Welcome back to this epic tale of drama and action!

"Where's the Sonamy?!"

Ahem, yes...while this is indeed an epic tale of drama and action, it's also one filled with a certain amount of romance...but that won't be coming just yet. But don't you worry, it will happen eventually! I've got several couples in mind, some will be more expanded upon than others, some will be rather subtle. But first, we've got some more rock'em sock'em fighting scenes to get through! When we last left off, the Sonic Team had been caught off-guard by Eggman and surrounded by Egg Pawns. Now we see what happens after that.

Also, thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter! PokeKing Charizard, sonamylikeduh (who technically reviewed Chapter 1 lol), johncc1993 and Yago. Your reviews are very much appreciated, I always enjoy seeing reviews in my inbox! Anyway, enough stalling. Enjoy!

I own nothing except the story and Yukon "Houdini" the Sugar Glider. Aurora the Hedgehog belongs to E-vay
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The four heroes glared at the evil scientist standing above them on a balcony. It was clear by the satisfied sneer on his face that he'd known about their intrusion all along, and they'd walked right into his trap. "Nothing to say?" he chortled. "I realize that my latest diabolical creation isn't exactly unique, but there are times when the old ways truly are the best ways."

"I'll give you old," Sonic relinquished a grim smirk. "But I have a hard time buyin' that whole 'best' crack."

"I would agree, which is why I've made some improvements and additions to my arsenal since my last attempt at this particular plot of mine." Eggman's sneer somehow grew more sinister. "For example, a sensor jammer designed to hide this magnificent fortress from being detected." the egg-shaped scientist looked right at Tails. "Isn't that right, fox boy?" Eggman chortled again when he saw that he'd prompted Tails to growl furiously at him.

Suddenly Orbot hovered into the room and floated up to Eggman's face. "Everything is in place!"

"Excellent!" Eggman looked back down at the surrounded Sonic Team and grinned maniacally at them. "As much as I'd love to continue lording my superiority over you four, I do have a schedule to keep. So then, any last words?"

"I've got one." Tails slowly reached into his tool belt and nodded discreetly at Sonic, and the fox boy saw in his peripheral vision that Sonic had nodded back at him. "JUMP!" The four leaped into the air just as the Egg Pawn army opened fire, and Tails pulled out a device shaped like a hurricane symbol and designed like his tails. He pressed the button in the middle and it began blinking red, then he threw it down to the ground and it exploded, scattering the robots below.

"You know the drill guys!" Sonic shouted. "Take 'em out fast and hard, same as always!" Dodging laser blasts the whole way, Sonic ran around a dozen robots and then rolled into a ball, the speed at which he was moving activated his Blue Tornado attack, which blew the robots into the air where Knuckles was waiting to destroy them with a powerful spinning Drill Claw attack.

Sonic then followed up by revving up for a spin dash, and as soon as Knuckles landed on him, he was propelled forward with his fists outstretched to crash into several more Egg Pawns, with Sonic joining him seconds later with his spin dash. They both skidded to a halt after the attacks were finished, but they were soon confronted by several more robots firing their lasers.

"Get down!"

Once they heard Tails shout at them, the two ducked as low as they could as another of Tails' hurricane bombs blew up the robots firing at them, giving them some much needed breathing room. "Thanks pal!" Sonic shot a quick thumbs-up to the fox boy - who returned the gesture - before rushing over to help Amy who was currently fighting off an army of robots all by herself. He crashed through the attacking hoard with another spin dash and stopped right in front of her. "Need a hand?" he asked with a playful wink.

The pink hedgehog just smirked. "As long as you're offering." Amy readied her hammer, and once Sonic rolled up into a ball, she swung as hard as she could and sent him careening into over two dozen more Egg Pawns, and the explosions they made after their destruction caused a small chain reaction. "Never fails!"

As the battle continued down below, Eggman was working at a rather leisurely pace on a computer console that was sitting next to the stasis tube that happened to contain the unconscious creature. "Hey boss, they're really making a mess down there, shouldn't we do something?" Cubot asked nervously.

