HEBM - PART III

CONCEALED DIFFERENCES

            There he was racing down the corridor, avoiding Robotar's slick blasts from his Rapid Destruction Cannon (RDC) and heading on into the unknown of the big Supremor. Finally, he reached a different room which had sealed off Robotar disallowing him to fire. The room was dark. A faint light could be seen above and it the room appeared to be circular, cylindrical but not big. Suddenly, foot steps could be heard and then a voice.

            "Prepare do die, hedgehog." That was all. It was Gore's voice. He threw his magical axe. Sonic ducked, the axe reversed direction and came back, Sonic jumped over it and then ran the opposite direction. The axe came back, barely striking him as he ran up the walls in a cork screw way. The axe was well wedged into the wall and so Gore couldn't summon it back. But Gore was expecting this and threw up his spike bomb high into the air as Sonic continued upward. Soon after, they both eventually were at the relative same level and Gore detonated. A barrage of spikes two inches long shot out in every direction. About 6 of them went into Sonic thus dropping him to the ground.

            "Heh heh heh…." Gore mocked, "I didn't think so." Gore got his axe out and returned. "I'm afraid now, it's the end." The axe came slashing down… And Sonic was able to get out of the way in time. The axe caused a severe dent in the floor. Unfortunately, Sonic could not run well because one of the spikes went into his leg, but he still maneuvered out of the way of Gore's axe.

            Finally, Sonic found a pole to use in defense. He broke it off and held it steady, blocking Gore's attacks but still in bad shape from the bomb. Sparks could well be seen as they went flying off after every impact.

            "Arg.. Once Knux gets here to help me beat your butt to the 23rd floor of this thing, you're going to have a few things to worry about."

            Gore stopped with the attacks. "Ah, I seriously doubt it." Gore despotically said. "You see, Knuckles is dead."

            Gore threw Knuckles' dead corpse to the floor. (If I describe what he looks like, you'll hate me!)

            "And as I said before, you're next!"

            That was it. Sonic was fumingly infuriated. "You…." Sonic went into a spin and rammed at Gore but Gore was ready and blocked the attack with his almighty axe. This block was not all good for Sonic for he suffered a blow on his back from the axe sending him to the floor breathing heavily. Gore walked up and then said, "Now this is the end!" and point first thrusted downward. Sonic still had the pole and was attempting to stop Gore from fatally stabbing him, but he was getting weak, tremendously fatigued. And so the point ontop of the axe had then penetrated and went in.        

"GAAHHH!!!"

It was a nightmare (fortunately). Sonic woke up and looked at the time.

3:47 AM – 1 Week After the Attack

It was raining outside and he and his pal Tails were inside the hut. *Sigh* "I doubt I'll be able to get to sleep again anytime soon." Tails, his bunk mate, woke up.

            "You're gonna have to get back to sleep. Tomorrow we're going to rebuild most of knothole from the attack."

            "Yes, I know, but I feel disturbed."

            "What do you mean?"

            "You remember that guy who carries the axe?"

            "Gore?"

            Sonic shuddered, "Yeess.. It was of him. I'll leave it at that."

            "Hmm… Ok."

They went back to sleep for the reconstruction of Knothole only a few hours later.

6:32 AM

            "Time to get up! We've got a long day ahead of us!" Sally energetically said.

            "Man… I'm so tired still from that dream."

            "Wow.. it must've been really disturbing then to keep you that edgy."

            "It was."

            "Ok then I don't want to know about it."

It was a nice day. The sun was just rising and birds began to sing.

Sonic and Tails got out from their hut and headed off to the mess hall for a quick breakfast. Sonic was able to eat much but did anyways since he knew he had to because of the day ahead of him.

The reconstruction went smoothly. Most of everything was replaced and was good as new with better technology for defense. Lookout posts were replaced with advanced turrets stolen from earlier raids to Robotropolis. The huts were to lined with better armor for attacks. Knothole was a whole new place!

