Chapter 3

Tails' brow furrowed, as his blue eyes scanned the live feed from his camera drone. Per Amy's orders, he had built it, and boosted its video transmission signal as best as he could for its trip to the other side of one of these portals.

The image wasn't perfect. In fact, it was just a bit fuzzy, and there would often be bouts of static. But, given he had had a hard time trying to contact Sonic before (assuming he had ended up going through one of those portals in the first place), he was surprised the video feed looked as good as it did. From what he could see, beyond these portals lied a city that looked much like the ones their world had. As a matter of fact, he had to take a second to really get a good look at the buildings to determine that this was, in fact, not a place he was familiar with. No distinguishable landmarks, or anything stuck out. At least, no landmarks he recognized. So, definitely a different world altogether.

The drone had turned, and zoomed in on a familiar sight that caused Tails' jaw to drop in shock. Outside the city was an island. An island that floated above the surrounding river.

"Oh my gosh," Tails muttered.

Without any hesitation, he signalled the drone to return, and called up Amy, whose image came up on his monitor a second later. "What's up, Tails?" asked Amy, who was looking a little worn out, if the bags under her eyes were of any indication.

"I know what happened to Angel Island!" was Tails' immediate response. "It ended up in a different dimension entirely!"

That got Amy's attention real quick. Looking more alert, her eyes shot up at the news. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"I sent a camera drone through one of the portals, and found a city on the other side," Tails quickly explained. "It almost looks like Station Square, or Central City, or Empire City, any major cities you'd find over here, but different. The drone also spotted Angel Island. When that burst of power was emitted from the Phantom Ruby, it must've somehow transported it there. If we can't get in touch with Sonic, then, most likely, that's where he is. I'm sure of it."

"Oh boy." Amy dragged her fingers through her head of pink hair. Directing and overseeing the restoration efforts for the world, and the search for the Chaos Emeralds was exhausting enough. Now, there was a completely different dimension involved. She rubbed her eyes for a bit, and cleared her throat. "Well, at least we know it doesn't seem to be any place too dangerous. Tails, I know I'm asking a lot here, but... you think you can go through one of these portals, and check it out? If there's even the smallest chance that Sonic is over there..."

Tails gave her a firm nod. "You've got it. I just need to modify everyone's communicators so that I can keep in touch with you all from that dimension."

"No, if Sonic is over there, he might need your help. Knuckles, too," Amy rebutted. "You can walk me through the modifications while you're getting ready for the trip, and I'll relay the instructions to everyone else from there."

"Alright, got it." Tails got up from his seat.

"Be careful, Tails," said Amy.

Tails chuckled. "Hey. Sonic taught me everything I know, remember?"

Amy giggled at the young fox's confidence. The two gave each other a thumbs up, before Tails hung up, and started heading to his workshop, Miles Electric tablet in hand.

Part of him did worry for Sonic. Even if he did end up there, there was a chance he would've run into some strange, new dangers. If the Phantom Ruby was involved, then, the outcome could've ended up being exactly like his defeat at Eggman, and Infinite's hands.

He shoved the memories back, and sped up his pace with a newfound determination, his optimism remaining as strong as ever. Sonic wouldn't let that happen again. He was sure wherever he was, he was doing just fine.

The turtles, and their two human friends kept staring at the small, blue hedgehog repeatedly twirling the green emerald on the tip of his finger, and staring back at them with a cocky smirk. Nothing was said between any of them. The hedgehog looked like he was sizing them all up, and the others looked as if they were still trying to figure out what it was exactly they were looking at.

Finally, for the first time since they had laid eyes on each other, the hedgehog spoke up. "You guys ninjas, too?"

"Well..." Not knowing what else to say, Casey lamely pointed his hockey stick at the others. "...they are. Not me."

"Heh. Yeah. I gathered." The hedgehog's eyes grinned, his eyes briefly darting towards something else. "These guys in the black pyjamas with you?"

"The Foot Clan? No, they're not," Leo immediately replied.

It only took the hedgehog a second to respond with a chuckle, "Okay. Had to be sure."

As soon as April had sensed something coming from behind her, she spun around to deal with the threat. But just a second before she could do anything, the hedgehog had suddenly dashed around, and slammed himself into the Foot ninja that had recovered, and tried to get in a sneak attack with a kunai on the young redhead. The ninja in question was knocked away with enough force to be sent flying off his feet, and crashing into the side of a nearby car.

The hedgehog smirked, and pocketed the green emerald. "It would be pretty strange for ninjas to attack their friends without a good reason," he said.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Mikey asked, staring at him, his eyes wide with shock.

Everyone else was there with him, floored themselves by what they had just witnessed. They had come across people who could move remarkably fast, but this hedgehog's speed was on a whole different level.

Everyone was immediately on alert, once they noticed the Foot ninjas on the ground all getting back up onto their feet, and ready to keep the fight going.

Moving closer to each other, the Turtles, their friends, and the hedgehog warily gazed at the surrounding enemies. "Damn," the hedgehog mumbled. "These guys are pretty resilient, huh?"

"Ninjas of the Foot Clan are all ruthless," Leo grimly replied. "They'll stop at nothing in pursuit of their goals."

Raph chuckled, and smirked at the surrounding ninjas. "Nothing short of a serious beatdown, maybe."

The hedgehog laughed, and pointed at the turtle. "I like your thinkin', bud."

Casey smirked. "That's why he's the best friend a guy like me could ask for." He, and Raph both chuckled, before slapping their hands together in a high five. Or, high three, as far as Raph was concerned.

"Oh, great," Donnie moaned, his eyes darting between Raph, Casey, and the newcomer. "Three of them."

Without taking her eyes off their opponents, April just chuckled, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Well, they seem to have it out for you," Leo said to the small hedgehog. "And we have a lot of experience in dealing with Foot ninjas. Hope you don't mind, if we help you out."

The hedgehog smirked at him, a twinkle in his eye. "If you can keep up."

Leo smiled at the cheeky reply. He had to give him a response of his own. "Don't let the fact most of us are turtles fool you," he said. "We're also pretty fast on our feet."

"Cool." The hedgehog brushed his thumb under his nose, and got into an offensive stance.

One of the Foot ninjas raised his hand. "Attack!"

The black-clad ninjas charged them all at once, and once more, a great fight broke out in the idyllic street of this suburban neighbourhood.

Leo's twin blades clashed with the sword of a ninja's, sending sparks flying through the night air. The turtle grit his teeth, as he shoved the ninja's weapon to the side, using that as an opening to swing his leg up, and kick him upside the head, knocking him straight up into the air.

The hedgehog jumped up, curled up into a ball, and slammed himself against the ninja with enough force to smash him into the ground.

