"We're here!" Tails announced. Sonic jumped out of his seat, stretching and yawning, whilst Remington walked over to the nearest window to look outside. "Not much of a view out there."

Outside, all that Remington could see stretching over the horizon was snow and ice, and occasionally some bodies of water. "Everything's frozen," he noted.

"Never been this far north?" Sonic asked. Remington shook his head. "This's how it is all year round."

"Does anyone live out here?"

"Just small settlements," Nate Morgan told him. "Hunter-gatherer tribes that settled here long ago. Since there isn't much out here, and with how cold it is, they've never had to worry about invading armies."

"Even Eggman doesn't pay this region much mind," Tails added. Just then, a light began flashing on his dashboard, accompanied by a ringing. He pushed a button and a monitor dropped down in front of him. Professor Pickle's face appeared on the screen. "Professor!"

"Hello there, Tails! I'm glad I could reach you."

"Have you made it to GUN HQ?"

"Yes, yes, I've arrived safe. But that's not why I'm calling you. I've just received word from a colleague of mine. A former student. I believe you have made her acquaintance already, Shade my dear?"

"Relic?" Shade asked.

"Precisely. She has been studying the ancient tribes lately, so I thought I would share with her what I learned in the Twilight Cage. It turns out, she has a Chaos Emerald in her possession at this very moment!"

Sonic gave the professor a thumbs up. "Sweet! That save us some trouble!"

"Actually, that's a problem," Shade said, walking over to Tails' side quickly. "Professor, where is she now?! If she has a Chaos Emerald, she'll undoubtedly become a target of the Nocturnus!"

"She is in Kingdom Valley, excavating the old ruins there at the request of the Soleannan government."

"Tell her to stay where she is. We'll fly there to meet her right away."

Professor Pickle laughed. "I don't need to tell her that. She won't leave until she's raked the whole place clean! But I will ask her to be careful, and to alert the Soleannan soldiers to lookout for potential attacks."

"Thank you." The call ended. Shade turned to Tails and asked, "How long will it take to get to Kingdom Valley?"

"Soleanna is a long way away from Holoska. If we could go full throttle, we can make it there in a few hours, but Shadow took the Chaos Emerald back with him and we didn't stock up on Chaos Drives before we left."

"Then we should postpone the search here and head there right away. Every second is vital."

"But there could be a Chaos Emerald here, too."

"We know that there's one in Kingdom Valley, and that Relic has it. We can't afford to waste time on a wild goose chase!"

"Shade," Sonic began, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Of course we're not gonna leave your friend in danger, but Tails is right, too. I'll stay here and look for the Emerald myself. I can search the area a lot faster on foot, anyway. You guys go on ahead to Kingdom Valley and we'll meetup later."

Shade thought the suggestion over. "I... appreciate the offer, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to go out there all on your own. Not when Kragok or Lien-Da could show up at any moment."

"I can handle Lien-Da by myself," Sonic assured her. "Kragok… Well okay, he might be an issue."

"I'll go with you," Remington said, and then turned to Shade. "I'll be able to back him up if we run into Kragok. That'll give you some peace of mind while you go meetup with your friend, right?"

Shade nodded. "Very well. I don't like the idea of splitting up our group so much, but we do need to act fast."

"In that case, you guys might wanna start searching in that direction." Tails pointed in a westward direction. "Twenty miles out that way is around where the team were when they reported finding the Chaos Emerald."

"Got it." Sonic motioned to Remington to follow him. "Since Knuckles and Amy have the Tornado, we'll just have to jump out."

"Jump?" Remington asked, taking a step back. "From this height?!"

"I'll lower the ship for you," Tails said. "You can use one of our Extreme Gears. Out here, and with this much open space, you should be able to steer it just fine. Sonic, take this." Tails threw Sonic a small item capsule, that the hedgehog put away for later.

Sonic led Remington through the ship, loaning him one of the Extreme Gear scooters in storage, customised with a Fly Power Core. After giving him a quick crash course on how it worked, Tails opened the hatch. The cold hit them immediately, and Remington put his helmet on.

"Okay, you ready?" Sonic asked, and without waiting for an answer, he jumped out of the ship, landing on the ground in a sprint and racing on ahead.

"You guys are insane!" Remington laughed. "No wonder Shade likes you so much!" He started up his scooter and boosted out of the ship, landing below and seeing Sonic up ahead. As he increased his speed to catch-up, the ship behind them ascended.

"Hey, ya made it!" Sonic called as he saw Remington to his side. "How ya feelin'?"

"Like the world's spinning around me, but it's also kinda fun! I've never moved this fast before!"

"Just don't forget about your air!" Sonic warned, and then ran on ahead. "I'll make a trail for you! Just ride the wind behind me!"

Remington entered the trail of turbulence that Sonic created as he ran. He still had to steer to avoid flying out of the funnel of wind, but for the most part he was able to simply let the wind carry him to their destination.

That is, until Sonic noticed a huge lake ahead of them. "Heads-up! Get ready to Fly!"

