Tails opens his eyes and glances around the hanger through it now broken flight goggles. One lens completely shattered, while the other has a crack running the length of it. The orange fox rises to his feet and lets out a heavy grown as he removes the busted glasses and tosses them over his shoulder.

"What happened?" The fox inquires as he approaches the group. Who all turn towards him as he steps into view? "Tails..." Knuckles begin. "You alright, little Buddy?" Sonic adds, cutting the echidna off.

The orange fox starts fiddled with the strap of the aviator helmet before responding. "Yeah, I think so." He tilts is head side to side till a series of pops can be heard. "Nothing I can't handle."

Amy drops her Piko Hammer; causing it to let out a loud thud as it hit ht ground. And then runs towards the fox. "I'm so sorry; you got hit in the crossfire." The pink hedgehog says in an apologetic tone as she helps him remove his helmet and holds the fox's face in her hands.

Tails raises an eyebrow at this action, as does the blue hedgehog and red echidna. "Did you hit your head or something? I've never seen you this worried about me before." The fox comments with a hit of worry in his voice.

The pink hedgehog glares Tails in response. "Sorry for worrying about you-" She shoves onto the floor. "-jerk!" Tails lays motionless on the floor, with a shocked expression on his face as he attempts to process what just occurred. Shaking off this offer, he turns to the pink hedgehog as she gives him one last look and turns away. "Alright I'm sorry; I just didn't expect something like that from you." Amy stops and turns towards the orange fox. "I appreciate your concern, now can you help me up." He adds holding out his right arm towards the pink hedgehog.

Amy approaches the orange fox and gives him a smile as she grabs his out stretched hand and pulls him back to his feet. Tails nods in response and begins to brush himself off. To his surprise, the pink hedgehog attempts to help, but stops as she notices the odd looks everyone's giving her.

Sonic loudly clears his throat, prompting everyone to turn in his direction. "Alright, now that that's over with, we still need to get back to why we came up here."

"To stop Eggman's plan and take back the emeralds." Knuckles replies with a hint of smugness in his voice.

"Exactly, now-" He points to the orange fox. "-Tails, you get that firewall crack up yet or..."

"It's already working its way through the system." Tails states as he cuts the blue hedgehog off. "Or else this place would be crawling with security by now."

Sonic grins at the fox's reply as he gives him a thumb up. "Sounds good. Grab whatever tech you need to keep us hidden. We move out in 5." Tails nods and bakes a bee line for the red biplane. "Hey wait up!" The pink hedgehog shouts as she chases after the orange fox. "I'll give you a hand."

Watching Amy run after Tails, Knuckles turns to Sonic with a confused look. "Maybe she did hit her head or something. I've only seen her that friendly with you." The blue hedgehog lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head. "No, she's up to something. I don't know what, but has to be something."

The echidna raises an eyebrow at hedgehog's claim. "Why makes you think that?" Sonic grins and turns to the red echidna besides him. "Because, you said it yourself. Amy's only acts like that around me."

------

Tails glances at the approaching hedgehog, then back at the plane. "Why are you following me?" The orange fox inquires with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I'm here to help, duh. Now what do you need to grab?" Amy states as she stops next to the fox and begins to glance at the plane.

The orange fox gives the pink hedgehog a puzzled look as he walks towards the rear of the plane and flings open a small compartment. "Ok, if you insist." He hands Amy a small bag."Take this." Tails hands her another bag. "This." Then a large Duffle bag. "And this."

Amy sways back and forth as she tries to carry the three bags. "What else is there?" The hedgehog asks as she pears from the side of the large bag. "Just this." Tails states as he flies to the planes' cockpit and returns with a small device; which he tucks away in his glove. Amy glares at the fox, thinking that he's just making her carry all the heavy things, but then stares at Tails in shock as he grabs the large bag, slings it over his right shoulder and begins to walk towards the others.

"Let's go?" Amy nods and dashes after the orange fox. "So you going to tell me what's going with you or are we going to wait till its reveled during some awkward moment? Tails inquires as he slows down and matches the pink hedgehog's pace.

------

Spotting the two from the other side of the hanger, Sonic gives them a wave and notions towards a large steel door as he walks towards it. Tails and Amy quicken there pace, to catch up with the blue hedgehog. "So, you get everything?" Sonic inquires as he turns towards the two as they approach.

"I have everything I need right here." Tails states as he gives the large bag in his arms a small tap. "So what' am I carrying anyway?" Amy inquires as she turns to the orange fox.

"Well what you have is our communication devices; they work on a tangent frequency. So they’ll be almost impossible to track. We'll need them, if we want to keep in contact when we split up and wreck this thing."

"We're not splitting up!" Sonic snaps, graining few odd looks from the group. "Every time we split up, someone gets captured and I have to save them." He smacks a closed fist into his open palm. "We stick together and cut a swath right thought Robutnick's forces." Everyone nods in unison.

