Through the dense foliage of the nearby woods, the prisoners continued to run, even as the sounds of the prison's sirens faded to nothing. They ran and ran, until finally they emerged into a clearing, where an Eggman Empire transport ship was waiting. They hesitated, before realising that the Eggman insignia had been crossed out, and replaced with the emblem of the Kingdom of Acorn.

"Over here!" Chuck called out as he spotted the escapees. He waved them over, flanked by members of the Knothole Resistance armed with Wispons. "Where are the others?" he asked as Bunnie and Mina walked up.

"We ran into a couple-a problems," Bunnie said, unloading the prisoners she was carrying. Hamlin began ushering the prisoners onto the ship. "Thunderbolt caught up to us, and Rotor's fightin' her off on his own!"

"That's not good. We should back him up." He looked over Bunnie's shoulder. "And what about Antoine and the princess?"

"Ash was taken somewhere else," Mina said dejectedly. "They went to look for him. I told them they didn't have to, but…"

Chuck sighed, running a hand through his spines. "That girl. Well, I can understand not wanting to leave anyone behind, but still…"

"We'll go back Rotor up," Bunnie said, drawing a surprised look from Mina. "We got the prisoners back here safely, so now we can go help him out! Right?"

Mina grinned. "Right!"

"Now hold on, you two," Chuck began, "Thunderbolt's no pushover."

"All the more reason we gotta help him!" Bunnie argued.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't, but you can't just go rushing in there, either. You need a plan."

"Well, what're ya suggestin'?"

Chuck hummed as he tried to put together a plan. "Maybe I can suggest something," a voice called out. The group turned to find somebody in a brown cloak approaching them, a yellow-furred mongoose behind her.

"Ash?!" Mina asked with a gasp, running to check that it was really him. "Ash, you're safe!"

"You need a distraction, and I've got the perfect thing," the cloaked figure announced with a toothy grin.

Shadow was relentless in his chase, throwing Chaos Spears and smashing through doors, and even walls, to reach his prey. Even Eggman's robots weren't safe from his rampage; if they were in his way, he would trash them and keep up his pursuit.

The only advantage that Sally and Antoine had was the ability to split up, forcing Shadow to split his attention and allowing the other a chance to stage an ambush, usually knocking Shadow down, or even out of a window, but no matter how many times they gave him the slip, he would find his way back to them soon after.

"This is hopeless!" Antoine cried as the two entered what seemed to be a control room. He drew his sabre and cut through the robots manning the computers as Sally closed the door behind them, locking it just as Shadow began banging against it. "How long will eet hold?"

"If this is the control room, it should be strong," Sally said, before another bang sounded, and a sizeable dent appeared on the door. "But then he is the 'Ultimate Lifeform'."

"Zere is no other way out!" Antoine reported, trembling as he faced one of the surveillance monitors that showed Shadow right outside. He punched the door again, this time making it creak. "We are ze sitting ducks!"

"Look around! There must be a vent in here or something!"

"A vent, of course! We must search!"

"Sally, plug me into that station!" Nicole called out.

Sally looked around, her eyes settling on a terminal with a port for external devices. "What's your plan?"

"Whatever it is, please be getting on with eet!" Antoine pleaded as he scoured every inch of the room.

Sally nodded, and plugged her handheld into the terminal. The lights in the room went out for just a moment, and then the monitors were all replaced with static. "What's happening?" Sally asked.

"I'm hacking into the facility's systems! If I can find the find the Robot Override Protocol, I can shut down all of Eggman's robots in the prison!"

"That would certainly give us some breathing room, but what about Shadow?"

The screen on the handheld showed a frowny face. "Well, there's something I can do, but you would still need to find a way out of this room."

"Princess! Look at zis!" Sally turned around to find Antoine standing above a crate full of weapons. Laser blasters, rocket launchers and grenades, the types used by Eggman's badniks. "Zis should prove useful for holding 'im off!"

Sally grinned. "Nice! Place a grenade by the door and rig it to go off as soon as it opens!" She watched Antoine get to work, and turned back to the monitor to find Nicole still sweeping through the facility's database. "After that, grab a couple of those launchers! They should prove useful in getting out of here!"

