Hey everyone! So I'm sorry I didn't get this out a lot sooner, I've just been really busy and studio/house/room/apartment hunting is REALLY freaking hard. Also plot bunnies... plot bunnies everywhere... DX

In the mean time, here's one of my favorite parts of the game. Prison Island!

Prison Island

Off the Coast of the United Federation

8:55am

"...coming around. Keep your guard up, men."

The pounding in Sonic's head was offset with the slight clicking he heard a few feet from him. It took a few moments before the events of the evening before flooded back to him.

"I'm innocent," he thought, "I don't need to hurt them..."

With that thought he stood up slowly, ignoring the clicking sounds in front of him. He took the moment to take in his surroundings, or at least the half dozen men in front of him taking up space. One of the men was the spiky-haired human that he had taken down last night in the armored mech. He had five other featureless men in fully armored military gear around him- one on each side kneeling beside him and three behind him standing. The three men behind him had guns pointed at different points of Sonic's body while the two in front had each of his eyes in sight. The room itself was larger than a usual cell, although his cell only took up a small portion of the room. The concrete walls felt ominous to Sonic, although certainly not foreign. He was used to this sort of décor after years of infiltrating Eggman's bases. Even so, windowless and confined, Sonic was more than a little nervous about the thought of having to escape rather than being set free.

"I'm not the guy you're looking for you know," Sonic gave his signature smirk as he placed his hand on his hip, "You guys are all being duped by some fake hedgehog."

That made the spiked-human's eyebrow's shoot up, "You've seen the Project? Do you know where it went?"

Sonic took a step back in shock, "Project?! You mean that really is a fake hedgehog?"

The human blushed deeply before he shook his head, "Need to know, hedgehog, need to know."

A suddenly realization dawned on Sonic. His features fell into a snarl as his hopes of walking out of the prison were dashed, "So you knew I was framed."

The human refused to answer, choosing instead to turn to the men behind him, "Stay with him, you two inside the door, the rest outside. I need to go show Rico how to bag a hedgehog."

The human laughed before leaving Sonic with the remaining humans. Sonic shook with silent anger before curling up into a spin dash and slamming into the bars between him and the rest of the humans. The bars didn't even shake, much less give way. He nursed his headache for a moment before growling at the laughing men in front of him. He continued like this for several minutes before giving up and pacing around the cell.

"Geez...this can't get much worse, can it?"

Elsewhere on the Island

11:13am

Rouge took a breath of fresh air to calm her nerves for what she was about to do.

She was about to infiltrate a military base with two madmen.

She shook her head and focused on the big man beside her, huffing about how ugly the surrounding jungle was and what he would do with it once the world was his again.

"Coming back to this accursed island is not my idea of a vacation!" he grumbled to her, "How could you be sure that this is where they have the chaos emeralds hidden? Why would they put them all in one place? Are you absolutely sure?"

Rouge, with the same nonchalant mask on her face, chose to examine her nails instead of addressing him directly, "Believe what you want to believe. This is where my sources tell me they are, and I'm never wrong about treasure."

Eggman harrumphed in annoyance before grumbling once more, "Very well... if that's the case, I know exactly where they would hide them; those predictable fools!"

Despite how angry he was a moment ago, Eggman's eyes began to gleam in anticipation of the coming mission, "Now here's how we're going to do this: I will distract the military troops, allowing the both of you to sneak into the base undetected. Then Shadow will enter the armory..."

At this, he pulled out several square boxes with timers on them and handed them to Shadow. Shadow's eyes lit up in turn, and a sadistic smirk placed itself on his face. Rouge suppressed a shiver and placed an equally sadistic smirk on her face, "Fireworks to cheer them up?"

"It would be bad manners to take something for nothing," Eggman said as his infamous smile grew, "Shadow will set the timer based on my position on the island. Then, we'll escape from here, blowing up the whole island without them knowing what hit them!

"Meanwhile, you will sneak into the base and recover all of the chaos emeralds. That shouldn't be a problem for you, will it, bat-girl?"

Rouge didn't even reply. She placed a confident smile on her face and gave him a half-assed salute with a wink.

Eggman nodded, seemingly satisfied, "We only have a half an hour to pull this mission off, so don't fail me! Now, follow closely behind me, and don't let anyone see you!"

Rouge nodded and flew off ahead, melding perfectly into the shadows. As Shadow was about to take off, Eggman stopped him.

"Do not let her leave the island alive."

Shadow's eyes widened slightly before raising an eyebrow, "We agreed she would..."

"The plans have changed," Eggman interrupted, "I've done a few calculations. If seven chaos emeralds is enough to destroy an entire planet then 6 is more than enough to destroy a few continents. All we need is a small demonstration really. She will have served her purpose once the chaos emeralds have been found. After that she is a liability; or worse, a spy."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at this, "And your little trifle with Knothole Village?"

