"Haven't partied that hard, or for that long, in quite some time."

Sonic was currently outside of the city him and Knuckles had saved from Rough and Tumble just a few hours ago. That little party he'd talked about after their defeat had gone on considerably longer than it probably should have. Heck, Knuckles was probably still passed out from exhaustion in that town at that moment. Sonic wasn't quite sure what time it was, but he could tell it was getting late as the sun had set considerably. The sky was a nice collage of yellows, oranges, light greens, and slowly darkening blues.

Taking a moment to stretch, Sonic would turn around and begin speeding back off to his campsite that was several miles away from where he currently was. He's done a lot of zipping around these past two days now that he thought about it. Hopefully he could actually have a moment of rest and relaxati-

"Is that the sound of a really big Buzz Bomber?"

Sonic stopped dead in his tracks and looked up into the air. Lo and behold, a massive Buzz Bomber dropship was high in the sky and heading towards a city Sonic hadn't even noticed until now. Looks like duty called. Sonic began to run towards the city as he said "Whoever is organizing Eggman's robots is really stepping up their game. Let's just hope that I can get there before any more damage is done."

Speeding forwards and up the twisty road that lead into the city, Sonic thought to himself "It's going to be tough fighting off this army on my own. Maybe Amy as right... I could use the ERE's help on this one."

Upon reaching the city, Sonic would have to jump over an already defeated Egg Pawn just to get in safely. But when he did he immediately saw that the city's militia had already mobilized and was currently fighting the robots attempting to siege the city "Then again, the ERE isn't already here. Maybe word hasn't reached them yet? In that case, if I was with them. I never would've known about this attack."

He boosted through a group of Egg Pawns and the Mobian who'd been fighting that very group herself looked at him in complete surprise. Front flipping right over an overturned trash can, Sonic would continue forwards "No time for second guessing. Bash the bots. Save the town. Keep it simple... Even if they're doing pretty well for themselves already."

Spin Attacking through an Egg Pawn, Sonic would leap up onto a dumpster before jumping up into the air and Homing Attacking into a few more Badniks. The explosion of one of the robots sent him up into the air, and while up there he glanced around and saw what looked like a robot that was being destroyed by someone else. Landing on the ground, Sonic said to himself "Who can that be?"

Glancing around the side of a stone building, Sonic saw a rather familiar Ring-Tailed Lemur using her tail to "punch" an Egg Pawn square in its chest as she jumped off of a different one. Landing behind that Badnik she'd use that tail to wrap around a few remaining Badniks before quickly grabbing ahold of it and tightening the thing's grip and crushing them. The robots exploded and she closed her eyes to keep them safe from debris and the light of the explosion. After the explosion settled down, the Lemur would raise her hands up into the air and say with a smile "Woo! And ow. Woo and ow!"

A stray Egg Pawn who only had half of its body left attempted to fire a plasma shot at her, when Sonic was able to quickly intervene and destroy it "Watch your back!"

The Lemur looked over to Sonic in surprise "Whoa! Thanks!"

Sonic got up and dusted off some bits of metal as he said "Hey, you look familiar. Do I know you?"

That's when she remembered "Oh! Probably not! I mean, I was apart of the Resistance near the tail end of the war, you know, right before we evacuated to Angel Island, but I was more of a wallflower fighter and not a frontlines type of person. Name's Tangle, Tangle the Lemur!"

Sonic snapped his fingers in remembrance "Oh yeah! You were brought into the gang along Rotor when we needed Phage to take down the Death Egg's defenses!"

Tangle nodded before the sound of several Egg Pawns stomping towards them could be heard. Sonic and Tangle looked around and saw that they were surrounded. The two got back to back and Sonic said "Seems like we're gonna be fighting together again, like the good ol' days."

Tangle chuckled a little "Not sure the war should be called 'the good ol' days'."

He held one of his hands out a little "Alright, you got me there. Shake on it?"

Her tail moved around and the end of it gripped onto his like a hand before she said "Sure thing blue boy."

"We're not there yet."

