Hi, everyone! So as you may noticed, it's been a while since the last update. I know I said that I'd be doing updates on a more regular basis from now on, but that didn't really happen. So. No more promises. From here on out I will try and get new chapters out as often as I can, but there aren't always going to be garuntees. With that said, here's the chapter. Hope you enjoy it!


"Grimer? Grimer? Come out, come out, wherever you are! Grimer! Confound him!"

Eggman had been marching through the halls of his base in Mobotropolis (or Robotropolis as he liked to call it,) a bit quicker than usual. He never walked around the base much, but when he did, he tended to take his time rather than act like a man on a mission. Take some time and ease up a bit. That said, this was not a day to ease up. Grimer was Eggman's loyal confidante, or at least he thought he was. But the sad truth was that lately, Grimer had been seen less and less. Eggman didn't have the slightest idea why, or at least that was what he told himself. But either he was oblivious or he didn't want to admit the truth that was staring him in the face.

It wasn't long before he arrived at the Control Room. Snively was sitting at the monitor as usual. For a moment, Eggman could have sworn he saw some sort of message up on the screen, but it was gone almost as soon as he came in. Assuming there even was such a message. Whatever. He could deal with that later. For now, he needed to find Grimer. And Snively may have been able to help with that.

He cleared his throat before addressing him, making sure he was loud and clear. "Good morning, Snively!"

Snively jumped up in his seat before turning around, silently grumbling and cursing as he saw his uncle. "Is it? I wouldn't know. I've been stuck here monitoring entire throngs of lifeless drones for so long that I've barely gotten a chance to do anything else. Not that there's anything to do in this bare-bones hovel."

Eggman glared at Snively like a beast contemplating his prey, if only briefly. Normally Eggman would have fired him if not do far worse for such a remark, but he needed someone to keep an eye on things while he headed the war against the natives. As inferior as they were to him, their tech was becoming less inferior by the day, and they had stronger numbers now that they were organised. As much as it pained him, Eggman couldn't do all this himself. Not without nuking the entire island, which would defeat the purpose. After all, there wouldn't be much point in conquering an island of radioactive ash, would there?

"Whatever. Do you know where Grimer's gone off to? I can't find him anywhere."

"That doesn't surprise me. You never were able to find so much as a needle in a haystack."

Eggman gnashed his teeth, clenching his fists as he did his best to keep himself in check. For the record, he could always find a needle in a haystack. Always! He just never had the chance to prove it. Regardless, he needed to find Grimer. While he was an expert in engineering and was reasonably proficient in most other fields, there were some things Grimer was better at. As much as he loathed to admit it. If it weren't for him, Project Thorndyke might never have gotten off the ground. Plus, he was the only friend he had. Or so he thought.

"Do you know where he is or don't you?"

"Probably." Snively smirked like a snake, seemingly delighting in making his uncle's face grow red with rage. To be fair, Eggman shouldn't have been surprised. Over the last several weeks, Snively had steadily been growing less and less loyal, and ever more contemptuous. If this kept up, Eggman supposed he'd have to do something about that sooner or later. But as long as he was still useful, that could keep.

"Then where is he?"

"If you must know, he was last seen heading toward the genetic testing centre. I'm not quite sure why. Though if I had to guess, I'd say it was so he could go somewhere quiet and have some peace. Gaea knows it's a seldom seen commodity around here."

Eggman had to keep himself from throttling Snively like a ragdoll. He stormed off, leaving Snively with the last laugh before he returned to watching over the monitors. Later, he told himself. Later. For now, Grimer was who he had to deal with.


Eggman soon made his way to the GTC or as it was otherwise known, the Genetic Testing Center. It was large and spacious, filled with various beakers and tubes containing all sorts of creatures and bulbous monstrosities. And yet in the middle of all that, there was one particular subject of note. It was contained within a large tube, floating within light blue fluids and hooked up to various cables and wires supporting it. The fluids partly obscured it, but it almost looked like a hedgehog of all things. Which was rather deliberate.

Standing in front of it was Grimer. He was holding a tablet, overlooking the specimen as he made various calculations. And all the better.

"Grimer! There you are!" Eggman stormed over to Grimer who didn't even bother to turn his head. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Yes, I'm sure." Grimer continued going over his notes, not bothering to give Eggman the time of day. "Can't bother to look over your creations yourself, can you?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that you seem to expect me to wait on you hand and foot, no questions asked. And with nothing in return. Though I suppose I never should have expected anything less."