"It's no matter." Eggman waved dismissively without even glancing at the yellow robot. "As soon as they're done with those hunks of junk, I've got a new toy for them to play with."

"Oh, so...does that mean you're gonna show it to them now?"

"What?" Eggman looked up from the console and saw Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy standing there with triumphant smirks on their faces. "So, you've defeated the Egg Pawns."

"Like there was ever any doubt!" Sonic grinned.

"Indeed, which is why I have a second line of defense, one that I'm sure you'll find quite exhilarating." Eggman pushed a button on the console, and a door behind them opened up to reveal an all-too familiar looking machine. "Meet another of my latest creations: Metal Sonic 4.0."

"You've seen one Metal Sonic, you've seen them all!" Sonic glanced at this friends. "Take five guys, I've got this one." Sonic ran to destroy the robotic imposter before it could even activate, but in just the blink of an eye, its red and soulless eyes flickered to life and the robot side-stepped Sonic's punch and unleashed its own roundhouse kick that sent Sonic flying into a wall. "That one didn't count." he growled and rubbed the back of his head where Metal Sonic's foot had made contact.

"My turn!" Knuckles charged with his fist reared back to strike, and the power that was put into his punch could be felt by the wind it generated. Unfortunately, the swing never made contact, as Metal Sonic easily side-stepped the punch and grabbed the red echidna's tail, then threw him into the wall where Sonic had just come from, slamming them both against it. "Now he's playing dirty!" Knuckles growled as he got up off of Sonic and glared at the robot.

"Whaddya say Knux? Double team?" Sonic glanced at the Emerald guardian.

Knuckles nodded at him. "You're on!" Together the two attacked. Sonic rushed forward again and this time stopped short to avoid Metal Sonic's retaliation; the two started trading punches and kicks in what appeared to be a frantically paced and deadly ballet. "Hey Robo-loser!" Metal Sonic stopped a moment to look up and saw Knuckles bearing down on him from above. "You want a piece of me?!" Knuckles slammed both his fists into the robot's body, and the impact sent even Sonic flying from how strong it was. "Hmmph." Knuckles smirked at the downed form of Metal Sonic. "Wuss."

"Knuckles, look out!" Amy shouted.

"What?" The red echidna had turned to walk away, but when he turned back again, he was quickly sent flying all the way across the large room by a lightning-fast punch, finally stopping when he slammed into the far wall which now had a Knuckles-shaped dent in it. The guardian groaned as his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground below, unconscious from the hit.

"Knuckles!" Sonic scowled and turned to face the robot, whose only response was to just continue staring coldly at his organic counterpart. "I'm still not impressed!" Another spin dash by Sonic was dodged as the robot jumped up and retaliated with a two-legged strike that sent Sonic sliding against the ground painfully. "Uggggh." He looked up and saw Eggman grinning down at him.

"Something the matter?"

"Not at all." Sonic slowly got up and glared at the robot, who was once again merely standing there with that same emotionless gaze. "You've been busy Egghead, I'll give you that much."

"I'm so glad you noticed." The scientist chortled. "I've spared no expense with this plan."

"Glad to hear it," Sonic smirked grimly. "It'll make trashing this pile of scrap all the more worthwhile!" Sonic rushed forward again, but this time instead of attacking right away, he leaped high into the air and curled into a ball, then he blasted downward and slammed into Metal Sonic, bouncing him back into the air with his bounce. Then with a determined battle-cry, Sonic uncurled and unleashed a powerful axe kick that sent the robot hurtling back towards the ground. "Now Tails!"

"On it!" Tails ran forward and reached into his belt, and out of the largest pocket came what appeared to be a strange boxing glove attacked to a spring. "Energy Ball, fire!" the glove suddenly morphed into a cannon while on Tails' hand, and out of the barrel came a crackling orb of energy that struck the recovering Metal Sonic and sent Tails flying across the room as well. "Oh man..." he groaned and got back up. "Better make sure I fix the kickback on that old thing." Tails placed the device back in his pocket and shook his hand to try and get the feeling back in it.

