Sonic the Hedgehog stared into his rival's metallic eyes from across the battle floor. His archenemy, Dr. Eggman, was observing the scene from behind a sturdy glass window in the wall, laughing as he watched his latest invention, a robot prototype code-named Silver Sonic, prepare to carry out its inventor's commands, which were, of course, to destroy "that wretched hedgehog".

The mechanical replica of Sonic began to grind its spikes with a menacing metallic noise. The real hedgehog didn't flinch. He was taking his time to assess the situation in which he now found himself. This fight would be so much easier to win if Tails were here. But his two-tailed fox friend was not in the space station with Sonic; he was still back on their home planet, tending to his plane, which had been damaged by one of Eggman's monstrous flying machines. Sonic was here on his own, which was just as well; this was his fight to win.

Eggman pushed a button on a control board in front of him, and suddenly Silver Sonic sprang into action. It curled into a spiked ball, and began to roll in place, building energy. Sonic knew what was going to happen next, having performed this same move several times himself, and prepared to evade the attack. Once the machine had built up enough power, it rushed forward at an amazing speed, rolling directly towards its real life counterpart.

Sonic didn't hesitate. He ran forth towards his approaching rival, but instead of meeting it head on, he jumped over the robot a split second before impact, and it merely rolled away to the other end of the battle floor. The blue hedgehog landed on the ground and continued on to the edge of the floor previously occupied by the machine.

Neither Eggman nor his invention was fazed. The robot stood up, turned back to its target, curled up again, and began to roll in place once more. But this time it wouldn't simply roll across the floor. Sonic had a feeling that Eggman had another trick up his sleeve, so the hedgehog bent down, and, by pushing against the ground in one direction with his feet and in the other direction underneath with his hands, he began to roll in place in his signature Spin Dash move.

The two rivals sped off towards each other at the exact same time. Sonic had been right about Eggman's trick, for upon reaching the center of the floor, the robot suddenly sprang into the air, and from there emitted several sharp spikes in every direction. Sonic, however, simply kept rolling at high speed along the floor, and reached the edge just as one of the spikes drove itself into the ground an inch away from him, narrowly missing his leg.

Silver Sonic stood up and faced its target once more. The real Sonic turned back and stared at his opponent, silently challenging it. It was only too clear what his sly smile was saying:

"Is that the best you've got?"

Eggman didn't hesitate to select another control from his board. This time, the robot didn't curl up into a ball. Instead, small but powerful thrusters were activated in the heels of the machine's wheeled feet, and Silver Sonic was propelled forward at high speed, making directly for its inventor's enemy.

It was a mistake. Quick as a flash, Sonic rushed into his Spin Dash move once more, rapidly gaining enough power to shoot forth towards his mechanical counterpart. This was exactly the opportunity he had been waiting for. No longer protected by a spiked shell, the robot was completely vulnerable to the force behind Sonic's attack. The hedgehog collided with his opponent in the middle of the battle floor, and the power of the attack was enough to rupture the metal figure of Eggman's machine.

Sonic broke through his rival's mechanical shell and continued on to the end of the floor, turning back to observe the effect of his attack on the machine. The damage he had done to the robot was enough to short-circuit its interior workings, and consequently cause it to explode, leaving a pile of charred metal components scattered around the center of the floor. Silver Sonic was destroyed.

Cursing his enemy for ruining half a year's worth of his hard work and planning, Eggman shut down his control center and ran off towards the dock at the end of the space station. As he hurried down the corridor, he realized that Sonic was breaking through the closed metal gate at the entrance to the battle floor, and would soon be right on his tail.

Once the evil scientist was inside the room full of escape pods for which he had been heading, the hedgehog did, in fact, make it out of the chamber and down the corridor at an incredible speed. Sonic reached the end of the space station just in time to see Eggman leaving in one of the pods. Refusing to let his enemy escape, he ran towards the edge of the dock and jumped out onto the pod, which was making its way to their home planet.

Realizing he had an unwanted passenger aboard, Eggman quickly flipped the pod around and successfully shook Sonic off, causing him to fall towards the planet below. Fortunately for the hedgehog, he was caught in the air by a small airplane, piloted by his loyal and skilled friend Tails.

After thanking the fox for catching him, Sonic looked up towards the sky, watching a small red streak zooming past at high velocity. He could almost hear its pilot yelling out a promise to him that their quarrel was not over yet.

"You're right, Eggman", he said quietly. "This isn't over yet. You'll see."

And he laughed at the disappearing pod as his friend turned the plane around and made a course for home.