Miles above the ground, numerous battleships were cruising through the skies, joining up with a large fleet. Each ship in this armada was armed to the teeth with Weapons and armaments that could tear apart an entire continent, and no doubt would if Eggman got his way. On the ship at the far back of the fleet, the four teams of heroes all convened, looking for a plan to take down the entire armada.
"Alright," Sonic began, "This is not going to be easy, and I know we all have our own mission, but we need to take this thing down. Shadow, you and your team, what do you need to do?"
"Find information about me," Shadow informed. "But Omega wants Eggman for himself.
"Affirmative," Omega confirmed.
"Then you think you guys can take out any weapons you see on your way?" Knuckles questioned. "We can cripple the fleet, and make sure that these ships don't hurt anyone."
"This is acceptable," Omega replied.
"Alright then." Sonic turned his attention to Amy. "Amy, I know you and your group are looking for Froggy and Chocola. you guys stick with your mission, and just make sure to cause a bit of a ruckus while you're on your way."
"I think we can manage that," Amy replied, heaving her hammer onto her shoulder.
"You can count on us, Sonic!" Cream declared, Cheese cheering along.
"Great!" Sonic replied. "And Chaotix?"
"We got a job to finish," Vector replied. "And to do that, we've got a little bit of work to do."
"But don't worry," Espio assured the hedgehog, "I'm almost certain that we will be drawing more than our fair share of attention."
"Sounds good to me," Sonic replied. "While you do that, the rest of us will make a beeline towards Eggman himself, and end this once and for all."
"Now that's a plan I can get behind," Knuckles declared, punching his fist into his palm while grinning.
"Mwahahaha!" Robotnik's voice called out over comms. "You fools must all have a death wish. Witness this invincible battle fleet, built by the hands of a genius. It's power is unmatched throughout the universe!"
"He sure loves to hear himself talk, doesn't he?" Sonic remarked. "Alright, Eggman, let's get this party started."
Sonic instantly took off, with Tails, Knuckles, Keith, and Kat following close behind. Sonic rolled into a spin dash, zipping past the shots fired by the turrets and rolling into them. Tails quickly scooped Keith up and flew him into the air, allowing him to chuck electric balls at several turrets as they flew onto the next ship. Knuckles grabbed hold of Kat before gliding after Tails and Keith, as they approached the ship, he set her down, allowing her to roll on the ground before swinging her bat at a nearby Egg Pawn, taking its head off.
"Woo!" she cheered. "Haven't had this much fun since Chaos!"
Keith formed a set of energy disks and chucked them at some oncoming Egg Pawns, destroying them instantly as he smiled. Knuckles meanwhile dropped down on a turret and punched it dead in the center, causing it to crumple in on itself and explode. He then leapt off and ran to catch up with Kat, who had just batted an explosive ball into an oncoming Egg Pawn.
Meanwhile, Shadow's team leapt onto another airship, zipping between several airborne robots and causing them to explode as a result. Shadow landed on the ground, looking up to see a giant silver robot with a large hammer lumbering towards him. The robot brought its hammer down, hitting the ground where Shadow was. Shadow then reappeared behind the robot, rolling into a spin dash and severing the arm that was holding the hammer. This allowed Rouge to swoop down and spin into a screw kick, plowing right through the robots chest and causing it to explode. As the robot crumbled to pieces, another squadron of Egg Pawns came from the inside of the ship, prompting Omega to activate his arm cannons, opening fire on them and destroying them instantly.
"Shadow!" Chessie shouted before flicking her cables towards him. "Throw me!"
Shadow grabbed the cables, slinging her into the air towards a group of flying robots. She instantly started swinging her cables, slicing through the robots in rapid succession. Once they were down, Chessie slung her cable onto the side of the ship, allowing her to swing around and land back on the ground. She flashed a thumbs up to Shadow, who just smiled in response.
Big held onto Helen tight as he floated down onto a ship, with Cream carrying Amy after them. Cream dropped Amy onto the ground, allowing her to draw her hammer and begin swinging it at robots. They were easily smashed to bits, plowing a path for them.
