The Starfall Islands. An Archipelago situated in Sonic's world shrouded in mystery. It was here that the events of the Cyber Collision began and it will also be where said event ends.
The Hero Alliance had reunited back aboard the Galaxy King and were headed to the islands, returning from a mission to Lyoko to stop the rogue AI LOKI was one team, and the other coming back from winning a grueling war against Singularity, Tormal and the Homunculi, but at a cost.
"...And so, yeah. We stopped Tormal and Singularity from tearing the Color-Verse apart, but, bad news? Bayonetta's kinda dead now." DW typed.
"Dark Water." Ace chided.
"No, no, it's alright. We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Everyone dies eventually." David said.
"It still isn't easy though." Simon said as he had Bayonetta's Umbran Watch dangling on his hip.
"Well, the good news is that the Shadow Knights are gonna have their living bodies back, and Bayonetta did pass the torch to her daughter, which, side note, can't believe she has." Scorpia said.
"All right. And while you did that, we teamed up with Dark Garden to deal with LOKI…who created In-Fn8t." Odd said.
"Funny, we had a run in with him ourselves." Yuri said.
"Though we still don't know what he's after. Maybe something on the islands." Maxwell noted.
"Perhaps. That is something we will have to find out for ourselves." Spade said.
"Best place to look for ourselves will be on the Starfall Islands." Ragna said.
"Yeah, and we're gonna start on the very island I tried to bust Eggman on. Kronos Island." Connor said.
"Speaking of, have any of you heard from Sonic and the others since they went there?" Roy asked.
"No, we haven't. It's quite concerning." Shuichi said.
"Yeah, it's not like Sonic to just drop off the face of the planet." Bow said.
"Don't worry too much, guys. He's probably already on the archipelago and figured out some kinda plan for what to do." Catra said.
Meanwhile with Team XDR, the three leaders shared stories of what happened during their respective missions. And their reactions?
"Damn… so Cereza and Luka really are gone, huh?" Gaius muttered.
"Yeah… I'm sorry. Even though we defeated Tormal and Singularity, they…" Zeo sighed.
"We did our best, brother." Akira said. "But on the bright side, at least Simon and Viola gave Cereza a proper send-off. Not to mention leaving a World Seed onto that dimension."
"At least there's that." Gaius noted. "Also, I cannot believe you found the Decade Ridewatch on that world. I was not expecting that."
"Yeah, neither do I." Zeo replied. "So satisfying to give Singularity a taste of my new power, And I even haven't gotten to the fun part yet."
"Well you only used the Ride Heiseiber." Akira recalled. "You didn't even use the armor's other feature yet."
"I'll get that chance soon. And I know where that chance will be."
"Starfall Islands." Akira and Gaius deduced.
"Bingo." Zeo nodded. "The place where everything begins, and I get the feeling this is where our journey with the Hero Alliance ends… for now anyway."
"That depends if Mirei completed the Ridewatch that will take us back to our multiverse." Ciel informed as she and Vent arrived.
"Hey, you two." Akira greeted. "So, what did you two do earlier?"
"Well… remember that favour Ciel was going to ask for the Guardians of Neo Arcadia?" Vent recalled. "She wanted some of their DNA and plans to use them once we go back to our multiverse."
"The DNA of the Guardians, huh…" Gaius pondered, before his eyes widened in realization. "Wait a sec, you're going to make new biometals of Model H, F, L and P?"
"Right on the mark, Gaius." Ciel confirmed. "We're not going to be heading back to our own world for a long while in order to get the stolen biometals back, so I had to take an alternate approach. And I have some of their DNA stored in my Zikan Phone."
"Aile is going to go nuts once we share her the good news." Vent smiled.
"No doubt about that." Zeo agreed.
"Speaking of alternative approaches, I think I may need to ask Woz to prepare his Miridewatches in order to build Geiz Revive." Gaius said. "That one battle in Lyoko made me realize that, there's far stronger enemies than the Neo Time Jackers. If we can't beat them, then we might not have a chance against anyone else."