“So, what did you have in mind?” Knuckles inquires as he crosses his arms and gives the hedgehog a stern look.

Sonic gives the echidna a cocky smirk. “Simple, we sink this tub and get the emeralds back.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“…”

“What? Where you expected this some overly complicated plan or something?”

Knuckles lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head.

“Any questions?”

The trio shakes their heads.
“Alright-“ Sonic takes one of the small bags from Amy, unzips it, and removes a small communication device. “-We takes one of these, encase we get separated.”

The blue hedgehog turns to the orange fox. “Tails.”

“Y-yes” mutters out as he turns towards the hedgehog/

“That jamming program thing, still working?”

“Of course, or else we’d be overrun by now.”

Sonic smirks in response. “Great, you try to get us a map of this place so we aren’t just aimlessly wandering around.”

“I’m way ahead of you.” Tails claims with a cocky expression

Shifting large bag over his shoulder, the orange fox plops it into his arms, unzips it and removes a small hand held device. Then rezipps it and hands the bag off to Knuckles. Finally removing a small device from his glove; Tails slides it onto a small port on the side of the machine.

“Wha’cha got there?”

Tails presses a few buttons on the device as a small grid style map appears on the small display. “You think all I brought was that single jammer?”

“Well uh…” The blue hedgehog trails off as he attempt to answer.

“So what else is this is bag then, if not more of those things?” Knuckles asks as he shifts the bag in his hands and reaches to open it.

“Explosives.” The orange fox states mater-of-factly. As he begins to walk towards the large door and presses a button the device; causing it to open. “It helps to have a Contingency plan.”

The three exchange looks before following Tails out of the hanger.

“Smart kid.” Knuckles states as he nears the exit.

“Sometimes it scares me.” Sonic adds as he steps though the doorway.

------

An explosions echoes in the long corridor as a badnick is sent crashing into a group of its brethren. Sonic lets out impressed whistle as he pears at the destruction. “Nice shot, Amy.”

“That was nothing.” The pink hedgehog boasts as she rests the large Piko hammer on her shoulder. “Wait till I get serious.”

A bead of sweat runs down Sonic’s neck; as he knows all too well what she meant.

“We have to keep moving.” Knuckles states as he walks ahead.

“Uh, right.” The pink hedgehog mutters as she dashes away to catch up.

Sonic watches Amy chase after the red echidna with a puzzled look on his face. “Did something happen that I don’t know about?”

“What do you mean?” Tails inquires as he presses a few buttons on his device.

“I dunno, it’s hard to explain. It’s like Amy flipped off some mental switch and is acting…”

“Normal?” Tails says; cutting the blue hedgehog off.

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird.” Sonic adds as he scratches the back his head.

Tails remains fixed on the device in front of him. “I asked her the exact same thing earlier, when she was helping me gab a few things from the Tornado.”

“And?”

“Amy is trying to be a contributing member of the group and has realized that if she keeps chasing you and acting the way she has. Everyone will just keep treating her as an immature child.”

Sonic stares motionless to the now space in front of him.

“C’mon, we need to catch up.”

“R-right.” Sonic mutters as he runs ahead. “Let go everyone, stop dragging you feet!”

Tails lets out a chuckle as he watches the hedgehog antics. And then pulls a small device from his knapsack and tosses it onto the nearby wall; it sticks and lets out two short beeps as a red light comes on.

“Four down, eight to go.”

------

Meanwhile…

A wall of numerous monitors flicker and flash as random colors of red, green, and blue flash across there screens. A showy figure twiddles an oversized orange mustache and grins at the display before him.

Large white gloves start to press a series of keys on a large key board’ only for a skull and crossbones to appear on every screen and lets out a digitized laugh. Some monitors exploding; forcing the figure to shield itself from the scattering glass.

“Hm, this is getting interesting.” A gruff voice responds and a set of speticials reflect off the light of the few remaining screens. Then rises to its feet and lets out a hardy laugh; holding its massive stomach in the process; only to start hacking uncontrollably.

------

A precaution of explosion rips though the steel corridors. As the four heroes charge down then; taking out anything in their path.

What remains of a driller robot smashes against one of the walls, as certain red echidna lowers his fist and smirks at the damage. “Like fish in a barrel.”

A loud hiss at the end of the hall draws everyone’s attention as a steel door begins to close. “Run!” Sonic shouts as he charges towards the closing door.

The large door shuts just as everyone leaps though it. Prompting a certain pink hedgehog to let out a yelp; just the door closes behind her.

“I thought you said you hacked the system.” Sonic inquires as he turns to the orange fox.

“It is…or it was. A lock down has been put into effect. It’s not letting me override it.” Tails sighs as he drops his head. “I’m sorry; there is nothing else I can do.”

A gloved hand is placed on the young fox’s shoulder. Prompting him to look up and turn to its owner.