Remington saw the lake too and readied himself. Sonic boosted over the water, allowing himself to run across the lake without sinking, but doing so left Remington without any turbulence to ride. Following Tails' lessons from earlier, Remington waited until he was just at the edge of the lake, and then jumped. The Fly Core inside his Extreme Gear allowed him to soar over the lake, remaining airborne just long enough to reach the other side.

As he landed, his tank filled with air that was absorbed during his flight, and he was able to boost on ahead to catch-up with Sonic once more. "Not bad!" Sonic said. "I give that an S-rank!"

The two continued racing through the Holoskan landscape, through caves where falling icicles tried to skewer them, over bodies of water threatening to drown them, and tearing through natural halfpipes made of ice, so slippery that Sonic had to stop running and just slide across it.

Along the way, the two encountered badniks roaming about, but the slow robots were no match for the two speeding through the region.

Eventually, Sonic saw something in the distance that made him skid to a stop. Remington stopped too, and also took notice of the large, metallic fortress ahead of them, a cloud of thick, black smoke looming over it. "What is that?" he asked.

"Trouble," Sonic answered. "It looks like a refinery, like the one setup at Oil Ocean. Which means Eggman did get here first, after all."

"I've heard a lot about this 'Eggman'. He's a warmonger like us, isn't he?"

"Not like you. You're not all like that."

"Even if not all of us agreed with Ix, we still followed him. We were too afraid to stand up to him, until Shade took the first step."

"The important thing is you're making a difference now." Sonic heard the sounds of engines in the distance, and saw one of Eggman's ships approaching. "Get down." He and Remington hid behind a nearby rock formation, and watched as the ship landed outside of the refinery.

Orbot and Cubot climbed out of the ship and began directing Egg Pawns, which were carrying barrels and crates into the back. "Looks like it's not just a refinery; he's making things here, too. Robots, and probably weapons, or parts of another big machine."

Remington noticed that, along with the Egg Pawns, there were also people. "Are they also working for Eggman?" he asked.

"Nah, I'd say they're the research team that went silent."

"They're not coming out of the ship…"

"You're right… Guess they're on their way to Eggman's new base, and I doubt he's inviting them to a party."

"We have to rescue them." Remington started up his Extreme Gear and raced towards the ship, Sonic joining him.

"Okay, this is the last load," Orbot said as he directed the last few Egg Pawns onto the ship.

"Ehhh, pal?" Cubot pointed to the two figures closing in on them in the distance. "I think we have company…"

Orbot looked to where Cubot was pointing and drop his checklist. "Oh, bother! Just our luck to run into Sonic out here in the middle of nowhere!" Orbot turned to the SWATbots standing at the refinery's entrance. "SWATbots, protect the ship! Come, Cubot, we have to leave!"

"Okey-dokey!"

The two robots climbed back into the ship and began lifting off into the air. Sonic and Remington were close now, but the SWATbots intercepted them. "Clear a path!" Remington said, and Sonic raced on ahead to distract the attacking SWATbots. Remington used the opening to jump into the air, engaging his Fly Core to climb high enough to leap onto the back of the ship.

"Remington!" Sonic called, watching as the ship began to leave.

"I'll take care of things up here! You shut down this refinery!" Remington called back.

"You got it! Just be careful!" Sonic finished off the remaining SWATbots guarding the entrance, but the alarms were already blaring, which meant it wouldn't take long for more to show up. "Okay, let's do it to it!"

Flying over the Holoskan landscape, Orbot and Cubot breathed sighs of relief. "That was close," Cubot said. "I really didn't wanna have ta tussle with Sonic, 'specially not out here."

"I must concur," Orbot said. "Doctor Eggman would be most displeased if we failed to get this cargo back to Robotropolis safely."

"And all the workers, right?" Cubot knocked on the door leading into the back of the ship. "Hey, you guys okay back there? Got enough room?"

There was a loud bang, and the two robots faced each other. "That was… odd," Orbot said. There was then a loud crash, followed by another, and another. Orbot engaged the autopilot and climbed out of his seat, opening the door to reveal… "Oh, no."

Remington threw one Egg Pawn into another, trashing them both, whilst a third Egg Pawn attempted to grab him from behind. Remington felt the attack coming and spun around to kick the Egg Pawn into a wall. There was now only one Egg Pawn left, which Remington ended quickly by drawing his gun and shooting it.

Remington and Orbot's eyes met, and the two stared silently at each other for a few awkward seconds. "You seem to be busy. Sorry to disturb you." Orbot closed the door and locked it, and then returned to his seat. "Well, Cubot my friend, it appears our time has come. It has been a pleasure working with you, even if it hasn't always been easy."

"Aw man. If I knew today was gonna be our last, I'd have asked for the day off." Something slammed against the door leading into the cockpit, startling the robots. Then there was another slam, and then another. "Y'know, maybe we should just nosedive down. Take them out with us?"

"Delightfully devilish, Cubot. However, our programs prohibit us from self-terminating."

"Oh yeah, right…"

One final slam got the door open, and Remington walked into the room. "Good day," Orbot greeted. "I do not believe we've had the pleasure of making your acquaintance."