"I dunno why you guys keep trying," Raph said to one ninja, who kept trying to cut him down with his own blade. After sidestepping his attacks with a cocky grin, he finally brought up both of his sai to catch the sword, and push it away. As soon as the ninja lost his grip on the sword, Raph bashed his elbow into his face, making him stumble backwards, before Casey came in, and rammed his shoulder into him, knocking him down.

"Yeah, I know," said the vigilante. "We kick their butts every time. Some guys just gotta learn the hard way, I guess."

Donnie had just finished beating back one of the ninjas with his staff, when he spotted another one in his peripheral vision, coming at him from his left. Thinking quick, he raised his staff, and used it to lift him up by the collar of his gi. From there, he proceeded to easily swing him left and right, repeatedly slamming him into the pavement, before finally hurling him away, throwing him towards the abandoned house, and sending him crashing through one of its windows.

He heard a distinct whistling sound, and that was enough for him to quickly raise his staff to block some shuriken stars thrown his way. He growled, and yanked them out, backing away from a group of approaching Foot ninjas. He felt someone's back against his shell, and turned his head to find April was in a similar predicament.

Foot ninjas surrounding them on all sides? Not good odds.

Not for the Foot ninjas, anyway.

April placed her hand on Donnie's staff, while smirking at him. Donnie grinned back, quickly catching onto what she had in mind.

April gripped the top end of the staff tight, and with a grunt, Donnie lifted her up, and spun her around. With a series of rapid kicks, she knocked away the immediate surrounding group of Foot ninjas, before Donnie hurled her up into the air. With a loud cry, she swung her arms to the sides, clearing out another wave of ninjas with her psychic powers, and tossing them every which way.

"Nice moves!" Donnie excitedly complimented, as she landed back on her feet.

April laughed. "We have a good teacher."

"Yo, Donnie!"

The turtle turned to find Mikey effortlessly dodging sword swings from another ninja, before counterattacking with some rapid nunchuck swings to the face. While the ninja tried to recover from the barrage of attacks, Mikey and Donnie both grinned at each other, before turning, and ramming their shells into the Foot ninja from both sides, knocking the wind out of him, and leaving him to crumple onto the ground.

"I think we gave him a case of shellshock, dude," Mikey said with a grin.

Donatello rubbed his eyes. He wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh, or smack him for that pun. Instead, he just settled with an amused grin. "A bit derivative, but, I'll allow it." The two brothers smirked, and traded a fist bump, all the while Mikey chuckled at his small victory. Dumb as his jokes could get, Donnie wouldn't have him any other way.

The hedgehog had been dealing with his own share of Foot ninjas in the chaotic battle. While he had managed to put down a few of them, others had surprised him with how fast they could be in their own right. He even had to flip around in mid-air to narrowly dodge a series of shuriken stars.

Upon landing, he looked down, and spotted a manhole cover beneath his feet. An idea quickly formed in his head, and he grunted, as he pulled hard at it, before finally opening the cover ever so slightly. Just as a Foot ninja started to rush him, the hedgehog hopped up, curled himself up into a ball, and slammed down on the cover, flipping it into the air. "Heads up!" With precision, he slammed himself into the cover, hurtling it towards the ninja. With no time to react, the ninja felt the impact from the cover hitting him in the chest, along with the extremely painful sensation of his ribs cracking. He tumbled along the ground, with the cover landing just behind him.

The hedgehog landed right behind Leo. "You're pretty good," Leo complimented with a smile.

The hedgehog chuckled, and gave him a thumbs up. "You guys aren't too bad yourselves."

The two gazed up at the remaining Foot ninjas, who were still on their feet, and eager to put an end to the turtles, and their friends. "Hey, bud," said the hedgehog. "How good are you at soccer?"

Having seen the hedgehog's unique abilities in action, he quickly picked up on what he was getting at. The two smirked at each other, before the hedgehog curled up into a ball, and started spinning in place, revving up more, and more speed. Leo raised his leg, and delivered a good, strong kick to the spinning hedgehog.

Like a blazing, blue projectile, the hedgehog went flying, ricocheting off the walls of all the houses along the street, all while blasting into different Foot ninjas, and blowing them away from the sheer force of his attacks.

By the time the hedgehog's speedy technique had finished, only two of the Foot ninjas remained. Leo, and the hedgehog both ran at them from their respective sides of the street, before jumping, and kicking both ninjas upside the head.

With the fight seemingly over, Mikey took a moment to admire their handiwork. He twirled one of his nunchucks around, then slung it over his shoulder. "Cowabunga."

"Wasn't expecting to fight with some turtles, and a couple humans, against a horde of ninjas." The hedgehog laughed, and brushed his finger under his nose. "But, this was way past cool."

A second later, all of the fallen ninjas slowly forced themselves back onto their feet, filling the street with pained groans. Although, they were all clearly in no shape to continue the battle. And they knew it. "Our master will not be swayed," one ninja moaned, pointing at the hedgehog. "The Foot will retrieve that Emerald, rodent, whether you are alive, or dead. We will meet again."

Unexpectedly, the surrounding Foot ninjas all dropped some pellets, covering themselves in a thick circle of smoke. The hedgehog huffed, and tried to blow the smoke away by creating a vortex of wind with his speed. But, by the time the smoke had cleared, the ninjas had already vanished. And all the hedgehog could do in response was scoff, and snap his fingers.

With the intensity of the fight now gone, everyone gathered together, their weapons put away. "The way you moved as fast as you did was... absolutely incredible." Donnie raised his eyebrow at the hedgehog. "How do you do that, anyway?"

"Eh. It's just how I am. I was born with my speed." The hedgehog smiled, and shrugged at the turtle. "It comes as natural to me as breathing. I don't really think about it, I just do it."

"So, you're not a mutant?" Casey guessed.

"Nope." The hedgehog chuckled, and folded his arms. "I'm just a hedgehog who loves adventure."

Leo smiled at the comment. Him claiming to be a regular hedgehog raised some questions, for sure. But, he couldn't help but admire his spirit.

His eyes trailed down, and widened, as soon as he spotted something. "You're bleeding," he said, pointing at his right arm.

"What?" The hedgehog blinked, and looked down to find a trail of blood along his arm. "Huh. Would you look at that? One of them probably got a lucky shot with one of those stars." He brought his finger to the small cut, and hissed at the small stinging feeling.

"We've got a first aid kit in the Shellraiser. I can get that cleaned up, and bandaged for you," April offered.

"The Shellraiser?" The hedgehog asked, an amused smirk creeping onto his face.

"It's this wicked awesome subway car that my bro here tricked out for us," said Mikey, wrapping his arm around Donnie with an excited, beaming grin. "Wait 'til you see it!"