Amy smiles at the orange fox as he looks up and notices her hand on his shoulder. “You’ve got us this far, we’ll just have to find another method to get us the rest of the way there.”

“Exactly.” Sonic adds. “You still getting a signal from that device?”

Tails nods. “Mostly yes, the layout is still the same and will remain as such.”

“Unless, Robuttnik finds a way to change that too.”

“Let’s hope he doesn’t.”

“Please don’t give him any ideas.”

“You guys going to start braiding each other’s hair now?” Knuckles says with a snarky quip. “Or are we going sink this thing? “

Amy raises her piko hammer to strike the echidna down, but is stopped by Sonic’s outstretched hand. “He’s right, we need to keep moving.”

The pink hedgehog lowers her massive hammer and rests it on her right shoulder. Giving Knuckles a dirty look as she walks past him. “Lead the way, Sonic.”

------

Explosion after explosion tears through the ships corridors as the small team cuts a swath though the defense system.

Sonic charges out in front and decimates any badnicks that are unfortunate to cross his path. With Amy and Knuckles taking care of any the hedgehog misses. While Tails covers the rear and takes potshots any remaining threats, with his super charged electric cannon.

“How much further, Tails?” Sonic inquires as he glances back at the orange fox.

Tails tosses something at a nearby wall and then pulls out his scrambling device. “Not much further now. Just around this corner and..” The fox trails off as he raises his arm cannon and fires it in the hedgedhog’s direction.

Something explodes behind Sonic, prompting him to shield himself from the blast. “What the hell, Tails?!” The hedgehog snaps as he turns back to the orange fox.

Tails notions Sonic to turn around and look at the object he fired at.

A fully armed badnick lays destroyed a few meters from where the hedgehog once stood.

“Whoa, nice shot.” Knuckles comments as he glances at the carnage before him

“Sorry, I didn’t have time to warn you.” Tails mutters out as he cowers from the hedgehog’s outburst.

Sonic lets out a sigh of relief and wipes a bead of sweat from his brow. “You saved me again, bud.” He turns back toward the orange fox. “Now what was it you were going to say?”

Tails presses a few button his device before responding. “I said we need to go around the corner and though those last set of door.”

“You mean ‘those doors?” Knuckles asks as he notions to a set of large steal doors slowly closing.

“MOVE! Sonic shouts as he charge ahead. “Or else we’ll never….” The hedgehog is cut off as something wises past his head and slams into the large door; that makes an ear splitting smash as it makes contact.

Amy’s massive Piko hammer sits wedged between the two doors; preventing them from closing.

Another bead of swear runs down the hedgehog’s neck as he realizes who trough it and how close it came to smashing him in the head.

“W-warn me next time you do that.” Sonic mutters out as he inches towards the pink hedgehog.

“There wasn’t any time.” Amy states as she and the other catch up to the blue hedgehog.

The large doors start to buckles and wine as they still try to close. “That hammer won’t hold those forever.”

“Right.” Sonic responds as he shakes off his worried expression and leaps though the still open doors; with Tails and knuckles behind. With Amy entering last as she removes her hammer from the doors.

------

“Alright, Robotbuttnick. Your reign of terrene is…over? The blue hedgehog trails off as he steps into a vacant room. “Uh Tails, are we in the right place?”

The orange fox presses a few buttons on his signal jammer and then glances around the room. “This is the control room, but where is Doctor Robotnik?”

“Probably hiding out somewhere.” Sonic states with an annoyed tone.

“You think maybe he abandoned the ship?” Amy inquires as she glances as the numerous control panels.

“Doubt it.” Knuckles begins as he crosses his arms and glares at the empty egg chair. “I can still sense the energy of the Master Emerald, as well as the chaos ones.”

Sonic lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head. “Well at least me know they weren’t moved somewhere else. Still thought, we need to sink this puppy.” He turns to the young fox. “Do your thing, Tails.”

The orange fox nods and begins to approach one the nearby control panels several large doors suddenly open around the group; Prompting the fox to stop dead in his tracks.

Dozens of badnicks and eggpawns emerge from newly opening doors and begin charging towards the group.

“I knew this was too easy.” Sonic comments as he takes a running stance.

Knuckles smashes his mighty fists together. “Let’s do this.”

Amy twirls her massive hammer like a baton and holds it out to the approaching treat. “You do what needs to be done, Tails. I’ll cover you.”

The orange fox gives the pink hedgehog a small nod and then makes a break for the control panel. Amy glances back the fox and then to the small army approaching her. “Just be quick about it.”

------

An explosion tears though the room as Sonic and Knuckles decimate the approaching forces. With Sonic ricocheting off the larger badnicks, and using his spin dash on the numerous eggpawns. The hedgehog stops a few feet from a large pile of destroyed robot and smirks at the red echidna. “Beat that.”

