"Fall back. Fall back! Quick! Retreat!" Walters soon told his men.
"Don't worry, sir. We'll handle this." A voice soon said.
"Oh, I sure hope so," Walters replied before looking around. "Uh, who said that?" he then wondered.
"The Toon Force division of The Justice League at your service," Lady Gothika informed as she spoke up while standing with her friends. "We're going to help save your home of Green Hills or die trying and for the record, we have never died before."
"I can only hope you have better luck than we did." said Walters.
"Oh, I'm sure we will," Lady Gothika replied before facing her friends. "All right, guys, let's take to the skies-"
"Ooh! Ooh! LG! LG! Let me do it! Please, please, please?" Thunder Boy beamed and spoke up eagerly and hopefully.
"...Well, okay..." Lady Gothika replied and rolled her eyes slightly.
"Yes! To the Cloudmobile!" Thunder Boy cheered and proclaimed before he pulled out a random cloud with thunder rumbling and lightning flashing from under it until he turned it into a rather large car. "Don't worry, it's totally safe." he then told the others in reassurance.
"Of course." Bat-Mite nodded as he climbed aboard the cloud car.
Everyone else soon climbed in as well.
"Come 'ere, boy." Superboy called out to Thunder Mutt.
Thunder Mutt barked as he soon jumped into Superboy's lap.
"And awaaaay we go!" Thunder Boy called out and soon drove the cloud car up to the sky to go after the Eggman Robot.
As the cloud car took off, there were random lightning strikes that shot everywhere down below in Green Hills.
"That's weird, where did those kids and their dog go?" Wade asked as he looked around. "They were just here a second ago."
Tom had a bit of a deadpan look on his face toward his best friend. And so, the cloud car soared towards the Giant Eggman Robot, who reached up and attempted to swat at the vehicle.
Thunder Boy glared as he dodged the swatting. "Your skills are impressive, but let's see how you take on The Toon Force." he then challenged the Giant Eggman Robot.
"I just hope we can get through this in time before we see the triplets again." Superboy said to himself.
"Me too." Nature Girl agreed.
The cloud car soon came closer before Thunder Boy came on top of it and jumped in the air, floating, and shooting lightning strikes at the Giant Eggman Robot for starters. However, the robot wasn't even scratched. And it put its left hand out... before shooting it off like a rocket-powered yo-yo!
"You tried your best!" Lady Gothika told Thunder Boy.
"Don't worry, we'll get him!" Thunder Boy replied before winking.
Lady Gothika also winked as she soon brought some blades to latch onto the Eggman Robot from behind. The Eggman Robot soon reached out and attempted to flick her away like a booger.
"Where are you guys?!" Lady Gothika cried out as she went flying and soon put herself in a bubble to cushion her fall so she wouldn't get killed from the impact due to being very high up and falling very low down below.
Over the ocean, the horizon seemed to go on forever with no land in sight, but Tails had faith they'd make it back in time to stop Robotnik. Normally, their flight would have taken eight hours in an average human transport, but it was cut to barely under two, thanks to Tails' latest innovation. He'd combined his magnetic thruster technology with the light body of an old Earth biplane and come up with... the Tornado. Now the red plane crested over the continental United States with Sonic and Knuckles riding along. They were perhaps the only passengers who could withstand the gale-force winds that whipped across the low-flying aircraft as it shot toward Green Hills. They were in the final leg now as Tails' guidance system pointed them toward Montana and into the shadow of an ominous storm cloud crackling with green lightning.
"The fearsome power of the Emerald." Knuckles said.
"Just remember, we're all working together in this." Sonia reminded the echidna.
"Fine, fine." Knuckles groaned in response.
Tails whispered as best he could in his heroes' direction. "Are you sure it was a bright idea bringing..." He jerked his head slightly in Knuckles' direction. "You-Know-Who aboard for this?"
"Knuckles isn't really a bad guy... He's just a little confused." Sonic reassured him.
"I am not confused!" Knuckles shouted over the sound of the wind. "I have steely focus."
"Yeah, like how you were so focused you let Ro-blob-nik lie to you and play you for a fool." Sonia remarked.
"You wanna make something of this?" Knuckles glared and warned the female magenta hedgehog.
"Whoa! You'd hit a girl?" Manic asked.
"That's my concern." Knuckles grumbled in defense.
"Well, either way, you are not laying a hand on our sister as long as we're around!" Sonic glared.
"Yeah, no one hurts our sister!" Manic added firmly.
Knuckles crossed his arms and scoffed.
"Hey, guys, let's try to stay focused, okay?" Tails suggested.