"Helen, keep your eyes peeled for Chocola Chao and Froggy!" she ordered. "Big, Cream, keep these bots off her, got it?!"
You got it!" Big replied.
"Ok!" Cream agreed.
Amy charged forward, continuing to knock down robots as Big, Helen, Cream, and Cheese made their way towards the entrance. Big whipped out his fishing line, snagging a robot and swinging it into another robot, destroying them both.
With Team Chaotix, the three of them landed on an airship as their communicator went off.
"You're running out of time! Robotnik's fleet will soon reach its destination! You need to disable it and reach the command ship."
"Way ahead of ya!" Vector declared. "Once we get our hands on Eggman, all this will end."
"And then we get paid, right?" Charmy questioned.
"Your reward will come. Now get to it!"
"Sheesh, somebody's testy."
"Come on," Vector ushered. "Let's get to it!"
The three rushed forward, Espio leaping up and throwing several shurikens at the oncoming robots, nailing them in the heads and taking them out. Vector, meanwhile, chomped down on one robot, severing its arm before grabbing it and taking a swing at the robot, knocking it off the ship and sending it hurdling to the ground. Charmy buzzed through the air, dodging and weaving between laser blasts before reaching a robot and stabbing it with his stinger, damaging it enough so it'd fall to the ground.
"How'd you like them stingers!" Charmy quipped.
…
From his command deck, Robotnik watched the four groups crash through his forces.. Instead of fury or anguish however, he just had a malicious smirk on his face.
"The hedgehog and his friends are certainly putting up quite a fight," he mused. "If they only knew what they were really in for."
…
After tremendous fighting and narrow evasions, Amy and her team made their way to the command ship, with Amy bashing down a door with her hammer so the others could enter. As they entered, they looked around keeping their eyes peeled for anything that could help them find their missing friends.
"Hey guys!" Helen called out, pointing ahead. "I think I see a lab! Maybe Eggman had Chocola and Froggy in there!"
"Then let's go!" Big declared.
The four of them made their way towards the lab. Amy slowly opened the door, peeking inside to check if anyone was inside. Instead, what she saw was a glass container with a little bit of water, a small dish of crickets and chao berries, and their two missing friends. Amy gasped in response.
"Guys, there they are!"
"Froggy!" Big cried out.
"Chao Chao!" Cheese chirped, beginning to fly over.
Before he could reach Chocola however, a large metal wall nearly came down on top of him. He quickly turned around and flew right back towards Cream. As Cream held him close, a familiar cackling sounded off.
"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Robotnik boasted, lowering himself down inside a metal tube from the ceiling.
"Eggman!" Amy shouted pointing her hammer at him. "I don't know why you captured two innocent animals, but you better let them go right now!"
"Oh you're right, I did a very bad thing. I should just give up right now. Oh wait, I'm the bad guy! It's what I do! So instead, I'm going to turn you brats into pancakes!"
Amy grimaced, readying her hammer. "Big, can you get to Chocola and Froggy while I keep Eggman busy?"
"You bet," Big replied.
Big rushed forward, fishing rod in hand as Amy charged at Robotnik.. Another metal wall dropped down towards her, prompting her to leap backwards. Once it rose up, she charged forward, slipping through while she had the chance. She flipped forward before landing on her feet and turning to Robotnik. She took a swing at his container, barely making a dent in the side. Robotnik chuckled in response.
"Not even Knuckles could break this glass, and unlike the blue pest, you're hardly fast enough to build up the momentum needed.
Another metal wall dropped down, forcing Amy to leap away before it hit. She grit her teeth in anger, then she got an idea.
"Big!" she shouted. "Think that fishing rod is strong enough to give me a hand?!"
"I think so!" Big replied, setting Helen down near Cream and Cheese.
"Cream! Think you and Helen can grab Froggy and Chocola?!"
"You bet!" Helen called back as Cream began flying.