“With pleasure.” Knuckles retorts as he drives his large fist into a nearby robots; sending it crashing into a small group of its brethren. And then proceeds to deliver a folly of quick gabs on a few other small fry; either destroying them on impact or sending them careening into other robots or objects.

Sonic smirks at the echidna and messages his right shoulder. “I’m just getting started.”

“Good.” Knuckles adds as he shadow boxes the empty space in front of him. “I’m not even warmed up yet.”

------

Numerous backnicks and eggpawns are sent flying to the ground, smashing into walls, or colliding with each other; usually in pieces. As a certain pink hedgehog, swings her mighty hammer at the approaching threat.

“Where do these things keep coming from?” Amy inquires as she pusher her bands out of her face. “It’s like they knew we were here.”

Tails frantically taps buttons on a small keypad. As he glances up every so often to blast away an enemy, that bypassed Amy. “Not likely. The ships as sent to lockdown.” He looks up and glances at the pink hedgehog. “This is just one of the protocols.”

Amy lets out a sigh and smashes though another hoard of badnicks. “Great, I’d hate think what happened if he knew we were here.”

The orange fox continues to smash away at the keyboard, till a red light flashes across the screen; prompting him to smash his fist down on the buttons. “Damn it!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m locked out; Eggman must have erected another firewall. I can’t get in.”

Amy glares at one of the approaching eggpawns and drives her hammer into its face. “Well there goes our plan.” The pink hedgehog turns to the battle duo in the distance. “Sonic! We have a problem here!”

------

The blue hedgehog’s ears perk up at the mention of his name; prompting Sonic to turn back to the ones whose calling it. “This can’t be good.” The hedgehog turns to the red echidna. “Think you can handle things on your for a minute?”

“Pfft, I have been fighting these things on my own the whole time-“Knuckles retorts as he turns to the blue hedgehog with a cocky smirk. “-you’ve just been taking out the strays.”

Sonic throws his hands up into the air in defeat. “Whatever you say, bud. Just try to hold them off till I get back.”

“That is ‘if’ there is any left after I’m done.” Knuckles boasts as he charges into a small group of badniks; sending them crashing into a nearby wall with a mightily strike.

The hedgehog smirks at the echidnas reply and then dashes off towards his other friends.

------

A massive eggpawn explodes and scatters onto the steel floor as a beam of energy strikes its chest. Tails lowers his arm cannon and blows the puff of smoke left behind from the blast.

“Hey, that one was mine!” Amy snaps as she angrily glares at the orange fox.

Tails turns a small dial on his cannon and blasts away a cluster of badniks. “Well excuse me; I was just trying to keep us alive. I didn’t know we were keeping score!”

Amy frown as the fox’s comment, but then turns around and lets out a sigh. “Thanks.”

The air lets out a deafening snap as a certain blue hedgehog appears before the duo.

“What’s the problem, little buddy?” Sonic inquires as he turns to the orange fox.

Tails lets out a sigh and notations to the control panel we was trying to hack. “It would seem Robotnik anticipated someone hacking his systems. He’s set up some countermeasures.”

“Can’t you get past those?”

The orange fox shakes his head. “Not with what I have on hand. I’d need to build a micro resequencer that works in tangent with a finite state machine, which would…”

Sonic holds up a hand to silence the orange fox. “Alright, I get it. It can’t be done in what time we have.”

“Correct.”

“What about you’re that backup plan you were working on?”

Tails glances turns away and looks at the ground. “That is only to be used as an absolute last resort.”

“Ok, so why not just smash it then?”

Tails rears his head back at the question. “Well it is possible, but…”

“’But’ what?”

“Well it would compromise the ships navigation control or maybe even send us colliding with the nearest mountain or hill side.”

“Isn’t that what we’re trying to do?” Amy cuts in as she knocks a hoard of badniks away. “I mean, wasn’t the whole point of coming here to knock this thing out of the sky?”

“Well yes, but-“Tails mutters as he scratches his head. “-it’s a dangerous alternative to the original plan.”

Sonic picks up a piece of one of the destroyed enemies. “It will still work, won’t it?”

Yes, but-“

The orange fox is cut off as the blue hedgehog lobs the piece at a nearby control panel; causing it to spark and let out a plume of smoke as it shorts out.

“Auxiliary propulsion off line. Diverting all remaining power to critical systems.” A disembodied voice says over the intercoms.

“See, when life gives you lemons. You smash them till you get lemonade.”

“I don’t think that how the saying goes.” Tails retorts.

The blue hedgehog shrugs. “Whatever, we just need to knock the rest of these out and this thing is dead in the water.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Amy responds as she flings her hammer at another control panel; cause it to react the same way the other one did, but with more verbosity.

------

Something explodes on the rear of the air ship, sending black smoke bellowing out from one its engines.

------

“Engine 3 is offline….compensating.” The voice says again.

