skunk was yanked off his feet and hurtled towards the teen, who caught his Wispon and whacked him like a baseball. This sent Rough flying so fast that he couldn’t prepare himself before smashing into a tree, letting out a woozy groan as he slid down the trunk.

All of that happened before Tumble even had a chance to get back up, so he was surprised to see the state of his brother. That shock swiftly turned to rage, the brute wheeling around and charging at the wolf with fire in his eyes. While he figured Rough wouldn’t be down for long, Gizmo knew this was his chance to focus on the big guy. And he was aware, just as much as any experienced fighter, that physical damage wasn’t the only harm one could inflict.

“So, what’s the deal with your tail?” he asked as he flipped over the skunk, pointing out his stub, “did a Spinner snip it when you weren’t looking or something?”

“None of your dang business!” Tumble growled rather defensively, nearly tripping over himself after missing the wolf again, “grr! Just wait ‘til I get my hands on you!”

Gizmo vaulted over a jab and clubbed the skunk on one of his upper legs. This caused Tumble to take after his name and faceplant after losing his balance. The mephit shot up and swung again and again, but the wolf weaved away from every attempt with increasing ease. Another roll to the side and he was able to snag both of the skunk’s ankles with his grappling line, making him eat dirt. The brute flipped over and tried to tug the cable, only for Gizmo to recall it before he had the chance.

And just in time, too, for the teen to dive out of the way of a second Stink Bomber from Rough. As the pup retreated a short distance, the brothers reunited, both sides taking a brief rest before moving in to throw down again.

(Resistance HQ)

Amy hummed with some concern as she looked around the command room. Sonic stood tall and confident next to her while Tails brought up visuals on the old console they hadn’t used since the War. Knuckles pounded his fists together as he paced around angrily, whereas the Chaotix patiently waited for the pink hedgehog to start speaking. Across from them were Rouge, Silver, and Blaze, while Shadow stewed in one corner with his arms folded and eyes shut. Then there were the two new faces, Tangle and Whisper, who each sat atop opposite crate piles as they looked on.

Everyone had managed to get there in a timely fashion, though Amy was still waiting for one more to arrive. She wasn’t afforded much more of that luxury before the young fox got everything in order. Once the screen came on and displayed the image of Angel Island, Sonic gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“Let’s just start, Ames,” he whispered to her with a shrug.

Amy nodded lightly, breathing out a quiet sigh and putting on her serious face. “Thank you all for coming so quickly.”

“Yeah, we’re going to need all your help,” Sonic added.

Knuckles growled and clutched at his quills with both hands, looking absolutely furious. “Neo Metal Sonic has taken over my island! He’s turned it into a flying fortress and built that...thing over the Master Emerald!” He bowed his head and pressed a glove against his face. “I never should’ve left.”

“You were helping us down here,” Amy reminded him gently, “and now we’re going to help you get your home back.” An image of the edge of Angel Island popped up on the monitor, guarded by numerous Eggman Empire aircraft. “We’re going to split into three teams.” The hedgehog girl pointed at the display. “Teams One and Two will attack the shorelines and break the Egg Fleet’s control of the island.” The screen changed to show a giant statue of Eggman built atop an installation over the Altar of Emerald. “Team Three will confront Neo Metal Sonic here. They’ll secure the Master Emerald and rob the fleet of its commander.”

“I’m on Team Three!” Knuckles shouted emphatically.

“I think everyone assumed that, Knux,” Sonic quipped, arms folded and wearing an amused smirk.

Blaze politely stepped forward and offered a more direct approach: use the Sol Emeralds to transform into Burning Blaze and take on Neo herself. When asked how she could do that, the cat explained that it was similar to how Sonic could become Super Sonic. Tangle was starry-eyed as the princess from another dimension brought out the gems and spun them about herself in a fiery ring. It was thanks to them that she’d been able to come to their world, and naturally, as their guardian, she’d kept them close. And though they weren’t to be used recklessly, Blaze believed that the current crisis was big enough to justify utilizing them.

And while the idea did sound like a good one...

“Hmm, maybe we shouldn’t,” Tails considered.

“Why not?” Sonic asked disappointingly, “it would be awesome!”

The fox frowned and raised his hands. “Well, yeah, but Neo has control of the Master Emerald, which can neutralize the Chaos Emeralds. What if it can do the same to the Sol Emeralds?”

“It can’t,” Knuckles replied, “don’t ask me how I know–call it a hunch.”

Tails redirected his attention to Blaze herself. “Then what if Neo copies Blaze’s bio-data? He’d be able to use her fire powers at least, and harness the Sol Emeralds for himself at worst.” He gave the fire-wielding feline an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Blaze, but it’s probably safer if you stay away from Neo.”

“It’s fine,” Blaze said, though her frustration was evident in the way she turned away from him, “thank you for looking out for me.”

“But,” Amy jumped in, a confident smile on her face, “Neo won’t be anywhere near the fleets. Blaze, I want you to be Team One as Burning Blaze! Sonic and Knuckles will be Team Three, so everyone else–we’re Team Two!” Everyone else started to smile as she raised a hand and pointed to the hangar. “Everybody to the battleship! Let’s go liberate Angel Island!”

