Author's Note: So, that was quite a twist with the last chapter... okay, so some of you probably knew that would happen, but you might want to prepare yourselves for this one.
I feel it deep within
It's just beneath the skin
I must confess that I feel like a monster
I hate what I've become
The nightmare's just begun
I must confess that I feel like a Monster
1810 Hours, Robotropolis, Snively's Headquarters
Sonic raced through the streets of Robotropolis towards the location Snively had sent him. As he neared his destination, he saw that it was a hangar that had been one of their recent targets.
He skidded to a stop and observed the building in front of him. Through the entrance, he saw both SWAT-Bot's and Robians walking about, carrying different mechanical pieces and various technological items. He took a quick peek inside and saw the shadowy outlines of Stealth-Bot's, aircraft with lethal stealth capabilities, dotted throughout the hangar.
"Ol' Needlenose must be up to somethin'..." He thought to himself as he saw the outline of a Stealth-Bot, an aircraft with lethal stealth capabilities, in the hangar.
"Impressive, isn't it, hedgehog?" He heard Snively's scratchy voice behind him. He turned around to see said villain standing just a few feet away with Gamma standing at his right.
The first thing the hedgehog noticed was Snively's attire.
"Where'd ya get your clothes, Snavely?" the hedgehog snickered, "From the short and ugly store?"
"Watch your mouth, hedgehog." the short man snarled.
"Where're Sal and the others?" Sonic demanded, seeing that his normal insults were getting him nowhere.
"My, my..." Snively responded, a twisted form of amusement entering his eyes, "Aren't we impatient today? And I was so hoping I could introduce you to a friend of mine..."
As Snively spoke, a sillhouetted figure appeared in the shadows behind him.
"Bunnie?" the hedgehog asked, not sure if the shadows were playng a trick on him, "I thought you were dead."
"I never said she was dead." Snively replied, "However, she's not the same person that you knew."
Sonic's eyed bulged with surprise as the rabbit stepped into the light: Bunnie was completely roboticized! He couldn't see a single scrap of fur, only dull grey metal.
Sonic turned to Snively, his face a mixture of horror and rage, "You roboticized her?"
"I prefer to think that I brought out her full potential." Snively replied. He turned towards Bunnie.
"Kill him."
Sonic ran.
1815 Hours, Robotropolis, En-Route to Snively's Headquarters
Sally streaked through the smog-polluted sky of Robotropolis, her now-blazing crimson hair flowing behind her.
Behind her, Dulcy struggled to keep up with Charles and Rotor in tow. All three were silent, still puzzling over their friend's transformation.
"So... anyone else here wondering how Sally suddenly turned pink and started flying?" Dulcy spoke up, "And how she was able to get us out of there?"
"I don't know, Dulcy." Rotor responded, rubbing his chin in thought, "It's the first time I've seen her do something like that."
"I think I might know." Chuck interrupted, snapping his fingers, "This might sound crazy, but Sally somehow absorbed the Positive Energy of the Deep Power Stones."
"What?" Dulcy replied in confusion.
"It sounds weird, I know." Chuck responded, "But here's my theory: When Sonic and Sally connected the stones, they not only unleashed their power but they somehow absorbed it."
"Well, if that's true, then why didn't the abilities manifest earlier?" Rotor asked.
"That I don't know." Chuck shrugged, "But back to the matter at hand, we need to find the others."
"What about the Roboticizer?" Dulcy asked, "You're still a robot, Chuck."
"We can try to go back once we catch up to the others, but I don't think we'll have that opportunity." Chuck replied solemnly, sighing a bit, "Snively should already know we escaped, so chances are we don't have long until we have Patrol-Bot's on our tails."
"Uh, Uncle Chuck?" Dulcy interrupted, with a hint of nervousness in her voice, "Whatever you do, DON'T look down."
Chuck sighed, "Let me guess..."
Laser blasts from below seized their attention. They looked down and saw about 50 SWAT-Bot's waiting on the ground. Each one had their weapon activated and pointed directly at them.