When the robot finally landed, he didn't get a chance to recover as Knuckles had since regained consciousness and wasted no time in unleashing a powerful uppercut that sent the blue robot flying back up to the balcony where he came from. "Well, I feel better now." the echidna said casually as he rubbed his fist.

Metal Sonic would've landed with a dull thud, but one final crushing blow in midair courtesy of Amy's hammer sent the robot slamming into the stasis tube, which now had a large crack in it thanks to the impact. "Well Eggman, you were right, that was quite exhilarating." the pink hedgehog said with her hammer slung over her shoulder.

For once, the egg-shaped scientist wasn't smiling. That had stopped the moment Metal Sonic formed small cracks in the glass of the stasis tube, luckily for him, they weren't severe enough to let loose any liquid. "It appears I've underestimated you four." he was about to continue when Orbot came rushing in with a very significant item held in his hand. "Ahh, excellent!" the evil grin returned as Eggman took the item and held it high. "Fortunately it no longer matters, now that you've so generously provided the final element I need to complete my scheme!"

"The Chaos Emerald!" Tails gaped before his face contorted into a vicious scowl. "Why that lousy, no good snake in the grass! He took the Chaos Emerald right out of the X-Tornado! He messed with my plane!"

"Oh don't be so melodramatic, it's not like you haven't been destroying my inventions for the past seven years." Eggman scoffed. "Besides, you have more pressing matters to deal with." Eggman placed the Chaos Emerald into a slot on the console, and it immediately disappeared and then reappeared above the stasis tube, where the other six Chaos Emeralds were situated in their own slots. "Now that all seven Chaos Emeralds are in place, I can finally proceed with my greatest plan ever!"

"Tails!"

At Sonic's order, Tails reached for another hurricane bomb and threw it at the stasis tube where the strange creature was floating motionlessly. But before the bomb could reach the glass, Metal Sonic suddenly revived and grabbed the bomb with his clawed hand, where it exploded without so much as making the robot flinch. "But how?!"

"Did I forget to mention that one of the upgrades I've installed is an accelerated recovery mode?" Eggman cackled maniacally. "And now if you'll excuse me, I have a universe to conquer!" he cackled again, and pushed up on a lever that activated the machine and caused the Chaos Emeralds to glow as their limitless energy was tapped into. "Yes, it's working!"

Electricity began to crackle around the machine, and the team watched in horror as the strange, almost gelatinous creature began to stir in the tube. "Whatever that thing is," Tails shouted over the increasing noise as he looked at his scanner. "It's coming to life!"

"Tails, Amy, you're gonna get one shot!" Sonic looked back at the two younger team members suddenly.

"W-What?!" Amy reeled back in shock. "What do you mean?!"

"You'll know what to do!" Sonic turned to the red echidna. "C'mon Knux!"

"Stop them Metal Sonic!" At the doctor's order, the robot engaged with the two powerhouses and held them back with a crackling field of electricity surrounding its body, rendering it untouchable.

Knuckles made an attempt to punch it, but the field shocked him and he let out a cry of pain when he made contact with Metal Sonic's body. He pulled his fist back and held his wrist in his other hand. "We can't get through that shield!"

"We don't have to!" Sonic grinned. "Now guys!"

Tails launched another hurricane bomb, and just like before, Metal Sonic intercepted it and allowed it to explode harmlessly in his hand. But in doing so, he allowed Amy to jump up and heave her hammer at the stasis tube, which shattered as soon as it was struck and spilled the viscous blue liquid all over the ground, and also caused the machine to explode and send the Chaos Emeralds flying all over the room as smoke filled the area.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Eggman fell to his knees in defeat as he saw that the grey, faceless creature was still apparently unconscious on the floor. "I was so close!" he pounded the floor with his fists in frustration.

"Um, boss?" Cubot tapped Eggman's shoulder.