Cream then scooped her up and flew towards the two small friends. They dodged and weaved between the dropping walls, dead set on reaching the table where the two were. Finally, they reached Froggy and Chocola, Cheese instantly rolling into a ball and ramming into Chocola's cage. The cage was thoroughly dented as the door opened up, allowing Chocola to fly out and hug his Chao brother.
"I'm so happy for you Cheese," Cream told him.
"Don't forget Froggy!" Helen reminded her.
As they worked on that, Amy quickly and carefully made her way around the dropping walls, hoping her plan would work and she wouldn't be crushed.
"Big, heads up!" Amy called out, leaping towards him.
Big quickly flung his fishing line out to Amy, who caught it and allowed Big to spin her around repeatedly. Finally, he cast her out, with enough momentum and strength behind her hammer to smash through the glass of Robotnik's container, much to his shock.
"What?!" he let out.
"Hi." She then brought her hammer down on his head as hard as she could manage. "Bye."
She then smashed the control panel, causing the entire system to spark up. Seeing where this was going, she leapt off, being caught by Helen's hand as she and Cream flew away with Froggy and Chocola. The group flew right into Big, tackling him to the ground as the command terminal blew. They all picked themselves up, seeing the smoldering wreck with no sign of Robotnik.
"Darn it," Amy curses, punching the ground. "He got away."
The others didn't seem to share her disappointment, with Big happily hugging Froggy while Cream and Helen watched Cheese and Chocola hug.
"That's ok, Amy," Cream reassured. "Froggy and Chocola are safe and sound. That's enough for me."
Amy looked back to see everyones happy faces, being unable to keep herself from smiling in return.
"You know what? I think it's enough for me too. Come on, let's go find Sonic and the others."
…
Meanwhile, Sonic and his team touched down on the deck of the command ship, taking off at top speed to reach Robotnik. The others rushed to keep up with him, even with Sonic pacing himself.
"I thought you said you were gonna go slow!" Keith cut out.
"What are you talking about?!" Sonic replied. "This is slow! For me!"
"Not all of us have super speed, Sonic!" Knuckles snapped. "Seriously, how could you forget that?!"
"What can I say? I like to move fast. It's kinda my whole-"
Just then, a familiar laughter filled the air, causing the group to stop as they looked up and saw Robotnik hovering down towards them.
"Well if it isn't my favorite group of low life vermin," Robotnik remarked. "I'm surprised you got this far with so many of your entourage in tow."
"Hey, they know how to keep pace," Sonic replied. "Unlike certain overweight villains I could name."
"Joke all you want, Sonic. For soon, the lives of you and your friends will be at an end!"
"I think we've heard this song before," Keith noted.
"And it was annoying the first time," Kat added, brandishing her bat. "Just show us your latest doo-hickey so we can smash it already!".
"If you insist," Robotnik replied.
Just then, several pieces of armor soared towards Robotnik, attaching to his Egg Mobile one by one. Finally they all came together in a massive robotic version of himself, armed with a shield and an energy lance.
"Behold, the Egg Emperor! It's time for you to meet your maker!"
"Bring it on!" Knuckles declared, running towards it.
To that, the Egg Emperor swung his lance in the air, creating energy waves that were directed right at Knuckles. Seeing this, Knuckles quickly flipped through the air, dodging the attacks before they could hit him. The Egg Emperor then launched several missiles at the group, prompting Tails to dart upwards, drawing several dummy ring bombs and hurdling them at the missiles, causing them to explode. Kat meanwhile activated a group of explosive balls and batted them at the Egg Emperor, prompting him to raise his shield to block them. The Egg Emperor then jetted towards Kat with the intent of hitting her. Fortunately, Keith tackled her out of the way before he could reach her, causing the two teens to land on top of each other.
"Nice save," Kat let out, her face as red as her hair.
"Uh… n-no problem," he replied, his face turning red as well.
"Uh guys!" Sonic replied, speeding past the energy attacks. "Could use a hand over here!"
