Just outside the city, a GUN mobile command center was quickly set up, with Chessie instantly rushing inside to get to work. Rouge and Topaz followed close behind as Chessie got to work on Omega's internal systems.
"Rouge, I need a Chaos Emerald."
Rouge was surprised by the request, but adhered regardless, pulling out a green Chaos Emerald. Immediately, Chessie took it and began to install it into Omega.
"What exactly are you planning?" Topaz asked.
"Remember when we found Omega in that bunker?" Chessie reminded them. "It got me thinking. What if the reason he was on standby was that I set him up as a time capsule? What if he's waiting to wake up to help Shadow?"
"Well… I suppose anything's possible," Rouge commented.
"This will work," Chessie insisted. "It has to…"
…
Back in the future, Mephiles flew above Hope and Shadow, raising his hands to summon several shadows from the ground around them. The shadows transformed into strange creatures that charged at the duo.
"Dance my shadows," Mephiles commanded. "Dance!"
Shadow leaped forward, striking at the shadow creatures to knock them back. Hope quickly activated her shield to block an oncoming shadow before shoving it backward. She then switched the shield type to electric before tossing it at one of the shadows. The impact caused the creature to cry out before dissipating into nothing.
"Shadow!" she shouted. "They're weak to bright light!"
"Right!" Shadow called back, raising his hand. "Chaos Spear!"
He sent out several energy bolts that struck the countless shadows, taking them out instantly. Just as Shadow landed, Mephiles appeared out of the shadows behind him, quickly striking him with an energy ball from behind. Shadow hit the ground hard before instantly getting back up and throwing a Chaos Spear toward Mephiles. The villain quickly disappeared into the shadows, causing Shadow to look around frantically.
"Coward!" Shadow called out. "Face me!"
As he said that, Mephiles stepped back out of the shadows, firing another energy sphere at him. The impact knocked Shadow back, colliding with a nearby rock pillar. Hope saw this and instantly ran over, using her shield to knock back several shadow creatures as she did.
"Shadow, hang on!" Hope called out.
She tossed her shield towards Mephiles, who vanished once again, causing her to miss.
"Damn," she let out. "Where'd he go?"
"I'm not sure," Shadow replied. "Stay alert."
The two went back to back, looking around for any sign of their foe. As they looked around, they were unaware of Mephiles slowly rising behind them. In an instant, he grabbed them by the ankles and tossed them to opposite ends of the area. Shadow bounced on the ground before landing, quickly being swarmed by the shadow creatures. Hope was in similar straits, immediately summoning her flame shield.
"Shadow!" She shouted.
…
Meanwhile, in the survivor bunker, Professor Schlemmer was going over some inventions, tightening some bolts before stepping back and wiping his brow. Behind him, the sound of a machine whirring reached his ear. He turned around, seeing something rising from the corner. He stepped back, gasping in shock.
"My word… It's awake!"
…
Back with Shadow, the shadows continued swarming him, piling on top of him and making it hard for him to move. Eventually, Hope made it over to the pile, using her fire shield to knock away shadows so Shadow could shoot a hand out. She took his hand, pulling him out and swinging him around to kick some shades away. Shadow landed on the ground as more shades began surrounding them.
"It doesn't matter how many you defeat, you know," Mephiles boasted. "Eventually, they will overpower you."
"Shadow…" Hope whimpered, struggling to keep her shield up.
"It's going to be alright," Shadow insisted.
The shades continued to move in closer, ready to strike. Before they could swarm, however, a sudden stream of machine gun fire managed to take out several shades at once. Causing the three to turn and see none other than Omega standing in the entryway with his machine gun barrels spinning.
"Omega!" Shadow let out in surprise.
"The robot from the lab?!" Hope gasped. "What's it doing here?!"
"Designated date has arrived. Time to assist is now."
"So, that's why you were sitting in that lab all this time," Mephiles snarled. "That damn cat…"
"Chessie…" Shadow realized, grinning.
