A/N: Special thanks to mi amigos, stephanieeiche10, Alexandria Prime, Infinite's Ruby, TGN, SharpDragonKlaw, and Ways for leaving reviews for this story. Especially Ways who sent his or her reviews for all five chapters at once. Thank you for that, my friend. As you all saw in the last chapter, Rough and Tumble made a cameo in the last one. So, now (after two calm before the storm chapters) things will start to go down hill again. Prepare to a rumble against Rough and Tumble in this action-packed of Awakened. Also, there is still time to vote on who the mysterious caller is. It's pretty obvious, but you can still vote.

Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and all other related properties are owned by SEGA (IDW Characters are owned by SEGA and IDW Publishing)

Suggested Music:

(1) Boss Battle (Night) - Sonic Unleashed OST

(2) Dino Piranha (Fast) - Super Mario Galaxy OST

Without further ado, enjoy the show!

Ready to Crumble?

After spending minutes of running through the swamp, Sonic and Tails have gotten closer to the site where the tower was located. However, as they ran closer to the trees, they noticed that their good friend, Knuckles, was hiding behind some of the bushes. He was hiding from plain sight, wanting to get a good look at what was going on.

The two heroes slid down a slope and landed right next to him.

"Hey, there, Knuckles," Sonic smiled. "Whatcha doing?"

"Watching these two idiots act like jerks," Knuckles replied.

"What do you mean?" Tails inquired.

"Have a look," Knuckles replied.

Knuckles moved some of the bushes to the side and showed Sonic and Tails what he's been looking at since he got here. Right across from them, the two Mobian skunks from the poster were sitting by a wooden table, which was flooded with all sorts of food. Ranging from fruit and cakes. The two skunks were laughing and enjoying their cups of tea, acting as if they were kings of the world.

What made the scene even worse for Sonic and his friends was the fact that these two weren't alone.

They had a whole bunch of Mobians and humans working for them as their slaves. Their choice of clothing indicated that they weren't just normal people, they were forced to become employees for these two skunks. From where Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were hiding, they saw that the male slaves were dressed like jesters and all the females were dressed in tropical bikinis and bathing suits. They were flapping giant leaves, sending cool air down the skunks' back.

The sounds of hammers banging, wrenches turning, bulldozers picking things up and putting them down, front loaders pushing objects to the side, and cranes lifting pieces of rock, and placing them onto of the towers.

All the workers were forced to create a castle for the two skunks so they would rule the Mystic Ruins as kings.

Speaking of the two skunks, they were laughing as if they thought of the funniest joke in the world. That was probably because they did tell the funniest joke in the world.

Their laughter was suddenly interrupted as soon as a male human kid walked up to them with a whole cherry pie in his hands.

"Excuse me, you two, did you order the cherry pie?" he asked them politely. He had a slight nervousness in his tone.

The skunks shared sinister looks with each other before the blue one gave his reply. "Where'd you get that?"

"I found it!"

"Then, go find it again!" the white skunk slammed the pie right into the boy's face. Icing, cherry pieces, and pie crust all over his face. The boy wiped off the pie from his face, hearing the two skunks' obnoxious laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Wow, these two make the Hooligans look like class acts," Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Wait a second," Tails said. "I think I've seen these guys before."

"You have?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! When I… I… I…" Tails hesitated during his sentence before coming clean. "I went solo during the Phantom Ruby War, I saw a news report that showed these guys saving a town from the Eggman Empire, but I didn't know that these two would enslave the people."

"They must have taken control of the town during the war," Sonic nodded. "They probably want to expand their so-called empire. What a duo of idiots!"

"I'm gonna break them in half!" Knuckles growled. He clapped his fists together and stepped out of the bushes, ready for combat. But before he could fight for what's right, Sonic stopped him in his tracks.

"Easy, Knux, let's take this slow," he said to the Resistance's commander. "You and I will take care of these losers, Tails will help the villagers escape back to their home."

"What about Synergy?" Tails asked.

"We'll worry about him later," Sonic said. "Right now, we're gonna give these guys the beating they deserve."

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles (Team Sonic as they were called together) jumped out of the bushes and ascended into the air. The two skunks looked up after hearing the whoosh they made, and so did the villagers that worked for them. Team Sonic landed on the ground, striking a fighting pose.