"You're right, buddy," Sonic agreed. "We have bigger eggs to fry."
Still cutting through the atmosphere at maximum velocity, Tails pulled up over the rolling countryside and into the heart of the town of Green Hills. None of them were prepared for what they saw.
Towering high above the buildings was a massive Robotnik. This mustache-twirling Giant Eggman Robot stomped through downtown, bursting buildings into flames as it went. It was a revolting sight to see its steel skin shiver and morph into a stronger exterior with each new bit of technology that Robotnik pulled into his form. Tails jerked the stick of the Tornado off to the side so he could make a wide sweep around the Giant Eggman Robot, looking for any weak spots. It seemed impossible. Even the Toon Force had a hard time as Shifter and Downpour were thrown down after not even their abilities could stop him.
Sonic took charge. "We need a plan. Knuckles, why don't you-" he began.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The echidna jumped from his seat and flew through the air at their gigantic foe.
"Gotta love that initiative." Manic remarked.
"Ugh. This guy is killing me!" Sonic groused as he climbed out onto the double wing of the plane and steadied himself for a different kind of assault. "Looks like it's gonna be just you and the three of us, buddy. You up for it?" he asked.
"If I'm going to go out, Sonic... I'd want to do it alongside you." said Tails.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Sonic laughed.
"All right, what now?" Tails soon asked.
"Get us as close as you can," Sonic instructed. "I'm going to try to-Tails, LOOK OUT!"
"Uh-oh!" Manic and Sonia gasped.
They'd been spotted, and a barrage of makeshift missiles flew out of the Giant Eggman Robot's body. With stolen gas tanks fueling them and makeshift metal warheads, these weren't as destructive as the average Robotnik missile. But Tails still needed to take evasive maneuvers and do barrel rolls to get them through without a scratch.
"That was close!" Sonic called when they were in the clear, but he was laughing. It was a mad, heroic laugh.
"I know, right?" Tails called back, laughing along. He found it infectious. For the first time in his life, he felt like he belonged... even if the place he belonged was on the verge of a crazy death.
"Boys." Sonia rolled her eyes as Manic laughed along with Sonic and Tails.
WHOMP! One last bit of jet-propelled shrapnel shot out from the Giant Eggman Robot and knocked the hedgehog triplets clear off the wing! Tails turned the plane toward the villain and busted out his ace in the hole: laser cannons powered by the same tech as his little blaster. He didn't even know what the plan was now, but he couldn't let this machine destroy the place that Sonic loved.
"All right, I think we got the Mecha Egghead all fired up enough," Lady Gothika told Thunder Boy. "Can we stop helping now?"
"Maybe it's time to leave this to Sonic, Sonia, and Manic now." Thunder Boy nodded at her in response.
"Well, alright," Bat-Mite nodded. "I think we've done enough here for the moment."
"I think so too," Lady Gothika replied. "Long story short though: that Eggman Robot would probably be killer compared to when we took on Darkseid."
One last bit of jet-propelled shrapnel shot out from the Giant Eggman Robot and knocked Sonic clear off the wing! Tails turned the plane toward the villain and busted out his ace in the hole: laser cannons powered by the same tech as his little blaster. He didn't even know what the plan was now, but he couldn't let this machine destroy the place that Sonic loved. Choom-choom-choom-choom-choom! The cannons rattled off shot after shot directly at the Egg Mech's head. Maybe he'd gotten lucky! Klang! With a wave of its arm, the Giant Eggman Robot sliced straight through the Tornado's other wing. Tails had to abandon the plane, jumping just in time to see it in a fireball on a hill outside town. Robotnik's Emerald-amplified monstrosity marched on toward doom and destruction. Tails had brought them all this way. But if Sonic... heck, even if Knuckles didn't make it, then what chance did they have?
"Robotnik! Face me, you coward!" Knuckles called from the street below.
Sonic had a glimpse of his strange new ally's showdown from on high, and it did not look good. The echidna pulled his fists up in a fighting position. And then with the loud shift of metal joints, the Giant Eggman Robot with the madman's brain struck a kung-fu pose in response. The Toon Force soon went back to their normal and civilian outfits as they sat this out.
Thor then magicked them all in lawn chairs before taking out a jumbo box of popcorn as they watched the fight from the ground.
"You deceived me!" Knuckles called from the street.
"Deception is my middle name!" called the cold metal tone of Robotnik from the head in the sky above. "Ha! Another lie. My middle name's actually Gerald. Time to FIGHT!"
Impossibly, a fistfight broke out between the 100-foot mech and the four-foot echidna. Knuckles swung a hard, gnarled fist at the machine, making a tiny scratch in the side of the Giant Eggman Robot's arm.
