It has been a few days since the trio left the island and they have made a few stops to refuel or restock but they never stayed for long. Sonic was bummed he couldn't explore more but he knew they were pushing it. They were already taking a massive detour to look for the power rings instead of the chaos emeralds and so they couldn't waste any more time on random adventures. Besides Sonic was making mental notes on where he would go once this whole journey was over.

While they were flying they also discussed how to get the power rings. Knuckles may know about the forest and the lake but not much more about it. He didn't know how deep the lake was, where the rings are in the lake, Or even if there is a right way to retrieve them. Because of this, the trio began to think up ideas for any scenario. In all their planning there was one thing that was perfectly clear. Sonic would not be the one to get them. They all figured the risk was too high on Sonic getting stuck in the lake so they all agreed he would not even set foot in the lake.

The best plan they had was to swim but because none of them knew how deep it was they weren't sure how well this would work. Eventually, Tails offered to build an invention that would help them breathe underwater. He had been working on this invention whenever he could but hasn't finished it yet.

After many days they finally saw the hidden forest. They made their landing and were stunned to see the forest was a lot bigger than they thought. To make matters worse it was revealed that even if Knuckles knew where the forest was he did not know where the lake was. Sonic and Tails were a little annoyed but just figured it wasn't his fault. After all, when would he have needed that info if he hadn't met them? So they just started their search.

After searching for what felt like hours Sonic had to complain. "OK, that's it! I am just going to do a quick search around this island. You guys just wait here."

Before Tails and Knuckles could say anything he was off. Knuckles then asked, "He will watch where he is going. Right?"

"Probably not. Let's just hope he doesn't fall in the lake." Tails said with a sigh.

Within a few minutes, Sonic was back. "Found it. But we have a problem."

Tails and Knuckles looked at each other in confusion as Sonic led them to the lake. To their disbelief, there was someone already there. To make things even worse for Sonic and Tails it was none other than Eggman.

"What is he doing here?" Tails said.

"Who is that?" knuckles asked.

"That is the bad guy I told you about. Eggman." Sonic said.

Knuckles took another look at Eggman and said, "I can see why you call him Eggman."

Sonic and Tails couldn't help but chuckle at that but they quickly recovered. Sonic said, "I can't be sure but I think he is also looking for the power rings. I just don't know why."

"Maybe for the same reason you are. To use them as another power source." Tails said.

"You might be right," Sonic said. He was not happy about this conclusion but it made the most sense. If Eggman was going to continue to fight then any extra power would be beneficial.

"It doesn't look like he found anything yet." Knuckles said noticing Eggman working on something while a few robots hovered over the lake.

"Well either way we need to stop it. Should be easy enough. Just destroy all his robots then…" Before he could finish a Claw quickly appeared behind them.

They looked and discovered that besides the robots by Eggman's side, there were dozens more behind them. "OH great!" Sonic said sarcastically before beginning his attack.

He spun into his speedball and shot straight at the robots. Even without the power of the emeralds, he was still able to do quite a bit of damage to the robots. To make it better, Knuckle's raw fighting power made destroying the robots even easier. Meanwhile, Tails went to hide seeing he had nothing to fight with. But he didn't need to fight. With Sonic and Knuckles working together, the robots were all defeated in no time.

"These guys really gave you so much trouble you needed the emeralds." Knuckles was a little annoyed that Sonic was having a hard time with these guys.

"Well, that is only because of the few numbers. Try facing hundreds of them by yourself then let's see what you have to say." Sonic argued.

Just when Tails was about to come out one more robot came up from behind him and trapped him in a net. The moment he was in the net the robot dragged him to Eggman. While being dragged, Tails yelled, "SONIC!"

This alerted Sonic and Knuckles to look his way, worried. In no time Tails was by a maniacally laughing Eggman. "I found you," he said, staring at the terrified fox. Sonic tried to rush over but then Eggam began to say loudly. "Now now, little one. I won't hurt you as long as that hedgehog doesn't bother me." He then pushed a button and the robot lifted Tails over the lake.

Tails was scared since he wouldn't be able to swim if he was to be dropped into the lake. Sonic stopped instantly staring intensely at Eggman.

Eggman just chuckled evilly and said, "can't do anything now hedgehog.". He then noticed Knuckles. "Oh great. Another one." But he then noticed that Knuckles stopped fighting too and said, "doesn't matter. One move from either of you and the fox takes a cold dip." Eggman then went back to work searching the lake.

Sonic and knuckles couldn't do anything. Neither wanted to put Tails in any more danger than he already was in. This fact alone made Tails very upset. He was being a burden to them and he didn't want that. So he started to struggle to try to get out of the net. He tried to move his tails but unfortunately, they kept getting caught in the net so they couldn't move. He tried pulling, tugging, and even tried to break the rope but he was not strong enough.

Eggman noticed his struggling and got annoyed. "If you want to take an early dip I don't mind." He said in a threatening tone. Tails stopped moving in fear. He had to think of some way out of there before making another move.

In the meantime, Eggman was getting furious at the fact he was not finding anything. "Where are those rings!". He yelled. "Robots search faster!". More robots appeared and some even dove into the lake to do underwater searches.

Sonic and Knuckles began to worry. "What do we do now?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic could not answer. He would just destroy every robot around but if he did then Tails would drop and Sonic couldn't swim. Also with the number of robots he wasn't sure Knuckles could get to him on time. He was angry at himself for not being able to save his friend and being helpless again. Then just when he was in the middle of his thoughts he heard Eggman yell, "what are you doing!"

Sonic looked over and saw that Tails was literally chewing his way out of the net. In that instant, he had managed to get out of the net and flew above the robot. Sonic didn't know how he managed it but he took that moment to attack.

With his super speed, he destroyed so many robots in no time but Knuckles seemed to have destroyed even more. Eggman was even more furious and ordered all the robots in the surrounding area to come help. Turns out he had many more all around the massive lake. Sonic and Knuckles were outnumbered. While Eggman was furious at Tails for escaping and allowing Sonic and Knuckles to fight back. He pushed a bottom and the same robot shot another net at him but this time it did not simply trap him. It wrapped around him, restricting all of his tails movements. He fell into the water much to Sonic and Knuckles's horror.

Sonic instantly yelled, "Knuckles I don't care how just get to him NOW!"

Knuckles didn't waste a millisecond and began making his way to the lake. He didn't bother to destroy every robot. All he did was punch his way straight to the lake. The moment he got there he dove in and swam as fast as he could to the fox.

Sonic was thrilled to see Knuckles dive and he began to get serious. He could trust Knuckles to save tails; all he had to do now was make sure none of Eggman's robots had the chance to stop him.