"It seems Zeena's been defeated by that blue pest. Exactly as expected of her..."

The Zeti leader rolled his eyes as he replayed the sequence of the hedgehog dishing out a Focused Homing Attack on the girl, forcing Zeena to flee before him for a second time. If that youngling wasn't such a thorn in his side, he'd almost thank him for giving him and his teammates a challenge. Almost.

For the time being, he mostly grew bored of seeing each and every member of the Deadly Six (his own master included) backing away from the blue threat. He had yet to face him himself, and he had to think fast before another humiliation upon their squad was dealt. Knowing Zor, there was no way he could hold out his own against Sonic.

"Can't we just shove him into one of those snow machines and turn him into a snow cone?" asked Zomom. "I wonder what flavor he tastes like!"

"Given Zeena was no match against a high-speed snowball the first time, I doubt that'd have any more luck defeating him than a mere Buzz Bomber."

Master Zik chuckled. His student seemed in a sour mood because of that hedgehog's doing, which would be a first had Eggman not taken advantage of the conch not too long. He knew Zavok always craved a worthy opponent but loathed having anything remotely resembling a hindrance to his plans. He was confident the red Zeti still had enough patience in him to think of the next step to their revenge, albeit seeing him this riled up was undeniably amusing somewhere.

This Sonic boy was quite unlike anything he's seen before. Fast like Zazz and Zeena, swift and precise as he and Zor, nearly as resilient as Zavok and Zomom were (though those rings he carried may have been the explanation why he took on so many hits like nothing). If only half the disciples he had showing up to his dōjō back in the day were as determined as this fiend was, perhaps their battle tournaments would've been more entertaining when he was still the leader.

Regardless, his interest was visibly not shared by everyone around the lair. One pink Zeti in particular was being fidgety and looking about to burst. Well, in Zazz's case, it was pretty normal altogether.

"Come on! We gather so many of these chumpy critters and for what?! I feel like bustin' outta there and get rid of that stinkin' hedgehog myself!"

"You're not getting anywhere, Zazz." said Zavok, tapping on the keyboard in front of him as he looked over the Extractor's program. "We didn't choose to have Planet Hex covered in meek animals like the ones Eggman had us capture. Besides, if there were any of interest, you'd have killed it and given its remainders to Zomom to eat by now." The hot-headed Zeti drooped down in disappointment and annoyance.

"True." said both Zazz and Zomom in unison.

Why did the boss not give him another chance? He already saw that spiny loser in action and even gave him a piece of his mind! Even if in the end, he got away unscathed and Zazz had to crawl back empty-handed. It was getting so boring in there, and Zor wasn't even around to dampen the mood yet.

Crossing his arms, he looked away from the screen, when his eyes wandered off to a yellow button near the boss' computer. Covered by protective glass, too. What was that for, emergency shutdown? Didn't they say that thing couldn't be stopped?

With stealth on par with an elephant wearing a thousand bells, he scouted over next to Zavok, looking at the keyboard more closely.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't."

"What? I'm not thinkin' of nothin'."

"Then if it ever occurs you to think, think again before whatever you were about to do."

Looks like the word "BOOST" written in all caps on it, though he wondered why that was under protection. Wasn't the point of this machine to make things stronger? That eggface really built that thing way too complicated for a power booster. But then why wasn't the boss pressing on it? He didn't see it?

The blue one was too fast, and this was going too slow. He should fix that right now.

Zavok could tell Zazz was getting impatient, but he frankly didn't care to entertain that thought beyond his previous warnings. Now if he just got done with the next batch of Badnik squadron, then he could get to...

CRASH!

In a second, Zazz's pink arm had gone through the glass and found itself lodged in full view, opening several different windows onto the control panel above. The leader of the Zeti had not uttered a word, simply letting the temperamental one realize his mistake once he noticed the glare Zavok was sending him.

"Do you realize what you've just done?"

"...made this thing work faster?"

With a few taps of his clawed fingers, Zavok brought an answer, marked in several statistics and logs. Eggman really loved showing off, even in his private files.

"You just enabled the Extractor's last line of defense program. A new model of Eggrobo... something about unfinished model... no other robots left... looks like Eggman anticipated that if Sonic got here sooner, he could've sent his entire armada at him at full blast. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but given the machine's already in overload, power is being distributed to all the robots indiscriminately, including those that have already collapsed."

"Uhhh, is that a good or a bad thing then?" asked Zomom.

