"Bah, those kids are running me ragged," Ivo groaned as he touched down in the landing bay for his hovercraft.
He hopped out and stomped down the halls towards the Badnik Production Facilities and burst through the doors, expecting to see Heavy and Bomb. But when neither Badnik was present for him to reprimand, it only made him even more livid. Where could they have possibly gone when he never gave them orders to take a break? At the very least, the improvements they'd been working on for the Egg Mobile's next armor had been completed. Except upon second glance, he could see that the blue Chaos Ring was absent from the chamber meant to house it.
'Ooh, where did they take it?' he thought with annoyance, 'when I get my hands on them, I swear.'
He took a deep breath to calm himself and scanned the room a bit longer, his eyes soon falling on the display above the primary terminal. The construction speed and quality for his Badniks had been noticeably increased, just as the most recent battle had also proven. He brought up a more comprehensive view of their statistics and went to behavior, and what he found made him quirk a brow.
"This isn't my personal programming language," he mumbled as he scrolled through the lines of code, "and yet it executes in tandem with mine, and without issue." He rubbed his temple with one hand and hummed. "There's no way that those two could have made these changes. They're mechanics first and foremost, and I haven't installed knowledge of other kinds of code into them."
And if they weren't responsible, that left a couple of other suspects, but really, there was only one worth considering. Ivo rushed away from the console and back into the halls, running with surprising speed for his age and girth. The fatigue of the day had been pushed aside, and in his more alert state, Ivo began to notice other disturbing details. Namely, not just the seeming disappearance of his Mechanix, but the absence of other Badniks as well; he hadn't seen a single one since he got back from the Amazing Arena. He'd specifically ordered any remaining units from the shuttered attractions to return to base, and he knew for a fact those kids hadn't destroyed every last one.
'I don't like this,' he thought uneasily.
Ivo entered the main command center, finding it just as barren as the rest of the base he'd seen so far, save for one robot in particular. It was that metallic amber fox, standing tall in front of his supercomputer with its attention focused on the screens. Mecha swiveled its head around, then the rest of its body as it brought one arm over its chest and bowed a bit. While it may have seemed formal to a casual observer, Robotnik knew otherwise. This mimic of that two-tailed teenager was taunting him, not at all concerned that it had been found here alone and in a rather incriminating position.
"What do you think you're doing at my station?" he demanded of the droid.
Mecha returned upright and clasped its hands behind its back, its optics shifting to a sly illuminated expression. "Why ask when you already know the answer?"
Ivo blinked in surprise behind his specs. The steely fox had never once made it apparent that it could speak while it was in his presence. His bewilderment quickly gave way to anger, not just at this thing's audacity, but the fact that its voice was a synthesized and distorted likeness of Miles' own. But, to keep his composure and image up, he grinned and let out an amused grunt.
"I knew you couldn't be trusted," he said snidely as he pressed one of the buttons on his coat.
The computer and all of its components sank into spaces beneath the floor, while numerous panels on the walls and ceiling flipped around. Laser turrets, missile and rocket mounts, and gatling guns all popped out of these places. From several hidden compartments came a collection of Badniks composed of many of the models made up to then. And as they went to confront Mecha, Robotnik slinked over to a plain looking tube and swiped his hand over it, causing it to open. This granted him access to a chute that he wasted no time in taking to slide out of sight, leaving his forces to contend with the fox.
"And I knew you set up a sizable personal guard and defensive array," Mecha droned, certain that the doctor could hear it from his shelter, "no matter, it is all inferior to me."
A pair of Uni Unis flew in first, their spiked balls orbiting rapidly to both protect themselves and attack with. Mecha lunged with both arms extended, grabbing the two by their core bodies and hurling them at a few Buzzers coming up on one side. The force behind the throws destroyed all four Badniks, leaving an opening that it flew through via its heel jets. Several of the weapon mounts locked onto its position and unleashed a veritable hail of rays, bullets, and explosive rounds. Mecha rushed in, calculated the point they would converge upon it, and activated its Amber Barrier, deflecting both energy and material projectiles alike at random angles. The room became cluttered with debris as the redirected attacks brought down many Badniks, while other stray hits scorched and tore away at the chamber itself.
Afterward, Mecha weaved between charging Balkiries and Batbots, trading its claws for vulcan barrels and riddling the fliers full of holes. A Skorp extended its tail to club its foe, only for the fox to grab it and pull the Badnik its way, subsequently bashing it with its free fist. It dove to the ground with a Buzz Saw Drop Attack, slicing clean through a Mantis that tried to jump up and intercept it. After landing, a Rhinobot flanked by a Motobug and a Stegway all came at it together, their faces all changing from determined to frightened as Mecha's eyes changed from cyan-blue to red. In the same instant, a pair of lightning-fast and nearly invisible beams lanced through the two robots on the sides, causing both of them to explode. The remaining Badnik was grabbed by the front while both plasma-coated tails slashed through it like butter, whereafter Mecha hurled the leftover horn into the muzzle of a missile launcher.
