"Damn you, Mamoru, if I found out it was you who framed Sonic... I'll never forgive you for this!" Rei grumbled. The young echidna girl had never been able to forgive Mamoru for his betrayal, and unlike Usagi, she couldn't just believe that his change of behavior was only caused by his robotization.

She was searching the coast close to Twinkle Park. The beach was closed in winter, but there still were a lot of tourists in the area, mainly of the amusement park's winter attractions. Mars was able to hear the cheers of joy coming from inside the park coming over the wall.

Then she frowned. Those didn't sound like cheers or whoops of joy. Not even people on a rollercoaster ride were screaming in such shrill voices.

"Those almost sound like... shrieks of terror," Mars realized. Using the sharp knuckles that every echidna had, she quickly climbed the wall and peered into Twinkle Park.

The visitors were yelling and shouting... but not because they were having fun. They were terrorized by a humanoid robot who was shooting at the crowd and the buildings.

"Eggman, where are you?" the robot yelled. "You can't hide forever!"

"Stop it right there, Mamoru!" Sailor Mars yelled as she jumped down, landing behind him. "I won't let you terrorize those people any... more?" She blinked when the robot turned around. "You're not Mamoru... you look like... Knuckles?"

"Interesting..." Metal Knuckles spoke up. "I see my fleshy double has found yet another survivor of his inferior race... and a female one at that. Is he your mate?"

Rei's red fur would have turned even redder, if that was possible. "You... shut up! I would never... I mean... that's none of your business!"

Metal Knuckles shrugged. "Whatever... it's not it's going to do you any good. Your race is doomed either way." He clenched his fists, showing Rei metal spines that were longer and sharper than Knuckles' would ever be. "Robots are the only superior species on Earth. Just you wait until we took care of Eggman... then all the fleshling races will share his fate!"

"Not in my book!" Mars shouted. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

Metal Knuckles winced a bit when the fiery projectile hit his face. "Interesting..." he grumbled. "That mystic weapon is more powerful than anything I've seen before. Too bad I'm heat resistant... which brings me to an interesting question: Are you missile resistant?"

A hatch on his chest opened, and he fired a volley of four missiles at the echidna Senshi. Rei gasped and jumped back, dodging two of the missiles. She threw two Fire Souls at once to destroy the other ones before they hit her.

"Remarkable," Metal Knuckles spoke up. "You put up a better fight than my worthless double."

"Stop speaking of him like that!" Rei yelled.

"Did I hit a nerve?" the robot asked in an amused voice. "I knew you're mates..."

"Shut up! BURNING MANDALA!"

The rings of fire homed in on the red robot, who simply raised his hands. Small guns came out of hidden hatches inside his arms, firing plasma shots at the fire rings.

"Futile..." he grumbled as he activated his back jets, diving at Mars at full speed. Rei coughed when his fists connected with her stomach, flinging her backwards against the stone wall behind her.

"Looks like I was wrong..." Metal Knuckles said as he grabbed her neck with his right hand. "You are even weaker than Knuckles... the last time I did that to him, he was able to free himself in seconds."

Rei gritted her teeth. 'I'll show him...' she thought. 'I can be stronger than Knuckles if I want to...'

True, she lacked the physical strength of her fellow tribesman... but her magical attacks were exceeding those few mystical powers that Knuckles was able to use by far.

"FIRE SOUL BIRD!" she yelled, surrounding both herself and the robotic echidna with a corona of fire, shaped like a bird.

'WARNING! Heat shield collapsing!' a voice inside Metal Knuckles' main processor said. Realizing that there was only so much heat he could endure, he released Sailor Mars and jumped back.

Mars grinned. "Play with fire, and you'll end up burnt!"

Metal Knuckles flexed his fists. "I'll show you that machines are superior..."

Rei smirked. "Bring it on!"

"What do you mean, your brother?" Sailor Moon asked. "You never told us you had any family..."

"I never knew I'd see him again..." Pluto said quietly. "It has been so long... and I also think he doesn't recognize me."

"Why? Does he have amnesia?" Chibimoon wondered. "Or did you two last see each other when you were kids?"

Pluto smiled weakly. She and Shadow never had any childhood... they skipped that part and were thrown right into puberty. While she never had been bothered by that, she now realized that she was missing something that each of the other Sailor Senshi once had: A childhood.

She tried remembering the childhood of her human self, in the old reality... but she found nothing. Nothing but memories of guarding the Gates of Time, for all eternity...

She closed her eyes. 'Damn you, Tikal... you keep reminding me that you gave me a gift when you made this new life for me, huh? And what a gift it turned out to be... first, you give me a family... then you take her away from me. And by the time I believe everything to be lost, my brother shows up again... still, he treats me like a stranger. Yes, a wonderful present indeed...'

"Um, Pluto?" Usagi asked, tilting her head. "Are you okay?"