Most of the others cheered and departed, soon leaving Sonic and Amy as the last ones in the room. Normally, the former would’ve been a little nervous about such a situation, but given the stakes, he didn’t mind this time. Besides, it was obvious that the latter was disappointed, and he knew the reason.

“Gizmo said he was on his way,” he heard her mumble, “I even had ideas for how he could help Team Two, but he’s still not here, and we haven’t heard anything since...”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Sonic tried to assure her, “our buddy probably just had a run-in with that Starline guy he was talking about or something. Nothing he can’t handle.”

Amy rubbed her forehead stressfully. “I hope so, Sonic. I just have a bad feeling about it.”

“Try to have some faith in him, Ames. He’s pulled through for us before.”

Even though the pink hedgehog still couldn’t shake an ominous sense of foreboding, she nodded softly. “Okay, I’ll try.”

“He can take care of himself, so I wouldn’t worry too much. Let’s just focus on taking down ol’ Metal Me!”

And so, the two hedgehogs went to join the rest of the fighters in the hangar, leaving their wolf friend to tend to his own battle. Surely, he would be fine, right?

(Starline’s Hideout)

“How irritating,” Doctor Starline muttered as he observed the back-and-forth between the wolf and the two skunks, “that boy is outnumbered and less experienced, yet he’s still making fools out of them. At this rate, I’ll be forced to step in and assist them.” He got up from his seat and paced around as he thought it over. “However, Gizmo is wise to my Hypno-Gear and my use of the Warp Topaz. Even if I surprise him, it will be a difficult fight without some other edge.”

That was when he eyed his most recently finished creation; Gadget wasn’t quite complete, so he didn’t count. It was a very simplistic design: golden, curved metal bands with a single spike on the outer surface. The Multi-Tool Heel Spurs, as he’d dubbed them, were meant to fit on his boots and provide a number of functions.

“Ah yes. It’s thanks to him that I moved the production of these up,” he muttered as he slipped them on, a grin crossing his beak, “I hadn’t expected to use them quite so soon, but no matter. Once I make use of one of the Heel Spurs’ features, Gizmo won’t be able to do anything.” Starline returned his attention to the “window” he was watching the action through. “I won’t rush in immediately, though. I’ll give those two a little longer before I make a move.”

In either case, whether Rough and Tumble came out on top or Gizmo managed to best them, he would be the ultimate victor. Of that, the platypus was certain.

(Windmill Village)

As the fight between Gizmo and the Skunk brothers went on, Belle continued with her efforts to get both Mr. Tinker and the village kids out of there. While averse to the fighting going on, she couldn’t help but be transfixed at Gizmo’s tenacity. To think that he was doing all this for their sake when he hardly knew most of them...

“Belle!” her creator urged her, “we need to escort the children to safety!”

The marionette blinked and turned back to the worried expressions of the young ones. “Y-yes, Father. I’m just a bit worried about–”

“What’s going on here?” came the voice of Elder Scruffy.

Both the human and his creation saw the village head and several of the civilians they’d grown to know suddenly show up. As the children went to embrace their families, those with and without offspring were armed with various tools. However, seeing the young lupine fighting against the two mephits so vigorously had many of them second guessing how they could meaningfully contribute.

“Always wondered if that Special Forces band Gizmo had was just decoration,” one of them admitted.

“Looks like the real deal to me,” another commented, practically in awe of the teenage pup.

“Those other two guys are kind of scary, though. You think he can beat ‘em?”

The kids, who’d been watching on enthusiastically, were more optimistic about the wolf’s chances.

“Of course he can! He helped Sonic and the Resistance beat Eggman, didn’t he?”

“That’s right! There’s no way Gizmo would lose to a couple guys like them!”

Rough and Tumble would’ve gone over to shut them all up if not for Gizmo, who was encouraged by the praise. The teen slid under a low Spin Jump from the former and sprang sideways to avoid an overhead slam from the latter. His Wispon shined bright as he held it in both hands, then brought it down in rapid succession to build up several blue cubes. The bigger of the skunks bull-rushed into it while giving the smaller a boost up, hoping to get the pup either way.

That was exactly what Gizmo had been counting on. He dipped over the back of the stack and used his grappler to swing around the structure, catching Rough up in his rotations. Tumble tried to grab him out of the air, only to have the wolf bounce off his head and soar above the pair. He snapped himself back towards Rough, the cubes dissipating almost immediately after doing so, hammer at the ready. Though no longer pinned down, the skunk was still tangled up in the line, unable to do anything as Gizmo dove at him.

“Get lost already!” the young hero shouted as his cable returned to his wrist device, “take this!”

Rough’s vision filled with stars as the head of the Cube Wispon came down on top of him. The smash sent him hurtling directly into Tumble, who held out his arms to catch his brother. Gizmo threw his hammer behind the bigger skunk as he landed with a Stomp, then went into a Spin Dash. He managed to reach his target before the other mephit, throwing him off balance and causing them to crash into one another. The siblings smacked into a cube the wolf had set up a moment ago, both looking rather out of it after that. As for Gizmo, he snagged his Wispon with his grappler and slung it over his shoulders with a flourish.

“Heh, like I said, lame,” he jeered at the duo, panting lightly from battle fatigue.

All Gizmo got in response from his foes were a couple of pained, delirious groans. He was about to pat himself on the back for the victory until he heard a familiar audio distortion. He whirled around to see a portal appearing behind the villagers, very close to Mr Tinker.

