A few miles away from the natural beauty & lush green of Knothole & the Great Forest, there was Eggopolis, a sooty, slimy, barren industrial wasteland of a city, just a few ways away from becoming a total war zone. Before this, it used to be Emerald City, a friendly city with a forward look. Now, the citizenry – like the majority of the Mobian population – had been reduced to robotic shells of their former selves, their memories suppressed by a prime directive: OBEY.
In the center of this urban desolation, where the royal palace once stood, there was the headquarters of the aforementioned mad scientist, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. This fat, balding, mustachioed man used his iron fist and numerous mechanical creations to keep the citizens in line and to work his way up to his grand goal of world domination. The only problem standing in his way was…well…I'm sure you already read about the problem in the past few chapters.
While Dr. Robonik was sitting in his favorite chair, a short, nearly-bald man entered the throne room. This man was Snively, Robotnik's right-hand man and also nephew.
"Sir, I have a status report for you…" said Snively.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY STATUS REPORTS!" shouted Dr. Robotnik. "Every time you come to me with a status report, it's always about Sonic the Hedgehog and how he's managed to tear apart one of MY magnificent plans!"
"But sir…"
"NO 'BUTS'! Get out of here before I have you for breakfast!"
"S-sir…it's good news, I promise! I promise!"
"Are you prepared to accept the consequences of breaking that promise, Snively?"
"Y-y-y-y-yes, s-sir!"
"Very well, then. What is it?"
"The southwestern quadrant reports that troop levels are returning to normal. Furthermore, they were also able to capture a Freedom Fighter group operating in the Green Grove Zone!"
"Oooh, very good! Very good indeed, Snively! You get to continue working for my wondrous organization!" (For now, thought Robotnik)
"Thank you very much, sir!" Snively started to leave the throne room, but then he turned around and added, "Oh, and by the way, sir…"
"Yes, Snively?"
"I've discovered this fantastic TV program called Super Changin' Muscle Rangers! You must watch it when you get the chance!"
"Get out! GET OOOOUUUUUUT!"
"Eep!" Snively wasted no time in leaving the throne room.
As for Robotnik, he spent a few moments attending to routine matters, and then he got up from his chair and decided to see how his other henchmen were doing.
In the break room, he caught Scratch & Grounder watching a TV program. Scratch was a robotic chicken, and Grounder was a robotic…er, robot…with drill bits on his nose & arms.
"All right, that'll show 'em!" exclaimed Scratch. "Buh-HA Ha-HAAAA!"
"Yeah, bust 'em up!" exclaimed Grounder.
"What are you two idiots doing!?" demanded Robotnik.
"We're just watching some TV!" replied Scratch.
"Yeah!" said Grounder.
"You two junk piles are watching television when you're supposed to be WORKING!?" said Robotnik.
"Come on, boss!" pleaded Grounder. "It's Super Changin' Muscle Rangers!"
"Yeah!" said Scratch. "It's only the hottest program on TV right now!"
"I DON'T CARE IF IT'S THE…" Suddenly, Robotnik's tone changed, "…wait, what was that last thing you said?"
"It's the hottest program on TV!" replied Scratch. Robotnik took a look at the program and watched the Muscle Rangers duking it out with the villain of the day.
"Hmmmmm…" said Dr. Robotnik, stroking his moustache.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Great Forest, Sonic was at Cream's hut, along with her mother, Vanilla. In all respects, Vanilla was identical to her daughter, except that she wore darker eyeshadow and had a tuft of orange hair on her head. There were also the obvious height, weight, age and other dimensional differences, too. She wore a lavender dress with a crimson vest.
At the moment, it was lunchtime at the rabbits' household, and for their special guest, they prepared a few chili dogs. Sonic gobbled them down quickly.
"Thanks, Mrs. Cream's Mom!" said Sonic. "You make some of the most rockin' chili dogs in all of Mobius!"
"You're very welcome!" replied Vanilla. "Now, what brings you here, Sonic?"
"Ah, I'm just beat. You probably think I'm talkin' jive, but seriously, it ain't easy to be jettin' around all the time! It takes a lot of energy to keep runnin' at super speed, ya know?"
"I understand perfectly. Everyone needs to rest every now and then. So, how are your friends?"
"My friends? Oh, they're gravy."
"Well, that's nice."
In the city of San Santos, on the west coast of the Federal Republic of Columbia, there exists the district of Maplewood, which serves as the movie-making capital of Columbia. On the set of one of its many movie studios, the cast & crew of Super Changin' Muscle Rangers were hard at work filming the next exciting episode of their TV series. In this scene, the Muscle Rangers were confronting Dina Disgusta, one of the show's main villains, in front of a local courthouse on set.
"Give up, Disgusta!" ordered Johnny Austin, the actor who played Johnny Lee. "Your court's been adjourned!"
"That's what you think!" retorted Barbara Perez, the actress who played Dina Disgusta. "I've already filed a motion to dismiss you twerps! Ha ha ha ha HA!"
Suddenly, a gang of SWATbots entered the scene and grabbed the actors who were playing the Muscle Rangers.