The dark green hedgehog sighed. "I'm fine... Tell the others to stop their search for the bank robber. If my brother doesn't want to be found, he won't be found."

"But Sonic is in prison because of what he did," Usagi said, with a bit of accusation in her voice. "Even if he's your brother, if he's a criminal, we need to find him to clear Sonic's name."

"Can you tell us more about him?" Chibiusa asked. "Maybe we can find out where he went if we know what he likes to do."

"Good idea," Usagi nodded. "Does he have any hobbies?"

Hobbies? Pluto thought back to their life back in the space colony ARK... Shadow had never been a social person, and not very interested in most of the humans' leisure activities. Still, she knew that he liked to spend his time on the shooting range...

Also, did she want to tell Usagi and the others more about her brother? Her past life had been her most closely guarded secret up to now... and now it came back to haunt her. She had hoped that she could keep it a secret. She had to admit, she was a bit afraid of what the other Senshi would say if they found out that she's a clone... and more importantly, that she was created by Hotaru's great-grandfather.

She then thought of something... Did that make Hotaru part of her family, too? if Professor Gerald gave her life... and Maria was Hotaru's aunt...

Also, now that Shadow had reappeared in her life, it was just a matter of time before the others found out more about their past. As for why Shadow stole the Chaos Emerald and framed Sonic... she really had no explanation for this. She recalled the moment when he had looked down at her, with those eyes full of disdain.

Her words came back, crawling through her mind... 'HOW PATHETIC...'

She shook her head. It must have been the amnesia speaking. "You are right about one thing," she said to Chibiusa. "Shadow doesn't remember me... and on top of that, he doesn't act like himself. I don't know why he's doing this... but I want him to stop. I want to talk to him... I need answers."

"We'll help you!" Usagi smiled. "We'll find Shadow... and get to the bottom of this."

Suddenly, they heard heavy footsteps behind them. People screamed when they saw the robot that was wandering down the street.

"A robot! Help!"

"Dr. Eggman is attacking the city again!"

"Run for your lives!"

"Again?" Usagi groaned. "Why can't he just leave us in peace...?"

"This one... he looks similar to the E-Series," Chibiusa noticed. "You think there's an animal inside his core?"

"Either way, he certainly looks more formidable than the robots we have fought before... not counting Metal Sonic," Pluto remarked.

E-123 Omega let his mechanical eyes wander across the three hedgehogs standing in front of him. Deep within his core, a tiny grey kitten was shouting 'SMALL LADY!', but it was ignored. Finding Eggman was top priority.

"Sailor Senshi..." Omega spoke in his monotone voice. "Enemies of Dr. Eggman..."

"That's right, and we will keep fighting him until he leaves Station Square alone!" Sailor Moon shouted. "We're not afraid of you!"

'Oh please, please, don't attack...' Diana pleaded. While she was worried about what her robot body would do, she was also afraid that any attack that hit her would also endanger her real body.

Omega's scanners were unable to tell him if his weapon power would allow him to face three Senshi at once in battle. Still, there were not of his concern right now. "Passive mode maintained," he spoke. "Weapons will not be activated."

"You... you're not going to fight us?" Sailor Moon wondered.

"Positive," Omega replied. "Question: Where is Eggman?"

"What?" Usagi blinked and exchanged confused looks with Chibiusa and Pluto. Now why would one of Eggman's robots be searching for its own creator?

"Um, we don't know where he is," she finally said.

"Acknowledged," Omega said, detecting no hints of lying in the female hedgehog's body language. "Will commence search of downtown Station Square."

"Hey, you're frightening the people," Chibiusa complained. "You should go back where you came from."

"Impossible!" Omega said. "I need to complete my mission."

Pluto sighed. "Sailor Moon, we don't have time for this... we need to find Shadow!"

Omega turned his head. "Shadow the Hedgehog. Self-proclaimed 'ultimate life form'. Last known location: Prison Island Underground GUN facility. Disposition: Hostile. Affiliation with Dr. Eggman. Danger! High threat level. Chaos anomaly within black hedgehog's body detected."

Pluto gasped. GUN facility? "You... you've seen Shadow?"

"He's with Dr. Eggman?" Chibiusa wondered.

"Prison Island?" Usagi added. "Hey! That's where they've taken Sonic!"

Omega completely turned his whole body around, until he was standing directly in front of the pink-furred hedgehog Senshi. He began a scan of her body.

"Identity: Sailor Chibimoon. Mission priority changed. Threat level to youngest Senshi high. Danger! Danger! Do not engage Ultimate Life Form in combat!"

"Um... I didn't plan on fighting him," Chibimoon said, a bit taken aback by the robot's sudden interest.

"Negative! Threat level still too high. Senshi interests conflict with Shadow the Hedgehog's danger level. Conclusion: E-Series robot E-123 Omega will accompany you."

Chibimoon almost fell back on her furry behind. "Wh-wh-whaaaat?"