"Name's Remington," the echidna said. "I'm here to commandeer your ship, and take it back to the refinery."

"Uh, well, see, the thing about that is, uh…" Cubot paused as he formulated an excuse in his mind. "The ship… can't turn?"

Orbot sighed, and Remington grabbed the two robots and threw them into the back room. "You two stay there. Behave and I'll spare your… lives?"

"Oh, you're so merciful," Orbot said, picking himself up. He saw the glares of their kidnapped victims on them and started backing away. "Um, could we maybe, sit in the front with you?"

"No." Remington approached the controls and studied them. He had a good enough idea of how the ship worked to at least turn it around, he thought, so he grabbed the steering mechanism and began turning. As he did so, he noticed something sparkle in the distance. "What's that?"

Orbot and Cubot noticed it, too, and both robots ominously began grinning. "It looks like we've been saved," Orbot said to his partner, and Cubot nodded.

Remington studied the sparkling object, and found that it seemed to be a person flying through the air. And whoever it was, they were getting closer! The mysterious figure moved so fast that Remington could only identify it as some kind of blue blur. It landed on top of the ship, and everything fell silent as the passengers listened to the sounds of tapping above them. Then, the sound of a drill, which pierced the roof of the ship and created a sizeable hole.

When the sudden visitor jumped into the ship, Remington could hardly believe his eyes. It was a robot, there was no doubt about that, but it bore a striking resemblance to Sonic!

"Thank goodness you're here, Metal Sonic!" Orbot said. "We've lost some of the robots, but we still have the cargo! You'll help us return to Robotropolis safe, won't you?"

"Yeah, ya gotta help us, big bro!" Cubot followed. "You know we'd totally have your back if y'all were ever in trouble, and we could, y'know, fight an' stuff!"

Metal Sonic ignored the two other robots, instead focussing on the echidna standing before him with his gun drawn. "A robot that looks like Sonic? Not sure if that's brilliant or obsessive."

"A bit of both, actually," Orbot replied.

"Either way, if you're anything like the other robots I fought in here-" Before Remington could finish, Metal Sonic rushed him, driving his claws towards his throat. Remington dodged to the side, firing at the robot, but his shots reflected off of the robot's body and almost hit one of the prisoners. "Okay, so a fair bit tougher!"

"I would recommend not pushing his buttons," Orbot said.

"Uh, why're you givin' advice to the enemy?" Cubot asked.

"You know how Metal gets when he's agitated. He'll take down the whole ship," Orbot whispered. "On that note, we should get back to the cockpit before the ship starts falling."

Remington put his gun away and pulled out his lasso. "Alright, let's try a different approach then!" He threw the lasso, wrapping it around Metal's left arm. Metal Sonic eyed the rope curiously before trying to cut through it with his right hand, only to fail. "Sorry, but that's no ordinary rope! It's made using N'rrgal thread, and it's tougher than any material on Mobius!" Remington pulled on the rope, pulling Metal Sonic towards him, and then he delivered a roundhouse kick, sending the robot crashing into a wall.

Metal Sonic climbed to his feet and glared at Remington. Remington threw his lasso again, but this time Metal caught it, and both he and Remington pulled at it together, each attempting to throw the other off their balance. Remington felt his feet slipping, and then finally was unable to keep them planted any longer, falling forwards as the rope was pulled out of his hands.

Metal Sonic saw his chance and ran ahead, punching Remington in the stomach. Even with his armour on, Remington felt the hit, and couldn't retaliate before being thrown to the side. Metal Sonic swiped at Remington, slashing away some of his armour.

Remington dodged the next attack and countered by ramming Metal Sonic, but Metal was able to use his thrusters to lift himself up and over the echidna, and then planted his legs into Remington's back. Remington stumbled forwards, trying not to lose his balance, and eventually hit a wall. He faced Metal Sonic, his armour beginning to crack.

"Damnit... You're a… strong one…" He winced, feeling pain in his abdomen. "Shade... I promised her... I would do anything... I have to... pay my debt!" Remington reached for his hip, but Metal Sonic caught his hand before he could grab whatever he was going for. The robot threw Remington against the wall, and then onto the floor. Remington gasped, feeling the wind being knocked out of his body. "Shade... Sorry..."

"Hey Metal, don't kill him!" Bokkun shouted, flying down through the hole in the ceiling and getting into Metal Sonic's face, halting his rampage. "The Doctor wanted one of them alive, remember? We missed the one at Seaside Hill, so why don't we take this one?"

Metal Sonic stared at Bokkun for a moment, and then released his grip on Remington's wrist, letting him fall completely to the floor. He then thrust his claws out, through an exposed part of Remington's armour, and pierced his nails into the echidna's flesh.

Bokkun turned to Orbot and Cubot, who had returned to the cockpit and resumed piloting the ship. "This poison'll keep him from moving for a few hours. Make sure he gets lotsa water so he doesn't die!"

"Understood," Orbot said. "Cubot, activate the remaining Egg Pawns to watch over the prisoners."

"You got it!" Cubot approached the cargo, opening one of the larger boxes to reveal three deactivated Egg Pawns inside. He activated them as Metal Sonic tied Remington's arms to a pipe using some rope.