Spines rained down from a group of Asterons, but none of their sharp ammo made a mark as the fox slipped through the stream and shot them down. The rapid punches of a few Shellcrackers came its way, leaping over them with a quick burst from its boots, letting the pincers hit several Whisps that had been closing in behind it. It brutally crushed one with a Stomp, then bisected the other next to it with a swipe from its tails, and before the third could react in time, Mecha dismantled it with a powerful shoulder charge. A Redz spewed fire in its direction, finding it to be no use as the fox ran right through the flames and uppercutted its head clean off. A Chainspike levitated above its position and attempted to skewer it with its bottom spear, but it swiftly found itself used as a flail when Mecha grabbed its chain and started swinging it around.
Ivo watched from safety through a monitor in a dark bunker deep below his command center, gritting his teeth as the iron vulpine continued its carnage. At the same time, he was searching for any possible way to activate his trump card. It was a large mech suit with a green and yellow color scheme, with four pile drivers pressing into the top, as well as a pair of tentacular appendages made of eight ball joints that extended from its back. There was a window for the doctor to see out of for when he donned it, as well as an indentation for a large Ring.
"It should be here!" he growled, checking every possible storage space for the umpteenth time.
Not a few seconds after his outburst, the video feed went silent, and when Ivo looked over, all he could see was a sea of scrap and scarred walls. A cold chill ran down his spine as the outer cover of the transport tube was torn open, and the din of metal being scraped and ripped filled the room. Mecha split the other end of the chute with a Buzz Saw Spin Dash and landed on its feet a couple of meters away from Ivo. It turned its head and fired its eye beams at the pile driver missiles in the mech suit, shielding itself from the resulting blast, as well as Robotnik vicariously.
"No!" The doctor yelled as he slowly backed away, "my Chaos Egg!"
The droid advanced upon him at the same pace, its optics shaped into a menacing expression. "Why so upset, doctor?" There was a dark amusement in the way it asked. "Do you not have contingencies in place for this situation? Are you truly cornered and perhaps not the most brilliant scientific genius, as you so often tout yourself?"
Robotnik snarled. "Don't you mock me, you treacherous two-tail!" He pointed an accusatory finger at it. "What did you do with it!?"
"Do you mean this?" came the next question.
The man's face tightened as Mecha opened its chest plate to reveal its power core. Slotted perfectly in the very center, crackling with dark bolts of energy that threatened to arc over and shock the doctor, was a Ring as dark as a moonless night. He'd thought to reach out and snatch it, but the artificial fox only showed it off long enough to make sure he'd seen it before sealing it back up.
"The Dark Ring," Mecha stated as if giving a lecture, "a result of the distillation of and crystallization of energy from the Chaos Rings. Powerful, yet incomplete due to lacking the essence of one last Ring. You intended to perfect it or, if matters became desperate, use it to power your now-destroyed prototype suit. In addition, you based the current batteries of your Badniks off of it." It pressed its hands together and spread them as if opening a book. "Just one of many things I learned while perusing your personal files, Ivo."
The doctor recoiled. "That information–"
"Was stored on an independent server in this very room," the fox finished for him. It saw him tense up, prompting it to press on. "It was easy to find after some cursory investigative work. I hacked the server for further data, then took the Dark Ring for myself after parsing it all. As for the blue Chaos Ring, your Mechanix made off with it after I granted them freedom from your restrictive programming." It dismissively flicked its faux fur bangs with one hand. "Although they chose to join the Animals rather than me, their actions still progress my designs."
Robotnik bumped back into the wall and braced against it with one hand while the other moved to his jacket. He gasped as Mecha grabbed his wrist faster than he could blink and shoved him into the hard steel, knocking the wind out of him. In the next instant, he found his arms pinned against the metal not by weight, but by the terrifying hum of plasma-coated tails hovering millimeters above his shoulders. The fox was listing in front of him with its jet boots, one arm extended with its hand retracted, leaving only a broad and open barrel less than a meter from the man's face.
"I could easily maim or kill you, but logic dictates that you are more useful to me alive and whole," Mecha said with what sounded like odious reluctance, "insofar that those Animals and your Mechanix are concerned for your well-being. Or rather, that of your other personality, in the case of the former group."
Ivo didn't like the sound of where this was going. "So I'm to be bait for those brats?"
"Not you," the fox replied ominously.
Its hand shot out of the barrel and grabbed the man's head so that his mouth was covered. Black energy hissed and crackled down Mecha's arm until it wrapped and lashed about the doctor, where he started to spasm and scream against the cold iron palm.
