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DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Sonic the Hedgehog or Sonic Underground!

As the green light dispersed around them, they slowly blinked their eyes open to see the exact landscape they had seen through the Oracle's viewing pool.

"Warning might have been nice," complained Manic as he looked around at the new terrain. "I nearly had a heart attack."

Sonia was having similar reactions next to him. "Yeah, but we're here." She looked around. "Man, it's so beautiful here."

"Yeah. Our sis has incredible luck getting stuck here instead of some hole in the ground or something."

Sonia had started walking toward a large loop that clearly stood out from the rest of the terrain. "Wonder if this was man-made or some weird erosion." She was clearly off in her own little world.

Manic, seeing this, decided to do some exploring of his own. He strolled over to a group of palm trees that were growing a few feet away from their arrival point. He took out his drumsticks and, doing what he did best, banged them against the trunk of one of them. What he didn't expect was for a small computer monitor capsule to fall out of its leaves.

The drummer let a small yelp escape him and fell down, landing on his rump. His concerned sister, her attention now drawn away from the loop and the mystery of its creation, ran over to him. "Are you okay?"

The emerald hedgehog took the hand his sibling offered and stood up, stumbling slightly. "Yeah." He looked at the small capsule that had nearly given him a nasty head bump. "What's that?"

Sonia tapped it experimentally. "Don't know. How do we figure it out?"

Manic slowly circled it, then noticed something. "Hey! There's a picture on it!" He bent down for a better look at the image. "I think it's a golden ring."

She bent down next to him so that she could examine it herself. "You're right. That must be what's inside. Now, how are we supposed to open it?"

This was a problem. There were no locks or anything to pick into to open. An idea came to the thief. If you can't be quiet about something… "Stand back."

Before his sister could ask what he was doing, he kicked the capsule with as much force as he could. It gave easily under the pressure of his foot and soon there were about twenty rings pouring out of it.

Sonia blinked a couple times, surprised by the sudden action, but quickly regained her wits. "Well, that worked."

Her brother picked up one of the rings. "Yep. Wonder what they use these for."

The princess next to him gave him an exhausted look. "Its gold, Manic. It's probably the currency or something like that. It is a rare metal after all."

"Then why put it up in a tree in a safe that can easily be kicked open?"

That got her. That was a very strange way to store money. Really unsafe too. "I don't know. Maybe Sonica will know when we find her."

Manic perked up at the mention of their quest. "Right! Let's go find her! We need to spend our birthday together!"

Sonia had almost forgotten it was still their birthday. With all that had happened so far today, it had felt like they had passed it.

She looked up at the sun, shielding her eyes from its glare. From its position, she guessed it was around noon, maybe a little later. "We're comin', Sonica."

They spent the next half hour walking through the lush green fields. Sonia often ran ahead to look at some flowers that seemed new.

'Most flowers are new with our environment,' Manic thought, stopping to wait for his sister as she gazed at another patch of wild flowers.

"Come on, sis. Let's get movin'."

She nodded, rising to her feet. She opened her mouth only to close it again as they heard a strange maniacal laugh ring through the fields.

"HO HO HO!"

"What the- who is that?" Sonia finally said.

Manic started to follow the sound of the voice. "Let's find out."

When they reached the source of the laugh, they found the same man that had been on the monitors talking to Sleet. There was a large capsule in front of him with a weird, yellow, cube-shaped robot on top of what looked like a weight-sensitive trigger. The bot wasn't big enough to set it off though. A red, orb one was on top of the strange craft he was riding.

"What's he doing?" Sonia whispered to her brother, trying not to let the man hear them.

"Don't know. Probably nothing good. We should try and stop him," he replied.

"How? We don't even know what he's doing."

For some reason, that was when the doctor decided to turn in his seat. In doing so, he caught a glimpse of his observers. "Oh! It would appear we have guests!"

Manic winced. "Busted." He slowly stood, revealing himself completely. His sister did the same. "What are you doing here?"

Eggman ignored the question. "Prince Manic and Princess Sonia, yes?" He looked at their expressions. "Oh, don't look so surprised. I've been talking to Sleet and that idiot, Dingo, for a while now. I know much about you two. Including why you're here."

Sonia was quite taken aback by this. "You-you know- why we're...?"

"Oh, yes. You're looking for your sister, correct? Sonica?" Short and to the point.

Manic was suddenly filled with rage. This man definitely didn't seem like the most trustworthy person in the world. If he knew their sister...

"Yeah!" he yelled. "Where is she?!"

