Based on the original comic book story written by Ken Penders, Kent Taylor, Mike Gallagher and Karl Bollers for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Issues 47-50 and published by Archie Comics.
This re-write is intended for entertainment purposes and is also intended for those who feel the original Endgame story was lackluster and could have been better. No offence is intended for anyone who enjoyed the original story.
Part 4: Striking Back
It had been a narrow escape for Sonic the Hedgehog but thanks to his quick-thinking, he had managed to escape from a gang of SWAT-bots that were pursuing him and he was now on the way to Angel Island to recruit someone that he knew in his desire to save Knothole from Dr. Robotnik. He had managed to find out from a SWAT-bot that Robotnik was taking over Knothole and had an Automaton Sonic with him. Sonic knew that robot copies of himself were no easy task. Just think of his first encounter with Metal Sonic and how much trouble Metal Sonic gave him back on the Little Planet. So Sonic was going to Angel Island to get some back-up to help him deal with such a threat. And that back-up was Knuckles the Echidna and his group, the Chaotix. Knuckles was the guardian of Angel Island and Sonic's friendly rival. Despite differences, the two respected each other enough and were on good footing. The Chaotix consisted of Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy Bee and Mighty the Armadillo. They were all good friends of Knuckles and all varied in abilities and strengths. Mighty was stronger than any living being on Mobius, Vector was also quite strong and had a sharp bite, Espio had ninjitsu skills and the ability to turn invisible-par for the course of chameleons and Charmy Bee was an aerial ace with a sharp stinger. They'd provide very ample help for Sonic which is why Sonic was going to recruit them for the mission to save Knothole from Dr. Robotnik. Now Robotnik was in Knothole, anything bad could easily happen. Robotnik could raze the place down to the ground, he could roboticize every single one of his friends and every single resident of Knothole. After coming close to losing Princess Sally Acorn to Auto-Sonic via a murder attempt to frame Sonic and get him out of the way so Robotnik's master plan could commence without interference, Sonic was determined not to fail to save Knothole. He was not used to failure so he was not content with the idea of failing. After a while of running, Sonic finally arrived at Angel Island. He screeched to a halt and stared up at the amazing floating island. Angel Island was a relic of mystery among many Mobians mainly because of the fact it was an island like no other. It wasn't like other islands because if floated above the ground instead of being in the water like all other islands. The island floated because of a mysterious relic known as the Master Emerald, which was a giant Chaos Emerald with immense amounts of power. Sonic looked up at the island, still amazed at the sight of it as ever.
"Aaah…Angel Island. I remember when I first came here." said Sonic "Knuckles and I got off on the wrong foot but we soon made up and teamed up to defeat Dr. Robotnik. I hope he's willing to help me save Knothole."
Sonic then bent down and got ready to run again. He revved his feet up and rocketed towards Angel Island. He leaped up towards the giant floating island and he managed to land on the huge, pointy lump of rock underneath the island. Sonic gripped it tightly and he climbed straight up it and towards the island. It was a quite a climb but Sonic eventually made it and he pulled himself up onto the surface of the island. To his surprise, he was now staring directly at the Master Emerald shrine itself and Knuckles was standing atop it, guarding the Master Emerald as usual. Knuckles had heard Sonic climbing up the island and he was about ready to attack but he had relaxed himself after realizing that this visitor was a familiar face. Sonic's face brightened at the sight of Knuckles.
"Hey Knuckles, just the echidna I was hoping to meet!" cried Sonic happily.
"Sonic? It's definitely a surprise to see you I will have to say." said Knuckles, jumping down from the emerald shrine "But it is nice to see a familiar face visiting Angel Island. What brings you to my fine home then you capricious little hedgehog?"
"A lot of things actually so sit back since I've got a big story to tell." said Sonic "Dr. Robotnik's made a fake robot copy of me and he used it to frame me for the attempted murder of Princess Sally."
Knuckles looked surprised to hear this. He knew Sally quite well from childhood so to hear this made him stare at Sonic in surprise.
"Attempted murder of…" he spluttered "Is the princess alright?"
