Sonic & Tails came to a halt when they found Knuckles the Echidna relaxing in a tree's shade. This red Echidna had served as the guardian of the Master Emerald on his home of Angel Island, but also served as a part-time guardian of Knothole Village, one of the few bastions of freedom in a world gone mad.

"Hey Knuckles, what's up dude?" said Sonic.

"Not much," replied Knuckles. "Not that you'd care, anyways. What do you want, guys?"

"Didn't you hear? Robotnik's building a new mech factory!" said Sonic. "If we don't stop it, he's just gonna have more tin cans to flatten us with!"

"Ugh, doesn't that egghead ever give up?" wondered Knuckles.

"Knuckles, if he ever gave up, nobody else would hire us!" said Sonic. "Now come on, let's turn those robots into scrap metal!"

"Well, there goes another hour of peace & quiet," lamented Knuckles, who sped off with Sonic & Tails. Though he had little trouble keeping up with the Blue Blur or the Two-Tailed Wonder, what he really wanted to do was break something with his fists.

As the trio sped towards Eggopolis, they were unaware that one of the most wayward warps was being set up to ensnare them.

Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik was observing them remotely via a floating camera bot. A rotund, balding man with a distinct mustache, Robotnik was perhaps the foulest villain on the face of Mobius, if not the universe. Though he possessed an above-average IQ and was extraordinarily cunning, his devious devices had been foiled time and time again by Sonic, and he'd had just about enough.

This time, however, he was thoroughly convinced that things would be different.

"Snively, what is our status on my new mech factory?" asked Robotnik.

"Good news, sir, the plant should be operational within an hour," said Snively. A short, nearly bald man with a distinct nose & nasally voice, Snively was not only Robotnik's assistant, but his nephew as well.

"Excellent," remarked Dr. Robotnik. "Now, we just need to get rid of the Hedgehog & his wretched little friends!"

"About that, sir," said Snively, "Scratch & Grounder are setting the trap for them right now!"

"Well, I do hope they succeed," said Dr. Robotnik, "This factory is too important to my operations. Once we get the Hedgehog, then the rest of his friends will fall! Heh heh heh heh heh heh!


Scratch & Grounder, meanwhile, had staked themselves out at a certain spot in the wilderness, just waiting for Sonic & crew to fall into the trap that they'd set up. Scratch was a robotic chicken with long legs. Grounder was a short robot with caterpillar tracks for legs, plus drill bits for his hands & nose. Often, Dr. Robotnik employed the robotic duo for field work despite the fact that they'd shown themselves to be incompetent on repeated occasions.

This time, though, could be different.

Scratch & Grounder were setting up a teleporter device in an attempt to send Sonic & co. to Robotnik's military prison. They carefully concealed the device so that it was invisible from a significant distance, yet would not be jammed or interfered with by the camouflage.

"There, it's all set!" said Scratch.

"Yeah, now we just gotta wait for that dumb hedgehog and his friends to cross the trap!" said Grounder.

"Did you remember to arm the teleporter device?" asked Scratch.

"No, I thought that was your job!"

"No way, that was your job!

"No, that was your job, you overgrown woodpecker!"

"No, it was yours!"

The two came to blows with each other, but Scratch spoke up and said "FINE! I'll arm it myself! Gosh, I have to do all the work around here!"

"Well, you wouldn't have to do all the work yourself if you got it right the first time!" chided Grounder.

"Oh yeah!? When was the last time any of YOUR plans ever worked perfectly, you pointy-nosed pinhead!?"

"Well, at least MINE work, unlike SOMEBODY I know! Now give me the remote, bird brain!"

Scratch, who had just armed the device, said, "HEY! I was supposed to be the one to press the button!"

"Aw, come on!" cried Grounder, "You just armed the thing, so I have to press the button!"

"Well, I'm the one who has to do all the work, so I'M going to press the button!" retorted Scratch.

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

Again, Scratch & Grounder got into a fight over the remote control, which lasted until Grounder said, "Hey, I think I can see 'em now!"

"Where?" asked Scratch.

"Over there!" said Grounder.


Off in the distance, Team Sonic was making good time.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Tails.

"Tails, you've got a bad feeling about a lotta things!" said Sonic. "We've been through some tough stuff before, and ya know what? We got through just fine! Loosen up…BOOOFF!"

Sonic was tackled to the ground by Amy Rose, a pink hedgehog who wore a red dress & headband. She was a persistent admirer and wannabe girlfriend of Sonic, though Sonic never reciprocated the feelings.

"Oh Sonic, it's soooo good to see you again!" said Amy. "Like, I've missed you soooooo much!1! Please come take a walk with me, Sonic! Let's take a moonlit walk down by the lake! Let's go shopping, see a movie and do all silly fun things with each other!"

"Amy, knock it off!" said Sonic, who tried to shake Amy off without much success. "Amy, we got a mission to complete! Let go of me! Besides, it's only been two days since ya last saw me!"

"Can I come along, Sonic, baby!? I promise I'll be good! PLEEEAAAASSEE!?"

Tails intervened and said, "Miss Amy, could you please let go of Sonic? We're kinda busy, plus, I don't think he likes you…"

Amy bashed Tails with her Piko Piko Hammer and yelled, "OMG, GET AWAY FROM MY BOYFRIEND, YOU LITTLE STINKER!11!1!"

"Oh, brother," lamented Knuckles as he rolled his eyes.

"HEYYYY! I HEARD THAT, YOU DWEEB!" shouted Amy.

"Hey, l-let's not fight over this, A-Amy…" said Knuckles, terrified by Amy's demeanor.

"THAT'S RIGHT YOU DON'T FIGHT OVER THIS!" shouted Amy in her continuous over-reacting behavior. Calming down a bit, she turned to Sonic and said, "Well, what do you say, Sonic!? Are you with me!?"

"Gee, Amy…" said Sonic, pretending to fidget around nervously, "I'd love to, but…uh…Gotta flee, Bree!"

Sonic grabbed Tails & Knuckles, and the three of them fled as fast as they could.

"HEYYYYYYYYYY! Wait for meeeeeeeee!" shouted Amy as she chased after them.


Meanwhile, Scratch & Grounder were waiting for Sonic & friends to arrive.

When the trio got close, Scratch said, "There they are! Press the button, drill-head!"

"Got it!" replied Grounder, who pressed the proverbial red button once the heroes were just about on the teleporter.

"WHOA!" exclaimed Sonic. "Haannnng ooooooonnnnnnn…"

Sonic, Tails & Knuckles disappeared into nothingness, apparently incarcerated in Robotnik's prison.

Weirdly enough, Scratch & Grounder both experienced some unusual electrical interference while the teleporter was activated.

"Hey, did you feel that!?" asked Scratch.

"Yeah, that thing must've been real powerful!" replied Grounder. "But who cares? I did it!"

"WE did it, bozo!" snapped Scratch. "Now let's call the big boss before he sends us to the junkyard!"

Unlike Scratch & Grounder, a certain pink hedgehog was not happy about the disappearance of the Blue Blur.

"Sonic, honey, where are you!?" she yelled after stopping near the teleporter pad. "Sonic, where did you go!?"

Amy searched frantically for Sonic, to no avail.

"Sonic, what happened!?"

No reply.

"Sonic, this isn't funny!"

Again, silence.

"Sonic, respond! Sonic?! SOOOOOONNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!1!"