"HELL!"

A massive wall of green hard-light sprung up right in front of Amy, almost as if from the ether. The tentacle smashed into it, slamming with the force of a yacht. The wall then grew and expanded into a sharp-edged box, cutting off Dingo's appendage like slicing sushi. He howled in pain despite currently not having any visible mouth to speak of, his mass vibrating and quivering from having a limb lopped off. Not that it mattered. Another quickly grew in its' place, and it reached right over the box as it made another attempt to give Amy a beheading. Manic stopped it and two others with yet another wall, but his face was strained. If it wasn't clear before, it was now. He couldn't keep this up forever.

Meanwhile, Bunnie, Antoine, and Tails were dealing with their own predicaments. A tendril reached out to each of them, all seeking to pull their targets into Dingo's slimy mass and suffocate them to death. Either that or stab them in the heart first. Bunnie and Tails zipped around in the air with ease, almost like jetfighters evading enemy fire.

Antoine followed suit, pressing another button on the hilt of his sword as it emitted an invisible field that lifted him up as though he were as light as air. Just as Johnny's staff lifted him. He did have some practice with this new trick before using it, but it wasn't as though it prepared him for the real thing. Or at the very least for using it in the midst of a battle. He hollered and yelled, almost hanging on to his weapon haphazardly, though he still managed to evade Dingo's vicious strike. And then he had an idea.

"Tails, Bunnie!" he said. "Follow my lead!" Given their current predicament, it wasn't as though they had much choice. Antoine charged straight ahead like a missile, and Tail and Bunnie did so in kind. The tendrils chased after them, practically nipping right on their heels and crossing over one another as they did so. As they did, the three of them began flying around in a circle, almost appearing to go faster than the eye could see.

The tentacles starting swinging around like a whirligig, crossing over one another like tying a shoelace. All they needed was to begin twisting around themselves to provide the finishing touch. They soon became tied together in one mighty orange spire reaching to the heavens, struggling to lash out at the trio and break free. And utterly failing to do so.

"Now!" he said, without an ounce of the cowardice that so usually plagued him. "Aim your weapons toward the center! When I give the word, fire!"

"Understood," said Tails.

"Sure thing, sugar!" said Bunnie.

"Right then. FIRE!"

It all happened at once. Tails unleashed another round of lasers from his firearm, while Bunnie aimed her robotized arm and pumped out every last iota of energy she could muster. And Antoine? As if possessed, he fired slash after slash, cutting into Dingo like carving a turkey. "THIS IS FOR MY FATHER, YOU MOTHERLESS CUR!"

On their own, the blasts may not have been much to look at, but together, they were a force to be reckoned with. They blasted and pierced and cut right through Dingo's malleable hide, digging straight through and aiming at his core. And they found it. It was the size of a tiny ball, almost like a green shard. And for a moment, with everything surrounding it cut away, they had their chance.

"TAILS!" said Antoine.

"Way ahead of you!" said Tails. He hastily changed the setting on his firearm to 'stun' and fired it right at the shard. It landed before Dingo could regroup himself or do much of anything else, like a bullseye. Against anyone else, it might have taken them out only for a few minutes if they were lucky. But this was a different story. One shot was all it took to bring Dingo down for the count. Almost as if due to some emergency backup system, Dingo's body quickly reformulated himself, changing back to his standard look in the process. And once it did, he fell down on the long, green grass. Face first.

With Dingo out for the count, that left Swifty. Swifty and one other. Amy and the others all breathed a sigh of relief, trying their best to recompose themselves before mopping up. "Is everyone alright?" said Antoine, just before falling down on his knees in a heap. "Sacrebleu!"

Tails hovered back down to the ground, nearly divebombing out of exhaustion. "I'll be fine, but I don't think I'll be able to go airborne for a while. Sorry."

"I'm okay!" said Bunnie. "Sides, can't tire out this bod! For better or worse."