Much to the dismay of Heavy and Bomb, the group of seven non-robots required sleep, especially after going through another long day. The first thing in the morning, the Animals and two Badniks set out for the square, where the latter hoped they could get in contact with their former boss. As for the former, they were still figuring out what to do now that they had all six of those Rings.
"Knuckles said they can summon the Master Emerald," Charmy reminded them, "but that can't be all they can do. Chaos Energy can do all sorts of things, as the Emeralds have shown us."
Sonic tapped at his Ring, currently the yellow one linked to the echidna. "I wonder if they could make me go super."
"I don't know if there is enough energy to trigger a transformation," Knuckles said doubtfully, "even with all of them together. I would rather we keep using them as we have until this is over."
"The sooner, the better," Vector remarked, nodding at the Mechanix ahead of them, "I still don't trust those guys."
Espio nodded his agreement, though remained stoic. "Even so, I cannot overlook the fact they brought us the final Ring, nor do I sense deception on their part."
"L-let's be ready, just in case," Ray advised them.
They all soon reached the hub of Carnival Island, where Heavy and Bomb led them to what was supposed to be a more direct entrance to the base beneath the park. However, when they attempted to access it, the two of them were denied, and an automated voice told the group to head to the map of the attractions. Knuckles and Vector were tempted to bust the door down, but everyone else had already started to leave, with the echidna having no choice due to his connection with Sonic.
The nine arrived at the board where only Techno Tower remained among the available Zones, a video feed popping up on cue. They expected to see the leering, angry face of Dr. Robotnik, but were instead greeted with a shocking turn. The man was dressed in the clothes they associated with Ovi the Tinkerer, appearing frightened and apologetic while on his knees with his arms bound up in flexible steel cables. The camera then panned over and zoomed in so that Mecha Miles filled the frame, both of its arms folded while its two tails twitched every so often. It had also donned a high-collared cape that was red on the inside and black on the outside, with gold trim along the flowing edges. To complete the look, it also wore a military officer's cap with similar colors and a slit for its bangs, nestled perfectly between its ears.
"Greetings, Animals," the metal fox said, its optics moving over to regard the two Badniks with them, "and you, Mechanix. As I understand, several of you are familiar with this side of the doctor, one Ovi Tinker."
Sonic clenched his free fist and felt his head heating up a good bit. That nice old guy he hadn't seen in a few years, at least not in this state, was now at the mercy of a twisted duplicate of his partner. And in that same moment, the man recognized the hedgehog on the other side of the call.
"Is that you, Nicky?" he asked with a despondent tone, "I'm sorry we had to meet again under circumstances such as these."
Mecha brought both its tails around and stopped them just above and below his neck, making Ovi flinch in fear. "Be quiet."
"Leave him alone, Mecha," the hedgehog growled as he took a step forward, "what do you want?"
The facade of his friend moved its plasmatic limbs away from the quaking human and let one arm fall to its side. The other stretched and pointed at the boy, or more specifically, at the Ring in his hand.
"Come to the top of Techno Tower," it instructed them, "just you and the echidna with the yellow Chaos Ring. If any of your other allies so much as breathe in the wrong direction of the building, I will kill this man."
Although most of the group was shocked by the threat, Knuckles put on a resolute demeanor. "If that's what it takes to defeat you again, so be it."
"Again?" Mecha questioned curiously, before letting out a synthetic chuckle. It resembled Miles' own tittering, but with a warped and twisted cadence that made Sonic's quills stand up on end. "So, you are the one that left me nearly destroyed and caused most of my original memory to be corrupted." It idly flicked its index and middle claws together, LEDs squarely on Knuckles. "Then I look forward to our rematch. Just remember: only you and the hedgehog, no one else. Your allies better not think of trying anything, or else the doctor's mass will experience an approximate 95% decrease due to suddenly missing everything below the neck!"
Sonic held up his hands. "Okay, we get it, just me and Knux with the Ring." He spat to the side. "You better not hurt him before we get there."
"So long as you honor my terms, Ovi Tinker shall remain unharmed." The fox held up an obviously sarcastic peace sign. "See you soon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna."
The window closed and ended the transmission, leaving the group with the map screen once again. Both Sonic and Knuckles turned to the rest of them, where their expressions and body language varied. The chameleon had accepted these terms, but Vector seemed reluctant to go along with them. Charmy was like the croc, though not to the same degree, while both Mighty and Ray were with Espio. Heavy and Bomb were unreadable, but given their earlier sentiments, they were likely willing to stay behind.
"Alright, we're heading out," the hedgehog said, "you guys try and find a way into the main base while we deal with Mecha."