The blue skunk spilled his tea from his mouth and gasped. "Who the-!?"

"Hey, Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber!" Sonic smirked, pointing to himself with his thumb. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, maybe you've heard of me? This is my best bud, Miles "Tails" Prower, you've probably heard of him too. And last but not last, this is Knuckles the Echidna, commander of the Resistance. You guys are guilty of theft, extortion, kidnapping, and being grade-A jerks! So you can either come quietly, or we're gonna get loud!"

The white skunk slammed his cup against the table, cracking it into pieces. "Who said you come onto our turf!? Who said you can ruin our fun!?"

The blue skunk got up from his seat and stood next to his brother, pointing at Sonic. "We've heard of you, hero, but you clearly ain't heard of us!"

The skunk brothers started walking towards the three Freedom Fighters.

"You looking to scrap?" said the white skunk.

"Then get ready to crumble!" said the blue skunk.

"Brace yourselves for-!"

Both skunk brothers stroke their very own battle pose, saying their names. "Rough and Tumble!"

Not expecting such a coordinated routine like that one, Sonic's eyes began to tear up. But they weren't tears of sadness, they were tears of laughter. He slapped his knee and started snickering at the two skunks. Rough and Tumble, what kind of names were those? And what the heck was that introduction? Sonic crouched down and pointed at Rough and Tumble, laughing at them.

"Oh, no!" Sonic laughed. "I was not prepared for this!"

"Careful, Sonic, they're highly coordinated." Knuckles slapped his fists together.

Sonic gently placed Knuckles' shoulder, still laughing. "Knuckles… you're the salt of the earth." (1)

Knuckles rolled his eyes before lunging right for Tumble; Sonic dashed right into Rough. "Forget it!" Knuckles snarled. "Let's just get them!"

"Tails," Sonic called, homing attacking into Rough's chest. He sent him flying into the table full of food. "Get the villagers out of here!"

"Already on it!" Tails flew to the side of the valley, gathering the villagers together. "Come on, guys! Right this way!" Tails guided them down the swamp, heading for the train station that was going to take them to Station Square.

Tumble swatted at Knuckles with his tail, but the echidna grabbed it and flung the skunk over his head. He smacked him against the ground before he punched him across the face. Sonic homed in on Rough, spin attacking him three times before he slammed his fist on the ground. This resulted into a giant wave of blue energy (resembling wind) to shoot across the area, flinging Rough into the table once again.

Brushing his body off from the food crumbs and cake icing, Rough grabbed a piece of cake and chucked it directly at Sonic. All of the cake filling splattered on Sonic's face.

The blue hedgehog wiped it off before growling. "When did this suddenly become a food fight?"

Rough tackled Sonic as if he was a football player and smacked him into the unfinished tower's walls. Sonic kicked the skunk off him and spun attacked him in the chest.

Tumble swung his tail at Knuckles again, hitting him in the face. He then took Knuckles by surprise by firing an uppercut, sending the echidna flying in the air. The blue blur joined his friend as soon as Rough caught Sonic in his ball form and chucked him right into Knuckles.

The two Freedom Fighters fell down on top of a bulldozer.

"Come on down, Freedom Chumps!" Tumble snickered, clapping his fists together.

"What's da matter, Sonic and Knuckles?" Rough cupped his hands over his mouth, calling out to them. "Chicken?"

"I'm gonna rip these idiots in half in a second!" Knuckles snarled.

"Hang on a second," Sonic told him, he got an idea in his head. "I got an idea, follow me!"

Sonic and Knuckles climbed through the door window of the bulldozer, entering the interior. They sat themselves down on the chair, as the former began playing with the controls. He was trying to turn it on.

"You ever use one of these things?" Knuckles asked.

"No," Sonic replied, unaware Knuckles gave him a cold, surprised, petrified stare. "But there's a first for everything, right?" he smiled awkwardly.

Knuckles nodded in pure nervousness.

Sonic turned the keys inside the vehicle and grabbed the levers. The bulldozer's engines roared loudly, as its wheels quickly revved against the dirt. Sonic and Knuckles drove the construction vehicle around the area, they raised the scooper into the air.