At the end of the day, everyone had the sense of accomplishness in their head. It was decided that a campfire pow be made for the achievement of both overthrowing the threat of Dr Lighthead and the Supremor and the newly made Knothole. Sonic, Tails, Sally, Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine all sat down at the fire in the middle of the forest in Knothole to discuss future plans.

            "Just to inform you, we will be assessing what's left in Robotropolis tomorrow around 09:00 hours."

            "Oh come on, Sal. We're not in the mood to hear about that now."

            "Yeah! Let's share some stories!" Tails ecstatically said.

            "Well, ya'll remember how I was rescued? I'll never forget that day Sonic came and saved me from that roboticizer."

            "Yeah, Bunnie. I doubt you wanted to become fully roboticized."

            "It has been very beneficial. Ah'm able to help with the very heavy stuff and thanks to Rotor, muh arm has helped with the war against Robotnik."

            "Say, I don't think I've ever said how I came to be with my speed."

            "All I know is that your Uncle Chuck and you along with a few others had some thing to do with a historic launch."

            "That's right, Sally. Uncle Chuck told what happened to us according to what he saw from that time ago. I believe he was around 28 years of age then. I was only 4."

            "Ah'm ready to hear it. Tell us exactly how you got your speed."

            "Oui. Pleaze be telling us about zeez."

            "Alright then. Get comfortable. First of all I need to point out from what I heard- this planet wasn't called Mobius 1,000s of years ago. It was Earth. Around the year 3000 in their year frame which is different from ours, there was this war, a huge war over Mars, a planet over a million miles away. A scientist named Nate Morgan had known this war was coming and took any hedgehogs he could find to place in capsules to hopefully get us away from the dreadful war ahead of us. There were 16 of us and in a shuttle known as ARC – Animal Rights Captivity and I was onboard but not in my current state. I was only 4 and not as evolved as Uncle Chuck said. The ARC blasted off but something went wrong. The shuttle malfunctioned and sent some capsules hopelessly back to Mobius falling to their doom. It was supposedly sabotaged. Anyways, 13 of the 16 capsules got sucked out after launch with only my Uncle Chuck and me with one other. My parents were gone. The sabotage also involved a lack of fuel. Fortunately, what still worked were the capsule pods that sealed us off from the dark unknown of space. I don't know how long we were out there but it's been said we gained exposure to the Chaos radiation from the war. The shuttle itself was also powered by an emerald which played a great role. It transformed me to look blue and stand upright plus the speed. From the speed I gained, I practiced upon to master it and now here I am. Uncle Chuck gained some but not as much. After 3 years of drifting, the gravity of Mobius finally caught to us and brought us back. We were exceptionally lucky to survive."

            "Wow. From what I heard, the rest of us just evolved from the natural fallout of the war. The overlanders never got Mars either. They practically blew themselves apart. Not to mention they are one of the only species to ever kill their own." Rotor stepped in.

            "WAITAMINUTE! … oh no! You're not done yet!" Sally firmly stated. "What about this 'Other'?"

            "I wish I knew. Uncle Chuck said that he may have been dark gray with hints of green and blue. He also said that he doesn't remember it crashing back into the planet, either. Right now, he's continuing his quest of trying to find mom and dad."

            "But they crashed over a decade ago. What makes him think that he'd find them alive?" Sally queries. Sonic just shrugs.

            "I wondair vair zees othair  pairson ees."

            "No idea, Ant. Good chance he's dead though."

            "Well, it's now 11:06. We should get to bed. Long day ahead of us tomorrow."

            "Aww.. But Sally!"

            "Tails, we're performing an assessment in Robotropolis to figure out what is still running.  Snively could've left some stuff running before being captured from Lighthead. We need to be on full alert." Once Sally finished her comments, the fire was extinguished and everyone made their way back to their huts.

            "So, you don't think you'll get another nightmare of the axe guy. Do ya?"

            "I certainly hope not."

The next morning turned out to be relief that Sonic slept ok as well did Tails. After a quick breakfast, each freedom fighter got onboard a craft of Rotor's for their way to Robotropolis. Once they were at their destination, the craft flared its thrusters downward to slow its descent.

            "Same ol wonderful place", Tails erratically said.

