A month later

Sonic the Hedgehog flew to Angel Island with his friend, Tails, riding on Tails' mech. Knuckles greeted them.

"We got a letter from the president. He is holding a thank-you party for us. Do you want to go?"

"A party sounds like fun!" said Sonic. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" cheered Tails. Knuckles glided alongside the mech as they took off.

They soon landed near the center of the city. Food was already set up, and there was a band playing. A huge banner hung overhead saying: THANK YOU HEROES. Amy and Rouge were already there.

"Come on, let's try out the food!" said Knuckles excitedly. They spread out through the growing crowd, sampling every food table and signing autographs. Two hours later, the president quietly asked them if they would make a speech. They agreed. Sonic stepped up to the front of the stage above all the food tables.

"Ladies and gentlemen..." he began.

"I'd like to thank you..." Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion not too far off. Many people in the audience screamed.

Knuckles looked around. "What was that?"

"Let's find out what happened!" exclaimed Tails, pulling Sonic away from the stage. The audience cheered as they ran off to the site of the explosion. The president and his armed bodyguards followed them.

At the explosion site, they found nothing more that a huge crater about 300 feet across and ten feet deep.

"What happened here?" wondered Rouge.

"This was the site of a major research lab!" cried the president. "The laboratory, Secluded Experiment Conduction and Research of Extra Terrestrials (S.E.C.R.E.T.) had just found something from outer space! Now we'll never know what it was!"

"Hmmm... I wonder who did it, and why," mused Knuckles.

"Let's see if there were any witnesses!" said Sonic.

"I doubt it, with an explosion this large," said Knuckles.

They started looking anyway. Pretty soon they found a tourist with a camera, who had actually taken a picture of the explosion. He was very excited to be part of the investigation.

"I'll show you! Luckily I had an instant camera, here it is! Such an honor to meet you!" Sonic quickly shook the nut's hand and looked at the picture. He saw a large fireball in the center and people running away screaming. But near the edge he saw a figure staring at the scene. He was smiling.

"Who's that?" asked Rouge. "The rest of him is in the shadows."

"I can't tell. It could be Eggman...it could be Metal Sonic..." said Tails. The president came over to look.

"Why Sonic, it looks like...you," said the president quietly.

"That can't be. I was at the speech, remember?"

"I know. But there're only two people in the world who look like you. Metal Sonic...and Shadow." said the president.

"Shadow's dead." said Sonic flatly.

"Good point. Let's look for Metal Sonic then." said Knuckles. "Where should we start?"

"I bet if Metal Sonic did it, he's still around here somewhere," said Sonic. They spread out to search.

Knuckles was near the far side of the crater when he found a footprint on the otherwise untouched ground. "Over here!" he said. Everyone gathered around the footprint. It was about the same size as Sonic's.

"Sonic were you over here?" asked Tails.

"No," said Sonic. Then Sonic spotted some movement in the bushes that weren't blasted. He thought, you never know what could be in there, so he leapt upon the bushes, crashing into something hard.

"Sonic!" Amy screamed. "What are you doing?"

"Gotcha!" cried Sonic, and he shoved the branches away to reveal... Metal Sonic.

"Ah HA!" exclaimed Knuckles. "And what might you be doing here?"

"Watching you look around for the wrong guy," said Metal Sonic flatly.

"So you're saying you didn't blow this up...a likely story!" huffed the president.

"Couple of things wrong with your theories..." Metal Sonic snatched the photograph. "One... in case you hadn't noticed, I'm incapable of smiling. My joints weren't designed for emotional display. Two... the sun is shining over this guy's face, but do you see it reflecting? No, because his face isn't made of metal. Three, if I had perpetuated the crime, would you expect me to hang around, much less watch it happen? Last... My eyes are black and red, not white and red like in the photo." He stopped and looked up and them, waiting for them to acknowledge his logic. Sonic still held him down, but gritted his teeth. He knew Metal Sonic was right.

The president sighed. "Let him go...we have...no proof." Sonic reluctantly released his grip, and Metal Sonic flipped upright. "By the way...I did see someone running off."
Sonic grabbed him again. "Who? Tell me!"

Metal Sonic snickered. "Wouldn't you like to know. I heard him saying something about ARK..." And before they could get anymore out of him, he wrenched out of Sonic's grip and sped off along the street. One of the bodyguards attempted to chase him, but he was too fast.

"Great..." said Tails. "Well, at least now we know where to look..."

"There's no time to lose, we have to find out who did this!" said Rouge.

"All right, let's go!" said Knuckles.

"What about me?" asked Amy.

"You stay here," ordered Sonic. "This could be dangerous."

"Awwww..." But Amy stayed and watched them sadly as they climbed into Tails' mech and flew off.