The two managed to snap out of their moment, quickly picking themselves up and returning to battle. Keith quickly created some energy balls and chucked them at the Egg Emperor, who blocked them with his shield. Sonic tried spin dashing it from behind, but the Egg Emperor quickly spun around, swatting Sonic away before he could hit him. Tails caught him before he could go too far.
"The Egg Emperor is too strong!"
"It's that shield," Sonic noted. "It's blocking most of our attacks. If we can take it out, we might have a chance!"
"I hear ya!" Tails then spun Sonic around, launching him at the shield. The Egg Emperor held it up as Sonic came into a spin dash, he collided hard with the shield, causing sparks to fly as a result. He then shoved Sonic off, causing him to skid on the ground.
"Guys!" Sonic called out. "Aim for the shield!"
"Now that's a plan I can use," Knuckles remarked, running forward.
He leapt up and quickly attacked the shield, dealing it one punch after another.
"Kat! Spike and explosive!"
"On it!"
She set her bat and launched the two balls into the air. Knuckles caught them in rapid succession, shoving the spike ball into the shield before attaching the explosive one to it before leaping off. The explosive ball went off, causing major cracking.
"It's working!" Kat cheered. "Keith! Throw as many frisbees as you can!"
Keith obliged, creating and throwing several energy disks at the shield, each one slowly chipping away at the shield's integrity.
"Enough of this!" Robotnik declared, sending an energy wave towards Keith.
Tails quickly swooped in and grabbed hold of Keith, lifting him into the air before the wave could hit. Keith wiped his brow in relief as all eyes returned to Robotnik.
"The shield is almost down. Just need one more major hit."
Knuckles looked at the shield, then grinned.
"Hey Tails, think you can carry both me and Sonic? I have a crazy idea that just might work."
"No problem," Tails replied.
Tails then set Keith on the ground before grabbing Sonic, with Knuckles grabbing onto his ankles as they approached the Egg Emperor. Sonic and Knuckles then flipped off, Sonic spin dashing and Knuckles charging down fists first, with Tails unloading a slew of ring bombs. All three attacks then hit at the exact same time, finally destroying the shield in a massive blast. Both Keith and Kat cheered, sharing a high five as the shield completely shattered.
"What?!" Robotnik let out. "Impossible!"
"Haven't you learned by now?" Sonic jeered, stretching his legs. "Nothing is impossible when we're involved. Now take this!"
Sonic then zipped towards the Egg Emperor, unloading one spin dash after another. Keith created a few energy balls and chucked them at the Egg Emperor, nailing it every time. Kat's explosive balls had similar success, a few even being grabbed by Knuckles and shoved into weak parts of the armor. Tails went overhead and unloaded more ring bombs on the head, severely damaging it. With all this damage hitting it all at once, the Egg Emperor began to fall apart. Its limbs dropped off and its main body began to spark and explode.
"Timber!" Tails shouted.
Finally, the Egg Emperor hit the ground hard, much to the delight of the team. Knuckles quickly ran over and began tearing open the midsection, only to find it completely empty.
"What?" he let out. "He's gone!"
"Probably bailed at some point in the take-down," Keith mused.
"C'mon," Sonic insisted, already revving to go, "let's find him. And shut this fleet down!"
…
Meanwhile, Shadow and the others ventured into the inner bowels of the command ship, searching for any trace of Robotnik. As they continued down the corridor, Shadow looked around, keeping an eye out for any kind of clue they needed.
"Where are you, Doctor?" he said to himself.
Chessie noticed Shadow's determination, slowly moving closer to him and nudging him, letting him know she was there. A ghost of a smile graced his lips before he got back on track. Before they could take another step, the sound of a missile being fired rang out, causing Shadow to turn and see one quickly approaching. Instinctively, he tackled Chessie out of the way as Rouge and Omega flew upwards, allowing it to hit the side of the wall. The four turned to see Robotnik piloting a massive tank outfitted with turrets and missile launchers, all of which were targeted at the team.
