Chapter 5: Rise of Robotropolis

Things didn't go well today for any party involved. Sonic and Knuckles' efforts to protect the Master Emerald from Dr. Robotnik and his forces ended catastrophically, with the island nearly submerged in the ocean and their new friend, SNT the Experiment getting captured.

For Tails and Amy, what was supposed to be a simple day of babysitting Cream the Rabbit, ended up being one of their toughest encounters with Metal Sonic yet. While G-merl did help even the odds, the robo-Sonic escaped with Cream.

But for Robotnik, it was the greatest of highs. His airship approached his rebuilt utopia Eggmanland, but to go with the redesign. He renamed it, Robotropolis.

The city of Robotropolis housed every kind of robot you could think of, small and big, cleaning and combat, all of a kind. The buildings were lit with neon red and yellow lights, in the middle of the city was the fortress.

Outfitted with the most powerful and advanced weaponry of the Eggman Empire. The top of the fortress was an enormous replica of Robotnik's face, mustache and all. The blimp slowly descended to the fortress' hangar.

On the hangar's bay, Orbot, Cubot and a squadron of Egg pawns were waiting patiently as the Egg Blimp landed on the surface. The ramp of the airship lowered, revealing Doctor Robotnik and Mecha Sonic.

"Robotnik, sir," Orbot said, "How did your expedition go?"

"Did you bring any souvenirs?" Cubot stupidly asked.

"Quiet, you two are ruining my moment!" Robotnik yelled.

The Egg Pawns entered the airship and came out with the grand prize, The Master Emerald. They escorted the giant jewel out of the hangar. Behind them was the bulky and tall Mecha Sonic. He carried the captive SNT by the collar of her torn dress.

"What should we do with her?" The robo-Sonic asked.

SNT shook in FEAR, she was at the mercy of her creator once again. She tried not to stare directly at them, but Mecha Sonic grabbed her head and forced her to look at Robotnik.

"My, my S.K.T. Where have you been?" The scientist sarcastically asked, "Just look at yourself, all dirty and your clothes all shredded. Do you need a change?"

SNT didn't respond.

"Well then, Mecha Sonic, take her to the Roboticizer!" Robotnik ordered, "You'll be the first test for my latest invention."

"No!" SNT finally responded, "You can't do that!"

The mad doctor grinned, "A mistake I made was giving you freewill, S.K.T., but once you become an obedient robot. That won't be a problem."

SNT's eyes widened, "No! Please don't!"

But it was already too late, Mecha Sonic took her out of the hangar as Robotnik followed suit. The sonic robot held his prisoner firmly as they walked towards a black and red metal door. Robotnik entered a code on a keypad right next to it. The door opened and unveiled a large glass chamber with wires connected to the top, a giant monitor and keyboard embedded in the wall.

The doctor approached the monitor and typed a command, which unsealed the glass. Mecha Sonic tossed SNT inside with little to no regard, as the glass raised to contain her. The hybrid punched the glass in hopes of breaking it, but she hurt her fist instead.

SNT rubbed her hand, "What kind of glass is this?!"

"It's plexiglass," Robotnik responded, "The strongest material on this planet.

"Mecha Sonic, guard the Master Emerald, Sonic and his friends are obviously going to stop me and I'll need every Egg series and Badnik to prepare for the trespassers!"

"As you command," Mecha Sonic nodded and left the doctor to his thing.

"Please, Robotnik! Don't turn me into a killer robot!" cried SNT.

The mad doctor didn't listen to his old creation's words, he focused on activating the Roboticizer's mainframe. Once that was done, the monitor displayed a series of steps for the process.

First, blue electricity would engulf the entire chamber as it powered up. Second, a scanning grid would lower and scan the subject inside. Third, the electricity's color would change from blue to yellow, signifying that the process was almost finished. And fourth, the grid would raise and begin the Robotization.

SNT watched in horror as blue electricity began to spark from the base of the chamber. A robotic voice said, "Robotization Progress Initiated." A scanning grid started to lower inside the chamber. Right when the grid started scanning SNT's body. The electricity stopped and the grid raised up. Robotnik turned to see an error message displayed. It read "ERROR: LOW ENERGY, ESTIMATED TIME FOR RECHARGE: 1:50:00"

SNT expected Robotnik to slam his fists on the keyboard, but he took it well for some reason. The doctor walked away and left her alone. SNT's anxiety kicked in as she watched each second on the counter get lower and lower, a single thought was in her head.

Sonic, please hurry!

The sun was setting, the sky turned from its usual blue to light orange and black. While for some it was a beautiful sight, for the two passengers on board the Tornado III. It was a stressful trip. After the battle with Metal Sonic, Tails and Amy quickly took off to the skies en-route to Angel Island.

"Can this thing go any faster, Tails?!" Amy shouted, "Sonic and Knuckles need to help us!"

"I'm going as fast as I can Amy, but Metal Sonic damaged the thruster when he knocked the Cyclone over."

