Sonic and the Pink Tress

by TokuBinu

Even if they couldn't see each other, even if he couldn't understand where the pain came from, why it was directed for him...and why he was chosen for her, the power of the confession from beyond space and time compelled him and he heeded her call. Within a few feet of reaching the ring, the intense gravity surrounding the unnatural phenomenon pulled the hedgehog into the portal.

1. Prologue

Disclosure: I do not own anything related to Sonic the Hedgehog or The Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima. All properties belong to their respective owners. This is fan-fiction and should not be treated as part of a canon with any franchise.

Sonic is owned and trademarked by SEGA corporation.

Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima is made by the works of Noboru Yamaguchi, and its Light Novels are published under Media Factory.

Apart from that, I hope you enjoy!

-TokuBinu

---

With the Death Egg at long last destroyed and Angel Island returned to its rightful place in the sky, peace had returned to the lands.⁽1⁾ Since the events of Sonic's last adventure aboard the mystical floating island, Dr. Robotnik had been quiet in his activities. Sonic was content with this new development as it had been a long while since he could hit the brakes from his adventures, so he resolved to get himself a well-deserved break.

However, his friend Miles "Tails" Prower was worried about the ephemeral peace since then and strived to keep an eye out for any sightings of the doctor. It was strange Robotnik hadn't displayed any desire to steal the chaos emeralds, which they kept since their grand adventure aboard Angel Island. But despite his friend's unease, Sonic blew off his worries, acknowledging that while they might be caught off guard, they'll be ready for whatever the doctor plans next.

Underneath a tree in the hillside plain of the island, Sonic slept peacefully to the sounds of the Earth. It was the dawn of night on Christmas Island; his quills comfortably rested on the cushions of his white gloves. The gold buckles on his big red shoes glistened in the dark as he lay snug. The chill wind of the night swished the branches of the tree, and leaflets pricked themselves free amongst the wind, tickling his ears; they flicked aside instinctively.

The dark blue hue of the sky with the stars lighting the zone expressed an ethereal beauty. In the cool wind of the night, the grass encompassing the hillside whispered around him, adding to the milieu of the given piece. The blue hedgehog took a long yawn and stretched himself along the base of the tree, quivering slightly as he tested the strength in his body.

Blinking a few times with watering eyes, the hedgehog looked around himself, confused as to where he was, but a glance to the landscape eased his dubiety. Sonic wondered how long he must've slept at his spot and went to check the constellations in the sky, but it cracked as dawn arrived. He held a hand over his eyes as his vision adjusted to the simmering violet sky; he whistled at the remarkable rosy tint of daybreak.

The warmth of the sun was trying to reach him, telling him that morning will come soon. He smiled, grateful for the blooming day, and laid back as the grass and its flowers blossomed with the layer of light approaching them.

With his glazing eyes, he looked high up to the sky as the fading stars went by, reminiscing about his past adventures in the checkered plains of Green Hills. His two-tailed friend, Tails the Orange Kitsune; the capricious, choleric Guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles; and the pink-haired rabid fangirl quickly pass by his thoughts as he sifts through his memories. The sky's shade brightened to a turquoise blue, illuminating the island with the soft sparkling sheet of dew that accumulated overnight.

This was his home.

He began to stand up when a golden ring fell from his fur, thumping softly in the grass. He picked up the ring with a tender grasp and held it to the sky, observing the runes along the rim of its annular shape to which Sonic only assessed as an ancient language.⁽2⁾

Thinking back on his last adventure, the lush green grass, the tall palm trees, it was almost... saccharine, in their presence. Angel Island, an island that floated amongst the clouds in much the same way as his previous adventure in Southside Island. A landmass wandering without direction above an endless sea, hidden in a distortion field by its relic jewels, "The Chaos Emeralds." The same milieu pervaded him as he explored the two islands; awe, wonder, and a curious sense of wistfulness wrapped in an emerald gleam.

He brought down the ring closer to himself as he felt the texture of its runes through his gloves.

Looking back to when he first discovered the mysterious ring, it all came to a head when he found it drifting along the shores of Westside Island. An inexplicable nostalgia consumed Sonic when he first held the ring, its mere presence seemingly beckoning him towards Angel Island.

Since then, he gradually began to notice in all his recent adventures the similarities of the landmasses. There was a shared tragic history bounding the adrift islands, somehow. Islands seemingly impossible to come across normally, hidden by strange forces with the remains of ancient mystical civilizations; their ruins, relics, and temples were all lost to the sands of time. One holding the chaos emeralds and another holding their controller, their Master Emerald.

Within a moment of reflection, Sonic mindlessly flicked the ring about in his palms, lazily slinging it around his fingers all the while. His breath came shallow and quiet as he glanced back at it, perturbed. Ideas flooded his mind and sizzled away just as quickly—it bothered him—the problem felt so rudimentary. Yet, the answer eluded him, not out of difficulty but of his apprehension. It felt familiar to him, like something lost, yet similarly far detached.

What would it be like—searching for a place you dreamed you'd never find? The thought of these delusions and theories had upset him since, so he strove to understand why.

In the doctor's absence, Sonic took the ring to Tails to see if he could make heads or tails of it, but despite their best guesses, Tails was in a rut. He devoted his time and studies to mechanical engineering, not to philology. Knuckles may have an idea at best, but it was probable to assume that he didn't want them back on his island, despite leaving on good terms.

So with no leads nor any experts to give them a start, his search ended before it began.

Now he was enjoying the peace whilst bound down by a curiosity.

The hedgehog grasped the ring quickly as it rolled down his hand. He paused in his mindless stupor as a breeze rustled the leaves above him, taking him from his mind. A small grin weaved its way; it doesn't have to matter fretting about.

The grass waved like the ocean, giving the flurry sounds of the plains. He watched the light of the sun brighten the landscape, and as if in a covenant with the star, the ring he held up glistened as he unfurled his fingers, coating the grass underneath in a dewy glimmer.

A small fluttering of the air caught his attention but he decided not to move and lay as he were. The sound softened and he could feel tiny legs resting on the tip of his nose.

As he contemplated what to do with the ring, moving it around on the palms of his hands, a spluttering, buzzing sound, not unlike that of television static or a helicopter, resounded from up above.

Sonic looked up —startling the butterfly off— and there, an almost black dot in the plains was Robotnik flying his Egg Mobile. It seemed he was cautious and in a hurry, as his Egg Mobile hugged the ground, however, he passed by the hedgehog completely unaware of his presence. Still, Sonic didn't take any chances and hid under the grove of the palm tree he had been napping beside.

He contemplated whether he should demand his presence on Robotnik who was quickly and urgently fading away unto the sky or leave him be, however soon enough a trail of Egg-Robos followed behind in an orderly fashion.

He took a glance at the ring, secured it, and solidified his thoughts on the former.

Being careful not to alert Robotnik of his presence, Sonic chased after the Eggman, his speed almost teetering on breaking the sound barrier as a faint white shield appeared before the hedgehog as he quickly made way to catch up to him. However, he realized that following the Egg-mobile was easier said than done.

While Sonic had his speed to keep up with the scientist, he remained wary of the robots that were following Robotnik. The big ball-shaped badniks would occasionally swivel their metallic domes in a synchronous motion, rotating about 360 degrees to see if they were being followed, and within those instances, Sonic had to hide.

The hedgehog burrowed as much of himself where he could; behind trees, unto wild bushes, and blitzing into the tall and sifting grass. The green pastures of nature parted where the hedgehog ran, relating a flurrying of petals and stems coasting through the wind, and although Sonic was great at chases, he felt agitated; having to hide from sight and sneak quietly all the while, restraining himself.

Within the simple rhythm of chasing and hiding, Sonic remained as swift as the wind, until he noticed the group and himself approaching the edge of Christmas Island; the hedgehog hesitated to keep his pace as he neared the beach leading to the ocean, yet in his pursuit, he realized that his distancers weren't stopping.

Dragging his feet, Sonic slowed down as he skidded to a stop on the white beach, and in his abrupt halt, the hedgehog skipped awkwardly before planting his feet firmly on the ground where the waves sunk and filtered into the land. He looked to the horizon and found Robotnik and his goons disappearing from his field of view.

Finding himself in a dilemma, the hedgehog had an internal debate over what course of action to take. Spontaneously, Sonic brought out the chaos emeralds, ready to transform and question Robotnik— he stopped whilst a pensive look crossed him.

The last time Sonic used the chaos emeralds so recklessly, he got the super of 'Super Sonic' knocked out with an uppercut.

The hedgehog pocketed the emeralds, appearing conflicted. He cupped his chin in a puzzled expression, mind racing. His foot tapped on the ground wildly kicking up a cloud, but as he turned to see the distant figures leaving his sight, he made up his mind and anxiously raced to the heart of Christmas Island.

His face flushed with agitation as he stumbled haphazardly across the uneven terrain. He continued running, the plains around him transposing into a forest as more trees bled into the scenery; like a painter's canvas in the midst of creation. Sonic leaped over a short hill, hugging his body to its surface as he sled down, drawing him to the scenery of the forest.

As he went the hill it progressed further into a declining slope, gaining enough momentum to roll himself into a ball. Gravity weighed down intensely as he gained speed, up until he came upon a slope from a boulder, covered in overgrown moss. He bulleted through the air, kicking up dirt that fettered amongst the wind as he flung upon his makeshift slope; his shadow looming over the forest and gradually thinning as he neared the trees.

Sonic unfurled himself as he fell deep into the heart of the forest, and the wind pulsed against his quills as they flapped wildly in the air. He savored the incredible view of the forest flurrying away before him as the leaves pricked themselves and flew beside him.

Crossing his arms he braced for impact, only to be sent flying off-course from the sudden force of a falling tree. The hedgehog spun wildly in an effort to right himself and gather his bearings. He swung his legs, steering down a thicket of branches before he slid down the trunk of a tree. The hedgehog launched from the hull of the tree, grasping onto a branch, and swung high into the air, reaching further above the thick overgrowth of leaves.

Sonic continued this flow, bouncing onto tree branches, swinging from their vines, and sliding down further to the base of the forest to maintain his momentum, however as he smashed into another tree, the frail old oak croaked as it fell.

Sonic yelped as the tree fell to a ravine, chunks scattering apart as its deadwood crashed into the hard walls. Racing up the body of the tree, he leaped to the other side of the ravine, leaping across fallen tree husks until he neared the ravine's edge. He reached out and dug into its surface before swinging himself up.

The hedgehog bounced around the uneven path before coming to a stop and turning around, observing a family of flickies scatter from the edge of the clearing in fright. He sighed with an uneasy lopsided grin before he raced onwards, rolling under exposed roots, springing above boulders, and avoiding environmental hazards.

After dealing with a world full of obstacles, Sonic released a frazzled but relieved sigh as he came into view of Tails' workshop. He glanced at the watermill which powered the light inside the workshop that stored the Tornado. Both Sonic and Tails wanted to remain as environmentally friendly as possible, so it was a practical invention to use natural water streams to power the electricity inside the small building.

Dust scattered into the air as Sonic passed through the natural surface of the runway. He jerked to a halt in front of the garage door and lifted it. The hedgehog coughed slightly as a plume of dust escaped the hangar, batting away at the air as he looked around. Rushing inside, Sonic went to the towering mass with a coat hanging over it before tearing it away to reveal his treasured Tornado.

Putting aside the coat in a neat pile in the corner of the hangar, Sonic went to start the engine of the Tornado, but not before taking a moment to admire its look. The vehicle was just recently modified the vehicle to have two rocket boosters underneath the body of the bi-plane per the blue hedgehogs' taste. He held a hand over its glimmering ruby skin, lightly patting it in pride.

Sonic blinked away his wandering mind and went for its propeller; he had a mission to do. With the convenience of his speed, he threw aside the wheel chocks holding the plane in place and flung the propeller within the blink of an eye, igniting the engine simultaneously as he did so.

The engine sputtered as smoke popped from the exhausts before the spark plugs fired the motor up, nudging the machine forward as the bi-plane roared to life. Sonic took a few steps, before turning around to find Tails; strength in numbers he figured. He scoured high and low inside the workshop but came back to the Tornado without the kitsune, appearing mildly annoyed.

The hedgehog groaned at the irony; all his doomsday preparations for Robotnik's return only to be missing at the reveal of the fat man's oily head again...

Tapping his foot impatiently, Sonic sighed realizing to his chagrin he would have to go alone. Whizzing around with a pencil and paper in hand, the hedgehog began scribbling, leaving barely intelligible chicken scratch on the post-it note. The paper's contents were of the hedgehog's next course of action, catching Tails up to speed about the Egghead's general location and Sonic's reasoning for taking the Tornado with him.

The blue hedgehog put away the pencil and slapped a piece of tape onto the paper, ensuring it wouldn't fly outside. He quickly jumped into the cockpit of the bi-plane and put on his headgear, taking ahold of the control wheel. Before he released the brakes, Sonic glanced at the note one last time. For one reason or another, he felt the jitters. He shook himself and calmed his nerves and released the brake, ignoring his gut feeling.

Baring itself from the shadows, the crimson sheen of the bi-plane shined as it reflected the blaring light of the sunny day. Sonic kept an eye on the sky, occasionally glancing at the gauges on the dashboard. He confirmed that no families of flickies were migrating above him, and with the added clearance of clouds, the hedgehog could focus on the rumbling of the wheels.

Facing the bi-plane towards the opposite end of the runway, Sonic flicked a switch and the rocket boosters underneath the body of the plane boomed to life. The vehicle lurched as it picked up speed rapidly.

Sonic slowly pulled the control wheel back as the Tornado shot down the runway. The plane swiftly gained air just as he took off to the sky. Once he was above the trees, the hedgehog tilted the plane and turned to the landmass far off the horizon.

He continued to gain altitude as the island below him shrunk and gradually transposed into the cobalt hue of the ocean. Even behind the protective gear of his goggles, his eyes squinted at the intense pressure of the winds crashing against his face as the modified bi-plane rocketed against the sky.

Sonic poked his head out of the cockpit and surveyed the land below looking for any indications of Robotnik, however, he was only met with the vast and seamless blue ocean. The hedgehog huffed, his face flustered with anticipation as he could only wait and hope that Robotnik was still somewhere in the general direction he last saw him.

He leaned back into his chair, his grip flexing occasionally as he bided his time. As the hum of the propellers drowned out his thoughts, the hedgehog glanced around himself, looking for anything that could point to Robotnik. Minutes passed by as he fell into a tempo; looking out and around, maybe fly and veer off course momentarily, find nothing, and sit idly once more.

This impromptu behavior irked his nerves, as nothing could be seen for miles on end. Sonic fiddled with the plane's controls and messed with the brakes to distract himself. The sudden jerkiness of the plane got a rise out of him, but only for so long. He flew for some time until he could see before the horizon a landmass. He entertained the idea, if only for a brief moment, that the doctor had given him the slip, scuttling away to whatever basket he made for himself.

Sonic slumped in his seat, annoyed for allowing Robotnik to get away from view. He smacked the control board in a fit of anger, only for his gloves to get caught on the control column. The plane jerked up, blasting into the sky before spinning wildly in the air as the blue hedgehog tried getting his glove unstuck. The plane dropped down, spun around, and almost lost its equilibrium before Sonic finally got the glove off. Putting his glove back on, Sonic patted his muzzled fur in exasperation.

As he internally debated with himself for his next plan of action seeing as there was nothing in sight, there was a faint noise, and if it weren't for his keen sense of hearing, he would've dismissed it under the roaring of the propellers. Sonic strained his ears to focus on the foreign noise as he tried remembering the pitch of the Egg-Mobile or the doctor's Egg-Robos.

He stuck his head out once more and surveyed underneath him, the ocean flushed with scattered pillars of rocks jutting up from the sea-bed as waves relentlessly struck the lumbering dotted rocks.

As the blue blur strained to look further ahead of the ocean, he saw that he was coming upon the land with green plains as far as the eye can see. He squinted his eyes to see what was making that noise as it continued to grow louder. Debating whether or not to check up the landmass as it came underneath him, he spotted a dark smudge in the distance amongst the clouds. At first, he debated on humoring the dark blotch, thinking nothing of it than perhaps some flickies migrating, however, as the hedgehog went to look elsewhere his ears suddenly perked up, flicking strongly as they sharply faced the dark mass. From the tips of his ears, he heard the faintest hum of the exhaustion of air.