"Impressive that you've made it this far," he commented. "But you've all proven to be more trouble than your worth!"
"Primary target acquired," Omega let out, arming his cannons. "Robotnik shall not escape."
"Don't worry, he won't," Chessie promised, getting up and snapping her cables. "Shadow! Ready to try a homing attack on those guns?!"
"More than," Shadow replied, dashing forward.
"I'll see if I can draw some fire!" Rouge reassured, swooping alongside him.
She then veered upwards, pulling out some mini explosives she had on her and tossing them at the tank. They exploded, but did minimal damage, though it was enough to have the turrets focus on her. She took off upwards, dodging and weaving between the blasts as Shadow approached. He leapt into the air and rolled into a spin dash, launching himself at one of the turrets and destroying it. He landed on the ground, skidding backwards as Robotnik pulled focus towards him.
"Impressive, but don't think for a second it puts you on par with who came before you," Robotnik taunted.
"Who came before?" Shadow questioned. "What do you mean?"
"Questions asked by the dead are pointless to answer," Robotnik replied, opening fire on him.
Shadow sped out of the way of the blasts, skating along to stay ahead of Robotnik's attacks. As Robotnik continued firing, he felt something hit at the rear of his tank. He turned to see Omega unloading countless shots from his cannons, hoping to bring down his machine.
"I have something for you too, you tin plated turncoat!" Robotnik replied, pressing a button.
"Omega!" Chessie cried out. "Move!"
Omega quickly jetted out of the way as a missile fired at him. Chessie whipped a cable out of the missile, spinning around and sending it flying right back at the treads of the tank. The impact caused the bottom to explodem shaking the vehicle as Robotnik tried to maintain control. Before he could though, a barrage of missiles from Omega hit the tank, disabling most of the weapons.
"No!" Robotnik let out. "No!"
"Nice work, ya tin can," Rouge commended.
Omega nodded, allowing Rouge to dive into a spin kick, plowing through the hood of the tank. This allowed Shadow to sprint forward and spin dash through the front of the tank, tearing through it before exiting through the back. The tank began to spark before finally exploding. The four of them looked on at the explosion, with Omega scanning for life as Rouge silently slipped away.
"Life readings: negative," Omega reported. "Robotnik target: destroyed."
"I highly doubt that," Shadow remarked, looking over the wreckage. "I may not remember much, but I have a growing suspicion that the doctor is not so easily bested."
"That's for sure," Chessie reassured. "Don't worry, we'll find him-" she looked around, seeing they were short one member. "Hey, where's Rouge?"
"Go find here," Shadow told her. "Omega and I will survey the wreckage."
Chessie nodded before taking off.
…
Meanwhile, Rouge was following a hand held radar deeper into the ship. She smirked as she reached her destination.
"Chessie may have taken my other Emerald, but this one's mine for the taking."
Her radar led her to the end of a hallway, revealing a large set of metal doors in front of her.
"Jackpot."
With a quick Screw Kick, the doors were blown off the hinges, but what she saw stopped her in her tracks.
"No…"
"There you are," Chessie called out, catching up to her. "What were you thinking, running off… like…" her words died in her mouth as she got a look in the room. "Oh no…"
The two stood in awe of the sight of numerous rows of containment tubes holding copies of Shadow The Hedgehog. Chessie walked up to one of the tanks, her eyes fixated on the hedgehog inside. She opened the tank with zombie-like movements, carefully removing the glove off one of the hedgehog's hands. Unsheathing one of her claws, she cut into the palm like she had with Shadow, and went pale when she saw blood welling in the cut.
"It… it bleeds…" she whispered.
"Just like Shadow," Rouge realized.
Chessie stumbled back, her legs giving out beneath her. "Rouge… is… is Shadow…" Her eyes drifted up to the hedgehog in the tank, unable to finish her question.
Just then, the doors opened again, allowing Omega to enter the room.
"Signs of Robotnik: negative," he reported. "Prepared to destroy the immediate area."