Metal Sonic then left through the hole in the ceiling, Bokkun laughing as he followed. "Alright then, take care! We've got bigger fish to fry! Catch ya later!"

SWATbots advanced on Sonic, firing on the hedgehog or attempting to grab him as he dodged and counterattacked with little-to-no effort at all. Some SWATbots attempted to catch him with traps that had been setup throughout the refinery, such as pistons that threatened to crush the hedgehog, spikes that tried to skewer him, and even hot bursts of steam meant to burn him. Sonic dodged all of them with ease.

Eventually, Sonic found most of the prisoners in a production area, putting together weapons and robots parts. After smashing the SWATbots guarding them, Sonic found the keys to their shackles and freed them at lightning-speed.

"You have our thanks, Sonic!" one of them said, crying tears of joy as he smashed the circuit board he had been working on.

"Can we get out of here?" another asked, looking around cautiously.

"I cleared a path. Just followed the trail of smashed robots and broken traps," Sonic told them, picking up one of the guns they had been producing. He threw it to one of the prisoners. "These should help you, and rub it in Eggman's face even more that his own tech is helping you escape."

"I'm not really comfortable using these things, but I suppose I can't be too picky right now…" The rescued prisoners armed themselves with the very guns they had been forced to make. "Sonic, there are still more of us out there. Seven are being transported to Robotropolis."

Sonic nodded. "We saw the on the way here. My friend's got them covered."

"There are three more further inside. They were taken away to fix a broken pump thirty minutes ago."

"Got it, I'll make sure to rescue them, too. Get far away from here and contact GUN right away." Sonic grabbed a few of the guns and left to find the remaining members of the research team. "This is too easy," Sonic said as he tore through more SWATbots standing in his way. "C'mon Eggman, is this the best you've got? No wonder we haven't seen you lately."

He arrived at a large room with several large, obnoxiously-loud machines. He saw the remaining three prisoners working on one of the machines, with six SWATbots aiming their guns at them. Sonic took advantage of the noise in the room to get closer without being heard, and when he was close enough, he leapt out and used him homing attack to take out the SWATbots before they even knew he was there.

"You guys alright?"

The prisoners recognised the hedgehog and celebrated, dropping the tools. "Oh thank goodness! You must be here to rescue us!"

"You bet. We also heard there was a Chaos Emerald in the area."

The prisoner frowned. "I'm afraid you're a little late there. The Eggman already took the Emerald, and he left this place with it some time ago."

Sonic simply shrugged. "Oh well, guess we'll just have to settle with breaking his fancy new toy."

"Please wait! You mustn't be so reckless! If you simply destroy the refinery now, while it's still running, you'll cause incredible damage to local environment!"

"Well we can't just leave it runnin'. It's already causing damage to the environment, and it looks like weapons are being made here."

"Let us help you. We helped Eggman build this facility, so we know how to safely shut it down."

"Can't just hit the 'off' switch, huh?"

"I'm afraid not. There are a few valves that you'll need to shut off first, and you'll have to do it in order. We can direct you to them."

Sonic thought it over for a second, and then said, "Okay then, but I'll only need one of you to guide me. The rest should get out of here and join the others."

"I'll come with you," one of the prisoners said. It was a human male sporting a bowl cut, and wearing a tattered, oil-stained green coat. "I'm pretty good on my feet, and I have a photographic memory."

"Alright, you're with me. The rest of you get movin'." Sonic handed the guns he had taken earlier to the prisoners. "The path should be clear, but use these in case you run into trouble." Two of the prisoners left the way Sonic had come in. Sonic and the remaining prisoner continued through the refinery. "So, got a name?"

"It's Hawk," the man replied. "I'm an archaeologist, hired by the expedition team to carry out a survey here. I'm also the one who found the Chaos Emerald that drew Eggman's here, so I guess you could say this whole mess was my fault…"

Sonic saw SWATbots up ahead and smashed through them, clearing a path for Hawk. "Eggman's the one at fault here, not you. Anyone could've found that Emerald, and Eggman would've come here sooner-or-later to get it."

"Even so, because of me, somebody else paid the price. Doctor Leo, the head of the expedition team, hid the Chaos Emerald on himself to protect the rest of us…"

"He sounds like he was a good man, and I swear we'll make Eggman pay, but you can't blame yourself for that."

The two reached the first valve, and Hawk turned it whilst Sonic defeated the SWATbots approaching them. The pistons around them stopped moving, and alarms started blaring. "Unauthorised shut-off detected!" Eggman's voice boomed over the speakers spread throughout the facility.

"One down, three to go," Hawk said, and led Sonic to the next valve. Along the way, they encountered Egg Pawns, some which seemed to only be half-complete, charging towards them. "These are the robots were being forced to make!"

"Guess the alert made them activate," Sonic surmised, and used his spindash to clear the way. "Still, an Egg Pawn's only somewhat more-advanced than a SWATbot. Were you making any other types of robots in here?"

Hawk shook his head. "Not robots, but it seems like Eggman is putting together something much bigger. I think we've been making the components for that."