"She survived, not sure how though, but she won't be alive for much longer since Robotnik's invading Knothole and he's probably got lots of SWAT-bots and the robot copy of me! I've had a bad experience with robot copies of me before and I feel I may need some back up so I was wondering if you could spare some ample time to help me save my home village and my friends from Robotnik. Are you up for it Knuckles?"
Knuckles thought very hard on that pressing matter. He was the Guardian of Angel Island and he was supposed to guard the Master Emerald in the name of his forbearers but he couldn't ignore a call for help. Sonic had helped him a few times before, most notably their first meeting where Sonic helped Knuckles get his jewel back from Robotnik. He could take Sonic up on this offer as an act of returning the favour. Not to mention he'd helped Sonic before. He let the Freedom Fighters experiment on a Chaos Emerald to see if they could de-crystallize King Max before, went on a quest to find the Sword of Acorns for Sally Acorn and had even helped to save Sonic from his roboticization at the hands of Dr. Robotnik so there was no reason that he should refuse to help Sonic save Knothole. Knuckles made up his mind and he turned to Sonic.
"You've helped me out before Sonic…so I shall now return the favour." said Knuckles "I've aided you a few times before so I shall aid you again. I'll be more than happy to help you save Knothole."
Sonic smiled at his friendly rival and he shook his hand.
"Thanks Knuckles, that's mondo nice of you to help me save my village." said Sonic.
"You're welcome and you helped me save my home before so I'll help you save yours." said Knuckles casually "But I'm not going to be the only one helping to save Knothole, I'm going to bring along some friends of mine to add some extra muscle. You know what they say, the more the merrier."
"Some friends of yours?" mused Sonic "You mean the Chaotix right?"
"Indeed I do." said Knuckles "Vector, Espio and Charmy oughta add a little extra to our forces. Besides, they've been itching for a shot at Robotnik himself and what better time to let them have that shot then right now?"
"Way past cool Knuckles." said Sonic happily "So, were are the Chaotix right now?"
"They'll be somewhere around the island, I'll just go and look for them now." said Knuckles "I'll try and be as quick as possible since they could be anywhere on the island right now."
"Huh…surely a cell-phone between you all would be faster?" sighed Sonic, his impatience growing for he was dying to save Knothole right now.
Knuckles ignored Sonic and darted off to get the Chaotix while Sonic waited by the Master Emerald shrine and waited for Knuckles to come back. Sonic wasn't much of a waiter since he's always on the move and always running off so patience was not something he was very good at. Still, he'd have to wait whether he liked it or not. Sonic wouldn't have minded running off to find the Chaotix since he could run very fast but given he hasn't been on Angel Island much, he had no idea where to find the Chaotix so it was best that Knuckles did it since he knew his way around the island and would know where to look.
After a few minutes passed, Knuckles returned back to the Master Emerald shrine with Vector, Espio and Charmy following him. It had taken Knuckles a while but he had found them at last and now they were all ready to help Sonic save Knothole from Dr. Robotnik. Sonic was happy to see that the Chaotix had been found at last, that meant they could get going already.
"Hey, you've found them." said Sonic brightly "Now we can get going and save Knothole!"
"Knuckles told us what we were being recruited for." said Vector "He told us that Dr. Robotnik's taking over your village and you need some help. We're more than happy to help you since any friend of Knuckles is a friend of ours."
"You apparently helped save Angel Island before Sonic so we shall help save Knothole." said Espio "That debt of honour is the most you deserve for your heroism."
"I hope I get to sting Robotnik up the backside!" giggled Charmy excitedly "I've always wanted to do that to him!"
"Aw, thanks guys." said Sonic appreciatively "Knuckles really has some nice buddies doesn't he? So anyways, how will we all get to Knothole very fast? I mean, I know I can run fast and all but I don't think you guys can run as fast as me. I'll just leave you all behind."
"That is correct, we're not supersonic like you are." said Espio "We won't be able to run after you and keep up with you."
"Yeah…we're too slow compared to you." said Vector "We need a quicker way of getting to Knothole."
"And thankfully, I have a quicker way of getting to Knothole." said Knuckles "The Master Emerald has great power as you probably know since it's the very thing that's keeping Angel Island afloat. One of the abilities the Master Emerald has is a power that many chaos related items have, Chaos Control. All we have to do is stand around the Master Emerald and one of us will yell "Chaos Control" aloud and we can warp ourselves to any location we like. We'll use the Master Emerald to warp ourselves over to Knothole."