"Correct," Omega confirmed, jetting over and firing at the shades.
As more of the shades went down, Shadow leaped back into action; unleashing several Chaos Spears, teleporting around the room, and taking down as many shades as he could. Hope continued cycling between fire and electric shields to take out numerous shades. As she did, Omega grabbed her by the back of her hoodie, yanking her out of the way of a sneak attack.
"Yipe!" she yelped as the robot set her down. "Thanks."
"Weapons system inefficient against current enemies." His chest piece opened, and he ejected what looked to be a rifle into her hands. "Use this."
"Uh… thanks." She aimed the gun and opened fire on the shades, firing energy blasts that dissipated them instantly. She blinked, looked down at the gun, then smirked. "Now I can finally pull my own weight!"
She and Omega went back to back, shooting down numerous shadows in rapid succession. Shadow meanwhile skated across the ground, deciding to get to the source of the problem. He leaped onto one shade and used his rocket shoe to spring off, dissipating it and getting high enough into the air to throw several Chaos Spears at Mephiles. He faded into the shadows right before the bolts hit. As Shadow landed, he braced himself for when he would shoot out.
"Shadow!" Omega called out.
Shadow turned to see Omega open a panel on his chest and pull out the green Chaos Emerald. He picked it up and shot it toward Shadow. Shadow quickly rushed forward and grabbed it just as Mephiles began to appear.
"Shadow look out!" Hope called out.
Shadow glanced behind to see Mephiles, prompting him to spring into action.
"Chaos Control!" Shadow declared.
Time began to slow down around him, giving Shadow the chance to spin around and kick Mephiles in the head, knocking him back. Shadow then darted forward, backflipping and kicking him upwards before shooting up and striking him with a Chaos Spear, knocking him to the ground and dissipating the other shadows.
"Holy…" Hope gasped. "How did he do that?"
"Shadow possesses the ability to harness the Chaos Emeralds energy to warp time and space," Omega informed her.
"Whoa…" Hope let out. "I am so glad he's on our side."
The three of them quickly surrounded Mephiles, who was still trying to pick himself up. Seeing that he was outnumbered, he raised his hand and caused a portal to appear above them, quickly leaping through it.
"That's our way back!" Shadow realized. "Quick!"
Shadow grabbed Hope and the two leaped through, with Omega following close behind as the portal closed behind them.
…
Once her work on Omega was done, Chessie stepped outside the mobile command center, with Rouge and Topaz right behind her.
"You've done all you can," Rouge told her. "Just relax. Shadow and the kid will be fine."
"I know…" Chessie replied.
"I wonder how long it'll take to find out if the plan worked," Topaz remarked.
Just then, there was a loud thud. The three perked up before looking up at the roof. Their eyes went wide as they saw Shadow, Hope, and Omega coming out of a portal and landing on top of the command center. Chessie immediately yanked herself onto the roof with her cables, tackling Shadow.
"Right behind us my tail!" she let out, holding him tight.
"I didn't mean to make you worry," Shadow promised.
"I'm just glad you're okay…"
"It was Mephiles," Hope informed. "He grabbed me and baited Shadow into following us."
"What did he want with you?" Topaz asked as the four dropped to the ground.
"He wanted me to join him," Shadow explained. "So we could punish humanity for its crimes against me. Apparently the reason I was hunted in the future is because humanity used the Iblis tragedy as an excuse to lock me away."
"What?!" Chessie pulled back, looking horrified. "That's insane! I'd never let that happen!"
"You…" Shadow looked away for a second. "tTried…"
Chessie fell silent at that, slowly clutching her vest as the implication of those words hit her. Before either of the artificial mobians could get too lost in their grief, Rouge cleared her throat.
"If we stop the Queen from biting the big one, then neither of you have to worry about that future. So hows about we go and put the kaibosh on the mouthless bastard and go save a Monarch?"
Both of them nodded in response, signaling the team to take off.
…
Back on the train, Cream was playfully kicking her feet as she looked out the window with Cheese in her lap. As she continued looking out, her eyes went wide upon seeing something on the track across from them.