"Guess we need to get stronger and gain new allies, and maybe gain new powers than our current forms." Zeo deduced.
"Yeah, we got a lot of work to do when we get back home." Akira agreed. "But for now, it's time to finish this adventure in the Color-Verse."
"Good, because we're almost at Starfall Islands. Better get ready, you guys." Ciel informed. "The others are already prepped up and Ret-2-Go."
"Thanks, Ciel." Vent nodded as they head out. "Wish us luck!"
"Mm." Ciel nodded back as she stayed behind. "Same to you and your team."
"We're coming up on the Islands now. Let's get ready to disembark to Kronos Island." Ichiro said.
Through the fog, the team caught sight of Kronos Island from high in the sky through a bit of rain. The island itself was moss covered with mountainous terrain and fluctuating climates, and ancient ruins were littered everywhere. Water was also a big part of the island's topography, as a giant waterfall was seen in the distance.
It didn't take long for the group to disembark and look around.
"Well, we're here. Where do we go first?" Ragna asked.
"First things first…we need to find Sonic and the others." Jexi said.
"Sounds good. But before that…" Connor said as he looked off in the distance. "Hey! I'm back, and I brought everybody like you wanted me to!"
"Who are you calling out to?" Hilda asked.
"Whoever asked me to bring you here." Connor said.
"You mean you didn't even bother to ask who they were?" Jet asked. "Kinda seems like an important first thing to do."
"This is ridiculous, it's more than likely this mystery person who hired Connor doesn't even-" Peridot-2 started before the area glitched, and suddenly everyone heard a voice coming from everywhere.
"Mortal. You have returned with the heroes. Well done. You have gathered all the keys."
"So, everybody believes me now?" Connor asked the others, a lot of them surprised at the disembodied voice speaking to them from everywhere.
"Connor…this feels like a bad idea." Jexi said.
"Yeah, I mean. I know you dragged all of us along for this, but you really should consider this." David said.
"Jexi and David are right." Zi-O agreed. "This screams red flags everywhere. You'll never know if this could be a trap."
"Look, I have my reservations about this whole thing too, but there's a lot more questions than answers, and it feels like the only way to answer questions is to go with things." Connor said.
"Remember your mission?"
"Don't worry, we got it. Find the Chaos Emeralds, beat the titans, tear down the walls between dimensions." Connor said.
"The walls between- Okay, now I'm really starting to question your sanity." David said. "And that's coming from me."
"Look…it'll be fine. We'll take down the titans and solve all the mysteries easy." Connor said.
"Uh…not so easy." Jexi said as he motioned them to hide in the dark before they saw a certain group exploring ahead.
"The Universal Villains!" Connor said before Sectonia covered his mouth.
"(So these are the guys that started this whole mess…)" Geiz thought as they stared at the villains.
"And you're certain this was where you last saw the doctors?" Flux asked.
"Uh-huh! Eggman and Photon were right near a portal like this one, and then once the doc plugged Sage onto it, boom! Everything started goin' nuts!" Spinel confirmed.
"Is that a Gem? Never seen her before." Ace whispered.
"Yeah. She's new and crazy." Connor whispered.
"It couldn't be…" Pearl said, looking at her.
"You know her?" Al asked.
"She was Pink Diamond's playmate. They used to play in the garden all the time." Pearl said.
"Hmm…not much promise here. The one time we aren't doing anything illegal and a no good hero goes and busts our operation here." Flux said with a groan as he investigated.
"Didn't we try to tell you you were overreacting, Connor?" David whispered. "See, they weren't even doing anything wrong… Yet, at least."
"Okay, so they weren't exactly up to anything bad yet, but when I heard they were on the islands, it was a bit suspicious…" Connor whispered back.
"So…can you bring them back?" Boba Fett asked.
"Hmm…I might be able to pull them out…but I'll have to comb through all of the Ancients databanks to figure out what occurred. Until then, if any hero comes by…mash their faces." Flux said.
"Alright. I'll head back to Ares Island." Boba said. "Neo's already set up on Chaos Island."