“Starline!” he yelled, dashing over while whipping his wire at the human to try and pull him away.

He saw Starline’s non-gloved hand reach through a moment too late to grab at the man, fortunately for him. This confirmed the pup’s suspicions about Rough and Tumble being connected to the platypus, making him all the more wary. What the wolf didn’t expect, however, was for another window to open right behind him just after the first one closed. Gizmo caught Mr. Tinker and set him down, then swiveled to face Starline, only to feel a sharp pain in his left leg. He saw the monotreme glancing up at him victoriously as he withdrew one of his boots. Before he could do anything to give that beak a slugging, Gizmo felt his body give out on him. His Wispon fell from his hands as he thumped to the ground, unable to do more than turn his eyes up at Starline. He winced as he was kicked onto his back, watching as the doctor hovered a spur over him, the villagers horrified at the sudden turn.

“Gizmo!” Belle cried in dismay, tempted to somehow run in and drag him away.

“Stay back, unless you wish to see him silenced,” Starline warned her and the rest of the people, the spike on his heel dangling closer to the wolf.

That caused the crowd to wince and look on helplessly at the boy’s plight. Gizmo desperately urged himself to move or do anything other than lay there. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, his body felt impossibly heavy and refused to listen.

“What did you do?” the teen growled through his teeth, “I can’t move!”

“Precisely the point of the neurotoxin I developed,” the platypus replied, smug as expected, “it’s mild and meant to incapacitate, and I assure you it won’t cause any permanent damage.” His smirk widened. “That is, unless a second dose is administered before the first one is fully flushed out.”

Gizmo narrowed his eyes at the thinly veiled threat. “So what happens in that case?”

“Let’s just say there’s no coming back for the envenomed. You are completely at my mercy, Gizmo, and all it took was a little jab.” Starline eased up on the pressure and locked eyes with the lone human present. “You and your marionette must come with me, good sir. If you do, then the boy will be spared, and my associates and I shall withdraw from the village without further incident.”

The wolf gazed anxiously over at Belle and her maker. Much as he feared for his life at that moment, he was even more afraid of what might happen if they went along. He could understand why the doctor wanted Eggman, but if he was also after Belle, then that didn’t bode well.

“Belle, Mr. Tinker, don’t–”

“It’s alright, Gizmo,” the man cut him off with a reluctant smile, “if it will keep you and the rest of Windmill Village safe, I’ll cooperate.”

Belle stood by her father and nodded in agreement, though she seemed hesitant as well as she faced Starline. “Do you promise you won’t hurt Gizmo or anyone else?”

“You have my word,” the monochrome mammal swore as he held up his gloved hand while his bare one rested on his breast.

With that, Mr. Tinker and his wooden assistant stepped forward until they were at arm’s length from Starline. The platypus hummed in approval and opened a portal for them, which they timidly stepped through. After it was closed to make sure they couldn’t escape, the Skunk brothers had regained their senses and frowned at what they saw.

“So that’s it, huh?” Rough asked disappointingly, “should’ve done that from the beginning, doc.”

Starline never dropped the smile he’d started sporting since succeeding only moments ago. “Perhaps, but it doesn’t matter now that we have what we came for.” He gestured over to the paralyzed form of Gizmo. “We’re leaving. Bring the boy along as well.”

“What!?” several of the villagers uttered indignantly.

“You can’t do that!” cried some of the kids, among other angry outbursts.

“Ah, quit your yapping!” Tumble growled as he hefted the teen wolf over one shoulder while Rough took the Cube Wispon.

Gizmo could only dangle helplessly and glance ashamedly at the civilians as he was taken through a new gate. Though his new surroundings were unfamiliar, he could tell right away that it was an Eggman Empire base. He recalled the Chaotix telling him they’d searched several such locations while trying to find the doctor, only to come up short. And while it was currently up and running, he could see some spots were still dark, suggesting it’d been abandoned until fairly recently. Go figure that someone who admired Eggman would refurbish one of the human’s old hideouts for his own purposes.

“Set him down in there,” Starline directed, pointing to an eggshell white holding cell.

The only amenities were a sink, a toilet, and a flat cot that folded out from the wall, the last of which Gizmo was placed upon. Things were looking less hopeful by the second as the platypus confiscated his belt, grappler, and headset, leaving him with only his glasses, boots, and gloves.

“We can't have you calling for help,” he explained as if it were common sense, walking out of the cell with some swagger, “I don't want the surprise to be spoiled for Sonic and the others.”

The pup hissed through his fangs, finally starting to feel movement returning. “What're you talking about?”

“If all goes well, you'll see for yourself very soon. Take care for now, Gizmo.”

Starline pressed a nearby button, causing numerous thin, vertical beams of bright blue light to blink into being. They gave off a hum that sounded dangerous to the wolf’s ears, no doubt a painful deterrent for prisoners looking to escape. The platypus waved at him cheekily while the skunks snickered and followed after him to who knows where else, leaving Gizmo all alone.

After another minute, he could move again, and while he stretched to get the kinks out, the teen considered his current conundrum. Gizmo knew he had to discover some means to break out and rescue both Belle and Mr. Tinker before it was too late. The most pressing question was how he was going to accomplish that when all of his equipment was gone. Because at this point, there wasn’t much he could do other than hope for some saving grace.