"Ooooh…that sounds cool." said Sonic, impressed at what Knuckles had told him "And it'll save us one heck of a trip too. Let's do it to it!"
With that said, Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix all climbed up the emerald shrine and stood around the Master Emerald. Knuckles put his hand on the emerald and he yelled at the top of his voice.
"Chaos…CONTROL!"
After yelling that, the Master Emerald glowed a bright, radiant, fluorescent green colour that engulfed everybody and then, in the blink of an eye, the Mobians were surrounded by a bright green flash and they vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of their existence behind. That Chaos Control was going to bring Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix over to Knothole and once they were there, they could save the village and Sonic could get some payback on Robotnik for being framed by him…
Back in Knothole, things were not looking very good at all. The Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack had all been defeated and subdued by Auto-Sonic, the very robot that framed Sonic for the attempted murder of Princess Sally, and now the SWAT-bot troops were beginning to round up all the other citizens of Knothole. Robotnik had been enjoying this take-over this very hiding place for the Freedom Fighters very much and he was over-seeing the entire operation as it went full steam ahead and everything was going underway. The Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack could only watch in disgust as the SWAT-bots patrolled around the village and broke into homes to grab the residents inside and yank them straight out into the village square. After the villagers were praised from their homes and taken out into the village square, they were fitted with handcuffs and forced to sit alongside the Freedom Fighters. Even Geoffrey St. John had been caught and hand-cuffed, by Auto-Sonic that is, and was now being forced to sit with the others as things were in motion for Robotnik's so-called "ultimate plan". The Freedom Fighters couldn't really understand why Robotnik was doing this to all the villagers in Knothole. Was he planning a mass roboticization process and they were all going to become Robians or was he planning a mass execution of some sorts? In either case, this was one of Robotnik's biggest cases ever and it seemed he was enjoying it very much as he was going ahead with it every step of the way. Robotnik was clearly planning something big and the Freedom Fighters were powerless to stop it from happening. As the last villagers were being restrained and positioned along with the others, Geoffrey looked at the Freedom Fighters with a rather apologetic look on his face.
"Well mates, looks like Sonic is innocent after all." he said "Robotnik did use a fake Sonic to do the deed as little Tails theorized and Sonic betted earlier. I'm…sorry that I didn't believe him and sentenced him like this."
"It's OK Mr. St. John, we were all fooled by Robotnik and falsely believed that Sonic really tried to kill Aunt Sally." said Tails "Although me and Uncle Chuck remained reluctant to believe it still even after his sentence. And now Robotnik's presuming that Sonic might be dead since he ordered some of his SWAT-bots to shoot the plane that was escorting him to Devil's Gulag down."
"So the obstinate little boy might well be dead at this moment?" said Geoffrey in despair "Crikey…I never thought I'd say this but…I bloomin' well hope the bloke's alive so he can help us all out right now."
"I am floating on ze same boat as you Mr. St. John." said Antoine agreeably "I am hoping zat Sonic is alive and he will arrive just in time to save us and stop le evil Robotnik from ruining our village!"
"We're ALL hoping that Mr. D'Coolette." said Amy Rose "Sonic's our only hope now and I really hope he isn't dead like that evil Robotnik thinks he might be!"
"Well sugah, ah guess we're just gonna have to hang on tight and see what happens." said Bunnie Rabbot gloomily "Ah will say, it's a good thin Sally-girl's in that coma so she doesn't have to go through all this. Although it'd be nice for her to wake up and maybe give us a hand or two secretly…"
"I may love Sally but I doubt she'd be of much help in this situation love." said Geoffrey doubtfully "I mean once she frees us all, that Auto-Sonic might just beat you all up again and then we're back to square one only with Sally captive too."
"Yeah…ah think yer right Geoff." said Bunnie downheartedly "So it might be fortunate for Sally that she's missing out on this after all."
"If Robotnik's "Ultimate Annihilator" is what it sounds like then Aunt Sally won't have to worry about anything since we might all be dead." said Tails "I mean, doesn't the "Ultimate Annihilator" sound a little apocalyptic in some way?"