"Simply put, all the Badniks are completely out of control. Not even our electromagnetic powers can do anything to stop their rampage, the overcharge will block out our control over them like a shield. They'll strike anything they find no matter what gets in their way."

"So it's a good thing?" asked Zazz. "That's what they shoulda been doing in the first place!"

"If you call a good thing sending a complete arsenal of killing robots towards attacking the slightest thing that moves, be it one of their own or an enemy, I'd love to know what you consider a catastrophe. Because all that energy is getting lost without direction or a proper target, and it would have a purpose if you hadn't acted reckless and disobeyed me."

At that, the younger Zeti shrunk a bit on himself. Okay, he messed up, but what would be the consequences? Not like it'd affect them in any shape or sort now, would it?

"Now just wait until I'm done re-engaging them into safe mode..."

"I think I know a way to cause the Lost Hex to implode using null-gravity effects." explained the mustachio-ed doctor. "We could destroy the Zeti in one quick stroke."

"And exterminate every living thing around them! Are you out of your mind?!" protested the blue hedgehog in front of him.

True to his reputation, Sonic wouldn't let all the destruction go to the innocent creatures around them, no matter how many foes threatened the peace of his world. Even if he found himself working with Eggman, he wasn't planning on letting the doctor add on to any more harm to the creatures he himself ordered to capture. Didn't matter if the Zeti were hiding out somewhere, there were still some poor innocent critters prisoner in those containers.

While he was busy arguing with the scientist, not far behind was his best friend Tails, equipping the human's yellow robot with a Crabmeat. Bad enough that Cubot's voice chip was made by an amateur, Eggman never bothered to treat his robots with the same care Tails did with his inventions (well, except maybe for a certain metallic hedgehog...).

"And... there you go! Good as new!" exclaimed the young fox.

Just as he said that, Cubot's head started spinning like a blender's blade, his blue eyes and mouth occasionally flashing green while his new body emitted green electricity.

"Wow! Something's not right..."

As he said that, he failed to notice that Orbot was in a similar predicament. As he prepared himself to fly off and grab his Miles Electric to run some scans, the red round robot had lunged himself at his back, making Tails tumble forward and fall face-first.

As he realized what was going on, he shook the snow off his face and was about to move. Only to find the Crabmeat's claw right in front of his face.

SLASH!

"Of course there'd be some collateral damage, but..."

"'Collateral damage?' What kind of monster-"

CRUNCH!

"Now what's all that ruckus ab-"

The doctor cut himself short when he realized what he was seeing. Both of his idiotic robots, the more dimwitted one now equipped with a battle bot, were moving erratically. And underneath the Frankenstein-ed henchman, Tails' body lied motionless.

Shades of red were spreading into the snow below him, the same red that dripped from the metal crab's claw.

"...Tails?"

No response.

Sonic sprinted forward, not acknowledging the machines nearby tackling each other. His gloved hand had clutched into a tight fist.

"Tails, Tails!" he repeated. He had to get closer, but a part of him feared knowing what happened to his friend. That blood on the ground, it couldn't be... "Tails? Get up, it's dangerous... get up, please wake up, Tails! Don't, I'm so sorry, I- I didn't, wake up!"

He rushed to his friend's side and grabbed the limp body by the shoulder. His hand was covered in an auburn stain as he turned the fox's face to him, blue eyes rolled back.

It seemed like he was moving, but Sonic didn't account for his own body trembling at the sight before him. He could hear mechanical sounds behind him, approaching, but for an instant, the rest of the world was gone.

In his arms, Tails was now at death's door. Maybe even after that...

No.

It couldn't happen, he couldn't let go of Tails, not after. Not after the argument they've had. Not when they were going to save the world together again. Not when this adventure wasn't even done yet. Tails couldn't be... he just couldn't...

"Tails, please wake up..."

"He's gone, hedgehog."

Whether the blue fiend ignored him or not wasn't explicit, all he could figure was that this was a huge blow to his nemesis. He'd be delighted to rid himself of Sonic once and for all, but he could tell this wasn't the moment to gloat about Sonic's loss. He wasn't that much of a monster.

"No..."

He could feel a cold wind rise around them. Strange, there weren't any Cluckoids nearby, were there? Then again, Orbot and Cubot went berserk. Looks like those Zeti had activated his last defense protocol, whether intentionally or by accident. He lost his trump card should Sonic get to the machine before he finished preparing his Eggrobo for conquest, but so long that hedgehog took care of these demons, he had nothing to worry about.

Then again, it felt like a whirlwind was forming. The map that fox had indicated this was a safe zone, what was going on?