Chapter Text

(Near Angel Island)

Aboard the Resistance Battleship they were using, Sonic and his forces were each contending with the anxiety of the upcoming battle. Espio, Vector, Silver, and Tangle were all playing cards, while Charmy sat with them as he made houses out of a deck instead. Knuckles stood nearby, standing stiff as a board and staring out a window, single-mindedly focused on Angel Island and the Master Emerald. Out in the halls, Sonic was stretching his legs as he sat near Whisper, her mask off as she quietly held her Wispon. Rouge and Shadow stood opposite of them, the former leaning against a wall while the latter simply stood there, both of their arms crossed. Amy and Blaze alternated their attention between the two pairs, though the cat in particular was wary of the biscotti wolf. Last but not least, Tails was up on the bridge, making sure the Battleship stayed the course towards its destination.

“I really appreciate you coming to help,” Sonic told Whisper gratefully, “I know crowds aren’t really your thing.”

“S’okay,” the wolf replied softly, her heavily squinted eyes focused elsewhere.

Once he felt good and limber, the azure hedgehog got to his feet. “I’ll give you some space. Be safe down there, okay?”

“You too.”

As he left, Rouge glanced over at Shadow and gestured at him curiously. “I share the sentiment. I didn’t think you’d be up for a big team-up.”

“I’m here for my own reasons,” he answered, turning his head away from her to look down one of the ship’s corridors.

“Mmm...of course you are.”

While Shadow apparently wasn’t aware of it, Rouge caught sight of the way Whisper was gazing at them. Or rather, at the dark hedgehog specifically, and her expression seemed none too friendly. Blaze and Amy noticed it as well, with the princess of the Sol Dimension appearing a bit doubtful.

“Are you sure that one can be trusted?” she inquired of her pink friend.

“Whisper? Sure! She certainly likes to keep her distance, though...” Amy smirked a bit and winked as she nudged the royal knowingly with one elbow. “Kinda reminds me how a certain princess used to be.”

“I suppose I was a bit...defensive, when we all first met,” Blaze chuckled modestly, her face becoming more serious as she regarded the stormy view outside, “and now I march to war with the lot of you.”

“It’s going to be rough out there,” the hedgehog girl remarked with some concern, “please be careful on your own.”

“Do not worry, we’ll win the day,” the cat assured her.

“Haha! You’re right. I need to stay positive!”

“I learned from the best.”

Over in the other room, Charmy hummed to himself as he set up more card houses. The other four aside from Knuckles were playing a round of poker, Espio silent and Vector amused at Silver and Tangle’s current antics. Neither of them spoke a word as the long-tailed lady snuck that stretchy limb behind the hedgehog’s back towards his other side.

“You’re not using your mind powers to cheat, are ya?” she asked him.

“N-no!” he stammered, a bit taken aback by the implication, “I can’t really–”

“Or using your future knowledge?!” Tangle pressed, the tip of her tail inches from his hand.

“It doesn’t work like that!” Silver nearly shouted.

The lemur laughed, both at the seriousness of his response and at managing to swipe one of his cards. “Relax! I’m just messing with ya!”

“O-oh. Sorry, I’m not used to...” The hedgehog peered down and realized that something wasn’t right. “Wait a minute...”

“Aw, man...” Tangle was unhappy at what she drew, and also felt sorry for Silver. “Your hand’s worse than mine.”

Vector briefly tried to get Knuckles to join in, but the Guardian was stubborn and steadfast, as usual. As for the bridge, Tails was busily tapping at the main holopad when he heard the doors open.

“Smooth sailing, Cap’n?” he heard Sonic say.

The fox kit smiled. “Steady as she goes. What brings you up here?”

“I guess I’m too excited to hang with everyone else.” He strolled over to his best buddy’s side. “We’ll be at Angel Island any minute now, and the best place to be is with my wingman.”

Tails nodded firmly and gave him a thumbs-up. “Thanks, partner. We’ll get through this.”

“We always do.”

There was a moment of silence before the young vulpine spoke up again. Unlike the confident demeanor he’d been sporting just shortly ago, he now looked a bit worried.

“I wonder if Gizmo’s okay,” he mumbled, “Amy said he was coming, but he never showed up or contacted us.”

“I’m sure he’ll fill us in on what happened after we’ve dealt with Neo.” Sonic smiled and winked at him with his usual upbeat attitude. “If trouble did come knockin’, then he’s got it covered.” 

KA-BLAM!

A heavy energy blast had slammed into the viewing window, leaving quite the impressive web of cracks and momentarily startling Tails. This was followed up by several more loud booms and explosions, lighting up the sky with bright orange and yellow flashes.

“Speaking of trouble,” the fox commented as his efforts on the console redoubled, “Neo’s not taking any chances! The whole Egg Fleet is bombarding us! You and Knuckles grab your Extreme gear! I’ll get us as close as I can, but–”

“Good luck, buddy!” Sonic shouted as he waved, already running out the door.

As planned, both he and Knuckles grabbed their Gear and made their way to the Altar of Emerald. Blaze leapt from the ship and used the Sol Emeralds to transform, wasting no time in clearing out swathes of Badniks. Tails and the rest kept the carrier on course until it couldn’t take anymore, abandoning it just before it crashed into the shoreline. And with that, the battle for Angel Island was under way.