The static on the monitors ended, replaced with images of Nicole's smiling face. "Okay, I'm in! Just retrieving the password! … Eggman… Well, I guess it's easy to remember."

Another bang at the door, and one of the hinges came loose, causing Antoine to shriek and almost drop the grenade in his hand.

"Okay, I've shut down the robots! Just gotta do one more thing…"

Antoine returned to the crate and picked up one of the rocket launchers, strapping it to his back. He also handed one to Sally, and then looked up at the ceiling. "Zere! Ze way out!"

Another bang at the door, this one causing a sizeable dent. "Nicole, hurry!"

The face on the monitor turned to sweat drops. "I'm trying, but the connection here is so bad!"

"Princess, we must go!" Antoine cried as he removed the grate.

"Okay! Let's go!" Nicole cried, and Sally scooped her up immediately. She climbed into the vent, Antoine following behind her and closing it behind them. He waited for Sally to move some distance away, and then pulled the pin off of another grenade, leaving it at the entrance and scrambling to get away.

The door flew open, crashing against the opposite wall, and as Shadow took one step inside, the grenade that was rigged went off. Not long after, the grenade in the vent exploded, too. Sally and Antoine could feel the rumbling, but had thankfully made it far enough to be safe.

"There should be a way into the courtyard up ahead," Sally said. "From there, we'll blast our way out of here and catch up with the others."

Thunderbolt screamed as she fired a bolt of electricity at the walrus, who created a void to shield himself. She roared, and fired another bolt, only for the same thing to happen again. She stomped her foot, angrily yelling, "Stop doing that! I'm trying to fry you!"

"That's the point!" Rotor returned. He could feel the Wispon getting hotter and could hear the ragged breaths from within. It had been badly damaged from the blast, but the tired Wisp hopped back inside anyway, wanting to help however he could. "Sorry, little fella, but try to hold on a little longer," he whispered, patting the device.

The Wisp inside made a sound of 'I'll try', and Rotor fired another void to shield from another barrage of lightning. Thunderbolt screamed again in frustration, and he took the chance to make some ground. This was his plan – take advantage of Thunderbolt's short fuse to gain ground every time she stopped to have a fit. Just a few more, and he'll be able to strike her directly!

"Then try this!" Thunderbolt unleashed three bolts of lightning this time. Rotor stopped and fired three voids, but only two of them opened. The third collapsed as the Wispon overheated, forcing him to drop it to the ground. Before the lightning could hit, he swiftly dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding a grim fate.

"HAH! I've got you now!" Thunderbolt fired another bolt of lightning, and Rotor took cover behind a tree. The tree was charred and felled by the force of the blast, and Rotor was left exposed once more. Another bolt, that Rotor just about avoided with a fake-out that threw off Thunderbolt's aim.

"I can't keep this up," Rotor muttered to himself. He decided his only plan was a desperation tactic – charge Thunderbolt directly and hope for the best.

Thunderbolt grinned as she saw the walrus approaching. "Your funeral, buddy!" She charged a bolt that would be fired directly at him, but a sudden purple mass in her face surprised her. "What?! Get off of me!"

Rotor gasped as he watched Thunderbolt discharge the electricity she had been building into the Void Wisp, causing it to faint and fall to the ground. "NO!" he yelled, gaining speed and tackling Thunderbolt before she could charge another attack.

Thunderbolt bit into Rotor's arm, causing him to shriek in pain. He grabbed the back of her collar, trying to pull her off, but she discharged electricity directly into him, causing him to let go and fall to the ground, twitching.

She spat as she let go of his arm and rose to her feet, dusting herself off. "How dare you dirty the clothes Lord Eggman gave me?! You'll pay for that!"

Before she could make good on her word, she spotted a ship flying in the air above, heading towards the prison. "Oh no! The prisoners!" Thunderbolt charged electricity and fired it at the ship, causing it to fall out of the sky and crash towards the ground. "HAHAHAHAHAHAH! NOBODY LEAVES LORD EGGMAN'S PRISON! NOBODY!"

"'Cept us."

Thunderbolt gasped as she was suddenly pushed to the ground and pinned down by somebody's foot. She tried to bite into it, but found that it was metallic! "OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!"

"Sorry hun, you ain't zappin' me the way you did mah friend," Bunnie said, scowling at the Chinchilla struggling on the ground.