"And I have Ian stationed here. Three islands covered. So we should retreat to the other two to study the databanks in peace." Flux said. "Spinel…you will be mine and Techno's bodyguard."
"What about me?" Jasper asked.
"You're in reserve, cause you started this whole mess." Flux said. "You'll wait on Rhea Island unless you're requested for backup."
"...Fine." Jasper said with a scowl.
"Alright, you got your jobs! Let's go, people!" Flux said as the Universal Villains split off.
The group then came out of their hiding place.
"Alright Connor, be honest. Did you honestly come here to scout out the Universal Villains without even knowing if they were up to no good?" Hope said.
"Like I said, I was suspicious the moment I got a tip they were here. Not to mention the fact the Chaos Emeralds were drawn here for some reason, and Knuckles was reported MIA… something's going on here with all of these things happening." Connor replied. "I know things look sketchy, but… c'mon, guys, we gotta investigate the islands to find out what's going on."
"He might have a point, there's no possible way all the events that have happened aren't connected. Plus, it would be amazing to study the remnants of the Ancients civilization…" Entrapta piped in. "In short, I think we should trust Connor's line of reasoning."
"Even so… Word of mouth isn't doing much to defend his case right now. If what he says really is true, then he has to live up to his words. Plain and simple." David said. "I mean, everything he has said so far has only put him further and further into thin ice. But I am willing to admit that circumstances are a bit concerning."
"Don't worry. Just leave the Ancients texts to me and Miu." Sachiko said.
"And us. Hopefully we'll be able to discern…something about what's going on." Leopardmon said.
"It might be the same reason we can't contact Sonic." Jexi said.
"Aw…someone worried over lil ol me?" a voice asked as the group turned to see the blue blur standing right there.
"And there is the hedgehog of the…wait…where's Amy and Tails?" Pit noticed.
"Sonic…what happened?" Jexi asked.
"Honestly, not sure myself. Moment we got close, the Tornado went and crashed. I woke up in some cyberspace and ran right on out back onto the island with some weird voice telling me to beat the Titans." Sonic said.
"That's the same thing Connor was told to do." Hilda remembered.
"Just what even are these Titans anyway?" Klonoa asked.
"Don't think it's something we wanna find out, but we're going to anyway." Hapi said.
"Well, we're not gonna figure out anything just by standing around. Let's start exploring and see what comes up." Gemini said.
(Cue: Kronos Island 1st Movement- Sonic Frontiers)
"Well let's get a move on then." Simon said, equipping Ignis Araneae Yo-Yo.
The group then started exploring the ridgeline of the island where they were, heading to the spire Flux and the others were investigating further away.
"This island… I can't really put my finger on it, but there's something about it that has a sort of mysterious air to it." Leonie said. "All we know about these islands is that the Ancients, whoever they are, used to live here, right?"
"That's right. The Ancients were a technologically advanced race on this world until they faded into history and legend." Robin said.
"Yeah but…" Denji said as he tripped. "Ugh…what the hell?" he said, pulling a strange device off the ground. "The hell is this?"
"Hmm…I wonder." Jeremie said as he pressed a button on it.
"The 'terrain' here keeps shifting. I'm finding recreations from South Island, West Side Island, even Angel Island. Where is this environmental data coming from?" Eggman's voice said.
"It's another one of Eggman's audio logs." Sonic said. "I've been finding them all over."
"I think it must be coming from our own Data banks." Photon said. "When we linked our tech to the Cyberspace Portal, it must have been fed info of your location history… maybe even ours."
"That's absurd. That would imply that the technology the Ancients left behind is still up and running even to this day." Eggman said. "Though given our predicament…that does seem to be the case."
"You've seen and done weirder stuff with Amadeus. This shouldn't be out of sensibility for you." Photon said. "The Ancients technology is the same as the Azran's, if you want a comparison."
"Hmm…perhaps the two civilizations came into contact at one point. We need more intel." Eggman said as the audio log ended.
"Location data?" Connor said.
"Yeah…when I was trapped, it didn't feel like I was in a computer. It looked like Green Hill Zone." Sonic said.
