Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic and Lam cause havoc and destruction around Scrap Brain, alerting the robots to their location. After evading and fighting their way through, they are caught into a trap by Omelette, but manage a daring escape. Now, the duo have descended to the lowest level of the base, ready for the final confrontation…

The doors to the heart of Scrap Brain open, inviting Lam and Sonic in. With deep breaths, they enter, finding a sizable room on the other side. And in the center of said sizable room was Omelette, standing there holding a glowing gem in her hands.

Omelette: "Welcome, troublesome pests, to the Final Zone. The heart of South Island's Scrap Brain base and where you two will be thoroughly buried."

Sonic: "Is that actually how you welcome guests? Hate how you greet your kids if you had any."

Lam: "Where is my village, you dwarf!?"

Omelette: "Oh don't worry. They're here, as I promised. Not like I'm going to let you get to them though. After all, that just wouldn't be fun."

Omelette then smiles as she looks at Sonic, causing the confident hedgehog's smirk to falter a bit as he glares.

Omelette: "Now that I get a better look at you, hedgehog, I now realize why I was having such a hard time with you up til now. You… are Aleena's kid, aren't you?"

Lam looked at Sonic, a bit puzzled. But she returned to focus on the bratty half pint.

Sonic: "Yeah. Though I'm a prince and all, I'd rather be casual about it. Name's Sonic the Hedgehog. And don't forget it."

Omelette: "Ohhh. Such confidence and bravado. I wonder how you'll react when I tell you that… The Kingdom of Acorn has fallen. And my daddy has stolen that kingdom's treasure."

She holds the gem up to emphasize her point, smiling wider. Sonic was initially shocked, but he looked down. He knew deep down something bad had happened, but he hoped it wasn't so… Lam placed a hand on his shoulder, helping him to get his mind back in the game. No time for self pity after all. Omelette continued…

Omelette: "I wouldn't worry. My dad is keeping your dear old mother alive to be one of the witnesses to my daddy's complete and utter take over of Mobius! And it starts by destroying all living life on the planet!"

Sonic: "What!?"

Lam: "Are you serious!?"

Omelette: "Very. Oh but don't worry. You'll be buried before you ever see it!"

Omelette then presses a button she pulls out, summoning a large mech behind her. The mech had a heavy mace on one hand, while the other was a large gun. It looked silly otherwise, but Sonic and Lam could tell it was anything but… Omelette climbs into the mech, putting the Chaos Emerald into a compartment as the mech comes to life.

Omelette: "Get ready twerps… Time to get smashed… By the Egg Breaker!"

Omelette lifts the mace hand and slams it on the ground, causing the floor to rise up and slam into the ceiling above, giving the heroes a demonstration of what sort of fight they were in for. The floor returns to normal shortly afterwards, Omelette seeing their shocked expressions.

Sonic: "Oh… This is going to be rough."

Lam: "We got this, Sonic! Let's do it!"

Sonic: "No. Let's do it to it!"

Sonic immediately jumps before unleashing a Drop Dash, curling up as he rushes at the mech, slamming into it. But his attack bounces right off. Lam comes in and headbutts it, but she gains no further progress.

Omelette: "Hah! Imbeciles! Idiots! Mongrels! The Egg Breaker's armor is powered by the Chaos Emerald! You are like tiny bugs to me! So get smashed… Or better yet… Get BURNED!"

Omelette aims her gun arm and unleashes a barrage of fire blasts at Lam. Sonic rushes in and pushes Lam out of the way, saving her from the quick shots of fire.

Lam: "Thanks. But we need a plan… fast."

Sonic: "Quick thinking is what I'm good at. Just… give me a sec…"

The robot girl doesn't give them the opportunity to think as she jumps into the air and slams her mace near them, aiming to crush them with the ceiling as the floor rises under them. Lam and Sonic manage to get away before they were crushed, getting some distance from Omelette. Sonic then gets an idea.

Sonic: "Hey. This floor… It reacts to high impact, right?"

Lam: "So far seems to be the case. Why?"

