Chapter 3
Meeting Sonic Team

ALPHA stared, incredulous, at the creature in front of them. It was large (for a hedgehog), it walked on two legs, it had hands, and it wore shoes. He had five large quills on the back of his head, and two on his upper back. But what struck them most was his fur color. He was blue. Very blue.
Kerry shook his head in shock, "Sonic…the Hedgehog?"
Said animal gave him a thumbs-up and a wink, "That's me!"
Kerry thought back to the fight with the Egg Pawns. "Any relation to a Metal Sonic?"
Sonic looked solemn, "Yeah, the good doctor built him as an ultimate weapon to defeat me. Didn't quite work, though. Me an' him think exactly alike. Leads to a stalemate."
He brightened up, "C'mon, meet the gang."
He motioned them into the room he was just in, which turned out to be a workshop. Multiple animals were in here.
Sonic motioned to an orange kitsune with two tails. "This is my brother, Miles 'Tails' Prower. He's the genius behind our operation."
Said kitsune ran up to Kerry and ran a scanner over him. "Amazing," he said, looking at the readings, "This armor is way advanced."
Kerry gently pushed him away, "Kid, please stay off the MJOLNIR."
Sonic gestured at what looked like Sonic, but with dreadlocked quills and red fur. He had spikes on his glove-like hands. "This is Knuckles the Echidna, Guardian of the Master Emerald, last of the Echidnas, some more stuff like that…"
Knuckles shot an angry look at Sonic, and then stretched his hand out. Kerry took it, and it seemed as though he was testing the strength of his handshake. He obliged, putting just enough strength to make Knuckles yelp in pain.
"OW!" he yelled, rubbing his reddened hand, "Nice…grip…"
Sonic and Tails laughed, and Sonic pointed a white hedgehog with wavy, star shaped quills, and a purple cat in a regal dress. "These are Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat. Silver's a Psychokinetic and Blaze is Pyrokinetic."
Silver gave a calm salute, while Blaze did nothing.
Sonic whispered to Kerry, "She's antisocial."
As Blaze looked pointedly at Sonic, he coughed uncomfortably. He went on, "We have a few others that aren't here now. We will introduce you to them later. In the meantime, why don't you find a room and get some rest. Upstairs is the guest rooms."
Kerry and Adam looked at Trevor. Kerry turned to Sonic and stated, "Unless the upper floor has titanium-reinforced flooring, my armor ain't going up there, and Trevor ain't going period."
Sonic looked at Trevor, who was on his stomach. "Why? He isn't that big…"
Kerry snapped his fingers, and Trevor stood up. He was huge, twice the size of Kerry, who was in turn twice the size of Sonic. The hedgehog gaped up at the Hunter.
"Dang! You're big!"
Knuckles butted in, "Kerry and Adam will be able to stay here, 'cause they look like us. But this dude… Why don't I take him to Angel Island?"
Sonic looked at him in shock. "Wait! What? You're willingly bringing someone to Angel Island? Why?"
"Well, it's the most secluded place we know, and he would make a good defense weapon."
Sonic rolled his eyes. "You and your Emerald."