"And when the other scientist mentioned "our location history", maybe some locations we've been to before could be in wherever they are." Hope said. "I'm pretty interested in seeing where they are myself now."
The group came across a structure nearby when suddenly three red portals appeared overhead and spawned something out of each.
"Uh oh… We got company!" Zephyr said.
What appeared out of the portals were four humanoid-looking robots with a triangular red marking on where their faces should be located. They were also relatively lanky yet top-heavy, with large and sharp shoulders and sharp prongs serving as their arms. As soon as they spotted the group, they leaped in to attack.
"What are those things?!" Noel asked.
"Machines created by the ancients, apparently." Jin said before one of them lunged at him, only to be swiftly cut down as it exploded into red data.
"This must be part of the island's security system." Aelita summarized.
"And we can correctly assume our Artificial friend who has been following us around has no doubt repurposed them to attack us on sight." Lorenz said, stabbing the second one with his spear.
"Hope you can take the heat." Simon said, slinging two of Ignis Araneae's Yo-Yo's into the third one before masquerading with Phantasmaraneae. "Burn to ash!" he called, repeatedly thrusting the fourth one with his stinger.
All four of them soon vanished into nothing.
"They were nothing but data then?" Axl asked.
"It would make sense. This island was inhabited by a technologically advanced race, after all." Sachiko said.
"Like it was said in the Audio log, the Ancients were the same in some respects as the Azran." Hope said. "I wouldn't go as far to say maybe their advancements were in the same group as the Sheikah long ago in Hyrule."
"What about the First Ones?" Ace asked.
"Eh…more." Mark answered. "The Ancients didn't have space travel…as far as we know, anyway."
"On the other hand, the First Ones didn't make a whole Cyberspace, so…more advanced in some aspects, but less in others." Princess Twilight added.
"Yeah, even some stuff in the Future Universe beats them out." Mayumi said.
"Well, Mayumi's claim would make sense since the entirety of the Future Universe is technologically advanced." Miu said.
"Still, it's pretty interesting to check all this out. I'm kinda glad we came." Glimmer said.
The group next came to an open area arena where something else was waiting for them. It was another robot like the Soldiers before, but this one was more advanced. It was taller with a vaguely feminine humanoid shape, standing roughly four times Sonic's height. Its body is composed of black metal with red lights, and sports a sharp form, with a triangular eye screen, a pointed head, wide shoulders and hips, a narrow waist, thick thighs, and long pointy legs with no feet. Its arms are shaped like straight blades, which are not physically connected to its body, but float nearby it. On its thighs are triangular screens with eyes projected onto them.
"Is this thing serious? She's really looking like she's got a look going on." Sectonia said.
"Y-yeah. Is it trying to look attractive or something?" Kaede asked.
"If it is, I think it may be trying way too hard." David said.
"Hey, you guys are gonna hurt their feelings if you talk down to 'em like that." Alkal said.
"Or more accurately, I think it's gonna try and hurt us!" Hilda said as the robot spotted them and prepared to fight.
NINJA
"Uh oh… It seems you all upset her. No girl ever wants to hear someone backtalk their looks." Crusadermon said.
"That is no girl." Kaminari said as the robot went on the attack with quick movements. "It's a goddamn ninja!"
"It's called wisecracks, you should try it sometime." David said.
"Now is not the time!" Jexi said.
"All right…let's do this!" Sonic said as he ran right into the robot and started attacking with a flurry of punches and kicks before it vanished.
"Huh. Didn't last long. Knew she wasn't up to snuff." David said.
"Still, that one seemed different from the others. Maybe a stronger type, perhaps?" Sachiko asked.
"Wouldn't be surprised if that was the case." David said.
"Hey, what's this thing?" Peacock asked, picking up a strange gear that was left behind after Ninja's destruction.
"It must serve some sort of purpose. It must be a key or something." Weiss said.
"Best to hold onto it." Tsuki said.
"Yeah, good call." Peacock said.
Taking the gear, the group continued on through the cliffisde, until they finally reached the device Flux and the Universal Villains were looking at.
