Hello everyone! It's update time once more! Let's get started on the reviews!

AndTails: The plasma certainly helps, but it's also quite the problem should its user become reliant on it… Metal Cheese is quite adorable, and I do like Cream's position in the cast!

Ieju: Four Fifteen has certainly been using plasma to his advantage for a while, it's definitely going to have an impact on how he behaves… Thank you so much for your review!

Perturbo: Four Fifteen is not quite the fluffy fox boi we're used to, being out for himself for so long has certainly not helped either.

1TGN: Sonic and Four Fifteen's relationship is certainly an interesting one! You'll just have to wait to see what happens to them!

That's everyone! Time to start the chapter!

Mechanized Production

Fracture

Four Fifteen's day was looking to be quite interesting, he'd been instructed that he'd have a test after meal time today, something that he was looking forward to. Any excuse to leave his cell was greatly appreciated at this point, plus, he'd get to see Sonic soon as well.

It was still strange to have a friend, but it excited him nonetheless.

As the drones came to retrieve him from his cell, he willing traveled behind them, as he often had. His mind was allowed to wander as he walked the familiar route to the mess hall. Things had changed quite a lot in the past few days, he'd met a friend, which was a very good thing. Change however, scared the fox, hadn't he just been comfortable before? The question nagged at his mind as he reached his destination. Grabbing his food for the day and quickly locating Sonic amongst the other Mobians present. The hedgehog smiled as he approached.

"Nice to see you again." He commented.

"Yeah, how'd yesterday go?" The fox replied. "Did you see Cream?"

"Sure did, she says that she hopes won't get yourself hurt again."

"I'll be fine, but I appreciate her concern."

A comfortable silence settled between them for a moment before Sonic spoke again.

"So… What do you have to do today?"

"They're having me do some sort of test today after meal time, not exactly sure what though."

"Same here! They've got something for me to do as well."

"Well, I suppose there's nothing wrong with doing multiple at once, Robotnik does have multiple testing chambers."

"Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever seen the man…"

"Nobody has for a long time…" Four Fifteen answered.

"How long? I've heard he runs the place but…"

"Last time I heard someone saw him was almost a decade ago, I was just a kid then so my memory might be a bit off, maybe it never even happened…"

"That's… Wow…" Sonic spoke, somewhat dumbstruck at the statement. "I mean, he's got to be here right? Someone had to put together all this machinery…"

"He's certainly here, but nobody's seen or spoken to Robotnik in so long. It's rare to even hear him, but he's certainly here. I think he's always watching us, but even then, I'm not sure if he's still alive at all."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean think about it, what are the odds Robotnik is just a computer program or something now? It would certainly explain why nobody's seen him."

"But even then, why not make himself more known, if he's just a program what's he got to hide?" Sonic replied, "Still, we'll get to the bottom of this eventually. I know we will."

"We?"

"Yeah, you and me. We're friends? Right?"

Four Fifteen smiled, "You know, I hadn't heard you say it like that before… But yeah, we can be friends."

There was a brief silence from the fox before he spoke again. "Wow that's weird to say huh…"

"Why?"

"Well just, I don't think I've ever really had someone to call a friend before."

"Well, that's different now, you're my friend."

"Thanks…"

"Well, it's been great talking today, but I got that test in a minute." Sonic spoke.

"Same here, I'll see you later Sonic."

"You too."

The hedgehog made his way out of the mess hall, leaving the fox to himself for a minute to think over their conversation. One question still raced through his mind however, "Who, or what, was Robotnik?"

Four Fifteen didn't quite want to reveal Robotnik oversaw his tests, but considering he'd been this close to the man for fourteen years and still, nothing… It certainly put him on edge.

Brushing the thoughts away and rising from his table, he made his way toward the exit. It was time to focus. Testing time was always interesting, and besides, the energy for his augments was about half depleted by now, and he was starting to feel the voice of his inner consciousness claw its way back into his head. The energy charge he'd get from his testing would be greatly appreciated.

Stepping into the hallway and being met by a set of drones to escort him, he followed with them, as he had for every test before until they reached the testing chamber. The words 'Chamber-02' was sketched across the large metal hydraulic doors that dominated the entrance.

"Scan your identification number to begin testing." The drones spoke, using the same monotonous voice hed known all his life. Holding his arm up to the scanner nearby so it could read the barcode, the door hissed as the seal on the door opened. As he was escorted into the testing chamber however, he quickly came to the realization he wasn't alone. A familiar blue hedgehog and rabbit were here with him.

"Sonic? Cream?"

"What the heck is going on here?" Sonic asked, seemingly surprised by the now third Mobian present.

Cream, who was now wearing more of a standard white and orange dress than her usual medical uniform, was equally confused. Cheese, the drone that usually accompanied her floated nearby.

Specimen zero zero five zero one. Specimen zero zero four one five." An automated voice spoke, "Today you have been given a special opportunity to prove your skills in combat. You will duel until only one of you still stands. The victor will be greatly rewarded. Specimen one zero zero zero four will attend to your injuries afterward. Failure to comply with instructions will result in immediate termination. The test will begin in five seconds."

"Are you insane?" Sonic asked, somewhat unsure if the voice could hear him. "I'm not fighting my friend!"

"Failure to comply will result in immediate termination." The voice simply responded.

Despite being aware of the collar placed around his neck, Sonic continued his protest. "I'm not fighting him! I don't care about what you say! He's my friend, is that why you put us here!?"

"Specimen designation zero zero five zero one. The Damocles Behavioural Correctional Collar will be activated in ten seconds if you do not comply with instructions." The speaker built into the collar announced.