            "It will take some time to get it like the Mobotropolis we once knew." Rotor pointed out.

            "You don't think that that Lighthead person would want to use this place like Robotnik did do ya, aunt Sal?" Tails asked.

            "Well, if he does, then we'll make sure that he doesn't."

            "Actually, I doubt he'd be interested. I mean guy's a freak like Robotnik but this isn't his forte. I saw his style on that ship of his."

            "That reminds me. We need to run by that crash site as soon as we're finished here. He is gone though right? Along with the bald person with the axe?"

            "I really can't say."

            "We'll have to be cautious just in case." The gang made their way to Robotnik's former command center. The site was astonishing quiet. Sonic spoke up, "And I was wishing there'd be some swat bots to trash."

            "You'd think that Snively would've been keeping things alive around here."

            "Umm. I zeenk zat I 'ave found zomzing!" Antoine points to a gaping hole in one of the upper levels of the command center. Note: This is where Lighthead made his first appearance to Snively in HEBM 1. The freedom fighters make their way to the to the hole with Tails flying one at a time. Within the hole was not a pretty site.

            "Oh my goodness! What in the hoo ha happened here?"

            "Nicole, scan for any organic life beings other than ourselves."

ACCESSING, SALLY . . . .

                        . . . . NONE FOUND IN A 12 MILE (22 KM) RADIUS)

HOWEVER . . . SENSORS HAVE DETECTED SUPERIOR COMPUTING HARDWARE UNDERGROUND AND OTHER SENTIENT LIFE WITHIN THE PERIMETER

"Thank you, Nicole."

"What on earth does she mean by 'superior computing hardware'?"

"Got me, Sonic."

"Odd."

"Well, we should check upon what is exactly underground. We must know."

Suddenly, a noise could be heard off in the distance but not too far. "What was that?" Tails frantically asked.

            "It sounded like it came from that way." Rotor pointed down a long, dark, hallway. The noise was heard again in the form of an echo.

            "Oh man. That sounded like a growl."

            "Oh dearz, if you zeenk zat I am going down zair zen you are crazee!" There was also a series clickety clack sounds. There was then another growl. This time it was determined to be a bot with its metallic sound.

            "That's it, I'm going in to take care of this thing before matters get worse." Sonic said as he rushed down toward where the sounds were coming from."

"Sonic, no!" But it was too late. Sonic made his way to the end of the corridor and saw it was marked Corridor 7. He then listened silently to see where the noise was. Silence. This spooked him for he stood still not to move. He didn't know what he was up against but thought he could handle what it may be like anything else Robotnik would dish out. It'd just be the same as always. Trash it and run. But would this be the same? Sonic had this feeling of foreboding. There was something not quite right and he had to find out.

Finally, it happened. Out from what seemed nowhere leapt a robotic creature that had to be 12 feet high and resembled a raptor. It was a dark green and had a long tail. If not for Sonic's VERY quick reaction, he'd been sliced with its 6-inch claws but unfortunately, one of them managed to scrape his right leg. Sonic then spun around and attempted to use his spin attack upon the thing but to no avail. It was just too powerful. The bot used this opportunity to twirl its tail smacking Sonic while off guard. The bot let out another screech and went on its way up the corridor towards the other freedom fighters.

Thump Thump Thump ….

Tails turned the corner and saw the thing and gulped. Antoine tried to hide from it while Sally was configuring Nicole. Bunnie just stood and waited. Once it was at a good range, she turned around the corner and fired her pulse beam. Little effect, but noticeable. Rotor on the other hand was prepared. He took out a grenade and said, "Stand back!" During this time Sonic had just come to and figured out what was going on. Rotor threw the grenade but the bot had sentience and blocked it with it's tail sending it back to the freedom fighters. They scattered but the room was only so big. However Antoine was already running down the other direction. The bot took note of this and went after him. The grenade was a gas grenade and so the remaining freedom fighters were out for the moment. Sonic decided to take after the bot. This was his chance.