"Amy…" Cream let out.
Hearing her name, Amy quickly went over and looked out the window. She too went wide eyed when she saw a red train on the tracks across from them emblazoned with Robotnik's face.
"It's an Egg-Train!" Amy let out. "Guys! We've been made! Eggman's after us!"
"I'll grab Silver," Blaze offered. "We have to protect the people on board."
"Be right with you," Amy replied as Blaze went off. "In the meantime, Chuck, you and the others make sure everyone stays safe. We'll handle Eggman."
"Right," Chuck replied.
"What about us?" Cream asked, with Cheese chirping along with her.
"I need you two to take Elise and hide. Keep her safe for me, alright? I'm counting on you two."
Cream and Cheese nodded in response before running over to Elise.
Come on," she insisted, taking her hand.
The two quickly took off as Amy went in the opposite direction to find Blaze and Silver. While they were doing that, Chuck activated his watch to call Keith and the others.
…
At a local airfield, Tails was running a systems check on the X-Tornado while Sonic and Knuckles were talking with their human counterparts.
"So you got to speak with Tikal?" Kat questioned.
"Yeah," Knuckles confirmed. "She told me I have a deeper connection to the Master Emerald than I initially thought.
"And now you can go semi super whenever?"
"I wouldn't call that going Super…" Knuckles looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers. "More like… I have better control over my natural Chaos Energy. It… listens to me, for lack of a better term."
"Still, that's pretty damn cool." Her face dropped a bit. "I do feel sorry for Tikal though. Losing Chaos…"
"All the more reason we need to stop that future from ever happening."
"Agreed." Kat checked her bat, then made sure her suit was still functioning properly. "This time, everyone lives."
Meanwhile, Sonic and Keith were having a conversation of their own, this one also involving hidden power.
"Back when we were first captured by Eggman," Keith explained. "When you punched the barrier, it surged with energy for a bit. I think you might have a similar connection to Chaos Energy that Knuckles has."
"You may be right…" Sonic agreed, looking down at his hand. "Except I couldn't access it at all during our fight with Iblis."
"Guess since Knuckles has more direct contact with a source of Chaos Energy, he can focus it better than you can."
"Just don't let him know that," Sonic replied, giving a cocky smirk. "You know he'd harp on it."
Keith chuckled in response. "Yeah." Just then, his watch started going off. "Yeah?"
"Keith, it's dad. Eggman's attacking our train. We're on the Rail Canyon tracks heading towards the woods. Get here as fast as you can!"
"Hang on, dad! We're on our way!" Keith hung up. "Bad news, Eggman's attacking dad's group! We need to get to Rail Canyon now!"
"We will," Sonic reassured. "Tails, we good to go?"
"Even better," Tails replied. "Look what I found when I was giving the X-Tornado a once over."
He then held up a cyan Chaos Emerald, much to the group's surprise.
"I love how those things show up just when we need them," Kat commented.
"You're telling me," Sonic concurred. "Now, let's jet!"
…
Inside the armored train, Robotnik sat in his command chair, getting a view on the opposing train that held his prize. He chuckled maliciously at the sight.
"This will almost be too easy for me," Robotnik mused. "Even with Amy and her plucky friends, I'll still be able to claim my prize. Deploy Swatbots and prepare to board."
"Yes, sir," Stone replied, pressing a few buttons at the controls.
"And as for you," Robotnik resumed, turning to Eggatha. "I want you and Metal to keep Amy and her buddies occupied while we do our work."
"You got it," Eggatha replied enthusiastically. "I've been dying for some payback on those chumps. When I get a hold of them, it's gonna be," she punched into her hand repeatedly. "Bam! Bam! Bam!"
"Atta girl," Robotnik commended. "Now, go get 'em!"
Eggatha grinned as she ran off to her Egg Mobile.
"You certainly have a knack for inspiring enthusiasm in the younger generation, sir," Stone commended.