Reaching the next valve, Sonic covered Hawk again as he turned it. The pistons stopped, and the refinery shook violently. "Level-2 security protocols activated!"

"That doesn't sound good," Hawk said, and right on cue, cameras mounted with guns emerged from the walls and aimed at the two intruders.

"Uh-oh!" Sonic grabbed Hawk and ran, avoiding the gunfire as Hawk guided him to the next valve. "We won't be able to shut it off if we're being fired at! Hold on one sec." Sonic threw Hawk behind some containers, and then used his homing attack to bounce between the gun-mounted cameras, taking them out one-by-one. With the last one destroyed, Sonic returned to where he had left Hawk. "All clear!"

"Did you have to be so rough?" Hawk asked, rubbing his head as he climbed to his feet. "Ahah, but at least you took out those turrets. Good work."

The two made it to the next valve and shut it off, leaving only one more. "Level-3 security protocols activated! GET THAT HEDGEHOG!"

"How does he know it's you?" Hawk asked as the two started running to the next valve.

"Who else would it be?" Sonic asked with a shrug. "Anyway, doesn't it feel like the security's actually been toned-down since shutting off that last valve?"

"Now that you mention it, the turrets aren't firing at us anymore, and there haven't been any robots coming our way since we shut off the second one." As the two reached the final valve, they realised why the security had calmed-down; SWATbots and Egg Pawns were waiting, dozens of them, standing in formation and guarding the valve. "How are we going to get through that?!"

Suddenly, the turrets re-emerged from the walls, now aiming at the two from behind as the robots aimed from their front. Both the robots and the turrets began firing, and Sonic used his Blue Tornado to create a wall of wind around them, deflecting the bullets. "That won't last long."

"Sonic, leave me and shut off the valve! You can take out the robots just fine if you don't have to worry about protecting me, right?"

"No way, no how. Here, use this." Sonic gave Hawk the item capsule that Tails had given him earlier, and then began charging a spindash, gathering energy.

"Sonic, this won't last long against all that gunfire!"

"It'll be long enough to give me an opening," Sonic assured him. "Hurry!"

Hawk nodded, and opened the capsule. A green shield surrounded him, just as the wind dissipated, leaving the two exposed. The robots and turrets reset their aims.

"GO!" Sonic executed his Light Speed Attack, wiping out the turrets behind them in an instant, before they could start firing. The first robot began firing, and Sonic used his drop dash to make it to the army of SWATbots and Egg Pawns quickly, bowling through an entire row of them before jumping into a homing attack.

Hawk flinched as the first bullets hit his shield, creating cracks. Sonic was tearing through the robots so fast that he couldn't even keep up; one moment there would be a line of SWATbots, the next there would be a line of scrap metal.

The shield took a few more hits, and when it finally shattered, Hawk got ready to run. Before he could, though, Sonic landed in front of him, holding one of the shields used by the Egg Pawns. He deflected the shots coming from the few remaining robots. "Here." He gave the shield to Hawk. "Stay low."

Hawk nodded, crouching and hiding behind the shield. Due to his larger size, compared to Sonic or the Egg Pawns, Hawk worried that he would be too exposed for a shield to really be of much help, but all of the bullets fired his way seemed to hit the shield directly. When the sounds of gunfire stopped, Hawk poked out his head to find Sonic standing triumphantly over the defeated robots.

"That was incredible!"

Sonic shrugged. "Eh, I've had better fights. These robots are seriously outdated. They only know to aim for the centre, so they're easy to predict."

"I see. That's why I was fine behind this shield."

Hawk reached the final valve and turned it, shutting off the nearby pistons. "Okay, so what now?" Sonic asked.

"Now, it's safe to destroy the refinery! The fastest way would be to destroy the core. That would set off a chain reaction, that would bring down the whole facility. The core should be this way."

Sonic followed Hawk to the refinery's core, which was completely exposed and unguarded. "This looks like another trap but… doesn't feel like one."

Hawk nodded. "I think you've taken out all of the robots that were guarding this place. The refinery was built in a hurry, so the core isn't very well-defended, but-" Sonic charged his spindash and slammed into the core, attacking it repeatedly with several homing attacks. As he jumped back to check the damage, he saw that there wasn't even a dent. "It's very tough."

"Ah, a challenge, is it? Let's try building up some speed." Sonic ran laps around the room, building up his speed in preparation to attack. As he ran, the ceiling above them exploded, and something crashed down in front of Sonic, blocking his path. Sonic skidded to a halt, and then jumped back to avoid a swipe from Metal Sonic's claws. "And here I thought there'd be no challenge here!"

Hawk ran for cover behind a nearby terminal, watching as Sonic dodged a flurry of attacks from Metal Sonic. "Oh dear, I'm afraid I won't be much help against that."

"Don't sweat it!" Sonic said. "Just stay where you're safe! I got this!" Sonic parried one of Metal's attacks with a kick, and then switched from defence to offence by swinging a strong right hook. Metal Sonic activated his shield to block it. 'He's still got that shield, but it comes at a price! He has to stop in order to turn it on or off, which gives me one full second where he's open.'