"I remember this thing, no mistaking it." Connor said. "Jasper threw me at it before the Conversion blast went off. I was sucked into somewhere after that, and I somehow found my way out."
"This is also where Tsubasa-san, Chris-chan and I first met Connor-san, but in another part of the island." Hibiki mentioned.
"The voice on the audio log called it a Cyberspace Portal. I guess these things take you to cyberspace." Kokonoe said before they heard the voice again.
"Return to the digital dimension again. Use that gear to bridge the gap between dimensions."
Peacock took out the gear and fit it into the slot where the portal was.
"One gear will not suffice. Hunt down another target and take its gear."
"Which means more fighting those constructs. I think we can handle that." Miu said.
"It looks like the gears are acquired from the larger machines compared to the smaller ones." Lysithea noted.
"Like that one?" Makoto asked, everyone turning their attention to some distance away where another robot stood. It was composed of various stacked parts, with multiple cylindrical segments, a head, and a spiked base. Its "body" segments are covered in black, scale-like armor plates which can fan outward when the robot moves or suffers damage. Its head segment has similar "scales" as its body, but with the addition of a sloped silver plate with grooves evoking a simple face. Its base is a metallic gray spike which is usually buried in the ground, only being revealed when the Tower moves around. Finally, it had a thick black ring of scaled metal around its body, which it could freely move along any of its body segments.
TOWER
"Okay, that's a big one." David said. "Mind if I kick things off here?" he asked as he took icy needles and then kicked them right at the Tower.
The needles hit the Tower's segments, which caused them to go flying one at a time, knocking it down a few levels.
"It's just like knockin' Castellanus down a peg, only this guy's much smaller." Peacock said.
"Indeed it is." Simon said.
"Then let's do some demolition!" Makoto said as she smacked a way a few more of the Tower's segments, leaving just its head. In response, it shot out spiky missiles that launched out at the group. "You're up, Noely! Take out its head!"
"Bullet Storm!" Noel called, leaping into the air and firing a barrage of bullets before pulling out an RPG. "Thor!" she called, firing it as it engulfed the Tower in an explosion, a gear dropping in the process. She picked it up as she returned to the Cyberspace Portal, inserting it into the center of the device, which powered it up and made it whir to life with a red glow.
Entrapta then analyzed the structure. "It appears to be a gateway to some sort of challenge. We get rewarded with something based on how many objectives we complete inside. Reaching the end, getting there fast enough and with a set number of rings, collecting a set of Red Rings… that kinda thing."
"Looks like these challenges were all built for speed." Gimmer summarized.
"A lot of us here can help clear them no problem." Simon said.
"So, who wants to go first?" Scorpia asked.
"I guess I wouldn't mind getting the first crack at it." UlforceVeedramon said.
"Okay VeeVee. To get the most out of this stage, you have to get to the end within 55 seconds, and have 80 rings… and you have to collect all 5 Red Star rings." Entrapta said. "Simple enough, right?"
"Yep. 55 seconds is more than enough time." UlforceVeedramon said.
"Then all you need to to do is touch the portal and you're sent to Cyber Space." Entrapta said.
"Got it." UlforceVeedramon said as he placed a hand on the portal. As soon as he did, he suddenly turned red and vanished right in front of the portal.
When UlforceVeedramon landed in CyberSpace, he found himself already moving inside a digital reconstruction of the Sky Sanctuary Zone.
"Whoa… Check it out." UlforceVeedramon said.
"Are you okay, Veevee? What do you see over there?" Crusadermon asked.
"I think I see some kind of floating island. Or…several of them, actually." UlforceVeedramon said.
"That must be Sky Sanctuary you're in… or, something that looks like it." Sonic said.
"You think this is what that datalog was talking about?" Laura pondered.
(Cue: Flowing- Sonic Frontiers)
"We'll table stuff later. You got this from here, Vee?" Hope said.
"You bet I do. They don't call me the fastest in the Digital World for nothing!" UlforceVeedramon said as he started to make his way through the area.