Eggman gave a sadistic smirk, "My demonstration will be on the Great forest. There will be no need to find the village if there is no forest left to protect them."

Shadow stopped for a moment at that before he gave a small smirk, "You used her to get the chaos emeralds. You don't trust me to get them for you?"

"They're expecting us," Eggman answered, "If she's a spy she'll get them easily. If not... that's what she's being paid for."

"You've paid her?"

"Allow her to live for," Eggman corrected, "At least for now. Regardless she's useless after this. And you get to decide how to get rid of her."

Shadow seemed to contemplate this idea before he gave a small sigh, "We shall see..."

Eggman wasn't particularly happy with that answer. For now, it would have to do. He stomped off into the forest, not seeing the bat-girl hidden in the canopy above with an all-knowing smirk on her face.

11:25am

Off the Coast of Prison Island

"Just a little further... ya!"

Amy Rose was pretty sure she'd just made a world record of some sort. Then again, was that really any surprise? She was likely the most stubborn hedgehog on the planet.

"Even more than Sonic..." she gasped quietly to herself as she clung to the bars off of the harbor of the base, "I can't wait to see him! I hope he's ok..."

"He better be ok!" she growled to herself as she began to climb up the bars to the base above, "I came all this way to see him! If something happened to him, there's going to be a whole new island of hurt!"

Each step and pull she made resonated through her bones. She was exhausted beyond belief. She was wet, cold, tired, and hungry. But above all else, she was angry. How dare the news cast her beloved Sonic in such a light. How dare they accuse him of being a thief. Her hero, her love, her life was not a silly, self absorbed thief!

As her head crested over base of the harbor, she gave one last mighty heave and flopped onto the platform. She gave several deep gasps as she allowed the sun above and the concrete below warm her shivering form. Her rosy pink quills fanned out around her head and her normally emerald green eyes closed, longing for a short nap.

"No..." she said, forcing herself to open them, "I just got here. I still have to get past the soldiers and find Sonic."

Still, she was slow in getting up. Instead she compromised by pulling her head back to look ahead of her towards the base.

What she saw was enough to send a shock through her system. She instantly filled with enough energy and love to jump up from her prone position and dart straight towards the figure in front of her. There was no way it could be anyone else, for what other hedgehog could possibly have any reason to be on the island?

"Oh SONIC!" she cried as her arms flew around the hedgehog, "I thought I'd never see you again! I'm so glad you made it!"

She half expected Sonic to start complaining about how wet she was. Oh what a good shouting at he was going to get once she...

She paused for a moment. Something wasn't right.

For one thing, Sonic wasn't moving. At first he had frozen in place; typical Sonic behavior once she'd found him; but after a moment he just stayed there! He didn't jump or try to wiggle his way out of it.

If anything, he actually leaned into the hug.

This would all normally make her feel loved and happy but on top of everything else, he didn't smell like Sonic at all. Sonic had a cool, refreshing smell, as though he had become a soft spring's breeze. This hedgehog's scent was warm, spicy, and with a slight metallic tang undertone.

She finally stepped back to reveal that the hedgehog in front of her was a black and red hedgehog.

Definitely not her Sonic.

All at once she became angry and frustrated, "You're not Sonic! Just who are you?!"

The hedgehog in front of her only smiled in amusement, leaving the talking to his partner next to him.

"I'm the one who should be asking that question!"

Amy's world froze as her joy from before quickly converted to unadulterated fear, "DR. EGGMAN!?"

She let off a horrified scream before she ran back towards the edge of the harbor, if only to find a place to hide. Eggman wouldn't follow her into the water, right?

"Ugh! Amy, your timing is impeccable. You two, go! We don't have time for this!"

She heard the hedgehog and another set of feet running away from the scene while Eggman's Walker stomped behind her. When Amy reached the edge of the harbor she stopped dead; her nerve had failed her. She was still freezing, exhausted and sore from her last expedition in the water. She was positive she would drown if she fell in again.

Amy pulled out her hammer and fell into a battle stance with a snarl on her face. This was her only chance...

Eggman, hardly impressed by the display, prepared to take aim, "Give up Amy!"

Amy shook from overwhelming anger, fear, and fatigue, but would not be deterred. She made the lunge forward to attack but was cut off by a shadow from above. She immediately changed course to the side just in time to hear a great crash of metal on concrete behind her. She turned back to see a huge blue walker mech similar to what Eggman had made. What surprised her the most was who her rescuer was.

"Tails?!"

"Stay back Amy!" he cried out while pushing numerous buttons.

Eggman stared for a moment before letting out a short bark of a laugh, "Tails? The Freedom Fighters sent little Tails to rescue you? And look, he brought a little high chair with him..."