"Hey!" Tumble shouted. To which Sonic chuckled. "Get out of there!"

The bulldozer bashed right into the unfinished tower, knocking all of the pieces of limestone and brick onto the ground. They ran over the table of food, smooshing every cake that was waiting to be eaten by the two kings. Speaking of which, both of them screamed at the highest pitches they can reach. They were horrified to see that their kingdom was being demolished.

"Our kingdom!" Rough snarled. "They're destroying everything!"

"Come on, Rough!" Tumble said, motioning to his brother. "I got something that'll take care of these bozos!"

Rough and Tumble ran down the construction site to teach Sonic and Knuckles a lesson.

Just then, Tails, having gotten the villagers to the train station safe and sound, returned to the work site. He flew down on the ground and cleaned his hands off, happy that he got the civilians away from the battle. "Sonic!" he shouted. "The villagers are safe!... Sonic?... hello?"

"Tails, look out!" Knuckles warned, peeking his head out the bulldozer's window.

The two-tailed kit turned around and screamed because a monster-sized scooper was coming right towards him. He leaped out of the way and grabbed onto the door handle on the side, opening it up and stepping inside. He sat himself down next to Sonic.

"Was this your big plan!?" Tails asked.

"Not really!" Sonic replied. "We're improvising!"

Team Sonic continued to destroy more of Rough and Tumble's kingdom.

Angry that their new home is being destroyed, the two skunks came back into the fight with a weapon of their own; a giant wrecking ball attached to a crane. They swung the wrecking ball backward before lunging towards Team Sonic.

Tails noticed the giant black ball of death and rapidly tapped both Sonic and Knuckles on their shoulders. "Move!" he warned.

Team Sonic jumped out of the window. Knuckles grabbed onto Sonic's legs and Sonic grabbed Tails' legs. The fox flew them around the area until they were hit by the wrecking ball. But instead of getting hurt, they grabbed onto the chain and went for a ride around the Mystic Ruins.

In other words; they were spinning in complete three-sixties.

"Get them off of there!" Rough yelled at his brother.

"I'm trying, you idiot!" Tumble hollered back, screwing around with the levers, buttons, and controls.

Team Sonic kept spinning around.

"Guys!" Tails shouted. "I don't think I'm tall enough to ride this ride!"

"Hang on!" Knuckles shouted. "No one let go!"

"Why on Mobius would we let go!?" Sonic replied.

Team Sonic spun in more circles. (1s)

"Excellent work, my Nocturnus Clan," said someone in a deep voice. The voices in G-merl's head were still playing. He was dreaming. "With this new Gizoids, we will make the Knuckles Clan perish for trying to take over our empire! We will make sure they rue the day they were born!"

Rue the day? G-merl said. Is 'rue' even a word? Wait, I'm a sophisticated robot, of course I would know if it's a word!... but what are these guys talking about?

"Arise, Project: Synergy… Meet your general… Emerl."

Wait… what!?

~G-merl's P.O.V

When I went to bed, I didn't expect to be hearing stuff like that. Usually, robots don't have dreams, but when they do. There are two reasons, A; something is wrong with them or B… actually, there is no other reason. Something must be wrong with me or something. What was going on? Who were those voices? Why did they sound so familiar? What was Project: Synergy?

My answer came to me when I opened my eyes.

Hoping I would see Cream again, I woke up in a strange dark room. There was little to no light in here aside from a few test tubes with this weird blue liquid inside. It almost looked like that laboratory that Dr. Eggman built that jackal, Infinite, however, these tubes looked a bit more ancient than they did modern.

The place was surrounded by my own kind, Gizoids. One of various colors and forms.

There were bulky Gizoids, skinny ones, multi-colored Gizoids, etc.

There were too many of them to count, each of them were placed in these tubes. Wires were linked to their bodies and schematics of them showed up on the computers. What in the world was this place? I feel like I've seen it all before.

Well, turns out… I have seen it before (Mind blowing, right?)

As if all this couldn't get any weirder, I turned to a mirror next to me and who did I see?... my predecessor, Emerl. I extended my blue eyes and jumped back, thinking he was about to attack me, but then I took a second to realize… Emerl wasn't there… it was me… in other words, I was inside of Emerl's body.