"Aww, how adorable!" cackled Robotnik's voice. Whump! With a long swing of his metal boot, the Giant Eggman Robot punted Knuckles' body off the street and several blocks away. He landed in the middle of the Green Hills High football field as a giant puff of dirt burst into the sky. "And it's goooooood!" cried the robot with both arms straight in the air.
"Okay, you guys, it's now or never," Sonic said to his siblings. "I know Knuckles is a bit of a meathead, but we shouldn't let him get destroyed by that Ro-Butt-Nik."
"Fine," shrugged Manic. "We'll bail him out."
"This just better be worth it." Sonia added.
"I'll make it up to you guys eventually, I promise." Sonic told his siblings.
"We'll hold you to that," Manic shrugged. "But for now? Let's do it to it!"
"I couldn't have said that better myself, Bro," Sonic smirked. "Let's give this Eggman a real taste of Sonic Underground."
A guitar riff was heard as the three siblings zipped off together, almost like a theme song for them. Bonnie, Antoine, and Rotor soon looked over to the hedgehog triplets.
"Remember, you guys got this," Thor told the hedgehog triplets. "I believe in you."
"Thanks," said Sonic as he hopped onto a missile and steered it back towards the Giant Eggman Robot. "Hey, Ro-Butt-Nik! Return to sender!"
The Giant Eggman Robot soon turned around, getting their attention instantly.
"Abandon ship!" Manic soon called out to Sonic and Sonia.
Soon, the hedgehog triplets spun into balls of crackling blue, green, and pink lights and skidded to a halt on the street. In a heartbeat—Sha-Boom!—the missile struck the bot's left leg and blew it to pieces.
"Yes!" Sonic called as the mech tumbled. "Who wants an omelet? Because we are cracking eggs!"
But with a set of screeching metal tendrils, the leg reattached itself before the body even hit the dirt. Sonic hadn't stopped the doctor. He'd barely slowed him down. The Master Emerald really would let Robotnik do anything. So what could one kid—no matter how fast—do against it? Once reassembled, the Giant Eggman Robot shot out a wave of drones to terrorize the streets of Green Hills. It was a nightmare.
"Sonic! Sonia! Manic!" called a voice from Main Street. It was Tom. He stood with Maddie, a wall of shocked soldiers, and a dozen of Sonic's friends.
"Tom! We've got to get everyone out of here!" Sonia yelled, coming to his feet.
"We'll get everyone to safety while you finish Robotnik." Maddie said.
"I... I don't think I can," Sonic stammered. "He's too powerful. You were right, Tom. I can't do this alone..."
"Sonic, you have to remember, even with your brother and sister, you're not alone." Cherry reminded the young blue hedgehog.
"She's right," Sally said, coming beside Sonic before she knelt down and put her hands on his shoulders in comfort. "We all believe in you and we know you can do this."
"Yes, Sonic, you're definitely not alone." Tom reassured him with a smile.
"When you're right, you're right, Sal," Sonic said as he hugged her. "...and that's just in case I don't make it."
Sally blinked and hugged Sonic back. "It'll be okay, Sonic. I know it will be," she told him. "Go kick some Robot Eggman butt for me. This is also for good luck." she then said before giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
Sonic's face went bright red as he beamed with a bashful grin. "Whoa... primo, Sal!"
"Be cool, Sonia." said Rotor, sheepishly twisting his cap up a little bit.
"Oh, sure, Rotor, no problem," Sonia told him and nodded. "You know I've got this in the bag."
"Good luck." Rotor told her as he quickly hugged her and then withdrew.
Sonia blinked in the hug before she nodded firmly. "Right then," she said before facing her brothers. "Sonic, Manic, let's move out." she then told them.
"Yeah!" Sonic and Manic declared before they took off together.
"Those are some pretty great kids." Tom said to Maddie.
"Definitely." Maddie nodded proudly.
"Hold it right there! You three are gonna need more help than just the lot of ya." A voice suddenly called out.
The triplets soon turned around and stopped to see a certain two-tailed fox and a strong, tough, echidna.
"I knew you'd be back." Sonic said with pride.
"I know, right?" Tails smiled.
"So Knux, can I call you, Knux? You ready to go in for Round 2?" Manic asked their newest ally.
Knuckles stroked his chin. "I barely felt the last one."
Tom stood up on the back of a truck and called out to those gathered in Green Hills. "You heard Sonic, everyone. We gotta clear the area!"
"Well, like Team Sonic says, let's do it to it." Cherry replied.
