(Hiding behind a Reinforced desk) Okay, okay! I know! I know that this took AGES to complete! But it's here! I'm back! Seriously!

A-Anyway, in all seriousness, this is where the story takes its turn, and the fun REALLY begins. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and if you did, leave me a review. I always appreciate any constructive criticism. That said, let's get started!

And for the love of God, put those pitchforks and torches away!

Knuckles came in, grumbling incoherently under his breath. Behind him, the two new experiments were following him. Lady Kuroko was looking around anxiously, while Summer yawned, looking absolutely apathetic.

"Who're they?" Silver asked, turning around.

"When we came back from Green Hill, I found these two in the ship with the rookies," Knuckles motioned to them. "Little stowaways…"

"Well," Amy paused. "We can use any help that we can get, so, like it or not, Knuckles…"

"So," Summer interrupted. "What makes you think we want to help you?"

"You're free to leave the base and possibly take it up with the Masked One," Espio lowered his eyelids. Summer raised an eyebrow.

"…What?"

"Leave and you might die fighting."

"It's a pain either way."

"S-Summer…" Lady Kuroko interrupted, nervously looking back and forth. "D-D-D-Don't you remember? Stitch a-a-and Aurora are here…"

"Stitch and Aurora?" Amy asked. "What about them?"

"T-They're our siblings."

"…Oh," Knuckles paused and took a closer look at them.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Uh…" Lady Kuroko backed up. "W-What are you-?"

"You don't LOOK too much like them," Knuckles remarked. He was then smacked upside the head courtesy of a Piko-Piko hammer.

'Where'd she get that?' Lady sweatdropped and backed away as Knuckles clutched the swollen red bump on his head.

"WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR!?" He roared. Amy harrumphed as she replaced her hammer.

"Can't you see that you're making her nervous!?" She demanded, before turning back to the stunned Lady. "Hey, don't worry about Knucklehead over here."

"Knucklehead…" Summer chuckled a bit. "Heh… Amusing."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" The rest of the Resistance sighed in irritation at Knuckles' outburst.

"Seriously, Knuckles," Vector sighed. "No offense, really, but if we weren't in this mess, you'd be sitting in front of a giant green rock, being tricked by Eggman into collecting the Chaos Emeralds for him."

"But…"

"That," Charmy added, wearing a big, smug smirk. "And you've been tricked by Eggman, like, five times! I mean, come ON! Who else but you listens to the fat guy who's pretty much spending his life trying to conquer the world?"

"Ugh…" Knuckles shook his head, just as the door opened. Stitch, Angel, and Aurora walked in.

"Hey, guys. What's…" Stitch trailed off. "Up…?"

"U-uh…" Lady waved nervously. "H-h-hi Stitch... Hi A-Aurora…"

"Whatever," Summer sighed, leaning against the wall.

"Oh, Lady, Summer…" Aurora sighed in relief. "Okay, that's two more…"

"I'm worried about Clover and the others," Angel said, sounding worried. Stitch patted her back.

"Don't worry," He reassured her. "They can take care of themselves."

"But, what if they-"

"ANYWAY…" Knuckles interrupted. Angel and Amy shot him an irate glare. "We've received some great news: Sonic is alive!"

The atmosphere in the room changed in an instant. The experiments noted that everyone else was conveying expressions of shock, surprise, but, most of all, sheer, unbridled relief.

"Who's Sonic?" Angel whispered to Stitch. He shrugged in response.

"No way…" Silver's jaw dropped, before breaking into the biggest grin imaginable. "That's great! That means we have a chance of pulling this off!"

"What!?" Amy gasped, before laughing in sheer joy. "Oh, thank goodness! I knew it! I knew it!"

"He's being held in the orbiting prison," Knuckles explained further. "My spy there says that he's in a solitary confinement cell."

"Solitary confinement?" Espio asked, before shaking his head. "Of course. Sonic is, after all, the biggest thorn in Eggman's side. He likely wanted to make sure he couldn't escape to foil his plans again."