Sonic turned sharply and peered ahead, his eyes narrow as he stared suspiciously. His ears leaned forward and he held his breath, dulling out the background noise, listening for that faint hum. There was a terse oppressive veil of uncertainty that lingered around the hedgehog as he bided his time and waited for something.

His ears flicked as his brows widened; again, that hum. He could just faintly make it out of the wind; it rang continuously, monotonous. Those hums could not belong to flickies. Sonic gripped the leather sheet of the control wheel, shoving it forward as he dipped to the clouds, the flares of the boosters igniting behind.

The entire plane was instantly drenched in a hailstorm of rain, whipping Sonic with a cold chill as his fur soaked in the contents of the air. The plane rattled intensely from the workout it was put through, worsening the drive to maintain a steady flight. Sonic could even hear the groaning bending of metal. Any more punishment, he feared, and the whole thing will fall apart.

Reluctantly, he killed the boosters, gradually applying pressure to the brakes as he gently pulled back the control wheel raising himself just above the clouds. The racketing around the plane calmed, and eventually, his flight returned smoothly.

Sonic turned to look towards the clouds just a short distance away from him, struggling to get a general shape or idea of where the figures were, the hums buzzed all around him. He wasn't sure where to look. He surveyed with an intense focus on the clouds before him, leaning heavily on the sides of the bi-plane every so often, looking for anything. His search carried on until he found something peculiar.

Amid the clouds sprinkled across the sky, there was a glint reflecting the light of the sun, and as he focused on the sheen of light, for a split second he saw the red body of one of the Egg-Robos. Sonic flinched as the Egg-Robo suddenly turned its head around, he applied the break quickly and flew into the clouds, not wanting to lose the element of surprise. The Egg-Robo's piercing red iris stared at the blank sky for a split second, its crimson orbs flashed brightly before it swiveled its bulbous head around.

As the blanket of clouds cleared, Robotnik came into view and Sonic steered the bi-plane accordingly. The massive continent in comparison to his humble little island stretched as far as the eye can see into the horizon. The green-fielded landscape of the plains underneath him altered as he flew further inward as hilltops began to dot the land. He studied the scenery mesmerized by its beauty, however, a faint thought crossed the back of his mind—a sense of "Deja vu". The hedgehog was soon about to realize where the group was headed towards.

---

Within the cockpit of his sputtering Egg-mobile, Robotnik glanced at his watch. He pulled down his sleeve only to find a plain wrist without a watch wrapped on it.

"Dah-blast!" Robotnik exclaimed, turning his hand around frantically, and then proceeded to search around his Egg-mobile for the now missing watch. He quickly found the gadget left on his seat and picked it up with a sigh of relief.

Holding the portable clock up slightly in the air, he inspected the item for any damage. In his musing, he noticed his goons following behind him accordingly in their designated flying formation as he glanced at the reflective glass. He huffed and smiled with great pride for his creations.

The Hard-Boiled Heavies.

The spherical machines were among the latest of his creations, outfitted with new cutting-edge technology. His new unit was beyond the scale of the mass-produced army of badniks. The codes featured and cross-fitted to every badnik of his army were rejected in favor of new operating systems for the platoon. They were an invaluable squadron—reinforced with durable new metallurgy tech he could get his hands on.

Their parts were scavenged from the ruins of the Death Egg scattered across Earth's surface. Their original programming was heavily modified from being his enforcers and scouts to becoming his most sophisticated armed squad. They not only act as mere field officers, but these machines could also mobilize nearby badniks at their command for coordinated assaults. They were further advanced than their metallic brethren for the unique possessions of their processing units; built-in artificial intelligence systems allowing for the machines to learn from experience but to be unpredictable for his foes. The doctor even humored these models of Egg-Robos with self-repairing nodes.

They were his most adaptable machines yet.

It was immensely gratifying to not be bogged down by clumsy and rather primitive machines as before, but instead, assisted with his grandest scheme yet; his extra pairs of hands. He happily put on the watch on his wrist and continued piloting towards his diabolical machinations, all just in time to witness its launch.

As he indulged these dreams that clamored for his mind, he was suddenly notified of his emergency distress signal, its broadcast was undetectable outside to anyone else beyond Robotniks modified radio systems in his cockpit. He peered curiously, with a raised brow, towards the monitor of his Egg-Mobile as it blinked. What could it be now?

A blurry screenshot appeared, its recording was in infrared. It appeared pixelated for a moment before the finer details came into focus and the resolution finished updating. In it, he saw a large mass exuding intense heat in its flight behind his machines. Robotnik leered at the image, the large mass looked like a plane; why was the plane flying at this altitude?

A bi-plane seemingly, of all things.

...

"Waitaminute..!"

As if all noise stopped within a second, Eggman leaned over his seat staring down the screen. He gaped as the realization hit and quickly took a glance at his watch. Inspecting the arm, it shifted, revealing the reflection of the Tornado. Robotnik whirled his head to look behind him. To his shock, there it was, the crimson Tornado sneaking about in the field of clouds. Though it was a ways away, he could tell it was the instantly recognizable red color of the bi-plane.

Sonic meanwhile had been staring intently at the Egg-mobile, trying to find a way to keep out of sight of the ship while not straying too far from the group, yet what he neglected to see was that he'd been spotted. His eyes looked up to meet Robotnik's—and his face went blank—completely at a loss. Not sure how to react accordingly, Sonic adorned a timid smile whilst he gave a slight wave.

Impulsively, Robotnik's face blanched before his head boiled red with rage and absurd fear. He pointed at Sonic, "Hard-Boiled Heavies, a-attack!" his voice cracking under the weight of his shout. The robots' scarlet eyes blazed momentarily before the flare of their jetpacks erupted as they re-directed their flight and rocketed towards the plane. Whilst the Egg-Robo's went to confront their pursuer, Robotnik turned and jump-started the Egg-Mobile. The rotund man activated its boost, pushing all its stop knobs and shredded across the sky.

Sonic gaped at the blistering speeds of the Egg-Mobile, quickly noticing the mad doctor fading away into the distance. However, with no time to redirect his flight to pursue the fat man, the robots trained their blasters at the hull of the plane, lining up their sights directly on the hedgehog's head. The robots were closing the distance; Sonic had to move.

He weaved the plane off to the side, narrowly avoiding a frontal impact against one of the Hard-Boiled Heavies, which was followed up with a hailstorm of blaster fire whizzing around the plane. The hedgehog jerked the control wheel, throwing the bi-plane in an aileron roll as he sifted through and weaved aside the webs of blaster fire. It was only then that the hedgehog realized the predicament he was held in.

It would be really nice if he were able to return fire.

He glanced miserably at the rattling engine... with perfectly open space to hold rifles. Sonic blanched as he ducked, barely avoiding a direct shot at his head, beyond the singeing of his hairs. Sonic groaned as he pinched the little fire on top of his ruffled quills. He tightened his grip as he pushed the handwheel forward, throwing the plane down and spun around, all the while as the robots followed suit.

Well... this was just unfair; the badniks could take advantage of their nimble and free-flowing aerial speed while the hedgehog steered a 5-ton bi-plane.

He clenched his teeth in frustration as he struggled to dodge the surrounding laser beams. The thin albeit durable wings of the plane began to rack up with tiny holes, but better the four wings than one exposed engine.

As an Egg-Robo neared to rush the hedgehog, he jerked the control, whacking the robot with the panels of the plane and momentarily disorienting the machine. Sonic grinned cheekily, though the celebrations were short-lived. It was a lot sooner than he expected, but as soon as he glanced in front of the plane, a stray beam suddenly pierced the engine and a plume of smoke exploded in front of Sonic's eyesight.

The dashboard lit up with a flashing red warning of engine damage as instruments sparked. The hedgehog covered his face as his eyes watered from the intensity of the smoke. He felt the speed of the plane drop significantly, no longer at cruising speed. He checked the panel for the booster underneath the Tornado, finding that it was still in good condition, seeing as the screen didn't flare for it. Now having to rely on the booster alone, Sonic pushed the control wheel leading the plane down to a nosedive.

While it may not be the best way to outmaneuver gunfire in the open, it was the best way to gain speed using the weight of the biplane to put some distance from his pursuers. He readjusted the levels of the boosters, pushing the rockets to full power just as he threw the plane around, spinning wildly; the plane barreled to a popular maneuver that Tails always wanted to try out.

If he could see this right now, Sonic thought.

A stray laser whizzed by him, the hairs on his back had singed and brought Sonic out of his reverie. Sonic shook his head and refocused on his escape. Dodge and weave were all he could think as he spun around like a giant propeller. He coughed up fumes but did his best to hold himself together in such a one-sided dog fight.

Even with the improvised smokescreen, one of the heavy gunners miraculously clipped the booster underneath the Tornado. Sonic felt a thump underneath his seat and he curiously looked out the bi-plane beneath him. The rockets detached themselves from the bi-plane before spiraling out of control, soaring in random directions. The Egg-Robos shrank back as the boosters, barreling in the sky, blew up in intense balls of fires and flames.

The situation deteriorated fast.

Sonic steeled himself and took ahold of the control wheel as he felt the plane starting to vibrate. Without any source of propulsion, Sonic could only use the wind to guide himself midair. He watched the propellers slow to a stop and the sputtering of the damaged engine stopped altogether. The winds lapping against him were the only ambiance to accompany him, its weight pressing ever so lightly against his quills until it faded almost all together; leaving him as the bi-plane suddenly plunged in a quiet freefall.

The entire bi-plane was shaking erratically as the intensity of velocity increased. Sonic anxiously pushed the brakes to slow the aircraft down but nothing happened. He hissed as he continued pushing the breaks only to find a spluttering of liquid gushing from underneath the floor. He realized with great apprehension that the hydraulic system was busted. The worrying hazards piling up presented ever-increasing odds of fatality, and they weighed down on the hedgehog as he cursed his luck.

The Tornado wasn't slowing down, was quickly losing altitude, and now it was spiraling out of control as it was nearing terminal velocity.

The blue hedgehog came to the hard conclusion that he would have to make an emergency crash landing. His hands were tied as options were quickly becoming limited. He breathed deeply, before steeling himself as he stared ahead.

The scarlet machines abruptly stopped in their onslaught and watched. The plane whistled eerily against the sky, its magnitude consuming the earth in its brevity. The bi-plane shook with an intense ferocity as the wings of the plane groaned and curved back from the speed.

There was a peaceful calm before the plane, the wildlife hosted upon the plains as they went about their day. The grass hummed softly, the thicket of their blades swished against each other like little whispers. Flickies chirped in songs, and the petals of flowers were pricked from the wind and blown across the plains freely.

This silence, the life frozen to time, dissipated in a raging inferno as the downed plane impacted the earth, throwing up the dirt into the sky, spewing from its wound.

The plane bulleted and smeared against the earth, pulverizing the plains below in a trench of torn metal and trails of fire. When the body of the smoldering plane slowed to a crawl, a resulting plume of flames erupted from the crash site. A mushroom cloud tore through the air and rose to the sky, igniting it briefly in a haze of orange and grey.

The Egg-Robos turned to each other as if they were confirming what they saw. They glanced back and forth to the crash site and their fellow badniks before Robotnik's laughter of pure schadenfreude erupted from their speakers as they guffawed at the sight.

Upon the wreckage, metal creaked and groaned as the parts settled into the dirt, the flames surrounding the plane and the burning field licked upon the earth as bits of fiery ashes flew along the wind, creating more burning embers. It seemed that nothing remained; nothing living anyways.

Their moment of respite and comeuppance continued until Robotnik contacted them. Immediately they became impassively rigid and turned to the skies before blasting off once more. They should have stayed a little longer if only to confirm that they truly destroyed Sonic for good because as the field was cleared of the badniks, a yellow gradient light illuminated the area.

The yellow light inside the plume of smoke suddenly contracted followed by a blast wave erupting from the site. After encasing the fiery mushroom, the transparent circumference of the blast wave began violently imploding itself, sucking the mushroom cloud back into a single point. The smokescreen gradually faded away, unveiling an array of golden flames and twinkles of light encompassing and dancing around Sonic.

It was a last resort for him to end up like this. Sonic's sights were sealed with his pale eyelids and he exuberated a calm stoic exterior, yet he knew with this transformation, he might not be able to keep up the calm expression he portrayed before witnessing the result of the chaos surrounding him.

The hedgehog opened his eyes and turned around, facing the flames crackling behind; the Tornado was in complete ruin. The bi-plane's body was crumbled up and completely flattened like a pile of scrap. Only what remained recognizable was the engine as it jutted from the earth, blackened and spewing out trails of inflamed oil that burned the ground as it caught on fire.

The wings were torn off; pieces littered and juxtaposed against the fields. Sonic grimaced as he looked at the sight, misery laced his soul. This wasn't just a bi-plane, it was his beloved plane. It was not gifted for his heroics, not that he had much recognition for his efforts anyway, but it was built by his hands from all the scrap of junkyards he visited.

The little hedgehog had always wanted to fly and see as much of the world as he could, and he tirelessly went through so much to get into aviation to understand the functions of every little part of a plane that made it fly. Tails had even helped to modify the plane to make it exclusive to his style: fast and powerful with the extra boost added underneath along with the new paint-job the fox gave it.

And now? Now there was nothing left to salvage from.

...

Sonic looked to the grass, charred or lit aflame, and spun around to the trail of destruction his crash landing had left behind. His brows narrowed angrily, and a vengeful sorrow alit his veins. The natural vegetation and life that had for so long lived in harmony before his uninvited crash were lacerated and betrayed. Sonic, whether directly or not, had undoubtedly displaced and killed the small ecosystem that had once thrived and painstakingly tried to keep at a balance, ruining the exotic and beautiful fauna that sprinkled the plains and scarred the earth with his flying battery.

With the amount of rage he held for the loss of the Tornado and especially the devastation of the environment, his blood boiled for justice.

Sonic immediately went to work, digging out the remains of the Tornado from the earth. The hedgehog winced as the burning dirt chewed at his fingers. With each fistful of dirt he pulled from the wreckage of the plane his gloves were stained, begrimed between the fibers.

Once enough of the engine was recovered from its shallow rest, Sonic paused and sat on the floor, staring between his hands as he recovered his breath from the arduous work. They were murky and disheveled from the manual labor. The hedgehog flexed his hands as the tiniest of metal shards sauntered to the ground floating away with the wind. His gaze hardened as he cupped his hands, staring afar with a distant unfocused gaze.

Sonic flinched as he heard the snap and crackling of grass beside him, and he turned to look. Sonic rose from his knees, grasping onto his wobbly legs to support himself. A thick dark mist ate the plains surrounding the hedgehog. From the raging fires, the grass scorched and blackened to ashes as their remains lay on top of the drying ground, casting the air in a smog of poison and blistering heat. He quickly put a halt to its greedy consumption of life.

Sonic held his hands out as a dazzling display of sparkling dew dripped from his hands. The emeralds appeared, the light of their eternal glows illuminated the hedgehog, like a glimmering strobe ball. He shared the power of the chaos emeralds to the earth; the damaged and burned grass began to stand straight and regained their healthy shade of green once more. He sprinted over to the trail his bi-plane left behind and the sparkling light that surrounded him enveloped the area and dripped to the earth. The soil began sprouting grass and seedlings emerged from the ground, dotting the lands once more and healing the wound he made on the land.

A soft smile fixed upon Sonic as he watched the plants overtake the exposed dirt blooming with new flowers and life, though his smile faded as he turned to the sky. The silhouettes of the Hard-Boiled Heavies could still be seen, blurring away. Sonic studied the path they were taking as a stern frown laced his face. He brought out the emeralds once more and called to them, asking to receive their power as before. With his head held low as the emeralds circled him, he closed his eyes, reigning onto the link to his super form.

His quills gradually began to rise into the air, their thick tufts swaying and gliding along with the cool wind as the hedgehog was enveloped within the residuals of chaos.

The area flashed white and the earth quaked underneath the hedgehog. Dissipating into the sky, the fading light revealed a sparkling hedgehog hovering over the sea of green, encased in a golden flame fluttering about him. Sonic opened his eyes up, his onyx orbs receding into the corners of his retinas as they shined like glimmering dew.

He looked towards the sky, determined, a glint encompassed his eyes as they glistened. The depths of his emerald green eyes thundered with a great sorrowing burden from the transformation. His brows curled and thickened, his face flushing as he rocketed towards the Egg-Robos.