"Good to see you being helpful, Cherry." Atticus smiled at his oldest friend.
"Hey, I might work on the dark side here and there, but I'm still noble and heroic when I need to be." Cherry defended and reminded him.
"Clean-up crew to the rescue!" Lionel exclaimed as he and Thor got started on helping some people to safety, while Cherry, Mo, Patch, Atticus, and Johan and Johanna helped the others.
Thor blew a whistle as he acted like a traffic director as they sprung into action to do their part in helping out the animal heroes.
"Don't worry, guys!" Sonic called to the townspeople and agents alike. "We've got an airtight plan!" He spun and sped his two friends and siblings into an alley, panicked. "I lied. I got nothing."
"Nice." Sonia snarked and rolled her eyes.
"Totally bogus, Bro," Manic added before facing the fox. "Tails, any ideas?"
"If only he had a weak spot." Tails slapped a fist into his palm.
"I suggest the groin." said Knuckles.
"No. What?! No." Sonic stared down the echidna.
"Traditionally, yes, the groin is-" Knuckles replied.
"Stop saying 'groin'!" The triplets complained before they all spied out on the street and saw the Giant Eggman Robot scanning for them.
"Hedgehoooogs? Where are you?~" sang the empty sound of Robotnik's voice. "Show yourselves and meet your doooOOOOoom!~"
"I know what his weak spot is..." Sonic realized. "Me! I mean, US!"
"Come again now?" asked Tails.
"We're the groin!" Sonic laughed. "Why did Robotnik come back to Green Hills? He's trying to hurt our friends. He wants to destroy our home. We live rent-free in this dude's head! So if we go out there and rile him up..."
Knuckles smiled in realization. "Then he'll focus his attack on only you three. And that leaves him open for a flanking maneuver from myself and the fox."
"Are you sure about this, Sonic?" said Tails, checking one of his endless supply of gizmos. "It's gonna be dangerous."
"Then let's get dangerous," Manic grinned.
"Ooh... I like the sound of that, Bro." Sonic chuckled and smirked.
"Thanks, I like it too." Manic smirked back.
"Piece of cake," Sonia said as she took a quick stretch. "Let's do it to it."
"Right." Sonic and Manic nodded at their sister.
"What we need you to do is back us up the same way you did in the dance-off. You get me?" Sonic then asked Tails and the fox nodded eagerly.
"You'll be a great help to us." Manic added as he ruffled up the top of Tails' head.
"Hedgehogs, you are noble and brave warriors," said Knuckles. "Go to your certain death with honor."
"We're gonna have to work on your pep talks, pal," Sonic said, and set his hands on the ground in a sprinter's stance. "Now let's go!" And with a flick of his feet, he was speeding toward the heart of the town as Sonia and Manic came speeding behind him to take on The Eggman Robot as there was music suddenly playing in the background with a motivational and inspirational song that could pump anybody up.
"If you're strong, you can fly, You can reach the other side, Of the rainbow, It's alright - take the chance, 'Cuz there is no circumstance, That you can't handle, When you use your mind!~" The song began to sing for the hedgehog triplets. "Sonic Boom!, (Trouble keeps you running faster), (Sonic Boom... Sonic Boom...), Sonic Boom! (Save the planet from disaster), (Sonic Boom... Sonic Boom...), Sonic Boom! (Spinning through a world in motion), (Sonic Boom... Sonic Boom...), Sonic Boom! Mr. Bad's got it good, but this ain't his neighborhood he's takin' over... no, no~" the song continued. "Time is now, he can't hide; find the power deep inside, and make it happen... MAKE IT HAPPEN!~"
"Oh, Eggmaaaaaaaan!" Sonic called as he turned into a bright blue blur one more time and tore a path through the Giant Eggman Robot's legs. But this time, he wasn't alone. To his right, a bright red firecracker of energy tore chunks out of the street as it charged. Over his left shoulder, an orange spark flicked in and out of the air, bursting Robotnik's remaining drones as it went.
Knuckles and Tails would keep up their end of the plan. Now Sonic had to do his.
"All right, Mustache! You want us? Come and get us!" Sonic shouted, and beat a path out of town with Manic and Sonia right behind him.
"I'm going to squash you like bugs!" Robotnik cried through the mech's mouth.
"Let's see whatcha got the!" Manic called out and laughed. "You're just hardboiled!"
"How dare you..." Robotnik growled at that.
The Giant Eggman Robot shifted and stomped after them. The triplets had the Eggman right where they wanted him!
"Oh, you're so close!" Sonic taunted over his shoulder. "Maybe you need a few days to practice your bug-squashing and then come back?"