Manic and Amy rushed up to them, all while keeping an eye on Dingo. "He's not dead, is he?" said the former.

"I don't think so," said Tails. "If it were anyone else, probably, but I think it's different with Dingo. He'll be alright. Though he should still be out for awhile."

Amy breathed a sigh of relief. One less moral conundrum she had to worry about. "Good. 'Side from Swifty, that just leaves…" She turned to Thunderbolt, Laser Crossbow aimed and at the ready. "…you." And yet, for whatever reason, she couldn't help but relax her gaze ever so slightly. She wasn't sure how or why, but something seemed different about this one.

"You could've attacked us or helped out your teammates at any point. But you didn't. Instead, you've just been sitting on the sidelines the whole time. Could be that's just what you were ordered to do. Not really sure why, but you never know. But somehow, I don't think that's it."

Neither of them didn't say a word, but in spite of that, there seemed to be some sort understanding between the two. Something that couldn't be communicated through speech. Antoine almost saw fit to speak up against the chinchilla, but one stern look from Amy promptly squashed that. Until at last, the chinchilla spoke.

"I don't know! I guess I don't really know anything. I thought Eggman was the greatest person alive, you know? He was so smart, so intelligent, so commanding! And he also just seemed to care about me when no-one else would! But now…"

"Now you're starting to see him for who he really is, right?" said Tails.

"I suppose. For a while, I still wasn't sure what to think! But, well, something happened. At the last meeting. It's not something I really want to talk about. Not just now. But I think that cinched it. Honestly, I thought Eggman was the greatest thing since ever! Part of me still wants to think it. But another part of me isn't sure I can. And another part thinks I'd just be lying to myself."

"You know," said Manic, "if you're really on the up and up here, you could always quit. Just a thought."

Thunderbolt was shocked. And not in the literal sense. "Just quit? Just quit?! You mean just throw away everything I've worked for, to outright defy the orders of my commanding officer as though I were some baseless cur?! What do you take me for?!"

After spending most of the last few minutes whimpering on his knees, Antoine finally found the courage to stand up and say his piece. More and more, he began to act as though he hadn't a shred of fear and did so again. Though one had to wonder if an act was all it was. "Mademoiselle. If you truly do not believe in what your master is doing, if you can truly see him for what he is and know that what he is is wrong, then perhaps it is not worth it to serve him. For if you do, are you truly any better than he?"

Antoine's remark pierced her as if stabbing her in the chest. "I don't know."

"Then what do you know? Because if you do not know what is staring you straight in the face, then what if anything are you supposed to know?!"

Luckily for Thunderbolt, she wouldn't have to continue this particular line of inquiry much longer. Suddenly, Amy and everyone else could hear the low rumbling of one lone, large truck rolling along towards them in the distance. There weren't any other rumbles to be had, nor could they make out any other trucks or convoys. So why send out just one measly truck if sending in so many others didn't do a thing?

And then it struck Thunderbolt like a shock to the heart. "Hey, wait a minute…"

"What's up, hon?" said Bunnie. "Anything the problem?"

Amy looked towards the truck as well, her hand keeping the sun out of her face. "I can see it too. Honestly, it doesn't look like that big of a deal, but maybe that's the point. Maybe they're hiding a nuke or something?"

"Oh, Gaea. Oh, Gaea! I think I know what this is!"

"Care to tell us then?" said Amy. "Because I'm still trying to figure this one out."

"Right back when we were starting out, Eggman robotized everyone in Mobotropolis except for those already working for him! Said he wanted workers that were loyal. Or at least they were supposed to be."

"You'd think that would've been your first clue," said Manic.