Sonic: "Why don't we use it against her then?"

Lam looks at Sonic but then gets the picture. She then smiles as she cracks her knuckles.

Omelette: "You know what they saw about sleeping, right? It takes a bit of fire to wake someone up!"

Omelette fires off fire shots at Sonic, aiming to get rid of him. Sonic smiles, thinking this was the best case scenario. He draws in Omelette's attention, causing her to solely focus on her. Lam then comes in from behind and jumps as high as she can. She then slams her head onto the floor, impacting it hard near Omelette. This causes the floor under her mech to rise.

Omelette: "What the!?"

Omelette's mech hits the ceiling hard, the sound of a large bell echoing in the room as she impacts the ceiling. The floor comes back down, revealing that the armor did protect her, but she was dazed now. Sonic rushes over to the mech and lands a Spin Attack on the chest of the robot, cracking it enough for Lam to jab her hand in and take the Chaos Emerald. When Omelette comes to, she notices her armor isn't as sturdy as it was a minute ago.

Omelette: "Ugh… That was a cheap trick… Only I can pull that! …Huh? M-MY EMERALD!"

Lam: "Looking for this?"

Lam holds out the Chaos Emerald, smirking as she tosses it up and down to taunt the girl in the mech.

Omelette: "GIVE THAT BACK! RIGHT NOW!"

Sonic: "Not even if you say 'please', lady."

Omelette's face went red as she stomped her feet in a tantrum. Thankfully for her and unfortunately for the duo, the mech was still fully operational.

Omelette: "Fine! No more games! Time to get super serious!"

The girl then gets her mech on its feet before aiming her gun out, starting to spin her upper body rapidly as she starts firing off fire shots at random. Sonic and Lam start to dodge these attacks, but as soon as the mech stopped this attack, it immediately jumped and came down for multiple slams onto the duo. Though none connected the rising floor was still something they needed to keep an eye out for. Once the mech had finished, Sonic and Lam rush in for dual strike, knocking the robot off its feet and into the wall.

Sonic: "Alright! We can do some serious damage now!"

Omelette: "Grrr… I'm not through yet!"

Omelette gets out of the wall before jumping to the ceiling. Her gun arm then magnetizes to the ceiling before electrical bolts rain from above, aiming to strike the duo. Lam is struck by one of these attacks, stunning her. Omelette sees an opportunity, letting go of the ceiling before slamming her mace down onto the floor near Lam, aiming to have the ceiling crush her. But Sonic rushes at the rising floor quickly, destroying it and saving Lam, though barely.

Sonic: "I'm getting real sick of this rising floor business…"

Omelette: "Get over it, punk! My house, I make the rules! And I say you broke all of them!"

Sonic: "Man, you such a child…"

Sonic avoids a few swings of the mace aimed at him before retaliating with a Spin Attack to the chest, knocking the mech onto its back. He then puts his feet on the mech, showing that he had won. That's when he acknowledges the door across from where they entered.

Sonic: "Yo, Lam! I got this from here! You go save your villagers!"

Lam: "Alright."

Lam stands back up, still feeling a bit numb from the electrical attack that hit her as she finds her feet. She runs to the door and opens it, finding a cargo bay door opening and a ship with a capture capsule onboard preparing to leave.

Lam: "Hold it!"

Sonic looks over at Lam before hearing what sounded like the cockpit door of the mech opening. When he looks down, he's shot at the leg by Omelette, who shot a laser from her palm. Sonic is stunned by the sheer pain from his leg, giving the girl the moment she needed to kick Sonic off the mech. Lam turns when she heard the laser shot, her eyes widening as she saw Sonic on the floor.

Lam: "Sonic!"

Sonic: "Gh… Go! Save your village! Forget about me!"

Lam looks at Sonic, then sees the mech stand back up. She turns back to the cargo ship, its jets getting ready to blast off. Omelette smiles as her mech towers over Sonic.