After this, Kerry was out of his armor and sparring with Knuckles. The echidna was extremely good with MMA, and Kerry was struggling to modify his Sangheili CQC for his human form and Knuckles' small stature. Even so, they were at a stalemate.
Behind him, he heard a motorcycle pull into the garage. After a few minutes, a rush from a minijet was heard. As Kerry turned, Knuckles jumped up and got him in a headlock. He used his momentum to slam him into the ground.
"Never take your eyes off the opponent. Ever."
Kerry grunted, "Wouldn't be so tough if I had my armor, would you?"
Knuckles laughed. Over the roar of his guffaws, Sonic yelled out for Kerry.
Kerry disentangled himself from the echidna and walked to the garage. Inside, Sonic was standing with a black hedgehog and a larger robot with the Greek Omega on his shoulders.
Sonic waved him forward. "Kerry, this is Shadow the Hedgehog."
The black hedgehog turned and Kerry got a better look at him. He looked reasonably like Sonic, but he had black fur. His quills stuck up in the back, and he had red highlights on his arms and quills. He wore gloves, same as Sonic, but he also wore rings on his ankles and wrists. His shoes were a more advanced version of Sonic's. He carried a large rifle on his back. He crossed his arms and made a "Hmph" noise.
Sonic went on, "And this is E-123, designation Omega."
The bot, who was about abdomen height, looked Kerry up and down. "Analyzing: Threat Level Maximum. Unknown Technology detected. Activating defensive measures."
Sonic quickly stepped in front of Omega. "Whoa, buddy. He's on our side. Put him in your allies program."
Omega froze for a second, then stated, "Program rewritten: Subject: Kerry Freeman now Authorized Friendly."
Kerry looked warily at Sonic. He shrugged.
They were interrupted by Tails yelling from the workshop. They ran in.
"What is it, little buddy?"
Tails was jumping up and down in excitement. "I did it!"
Sonic cocked his head. "Did what?"
Tails started talking fast. "Remember that Echidna robot we found a while back? The one that went haywire? The Gizoid?"
Sonic nodded, "Yeah. Emerl. How could I forget him?"
Tails went on, "Well, I managed to extract the AI from his body. While doing that, I found the schematics for his body. With the help of the tech from the Dark Brotherhood, I managed to reconstruct him to almost original specifications!"
Sonic had started nodding off. Kerry picked up the slack. "Meaning?"
Tails snapped his fingers. Out of a side door walked an orange robot. He had bright blue eyes, and a horn on his head. He was about Sonic's height. When the bot saw Sonic, he jumped on him. Kerry grabbed his Assault Rifle from his back. Tails held him back.
"Wait."
Kerry nodded. He now noticed that the robot wasn't attacking Sonic, he was playing with him.
"Ow, ow! Emerl, stop! I missed ya too, man!"
The robot stood up and apologized. He turned to Kerry and asked, "Who's he?"
Sonic picked himself up. "That's Kerry. He's new."
Emerl turned to Tails, "Can I fight him?"
"I'm not sure if that's-"
Kerry butted in, "C'mon, Miles. What's the worst that can happen?"
Tails sighed, "Fine, but two conditions. First, wear your power armor."
"And second?"
Tails glared at him, "Don't call me Miles."

Fifteen minutes later, they were out in the yard. Kerry had his power armor, and full use of his weapons. Emerl just stood there, slightly cocky.
"Fight!"
Emerl charged, with speed that would rival Sonic. Kerry dodged out of the way and pulled his sword. He activated his av-cam.
As Emerl looked for him, he snuck up behind. He let out a massive slash. The attack knocked the robot reeling. As Kerry stood triumphantly, the robot stood up. To Kerry's astonishment, Emerl flickered and disappeared. When he looked closely, he saw a shimmer. Then impact.
"CRAP!"
He hit the ground. The robot alighted near him and deactivated the av-cam. He leapt into the air. Kerry rolled and fired his rocket launcher. As the rocket closed on him, Emerl raised his arm and brushed the rocket away. Kerry held the launcher up in self-defense. A purple, forked blade erupted from Emerl's arm and neatly bisected the launcher.
As he hit the ground, he rolled up and Spin Charged. After a few seconds, he bounced backwards and a wave of energy launched forward. Kerry sidestepped and activated an overshield. He pulled out his shotgun. One, two, three shots into the bot. As the smoke cleared, he saw Emerl standing, unscathed, with a silvery ripple around his body. Kerry decided to pull out the big guns.
He ran to the edge of the arena and grabbed his Spartan Laser. He turned and activated his Drop Shield. As it rejuvenated him, he took aim. The Gizoid was firing shot after shot outside, using some sort of shotgun replica. As the shield ran down, the charge cycle completed.
He looked through the scope. "Sayonara, sucker."
He fired. The laser shot forward at the speed of light. An aura of red surrounded the Gizoid. When it dissipated, he saw a redlining Drop Shield with Emerl inside.
He sighed to himself, "You've got to be joking."
He pulled out two MA-37 assault rifles and opened fire. The robot ran sideways out of the way. He heard the thing yell, "Chaos Control!"
He felt an impact on his back. He reached behind and grabbed it. It was a small capsule with blue energy swirling inside. Etched on the side were the words Sonic Cracker. He realized what this meant too late.
When the shock subsided, he struggled to get up. Blood was staining the inside of his helmet, obscuring his vision. A side of his visor was cracked. As he got up, he removed the helmet. He nodded at Emerl.
"Come get some…"
Emerl started forward, but was blocked by Sonic. Shadow appeared in front of Kerry. Shadow whispered to him, "You did great, Kerry. But you can't win this."
Kerry looked furious, but relented. He felt his adrenaline wearing off. The pain in his limbs was becoming too much to bear. He passed out.