---

After establishing connection to their creator, the Hard-Boiled Heavies telecommunications activated upon their re-entry to the sky. The voice of the mad scientist crackled in the speakers of the robots, appearing fuzzy and incomprehensible until a few passing moments later, focused and clear. Robotic rumbling and incomprehensible garbled sounds reverberated from the machines before stopping; a wicked chuckle echoed in their speakers.

The Doctor gleefully cheered in the built-in communicators, breaking into such a peal of infectious maddening laughter, his voice croaked hoarsely in the barreling of his throat. Saliva got caught in his throat and his laughter was thrown into a heavy coughing fit. The fat man heaved, hacking out mucus as his hands balled to fists as he punched his chest to catch his breath. After an agonizingly long terse silence, his voice suddenly picked up again as he coughed harshly to clear his throat.

"G-good, good news! Very excellent news indeed. This is a momentous occasion, no—a triumph! That meddling little rat finally breathed his last! My glorious empire should celebrate this day as earth's slumbering peace once the final act of my project has finished." Robotnik's voice boomed from the speaker's, great pride and joy laced his every word.

The Egg-Robos turned to each other, gloved fists raising high in the air as they cheered for their accomplishment. "You, my elite squadron, my loyal model machines, have done a great service to my new empire, gifting us the hedgehog's final rest..." As Robotnik babbled on about the pride of his creations, there was a resounding crack, its ferocity whipping across the sky. The clouds before the machines tore and parted as a shrill whistle echoed across the heavens; a golden needle could be seen faintly dashing through the cloudy formations.

Individually, although in synchronized motion, the Egg-Robos turned to the direction of the barreling whistle and its shrieks from the heavens clearing as it neared them; the bleeding crimson irises of their glass eyes were quickly blinded by the golden bright light that blinked and appeared before them.

They instinctively raised their gloved hands to shield their receptors from the blinding light and the encroaching golden flames that fed upon their metal skin. Not a moment soon, the bright light rescinded in a glimmer of sparkling dews, and the Egg-Robos gaped at the presence of Sonic the Hedgehog. There came the glint of his emerald green gaze piercing the machines, looking through them, studying them with a steeled gaze.

The machines' bodies rattled as they shrank back. Terror wracked their servomechanisms because, for the first time from the moment they booted up, they felt tense.

Sonic quivered with the desire to unleash his wrath. The golden hedgehog balled his fists, igniting his glimmering aura, consuming his entire form. However, as the hedgehog prepared to unleash his light-speed assault, tearing and melting away the metal chassis of the badniks, the transmitters within the Hard-Boiled Heavies picked up and their communications system activated; Sonic paused with a start, listening intently.

"...Now with that being said, I must insist on cutting the celebrations shortly. We're behind on schedule today. The hedgehog's heckling had narrowed this fault of timing considerably! However a new opportunity has presented itself to us, and as such, there's been a slight change of operations... one that requires your attentive services for its success." Robotnik paused. "Resume course destination, Never Lake, as we were heading to earlier—" Sonic's eyes widened as he picked up that nugget of information. Sonic immediately whirled to a patch of the land, his eyes scanning furiously at the plains when he saw it; a large long river stretched for miles unto the horizon.

Little Planet! Sonic thought anxiously, recalling the yearly cycle of the planet's visits on top of the large lake. The Time Stones! Sonic gasped sharply, realizing the gravity of the situation he was in. Without any further time to lose, he soared through the sky, trailing the river, and left behind the frazzled Hard-Boiled Heavies.

"You will lead a very special mission that'll test not only your individual capabilities but your teamwork, all for a very special reward! Regroup at my captain's quarters, all of you are absolutely vital to the mission's most crucial piece, so get going!" Frantically looking at the golden trail Sonic left behind, they ignited their jet boosters and raced to the lake.

Far ahead from the sights of the machines Sonic rocketed across the clouds, following the river that fed into the great "Never Lake". Every random bank of mist drifted towards the hedgehog each time he passed through their unrefined shapes of fluff, their tails whipping along with the wind as they were warped from the conflicting speeds.

Staring up ahead, the glistening hedgehog frowned as he came across the rock formations surrounding the watery cul de sac, where the river deposited upon the embankment of the lake. He flew down to get a closer look, the silhouette of Little Planet coming into view as it casted a looming shadow over Never Lake and the surrounding buttes.

He looked above to the floating planet and stared, searching for the giant chain Robotnik had placed before, but just as he was outside the walls of Never Lake, he saw none, leaving him bewildered and suspicious. The light rays of the sun were making it hard for Sonic to see clearly, even as he held out a hand for a better view, so he ignited his aura and trekked through the sky for Little Planet. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, the light of his aura sizzling away, receding into his body.

As Sonic approached the little planet, a great gust of wind suddenly exploded from the terrene, throwing loose rocks onto the earth as they rattled and withered away. Dust from their formations was disturbed and thrown up as the water underneath plunged further below in a circular shape. The sounds that escaped from the planet felt like pure agony, and the feeling was revolting to the hedgehog; the remaining plume of wind that escaped the planet reverberated in shrieks, like shrill screams.

The surface of Little Planet seemed to collapse within itself as two giant hollow hemispheres encased the planet; suddenly, the atmosphere was encompassed in a deafening, numbing silence. The beating of one's own heart could be heard from within in that frozen time, and it echoed beyond the confines of the chest.

A resounding metallic clang echoed against the scenery, scaring flocks of flickies as they flew away from the unpleasant noise. The sound carried and thrummed throughout the plains, the lake underneath the planet trembled as waves crashed along its edges.⁽3⁾ Sonic could only stare, his heart fluttered anxiously waiting—waiting for what he didn't know nor for what could he fathom. Suddenly an ethereal noise reverberated around Little Planet, followed by a stringent low hum, stirring the surface of the once calm and still lake underneath it. Loose rocks and boulders tumbled from the rocky formations echoing the sound of sharp cracks fumbling and stirring up dust and dirt.

Two violet pulsating walls erupted from the open ends of the hemispheres, lighting up the dark side of Little Planet with a purple hue. The glowing bulbous lights veered afar from the crevices of their machinations, as these beams slithered through the exposed ports of the metallic prison encasing the planetoid.

As the two walls met up together and encapsulated Little Planet, two massive oscillating violet lights ignited simultaneously, parallel to each other. The discharge of the lights echoed throughout the surface of the prison as the planet was encased in steams of light, unveiling the sheer magnitude of metallic panels, walkways, and trenches digging into the abyss of the gargantuan towers and buildings dotting the surface of this prison. In the middle of the construction right above the heart of Little Planet was an abstract reconstruction of Dr. Robotnik's face, plastered into the walls of the orbital prison for all to witness.

Sonic remained hovering in the air, gawking at the utter abomination of human ingenuity and lust for power.

It was the Death Egg, reborn.

But how!? It was torn up, blown to smithereens—there was nothing left! How did Robotnik bring back the Death Egg? Sonic wracked his brain for answers as he stared at the mocking bushy-toothed smile of the battle station. Before he could dawdle on the question any further, he heard a faint screech of jets streaming by. Suddenly the Hard-boiled Heavies appeared blasting through the sky as they went to board the Death Egg. With their disappearance into the giant metal planet, a deep bellow erupted from the Death Egg.

Sonic noticed the sphere hovering its way upwards with unfocused eyes, albeit far more quickly than he expected. His fists tightened as memories of his last two adventures surged through his mind. He failed to prevent Robotnik from sending his metal planet to the sky, but this time he won't fall through to stop the Death Egg from reaching space again. The hedgehog was engulfed in a surge of raging golden flames, erupting in a disk of light from where he hovered; streaking against the sky like a comet as he soared to reach the Death Egg.

---

Within the confines of the Death Egg, Dr. Robotnik roamed the corridors leading to his laboratory in his Egg-Mobile.⁽4⁾ With how lucky his day was coming along, the doctor looked forward to the finality of his ingenious operation. Along with Robotnik, he carried alongside him a small pouch sat to the edge of his seat, of which he glanced towards with a toothy smirk. Gingerly he leaned over and grasped the pouch, pulling it and sitting it on his lap. He patted the pouch before he untied the thin but durable string holding together the fabrics. The doctor rummaged through and plucked something out of it. He laid out his gloved hand and unfurled it, unveiling a small gem resting upon his palm.

A Time Stone.

Upon closer inspection, however, the rock was faded to its basic color. Since the incident with Little Planet some time ago, the power of the Time Stones drained, ensuring that no one tried to access its powers for evil again. This setback was only a minor annoyance for the mad doctor, of course, and did very little to deter him from collecting them once more; his brilliance was more than capable of restoring the powers of the gems, nature be damned. His technology and studies regarding the matters and states of energy could bring these gems back to their former glory, and he would not let some implausibly sentient planet defy his ambitions. The doctor held up the stone one more time before he pocketed the Time Stone back in its pouch and quickly tightened up the cover again.

He hummed a tune dedicated to his glorious legacy, which he named 'Doc Robeatnix'. It was almost infuriating how catchy the melody was, but he continued humming the song regardless, letting himself sneak in a few more spikes of dopamine before the tune would lose its vitality.

Just as he was about to turn another corner, he received a notification from the monitor of his Egg-Mobile. It was quite out of the 'blue' as warning indications blared from his screen. The Doctor grumbled as he lost his chirpy mood from humming, shifting his glaring annoyance towards the monitor. As soon as he opened the notification, the screen was flooded with striking and bold red letters imposed on a black screen, its reflective dome perceiving the flabbergasted man staring back.

'Surface breached! Intruder Alert!'

Without missing a beat, Robotnik was quickly draped in red as red lights appeared from the ceiling. The sound of sirens and horns blaring loudly across the speakers littered throughout the hallways of the Death Egg Mk II followed up the lights as the voice of the Mother Computer repeated the "Intruder Alert" in the speakers to fill up the gaps between each signal.

"Wha—HOW!?" Robotnik gaped, his mouth flung open wide with absolute bewilderment. "How did he recover? My Hard-Boiled Heavies outnumbered him five to one!" His ears reddened like tomatoes, the foul-mouthed man gripped his fists as he brought up the screen, showcasing Super Sonic tearing through the surface of the Death Egg MKII as massive explosions rocketed its surface."The Chaos Emeralds, of course! The brat wisened up." Robotnik groaned at the meager compliment; he was both distraught and impressed by the hedgehog's preparations.

"No matter, golden or not this changes absolutely nothing! I just need more time t—no, not more time..." Robotnik rambled out loud, pausing momentarily as he peered down the digital recording, sneering at the golden hedgehog shredding the surface of the planetary prison, entailing a hailstorm of shrapnel. "—I just need power. Power over chaos! It shall be rightfully within my control!" The mad doctor flung between gagging and erupting in a fit of hysterics; beads of sweat poured down his scalp. He quivered slightly, his blood raging with energy. Robotnik shifted about in place deeply in thought, occasionally wiping away at his sweat with his handkerchief to appease his ever-growing migraines.

Robotnik went to work, typing up commands in his built-in computer.

"If marvelous death machines won't cut it, then sheer numbers will!" Robotnik declared, inputting the final key. He leaned over in his Egg-Mobile and jump-started it, flying through the complex maze-like interior of the space station, taking a shortcut to the main headquarters. He held his gloved finger over a green button and the sound of speakers resonated across the battle station. "Attention, Attention! All forces of the Eggman Empire, redirect your programming duties! Initiate a forward assault on that hedgehog!" Robotnik typed in new commands, voice-activating the mother computer, the overseer, and systems management of the entire space station. "Computer, launch defense protocols of the Death Egg MKII!"

Clenching the steering wheel tightly till sweat poured down his unfathomably jittery hands, he anxiously made way for the headquarters.

---

Sonic soared high in the surface of the Death Egg, surveying the trenches of walkways and towers dizzyingly dotting the space station. The gold hedgehog kindled in dazzling golden flames as he shot down towers scattered about. So furious was the power behind his speed, towering metal skyscrapers crumpled inward as Sonic tore through their walls; the foundations of each building groaned loudly as they collapsed. The hedgehog crossed every mile he covered of the enormous Death Egg, obliterating and tearing through every single tall and important structure he could see.

Shells and fragments of debris bled into neighboring compounds, colliding with other buildings as sparks of fumes and bolts of electricity crackled in the air, racketing up incredible and powerful explosions chaining upon the orbit of the planetary prison; every inch the hedgehog covered was consumed in a maelstrom of shrapnel and flames tearing through the air.

The hedgehog disregarded the buildings standing in his way, he felt not the slightest hint of resistance from these buildings; like grains of sand, they crumbled to the powders of dust as they scattered and dissipated amongst the wind. Sonic searched high and low, tearing through the very being of the Death Egg, but Robotnik was nowhere to be found.

He wracked his mind for an idea. Where could Eggman be? Sonic momentarily paused as he hovered above, observing the chaos of destruction raging across the ruins on the Death Egg's surface as more explosions erupted and spewed wildly.

Unbeknownst to the superpowered chaos-riddled hedgehog, however, smooth chrome plates adorning every square mile on the surface of the orbital station creaked slightly as tiny interwoven seams split apart, remaining undetectable within their transformation. They rifted into small cavities, littering around Sonic like a sparse ring of metal trinkets. The planet quaked ever so slightly as metal plates dropped into place ringing the planet with the howls of its alloys.

Long thin barrels eased out of each pothole, creaking like a ticking gear as they were fastened in place. The base of every barrel and tube swiveled at their base in varying degrees, surrounding the hedgehog from every single angle possible, disguised by the sheer magnitude of weaponry laying around the station's exterior. The long and thinning barrels lowered till their heads aimed squarely at the hedgehog, stopping with an echo; heavy gun turrets and cannons awaited, deployed by the activated defense systems of the Death Egg. In the barrels of the gun turrets, azure trails of light formed deep within their pores as light particles swarmed inside. Lightning crackled around the barrels of the turrets as they glowed blue, and simultaneously they fired.

Sonic barely managed to catch the barrage of blasts targeting him, the gloss of his eyes reflected the blistering trails of plasma swarming for his blood. An explosion erupted as the lasers collided, consuming the sky in a ball of fire as a golden flame was shot far from the Death Egg MKII. A look of surprise came upon his face as he caught his bearings and slowed himself to a halt. The golden flames of his aura whipped around him from the strong gust.

That was new..! He narrowed his eyes, a determined glint reflected against his pupils as he faced the legions of barrels recalibrating their aim. His ears flicked as a low but guttural growl of metal screeched against metal echoing all around the space station. Suddenly before the hedgehog, a gargantuan tidal wave of aerodynamic badniks launched from the heart of the Death Egg, so enormous was the sheer volume of badniks counterattacking the hedgehog, for a brief moment the very sun and its light itself was blocked from the bodies of these machines, casting the entire area around Sonic in a dark cold shade.

They appeared like little pinpricks coming from every single imaginable angle at the hedgehog; there was nothing indistinguishable he could make out of this invading force. The iron sky of badniks bulleting towards the hedgehog grouped together in a pack, swarming towards Super Sonic. The gun turrets re-calibrated themselves and aimed at Sonic's new position, and before the turrets could begin their barrage, a golden flame encased Sonic and he erupted towards the underbelly of the Death Egg MKII.

The legions of badniks met with him and unleashed volleys upon volleys of rounds at the hedgehog. The entire sky was lit with the trails of blaster bolts careening towards him, appearing like the locusts of fireflies. The inordinate magnitude of bullets fired blanketed the earth underneath in a neon glow. Despite the billions of shells streaking towards and by the hedgehog, the mere peashooters could do nothing but smash against the hedgehog's skin, deflecting elsewhere.

Balkyries, Buzz bombers, Buzzers; Spikes', Batbrains... all types of flying aerodynamically fine-tuned badniks and their variants came at Sonic like a tsunami hell-bent on getting a shot on him. The spiky yellow hedgehog met that vigor enthusiastically as the properties of the golden flame changed and ignited into a deep shade of blue and Sonic blasted straight through the center of the mass of machine parts.

The surface of the prison planet below the hedgehog was cast in showers of machine parts and shrapnel bulleting every inch of its surface. Glass was cracked and shattered, entire towers were littered with debris, and walkways were utterly mutilated from the intense focus fire of shrapnel.

Miniature explosions rocketed the surface of the Death Egg MKII as the swarm imploded from within. The swarm quickly went to recollect itself and formed a spherical mass, circling Sonic as more badniks came and joined in the fray. Another tiny explosion rocketed from within and the outer surface layer of the swarm shrank back to get a better view of their target.

Super Sonic appeared momentarily, driving a fist through the hull of a Batbot. The swarm reacted instantaneously as volleys rained down upon Super Sonic.