Sonic circled around Metal Sonic while the robot deactivated it shield, and delivered a kick to his back. However, Metal Sonic was already turned around and facing Sonic as he attacked, and he grabbed Sonic's leg, swinging the hedgehog around before throwing him into a stack of barrels.

"Ugh… Okay, guess Eggman patched that out." Sonic groaned as he climbed back to his feet. Sonic used his spindash and crashed into Metal's shield, driving into it which caused electricity to spark all around him. The shield dropped and Metal grabbed Sonic, and then attempted to slam him into the ground, but Sonic used his bounce to get out of Metal's hold, bounding into the robot's face.

As Metal Sonic recovered from the blow, Sonic used his Blue Tornado to throw him off-balance, and into the air. He jumped, attacking Metal from below and kicking him back down to the ground. He used his drop dash to try to finish Metal Sonic off, but the robot quickly shifted to the side, avoiding the attack, and countered with a swipe that Sonic narrowly avoided.

Metal Sonic charged a spindash, and Sonic charged his own. They both unleashed their attacks together, colliding and pushing against each other. The ground beneath them eroded, and neither hedgehog nor machine was willing to give an inch. The sparks from their stalemate were reaching the puddles of oil leaking from the barrels Sonic had earlier ben thrown into, and a fire started.

"Oh no! If we don't wrap this up soon, the way out will be blocked!" Hawk looked around for something to use, and spotted an extinguisher on the other end of the room. Looking at the fierce battle raging between him and the extinguisher, Hawk was nervous, but the flames were spreading fast and he had no time to lose, and so he started running.

He ran past the two still pushing against each other, running behind Sonic to give himself as much distance from Metal Sonic as possible, and reached the extinguisher. Removing the pin, Hawk hurried to one of the exits and began spraying. He wouldn't be able to stop the fire entirely, but at the very least he needed to keep the way out clear. Even then, though, he feared that he couldn't buy much time. "Sonic, we have to go!"

"I don't think he'll let us!" An explosion roared above them, and Sonic felt something falling from above. Both he and Metal jumped back, avoiding the falling catwalk. "What now?"

"Need a hand?" Remington asked, falling from the hole that had been made above. He was panting, one hand clutching his side. "Sorry I'm late. The prisoners have been rescued."

Sonic grinned. "You're not late. Just in time, actually. I admit I could use a hand here."

"No problem, I think I've got just the thing." Remington turned to Metal Sonic, who was glaring at the echidna. "Bet you're wondering how I'm up and movin' about, huh? Our suits come equipped with a variety of antitoxins, that inject themselves automatically when they detect poison. Unfortunately for you, the poison you used was one we're familiar with."

Remington attached a blue, glowing crystal to his gun. Electricity sparked wildly around it, enveloping the gun and even travelling up his arm. "I wanted to save this, but I've got little choice now."

Metal Sonic activated his thrusters and charged at Remington, only to be blocked by Sonic, who grabbed Metal's outstretched arms and pushed against him with equal force. "Whatever you're doing, do it quick!"

Remington's gun began trembling, and the electricity started entering the holes in his armour, burning his skin. He clenched his teeth and fought through the pain. "Sonic, I'm ready!"

Sonic nodded, and rolled to the side, allowing Metal to continue his charge. With a clear shot, Remington fired. A large burst of blue energy washed over Metal Sonic, halting the robot's advance as he hastily activated his shield. The light was so intense that Sonic had to look away from it.

The energy dissipated. Remington huffed, inadvertently dropping his gun as his grip loosened. The crystal attached to it was now a dull grey, and cracked as it hit the floor. Remington saw that Metal Sonic was still standing, his shield unharmed. "You're... kiddin'..."

Falling to his knees, all that Remington could do was watch as the shield disengaged. However, the robot behind it was not unharmed. The blast must have hit moments before Metal could protect himself, as he was badly-burned, his head and eyes were twitching, and his entire right arm was missing.

"He's not down yet, but he's much weaker now," Sonic said. "You rest. I'll finish him."

Remington nodded. "Sounds... good..."

Metal Sonic tried engaged his thrusters, but with one arm missing, the robot's balance was off, causing him to veer left as he tried to attack Sonic. Sonic took advantage of the opening to kick Metal into a wall, and then charged his spindash. "You're done!" He unleashed his attack, impacting Metal Sonic with enough force to scatter the robot into pieces. Metal's remaining arm and legs fell to the floor, followed by his body, and then finally his head, the lights in its eyes flickering until they were gone.

Sonic checked on Remington, who seemed to be fine, and then glanced over at Hawk, who gave him a thumbs up. Before they could celebrate, though, everyone was startled by a high-pitched, "AAAAHHHHHH!" Bokkun flew over the group, looking at the scattered remains of Metal Sonic in horror. "W-What did you do?!"

"Just what I always do," Sonic replied with a dismissive wave.

Bokkun bared his teeth and growled at the hedgehog. "Why you! I'm gonna make you pay for this!" He produced several bombs, all with their fuses lit, and rained them down on the group.