"It takes a lot of practice after all~" Sonia added.
Meanwhile, Tom, Maddie, and the Freedom Fighters were helping Cherry, Mo, Atticus, Lionel, Thor, Johan, and Johanna evacuate the civilians.
"Move, guys!" called Maddie. "Move back!"
"Let's go, that's it!" Tom called. "Go, go, go! Keep going!"
Suddenly, they saw a pickup truck pulling up, & the driver poked his head out the window. "Tom, what happened here?" he asked.
Tom looked at Maddie. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.
Maddie smiled warmly. "Let's get our kids."
Tom and Maddie turned to face the driver. "We need your truck!" they blurted.
The Giant Eggman Robot tore into the forest hills outside town; the hedgehogs then stopped high up a hill, while Robotnik had to stop and catch his breath.
"What's your big plan here, Eggman?" Manic soon called. "You gonna build a big robot house? Get yourself a big robot wife?"
"I'm going to enslave humanity and force them to service my machines!" Robotnik's voice was beyond insanity now. "And what are they going to do about it?! I'll tell you: they'll do EXACTLY AS THEY'RE TOLD! First Green Hills, then the universe, then the multiverse, then who knows?! Maybe that'll be enough. Full disclosure? YOU WON'T BE THERE!"
The mech finally zeroed in on the triplets' location, and Robotnik turned over his last surprise card. Laser eyes! The green energy of the Master Emerald poured out of the Giant Eggman Robot's visor.
The ray sliced through the trees, and on the ground, the hedgehog triplets all appeared to be down and out, splayed out on their backs, barely breathing.
"Giving up ALREADY?!" crowed Robotnik. "Not so tough when you're fighting someone 700 times your size, are ya? Did you not realize you can't beat me? I'm all-powerful... all-knowing... all-seeing!"
And with a final step of his monster boot, Robotnik came down on the hedgehogs' bodies with a crushing blow. Suddenly, Robotnik turned around as he heard a firing sound and saw... Tails, coming into the cockpit after cutting a hole in the robot's hide.
"Looks like your fancy robot has a glitch!" Tails exclaimed as he summoned some of his holograms.
"Is it me? What about me? I'm over here! Up top! Down below! Behind you! I'm over here! Sorry! Over here! Too slow! Missed me again!" The Tails holograms mocked the evil scientist.
"You can't outsmart me!" Robotnik glared as he kept trying to hit the fox before releasing a green shockwave, obliterating the holograms and making the real Tails hit a wall and land on one of the pipes.
Tails grunted once he landed before he glared at the villain. "I didn't outsmart you, I'm just the distraction." he then retorted bravely.
"Robotnik!" Knuckles' voice soon called out, causing the scientist to look up and see the red echidna standing across from him. "I am also a hologram." he then added once he had Robotnik's attention.
"Disloyal." Robotnik glared at Knuckles.
"'Dis' is how I roll." Knuckles retorted, using the scientist's words against him and with one powerful punch to Robotnik's chest, he managed to separate the Master Emerald from Robotnik, sending it flying out of the Eggman robot.
Without the Master Emerald, the Giant Eggman Robot powered down, unable to function without it.
"Where's my Emerald? No, no, no, no! No, no, no! Computer, auxiliary power!" Robotnik cried out as his power soon went offline.
Sonic, Manic, and Sonia groaned a bit before they briefly glowed with a bright blue aura around them.
Meanwhile, Thor held his head with his eyes closed as he glowed blue, green, and pink auras around his body before he opened them again and he looked like his old self again as he used some magic to help out.
"Well? Were you able to sense them?" Mo asked Thor hopefully.
"Yes, I know exactly where you need to go," Thor replied before he took out Atticus' car keys. "Just follow me."
"Uh, I think I'll drive my own car, thank you," Atticus told Thor as he took his car keys back. "And we'll let Tom and Maddie follow us."
"Then let's book it!" declared Lionel.
"Follow my lead." Atticus told Tom and Maddie once he turned on his car keys to unlock his car doors for him and his friends.
"You got it." Tom and Maddie nodded at that.
Atticus and the rest of The Toon Force soon went into his car while Tom and Maddie got into their own truck.
"I just hope we aren't too late, you guys," Atticus said to the others. "I have this strange feeling brewing deep down inside my stomach."
"Oh, that happens to me too sometimes," Thor said bashfully. "Sometimes if I eat too much of my mom's mac and cheese, I end up having to-"
"No, no, not that," Atticus shook his head. "Something big, grand, and epic is about to happen, but I jus don't know what."