Ulforceveedramon was fast and very efficient, running along the platforms, gliding over gaps, and grinding on rails. He was able to collect 80 rings and all 5 Red Star Rings along the course, before reaching the exit portal and finishing the stage in under a minute.
"40 seconds! That's our Ulforce for you!" Gallantmon said.
"And he got all 5 Red Rings and 80 rings exactly! Perfect!" Kendo said.
UlforceVeedramon soon returned to reality with all the objectives completed.
"So, what exactly do we get for clearing all the objectives?" Zephyr asked.
As the Cyberspace Portal turned blue, something glowed from the portal and descended down from the air into the group's hands, being keys with a triangle shape at one end.
"Keys?" A2 asked.
"They've gotta be useful. You don't make keys without making locks for something." Gemini said.
And Gemini was right, as farther away, the group saw three beams of light shoot up across three different points across the island, respectively being Blue, Red and Yellow.
"Mass amounts of energy detected in three locations." 042 said.
"You don't think the sources of them could be…" Leonie wondered.
"The Chaos Emeralds." Sonic said.
"So it's a collection cycle. We beat Guardians to get Portal Gears for Cyberspace Portals. And then, going through cyberspace completing the required objectives nets us keys that open up Vaults that hold the Chaos Emeralds." Adora rounded out.
"That's basically it in a nutshell." Mari said as the sky cleared up.
"We should locate the closest emerald to where we are and grab it first. Then we'll be able to get a better outlook of this island." Ogami recommended.
Two pillars lit up nearby as beams shot out from them, forming a bridge. The group crossed it to the main part of the island, and soon came across the Vault containing the Blue Chaos Emerald.
"Now let's see if this works…" Entrapta said, taking two of the Vault Keys Ulforceveedramon earned and inserted them into the vault, unlocking it and freeing the Blue Chaos Emerald from its captivity. "Eureka!" she said, snagging the emerald with her hair. "One down, six to go!"
"I've never seen any of the Chaos Emeralds up close like this before… it's amazing how just one of them has so much power." Sakura noted.
"Hey…Uh…guys…" Ochako said on the comm as she was away from them. "I think I found something."
They quickly converged on her location as they saw a certain pink hedgehog inside of a device.
"Amy!" Sonic said.
"She's trapped in some kinda cage… we gotta get her out!" Vashyron said.
"Hello? Is someone there? Help me!" Amy said from inside.
"Hang on a sec. We'll get you loose." Sachiko said as she used her blades to slice into the cage only to get a shock in return. "Geez…talk about high end security."
"Let's do this a little smarter." 9S said as he hacked into the cage as it opened up. "Most systems are impossible to hack into thanks to what Connor did, but the systems here are normal it seems."
"Again, blaming it all on me." Connor said.
"At this point, yeah." David said.
9S was soon able to break through and Amy's cage shattered, freeing her as she landed on her feet, but the residual energy from the cage left behind went right into Sonic.
"Sonic! Are you alright?" Amy asked.
"Me? You're the one who's only half here." Sonic said, everyone noticing that Amy wasn't exactly her normal self. Her body was overlaid in blue color and it looked like she was fizzling with red sparks all over her.
"It's just like when I was caught by that Eater back in EDEN. She has a half-cyber body." Sachiko said.
"Are you gonna be okay, Amy?" Hope asked.
"I'm fine. But the energy that was keeping me prisoner went into Sonic." Amy replied.
"Hasn't he been exposed to other foreign energy sources before?" Giovanna asked.
"Well, yes. But… This one seems different. I hope this isn't some kind of omen." Sachiko said.
"But why is Amy like this?" Asta asked.
"It's likely something to do with the island's connection to cyberspace. If we can find a way to restart it…it might restore her physical form." Aelita said.
"Sounds like a good idea…but I doubt it's going to be as easy as finding the giant 'Reboot System' button the Ancients probably didn't build." Emo pointed out.
"Well it wouldn't be here…it'd likely be where their system is the strongest. For now though, you'll just have to make do with being like this until we can find it, Amy." Aelita said.
"All right." Amy said.