"Great, a SWAT-Bot welcoming committee." Rotor groaned.
"Dulcy!" Chuck shouted.
"I'm way ahead of ya." Dulcy responded, "We're goin' down!"
The dragon dove down from the sky towards the SWAT-Bot armada. Just before crashing, she straightened her flight path. She unleashed a jet of red-hot flames from her mouth, scorching the SWAT-Bot's in her path. Dulcy quickly inhaled and shot a stream of condensed cold air, freezing the remaining SWAT-Bot's.
"Dulcy, let's land for a second." Chuck ordered, "I've got an idea."
"Hold onto your hats!" Dulcy said, "This'll be a rough landing!"
One crash-landing later, Chuck and Rotor slid off of the dazed Dulcy's saddle.
"Quick, Rotor!" Chuck commanded, "Grab their arm blasters! That should give us the upper hand!"
Chuck and Rotor grabbed two SWAT-Bot arms from the elbow to the hand that were a little singed, but none the worse for wear.
"Are you sure this will work, Uncle Chuck?" Rotor asked as he slid the metal glove over his flabby arm.
"The operation of this weapon should be pretty simple," Chuck noted, "Besides, I think it's time the 'Bots got a taste of their own firepower."
"If you say so," Rotor shrugged, "Let's get back up in the air."
After helping Dulcy get back up, they quickly found themselves back up in the air. They had barely been flying for about five minutes when they heard sirens behind them.
"Patrol Bot's." Rotor muttered.
Chuck nodded.
"Dulcy, keep us steady." The hedgehog ordered, turning around to face the group of about 30 hovercraft behind them, "It's time to give our new weapons a test drive."
Chuck lifted his hand level with his shoulder and quickly clenched it into a fist. In response, the laser on the arm quickly flared with a red light and shot a beam of concentrated energy. This beam hit one of the robots and sent it plummeting to the ground in a cloud of fire.
The Patrol-Bot's returned fire. Chuck and Rotor did likewise, and managed to send about 11 of the robots to a fiery grave.
"This is way too easy!" Rotor gloated as he sent another Patrol-Bot spiraling to its destruction.
"Don't get too cocky, Rotor!" Chuck admonished, pointing further behind the Patrol-Bot's, "We've got bigger problems!"
Suddenly, the group of Patrol-Bot's parted straight down the middle. Two identical mechanical creations flew straight through the group and towards the dragon.
"Delta and Epsilon!" Rotor shouted.
"I hate these guys!" Dulcy growled.
The E-100's quickly fired three simultaneous blasts from their blasters. Dulcy dove downwards, then upwards, then sideways, in any direction to escape from the drones pursuing her.
Then, just when the drones were about to capture them, they broke off their pursuit and retreated.
"Uncle Chuck, they're running away!" Dulcy exclaimed excitedly.
"Something's not right." Chuck mused, "They broke off their attack too quickly."
"Could Snively have something else planned?" Rotor asked.
"I wouldn't put that past him."
"Uh... Uncle Chuck?" Dulcy piped up, pointing at something ahead of them, "You might wanna see this."
Rotor and Chuck turned to where Dulcy was indicating and saw a sight that sent shivers running down their spines.
A massive SWAT-Bot about as tall as Snively's headquarters was standing in the middle of the city. Its frame bristled with multiple weapons, all of which were pointed right at them.
"This... could be a problem..." Chuck remarked.
1820 Hours, Robotropolis
Sonic ran through the streets of Robotropolis, hoping to put as much distance between himself and Bunnie.
'I've gotta get outta here and meet up with the others!'
Suddenly, as he was passing an alley, a grey blur leapt out and tackled him. The hedgehog slid across the ground and slammed into a pile of garbage.
Sonic rubbed the back of his head, "Man, way past uncool. What the heck was that?" he pondered as he stood up, wincing from the pain.