"CUT!" exclaimed the Director. "Hey, you guys aren't supposed to be in the scene yet!" The SWATbots ignored him and kept going with their captives.
"Wait a minute…what are you doing!?" demanded the Director. "Hey…wait…someone, stop those guys!" The actors' bodyguards came in and tried to free their clients from the grip of the SWATbots. Despite their strength, the bodyguards were simply swept aside by the SWATbots as if they were 98-pound weaklings.
"FREEZE!" A couple of security guards aimed their blaster pistols at the SWATbots. The guards fired a couple of bolts, but they did minimal damage. Two of the SWATbots fired their wrist-mounted lasers back at the security guards. They didn't hit the guards, but they melted the blaster pistols.
"RUN AWAY!" yelled one of the guards, and they did exactly that. Actors & crew members from other sets took notice of what was going on and tried to bust up the SWATbots, to little effect. The SWATbots laid down some suppressing fire with their laser guns before loading the Muscle Rangers stars into some nearby hover units and taking off.
Back at Cream's hut, Sonic & the two rabbits decided to sit down and watch some television. After a little finagling, they found a program that they could all agree on: Family Matters. Cream sat down on the couch between Vanilla & Sonic, while Cheese sat in her lap. Everyone was having a good time, but then the program was interrupted just a few minutes in by a special news announcement:
"The stars of the TV show Super Changin' Muscle Rangers have gone missing. Currently, there is no information regarding their disappearance, but the San Santos Police Department is currently investigating the matter."
"We now return to our show" said an announcer.
(No information?) thought Sonic. (Ha! They ain't foolin' this Hedgehog! It's obvious that Robuttnik's…) Suddenly, Sonic had an unexpected reaction: His heart began to beat more wildly and he started to sweat nervously. He turned to Vanilla:
"Uh…Cream's Mom…?" said Sonic.
"Yes, what is it?" asked Vanilla.
"Listen…I gotta fess up…"
"Sonic, what's wrong?"
"Well…ya see…ya know that show Super Changin' Muscle Rangers?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"Well…uh…here's the skinny: The real reason I came to your pad is because all my friends won't shut up about that show! I mean, ever since I got back from my daily run, they're all 'Sonic, Super Changin' Muscle Rangers is awesome!' or, 'Ya gotta check out Super Changin' Muscle Rangers!' and I'm sick of it! Now, here's the mondo big problem: I can tell just by lookin' at that news report that the stars of that show were kidnapped…by Robuttnik! Now, I hate their show and all, but part of me wants to go out and rescue those guys from Robuttnik! Oh man, oh man…I don't know what to do!"
"Sonic, I know exactly how you feel!"
"Ya do?"
"Yes. It's OK to feel confused; just listen to your heart, Sonic!"
Sonic paused for a few seconds and calmed down. Then, he had a spark of realization:
"Bingo! I know exactly what to do now! Thanks for the livin' and everything!"
"You're welcome!" said Cream & Vanilla.
"Gotta scream, Cream!" Without further ado, Sonic bolted out the door and headed back into the Great Forest.
"Bye, Sonic!" said Cream & Vanilla.
"Chao!" said Cheese.
After Sonic left, Cream turned to her mother and said: "Isn't Mr. Sonic great?"
"He certainly is," replied Vanilla. "Cream, I think you're lucky to have such good friends!"
"Me too!" said Cream.
"Chao!" said Cheese.
While Sonic was running through the Great Forest, he said, "Man, I never thought I'd feel sorry for that show! I gotta tell…WHOA!" Rouge grabbed Sonic by the collar and spun him around to face her.
"YOU!" shouted Rouge, who slapped Sonic hard and left a bright red mark on his cheek. "You owe me an apology, you little punk! I have never felt so insulted in my entire life! Nobody has ever said anything like that to me, not even Knuckie! You should be ashamed of yourself, Big Blue!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA! Rouge…I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to blow up at ya like that! It's just that everyone's been on my case about Super Changin' Muscle Rangers and I got fed up with it! I never meant any of those things I said! You're an awesome person…really! We cool?"
Rouge pondered Sonic's words for a few moments, and then said, "Well…all right." She loosened her grip on Sonic. "I suppose I can't be mad at you forever."
"Whew…that's a relief!"
"Just remember, it's only a TV show. There's no need to get upset about it!"
"'Just a TV show?'" Sonic chuckled at Rouge's words. "And you're the one who's sayin' it's a must-have! Hahaha!"
Rouge grabbed Sonic by the collar again.
"SONIIIIIIIIC…"
"Hey, I was only kiddin'! You're still the best!"
Rouge let go of Sonic, blushing slightly. She said, "OK, I'll accept that! Have a wonderful day, Big Blue!"
"You too!" After a couple seconds pause, he told Rouge, "Oh, did ya hear that the Super Changin' Muscle Rangers were kidnapped?"
"Really? Oh my! What episode did this happen?"
"Episode!? This ain't no TV show, baby; the actors got kidnapped for real!"
"OH NO! I'm coming for you, Frankie!" Rouge flew away.
"Wait!" cried Sonic. However, Rouge didn't bother to stop. So, Sonic continued running.