Disclaimer: I know this is getting repetitive, but it's to avoid lawsuits… I don't own anything except my OC!
Ozone made it through the ruins with ease and was surprised to see someone he didn't expect in a place so far away from civilization. "It's been a while, eh Ozone? I'm guessing you're here for the Flames of Iblis?" said the figure, who turned out to be none other than Eggman himself. "What're you doing here, Eggman?" the alien asked in surprise. "I'm here to pick up on an old project of mine and see if I can do better than I did before." Ozone quickly recalled something Sonic told him a few days ago: Eggman's Solaris Prototype project!
While Eggman and Ozone were bickering, a crash was heard nearby. Eggman told Ozone to 'hold that thought' while he investigates the disturbance. A little while later, the fat man came back, but with a big grin on his face. "Ozone, meet one of my 'pets' that I made before the Solaris incident, Kerebos." The evil doctor informed before a huge dog-shaped machine lunged out from behind some huge debris. It had an orange-colored 'rail' made of chaos energy on it's back, simple machine guns on it's shoulders, and it's body had something that Eggman called 'Unobtanium'* as armor for it's body and weapons. It also sported an unusual cannon in it's mouth that the doctor says shoots flames.
Ozone was a little intimidated by the robotic hound's appearance at first, but he shrugged the thought quickly. "I've made some enhancements to Kerebos since I last used him and now I just need someone to help me test his capabilities." The fat man said with evil intentions. "Lemme guess, I'm the guinea pig for your 'experiment'? I guess Sonic was right about you after all." Doctor Eggman then replied hastily, "Not you! I'm getting a reading on my radar, and that thing that's headed here is the test subject. You're not even the subject of my plans yet, Ozone." The alien was taken aback by Eggman's intentions right there and took back his objections to the fat man. "Actually, there is something you can do right now, Ozone. Stop whatever it is that's coming here while I retrieve what I'm here for. Don't worry, I'm not going to destroy this place. I still have some research to do here as well." Ozone acknowledged the doctor's plans and raced off to intercept the incoming anomaly.
Eggman searched the ruins for what seemed like hours until he finally found what he was looking for: the Flames of Iblis. The doctor smiled at his victory of finding one of the artifacts needed to recreate Solaris. He picked up the torch and shifted his Eggmobile into high-speed in the direction of Ozone and Kerebos. The alien in question shot a beam of energy at a blue object in the sky, knowing that it was the anomaly Eggman was referring to. Metal Sonic stopped in mid-air to assess the damage and readjust his plans. Once done, he looked down to face his attacker and yelled, "Watch your aim, buddy. You nearly hit these ladies by attacking me!" Ozone was about to shoot another sphere of yellow energy, until he heard what Metal Sonic said about ' these ladies' and held them like living shields and stopped his attack.
"So you must be Metal Sonic. I've heard a great deal from Sonic about your deeds, but we'll save this discussion for later…" Ozone started before flying up to challenge the metallic menace. Before either combatant could say anything, Ozone heard Eggman's voice a little ways from the ruins. Apparently, he heard the doctor say something about 'mission accomplished' and 'forget that scrap of metal and retreat'. That was enough to send Ozone floating down, before telling Metal Sonic, "I'd love to battle, but I'm kinda busy right now. We'll have our battle some other day. By the way, you can call me 'Ozone the Hedgehog'". With those words, the alien hovered down to land on Kerebos's back and hitch a ride to follow the evil doctor. Metal Sonic then muttered to himself, "Another factor in the situation unexpectedly showed up. Not a big enough threat… yet." With that, he flew off for the ruins.
Sonic was racing around the various cities to pass some time while Knuckles was taking a nap in Tails's workshop. The workshop owner, on the other hand, was examining the blueprints for Ozone's space pod with the goal of creating a prototype copy of the space vessel. One of the major problems he faced was finding enough materials and with the specific properties needed to make the chassis for his prototype. He was stumped at the complexity of the space pod's design and how the parts are able to handle that well in a vacuum. The only thing Tails was able to recreate at the time was the security programs that the space-travelling vehicle had. The young mechanic decided to ask Ozone about the problems he had when he returns.
Amy was roaming around doing some shopping for 'cute' things that she thought would make her more attractive towards her favorite anthro. Her shopping was usually cut short whenever she spots Sonic somewhere, but she hasn't seen him since their date. Her thoughts on Sonic were quickly dissipated when she felt what seemed like mini-earthquakes that popped up consecutively a little bit after the first ones hit. Then she heard what sounded like really heavy stomping coming from behind her. As she turned to look at what was happening, she saw Eggman fly above her going towards the south part of the metrolopic city. She knew he can't make a sound like that or earthquakes that frequent, but her thoughts were interrupted the moment she saw a huge metallic hound following the evil doctor. "Should've guessed it was him making that racket." With those words, she ran off towards Tails's workshop to tell the gang what she just saw with Eggman.
Vector, Charmy and Espio decided to search for the Emeralds by staying together this time. As they were searching a nearby desert area, they came across Station Square. Before they could take another step, Vector's cell phone started ringing. The croc answered it, only to be surprised that it was their client. "We got a problem you guys. Eggman was just seen with a robot that looked like a huge hound racing across Centropolis. If that's not enough, Amy said that she saw Eggman carrying a chaos emerald while he was flying around. She said he was heading for Station Square." Vector said to his client, "We just got there, boss. Leave the fat man to us and we'll get the chaos emerald from him in no time."
Seems like Eggman is going to improve one of his old tricks, but why didn't he go after the Scepter of Darkness? What is Ozone thinking by working with Eggman? Only one thing to say: stay tuned for more.
* If you've ever seen the movie "The Core" where they have to fix the Earth's core and get the liquids flowing again, the scientist who went with the gang to fix the Earth said his vessel was made of something he called "Unobtanium". This is the reference I'm using for this story.
(P.S. the action is right around the block.)