Sonic grunted as he smacked an armful of rounds away blasting a portion of the ever-growing sphere of badniks, tearing a hole through it. However, just as quickly, the portion of the barrier of badniks reformed itself and continued to expand.

Thousands upon thousands of more volleys joined soon after, the swarm acting in unison like the hive mind of one colossal machination. Streams of badniks swarmed the expanding sphere of machines, and these thinning streams appeared like the tendrils of the swarm acting in conjunction with the swarm's movements. Their bolts illuminate the sky in streaks of light as the stray beams sizzle into the air.

The gun turrets dotting the surface of the Death Egg MKII finished re-calibrating and unleashed torrents of bolts at the spot in the sky; the laser beams collided with the surface of the swarms of badniks. The air was pierced with the shrill cries and groaning of metal bending and torn through in excessive heat, coating the area in a thick cloud of ash and flakes of metal.

The turrets continued firing for a solid few minutes, bombarding the section of the sky until the atmosphere was almost completely covered in clouds of ash. The air burned, reeking with the taste of metal and of the smell of vinegar. It was only when the surface above was blotted with nothing but smoke had the barrels stopped firing as the lights swarming them died down. Life and every bit of movement from the corridors of the iron dome ceased operations, and the whole earth could hear the thumbing of metal, the hums of power surging through the station.

All forms of machinery waited for the smoke in the air to clear, and just as the thick grey color faded, a flock of Flickies flew away from the evaporating cloud. Each turret continued to scan the area meticulously, finding no hints of any heat signature within the floating ash, sans one small dot of life. Every gun loaded itself to prepare for another onslaught of heavy fire orbs of energy gathered at the pores to the entrances of their barrels, but they paused suddenly; they were met with one single Flickey flying off quickly from the cloud desperately reaching for its brethren a distance away. All scopes were lined onto the small bird that caught up with its brethren, looking as if the machines were left disappointed that no enemy could survive their attack.

Suddenly, a burst of wind exploded from the center of the cloud, escaping like a pulsating bubble, gradually expanding with each second. The cloudy skies dissipated as the burst tore a hole through the iron sky, enveloping the station below in a shower of blinding sunlight. A large shadow loomed from a single dark point between the station and the sun. The light of the sun seemed to intertwine with the dispersed golden flames as they expanded from a stubborn little hedgehog.

Sonic looked around at his supposed surprise attack with determined eyes, glaring at each piece of machinery as if he were advising them to back down. It was almost like he spoke without speaking; everything they would do to hinder him was utterly meaningless. And while it was probably foolish to assume a piece of metal, let alone a turret, would miraculously gain emotion and suddenly experience fear or shock without any possible form of self-awareness, not a single machine gun fired at him within his presence.

Little did Sonic know that all the turrets were still following and firing at him. It was just that they ran out of ammunition and a multitude of clicks could be heard from every turret. Quietly they began to reload.

Sonic took one more glance around himself before nodding his head, certain. The hedgehog turned and went on to continue his improvised plan of 'Search and Destroy' until he was stopped by another swarm of badniks unleashing a hail storm of firepower onto him. The hedgehog easily outmaneuvered the barrage of beams, dodging and weaving "up and down and all around" in-between the beams of light. A pair of spikes aimed straight for him, but before they had the chance to unleash their spiked balls, Sonic came up to them and gripped the cores. He shot away from the swarm of badniks and surfed the body of the Death Egg.

The legions of badniks thinned into a straight point as multitudes of gun turrets restarted their assault and discharged hundreds of rapid continuous volleys in his general direction. Sonic was quick on the move and made sure to avoid the blasts from the more powerful anti-aircraft weaponry before he turned around in his flight, flying backward.

He tensed his grip on the spikes and spun around blurring out like a toy top and tossing the bodies of the spikes at light speed tearing through the hordes of badniks like butter to a knife. Before Super Sonic had a chance to assess his situation as he cleared the legions of badniks, a fringe group he missed smacked behind him. Sonic yelped as they surrounded him and redirected his flight, shooting away from the body of the Death Egg.

Sonic tried moving his limbs but the intense pressure applied by the badniks made it cumbersome. Sonic growled, annoyed by the badniks persistence of keeping him away from the heart of the Death Egg MKII. Suddenly, as he was still struggling, The hedgehog closed his eyes, his golden aura igniting into white light. He reappeared in a flash off to the side of the horde. The swarm of badniks rerouted themselves and redirected their efforts towards containing Sonic. He tensed and prepared to face the onslaught when his ears twitched, flicking backward as they lay flat pressed against his quills, and he caught the faintest *click*.

Sonic's eyes widened and he flashed away from the area. Reappearing a short distance away, Sonic turned to see a tsunami of turret fire shredding through the badniks, the turquoise blasts bulleted towards the wall of badniks and left their bodies crumbled to clouds of shrapnel. Sonic shot up higher hoping the increased distance would make the turret's shots prone to missing. Once he felt he was far enough, Sonic stopped and turned to face the body of the Death Egg MKII. This time he looked closely at the hull of the body of the Death Egg and found where exactly the badniks were swarming from as two large holes opened up to bring another wave at Sonic. He wasted no time and surrounded himself with a fierce blue aura, slinging himself towards the badniks and towards the massive hangars.

---

Trying not to crash into the halls of the corridor leading to the heart of the Death Egg, Robotnik arrived at his laboratory, inevitably aiming to crash into the room. The doctor yelped, his blue eyes breaking through the spectacles of his glasses as he abruptly pushed the brakes of the Egg-Mobile to stop himself. In his haste, however, Galileo's Law of Inertia stepped aside to formally introduce to him the perpendicular guest known as, "The Wall", flinging him off the Egg-Mobile and into the control room, the vehicle behind him crashing onto the floor and spinning wildly.

Like sticky hands, Robotnik stuck onto his company for a moment before a sickeningly gross peel of rubber and skin rang out as the rotund man quite literally tore himself from the wall. A comical *clunk* reverberated across the room as he dropped on his head.

The old man sighed, groaning and wincing in agony as his legs swept off the waxed wall and fell down in the splits. The doctor whined pettily, grumbling to himself; something along the lines of adding in two large cushions to 'break the fall'.

Robotnik hoisted himself up, but not before sliding all the way flat on the ground. "Uggh, just... just need a moment..." Tearing his rubber sleeves from the ground with a *shlop, the mad man escaped the suction of his sleeves weighing his arms down. Raising his arms above his head, he cracked his knuckles and got to work pulling himself up. His gloved hands slapped against the waxed floor, and with painstakingly great effort, he yanked his torso from the ground before he finally stood up onto his feet.

Hunching forward, Robotnik laid the palms of his hands on his knees and panted from the great exhaustion of work he went into getting himself up, wiping away at his sweaty and greasy scalp. The doctor stood up, feeling a knot on his back he straightened up, put his arms on his hips, and stretched.

He felt the knot give way with a painful snap. His face stretched immediately in a silent scream. He halted and stood as still as a statue.

"Oop... my back..." Robotnik astutely observed, emotionally blank as the pain in his voice barely wheezed out. Holding a hand out, he shuffled along to his Egg-Mobile, gingerly holding onto his back. Pained grunts echoed across the lab as he made way, but as soon as he took a hold of the hovercraft, he sighed in relief, resting his head along the side of the Egg-Mobile. The lard of fat stood there for a moment before he rose his head on the passenger door and gripped the pouch holding the Time Stones.

Pocketing it, whilst preparing himself mentally, he tightly gripped onto the door of the Egg-Mobile and jerked himself up. Another knot loosened and his spine cracked louder than before, causing another horrendous wheeze of pained whining and maddening laughter to escape his nostrils. While it was unintentional, it helped mediate the sudden shock.

With the doctor finally able to focus on the Time Stones, he pulled out the pouch and walked over to his surprisingly small desk that had one monitor turned on, albeit being that the room was dark.

The screen was white with two words that said "Input Password". A black outlined rectangle was below the two words, showcasing a blinking cursor.

The doctor whisked away the office chair standing in front of him and tapped his fingers onto the plain surface underneath the monitor. For the average normie, it would've appeared that the man was blind and typed on an empty table without any keyboard, yet once the doctor was finished, the color of the screen changed.

"Welcome, Ivo." A female voice echoed.

"It is good to see you too, Computer," Robotnik replied, massaging his tender back.

"Is there anything you ne—"

"What I need?! I'll tell you what I need! I need power, power from—oof..." Robotnik groaned as his back flared up, and he plopped himself onto the nearby office chair.

"Request acknowledged."

All at once, the lights within the room lit up every surface within the laboratory. Monitors revealed themselves from the walls, screens opened up to data filled with the research of the Time Stones, and a machine littered with gauges appeared from the floor. The laboratory had two doors, one from which the doctor came from and the other right next to a large glass window that showcased the room next door.

Robotnik deadpanned, glancing above. "Hilarious," he said with an unamused frown stretched thinly on his face as he reclined back.

As the panels and systems within the room finally got to operational status, Robotnik lazily slung his legs and spun around with his swivel chair, waiting. Robotnik turned to the large computer screen hogging the wall. The display of the screen reflected off of Dr. Robotnik's glasses as he switched over from his notes to the camera system keeping an eye on Sonic's every move throughout the Death Egg MK II. The hedgehog was finishing rattling up a few badniks who were easily destroyed within seconds.

His hand resting on his chin the doctor appeared in thought for a moment, observing Sonic in his super form before he felt the plunking of the gems in the pouch. Robotnik glanced at the pouch sitting on the desk and held it for a moment, peering between them and the super-powered hedgehog. Eventually, after musing around in his head, he spoke. "Computer, would you kindly initiate the activation of Generation Three Mecha-Sonic?"

"Third-Generation Mecha-Sonic has been deployed. Remaining Mecha forces on standby..."

Robotnik turned to another monitor, watching as his third generation of metal machines jump-started to life, its wire-framed visor lighting up with an orange glow. The capsule encasing it slid open followed by the release of wires and anchors holding the robot in place. The metal arm attached to the back of its gunmetal grey body pushed the Mecha-Sonic forward, freeing its grip on the machine, and returned to its position in the capsule.

The machine stood limply. Its joints slackened, appearing as if it could melt into the floor. However, this was far from the reality of the badnik's capabilities as an orange point glimmered in its black visor, expanding greatly until the light encapsulated the entirety of the machine's screen.

Burning blue electric bolts danced from the machine, its limbs shaking steadily and moving spastically, jerking the machine upright. The head of the gunmetal grey machine rose up stiffly, sharply processing and booting up its systems, before glancing up towards the computer. Its glowing screen appeared before the machine's bulbous wire-framed visor, faintly in a warp reflection on the dome of the robot. The screen of the badnik lightened up as new directives hijacked its regular programming. Within seconds, the Third-Generation Mecha-Sonic turned towards the doorway leading away from the laboratory, as a digital road map laid itself before the machine, constantly updating every second towards the general location of the super-powered hedgehog.

Synchronizing with the Death Egg and finding the location of the golden hedgehog, the machine blasted down the corridors leading to Sonic.

Dr. Robotnik placed his finger over a button and established communication to the flying machine. "Mecha-Sonic, I have good news for you!" The doctor started, his voice echoing right into the vocal receptors of Mecha-Sonic. "You have the most vital mission that I have assigned to any of my machines ever yet! Create a diversion and lead Sonic away from the core of the Death Egg MK II. Eliminate him if the opportunity arises." The last sentence he made was left with a guttural inflection, though the Mecha-Sonic gave no physical indication that it acknowledged Dr. Robotnik's barely reserved anger and only responded with a distorted "Affirmative."

Robotnik nodded stiffly, returning to the large screen of the computer before him, surveying the footage of the hedgehog's onslaught of his space station. Robotnik pondered his next course of action carefully, mindlessly twirling and grooming his fantastically overgrown mustache in his ponderous mind. "Time bought, for now, but options are running out."

Two electronic chirps clicked from the keyboard, catching the doctor's attention as he blinked himself away from his musings.

"Five Egg-Robos are approaching the laboratory." The computer spoke. One of the monitors flickered to a camera displaying the red Hard-Boiled Heavies hovering down a dark hallway. Robotnik hummed, scratching his scalp as he thought for a moment.

"Let them in." Robotnik huffed as he slunk aside towards the doorway.

Without missing a beat, the door behind Robotnik slid open, revealing a line of badniks all lining up into a trapezoid before their creator. The doctor turned around, his face flushed with an unamused albeit expectant look. The egg-robos hovered uniformly, standing before the doctor at attention, saluting the mad scientist.

Robotnik drew a breath and held it. The air around the room simmered cooly, the azure glint of the doctor's spectacles obfuscated the frustration behind his eyes. His engorged brows creased, narrowing pointedly, before the man rose his arms at rest and slung them underneath his chin, fingers interlocking, relieving his sore neck.

"You've disappointed me, you useless junk. It seems I was too quick to celebrate and judge your performance out and about on the battlefield. Clearly, despite your programming, I've neglected the faults of your designs, your... limitations, against a nearly unstoppable force." Robotnik's voice was suitably dulled. Once more his creations failed to halt the hedgehog in his path of chaos.

The assertion of his mobile units and their repeated underperformance against the hedgehog unconsciously slighted the doctor. The results of failure and its implications proved to him that he was beneath the greatest cataclysms of nature, their might, and sheer devastations when wrought.

The Egg-Robo's in response lowered themselves further, leaning against the floor humbly. Soft robotic murmurs rumbled from their comms in shameful agreement. Robotnik made no acknowledgment of their apologies as he returned to the desk, glancing at the pouch resting on the desk. The pouch flattened against the surface as the rocks shifted.

Robotnik rose from his chair and gripped the pouch, pulling it as the bag rested comfortably on his palm. "Bah! It's no use decrying failures now." Robotnik turned to the Egg-Robos, his voice arose. "Rise my machines! There's still plentiful use for bad batches, mayhaps you could even redeem yourself with a second chance, so they say." As the doctor spun around, the machines glanced towards Robotnik and each other in surprise as they considered his words.

Turning his attention to the room that held the seven empty pillars, he tightened his grip on the pouch holding the Time Stones and paced to the stainless steel door separating him from that room. The door leading to the room opened with a hiss as a hazy fog funneled out onto the floor, giving free access to the doctor. Robotnik loosened the tough knot of thread sealing the pouch and poured the Time Stones all onto his free hand.

Finding himself absorbed in his growing grandeur, Robotnik stared at the Time Stones, the sheen of light reflecting the dull color of the stones in his glasses. He lifted the hand up to eye level as the concept of what he held and would behold struck him. "The power of time... in the palm of my hand." A crooked smile dotted his face as he came upon the pillars.

One by one, Robotnik placed the faded-out Time Stones in their respective pillars. The stones fell in place with a faint *plink* as they were held up in their metal crest. The shape of a circle could be made out as all the pillars surrounded an altar far larger and grandiose; holding a mien of superiority.

The doctor stepped back to observe the scene in front of him. All he needed now was one more thing to finish his plan and conquer the entire world.

The pillars, now with the Time Stones, shrunk back into the floor. Robotnik turned to one of the monitors on his desk and he began typing on the console with great fervor. With a final tack of the keys, the doctor stood back. Above him, the screen shifted to display the image of a large green emerald pulsing at a steady rate with coordinates on the screen.

"Ironic. That foolish hedgehog practically gave me the Master Emerald." Robotnik sneered haughtily, recalling in his research upon his little adventure on Angel Island that, once collected together, the electromagnetic waves of the chaos emeralds pulsed in a direct line to the Master Emerald and back to its point of origin, meaning with all seven emeralds concentrated together—aboard his space station no less by the labors of the hedgehog—the unique and divine but still largely identical pulse of the Master Emerald practically plotted the course for its location. Robotnik seized upon this unique opportunity granted to him and he earnestly began moving the Death Egg towards the general location of Angel island.

Behind the doctor, the Hard-Boiled Heavies streamed into the room, standing shoulder to shoulder before the mad scientist awaiting further orders. Robotnik grinned as he stared between the squadron. "Prepare yourself machines, we're going on a field trip!". The deranged man laughed snobbishly, like a child.

Pointing towards the screen displaying the large diamond cut emerald, Robotnik faced the Egg-Robo's fiery orbs, "For today's special activity, you're going treasure hunting for that rock!" Behind the doctor, the screen of the mother computer changed for the coordinates shifting ever gradually as numbers flew across the screen detailing the general path of the floating island. All at once upon seeing the image, Dr. Robotnik felt a surge of excitement as he yelled with vigor.