"While Robotnik might well just be using that name to scare us all, it might be some kind of deadly weapon." guessed Rotor "I bet he's rounding us all up so he can use it to…annihilate us."
"But why would he want to do that?" asked Tails "I thought Robotnik wanted to roboticize all the people of Mobius, why would he suddenly turn to genocide?"
"He might not be lad, he might just be getting rid of us in particular." suggested Geoffrey "And my guess is because we're all Freedom Fighters and a threat to his army, he might be annihilating us just so we can't stand to his robotic army anymore."
"And he might not be roboticizing us for in case we get saved and de-roboticized or we get our freewill back and then go back to fighting against him or something." theorized Rotor "I guess it's a case of "better safe than sorry" with him now."
"Mon Dieu…" gasped Antoine "You are tinking zat Robotnik might be…annihilating us?!" squeaked Antoine "Non…I am being too young to die! I do not want to be annihilated! Oh Sonic, hurry up and help us!"
"How ironic that the one who testified against Sonic is now begging for his help." sniggered Tails cheekily.
"Now, now Tails, be nice." said Bunnie sternly "We might be starin' death right in the face at this moment so we can do without the little quips."
"OK." said Tails.
"You know if Robotnik is planning to kill us all…" mused Uncle Chuck "Then he truly is the craziest Overlander I've ever known…"
The Freedom Fighters all nodded agreeably. They knew Robotnik was mad but never in their entire lives had they ever imagined he was this mad. But he was Dr. Robotnik after all and he always has been a few clowns short of a circus so there was nothing that Robotnik wouldn't do if it was crazy and insane. Annihilating the Freedom Fighters might just be how far Robotnik's willing to go just to ensure that his enemies are dead. Just hearing all the theories from that discussion made Drago Wolf feel guilty for ever joining up with Dr. Robotnik and helping to make this entire plan possible. The Freedom Fighters were about to be executed and it was all his fault for ever working for Robotnik and telling him where Knothole is. Drago well and truly regretted his betrayal and he hoped that Sonic was still alive and was going to come and save everybody. As for Robotnik, all the villagers of Knothole had been taken out of their homes and lined up with the Freedom Fighters so the whole thing was done and ready for the next deadly stage. Robotnik stood before the entire crowd of Mobians with, Auto-Sonic by his side, in the manner of a king addressing his subjects and he crooned to them all.
"Greetings people of Knothole…" he purred in a dangerously soft voice that made people feel REALLY anxious just hearing him speak "…now that I have your attentions, every single one of you in this village, allow me to make a testimony."
Everybody looked at Robotnik and listened nervously, wondering what the good doctor had to say to them all.
"As you all know, Sonic the Hedgehog was accused of trying to murder your precious Princess Sally." continued Robotnik "But as you can see, it was yet another brilliant trick of mine. I framed Sonic and got you all to believe he would do such a thing and now, because of you, he was sentenced to a life in prison. I ordered some SWAT-bots to shoot the plane escorting him to the prison down and I've just received word from the squad that Sonic is dead. So your only hope of survival is dead at last and he cannot save you or this world."
While overseeing the operation, Robotnik had received word from Unit-8643 that Sonic was dead-although we know he isn't, the SWAT-bots just don't know that and merely decided to conclude that he was dead-and thus Robotnik believed that Sonic was dead and no longer a threat to his reign. That statement made everybody gasp in shock and Robotnik just laughed at their disdained reactions, clearly enjoying himself here.
"No…Sonic is…dead?" said Tails, unable to believe his ears.
"No! He can't be!" whimpered Amy, just about ready to start crying "My precious Sonic can't possibly be dead! I don't believe it!"
"Well you had better be believing zat little Amy since it appears Sonic is dead." said Antoine, looking worried about it all "Although I am hoping zat Robotnik is le bluffing just to upset us."
"Ah hope he's bluffin' too sugah-Twan." said Bunnie hopefully "But we dunno for sure so we'll just have to wait and see…"
"I will thank the Freedom Fighters for NOT talking while I am addressing you all!" thundered Robotnik furiously "Only I am permitted to speak at this point in time!"
The Freedom Fighters stopped talking and they all looked at Robotnik again.