"No! I don't wont to die!" Antoine uttered as the bot inched his way closer, waving its tails side to side. But then Twan heard what he wanted to hear for nearly 30 seconds and to him it was the longest 30 seconds in his life. A sonic boom.

"Alright! Come and get me ya stupid piece of crap! Forget about him. He's not worth it!" The bot turned and growled, forgetting about Antoine. Sonic ran to lead it away from him. Sonic ran back down the corridor 7 and took a left turn into a room and pushed a button to seal a door. He was safe….for about 20 seconds. The raptor like robot made its entrance around the door.

"Alright. So much for that idea." And so he continued downward. Suddenly, down another corridor the raptor bot burst through the wall in front of Sonic's path. Forcing him to backtrack, which he wanted to do at some point to assist to rest of the freedom fighters. Unfortunately, that was not the first bot he encountered but one of many for couple others blocked his path back to the freedom fighters that were still out from the gas. He was surrounded. At first he had quite a bit a room to make his move but then there wasn't much. Finding little choice at the moment, he made his move to try and manipulate out of the crowd. He jumped high above to try to juice on the ceiling but not noticeable to him was a light that wasn't on. He tripped over it and fell back down. He didn't get that far at all. The bots began to close in.

Very soon afterwards, it sounded like he could hear footsteps rushing. If this was that bad than that had to be better he thought. And it was. "Get down while we blast these things!" Gunfire could be heard as the bots were in a barrage of it. It seemed to be their weakness.

"Whoa. You guys were great. I've never seen you before."

"I'm Warp. I'm the leader of my squad called the Freedom Force."

"What are those things?"

"Those are terrebots. There are 3 classes of them. What you faced were class 2. Class 3 being the highest. They're from an underground system called Master Mold."

"Master Mold? Sounds like some piece of bread over 1000 years old."

"It's a super sentient computer harboring all of Robotropolis. Robotnik wanted his identity to be super secretive and so kept it a secret to even Snively but what he didn't realize is that MM didn't want to serve for him forever and so only served for him when he was around. Now that he's gone, a problem arises. That's what me and the rest of the freedom force are after right now." Warp then introduces the rest of them.

"That's Skharr. He'd second in command. His robotic left eye has served us plenty of victories. He was once evil as a robotic of Robotnik but fortunately that has now changed.

"That's Z-5000, a robot created by Zartok, a deceased member of the freedom force. We use it to hack into Robotnik's laboratory when we need to. However it's very likely to encounter terrebots."

"I don't get it. I've never seen them before and I've been fighting against Robotnik for the longest time until he was vanquished."

"Yes. We know. We've heard about you. You are with Princess Sally I believe."

"Yeah. Oh, that reminds me her and few others were gassed from a grenade Rotor threw." Sonic then lead Warp and the others to where the freedom fighters were. It wasn't too long until they came to. After they did, Warp explained everything he had just said to Sonic.

"So where did you come from? What brought you to organize a force together?" Sally curiously asked.

"I'm from the jungle of Mfshsaki and got to be as an experiment from Dr Lighthead. I managed to escape and was able to keep my ability of warping. I can warp about to anywhere of a 50 foot radius."

"Yeah. Me and my bud Knux were on his ship just a week ago."

"Oh is that right? You may want to stay away from him at all costs. He's a very powerful person long with his main guard and Gore. I noticed how his ship of the Supremor crashed. That was good. But I'm very sure he'll be back for revenge of that. Be very careful with him."

"Do you know anything else about him?"

"Not that much. His lightbulb is what I've always assumed to be his way of power but I could be wrong. It seems to always act like a brain of its own."

"Alright then.We'll keep that in mind."

"Its been a pleasure meeting you, princess." With that said, Warp departs with his team and heads off. "We better get out of here before more of them arrive." Sally eagerly rushed everyone to the craft. Luckily, there weren't anymore around at the time. Rotor initiates the thrusters as the craft ascents up in the atmosphere. "Ok, Rotor. Next stop the crash site of the Supremor."