Aurora cringed at the thought of what that must be like.

"Awful. That's absolutely awful…" She responded. Stitch, Angel, and Lady silently agreed. Summer simply shrugged nonchalantly.

"For a guy who likes to run like Sonic does, that's gotta be like torture…" Vector noted, wincing at the notion.

"That's horrible…!" Amy gasped. "We have to rescue him!"

"Plans already happening, Amy," Knuckles grinned sharkishly. "I've got a squad on the way to the Space Port in the Chemical Plant Zone to 'borrow' a shuttle."

'A chemical plant?' All of the experiments thought at once. Angel and Aurora internally groaned. Stitch seemed intrigued. Summer yawned in boredom, and Lady fidgeted nervously.

"C'mon, guys. Who's up for an old-school style jailbreak?" Knuckles continued, grinning. Stitch gave the exact same grin, remembering his own jailbreak from the Galactic Federation so long ago.

"Count me in."

"I dunno…" Angel started. "My powers might not work too well in orbit, but…"

"But…?" Amy asked, looking confused.

"If there's any chance of us finding any of my sisters, then it's a risk I'm willing to take," Angel said. Stitch grinned.

"Atta girl," He said. Angel blushed.

"So you two intend on joining, then," Espio said. He then turned to the other three. "What about you?

"I-I-If I h-have to, t-t-then I-I g-guess…" Lady stammered. Summer yawned.

"Nah. It's too much work…"

Amy frowned.

"Alright, mister. I guess you can just stay here then. Oh, and if Eggman finds out where this place is in the meantime, I guess you'll have to deal with all the robots yourself."

"…And?"

Amy narrowed her eyes. "And if they take the base, I'm flattening you with a hammer the size of a house assuming you aren't captured."

Summer seemed to consider this, before sighing irritably.

"It's a pain if I go, and there might be even more of a pain if I stay…" He groaned. "Fine. Have it your way."

Aurora looked at the exchange happening before her before nodding.

"I'll go as well. If I can be of any use, please, just ask."

"Great!" Knuckles grinned. "Let's get moving, team!"

Meanwhile, as the Resistance was on its way to the Chemical Plant Zone to steal a shuttle,

"Hmph," A cloaked figure looked around. The only thing visible behind the hood was a pair of deep red eyes that one could argue were glowing. Around them, the scenery was rather artificial. A factory of some kind, obviously. It was also biting cold, and snow was billowing around them. Besides the cloaked figure, a black male experiment was looking around.

"So," He started. "Where do you think we are?"

"We appear to be in the arctic," The cloaked experiment, a female by the sound of her voice, responded. The experiment's eyes narrowed. "The question is, how did we get here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," The black experiment shrugged. "Last I remember, everything went white and there was an odd noise."

Whatever the cloaked experiment thought of that, she didn't convey. She simply turned around to face him.

If she was planning on saying anything, she was cut off by the sound of a roaring engine above. Looking up, the two saw some kind of ship flying overhead.

"A ship?" The black experiment looked confused.

The cloaked experiment didn't respond, instead narrowing her eyes at where it had gone, as if she had noticed something off about it. Then, she sighed in irritation.

"We have company," The cloaked experiment said, turning around. The black experiment followed her gaze and discovered a small army of robots right behind them.

"Heh," He smirked, a dark aura beginning to emanate from his body. "Might as well have a workout, right?"

"I've been feeling rather irritated by whatever's going on here," The cloaked experiment said simply. Then, a blue scythe materialized in her paws, and an aura of cold began to waft off of her. "These heaps of metal should do well to help me vent."

With that, the two experiments charged into the horde.

Shortly after landing, Stitch and Angel took off. Running down a large wavy pipe, they saw a large platform, covered in badniks. Without having to think, they leaped over in order to engage them, Angel with her hammer (which she was glad she'd grabbed; her powers didn't work here) and Stitch with his Wispon. As the two destroyed the robots, they heard Espio speak over the comm link.