"And where did this come from?"

"I don't know. Perhaps it was when you threw one of your oldest and dearest friends into the Roboticizer without a second thought."

That was it? He was upset because he had taken care of an outdated nuisance that didn't know his place? That couldn't have been what this was about. "And your point is?"

Grimer turned around to face Eggman, his eyes barely hiding his contempt. "Do I need to say it?"

"Yes, I think that you do."

"Very well. Aside from the fact that doing such a thing goes beyond even my own worst inclinations, what's to stop you from doing it to me? To Snively? To anyone who doesn't so much as worship the very ground you walk on? Why, you might even roboticize them anyway because you'd think they'd serve the ground better as a footstool!"

Well, this was starting to get troublesome. "Now look here, Grimer. Just because I made Chuck into something more useful doesn't mean I'll do the same to you."

"This is not about whether or not I'm useful! This is about you not seeming to care about anything but what you want and how you can get it! Anything else might as well be a tool."

"Grimer, I don't think I like your tone."

"If that means you're actually listening to me, then I don't mind in the least.

Eggman was about to rip his not so faithful subordinate a new one when he heard something most peculiar. Both he and Grimer turned their heads toward the tube with the hedgehog-shaped subject as it began to emit a loud, shrill beep, just as a light at the top turned green. And that could only mean one thing: Project Hedgehog was at long last complete.

Project Hedgehog. When Eggman had first set his sights on South Westside Island, he never thought he'd have a need to start making clones wholesale, but he couldn't pass it up once he was presented with the perfect opportunity. As soon as he plucked those quills from Dingo's wounds back when all this started, and as he realised just how powerful that pesky blue hedgehog truly was, he knew that he now had the means to take his power and make it his own. Of course, he did have Swifty, but one never knew how long he was going to be content with the pay Eggman was giving him. He couldn't risk that he might one day turn on him. In a way, this was Swifty's eventual replacement.

Grimer rushed over to the controls, rapidly pushing buttons as he tried to release the subject before he awoke. "Well now. That was certainly sooner than anticipated."

"Don't waste words, Grimer! Just make sure he emerges safe and sound! I want my hedgehog!"

A few presses later and the deed was done. The liquid drained from the tube as a glass door slid open, the hedgehog slowly falling to the floor as the liquid disappeared from the chamber. Laying on the ground was a spitting replica of that thorn in Eggman's side. AKA Sonic the Hedgehog. Well, mostly. For the most part he was perfect, but there was one noticeable difference, and it was as plain as day. "Grimer?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Why is my hedgehog green?"

Grimer moved over to the hedgehog, taking a closer look as he attempted to puzzle out the difference in pigmentation. "Ah. I think I know the answer. You see, there wasn't enough material to make one whole hedgehog out of what you gave me. It was close, but there was just the slightest bit that was missing. And so I substituted the barest amount from Swifty. You have no idea how many scraps of DNA he leaves on the sofa. But seeing as he had the same powers as Sonic, he seemed like a decent fit. Though I suppose it also meant that the colour of our hedgehog's quills would follow suit."

Eggman would have been lying if he said he wasn't the slightest bit upset. After all, his precious creation had been tampered with behind his back. Then again, if what Grimer said was true, perhaps he didn't have a choice. Though he still would have liked to been consulted with first. He did like Grimer as an assistant, but if this kept up, he might have had to do something about him sooner than later.

"Whatever. Just as long as he isn't braindead." Suddenly, the hedgehog started to stir. Its fingers twitched as his eyelids opened and it groggily began to get on its' knees. "Ugh. The hell am I?"

"So glad you asked! My name is Eggman, and this is my faithful assistant Grimer! And we have a lot to talk about."


"Way past cool."

Sonic was standing atop the edge of a tall, jagged cliff. Below it was a vast complex that spanned at least several miles. Long grey tubes and yellow conveyors connected several towering green buildings, all plastered with Eggman's face, and transferred streams of blue and pink liquid between them. Pools of the stuff could be seen dotting the landscape as if there was so much of it that there wasn't enough room to properly store it all. Scores of Swatbots and Badniks patrolled the place, making sure no pesky intruders were making a nuisance of themselves. This was the Chemical Plant, and it was just as much of a hellhole and potential ecological disaster in the making as Sally described.

