Alex: FINALLY! I've managed to upload a chapter!

Alexia: You would have upload it faster if you weren't busy celebrating. Talk about that later; get to the disclaimer.

Alex: Fine. I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog, SatAM or anything of the sorts, and the original idea that gave birth to this story is from SierLeAn. Also, credit goes to her for sort-of betaing my chapters.

However, there is one thing I own, and that is how the plot goes on. That is MINE. Also, if there are any questions about this chapter, feel free to ask, and please drop a review. I want to hear your opinions as well.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 4 - Chaos Control

Sally quickly yet cautiously made her way into the large tent. She expected to see the large green chair and Robotnik sitting in it, but to her surprise and suspicion, there was no one inside the tent.

'This might be a trap,' was her initial thought, but when she noticed that there were no robots as well, she relaxed her guard and made her way towards the numerous computers in the room

Reaching into her boot, she pulled out Nicole."Nicole, hack into Robotnik's computer mainframe and pull out any data you can get on the recent projects and plans."

"Hacking," Nicole's voice replied back as her (or its?) screen flashed slightly. A half a dozen of tense minutes passed by before there was a beep. "Hacking successful. Now locating the files."

Sally waited a few more minutes, taking the time to look through some things herself. There weren't any books or papers with plans written on them that she could look through since Robotnik did not use anything like those to store information, but there were many tools and other inventions of his that he left lying around at times.

"Sally, I think you might want to see this," Nicole suddenly spoke up, catching the chipmunk's attention.

"What is it?" At Sally's question, a file appeared on Nicole's screen, one that struck fear through her heart.

"Doomsday…he's planning on making the Doomsday device?!" she whispered, eyes wide and staring at the words in horrified disbelief. When she came out of her trance, she immediately selected it.

"Project Doomsday," Nicole spoke before information appeared on the screen. Sally's eyes followed the words, drinking up the information like a thirsty man would do after a long day in a desert. And what she found was frankly horrifying.

"Oh god…with this…the whole planet will fall…"

It was only after wasting precious minutes of shock that Sally regained her composure. "Nicole, gather all information related to the Doomsday project!" she barked urgently.

There was an affirmative beep before the device got to work. Despite Nicole's efforts though, the hacking was soon discovered.

"Hacker detected," a mechanical voice rang out sharply, startling Sally. "Deleting information. Sending virus."

At the last command, the chipmunk quickly withdrew Nicole away. Unfortunately, that was not all of the nasty surprises Sally would get today, for as soon as Nicole was detached, another alarm wailed.

"Intruder alert, in Information Center. Intruder alert-"

'Time to get out of here!' Sally told herself as she quickly made her way out of the tent, running back to the rendezvous point. On the way, she met Bunnie and Rotor just as they were finishing the last of their jobs.

"All the tents are bugged, Sally-girl," Bunnie reported.

"Great," Sally replied curtly, saving her breath for running. "What about Lupe?"

"She's back at the rendezvous point," Rotor answered. He opened his mouth to continue, but a yelp escaped out instead when a laser nearly fried his hat.

"Capture all Freedom Fighters," the SWATbots rumbled robotically as they pursued after the fleeing mobians. Sally, Bunnie and Rotor grimaced as they tried to run and dodge the lasers at the same time. It was not as easy as it sounded, but years of experience made up for it.

However, Sally, in a rare moment of carelessness, tripped over a protruding rock.

"Sal!" Rotor and Bunnie shouted, stopping to turn around and grab the chipmunk. However, the robots were nearly upon Sally, and time seemed to slow down for a moment.

Then, like lightning, a blue blur smashed into the robots, causing explosions all around, and time sped up once more.

"Sonic!" Bunnie and Rotor/Sally cried/sighed in relief.

The blue blur stopped next to the chipmunk, revealing the hedgehog they all knew. "Come on," he grunted, hoisting Sally up to her feet. "What's the situation?"

"Not now. Head to the peak over there, rendezvous point," Sally answered as quickly as she could without leaving important information out. Sonic took it all in and nodded.