"Espio here. We're engaging enemy forces in the orbital tunnel. I think we can hold them off for now."

"Alright," Angel started. "Now we'll-"

Espio cut her off, sounding slightly panicked.

"No, wait! Watch out! The Masked One is here. The monster who took down Sonic!"

"M-Monster…?" Lady squeaked. She sounded like she was on the verge of freaking out.

"Great, just great…" Summer sighed. "More work…"

Stitch and Angel both paled at the chameleon's words. They remembered their "battle" with the masked figure all too well. As if sensing the incoming panic, Vector came in on the comm-link.

"Stay focused, rookies! We're off to find a shuttle!"

"We're NOT rookies!" Stitch roared into the comm-link, immediately forgetting his fear.

"Focus on the enemies, please," Angel sighed, before effortlessly sending three robots flying off the path with a swing of her hammer.

"Sorry!" Stitch grinned sheepishly, holding out his Wispon. A jet of flame saw the next wave of robots explode into burning rubble.

As the two took off running, they saw several rows of rings ahead of them. Shrugging, they grabbed a few of them before leaping onto a spring. The spring launched them onto a platform just above, where many more waves of robots were waiting.

"Cannon fodder!" Stitch cheered, pulling the trigger of his Wispon. Without them slowing down, the flames easily cut a path right through the advancing Egg Pawns and onto another spring that sent them flying forward a short distance, right in the middle of two groups of robots.

"Was that intentional?" Angel asked, readying her hammer. Stitch shrugged, before the two of them dashed in opposite directions to focus on each group of robots separately. One attempted to tackle Stitch, only for the blue experiment to turn around and punch it, sending it flying towards Angel, who, upon seeing it, quickly turned around. Using her hammer as a bat, she sent it flying into another Egg Pawn and sent both of them flying off of the path and into the water below.

"Nice!" Stitch laughed as the two moved forward once again, this time climbing up a vertical wall that lead them to what they were told were called "dash panels". Running over the panels, they blasted forward with incredible speed, moving through a loop-de-loop before dashing off of some dash ramps.

"Seriously!" Angel cried out, trying to keep her excitement from leaking out into her voice. "Is there any reason they should have loops like that?"

"Who cares!?" Stitch laughed, grabbing hold of her hand and using his grappling hook to latch onto a pipe overhead. Directing them to land on a nearby platform, they found yet another pack of robots.

Stitch grinned. "Hasta la vista!"

Another jet of flames saw the pack of robots disappear completely.

"You sound like you're having fun," Aurora said over the comm link.

"I still have those destructive impulses," Stitch admitted. "It's nice to let loose a little every so often, you know?"

"It's good that you're letting off steam, but c'mon, let's head in while Espio's team keeps them busy!" Silver said.

"We need a shuttle to get to Sonic in time," Knuckles reminded them. Both Stitch and Angel rolled their eyes.

'Thanks, Commander Obvious.'

"Yeah, he's in orbit," Summer sighed. "Unless you can fly straight into the air at escape velocity, of course we're going to need a shuttle."

Knuckles growled slightly in response.

"Knuckles…" Amy warned. The red echidna sighed and continued with whatever he was doing.

Getting back to the matter at hand, directly behind where the robots had been was a dash panel leading to a pair of rails. Shrugging, Stitch grabbed Angel's hand and the two of them blasted down the rail, picking up some more rings as they did so.

The rails brought them to another platform, where a Red Wisp was waiting for them. Running up to it, the Wisp nodded at them before flying into Stitch's Wispon before reappearing behind them. The weapon began to glow red.

"BURST!"

A cursory glance upwards told them that there were rings just above them, leading to another platform just ahead.

Grabbing Angel's hand once again, Stitch aimed his Wispon at the ground and pulled the trigger.