"Eat this, Egghead!" Tails cried out. He took hold of his controls and shot two warning shots... into the center of Eggman's suit. Eggman jumped back with a cry before letting out a little growl.

"You want to play little fox?" Eggman challenged, "I'm going to destroy you!"

Eggman let out a barrage of green laser shots while desperately trying to assess the damage he'd already taken. Tails responded by dodging to the left and giving back his own yellow laser attacks. Soon, the two mechs were circling each other in a deadly dance for dominance. Eggman would try to take aim at Tails, but the fox would move constantly around Eggman while firing off his yellow lasers .

Eggman, with a growl, gave up on aiming and started shooting at Tails, or where he thought he would be, "Hold still, you dweeby little fox!"

Tails just smirked in response as he continued his little dance. Eggman in turn, began employing the same tactics. It was strange not to hear Sonic's inane banter in the middle of a fight. Not that it was sorely missed, if anything Eggman was grateful for the relative peace of a straight forward fire fight. Still, the stalemate was getting them no where and as much as Eggman wanted to beat Tails into dust, there was only so much attention he could gain from this particularly inactive part of the island.

"I need to move!" Eggman thought desperately, "The more time I waste here, the more likely Shadow and Rouge will be discovered!"

Suddenly his eyes caught something pink... something small and helpless...

He flashed a wicked smile and took aim, "Alright Tails, enough games!"

Tails rapidly spun in his walker to meet the challenge with an eerily familiar grin on his face before it promptly feel in despair, "AMY!"

Amy gasped in shock. She'd been so entranced by the fight, she'd forgotten to get out of the line of fire. The scene was frozen and the silence was heavy on all three of them. Eventually the silence was broken by Eggman.

"You're lucky I let my guard down around you. This time I'll let you go," Eggman said slowly, "But the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky."

With that Eggman ran away from the fight, leaving behind a confused yet relieved couple of mobians. As he ran, however, he was greeted by a message from Shadow, "I'm in position doctor... tell me when."

"Wow Tails! You did it!" Amy gushed at him, "But what are you doing here on this island?"

That shook Tails out of his trance, "I'm the one who should be asking that! You came here, unarmed and helpless Amy! Don't you know it's dangerous out here? I wasn't even expecting Eggman!"

Amy simply rolled her eyes, "I know, but I just had to save Sonic! That's why you're here too, right?"

"Well, ya!" Tails scratched his head, "How did you even get here, anyway?"

"Doesn't matter!" Amy argued, "We have to hurry. I know Eggman's up to no good again!"

Tails nodded, "Right. You stay here and out of trouble. I'll get Sonic out!"

"Hey wait a minute!" Amy cried out, "You're leaving me here? With Eggman on the loose? After I swam all the way here from Mercia?!"

That made Tails pause a moment. What Amy said was true, she was basically helpless out here. There was no telling what Eggman would do if he found her again without Tails to help her, but he was expecting the United Federation military to be stationed here as well. Could Amy handle all of those humans... all of those ARMED humans, if he left her here on her own?

Tails finally sighed, "Fine, but stay out of the way, ok? I'm really not supposed to be here and we still have to figure out just how to get Sonic out of trouble after this."

Amy nodded, "You got it!"

She climbed up on the walker and into the seat behind Tails. She assumed it would be for Sonic, but then...

"I could just sit on his lap," she thought giddily, "I don't think he'll mind that~"

"Wait, you swam all the way here?" Tails asked incredulously while putting the mech into motion.

"Ya?" Amy answered, "How else was I supposed to get here?"

Tails just shook his head, "I dunno a ship? Heck, even a paddle boat would have been better than just swimming."

"I didn't have enough time, Rob wanted me to stay out of it!" she cried, "But I couldn't leave Sonic in prison! I didn't have time to take a boat so I just jumped right in!"

Tails marveled at Amy a moment before he gave her a wry chuckle and a blanket from the nap he took earlier, "Geez you're just crazy Amy."

Amy simply stuck her tongue out in response. She accepted the blanket from Tails and cocooned herself in its warmth.

"Hey Tails?"

"Huh?"

"Thanks for saving back there," she smiled.

Tails face lit up before he cleared his throat, "We're not out of the woods yet. We have to get Sonic out and figure out this mess!"

Amy nodded, "Right! Let's go!"

With that Tails made his way into the base, where he immediately set off the intruder alarm.

"Ok then," he said as he took a deep breath, "Here we go!"

And there's chapter 4 after almost a year of sitting in my box. Because work never really ends! Sorry for the wait but hopefully it won't be as long for the next chapter. I also have a few other plot bunnies frolicking in my mind so I'll probably get those cleaned out and into a decent story. Something else for you all to look forward to! 'Til then, see y'all next time!