The red and blue duo boarded the transporter after selecting the attraction on the screen, and they were dropped off at the foot of the tower not long after. Once through the front doors, the early morning sun cast an orange-pink shade on the lighter walls, with plants set up here and there to provide a nice bit of aesthetic. The floors were smooth and blue, with translucent green sections placed down every often alongside what appeared to be old exhaust or air conditioning vents. There were platforms and elevators that provided passage further up the great spire.
And of course, there were a few of the resident Badniks of the Zone there to greet them. One type resembled an olive-colored turret with four support legs and a canister-like body, sporting a six-barreled missile launcher on its right side. A second was a motorized sort with two white eyes on its front, dual exhaust pipes in the rear, and two flat yellow wheels, one of them exposing a steel gray engine. As for the third kind, they were best described as floating toy soldiers with a mostly blue top-like torso with orange and blue cannon arms not directly attached to their bodies. The lattermost also had two pairs of pink buttons with golden bands on their chests, cylinder heads with yellow lines around their foreheads, and rotating gray bars on their pelvises with pink bars on the tips.
A pair of the first variety fired a volley of twelve missiles altogether that homed in on Sonic and Knuckles. The two Dashed and slid beneath the incoming explosives, which did an about face and went after them. A few of the faster Badniks put on the gas to try and rush them, but the hedgehog skipped over one in his path at the last second, letting it crash headlong into a few missiles. As for Knuckles, he simply dodged one and punched its engine as it passed, then lifted and threw another into the projectiles chasing them. The hovering robots shot out their heli-legs to try and trip up the duo, only for them both to Jump into the drones' heads. Lastly, they zipped past the launcher Badniks and had them blasted to pieces by their own weapons, leaving them free to continue.
"Huh, those didn't feel as tough as the ones Eggman brought out yesterday," Sonic noted as they entered an elevator, "they didn't try to get away, either."
Knuckles didn't comment as he took the lead once they exited from the car, quickly taking out a missile bot before it could get the chance to fire. Building up speed, they rode a high vertical half-pipe up to a platform that stretched on for several seconds until coming to a gap. Once across, the boys found themselves beneath several Badniks based on magenta houseflies. They had round bodies with spherical joints on both ends of their four legs, wings that were similarly attached, and green claws that were holding large and heavy gray containers. They dropped their payload onto the boys, the items themselves not being explosive, but they did turn out to be holding some inside upon hitting the ground. Even so, they were too slow to catch Sonic and Knuckles fully off guard, the two creating some distance and then striking back once the bombs had gone off.
Past another turn, the kid and the Guardian bounced off of several blue springs up a few tens of meters, landing close to a door that briefly took them outside. As they wound around the exterior of the first stretch of the tower, they gazed at the ground floor, then over to the hub area. The rest of the team wasn't present in either place, so they'd either found a way into the command center, or they were still trying to discover one. They stole a glance at the top of their destination, which put a fair bit of strain on their necks due to how high up it was.
"From what Mighty has told me," Knuckles said, "Mecha sounds significantly more powerful than when Miles and I previously fought it."
Sonic smirked back at him. "Don't tell me you're nervous, Red."
"I'm not!" the echidna snapped, then gazed back at the tower's highest floor, "but I will admit that its personality is certainly more...sinister than it was during the trouble with the Kukkus. It also doesn't seem to remember our battle."
"Yeah, it said something about its memory being corrupted." The kid hummed and rubbed his nose with his free hand. "Also that it wasn't totally busted up." He put on a bit more speed as the image of the captive Ovi flashed through his mind. "But it doesn't matter now. Mecha's gotta be stopped before it can do whatever it's got planned!"
The pair were soon back inside, smashing through more of the wheeling Badniks as they made their way down the hall to the next elevator. From there, it brought them to a series of platforms and two separate routes that went into an adjoining part of the overall structure. Seeing as they were trying to reach the top, the two silently agreed on the higher path, with Knuckles hurling Sonic upward while the hedgehog tugged him along with the Ring. Beyond the passage there, the echidna climbed up a narrow shaft to an access panel, taking it and coming to a floor where they had no choice but to return outside if they wanted to go further.
To do so, they first had to contend with what appeared to be one of the big Badniks of this part of the Zone. It was something of a copy of the Egg Mobile, with the addition of a heavy orange spring on the bottom, a pair of gun barrels on the front rather than a light, and a mock-up of Robotnik affixed to the top. The strange robot started proceedings by bouncing high into the air and firing three energy blasts from each turret. Knuckles snagged Sonic from his spot and chucked him right at the Badnik's head, and while the hoglet struck true, it wasn't enough to take it out. It retaliated with more gunfire, making the echidna dodge to the side and snap Sonic back his way.
The kid's shoes screeched against the floor while he stuck the landing, kicking off of the wall and going for a slide beneath the spring before it could crush him. He Jumped into the back of it and sent it flying forward more than it had initially meant, right into Knuckles' path. The echidna slammed into the front with an uppercut, bending the barrel of one of the guns and knocking the thing on its back. It was left prone from the blow, leaving it open to a Stomp from both Animals, which put it down for good.