Then, he noticed a silver-grey sphere about a foot high zooming towards him. Multiple panels on the sphere retracted, metallic panels and circuitry within the sphere flipped, turned and snapped into place to form the roboticized Bunnie. She lunged straight at him, her fists clenched.
Sonic somersaulted away from Bunnie. The rabbit followed with a right uppercut which the hedgehog dodged. Sonic kept using his speed to avoid the robotic rabbit's attacks. However, he realized after a quick glance over his shoulder that he was slowly being backed into a dead-end.
The hedgehog leapt backwards and propelled himself off the wall clear over Bunnie's head, hoping to land behind her and escape. As the hedgehog flew above the rabbit, Bunnie extended her arm up, seized Sonic's right wrist and slammed him to the ground.
For a few seconds, Sonic lay still on the ground, unconscious. Then he groaned; his eyes slowly cracked open and he struggled to push himself up. He gasped as he felt something cold and metallic squeeze around his neck and pull him up. He found himself staring into the inky blackness of Bunnie's visor.
He tried prying off the rabbit's hands from around his neck to no avail. His right arm had broken when he hit the ground, leaving only his left arm mobile enough to try to loosen her grip. He could feel Bunnie's grip tightening around his neck, slowly choking him to death. Her visor glowed a diamond red as it charged with energy.
"B-Bunnie... stop." he choked.
However, at that very moment, something neither Sonic or Bunnie expected happened. From out of the shadows, a black object streaked out and bounced off the back of Bunnie's helmet.
Sonic and Bunnie re-focused their attention to a young brown fox holding a hockey stick in his right hand and a hockey puck in his left hand. His eyes had a look that was a mixture of fear and determination.
"Stop it, Aunt Bunnie!" Tails shouted. He dropped the puck on the floor, and with an impressive swing, smacked it towards the rabbit.
The robian relaxed her grip on Sonic's neck, and turned her attention towards Tails. Her visor fired a beam that incinerated the puck in mid-flight. Tails charged Bunnie, leaped into the air and attempted to perform what he hoped looked like a decent flying side-kick. With lightning speed, the rabbit grabbed the fox's outstretched leg and threw him into the air.
Tails' world suddenly turned upside-down as he streaked up into the sky and then plummeted to the ground. He landed on his back, yelping in pain.
The young fox inclined his head and saw Bunnie approaching him. He tried to stand up, but she placed her foot on his chest to keep him on the ground. Her mechanical hands converted into two identical katana. She raised them in the air as she prepared to end Tails' life with one stroke.
As Sonic watched helplessly, he suddenly felt a newfound strength in his arms. He pushed himself up, ran faster then he could ever remember running, and tackled Bunnie to the ground.
The rabbit flung off the hedgehog and shifted into her sphere form.
She accelerated away, turned around and charged straight at Sonic. However, she hadn't noticed that his eyes had suddenly turned completely white and his teeth were ground together in pure rage. A black vapor slowly flowed out from his eyes and swallowed his entire body, covering his spiny blue quills.
As the rabbit charged, the hedgehog vanished. The sphere skidded to a stop and shifted back into its humanoid form.
*TARGET LOST... SEARCHING...*
As the rabbit scanned the surrounding area, the hedgehog suddenly appeared above her. She didn't realize it until he had her pinned to the ground with an iron grip she couldn't break.
Sonic clenched his fists and pummeled Bunnie's armor, which collapsed like paper under his strikes.
*WARNING... VITAL CIRCUITS COMPROMISED...* Bunnie's systems droned as sparks flew, *INITIATING SHUTDOWN RECOVERY SEQUENCE*
"SONIC!" Tails yelled, slowly standing up and stumbling forward, "STOP IT! YOU'RE GONNA KILL HER!"
Relaxing his fists, the black figure stood up and turned to Tails sharply. The fox nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Sonic's eyes were a deep, murderous blood red.
"I am not Sonic." He declared in a deep, menacing, otherworldly voice as white streaks snaked through his dark fur, "I... AM... MEPHILES, AND I AM FREE!"
Author's Note: Ah, the ever glorious retcon...