*              *             *

Meanwhile… about 93 million miles away on a ship to the sun, it is far too bright and hot for any normal living being to bear. This was a place only restricted to those that could and these people were known as Lighgretronians. Lighthead's ship entered through the corona atmosphere and onto the sun itself, deep within the sun. Fellow Lighretronians were there to greet their new king and to give certain recognition to Gore. However, Lighthead was FAR from being thrilled and instead had a grim facial expression. He made his way down below the surface of the sun into the interior.

"I'm fed up with them Gore. I can't stop thinking of them."

"You mean those freedom fighters? They're dead though."

"No, they aren't. I can feel it. I know they escaped. I want revenge and I won't rest until I get it."

"And how do you plan to get this revenge?"

"One word, Gore.

"Yeah?"

"RSupremor."

At first Gore could just do nothing but stare in awe of what his boss meant but then Gore knew exactly.

            "The RSupremor has all the necessities. It has C.H.A.O.S, Robotar will be upgraded."

            "But the last time we used the RSupremor was when the Star X Conquerors came. Do we really need to use that on them? What possible threat are they and how would we even eliminate them? By blasting their planet to oblivion?"

            "Well, Gore if that's what it takes than so be it. I've learned my mistake. That planet has clouds and they were blocking Lighgretron's rays. This time we won't go into the atmosphere. This time, we will test the newly constructed black hole cannon sending them into the realm of the Star X Conquerors. I feel that that is a worthy enough punishment of the destruction of the original Supremor."

            "But they aren't even fully responsible for that. Do you also plan to steal the Master Emerald?"

            "Perhaps, Gore and no. I've no need for that. Now that the Supremor is destroyed, I've no need to get it. Lighgretron will be the primary source for power of the RSupremor and I won't those inhabitants vanquished, even if it takes total annihilation of the planet.

"My plan is this Gore. I won't those beings on that ship. I want them to feel the power of it and when the time is right, make them watch the destruction of their planet. If this is not achieved, then they will be subject for the black hole cannon."

"And how do we get them on the ship?"

"Very simple, they'll notice and they'll come." Lighthead and Gore make their way into the core of the sun where the RSupremor is stored. The RSupremor basically IS the core of the sun to their knowledge and was created for one purpose. And that was to defend Lighgretron from the attack of the Star X Conquerors. These beings go from star to star invading it, absorbing its light energy and swiftly moving to the next. At one time they did invade but were caught off guard of the Supremor's power. It has not been known if they were to come again for it has been sometime. About 4500 years. And since then, the RSupremor was constructed in case they would come again. But now it will serve a new purpose. A purpose to not only eliminate life but eliminate life of pure innocence.

*              *             *

"That's it Sally," Sonic pointed to the wrecked Supremor. The craft slowly descends once again to let the curious freedom fighters assess some more to their benefit little did they know what hidden surprises lay within. It site was enormous. The debris was scattered for miles and the main part of it was still in tact partly with some loose parts here and there. The site of it was unbelievable as this was the site of a ship that used to have the capability to nearly takeout a planet. However it does not have that potential at this point.

There was also much debate on whether to go inside or not. Sally stressed a risk factor involved but with an ok from Rotor after an analysis check, she changed her mind to let them in.

"You'll want to take these." Rotor held up about a dozen handheld sensors. "These will help us if we get lost." "Alright then. Lets get going!" Tails easily discovered an opening and so the all six freedom fighters entered the abandoned, crashed ship.

"Man.. This place is dark."

"Hmm… if we plan to cover the entire ship, we should split up into two groups. Bunnie, Antoine… you'll be coming with me. Sonic, Tails and Rotor will be ther other group." Sally said as she gave a communicator device to Sonic.

"And we will rendezvous back at the craft in 2 hours and 30 minutes."

"Alright Sal. Good luck in doing whatever you plan to find."

"Ah yes. This mission is just a mere assessment. If you find something useful, let me know what it is and I'll tell you whether we should keep it or not. Oh and Rotor, we'll each need sic sensors six sensors."

And with that said, the freedom fighters split up to look over the Supremor in full."

*              *             *

Meanwhile back in the core of the sun….

"Dr Lighthead! Dr Lighthead! The RSupremor is finally finished after all these days!"

