Chapter 104: Takeover

"Well, if it isn't Sonic the Hedgehog, my old nemesis," Zavok said as Sonic approached him from behind on a stretch of grassy land that floated in the sky. "I assume you want to know where your friend is."

"If you hurt Tails or his host Miles, you're dead!" Sonic said angrily.

Zavok laughed in response. "Don't worry, Sonic. We're not going to hurt them."

"Then you're going to roboticize them?"

"Precisely."

"How do you plan to do that, given that you're dealing with two beings and not just one?"

"We'll make sure that Tails doesn't try to reprogram himself like last time by repressing his spirit so that Miles can't transform into him to get out of his 'situation.'"

"You monster!" Sonic shouted as Zavok leaped away.

As he ran to catch up with Zavok, the PAD Miles/Tails dropped before he was captured started to vibrate. Sonic quickly transformed back into Sonny and answered it. Amelia's face appeared, but she looked much paler and weaker than before.

"Sonny…" Amelia whispered. "It's…too late…for us."

"Don't say that!" Sonny said. "You guys have got to hold on!"

"We can't…" Amelia said shaking her head. "Please, save the world."

The signal cut off leaving Sonny speechless.

"It seems your friends are falling one by one," Zavok said appearing nearby. "Soon, they will all be dead and you will be all alone."

"Zavok!"

Sonny transformed into Sonic and followed Zavok onto a floating serpentine dragon made of metal. While the dragon itself fired occasional lasers from its body, Zavok tried charging at Sonic with energy-charged punches. When Sonic tried attacking him, Zavok would block himself against them thus rendering them ineffective. Not wanting to give up, Sonic hit Zavok again and again with several Homing Attacks and Kicks. This in turn forced Zavok to retreat further down the dragon's body until he reached the tip of the head. With one final series of Homing Attacks, Sonic was able to knock Zavok off causing him to fall to the ground below.

###

After Sonny regrouped with Robotnik and the bots, they made their way into an area where deep gorges contained rivers of lava that poured from distant volcanoes.

"Wow, that's quite a drop," Sonny remarked as he made his way across a metallic bridge over one such gorge where the lava stream ran several thousand miles below.

"Yes, it is," Robotnik said.

A series of boulders suddenly came from the other side and started puncturing the bridge into several fragments. Unfortunately Orbot and Cubot, who's head was now attached to Orbot's, were in the middle and ended up falling into the gorge. Sonny would've fallen in too, but Robotnik saved him at the last minute as the two held on to the other side of the bridge for deal life. On the side they just came from, Zazz and Zomom were hurling boulders at them while laughing loudly.

"Thought you'd never see us again, didn't you?" Zazz shouted.

"That planet-sucking thingy made us strong," Zomom added.

"That's right, so we're not holding back!" Zazz hurled a large circular boulder towards Robotnik and Sonny.

In a few seconds, Robotnik hurled Sonny up to the other side of the gorge just as the boulder hit what was left of the bridge causing it to fall along with Robotnik.

"Robotnik," Sonny murmured, then he took off.

But Zazz caught up to him, along with Zomom and then Master Zik.

"What do you say we teach this annoying rat a lesson for beating us up earlier?" Zazz said cracking his knuckles loudly.

"I can get behind that," Zomom replied. "He'll make a tasty snack."

"Yes, revenge is a dish best served cold," Zik responded, and pointed at Sonny. "Prepare yourself, boy!"

Sonny immediately became Sonic and took on the three Zeti at once. He avoided the spherical boulders Zazz hurled and hit him a few times with a Homing Attack. Once Zazz was down, Zomom tried burrowing underground to hit Sonic undetected. But Sonic was quicker, and managed to beat Zomom once he resurfaced. After doing this twice, Zomom was knocked out. Zik then stepped in and made several swift strikes at Sonic who merely got around and hit the old man from behind several times. It was when Zik fell that Sonic continued on. Eventually, he was confronted by Zeena, Zavok, and Zor at the threshold of a palace made of volcanic rock.

"Do I have to fight you guys too?" Sonic said wearily.

"Not necessarily, if you're willing to join us," Zavok said and snapped his finger.

Behind Zavok appeared Miles, but he had a laser gun for an arm, a metal chest-plate, and half of his face was mechanical with a single purple eye while his real eye was a dull gray.

"Miles," Sonic said as he transformed back into Sonny. He glared at the three remaining Zeti and said, "When I get my hands on you—

"You'll what? Take on all three of us at once?" Zor said mockingly.

"I bet you're really tired after fighting Zazz, Zomom, and Zik," Zeena said filing her nails. "Why don't you come to our side? We would gladly appreciate your service."

"Never!" Sonny proclaimed.

"I knew you would say that," Zavok said and turned to Miles. "Destroy Sonic and his host."

Miles silently walked up to Sonny and pointed the laser gun at him.

"You've got to fight back, Miles," Sonny said. "I know you're still in there, and Tails, too."

"What are you waiting for?" Zavok said insistently. "Kill them!"

It was then that Miles started twitching suddenly, and blinked with his real eye causing it to turn back to light-blue. Zavok and the others watched as Miles suddenly became Tails, which broke the part of his head that was mechanical. Next, Tails turned around and fired several purple-colored blasts of energy his laser gun at the Zeti.

"What? Impossible!" Zavok shouted as he and the other Zeti retreated.

"Tails," Sonny said with surprise. "How did you—

"They thought they could roboticize Miles by repressing his free-will which would in turn suppress me," Tails said. "But what they didn't realize is that while Miles and I may share the same body, our minds are completely different. So while they were able to take over Miles' mind, they couldn't control mine."

"I see," Sonny responded then he realized, "But that means if you relinquish control of Miles' body now—

"The robotized Miles will try to kill you," Tails said bluntly.

"Is there any way you can fix that?"

"I might with the right tools, which I know are in the fortress somewhere."

"All right," Sonny turned into Sonic and said, "I'll take care of the remaining Zeti. You find a way to fix yourself."

"Got it!" Tails said, and flew off ahead of Sonic who went off to pursue the Zeti inside the stone fortress surrounded by a moat of lava.

To be continued…