"Yes, it does my cold black heart good knowing I'm inspiring the evil of the next generation," Robotnik mused.
…
Back on the train, Silver managed to catch up with Blaze and Amy.
"There you are," Blaze let out.
"I saw the train," Silver replied. "That's Dr. Eggman, isn't it?"
"Oh yeah," Amy confirmed. "We have to keep him from getting to Elise. Cream's already making sure she stays safe, but we have to do our part."
"Right," Blaze concurred, shooting a blast of fire to the ceiling.
Amy and Silver shielded their faces as the blast tore a hole in the top of the train, allowing Silver to leap up through it. Silver and Amy wasted no time leaping up as well as a horde of Swatbots approached. Amy readied her hammer as Silber began to glow with psychic energy. One by one, the Swatbots landed on the roof of the train, their weapons trained on the three. Within a moment, the three quickly engaged them. Amy leaped forward, swinging her hammer down and crushing its head. She then spun around and smacked another Swatbot aside, causing it to tumble on the ground, crumbling to pieces. Blaze leapt towards one Swatbot, landing on it and causing it to instantly burst into flames before leaping off. She then landed on the ground and spun around, causing a stream of fire to encircle her and take out two more Swatbots nearby. As a group of Swatbots fired at Silver, he levitated into the air to avoid their shots before darting forward, hitting one with a surge of psychokinetic energy that knocked it towards the ground, causing it to get run over by the train. He then grabbed another robot with his powers, allowing him to close his hand and crush it. He then chucked the remains at another robot, destroying it with relative ease. He smirked a little before returning to the fight.
While that was going on, Eggatha launched her Mini Egg Mobile from the train with Metal Sonic following close behind.
"Alright, Metal," Eggatha spoke up. "Let's smoke these suckers!"
"With pleasure," Metal concurred, jetting ahead.
Back at the battle, Silver just finished dispatching a Swatbot, launching it across the gorge. Before he could rejoin the battle though, Metal Sonic instantly plowed into him, pinning him to the top of the train.
"What…?" Silver let out as Metal pressed a foot to his chest. "What… what are you?"
"I am Metal Sonic, the superior hedgehog." He ground his foot. "And you are a pitiful-"
He went flying when Amy's hammer hit him hard upside the head. "Don't you dare insult Sonic like that!"
"Thanks," Silver replied, grunting a little in pain.
"Are you alright?" Amy asked, giving him a hand up.
"I've had worse," he replied, taking the hand up before facing down the robot. "So what is this thing?"
"A robot double of Sonic Eggman built," Amy explained. "We thought he was done for good, but it looks like Eggman decided to bring him back."
"And how much of a problem is he going to be?" Blaze wondered.
Metal managed to regain his composure as he hovered over them. Suddenly, he fired a laser from his chest cavity, knocking the three of them back.
"Enough…" Amy let out.
"You guys have no idea," Eggatha boasted as she hovered over them.
"You again?" Amy let out in disgust.
"Hi guys. Hope you don't mind, but Uncle Ivo wants me and Metal to kick your butts."
"You're not going to get away with this, you rotten egg!" Silver snapped.
"Oh? I think I will."
"Says who?"
"Says my own personal wrecking ball!" Eggatha declared, pressing a button on her console.
The bottom of her Egg Mobile opened up, allowing a wrecking ball and chain to drop out, much to the chagrin of the three heroes.
"Oh boy…" Amy let out.
…
The X-Tornado quickly streaked through the sky. The occupants held out hope that they could make it to the canyon in time..
"How much farther?" Keith asked.
"We should be coming up on Rail Canyon in a few moments," Tails informed. "Don't worry, we'll get there in time."
"Don't worry, Keith," Sonic reassured. "Your dad will be fine. Amy and the others are watching his back."
"I know," Keith replied. "I just… hope we get there soon."
"We will," Kat ensured.
A few moments later, the X-Tornado reached the canyon, seeing the battle train driving alongside the civilian one. Upon a closer look, the occupants of the jet could make out an all too familiar shape.