"What is it?! Can't you see everything's ruined?!" the scientist snarled at the yellow robot.

"Oh, so...the thing wasn't supposed to come back to life?"

"What?" Eggman turned to see that the alien being was twitching somewhat, giving the doctor a slight glimmer of hope. "Can it be?!"

After his ears stopped ringing, Tails sat up and held his head in one hand before reaching for his urgently beeping scanner. The readings he was getting caused the fox boy's eyes to widen in horror. "We're too late!"

As the smoke cleared, it became more and more visible that the creature was stirring, and it slowly got up, its faceless, grey form stood tall, motionless, as if it were frozen in place. All over its body were small splotches of black, and the only indicator of any sort of face was a red swirl right in the middle of where its face would be. "What is that?" Amy asked in disgust.

Tails' scanner continued to beep madly, and the fox boy just shook his head in frustration. "These readings make no sense! I have no idea what it is!"

"I've got a pretty good idea of what it is," Sonic readied himself to take off in a burst of speed. "It's something we can hit!" the blue hedgehog blasted forwards and unleashed a lightning-fast punch...that went right through the creature's body. "What the?!" Sonic pulled his fist back, and the hole that had been formed in the creature's body quickly disappeared as it was seemingly filled back in. "Didn't see that coming."

"Let me try!" Amy leaped up and swung her hammer in midair, and a second later, a pink tornado formed and seemingly disassembled the strange alien before it dissipated into thin air. The pink hedgehog landed and admired her handiwork for a moment before turning her back on the scattered piles of ooze. "There, that wasn't so hard."

"Uh, Amy?"

Seeing that Tails was pointing behind her, Amy turned around and saw the ooze piles crawling back to each other and forming a much larger pile, which eventually reassembled back into the alien. "Ok...that's just gross."

"Are you quite through making fools of yourselves?" Eggman chortled at them. He had since gotten up and was now standing tall with his arms crossed over his chest with pride. "I must say, your determination is quite admirable. It's also a practice in futility."

"Quit wasting time puffing up your ego!" Knuckles growled. "You better start explaining yourself or you're gonna be sorry!"

"Somehow I find that scenario unlikely." Eggman glanced at Metal Sonic who was now standing still next to him and awaiting further orders. "But no matter," he turned back towards the heroes. "What you see before you is a creature known as an Incursite...it's also the key to all of my plans. The reign of Dr. Ivo Robotnik begins now!"

"Alright, I've had enough!" Sonic revved up a spin dash and blasted towards the creature once more, but this time he was intercepted by Metal Sonic, who gave him a sharp kick and knocked him out of his attack. He recovered smoothly but clenched his fists in frustration now that his robotic counterpart was once again barring his way. "That junk pile's getting on my nerves!"

"This is truly growing tiresome. Metal Sonic, take care of these pests so that we may proceed." Eggman said casually.

With the order given, Metal Sonic's body suddenly began to glow with a red outline, and out of the turbine in its chest came several red particles that rapidly began forming in an all-too familiar shape. "Guys...according to my scanner...that's..." Tails looked up and gaped in horror, along with the rest of his friends who were just as shocked.

There was now a second, red Metal Sonic standing in front of the original blue one.

"It would appear my latest improvement is working perfectly." Eggman rubbed his palms together. "I must say I'm especially proud of this one, the self-replicating system was not easy to program and install, the generation of hardened photons is a very complicated process, let me tell you. Of course, being the true genius that I am, it was only a matter of time before I got it working."

"Sonic, I hate to say it," Amy glanced over at the speedy blue hero. "But this is quickly getting out of control, if we don't find a way to stop Eggman fast, we'll be overwhelmed!"

Sonic didn't respond. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew Amy was right. This newest version of Metal Sonic had already proven tougher than all of its predecessors, and this new and seemingly untouchable creature Eggman had dubbed an Incursite was a complete mystery, and there seemed to be very little time to solve it. Sonic was about to rev up for another attack when he caught something sparkling in his peripheral vision.