The two eventually made it to Angel Island, but to their horror the island was nearly sunk into the ocean.

"Oh no! Not again!" Tails said as he landed the plane right next to the altar.

The two tailed fox and pink hedgehog hopped off the Tornado. On the ground were dismembered bodies of Egg Gunners, the shrine was nearly destroyed. Sonic and Knuckles' unconscious bodies laid on the ground.

"Sonic, wake up." Amy said.

"Knuckles c'mon!" Tails shook the echidna's body.

"This is not working, Tails do you have water?" Amy asked.

"I'll check." Tails went to the tornado and grabbed a bottle of water. He poured the water on Sonic's face.

"Pluh!" Sonic jolted up, "What happened?"

"Sonic!" Amy hugged him.

"Yeah… good to see you too," Sonic said, "Tails get the Tornado ready, we're paying Eggman a visit."

"Yeah, about that," Tails said as he poured the remaining water on Knuckles.

The echidna rubbed the water off himself, "That Egghead has the Master Emerald!" He shouted.

"We already know that," Amy snarked, "Where's SNT? Wasn't she with you, Sonic?"

"Long story-short, Eggman kidnapped her and left us to die here," He explained, "and what about you two?"

"Metal Sonic kidnapped Cream, nuff said. Let's go," Tails said, as he hopped on the Tornado.

Without second thoughts everyone got on the plane and took off to the skies, but the question is, would they make it in time?

Back on Robotropolis, Robotnik paced around outside the Roboticizer Chamber. He was that close to having SNT on his side again, but alas he would have to wait for the Master Emerald to be installed on the power grid.

He pulled his communicator and said, "Mecha Sonic, how's the installation going?"

"It's almost done," droned Mecha Sonic.

"Well, do it quickly," shouted Robotnik, "the Roboticizer needs more energy to function!"

"On it." Mecha Sonic hung up.

Fed up with waiting, Robotnik entered the Roboticizer room. He looked to see SNT curled into a ball crying to herself.

"Cut it out will you? You might short circuit it."

"Why… Why can't I just be treated like a normal person?!" Asked SNT in tears.

"Because you're my creation!" Retorted the mad doctor, "I gave one simple goal and you couldn't even do it!"

"Because I never wanted to," SNT shouted, "I wanted to be free and explore the world. But I can't because of someone's petty rivalry with Sonic."

"Watch your mouth, S.K.T," Robotnik threatened, "Remember, you're still in the Roboticizer. And once it gets recharged, you'll be my pawn once again."

SNT was about to remark her creator's words again, but the door slid open revealing Orbot.

"Did I interrupt something?" The red robot asked.

"No…" Robotnik responded, "what do you want?"

"I came here because I have good and bad news," Orbot announced. "Which one do you want to hear?"

"The good news," the doctor said.

"The good news is, Metal Sonic came back with Cream the Rabbit."

Robotnik grinned, it would have been better if it was Tails or Amy so he wouldn't have someone else to worry about.

"But the bad news is… Sonic and his friends are approaching as we speak!"

Robotnik's grin slowly morphed into a frown, he already expected much from someone as stubborn as Sonic.

SNT's face lit up, Sonic's gonna rescue me!

"So the rodent is coming this way? Let him, I have a surprise for him," Robotnik said. "Get Metal Sonic and my badniks to guard the gate of my fortress, they must not get through!"

"On it sir," Orbot left the room.

"Just you wait, when Sonic gets here. You will regret capturing me!" SNT shouted confidently.

Robotnik laughed, "You think I didn't prepare for a situation like this? Perhaps it's time to unleash 'it'." He went to the monitor and pulled out a CD with 'SSMk3' written on it.

Robotnik inserted the CD and a control display showed itself, replacing the error message. SNT was terrified at what the doctor was planning, but hoped that Sonic and his friends would pull through.

The Tornado III flew above the now darkened sky, the stars and moon shone brightly from above the four mobians. They could see a few shooting stars, meaning a meteor shower was about to begin. From the top they could see the newly built Robotropolis. Time was of the essence.

"We're near Eggman's base everyone, buckle up!" Tails announced.

"All right, let's give good ol' egghead a small visit," Sonic said.

Amy summoned her hammer, "I'm going to smash everything that comes in our way!"

The Tornado flew at maximum speed into the city below. Tails began lowering the plane until he saw a highway. The fox pressed a button and the Tornado transformed into its car mode. Sonic and Knuckles jumped off and ran beside Tails and Amy.

But to their surprise, there were no swarms of badniks to attack them. Everything seemed quiet, too quiet. The group stayed on high alert for whatever Eggman may throw at them. But Tails seems to be discomforted by something.

"What is it buddy?" Sonic asked.

"Are you guys hearing something?" said Tails, "It sounds like a saw blade is coming from underneath the road."

Everyone looked down to see glimpses of an enormous silver grey ball with blades sticking out.