"And now, I bet you are all wondering on what I plan to do to you wretched Mobians." continued Robotnik "Well, I am about to apprise you all on that now. Right now in Robotropolis, my greatest invention ever, the Ultimate Annihilator is preparing for take-off into space. Once it reaches space and is in the right place…it'll erase you all from existence! And I've programmed it only to target all of you right here in Knothole. Knothole is a standing village of hope and freedom for everybody around the world and thus, I cannot allow it to exist as such a staple of freedom will inspire people to fight against me and throw me off of my seat of power. So, I am going to erase you all, and Knothole itself, off the face of the planet! With Knothole gone, Mobius has NO beacon of hope left to cling onto and all hope for freedom will vanish in a millisecond! And once Knothole is gone, I shall be free to roboticize all of Mobius and there will be no Freedom Fighters to inspire people to stop me! The Freedom Fighters from abroad are no match for me so they will hardly fill in the very big gap you Freedom Fighters will leave behind once I erase you all from existence!"
What followed that ominous testimony was Robotnik letting fly an eerie, haunting cackle that would please any demon from the pits of hell if they could hear him doing it now. The Freedom Fighters, Wolf Pack and villagers were all horrified to hear this. Robotnik WAS going to kill them all after all! He was going to use his so-called Ultimate Annihilator to simply erase them and the village from existence! Robotnik truly was one dastardly villain if he was going to do something this evil and deranged! The worst part is though, nobody would be able to stop him from doing this for the Freedom Fighters were all restrained and Sonic wasn't here to help them. The end was coming for the Knothole residents and Robotnik was going to enjoy every minute of it.
"So Freedom Fighters…care to give me your last words?" crooned Robotnik smoothly, clearly in the mood for seeing what foolish banter the defeated heroes can give him before they all die.
"No since nobody's saying ANY final words except YOU Ro-butt-nik!" yelled a familiar voice that everybody had been hoping to hear.
The moment Robotnik heard that voice, his face fell into a rather humorously shocked expression and his moustache drooped down in horror. He couldn't move for a minute for he was so overcome with shock that he was frozen to the spot.
"No…it cannot be…the hedgehog is…ALIVE?!" shrieked Robotnik at the top of his voice.
"You bet he is fatty and he's here to deliver you a special gift, a kick to your gluttonous gut!" yelled Sonic, rushing in out of nowhere and kick-slamming Robotnik directly in the gut.
The Chaos Control had brought Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix to just on the outskirts of Knothole and Sonic had immediately rushed in to launch the first blow. That kick to the gut Sonic landed on Robotnik sent the evil, over-weight overlord hurling backwards and he crashed directly into a hut. The blow was so hard that Robotnik pretty much had the wind knocked out of him. As Robotnik gasped for breath, all the villagers of Knothole gasped with a mixture of astonishment and delight as they saw their big hero standing before them with his trademark cocky smirk on his face. Sonic turned to the crowd for a moment.
"Hey everybody, the hedgehog's back and here to save you all!" announced Sonic rather cheerfully.
"Sonic! You're alive!" cried Tails happily.
"I knew Sonic would come back for us!" cheered Amy.
"Yeehaw! Sugah-hog's alive and back to stop Robotnik!" cried Bunnie excitedly.
"Good to have you back sonny." said Uncle Chuck with a smile.
"You know what, I've just had a new experience today…being pleased to see the blue bloke." chuckled Geoffrey.
The others just chuckled at that rather funny statement.
"Sonic, we are all so sorry for not believing zat you were not le one who tried to murder le princess." said Antoine apologetically "Will you be forgiving us s'il vous plait?"
"Of course." said Sonic brightly "If there's anything I'm good at, it's forgiving people when they make a mistake or a false claim. I forgive you all for believing that I was the one who tried to kill Sally since Robotnik had a very clever plan and a very good duplicate to frame me. Now let's get you all out of those nasty handcuffs. Knuckles, Chaotix, care to help out?"