"Is that… Metal Sonic?" Knuckles realized.
"Guess Eggman decided to dust him off," Sonic remarked before activating his watch. "Amy, you read me?"
"Sonic! Thank Aurora! Where are you?!"
"Just above you. We're coming in hot. Is everyone alright?"
"We're doing okay, but we could use some back up. Chuck, Vanilla, and Dr. Birnbaum are helping civilians but I can bet they're gonna need help."
"We're on it," Sonic replied, turning to the others. "Tails, you and Keith help Chuck and the others get civilians to safety. Knuckles, you and Kat take Amy and the others and attack the train head on!"
"What about you?" Tails asked.
"I'm gonna make scrap out of Metal Sonic."
Sonic then leapt off the X-Tornado, darting towards his metal double.
…
Down on the train, Eggatha kept swinging his wrecking ball, laughing maniacally every time it nearly smashed one of the two hedgehogs. Metal Sonic meanwhile decided to attack Blaze, forcing her to try and keep pace with the speed of his attacks. He tried kicking at her but she quickly leaped over him to avoid it. She landed close to the ledge of the train, nearly losing her balance as they passed over a gorge, causing her to freeze up a little. She looked forward, seeing Metal Sonic hovering over her. His chest cavity powered up, ready to take her out. Just then, the blue bur of Sonic shot forward, knocking Metal back as Blaze was about to fall. Just then, Silver darted behind her, catching her before she could.
"Are you alright?" Silver asked, helping her back onto the train.
"Yeah… thanks."
Metal Sonic meanwhile bounced along the top of the train before activating his turbine and stabilizing himself just as Sonic landed in front of him.
"Heh, you just don't know when to quit, do you Metal?" Sonic remarked.
"I will reduce you to dust beneath my treads, Hedgehog!"
"Heh, heard that before. What makes this time any different?"
"This time… I'm not alone."
Sonic glances upward, seeing Eggatha hovering over them with her wrecking ball in tow.
"You again?" she let out. "How the heck did you get back?"
"I'm a hedgehog of many talents," Sonic remarked, playfully shrugging his arms. "I see uncle Eggy left you some of his hand-me-downs. You know I clobbered that thing week one, right?"
"I know," she replied, pressing a button and causing buzzsaws to sprout out along the ball. "So I made some upgrades."
"Oh boy…" Sonic let out.
…
Meanwhile, the X-Tornado pulled alongside the train. Tails quickly set it to Autopilot as he and Keith leapt onto the train, with Knuckles and Kat following close behind.
"I set the X-Tornado to keep pace with the train and can call it back via remote when we need it," Tails relayed.
"Great, for now, let's get to work," Keith replied.
Keith summoned some energy in his glove and used it one one of the doors, opening it up. He and Tails quickly made their way inside as Kat and Knuckles ran across the top.
…
Meanwhile, Sonic continuously dodged the razor bladed wrecking ball as Eggatha cackled maliciously. As he landed, Metal Sonic approached from behind, ramming right into him.
"What's the matter, Sonic?" the robotic replica jeered. "You seem slower than usual."
"Yeah, I thought you were supposed to be tough," Eggatha remarked.
"Just giving you two a warm up," Sonic remarked, getting back to his feet.
His eyes darted between Eggatha and Metal, trying to think of a plan."
"Though I gotta say, I thought you'd be a lot tougher this go around Metal," Sonic teased. "But here you are, giving your all, and I'm hardly breaking a sweat."
"He's trying to egg you on, Metal!" Eggatha shouted. "Don't listen to a word he says!"
"She's right, don't listen to me. After all, you were meant to be 'nearly' as good as me. So I can't blame you for not being able to measure up."
That caused Metal Sonic's optics to glow red, causing him to jet forward. Sonic quickly leapt over just as Metal made contact with the wrecking ball. It swung through the air, causing Eggatha to struggle to maintain balance as Sonic leapt up to the chain, rolling into a spin dash and severing it. He carefully landed on the ball and used it to spring upwards as it fell to the ground, allowing him to leap up to Eggatha's Egg Mobile. He grabbed onto the windshield and stared Eggatha down.