"Excellent news, Orlo." Orlo was a small little man with hardly any legs and with a head cover and knack to build things or invent things. He was also known to some as the Evil Inventor.

"For you efforts, Orlo, I'm going to promote you and I may need your help once more so I'm welcoming you to whatever you hold dear to the RSupremor."

"Did you ever obtain the Master Emerald from the that 3rd planet?"

"No… I ran across some problems when trying to get it with the Supremor. It rejected it plus I lost the Supremor after being in the planet's atmosphere for too long. PLUS.. there were these saplings that did not wish for the emerald to be taken away."

"As annoying as it may sound, Lighthead, but WE MUST have that emerald."

"Why is that?"

"Because the fate of Lighgretron may depend on it. Remember the Star X Conquerors? Just recently, we have received word that they are making preparations for another invasion upon us with a coalition of unimaginable sorts. We need that emerald to fully power the RSupremor."

"Dammit. Can it be used without the gem?"

"Yes, but not nearly as efficient. You must get that gem this time around or we could have serious trouble, master Lighthead."

"I see. I may need your help though. But couldn't we just goto another planet for an emerald?"

"Nope. Not the kind we want. However, I will more than obliged to help you." Dr Lighthead makes final preparations for an assault on a quest of the Master Chaos Emerald back upon the planet Mobius."

*          *          *

"Find anything yet, Sonic?" Sally asked into her com unit.

"Nope, not yet. I'll let ya know when we do." Sonic, Tails and Rotor searched going down a corridor looking for anything they think could be of use. A sound was then heard, causing slight panic as all three shined their flash light in the direction. It was only a creek. But that still didn't satisfy them but they ignored it and went on.

"Dammit, it's locked. Rotor… if you please." Rotor attached an explosive on the door and signaled everyone to get back, and within the 10 seconds, they broke their way through.

"This is Sonic to Sally, we have found a door unwilling to open, you may find yourselves using a few explosives."

"Alright then. Do you know if there is anyway to get power through this thing?"

"I doubt it, Sal. It was crushed after impact. I don't think there is a way to get power back on at all now to think."

"Drat, I guess we'll just have to continue what we're doing. We may want to head back then before we find ourselves lost."

"Where are you?"

"A giant room with some odd technology in the center. Almost like a futuristic robotizicer."

Sonic automatically knew where that was. "No, that's ok Sal. I know where you are. You're in the former Lighgrecizer room."

"What?!"

"It's a thing that can turn flesh and blood into light and energy."

"If it's ok with y'all, I want to join back up. This place is just too creepy fo' me."

"Alright then. I'll give you directions. Go back out the way you came in and then turn right down the corridor." Sally's team do as instructed and await. Sonic then spoke into his com unit again, "Then make a left down the other corridor and keep going until you see a flare to your right." "Wait, how far will we know to go after… AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Sonic, Tails and Rotor's eyes widen with horror with thoughts and disturbances rushing through their head. Sonic then dashes off to see what had happened, running at full speed. Once he got to the site he somehow got an idea of what happened. There was dust everywhere and he couldn't see because of it. He stayed cautious since he didn't know where with the floor caved in or if something above caved in on top of them or near them.

Desperately, Sonic cried out, "Is everyone ok?!"

No answer…

"Is everyone ok?!!!" louder this time…

Still no answer…

Rotor and Tails caught up and saw Sonic. "Oh my" was Rotor's first reaction. "The floor must've fallen through." "We.. we have to rescue them! They still might be alive!"

"If you want, I could fly down there."

"No Tails, it's too dangerous. We don't know how stable this is anymore." Rotor takes his backpack off and takes out a grappling hook. Tails took it and tied it onto a nearby pipe running perpendicular to the floor. After the dust cleared, Sonic repelled down to be floor below and to an astonishing sight, there was another cave in. They had fallen two floors. After then reaching the 2nd floor below, Sonic signaled Tails to come down. Rotor decided to stay put.