"All systems, full power!"

---

A golden bullet shot away from the hangars of the Death Egg MK II, explosions rocketing the badniks production lines setting the hangar bays ablaze. The massive inferno consumed all in the pit and the heavy flames activated the smoke detection system. Emergency protocols activated as large doors closed shut and air sealed the room in an attempt to isolate and control the damages caused by the flames. The massive hole underneath the space station retracted as shrapnel rocketed about it, tearing its hull.

The golden flame suddenly stopped, hovering above the surface of the giant industrial sphere, an accomplished smirk graced Sonic's face as he took care of the issue with the badniks. The hedgehog turned to the glowing eyes of the space station and his triumph was gone as a determined frown made itself known.

The last line of defense of the Death Egg MK II. Sonic recalled the destructive power of those eyes, hot enough to reactivate Angel Island's long inactive volcano, and if not for his quick thinking, as well his great speed, the magma would've done him in. Sonic readied himself and launched towards the eye of the Death Egg MK II, intending to pierce and deactivate the superweapon.

The hedgehog became engulfed in an aura of blue flames as he flew to the surface of the Death Egg MK II, but as he neared one of the eyes, his ears twitched at the whistling in the air, a shrill cry erupting from the hull of the Death Egg, barreling in intensity underneath him. Sonic reacted instantaneously, bringing out his arms just in time as a dark figure smashed against him and sent them both flying miles away from the surface of the space carrier. Before the eyes of the space station appeared like two stars fighting for the conquest of the other; a sharp endless exhaust of flames erupted from one side whereas golden flames streamed about furiously, these flaming serpents consumed without end.

The ride came to a halt as the two figures battled to overwhelm their opponent with the brute force of their dexterity. The two beings, locked in their arm-wrestle, struggled to find any opening to counterattack their foe as their arms were stiff and yet shaking in place, neither side budging. Sonic quickly gained his bearings and studied this new figure, and at a glance, he assumed it was the same Mecha-Sonic he faced back in his last adventure in Angel Island, but that was not to be the case. This machine is the newest generation in line with the production of mecha replicas in Sonic's image.

The designs of the first mecha he faced back when Robotnik launched the original Death Egg were much more prominent in this version than the one he faced at Angel Island, with a primary color scheme of gunmetal grey and a secondary color scheme of royal silver. Its arms were decked out with rocket boosters, and as Sonic gained the upper hand in the struggle, it ignited the boosters to max power, turning the flames blue but did nothing to slow Sonic's succession in the arms struggle. Processing the dire situation it faced, the machine's fingers suddenly straightened, pointing at Super Sonic. The hedgehog had no time to react to the sudden move as a hail storm of bullets unleashed from the fingertips of the machine.

Sonic gripped the machine's arms and spun around like a spinning top, throwing Mecha-Sonic away. The Mecha Sonic in response transformed, rolling up into a near flat disk, and blades the size of shark fins erupted from its sides around the face. A ring of fire discharged from these fins and the airborne robot blitzed across the sky, redirecting its course as the machine slew into the raging wind cutting across it and flicking around towards the hedgehog.

Sonic eyed the cascading form of the machine with some caution, but ultimately he decided against pursuing the machine as the hedgehog flew towards the eyes. However, as Sonic was in position to disable the eyes, he lurched forward as a sudden incredible force pushed the hedgehog from behind. Sonic shifted in place, turning to face his opponent, as a flash of light erupted in the sky, Sonic reappeared standing on the edge of the space station port bride, the nose.

Huffing softly, Sonic held a hand over his chest as he stared between the edge of the sky and the black abyss of space, their twinkling stars. Looking, peering carefully, the hedgehog waited for the machine hovering above the bridge as a glittering light dripped from him.

The machine was a nuisance, deliberately keeping him away from the skin of the planetary prison. Sonic connected the thoughts among his deliberations, and instead of merely avoiding it, he hovered randomly in place, trying to goad the machine to provoke it for another shot at him. The ears of the hedgehog flicked aside trying to foresee its movement with his heightened hearing until at the last possible second, the hedgehog whisked out his hands and slapped his palms flat together at the body of the badnik's formation.

The machine continued spinning in place as if it truly believed if it spun fast enough, it could escape the golden hedgehog's grip and tear him in two. A determined, concentrated expression etched on Sonic's face as he noticed the machine aiming to free itself in vain. His brow furrowed and his arms stiffened as he began crushing Mecha-Sonic, sparks discharging from the disk. Mecha-Sonic momentarily stopped and unfurled itself; within the small time frame of the machine's recovery, Sonic quickly made work, taking the opportunity to home into the machine and kick it down to the ground level of the Death Egg, back from whence it came. Tearing through the complex structures of the facility, chunks of metallic debris were kicked up from the piercing impact the robot made, leaving a small storm of shrapnel falling from the sky like rain.

Sonic hovered down onto the Death Egg, stopping to stand above a giant pipe near the crater the machine left behind. The seconds grew and the hedgehog crossed his arms. Impatience rattled every nerve in his body as he started tapping his foot, and with every passing second, his impatience grew to annoyance. The hedgehog pondered if he had gone too hard on the machine and utterly annihilated it too quickly, as he was both interested and curious about what type of fight the machine could put up compared to the older models. As if the moment were jinxed, the pipe underneath him rattled and groaned with slight sounds reverberating in intensity. He glanced cooly at the noises the pipe was emitting before floating away from the site.

Sonic leaned back as Mecha-Sonic blasted through the gap between the pipe, knocking out the manhole as it went to burst through the air, but Sonic caught its edge, holding it. Mecha-Sonic slowed to a stop and hovered a fair distance away from Super Sonic, staring down at the golden hedgehog with an indescribable demeanor. Sonic wasted no time and bulleted the manhole towards the inferior replica. The Mecha-Sonic anticipated this and pulled out a final maneuver Sonic didn't expect.

A cube manifested itself around the machine crackling with dark energy, forming the prototype black shield Dr. Robotnik made, invulnerable to any outside attacks. The manhole impacted against the surface of the cube and dematerialized. Sonic followed up the attack by rushing Mecha-Sonic with an elbow drive, and although Mecha-Sonic staggered, the cube held firm. Sonic hovered a few feet away, stunned that the machine could withstand a direct blow from his super form. That moment of stupefaction was all the robotic copy needed to make its next move.

Mecha Sonic dropped the shield and blasted away. Sonic hovered, bewildered by the sudden decision to flee, though he quickly recomposed himself and raced towards the machine. The robot meanwhile flew in random directions, making sure that it did not lead Sonic towards Robotnik's hiding place. Mecha-Sonic attempted to put some distance between it and its pursuer, but the golden hedgehog reappeared in front of it, waving with a sneer before socking Mecha-Sonic, drilling it across the sky.

The machine recollected itself from the punch, coasting off the launch speed, and attempted a successful 180-roundabout before diving into the Death Egg's interior. Alarmed at the adaptivity of the machine, using its environment to its advantage as Mecha Sonic hung low hugging the chrome terrain, Sonic ignited in a bolt of golden flames as he made his way towards the machine. The Mecha Sonic, careful of its surroundings, pivoted around corners and loose cables, avoiding machinery in active work all around it whereas the golden hedgehog tore through the structures like paper, unleashing cataclysmic destruction in his wake. Just as Sonic reached the machine, the badnik bolted high above the metallic canvas of the Death Egg, still on its set course.

The hedgehog was getting sick of the game of cat and mouse, and he resolved to end the fruitless chase. The area erupted in a flash of white, and the Mecha Sonic was suddenly stopped in place as a hand took hold of its foot. The machine turned to look as a gloved fist smashed against its screen, temporarily disabling its surveillance cameras in which operated its eyes. Sonic tussled with the badnik further, every jab, every swing of his fist, and every drilling of the hedgehog's foot in the machine's metallic cranium was met with a hailstorm of electric bolts spewing from its corpse.

He stopped, hovering a ways from the faker before he lunged for the robot, his hand engulfed in blue flames with the power being channeled into his next attack aiming squarely in the flickering wireframed visor of the machine, aiming to incapacitate its sight. However, mere inches away from the robot, his vision was encased in darkness as Mecha Sonic's black shield activated, its visceral form spewing bolts of dark lightning. Sonic stared in shock as his hand was trapped inside.

Before the hedgehog could figure out how to escape, he was struck by intense power spewing from the indestructible shield and his body began to freeze up. The hedgehog yelped, agitated by the strange powers surging through him. Mecha Sonic took the opportunity to release the black shield and lunged for the hedgehog, latching onto him as Sonic attempted to wade off the disseminating energies encapsulating him. The rocket boots of the machine ignited in a velvet fury as the machine raced across the sky, before dive-bombing to the ground, where the floor of the space station caved into an incredibly large cavity within.

Barely recovering from the badnik's onslaught, Sonic grabbed the machine and tussled with it, throwing the duo in a crash course towards the flooring of the gigantic prison. In mere seconds the smoothbore surface the two created crumpled lower as adjacent metal rose, bent so irregularly the sheets of metal holding the surface together jutted out in piercing jagged shards.

When the dust cleared, Sonic was partially encased within the machine's black shield, unable to move underneath Mecha Sonic. Below him, glass panels that were held up in the thinning atmosphere were shattered and blown apart in glittery ashes, the tiny shards poured from the sky and drenched the area in a mist of powdery lights.

Sonic clenched the arms of the machine and began to compress his hands on them. Mecha Sonic shook, its joints stirring in place as electric sparks discharged from its arms, the sound of metal crumbling could be heard. Even the dark bolts of energy striking the hedgehog could not deter him from trying, even as his grip weakened; unexpectedly his fur bedimmed.

Suddenly the floor was bathed in a shower of violet oscillating light, the recesses of its gleam drilled far below where the hedgehog remained, enveloping the two with each passing moment.

Around the golden hedgehog, a voice boomed deep within the crevices of the metallic orb, echoing and dissipating into the endless void of space. "That was an impressive show hedgehog!" Robotnik's voice hovered, drenching the planet as it shook slightly with his voice."—But, it's time for a power play of my own! Set cannons ready!" Sonic's eyes visibly widened, his body slumping against the crumpled flooring in disbelief.

Amidst the new surprise, Sonic struggled to glance behind him. The light that gathered underneath him was intense, and he could feel an enormous amount of power—the violent macrocosms of energy stored within the confines of the barreling radiance. A great roar resounded from the innards of the space station as volleys of violet light spewed towards the blinding purple light from the station's eyes, sucked from the great depths of the little planet within its prison. Sonic looked back at the badnik in shock, confusion and anger reflected in the hedgehog's eyes.

The pulsating volley of light hummed softly initially, rising in its decibels as it went until the area was deafened in the bowels of the cacophonous roar.

"FIRE!" The voice of the mad doctor bellowed from the speaker systems installed throughout the space station.

The eyes of the metal planet dimmed before a white flash followed as the entire surface of the Death Egg was blasted in a violet death ray, spewing across the sky and amongst the stars as it went, gradually fading into the abyss of space like a shower of comets.

The prison's surface reddened. Metal sheets of the planet were singed in the broiling heat as rolls of steam licked off the surface, appearing hazy and blurry as the hellish air gradually cooled.

Where the death laser was concentrated in the pore, aimed directly towards the duo, a smoking black shield remained steadily above. Thickets of sizzling mist withered off the machine before the black screen faded. Mecha Sonic stood tall as it stared below, its adversary nowhere to be seen.

Or, so it would seem...

The crack and boom of a thunderous explosion; within a white flash, a bolt of fire crashed against Mecha Sonic, the strike delivered by the golden hedgehog's knee.

Sonic hovered in place, staring at the metallic copy as it crashed into several towers. The intensity of the frothing heat tore the base of the structures from their roots as their walls were crushed by the bulleting machine.

His face remained blank as he glared at the fading form of his opponent. He fell upon the sizzling floor as beads of sweat formed and fell from the hedgehog. He breathed deeply, slowly as he caught his breath, the droplets of his sweat vanished into streams of mist as they were vaporized by the heat.

That... was a close one.

As the machine's rockets ignited as its descent slowed, Sonic dissipated before crashing behind the machine throwing a soccer kick, each swing he threw faster than the last until he appeared a fiery blue ring circling the machine. The Mecha Sonic, undeterred by the assault, fired off volleys of bullets around, however, the hedgehog rebounded and appeared behind the machine again, throwing an ax-kick on its head and struck the machine hard, drilling it to the Death Egg MK II. Sonic watched as the wretched machine crashed into the ground, however, the Badnik was able to recover long enough to reorient itself and land on the ground with a resounding thud. A small pit formed underneath Mecha-Sonic as it locked its feet together standing even as gravity worked against it.

More sparks discharged from the machine, emitting a low and deep hum with its body twitching ever so slightly. It stared upwards looking at Sonic, its visor flickering. Sonic chirped in response and cheekily rubbed his nose. He suddenly spun in place, unveiling the spindash supercharged by the power of the Chaos Emeralds. The intensity of the supercharged power was so great the wind wrapped around the hedgehog in a ferocious whirlwind, tearing loose materials off the ground thickening the atmosphere, and deafening the sound itself.

Sonic streaked from the sky and reappeared in front of the Mecha-Sonic, crashing against the hull of its body and launched the two of them across thousands of miles, and yet there followed no sounds of destruction or chaos. Just deafening silence as they seemingly disappeared from existence. Thousands of miles back where Sonic revved his spin dash the sound barrier broke, unleashing a mighty sonic boom that cast the area in a spectacular implosion of air rocking the barren surface below, long after the golden hedgehog unleashed his devastating attack against the machine.

All around the Death Egg MK II, structures continued to collapse, flinging along with the devastatingly dense wind that whipped by, as they were ripped from their foundations and torn through the sky. A vague shape of Sonic and Mecha-Sonic whizzed around the surface of the Death Egg until the blurry figures suddenly stopped at a trench line between walkways. The two careen towards the side of the massive industrial complex and dented the Death Egg, igniting a massive cloud of debris. The cloud gradually began to settle, uncovering a golden hue as rays of illumination escaped the thick cloud.

A sudden strong breeze picked up in the area and carried scrap along with the wind, revealing Super Sonic standing victorious in all his glory as his quills lapped along with the strong breeze. He stared down the pathway underneath him, glaring at the mess of garbled metallic limbs, flying sparks, and exposed wiring that was once the form of the third generation Mecha-Sonic, yet despite the punishment the machine received, it still continued to persist.

Its orange wire-framed visor still flickered to life, smoke still poured from the excess of the machine, and still, some limbs continued to move about, albeit erratically. The machine was missing an arm and one of its legs was out of commission, bent to a degree that exposed wiring circuits that hung too loosely to even work. In the little ditch, the robotic doppelganger made for itself, upon looking down at its broken form, a resting place that appeared like a throne. Sonic walked towards Mecha-Sonic. The machine slowly raised its head looking up towards Sonic, and in the darkness of its visor, the golden flames dancing around Super Sonic reflected from the depths of its flickering light.

The hedgehog stopped in his tracks and stood just a foot away from the badnik, intending on delivering the final blow until a sudden rumbling reverberated from the depths of the Death Egg MK II, stopping the hedgehog as he steadied his feet and turned to look around himself. The planetary prison its walkways, and structures were shaken violently as if an earthquake erupted from the core of the space station. Sonic glanced underneath the walkways and into the depths of the metal planet, curious and on edge. He hadn't even taken down the generator holding Little Planet in place, never mind the fact the Death Egg was still functional and intact. Sonic whipped to the skies, and of all the surprises he's had all day—and he was beginning to get sick of surprises— this took the cake.

It was the mythical Angel Island, still flying, still drifting along with the wind.⁽5⁾ The hedgehog tightened his fists at the prospect. First the imprisonment of Little Planet and now he's after the Master Emerald? There was only one conclusion to draw upon and he blanched at the thought. Robotnik wasn't just going to control Little Planet's flow of time and space, but the power bestowed by the Master Emerald would be enough to create an overflow of power in the Time Stones, affecting time outside and beyond Little Planet. Never mind the fact that the doctor would have total control over the flow of time itself, he'd be ensuring the permanence of the Robotnik Empire on Earth if he had his hands on the giant emerald.

Just as Sonic figured Dr. Robotnik's ultimate goal, several Egg-Robos launched from one of the many bases littering the space station, blasting off the hull of the Death Egg and swarmed into the heart of Angel Island undoubtedly after that emerald. Meanwhile, behind the super-powered hedgehog, Mecha Sonic MK III watched the hedgehog's behavior, and it calculated the probable seconds left before Sonic would leave, destroy its comrades, and rob the doctor of yet another chance of world domination.