"We should all probably get back to the lair to rest up, anyway." Leo gazed down at the hedgehog. "And if the Foot were after that emerald, then it's probably best we keep it where it's safe."

"Well... it's not like I have a way to contact any of my friends. And you guys seem pretty cool." The hedgehog nodded his head. "Alright, sure. Why not?"

As they all began their walk back to the Shellraiser, Casey lifted up his mask, and smiled at the hedgehog. "Name's Casey Jones. Vigilante extraordinaire," he said with a wink.

April rolled her eyes, and just nodded at the little hedgehog. "April O'Neil."

Leo slightly bowed his head to the hedgehog. "My name is Leonardo." He gestured his arm towards his brothers, introducing each respective turtle. "These are my brothers, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo."

Mikey grinned. "But, you can just call us Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey, for short."

The hedgehog smirked, and gave them all a thumbs up. "I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

The pack of animals, and their human friends walked away, leaving behind the street that had once been filled with the sounds of battle. What they had all failed to detect, however, was a small, seemingly innocent-looking blue bird perched atop a telephone wire, gazing down at them.

Had they, indeed, spotted this bird, and bothered to get a closer look, they would've found that it, in fact, sported a metal exterior, and had glowing red eyes behind its aperture lens.

As the tiny machine silently beat its wings, and followed its targets from high above, it fed its live video feed back to a certain mad doctor in the hidden lair that was the Foot's domain.

The whole time he watched the whole battle, Eggman's finger had impatiently tapped itself against the control panel of the large view screen in Stockman's lab. Of course he would somehow stumble his way into this world. Why wouldn't he? "Blasted, meddlesome hedgehog," he growled, his lips twisted into a frustrated snarl.

Shredder had been standing behind the doctor the whole time, watching the battle along with him. "So. It would seem this hedgehog of yours has allied himself with the turtles," he noted. "Your claims of his talents are not exaggerated after all."

"And combined with the skills these turtles possess, it will make the search for the Chaos Emeralds that much more bothersome." Eggman sighed, and tugged on his moustache. "I suppose the plus side of all this is that we know the Emeralds have made it here into your world. But, it won't mean anything, if they get all of them before us. Luckily, I was able to boost my own transmission signal to call for some help from my world. With any luck, they should be here soon."

"Tell me something, Robotnik," said Shredder. "How did you know your Chaos Emeralds had appeared here?"

"I never knew for certain before, until I showed up here." Eggman turned around to look at him, and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Some time ago in my world, during a time-travelling incident involving an entity I discovered, the Time Eater, I worked with my younger self to change history, and rule over the world. Unfortunately, Sonic, and his younger self had gathered up the Chaos Emeralds, and used them to thwart me once more. The Chaos Emeralds hadn't been seen since. Despite all of my best efforts afterwards, none of my tracking equipment could pick up any traces, or hints of their unique energy wavelengths. I had suspected that since the Time Eater incident, they could have ended up scattered to some place across space and time. Or perhaps a different dimension entirely.

"It wasn't until I arrived here, in your dimension, that I felt the need to use Professor Stockman's equipment to look for any traces of the Chaos Emeralds' energy," he explained, looking towards the mutant fly in question, who was looking at some big monitors of his own.

Stockman turned away from the display of a map of the city, showing faint traces of Chaos Emerald energy dispersed throughout New York. "And it would zzzzeem your hunch wazzzzz correct, Doctor Eggman," Stockman confirmed. "Zzzzzimilar to the Phantom Ruby'zzzzz energy, but different. One of them izzzz coming from thizzzzz island that appeared over the ocean. Alzzzzo from your world, I azzzzume?"

Eggman frowned at the image of the aforementioned island on the screen. "So. Angel Island has been caught up in this mess, too."

Shredder noted the expression on Eggman's face. He looked troubled. That could only mean that this island's sudden appearance was a significant concern. "What does this mean, doctor?" he asked. After all, if he was to seriously go along with his plan to rule over both of their worlds, he would need to know the risk involved.

"It means our worlds are already beginning to merge with each other. Dangerously so." Eggman looked at Shredder. Even though his eyes couldn't be seen past those glasses of his, the situation was made perfectly clear by the urgent tone in his voice. "If we don't get all of the Chaos Emeralds soon, there won't be any worlds to conquer. We need the one that Sonic, and his new turtle friends have, now," he insisted.

"Then, it will be done," Shredder assured him.

"Doctor?" Stockman pointed a limb at the picture of the floating island. "What about, um... Angel Island?"

Eggman huffed. "While there is a significant source of power there, it has someone protecting it," he answered, sounding frustrated with the mere mention of the island's guardian. "He is rather persistent about keeping it safe from intruders. Although... perhaps, with enough heavy hitters... and with enough firepower..."

He trailed off, as his eyes fell on a nearby Bebop, and Rocksteady, who were too busy gawking at every piece of equipment in the lab.

Eggman's face broke out into a menacing grin.

Above the brightly-lit city of New York, the night sky seemed to shimmer, and ripple, like a raindrop falling into a river. The ripples grew more, and more, until a red biplane appeared out of nowhere, and went flying down towards the city.

While Tails kept the Tornado steady in the air, he tried to get in touch with Amy, via his Miles Electric. "Amy, you read me?"

"Signal's a bit fuzzy," said Amy, her video feed flickering in and out on occasion, and her voice sounding muffled. "But, yeah, you're coming through. Reception's better than I thought it would be, all things considered."

Tails nodded, and gazed down at the city below. "I've just made it through to the other dimension. Hopefully, it won't be too long, before I track down Sonic." The young fox looked at the small radar in the corner of his Miles Electric's screen, and found a small, beeping circle. "Hold on." He raised his eyebrow, and enlarged the image.

"Tails, what is it?" Amy asked.

Upon looking more into what his radar was picking up, his eyes widened at what he found. "Amy, you're not gonna believe this," said Tails. "But, I'm picking up traces of Chaos energy dispersed throughout the city. I think this is where the Chaos Emeralds ended up!"

"Seriously?" Amy took a minute to process this new information. She wearily shook her head. "Well, that would explain why we haven't seen them since the Time Eater incident."

"So, what's the plan now?" Tails asked her.

Amy sighed, and answered, "Well, if the Chaos Emeralds are there, and that dimension seems safe, then, I guess it would make sense to tell all our major Resistance members to start searching over there. I'll let all other Resistance members know to hang back, and keep focusing on the restoration efforts on their end."

"Okay." Tails blinked at the hedgehog girl. "And what about you?"

"I'm gonna get ready to head over there, too. Might as well have all hands on deck for this one, right?" Amy shrugged at him. "As soon as you find Sonic, let me know where to meet you guys."

