00:03am, Camp Campbell, 21 days after the anomaly
As Eggman had planned, robots were now starting to march into the camp one by one, their metal legs clanking and creaking as they trod through the hardened dirt. Space Kid heard them much too clearly to stay asleep, and poked his head out of the tent to investigate, only for the entire line of robots to turn round and look at him.
"Oh shit." Space Kid breathed quickly, dashing back into his tent and clumsily tripping over a cooking pan, creating a cacophony of catastrophic proportions. The clattering woke up a number of other campers, including Max, who was sleeping in the tent next door.
"Space Kid, what the fuck are you doing? How am I supposed to sleep when you... ah, fuck." Max realised the predicament they were all now in. Ered was the next to get up, peeking out of her tent to see the commotion.
"Max! Get Help!" She called out.
"Yeah, I'm on it!" Max dashed away from camp in the direction of the counselors cabin, as a section of the robots chased after him. By now, the other campers had awoken, and were also poking their heads out of their tents as the robot invasion commenced.
"Nurf! Come out and help!" Ered shouted, as she batted one of the robots repeatedly with a hockey stick. Nurf climbed out of his tent and saw what she was talking about.
"Alright!" Nurf almost lit up, as he immediately punched an Egg Robo clean into the dirt. Dolph got up next, followed by Preston, Nikki, Nerris and Harrison, who was making ready to use his fire magic to burn the robots down until Nerris held him back.
"Harrison, no! The grass is dry, you'll burn the entire forest down!" Nerris warned him.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Harrison panicked.
"Go out and get help!" Ered commanded. "Get as many people as you can find, Tangle, Belle, anyone!"
"Ok, we got it!" Harrison replied, as he and Nerris turned towards the portal. They had to sneak behind the tents in order to make it round, but eventually they snuck through the side.
Max, meanwhile, had made it to the counselors cabin and was pounding the door heavily.
"Gwen! David! We need help!" Max hollered. Gwen was rudely awakened by the knocking and grumbled as she headed for the door.
"Max, I swear to God, if this is a prank, I am going to..." she opened the door. "Shit! Max, get inside!" she called, grabbing Max and pulling him inside just as one robot made a reach for him. "David!" she shouted.
"I'm up!" David replied, blissfully unaware of the situation. "What's wrong?"
"The camp's under attack!" Max explained, as robot arms began to batter against the door.
"We should call the police!" David suggested.
"Yeah, when it's safe enough, maybe. We need to deal with this shit first!" Max urged, as a metal hand burst through the wooden door.
"Right!" David took notice of the situation. "I'll see if we have any weapons." David headed to the back of the cabin, quickly returning with an axe, a baseball bat and a lance that had been recovered from Spooky Island. Handing the axe to Gwen, and the baseball bat to Max, the three of them perched themselves against the windows and broke out, sending glass smashing into the floor and giving them enough room to start fighting back.
Meanwhile, Harrison and Nerris clmbered out of the other side of the portal looking somewhat confused at their surroundings, with an expanse of water one side, and nothing but ruins on the other, oh, and the long line of robots streaming into the portal. Nerris and Harrison hid behind some rubble as they watched the robots marching through.
"Well, there's nothing here. What should we do?" Harrison asked.
"Those robots have to lead from somewhere." Nerris observed, peeking out of the rock.
"Ok, I can see that, but how are we going to get past them? If they see us, we'll be dead faster than I can say... well, anything really." Harrison asked apprehensively.
"Maybe we don't have to." Nerris looked around, pointing towards the sea. "The sea is right there, if we follow the coastline for long enough, we're bound to run into civilisation sooner or later. We can use your fire magic as a light once those robots can't see us."
"Harrison looked reassured. "Sounds good." He agreed, as they snuck away from the robots and began to trek along the coast.
Back in Camp Campbell, Max, David and Gwen were busy getting to work fighting back the splinter of robots that had followed Max up to the cabin.
"Goddamn, Eggman really likes to go overkill, doesn't he?" Max commented, as he smashed a robot's head in with his bat.
"This isn't even the half of it." Gwen grunted, ripping her axe out of an Egg Robo's face and kicking its carcass onto the floor.
"What have we even done to deserve this?" David asked in disbelief, as he clotheslined an entire row of bots with his lance.
"Nothing." Gwen replied blankly, as she and Max whack-a-moled next row of bots and moved swiftly onward. A few more rounds of swinging, and the splinter group of robots had been felled, allowing Max, Gwen and David to join up with the other campers.