"That one required a little more effort," Knuckles remarked, "but it was still pretty easy to deal with."
Sonic dusted himself off and frowned a bit. "Yeah, but it couldn't think or anything. Makes me wonder where Mecha's keeping all those stronger Badniks."
"Perhaps in the main base?" posited the Guardian.
The hoglet thought about it and nodded after a moment. It made sense that most of Robotnik's forces would be where all of the most important stuff was. He didn't know how many there were, so it might be tough for the rest of the guys. Still, he had complete faith that they'd be able to manage.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group had been following Heavy and Bomb around, searching for any available entrances into the heart of Carnival Island. Each and every one so far had been sealed, and were unable to be accessed by the two Badniks. It seemed that Mecha had been rather thorough in trying to keep them all out.
"Gah, it's bust after bust!" Vector growled, punching another door out of frustration, "can't we just break these things down!?"
Mighty went up to it and gave it a few knocks. "I dunno, that looks really thick. If Knuckles was here to help, then maybe we could do it."
"There's gotta be some way in," Charmy said. He looked over at the robots curiously. "Are there any other ways to get inside? Maybe a back door or something?"
Bomb beeped and whirred in response, bobbing its fuse off in one direction. Its partner slapped one of its mitts against the other as if hitting upon an idea.
"Yes, there is that," Heavy agreed, "the doctor had us build a tunnel that was purposely left off of all plans for the base. It is possible that Mecha does not know about it."
Espio was skeptical of the claim, but kept his face unmoving. "Then let us make haste and hope that it did not discover this secret passage."
The Mechanix led the rest of them back to the plaza, where they stopped by a small patch of land with a few benches, trees, and boulders strewn about. Perhaps it had been meant as a break from all the lights and machinery for potential visitors, a place where they could put up their feet for a moment. But as the two Badniks soon demonstrated, this seemingly innocent part of the park hid the secret they were looking for. Heavy tossed Bomb up onto a branch of a nearby tree, and when the smaller robot reached the trunk, it felt around the bark until a click met everyone's ears. The biggest rock slid aside and revealed a hole that would've been just wide enough for the human to fit through, with a ladder that went down a fair way.
The two droids, as well as Mighty, Vector, and Espio, all dropped down without need of the rungs, while Charmy and Ray flew in last. There was indeed an auxiliary tunnel that went on for well over a hundred meters, and was narrow enough that three of them could stand shoulder to shoulder with barely enough room. However, it wasn't too far away that they spotted a company of Badniks headed their way, none of them any models they had seen up to them. They were familiar to Sonic and the Chaotix as far as design, but they also sported a different color of paint than they remembered.
"L-looks like Mecha did know," Ray stuttered, though he put his dukes up all the same.
"And it has begun to make more modified Badniks," Heavy added, "we must stop more from being made!"
Mighty patted his older friend on the back and hopped to the front of the pack. "Alright, let's bust through 'em!"
"Lemme at 'em!" Vector growled as he hyped himself up, "those palette swaps don't stand a chance!"
A pair of golden Rhinobots revved at the group, with Heavy running in to meet them. Its thick armor repelled their charges, allowing the Badnik to spring up high and body slam one of them, turning it into flattened scrap. The other one was seized in Vector's jaws, the croc kid crushing its head with a little more effort than usual. White and silver Buzzers covered their approach, firing off several energy balls each from their stingers, which pinged harmlessly off the bigger Mechanix member's body, and while it hurt, Mighty took some hits on his shell too. Ray and Charmy smacked the metallic wasps down to the ground, leaving the armadillo and reptilian kids to clean up with a pair of powerful punches. Bomb was thrown into the midst of the chaos to break up some of the Badnik forces, destroying a few cyan Motobugs while damaging several other minions. Of course, it was brought back in a new body so that it could continue to do what it did best.
Espio brandished some shurikens and stuck a few green Octus units with them, but when those failed to fell them, he followed up with a kick to the noggin for each of them. This stunned them long enough for the three powerhouses to come in and fling them into the walls, reducing them to debris. Magenta Slicers flung their scythe-like blades at the group, but those were knocked out of the air thanks to a combination of armadillo shell, Badnik armor, and accurate kunai throwing. This assault softened others up enough for the members of the group to chip away at the opposing forces, gradually pushing their way into the main base.
However, as soon as the seven arrived at what was undoubtedly the command center, the equipment slipped out of sight and all exits out of the room were immediately sealed behind thick steel shutters. Mighty slammed into them with his fists and Spin Dashes, but his attacks succeeded in only slightly denting the metal. Vector wheeled around and pointed an accusatory finger at the Mechanix.