"Roger that, Amy. Over and out." Tails ended communication with her there, and scratched the back of his head. Well, things just got more interesting. If the Chaos Emeralds were here in this strange, new world, that just made looking for them an even bigger priority now. For all he knew, this city could've likely had its own wannabe bad guys trying to use their power.

One thing at a time, Tails, he thought to himself. If Sonic really is here, maybe there's a chance I can get in touch with him now. He opened up another communication channel on his Miles Electric.

During the drive back to the Manhattan area, Leo and his brothers had given Sonic a quick, and short version of their tale. How a man named Hamato Yoshi, under the moniker of Splinter, had bought four turtles from the pet shop, and had a run-in with a group of hostile aliens known as the Krang. In the scuffle that followed, the canister of mutagen that they had been carrying had cracked open, and the ooze had mutated Splinter into a tall rat, and transformed the small turtles as well.

Forced to hide the turtles and himself from the world because of their appearance, they eventually found a home deep beneath the city. Over the years, Splinter had raised the four turtles as his adopted sons, and taught them in the ways of ninjitsu. At the age of fifteen, the turtles had ventured to the surface for the first time. That day would lead to a series of adventures for the turtles, usually ending in saving the world from threats like the Krang, and defeating the likes of the Foot Clan, and other, more hostile mutants, while befriending humans like April, and Casey.

Sonic didn't seem to have much of a reaction to the whole story. Maybe some mild flinching while April was cleaning up the small wound on his arm, and bandaging it up, but, for the most part, he was smiling by the end of the tale. "Heh. Cool stuff," he finally said.

"You don't seem too put off by the whole thing," Raph noted.

"I mean, your story's pretty wild by itself, but, for me, it's no stranger than helping out a genie in a magic book, or saving aliens from an interstellar amusement park." Sonic chuckled, and just shrugged at everyone. "I've been around the block more than a few times."

Mikey rushed over to the hedgehog from his seat, going starry-eyed at the mention of a genie. "You helped out a genie?!" he gasped. "Dude, what did you wish for?!"

Sonic had to lean back from Mikey, just to give himself some personal space. "Um..." He blinked at the turtle. "A few things. To get inside the book in the first place, a magic carpet for whenever we needed to fly, extra power, when I needed it... handkerchiefs for a cold I had at the time."

"...No pizza, or anything?" Mikey asked him. Sonic smiled, and helplessly shook his head. "Aw, c'mon, dude, you need a bit more imagination. I would've wished for a lifetime supply of pizza, with all the works. Cheese, pepperoni, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, peppermint, clam sauce..."

Casey nearly retched at the description. "Gross, dude," he muttered.

"Yeah... uh..." Sonic chuckled, and scratched the tip of his nose. "Think I'd rather just go with a good ol' chili dog."

Mikey only pouted, as he returned to his seat.

"What about you?" Donnie asked. He leaned forward, and looked at Sonic with no small amount of interest. "You're really not mutated? I mean, what's with the blue colour? How are you able to move as fast as you do?"

"Well, there's nothin' special about me, Donnie," Sonic answered simply. "I was born this way. I'm just a guy who lives for thrills, and adventure, exploring the world, and stomping out bad guys, when they rear their ugly heads."

"Sooooo..." Donnie raised his eyebrow. "Nothing out of the ordinary about your physiology at all?"

"Well, there was this one time I got pieces of a dark god of the planet inside me, and that caused me to turn into a hulking beast every night. That count?" Sonic asked him.

Donnie scrunched up his face in thought, before raising his hand, and shaking it side to side. "Eh."

Up front, Leo frowned, as he kept his eyes on the road. "You clearly have as much of an interest in that emerald as the Foot Clan do," he said to Sonic. "What's so special about it?"

Sonic grunted, and pulled the green emerald out from his person. "It's called a Chaos Emerald. There are seven of them, in total," he explained. "There's still a lot that isn't known about them, but they've been around for thousands of years. Maybe longer than that. They're capable of transforming your thoughts into power. Get all seven of them, and the results can either be really cool, or, uh... not good. Depending on who has their mitts on them. They've helped me, and my friends out a lot in the past."

The hedgehog passed it over to Donnie, who held it up closer to his face to get a good look. "So, then, that begs the question, how did one end up in a house in Queens?"

"I wish I knew the answer to that," Sonic confessed. "We hadn't seen them since the last time we used them, which was... a while ago, actually."

"Why exactly are you looking for these things in the first place?" April asked him.

"Phew. That's a long story, April," said Sonic. "See, back home, there's this mad scientist named Eggman, who-"

"Eggman?" Raph snorted at the sound of it. "Seriously?"

"Well, his real name's Dr. Robotnik, but, I call him Eggman, just because the guy's got the physique for it, y'know?" Sonic smirked, and brought his arms out in front of his stomach. "Fat boy kinda started rolling with the name eventually, though, and it just sort of stuck."

"That's the kind of thing I'd think of." Mikey laughed, and gave Sonic an approving thumbs up. "Nice."

"I know, right?" After a chuckle, Sonic quickly got back on topic. "So, anyway, Eggman tried to take over the planet with his robot army a lot of times over the years, but my friends and I were there to kick his butt every time."

Then, his face turned just a little bit grim. "Last time we fought, though? He actually succeeded. I tried to shut him down again, but, I got my butt handed to me, thanks to a new flunky of his, Infinite. With the power of some reality-warping gem called the Phantom Ruby, Eggman was able to conquer the world, and had control of it for six months."

Leo's eyebrows shot up at the mention of this Phantom Ruby. It sounded like the same ruby that the Foot Clan had managed to get a hold of. They weren't sure if it really had any reality-warping powers, but, if it was the same ruby, it would certainly explain the burst of power, and that island suddenly appearing.

Sonic continued. "After I was busted out of Eggman's prison, I worked with the Resistance to help bring down his operations. And when we finally took the fight to his main base, we beat him, and took back Earth."

"So, what happened to this Phantom Ruby?" Leo asked.

"Well, it, and Eggman just sort of... vanished," Sonic replied. "He was using it to power a giant mech, but, once we took it out, the Phantom Ruby couldn't handle the stress, and it just kind of... well, exploded. We thought we'd seen the last of both of them, but, while I was working with my friends to help restore Earth to the way it was before Eggman took over, there was a burst of energy that swept over everything. The kind of powerful energy that the Phantom Ruby always had." His eyes fell on Donnie, and he shrugged. "Next thing I knew, I wound up in your city."