In the camp, Ered and Nurf were doing most of the legwork, battering as many robots as they could with whatever they had on hand. Nikki also joined in, trying to sweep the convoy of Badniks off their feet with a long wooden pole.
"Hey, you made it!" Ered congratulated Max and co as they arrived.
"Aw jeez, there's tons of them!" David was slightly taken aback at the scale of the invasion.
"Yep. A new one comes in every second or two. We've been trying to hold them back, but already some of them are slipping through." Ered pointed towards the path that led to the other camps.
"So camp's being overrun, is that what you're saying?" Max asked.
"Basically, yeah. We can't hold them all off like this. Not without back up, anyway." Ered explained.
"Is everyone okay?!" Gwen asked worriedly.
"Yeah, just about." Nikki assured, sporting a bruise or two.
"Good." Gwen acknowledged, as she did a quick headcount. "Where's Harrison? And Nerris?"
"They've gone through the portal to look for help." Ered clarified, as she bonked another robot on the head. "They'll be fine. They know what they're doing."
"It's probably safer there than here anyhow." Max quipped.
"True. We'll worry about them later." Gwen calmed herself. "Max, cover my exit. I'm calling the police." she told them.
"How long can we hold them off for?" Max asked, battering another bot.
"I dunno. Depends what their plan is. I bet Eggman wants more than just this camp. He won't waste all his units on us, I don't think." Ered shrugged.
"Yeah, we can see that." Max huffed. "We'll just have to tough it out for now."
Over in Sonic's world, Harrison and Nerris had been trudging along the coastline for about an hour now, and were finally seeing light in the distance.
"Looks like there's some people over there!" Nerris called out encouragingly.
"We should hurry." Harrison concurred, looking back at the darkness behind them. The pair picked up the pace a little, arriving at the small village a few minutes after they first saw it. Among the houses there, only one had their lights on, and that was the one they ended up knocking on.
"Hello? Anyone in there" Harrison asked. As the door opened, in front of them stood an elderly vixen, looking rather tired.
"It's 1am, who in the world knocks on people's doors at this hour?" She complained.
"We need help." Nerris began. "Our world was attacked by Eggman's robots. Do you know where we can find Tangle, or somebody else that can help?"
"Sorry, I'm not very awake at this time in the morning. Your world?"
"Yes, our world. Eggman's using the portal built on the ruins-y place to attack us."
"Well I'm not able to help you there, I'm too old to remember anything new these days, but if you want Sonic or any of those heroes, you should probably call the HQ. I have the number here somewhere..." She looked around. "Ah, here." She replied, handing a slip of paper to Nerris.
"Thanks!" Nerris replied. "May I use your phone?"
"Of course, dear." she replied as Nerris began to dial the number.
"Hello?" Nerris spoke, quietly waiting for an answer. The phone was ringing for quite a while as the call rerouted itself until it found the one person still working at this hour: Jewel the Beetle.
"Hello?" Jewel spoke from the other end, prompting a surprised response from Nerris.
"Oh! Is this the HQ? I need to speak to Tangle, or someone else who can help."
"Yes, this is Restoration HQ. My name's Jewel. Tangle and I are best friends, what seems to be the trouble?" Jewel replied calmly.
"Our camp is being attacked by robots. They keep coming through the portal and we can't find a way to stop them." Nerris tried to contain any panic in her voice.
Jewel's heart sank. "I see. I'll let everyone know right away. What's your name, young lady?"
"Nerris. Harrison is also with me. Tangle, Whisper and Belle wound up in our world when that big thing happened, if that helps you?"
"Ah yes, that. I remember, don't worry. Where are you guys right now, are you safe?" Jewel asked.
"Yes, we're safe. We're at a village about 1 hours walk from the portal." Harrison piped up.
"Alright, just stay there, okay? I'll handle everything from here." Jewel promised.
"Won't our friends be worrying about us?"
"I'll make sure Tangle lets them know. Get some rest, alright?" Jewel assured.
"Ok." Nerris replied. There was a small pause. "Should I hang up?
"No, I'll hang up. Don't worry about us, okay, we'll handle it." Jewel responded, hanging up as she clattered her phone down onto its dock.
"FUCK!" Jewel shouted in frustration, leaning backwards into her chair. Sonic was up and ready in almost no time at all, standing perched outside the open office door.
"It's Eggman, isn't it?" Sonic guessed.
"Yeah, it's Eggman. He got the jump on us." Jewel sighed. "Bring everyone here, I need to call a meeting."