"Oh no…" Sonic murmured.

The ball quickly jumped high and crashed into the road above. Tails began losing control of the car vehicle with Amy almost being sent flying off the seat. Knuckles and Sonic stepped aside as debris nearly knocked out the highway.

The ball was three times their size and seemed to be split into segments. The ball jumped in the air once more, this time it turned into a robot that strongly resembled Sonic.

Its head had a black visor with a singular orange optic in the middle, long bladed spines, a pointy nose and bolt cheeks. Its body, shoulders and shin were covered in black armor with thrusters on the elbows. Orange shoes with wheels on the ankles that were held in place by giant screws.

"Silver Sonic," growled Sonic, "It's been awhile since Eggman ever used you to fight me."

"Oh don't worry Sonic, I haven't forgotten either." Robotnik's voice boomed from Silver Sonic, "I'll make sure you die by my hand this time."

"New speech, same outcome," Sonic snarked, "Let's show him what WE got everyone!"

"Yeah!" Tails and Amy shouted in unison.

"Let's smash that tin can!" Knuckles said.

Silver Sonic fired an orange beam from its visor at the team. Sonic ran towards his replica only to be smacked away. Knuckles jumped towards it to punch the visor but Silver Sonic grabbed him and tossed him away.

"Ha, ha, ha, Silver Sonic is unstoppable!" Robotnik's voice said.

"Tails get closer," Amy said, "I've got an idea."

The fox nodded and drove closer to the left ankle wheel, Amy got up and hit the screw cap off. Silver Sonic looked below and shifted his left thruster downwards and fired a stream of fire out of it. Tails quickly pulled on the brakes before the fire could incinerate them.

"Nice try, but I can still destroy you all,' the doctor said.

Sonic came back and crashed into the robot's chest. Silver Sonic stumbled before falling on its back, Knuckles then came down and punched the visor leaving the robot dead on the ground.

Tails stepped on the gas while Sonic and Knuckles quickly caught up.

Sonic looked back, "So much talk for a hunka junk," he turned his head around to see someone just on the road.

It was a tall figure with four appendages attached to its back and red eyes.

Sonic rubbed his eyes and the figure disappeared, as it never was there. But he quickly forgot about it when he saw hundreds of Badniks guarding the front gate to the fortress.

"This party is getting better and better," Sonic snarked.

"Sonic, Knuckles get to the base," Amy said. "Tails and I will hold them off."

Sonic smiled, "Okay, see you on the other side." he grabbed Knuckles' arm and boosted at supersonic speeds into the fortress.

The red and blue mobians busted through the main entrance. Egg Gunners fired their gatling guns at the pair, but they quickly avoided the hellfire. Sonic spin dashed the egg-bots to pieces, as Knuckles pierced through each one of them with his fists. Once all the robots were destroyed, the two went their own separate ways.

Sonic dashed through the fortress, smashing every robot that came into his way, until he reached a black and red striped door. He then busted the door down with a spin dash. SNT cried tears of joy,

"Sonic, you came at last!"

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there," Sonic declared. "I'm not letting Egghead turn you into a mindless robot."

"Look out," the hybrid shouted.

Sonic turned around to hear the sound of a rocket flying towards him. The rocket exploded just near the blue blur, sending him away from the plexiglass chamber. SNT could only watch in horror as the one responsible showed himself. The sound of heavy footsteps came to their attention, as a large machine came out of the shadows along with an old, cynical laugh.

The machine resembled Robotnik's Egg-Mobile only with a cyan headlight instead of green, bulky walker legs coated in bright red armor, a vulkan cannon on the right side, along with a bazooka attached on the far right and missile launchers on the left and backside of the machine.

"Oh, ho, ho, ho!" Robotnik laughed. "Who knew you were this predictable, Sonic? Coming to save your sister from being roboticized? Then too bad!"

Sonic slowly got up, still throttled from the explosion, "you're using the mech Tails beat you in?"

"Does that even matter?" Robotnik scoffed. "This new Egg Walker is better than the last one! It'll predict every move before you even have the chance, Tails may have gotten lucky those times, but even you won't be a match for my Egg Walker III. And once I defeat you, I'll turn you and your friends into my robot slaves!"

Sonic sighed, "And here I thought your bad guy speeches would've gotten better."

"Don't mock me, rodent!" Robotnik spat angrily. "You may have gotten your victories, you may have made me a fool, but this time, I'll show you what real evil is," he said with a huge grin on his face.

Robotnik then pressed a button on his Egg Walker. The roboticizer then roared to life as it scanned SNT, the plexiglass began cackling blue electricity around it. SNT banged against the glass in desperation.

"Sonic hurry!" She shouted in despair.

Sonic could only watch in horror as the roboticizing process began, he turned to face Robotnik, who was laughing maniacally.

"Very well, egghead," Sonic said. "If you want to end this game, then let's go."

"It will be my pleasure," Robotnik said in a sinister tone.