"Then let's gun it," Johan said as he buckled up.
Atticus started the engine, and drove off after Sonic and his friends.
"Move, you hunk of junk!" Robotnik scowled. A control computer emerged from the platform and Robotnik got the Giant Eggman Robot back online. The parts of it that previously glowed green with the Master Emerald's power, now glowed a sinister red under the auxiliary power.
"I hafta... reach it..." Sonic grunted as he limped towards the fallen Master Emerald. "Come on, come on, come on...!"
Unfortunately, the Giant Eggman Robot was also approaching the massive gemstone.
"We... Gotta... Reach it," Sonic said wearily as he limped toward The Master Emerald while The Giant Eggman Robot walked right behind him. "Come on, come on, come on."
Tom and Maddie soon appeared, riding the pick-up truck, and headed right toward the Giant Eggman Robot.
"There they are!" Maddie pointed out once she saw the triplets. "Go! Go, go, go!" she then reached out one hand to grab Sonia's right hand while Tom reached out his other hand to grab Manic's left hand since they were both still on the ground.
Sonic soon made it to the Master Emerald, but the Giant Eggman Robot lifted its foot and prepared to stomp on him. However, Thor scooped Sonic up at the last second from Atticus's car as Atticus drove beside the truck as they got out of the Giant Eggman Robot's foot range before any of them could get hurt.
"NO!" Robotnik screamed in frustration.
"We got you, guys." Maddie said as she took Sonia and Manic to hold protectively while Thor got Sonic for them.
"Hold on!" Atticus called out as he swerved his car a bit.
The Giant Eggman Robot then punched the ground, sending the truck and Atticus' car flying until they were on their backs.
Soon, the Wachowski family came out of the truck.
"You guys okay?" Maddie asked.
"Yeah." Tom nodded.
"Okay," Maddie said before gasping with wide eyes as she held onto Sonia and Manic. "Ohmigosh! Where's Sonic?!"
"Don't worry... We got him," Thor said as he soon approached Tom and Maddie while carrying the blue hedgehog in his arms. "His breathing slowed down a little, but I think he'll be okay."
"We got the Emerald," Sonic said as he tried to activate the Emerald. "We can still defeat him. Come on, come on. How does this thing work? What do we do?"
To their horror, the Master Emerald started to fade and shattered to pieces, with seven multicolored Emeralds falling out of the remains.
"What? No!" exclaimed Manic. "No, no, no, no! No, no, no, no! Bummer majores!"
And as if things couldn't get any worse... they did. The Giant Eggman Robot was now looming right over everyone's heads.
"Look at the happy little family..." Robotnik sneered, his overconfidence back in full effect. "All the people I hate most in the world in one convenient, toastable place!" He then used his mech to set fire to trees in a wide circle around the hedgehogs.
Tails couldn't reach them. Neither could Knuckles or Tom and Maddie. And he didn't want them to.
"Stand back!" Sonic choked on the smoke as the Emerald fragments fell at his feet. "It's us that he wants! You gotta get away!"
"Hey. We're not going anywhere," Maddie retorted. "We're family."
"And families stick together," Tom added paternally. "No matter what."
"All of us together?" Sonia asked.
"All of us together, me, Maddie, and you, Manic, and Sonic." Tom reassured her with a smile.
The hedgehog triplets all smiled back at him and Maddie.
"We love you guys." Sonic said softly.
"We love you guys too." Tom nodded.
Suddenly, The Chaos Emeralds levitated, and merged with Sonic, right before the Giant Eggman Robot stomped on the hedgehog triplets, Maddie, and Tom. It looked as though Robotnik finally killed them, as Tails and Knuckles witnessed in disbelief and horror while Sally, Antoine, Rotor, and Bonnie gasped in despair.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tails cried out.
"I got them! I finally got them!" Robotnik laughed in victory.
Patch looked sad and bowed his head with his tail dangling low. Bonnie, Antoine, Sally, and Rotor also looked dejected and defeated.
"Now for these so-called little Freedom Fighters." Robotnik smirked as he began to look like he was going after them next.
"Ooh... Guys... I have that funny feeling again..." Atticus spoke up as he looked at the rest of The Toon Force. "It's like I have butterflies in my stomach."
"Oh, that happens to me too sometimes, Atticus," Thor smiled sheepishly. "Sometimes young witches and warlocks hiccup butterflies if they feel nervous like that time when Sabrina won the role of Juliet in one of our school plays." he then added, seeming to be missing the point again.
"No..." Atticus groaned and rolled his eyes. "I think Sonic is about to become a grand, ultimate, hedgehog warrior, or something like that." he then explained.