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Light blue electricity emanated from the hedgehog's body, while a greenish hue started to settle around him. The doctor raised a brow, before he recalled a similar situation. Back when the Black Arms had invaded, Shadow was looking for the Chaos Emeralds and had taken off his inhibitor rings when surrounded once.

Except, he recalled one Chaos Blast in that state was enough to take down a thousand Chaos creatures, and that one required high levels of rage only Shadow could usually muster. What was going inside Sonic's head if he was-

"Oh dear."

With his best friend gone, Sonic would naturally be in a fit of unstoppable rage. But where did he get all this Chaos energy from? The Chaos Emeralds were nowhere nearby, and it couldn't have been the doing of those Wisps. But at the level he was reaching, this was far beyond what the dark hedgehog had shown, and Rings weren't enough to do that. Just how much energy was he pulling if he was about to-

He had to get out. Now.

As he started running, his entire world was covered in blue.

Zeena angrily stepped into the main room.

"What gives?! I know I lost but as far as I know, the others didn't get left behind when they failed!"

"You're not getting punished, Zeena." said Zavok, rolling his eyes as he took the idea into consideration. "At least, you'll have to wait your turn, Zazz's the one who you should complain to."

She raised a brow, eyeing the Zeti in question.

"What did you do this time?"

"Watch it!" he groaned. "I just thought I could give those pieces of junk a powerup and have them cut Sonic to shreds, but the boss says I just made a mess."

"So you're the reason why I had to walk up all the way back to Lava Mountain by hitching a ride on every flying stone I could find?! The teleporter didn't work and the other ways from Frozen Factory had all their power cut, do you know how many thermal shocks you made my makeup go through because of your stupidity?!"

"Hey, I didn't know doing that would shut down the rest of the factory. Plus, aside from robots, everything else is working just fine!"

Zavok's eyes widened as he turned around.

"A shutdown? That shouldn't be happening, Eggman's planning couldn't be any sloppier."

As he checked on the interface, he noticed no log updates came from Frozen Factory ever since Zeena's last defeat. That was odd, what about the Eggnet?

"All communications are disabled. This couldn't be a result of Zazz's doing, otherwise, I would've received plenty of warning messages. They've all been cut offline, what is that hedgehog up to?"

"Perhaps this is his way of challenging us..." suggested Master Zik.

"That hedgehog, once I get my hands on his out-of-fashion haircut, I swear I'll-"

"You've had your turn, now it's mine to suffer." said a melancholic voice, interrupting Zeena's rant.

Zor turned up from the shadows, another one of his roses in hand.

"So where do I find him anyways?"

Zavok crossed his arms. "You certainly took your time coming here. We'll all be going for this battle, that hedgehog cut the entirety of Frozen Factory off the network somehow, probably the work of some contained EMP bomb of Eggman's creation."

"Great, I get a beating from Sonic and everyone will watch me fall. I'm always ready for some agony, so I guess it won't make that much of a difference in the end..."

His usual mournings had to be expected, at least they could come and give Eggman another threat in person.

The Six stood speechless at the sight in front of them. They had arrived using still functional mechs, only to find what looked like a wasteland in the middle of a snowy mountain.

What happened over here?

"This doesn't look like a deliberate attempt at ravaging the place." said Master Zik. "My mustaches kept quivering a few miles back, some strong type of energy was released around here, I can feel it."

Now what purpose would Eggman have to do this? Power lines knocked over, Badnik engines visibly charred and overloaded, and it almost seemed like a tornado had turned the rest of the area upside down.

"More importantly, where did the explosion that caused this come from? And where is Sonic?"

Zomom sniffed the air, searching for the smell of that speeding hedgehog. All he could smell was burned leaves, motor oil, burned leather and he felt some vapor hit his face.

Wait, burned leather and vapor?

"Over there!"

He pointed towards a pit in the distance, prompting the Deadly Six to run up to the area the trio of intruders had been in before. It seemed dug in a perfect circle, and not the sign of any Badnik nearby for the job.

While they could make out a red jacket and a figure buried in the snow, they could also tell it seemed to have been there for a little while before the snow covered it. That had to be a decoy, right?

Then further into the center, where the pit had lowered into a hole big enough for two, the silhouette of Sonic laid immobile, clutching in his arms the fox cub that accompanied him before. Albeit the latter's body looked so damaged, it'd be a wonder if either was still alive.