Thunderbolt didn't even bother to give such a remark the time of day. "Anyway, before the operation started, he said that he was thinking of putting some of them to 'better use', but I had no idea what that meant. Then he said they might have a role in this operation specifically, but he was still somewhat hush-hush. But think about it! Most of the bots and badniks for this operation have already been thrashed, at least on this end. Same goes for the other Eggbosses. So unless he sent another squad of bots straightaway, that just leaves…"

Tail's eyes suddenly widened as though they'd been pried open, the full realization of Thunderbolt's speal finally hitting him like a bullseye. And everyone else followed suit. They all looked at the incoming truck, realizing with growing horror what could quite possibly have been laying inside. And they didn't have a clue what they'd do if they were right.


While Amy and the others were busy dealing with a giant orange gooey mass, Sonic had his own problems to deal with. He was still duking it out with Swifty, still raging across the blains punching and dodging and punching with Swifty doing much of the same. They were doing so much of it that the both of them were starting to tucker out. And so, with neither one gaining any ground, they agreed on a small respite. Not that it would last long.

"Seriously?" panted Sonic. "Did you really want to do this again that badly? Neither of us is gonna be able to land so much as one hit on the other. Not unless we wanna slice each other in half anyway."

"Hey, don't blame it on me," said Swifty. "You don't wanna do what you gotta do, that's your fault. But don't go tryin' to rope me into it."

"You're the one who wants me to rip your fricking guts out!"

Swifty pulled up his socks as they began to fall off, making sure they were on tight. "Let's just say I want a fair fight. And an interesting fight. But so far, I haven't really been impressed. You wanna beat me, you gotta push it. You gotta be willing to go the distance, do what you gotta do. Else we'll be here 'till doomsday."

As though being struck with inspiration, Sonic had an idea. "I don't know about that. You can say I'm not going the extra mile, but I could say the same thing about you."

Swifty's eye twitched out of nowhere. Somewhere, a nerve had been struck. "Come again?"

"Think about it! You keep showing up and saying that I need to pick things up, go the distance, all that jazz. But I don't see you doing the same. You keep on saying what I've been doing isn't enough, but you're not really giving me any clue as to what is. Cause for all this talk of 'going the distance', you haven't really done it yourself."

For as long as Sonic had known him, (which wasn't very long,) Swifty had never failed to keep a smile on his face. Whether he was grinning, smirking, or just plain smiling, he had always seemed so calm and in control of whatever was happening that nothing could phase him. But for the first time in a long time, there wasn't a smile to be seen.

"Come again?"

"You heard me. You say I'm not going the distance? Well, neither are you! Because you don't really wanna kill me. You want me alive. Because there's no-one else you can really go toe-to-toe with. Mina's the only one that comes close, and even then, she's still just a bit too cute for your tastes, isn't she? So come on. I'll gladly pound your heiny into the pavement. But only if you're willing to do the same."

Swifty stared at him. He had always managed to be so calm and collected, almost like a breeze. But he wasn't now. "You seriously wanna do this?"

"Not really, no. And like I said, I don't think you do either. So why don't we just take a step back and calmly talk this out like sensible Mobians? Course, I'm anything but sensible, but it's worth a shot."

Sonic chuckled, confident that his little speech had gotten through to Swifty and would be the big break that he needed. Something to finally make some headway.

It wasn't.

"Listen. You don't think I've got what it takes? I've torn into so many corpses, it would make you blush. I've taken down Mobians that would make you wet yourself at night. And you don't think I've got what it takes?"

Sonic was starting to wonder if this had been such a good idea. "Uh, well, not exactly, but—"

"You want me to show you what I'm made of? Cause I sure as hell can."

"Now, hold on a minute there—"

Swifty came at him like a wild jaguar. He lunged claws first, nearly taking out Sonic's neck with one wild swipe. He came at him again and again and again, and each time it became harder and harder for Sonic to dodge. "Whoah, hey, WHOA! Look, I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression but— WHOA MOMMA!"

Sonic tried to take off, but Swifty tailed right after him, never losing him for a moment. At this point, Sonic knew he had either two choices: Either try to outrun him and hope he eventually got tired and gave up, or stand his ground and fight. And the only way he was going to beat him was if he went that extra mile. It wouldn't be hard. All he'd have to do would be to rev himself up and rip right through him like a buzzsaw. Like tearing through tissue paper. It was the last thing he wanted to do. But what choice did he have?

