Morning began rising on Angel Island. Last night was supposed to be the day SNT met Knuckles the Echidna, the guardian of the Master Emerald. But his suspicion took the better of him and discovered her dark secret. But after some talk, they learned that they have much in common.
So to compensate, he decided to at least improve the experiment's battle prowess and her abilities, despite their rough introduction. The two approached an enormous stone wall in some ancient ruins.
"So, how do we get up there?" SNT asked.
"Simple, we climb it," Knuckles responded.
"How?" SNT questioned, "We don't have anything that can help us!"
"You may be right, but we are already well equipped to climb this." Knuckles then approached the wall and took a deep breath.
The experiment raised an eyebrow at what her mentor was going to do. That was when Knuckles punched the stone wall, and then he proceeded to punch it again, only he aimed it a bit higher than the last one. The echidna repeatedly kept punching the wall, each time gaining a bit of height until he reached the very top
SNT's jaw dropped. "You can climb by punching!?"
"Your turn, SNT!" Knuckles shouted from atop.
"I… I'll try." She went to the wall and punched it. Every punch SNT did took her slightly off the ground. "I'm doing it!" she said excitedly.
Knuckles smiled, "Try not to lose your grip!"
SNT kept climbing the wall, but she punched a hole too lighty that when she tried to climb up. She almost fell, "W-Woah…" SNT pierced the wall with her fists to prevent the fall.
"Is everything alright?" asked Knuckles.
"Yeah!" SNT shouted, "Just got a little excited." The hybrid kept on climbing until she reached her mentor's level.
"So… what now Knuckles?"
The echidna grinned, "Let me show you." He then released an onslaught of rapid punches, creating a massive hole in the wall. "ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA!"
Before SNT could process what Knuckles was doing, he began crawling into the newly made hole.
That's so cool! she thought. The hybrid proceeded to try and punch the wall, but instead she hurt her fists. "Ow!" SNT took a deep breath and punched the wall again, cracking the stone it was made of. She took another punch and another until she began creating a hole. Each punch she landed was faster than the last.
"ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA!" she cried.
SNT went through the hole at rapid speeds. She almost forgot just how tiring it was punching away all the dirt. She continued digging until her arms were getting sore. The hybrid punched the top, creating another hole, revealing sunlight from outside. SNT poked her head out to find where Knuckles was.
"Knuckles! Knuckles! Where are you?" she shouted.
A piece of ground crumbled and a spiky fist came right through. Knuckles came out shortly after.
"Feels good."
Meanwhile in Vanilla's house, Tails and Amy were getting up to start a new day. First, they were greeted by a familiar face that morning.
A small rabbit girl with long ears and brown eyes walked in the room. She wore an orange dress with a light blue cobalt tie, white gloves with gold cufflinks, and orange and yellow shoes with white socks.
"Hello Cream," Tails said.
"Good morning Mr. Tails and Ms. Amy!" Cream cheerfully greeted.
"So what do you wanna do, Cream?" Amy asked, "Wanna go and pick flowers? You always like that."
"That'd be nice," the rabbit said, "but…"
"What?" the pink hedgehog questioned.
"Tails, could you help with something?" Cream asked.
"Sure," Tails said, "what is it?"
"It's about G-merl." The rabbit answered, "He was acting strange yesterday."
Tails raised an eyebrow. "How so? Did he hurt anyone? Or is it a glitch in his system?"
"He kept saying random letters and his eyes kept changing from blue to purple. My mom and I were scared, so we turned him off," Cream explained.
"Did he do anything else?" Amy asked.
Cream shook her head and answered, "No… he's in that closet." She pointed to a door in the hallway.
Tails walked towards the door and twisted the doorknob. Inside the closet were hanging sweaters and coats. At the bottom were pairs of rainboots with an umbrella. Tails swept the coats to find a deactivated humanoid robot.
The robot had black armor with fin-like structures on his forearms and knees. It was made of a circular head with a mouth plate, gray caps for ears, red rims under his eyes, a curved yellow horn with spikes sticking out the sides, and a light blue 'eye'. It also had spherical black shoulders and pelvis-leg points. His body rested on the wall with his head down.
Tails picked up G-merl and walked out of the closet. He sat the deactivated robot on the couch and went behind his head to open up a panel with switches and a green button. The fox boy pressed the green button and quickly closed the panel. G-merl's eyes lit up with a purple glow and raised his head.
Amy pulled out her hammer in case their robot friend tried to do anything, but he didn't. He just stayed still on the couch, not moving a joint. That was when G-merl in a cold robotic voice spoke;
"N…"
"I…"
"G…"
"H…"
"T…"
"M…"
"A…"
"R…"
"E…"
The humanoid robot then turned his head a full one-eighty degrees. His purple eyes stared directly at them, even at their very souls. The T.V. then turned itself on, but it only displayed static. The light bulbs began non-stop flickering, borderlining on blowing up into pieces.
Tails, Amy, Cream stepped back away from the robot and behind the kitchen counter as the bulbs exploded, leaving shattered glass on the floor. The T.V. turned off and G-merl turned his head again and deactivated once more.