"I guess Master Splinter's vision was onto something," said Donnie, looking at Raph. "No doubt about it now, this reality-warping Phantom Ruby is the same ruby the Foot Clan tried to use. That explains some of the stuff that's been happening in the past couple of hours. Plus, I think we would've remembered some mad scientist taking over our planet. We really are dealing with another dimension."

"Another dimension, huh?" Sonic placed his hands behind his spiky head, and leaned back against the wall. "Figures I didn't just get warped to a different city on my planet."

"...Okay. Hold up." Casey, who was looking more than a bit confused, had to step in. "I'm lost. That red light was because of some weird ruby the Foot Clan found?"

"Yeah. Uh... we were gonna fill you in on that, before things got hectic," said Raph. He lamely rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry."

"Just one question." Mikey looked at his brothers. "If these emerald thingies are from Sonic's dimension, why are the Foot Clan trying to find them? How would they even know about them in the first place?"

"Not sure, but, they do know how they work, clearly. Otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered fighting us to get it back," Donnie deduced.

"All the more reason to find them all, and keep them out of their hands," said Leo, with firm determination in his voice. "If these Chaos Emeralds can transform thoughts into power, then we could be in some big trouble. Because Shredder has a lot of bad thoughts."

"Shredder?" Sonic stood up, and placed his hand on his hip.

"Leader of the Foot Clan," Leo clarified for him. "Long story short? He's been fighting with Master Splinter since the days when he was a human. We've battled him countless times, and every time, we've barely held our own to make it out alive."

"Sounds like he's bad news." With his usual cocky smirk, Sonic brushed his thumb under his nose. "But, I think I can handle someone whose name comes from an office appliance."

Everyone went silent, and the air suddenly became more awkward for it. Everyone suddenly looked more grim, and just a tad pale in the face. Even Mikey, who had proven to be the fun-loving heart of his brothers. "...Something I'm missing here?" Sonic asked them. Very quickly, he felt like he'd touched some kind of nerve.

Mikey put on a weak smile, and uttered a nervous laugh. "Hate to say this, bro, but... I'm still feelin' a bit of a headache from the last time we took on the Shredder."

"Yeah, look, Sonic, I'm sure this Dr. Eggman of yours was a big threat in your dimension. And not to diminish all you did to save your world. It's just that..." Donnie winced, as he handed the green Chaos Emerald back to the hedgehog. "...well, even at our best, Shredder can hand our shells to us, if we're not careful."

"I've seen these guys fight him myself, and I can back them up on this," said April, visibly hugging herself, and shivering at the thought of that horrid, monstrous man. "The idea of going up against him... it kind of freaks me out."

"I met him face to face once? I was lucky to get out of that particular mess," Casey admitted. "The guy's no joke."

Raph's fists were noticeably clenched tight enough that his knuckles cracked. His teeth gnashed together, and his eyes filled with fury, he spoke in a calm, level voice, "He came close to driving our family apart plenty of times before."

The more Sonic heard, the more stunned he looked. They were skinny on the details, but, he could see it on everyone's faces. They weren't lying. They had all lived through everything the Shredder had put them through, and a lot of it sounded traumatic.

Leo had noted Sonic's lack of any sort of response. Perhaps he recognized the threat they had to stop time and time again. "For your sake, Sonic, I hope you never have to fight him. But, if you do, do not underestimate him," he warned, without even bothering to mask his stern tone.

Sonic was visibly put off by the serious air that the mere mention of this Shredder brought about. Then again, he couldn't say he didn't understand where they were coming from. Despite his eccentricities, Eggman was pretty dangerous in his own right. And he had run into more than a few serious threats before. He had a bad habit of underestimating his foes before, and it cost him greatly. If this guy was as bad as they were making him out to be? He probably couldn't afford to be lax in any battles he might find himself in with him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of the communicator on his wrist going off. Everyone's heads perked up at the beeping sound, as Sonic lifted up his white glove, and thumbed the "Talk" button. "Uh... hello?"

"Sonic? Is that you?!" came the voice of what sounded to be an excited, young boy on the other end.

"Tails!" Sonic's face lit up at the sound of his friend's voice. With a happy laugh, he exclaimed, "Boy, am I glad to hear from you!"

"Where are you right now?" Tails asked him, obviously eager to meet up with him.

"Actually-"

A violent shake interrupted Sonic. Something had crashed into the side of the Shellraiser, causing the vehicle to spin out.

"Uh... can I get back to you on that?" Sonic responded.

"Hold on!" Leo slammed his foot down hard on the brake pedal, while trying to keep from crashing into anything. It was disorienting, but, eventually, they came to a stop, relatively unharmed.

When everyone quickly gathered their wits, Donnie looked up at his screen, and switched over to the Shellraiser's external camera. "Oh boy," he muttered, scowling at two figures approaching them from the front. "We've got trouble."

Everyone gathered around his screen to find a tall, lanky, rather horrifying-looking dog creature that looked like it had just recently clawed its way out of its grave, and right beside it, a mutated fish with a breathing apparatus, and a pair of cybernetic legs. Both figures stared down the vehicle, as they calmly approached.

"Oh man, it's Rahzar and Fishface!" Mikey screamed.

"How did they find us?!" Raph exclaimed.

Sonic growled, and jumped up, opening up the Shellraiser's top hatch. He had a feeling...

The first thing he spotted was the back of a bird calmly perched on the edge of the Shellraiser. Only, once it turned its head to look at him, its glowing red eyes proved to him it was anything but a regular bird. Immediately, he snatched it up before it could fly away, and dropped back inside. "I think a little birdie told them," he muttered, holding the squirming machine in his hand.

Casey grabbed his baseball bat, and nodded at Sonic. Sonic tossed the robot bird into the air, and Casey instantly reduced it to scrap, after a downward swing crushed it against the floor.

"NHL, huh?" April teased, a playful smile on her face.

"Well, you know me," Casey said with a chuckle, while leaning against his bat. "I dabble in other sports, sometimes."

Donnie rolled his eyes at the response, and returned his attention to his screen. He gasped at the sight of more Foot ninjas dropping down to join Rahzar and Fishface. "Uh, guys?"

Everyone's eyes turned to the screen, and immediately felt their hearts drop at the sight of the ninjas. "Great," Raph grumbled.

As if they didn't have enough problems, they swore they could hear some clanking outside, too. Sonic jumped up through the hatch again, and gasped at the familiar sight of a group of goofy-looking, round, orange machines with pointed noses, and grins, wielding blasters.

"Egg Pawns?!" Sonic scowled at the robots.

"I'm sorry, 'Egg Pawns'?" Raph asked.

"Some of Eggman's most common robot troops," Sonic quickly explained. "Which means Eggman survived our last fight after all."