C’mon Tails, what else?” Sonic inquires to a now frustrated orange fox.

“This one!” Tails responds as he blasts another panel with his laser canon; causing the room to blacken for a moment and then realuminate to at half the brightness.

------

Another explosion erupts from the ship, this time on the opposite side as the first one.

------

“Engine 1 is offline….reconfiguring.” the voice reports again.

“Alright, if that last one didn’t get Eggmans’ attention. That one sure did.” Sonic states as he glances as the newly destroyed control panel.

“Anyone else find it odd that we’ve managed to make this far, without much resistance?” Tails inquires as he glances as the destroyed eggpawns and badniks.

“I agree, this has been way too easy.”

A sudden explosion erupts from the far side of the room, prompting to thee to turn in its direction. Reveling a certain echidna removing his arm form one of the panels. “What?” He snaps raising his arms in confusion.

------

Another explosion occurs next to the first one; increasing the already use cloud of smoke coming from the rear of the ship.

------

“Engine 2 is offline….diverting all power to…..error…unable to comply. Critical mainframe damaged….assistance is required.” The voice reports for a fourth time.

“How many engines does this ship-“ Knuckles is cut off midsentence as the entire room shifts to the right; Sending the group (and everything else) smashing into the nearby wall. Amy’s Piko hammer becomes dislodged from the panel she sank it into and strikes the egg chair; snapping it clean off the floor before slamming into the hall with everything else.

------

The sky explodes in a fury of red and orange as a large red space ship soars through it. Sections of it bellow out fire and puffs of black smoke. The large space fighter descends over a plot of dense forest, clipping a large pillar of stone as it clears a path through the trees. It comes to a stop just yards away from a large ravine.

A red light flashes in a large, otherwise dark room, lighting the room every three seconds as an alarm sounds in the distance. A certain blue hedgehog lets out a groan as he stumbles to his feet and gives his head a quick shake. "Is everyone okay?" he asks as he looks around the room.

"OW!" another voice calls out from a few feet away. "I think that crash broke my everything," a familiar orange fox whines as he rubs his forehead and tries to use his other hand to push himself off the floor.

"Remind me not to let you plan the next vacation," a third voice says as a red echidna stumbles to his feet.

"Quit complaining!" a female voice shouts. "If Sonic hadn't done that, we all would be dead!" a pink hedgehog snaps as she jumps to her feet and retrieves a large hammer several feet away.

"Everybody be quiet!" Sonic snaps. "We're not out of the woods yet."

"Oh ho ho ho! How right you are, Sonic," a certain mad doctor's voice states over the ship's intercom.

"What do you want?" Tails demands. "We've already grounded your ship, and attacking us with anything else would only diminish your precious resources." Knuckles lets out an amused grunt. "Maybe the good doctor wants us to do a little renovation," he boasts, smashing his fists together.

"Fine by me!" Amy adds, resting the handle of the large hammer on her right shoulder.

"Give up now and we won't have to put you in a hurt locker!" Sonic states as he crosses his arms and smiles in his trademark fashion.

"How very amusing," the doctor states. "You four think you have the upper hand. Well, think again," Robotnik says as the room suddenly brightens, the sound of a light hum coming from a control module nearby.

"Thanks for turning the lights back on," Sonic begins. "But you still haven't answered Tails' question. What do you want?"

"Never one for semantics, were you Sonic?" the mad doctor states as a large monitor pops up, displaying Robotnik sitting in a large egg chair, surrounded by a large array of computers circling the chair in a ring formation, the only break being behind the chair. "Well then, let's cut to the chase. You have something I want."

The blue hedgehog lets out an amused laugh and crosses his arms behind his head. "I've been getting that a lot, but what could you possibly want from me?" Sonic asks."You've already got all seven of the Chaos emeralds, what else could you possibly need?"

The doctor grins from behind his control panel. "Well, your life for one, but we'll get to that later. What I'm interested in is this!" Robotnik states as he smashes down a large red button with his fist. Suddenly, the alarms sound again as a series of clear tubes burst from the floor, three of which trapping the blue hedgehog's friends as he leaps out the way of a fourth one.

"Haha, impressive!" the doctor quips. "However, it changes nothing." The blue hedgehog runs to his trapped friends, who are beating on the clear tubes with their fists.

"We've done this song and dance before, Eggman," Sonic says solemnly. "Your beef is with me, let my friends go!"

Robotnik taps on the edge of his control panel with an unamused look. "My name is not 'Eggman'," the doctor states as he leaps from his chair. "It's DR. IVO ROBOTNIK! And you'd best remember that. But what makes you think your friends don't have a role to play in my plan?"

"Enlighten me," an unamused Sonic demands.