"Guess the only way we can move forward is to find the next Chaos Emerald." Geiz deduced.
"It's not that far off, I can see the vault where the red one is from here." Vashryon said. "But there's a giant Guardian blocking the way. Wouldn't hurt to destroy it and take its Portal gear for the Cyberspace Portal close by."
And so the group did just that, going to the towering guardian close by to the next Cyberspace Portal. This one was possibly one of the largest ones out of them all, standing several stories high. It stood on two stout legs with no visible feet, and its main body is very wide at the bottom and comparatively narrow at the top, giving it a vague resemblance to a woman in a dress. Three short protrusions at the top of its body connect to broad curved platforms extending over its body; each platform has a large black spire on top and a long, almost ribbon-like arm on the bottom. Smaller, free-floating platforms fill the space between its "shoulders." It also had the same color scheme as the other enemies on the island.
ASURA
(Cue: Guardian: ASURA- Sonic Frontiers)
"Oh man, this ones huge!" Scorpia said.
"Y'know what they say though, bigger they are, harder they fall!" Peacock said.
Asura raised one of its arms and slammed it onto the ground.
"It's got three spires on its head, those must be its weak spots!" Glimmer said.
"What is it with these lady-like designs, though? There's probably something I can say here, but that's beneath me." David said.
"Especially since this thing is about to be a coat rack." Crusadermon said.
"And target practice." Simon said as Wartrain Gouon's symbol appeared on his back. "PARM!" he chanted, forming tracks made of fire as they circled around the Asura before Wartrain Gouon soon appeared and rode on them, firing his various weaponry at it.
Gouon's cannons managed to destroy one of the spires, making one of the Asura's arms blow off.
"Laura, Cecilia, can you shoot down the next one?" Houki requested.
"Roger!" Laura and Cecilia nodded, flying upwards in their IS frames and took aim at the next spike with the latter using her shoulder railgun and the former with her beam sniper rifle. Asura's missiles were fired onto the girls, but Cecilia's laser drones were able to destroy them before they could touch them. Once the target was locked on, they fired their weapons, scoring a direct hit on the spire, causing another arm to fall off.
"Okay, only one arm left till this guardian is destroyed." Vent stated. "Anyone else wanna have a go?"
"Allow me." Crusadermon said.
"All yours, Crusadermon." Vashryon said
"My pleasure. Fist of Athena!" Crusadermon said as she planted her Pile Bunker on the incoming missiles, sending it right back at the Asura before she started running up its last arm onto the spire. "Now, Spiral Masquerade!" she said as her ribbon-like whips started slashing at the spire. With a few good hits, the Asuras last arm was dismembered before it exploded into nothing as the portal gear dropped out of the sky.
(end song)
"I got it!" Flamberge said, catching it in her hands. "Now, let's fire that portal up."
She headed over to the Cyberspace portal nearby and inserted the gear, causing the portal to activate.
"Okay, who wants a go at this one?" Glimmer asked. "The goals are the same as the last one, but the time goal now for 1 minute or under."
"Let me handle this one. I can move pretty fast." Shirabe volunteered.
"Yeah, no kidding. I've seen her move, she's pretty good on her skates." Connor said.
"I can also do this." Shirabe materialized her buzzsaws and combined them into a large monowheel vehicle.
Extreme Sigma Style: Forbidden Full Moon
"Okay, I'm sold. You got this, Shirabe." Hope said. Soon enough, Shirabe touched the portal as she headed inside.
(Cue: Speed Highway (Modern) - Sonic Generation)
Shirabe soon found herself riding in her monowheel along the roads of a highway, spanning across a large fabricated digital city at nighttime.
"Heh, reminds me of the time Tsubasa-san and I chased down one of the Bavarian Illuminati generals." Shirabe recalled. "Though this highway is much crazier than the one in Japan."
Shirabe sped through the highway streets, going up, down and all around the twisting and turning highway roads, which went into loops, spirals and even straight down dips. She was able to collect 80 Rings and all 5 Red Star rings along the way, taking out any enemies in the way. At her pace, she soon reached the goal, and crossed into the exit portal, her time clocking in at 50 seconds.