The two experiments bounced through the air on a series of explosions, grabbing the rings they came across as they moved towards the platform. While in the air, a series of Buzz Bombers attempted to ambush them. Stitch let go of both Angel and the trigger, allowing them to get the drop on the two robots. Angel smashed it down towards the ground, while Stitch blasted it with the Wispon's flamethrower feature. Then, Stitch grabbed Angel's hand once again and aimed down again.

*Click*

Nothing happened.

"…Stitch?" Angel asked with a deadpan expression.

"Yeah?"

"I think it ran out of energy."

"I noticed."

Frantically looking around, Stitch saw another pipe, just in reach of his grappling hook. Without hesitation, he launched his hook at it, just managing to secure themselves onto it before swinging towards their destination.

"That was close…" Angel sighed in relief.

"Ih…" Stitch nodded as the two of them reached the platform. "Wispons only stay charged for a short period of time after being activated. I'll have to remember that…"

That was when the two of them heard a low rumbling noise.

"Hey, that sounds like a freight train," Vector noted. Amy piped in.

"It's carrying supplies. I don't think it's armed or anything."

"Alright, let's hitch a ride!" Stitch grinned. Angel's ears drooped and she sweatdropped.

"Stitchie, I don't think that's a good id-" Angel was cut off when Stitch grabbed her and leaped off of a spring that was just ahead of them, launching them forward a great distance. Sure enough, there was a freight train, just passing by. Fortunately, the spring had launched them in such a way that they were able to land on top of it.

Unfortunately, said spring had also launched them at a train that was just moments shy of entering an extremely narrow tunnel. Stitch could probably fit through it with some effort. Angel, not so much.

"Uh…" Angel stared at the tiny opening before frantically turning her head and trying to find some way out of the situation.

"There!" She shouted. "There's a pipe you can latch onto!"

"On it!" Stitch shouted, extending the grappling hook again. They were able to pull themselves off of the train just before they could hit the wall. However, before they could swing to the next platform, a concerned voice came in over the intercom.

"Be careful! The Masked One is trying something!" Espio warned.

No sooner had he spoken, everything became engulfed in red, and a distorted garbling noise filled the air. Neither Stitch nor Angel had time to react before suddenly being deposited on another platform, some distance it seemed from where they had been.

"W-What was that?" Lady Kuroko panicked over the comm link.

"Hey! I don't remember being here!" Charmy shouted.

"I think I'm gonna lose my lunch…" Vector groaned.

"If you dare throw up over the comm link, I swear I'm gonna-" Amy began to threaten him, only for Silver to interrupt.

"Looks like we all got dumped in different parts of the chemical plant," He observed. "Let's stick to the plan and regroup at the launch bay!"

"I'm already here," Summer yawned. "You people are all so slow, I think I'll take a nap."

"Summer, please behave…" Aurora pleaded.

"Well…" Angel muttered as she and Stitch recovered and went on the move again. "That was odd…"

Stitch nodded. "No kidding… Still, we gotta head to the launch bay, right? That's the plan."

The two of them quickly came across a spring which sent them straight up onto a small platform that was opposite of the direction they had been going. Running across it, they found a metal pole sticking out of the wall, allowing them to leap up on top of it. Turning around, they saw another wave of badniks, waiting to be destroyed.

Which is what the two of them proceeded to do, tearing through them without stopping.

"Minions", Stitch joked. "Reliable, cheap, and evil. Pick any two."

"Well," Angel grinned. "Eggman obviously chose 'cheap and evil'."

The end of the pathway saw them leap onto a series of dash rings that shot them onto a large ramp, which then proceeded to launch them through three more dash rings before finally ending on a series of rails.

As they landed and began to slide down the rails, taking care to avoid several spike traps along the way, Amy spoke up over the comm link.

"All quiet and the launch pad for now," She observed. "Let's grab a shuttle now before they sound the alarm."

"Already handled," Summer yawned. "Lady Kuroko and I took care of them."

"Perfect!" Vector said. "They won't mind if we borrow this for a while."