Then, they sprung into action. Sonic leaped forwards and kicked an Egg Pawn's head in while Tangle flipped over one of the robots and grabbed ahold of it with her tail. Once she landed she catapulted it over her head and at a trio of robots while Sonic ricocheted between various Egg Pawns before flying up into the air and landing not far from where Tangle was standing at that moment. The Lemur glanced over to him and said "I've been pfending off the odd raids for a while now, but this is nuts!"

Sonic nodded "Yeah, the random gangs are starting to get organized. Dunno why. I'm looking into it."

But then, suddenly, they both saw a massive Motobug tank roll up in front of them. The Egg Pawn manning the turret on the top of the Mototank's head took aim at the two of them, and they both had to jump into the air to avoid being eviscerated by the rapid bullet fire. They landed in the same area they had first met each other in this city before realizing that another Mototank had rolled up to them with Egg Pawns following it. Once again, Sonic and Tangle got back to back as she asked "I don't suppose you're the advance guard for the Resistance, er, Eggman Recovery Effort?"

Sonic had a very concerned smile on his face "Pretty sure they're all busy with similar attacks elsewhere."

She glanced around with that same concern on Sonic's face "Lovely... So! Split them?"

He nodded "If you can keep up, sure!"

But then, everything began to heat up.

Tangle was about to run towards a group of robots when Sonic reached over and grabbed her arm and said "Hold it, I want to see where this goes."

She looked at him with confusion as she only slowly began to realize the heat beginning to rise around them. Then, much like Sonic had expected, a massive funnel of fire erupted from the ground and completely decimated a large portion of Egg Pawns and the Mototank they surrounded. After a moment the funnel began to disappear as a purple furred cat slowly twirled down from the air and to the ground. Sonic smiled as Tangle took on a surprised look "Whoa.."

Sonic began to step forwards as he simply said "Awwww yeah..."

He started to jog forwards as he waved his hand high in the air, a large smile on his face at seeing a special friend he hasn't seen in ages "Hey, Blaze!"

Blaze the Cat crossed her arms over her chest and looked over to Sonic "Sonic! You are here, I assume these are Doctor Eggman's robots?"

He shrugged as he stopped in front of her "You know it. The village needs our help, so, if you don't mind..."

She took her arms off of her chest and fire surrounded her hands "It would be my pleasure."

While all of that went on, Tangle could only look at the two of them in complete confusion. That confusion only got a little more worse as Sonic and Blaze sped off in different directions. Blaze covered herself in her fire and blasted forwards, straight through a gathering of Badniks. After she finished that she jumped up and began to bounce off of Egg Pawns, spinning around like a ballerina as she did. She'd then land in front of the Mototank and blast a few Egg Pawns with her fire. Tangle was chasing after her as she was the only one the Lemur could keep up with. As Blaze attacked more Egg Pawns, Tangle used her tail to scale the side of the Mototank, down on the ground Blaze turned her attention away from the Badniks when she heard Sonic let out a little yelp.

Luckily, he was alright. Letting out a little sigh of relief, Blaze looked over to the Mototank once more as she saw Tangle take control of the turret with the aid of her tail. Shoving it downwards, the turret would then begin to bombard the head of the Mototank's head completely disabling it. After that, she'd throw her tail over to one of the tank's arms and began to pull it up before letting it go, causing the arm to break off and "boomerang" towards an Egg Hammer that was towering over him. The boomeranging arm crashed through the robot and Sonic sped past the hammer that the robot dropped and boosted through a group of Egg Pawns while Blaze caught up with him. Spin Dashing through a few robots, Blaze would blast the ones he missed behind him.

Jumping through the chest of one of the Egg Pawns, he could hear Blaze say "I'm afraid the three of us are not enough."

Sonic landed on the ground not far from her "The town militia's out there too."

She shook her head "Regardless, they're refiling their ranks faster than we can dispose of them."

Tangle ran over to them and pointed up to the Buzz Bomber dropship "They're all coming from that battleship. Not long ago, it flew in and has been dropping robots since."