Omelette: "Hehe. This is what you get for playing hero… Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Omelette raises her mace arm, ready to crush Sonic. Sonic couldn't move due to his injury; with no way out of the situation, he closes his eyes in accepting death head on. But as the mace arm comes down, he doesn't feel any impact. Sonic opens his eyes, which then widens as he saw Lam holding the mace arm back. But she wasn't strong enough to completely fight it back.

Sonic: "Lam! What are you doing!?"

Lam: "S-Saving you, dumbass! I refuse to let… my friends die!"

Sonic: "But your village!"

Lam: "And leave you to die!? FUCK THAT! You've been the nicest person to me ever since we met! You talk to me! You don't judge me! You inspired me, Sonic! I refuse to let you go out like this!"

Sonic could only stare at Lam, admiring her bravado in saving him. But it seemed to be in vain as Omelette kept up the pressure.

Omelette: "How noble. But too bad for you, you made a bad move. Now you'll both die together!"

Lam grits her teeth as she continues to hold on. But then she sees the other arm point its gun at her, ready to fire. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she continued to push back. She couldn't give in. Not after everything… That's when Sonic sees the Chaos Emerald start to glow. A red glow starts to appear over Lam's body as her fingers dig into the mace. She then immediately threw the mech across the room, shocking both Sonic and Omelette.

Omelette: "What the hell!?"

Lam sees the mech impact the wall quite hard, showing significant damage to its hull. She then looks at her hands to see a red glow.

Sonic: "Lam? What in the world…?"

Lam: "No idea, Sonic. …But I feel good. Real good."

Lam then sees the mech rise, though now badly damaged. Omelette was seething in anger now as she had the mech jump high to slam the floor. Lam runs in to intercept, smashing the mace arm with her headbutt, which seemed to be supercharged. Lam then quickly grabbed the gun arm and ripped it off as she flipped the mech over her shoulder and right back into the wall. Omelette was looking really afraid now as Lam simply cracked her knuckles.

Lam: "This is for my island."

Omelette: "Not again…"

Lam reeled back her leg before slamming it right onto the mech, kicking it right through the wall, the ground under Scrap Brain, and out into the sky, Omelette screaming as she flew off once again. Sonic was in awe by the sheer force of power he was witnessing. Before he could comment though, the effects of the battle and their earlier intrusion finally took its toll on the base as the room started to crumble. Lam rushes over to Sonic and picks him up, ramming through the doors leading to the cargo bay before rushing at the cargo bay doors leading outside, moving as fast as she could as Scrap Brain collapses.

As Scrap Brain collapses, the duo jump out of the cargo bay, landing on a beachfront, with their heads buried from the impact of their fall. Once they were out though, they look at each other before letting out a chuckle, then a full out laugh, a wave of relief blowing past them as they find that they had made it out alive.

Sonic: "We did it! We actually won! I can hardly believe it!"

Lam: "Heh. Yeah… That was… amazing…"

But then the reality of Lam losing her village came back, souring their joy. Silence then came, Sonic's thoughts swirling as he felt he screwed up a lot on this adventure. First by leaving his mother and the Kingdom of Acorn when they likely needed him the most.

Sonic: "Yo. I'm sorry, Lam."

Lam: "Hm?"

Sonic: "Your village… I'm sorry I let my guard down when I did… I… I dragged you down right when you were about to save them…"

Lam looked at Sonic before looking at the ocean ahead of them.

Lam: "We all screw up a little, Sonic. Mom always said that screwing up is part of life. It's just not learning from screwing up that's considered foolish. Learn from our past mistakes."

Sonic: "...Yeah. Mom said the same thing…"

Sonic stared out at the ocean before an image of his mom, Bernadetta, appeared on the wave. He then stood up, ignoring the pain in his leg as he did.

Sonic: "I'm going to save your village. And the Kingdom of Acorn."

Lam: "Oh?"

Sonic: "Yeah. I promise you that, Lam. And that's a royal's promise."

Lam looked at Sonic before smiling, pulling out the Chaos Emerald before holding it out to him.

Lam: "Then… You'll need this more than I will. And remember… You promised. So I'm holding you to it."