"If they're here, too, then, do you think Shredder, and Eggman are working together?" Leo guessed.

"Looks that way. I'd rather not let these clunkers, or their new friends get their hands on the Chaos Emerald." Sonic peered down through the hatch, and looked at Leo. "I'm gonna clear us a path out of here. Get ready to get this thing moving, Leo."

"You might be used to bashing robots, Sonic, and you've held your own against Foot ninjas," Leo acknowledged. "But, I don't like the idea of you going up against Rahzar and Fishface by yourself."

"I can back him up with some good ol' high-powered trash balls." Raph let out a vicious chuckle, and pounded his fist into his open palm. "Feel like kicking around some more bad guy butt, anyway."

"Heh." Sonic pointed at him. "Yeah, I'm down for that."

Leo sighed. "Okay, then. Raph, keep him covered. And Sonic? Just... be careful."

Sonic smiled, and winked at him, before jumping out of the vehicle. He calmly strode towards the front of the Shellraiser, and gazed down at the weird dog and fish duo leading the Foot ninjas.

"So. You're supposed to be the speedy hedgehog." Fishface's eyes looked him over, just to take him in. A smirk grew on his face a second later. "You're a tiny one, aren't you? Not all that intimidating," he said, with a clear Brazilian accent in his voice.

"Well, you know what they say, pal. Good things come in small packages," Sonic retorted, while playfully wagging his finger at him. "You don't look like much, either. I have a friend back home who'd probably like to eat you, but... uh, I get the feeling you'd give him indigestion."

Fishface's eyes narrowed at the insult. He shot an irritated glare at him, while a frown graced his thin lips.

"Mouthy, too," came the gravelly voice of Rahzar. The tall dog grinned menacingly, his long claws practically brushing against the ground. "Oh, I'm gonna enjoy carving you up for dinner."

"Heh. Nah, you don't want to eat me. Hedgehogs don't make good snacks." Sonic confidently brushed his hand down his spines. "Got these things here to prove that."

"Enough banter." Fishface pointed at the hedgehog with a stern look in his eyes. "Give us what you call the Chaos Emerald, and I promise your end won't be painful."

"Buddy, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that kind of talk..." Sonic casually began doing some leg stretches, while still wearing that cocky grin of his. "Though, as long as we're dishing out promises, then, we can all save ourselves a lot of time, bruises, and piles of scrap, if you just tell me where Eggman is."

"Look around you, hedgehog," said Fishface, pointing out the Foot ninjas and Egg Pawns on all sides of the Shellraiser. "You, and your friends are surrounded. You are in no position to be making demands."

"And we didn't come here to talk," Rahzar added. With a low growl, he dragged his claws against the road, leaving trails of scratch marks. "We're here to deliver some pain."

"I never ordered any pain." Sonic straightened himself out, as soon as he heard something behind him. He looked to the side, and smirked at the sight of Raph slowly coming up through the hatch, while sitting behind what looked to be some kind of heavy-duty turret gun. "So, you're gonna have to take it back."

As soon as he jumped up, Raph immediately fired a big ball of trash with an odour strong enough to make anyone's nose hairs curl up. Though caught off-guard by the surprise attack, Fishface was able to jump over the projectile, while Rahzar, unfortunately, got knocked off his feet by the ball of garbage, and was sent crashing into a nearby dumpster.

Fishface tried to swing one of his cybernetic feet at the hedgehog, but, Sonic quickly curled himself up, and slammed into him with a Homing Attack, knocking him straight down, and into a manhole cover with enough force to bust through it, and plummet down into the sewers below.

"Damn, man!" As Sonic landed down next to Raph, the turtle stared with near disbelief at where Fishface had fallen. "I'm still trying to get over how fast you are, I mean, that was a serious hit!"

Sonic chuckled at the praise. However, he wasn't given much time to pat himself on the back. Immediately, the Foot ninjas moved in to attack, forcing Raph to go on the offensive with the trash cannon. From behind them, the Egg Pawns added to the pressure with their laser blasters.

Sonic just scoffed, and placed his hand on his hip, as he watched the laser barrage pass harmlessly around them. Those were a lot of guns, but it didn't mean much, when these bots had terrible aim. "Time to clear the way!"

He jumped up, and bounced against a number of the Egg Pawns with a series of Homing Attacks, reducing them to scrap. He plummeted down, stomping down on another one, and crushing it beneath his feet. Then, he dashed forward with a boost, the force of which was enough to knock one off-balance, and get it to spin in place. He came back around, and ran around a group of them, creating a blue tornado, and sending them helplessly flying into the air. He ran back to the one Egg Pawn that was still spinning in place, and kicked it towards the remaining Egg Pawns, destroying them all.

Sonic hopped up onto the Shellraiser, and rapped his fist against the top of the vehicle. "Yo, Leo!" he called out. "I took care of those spark bags! Road behind us is clear!"

"Alright, everybody, hang on!" Leo started up the Shellraiser again, turned it around, and immediately drove forward, before making a heavy left turn.

Raph, and Sonic both looked behind them to find that they were leaving the ninjas far behind in the dust. The two laughed, and slapped each other's hands. "Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!" Raph cheered.

What neither of them were expecting, however, was for Rahzar to drop in from the rooftops above, and completely blindside Sonic, crashing into him, and rolling along the ground with him. Once they came to a stop, Rahzar grabbed the little hedgehog with his hand, slammed him into the road, then hurled him into the side of an apartment building.

"Sonic!" Raph cried out. Fury blazing in his eyes, he looked ready to jump out, and help him, when the Shellraiser came to a screeching halt, nearly knocking him off. He turned his head, and did a double take at the sight of a giant robot that stood in their path, looking similar to the smaller Egg Pawns, except grey in colour, and wielding a large mallet.

Everyone else piled out of the Shellraiser, and stared wide-eyed at the robot, their jaws practically dropping to the ground. "Oh man," Mikey groaned. "I don't think garbage balls, and manhole covers are gonna be enough for this one."

Leo huffed, and pulled out his swords, prompting everyone else to grab their weapons, too. "Then, we do this the old-fashioned way."

Meanwhile, Sonic had immediately gotten back up from his collision with the apartment building. He stared down Rahzar, while ignoring the ringing in his ears, and the throbbing pain in his head. Something he'd gotten used to doing, after taking some bad hits over the years. "Alright, you're pretty tough, dog breath. But, that was a cheap shot."

He curled himself up into a ball, and revved up some speed, before blazing towards him in a Spin Dash.

Suddenly, a manhole cover between the two burst open, and out came a certain fish mutant, kicking Sonic into the air with his robotic feet. When Sonic came back down, the mutant kicked him back towards Rahzar, who smacked Sonic away with a vicious backhand.