Both Sonic and Blaze looked skyward as the Hedgehog said "A little beefier than the drop ship Amy and I took out."

He looked over to the Cat "Blaze, can you make it up there?"

Blaze squinted as she inspected the ship "It's too high. It's completely out of range for me."

That's when Tangle chuckled a little "I know we all just met, buuut..."

Sonic and Blaze looked over to the Lemur as she lifted up her tail "...Hop on?"

Sonic looked over to Blaze and held out his hand with a little smile on his face "Ready?"

Blaze looked over to him, she was scared of heights... But with Sonic, she knew she wouldn't be so scared. So, she gave him a warm smile and grabbed his hand "Ready."

Sonic grabbed ahold of Tangle's tail and began to back up about as far as it'd let him before the Lemur gave a little salute and said "Bon voyage!"

With that, Sonic and Blaze slingshot themselves high up into the air, Tangle fell over due to a loss of balance from it. They soared high up into the air and Sonic could tell that her breathing was getting shaky from being so high. So he looked over to her and nodded, giving her the signal to throw him. Sonic curled up into a Spin Ball and Blaze used her fire powers to launch him at the drop ship. Sonic would break through the underside of the ship and land on a catwalk with Egg Pawns on it, a rather surprised look on his face. He'd then quickly get to work just trashing the interior of the dropship while outside Blaze would charge up a massive ball of fire before blasting it right at the ship. The fire shot hit the dropship and it exploded into a massive inferno.

Blaze used her fire to slow her descent to the ground as Tangle ran up to her saying "That was amazing!.."

She and Blaze looked into the air as Tangle asked "But is Sonic going to be alright?"

Blaze simply put her hands on her hips with a knowing grin "He will be."

That's when the blue Hedgehog came crashing down from the sky, still in his Spin Ball. He bounced off of the ground several times before rolling to a stop in front of Tangle and Blaze. He placed a hand onto the side of his head as he dizzly said "ThAt WaS sO mUcH fUn YoU gUyS."

Blaze reached down and helped Sonic up as Tangle asked "Is your life always this exciting?"

Sonic smiled a little "If I can help it? Yeah!"

Blaze just rolled her eyes as Sonic stood up and brushed down some of his now messed up quills "Right, so, introductions! Blaze, this is Tangle, she's a local."

He put a hand on the Cat's shoulder and she'd place a hand on top of his hand "Tangle, this is Blaze. She's a princess from another dimension and Guardian of the Sol Emeralds. They're like Chaos Emeralds, but fiery... Also kinda rectangular too."

Blaze just rolled her eyes again as she chuckled while Sonic took his hand off of her. Tangle meanwhile had a shocked expression before she just smiled "Haha, o- okay."

Tangle grabbed ahold of Blaze's hand as she said "Thanks for saving my home, your highness."

Blaze smiled at her "You are welcome, and please, just call me Blaze."

Sonic brought his arms behind his head and looked over to Blaze "I'm always happy to see you, but what's the occasion?"

She grew a more serious expression at that "I felt the will of the Sol Emeralds. I've come to prevent a terrible event on your world."

Sonic chuckled dryly "Ha! No offense, but you're quite a few months late."

It kind of hurt to think that it took her this long to get here. He had never really thought that she should've appeared during the war in the first place though. After Sonic said that, Blaze looked shocked "What do you mean?"

He shrugged "Eggman locked me up and took over the world."

"WHAT?!"

"S'cool. My friends busted me out and we kicked his butt."

Tangle then thought of something "Hold on, you said thae left over Badniks are getting organized, right?"

Sonic nodded "Yeah, so far it doesn't seem like it's Eggman though..."

"Doesn't matter. The point is, they're getting dangerous. What if the war was just the beginning? What if there's something even worse on the way?"

Blaze placed a hand on her chin, so too did Sonic, and she said "The Sol Emeralds are not... Chatty... If they directed me here, it was for a purpose."

She smiled a little "And I will remain here until that purpose is made clear."

Sonic gave her some finger guns "I know I can count on you."