No, really! His exact same body. I had his one fin, his beige, olive colors. Everything!

I walked up to the mirror and raised my hands to my eyes, stunned that I was inside of my past self's body. How could this have happened? I turned to the side of me and looked down at my left foot, it was no longer black and yellow. I flexed my fingers and turned my head, my scanners found it hard to register that I was in someone else's body. Well, I shouldn't say someone else's body, I should say… my old body.

Before I could do anything, I heard the same voices I heard before.

"Ix!" said an old elderly voice, I've heard it before. "I really don't think you should do this!"

"Get out of here, Nestor!" shouted another person in a dark tone. "I've got work to do!"

I walked down the hall of test tubes and turned around the corner. I hid behind one of the containers and spied on two people I've definitely recognized before. They were Imperator Ix: My predecessor's creator, and Nestor the Wise: A close friend of Emerl.

The two of them were standing in front of a body; a Gizoid's body. It was dark and light blue and green as well! Could this be Project: Synergy?

I decided to listen for my answer.

"You've been working on this for several months, now, Ix," Nestor said to Emerl's, I mean my master. Ix turned to him and scoffed.

"Stop calling me that!" he retorted. "It's Imperator Ix! Do I have to keep reminding you that I am your leader!"

"No, you don't, old friend," Nestor shook his head, he let out a gentle smile. "But I think you've been working on this project for far too long. You haven't been sleeping, you haven't gone outside, you haven't been your usual self lately."

"I've always been like myself, old man!" Ix yelled at his old friend. How rude to say that to someone who looks as old as you. "I've almost perfected the ultimate team of Gizoids to fight alongside Project: Emerl in the great war against our rivals. Project: Synergy is almost complete! I need to get this done!"

A-ha! I knew it!

"Please, be reasonable, Ix," Nestor continued pleading with his close friend. I admired that he wasn't giving up on him. "There's no need for war against the Knuckles Clan. We can make peace with them and negotiate peace."

"Did they talk things out when they kidnapped some our men and held them hostage!? Did they talk when they attacked our soldiers!? Did they talk when they declared war on us!? No! I will not allow them to get away with their crimes! I will make them pay for what they've done!" Ix sounded mad and he clearly was. I watched him slam his fist on the desk, scaring the life out of the old echidna across from him.

Just then, a scientist walked by me (He didn't bother to look at me) and informed Ix and some crucial information.

"Imperator Ix," he said. "Project: Synergy is complete. Chaos' biodata has successfully uploaded. We are ready to test him out on your command."

"Finally," Ix replied with a sinister grin. "Open the tube door! Make way!"

The scientist, Ix, and Nestor took a step back. I did too. They opened the door and out stepped Synergy. He looked tired, despite not doing anything. I guess this was because he's been in sleep mode for the past few months. He woke up and glanced into his master's eyes. He took a step back, nervous at what would happen if he saw me.

But as I stepped back, a crack filled the quiet room with noise.

Imperator Ix turned his head.

He saw me.

Great, I've been discovered. What should I do? Should I attack him or get out of there? Here's a better idea, I should just wake the freak up!

Sadly, my idea didn't come true. I was goner.

Or so I thought. You see, Ix gently grabbed my arm and walked me to greet the new Gizoid. The two of us shared eye contact, staring awkwardly at one another. It was weird experience for me, I wasn't sure how he was feeling. He looked a bit confused, I could tell because he cocked his head to the side. I did the same thing, mimicking his movements. He looked up and so did I.

We continued copying each other until Ix interrupted us.

"Arise, Project: Synergy," he said. The bright-colored Gizoid didn't respond. "Meet your new general…"

Déjà vu was going to hit me in the face.

"Emerl."

Synergy held out his hand as if he were friends already. He didn't know what to do aside from looking down at his hand. For all I know, he could attack me or attempt to tear me apart. I wiped my head and took his hand, shaking it.

But as soon as we let go.

I woke up.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" G-merl shot awake from his sleep mode.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Cream woke up in surprise as well. She and Cheese screamed and so did G-merl, even though the two friends didn't know what was going on with the robot.

Everyone stopped screaming and calmed down.