With that said, Knuckles and the Chaotix all emerged from their hiding places and they rushed over to join Sonic. The Freedom Fighters were surprised to see Knuckles again and they were even more surprised to see that Knuckles had friends with him. The SWAT-bots immediately leapt into action and began firing at Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix but the five quickly put a stop to them. Sonic spin-dashed through most of the SWAT-bots and destroyed them all instantly, Knuckles punched through the SWAT-bots and smashed them to pieces with his spiked fists, Espio used his ninja-skills to take down the SWAT-bots, Vector ripped them apart with his powerful hands and chomped them to pieces with his jaws and Charmy let them have it with a few kicks and a few stings to the body. In a matter of moments, the SWAT-bots were all defeated and Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix saw to freeing everybody. They broke the handcuffs to the Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack and they helped to free the citizens of Knothole. Robotnik watched all this in horror and he was about to go berserk with rage. His beautiful plan was being compromised and he needed to sort it out now otherwise he'll never win.
"That infernal hedgehog…how did he survive being shot down by my SWAT-bots?!" growled Robotnik "Well no matter, he won't survive this robot…Auto-Sonic! Get the hedgehog and exterminate him NOW!"
"With pleasure Robotnik." said Auto-Sonic, cracking his metal knuckles eagerly.
Auto-Sonic rushed over to Sonic just as he freed the last citizen of her handcuffs and he roundhouse punched Sonic in the face. That punch sent Sonic catapulting across the village and he landed slap bang into a nearby tree. Sonic shrugged off the blow and he clenched his fists, his eyes narrowed down to focused slits of pure rage and contempt. Auto-Sonic stood before Sonic, shaking his arm as if he was loosening a joint or two to get it moving swiftly.
"So we meet at last faker." crooned Auto-Sonic with a crick of the neck to both sides just as he said the word "faker" "Now let's see who will win in a battle between an organic Sonic and a robot Sonic!"
"It'll be me of course faker!" growled Sonic "I beat Metal Sonic and he was WAY more menacing then you are! And by the way, I've got a BIG score to settle with you jerk! You tried to kill the love of my life and you framed me for it! I am SO gonna flatten your face with my foot at the end of the day!"
"Just try it cretin! You'll not land a punch on me!" snorted Auto-Sonic.
Sonic just rushed towards Auto-Sonic and threw a punch at him only for Auto-Sonic to twirl out of the way and elbow him directly in the back. Sonic was thrown down onto the ground by the elbow-thrust and Auto-Sonic added more to the attack by grabbing Sonic by the spines on his back and throwing him into a tree again. Sonic picked himself up, brushing a few bits of tree bark off of himself, and he spin-dashed Auto-Sonic directly in the torso. He didn't send Auto-Sonic flying though, he kept up the spin-dash so he ended up pushing Auto-Sonic backwards and he kept going until he crashed directly through a nearby hut. The hut now had a large hole in the wall and the two Sonics ended up sprawling across the floor after crashing through it. Unfortunately for Sonic, this hut was the hut where the unconscious Princess Sally was resting in! Auto-Sonic picked himself up from the attack and he spotted Sally lying peacefully in a nearby bed. Auto-Sonic quickly got an evil idea in his head and he rushed over to be bed. He yanked Sally's unconscious body out of the bed and placed his hands around her throat. Sonic was about to go insane with horror as Auto-Sonic put his hands around Sally's neck.
"Stand down now faker or your pretty girlfriend will go from being "almost dead" to "really dead"!" snarled Auto-Sonic.
"Oh god, no, please don't hurt Sally! Don't hurt her!" begged Sonic frantically "I swear if you harm one hair on her head you will be a collection of parts for the scrap yard!"
"Then comply to my order and I will allow her to live long enough to wake up and see you begging on your knees before me!" taunted Auto-Sonic "Go on, all you have to do is stand down and the princess lives!"
Sonic's mind was in torment. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't stand down and surrender otherwise Auto-Sonic will win but he couldn't let Sally die before she could wake up from her coma and come back to everybody. But it seemed Sonic wouldn't have to worry about saving Sally for something jumped behind Auto-Sonic and kicked him in the back, making him drop Sally onto the floor and sending him hurling across the room. It was Espio the Chameleon. He had just turned invisible and sneaked into the hut to see how the two Sonics were doing and had just saved Sally's life. Espio turned visible and he bowed before Sonic respectably.
"Thanks Espio." said Sonic, picking up Sally's body and putting her back into the bed "You saved Sally's life."