Amy's body began to shake. "W-What j-just happened?!" she stumbled on her words.
Tails' pupils shrinked. "H-How? Cream, did he do any of that yesterday? Cream?" He turned to see the rabbit shaking and almost crying.
Nobody knew what to say, everything happened so fast. All they could do was stare at the motionless G-merl. Tails approached the humanoid-bot slowly. He lifted the panel again and pressed the green button. G-merl's body stirred and twitched, but it suddenly stopped. His eyes glowed green and a more calming voice said;
"System reboot: 1 out of 100%"
The mobians sighed in relief. Their friend would shortly return to normal. All was well and good...
...Until a loud crash shattered the front window. Tails turned around to see a familiar blue robot that resembled his best friend. He stood up and eyed his surroundings.
The fox boy trembled, "M-Metal Sonic!"
Metal Sonic's red optics glared at his objective, "Target: Acquired." The metallic hedgehog activated his thruster and flew towards Tails at high speed.
Tails tried to avoid him, but Metal quickly grabbed his throat and slammed him to the wall. Tails tried to pry the Sonic double's hand. "W-What do you want?" the fox choked.
"Where's your pink friend?" Metal Sonic asked.
"Right here!" Amy shouted and hit Metal with her hammer, knocking him away and freeing Tails in the process.
"Good hit, Amy…" Tails said.
Metal Sonic activated his thruster and floated mid-air. "The doctor requests your presence, both of you," he responded.
"Like we're gonna listen to you!" Amy retorted, "Cream, hide! We'll take care of Metal Sonic."
"Wait we-" Tails said before getting dragged by Amy.
"So be it." Metal Sonic charged towards them.
The three combatants charged at each other before Amy hit Metal Sonic out of Vanilla's house. The Sonic double landed in front of the garden, trampling the flowers and breaking the fence. The pink hedgehog went for another hit, but Metal stopped it mid swing and gut punched Amy.
"Predictable as ever," Metal taunted.
He then raised his right hand and prepared to slash Amy's face, but a missile stopped his swing midway. It blew up, sending Metal Sonic a few meters away. Amy turned to see Tails piloting a walker mech.
"Good thing I took the Cyclone for just this occasion," Tails said confidently.
The two glared at their opponent as the missile barely scratched Metal Sonic's body. This was going to be a long battle.
Back on Angel Island, while SNT and Knuckles were training, Sonic was resting on a tree branch near the Master Emerald shrine. Despite being put in charge of protecting it, the blue blur found it boring and rested just near the altar. From the corner of Sonic's vision, he noticed Knuckles and SNT finally came back.
"Took them long enough, it was getting boring out here," Sonic said to himself.
He dropped from the branch and stretched himself before running to the altar to greet his friends.
"There you are Sonic," Knuckles said. "Where were you?"
"Y'know, just guarding the Master Emerald while you and SNT were away, that's all," Sonic responded.
"You went to rest up on a branch, didn't you?"
"What, no… I would never do that," Sonic replied, looking away and crossing his arms.
"Suuuuuure," the echidna said sarcastically.
"Anyway, how was your training with Knuckles, SNT?" Sonic asked.
"Tiresome, but fun!" SNT smiled and said, "I learned how to climb and dig. I never had this much fun in my life!"
Sonic couldn't help but admire SNT's enthusiasm, which was so young yet full of energy and curiosity. The hedgehog snickered, "I guess we can get along well."
"I can't wait to beat Eggman!" SNT exclaimed.
The three laughed at the thought, but that was when the sound of loud engines perked their ears. A large shadow loomed over them, which prompted them to look up and see the Egg Blimp. SNT's determined look was replaced with utter terror.
"Speak of the devil, look who showed up," Sonic snarked.
SNT gulped at the sight of Robotnik's metal blimp in the sky. "He's here!"
"Oh gee, thanks for pointing that out!" Knuckles yelled.
"Knuckles, chill, there's no way we're letting Egghead take the Master Emerald," Sonic said. "SNT, hide behind the emerald. Me and Knuckles can take care of Eggman's welcoming party."
"Are you sure?" SNT asked, concerned for Sonic's well-being.
"Yes, I'm sure of it, go!" Sonic said with a thumbs up.
SNT hid behind the giant emerald, slowly peeking behind it. Sonic and Knuckles took battle stances as Robotnik's blimp hovered over the island. A ramp from behind the gondola opened as blue egg-shaped robots with gatling guns for hands flew down. They resembled the Egg-pawns, only with built-in jetpacks and orange visors.
"Hello, Sonic, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" Robotnik's voice boomed from a speaker.
"It's only been a day, not that long actually!" Sonic shouted from below.
"Just cut to the chase, Eggman!" Knuckles yelled, "We know you're here for the Master Emerald!"
"Oh really? I never realized that, Knucklehead," Robotnik said sarcastically.
"Don't play games with me!" Knuckles yelled again.
Sonic sighed, "Yep, Knuckles hasn't changed."
"I'm not playing games with anyone," Robotnik said, "but perhaps my Egg-Gunners can answer that for you."