Rouge just nodded, walking over to the main terminal of the room. She pried open a panel, removing the purple Chaos Emerald powering everything. Despite having one of the jewels in her hand, she didn't feel like celebrating. Instead, she just pocketed it, then returned to Chessie's side.
"Come on, let's get out of here."
"Yeah. Shad… he… will be waiting."
"You know about cloning," Omega spoke, getting their attention. "The original must exist somewhere."
Chessie perked up a little at that, honestly considering what Omega had said.
"Do… do you think…?"
"Hey, anything's possible," Rouge commented, helping her back up. "Now come on, let's find Eggman and see if we can squeeze the truth out of him."
A small smile graced Chessie's face as she and Rouge went out, leaving Omega to wreck the place.
…
Meanwhile, Team Chaotix made their way to the command ship, taking out numerous robots along the way. Chary stabbed his stinger into one, causing it to explode as Espio threw a shuriken into an oncoming Buzz Bomber, taking it out. Vector then chomped down hard on the head of an Egg Pawn, tearing it off and spitting it away as it dropped to the ground.
"That should be all of them for now," Vector commented before turning on his walkie talkie. "So, where to now?"
"This is your final mission. I have been held prisoner on Robotnik's ship. The cell holding me has a special key to unlock it. Find the key and free me, and you shall receive your reward."
"Well then, let's get to it!"
"Where should we start looking?" Espio questioned.
"Best guess is the command deck. Eggman would wanna keep it close."
"Then let's go!" Charmy cheered before flying off.
"Hey, wait up!" Vector called out as he and Espio gave chase.
…
Up in the command deck, Robotnik looked at the monitor screens, surveying the Chaotix team as they entered into the ship.
"The fools," he mused to himself. "They're practically playing into my hands," he pressed a few buttons, pulling up an image of someone sitting in the shadows, obscuring their face. "Soon, I shall have all I need to complete my ultimate designs. And neither you, nor Sonic and his friends will be able to stop me."
He silently got out of his chair, making his way to the exit as the figure looked up at the camera.
…
Back with Team Chaotix, they continued their trek towards the command deck. Espio ran along the walls before leaping off and throwing several shurikens, nailing numerous Swatbots in their way. Charmy just kept on stinging into robots, taking them out one by one. Vector meanwhile popped some more of his special gum into his mouth, allowing him to blow a stream of fire at a line of robots, causing them to blow. Once they were down, Vector wiped his mouth, walking away from the fallen bots.
"Excuse me," he told them.
"The command deck should be just up ahead," Espio informed.
"Not that you'll ever get there!" a familiar voice commented.
The three took a step back just as a giant robot dropped from the sky, it was a boxy looking robot with a giant mace for a hand and Robotnik's Eggmobile as the head.
"Fancy toy there, doc," Vector commented. "Be a shame when we break it."
"If it's all the same to you, my Egg Breaker will be doing the breaking here," Robotnik jeered.
"Bring it, Eggman!" Charmy declared, flying right at it.
The Egg Breaker swung its mace at Charmy, prompting him to dodge and weave between the swings. He tried stinging at the giant robot, but it's plating was too thick.
"Yikes!" he let out. "This thing's a tough one!"
Vector ran up, trying to chomp down on the robot's leg. He instantly had to let go though, clenching his mouth as a result.
"Charmy wasn't kidding," Vector reported.
"Then maybe a more reserved technique is in order," Espio suggested. "Keep Eggman busy."
"You got it," Vector replied as Espio turned invisible.
Vector meanwhile popped some more gum and tried spewing fire at the robot. The robot staggered backwards, before bringing down its mace and prompting Vector to leap out of the way. Charmy flew in close, taunting Robotnik right to his face.
"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!"
Robotnik fumed at the remark, swinging the mace at him. Charmy however flew out of the way at the last second, causing the mace to hit the robot itself.
"Gah!" Robotnik let out. "You'll suffer for that, you brat!"