Remington and Hawk panicked, whilst Sonic simply smiled. "Ah, perfect!" Sonic ran around the room, gathering all of the bombs. "This's just what we needed!" He ran over to the core and placed the bombs around it, setting the last one down before the fuses were even halfway there. "Thanks, Bokkun!"

Bokkun's jaw dropped. "N-NOOOO! Don't-" Before he could finish, the bombs exploded. Sonic had already grabbed Remington and started running, Hawk right behind him. Bokkun gave chase in the air, the explosion causing a chain reaction that made the whole refinery rumble. "Now look what you did!"

Sonic gave Bokkun a peace sign as he ran. "Couldn't have done it without ya, Bokkun! I'll make sure to let Eggman know how much you helped!"

Tears began welling in Bokkun's eyes. "Y-You big bully! I won't forgive you for thiiiiiiiiis!" Bokkun flew on ahead, his cries fading as he turned a corner.

The flames were spreading rapidly now, and parts of the refinery were starting to collapse around them. "Just keep running!" Sonic said, kicking away any falling debris that came their way.

There was a light ahead, and as explosions raged behind them, Sonic and Hawk emerged from the refinery, the cold Holoskan air and a welcome reprieve from the intense heat from inside. They weren't clear yet, though, and continued to run across the field of ice as the refinery exploded behind them.

The freed researchers cheered as they watched the refinery falling apart, Sonic and Hawk rushing out and running across the ice. With everybody focussed on that, none of them noticed Bokkun sneaking behind them, silently approaching Orbot and Cubot. "So uh, how's Metal Bro?" Cubot asked, only to be shushed harshly by Orbot.

"This is bad, so bad!" Bokkun said in what was barely a whisper. "How could you two let that echidna escape?!"

"He was very resourceful," Orbot defended. "He broke himself free of his bonds and made quick work of our Egg Pawns."

Bokkun groaned. "We gotta get what we can to Eggman. Is the cargo-"

"It's still intact," Orbot confirmed.

"Good! Maybe Eggman won't scrap us for parts, after all."

Sonic made it to the group, placing Remington down. "Everyone okay?" he asked.

"We're fine now, thanks to you," one of them said. Then there was a tense silence between them. "But Doctor Leo..."

"His body should still be around here somewhere," Hawk said, catching up to the hedgehog. "We shouldn't leave him. We need to at least give him a proper burial. I'll break the news to his family."

"I'll help you look," Sonic said, and then turned to Remington, who by this point was struggling to breath. "He needs help. Is anyone here a doctor?"

"We've setup a camp over there," one of the researchers said. "We have a first aid station set up. Come with us."

"Thanks," Remington said, following the man. He stopped as his helmet detected rising heat levels, and turned to find the dropship starting to ascend. "Ah!"

Everybody turned. Bokkun laughed and jeered from on top of the ship as it rose. "Ne-ne-ne-ne-neeeee! You might've stopped the Doctor's plan here, but you just wait! He's workin' on something that'll make all of you pay!"

The ship left, and all that the group could do was watch. "Damn them! I should've deactivated those two robots when I had the chance!"

"Nothin' we can do about it now," Sonic said with a shrug. "Whatever Eggman's cookin' up, I guarantee it'll be nothing we can't handle."

Hawk looked over at the refinery, which was now bathed in a sea of flames. "Not the cleanest way to take it down, but it could've been much worse." Hawk felt Sonic's hand on his arm, and looked down at the hedgehog beside him.

"It was thanks to you, showing me how to properly shut everything down. You minimised the damage caused. I think Doctor Leo would be proud."

Hawk didn't say anything further. He simply nodded as he and Sonic left to search for the body.

Some time passed. The team had successfully managed to contact GUN using a radio that was seized from the refinery, and were now waiting to be rescued. One of the medics had looked at Remington, treating his wounds and wrapping them with bandages.

"I've done what I can to soothe the pain, but you'll need to see a doctor. And you'll want to get out of this cold as soon as possible," the medic told him.

Remington put his armour back on. "Don't worry about that. My armour keeps me heated. Although it's not as effective when it's broken, but I should still be fine until we leave."

"Which should be soon," Sonic told him as he approached. "Knuckles just called us. He and Amy are almost here. When we get back to the Blue Typhoon, we'll stop by Central City and find you a doctor. I know a good hospital that-"

Remington shook his head. "There's no time for that. I'll be fine. Don't let my injuries slow the mission down."

"Don't be stubborn. You won't be any good to us in the state you're in."

"Well I won't be any good just sitting around in a hospital bed, now will I?!" Remington winced, feeling a pain in his chest.

"Take it easy," the medic advised with a sigh.

Remington gritted his teeth. "Dimitri won't wait for his enemies to get better, and we're runnin' out of time. The Warp Belts, they're losing their effectiveness. Finitevus predicts that within a few months, they'll stop working altogether, and then we'll truly be stuck in the Twilight Cage, with no hope of escaping."

Sonic nodded. "Okay, so I get why you're in such a hurry, but you still gotta slow down."

Remington laughed. "That's rich, coming from you."