G-merl turned to Cream, realizing that he scared the crud out of her. He facepalmed himself and moaned. "Cream, are you okay? I'm so sorry, did I wake you?"

"Y-yeah," Cream replied, a slight stutter was in her voice. "I-I'm okay. Are you all right, G-merl? Did you have a bad dream."

"For once in my life… I did," G-merl replied, walking over to the bed, leaning beside his best friend.

"What was your dream about?"

The Gizoid didn't know how to answer that question without scaring the little rabbit anymore than he did. If he were to tell her that he was inside Emerl, who she was close friends with back in the day, she would flip the freak out and start bombarding him with questions. Or worse, she would have flashbacks to when Emerl turned evil because Dr. Eggman figured out how to bring back his original programming.

He didn't know what to tell her until he thought of this.

"Before I tell you," he said. "I think we should let Tails know about this. He'll know what to do."

In the swamp, Synergy and Big were continuing their fishing adventures when suddenly, they heard the sounds of screams. The former stopped his Astonishing Toss and looked to the side, hearing more curses, yells, and screams.

"What's going on over there?" he asked Big. "Is someone in trouble?"

"I'm not sure," Big replied. "But if someone is in trouble, we should help them out."

"You don't mind if we stop fishing for a moment?"

"The safety of someone is more important than fishing."

"That's a pretty hardcore motto."

"What does 'hardcore' mean?"

"Never mind," Synergy dropped his fishing rod and flew straight into the forest. Big the Cat followed close behind. "Let's go see what's going on."

(2) "Get off my wrecking ball, you muskrats!" Tumble shouted. He continued swinging the crane around in a circle. Team Sonic hung on for dear life. "I said get off! What are you doing!?"

"Well, stop swinging the darn thing!" Rough yelled. "It ain't workin'!"

"I don't see you coming up with any better suggestions!"

Rough quickly thought of an idea and snapped his finger. He whispered the plan to his brother he nodded in concurrence. The skunk brothers stopped swinging the wrecking ball and decided to let the heroes go. Tumble pressed a button that released the ball from the crane while Rough jumped out the window and slid down the side of the yellow tower.

The ball moshed against the ground, the bump it made caused Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to fly off the side. The three landed on the ground.

Just in time for Rough's plan; run them over with a steam roller.

"I can't wait to make pancakes of these chumps!" Rough laughed sadistically, as he drove the titan-sized construction vehicle all the way to Team Sonic. Tails opened his eyes, waking up from his temporary state of unconsciousness before he panicked. He, Sonic, and Knuckles heard the engines roar and the rocks crack as the steam roller crushed it with its massive strength.

They dodged the vehicle.

"Dang it!" Rough shouted in anger, he tried to back up so he can hit the heroes in the opposite direction, but Knuckles jumped on top of the steam roller, punching his fist through the window. Grabbing the thug's chest fur, he chucked him right over his shoulder and onto the ground. Tails and Sonic spin dashed into him.

Tumble came down from the crane and charged towards Sonic and Tails.

The brothers fist-bumped before they wrapped each other's hands around each other. Combining their spin attacks into one blue and yellow ball, they performed a trick they called the Rolling Combo. Bashing into Tumble, they knocked him into a pile of bricks.

Knuckles flew a few punches at Rough before the skunk grabbed the echidna's fist, lifting him upward. He made Angel Island's guardian eat the dirt. Knuckles shot his face out of the ground and head-butted the blue dictator in the face. Rough grasped his nose and groaned.

"Give it up!" Knuckles demanded, firing another punch at Rough, he missed. "It's over!"

"It ain't over till I say it's over, bub!" Rough grinned, leaping over the echidna. As he flew mid-air, he lifted his tail up. "Stink Bomber!"

Just then, a giant puff of green smoke smacked Knuckles across the face. Filling his nostrils with nothing but a smell of manure and gasoline, Knuckles' eyes turned red and he coughed as if he was sick. He clasped his throat and continued coughing.

"Ha! One of the many perks of being a skunk!" Rough chuckled, cleaning his hands of the dirt he got on them. "Smells good, eh?"

Knuckles only response was a nasty cough.

