The story so far: Bark and Tails have witnessed something shocking in Robotnik's lab. Meanwhile Knuckles has managed to get onboard the airship.
The lack of any sort of temperature in the nothingness comforted Sonic. Just moments before he'd very nearly got burnt to pieces by the fire that was engulfing the bridge between the ruins of the Metropolis Zone, and the Great Turquoise Zone. Now Sonic floated aimlessly, waiting for, what he assumed was, Dr Kintobor to speak. Sonic contemplated the events of the last few days. What had begun with a simple curiosity had led him over much of Mobius. Sonic had been through a lot, and was no closer to stopping Robotnik's latest plan. Sonic hadn't even figured out what it was. So far Robotnik had stolen one of the Chaos Emeralds, and had destroyed Westside Island. Other than a couple of random Badnik attacks this was very uncharacteristic of Robotnik. However his success at destroying Westside Island still infuriated Sonic, and if one bridge had contained a flow of explosive Mega Mack, what was to stop others? Sonic contemplated the idea of Robotnik readying every continent for destruction and shuddered.
"My dear Sonic," The voice said again.
"Dr Kintobor," Sonic said, acknowledging the voice to be his old friend, "it's been too long dude."
"Indeed, but now is not the time for pleasantries. I'm sure you have noticed that Robotnik is up to no good again."
Sonic nodded, and the voice continued, telling Sonic much of what he already knew. Kintobor explained to Sonic how Robotnik was controlling the populace of Mobius, as well as explaining to Sonic how to break Robotnik's control. Sonic sort of followed, and tried to remember as much of it as possible. While he himself didn't have the technical know how, he was sure Tails would know how to reverse Robotnik's subliminal messages.
"It's up to you Sonic; you are the most adept of the Servers of Chaos. You are the only one who can harness the power to counter Robotnik's plan." Kintobor said calmly.
"But what is his plan?" Sonic asked, "I still have no idea what he's up to. Please Kintobor; tell me what's going on?"
"I can't, not here. If I tell you here, it will be heard." Kintobor said reluctantly, "It's a sacrifice I have to make. We all have a sacrifice to make Sonic, for the greater good. If I could tell you all you wanted, I would, but this is not my realm, and… urrgh."
"Kintobor!" Sonic yelled, guessing from the tone that Kintobor was in a great deal of pain.
"You must go now Sonic," Kintobor stuttered, his voice becoming increasingly gravely, "I cannot guarantee your safe return, but I'll try to put you some…"
The nothingness disappeared with a flash. Sonic fell to the ground with a bump. He got up rubbing his back. "Kintobor was right about a safe return," he mused to himself, "now where am I?" Sonic got up, rubbing his back slightly, and looked around. He was stood in an expansive corridor, each wall with the Eggman symbol on it. Sonic shivered in disgust, and began to explore. He didn't have to run too far before he encountered a single Crabmeat. He span into it like it wasn't worth his time and continued searching. Running up two flights of stairs he entered a room labelled as the observation deck. The room itself was surrounded by glass windows. Sonic looked out them. The sky to the left was grey and cloudy; to the right it was clear and blue.
Sonic saw a blue beam fire from in front of him, towards the tail end of the ship. It shot into the sky, and disappeared out of sight in the distance. The blue sky flickered yellow briefly, and the clouds turned white before the colour returned to normal. For a split second, Sonic felt a surge of power run through him. Deciding it would be a good idea to see what caused such a thing, Sonic ran back down the stairs, and towards the source of the light beam. Running through the corridors he stopped briefly to smash open a pair of Blastoids, before sprinting to the end of the corridor. He jumped down another flight of stairs, and turned left, down another corridor. Leaping off the walls he narrowly dodged the fire of an Orbinaut, before hitting it with a perfectly executed spin attack.
Sonic couldn't be too sure where he was headed, but when he spotted Bark and Tails he was pretty sure he was in the right place. He put his paw on Tails' shoulder, causing the young fox to jump in fright, before grabbing Sonic.
"Glad to see you too li'l bro. What'd I miss?" Sonic asked casually.
Before anyone could answer a voice yelled out "stop him before he grabs those gems!"
Instinctively Sonic ran into the room, noticing Knuckles doing the exact same thing. Sonic grabbed a green emerald that lay in the room. A bomb rolled across the floor, knocking Sonic backwards, and sending the emerald flying. Tails went to grab it, but was beaten by a green duck with badly ruffled feathers clutching a bomb.
"Hand over all the emeralds and I will make your deaths quick and painless" The duck shrieked madly.
"Bean, what on Mobius are you playing at?" Bark yelled, almost annoyed by the duck.
"You fool, you blind fool!" The duck yelled even more angrily, "For three years I was kept at bay by you, but now, thanks to these wonderful Gems I am the dominant one. Perfectly stable, perfectly in control, and yet so perfectly chaotic." The duck smirked, as he grabbed another gem from the floor. "Bean is gone, Pin is now in control!" he shouted maniacally. With another bomb blast he managed to snag the two Knuckles had picked up.
The grey emerald was also knocked to the floor. In the confusion Sonic lost track of it, and cursed himself inwardly. Bark had one of the gems, and taunted Pin with it, leading him out of the room. Sonic could hear Bark fighting with Pin outside. It was obvious to Sonic that Bark knew how to deal with Bean, and thus would be capable of handling Pin. Sonic looked to the ruins of the lab, and saw Robotnik's body get up slowly.
"It's been so long since I've had a physical form, it's difficult to readjust to it," the doctor said calmly, "I wasn't this out of shape when I left it was I?" he pondered.
"Okay Eggman, you've got some serious explaining to do. Just what is all this stuff? What's your game this time?" Sonic asked angrily.
"Sonic I don't know. I can't remember. I don't know how to prove it, but trust me, I am Dr Kintobor." Robotnik said.
Surprisingly it was Knuckles who was first to question this, and asked Robotnik for proof he was indeed now Kintobor. Tails nodded, also wanting further proof.
"Listen Sonic, as one of the Servers of Chaos you need to believe me. If I were truly Robotnik, would I be so willing to hand you this?" he asked, offering up the grey emerald to Sonic.
Tails looked over to one of the computer monitors and briefly looked through some of the documents. "Listen to this Sonic, apparently that machine was a Neo Orbital Chaos Compressor. According to these files Robotnik wanted to replicate the ROCC explosion in a controlled field. Unless I'm very much mistaken, from what you've told me of the ROCC explosion, it turned Kintobor into his negative, Robotnik. Since he's got hit by a second blast, this man here is indeed Dr Kintobor."
Is it really Dr Kintobor? Just what has gotten into Bean? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.