Once she got out of the portal, she dispersed the monowheel and showed the teams the vault keys. "Well that was fun." Shirabe remarked.
"What did you see inside?" Serena asked.
"A speedy highway in the night. I had to go up and down and all around." Shirabe answered.
"Speed Highway?!" Zi-O gasped. "Oh, I loved that stage, especially the running down the buildings part!"
"While also getting chased by the police for some reason." Geiz added. "Though those were piloted by badniks."
"I didn't ride down a building this time." Shirabe mentioned.
"...Oh."
"Hey guys, look!" Flamberge said, seeing a white beacon of light pulse into the sky on another part of the island. "Another Chaos Emerald vault just went active!"
"That proves it. These spaces and keys are connected to the vaults holding the emeralds." Yaoyorozu said.
"All the more reason to go into those portals." Ashe added. "Anyway, let's get that emerald!"
The vault containing the Red Chaos Emerald was the closest nearby, so the group went to that one first. Using 3 keys, the vault was unlocked and the emerald was free, claimed by the group.
"Four more left. Let's get moving." Hope said as the group got moving.
"Why are we in such a rush exactly?" Lei K asked..
"I'm just trying to be careful here, especially since we don't know what else exactly is on this island besides the Universal Villains. Heck, we don't even know what these Titans are yet." Hope said.
"We haven't even seen them yet. Likely because they might be somewhere in the furthest part of the island. Maybe it's good we haven't run into them yet." Leanne said.
"Yeah. Don't think we want that headache right now…" Hope said before the area around them glitched before they saw a familiar face high in the air. It was none other than Sage. As the group locked eyes with each other, she teleported down to their level.
"You just had to tempt Murphy's Law, huh?" Kanade deadpanned.
"Well, long time no see." Connor said to Sage. "Haven't seen word of you since you helped out Prowler back in the hero universe."
"...You shouldn't have come back here." Sage said. "You also should not have brought everyone here. The rest of you know this isn't the wisest course of action. Leave. Immediately."
"Are you really still going on about that? You're a stubborn one, aren't you?" David asked.
"Could you at least give us a reason why we shouldn't be here?" Kiana added.
"I will not share any data with the enemy." Sage insisted.
"There you go with that again. That's all we ever hear from you." David said. "Then again, I shouldn't be surprised…from one of Eggman's creations."
Sage looked surprised at that statement.
"That's right. We know Eggman built you. Which by association, makes you a member of the Universal Villains." Hope said.
"That's right. So I suggest you save your breath." David said. "We're gonna free the others from their prisons, and nothing you say is going to stop us."
"Just like they all said you'd be. Sage chided. "If you aim to charge ahead and do what you think is right like you always do… then it is our duty to stop you."
"Our?" Pit asked before marching into the area was a large gigantic machine that towered over the entire island. "What the heck is that?!"
"This…little ones…is a titan." a voice called from the machine.
"Ian?" Jexi asked.
"Indeed. Now all of you…I'll have to ask you to leave the twin bosses be." Ian said.
"Not on your life!" Sonic said running at the mech before it grabbed him. "What?"
"Sorry, hedgehog, but you aren't the strongest thing in this island archipelago. Now…here's the windup…" Ian said winding up like a pitcher before throwing Sonic clear across the island. "Homerun!" he said before looking at the group. "Anyone wanna make it a double home run?"
"... Sonic first, giant robot later. Much later." Connor said.
"Yes…run! This is what you all get for messing with the Universal Villains!" Ian said as the group fled, but not without Zi-O firing a gunshot at Ian which nearly hit his face.
"We'll be back for you later, asshole!" Zi-O shouted before going after them.
"They won't give up so easily. I know from researching your databanks." Sage said to Ian. "If we want to get them to leave.. You'll have to hold nothing back next time."
"As if I didn't already know that. I've sworn loyalty to Flux while we both shared that prison cell. I will not be disappointing him now." Ian said. "Both him and his descendant will succeed. I swear on it!"