After landing on the ground, Fishface smirked at the sight of Sonic groaning from a painful collision into a dented street lamp. "So was that, hedgehog."

Sonic quickly got back up. The ground beneath him shook, almost making him fall over again. His eyes fell on the giant Egg Hammer that seemed to give his new friends some trouble, with its massive hammer swings, and the shockwaves its mallet was producing with each impact with the ground. But, between the turtles' skills and their respective weapons, April's quick reflexes and her psychic powers, and Casey's speed, and explosive hockey pucks, they looked like they were handling themselves just fine.

That left him free to deal with Rahzar and Fishface. "Okay, so, you guys can hold your own, big deal." Sonic put on his normal bravado, smirking, and brushing his thumb beneath his nose. "I fight guys like you on a regular basis. You both have black belts in dumb, if you think you can put me down."

He dashed towards Fishface, and rolled to the side to avoid a kick upside his head. He darted towards him in his ball form, smashing him in the face, and knocking him off his cybernetic feet. When Rahzar tried to swipe at him, he jumped over the ferocious swing of his arm, and slammed into his head, before uncurling himself, and delivering a series of rapid kicks to the face, before delivering one last axe kick to the top of his head, and stunning the mutant. He leaped off of his head, and landed out of both mutants' reach.

While Fishface jumped back onto his feet, Rahzar growled, and shook off the pain. "You're not worth eating," he said. "I'm just gonna rip you limb from limb, before taking the Emerald from your corpse."

Sonic chuckled. "Hey, you wanna waste your time getting your butts kicked, that's fine by me."

While that was going on, the others had been getting in some solid hits on the giant Egg Hammer robot, though they had to move out of reach of its mallet, each time it took a swing at them. It didn't look to be getting any closer to going down for the count, either. They needed an opening of some kind.

Then, one of Casey's pucks detonated in its face, and it very visibly wobbled back and forth on one foot, before righting itself.

"D'oh, of course, I should've seen it!" Donnie brought an exasperated hand to his head. "This thing's large stature isn't structurally sound, if its comparatively smaller legs can't hold it up that well. Even the way it's walking seems clumsy."

Indeed, when the Egg Hammer tried stepping towards them, it looked like it was barely keeping itself from tipping over.

Leo nodded. "Casey, hit it with another puck!"

"This one's for the win!" Casey dropped another explosive puck onto the ground, and slapped it towards the giant robot. Once again, the force of the explosion was enough to knock it slightly off-balance, making it wobble back and forth on the heel of its foot, while desperately trying to right itself.

"Everyone, all at once!" Leo shouted.

Everyone charged at the robot, and rammed into the underside of its belly.

The ground shook from the behemoth crashing right onto its back. And that was everyone's time to strike. Leo jumped across the robot, slashing the robot's round torso with his swords. Raph was merciless with his fast, quick, and fierce sai strikes. Donnie's naginata blade popped out from the end of his bo staff, and he added to the damage, dragging his blade through the robot's body. Mikey turned one of his nunchucks into a kusarigama, leaped over the fallen robot, and tore through it, even managing to take a chunk of metal with him. April used her powers to levitate her tessen fan, and slice through the machine multiple times.

With their combined attacks exposing the vulnerable circuitry in its torso, Casey laughed, as he hopped up, and dropped an explosive puck inside it. One loud boom later, the Egg Hammer's eyes lost their glow, and it went offline. After a tough battle, it was rendered nothing more than a flaming, smoking mess.

Before they could help Sonic against Rahzar and Fishface, they heard the sound of a plane's propellers high above. When they looked up, they, indeed, found a red biplane flying in towards the action. It passed by them, and towards where Sonic was fighting the two mutants.

Sonic had taken notice, and chuckled. "You two might wanna duck." He curled up, and quickly rolled past the two, and towards his new friends. Rahzar and Fishface both gaped at the descending plane, and dropped down, narrowly avoiding the propellers.

"Great," Raph groaned, as Sonic joined them. "Somebody else getting in on this party?"

"Yeah," said Sonic, with a warm smile. "A friend."

As the plane's propellers slowed, and it moved down the street, its young fox pilot hopped out, computer tablet in hand. He flew over to Sonic with a wide smile, his two tails keeping him aloft like spinning helicopter blades.

"Sonic!"

"Yo, Tails!" Sonic laughed, and rushed over to meet him. The two happily greeted each other with an excited high five. "Y'know, I would've told you where I was, if I was given a minute to talk with you again."

"Heh. Something told me you were busy." Tails landed on his feet with a playful smile. "I just had to pinpoint your communicator's location, and once I got closer, I followed the sounds of a street brawl. Felt like showing off my intellect, and resourcefulness."

"Intellect, and resourcefulness successfully shown off, little buddy." Sonic grinned, pulled him in, and gave him a playful noogie, leaving the fox laughing, and trying to escape his grip.

Everyone looked on with warm smiles, happy to see this reunion between friends. April even had to stifle a giggle at the adorable interaction between the two.

The warm reunion was brought to a halt, when they heard Rahzar and Fishface getting back up. The two growled, ready to bring an end to their targets once and for all.

Sonic chuckled at the effort, and glanced at Leo. "Mind if we send these guys packing?"

Leo smirked, and held out his hand. "Be my guest."

Sonic gently nudged Tails with a wink. "Ready to give these jerks the Rolling Combo?"

"Thought you'd never ask." Tails laughed. The two clasped each other's hands, and the two curled up into blue and orange balls. They began circling around each other, and then they blazed down the road towards the two mutants.

Rahzar and Fishface only had enough time to gasp at the blue and orange animals charging rapidly towards them, before the combined power behind this strong, fast attack knocked them both clean into the sky, and sent them soaring several blocks away, and out of sight.

Sonic and Tails uncurled themselves, and high-fived each other once more. "Awesome as ever, Tails!"

"Couldn't have done it without you, Sonic."

"Oh, I know you, you could've." Sonic winked at him, and jabbed his thumb against his chest. "Just not as stylishly as me."

Tails laughed at the playful jab. "Right."

With the fight now over, the others joined the two.

"So, who are these guys?" Tails asked.

"They're some new friends I made. They helped me to keep this out of those guys' hands." Sonic pulled out the green Chaos Emerald, and handed it to Tails.

"So, the Chaos Emeralds are in this dimension?" Tails asked, raising his brow at the glowing jewel.

"Seems like."

Tails placed the Emerald away, and nodded at the others. "Thanks for helping Sonic. It means a lot."

"Hey, no problem," Donnie replied. "It's what we do."

Tails smiled, and nodded. "I guess I should introduce myself. My name's Miles Prower. But, everyone just calls me Tails."