Standing next to him was Amy, though he was still somewhat taken aback by her change in wardrobe. Gone was the green dress she had worn when he first saw her. In its' place was a plain white t-shirt accompanied by a green plaid kilt below the waist. Her hair and face looked just a bit more plain and unkempt as well, as though she wasn't paying as much attention to the niceties. On top of that, while she still wore her crossbow on her back, she was now wielding a large red and yellow hammer. It was half was as large as she was, yet she was able to lift it with no trouble at all. It was light enough to carry, yet hard enough to pack a punch. Or least that was how Porker and Rotor described it.

"Gaea!" said Amy. "They weren't kidding, were they?"

"Not really, no." Tekno stepped forward, looking down at the plant as she brought a pair of sleek binoculars to her face. "This is without a doubt one of Eggman's most advanced creations. As well as one of his deadliest. Aside from providing the fuel necessary to power most of his creations, it could also be used for any number of chemical weapons. Which at the very least would be problematic."

"You got that right. If they ever manage to weaponise any of this, we might as well just bend over and let Eggman do whatever he wants. If he gets that off the ground, we're good as dead."

"Yeah." To be fair, Amy had a point. This did not look good. Even as fast as Sonic was, if their mission had been to destroy the plant, he wasn't sure if they'd have a chance. So he supposed it was a good thing that wasn't what they were there for. "This ain't cool."

Tekno pulled out a tablet from her satchel, tapping it as she browsed through various sheets of data. "Thankfully, Geoffrey was able to give us information to infiltrate the plant. With Chirps, Thunderbolt, and others serving as a distraction, we should be able to enter the plant undetected and shut it down. As well as prevent others from using it. As long as the plant is offline, they will be unable to produce any more chemicals, nor produce the material they need to weaponise it."

"Right," said Amy. "Shame we can't just blow it up though." A smile began to crop on her face as she casually mentioned blowing up an entire facility. Sonic never spent all that much time with Amy even after becoming friends, but he knew her well enough to know this didn't happen overnight. Ever since Uncle Chuck — in fact, perhaps ever since Amy got here — she had slowly become less fanciful and more grounded in reality. And yet, she never truly lost her sense of fun. In fact, now that she was getting used to this, she was starting to crack a smile even when Badniks were involved, almost as though this were a game to her. Not that it was, and she no doubt knew that perfectly well. But to see that little stalker go from that to his boss? That was something else. And yet, somehow he couldn't help but feel she was trying just a mite too hard. Or perhaps he was reaching.

"If we could, we would. As is, doing so would create an ecological disaster of catastrophic proportions. Shutting it down is the only way to keep it out of their hands without dooming the entire island. And us with it." As Tekno went on, she started looking further toward the plant, almost past it. As though she weren't even looking at it at all. "You probably do not know this, but I actually helped build this place."

Both Sonic and Amy nearly did a spit take. That couldn't have been right, could it? Then again, Tekno had worked for Eggman before this whole thing started. Before Eggman turned on her. They didn't want to believe it, but they couldn't deny the truth that was staring them in the face. "That's right," said Sonic. "Didn't you use to work for ol' Buttnick, before things started getting crazy?"

"Yes, I did. Of course, I had no idea just what sort of person he truly was. Or to what lengths he was willing to go to achieve his aims. If I had only known then, perhaps I could have helped prevent this."

"Hey now, don't go beating yourself up about it." Amy put a firm hand on Tekno's shoulder, not that it was there for long. As soon as she placed it there, Tekno turned around startled, pushing the hand away as she yelped in alarm. "Oh sorry, I forgot! My bad!"

Tekno started breathing heavily, only stopping as she forced herself to take deep breaths, calming herself down as best she could. Sonic didn't like people getting in his space either, but he couldn't imagine having that sort of reaction to it. "It's alright."

"Right. Well, like I was saying, don't be too down on yourself. You couldn't have known Eggman was going to try and take over the whole kingdom. Who could?"

"Perhaps. But the fact was that in some small way, I am still responsible for this. Nevermind what Eggman used it for. Something on such a scale on this should never have been built. But I suppose that I wanted to prove myself. That I was just as capable as anyone else. And look where it got us."

As Tekno continued her pity party, Sonic decided enough was enough. He couldn't let her wallow in guilt and self-loathing forever. "Hey, you made a mistake. It happens. I mean, I've made plenty of mistakes. Just about everything ever since I stepped foot on this island has been one mistake after another. But even so, the only thing to do is keep on runnin'! And get right back up when you fall. Long as you do that, you'll have nothin' to worry about!"