"Closer than you think."

"Huh?"

Suddenly, a large boom echoed through the area and a small palm fell over. Dust flew everywhere, blinding the two hedgehogs. They could hear Eggman's laughing through the sudden dust storm. When they opened their eyes though, they weren't prepared for what they saw.

Standing before them, was a robot that looked exactly like their sister.

The group was zooming past. Nothing but a bunch of different colored blurs. They soon came to the site where they thought the loud sound had come from.

"Tails, go up and see if you can tell who or what made that crashing sound," Sonica directed.

"Got it." The fox started spinning his namesakes, taking off to the air. When he reached a high enough altitude to see, he almost fell out of the sky in shock. There was Eggman, whom he had expected, and then there was Metal Sonic in front of him, as cold and menacing as ever.

And then there were two hedgehogs.

Sonia and Manic stood frozen at the sight of the robot. It looked exactly like Sonica. Except for the glowing red eyes and the masculine build. That was new.

'Oh no. He didn't. He couldn't. Sonica, robotized?' Manic thought, trying hard not to cry. It was impossible for her to have been caught. It couldn't be true. It couldn't!

Eggman, as if reading his mind, said, "Oh, this is quite real. This, here, is Metal Sonic."

Sonia was shaking, with grief or anger or both, Manic couldn't tell. She took a brave step forward, almost falling over in the process. "What did you do?!" She sounded like she was half weeping the words out.

A sinister grin came to the madman's face. "Nothing at all, my dear."

She growled, a very unladylike thing for her. Of course, neither was shooting down robots with lasers or trudging through the sewers, but still. She brought out her piano gun, glaring at the man hovering above them.

"My, my. No need to get feisty."

Manic came up beside his sister. "There's plenty need, if you ask me." He reached for his medallion, ready for action.

Eggman sat back in his chair completely relaxed with his round bot next to him. He was clearly enjoying the show. "Hmph. Why don't we let some of that energy out."

Metal's eyes started glowing brighter.

Tails flew down to the rest of the group, who were waiting a few feet from his spy spot.

"So, what's the deal up there?"

"Well, Eggman does seem to be the one who made that sound-"

"Yes! You owe me fifty rings, Vector!" Sonica cheered.

"Dang it."

"You shouldn't have bet her."

Tails cleared his throat. "That's not all." All attention was directed back to him. He seemed really nervous about whatever he was about to say. "There were two hedgehogs too, and they fit your description of your brother and sister."

There was a shocked silence that followed. Sonica looked like she was going to pass out.

All she could get out was, "What?"

"Metal was there too."

Knuckles rushed over to the cobalt hedgehog as she just about fell. Sonica had to grab onto him to prevent this. She held her hand to her head, clearly shocked.

"They must think I'm robotized. How did they even get here?"

Knuckles held onto his friend. He was shocked, but clearly not as much as Sonica.

"We should head in there," Knuckles said.

"Wait."

Knuckles stopped as he was asked. Why wait, though? Her family was in danger. Shouldn't she be running in there head-first without thinking, like she always did?

Sonica released Knuckles, standing on her own two feet. "We need a plan."

"Never heard you say that before."

"Not now, Shads." That got him to shut up. Sonica sounded like she meant business. "Here's the plan."

Just as the roboticized Sonica was charging, it flew off to the side. Something had hit it!

That something was a pink hedgehog in a red dress, boots, and a large headband. "Hey there."

There wasn't much they could say. That came out of nowhere.

Then, a small, ten-year-old bunny ran up beside her with two small creatures that the two foreigners didn't recognize. They were cute though.

One by one, more came. A crocodile with headphones, a bee flying every which way, a serious looking chameleon, a black hedgehog with red stripes, a white bat, a flying, pale gray (almost white) hedgehog, a purple cat, and a much larger purple cat with a fishing pole and frog.

"Where did he go?! Where did he go?!" the small bee was yelling.

"Shut it, Charmy," the chameleon complained.

Sonia averted her attention away from the newcomers to catch a glance at the doctor. He was mad. And that is an understatement. He got a hold of himself very quickly, but she saw it. He did not like these people. That meant she liked them.

The now calm-looking Eggman gazed at the group on the ground. "I see you're a few people short there. Did you leave or did they just leave themselves?"

No answer came, although Manic could barely see the bee and rabbit covering their mouths to keep from giggling out loud behind the crocodile. This just confused him more.

Sonia decided to voice the confusion. "Who are you guys? What is he talking about? Where did Sonica go? What is going on?!"