"Hold on," was the only warning she received before Sonic took off, grabbing Bunnie and Rotor along the way. Despite having to drag three other mobians along, Sonic did not seem to be troubled.

"Sonic, wait!"

At the shout, Sonic paused briefly, a slightly annoyed look on his face. It faded away into his default neutral one when Sally waved Nicole in his face, showing a countdown.

"The explosives," Sonic spoke, not a question but a statement.

Sally in turn replied by pressing a button that immediately lowered the countdown to zero. There was a brief silence before what seemed like hemispheres of white light bloomed, followed by a loud boom and clouds of smoke and ash.

To the Freedom Fighters' luck, the explosions also took down the nearby SWATbots. That earned a cheer from Bunnie and Rotor. "That's another score for us!"

Sonic merely nodded in acknowledgement with a smirk before he continued on his way. In no time, the four arrived at the peak where Lupe and her fellow wolves were waiting.

"Great; you're all here," Lupe nodded, an expression of relief on her face.

"Way to state the obvious," Sonic muttered in reply. "Anyway, I found something." Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the beautiful green gem. "It seems to be exactly like the Power Ring, in a way. Any idea what this could be?"

Sally's eyes widened upon seeing the emerald and hearing Sonic's words. "Then...this is what Robotnik must be looking for."

Sonic's eyes narrowed in reply. He came to the same conclusion as the rest had when they first heard of the relic. "Any information about it?"

"We might have some clues about it from the files we got from Robotnik, but it will be better if we discuss this somewhere private," Sally replied.

"You're going nowhere," a familiar voice hissed, simmering with rage. Following that claim were several SWATbots and even a few Com-bots emerging from behind the rocks and surrounding the mobians. And at the head of the group was the familiar warlord, sitting in his floating seat-like contraption.

"Robuttnik! Still as fat as ever I see. Can you even see your feet with how fat you are?" Sonic sniped, glaring holes at the scientist.

Robotnik's eye twitched, his temperature going up a few notches or so. "You're going to pay for that, hedgehog!"

"Sorry, I have no change, and why should I pay for bad service?" Sonic retorted. "Besides..." The cobalt blue fur darkened a few shades. "You're the one who will PAY today..."

The gem in his hand pulsed, sensing the negative emotions rising up in the hedgehog.

"I beg to differ... Now, if you would kindly hand me the Chaos Emerald, or I will be forced to use...drastic measures...just like how I finished off your family..." Robotnik smirked, eyes glittering in malevolence.

Sonic could only take so much before he snapped. And while he may not necessarily show affection for the other Freedom Fighters, he was not going to let Robotnik take away another life again. Not on his watch!

Dark energy rose off from his fur in wisps. His emerald eyes deepened in color, now more of a forest green than emerald. The emerald in his hand glowed brighter, and inside Sonic's mind, the entity stirred even more, a white pupil-and-iris-less eye cracking open.

"Sonic?" Sally asked timidly, looking at the hedgehog in worry and a hint of fear.

Sonic did not seem to hear her. His eyes were glaring bullets, lasers and every kind of sharp weapons at the surrounding robots. There was a tense silence, but it was brief before Sonic disappeared in a flash.

However, there was no blur or streak. There were only flashes of light and electricity started to crackle around the robots. It was not long before the electricity grew and the robots all detonated.

"WHAT?!" Robotnik roared, eyes wide in disbelief and slight horror as Sonic easily dispatched every single robot he had. Even the Com-bots, which usually gave Sonic trouble destroying, fell defeated as well.

"You will pay Robotnik... YOU WILL PAY!" a furious yell echoed as Sonic, still emanating the dark energy, appeared in front of the scientist. The blue hedgehog was not hesitant about ending his enemy's life, but if he had been, he would have noticed the flickering edges of Robotnik's image.

"RARGWH!" Sonic grunted as he swung his leg and kicked. However, his foot merely phased through the image, revealing it to be a hologram, which disappeared with a fizzle. That just made Sonic angrier though.

"WHERE ARE YOU, ROBOTNIK?! COME ON OUT AND FACE ME, YOU COWARD!" Sonic roared to the heavens, eyes darting about to find the human.