"Very well," the doctor replies as he adjusts his glasses. "Since you asked so nicely." Two more tubes rise from the floor, each containing another occupant. "Ever since our little clash on Angel Island some time back, I've been rather intrigued on how the Chaos emeralds surpassed their usual state and became super-charged with power from the master..." Robotnik's rant falls out deaf ears as the blue hedgehog has already run to inspect the new tubes. "HEY, I'M TALKING HERE!" the doctor shouts.

"Blah, blah, blah, emerald fetish, mommy never loved you. I've heard this before," Sonic replies as he steps towards one of the tubes.

"Not once have I ever mentioned my mother to you!" Robotnik shouts over the TV screen.

"But you never said she loved you either," Sonic adds as he wipes away the condensation away from one of the tubes and takes a step back. "What the hell? Eggman, what is this? Why is she here?"

The doctor drums his fingers atop the control panel bearing the same expression as before. "Robotnik, my name is Robotnik. Why can't you understand that?"

"Zip it!" Sonic shouts. "WHY IS CREAM IN THIS TUBE!?" the blue hedgehog demands before running to the other container and wiping away the fog away from it."WHY IS ROUGE HERE?!" Sonic expression fades as he scratches his chin. "Why IS Rouge here?"

Robotnik lets out a sinister laugh as the occupants inside the tubes begin to stir. Cream is the first one to open her eyes and look around at her new surroundings. "Mr. Sonic," she begins. "What is all this, why am I here?" Before the hedgehog can answer, Rouge awakens and begins to immediately bang her fists against the tube's casing.

"LET ME OUT OF THIS INFERNAL TUBE!" The white bat suddenly turns to the blue hedgehog. "Sonic! Thank heavens, get me out of here. I'll get you anything you want. You want jewels? I can get you jewels," the white bat continues. "Gold? I can get you all the gold you could ever want. I'll even give you my hand in marriage. JUST GET ME OUT OF THIS TUBE, I HATE BEING IN SMALL SPACES!"

"Hey!" the pink hedgehog shouts. "Sonic is mine, not yours, you stupid bat!"

"Not really the time, Amy," Tails adds frowning at the events unfolding in front of him.

"You never answered my question, Eggman," Sonic states as he glares at the computer screen."Why are Cream and Rouge here? Neither of these two poses any threat to you."

"HEY!" the white bat shouts as she smashes her fists on the walls of the tube.

The doctor removes his glasses and cleans them on his coat before answering. "Maybe so, but it's the influences they have that poses a threat. Your little rabbit friend over there may not be much on her own, but when she's able to call upon an army of chao (that you and I both know can be a formidable foe). I'd rather not be defeated by a bunch of squishy flying marshmallows."

"And Rouge?"

"Rouge is at most a minor threat, but given her alliance with a certain government group, she's become more than a tiny blip on my radar when I'm faced with a barrage of warships sitting on my door step. Also, her being here helped me procure this," the doctor states as he pushes another button, causing a larger flat steel box to rise out of the floor.

"What is..." Sonic begins, but trails off as the casing of the box slides back, revealing Shadow strapped unconscious to a strange device with a series of tubes and wires attached to his body.

"You see," Robotnik begins, "aside from her military pull and her ability to obtain any jewel, our little bat has captured the heart of a certain 'ultimate life form' here, making his capture mere child's play once we threatened to hurt his little girlfriend here."

Sonic turns towards a blushing Rouge, then to Knuckles, then back to Shadow. "Aw, we've got a love triangle here. Though with my sudden addition to it, it would make it a square now, wouldn't it?"

"Shut up, Sonic!" Knuckles shouts. "You have so many facets to your ever-growing harem that it might as well be a circle."

Everyone gives the echidna a bewildered look at his sudden outburst except for Robotnik, who begins to snicker behind a closed fist. "Aw, the miracle of cross species relationships…" The doctor’s face turns serious. "It sickens me."

"Says the man with mommy issues," Sonic jests, giving the doctor a smirk. Robotnik snarls furiously at the hedgehog.

"Enough!" Robotnik shouts as he slams his fists on the control panel. "I've gathered you all here for one reason. Though you may all be a threat to me and my plan to rules his merger planet, you all have something in common that is of use to me." A crude sketch of Sonic appears on a smaller window on the screen, many graphs and figures surrounding it.

"You see, whether you knew it or not, you all have had contact with this blasted hedgehog in one way or another-" a few other crude sketches of the others appear on screen "-resulting in each of you absorbing some Chaos energy. Three of you-" the sketches of Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles change color "-have even been able to obtain super forms of your own."

"Then why is Shadow strapped to that machine and not stuck inside a tube like the rest of us?" Tails asks the doctor, who grins cheerfully behind the computer screen.

"Glad you asked. You see, despite being able to drain the energy from you pests at the drop of a hat, I've never been able to distill it, purify it, use it for my own purposes. Until now." Robotnik points to Shadow. "Thanks to his extensive genetic engineering, he makes the perfect vessel to store all of this raw Chaos energy."