Before Rough can use his Stink Bomber for a second time, Sonic and Tails' Rolling Combo taught him a thing or to about stinking someone without permission. Rough fell against the bulldozer, as Sonic and Tails untucked from their attack. (2s)

"Are you okay, Knuckles?" Sonic asked, sniffing the echidna's fur. "Pee-yew! That stinks!"

"Really!? I didn't notice!" Knuckles said, sarcastically.

"You know, tomato juice can help with that," Tails suggested.

Knuckles rolled his eyes at Tails' comment, as he and the team walked up to Rough and Tumble. The two skunks rubbed their heads and moaned in pain. They got up from their butts and went face-to-face with the trio of Freedom Fighters.

"All right, you two," Knuckles said, clapping his fists together. "Are you done?"

"Like I said," Rough coughed. "It ain't over till I say- "

Suddenly, Big the Cat emerged from the bushes and onto the scene. "Is everyone okay?"

Team Sonic, Rough, and Tumble raised their eyebrows, curious.

Synergy followed behind his new friend, standing next to him. "We heard noises, is anyone hurt-!"

He cut off his sentence as soon as he saw Sonic the Hedgehog. "You!?"

Sonic pointed a finger at Synergy. "You!"

"Hey, you!" Big smiled and waved, innocently.

The scanner that Tails had began beeping, beeping as fast as a rapid heartbeat. He reached behind him and took out his Miles Electric. The scanner was going crazy because Synergy was present.

"The scanner?" Tails said. To which he gasped. "Synergy! That's him!"

"More losers to join the fight?" Rough asked. "This day keeps getting weirder and weirder."

Tumble neglected his brother's comment because he was busy eyeballing Synergy as if he'd seen him before. "Wait a minute… why do I feel like I've seen that guy before?" he then gasped, widening his eyes. "The Doc!"

Team Sonic raced toward the Gizoid and Big.

"Hold it right there, Synergy! You're going down!" Sonic said, grinning.

"Not gonna happen, Hedgehog!" Synergy replied, grabbing and lifting Big above his head. He quickly activated his jet-boosters and took to the skies.

"Oh, my gosh!" Tails worried. "He's kidnapping Big!"

"Devil!" Sonic replied. He chased after Synergy because the Gizoid raced into the left direction.

"Sonic, wait!" Tails called, wanting to share a plan he had with Sonic. But it was no use, the fastest thing alive was already gone. He moaned, rolled his eyes, and twirled his tails. "I'll go back and get the tornado, Knuckles, chase after Sonic! And make sure he's careful!"

"I will, Tails!" Knuckles nodded before jumping upward, gliding after his blue rival.

As Tails raced back to get the Tornado, Rough charged at the fox. Before he can attack him, Tumble grabbed his brother's tail and pulled him back.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Tumble said. "Don't!"

"Why not!?" Rough retorted. "They just wrecked our beautiful paradise!"

"Never mind that, we have to get back to the Doc," Tumble shook his head, walking away from the damage that's been done to their castle.

"What do we need to visit the Doc for?" Rough inquired, shrugging his shoulders.

Tumble stopped, turning over his shoulder. "Because I've seen that robot before… and so has he."

END OF CHAPTER 6

Tumble knows Synergy? How is that possible? And what's this, Synergy kidnapping Big the Cat!? Holy moly, how is Team Sonic going to get him back? G-merl and Cream have decided to go see Tails in the next chapter, hoping to discuss the events of the former's dream. But little do they know, someone is waiting for them in Emerald Town. Watch as a new character is revealed in "Chapter 7: Resistance Reunited."

POST-A/N:

Rough and Tumble are two of my favorite IDW characters (Whisper is my top favorite) so writing them was a lot of fun. IDW Sonic the Hedgehog Issue #3 came in handy when it came to this issue. Some dialogue was recycle from there and the fight scene was inspired from that issue, but everything else came from my mind.

G-merl's dream sequence was written in first person P.O.V because it was rather difficult to write it into third person P.O.V. That, and I thought having a third person P.O.V would be boring.

Again, special thanks to my co-writer/best friend on this website; Infinite's Ruby for her help.

Be sure to vote on who you think the caller is. Leave a fav, follow, and review if you're interested in seeing more. I'm The Sensational SpiderDom321 signing off!

~SD321 (SpiderDom321)