Nearby, Ash and Chuck were helping Rotor to his feet, whilst Mina scooped up the downed Wisp. "Y-You guys, what are you doing?!" Rotor demanded, furious at his friends. "You sacrificed the transport ship to-"

"We didn't sacrifice anything," Chuck said. "Come, the ship is ready to leave!"

"But, the ship just-"

"That was just a decoy," Mina told him. "We had a second ship. There was only one person inside."

"Who?" Rotor asked. "And where did you get a second ship?"

"I helped myself to it, while you guys were keeping the warden busy," the cloaked figure said as she approached the group. She looked down at Thunderbolt. "It's way past your bedtime, kid."

"Kid?! How dare you?! Who do you think you-" Thunderbolt's tirade was interrupted by a sudden chop to the neck, and she fell limp on the ground.

"Did you jus'-" Bunnie began.

"She's only unconscious," the figure said. "Come now, let's go. Your other friends still need help!"

Sally and Antoine exited the vents, jumping down into the courtyard below. As Nicole said, the robots prowling the facility were all offline. This was their chance! All they had to do was blast a hole through one of the walls, and run.

Except that, before they could do anything, they saw Shadow approaching them from the prison's entrance. "Zut alors! Does nothing stop zis man?!"

"Let's see!" Sally aimed her rocket launcher at the hedgehog, and fired. She grunted at the recoil, and Antoine watched with bated breath as the rocket zoomed towards Shadow.

Shadow simply dodged out of the way, continuing his approach as though nothing happened, even as the rocket exploded behind him. "Guys, run!" Nicole shouted, assuming her hologram form so that she could point towards a gate at the other end of the courtyard.

"But that's-" Sally began.

"It'll be fine! I deactivated the safeguard!"

Sally nodded, tossing away the spent launcher and grabbing Antoine's wrist. "Let's go!"

"Oui!"

The two ran as fast as they could, making use of whatever they could to slow Shadow down. Throwing the inactive robots in his path, dropping smoke bombs, even having Nicole try to stop him by blocking his path, but it seemed the hedgehog remembered that trick from last time and simply ran right through her holographic body.

"We're almost there!" Sally cried, not daring to look back as she could practically feel Shadow's cold grip on the back of her neck.

"My legs are burning!"

"Fight through it, Antoine! Just a little more!"

"You can't escape!" Shadow told them, forming a Chaos Spear in his hand. The two passed through the gate, exiting the courtyard and leaving the facility altogether. "Hmph! Chaos…" As Shadow passed through the gate, he was stopped. A sudden, violent surge of electricity surged through his body, lighting the whole area around them.

Sally and Antoine stopped, breathing heavily as they watched. "What is…" Antoine got out, but he could barely form a complete question.

"That's… the security… system…" Sally answered through pants. "But I don't…"

"Allow me," Nicole said, a proud smile on her face. "The security system is designed to fry any unauthorised people who pass through with ten thousand volts of electricity. I simply reversed it, so that it'll hit anybody who is authorised."

Sally and Antoine started laughing, though only softly. "N-Nice one, Nicole," Sally said, raising her fist. Nicole gently brought hers in, simulating a fist bump between the two of them.

As the electricity died down, Shadow was left kneeling on the ground, smoke rising from his body. He raised his head, glaring at the two of them. His body glowed red…

"Chaos…"

Sally's smile quickly became a frown. "Antoine, we gotta run!"

"I can't, Princess… Ma legs, zey are jelly…"

"BLAST!"

The two covered their eyes as a huge blast knocked down the gate, and created a smouldering crater with Shadow in the centre. As the dust settled, Shadow walked towards the two. Antoine pulled out rocket launcher and aimed, but before he could fire, Shadow was already in front of him, knocking the weapon out of his hands.

"Sacré-" Antoine fell onto his back, and Shadow stomped a foot onto his chest, keeping him pinned.

"ANTOINE!" Sally charged Shadow, bringing out her energy blades, but in her state, he was able to easily grab her by the wrist and throw her aside. Then, he produced a Chaos Spear and aimed it down at Antoine's face. "DON'T!"

Antoine squirmed, trying to get free, but he was too weak. He reached for his sabre and attempted to swing it at Shadow, but he could not get a good enough angle to swing with any sort of force. He was likely only tickling the hedgehog at best.

