Here it is.

A Miles in His Shoes

Chapter 3- Training with Darkness

As Sonic and Eggman returned down towards the newly-installed training hall, Sonic dried his eyes. Everything was going absolutely ballistic, but luckily, both Sonic and Eggman had an idea on how to defeat Foximus and save Sonic's friends. And the only way to do that… was to pass Eggman's newest 12 trials.

"Okay, Sonic. Are you ready to train? Train to save your friends? Train to save Tails? Train to save Green Hill Zone?" Eggman asked in an epic tone.

"Yes…. Yes, I AM!" Sonic yelled out as he let his inner rage out.

"Then…. LET'S GET READY TO TRAIN!" Eggman yelled.

And with that, Eggman released the first trial; 100 Motobugs.

"Seems easy enough." Sonic said as he leapt towards the Motobug armada. He then jumped on every last one in a flawless chain, until he finally destroyed the last one, and Eggman seemed extremely impressed.

"Okay, then…. TRIAL 2!" And Eggman released an army of 75 Buzz Bombers.

"Hmm… still pretty easy, Baldy." Sonic said as he cracked his knuckles, preparing to leap towards the Buzz Bombers. Sure enough, another flawless chain was made, and Eggman was very surprised.

"Now, this next one uses the grappling hook/ Beam Gun, Sonic. Use it to cross this chasm. Now, let Trial 3… INITIATE!" Eggman said as he unleashed a fire chasm below Sonic's feet. And with perfect reflexes, Sonic used the grappling hook and unleashed it upon the ceiling of the room, and swung to the other side.

"TRIAL 4!" Eggman said as he deployed a spiked ball n' chain across the chasm, making it harder to cross. Luckily enough, Sonic surpassed this one perfectly, possibly even better than he did in Trial 3.

"Okay, for this next one, you need to steer the kayak around the lava, and avoid bombs and vicious piranhas." Eggman explained. And then, He deployed the lava river and the kayak.

"LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT! NORTHEAST! NORTHWEST! UP! DOWN!" Sonic ordered the auto-yak, and sure enough, the extreme river had been surpassed.

"Good, very good… but let's see if you can slide by… Trial 6!" Eggman said as he unleashed a robotic dragon upon Sonic. Sonic found its weak spot under the dragon's middle scale, and bashed it until the dragon exploded, and used the grappling hook to escape the explosion.

"Wow… nice use of the hook shot, hedgehog." Eggman said as he gave the hedgehog a bottle of water. "But, how about… Trial 7?!" Eggman said as he unleashed a Mecha Sonic prototype upon Sonic. However, this one was relatively tough to beat, as Mecha Sonic kept deflecting the hedgehog. Sonic then had the idea of charging the Beam Gun and firing it to destroy Mecha Sonic's reflector. Sure enough, it worked, and Mecha Sonic exploded.

"Really, Sonic?! I just rebuilt it, and you- Ah, never mind. TRIAL 8!"….. And this was when Sonic's skills and loyalty would be put to the test. It was a Metallic Tails android, with an evil smirk and red eyes.

Sonic was reluctant. He slowly walked towards it, regretting all of his decisions in the past, starting to think of committing suicide… 'After all, my new life's nearly irreversible…' Sonic thought as he almost went insane in the head. He was fighting Tails….TAILS, his best friend. And, just as he started to raise his fist…..

"I-I-I-I… I CAN'T DO IT!" Sonic yelled, before dropping to his knees and sobbing.

"Sonic! I'm ashamed of you. LOOK at what you've become. You went from an unstoppable hero to a vulnerable, measly midget. Pitiful. Now get up, stop sobbing, and BEAT THIS FOX!" Eggman exclaimed.

"I can't, Eggman…. I can't just change…. I'm loyal to my friends, unlike you, and now I'm forced to beat them to a pulp, with the risk of possibly MURDERING THEM…" Sonic then slowly started to weep, before being interrupted by Eggman.

"OH, NO YOU DON'T. Don't you DARE start crying again, hedgehog! You've got to change…. For the greater good! Now…." Eggman held out his hand, offering to help Sonic up, before saying, "….What do you say? Will you save this good world from Lord Foximus?"

"…Yes. YES, I WILL! I won't let my best friend destroy Mobius! I'll stay strong, and overcome my greatest challenge!"

"That's the spirit, Sonic!" Eggman said, and with that, their training resumed.

But meanwhile, at Foximus' Lair…

"Lord Foximus, we have a vast majority of Sonic's friends, ready to be mechanized. Which one shall we mechanize fir… Lord Foximus?" Mechalis was suspicious. Foximus was in a stance, as if he were possessed, and dark flames surrounded the kitsune. "Okay, that's it! Enough of the menacing stance! TURN AROUND!" Mechalis then spun Foximus around, landing with him facing Mechalis, and the robot was at shock at what was happening.