"The honour is mine." said Espio "I can't believe how sick that robot is, daring to threaten a crippled innocent just to make you surrender. Ultimate dishonour!"
"I'll say." said Sonic, laying Sally down on the bed and pulling the quilt back over her "Should have known Robotnik would have programmed Auto-Sonic to be such a coward. He's a coward himself after all."
"I'm no coward you little twerp!" snarled Auto-Sonic, picking himself up and glaring at Sonic.
"Then prove it loser! You will fight ONLY me and you will NOT hold anybody hostage in this fight OK?" said Sonic.
"Whatever, just fight me already faker!" ordered Auto-Sonic.
Sonic grinned to himself. Robotnik truly made a great copy of himself, all the way down to the personality. Auto-Sonic shared Sonic's arrogance and Sonic could use that to his advantage. Sonic spin-dashed Auto-Sonic out of the hut and sent him skidding across the dirt outside. Sonic rushed out to join Auto-Sonic and he instantly started whaling on him as hard as possible. Auto-Sonic took most of the blows and he began whaling on Sonic too. Because he was metal though, his punches were harder than Sonic's and thus, he was beginning to get the upper-hand in this whaling match. Sonic however kicked Auto-Sonic in the leg and made him bend down on one knee. He then roundhouse kicked Auto-Sonic in the head and knocked him down onto his side. Auto-Sonic wasn't down for long though and he uppercut Sonic in the face. He spin-dashed Sonic and slammed him into the ground, pushing him along it so hard that a mound of dirt built up around Sonic. Auto-Sonic grabbed Sonic by the wrists and yanked him onto his feet just so he could punch him back down onto the ground again. He then pinned Sonic down and started punching him as hard as he could. But Knuckles decided to leap in and help Sonic and he socked Auto-Sonic directly in the side of his head, leaving two nasty dents in it because of his spiked fists. Robotnik hadn't had much experience with Knuckles so Auto-Sonic wasn't built to resist Knuckles as much as Sonic. Auto-Sonic was thrown off of Knuckles by the punch and he lay on his side, groaning in pain. Sonic and Knuckles stood side-by-side and they prepared to let Auto-Sonic have it and have it hard. Auto-Sonic picked himself up and rushed towards Knuckles. Knuckles socked Auto-Sonic in the gut and then slammed him on the top of his head but Auto-Sonic threw both fists up into Knuckles' fists, giving him a tremendous uppercut that threw him onto his back and Auto Sonic grabbed Knuckles by his ankles. Sonic leaped towards Auto-Sonic but Auto-Sonic swung Knuckles around like a baseball bat and smacked Sonic away. He then slammed Knuckles on the ground and ran towards Sonic. Sonic picked himself up and held his fist out. Auto-Sonic couldn't stop himself in time and he ended up running face-first into Sonic's fist. Sonic spun around and kicked Auto-Sonic in the chest. Auto-Sonic staggered backwards but he quickly sprung back with a left hook to the cheek on Sonic. He then delivered a right hook to the cheek and tripped up Sonic with a sweeping kick to the legs. Sonic came crashing down onto his back and Auto-Sonic grabbed him by the ankles. Sonic pulled on his legs, yanking Auto-Sonic forward and he punched Auto-Sonic in the face with both fists. Auto-Sonic clutched his face as Sonic got back to his feet and he spin-dashed Auto-Sonic directly towards Knuckles. Knuckles threw a punch as Auto-Sonic hurled towards him and Auto-Sonic ended up getting a heavy punch to the back as Knuckles hit him. Auto-Sonic was sent catapulting back towards Sonic and Sonic kicked him down into the ground. Auto-Sonic picked himself up weakly, his circuitry sparking and his joints creaking due to the damage he had received from the battle. Sonic stood triumphantly before Auto-Sonic and he smirked at him.
"You're finished you cheap imitation." said Sonic coldly "Now you and Robotnik better surrender now or you'll face destruction."
Auto-Sonic however suddenly grabbed Sonic by the arm and glared at him.
