A rumbling sound echoed throughout the hills, it sounded like real loud thunder. Sonic could feel the heat from the dragon's robotic muzzle. Then there was a sudden explosion that roared through the air. For a second time this day, Sonic felt that his end was near.

With a sound of a massive metal to metal impact, the dragon flew though the air, crashing onto its side about twenty feet away. All these noises made Sonic curious, and caused him to open his eyes. He was surprised to see the aggressive dragon down for the count.

It didn't take long to see what had hit her. There was a large gaping hole in the dragon robot, and a large shell rolled along the ground not too far away. Sonic recognized the stopped projectile as the same size their new tank used. The hedgehog looked up, trying to see if he couldn't find the tank out there, he knew it had to be uncloaked to fire.

After looking about for awhile, Sonic gave up. By this time they had probably already reestablished their cloaking field and were heading back toward Gimmick Mountain. Though he didn't see them, it was a big weight off of his chest to know that Sally was still out there and he was not in this fight alone. However, after that vicious attack, he could barely move.

He reached for his pack, which had fallen nearby. His hand came across a metal, smooth surface. Sonic recognized its torus shape as a power ring, he had almost forgotten he had brought one with him. It was a good thing his did, or he probably wouldn't have been able to get up. As the hedgehog wrapped his hand around the glowing ring, he felt his energy return to him. He gave one last look to Dulcy before booking it back toward the mountain.

"My stars Sally-girl... Did y'all have to hit 'er that hard?" Bunnie asked as she saw what the shell impact did to the dragon.

Sally looked down. "I'm sorry… it's just that… I wasn't going to sit by and watch Sonic get hurt." She looked back to Bunnie and sighed. "If we repair her before derobotization she might be ok… it'll just take some time. If only we had hit their dragon robotisizer during our raid!" The squirrel fumed at her mistake.

Her friend put her organic hand on the princess's shoulder. "Ya did all you could Sally-girl…" she said solemly. Looking back to the external camera screen, seeing Sonic laying on the ground. "Ya think we should go check on ol' sugarhog?"

Looking to the screens herself seeing the hedgehog sit up, looking around and reaching for a glowing ring. "No. He has a power ring… he'll be fine. We're back in stealth mode right?"

"Yep." A mouse stated as he came down from the gunner's chair. "Put it back on after firing, as instructed."

"That was some great shootin' Tex…" Bunnie commented.

The albino rodent scratched behind his ear. "It was luck mainly… there's a big difference in hand guns and artillery. A much bigger kick, and much greater of a projectile arc…"

"Y'all must have had a good teacher." The rabbot said as Sally moved the controls to move the tank forward once again.

Jerome gave a nod. "He was once considered one of the best shots in Downunda… and when he taught me the ropes I was honored… but the man changed, letting his greed consume him. After he decided to be a thief, I never saw him again, nor do I care too…"

Bunnie gave a nod. "It's a harsh world these days, ain't it?"

"Ya, Nack was a great Mobian before greed took over… changed his name to Fang or something…" Jerome stated.

The rabbot could help but do a double take on the name. "Fang? Did y'all just say his name was Fang?"

"Ya, you sound like you know him." Jerome looked at Bunnie curiously.

"I guess y'all could say that, when we 'all were tryin' to take out the Atomic Destroier we crossed path.… did ya know he died?"

The mouse shook his head and looked down. "Doesn't surprise me… greed consumed and blinded him, he probably never saw his end coming."

"Ya… but who knows… he was a tricky one, maybe he'll turn up like the rest o' these so call'd bucket kickers" Bunnie laughed looking to her squirrel friend who was busy operating the tank. It seemed like only a few days ago when she and Tails were aboard the Destroyer… and with that her thoughts were back on the young fox, who was still somewhere on, or in, the mountain that towered higher into the sky as they rolled closer to it. They could start to see faint glowing, like fireflies, flash up and down the mountain.

"Looks like Snively is building a base in the mountain… probably preparing for Sonic." Sally looked amongst the gages, everything looked fine.

"All that just for Sonic?" Jerome laughed. "Snives must know that he is out for his head."

As if on some sort of que, a blue blur suddenly passed the tank, heading straight for what appeared to be an entrance that had been dug out into the mountain.

"Speakin' of the little ol' sugar hog." Bunnie smiled, glad to see that the hedgehog was up and running again.

Jerome also grinned. "He's heading straight into the lion's den… just as planned. So where are we going in?"