The Cat turned her attention to Tangle "But first, many parts of your village are burning, I will do what I can to calm the flames. Show me where you need me."

Tangle still couldn't believe she was talking to someone with fire powers at this point "You are amazing, follow me!"

Blaze looked over to Sonic and smiled at him a little "I'll leave the hunt for the ringleader to you for now!"

Tangle spun around and jumped up while she said "Bye Sonic! Thanks for everything!"

Sonic waved "Ciao!"

He then sighed a little and rubbed his head "Phew! Man, after all that I need a breather..."

He stood up right and took in a deep breath, then the second after he finished it he readied himself to speed off "That'll do!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, a mother Kangaroo stepped outside and approached her son "It's late, it's time to come in."

The Kangaroo child she was addressing was sitting on the ground, crying due to his wagon's wheel having broken off "Buh- Buh- But it's busted! I c- c- can't carry it inside!"

The mother sighed a little and reached down to help her son. But across from in a different building, a man was working on a little spring based robot when he heard the child cry out his woes. He set the unfinished robot down before standing up and walking over to the window and using his first finger and his thumb to push apart segments of the blindes covering the window "Oh-ho-ho... Don't you worry little one."

He smiled wide "I'll fix your little red wagon."

He brought a hand up to his red mustache as he said "Soon, I'll be fixing everything!"

Far, far away from either Sonic or the man, Bishop sat alone in his office watching the staticy live feed of a robot watching the battle Sonic, Blaze, and Tangle had just gone through. Bishop grumbled to himself and put his head in his hands "Why did I have to be given the incompetent ones?"

Just then, is cell phone began to ring. Bishop looked over to the device and saw that the person calling him on this special phone that was gifted to him by the King was the Pawn. He sighed "Case in point."

He picked up the phone and answered it "What do you want?"

The Pawn snickered on the other end "I'm so glad you're happy to see me!"

Bishop just rolled his eyes before asking once more "What do you want?"

"Nothing much, just following through with the plan you made. You know, the one that starts with me going radio-silent."

Reaching over to a nearby button, Bishop would press it and cause the screen in front of him to change to a static picture of the Eggman Recovery Effort's headquarters "You're going to move in?"

"Yeah, just gotta hope that I can make it out safely."

"Good, I'll be here for when you fail."

"Alright, thanks."

With that, the call ended and Bishop set the phone down so he could return to grumbling "Now I'm left with more idiots, only their robots that can't emote and can't be 'not an idiot' once and a while!"

He brought his fingers up to the sides of his head and began to rub in annoyance "Rough and Tumble have also been incarcerated, meaning I have no muscle. With Pawn going undercover, I can't even rely on his skills..."

Bishop reclined into his chair "Then I guess there's only one thing to do... Wait."

With that, Bishop reached over to a nearby remote and used it to turn the screen from that static picture to live television. With any hope, his plan would work and the King wouldn't punish him for it failing. But, that would be the Bishop's problem, and his alone. Because, far off in the United Federations, the Pawn approached the Eggman Recovery Effort's headquarters. The guards didn't stop him, no one in the building's lobby batted an eye at him, not even the receptionist looked surprised to see him. The Pawn stopped in front of the reception desk and simply said "I've got a meeting with Amy Rose."

The receptionist looked over to their computer screen and checked the scheduled meetings for Amy. Most were for school children, others were government officials, one was for a certain black Hedgehog, and the one she needed to find was the Pawn's meeting. The receptionist looked back over to him "Miss Rose is in her office, down the right hall."

He smiled at them "Thank you."

The Pawn then began to head down the hall that the receptionist told him to head down. At the end of it was Amy's office, he opened the door, stepped in, and the pink Hedgehog looked over to him "Oh! Heh, kinda forgot you were coming."

He just waved his hand a little "I understand, you're busy with a lot of stuff."

She nodded "That is true... I don't think I was ever told your name though."

The skunk smiled "My name is, Geoffrey Saint John... And I know who's controlling Eggman's Badniks."