He looked up at his assailant, and noticed the morning sun beginning to rise behind them. With a gasp, he positioned his sabre so that the light would reflect into Shadow's eyes. As Shadow winced and raised a hand to cover his eyes, Antoine felt his foot lift slightly, and used the chance to push up, throwing Shadow off his balance. From there, he swept Shadow's feet, reversing the situation so that he was on his feet, and Shadow was on his back.

"Take zis!" He drove his sabre down, but it was caught by Shadow's hands. He tried to push it, but the hedgehog was fighting back.

"Keep him down!" Sally shouted as she rushed in.

Shadow grunted, pushing his head up and pulling legs in. He entered a spindash, causing Antoine to lose his grip and throwing the sabre to the side. He then propelled forwards, into Antoine's stomach, winding the coyote.

As he unrolled, he turned and parried the princess' attack, delivering a blow to her stomach, too. With both opponents dazed, he created two Chaos Spears.

"Sorry, but not today."

Shadow gasped, turning around only to be met by a boot to his face that sent him flying back.

Sally looked up, seeing a figure in a brown cloak standing above her. She couldn't make out anything other than the red tail coming from the back of the cloak. The figure leaned down and scooped Sally up in one arm, and it was then that Sally noticed her saviour was attached to a rope.

"Get the other one," the mysterious person said as she pulled her rope. Suddenly, the two were being pulled upwards, and Sally could see the ship they had prepared to transport the prisoners flying above them.

Bunnie helped Antoine to his feet. "Up an' at 'em, soldier!"

"M-Ma sabre…"

Bunnie found the weapon lying on the ground, and extended her arm to grab it. "Ah got it, don't you worry none." As she handed it back to Antoine, she also spotted the orange rocket launcher, also resting the ground. She grabbed it, and then activated the jets in her feet to carry Antoine up to the ship.

Shadow activated his own jets to give chase, only to be intercepted by a sudden warping of space brought on by Rotor's Wispon. He was trapped in a void, unable to move as his targets escaped. Helpless, he could only watch as the ship flew away, and by the time the void went away, it was too far for him to give chase.

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Mina cried, smothering Ash with hugs while her Wispon tried to join in. Tears streamed down her eyes, but she smiled as she felt her boyfriend return her affections.

"I'm glad you're okay, too. I knew you'd do something crazy to try to rescue me…"

Mina simply laughed at that. "Well, it's what he would do…"

"You alright there, buddy?" Rotor asked his Void Wisp, who was resting on the floor. It gave a tired nod, sighing as it nestled into a comfy state and fell asleep. "Heh. Sorry to put you through that after so much. Rest up, you deserve it."

Meanwhile, Sally approached her mysterious saviour, who had removed her hood to reveal her face. She was a red-furred fox, wearing a yellow bow in her long hair. "You're F.F., yes?"

The fox grinned. "Fiona Fox. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Princess." She gave an exaggerated bow. "I hadn't intended to reveal myself so soon, but you really took me by surprise with this raid."

"You've been watching us?" Rotor asked. "And sending us intel anonymously. Why?"

"I wanted to be sure you were worth joining up with. Many Resistance branches crumble before they even rescue one person." She gave a shrug and sighed. "Fighting for freedom's good and all, but there's no point in putting yourself in with the losers."

"Kind of an… odd approach to freedom fighting," Sally said, her arms crossed. She tried to keep her tone light, mostly out of exhaustion, but also out of gratitude for saving their lives.

"Princess, she is ze one who got Ash out of ze prison," Antoine said. "She told me to go and back you up."

"Thanks for that," Ash said, approaching the group with Mina clinging to his arm. "And thanks for going to such lengths to rescue me, even if it meant jeopardising your mission."

"Kid, you were the mission," Uncle Chuck said. "All of you were. Leaving behind even one of you would've meant the mission failed."

Sally nodded. "That's how things work in the Knothole Resistance. No one gets left behind."

"And it's exactly that type of attitude that sets you apart," Fiona said. "That's why I want to join you guys. You might just be what I was looking for."

"And what's that?" Rotor asked.

"I'd prefer to keep that to myself, at least for now. You do need all the help you can get, don't you?"