"Sonic's…..friends? I was one of…..his friends at one point….. I was his best friend at one point….Wait. When he said farewell to me…" Tails then flashed back to when they said farewell. Everything was like how it was supposed to be, until in his flashback, he saw… an evil smirk on Sonic's face. "He was trying to replace me THIS WHOLE GODDAMN TIME!" Foximus screamed as he saw the smirk in his flashback. "That smirk…. He was replacing me with Eggman, thinking that his inventing skills were better than mine! Well, I'll show them… I'LL SHOW THEM ALL! Mechalis, mechanize ALL of Sonic's friends we have here. Amy, Big, Espio, Cream, Vector… ROBOTICIZE THEM ALLLLLLLLLL!" Foximus shrieked at the top of his lungs, his voice slowly slipping into a darker, more maniacal tone.

"A-A-Amy…. I'm scared…." Cream whimpered as she heard Foximus slowly descend into madness.

"Stay calm, Cream. I'm sure he'll come to his senses…. He has before….. Right?" Amy asked as she slowly turned towards Vector.

"Why are you looking at ME?! I don't know!" Vector said as he slowly started to shiver.

"Mechalis…. I told you…. START THE MECHANIZATION!" Foximus exclaimed as his fur turned a dark-brown color, and his eyes turned to a blood-red hue.

"Y-Y-Yes, sir…." Mechalis shivered as he pushed the mechanization button, and Big was dropped into the machine.

"NNNOOOOOOOOO!" Big screamed as he fell in, and Amy & Cream shrieked in terror.

"OKAY, THAT'S IT!" Vector exclaimed. "Listen here, Tails, I know you're still in there! Listen to your heart, and it should guide the way!"

"SILENCE, FOOL!" Foximus exclaimed. "For too long, I have been treated like nothing but a pawn. A pawn for Sonic to mess around with. He's been shoving deadlines down my throat the past 3 weeks, yelling, cursing…. If anybody's weird, it's him! He's acting like an abomination of his former self."

"TAILS, THIS ISN'T TRUE! The Sonic I know wouldn't do that to you. He's treated you like a brother for so long! And if he did change…Why?" Amy questioned.

"QUIET! I KNOW what he's been doing! 'Tails, hurry up!' 'Tails, build another machine, quick!' 'Goddamnit Tails, HURRY UP!' …He's nothing but an absolute jerk.

"MECHANIZATION FINISHED." The machine whirred, and Mecha-Big was released, looking actually legitimately MENACING for once.

"EEEEEK!" Cream screamed, and tried to flee, but Foximus caught her, and shoved her back in, now being next in line for mechanization.

"Oh, no… Tails has gone criminally insane." Espio said, devastated at the fact Tails would even do such a thing to an innocent, 6-Year old rabbit.

"1, 2, 3, 4….. Mechanization's a pleasure I adore." Foximus said with an evil smirk as wide as his face.

"Y-Y-You're INSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!" Cream yelled as she fell into the mechanization mechanism, suffering the same fate as Big.

"Wait a second….My Piko Piko Hammer!" Amy exclaimed. "I can use it to smash through…..Wait, WHAT?! WHERE'S MY HAMMER?!"

"By any chance… would you mean…. This?" The demented kitsune asked as he held up Amy's trademark hammer.

"My hammer! Give it back, you two-tailed FREAK!"

"Oh….flattery will get you nowhere, Ms. Rose. Now if you want it….GO GET IT!" Foximus said as he tossed the hammer.

"I'm not falling for that." Amy said, as she scowled at Foximus.

"True, but you will be falling." Foximus said, and he pressed the button. The conveyor belt moved until Amy was dropped into the glass-encased mechanism, and, just like Big and Cream, Amy was mechanized.

"Now, we've got all of Team Rose on our side….. Time to get 2/3 of Team Chaotix." Foximus said as he dropped both Vector and Espio into the machine.

However, outside of Foximus' lair, Shadow was walking along, and when he heard the cries of terror from Vector and Espio, he went to see what was going on, and was terrified.

"A-A-An ARMY?! Foximus….Or rather, Tails…. Has gained a whole ARMADA of Badniks AND mechanized Half of Sonic's…..Oh no…. I've got to tell Sonic!" Shadow then raced towards Tails' workshop.

"Okay, final trial, Sonic! Here we go!" Eggman exclaimed.

"Sonic, Eggman, it's Tails…. He's mechanized Vector, Cream, Amy, and Espio…. Even Big…. Poor souls." Shadow said as he hyperventilated, being very tired from his light speed sprint.

"WHAT?! This is Bullshit!" Eggman said. "Come on, Shadow. Train with Sonic, so we can team up and defeat Foximus."

"No thanks, Robotnik. I'll help, but I'm not training." Shadow said.

"….Okay, then." Eggman said.

And through the night, Sonic trained his hardest, preparing for any possible outcome… and he was very wise for doing so.

To Be Continued….. in Main Chapter 3.