"If I'm finished then so are you!" he growled "Activating self-destruct sequence in five…"
That made Sonic instantly try and break free from Auto-Sonic but the Automaton Sonic clone was holding on pretty tightly and Sonic couldn't get free. Before Auto-Sonic could count down any further, Knuckles punched Auto-Sonic away from Sonic and Auto-Sonic hurled out of harm's way. He landed with a clunk on the ground and then self-destructed for his sequence had been activated and he had no way of stopping it. Auto-Sonic was no nothing put a pile of robot parts and was no more. Sonic sighed with relief and he shook Knuckles' hand graciously.
"Thanks Knuckles." said Sonic "I was about to go up like a firework there!"
"Don't mention it Sonic, can't have Mobius losing its biggest hero after all." said Knuckles.
"Now Auto-Sonic's dealt with, let's take down Robotnik." said Sonic.
But Robotnik had an escape route in mind. He pressed a button on his robotic arm and activated the bomb on Drago Wolf's back! The bomb activated and started bleeping as it counted down to detonation. Drago instantly freaked out and he ran off as fast as he could.
"Everybody get back! GET BACK!" screamed Drago "The bomb on my back's about to go off!"
That made everybody stand well back as Drago ran away from Knothole to save anyone getting blown up. While everybody was distract, Robotnik sneaked away and ran off back to Robotropolis, leaving the heroes to deal with Drago. As for Sonic, he heard Drago mention he had a bomb on his back and he ran over to help save him. But…he was too late. The bomb went off and Drago was instantly blown to smithereens by a colossal explosion that tore through some of the trees in the forest and blew Sonic off of his feet. Luckily, Drago had cleared Knothole so the bomb didn't do any damage to the village. Sonic grunted as he picked himself up and he stared at the damage done to a few of the trees by the bomb and the charred, grisly remains of Drago Wolf. Sonic was overcome with horror, horror as in he was horrified he'd failed to save somebody. He'd failed to save Sally from Auto-Sonic and now he'd failed to save Drago. He was not used to failing so this was a big shock to him.
"No…I failed to save Drago…" gasped Sonic "That Robotnik…how did Drago get a bomb on him?"
"Robotnik smuggled it on him." explained Lupe "He apparently black-mailed Drago into working for him and the bomb was put on his back to make sure he stayed loyal to him or else. And now Robotnik's just blown Drago up…poor Drago. He can't redeem himself for what Robotnik has forced him to do."
"What did Robotnik make him do like?" asked Sonic.
"Reveal the location of Knothole and help him orchestrate the plot to frame you my friend." replied Lupe "It's thanks to Drago that this whole thing was even possible and because he's dead, he can't make up for it now."
"What makes matters worse is that Robotnik's got a weapon called the Ultimate Annihilator and he's going to use it to wipe us and Knothole out of existence!" exclaimed Tails "He got you out of the way so he could commence with his plan without hindrance and I'm willing to bet now you're here to stop him, he's going to go and activate it right now!"
Sonic was dumbfounded with astonishment at that statement. The look on his face was legendary as he factored in what Tails had just told him. Robotnik had a weapon called the Ultimate Annihilator and was using it to wipe out the Freedom Fighters and Knothole? That must be this so-called "ultimate plan" Unit-8643 had told him. Robotnik was seriously planning to wipe out his entire village, his friends and maybe even himself all at once?! If that happened then Mobius would be doomed to a life of slavery forever and Sally would never get the chance to recover from her near-death at the hands of Auto-Sonic. Sonic's face turned into a hardcore scowl that made him look somewhat threatening and he clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles began to turn white, not that you can see if they are given he wears gloves.
"That tears it…Robotnik blackmailed a member of the Wolf Pack, made him do terrible things, framed me for the attempted murder of my girlfriend, tried to shoot me down and put me out of the picture, subjugated my village and made a weapon, all so he can wipe us all out of existence?!" he said, his voice like ice "That is it! Robotnik is going WAY too far now! We are taking the battle to him and we are going to take him down!"
"I'm with you all the way Sonic." said Tails supportively.
"We all are sugah-hog." chipped in Bunnie "So what do ya'll want us to do?"
"We are gonna storm Robotropolis, get to Robotnik and make him pay." said Sonic coldly "Robotnik's final hour is coming for him…"
This is it, the part you all know and remember from the original story, Sonic vs. Robotnik! Who will win this titanic showdown? Find out in the final chapter of this epic re-write...