Observing the strange scene before him, Zavok ignored the potential risk and jumped down next to both teens' bodies. With a frown, he grabbed ahold of Sonic's arm and tried to sense a pulse. It was slow, which would've been abnormal for a creature high in adrenaline like the hedgehog, and he could also tell his heartbeat was erratic, pulsing at an irregular pace.

A surprise he was still alive, though the fox's unchanging expression and open eyes clued him in that Sonic was likely the only survivor.

"So he's in a coma, eh? Guess death will have to wait even longer before reaching out to either of us..." whispered Zor, observing the hedgehog on the table.

Sonic had been shaken, roughened and even shocked a couple of times, but he hadn't woken up. His gloves and shoes also seemed partially charred, it'd remain a mystery how he survived the blast behind his current state.

His team's younger members had argued it was the occasion to finish him off, but at Master Zik's suggestion, he refused. The boy would make a powerful robotic slave once they'd install the machines on him. Eggman taught them how to make robots with the smaller animals, it was only logical that this hedgehog would make a robot of a greater scope.

He wouldn't be able to serve them until he woke up, but until then, they could at least graft him with metallic body parts and replace his mind with a cybernetic brain. With his surprising resilience, determination and formidable potential, Sonic would become their greatest soldier yet.

"A true shame your demise wasn't anything more grandiose, Sonic." said Zavok. "It would appear that you eliminated the doctor and exhausted yourself to death all on your own. I do not know whatever you've done for him to die when you agreed to help him in the first place, but then again, perhaps you're ruthless in your own way. I would've at least liked to face you by myself, but fate had other plans for you."

The hedgehog was perseverant, and while he wasn't certain they would see eye to eye had he been conscious, he recognized there was a certain loss to be said about how his current life would end. Beyond his physical abilities, Sonic sported the innate qualities of a warrior. An unstoppable drive to stop his opponents, only hindered by his strange sympathy and heroic demeanor.

He had little trouble adapting to the contrasting environments around Planet Hex, and stood up to his comrades like it was nothing. In a certain sense, he would've preferred if he had to finish him off, but he agreed with his mentor that his strength and experience would be of much better use in their hands, rather than let him go to waste without even a defeat.

"Now to see what adjustments are available for a hedgehog..."

Right as he said that, Eggman's computer opened several windows. A lot more than he had expected. Including files and schematics of a hedgehog's body.

"What is this? Eggman already had plans to roboticize him before? No..." realized Zavok.

These plans were dated over half a decade, and they made several mentions of genetic research through mutation... cloning... lifespan evaluations for dozens of different models... hybridization... most of which traced back to an encrypted file he only had base access to. It'd take a couple of hours, but in the meantime, a good number of terms kept reappearing.

"Project Shadow: the Ultimate Life Form. It'd appear our dear enemy was a bigger threat than Eggman had let us know. There's mention of blood samples from an alien species and a line of 'shadow' hedgehog android copies, though they seem to be a different model than the specimen we have here. Notes about energy production, 'chaos' energy and inhibitors for overflowing purposes. Eggman didn't just dabble in robot creation, he also seemed to have a knack for germline engineering. Interesting..."

Was Sonic a creation of the doctor that had turned against him? Was he another alien species that he failed to control? A pet project that he planned to make stronger for conquest but eventually overwhelmed him and escaped?

Perhaps that was the reason for the doctor's overreliance on robotics, but that'd imply his attempts at controlling the Deadly Six and failing weren't unprecedented. In a sense, perhaps Sonic was aiming for an upgrade himself, especially should Eggman have told him about the Extractor's enhancing function. That'd explain why he'd risk teaming up with someone that claimed to be his worst enemy, if he didn't know how to do it himself.

That would suggest Sonic could also want power for himself, but so far, the Zeti leader couldn't tell and didn't care much to find out. Still, their former opponent was more similar to them than they had realized before, if he had been made out to be a highly potent bioweapon. A surprise given he didn't resemble anything Eggman built before, but then again, he'd just taken a skeleton out of the doctor's closet if he exclusively worked with machines now.

Loyalty was obviously far from the doctor's forte when it came to ordering people around, and the trade was uneven if he hoped to defeat Sonic with mere machines instead of sticking his neck out or creating anything that could compete with the hedgehog. It was no wonder he felt he had to rely on him and his comrades (even though he still deeply resented being sent to catch those puny animals like they were lowlife poachers) to do any real damage against the youngling.

But the abilities he had witnessed did not showcase anything in the doctor's files, so given how he treated their battles as a game up until now, had Sonic gone easy on them? Or perhaps, all this power he supposedly had was just out of his reach at the time. If Eggman created him, he likely didn't have any proper training beyond the fragile mechs built by that flimsy scientist.

