"I must locate this Tails," XM said to himself as he continued his flight from the Holoskan Egg Base. "He must...miss me."
The thought of being missed caused his Black Box Memory to begin transmitting more data to his main memory. XM began to remember the time he spent with the Vasquez family. He remembered Amber's welcoming kindness and desire to help him despite the danger to herself He remembered the rest of her family, and how all but Brandy grew to accept him. Finally, he remembered Rika. He then remembered what happened just before he was recaptured by Eggman. He wanted to go back to the remains of the Vasquez house, if only to make sure all four Hedgehogs had escaped. He shook his head. He couldn't go back. It'd be far too easy for Eggman to find him there and capture him yet again. He had to find Tails.
Meanwhile, the Tornado was en route to Holoska from the scene of Eggman's most recent attack, with Tails at the controls and Sonic standing on the top right wing. Suddenly, a blip appeared on the scanner. Tails' lips curled into a smile when he saw the blip. "It's him," he said out loud. "He escaped. The blip is the homing signal of Rocky's Black Box Module. That means it's operational"
"Is this that robot you were talking about that came up missing?" asked Sonic, having heard his best friend's monologue.
"It is indeed, Sonic. The Black Box module is a special backup memory component I installed as an anti-tampering measure. I figured that attempts would be made to reprogram him by certain less savory individuals."
As Sonic listened to the genius Kit's explanation of the Black Box Module, he could see something approaching them from the corner of his eye and got into a fighting stance. "Something's coming alright, and it looks like it could be that ultimate weapon Baldy Nosehair was bragging about."
"Looks can be deceiving, Sonic. This 'ultimate fighting machine' contains the Black Box Module. It's Rocky. My suspicion has been confirmed. Eggman stole Rocky in an attempt to weaponize him and turn him against us."
Sonic scratched his head. "Doesn't Eggman usually build his own robots, or has he just given up because they keep getting trashed?"
"I think it has less to do with him giving up and more to do with the tactical advantages that could be derived from turning a friend against us. He knows we'd be far less willing to fight Rocky than a robot of his own creation."
The blue hedgehog scowled, as he often did when his anger toward injustice was triggered. "That Egghead just stooped to a new low."
"Hey, Rocky," Tails called out. "Can you hear me?"
"Tails!" the red Hedgebot cried excitedly before zooming up to the cockpit of the Tornado.
"Sounds like Eggman's plan to turn you into a killbot failed, huh, Rocky?"
Rocky hung his head. "Not...entirely. I terminated...Metal Sonic."
"Why would that be a bad thing?" asked the Hedgehog.
"It did not...feel...right. Metal sounded...hurt..." Rocky replied.
"You don't know Metal, kid."
"Do you?"
"Too well. His mug should accompany the dictionary entry for 'Psycho.'"
"Then...it was...acceptable...to destroy him?"
"Trust me, you wouldn't feel so bad about it if you know what he's done."
"I also terminated...a small creature...that released a yellow liquid onto my foot. That was an error, correct?"
"Judging by that claw of yours, I'd say it was an accident," replied Sonic.
"It was."
"Guys, something else is coming, and this time, it ISN'T friendly," announced Tails.
"Target sighted," droned Theta as it flew toward Rocky and the Tornado. "Moving to neutralize."
"No way!" shouted Sonic, shooting a death glare at the E-Unit before launching a Homing Attack at it.
"Interference will not be tolerated," the gray machine announced before transforming its hands into rapid-fire mini-missile launchers. "Combat Mode engaged." With those words, Theta began firing on Sonic, who dodged the shots without uncurling from his Spinball mode. Eventually he plowed into Theta's chest at full speed, creating a large dent and sending the robot flying backwards. The E-100 responded by activating its afterburners to correct its flight path and continue its attack on the heroic Hedgehog, who was now in free-fall
Seeing this, Tails quickly flew the Tornado into a position to catch his surrogate brother's fall and allow him another strike on the attacking E-Unit. Sonic responded to Tails' gesture with a quick grin and thumbs-up before launching himself at Theta again, this time aiming his Homing Attack for the robot's head. The gray robot made a futile attempt to blast the Hedgehog off, but soon found itself losing control of its jets, then shutting down, having sustained terminal damage to its electronic brain.
Throughout the battle, Rocky hovered out of the way, covering his face. Theta may have been nothing but hostile to him, but he still couldn't stand the sight of the robot being beaten to scrap metal. After the battle, Tails and Sonic flew over to the robot's side on the Tornado. "What's wrong, Rocky?" asked the orange-yellow Kit. "That Eggbot won't come after you anymore."
"He is...hurt, correct? Sonic...hurt him."
"Seems you don't react well to violence."
"I...do not," Rocky replied. "Is that...unacceptable?"
"There's nothing wrong with that, Rocky," replied the Hedgebot's true creator. "You have a really big heart it seems, and you just want to see the best in everyone, especially fellow robots."
"I...I do. Could the robot...that pursued me...have gained the capacity to feel?"
"It's possible, but highly unlikely. Only two robots of his production line have ever grown beyond their programming. One of them was destroyed. The other is a bit of a loose cannon. There are only two people in the world who have really earned that one's trust."
"Who are they?"
"Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat. He's slowly beginning to trust me to perform maintenance and repairs on him though."
"What is this robot's designation?" asked the ever-curious Hedgebot.
"E-123 Omega," the Kit replied "We can talk more at my Workshop, okay?" It should be a lot safer for you there than it is out here. I've heightened security since you were stolen."
"Okay," replied Rocky as he landed on the Tornado's left wing.
Having finally been reunited with his long-lost creation, Tails fired up the modified biplane's jet boosters and flew back to his Mystic Ruins workshop. There, he had a surprise waiting for his beloved creation.