(Starline’s Hideout)

Deep in the Final Egg where no one could disturb him, Doctor Starline couldn’t help but smirk. Before him was both Mr. Tinker, or rather the amnesiac Dr. Eggman, and his rather unique creation, Belle. Until he’d discovered the latter, the platypus had been ready to immediately get started on trying to restore the human’s memory. But considering she had been made under his current delusional state, it had made the monotreme pause for thought. Perhaps that was exactly what was needed to properly complete his big project, to make Gadget practically indistinguishable from organic individuals. And with the marionette present, it should be much easier to implement than having the human make another virtual emotion emulator from scratch.

“Apologies if I kept you waiting,” he told the two politely, though it was more directed towards Mr. Tinker, “I had something to briefly attend to.”

The man waved it off with a slightly nervous chuckle. “It’s no trouble, Dr. Starline. However, I would have been happy to come here if only you’d asked first...”

“Of course, I realize that now,” the platypus said, though he knew it never would’ve been that easy, “but what’s done is done, so let us move on.”

At that, Belle was obligated to ask him the most important question. “Why did you bring us here?”

“Ah, there is something only you and your creator can help me accomplish. Please, follow me.”

They walked along with him through a few rooms to his main laboratory, where he beckoned them to join him beside a certain pod. Upon seeing what was inside, both Mr. Tinker and his assistant were visibly shocked.

“My word!” the human exclaimed, “this wolf is almost identical to Gizmo! Who is he?”

“What he is,” Starline corrected him, “is an android, modeled after Gizmo and fitted with his bio-data. I’ve affectionately named him ‘Gadget’ due to the striking similarity he has to the boy. Unfortunately, I lack any convenient means to make him truly complete, which is where you two come in.”

Belle fidgeted nervously, not liking the sound of that. “How are we supposed to help with that?”

“It’s quite simple, theoretically speaking.” He motioned to the equipment around them. “While I analyze your emotional expressive ability, your creator will outfit Gadget with the necessary additions to give him your same capacity.” What seemed a comforting smile to him was less than assuring from the wooden robot’s perspective. “Just think, another automaton like yourself that can think and feel freely. And one that you’d be truly hard-pressed to tell the difference from any organic person.”

Perhaps he did mean it legitimately, but the marionette still felt uneasy. After all, he’d hurt Gizmo and was associated with those thugs that tried to forcefully take her father away. What was he not telling them about Gadget? She couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t being entirely forthcoming.

“If I may, doctor, why was he built?” Mr. Tinker inquired, positing the question on Belle’s mind, “in my case, Belle was made to be my assistant.”

The platypus put a hand on the glass over the android wolf’s head. “You could say that overall, I’ll be testing how he uses his own judgment. I would particularly like to see how well he passes for ‘normal’ among those that aren't privy to his android nature.”

Mr. Tinker folded his arms and thought it over, weighing the words of the platypus. A few moments later, he nodded in tentative agreement.

“Alright, Doctor Starline, I’ll do it,” he said happily, “and I’m certain having a fellow free-willed robot around will help Gadget more quickly figure things out.”

Starline chuckled and went over to the console to bring up all that was needed on his end. “Very good, and I agree. Perhaps he would even consider your little assistant an older sister, of sorts.” He pointed over to a table a few meters from his work station. “Now then, please lay over there, Belle.”

She hesitated to obey, glancing over at her creator for guidance. Mr. Tinker nodded as kindly as she’d always known, giving her the courage to follow through. She set herself down on the flat metal top, feeling her father connect whatever device Starline had to her head. Although not the first time, it felt strange being connected to another machine, especially in this manner. It was like something was watching her from the back of her mind, peering in on every thought and calculation she made. To say that it was unnerving would’ve been an understatement.

(Angel Island)

Despite their efforts, Sonic and the rest of his group found themselves in a much worse situation than before. Not only had Neo Metal Sonic seized the Master Emerald for himself, but he’d also copied Shadow’s bio-data. Combined with the fact that he’d previously taken Sonic’s bio-data as well, this allowed him to transform into a new state: Master Overlord. With the ancient gem now in Neo’s grasp, Angel Island was cut off from its power and began to fall. Lastly, before either of the hedgehogs or Knuckles could get far, the robotic Kaiju seized all three of them with one hand.

But despite their predicament, Sonic still had a plan, one that his echidna friend in particular would be on board with. While Master Overlord flew them towards the rest of the Resistance core, he and Shadow would focus on busting up the big guy’s wings. Hopefully, that would distract their foe well enough that he wouldn’t notice Knuckles trying to extract the Master Emerald. And knowing Tails and the others, they’d catch on and do their part to help.

Speaking of the fox, he’d commandeered one of the Egg Fleet’s bigger battleships during the chaos of the battle. After having mopped up the rest of the enemy ships, he’d turned his sights on the main target.

“Uh, Tails?” Vector said nervously as he scratched his head, “the giant robo-dragon is heading right for us!”

“No...” The kit tapped at the controls and increased the vessel’s speed. “We’re heading right for him!” He pointed in one direction as his other hand came down upon a button. “Sonic needs our help, and if we don’t act fast, Angel Island will be lost! Tell Amy to get everyone on deck! I’ll get us as close as I can!”