Sonic looked at the Emerald before smiling, accepting the jewel. Sonic now had a job to do; one he was going to carry out no matter what. But then a question crossed his mind: "How was he going to get off this island to start his rescue operation?" Thankfully for him, it didn't take long for him to get an answer in the form of a plane engine sound. He looks up and sees a biplane, and a familiar hedgehog piloting it.

Sonic: "Jules!"

Lam: "Friend of yours?"

Sonic: "More than! YOOOO!"

Sonic waves his hands in order to call down the biplane. Through some expert maneuvering, Jules was able to land the plane at the beachfront, going to greet Sonic and Lam.

Jules: "Hey there, Sonic! Am I disturbing a date?"

Sonic: "N-No! You know me and Sally are dating so why would I date another girl!?"

While unintentional, Lam does feel a bit dejected by the fact Sonic was already taken. Sonic gives an apologetic look to her before Jules clears his throat to subside his awkward conversation starter.

Jules: "I was looking everywhere for you, boy. I was waiting at Green Hills for a long while, but then I decided to fly around the island looking for you. Then I see this weird building collapse and… Well… Come around here to find you. What happened?"

Sonic and Lam explain everything to Jules, Sonic introducing Lam in the process before pulling out the Chaos Emerald Lam gave him.

Sonic: "And then we nabbed this. Jules… Is the Kingdom of Acorn really…?"

Jules fell silent before nodding.

Jules: "The Kingdom of Acorn has fallen, and the royals likely captured. I don't know who did it, or why. But one thing is certain… They are not to be messed with."

Sonic then looked at the Emerald before looking at Jules with a question in mind.

Sonic: "Jules. Is there another one of these Chaos Emeralds somewhere?"

Jules: "Well… I know of one on West Island. Your mother closely guarded that one."

Sonic: "Oh yeah… I remember Mom telling me about West Island. Then if that is the case, then we should head there. Beat those creeps before they get their hands on the Chaos Emerald and all!"

Jules: "Are you sure? There's no telling what we'll find there."

Sonic: "With any luck, that girl's daddy will be there… And I can give him a piece of my mind. And a butt kicking."

Jules: "And what about you, Lam?"

Lam: "I still got my mess of an island to clean up. Sorry, but you'll have to go without me."

Sonic: "Heh. I understand."

Sonic extends a hand, which Lam accepts with a firm grip.

Lam: "Don't be a stranger, Sonic. And I hope we meet again soon."

Sonic: "No doubt."

The two smile before parting ways. Sonic goes with Jules to head to West Island while Lam heads back towards Green Hills to clean up the remaining robots. With the two departing on their own, this chapter comes to a close. What sort of adventures await Sonic on West Island? And what sort of secrets do the Chaos Emeralds hold that the villains would want to collect them?

Meanwhile in the Wing Fortress, which had departed from the Kingdom of Acorn after thoroughly subjugating it under Robotnik's rule, a hologram of Omelette hanging from another tree was speaking to Ivo Robotnik himself, who glared down at the girl.

Omelette: "I'M SO SORRY, DADDY! I LOST THE CHAOS EMERALD! I LOST IT TO A PEST OF ALL PEOPLE!"

Robotnik: "Silence your crying, Omelette! Now tell me again… WHO took the Chaos Emerald?"

Omelette: "A-A blue hedgehog. Red and white shoes with a yellow buckle! That's all I remember!"

Robotnik leans back in his throne, a serious expression on his face as he just glares at Omelette.

Robotnik: "Very well. Return to the Wing Fortress and await further instruction. And no more of your 'I want to impress daddy' attitude. You'll do as you are told, or be dismantled piece by piece… Understand!?"

Omelette: "Y-Yes, sir!"

Omelette frantically closes communication, Robotnik seeing her drop headfirst from the tree before she succeeds. Sage then appears, eying her father curiously.

Sage: "Something wrong, father?"

Robotnik: "No, nothing."

Robotnik continues to look ahead as his mind wanders to if this hedgehog is one named Charles or someone related to him. Either way, he'd have to teach this nuisance a lesson if they ever meet.

To be continued…