"I'll make sure everyone gets the memo." Sonic replied, dashing off to fetch the other heroes. A couple of minutes later, Sonic returned with Tails, Amy, Tangle, Whisper, Van Gale, Lanolin and Rouge in tow.
"Is this everyone?" Jewel asked.
"Yep. Pretty much, everyone I could get at such short notice, anyway." Sonic replied.
"Right. Good." Jewel tried to focus.
"Mind telling us what's going on?" Rouge asked.
"Okay." Jewel took a deep breath. "Eggman has chosen to invade one of the neighbouring worlds. I received a phone call from two kids named Nerris and Harrison, I take it you know who they are, Tangle?"
"Yes. We know who they are!" Tangle confirmed. "You want us to go down there and take out the robots, right?"
"They're safe, right?" Belle asked.
"Yes, those two are safe. Sonic, Tails, I want you to find where the robots are coming from and take out their production line. Reports were that they were marching straight for the portal, so that shouldn't be too difficult. Tangle, Belle, Amy and Whisper, I want you to help those in the other world deal with the robots. Sonic and Tails will join you when they're done. Rouge, Lanolin, I want you to gather as many of the others to help as you can, and Van Gale, I want you to help me work out where Eggman is. Everyone clear on their role?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" Tangle and the others replied with varying amounts of enthusiasm.
"Then let's go!" Jewel replied, as the heroes began to disperse in their various directions.
For Sonic and Tails, finding the long line of robots took a matter of minutes and it did not take long for either of them to work where they were coming from.
"These robots must be coming from..." Tails looked around to get his bearings. "Egg Base Tau! That's the closest base due east of the portal.
"Funny, I checked there, but Eggman wasn't there at the time." Sonic recalled.
"The way these robots are moving, he still isn't." Tails surmised. "I'm sure we'll get some more answers when we get there." Tails replied.
"You got it!" Sonic responded, taking off at breakneck speed past the line of badniks, which were solely focused on the portal.
At the other end of the line, Amy, Tangle, Whisper and Belle were hurtling towards the portal in Van Gale's eggmobile.
"That's a lot of robots." Belle commented as they flew past. "I don't think we can handle all of these by ourselves."
"If I remember right, their world does have some form of law enforcement authority, so they may be of some help." Tangle replied.
"Well, whatever's going on over there, we're about to find out." Amy pointed. "Look, there's the portal!" She exclaimed, as they flew through the other side of it.
3am, Camp Campbell, the same day
Over the past couple of hours, although the campers had been fighting valiantly up to this point, even against a force that was largely ignoring them, they were already tiring, and the slowly growing number of robot carcasses that littered the floor was not doing enough to quell the invasion.
Gwen had managed to call the police, but they didn't believe her the first time, and it wasn't until the Woodscouts made a similar call that a squad car actually turned up, only for them to cower and call for back up as the robots trashed their squad car effortlessly, tossing the car aside after they tore their way through it, leaving the line of badniks to trek along the long dirt road that separated Lake Lilac from the rest of the world.
Tangle and co burst though the portal at full speed, braking sharply as they saw all the activity behind them.
"Ayy, you showed up." Ered tried to muster some energy as she waved briefly at the heroes.
"Wassup?" Tangle replied enthusiastically, looking at Ered and Nikki in particular.
"See for yourself." Max began. "Robots have been mowing through since midnight. We've been able to handle a few of them but most of them have been marching in that direction.
"Towards the highway." David added. "We've called the cops, but something seems to be holding them up."
"Yeah, no shit." Max replied, gesturing at the line of badniks.
"We can't stop these guys by ourselves, but if you can head up front and push these guys back out, it'd be a great help." Gwen pleaded.
"We'll do our best!" Belle promised.
"I assume Nerris and Harrison are safe?" David asked.
"Yeah they're fine. Jewel mentioned them when we heard about you." Tangle replied.
"Good luck!" Preston wished them well, as the group of heroes pursued the frontline of robots. He and Dolph, not good at fighting, had been helping to clear up the mess of broken robots so their friends could keep fighting them, and were still going strong, for now at least.
It was a couple of minutes before they caught up with the frontline and with it, the two cowardly officers hiding behind a bush with their guns drawn.
"Who are you guys?!" One of them panicked, shakily waving his gun around in the heroes' general direction.
"We're here to help." Amy replied calmly. "We're from the same place as these walking death machines."
"Yeah, uh, please don't shoot us." Belle looked slightly perturbed at the officers' behaviour. Amy hopped off the Eggmobile and demonstrated what they meant, whacking a swathe of robots away with her hammer.
"How many of these robots are there? The other officer asked, still hidden.