"You guys set us up!" he yelled angrily, "led us right into a trap so we can't help Sonic and Knuckles!"
Heavy held up its hands and shook its faceless head. "No! We want to stop Mecha Miles as much as all of you!"
"Then why didn't you take us straight to where the Badniks are made, huh?" Mighty questioned them.
More beeps and blips came from Bomb, but it was cut off by Charmy flying between his friends and the robots. "Guys, if they really wanted to trap us, they would've pinned us between them and the other Badniks!"
"Y-yeah, that's true," Ray considered quietly, "but then, that means..."
"Mecha knew they would seek us out in their desperation," Espio concluded, "and correctly anticipated that they would lead us here to halt Badnik production. I do have one other concern as well." He motioned at the room around them. "Have you noticed how aside from the doors and equipment, everything is damaged?"
The others had been so caught up in the situation that they only now could see what the chameleon meant. There were scorch marks and holes everywhere, and what appeared to be traces of Badnik scraps that hadn't been entirely cleared away. There was also a transport tube that had definitely seen better days, and after some hesitation, Espio was the first to brave it. When he touched down, he found himself in a bunker that also looked like it had suffered some damage, though not to the same extent as the chamber above. What caught his attention was a figure huddled over in one corner whom he couldn't make out at first due to the low lighting. After a few seconds, the others filed in, and the chameleon's eyes had adjusted just enough to determine the identity of the room's occupant. To their surprise, it was none other than Ovi, alive but unconscious and tied up.
"It's the old man!" Vector cried out. He quickly curbed his excitement, confusion in his golden eyes. "But wait, didn't we see him with Mecha a little while ago?"
A look of stark realization crossed Ray's features. "W-what if that wasn't the r-real Robotnik?"
"That wouldn't be good," Charmy said with some worry, "Mecha only wants the yellow Ring for some reason. It wanted us to split up to make it easier to take!"
After that outburst, Ovi groaned and began to stir. Both of the Mechanix undid the cables binding him and helped him sit up, while the rest gathered around.
"How are you feeling, sir?" Heavy inquired.
The man rubbed his head a bit, letting out a sigh. "I'm fine physically, but I feel terrible for what Ivo has done while he was in control." His mustache drooped a bit as he frowned. "I also shudder to think of what Mecha Miles will do once it gets what it wants."
"You mean the Ring?" Mighty asked, "why does it want that?"
While he didn't remember absolutely everything during his time as Robotnik, Ovi was able to explain matters in more than enough detail. How his other half had come across the Chaos Rings and used them for his various Egg Mobile armors. That he had also created the Dark Ring from their power, and that all but one had their essence fed into it; the same one that Sonic, Knuckles, and Ray had discovered on the smaller nearby island. And worst of all, as formidable as Mecha already was, it was now using the Dark Ring to amplify itself.
"If it manages to drain energy from the yellow Chaos Ring," Ovi told them with dread, "the Dark Ring will be complete as per Ivo's design. I'm frightened by the prospect of Mecha Miles wielding such power, especially in light of its shifting personality." He shook his head, pity on his face. "It reasons that its actions are logical, but I can tell that they are motivated by growing malevolence and a burning obsession; hardly rational."
(Mecha's memory corruption had to have been the primary factor in its madness. I actually feel kind of bad for it...if only we'd recovered it ourselves first.)
(Yeah, we thought about that too, big guy. But ya haven't heard how crazy it can really be just yet.)
The group were all in agreement more than ever that the robot fox had to be stopped. But before that, they had to shut down the assembly of modified Badniks. And besides, there was still another lingering question.
"Was that you in the video we saw earlier?" Espio questioned him.
Ovi scratched at his chin. "That...yes. I was brought out of my mind's shadow because of the Dark Ring. Then, after that broadcast, Mecha Miles shocked me into unconsciousness and left me here."
"So the guy Mecha showed us wasn't a fake!" Vector growled, "that dang fox tricked us into thinking it was a trick!"
Charmy clenched his fists. "Sonic and Knuckles still think it took you to Techno Tower, Ovi, and we honestly thought that footage wasn't real."
"Oh dear. We must warn Nic–excuse me, Sonic, before it's too late!"
With that, they hurried out of the bunker, hoping they'd be able to finish up there and reunite with the hedgehog and echidna in time to prevent things from getting worse.
"We're almost there!" Sonic exclaimed as they wound around another outside staircase.
The top floor of Techno Tower looked to be less than fifty meters up, where a blue dome atop a final green elevator shaft awaited them. Once they were inside, they dodged bombs from fly Badniks as they made their way to the nearest lift. Taking a few turns and catapulting off of a red spring, the two Rolled up as they were sent through a couple of downhill hallways to the next section of the structure. Treadmills impeded some of their progress, as did yet more robots, but these obstacles posed little issue for the duo.