"But why!?" Tails demands. "Why are you doing all this? Is it just to super charge the Chaos emeralds?"

"It makes no sense," Knuckles adds.

The doctor's smug expression fades as he raises an eyebrow to the orange fox. "I've grown tired of trying to explain this to you lesser creatures. You will see soon enough," Robotnik states as he presses another button on his keyboard.

Suddenly, the five tubes begin to sink into floor as their occupants begin to thrash about.

"Get me out of here!" Knuckles shouts.

"Sonic, help me!" Amy pleads as she strikes her tube with her hammer

"Not like this, not like this!" Tails adds, pacing inside the small tube.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!" Rouge shouts as she sinks into the floor.

Cream just lets out a high-pitched scream.

Sonic runs to each of the tubes, trying frantically to free his friends from their cylindrical prisons, only to watch in horror as they vanish into the floor, silence taking over the room.

"EGGMAN!" Sonic shouts as he turns to the computer screen.

The mad doctor stares longingly into a red chaos emerald before acknowledging the hedgehog's cry. "Magnificent aren't they? So beautiful, yet so deadly."

"LET THEM GO!" Sonic demands as he snarls at the doctor.

"In due time, Sonic. In due time. You are the key to this experiment, so don’t go any ware"

“What are you talking about?” The hedgehog snaps in a ferousious tone.

Six smaller images of the doctor's prisoners appear on the screen, replacing the crude sketches and graphs, each of Sonic's friends frantically looking about as a heart monitor beeps from under each image. Robotnik places the red gem into a large case with the others in front of him and places his hand over a blue lever.

“See, despite you’re friends possessing residual amounts of chaos energy, you have absorbed massive amounts do to your prolonged exposure to the emeralds.”

“Yeah, every time I’ve kicked your butt. Now let me friends go.” Sonic snaps as he glares at the screen.

“Only if you step into the chamber I’ve provided.” “Robotnic replies as another glass tube emerges from the floor.

“Forget it, if I’m not ‘that’ dumb.”

"Then, on to phase two," he says as he grabs the lever and pulls it down. “Let’s hoep your friends can take it.”

Suddenly the images begin to scream out in agony as they're shocked with some sort of strange energy. Even Shadow's eyes burst open as he's forced to hold all this new energy.

"STOP IT, DAMN IT, STOP IT, EGGMAN!" Sonic demands.

"Sorry, can't hear you, over the sound of my plan coming together."

"EGGMAN!"

The six images go limp as the heart monitors flat line, filling the quiet room with a long, high-pitched beeeeeeeeeeeeep.

The doctor giggles madly. "Oops. Looks like I killed them. Thought they'd hold out a little longer than that."

Sonic stares blankly at the images of his six dead friends on the screen.

"Oh well," Robotnik muses as he holds his hands up into the air. "I guess I'll just have to do this the hard way," he adds as he pushes another button, causing the six images to disappear from the screen and the steel case to slide into the floor. "They're genetic material will be more than sufficient."

The blue hedgehog balls his fists in rage as he glares at the image of the Doctor before him. "What's this?" Robotnik asks in a mock-worried tone. "Did I hurt your little friends?"

Sonic punches the computer screen, causing it to crack and splinter as the image flickers for a brief moment. "You're dead!"

"Come and get me," the doctor teases.

The blue hedgehog bursts from the room in an explosion of speed and power, charging through the airship at breakneck speed, destroying everything in his pursuit of the doctor. Steel doors burst from there hinges, defense cannons snap from there mounts, and security camera explode as Sonic tears apart the airship, finally arriving at the top of the downed cruiser. Flames destroy the forest around him as the ship smolders in the newly-made trench it's sitting in.

Robotnik frantically zips around the ship’s exterior in his egg mobile, unaware of the hedgehog's arrival. "Fly you infernal machine, fly!" the doctor demands as he solders an exposed wire.

Sonic opens his mouth to announce his arrival, only to clench his jaw in pain as he hold his hand over a fresh wound on the side of his stomach. Fresh blood runs down his side.

"You bastard! What have you done?!" he snarls at the figure before him.

"I did what had to be done, Sonic," the doctor replies from behind a thick veil of smoke.

"You monster."

The doctor smirks. "That's debatable," he states, pressing a button in his mobile that causes the ship's engines to fire up. "Well it's been real, and it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun," he adds as the ship start to take off, causing the hedgehog to stumble backwards.

Robotnik lets out an evil laugh as he flips opens a hatch and enters the now functional ship. "Good bye, Sonic the hedgehog."

Large thrusters on the side of the ship flip downward and begin to scorch the already charred earth as the craft begins to lift from the ground. The blue hedgehog clings for dear life to the rear of the ship as it starts to gain altitude and thrust forward.

Inside the ship, the mad doctor leaps out of his egg mobile as he reaches a long corridor and enters a large room as a metal door slides upward.