"'Grand Ultimate Hedgehog Warrior'...?" asked Lionel, incredulously. "Sometimes I wonder if you listen to the stuff that comes out of your mouth. Besides, don't spoil the surprise!"
Suddenly, light shone out from beneath the Egg Mech's foot, brighter and purer than the Master Emerald's beacon. The foot began to quake, causing Robotnik to go from ecstatic with victory to uneasy with dread.
"...what was that?" Robotnik asked.
"I think I have a feeling." Atticus smirked hopefully.
The Giant Eggman Robot's foot started to lift up, revealing that Sonic has transformed into Super Sonic and was now a bright yellow color, as he blasted through the foot to save his siblings, Tom, and Maddie. He then flew towards the Giant Eggman Robot's head, and decapitated it, exposing Robotnik, who gasped in disbelieving shock at what he was seeing as Super Sonic approached him and hovered just in front of the edge of the Giant Eggman Robot's neck, his face locked in a look of righteous anger.
"It's over, Eggman." Super Sonic told his greatest enemy.
"I like the new look. It works for you," Robotnik said with a nervous smile. "What do you say we just let bygones be bygones? I did some things, you did some things. There are good people on both sides."
Super Sonic glared furiously at him.
Robotnik then discreetly pressed buttons on his Control Glove to control the Giant Robot's right arm and fist. "Surely two intelligent beings... can work these things out!" he then said as he tried to punch Super Sonic with the Giant Eggman Robot's fist.
Super Sonic soon blocked the fist with one hand, without even turning his attention to it, and blew it up.
"That hedgehog is one indestructible ball of surprises." Antoine commented.
"No, Antoine... That's our brother." Manic clarified and smiled.
"Get him, Sonic!" Maddie called.
"Yeah... come on!" Tom chimed in.
"Crack that Eggman!" Sally added.
Robotnik tried to punch Super Sonic with the Giant Eggman Robot's second fist, but Super Sonic blew it up as well, and proceeded to zip straight through the Giant Eggman Robot multiple times, delivering heavy damage to it. In a flurry of flying blows, Super Sonic wrapped the mech in a web of laser-hot chaos energy. The bot never had a chance. With each new thundering blast, more of its shell fell apart. As a final move, Super Sonic tipped the Giant Eggman Robot over with a tap of his foot, and the machine finally collapsed into a pile of jagged metal rubble.
"We won?" Thor asked his friends.
"Well, it was mostly Sonic, but yeah, big guy. We won." Cherry nodded.
Thor grinned and soon pulled all of his friends into a victorious group hug.
"Losing... Oxygen... Seeing... Darkness..." Cherry grunted slightly since Thor had very tight bear hugs.
"STOP SQUEEZIN' SO HARD!" Lionel yelled, his face turning purple.
Thor grinned bashfully and soon let go of his friends. The group looked dizzy before they shook their heads and went back to normal. Well, as normal as they possibly could, especially for Lionel who is a very strange vessel of existence, even for these stories.
"Watch it." Cherry advised the author.
"Sory, guys, I guess I forget you're not as resistant as my family, especially my uncle." Thor bashfully said to The Toon Force he was aligned with.
"Just try to REMEMBER that next time..." Lionel grumbled as he dusted himself off.
Thor grinned sheepishly before looking at Super Sonic in the air. "No way... I've heard about this..." he then whispered.
"A blue hedgehog turning yellow? Somehow that's not the weirdest thing I've seen in my life." Cherry commented.
"Uncle Drell once told me about Chaos Control with whoever would be deemed worthy to use Chaos Control on the seven Chaos Emeralds," Thor replied. "This must've been the feeling I've been having against that giant Eggman robot."
"I think Chaos Control is a completely different thing," Lionel stated. "You must be mixing up concepts."
"Oh, am I?" Thor asked as he scratched his head.
"Probably, buddy, but it's good to know at least," Cherry remarked. "Especially now that we have a kid like Sonic the Hedgehog in our lives."
Somewhere within the heap of scrap metal, the weak voice of the all-too-human Robotnik croaked, "I'll... get you... hedgehog!" But he was down for the count.
Super Sonic landed next to Maddie and Tom. Tails landed next to Knuckles, who kept a fearful distance from their friend.
"Wait! Do not touch him!" Knuckles called, stopping Tom dead in his tracks. "The hedgehog now holds the power of the Emerald within him. It's too much for any one creature to handle. I am sorry... but he is not the Sonic you once knew."
"...say it ain't so, bro..." Manic gulped as his hands seemed to tremble.