"Hurry it up, rookies! Get outta there as soon as everyone's aboard! Step on it!"

Stitch groaned as he and Angel went soaring through a series of dash rings. "Why does he keep calling us that?"

"Well, I suppose that, technically, we ARE the rookies," Angel reminded him. "I mean, we're new to all of this, ri- Hey, Stitchie, do you see that?"

"See what?" Stitch asked as the two began to descend.

"There, just outside the ship. I think I see someone," Angel pointed.

Stitch narrowed his eyes and zoomed in on where Angel was pointed. As soon as he did, he groaned once again, even more loudly than before.

"Great, just great…"

"What is it?" Angel asked, suddenly feeling nervous. They were moments away from landing. Stitch looked over and regarded her with a look that screamed 'This is gonna suck'.

"It's Slang."

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, a small workshop stood a short distance from an old and derelict train station. This workshop was not unique. It was one of many scattered across the world in various locations. However, this workshop was older than most of them. Within the workshop, two experiments were inside, examining it.

"OW!" A red-orange experiment yelped when a wrench fell on his head and sent him flat to the floor. "That HURT!"

"Huh?" Another experiment, this one a blue one with long antennae and goggles, wondered as she turned around to look at the source of the sound, only to find her companion, face down on the ground with a large red bump on his head where the wrench had hit him.

"Ugh…" The red orange one muttered, rubbing the bump on his head.

"Are you okay?" The blue one asked.

"…Yeah, I think, but damn, that hurts…"

"You'll be okay," The blue one sweatdropped at his constant complaining. She then turned to the instruments laying around the room. "Now, let's see…"

The red-orange experiment stood back up, still rubbing his head. As the lump subsided, he looked around at the tiny workshop the two were in.

"I don't get why you wanted to come in here," He remarked.

"Well," The blue one stopped what she was doing and turned to face him. "Why not? We have no idea where we are, and this workshop was the only thing here besides what I'm guessing is that old train station. If we're going to figure out where we are, I figured we'd be able to get an idea from here."

She paused.

"…Then again, you're not really concerned about that, are you?"

"Nah," The red orange one replied. "I'm more interested in what's under this tarp," The then turned around and walked over to the aforementioned tarp, which was covering a large object in the middle of the workshop.

Pulling it off, he found a red World War I bomber, with yellow and white stripes, a star-and-circle emblem painted onto the tail, and another emblem, looking like a pair of fox tails painted onto the wings. The word 'SONIC' was written on the sides of the fuselage as well.

"Now, THIS I like…" The red one grinned and climbed into the pilot's seat. Or, he would have if the blue experiment hadn't grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back down to the ground.

"Hey!" He turned to her. She harrumphed.

"We're not here to steal, you crazy bastard," She scolded.

"Then what are we HERE for?"

"I just told you! We're just looking around," The blue one glared, her eyes glowing red for a moment before flickering back to normal, before continuing her investigation. "Wow, whoever built this is years ahead of the rest of E-arth."

"What do you mean?" The red one peered over her shoulder.

"Look at this," She picked a small device up off the shelf and presented it to him.

"…Okay, what is it?" The red one didn't seem very interested.

"I don't know," She admitted, before replacing it. "That's what makes this… Hey, are those numbers changing?"

"What?"

"There," She pointed at what looked like some kind of yellow device with a large screen, which appeared to be switched on. The numbers on the screen were:

128 : 384 : 398 : 761 : 473 : 379 : 96 : 37 : 10

However, the numbers began to flicker, before slowly changing to:

131 : 387 : 394 : 760 : 475 : 385 : 92 : 40 : 06

"What are those, some kinda coordinates?" The red one looked over, now appearing somewhat interested.

"Again, I don't know…" The blue one looked over. "But, somehow, that does NOT give me a good feeling…"

(Slowly comes out of hiding) T-There, I finished it! See? I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'm gonna try to get another one out soon! I promise! Really!