Ally watched in horror as Robotnick pondered about hitting the copy button,but she wasn't concerned about the pondering, she wasn't concerned about the army,she had time for that later. But what DID give her horror filled thoughts was what was what the fuel scorce for these ninjabots was : chaos emeralds and master emerald shards. She never seen them before nor did she know what they were, all she knew was Robotnick said as he walked by her cell "If I make an army of ninja bots I have 4 great sources of fuel : kidnapped animals,Chaos emeralds,those rings Soic picks up and collects,and master emerald shards. Thanks to Rouge I have…"
He was cut off by the sound of footsteps. Familiar footsteps to him,it was Rouge. This time,she had new treasures. They were the footsteps of Rouge the Bat. Rouge said "I found the rest of the Master Emerald shards," as she handed the remaining master emerald shards to Robotnick. Robotnick evilly smiled as he said "All 9 master emerald shards are now in my hands. Robotnick Land will finally come to be." Robotnick handed Rouge diamonds and rubies and pearls and said "Here's your payment as I promised. You will also get 20% of the share Robotnick land makes in taxes." Rouge smiled and said "Pleasure doing business with you Eggman." Ally looked on and watched the emeralds and master emerald shards go into the ninjabot "This is for a test to see how powerful the ninjabots can be." Rouge looked at Ally with evil grin on her face and then she said "Don't worry. Knowing Sonic,he'll save you. That is,if he makes it again. Eggman,how close are we to getting the full potential of the Ninjabot?"
Robotnick simply said "We''re about to find out the potential. If I need to,I can upgrade the ninjabot to get to it's maximum potential! Meaning,I use the lightest metal in the world!" Rouge smiled and replied with "I can find it for the right price,Eggman." Robotnick saying "Let's see I got gold for you. Sound good? Rouge smiled and said "Perfect. If I find more metals you can use,better have some good pay for me." Robotnick nodded in agreement and Rouge flew off. All that Ally could do was watch in horror… but little did Robotnick and Rouge know she was agile and fast… not as fast as Sonic,but fast and she knew martial arts and she was keeping a close eye for a chance to show it off to Sonic.
Sonic was more worried about the ninjabot while Knuckles had to at least talk some of what he calls "common sense" into Sonic by saying "Dude! Leave the world saving to me. Besides,you got a girl to save" Tails decided to give Knuckles hard time by poking some fun with Knuckles "Right,Knuckles,and THAT'S coming from the one who turns PINK when he's got 7 chaos emeralds."
Everyone got a good laugh out of it,well,except for Knuckles ,who was embarrassed and mad at Tails,but Tails railed on Knuckles by saying "Hey Knuckles! How's your girlfriend Rouge?" THAT'S what sent everyone laughing and after the good laugh,Sonic walked out saying "I'm outside if you need me," as Knuckles said "She is NOT my girlfriend! Why on earth would I like someone who wants to STEAL the master emerald?" While,the others were making fun of Knuckles,Sonic looked to the sky as Lizzie walked out and said "So… Thrash told you really like Ally." Sonic looked over and nodded as he said "Yeah,well,I don't know why,but I do."
Lizzie knew Sonic was lying about not knowing why he liked Ally so she said "Sonic? Did you smile when you met her?" Sonic blushed and finally admitted "Alright,the reason I like Ally is because she's pretty and caring and nice. And also silly." Lizzie snapped her fingers and said "I knew you would say that. Look,Sonic,it's okay. You'll have her back one day." Lizzie walked into the house to join the others in making fun of Knuckles for his CLEARLY obvious love interest in Rouge the bat,but Knuckles just kept denying the whole darn interest in her,and he also said he had better things to do than date that "master emerald stealing bat girl," as Knuckles put it.
Knuckles was sleeping until he had this bizarre dream where he was guarding the master emerald when Robotnick showed up and stole it and smashed it into shards. Then,he made Knuckles watch as the master emerald shards went into the ninjbot which powerful and then Knuckles was working with Rouge,who said she'd help get the emerald back if he took her out on a date,which Knuckles agreed to take her out on a date…
Knuckles woke up the next morning hearing laughter,music,and cheers. 'What? Why on earth are they laughing,' he thought to himself went downstairs to see what all the commotion was. Turns out,they were just having a good time playing Dance Dance Revolution and Sonic was just having a blast. Thrash said "Hey Knuckles! come on and join the fun!" Knuckles declined as he added "I got a master emerald to find,Thrash," as Sonic said "Knuckles has no sense of fun." Knuckles went to the radars while the others played dance games for hours on end.
As Knuckles sat down,he realized the cold truth that,unfortunately,Sonic was right about having no sense of fun. He ALWAYS took his job seriously. ALWAYS guarding the master emerald with no room for fun. But Knuckles was trying to hide the fact that he had a bad feeling the master emerald was in the ninjabot and Sonic was going to have one heck of fight. Now there was only one question on Knuckles mind : 'was Sonic up for the challenge of this ultimate task?'