The Zeti race would've been his first real challenge if that was the case, but then Sonic hadn't even shown all his potential to them. He could be of a much bigger use than Zavok had initially anticipated.

"So are we doing it now?" asked Zeena, checking her manicure. "I was thinking of getting extensive haircare after the horrible day I've had, I want to see if he can do a decent hair job with his speed."

"I'm thinking he might have an even better purpose now..."

That got his team's attention. Zavok initially seemed content with just turning Sonic into their puppet, but what was going inside their leader's head now? He seemed lost in thought, what grand plan was this data find inspiring him to do? Create an army of Sonics?

Meanwhile, Zavok shifted the tabs back to the data on the genetic composition and alteration process. The act of combining two DNAs from wildly different worlds, one even artificial, in the grand plan of a creature that'd live for ages as well as harness great levels of energy. The same energy that might've eradicated Eggman and that fox cub that tagged along with the hedgehog.

This 'Black Arms' species seemed like a quite resilient and durable race, much like the Zeti, and while he hadn't heard of anything similar before, he wondered if the process could be repeated...

"I believe Sonic should join us."

"Isn't that our plan for him?" said Master Zik, raising a brow.

"No, our initial plan was to make him our slave."

Then in what was possibly the most profane statement to Zeti kind and offense to common sense on Planet Hex, his former student delivered their next course of actions.

"Our new plan is for him to become a full-fledged member of the Deadly Six."

To say his team was baffled was an understatement. What he said went against everything they had been taught back in their civilization, he couldn't have possibly been serious. Then again, he'd never joke about something this serious.

But that was absurd!

"That is preposterous! That hedgehog may be powerful, but that doesn't change he's an outsider to our world! He lives by morals opposite to ours, to allow him to roam freely is already a mistake on our part, but it'd be worse than treason to fraternize with him! I forbid it!" protested Master Zik.

Then his eyes widened. His disciple wouldn't suggest something so unthinkable unless he had a plan, but what did he have in mind that'd warrant accepting Sonic into their team?

"I'm not speaking of fraternizing with him. Rather, I'd say the other way around. Once we're done with him, he'd have no other choice but to join us out of his own volition."

"So we're not gonna eat him?" asked Zomom, whose curiosity about the taste of a blue hedgehog was largely ignored.

"No way!" argued Zazz, tapping his foot.

He'd been dreaming of putting the blue dweeb back in his place, and now he was just told they were supposed to become buddies?! Had the boss lost his mind?

"What the hell is that?! We're having our revenge, we're supposed to kill, destroy or turn our enemies into slaves! That's what you and everyone on Hex told us we were born for! And now we have to give all of that up, and for what? For a hedgehog from his kind?!"

The disdain and aggressiveness in the pink Zeti's voice brought a smirk to his leader. He enjoyed Zazz's fighting spirit, and couldn't fault him for not knowing what he meant nor understanding the full scope of his plan. If he didn't already have a lot of things in mind, his own plan would sound like crazy talk even to him.

"True, he is a hedgehog from the world below." affirmed Zavok. "But he's just a hedgehog now."

The five other demons in the room raised a brow (well, not Zor who still looked as morose as always, but his confused head tilt seemed all the same).

"As we speak, his world is being drained of its last remainders of energy, and he himself is out cold. No matter how hard he'll try, he'll find nothing left of it once he wakes up. On the other hand, we have access to Eggman's technology, plans detailing how to genetically modify a specimen like Sonic into an amalgam of various features suited for combat."

"So what?" asked Zor.

"You know as well as I do that we need to have no esteem for lesser beings of other worlds. Sonic, on the other hand, proved today that his strength exceeded our expectations, and given what the doctor hid from us, he may even have access to a higher power we simply cannot ignore. Any other day, I'd have finished him off all by myself, but I am now aware he'd have a much better role if we took all this untapped strength and might for ourselves."

As he said that, he grabbed the unconscious teenager off the experimenting table, manhandling him as he allowed the rest of his bewildered team to hear what he envisioned.

"As he is now, he's just as good as a ragdoll. I held no regard for what to do with a creature like this before today, but I now see an entirely new window of opportunities before us. Sonic was the key to our freedom as a mere hedgehog, and once he's become one of us, he will truly have no one else to run to."

A dark chuckle escaped his lips as he rested down the blue speedster in a sitting position.

"Once he's become a Zeti, we'll be the only thing close to a home that should matter to the one formerly known as Sonic the Hedgehog."