"Fine then! Do it, I'm still not-"

Sonic was interrupted by a punch to the face, knocking him to the side as the sound of plasma engines filled his ears. He skidded to a stop from the force of the impact as a blur of orange rushed overtop him at high speeds. Quickly jumping back to his feet, he spotted Four Fifteen hovering in the air nearby, staring down at him. Sonic was taken aback, looking for some degree of remorse in the fox's eyes anything to deal with what he viewed as a betrayal. He instead found pure raw determination.

"So that's how you want it to be huh!? Fine!"

Sonic rushed toward the fox, who by now, had determined to comply with the test, what other choice did he have? If he didn't, they'd certainly be killed, while he didn't like the idea of fighting Sonic, he didn't see any other way out of it. Why Sonic was angry at him, he wasn't quite sure, he'd just saved his life after all.

As the two tried their best to tackle each other to a position where they could get the upper hand, Cream could only just stand and watch. She wanted to intervene, but she knew that doing so could cause the collar around her neck to trigger. While she certainly wanted the fighting to stop before one of them get seriously hurt, she didn't dare risk her own life, much less both of theirs do to it.

"I'm making it so neither of us gets ourselves killed!" Four Fifteen yelled, rocketing toward the hedgehog.

"Well, some friend you are then! Here I was thinking that you wouldn't blindside me like that!"

"Someone had to be the first one, might as well have it be myself!"

"Oh, so you're really out for yourself then!? You know, I thought you might have been better than that!"

The fox landed near a far wall of the chamber. "I've lived on my own long enough to know when you just have to fall in line! There's no point in getting yourself killed for nothing!"

"It wasn't for nothing! It was-"

At that very moment, Four Fifteen's hearing was overwhelmed with the sound of an explosion. Rubble blasted outward into his back from directly behind him, as pain rushed through his entire body. He was thrown to the ground and pinned underneath some of the now loose stone. Still feeling the distinct feeling of the pain in his back, he found himself completely unable to move, or even feel his legs for that matter. His hearing rang and as his vision slowly started to refocus, he noticed a few small splotches of red near himself as blood dripped from his forehead. Coughing as the cloud of dust and debris slowly dissipated from the blast, he became vaguely aware of another Mobian figure near him, a pink hedgehog wearing a red dress and a backpack. She wielded some sort of hammer like device, and while she was clearly shouting something while gesturing to Sonic and Cream, he was unable to make out the words over the ringing in his brain. Not to mention the now blaring alarms that assaulted his quite sensitive hearing. He felt some of the stone from atop himself shift as if being lifted by something he couldn't quite see. As it moved, a powerful wave of pain hit his body, surging up from both of his legs to the rest of his being, it only intensified as it hit his back, completely consuming him.

Overwhelmed and with his entire body burning from pain, his vision gradually darkened. He struggled to fight off the darkness for a moment, but ultimately, he was forced to give in having no idea where or even if he would wake up…

-X-

Four Fifteen shot bolt upright, panic completely filling his body, he was certain he had to be dead. If his injuries hadn't killed him, the collar around his neck certainly had. Still, after a moment, he was surprised to find himself alive. He felt his racing heart and his panicked breathing as a confirmation that he indeed was still alive.

Which then raised another question. How? How was he still alive?

As he took in his surroundings however, something else was certainly off as well. While he was in an infirmary-like room, it wasn't the one from the Complex of which he was familiar. This one was different…

He slowly calmed himself down a bit, getting control of his rapid breathing and calming his heart down to more manageable levels. It was here he noticed yet more discrepancies…

For starters, his augments were still attached, both metallic appendages still sat behind him, which would certainly be unusual for what would be normal procedure.

He felt something on his head, and as he put a hand up he felt a set of bandages wrapped around his temples. What had happened since he'd passed out?

Scratching at an itch on his neck, he idly thought over what might have occurred, suddenly he froze. Placing a hand to his neck.

The collar was gone…

"What the heck is going on here?" He thought aloud. That was the last straw. It was time to get some answers. He pulled the blankets off himself, just as he did; however, a door to the room opened.

"Thank goodness you're alive!" Cream exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief, Cheese quickly followed behind her into the room. "For a second there it didn't look too good."

"What happened? Where am I? Why is my collar gone? Why does this place look-"

"Calm down, I'm sure you're pretty confused. I'll explain."

"Well actually…" Another voice spoke.

A pink hedgehog wearing a short red dress with white trim entered the room, a pair of similarly colored boots also covered both feet, a set of black knee pads and a pair of white gloves completed the outfit. Four Fifteen recognized her as the hedgehog he'd seen earlier, though the hammer and backpack were notably absent.

"I'll explain." The hedgehog finished. Leaving Four Fifteen even more curious as to where exactly he was.

Four Fifteen, doing a quick size up of the newcomer had him somewhat taken aback. The hedgehog couldn't be much younger than Sonic would have been, if at all. That wasn't what had him most surprised however, that would go to the fact that no matter how much of the hedgehog he looked over, he failed to find even a single piece of machinery present on her.

"Look, you're probably really confused and it's a long story, but here's the important part… You're not in the Complex."

For a moment, the fox didn't believe her, but he quickly came to a very powerful realization. She wasn't mechanized, which meant she certainly couldn't have been inside the complex. Four Fifteen's entire world was shaken by that simple five word sentence, so much so that shock set in as his brain refused to even process it.

"That's… That's not possible…" He muttered, though deep down, he was sure what she was saying was true. "Who… Who are you?"

"My name's Amy Rose, and welcome to your new life."