While Sonic and Tails searched for Sally, Bunnie and Antoine, Rotor's ears caught the sound of help not coming from where Sonic and Tails were but down the corridor. Curious, Rotor grabbed Sonic's com unit he forgot behind when repelling down. "This is Rotor, I'm on to something up here. I can here someone crying out for help." Sonic and Tails heard the transmission from Sally's unit and instantly knew where they were from where the sound was coming from. Sonic grabbed the other com unit, "Ok then. Just be careful."

"Roger."

Bunnie was among the first to wake up. "What in the hooha happened? Feels like Ah've been socked by a 1000 swatbots." Her robotic appendages served their purpose wll after the fall. She had a cut along her right arm and a gash in the forehead, but not that severe. "The floor must've caved in from us." Was Sonic's reply. "Your're lucky."

"Hey, Sonic, I've found Sally and Antoine…"

"Yeah and..?"

"… Doesn't look good."

Sonic dashed over to see who the young 10 year old fox was referring to. He exlected the absolute worse but luck again was at their side. They both were still alive.

"Oh, Sonic.. I thought I was dead once the floor started to collapse. But somehow I landed in this crack in the wall avoiding much of the debris. Unfortunately for Antoine it's a whole different story." Sonic then knew who Tails was referring to. Antoine had suffered from a great deal of the debris that which he landed on and landed on him. He was unconscious but still alive bleeding from his head profusively. They just didn't know for how long he had.

"Rotor, Antoine is in critical condition and we're going to need to get him out of here ASAP!" "I've located where the source is and I'm going to… GASP HOLY CRAP!" Rotor dropped his com unit. "ROTOR! WHAT IS IT!?!" What Rotor said next gave Sonic and Tails a new feeling to the term spooky.

"Please, Freedom Fighter! Rotor! Help me!"

"It's… it's … Snively.. and he's still alive!" Indeed. He was still alive after the crash AND Gore's windmill throwing star.

"Holeeee…"

"Exactly. I'll get Snively out while you guys go get Antoine."

"Sounds like a plan to me. We'll meet you at the ship in 5. Y'know the way, right? Just follow the signals from the sensors."

"Yeah."

"Alright. Over and out." It was decided that Tails should fly Antoine who had the most severe injuries back up to the floor they originally started out from since they could follow the sensors that were placed on that floor. After Tails had Antoine back on the main floor, he went back for Sally and finally Sonic.

Rotor was the first one out. He secured Snively within the ship and assured him he'd be okay once they arrived Knothole. The thought of leaving him behind did cross Rotor's mind numerous times but that would be sinking to a low level just as Snively's uncle. Two minutes later Sonic came juicing out with Antoine in horrible condition with Tails, Sally and Bunnie closely behind. They boarded the ship they used to come assess the Supremor and Robotropolis. They had an exuberant day and hectic day. The ship blasted from underneath and they started off back to knothole.

"I thought you said it'd be safe to explore, Rotor." Sally glared in Rotor's direction.

"Yes, I did. We all make mistakes. I apologize for the inaccuracy."

"Well, you shouldn't make mistakes that nearly cost someone's life. I may have no choice but to have you removed from such a life-threatening mistake. As of now NO ONE AT ALL has permission to venture off to that thing. Is that clear?" Everyone nodded.

Within minutes they reached Knothole. Antoine and Snively were rushed to the infirmary where Dr Quack took over. Snively was the one with a major question mark.

"How did Snively survive all that?" Tails eagerly asked.

"I have no idea, big guy. I guess we'll find out eventually." After 3 long hours Dr Quack came out to share more news. "I have good news and bad news. Antoine is doing fine however Snively, will not make it UNLESS… he is roboticized immediately. And since his past is grim, I have a feeling that roboticizing him won't be an option."

"That's correct, Dr Quack. We don't need a mechanized Snively. He'll just have to suffer."

*          *          *

"Gore meet me in main control room within the RSupremor. It's almost time. Orlo is coming with us to make sure everything runs smoothly. The RSupremor includes C.H.A.O.S (Cyber Holistic Advancement Onboard Supremor) which is the main security system. Robotar and I will meet you on it."

"I hear ya, boss."

"And this time we'll get that Master Emerald!"