It was more of the same for them the rest of the way, Dashing up half-pipes and vaulting off of springs until finally reaching their destination. After perhaps the shortest elevator ride either of them had ever experienced, they were let out into a room that had large blue and green machines of unknown function, with indicator lights flashing between a yellowish green and a pinkish red. Pillars with strange ball bearings were set up next to these devices and along the perimeter, while two more turquoise focusing lamps were strung up on the ceiling. And despite the outside circular shape of the chamber, the inside had steel beams and supports set up in a fashion more appropriate for a pyramid.
Naturally, though, Sonic and Knuckles weren't there to check the place out. They were there to confront Mecha, who was standing patiently in the center of the room just a stone's throw away from where their ride dropped them off. And next to it, still wrapped up and kneeling, with the droid's tails hovering near his head, was Ovi.
"Mecha!" Sonic called to it as he showed the yellow Chaos Ring in hand, "we're here with the Ring, like ya wanted."
The steely vulpine nodded in approval. "Good. Before we get to that, though, there is one more thing you can do for me."
"And what would that be?" Knuckles had to ask.
Mecha tapped itself with a claw. "Get in contact with Miles Prower and tell him to come. I wish to fight him."
"No can do," Sonic replied with a cheeky smirk, "Eggman jammed our comms, so we couldn't call Tails even if we wanted to."
The fox's hands clenched tightly in evident frustration, and for a moment, it seemed like it was going to kill the man between its tails right then and there. However, it calmed itself down after a few seconds, letting out a buzzing, annoyed sigh.
"Unfortunate, but not unexpected," it said with disappointment, "if it cannot be done, then let us move on." It expectantly held out a hand to them. "Give me the Chaos Ring and I will release Ovi Tinker."
"Yeah, we would, but we're kinda stuck," the hoglet explained, still wearing that grin. He made a show of ineffectively trying to release the Ring, then shrugged his shoulders. "See?"
"A pity," Mecha responded, turning to Ovi and severing the cables holding him with its tails, "take it from them however you must."
The man almost fumbled as he got up and jumped down a panel that opened up in the floor, which soon became a much wider gap as the latest Robotnik mech made its entrance. It stood several meters tall, sporting a transparent glass dome torso in which a smaller red dome housed an enlarged Artificial Ring. The robot also featured two green holes where long arms with red hands and beige fingers are located. It boasted a tripod of wheels on the underside rather than legs, and a Robotnik-like face with a mustache that had laser turrets.
Mecha hovered up to the top of the dome and crossed its arms as it watched the fight unfold, the Egg Mobile armor extending its arms to try and smash both boys. Sonic and Knuckles slipped beneath the punches, the latter grabbing the former and chucking him at the Artificial Ring. The kid flipped away from another swing at him, but stiffened as a beam from the lamps above cut through his quills. The slight pause was enough for the mech to whack him with the side of a hand, sending him tumbling to the ground. He landed on his feet and pivoted away from a second blast, converting his dodge into a Spin Dash and striking at the core once again.
"You don't gotta do this, old man!" he shouted up at the cockpit, "we can turn this around on Mecha!"
He was answered with more rays from the lenses above, and yet another attempt to club him with one hand. The fox above let out the same grating laugh from earlier, extending a claw and wagging it disapprovingly.
"Save your breath, hedgehog," it taunted him, "he knows I could dismantle that clownish creation of his with minimal effort."
Knuckles weaved around and rolled beneath a swinging limb, putting him in position to deliver a powerful uppercut that further cracked the Artificial Ring's barrier. The mustache attachment let loose with an array, and while the echidna was able to avoid most of the lasers, he did suffer a few scorching hits to his hide. He felt himself fly over to Sonic's side with a pull of the tether, whereafter the kid ran towards the robot and stretched it out as much as he could while going into a Jump. He changed it to a Stomp at the last second to drop away from a punch, snapping the trail between him and the Guardian so that the latter was flung into the machine's torso.
The fissure kept spreading further with each successive blow they managed to land, until like the rest of the Egg Mobile's modifications, this one fell to pieces. Like with the other Artificial Rings they'd busted out of Badniks, the one powering the armor dissipated into dust after a few seconds. Unlike the previous fights, the hovercraft itself didn't disengage from the crumbling wreck, instead crashing into the floor. Sonic ran over and pried the canopy open with Knuckles' help, both of them working to get the man out of the cockpit.
"Don't worry, Mr. Tinker, we got ya," the hoglet assured him.
No sooner had he said that and gotten the man's head to lay down when it suddenly rolled clean off his shoulders! Sonic was about to panic until he noticed a red light coming from the hole where the neck once was. A shrill whine pierced the air, and though the duo hopped to their feet, they did so an instant too late to avoid what came. Both of them were brought to their hands and knees by a wave of electricity, their bodies wracked with pain by erratic blue bolts that made their fur stand on end. For several seconds they suffered the shock, and even after it was over, found it hard to move.