"Bout time someone put you in time out," Sonic remarked.
Before he could do anything, Metal Sonic darted towards him, knocking him off the Egg Mobile and towards the ground. He bounced on the ground, watching the train speed away as he slowly got back up. Before he could run after it, Metal Sonic jetted down and kicked him in the head, knocking him back.
"Don't hurt my friend," Metal threatened.
"Friend?" Sonic repeated, genuinely surprised..
"Yes, Sonic. Eggatha is my friend. Now there is nothing that can keep me from destroying you."
…
Back on the train, Amy, Blaze, and Silver continued fending up Swatbots, Amy smashing one away as another approached from behind. Just then, a fist tore right through it, causing her to turn around and see Knuckles tossing the robot aside as Kat ran up herself.
"Man am I glad to see you guys," Amy responded.
"Glad to be back," Kat replied, turning to Blaze. "By the way, your future sucks."
"That's where you ended up?" Blaze realized.
"We'll tell you all about it later," Knuckles told her. "Right now, we need to take out Eggman's train."
"If we can get onboard, we could take out the engine," Kat suggested. "Or if all else fails, disable the tracks."
"It's as good a start as any. Silver, can you get us over there?"
"Sure," Silver replied, raising his hands. "Hang on!"
He used his powers to encase them all in green energy, lifting them into the air. Hovering himself, he started carrying them over to the train, much to the chagrin of Eggatha.
"Oh boy," she let out, activating her comms. "Uncle Ivo? We got a problem."
…
"What is it, Eggatha?" Robotnik inquired.
"Sonic and his buddies are back. They're trying to board the train."
"What?!" Robotnik let out, nearly falling back in his chair before slamming his fists on the armrests. "What is with those guys and always trying to spoil a bad thing?!" He quickly composed himself. "No matter. Eggatha, take a platoon of Swatbots and take them out. I'll keep command of the squad and obtain the Queen."
"You got it, Uncle Ivo," she replied before hanging up.
"You won't get in the way of my plans again, Sonic," Robotnik swore. "This time, victory will be mine."
…
A few miles out, Team Dark was quickly riding towards the canyon to carry out their own mission. Topaz was driving a GUN buggy with Hope in the passenger seat, with Shadow and Chessie on the former's motorcycle and Rouge and Omega flying close behind.
"How much further?" Shadow asked.
"The canyon should be a few minutes out," Topaz replied.
"Why are we going after Uncle Ivo anyway?" Hope wondered.
"Uncle?" Omega questioned. "You are in relation to Eggman?"
"Uh…"
"She's not our enemy Omega," Shadow reassured.
"I knew I forgot something…" Chessie muttered.
"Look at it this way," Rouge reasoned. "Why waste ammo on a relative when you can kill the real deal?"
Omega paused for a moment. "... your logic is reasonable. However, this unit will maintain a spectrum of surveillance on…"
"Hope. My name's Hope."
"Hope."
"Glad we reached an understanding," Shadow replied. "And to answer your question, Hope, Eggman was the one who unearthed the scepter that contained Mephiles in the first place. He may have clues in regard to his true nature."
"And how we can possibly put Mephiles back in whatever prison he was in."
"Bingo," Rouge confirmed. "I just hope Sonic and the others left a piece of him for us to deal with."
…
Back on board the train, Tails and Keith made their way through the train, working to get civilians to the last car in the back.
"Alright, everyone," Keith ushered. "Just keep moving."
"It's gonna be alright," Tails reassured. "Just move the very back of the train."
"Keith!" Chuck called out.
Keith looked up to see Chuck running up with the others.
"Dad!" Keith called out, running over to him.
"I knew you made it back but…" Chuck let out a long breath. "Thank God"
"I'm alright dad," Keith reassured. "And we have a plan to save everyone."