Though hesitant due to concern for the young fox, the crocodile nodded and got going. “Man, I hope we’re getting hazard pay for this...”

Master Overlord growled and shielded itself as the battleship pelted him with artillery, taking his attention away from his hostages. They used that chance to pry themselves loose, and with this opening available, Knuckles lunged towards the Master Emerald.

“Amy, new plan!” he shouted as he steadied his gliding, “take out that thing’s wings and drive it down to the island! I’ll handle the rest!”

Even with the combined efforts of the group, though, Sonic was doubtful of their chances as things stood. That was, unless he did one of the things he does best: annoying the absolute heck out of his opponents.

“You called me your ‘loathsome copy’, but last I checked, hedgehogs don’t look like fifty-foot tall dragons,” he snarked, causing the robot to turn his head and glare at him. Smirking, the blue hero kept going. “And we aren’t made of metal. Or have the Master Emerald as a pacemaker. And I kinda came first, sooo...”

“I am ‘Sonic’ perfected!” Master Overlord roared, “I am more you will ever be! I am–” An orange energy rocket cut him off as it slammed into his face and exploded. “GAH!”

“Nice one, Whisper!” Sonic called out, winking and giving the wolf some finger guns, “ten points for dramatic timing!”

The rest of the gang, sans Tails, entered the fray, all of them landing on some part of the metal monstrosity. Sonic ran up Master Overlord’s neck to pelt him in the head repeatedly with multiple Spin Dashes and Homing Attacks. Amy used her hammer to smash one fin as Charmy stung it from the other side, and Espio carved another with his kunai. Vector tore up the plating, while Rouge set up numerous Heart Bombs for Whisper to detonate with an Orange Rocket. Tangle pulled at a different fin with her tail as Blaze helped her by burning the base, and Silver tore a few others out with his Psychokinesis. Knuckles punched around the area where the Master Emerald was, determined to dig his way beneath it if he had to.

Having had enough of these annoyances, Master Overlord threw everyone off except for the Guardian echidna. Alarmed but determined, Silver managed to catch everyone in his PK hold before they could drop far. Master Overlord was prepared to chomp down on him and let the whole crew drop into the ocean below. Tails, however, wasn’t about to let that happen, ramming the stolen battleship right into his face.

“Haha! Direct hit!” the fox laughed in exhilaration, leaning his body into the steering yoke, “now, engines full speed ahead!”

“Unworthy child!” Master Overlord growled irritably.

Though he was ready to smack the boy down in a fiery wreck, Knuckles prevented that from happening. The echidna finally wrenched the Master Emerald free from the beast’s carapace and dove for the Altar of Emerald. As Metal Sonic screamed in defeat, Knuckles slammed the gem back into the shrine, barely preventing Angel Island from splashing into the ocean. All the same, the battleship crashed now that it no longer had a target, causing Sonic to fear for his friend’s life.

“Put me down! Let me go!” he barked at Silver as the psychic hedgehog safely brought them down, dashing towards the wrecked ship, “Tails! You okay buddy?! Tails?!”

To his relief, the two-tailed fox swiftly flew out of the crash site. He looked a little banged up and woozy, but otherwise seemed alright.

“Dude, that was amazing!” Sonic praised him.

“Haha, thanks!” Tails rubbed the back of his head while smiling sheepishly. “I don’t think I want to do it again anytime soon, though...”

“Heh, don’t worry.” The two of them glanced over to where a busted and currently offline Metal Sonic, back in his original pre-Neo form, was laying. “I think the fight is done.”

(Starline’s Hideout)

In one of the many rooms within the Final Egg, Gizmo’s main gear laid atop a work bench. Without their wielder, they were all but useless, and without them, the wolf had limited options. Whether ignorant or unconcerned, Starline hadn’t made any additional efforts to better secure the young hero’s items. Now that the coast seemed to be clear, Sledge emerged from the Cube Wispon and scanned its surroundings. The Blue Wisp let out a low, sad warble, having seen everything that happened to its partner up until they were separated. It knew that this wasn’t the time to pout, however, and that the wolf needed its help now more than ever before. Gizmo had always been a good friend, and it was time to repay him by getting them out of this mess!

Given how long they’d worked together, Sledge had a “feel” for where Gizmo was, as long as they weren’t too far apart. While the old Eggman base certainly seemed huge, it wasn’t so expansive that the Wisp couldn’t detect the teen. Going out the front door wouldn’t be safe, so the alien glanced around for any potential alternative paths. Cliché as it may have been, there was an air vent not too far from its position. With a little work, the cover came right off, allowing Sledge to navigate the winding ducts.

Every so often, it stopped short of any gratings when Badnik patrols roamed around in order to stay out of sight. It took a little while, but eventually, Sledge came across the room that most strongly exuded Gizmo’s presence. The Blue Wisp broke into the chamber and hastily floated over to the front of its friend’s cell, letting out a happy chirp.

“Sledge?!” the wolf exclaimed, laughing with relief when his pal let out an affirmative squeak, “boy, am I glad to see you! There should be a panel on the side of this cell that’ll get rid of these energy bars and allow me to escape.”