The command was still influencing the programming of the badnik; its directives were absolute. The text in his built-in monitor enlarged and he replayed his directive once more, "Cr-create divers!on and lead onic]... 3liminate him if- diverge &...- Eliminate." An aura surrounded the machine, rotating between dark and light colors.

The sky from Sonic's perspective suddenly turned black and the area surrounding him went into vertigo. Sonic recoiled at the sudden transformation of the environment around him. He looked to his sides and pressed his gloved hands against the black screen, pushing against it and trying to shatter the makeshift prison. He punched the walls but it did not give, and though he charged another super-powered spindash and unleashed it, whatever the source of power Robotnik installed in the machine, his quills could not penetrate the black shield. Sonic could only watch in disbelief as the Egg-Robos was making landfall on Angel Island. He yelled silently in protest, in denial of the injustice occurring before him and he could do nothing as he fruitlessly banged against the screen.

Behind the hedgehog, the faint hum of electricity escaped from the Mecha Sonic as a sign of internal damage and processing failure within the machine's systems. Sonic turned to the noise to find Mecha Sonic in a defensive form as it maintained the shield surrounding Sonic.

This darn robot! Sonic glared at the machine, though it gave no physical indication that it acknowledged the tense look Sonic gave it, the machine's visor turned pitch black with a single white point fading in the middle of its visor. The black window stared back at Super Sonic, still polished enough for Sonic to see his reflection. The hedgehog roared in a fit of desperation as he quickly made work of the machine.

He drew a fist and lunged at the faker, driving his fist into the black shield and shattered it apart at such a blitzing speed, the metallic head of Mecha-Sonic compressed into the shape of his knuckles as Sonic tore the head off the body. Wires connecting inside the outer shell of the machine were ripped violently along with the head, flailing right as electrical discharges spewed wildly. The hedgehog smashed the mold of metal against the black shield, flattening the head and obliterating it into tangled wires and disfigured metal.

Sonic pulled his fist back, unclenching it as hardware fell from his hand. Sonic turned to the body of the machine still standing intact and rushed it, knocking the metal body back slightly, unleashing the full might of his super form against the copy, tearing and scattering wires, screws, and processing chips throughout its body, deactivating receptors and rendering all actions useless under a second.

All that remained was the core of the machine and yet the black screen did not give. Sonic's eyes slit with determination as he grabbed the chest piece and gripped it, digging his fingers into the skin of the body like butter before he yanked the piece and tore it from its place. Throwing the offending appendage away among the scrapyard, Sonic went to study the architecture of the body's system, instead, he found himself face to face with a timer, actively counting down; mere milliseconds away from —0:00. Outside the shield, the cube glitched and a bright scathing light enveloped its innards.

---

Faraway from the scene, the floating island experienced incredible darkness —akin to that of a solar eclipse— when mere moments ago the endless blue horizon, empty of clouds and illuminated by the sun, stretched out for miles with no end in sight. The island's guardian, the sole and final protector of the Master Emerald, awakened from his afternoon nap by the unsettling silence of the wildlife that co-existed with the Echidna; the mien of active and living creatures within the tropical rainforest suddenly screeched with sounds of anxiety before stopping altogether, enveloping the island in unnerving silence.

The guardian noted to his astonishment that endless, ceaseless ringing and chirps of the bugs extinguished at once, and he was cast and drowned in a deafening silence; his still and even breaths were the only sounds that accompanied him.

The Echidna's enhanced hearing picked up on the oddity and felt a shiver come up his spine, and though he'd never admit it, there was a slight unease that began to bite at him. The Echidna stood up from his spot on the foot of the shrine of the Master Emerald and turned towards the origin of the dark shadow casting upon his home.

Once Knuckles discovered and stared at the massive industrial space station parked right in front of the island, so large was the size of this thing that its head faded into and away from the sky. His brows narrowed in distaste at the mere sight of the offending industrial orb.

What is the meaning of this? Knuckles demanded to know. Unconsciously, with a flickering glance of the altar behind before staring ahead, his fists arose at the ready as they slung from the sides; his hands clenched so tightly they audibly cracked.

Knuckles was the guardian and protector of the Master Emerald for a specific purpose, a duty passed down to a chosen one from generation to generation, a tradition his civilization made amends to uphold many years ago after a tragic calamity was incurred by their own hand. This duty was given to make sure no thief can steal the gem and ensure the same tragedy will never happen again inside or beyond the borders of their civilization. Before he could draw up any conclusions, he heard the faint whirr of jetpacks and the brushing of leaves, whereby the elite squadron of Egg-Robos revealed themselves.

The Hard-Boiled Heavies soared above encircling the echidna below. The squadron of machines glared down at the echidna when the roaring of their jets died. Killing their jetpacks, the machines dropped upon the walkway to the altar of the Master Emerald, one by one. The badniks landed harshly on the floor kicking up dust and stalks of grass. The final Egg-Robo descended before Knuckles, their blaster whining, electrified as they were primed and aiming squarely at Knuckles. Knuckles looked up to the red irises of the presumable leader of the squadron, unimpressed with their show of force. The machine's attempt to intimidate the guardian was met with a scoff; Knuckles reached his lips, pinching the blade of grass he'd been previously chewing on, and flicked it away.

The Echidna glanced behind the robotic Eggman replica, leaning to see the Egg-Robos taking a position to begin their assault on the altar, the heart of this island; without that emerald, this island falls. Guess they aren't here for a little chit-chat, huh?

Knuckles steeled his eyes and lunged forward, taking a hold of the blaster the Hard-Boiled commander pointed jerking it aside in an unnatural angle. Predictably for Knuckles, the badnik pulled back and squirmed under his intense grip as sparks spewed from the machine's metallic wrist. The Egg-Robos beside him lined up their shots and began blasting him. He smirked underneath the shade of his dreadlocks and promptly let go of the Egg-Robo's weapon, sending it tumbling backward by the weight of its own brazenness, crashing onto the floor.

Knuckles leaned backward and twisted his body accordingly, avoiding blaster shots and chaining his movement with a back handspring, picking up a stone that had fallen off the altar. Swinging up directionally towards the raiders Knuckles punted the rock with such power it tore through one of the machines' blasters the remains crumbling apart under the intense weight of gravity pushing down. Finally gaining enough air and distance from his pursuers, Knuckles performed an aerial cartwheel into a drill dive, digging straight through the ground.

The earth underneath pitched up, creating a dirt mound loosened by the digging which allowed the Egg-Robos to shoot at a general shape. The Hard-Boiled Heavies rallied together and rained volleys of blaster bolts into the ground, but despite their inhuman reactive speed, they could not hit or seemingly catch up to the underground Echidna. The Hard-Boiled Heavies were getting outmaneuvered by a foe they couldn't touch until the trail of dirt headed straight underneath one of the Egg-Robos. Acting on its logical algorithm, the blasterless Egg-Robo stomped the head of the trail, stopping the dirt snake in its tracks. It turned to its comrades unsure of its accomplishment, who looked back shrugging.

The Egg-Robo shrugged back and raised a fist to the air, celebrating too early as Knuckles rocketed from the earth and socked the machine square with an uppercut. Knuckles grabbed ahold of the leg of the machine and spun it around with a mighty swing, using it as a shield to deflect blaster bolts from touching him. He continued at this pace, spinning so fast the two became a blur of a red canvas against the beautiful landscape of the island. Meanwhile, a rogue Egg-Robo slipped from the fight, intending to carry out its master's orders accordingly as it snuck into the chamber, yet the perceptive eyes of the echidna caught wind of the machine's intentions, so he launched the metal body in his hands at the Egg-Robo.

The red pupils of the machine comically enlarged in horror as the Egg-Robo flew straight in its direction. Without any time to react, the Egg-Robo smashed against the other. The two were flung out of the chamber; one falling down the steps, the other crashing through an unstable pillar, breaking it apart along with the withered stones surrounding the temple in a circular formation.

The remaining two Egg-Robos facing Knuckles momentarily paused in their fighting to look at the level of destruction. The Hard-Boiled Heavies looked on with astonishment while Knuckles looked on with abject horror.

The sacred temple!

Knuckles shook with rage at the destruction of his people's long history and hard work as the last remnants he had to his past were being taken away from him. Knuckles growled menacingly at the two Egg-Robos showcasing his long and sharp fangs.

A fire brewed within him as he raised his spiked fist to strike, but he stopped, almost paralyzed as his eyes glazed wide before he dropped to his knees suddenly, revealing behind the guardian an Egg-Robo he didn't notice in his haste. The Egg-Robo's red irises pierced the glare of the sun, staring down at the crumpled form of the guardian while holding the butt of its blaster like a tool.

Caught off guard and dazed from the pistolwhip, the Echidna was dragged away from the badnik. The last two standing Egg-Robos grouped up against Knuckles, arm locking the Echidna and holding him in place as they stomped on his feet. Knuckles hitched, trying to regain his breath as he slowly met eyes with the squadron leader who pistolwhipped him earlier. The red guardian looked furious as a large bump could be seen protruding from his head, bruised as he struggled vainly to escape the machine's grasp. The Egg-Robo walked up calmly to the guardian as two electrical serpents unhooked themselves from the machine and snaked around the air.

The guardian's eyes dilated at the sight of the offending tendrils, recalling his journey towards discovering the doctor's true intentions with his island, and more importantly, with his emeralds. Robotnik, right after Knuckles and Sonic brawled in the catacombs of that cryptic mosaic, swiped the Master Emerald under his nose, and as repayment for foiling Sonic at every step of the way, he electrocuted the guardian. It seems the doctor made sure to install these weapons specifically in the Egg-Robos for this purpose as the Egg-Robo stopped just at arms reach. The tendrils slithered their way above the badnik and curved down like a scorpion's tail.

Knuckles grit his teeth, mentally preparing himself for the shock and burns he would have to endure until a quick glance to his side revealed that the other Egg-Robos had their own too. The echidna forced himself to look at the offending smug mien the commander of the Hard-Boiled Heavies gave the guardian and furrowed his brow. Just as the tendrils were about to shock Knuckles, he swung his head forward with all his might, denting the leader's headpiece and damaged the badnik's sight as the eyepieces caved in.

With the satisfying reprisal, for once Knuckles chuckled as he watched the Egg-Robo doubling over, agonizing over the lack of sight.

The guardian's victory, however, was short-lived as the two Egg-Robos holding him in place struck Knuckles with their electrical tendrils and shocked him. He jerked and shook feverishly as he tried to cry out but couldn't, his limbs began to stiffen as smoke whizzed off his mottled fur. The tendrils retracted after a few moments and Knuckles hung limp.

There was the sound of a whistle and the robots turned to the temple, watching as the two badniks Knuckles had taken out of the fight earlier removed the Master Emerald from its shrine. They tossed the echidna aside as they went back to their directives: retrieving the Master Emerald. One went to help carry the giant emerald while another tended to their commander.

Ready to take flight once more and return to the Death Egg MK II, the machines took a quick glance at the guardian. Knuckles groaned, bleary from his condition as he struggled to hold onto an image or color to focus on. He tried in vain to reach out to the Master Emerald and stop the fiends, but the Hard-Boiled Heavies laughed at his expense. Robotnik's voice rumbled from their comm's laughing hysterically as they rocketed away from the temple, destroying more valuable and priceless pieces of the foundation of the temple. Knuckles looked at the fading figures in the sky, still desperately trying to keep them in view before his strength gave in and he fell unconscious. The last thing he could sense was the rumbling of the earth around him, shaking violently.

---

Sonic stared at the torso of the metallic copy with an unreadable expression as he held an unidentified object in his grasp. The black shield imprisoning him faded away and the remains of the machine were scattered by the wind as they plummeted far into the crevices of the space station as unrecognizable gunk. Sonic turned to the object in his hand as he lifted it up to view and studied it. The object appeared to be some sort of tube containing an emerald shard within.

The hedgehog frowned, his eyes enshrined a sense of alarm at the thought of the doctor tapping into artificial and alternative sources of power, and he quickly disposed of the chaos drive, crushing it and grinding the shards to dust in his palms. He shook and patted the glimmering dust off his gloves, his mind wandered in antipathy as he glared before himself the endless metallic labyrinth. As Sonic contemplated his next offensive, he heard a rumbling in the distance followed by a faint cry. The hedgehog turned around, facing the horizon to see to his horror Angel Island falling from the heavens.

Sonic gazed at the falling heavenly land sink to the depths of the cloudy recesses, tearing a hole through as the cloudy trails curled below. The emerald was in their grasp; angel island was without its jeweled heart.

The pit of horror deepened in Sonic as he watched the floating island, stripped of its life, plummet to the Earth. But that sorrow could not last as the hedgehog spotted the Hard-Boiled Heavies entering the airspace of the Death Egg MK II.

They would soon disappear into the depths of the Death Egg, so with the few seconds he had to catch up, Sonic avowed to the guardian as he watched Angel Island fall from view, the restoration of the emerald in its island exile and the freedom of little planet from its prison. Without any hesitation, Sonic blasted to where the Hard-Boiled Heavies were last spotted, forcing his way into the facility as he shredded the environment where he flew.

Robotnik's blue spectacles glared blindingly before the bright screen the doctor was practically glued to. The mad scientist was thrown in a frenzy typing on his keyboard every other minute or so as Sonic tore through the depths of the industrial orb knocking out the various millions of cameras stationed in every corner, that was until he heard the growing sounds of muffled clanging approaching his laboratory. The doctor became tense with anxiousness as he turned around in his seat to face the door.

With what felt like seconds stretching into minutes, the door quickly opened letting in two Hard-Boiled Thieves carrying the jewel piece into the room before the door shut behind them. Robotnik dropped his anxious look as he stared at the gem, overcome with shock at the sight of the Master Emerald glimmering beautifully in his room.

Donning a long and toothy smile, the doctor stood up from his chair and slapped his palms together in achievement. "Ahah! No way, I can't believe it! At long last, the Mas—!" *WHAM!*

The doctor flinched, almost jumping from his spot until he noticed the door behind the Egg-Robos was dented with impressions. The door opened a moment later, horribly groaning in the process, and three Egg-Robos fell at the doorstep. "-ter Emerald..?" Robotnik looked incredulously at the sight, quickly regaining his good cheer as the mad scientist laid his hands on the emerald and eagerly felt along its edges.

"You've done me proud my loyal machines, consider yourselves forgiven—once again all of you superseded my expectations! Tonight is a testament to my utter genius, that I've made my dream come true! For so long now time and again, within the grasp of unlimited power I've been denied my destiny by that insufferable rodent! But now this all ends, with the might of this emerald my glorious eternal empire will be realized and I shall rule it all forevermore!"⁽6⁾ Robotnik cackled hysterically, his voice roughing and coarse and incredulous at how easy it all was, how everything fell together so perfectly; everything was going according to plan, and now he could begin the final curtain call.

"Quickly, my Hard-Boiled Eggs. We must commence now before it's too late!" Robotnik stormed into the laboratory adjacent to the headquarters with the rest of the robots trailing closely. He glanced at the seven pillars of metal emerging from the floor rising above before turning to the small laptop on his desk. The room appeared empty but as Robotnik input some codes upon his keyboard, steam clouds sizzled from the ground as a large grandiose and complex altar arose from the floor.

"Place it right there... Excellent!" Robotnik cheered as wires cables and metallic limbs attached to the giant emerald. Green divine electricity discharged from the emerald as a loud but ambient hum escaped from the gem. One by one, several pillars holding their own respective Time Stone jutted from the floor encircling the grand altar. When the last pillar came to a stop, the machine holding the Master Emerald came to life as several beams of light shot out from the emerald and pierced the Time Stones. The doctor stepped back to observe the scene in front of him.

Finding himself enamored by the beauty of power, Robotnik stared at the contraption as the sheen of light emitted by the Master Emerald was increasingly blinding. A wicked smile crossed his features as his chuckles raised until the mad doctor was howling in laughter. He turned to a lever nearby and grasped the handle, his fingers twitching from the surge of excitement as he turned back to the scene. His heart was thumping against his chest till all he could hear was the blood rushing to his ears and the beating drums of his heart. He composed his features, returning to his toothy cheeky grin and he yelled enthusiastically.

"Get a load of this!"

Robotnik pulled the lever down, and all at once the machine went into overdrive and the beams of light from the Master Emerald intensified as a wave of power surged through the Time Stones. The dull colors of the gems faded away as their natural colors retook their gems.