"We're moving everyone to the back car of the train," Tails explained, "then severing it from the rest of the train so it can slow to a stop. After that, it's just a matter of dealing with Eggman and keeping Elise safe."
"Speaking of, where is she?"
"Cream and Cheese are keeping her safe for now," Chuck explained. "They went to hide, and that's all we know. Less chance of any of us accidentally spilling their location if anything goes wrong."
"Alright. Cream is smart, she'll know to stay hidden. We'll worry about them later. Right now, let's focus on getting everyone to safety."
"Right," Chuck agreed. "Let's get to it."
…
Meanwhile, Silver managed to fly the others towards the Egg-Train, dropping them on the roof as they stabilized themselves. As Silver landed himself, he staggered a bit, with Knuckles and Kat quickly catching him.
"Whoa, take it easy there, future boy," Kat told him.
"Carrying so many people… took a bit out of me," he replied.
"Just take a sec," Knuckles told him. "Get your bearings."
"Hey Knuckles," Kat spoke up. "How have we not gone flying off the train yet? With these wind speeds, I figure I would at least get knocked over."
"I'm as tough as they come. As for you… I think I noticed some lights on the bottom of your feet."
Curious, Kat lifted one of her feet, seeing the lights Knuckles pointed out. She put it back down, feeling something pulling her to the train's surface.
"Must be some kind of magnet," she deduced. "Man, Keith thought of everything."
"When he has a girlfriend who's as reckless as you, he has to."
"Yeah…" Kat abruptly turned red. "I'm not his girlfriend!"
"Uh guys!" Amy called out. "As much as I would love to talk about Kat's love life at her expense, and you know I would, we have a situation!"
The others looked up to see several Swatbots rising from the train and turrets popping up and aiming at the heroes. As they opened fire, Silver quickly pulled up several panels from the train and used them to shield the heroes.
"Thanks Silver," Amy replied before leaping up and swinging her hammer down on one of the turrets, smashing it. "Get a move on, guys!"
"Right!" the Knuckleheads said in unison.
Knuckles and Kat quickly took off, the former quickly smashing through turrets at breakneck speeds. Kat used her enhanced strength to smash away one robot after another, before quickly summoning an exploding ball to bat at a small cluster of robots, causing them to explode. Blaze dodged and weaved between the turret blasts, summoning blasts of fire in the form of punches and slices. She then performed a sweeping kick, sending a stream of fire towards a group of Swatbots and blasting them to pieces.
"How do we take this train out?" Blaze wondered.
"Well I've got plenty of explosive balls," Kat offered, punching out a robot. "Why don't we just stuff a ton of them in the engine and let em blow."
"That could work. Perhaps my flames can give it an added boost."
"Then go for it," Kat replied, tossing her the bat. "Set the knob for the explosion and that should do it."
"Right," Blaze replied, heading off.
She dashed towards the front of the train, leaping over the turrets and taking out several robots as she did. She even sent her power coursing through the bat, giving it a bit more strength as she shattered a robot to pieces, much to the amazement of the others.
"Whoa…" Amy let out. "Silver, your friend is amazing."
"Believe me, I know…" Silver replied.
After all that, Blaze managed to make it to the front. She twisted the knob as instructed, conjuring three explosive balls. She took hold of them, charging them with her flame powers before chucking them into the main engine. The exploded upon contact, causing the engine to go up in flames and the entire front car to shake, disorienting both Robotnik and Stone as a result. Blaze quickly landed back on the train as the others ran up, feeling the vehicle slowing down.
"Nice work, Blaze!" Amy called out.
"Thank you," Blaze replied. "With Eggman's train disabled, it will just be a matter of-"
"LOOK OUT!" Kat screamed.
All of a sudden, there was a blinding light. The heroes quickly covered their eyes as it shined brightly, enveloping them all. When it faded away, the train tracks were broken… by the massive wall of a crumbling, ancient castle now smack in the way!
"Is that…?" Knuckles began to ask.
"A very big problem," Amy confirmed.