Sledge bobbed itself in understanding and went to search, finding what its friend had said would be there. Sure enough, after pressing the button on the side panel, the beams keeping Gizmo penned in faded out with a diminishing hum. The wolf all but ran out of the cell and hugged his friend tight, getting joyful sounds in response.

“Thanks so much, buddy! I was at my wit’s end trying to figure a way out.” After a moment, he let go of the Blue Wisp. “Any chance you can help me get my stuff back?”

Sledge directed him over to the air ducts that it had used. It would be a tighter fit for the teen, but with some effort, he could manage. It was slower going for him than his otherworldly ally, but after some time, they arrived back in the room where Gizmo’s items were stashed. He checked to make sure they were in good condition, and that Starline hadn’t tampered with them in any way. Once that’d been confirmed, he promptly re-equipped himself and allowed Sledge to merge with his Cube Wispon once again.

“Alright, time to get to work,” he said aloud, slipping out the nearest door.

He didn’t want to alert the platypus to his freedom just yet, though. There was no way of telling how large the base was or how many Badniks were stationed here. The first priority was finding an exit and as reasonably safe a path as possible to it for Belle and Mr. Tinker. Thus, he made his way around as stealthily as he could, memorizing twists and turns all the while. A few times, he’d nearly been spotted by cameras or Spinners, only to slip out of sight at the last moment. It took him longer than he would’ve liked, but the wolf did successfully locate a way out of the facility. The problem was that there were more than a few Egg Pawns and other robots keeping watch over it.

‘Figures,’ Gizmo thought with a frown, ‘if it was just me, it'd be no problem. But neither Belle nor Mr. Tinker can fight.’ He folded his arms and tapped one boot in contemplation. ‘Well, I'll have to throw down either way. May as well start with taking out the trash here.’

The wolf leapt towards the high ceiling in the area, getting a good height before using his grappler. He used it to propel himself towards one camera, destroying it in the process of springing towards another. Almost all surveillance equipment in the area was wiped out before the Badniks noticed his presence, and by then, it was too late. A trio of Egg Pawns were transformed into blue cubes after he came slamming down with his Wispon. Two of them were knocked away towards Motobugs while Gizmo took the third with his cable and flung it into a group of Buzzbombers. A handful of Spinners slashed after him, only to fall to a consecutive series of Homing Wire Attacks from the wolf. A pair of Egg Keepers attempted to paralyze him with their detached heads, but he slipped by and trashed the main bodies with a Spin Dash.

After mopping up the last batch of Badniks in that area, Gizmo doubled back from whence he came at a blistering pace. The alarms started blaring, as expected, so there was no time to take care of more cameras at this point. Any foes directly in his path were dealt with, while those out of the way were ignored for now. He may not have been as fast as Sonic, but the stragglers had no chance of catching up with him. He’d deal with them on the way back anyway, and then reach out to Sonic and the rest.

‘Wait!’ he remembered, ‘I can do that right now! Maybe it’s not the best time, but now that I have my headset back, I should at least try!’

(Angel Island)

Not too long after the battle had ended, Sonic and Tails had taken Metal Sonic into the crashed Egg Fleet battleship. At his best friend’s request, the fox had analyzed the robot’s damage and done some repairs. Of course, not enough for him to once again become a threat, only what was needed to keep him from breaking down completely.

“Okay, I’ve confirmed the damage from our fight,” Tails reported once he’d called his pal back into the chamber, “loss of the Master Emerald reverted Metal Sonic to his basic state. I’ve finished the last of the necessary repairs. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Sonic glanced up at Metal’s unmoving form and nodded with a slight smirk. “I’m sure. Wake up Metal Sonic.”

“He’s not going to be happy about this,” the boy said with some trepidation as pulled the lever on his console.

“Probably, but I think the odds are on our side.”

Metal Sonic’s red eyes came online, and just as Tails predicted, he immediately ripped out of his restraints and lunged at his organic rival. Before he could properly land a blow, however, his optics glitched and he stumbled, Sonic catching him before he could hit the floor.

“Take it easy,” the Blue Blur told him as he helped to steady his doppelganger’s footing, “Tails fixed up the worst of the damage, but you’re in no shape to fight. We’re compassionate, not stupid.” He held out a hand with a genuine smile. “It’s over, man. Eggman is done, and you don’t owe him anything. You have a chance to live your own life now, be your own person...or robot, whatever. I’m not asking that we be best buds. Heck, you could live on the other side of the planet for all I care. But can we at least call a truce and give peace a chance?”

Metal Sonic stared at his hand for what felt like forever for him and his most hated enemy. His hand made a tentative movement, as though about to shake Sonic’s glove...only to slap it away.

“Yow!” the hero yipped, grabbing his smacked hand with the other and rubbing it as his foe sped out the door, “jerk...”

Tails came up to his side with a worried expression. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

The fox nodded softly and looked towards the exit. “Should we go after him?”

“Nah.” Sonic laughed a bit and sighed. “We gave him the choice to live how he wants to. We’ve got to honor his decision.”

Tails seemed a little more skeptical, but he trusted what his big brother had to say. “I guess. At the very least, he doesn’t have Eggman to repair or weaponize him anymore!”

Seconds later, the Miles Electric started going off, an incoming call from a certain wolf showing on the screen. Having not heard from him in a hot minute, the young canid allowed it to come through.

“Gizmo?” Tails tried to confirm.