"Oh, because of the-" Mikey pointed at the fox's two tails, and grinned. "I get it. Clever."

"Tails here's helped me out of a lot of jams. He's a wiz with machines, he can fly with those tails of his, he's an ace pilot, almost as fast as me, and he's just the coolest guy I know." Sonic wrapped an arm around the fox. "He's the best friend a hedgehog like me could ask for."

Tails' cheeks flushed a little at the praise, and he let out a bashful laugh. "Oh, c'mon..."

"Well, it's good to meet you, Tails," said April, her voice warm, and friendly. "I'm happy you and Sonic are together again."

Sonic and Tails both laughed, and happily bumped each other's fists.

"Incredible."

Upon hearing Donnie's distant voice, everyone quickly realized the turtle had walked down the road to check out the red biplane. By the time they caught up with him, he was marvelling at the dashboard. "The workmanship is astounding, and the tech here is so impressive, I'm not sure if I can even put it into words!"

"The original Tornado belonged to Sonic," Tails explained. He smiled at his plane, and patted its side. "I've built different models, but, this latest one's helped me out a bunch."

Donnie's head slowly turned to look at Tails, as soon as he processed the little fox's words. He knelt down to look him right in the eyes. "You... you built this?"

"Toldja he's a wiz with machines," said Sonic, patting Tails' back.

Donnie chuckled in disbelief. He stood up, and took a closer look at the front of the Tornado, and what he found had him gaping. "This is an air-cooled twelve-cylinder rotary engine!"

"I can also change it into a jet formation, for those times when I really need to ramp up the speed," Tails proudly added. "The propellers retract, and at the back of the plane, out comes a high-bypass turbofan engine. Customized it myself. Wasn't too hard to connect the fuel lines."

With wide eyes, and a huge, dorky grin, Donnie brought his hands up to his head. "And you're how old?!"

Sonic chuckled at the interaction between the two, while Raph rolled his eyes. "Oh boy," he muttered. "They're gonna be at this for hours."

For his part, Leo watched the pair with an amused smile. However, nice as it was for Donnie to have someone to bond over his love for machines with, they had some more pressing matters at hand. He cleared his throat, and got everyone's attention. "I hate to cut this short, but, Rahzar and Fishface could come back. We might want to get back to the lair, where the Chaos Emerald will be safe."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Sonic nodded, and looked at Tails. "It'll be a good place for me to tell you about what's going down, anyhow."

"Well, I can't just leave the Tornado out in the open like this," Tails pointed out.

Donnie gave him a reassuring smile. "No problem. I've been making some expansions to the lair, and I've made other vehicles for different purposes. I'll just tell you where to land your plane."

"Really?" Tails smiled at the turtle. "You don't mind?"

"Hey, Sonic's been pretty cool with us, and if you're friends with him, then, that's good enough for me."

While everyone else nodded, Leo emphasized, "Good enough for all of us."

"Okay, then!" Tails laughed. "Thanks a lot!" He smiled at Sonic, who chuckled, and gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright, everybody, let's head back," Leo told everyone. "I think we could all use some rest, after tonight."

He'd get no arguments from them. Sonic and Tails headed for the Tornado, while everyone else piled into the Shellraiser. Indeed, it had been quite the eventful night. And they were deserving of a brief rest.

For the future would only prove to be even more hectic, for both the turtles' world, and Sonic's.

Standing before Shredder in his throne room, Rahzar and Fishface both went silent. After they had reported their failure in retrieving the Chaos Emerald, they were expecting their potential end at his hands. If not their end, then, certainly a lot of pain.

Shredder stood from his throne, and stepped towards the two. "I am very displeased about this," he told them, in no uncertain terms. "I should dispose of you right now." He glanced at Eggman, who was standing off to the side, and leaning against the wall. "Fortunately for you, the doctor believes you may be of further use. However, if you fail me again, I promise you both, you will wish for death."

The both of them grimaced. They could only imagine what Shredder would do, if they were to fail their master again. Without another word, the two bowed their heads.

Eggman cleared his throat, and stepped forward. "It is unfortunate that we can't seem to find those pests anymore. But, there are other Chaos Emeralds to gather. We'll worry about that one another time. Meanwhile, the assistance I called for should be arriving here any minute."

"Boss!"

Everyone turned to the sound of two robotic voices excitedly calling out for someone, and found two small machines with glowing blue eyes and teeth hovering through the air, and towards Eggman. One robot, red, and round in shape, stopped in front of him, and saluted the doctor. The other one, yellow, and possessing more of a cube shape, bumped into his companion, before moving next to him, and proceeding to salute Eggman as well.

"We're quite relieved to see you have survived that ordeal with the Phantom Ruby, sir," said the red robot.

"Yeah!" the yellow robot exclaimed, clasping his hands together. "And we're happy you're alive, too!"

"Ahh. Orbot and Cubot. My loyal, and... uhh, dependable servants." Eggman grinned. "I trust you've brought what I asked for?"

"Absolutely, sir," said Orbot. The two henchbots turned towards the door, where another robot stood.

Rahzar and Fishface had to make sure they weren't seeing things. They glanced at each other once, then, turned back to the doorway. Sure enough, this robot very much looked like the blue hedgehog they'd been fighting not too long ago. "What's the deal here, doc?" Rahzar growled.

"This is my pride, and joy." Eggman chuckled, as he moved to stand next to the robot. Placing a hand on top of his head, he beamed proudly at Shredder. "Meet Metal Sonic. True, there have been plenty of times where Sonic has also bested him, but, he is the only one of my creations who has been able to keep pace with that blasted hedgehog, time and time again. During my conquest of my Earth, he was busy going through some upgrades, so, I had to settle for making copies of him with the power of the Phantom Ruby."

Shredder's eyes narrowed at the small robot. "And now?"

Eggman chuckled. "Now, things are going to get a lot more fun."

A/N: So, here it is. This one took me quite a bit to think over, and type up in a way that felt satisfactory, at least to me. I hope you all like it.

Just a heads-up, it'll be a while, before the next few chapters arrive on here. I love working on this fic, but brainstorming, and writing can be a bit exhausting, and mentally draining. So, I'm gonna need some time between some of these chapters to think over how I want things to play out, write up the chapters, post them here, take a bit of a mental break, then rinse and repeat. But, I promise you all, I am working on this fic, any time I can muster up the energy to do so.

Also, to this one guest who asked about it, yes, as you can clearly see, this is going to be an ongoing fic, I post chapters as often as I can. So, if you're interested, be sure and look out for the next one. ^_^

As always, leave any constructive criticisms, or questions you may have in your reviews, and I will do my best to address them. Hope you enjoy, and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Peace.