They got a couple sympathetic looks. The bat stepped up. "Don't worry, hon. We're friends. You'll learn everything soon enough."

That didn't help.

A clanking metal sound came from behind them. The two siblings whirled around to see the robot version of their sister approaching.

Surprisingly, the little creatures came behind it and hit it back in front of the hovercraft. "Chao!"

Their minds went into overload trying to figure out so many things at once. How did Sonica get caught? Did they have a roboticizer here? Where did these people come from? Why did they make Eggman so angry? What was the point of hitting Sonica there?

Then, they heard the sound of a plane.

The hum of the engine helped calm his nerves. After he heard Sonica's plan, he had plenty of butterflies in his stomach, enough for him and everyone else in the group. Particularly the part about meeting Sonia and Manic. The fighting didn't bother him a bit. He had been doing it since he was a little kid. But, meeting his sister's family…

'I should stop thinking about it. The butterflies are multiplying,' he thought, once again focusing on the skies.

Sonica had been keeping an eye on her little brother out of the corner of her eye. She was worried about him. He had started acting weird since he told them about the scene between her siblings and Eggman. He seemed nervous, maybe slightly guilty too. She couldn't understand what was going on in that head of his, but right now all she could do was watch him and comfort him when he was feeling down.

Knuckles was nervous too. Ever since his island teleported here he'd been wondering how they were. Now they were here and they weren't doing too hot at the moment. He was itching to help. But they had to stick to the plan. The plan that probably made no sense whatsoever.

Of course Sonica was even tenser than Tails and Knuckles combined. She had lost most of her family and now, out of nowhere, they were here. And getting attacked by Eggman and Metal (who they probably thought was her roboticized.)

She had searched high and low for her old home. But even travelling the whole world and back, she couldn't find it. Not Mobodoon, not Robotropolis, nothing.

She did find some great friends along the way though. Tails, Shadow, Cream, Cheese, Chocola, even Amy. They were all really close to her. They helped fill the gap her siblings had left. It couldn't be completely filled though. Only Sonia and Manic could do that.

But now, a new space in her heart had opened, one for each of her friends. The Chaotix, Team Dark, Blaze, Silver, Knuckles, Sticks and Zooey (even though they were still on Bygone Island/Seaside Island) and, of course, Shadow and Tails. That ebony hedgehog and fox would always stay at the top. They were his best friends and, respectively, boyfriend and little brother; that would never change.

"We're coming up on the battle ground," Tails' voice broke Sonica out of her thoughts.

"Thanks, li'l bro. See you down there."

"Be careful."

Sonica looked up at her little buddy, but his expression was unreadable at the moment. She smiled. "Course, bud."

She ruffled the kit's bangs before she jumped off the plane, aiming for a particular copy-bot.

Sonica landed with a thud and the sound of metal giving under her feet, dust flying everywhere.

'What is it with this area and dust?' she thought.

She turned to where the doctor floated in his Eggmobile, who was completely shocked.

"What? Did you think I would miss? Gotta have some fun on my birthday," Sonica mocked.

That got the attention of the two hedgehogs behind them. Birthday? Could it be? How could it?

Sure enough, the dust cleared and in front of them was a certain blue hedgehog with red sneakers, her back turned to them. Sonia fell to her knees, crying her eyes out. She didn't even bother trying to use Manic as support. At this point, she didn't really care. Sonica was alive! And she wasn't a mindless robot. She was her crazy, tomboyish sister, who she had missed with all her heart. The sister who was standing ten feet away from her now. The sister she thought she had lost forever.

Manic had almost fallen over himself, but managed to stand. Swaying, but standing. He had a death grip around his medallion. He was probably about to start bleeding if he didn't stop soon. But he didn't. He stared at his eldest sister with tears in his eyes. His big sis was back! She was safe! Not a robot!

Wait a sec, the robot! Sonica had missed the landing by a foot, so she only landed on its shoulder. Luckily, she did know this, so when it tried to attack, she simply ducked out of the way. "I see you're still using that lame copy. How many times have you fixed that thing up now?And why is it still a masculine design?!"

Hate practically radiated from the doctor's body. "You're- but you! UGH!"

The Blue Blur sassily put her hands on her hips. "What? Did you think that little plan of yours with your lame dragon robot thing would work? I have way cooler friends than you give credit for."

The crowd started cheering, agreeing with the statement. Cheese decided to come over and plop back on Sonica's head. The Chao had guts, that's for sure.

That's when he snapped. "METAL! ATTAAACK!"