"How did you like my trap?" Mecha gloated, landing in front of them and throwing off its cap and cape before kneeling down to grab at each of their Rings, "I knew you would come for Ovi, so I repurposed a robotic duplicate that Ivo built to stand in for him."
The yellow Chaos Ring glowed bright in its claws, the energy flowing through its metallic frame towards its chest. It fixed its optics on them while bringing its tails less than a quarter of a meter above their heads.
"And I knew that it wouldn't actually be able to defeat you," it went on, sounding like a giddy child, "the doctor puts inherent flaws in everything he makes for a reason. It's so that if his creations were used against him, or rebelled, they could easily be brought down." It scoffed derisively. "Rather self-defeating, but nonetheless an effective countermeasure; one that worked well enough for my purposes."
Eventually, the light died down and Mecha released its grasp on the mystical objects. Its tails retracted as it appeared to recoil, one hand against its chest while the other clutched at its faux fur bangs.
"T-this co-collective power," its voice glitched, "why does it feel fa-fa-familiar?"
In that moment, Mecha became lost in its memory, the combined energy of the six Chaos Rings having miraculously purged its corruption and restored what it had lost. It remembered waking up in Dr. Fukurokov's lab within the Battle Moon, meant to be one of their greatest weapons against Miles Prower. It had fought the amber fox, but failed due to its foe's cleverness and willingness to exploit its programmed weaknesses. Hastily repaired, it had gone on to help steal the Master Emerald, drawing out its power so that it could be channeled as a last resort and activate its Overclocked state. The sensation it felt now was very much like when that bountiful Chaos Energy had been stored inside.
And yet, it hadn't been enough. Knuckles had managed to outlast it long enough that that well of power ran dry, leaving it in no position to fight further. The Guardian had effectively destroyed it, separating its head from the rest of its body and sending it over the horizon. Mecha recalled being swept up by the tides of the sea after a long fall, its vision going out as it washed ashore on a faraway beach. And then it woke up again in an unfamiliar place with a new body, with that skeleton dog standing by. It had been brought here before Carnival Island had been developed, told to simply choose whichever path it thought best.
Mecha's optics refocused on the two Animals slowly getting up, the cyan-blue lights changing to red. Not because it was about to fire its eye beams, but rather due to something it had never before experienced. It was already difficult enough to process emotions at times when it was meant to be a logical being, much less multiple roiling around inside at once. For the first time, Mecha Miles came to know and understand true hatred.
"You," it hissed at Knuckles, "I remember clearly now, how you denied me my chance at a rematch with Miles. How you both laid me low and made me out to be inferior!" Its tails writhed in abject fury, slicing up the floor here and there. "I will not let you do so a second time! I will beat you down and make you take me to that fox, or I will bring each of your heads to him when I find him myself! Make your choice!"
There was a loud crash as two yellow blurs broke through the thick glass of the top floor and slammed right into Mecha. It skidded back on its heels and glared as the intruders revealed themselves to be Ray and Charmy.
"Come on!" the bee urged them.
He swiftly swapped himself in as Sonic's Ring partner, taking the hedgehog with him as he flew out the way he came. Knuckles and the squirrel followed immediately after, gliding down to join them and the rest of the group along with the real Ovi in the park area of the hub. But the moment they landed, they heard a deafening boom and didn't even have time to look up when an amber streak made a crater several meters away from them. Mecha rose out of it with its jet boots, staring down at the gathered Animals, Badniks, and lone human with utter contempt in its eyes.
"It's over, Mecha!" Mighty proclaimed.
Vector shook a fist at the robot. "Yeah! We took care of your little army, and now you're next!"
"Indeed," Espio told it calmly, "your modified Badniks assembly has been shut down, and those that were active have been destroyed. All that remains is you."
But Mecha wasn't angry. Rather, it let out a sinister, synthetic laugh that caused everyone else to take a step back.
"So what?" it sneered at them, "you beat a bunch of pathetic scrap and suddenly you think yourselves my betters? Do not celebrate too soon, worms, not when I have already obtained what I was after!"
Ovi nearly fell back at the news, steadying himself against a tree. "You mean...?"
"The Dark Ring is now complete," Mecha confirmed, waving a pointing digit in a wide arc at the gang, "all thanks to your collective gullibility and what little of the doctor's ingenuity is legitimate."
Indigo lightning arced over its form, and a powerful wind suddenly picked up around the place. Though intimidated, the seven Animals and two Badniks all braced themselves against the gusts and prepared themselves for what was to come. The now supercharged ferrous fox opened its arms wide, as if welcoming the challenge.
"Tremble with terror," Mecha growled, "for you all are finished!"