Soon not only did the jewels regain their color, but they were getting oversaturated with their primary colors until all they emitted was a bright white glow. "Now... now the transformation has been realized," Robotnik whispered as the Time Stones began to hover in place.

A bright orange laser shot down from the heavens and struck every one of the Time Stones concurrently as the twinkling of stars enveloped the gems. The Time Stones flickered for a few seconds before they reappeared with a drastic increase in size along with a low hum.

He did it.

Although he already knew the result of this experiment, the revelation before him was undeniably impossible to comprehend. He had successfully made the Super Time Stones. The stones capabilities had no longer been limited to Little Planet; now he had more to control, more to rightfully rule, and maybe even able to reach the end of time itself.

Such thoughts consumed him, enveloping his being like drugs. The swirling tornado of emotions going through his head had almost breached the line of insanity, but he didn't even care. All he wanted to do was touch the Time Stones. He stood a foot away, juggling between hesitance and eagerness.

"In the palm of my hands..." Robotnik shakily reached for the Time Stones, his fingers mere centimeters from grazing the surface of controlling all of time itself.

There was a faint screech on the other side of the room before the steel wall that separated Robotnik and the adjacent room blew open as a golden flame burst into the laboratory. Robotnik and the Hard-Boiled Heavies all turned to stare at their intruder.

"Nonono! Not here, not now!" Robotnik shouted, aghast as Super Sonic blew away the fog that enveloped the entrance.

The hedgehog glanced around quickly, glimpsing at the bodies of the Egg-Robos before he landed his sight on Robotnik; his emerald green irises darkened as his eyes were cast in a shadow, louring with dark intent. The golden aura encompassing the hedgehog twitched and curled erratically as the flames rapidly glowed blue.

Robotnik swallowed a lump in his throat; if looks could kill there'd be nothing left of the mad man, besides the ashes of his remains.

The Hard-Boiled Heavies swarmed the golden hedgehog, trying to form a bodily shield to protect Robotnik, yet their feeble attempt of restraint was met with overwhelming resistance. Sonic held still, his form not budging as his aura expanded, tearing through the machines and unveiling himself an opening; the sheer force of the explosion scattered the red bulbous bodies of metal throughout the room. Robotnik screamed in terror, jumping still upon his feet in fright.

Sonic dashed forward, his hands reaching out to grip the doctor's throat.

Robotnik shrunk his head onto his red jacket, paling at the opposing force of his nightmares, before turning as fast as he could towards the altar. Bullets of sweat poured from his skin as he reached for the Time Stones, knicking them off moments before he was yanked away by the golden hedgehog thrown amongst the group of the disheveled Hard-Boiled Heavies. Hovering in the air, the adversaries stared down at each other.

Staring down at Robotnik, in the spectacles of the doctor Sonic's eyes rose in horror. "B-better luck next time, hero!" Robotnik cackled in hysteria as the area around them violently exploded with a piercing light. Sonic instinctively released his grip on the doctor and held his hands out in front of him, turning away quickly as the streams of light seeped between his fingers. He squeezed his eyes shut from the blinding light.

All around Sonic was the boisterous condescending guffaws of the doctor as if he was the only noise that could be heard, the only noise that could exist. The mad man's voice echoed even upon the echelons of the hedgehog's mind, every passing moment the laughter intensified. The doctor's laughter was ear piercing, boundless on every single fiber of his being.

Sonic swore he heard the doctor's fits coming from his own mouth.

The hedgehog tried to shift his feet, looking to grab ahold of something, but he tumbled in his steps. Like a weary and unstable drunkard, he fell kneeling against the floor. Sonic opened his eyes to see a white void, all the while Robotnik's laughter only worsened, distorting and warping around different octave levels seemingly taking a life of its own, cutting deep into the crevices of the hedgehog. This noise sickened the hedgehog, and it went on for a very long while.

Sonic breathed heavily and hugged his chest, face down on the floor; the hedgehog felt sick, incredibly sick as if every single atom of his being was being torn to shreds. His breathing became more labored as his body was sizzling, glitching away from existence. His fur flickered, waning between blue and yellow. He was convulsing rapidly as parts of his being faded from existence with the gnawing feeling of withering away.

Was this it?...

Is this the end?...

The chaos emeralds violently tore from his body and hovered around the hedgehog shakily, losing form as they flickered from their natural bright colors to dull and lifeless rocks. Sonic held out a hand in an attempt to reach them, but as his fingers felt along their surface they fizzled away into nothing. Sonic stared between himself and the emeralds in disbelief, holding a hand to his mouth as something wanted to violently lurch from him.

He tried to hold it down, but he couldn't contain the essence within him and his mouth opened. Saliva dripped down as he threw up laughter, Robotnik's laughter, as it escaped his tongue. Shaking furiously, desperately trying to keep a semblance of control Sonic wrapped his arms around himself; rocking back and forth softly. His legs faded from existence yet he still stood kneeling, held up by something.

Broken memories of his past combed his mind. The whispers of nature blew through him. Scenes of friendships warped by him. The last thing his trail of memories decided to reveal was the warm embrace of a blonde frail girl.

Before he could even process what he could remember, everything became nothing.

His fingers were reduced to stubs. His quills were shrinking past their roots as his head began to disappear. He looked from the floor to the endless horizon surrounding him. His sight began to blur as he neared total annihilation. Only his upper body continued to remain all while the emeralds turned to stone, but they still circled around the hedgehog without fading.

Sonic took a deep breath as the last vestiges of his chest sprinkled away. The hedgehog turned to look to the endless horizon high above, looking intensely. Eventually, all that remained, that corner of sight left him and he saw nothing.

Not darkness.

Nothing.

This was it, the end right? Were there any regrets left? No, no regrets. Time doesn't wait.

The laughter withered into white noise, becoming lower in volume and pulsed rhythmically like the beat of a drum. The beating dampened into a soft reverberation, like running water. It was through this weird disorientation that the hedgehog could barely make out a voice as if he were in the midst of awakening from slumber.

Sonic held on, hanging by the edge of time even as all that remained of him was his mouth. Sonic held on, hanging on "What if?", holding on to "What if?"

Nothing remained of the hedgehog, nothing but a single golden ring he dropped as the fibers of his being were scattered by the time-storm, and yet the emeralds still hovered around the spot continuing to persist even though there was nothing left.

Golden beams of light shot out from the emeralds as they spun around in a circle, spinning so fast they made the outline of a black ring. The golden ring floated upwards to meet the emeralds and held in place. They stopped and swarmed at the center combining into one emerald inside the gold ring before they dissipated with a flash.

A surge of pure chaos erupted as a gleam of golden flames came into existence and exploded.

---

Sonic opened his eyes, startled as he concurrently hitched a breath, breathing quickly to get the airflow through his system. He held a hand over his neck to make sure he was alive.

How... how was he alive? There was nothing of him left!

Sonic stiffened suddenly as a thud rocketed the chamber. Sonic glanced to his side to see a golden ring, the same he found on the beaches of Westside Island all those months back, rolling across the floor and stopping at the buckle of his shoe, rocking side to side as the ring quieted and eventually laid still.

Sonic stared at the ring, a million questions rolling in his head all coming back to one word.

What?

The hedgehog glimpsed back to the center of the room as a hiss escaped from a loose pipe knocking him out of his reverie. He looked at the general direction of the pipe before inspecting the room. It seemed the exact same as when he found it, barring the steel door put back in place as if he didn't just rip it from its hinges and threw it against the other side of the room.

Everything looked pristine, in fact, it was too well maintained.

Papers sitting on the desk beside him weren't overturned or shredded from the earlier chaos; the electrical equipment appeared to run in a functional and expected manner, though the biggest key difference in the room was the lack of the big machine filling up space in the center of the room. The altar for the Master Emerald was gone, and so were the pillars hugging around it.

Sonic stood up hesitantly, gradually slowing his breath down to normal tempo, and studied the room a bit more.

He was confused about how he was still alive and why the room appeared to be so sterile and clean while simultaneously missing key features. Sonic shook his head as he reached to grab the ring, stopping as he saw his reflection within the ring and on the floor. It was so painstakingly clean he could even see his glossy reflection. The hedgehog blinked and shook his head utterly lost as he brought the ring to eye level.

Whatever this thing is, where ever it came from, or whatever the meaning of its existence could be, it saved his life from total annihilation.

A determined expression dotted his face as he gripped the ring tightly, clutching it in his palms. Sonic heeded to the importance and power the ring had and securely fasted it onto the cuff of one of his gloved hands. Despite that, there was still one last thing to do—Sonic spun back, looking at the insignia of Robotnik plastered in the middle of the steel door—he had an appointment with the doctor.

Sonic looked to the ceiling but envisioned far beyond it as he closed his eyes, focusing on something. He made several faces as he concentrated hard, his lips tugging along his cheeks in anticipation. The room was deathly silent beyond the noises made by the little trinkets working within the chamber, giving the impression of abandonment. This silence continued on for several more minutes when Sonic's eyes shot open as he felt a pulse.

A pulse belonging to the Master Emerald!

It was nearby, still on the Death Egg but high above the room. The golden hedgehog got into a stance, and once more, he was engulfed in his divine golden flames, but the ferocity of the flames intensified as Sonic erupted into blue flames before he rocketed out of the room, tearing through the ceiling and hundreds of floors above.

High above the surface of the Death Egg, Sonic tore away from the depths of the space station, ripping through several layers of construction and work on the skin of the Death Egg. When the blue flames shredded through the skin of the space station, his eyes were met with the endless twinkling stars of the universe before the hedgehog stopped to hover a few hundred feet above the ground. He relaxed his stance as he checked and observed the Death Egg, but to his dismay and sorrow, everything he knew had changed for the worst.

The Death Egg had gone under some intense construction since he last saw it.

Giant towers had made themselves known—at least six in total—distributed across the surface of the Death Egg, each ending in the shape of a sphere along with several other smaller satellite space stations orbiting them.

Now, however, it became apparent some time had passed as Sonic looked to the sky to see... no sky. Just the vast empty vacuum of space. The last time he saw where the Death Egg was, he presumed it was somewhere in the stratosphere where Angel Island floated around, but that was clearly no longer the case.

Sonic, as he processed everything before him, felt increasingly worried as things he couldn't believe could exist come to fruition. His feet felt heavy like bricks, his heart sunk in his chest, and he choked as he looked upon the corpse of what was once Little Planet.

Little Planet, an actual living planet, a world that visited the globe every other year, was completely industrialized; all that remained of the planet was its metallic shell, an industrial orb. Nothing of the environment was preserved in the conversion as the smaller orbital station was chained to the Death Egg for whatever purposes it may have.

The most gut-wrenching discovery was what became the fate of his planet. The blue globe, as cool and as blue as the hedgehog himself, was cast in a murky burgundy shadow. He could see nothing but the thick smog of industrial chutes fogging up the planet, so much so, all Sonic could see was a dark red marble in space.

He choked back a sob, everything—everyone as they were, as he once knew them was no more.

Nothing could have survived the planet's transformation, their torturous death of suffocation, asphyxiation without oxygen was all but assured. Sonic couldn't help the morbid sight that plagued his mind, of the decadence of the natural fauna of the planet, the oceans muddied into pitch black, or the remaining creatures alive that had to have been converted into Robotnik's army of badniks to protect them from the hazardous environment for the cost of their existence. He grimaced as he thought, agonizing over the callous uncertainties plaguing his mind. He couldn't know for sure, there was nothing Sonic could see beyond the smog.

He lost. Sonic lost. He failed beyond all measure.

Sonic slumped in the sky, tears forming in the edges of his eyes as he silently mourned... perhaps the only one left to mourn what remained of this tragedy; his failure.

The thunderous roars of steel clouds reverberated in the sky as deafening hums, choking out the ambiance of the space station with the low growls of technology. The silence remained for a few seconds till once more he heard the pulse of the Master Emerald, like a droplet to a pond disturbing the calm and rippling against the surface.

Sonic glanced unsurely, gazing below at the labyrinths of metallic trenches and walkways adorning the surface of this space station. Again, that pulse rung quietly, faintly; the noise seemingly beckoned the hedgehog to the Earth below, his heart monitor.

Sonic let go a shaky breath as he wiped away his tears.

No.

While he could hardly swallow this pain, there was still time, still a chance to correct this madness from continuing any further. Sonic swiveled to the origin of that blip, the quiet ethereal pulse of the divine emerald. There was nothing as far as the eye can see except the endless trenches, tunnels, and passageways that littered the surface of the Death Egg till the globe appeared to be a giant maze of corridors. Still, the emerald remained here somewhere in the depths of the space fortress; and that was all he needed.

Sonic's brows creased in agitation as he glanced between himself, the stars, his planet, and the space station that held the remains of Little Planet. He had to forsake the life beyond himself for that emerald, Sonic glared below regrettably. His sharp fangs were bare as he gazed upon the horizon of the space station, his body was adorned in ferocious blue flames as he soared the surface of the new and improved battle station.

Every second that passed was like the beat of a reawakened heart pulsing faster and faster. The pulse grew near, grew stronger and eventually, all the hedgehog could hear was the ringing pulses of the Master Emerald beating like crazy.

Sonic's eyes widened as a colossal figure rose from the distance, getting sharper and growing exponentially with every passing moment. He cautiously slowed down his flight and scrutinized the figure in its entirety starting from the bottom-up. He gaped as he looked on, horrified and in awe at the absolutely gigantic machine that towered above the surface of the Death Egg.

Its size could be comparable to the largest mountain he'd ever seen! It appeared to be some sort of Death Egg Robot, or at the very least an interpretation of the Death Egg Robot Sonic faced in his last two adventures.

This machine, however, was incredibly modified; outfitted in state-of-the-art life-destroying weaponry wherein the robot's two hands were giant gaping holes easily fitting the entirety of angel island twice over. The arms of the machine were decked out in massive spikes as they were placed alongside its elbows and shoulders as large as its arms.

On its midsection, giant bulbous orange orbs were plastered all around the surface of the Robot, reflecting large chunks of the area underneath it. Its legs were comparable in length to its arms with gears and wiring the size of entire islands. On the body of the Death Egg Robot, there appeared to be gigantic gold-armor pieces on the chest of the machine with Robotnik's insignia, made in his likeness, plastered in white all across.

The size of its head was almost synonymous to that of the Appalachian Mountains, with two red glowing eyes on the cockpit, acting less like a screen for the user to see through but also functioning as massive searchlights. Alongside the eyes, two massive searchlights were installed, bathing everything in sight of the Death Egg with neon red lights.

Beyond the intimidating sight, there were superfluous design choices such as the addition of Robotnik's resemblance in the face of the machine where a giant pink nose erected between the eyes, a burly brown steel mustache placed underneath the nose, and rows upon rows of teeth lining up to make a wicked smile that stretched across its face. Behind the enormous machine, two giant columns were erected in the shape of a royal collar that protruded further up than its head.

Sonic stared breathlessly at the sight and he knew —he could feel it— that the Master Emerald was inside the machine calling out to him to free it. He gulped, feeling for the very first time in his life the daunting task set out before him. This is perhaps the most powerful machine/weapon in the list of arsenals Robotnik had ever created in all their battles powered not only by the Master Emerald but also the new and juiced-up Time Stones.

Sonic flew up alongside the machine, reaching high enough to the cockpit of the robot where he felt the strongest pulse of the Master Emerald emitting from within the machine. The golden hedgehog slowed to a stop as he faced head to head with the machine. Nothing of the background behind the giant robot could be seen as its entire face covered the golden hedgehog's field of view.

The exchange of silence between the two seemed to last forever as neither side budged. In the chill of space, Sonic instinctively shivered, skipping a few breaths. His ears twitched at the slightest noise, expecting something to happen like the alarms being ignited or a surprise foe.

Nothing came and nothing happened in the quiet of space. The darkness surrounding the stars while lighting the zone expressed an ethereal beauty as the backdrop for this terrible confrontation. In the cold existential dread of space, he felt these things whispering absolute nothings, words without rhyme or reason. This dread pervaded and corrupted the milieu of the wonders of space. Sonic narrowed his eyes as he blasted forward, engulfed in blue flames as he aimed a punch to pierce through the machine and take back the world.

The flaming super hedgehog was within arms reach of the machine and... time seemed to slow to a crawl as the knuckles of his fist barely poked the surface of the machine. Sonic held still in the sky, the flames wrapped around him paused as if they were captured in a still image. His form hadn't budged a muscle, but upon a closer inspection of his eyes, his lips were parted and his brows were raised; portraying the vestiges of anger and the beginnings of horror.