"Heh. Finally." She started running, not at full speed, but still not one to laugh at. The Chao fell off in the process. Metal was right behind her, out for blood. He wasn't going to find it.

Sonica saw the cliff wall standing threateningly a few miles away and simply smiled. 'Perfect.' She sped up, which confused and worried her siblings until she started scaling the wall, it then turned to shock.

She saw that the bot was still on her tail, and a lot closer than she thought. It slung out its arm in an attempt to claw Sonica's arm off. It only wounded it though, as she jumped away. She tried not to let any of her friends or family notice, especially not her boyfriend, and they didn't. By now, she could hide these things pretty well.

She stood face-to-metallic-face with her copy. She looked around at the area they had landed. It was a small ways away from where everyone else was.

'Awesome. Now all I have to do is keep this thing busy until Tails comes back around,' she thought, getting into a fighting stance. She was going to have to do some hand-to-hand combat to occupy it. 'This should be fun.'

Metal made the first move, lunging out at Sonica, aiming for her throat. The sow's fast reflexes saved her as she dodged to the right, then, using her chance, roundhouse kicked the bot in the back, making it fall face first into the ground.

That gave Sonica a few more seconds.

'How long will it take Tails to get that thing and come back?' Sonic wondered as he prepared for the robot again. 'I guess I'll find out soon enough.'

Her arm was burning where Metal had clawed her. She was straining it fighting. It was bleeding slightly quicker than before, but not enough for her not to be able to hide it from the others.

Metal Sonic eventually came off the ground. If robots could look angry, it was definitely mad. It lunged as soon as its organic double had come into sight.

'Here we go again.'

Meanwhile, Sonia and Manic were watching, still in shock.

The rabbit came up to them. "Are you all right?"

Sonia smiled at the small ten-year-old. It wasn't entirely genuine, but it was a smile. "Yeah, I guess so." She looked back to the battle.

"Miss Sonica will be just fine."

Both hedgehogs turned to look at her. "You know, Sonica?"

The pink hedgehog sow with the hammer stepped forward. "We all do. She's our friend."

"All of you?"

They all nodded.

'Sonica is more than just a friend to me,' Shadow thought.

Manic didn't look completely surprised. "I'd believe it."

Sonia nodded. Sonica always did have a way with people. "So, can anyone tell us what's going on here?"

The hammer girl grinned. "Of course."

Sonica had knocked out Metal again, this time getting the robot's head stuck in a tree. She took this time to look over to where her family and friends were watching. She saw Sonia and Manic talking to Amy and Cream and sighed in relief. She could relax, knowing her friends were helping the rest of her family out while she was busy with this cheap copy of her.

Speaking of which… Metal was out of the tree and on the attack. The Blue Blur dodged to the right barely avoiding another clawed, metal hand scraping across her skin. Again.

'Ugh! Where is-!' Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a bi-plane engine. "Finally!"

Without warning, she ran full speed away from the battle, running over Metal in the process. She ran up a tree, projecting herself into the sky, then was caught by the Tornado.

"What took you so long?!" Sonica yelled over the wind, her injured arm turned away from the pilot.

"There were a lot more Buzz Bombers than I expected," came the reply. "Sorry, Sonica."

"It's fine, buddy. Doesn't matter now, anyway. Deploy it!"

Tails did as he was told and pushed a small button on his dash, releasing a missile. A very special missile. This was designed just for Metal Sonic. Sonica had remembered Tails working on it a while back, since fighting the copy bot was getting repetitive nowadays. He had picked it up after he dropped off Sonica. It hadn't been perfected yet, but this wasn't really a time to be picky.

The projectile worked perfectly. First, it sent out an electrical current, stopping Metal from fleeing (it was magnetically charged so it would only target Metal or any other robot in the area), then it hit. It wasn't the most complicated thing in the world, but Sonica understood how it worked, which is more than she could say for some of the other inventions the fox created.

Metal had been destroyed. Both its legs had been flown somewhere far away in the blast. The body had been dented beyond recognition, and only one of its arms had been able to stay attached. Something still bothered Sonica though. "Go land by the others."

Before Tails could ask what she was doing, Sonica jumped off the plane, startling her siblings as she saw through the corner of her eye.

She walked up to the replica and, sure enough, she had been right. It was still functioning. Those red, glowing eyes were still glowing bright. She felt the eyes of everyone on her back. They were waiting for her to do it. And she did.

She stomped down on the robot's neck as hard as she could, disconnecting its head. The red lights went dead.