"Oh, thousands, the line stretches for miles. We'll deal with it for now. Just make sure none of the stragglers make it to any of your cities, got it?" Tangle requested, looking at the officers sternly.
"Yes ma'am." The officers calmed down and lowered their pistols. Amy and Whisper focused on taking out the robots furthest front, while Belle and Tangle worked together to shut down any robots that tried to splinter off from the main pack.
Over in Sonic's world, Sonic and Tails had finally made it to Egg Base Tau and immediately it was apparent what was causing the robots to march.
"You think that giant receiver might have something to do with this?" Sonic chimed.
"Looks like it." Tails' response was deadpan.
"One spindash should do it, I think." Sonic boasted confidently, spinning himself up in preparation.
"Wait, that thing looks live." Tails warned. "Perhaps we should shut it off from the inside?"
"Whatever you say, buddy." Sonic stopped spinning, and listened. Breaking into the facility, the pair were surrounded by robots from floor to ceiling, all diligently moving parts or keeping watch, and it wasn't long before those sentries alerted all the others to Sonic's presence.
"INTRUDER ALERT." Came the sound from the mass of robots beginning to form.
"Okay, Tails, let's get to work!" Sonic smiled, as he began to roll and bounce his way through badnik after badnik in an effort to reach the top. Tails managed to knock a few robots out with his namesakes, but Sonic took most of the robots' attention, and thus, the fox was able to sneak up to the top of the base without being followed.
Tails arrived at the console for the receiver and saw Eggman had neglected to put an off switch on it.
"Huh. Not to worry, I'll find a way through." Tails chatted to himself as he looked around for some tools and opened up the console. After cutting down a couple of wires and unscrewing a few bolts, the machine appeared to power down.
"There, that's the radio down!" Tails announced, loud enough so Sonic could hear.
"Nice one, Tails! Now come down and help me, we still need to shut this place down!" Sonic hollered back.
"On my way!" Tails replied, flying down and dropping onto the back of one of the badniks. After a minute or two of further fighting, Sonic and Tails had enough breathing room to take a look outside. The back of the line was no longer replenishing, but the robots that had already received their orders were continuing to march.
"Well, whatever we did, it worked, but maybe not as well as we hoped." Tails watched them despairingly.
"We'll worry about that later. For now, let's focus on breaking up these machines." Sonic replied, pointing out the production line that was still plentifully churning out robots.
"Right!" Tails perked up. "Sonic, watch my back!" He began to take charge, flying up to one of the machine's computers and shutting it off whilst Sonic beat back any badniks that tried to get at them. Having switched it off, Tails made sure to disassemble the machines too, handing Sonic a crane arm for him to trash the place with. Sonic tossed it aside, instead opting to spin and bounce off all the machines, leaving gaping holes in them that Eggman would have to waste a lot of time fixing.
After spending a few minutes defeating whatever Badniks remained, Sonic and Tails looked out at the line of robots that was now only a thin speck in the distance, illuminated only by the morning sunrise.
"Looks like we still have a job to do. Let's go!" Sonic chuffed, as he took off, with Tails following after him.
As the sunrise broke in Camp Campbell, Amy, Tangle and co, with the help of a few backup police that had arrived, had managed to push back the line somewhat, but they still had some way to go before camp was in sight.
"These guys don't stop coming, do they?" Tangle winced, as she parried an attack from an Egg Robo.
"Sonic should have stopped the plant by now." Amy replied, swatting away another robot. "Just keep going. Eventually this line is gonna dry up."
"Especially if the portal closes." Belle thought aloud.
"True." Amy replied, as she whacked another badnik.
At camp, Ered, Nurf, and many of the others, were feeling incredibly drained, with Nikki seemingly the only one with any energy remaining. Max, David and Gwen were still making an effort, but evidently, they were exhausted themselves, and the robots just kept marching through, with few if any robots being stopped by the campers anymore. Even Dolph and Preston and nearly collapsed in exhaustion, letting the scrap slowly pile up and forcing the robots to break a couple of tents in order to progress.
"Damn it. These things are actually doing some damage." Max grumbled.
"Ah, it's just some fabric." David replied. "We can fix this once this nightmare is over."
"Yeah, and maybe we can build something out of that scrap too." Space Kid suggested, receiving a nod from David.
Soon after, however at 8am, robots stopped appearing from the portal.
"What's going on?" Ered stared at the portal wide-eyed, lowering her hockey stick for the first time in what felt like hours.
"It's stopped." Max responded, looking much the same way, as the last of the robots walked away from the camp.