"This wasn't part of the plan," Robotnik states as he frantically starts pressing numerous buttons. "I have to divert all non-critical power to thrusters to get this tub back to base," he adds as he presses another button, causing a small podium to rise from the floor, holding a large case containing the 7 Chaos emeralds, now with a dark aura around them. "Darn it, I was close. If those pathetic creatures hadn't died then I'd-"

"Those 'pathetic creatures' were my friends," a voice says from behind the doctor, causing him to tense up and slowly turn around.

"S-Sonic, glad you could make it. Great to see you," Robotnik says coyly as he starts to inch towards a console.

"Skip it; I know what you're planning."

Robotnik lets out an amused chuckle as he eyes a green button in the console marked with a lightning bolt over it. "Do you, Sonic?" he asks as he takes a large step towards his target...

"You're planning on recreating the super emeralds, but what I don't understand is why." Sonic states as he watches the Doctor hover over the counsel.

"And that's why you'll never achieve greatness, because your feeble mind will..." Robotnik trails off as he smashed his fist down on the button, causing a large laser to drop down from the ceiling and fire in the hedgehog's direction, only to strike the pedestal holding the emeralds, causing the case to begin to crack.

The Doctor stares in bewilderment at the fact that he missed, only to turn to his right and see Sonic, who instantly grabs his arm and begins to twist it.

"W-what are you doing?" Robotnik demands as his arm start to bend in an unnatural direction.

The hedgehog gives the arm one final twist, letting out a loud snap, causing the doctor to collapse to his knees and grab his broken arm. "Taking away you're tools of destruction."

Robotnik lets out an amused chuckle as he sways to his feet, still gripping his broken arm. "You've progressed nicely. Too bad it took the death of your-"

"Did I say you could stand up?" Sonic asks quietly as he kicks the Doctor in the knee, resulting in it snapping in the wrong direction. The mad doctor winces in pain as he falls to the ground again.

"Muahahaha!" Robotnik breaks into a fit of insane laugher. "Yes, keep at it! Let the hate consume you. Relish in the feeling, because you will be feeling it for a long-"

Sonic grabs the doctor by the collar of his jacket and jerks him up to eye level. "Did I say you could talk?" He asks, to which Robotnik shakes his head.

The black-tinted emeralds on the pedestal begin to vibrate, cracking the already damaged case.

The blue hedgehog releases his grip on the doctor and lets him hit the ground with a hard thud, then holds his right shoe over his gut. "Give me one reason. Give me one damn reason why I shouldn't kill you right now."

Robotnik smirks. "Because I'm all you have left. Everyone you ever cared about is dead. You're all alone without me."

Sonic removes his foot from the doctor's stomach and takes a step back. "That's all you got?" the hedgehog asks. "THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?"

An explosion erupts from behind the hedgehog as the case containing the emeralds shatters and frees the gems, which encircle the now infuriated Sonic.

"You set up a coup to overthrow our king-" Sonic's voice starts to change "-nearly conquering this world-" the hedgehog's teeth grow jagged "-destroyed my home-" his blue quills start to bend and turn yellow "-and now, YOU'VE KILLED MY FRIENDS-" Sonic's once emerald green eyes turn red and distort into small spirals "-ALL JUST SO YOU CAN POWER UP AN ALMOST INFINITE POWER SOURCE?" Electricity crackles around the now deranged hedgehog as spikes of yellow light pulsate from the body of the once blue hero.

"You have to understand, Sonic," Robotnik pleads as he inches towards the wall behind him. "I was only acting with the people of Mobius's best interests in mind," he adds as he slides his left hand along the wall and stops as it reaches a small lever.

The Chaotic energy encasing the hedgehog becomes amplified tenfold as computer monitors and windows shatter with the raw energy of the emeralds. "THEIR BEST INTERESTS?" Sonic questions as his mouth twists into a jagged scowl. "YOU ONLY ACTED IN YOUR OWN BEST INTERESTS."

------

The room remains quite as the group stares at the hedgehog at the end of the table. Who is staring intently at the table. “I don’t really remember much after that. Last thing I can recall is waking up to Fluttershy patching me up, while Twilight trying to figure out what I am.”

A hand is placed on the hedgheog’s shoulder; Prompting him to look up at a set of caring golden eyes. “I’m sorry, Sonic.” The purple cat begins. “I didn't know.

The alicorn sisters’ exchange looks, before looking back at the distrait Sonic. “For you to go though such an ordeal, I can’t image what this would be like.” The sun princess comments.

“We shall assist in any way possible to help bring this ‘Robotnik’ to justice.” Luna adds as she slams her hooves on the table.

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Sonic comments as he looks up the moon princess.

“Why dose thee say that?”

“You’ve seen what that ‘thing’ is capable of. Now image it at full power. Nothing could survive an attack from that.”

“So you mean-“ Luna begins.

“Yes, I do.”

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Loose ends