As it turned out, a most unexpected one. A bright purple laser came bursting in, blasting Swifty out of his run and causing him to tumble and flop around like a fish before righting himself. "THE HELL?!"

The laser soon reshaped itself, revealing itself to be none other than Sonia. And she was far from ecstatic. "Don't you even THINK of touching my cousin! Understand me?!"

Swifty couldn't help but whistle, practically in awe at Sophia's new state of affairs. And her figure. As she was, she didn't leave much to the imagination. "Well, what do we got here? Someone else wants to play! Guess I should be flattered. Though to be honest, I'm not sure I could tear into you if I tried. But you never know, do ya?"

Swifty took a swipe at Sonia, clawing into her purple body of energy with the intent of tearing her guts out. Only there were no guts to tear. What there was, was energy. Plenty of it. And one of the rules of energy was that it could never be destroyed. Only changed into something else.

Which was far from what Swifty was doing. He tore at Sonia again and again, trying to rip her measly guts out only to always fail miserably. All he could do was claw out a few chunks of small energy at a time, and these always reintegrated themselves back into the rest of Sonia's body. As though it could never be destroyed. She supposed that was one thing she'd have to be grateful for. "You done?"

Swifty was almost awestruck. "What the hell are you?!"

"Honestly, I'm not really sure. Energy, I think? That's about it. Still gonna kill that damn fox! But whatever. Long as I'm like this, there isn't really much you can do, is there?"

Swifty stood there dumbfounded. He had himself an image based around fear, dignity, and respect. Anyone could see it. Or at least they could have. Because at that moment, he didn't inspire much of either. "We'll see about that." He kept on digging into her, going faster and faster almost to the point where he might as well have been a slice and dice machine. But despite just how much he was pouring into her, all it really did was make her tickle. "Okay," she said, "as weird as this is, it's also kind of embarrassing. Just long are you gonna keep this up?"

"Hate to say it," said Sonic, "but she's got a point. I mean, all you're really doin' is wearing yourself out. Not that I'm complaining."

"SHUT UP!" Swifty lunged at Sonic, but by this point, only one of them still had their cool. And it wasn't Swifty. It took some doing, but Sonic managed to dodge Swifty's blow like stepping out of traffic, tripping him up in the process. He tumbled onto the checkered grass, face first. He got up in a flash and aimed for Sonic again. Who promptly did the same thing. Only this time, Swifty stumbled right towards Sonia.

"Miss me?" She held back her glowing arm, charged it up, and let it loose. And for the second time in the same day, Swifty was down for the count.

"Quick!" said Sonia. "You weren't there, but that SOB doesn't stay down for long! See anything that can keep him down for a while?" She and Sonic surveyed the horizon, desperate for anything that could keep Swifty from trying to tear apart the both of them. And then he saw it.

"Got it!" Sonic darted off, coming back a moment later with a thick iron bar. "Whoo! This is a bit heavy, but I think it'll do the trick Least after you've bent it a bit. You can do that now, right?"

"Oh! I guess I can." Sonia took the bar and pounded it into the ground next to Swifty like a tentpole before bending it, making sure it was nice and snug around the little green shrew. And then she pounded the other end.

Swifty came to right after, gasping for air like a fish. And the first thing he saw was Sonia's glowing purple face staring right at him. "Hey, handsome!"

"What the—" Swifty tried to move. Tried to get up. Tried to run. Tried to do just about anything. But no mattered how much he budged or struggled, he couldn't do it. For all intents and purposes, he was stuck. "DAMN IT! YOU FUCKING ****'S! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU—!"