A Chaos Emerald.

"That's it..." Sonic turned to his friends, and they nodded at him in response as they each prepared to attack. "Amy, you hang back." he said.

"What?" Amy scowled. "Oh you are not about to bench me again!"

"No Amy," Sonic scowled back at the accusation. "Tails, Knuckles and I will hold off Eggman, you've gotta go around and gather the Chaos Emeralds!"

Amy's eyes widened in realization, and she then adopted a determined expression and nodded at him. "Got it."

Nodding back, Sonic turned to Eggman who was clearly enjoying seeing him and his friends on the ropes. "Alright Eggman, I'll give you credit, you've really got something going here..." Sonic flashed his signature confident smile. "But if you think we're gonna back down, you're wrong again! Come on guys, let's show 'em what we're made of!"

All three of the heroes charged, and Eggman barked out his own attack order, and the two Metal Sonics created more replicas and advanced on their opponents, and began attacking furiously, giving the heroes a workout like they'd never had before. "Now then, where was I?"

While the three men fought, Amy had jumped down to the floor below and started searching for the scattered emeralds. It hadn't taken long for her to gather four of them as they were practically in plain sight. Unfortunately, upon picking up her fourth emerald, she was confronted by a Metal Sonic replica. "Uh oh." she dropped the emeralds and reached for her hammer, but she was knocked to the ground by a sweep kick before she could react, and the red robot then picked her up by her throat and held her up. "Let me go you-hrrrk!"

Sonic had heard the sound of distress coming from the floor below, and after delivering a roundhouse kick that sent a red replica crashing into a wall, he looked down and saw another replica choking Amy who appeared to be trying desperately to break free. "Amy!" The blue hedgehog gave a break-dancing kick to a charging replica and then leaped down and slammed into the offending robot's head with his foot, destroying the hard light construct and forcing it to release Amy, who was now clutching her throat and gasping for air. "You ok Ames?"

Unable to speak, Amy nodded and held out her free hand with her index finger raised, indicating for him to wait. Then she finally got up and retrieved her hammer and the four Chaos Emeralds. "The rest should be around here somewhere." she rasped.

"Stay put, I'll find the rest!" Sonic zoomed around the room before the pink hedgehog could object, and moments later he had six Chaos Emeralds in his arms. "The last one's up there! As soon as I get my hands on it, this battle's over!"

"Sonic, wait!" she reached her hand out for him, but her raspy voice failed to get Sonic's attention, as the blue hero had already leaped back onto the floor above. "Something doesn't seem right."

When he landed, he saw that Tails and Knuckles were moments away from being overwhelmed by the increasing number of Metal Sonic replicas. "Hang on guys, I'm comin' for ya!" he ran for where he'd seen the last Chaos Emerald, but when he reached there, he looked up and saw the Incursite staring down at him. "When'd you decide to stop being a statue?" The alien didn't respond, but what it did do was raise its arm, and the result of that was Sonic being covered in grey and black goo that covered him from head to toe as it seemed to shoot out of the creature's hand. "That's nasty! What'd you do, sneeze on me or something?!"

"Yes! The plan is almost complete!"

Sonic turned his head and saw Eggman standing there with his most maniacal grin of the night, and his friends were behind him and being held down by Metal Sonic and his five remaining red replicas. His friends had clearly put up a good fight. "So your plan was to tar and feather me?" Sonic shook his head to get some of the gunk off of him and frowned. "It'd be pretty embarrassing to run around Mobius looking like a giant chicken for a while, but that's not exactly an evil 'takeover-the-world' kind of plan now is it?"

But then the scanner by Tails' feet began blaring alarms of every kind, trying desperately to relay the information it was picking up. Unfortunately, Tails was indisposed and any move he made to try and grab it was rewarded by a powerful electric shock courtesy of the original Metal Sonic's sharp claws. "What are you up to Eggman? Why's my scanner going crazy?"