The tank accelerated toward the mountain, trying to stay behind Sonic, but easily losing ground. Sally looked back for a second. "We're taking the back door… Snively knows Sonic would charge from the front, so the other side of the mountain is probably less protected." The princess explained.

The albino nods. "Makes sense…"

"I just hope Sonic'll be alright." Bunnie worried aloud.

Watching the screen, Tails felt his heart soar. The madness of watching the friend against friend combat was at an end. It was a bittersweet feeling though as he saw the hole torn into the dragon's hull, the hopes of Dulcy returning to the way she once was demished greatly. The kit really liked Dulcy, he liked to hear stories of the high skies. He always wished he had that freedom, flying high without using his contraptions. Not that he didn't enjoy flying his plane; it just wasn't quite the same as just being able to do it without it. It was just different.

Snively and the robotic hedgehog had moved away. They seemed to be reviewing the events that had just happened. Tails wished he could hear them; he didn't like not knowing what was going on. Even if there was nothing he could do about it.

"…that shell could not have come out of nowhere! Are you sure that our cannons didn't misfire?" the human asked Metal Sonic, who was done going through the computer data for the third time.

"I've scanned the data array multiple times, and it shows no unauthorized activity. There is also no evidence of tampering of array contents. The machine does not lie; organics are the ones that have created mistrust. Do you not believe your own devises?" Mecha asked coldly.

"I believe it… but it's hard to… there always has to be an explaination." Snively replied. "If one of our cannons didn't fire that round, then what else could have?"

"The answer is simple. It was someone else's cannon."

"Then you think they're out there?" Snively asked.

"Of course they are… Organics have the habit of swarming to the aid of another. It's their function, their nature…"

The human frowned. "I told the rodent to come alone… he broke the rules… now I'll have to break my end of the bargain."

"Had you any intention of keeping you word?" The robot lets out a laugh.

Snively smiled wickedly. "Guess you have a point… the poor boy."

Sneering, the metal hedgehog turned away from the logs. " 'Poor boy?' The fox's organic side is the thing that makes him feeble, you offer him perfection. I don't comprehend why you offer it to one like him though…"

The human shook his head. "You were deactivated. I've seen what the kid is truly capable of, what he will be capable of. I'm just giving him a boost to reach that potential now. Then even the hedgehog won't stand a chance…"

"I assure you, I am capable of disposing of… that life form… myself. Machines don't lie." Mecha looked to the human with a threatening glance.

He wanted to tell the machine that he had a personality AI, that he still had the ability to feel organic emotions. Such as the jealousy and pride that blinded the metal hedgehog at this very moment. The human knew though, that if he pushed the wrong button the emotion of anger would shoot forth, and it could have disastrous effects. Snively wanted Sonic to be the one to be destroyed at the robot's hands, not himself. "If… When you do, then the kit will be useless to me and I'll dispose of him." The short tyrant walked away and back toward the fox.

"It's time." The human said looking to the Swatbot grunts standing guard around the fox kit. "Take him into the flying fortress, and get the fake set up."

Two swatbot grunts released the kit from his bindings causing Tails to spring back to life, "Sonic's not dumb enough to fall for your stupid tricks. He'll know that doll is not me, and then he'll finish you!" The fox kicked and squirmed against the grunts, but he was held too tight to make any leeway.

"If you're so confident that he won't be tricked… then why make such a fuss?" Snively asked with a smirk.

The fox's kicking halted as the question seemed to hit home. He remembered when he was captured before he didn't really struggle. What had caused this change? Was it because he really was beginning to doubt Sonic? Maybe it was because he remembered how Robotnik had fooled the hedgehog with a clone of Sally some years back. If he fell for that trick then, what would keep him from falling for it again this time?

When he couldn't find the answer, and Snively noticed no response, the human cracked a sneer. "Just as I thought."

Tails hung his head as the hatch closed, swallowing the fox and robots from view. The fake doll was placed in its perilous position. Now all that they had to do was wait for their guest of honor to arrive. The human didn't have to wait too long as an alarm sounded, indicating that the hedgehog was here. Snively turned to the anxious robot and gave a nod. "Get ready, you'll soon get the rematch you've been longing for…"

Metal Sonic sneered. "I can't wait…"

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Sorry, slow chapter this time, I think from here on out though it'll get better. Anyway, thanks for getting this far, and any feedback would be great. Next chapter on April 7th, until then wait to see what fate awaits our heroes.