Charmy flew away, giggling to himself as the Egg Breaker gave chase. As this was going on, Espio was climbing up the back of the robot, hoping to catch Robotnik by surprise. Charmy meanwhile continued zipping around Robotnik's attacks, until finally, the giant hand shot out and grabbed him.
"Hey!" Charmy let out, trying to free himself.
"Time to swat a pest," Robotnik remarked.
At that moment, Espio made it to the top, taking out a kunai knife and tossing it right into the controls. The controls began to spark with electricity and the chameleon quickly finally managed to free himself before taking off. Seeing the commotion, Vector grabbed the underside of one of the robots feet and began lifting it up with all his might. His efforts were rewarded as the robot began to move backwards, finally toppling over before small explosions began shooting out of it. The three went over to the front to see if Robotnik had fallen out, finding his unmoving body amongst the wreckage. They all stared at it for a few moments before it suddenly began turning into liquid metal, melting before their eyes.
"Whoa," Charmy let out.
"Heh," Vector remarked. "Looks like he was a fake after all."
"What do you mean 'after all'?" Espio questioned.
"I'll tell ya later," Vector replied. "Right now, we've got work to do."
…
At the command deck, Sonic and his team busted inside, finding no sign of Robotnik.
"Not here," Sonic noted. "Darn."
"We'll worry about Eggman later," Keith reassured. "In the meantime, let's see if we can stop this fleet."
Keith made his way to the controls, taking note of how commands for the rest of the fleet seemed to be wired into the main console.
"This one panel controls the entire fleet," he noted before activating his gauntlets. "That should make things easier."
Once his gauntlets were charged up, he jammed them into the control panels, causing them to overload with power. Tails looked outside one of the windows, seeing the remaining ships in the fleet begin to crash down into the water below. Some of them even crash into each other, causing them to explode.
"That did it!" Tails reported. "The fleet's completely disabled!"
"Seems a little too easy to me," Knuckles commented.
"Oh yeah, he was really going easy on us back there," Kat commented.
"Easy or not, we're still short one Eggman," Sonic reminded. "We gotta find him."
"I think we can help with that," Vector replied as he and the Chaotix team entered the room.
"Thought you had a job to do," Knuckles commented.
"We do," Espio replied. "Our client is being held prisoner on this ship and we believe the key to free him is here."
Charmy began flying around the room, looking for anything that resembled a key. He flew past Sonic, causing him to stumble back so he backed into a console and pressed a button. This allowed a panel to open up, revealing a silver Chaos Emerald. Sonic took note of this, snagging the emerald and tossing it to himself. Espio and Vector meanwhile looked at some of the consoles, finally spotting a high tech keycard laying on a console.
"Bingo," Vector declared. "Now to finally solve this little case. Come on. You too, Sonic."
"What? Why?" Sonic wondered.
"Trust me, when we meet our client, you're gonna wanna be there."
Team Chaotix started to head out, with Sonic turning to the other in curiosity. Finally shrugging, he began to follow, with the others trailing behind.
…
Sonic's group and Team Chaotix made their way to an upper area of the ship, looking for the cell containing the detectives' mysterious client.
"Hey, Sonic!" Amy's voice called out.
Sonic turned to see Amy and her team running up, with Froggy and Chocola in tow.
"Amy," Sonic greeted, noting the new arrivals. "Hey, you found Froggy and Chocola. Nice work."
"Thanks. But Eggman got away after we fought him."
"Hey, same with us," Tails added. "No idea how he did it."
"It's the same with us," Rouge replied as she and the others arrived. "Omega scanned the wreck of that tank he used to attack us. Not a trace of him."
"But that's not possible. How can he just disappear like that?"
"Simple," Vector addressed. "The Eggman, or Eggmen, we've been fighting haven't been the real deal."
"How do you know?" Shadow wondered.
"Just watch and see," Vector replied, taking the key card and plugging it into a door slot.
Plugging in the key card, the door opened up, allowing the groups to peak inside.
"Everyone, say hello to our client…" he gestured to the room as a familiar figure stepped into the light. "None other than the infamous… Dr. Eggman."