"Even I have to slow down sometimes. You know what happens if I'm approaching the end of the road, and I just keep going at full throttle?" Sonic mimed with his hand the act of crashing, complete with explosion sound effects. "I crash. Even if I'm racing to save someone, it's no good if I get myself killed before I reach the goal."

Remington was silent for a moment, looking out over the vast field of ice, empty save for the ruined remains of the refinery in the distance. "I was once a Nocturnus soldier, y'know? One of the best in my class going through training, and I talked a big game." Remington took a seat beside one of the campfires, and Sonic stood beside him, listening patiently. "But when I saw my first real battle, I just couldn't do it..."

"Do what?"

"Anything. I couldn't move 'cause I was so scared of dying. I couldn't issue any orders 'cause I was scared of giving the wrong ones. And when I saw the eyes of my enemy, I couldn't think of them as anything less than people... You know what the penalty for desertion is in the Nocturne?"

"I have a good idea."

"I was to be executed publicly, to set an example for everyone else. Only reason I wasn't is because Shade appealed on my behalf. When I asked her why, she said, 'Because you looked like you needed help'. Imagine that, coming from the Procurator.

"Naturally I lost my rank, my armour, my weapons, everything. I became Shade's personal assistant, nothing more a small clerical role for those who failed to even make it as a soldier. But even though others looked down on me, Shade never did. She thanked me for my hard work, and was concerned when was working too hard. I asked her, 'Don't you hate me for being a coward?', and she said, 'No, I like you because you're a good person'. I asked if she was ashamed to be associated with me, and she said she'd prefer my company over many others'.

"And then, when Shade told me of her dreams for the future, I could hardly believe it. She envisioned herself as Imperator, reshaping the Nocturne to be a more-peaceful society. One where children weren't forced to become soldiers, where the value of people wasn't based on how many victories they achieved on the battlefield… It sounded nice. I wanted to see that world for myself one day, and so I swore to help her.

"It sounds like she trusted you a lot."

"I hope so. Before I knew it, I'd became more loyal to Shade than even to our Imperator. When I fight for her, I don't feel scared, and I don't doubt whether I'm doing the right thing or not."

"Then you should also know that Shade would tell you the same thing I am. She'd tell you to recover first, then join her for the final battle when you're all better!"

"... Heh, you're right." Remington sighed, leaning back and looking up at the sky, growing darker as the sun set. "... Sonic, I want you to have something." Remington handed Sonic a blue crystal, similar to the one that he had used earlier. "The Zoah gave me two of these crystals. I was planning to use one on Kragok, and the other on Dimitri."

"Lien-Da doesn't get one?"

Remington laughed. "Would be a waste."

"Yowch. Sick burn."

"Anyway, I'll give this second crystal to you. I'm sure you'll put it to good use."

Sonic nodded, putting the crystal away. "Just so you know, I'm against killing. I always avoid it whenever possible."

"I know, but I still trust you with it. I think, I see the same thing in you that I see in Shade... Hey, over there." Remington pointed to a small plane flying towards them in the distance. "Is that them?"

"Yep. Looks like they're here." Sonic helped Remington to his feet, and waved up to the Tornado as it came closer. "Yo! Down here!"

The Tornado landed, and Amy wasted no time jumping from the plane and into Sonic's arms. Except that his arms weren't open, so all that she accomplished was tackling the other hedgehog to the ground. "A-Amy, what're you-"

"Tee-hee! Did ya miss me, Sonic?"

Sonic looked away. "Nah, I was havin' a blast out here."

"Well I missed you!" Amy hugged Sonic, squeezing him as he sighed and surrendered to his fate. "I got attacked by pirates! It was so awful! Aren't you worried what could've happened to me if I'd been caught?"

"I'm more worried about what happened to them, once you pulled out that hammer," Sonic laughed, patting Amy's head. She released him. "You gave 'em hell, right?"

"Naturally."

"Good!"

Amy giggled, hugging Sonic again, this time a little less forcefully.

Knuckles and Remington watched the scene with some amusement, when a man suddenly approached. Knuckles gasped, smiling as he held out his hand. "Hawk! Is that really you?"

"It sure is." Hawk high-fived the echidna. "It's good to see you again, Knuckles."

"The two of you know each other?" Sonic asked, approaching with an Amy latched to his arm.

"Yeah, we met in the Mystic Ruins some time ago, before the Station Square disaster," Knuckles explained. "Hawk here almost got himself killed exploring one of the ruins."

Hawk laughed. "Knuckles had to bail me out, but it was worth it since I got a good friend out of the incident. We met again sometime later, down in Pumpkin Hill."

"That time, you saved me, by finding those Shovel Claws."

"But you had to save me from the ghosts so it's not like we're even."

Sonic's phone began to ring. He pulled himself free of Amy so that he could answer it. "Yo, Tails! No luck on the Chaos Emerald, but we did bust-up Eggman's new refinery! What's that? ... I see. Okay, we're on our way." Sonic ended the call, and turned back to his friends with a suddenly serious look on his face. "Sorry to cut the reunion short, but we gotta meetup with the other right away. Something bad's happened."