“Tails! Thank goodness,” Gizmo responded with audible relief, “I hope this isn’t the worst time to try and contact you guys.”

Sonic wiped under his nose with one finger, smirking a bit. “Yo, buddy! We’re good, just beat Metal’s butt not too long ago. Had Tails fix him up just enough to move, then gave him a peace offering.” He shrugged. “Didn’t take it, which is lame if you ask me. But hey, that’s his choice.”

“...What?” The wolf’s voice sounded disbelieving to the point the heroic duo found it uncomfortable. “What do you mean?”

Tails drummed his fingers nervously. “Well, it’s exactly as you heard. Sonic asked me to take Metal Sonic and fix the most critical injuries. I mean, Eggman’s no longer around, in a manner of speaking, so we don’t have to worry too much, right?”

There was a pregnant pause for what felt like eternity for the hedgehog. When Gizmo started talking again, it was in an unsettlingly quiet tone.

“You messed up,” he said softly, “but then, so did I.”

“Huh?” Sonic was caught a little off guard by the remark. “What do you mean, buddy?”

Another bout of silence followed, which ended with a deep, shameful sigh. “Well, it all started not too long after the last time I contacted Amy...”

(Starline’s Hideout)

“Doctor Starline,” Orbot, one of Eggman’s robotic assistants, addressed him, “Gizmo has escaped from his cell!”

“Yeah, and he’s smashing up all the Badniks too!” Cubot, the other aid, added.

Starline paused what he was doing and waved them away without turning around. “I am quite aware, and I expected as much. The project is nearly finished anyway, so let him come to us.”

He hummed with slight impatience as he delivered another round of electroshock “therapy” to Mr. Tinker. After he’d finished with Gadget, the man had been seized and strapped down to a table. Now that the platypus had what he needed from the human, there was no point in letting this fanciful farce continue. It was frustrating, though, that none of his methods employed so far have produced any meaningful results. What was useful, however, was that Belle was showing a wide range of emotions due to his efforts. Granted, they were almost exclusively negative, but in order for Gadget to be truly complete, he needed to be able to experience a broad spectrum.

“Please stop!” the marionette pleaded tearfully as she struggled against her own restraints, “leave Father alone!”

The monotreme sighed. “Once he is back to acting as he should, this will cease. Until then, I must do what I can.”

“You’re hurting him!” Belle protested further, “why are you doing this?!”

“I already told you the reason, girl.” A quizzical expression crossed his beak. “Do you mean to tell me that you genuinely didn’t know that your creator is, in actuality, the illustrious Dr. Eggman?”

While unexpected, the platypus was satisfied to see her face shift once again. What was once a veritable visage of a bleeding heart became the perfect picture of an angry child.

“That’s ridiculous!” the puppet yelled indignantly, “Father is the kindest man in the world! How dare you compare him to that horrible person?!”

“I assure you that I’m not mistaken.” Starline grinned as he saw the progress bar of his creation nearing the end. “Dr. Eggman suffered a bout of amnesia, which led to the creation of Mr. Tinker. I am simply trying to restore his memory so that he can go back to being the brilliant scientist that I admire.”

“Are we sure we want the old boss back?” Orbot mumbled, shrinking away when the monotreme glared at him.

For a moment, Belle fell silent, her features showing shock and disbelief. But after parsing what had been said, they snapped right back to fury.

“I don’t believe you!” she said defiantly.

The platypus shook his head and pressed the button once more, unflinching as Mr. Tinker screamed in pain. “Whether or not you believe me is inconsequential. You’ll see the truth for yourself soon enough.”

“This is getting old, doc,” Rough said irritably, “when you sprung us, the deal was we’d get you Eggman and then he’d make us weapons!”

“We’re gonna need some serious firepower if we’re gonna get our revenge on Sonic,” Tumble chimed in.

“N-not that we need it. We’re tough enough as it is.”

“Right. It’s just for, uh, overkill.”

“Yeah! Insult to injury! Lots and lots of injury!”

Starline was growing weary of the commentary from both his allies and the girl. Still, they did raise a good argument when it came to his current “treatment” he was administering. He shut off the electroshock machine and sat up from his chair, ready to move on.

“Gentlemen, and I use the term loosely, I will restore Eggman’s personality,” he assured them, “you will get your weaponry and your revenge.” He stroked his bill with one hand. “Hmm, perhaps he just needs some sort of mental or emotional trigger to jump-start his old self?”

A chime interrupted their dialogue, causing everyone to turn their heads towards the source. A simple, three-word message was displayed in giant letters across Starline’s monitor, one that made him smile gleefully.

“MODULE UPDATE COMPLETE.”

WHAM!

Everyone was startled as the front cover of Gadget’s pod was violently ejected from its hinges, landing several meters away with a clang. Two army green gloves gripped the rim, a quiet grunt coming from within as the red android wolf pulled himself to sit upright. He then pushed himself to stand, burning orange eyes swiveling to look at everyone else, making most everyone flinch. Gadget’s gaze held the same fierceness as Gizmo, but in his case, it was more violent than determined. The wolf's expression changed to a more amicable one when his scanners identified his maker. He placed his right hand against his breast and his left behind his back, bowing lightly to the platypus.

“Good morning, Doctor Starline,” he said with a toothy grin, “it’s a pleasure to finally be awake.”