"Sonic, STOP!" Sally finally shouted, running over towards the enraged mobian. When she reached him, Sally grabbed Sonic's gloved hand. However, a gasp of pain escaped her when said hand shifted so that it was holding hers instead, and in a near bone-crushing grip as well.

"Stay out of my way..." Sonic hissed, emerald glaring into wide blue eyes. "Or suffer the consequences."

Sally grimaced as Sonic squeezed a little harder, driving his point home. Usually, Sally would not back down, but now, things were different. Sonic was more inclined to hurt her than to listen to her, and if she made him angrier...

Sally was no fool; she had seen how easily Sonic took down the robots in no time flat. If she turned that power against her, she would not survive to tell the tale. Somehow, she had to stop Sonic without making him angrier. And somehow, it seemed near-impossible.

However, there was no time to think more about it because before Sally could even think, she was suddenly thrown away towards the group, just in time before the incoming lasers fried her.

"Sal! You alright there?" Rotor asked in worry as he caught Sally and hoisted her up to her feet.

"Yeah...I'll be fine," Sally replied, gritting her teeth at her aching hand. "Now...we better watch out. There are more robots here."

Just as she said those words, as if summoned by them, a whole group of robots jumped off from the surrounding boulders and moved to restrain them. Bunnie, using her mechanical arms, legs and her strength, took on the offensive. Sally and Rotor tried to help in any way they could, kicking the SWATbots down. Lupe and her group were doing well, dodging hits and returning them back. They usually gang up on a smaller number of robots, acting just like their feral ancestors.

Despite this, there were too many robots, and Sonic was being no help as he was more concentrated on finding (and killing) Robotnik. Owning to those facts, it was not long before the Freedom Fighters were restrained, held by the SWATbots.

"Sonic, help!" Sally cried out, hoping that the blue hedgehog would somehow help them. Her shout drew Sonic's attention, but it also drew away his concentration. He did not see the laser coming at him at all.

"Argh!" Sonic groaned in pain as the laser clipped his side. While he was stronger due to the Chaos Emerald's power, it alone did not make him invincible. He gritted his teeth, the pain bringing him back to some of his senses. He still felt the urge to hunt down Robotnik, but now, his friends were in danger.

And while he may not show them affection, he did care about them on some degree, and it would be a cold day in hell before he let Robotnik of all people get away with hurting or enslaving them.

Using his speed, he spin-dashed the robots holding his friends captive, but as soon as he was done, he immediately fell to one knee. It seemed that the laser had met quite a bit of its target after all...

"Sonic..." Sally whispered, looking at his injured state in shock. She had never seen him get wounded. Yes, there had been bruises and small cuts with singed fur from time to time, but never this bad...

Sonic let out a soft pained groan as he slowly got back onto his feet. The Chaos Energy from before had lightened slightly, no doubt from his anger draining away slowly. As a result, his fur lightened back to its cobalt shade and his eyes were now back to their original emerald hue.

"Hate to break it to you, but we're kinda surrounded here!" Rotor pointed out urgently, eyes darting around to see that the robots had managed to corner them. "How're we gonna get out?"

Sonic did not reply. He could try, but he had no doubt that he would not get far, especially when he would have to drag more than three mobians here. The emerald could give him a boost...

At the thought of that, a sudden idea of sorts popped into his head. He remembered when he used the Chaos Emerald to slow down time, in a way. He would disappear in a flash of light and reappear somewhere else, like the time when he was fighting those robots. Maybe...if he could somehow make the distance larger...

'But I can't control it; even when it is for short distances. It was just a lucky thing that there are robots everywhere,' Sonic thought. 'But then again...teleporting away from here is better than being kidnapped and roboticized.'

He tightened his grip on the emerald and focused on its power. Unknowingly, almost unconsciously, he spoke out two words.

"Chaos Control!"

There was a bright flash of light, blinding all those who saw it, including the robots. And when it disappeared, the mobians were gone, leaving behind a group of confused and disorientated robots.