Super Sonic floated eerily for a moment, then placed one gloved hand under his armpit as the skies seemed to crackle with his energy. BRA-A-A-A-A-A-A-AP! The fart sound hit with the decibels of a bomb blast, and Super Sonic came down, laughing hysterically.
"Okay," Knuckles admitted. "He's exactly the Sonic you once knew."
Manic keeled over, clutching his sides in laughter. "Good one, dude!" he wheezed.
"Boys." Sonia rolled her eyes with a smirk; but this time, when she said it, it had no irritance in its tone.
"Nice to see he's still himself," Sally smiled.
Super Sonic created a cluster of lightning and storm clouds in the skies that he channels into his open palm, but only to summon a chili dog, which he enjoys after taking a good whiff of it, as if he'd been longing for one for a while.
"Oh, you got to try this," Super Sonic beamed. "In fact, chili dogs for all my buds!"
Super Sonic snapped his fingers to summon another chili dog, which fell on Knuckles' face, much to Tom's and Maddie's amusement. Everyone got a chili dog of their own. Cherry didn't want hers, so Lionel got two!
"And for my last trick..." Super Sonic exclaimed, before he reached his hands into the fur of his chest, and he started to glow as bright as ever before. Sonic lifted his hands to the sky in a blast, the seven Chaos Emeralds shooting from his body. Moving at an ungodly speed, they blasted through space and time itself... gone forever [or at least just for now]. And as he floated to the ground, Sonic returned to his natural color. "Whew!" he wiped the sweat from his brow. "Good to be back in blue. The golden god thing was fun, but cobalt blue has always been more my color."
"That's fair enough," Sonia remarked. "That was really cool of you though, Sonic."
"I'm a little jealous, but I guess that makes you the oldest now... or at least The Golden Son." Manic added with a chuckle.
"Thanks, guys," Sonic smirked as he wrapped his arms around his brother and sister. "A hedgehog couldn't ask for better sibs than you guys."
Sonia and Manic smiled back at that.
"Looks good on you." Tom told Sonic proudly.
"Sonic, you were the most powerful hero in the universe, and you let it go. Why?" Tails pointed out and then asked the blue hedgehog.
"Because I still have some growing up to do," Sonic told the young fox. "And I kind of like being a kid. With my brother and sister."
"And you, Sonia, and Manic aren't just any kids. You're OUR kids." Tom replied softly.
"That's right. Bring it in!" Maddie smiled as they all came into a group hug together.
"Yay. Hugs." Tails laughed and beamed as he joined in while The Toon Force smiled warmly for them.
"It's a good thing we didn't do this before," Manic chuckled in the hug. "We would've blown up."
"Totally." Sonic added as he agreed.
Knuckles soon poured the Master Emerald shards into his hands and pressed them together, causing them to glow. As the red echidna pulled his hands back, the Master Emerald was revealed to have been fixed.
"You fixed it." Sally noted once she stepped by along with Bonnie, Antoine, and Rotor.
"I've spent my whole life questing for this. Now I have it. Now we have it," Knuckles replied. "What do we do with it? What next?" he then wondered.
"There were once two orders of heroes who protected the galaxy from those who would use the Emerald for evil." Tails informed.
"But they have all passed on to the great battleground in the sky." Knuckles added and nodded.
"So we start a new order. The five of us," Sonic decided. "You guys can be part of The Green Hills Freedom Fighters and Sonic Underground." he then added.
Tails bumped his fist instantaneously, with Manic and Sonia.
But Knuckles held back, cautious. "This is no light task we undertake," The echidna said. "To use our powers to keep the universe safe. To watch out for one another; our new tribe." Finally, he threw his fist in.
"It's called a power bump," Tails smiled. "An Earth custom. An unbreakable promise."
Sonic grinned. "WAY past cool." he said.
The Toon Force all smiled at each other, looking happy for the hedgehog triplets.
"Smile, you guys! I'm putting this in my scrapbook for no one else to see." Cherry said as she took out her phone to take a picture of Sonic, Sonia, Manic, Tails, and Knuckles.
Tails and Knuckles were caught off guard as Cherry took their picture on her phone.
"What sorcery have you enacted to trap my soul in your device?!" Knuckles glared and demanded from Cherry.
"Don't worry, buddy, I didn't trap your souls," Cherry explained with a laugh. "It's called a selfie... Though I guess in this case, it's called a groupie."
"It's a camera, Sugah," insisted Bonnie. "Don't stress about it."
"Hm... Well, if you say so." Knuckles shrugged and crossed his arms at that.
Things were moving slower than ever before, and Sonic loved it.