"You'll see momentarily." Eggman watched with glee as the ooze covering Sonic's body suddenly absorbed into him, and the Incursite suddenly collapsed and turned into a lifeless puddle on the ground.

"So much for that plan, heh heh." Suddenly Sonic's eyes drooped, and the blue hedgehog staggered back and held his head in his hand. "Whoa."

"Sonic, what's wrong?!" Tails exclaimed.

"Feeling kinda lightheaded..." Sonic fought to stay up, but he could sense his thoughts were beginning to grow cloudy, and the blue hedgehog went down on his hands and knees as his breathing became increasingly laborious. "Not...feeling...so good..." he said in-between gasps.

By this time, Amy had used her hammer to propel herself back up to the balcony, and as soon as she saw Tails and Knuckles being held down, she threw her hammer at the hard light constructs and they vanished into thin air. When she finally landed, she caught her hammer and swung it at the original Metal Sonic, who was unprepared for the attack and was slammed into the wall behind him, he then crumpled to the ground afterwards. "You guys ok?!"

Knuckles nodded and rubbed his arm, but Tails didn't bother to even acknowledge her. The moment he'd been set free, he rushed over and grabbed his scanner, which was continuously collecting data which the fox boy now had to try and make sense out of. As he continued to read the information, his eyes widened in horror. "No!" he looked up from his scanner and over at Sonic, who at this point seemed to be in agony as he hugged himself and tried to resist whatever was happening to him.

Seeing that Sonic was in turmoil, Amy made her hammer disappear and she rushed over to kneel down and embrace the blue hedgehog. "Sonic, it's gonna be ok! We'll find a way to stop whatever's hurting you!" Suddenly Sonic seemed to give a long exhale and he stopped struggling, and the pink hedgehog felt Sonic's body relax substantially. "There ya go, see? All you needed was a patented Amy Rose hug." she whispered comfortingly.

"Amy...back away from there, slowly..." Tails said with a wavering voice.

Amy just turned her head to face the fox boy and rolled her eyes. "Oh relax, Sonic doesn't mind, right Sonic?"

"Not at all."

It took only a second for Amy to realize that the voice that had just come from Sonic's mouth may have sounded like Sonic, but it wasn't really him.

It sounded sinister.

"Sonic?!" Before she could react, she was thrown away and would've crashed into the wall, but Knuckles had jumped up and caught her before she could make impact. She was gently put down, and Amy watched anxiously as Sonic's body turned to face them. When his eyes opened, the usual hue of lime-green had completely disappeared.

Instead they were glowing red with unbridled rage.

Amy turned to face Eggman and snarled at him. "What did you do to him?!"

Eggman didn't have to respond, as Sonic - or rather whatever was in Sonic's body - began to laugh boisterously as he looked at his own body with interest. "What a primitive creature I've been forced to inhabit. If the Elder ever laid eyes upon me, he would demand I have myself executed." it clenched Sonic's fists as if gauging the power his body had. "However, as the apparent saying goes, desperate times, desperate measures."

"Who are you?" Tails asked.

The creature in control of Sonic's body looked over at the young fox and grinned. However, this grin looked incredibly out of place on Sonic's face. It was a grin of pure evil. "You wish to know who I am? Very well, I shall grant your life's last request." the creature walked over to the remaining heroes who tensed upon seeing the form of their friend staring through them with those soulless red eyes which had overridden his green ones. "My name is Ba'Gan, and I have come to lay waste your world."
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A/N: So...yeah...Sonic's down for the count. And now we see the beginning of Ba'Gan. So now the question is, were Aurora and the others really too late? How will the team ever get Sonic back now that Ba'Gan has taken over Sonic's body? You'll find out more in the next chapter!

The history of the Incursites will be made much more clear in later chapters, but for right now, Ba'Gan is a mystery, one that - hopefully - you want to uncover as time goes on. Anyways, next chapter we'll see more of what the team plans to do about Sonic, and we'll also check back in with Blaze, Silver, Aurora and the others. PLEASE review! For a story like this, I could really use some feedback! See you all next time!