"I suppose." Tekno seemed to consider Sonic's words for a moment before her face broke out into a rare smile. "Thank you. Perhaps you are right." With that, she turned back to the plant. "In any event, we still have to deal with that. At the moment the plan is to await a signal from Johnny's squad before making our move. Once he contacts us, we'll each be moving to small vents on opposite sides of the building. Most would not be able to fit, but being Mobians, we should be able to squeeze in with ease."

"Cool." This was sounding fun already.

"After that, it is a matter of making our way to the control room and shutting the place down, as well as locking the controls so that it can't be turned on again. Or at least not easily. Of course it will not be a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination. Which is where Johnny's squad comes in. With them distracting the majority of their forces, we should be able to speed to the room with minimal interference. Assuming that Eggman does not have anything up his sleeve."

Amy sighed. "Of course he does. He always does. Wouldn't be Eggman if he didn't."

"Hey, that just makes it more fun!" Sonic sprung up from where he had been sitting before stretching his legs, keeping himself nimble for what lay ahead. "Still though, this doesn't sound half-bad. We get in, shut it down, and get out while mowing down any badniks or stopping anyone who gets in our way. That about it?"

"Yes. Although finding the control room would under normal circumstances be nigh impossible given the size of the place. Thankfully, there is one more member of our party I neglected to mention." She pulled out a small device from her satchel. Upon closer inspection, it was Nicole's console. Just like Sally said.

Tekno quickly turned it on as a small holographic image of a lynx in a purple wraparound dress emerged from the screen, floating in place above as it yawned and stretched out its' arms. "Good morning, everyone!"

"You can thank Tails for that," said Tekno. "I may be proficient in the various sciences, but Tails is the one who made that possible."

"Hey there, Nicole!" Sonic gave Nicole a thumbs-up. He didn't know too much about holograms or just what was really going on with Nicole beyond the whole self-awareness thing, but he did know that she was just as valuable a friend and member of the group as anyone else. Regardless of whether or not she was a computer. "Lookin' good!"

Nicole blushed. "Why thank you. I wasn't too sure about choosing this particular outfit at first, but I believe it suits me best. Though it doesn't hurt that I don't have to walk in it."

"You got that right." Amy put down her hammer and yawned, stretching her arms like a sloth. "Wouldn't catch me dead wearing that. Shame though." Her eyes sparkled for the briefest of moments as she clasped her hands in adoration, her gaze fixated on Nicole's dress. "It's so pretty!"

Sonic couldn't help but chuckle a bit inside. Regardless of how much Amy had changed, there was still that crazy little girl deep inside. And every now and then it got a chance to come out. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Still, being able to marvel at a dress regardless of everything that was going on was still a marvel in some way.

"Well, it's still a work in progress. As is I can't leave the console completely, nor interact with the rest of the world. But even being able to achieve this much is more than I could have hoped for."

"You can thank Tails for that. I may be proficient in the various sciences, but Tails is the one who made that possible." Tekno couldn't help but pass a glance at Nicole's dress before coughing and looking away as she tried to get back to the matter at hand.

"Right then. With Nicole fully booted, I believe we are about ready to begin. But before we do, let us make sure we all have this right. Firstly, Nicole will hack into the plant before we do anything else. Once she does, she'll attempt to shut down the plant's defence systems while using its' capabilities to stage a distraction of mythological proportions. That should give us as well as Johnny's team a chance to sneak in using the air ducts. Once inside, Nicole should be able to give us an outline of the plant's schematics. At the same time, Johnny and the others will be staging yet another distraction to keep everyone else busy while we make our way to the control room. Once there, it is only a matter of turning off the plant. As well as dealing with anyone in our way."

Now this was starting to sound fun. Sonic gave a thumbs up in approval. "Way past cool."

"You said it," said Amy. "Still, it's a bit crowded down there. Even with Nicole giving us a distraction, we might want to wait until it's thinned out a bit."

Tekno nodded in agreement. "Agreed. Although we cannot wait too long."

Waiting, huh? "Right. Well, you two let me know when we gotta move. I'm gonna take a quick nap. Can't be the fastest thing alive on an empty tank." Sonic fell back against the nearest tree, letting himself fall into a deep slumber as he became the fastest snorer alive. And when he woke up, then things would really get busy.