The blue egg-shaped robots then bombarded Knuckles and Sonic from the sky above, raining down bullets. Sonic curled into a ball and propelled himself against one of the robots, piercing through its body. Knuckles, on the other hand, kept on running before jumping on one of the destroyed pillars, launching himself high into the air. The Egg-Gunners kept on firing at their target. The guardian landed on one of the robots, delivering a hard blow on the head.
Robotnik could only look in delight. "Perfect, with them distracted I can finally steal it!"
He pressed a button on his chair, and soon after that, Robotnik's Egg-Mobile came full front. Robotnik hopped in as the hovercraft stumbled from his weight. He then pressed a button on the hovercraft, opening up a gate from the blimp's metal floor. The Egg-Mobile slowly descended out of the blimp, going straight for the Master Emerald.
SNT looked on in horror as the Egg-Mobile came closer. Oh no no no no no! She cowered behind the emerald, hoping to not have been seen by her former master.
The Egg-Mobile hovered above the enormous emerald. Robotnik pressed a button, and then the bottom part of the hovercraft became a large, robotic claw. The claw lowered and grabbed the emerald.
"Oh, ho, ho, ho!" Robotnik laughed. "Thanks for guarding my emerald, Knuckles, for I'll use its power for my city."
"Your emerald?!" Knuckles barked. "That's it!" The echidna jumped into the air with his fists raised and prepared to destroy the egg-shaped hovercraft.
Robotnik merely snapped his fingers as a dark blue figure rammed into the red echidna at high speeds. Knuckles was sent flying off the shrine, landing hard on the ground below. He groggily got up from the blow of the mysterious attacker. A shadow loomed over the beaten guardian, which resembled the blue blur's shape.
"It's been a long time since our last encounter," the attacker said in a deep robotic voice.
Knuckles looked up to see an old foe. "Mecha Sonic…" he growled.
"Long time no see, guardian," the robot duplicate said. "I've waited long enough to break your skull."
"We'll see about that, tin-can!" Knuckles growled.
The mecha and echidna clashed against each other. Sonic kept the badniks busy allowing Knuckles to focus on his opponent. The robots slowly overwhelmed the heroes that they could barely keep up. Robotnik began to take off in his Egg Mobile, all was working perfectly... Until his hovercraft stopped dead in its tracks. The scientist almost fell off, he turned around and saw SNT.
"You're not going anywhere!" she claimed.
"Oh I don't need to," Robotnik said, he pressed a button which released a robotic claw, "you're coming with me."
The claw grabbed SNT and lifted her off the ground. The hybrid tried to pry open the claw, but her arms were too weak from all the training she did earlier. Sonic noticed and tried to help her, but the Egg-Gunners bombarded him with hellfire that couldn't reach them in time. Robotnik's hovercraft hovered above the battlefield with SNT in tow.
He then announced, "Badniks, it's time to retreat. We have what we need." He retreated to his blimp.
The Egg Gunners and Mecha Sonic shortly rocketed to the sky and entered their airship. Angel Island started shaking until it fell off the sky and crashed into the ocean.
The fight against Metal Sonic wasn't going any better. Despite Tails and Amy's best efforts, Metal was proving to be a challenging opponent. He knew everything they were to do, but they also knew he was going to do. A strange experience to be sure.
Amy swung her hammer towards the metal duplicate, but he dodged it before it could land. Metal activated his thruster and flew above Amy, his chest began glowing yellow and an energy ball shot out. Amy quickly jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding it before exploding.
Tails aimed the Cyclone's cannons at Metal and fired a barrage of missiles and energy projectiles. The Sonic duplicate dive bombed to the ground and fired another energy ball towards the mech. Tails tanked the shot, receiving minimal damage. The fox then prepared another barrage of missiles, all of them hit their target.
Tails raised his fist in excitement, but it quickly turned into frustration when Metal was surrounded by a black holographic shield. He quickly undid the shield and began spinning in place and launched himself towards the mech with so much force that he knocked the mech off its feet. Tails was sent flying off and was caught by Metal Sonic's claw.
"You are not exactly good at fighting yourself," The doppelganger snarked, "perhaps this can help you." His chest cannon charged another energy ball.
Tails closed his eyes and prepared for the worst, until something struck Metal Sonic. He let go of the twin tailed fox as he screamed, until he was catched by a mysterious figure and placed on the ground.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"
"Tails… Tails… Tails!" Amy shouted in anger.
The fox opened his eyes and saw that he was on the ground again. He sighed in relief and shortly looked where Metal Sonic was and noticed he was fighting another robot. Metal Sonic tried his best to fight back, but the robot sent him spiraling to the ground leaving a crater. The robot landed in front of Tails and Amy. The two couldn't believe what they saw.
"G-merl!" Tails cried, "we thought you were still rebooting, so we…"
"Fought Metal Sonic all on your own," he responded.
"Yes… maybe…" Amy said.
G-merl sighed, "You kids love getting into all kinds of trouble."
"HELP!" A scream caught everyone's attention.
They turned to see Metal Sonic holding Cream by her neck. G-merl activated his jetpack and flew towards Metal, but he shortly blasted off into the distance before he could catch him.