"Hey! Watch it. Anyway, you just sit tight for a while. I'm sure they'll come and get you when all's said and done." As Sonia walked over to Sonic, Swifty continued to call her various lewd and outright offensive obscenities. None of which Sonia gave a damn about. "Oofta! That takes care of him. Good thing too. Maybe I don't look it, but I'm starting to feel a bit beat. Maybe that beatdown he gave me did more to me than I thought. Or maybe I've just used up too much energy on my first day. Either way, I'll probably want to take it easy for a bit."

"Hey, don't worry about it, cuz! I'm sure it's nothin' to worry about! Sides, you saved my life. That's gotta count for somethin', don't it?"

"Thanks, cuz'. It's just, it's weird, ya know? Being turned into some sort of weird energy thing or whatever it is. I mean, I should be freaked! Hella' freaked. But somehow, it doesn't feel so bad. Maybe that's just how it works. Maybe getting turned into this thing makes it feel… right, somehow. I don't know. But what I do know is, I don't know what's gonna happen next. And honestly? It kinda scares me."

Sonic shuffled his feet for a bit, as if unsure just what he should say. Or if he should have said anything at all. It didn't take him long to know he darn well should've.

"Look, cuz'. If I'm gonna' be honest with you, this whole thing, everything? I can't say it scares me because I don't get scared easy, but sometimes when I just take a second to breathe and I realize what we've gotten ourselves into, well, I don't know. I guess it can be overwhelming sometimes. But then I brush it off and keep zipping forward! Because that's the only thing I can do. Cause if I don't, I'm not sure I ever will. So trust me. I may not know what it's like to go through what you're goin' through, but you're not alone. And I'm sure Manic would say the same thing."

For a moment, Sonia stood there as though Sonic hadn't said a word. But only for a moment. She slowly placed her hands over the crystal embedded in her chest, and drops of energy resembling tears trickled down her cheeks. "Damn, cuz. You really know how to make someone feel pathetic. But thanks."

"I try. And no problem, cuz. Just don't mention this to anyone else, 'kay? I got an image to keep!"

"Right. Well, we should be getting back, huh?"

"Yeeup. Though with any luck, we'll— hey, what's that over there? Looks like a truck." Sonic turned around. Sure enough, there was a truck coming right their way. The same one that Thunderbolt had mentioned. And as if right on cue, it stopped.

"Huh. I guess Eggface doesn't know when to quit. Still, now that I've got a handle on this, it shouldn't be a problem. I could probably just zip right through the engine and blow it the hell up, no sweat. Course, I guess if there's anyone inside, it might not be such a good idea."

"Yeah, let's just wait until we can see what's... huh. I think someone's comin' out. Can't quite make 'em out though."

Sonia squinted, not that she needed to. Her vision was a tad purple, but she could still make out just about everything with ease. But what she saw was enough to make her nearly do a spit-take. "I don't believe it."

"What is it now? More SWATbots? Maybe some Badniks? An EGGboss maybe?"

"Nothing like that. I can't be sure, but…"

"Come on, Sonia. Spit it out. You're making me a bit antsy."

"…I think they're roboticized."

Sonic almost didn't believe he heard what he just heard. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Look for yourself." And Sonic did. It took a bit of extra squinting on his part, but he did. And he still almost couldn't believe it. But there it was. Stepping out of the large truck was a platoon of robots carrying laser-rifles, all looking very distinct and very…

"Mobian."

"Yeah. And all robotized."

Sonic's hands began to shake and his teeth started to clench. He thought that maybe, just maybe, they could've stopped Eggman in time. That after the damage they did to the roboticizer, that perhaps they wouldn't have been able to repair it. That maybe he could've done something.

Fat chance of that.

"I couldn't. Couldn't do a thing. And now…"

"Sonic—"

"DAMN IT!" He pounded his fist into the ground with such speed and velocity that it left small imprint in the grass. And for the second time in his life, the fastest thing alive was standing still. If only briefly. "We've gotta get back to Amy and the others. Maybe they'll know what to do."

"Yeah." Not another word was said. Sonic revved up and Sonia turned herself into a quick little laser once more. And they were off.