"Well, we do need more hands, but are you sure?" Sally asked. "We're cut off from the other Resistance branches, and we're under-resourced."

"About that, Princess," Chuck said, "I got word from Hamlin just before I left Freedom HQ. We've made contact with another Resistance Branch."

Eggman tapped his foot impatiently, examining the damage done to his lovely prison facility. Thunderbolt knelt before him, waiting silently for her retribution. "Thunderbolt, maybe you can answer a riddle for me."

"Y-Yes, Doctor?"

"When a general is given the most advanced weapons in the world, armed with the knowledge of the greatest man in the world, and is in charge of an impenetrable fortress, how is it that that general can fall to a group of teenagers from a forgotten era playing hero?"

"Um… Maybe we have a spy leaking our information?"

"No. Try again."

"M-Maybe they're more organised than we thought?"

Eggman stomped his foot in front of Thunderbolt's face, startling her. "One more try."

"M-Maybe it's… the general's fault?"

Eggman grinned. "So you can get there in the end. I did the liberty of examining your control room. Why is the password to this facility's entire security network simply my name?

"Because it's the greatest name in the world!"

"That may be, but it's not secure!" Eggman picked up Thunderbolt by the back of her collar and brought their faces together, glaring directly into her eyes. "Why do you have scheduled naptimes when you should be monitoring the fort 24/7?!"

"I-I-I need breaks to r-r-recharge…"

"And why, for the love of all things evil, did you not fortify the sewage system?! That's infiltration tactics 101!"

"But it smeeeeeeeelled!" Thunderbolt cried, her face white as Eggman's glare only worsened. "I'm sorry, Lord Eggman! I swear, I won't mess up again!"

"I doubt it, but it doesn't matter!" He threw Thunderbolt aside, and she was caught by Shadow. "Count your blessings, though. I can't kill you; I'm understaffed as it is."

"O-Oh, I see. Well, thank you, sir! You are truly the greatest, most benevolent-"

"Save it, I'm not in the mood. Instead, I'm demoting you, and placing you under a general who might be able to whip you into shape."

Thunderbolt's ears folded against her head. "W-Who?"

"Her." Eggman pointed to a green pronghorn, who was surveying the sight and relaying orders to robots. Another pronghorn – though this one appeared to be a robot – stood beside her with a clipboard, writing stuff down. "Clove, come here and say 'hello' to your new underling!"

Clove turned around, approaching Eggman. The robotic-looking pronghorn followed. Clove's face was deadly serious as she stared at the chinchilla. "You're the ex-warden here?"

Thunderbolt felt her rage building already at the way this newcomer addressed her. "Doctor, surely you're not serious! You're giving my job to this, this… wannabe?!"

Clove sighed. "So you're going to be a handful, I see." She extended her hand. "I'm Clove the Pronghorn."

Thunderbolt simply huffed, refusing to shake her hand. However, the robotic pronghorn pulled her into, smiling sweetly as she looked between the two. "Come on now, you two! Let's all get along, if we're gonna be working together!" She turned to Thunderbolt. "My name's Cassia! I'm Clove's younger sister. Nice to meet you!"

"I'll leave you to it then, Clove." Eggman turned to leave, but stopped to say one final thing. "I'm sure, for your sister's sake, that you'll provide me with much better results than the catastrophe that happened here."

Clove saluted. "I won't let you down, sir."

Sally, Nicole, Antoine, Rotor, Bunnie and Chuck assembled at Freedom HQ's meeting room, after having settled the rescued prisoners into some rooms, and ensuring that everybody was okay. Hamlin and Doctor Quack were already there, waiting at a computer monitor.

"We managed to extend the range with the Chaos Emerald," Doctor Quack said, "But we still had to limit it to avoid being detected. We could only reach the Downunda branch."

"Put them through," Sally said, and Hamlin pressed a series of keys. Soon, static showed on the monitor, and then the image cleared, revealing an orange-furred echidna on the other side.

"Is this the Downunda Resistance that we've reached?" Sally asked.

"It is," the echidna said, though the voice was crackly. "I've been made aware of your situation, and I'll try to answer whatever questions you have. My name is Shade the Echidna. It is a privilege to make your acquaintance, Princess."