A white dot, a single point flat at an angle, appeared between Sonic and the giant Death Egg Robot, growing exponentially larger with each passing moment until it dwarfed Sonic, tripling in size. The dot made in the shape of a throwing star, expanded outwardly, bulging erratically almost like a beating heart, and sharply as if something were trying to escape from the depths of this single point. At last, the expansion stopped as the dot formed a vortex in the shape of an iridescent ring. White flames faded beyond the borders of the ring until the emptiness inside brightened to an aqua blue color.

A figure hovered out of the ring and stopped in front of Sonic. Outside the portal, the silhouette of a figure came into view as a heavily modified Egg-Mobile peered through, appearing more regal and outfitted out with all sorts of valuable treasures and jewelry adorned and encompassed every inch of the body of the vehicle.

As the flying vehicle passed through the wormhole torn through space and time, an incredibly ornate beautifully white boot stepped on the windshield of the flying object. While struggling to look upwards, Sonic saw to his astonishment the mad doctor himself in all his glory, Robotnik. More so than the presence of Robotnik was his physical appearance; so incredibly different than when he last saw him in the laboratory, the only thing that the hedgehog could even pin-point that belonged solely to the doctor was his vehicle.

Gone was the rotund, egg-shaped, lard of fat that belonged only to this man. In its place, Robotnik's physique appeared as an egg turned upside-down. His once incredibly thin legs were bulked absurdly, stretching against his white and gold plated pants. His once gargantuan waist that held together as his fat greatly diminished to match the proportions of his legs, and the upper body of the man was enormous and bulging with pure muscle. His once thin noodle arms were now tugging against the cloth of his regal flight suit as the creases fell upon his skin, his once flat chest bulged noticeably against the materials of his coat, appearing as if it were about to burst from the concealment of his clothing.

Robotnik's once-iconic design of a face changed significantly. Gone were the rolls of fat collected under his chin that spilled over from his cheeks, his chin bore itself and expanded past his lips in a gloriously chiseled cleft chin, his face hugged tightly to his slightly bulged cheekbones as well. The mad man's lips were pursed, with his incredibly large and bushy mustache at long last groomed and trimmed to a respectable handlebar style.

The doctor's cobalt blue glasses that rubbed against his eyelids changed as well, redesigned to be larger golden spectacles, hooked to a golden chain—and most incredible of all he even grew out hair! Albeit trimmed and combed to the side like Theodore Roosevelt.

His clothing as well reflected clearly what became of the mad man, with all the power residing in his grasp his clothing demanded supreme authority, and the superfluity of its design embellished his feats of power all the more. In the articles of his clothing, true gold dotted them along his sleeves in a fine pattering of flowery and reach of plants like the gracious vines. Various gems and jewelry adorned the cuffs of Robotnik, likening him to the clothing of royalty.

Robotnik brought out his hands as if he were worshipped and tagging alongside him were the seven Super Time Stones, orbiting around the mad man like a mosaic piece of art. Robotnik remained still, frozen like a statue as the doctor looked down with a sneer as he observed Sonic's form, putting his hands behind his back. He shook his head slightly in a sarcastic gesture of empathy, mock tut-tutting the terrible position Sonic was in: completely frozen in time and unable to do anything but watch the man who destroyed the world. He sighed with gravel of annoyance at the end of stroking his unending ego.

"Of course, it would be you. The anomaly that messed with the flow of time, the anomaly that slipped from my grasp of death. It always must be with you isn't it, little rodent?" Robotnik asked rhetorically, his voice sounding much more youthful than before, knowing full well Sonic couldn't get his voice out, being frozen in time and all.⁽7⁾

"Now, why, oh why did you decide—of all things—to rush my Titanic Monarch I wonder? Is it perhaps you were looking for... this!" Robotnik raised a fist and held his hand out turning his wrist so as his fingers opened up to the sky. As his fingers unfurled a green gem that laid in his palm expanded in size till it completely dwarfed the man and the vehicle he stood on. Despite this, the mad doctor appeared nonchalant about the intense mass of the object held in his hand.

"What's the matter you little pincushion? Cat caught your tongue?" Robotnik threw his head back and laughed, amused with his little joke. Robotnik glanced down at Sonic's super form, before snapping his fingers. In a bright flash, the seven emeralds appeared around Sonic, and with it, his blue state. "Ah, I see you've brought the Chaos Emeralds as well, perfect!" Robotnik looked between the emeralds and the hedgehog. "Surprised? It's a neat trick I can pull, courtesy of the Master Emerald of course! The emeralds obey only the will of the Master Emerald you know, so give the Master Emerald a little nudge and I can do this!" Robotnik's cheery grin thinned a moment later as the master emerald dissipated from his grasp.

"Those miracle gems— the Chaos Emeralds, the only things left in existence powerful enough to chance with and disobey me, the supreme ruler of life and time itself at long last within my grasp!" Robotnik noted astutely, peering at the gems as the emeralds circled alongside him, parallel to the Time Stones. "The only reason you were saved from the brink of total oblivion, isn't it? I've tried, tried so long in the pocket space of eons to collect them all and secure my hold on supreme power, but their power belongs outside the reaches of time, and I've found nothing far-flung or far past. Only through the power of your super form granted by those jewels could you be exempt from total annihilation of my Time-Storm!" Robotnik huffed, gripping his palms tightly and threatening to rip his gloves apart from his sheer strength.

Robotnik stopped and recomposed himself, taking a deep breath and turning slightly away from the golden Hedgehog. "It doesn't matter anyway, I have no use for them now. The divine power of Master Emerald dwarfs those rocks beyond infinity!" Robotnik outstretched his arms in a grand gesture, donning a toothy joyous grin. "Behold my power, my glory!"

Before the hedgehog's eyes he captured glimpses of the sheer size of Robotnik's empire, stretching from sea to shining sea and beyond into the cosmos. "It's beautiful isn't it Sonic? Everything you see and even more beyond what I've shown has been conquered by my hands, remade into my image, my ideals. All of it is the full expanse of my eternal empire!" Robotnik cackled wickedly to the point of tears as he looked upon the marble red planet that was once Earth.

The ring on Sonic's cuff shook slightly.

"I should thank you. Really Sonic. Because without your super form on that day, none of this would be possible." Robotnik gestured to the area surrounding them with a gleeful smile that belonged only to a kid. The doctor then leaned down eye-to-eye with Sonic. "Not only did I bag Little Planet because of you, but Earth is underneath my complete and total control! And not just the planet, but all its citizens, plants, and animals alike! All life under the sun united as one, with complete and absolute loyalty to my cause. I merely had to give them a little... push, if you know what I mean. Hehehe!" Robotnik chuckled in the insinuation as he turned to the gigantic robot.

"Before you, rodent, stands the heart of my glorious empire, its might, its power, its legacy— the blood of my Eternal Empire, the almighty Titanic Monarch. All my dreams, my failures, my blood sweat, and tears have led me here!" He stood straight again and looked down at Sonic crossing his arms, letting out a mock sigh as genuine emotions rolled out of him. "Ah well... it was nice catching up with you again Sonic, if only briefly. Brings back tender memories if I do say so myself." Sonic was still frozen, the only indication he was listening was the slight tremble in his eyes.

The ring continued shaking in place.

"But all good things must come to an end I'm afraid, I have things to attend to, I'm sure you understand. Oh, before I part you— yes part you, not part with you, I don't intend on you living after this. Here, take 'em—" Robotnik, with a wave of his arm, tossed the chaos emeralds towards the blue hedgehog. The emeralds coalesced and were absorbed into Sonic as immediately the fur glistened a golden shade. "—consider it as my parting gift. You're going to need it! So, with that being said!" Robotnik grinned devilishly, holding the Time Stones around him. The Time Stones reacted to his wordless commands, as they fazed through the cockpit of the Titanic Monarch. The faint red glare of the neon lights coming from the Titanic Monarch ignited in a blazing hellish inferno, drenching Sonic in a reddened world. The construction cables unhooked themselves and the construction towers beside the walls of the gigantic robot fell to the ground below as the machine came to life.

The ground underneath the Titanic Monarch trembled and shook viciously as the machine activated for the very first time. What was more surprising about the machine, however, was that it did not move in proportion to its size. If anything it defied the weight of gravity applied against it as the robot moved with as much grace as an average-sized human. The machine leaned to the side as Sonic was suddenly let go of his time prison.

Sonic backed away before stopping in his flight. Horror and so many emotions overcame hiss features as he swiveled to meet the Titanic Monarch. The hedgehog had no time to react as a mere second later the machine reappeared in front of him and socked him against its arm, drilling him against the surface of the Death Egg II.

Sonic smashed against the metal ground of the space fortress, crashing through many structures and skipping against the Earth before he recovered and dug his hands into the ground, slowing himself to a stop. Sonic stared at the ground breathing deeply, shocked, and stiffening when he saw a single red splot drip from his face.

Hesitantly he reached his face and touched his forehead tentatively, removing it quickly and seeing it stained red. He gaped, dumbfounded.

Robotnik hurt Sonic.

Sonic turned to the horizon as his ears twitched, the foot of the Titanic Monarch smashed him, flattening the ground and shaking the nearby structures. The giant machine popped from the scene, reappearing a few hundred miles away.

The ground underneath the attack of the Titanic Monarch was flattened in the imprint of the robot's foot, and in the center of the imprint, Super Sonic lay stretched. His quills were mottled and his skin was scratched up with the imprint of the overwhelmingly big badnik.

The sight had left a certain someone more than satisfied, letting an echo of laughter out into space.

He struggled... struggled to hold himself up. He tried blinking, he tried moving, he tried thinking, he tried everything. There was nothing more obvious to say than "He can't do it."

Sonic slowly got up to one knee, looking at the ground while trying to catch his breath. The Titanic Monarch stared at the small golden point in its screen, before raising its arms to point directly at Sonic. A bright yellow light formed from the depths of the barrels of the Titanic Monarch.

"I'm afraid our little game ends now!" Sonic stood up and as he did, the ring, which had been shaking crazily now, tore itself away from Sonic's cuff, tugging slightly on his wrist before it flew to meet the Titanic Monarch.

Gold glittering light trailed behind the ring as it made its way to the gigantic machine, stopping suddenly between the Titanic Monarch and Sonic. In their scuffle, the ring reacted violently to the presence of the Time Stones, and as it floated in place, it started vibrating erratically. The ring stopped suddenly and enlarged in size comparable to a door, revealing a green portal opening up inside the ring.

"What!?" Robotnik stared bewildered at the new development before everything around him succumbed to chaos.⁽8⁾

All forms of electrical equipment showered the cockpit with sparks going haywire right after alarms blared behind his seat. The inside of the machine rumbled, quaking and roaring as if it were being torn open. That's when Robotnik made a terrifying discovery.

His connection to the Time Stones severed as one-by-one they tore away from the machine and swarmed the ring, spinning rapidly around it.

"NOOO!" Robotnik yelled as the Time Stones began acting of their own volition. "Come back, Come back!" He begged.

Sonic looked up with a blank expression as he watched the ring and Time Stones warp the world all around them. He felt something out of his world, however. Something called for him that required his immediate presence.

He was pulled from the ground taken by the strong winds towards the ring, and though he could easily fly away from it, he didn't feel the need for whatever particular reason. From the depths of the ring, an ethereal, heavenly, and simultaneously earthly voice called out to him.

"I-I beg of you, t-to the ultimate life form—my perfect and pure familiar! Wh!-who hails from a world enriched with power and strength most deserving of familiar spirits! O my most sacred, most powerful, beautiful, and heavenly familiar that lives s-somewhere... in this boundless perfect existence! I wish, I desire... and I beg of you! From the depths of all my heart, please... I'm more than just a zero! Give me a chance, w-wherever you may be, to be happy!"

Sonic felt his heartache as he clasped his chest, empathy swallowed her pain in kind. The tiredness, the desperation, the hope, her languishing cries bleeding out for help! All the girl's life, her struggles, her fears, and pain laid bare within the wound deeply embedded in her soul; it was too much to endure for this divinely gifted hero.

Sonic was unsurely torn and confused. Never before in his life had he felt such a raw confession expressed so squarely at him, poured from pain and hope. His mind went blank as he tried to understand, but the golden hedgehog couldn't.

Sonic turned from the ring, floating high above in the sky creating a fissure in the world, to the Titanic Monarch as the once quickly speeding orbs within the chambers of the arms of the robot slowly crept up brighter and larger.

This was his opportunity to strike! The Super Time Stones, at least momentarily, were no longer under Robotnik's control so his time-warping powers were gone; no longer influencing the perceived speed of the machine. All he had to do now was take back the Master Emerald and restore the order of time.

Sonic grit his teeth as he bulleted towards the core of the Titanic Monarch while Robotnik was momentarily distracted. Now's not the time for confessions! Sonic was encased in the flames of ultraviolet light as the tails of the aura flew wildly against Sonic.

But he was stopped in place, frozen by the might of the Super Time Stones.

"Please! T-this... means everything to me! Answer to my guidance a-and come forth!"

Even if they couldn't see each other, even if he couldn't understand where the pain came from, why it was directed to him, and why he was chosen for her, the power of the confession and the Super Time Stones compelled him.

With only a few feet of reaching the ring, the intense gravity surrounding the unnatural phenomenon pulled Super Sonic into the portal. The Time Stones revolved continuously around the ring until they blurred like a fan. A small crack started to envelop the rocks, spewing out thin rays of light of the color spectrum. They continued cracking as the world warped, draining into the fissure made upon the world when the rocks exploded, enveloping the area in white light.

Robotnik held his hands out and squinted his eyes as the bright light consumed everything "NONONONO!-".

---

End One-Shot.

Well, congratulations! You just finished the chapter and now we're here.

...

Huh...

Usually, there would be a few author's comments left down at the bottom of the chapters of fanfiction, but I'm kind of at a loss of words. This turned out WAY bigger and more ambitious than I thought it would be.

Originally, my editor and I planned to create a chapter that had at least 7,000 words minimum for this One-Shot, yet as we progressed the whole thing escalated to 20,000 words!

[Editor] D:

[Editor] We didn't actually expect it to be this big, in fact if we went with the original script it probably would've been less than half as long. When we started however, the plot shifted and established themselves naturally beyond the rough draft, and by then I joked that at the pace we were going and the words already put in the chapter we'd go over 10,000 words. Well, it certainly is over 10,000 alright. We wanted to make this fanfiction when we noticed the lack of Sonic (the main character of his franchise!) in this particular crossover.

[Editor] We were careful to make sure this one-shot (and potential series!) were unique from the trap most crossovers to ZnT have where the OC/EC(Established Character) replaces Saito and not much else changes besides the dialogue and character motivations, so this prologue/one-shot serves as the starting point of the fanfiction where stakes are raised and goals are made clear early on. Hopefully, this would help make the crossover stand out among the rest.

This is also the first fan-fiction I've legitimately taken seriously, the production time being 2 years and all. All that time wasn't actually put into this chapter alone, only a month's worth actually. Of course, there was a lot of procrastination and stalling on my part throughout the process, mostly due to my fear of this one-shot being rejected and scorned from the face of the earth, but I persisted with some encouragement from my editor to make it through.

It is our hope that this fanfiction gets enough support and traction to have reviews shortly within its publishing; 5 reviews and 50 views to be exact, at least within the first couple weeks the chapter had been released. My editor and I are hoping to reward the readers with a second chapter to the One-Shot (as if the title of the chapter didn't give that away) soon after if the general consensus is interested in the effort.

I guess to follow up with the paragraph above, we hope that you'll leave a review for this One-Shot.

[Editor] I imagine it would be quite a daunting read, what with over 20,000 words by the first chapter alone!

...

[Editor] Talk about first impressions am I right? Still, I really want this One-Shot to turn into a story!

Oh!

Constructive criticism is always appreciated, though if you don't have any, some comments are always nice. Frankly, we're quite proud of how many references/easter eggs, and play on words we've made on this chapter alone. If my editor and I had the eyes of a hawk and the focus of cheetah (or something idunno?), we wouldn't have to read this thing however many times we did, but mistakes were made sadly. It does feel a little burnt-out in the bottom half of the chapter, though.

It was one rollercoaster of a ride I'll admit; [Editor] (With its ups and downs and all arounds,) but in the end, it was fun. How can something be so fun without any obstacles along the way? [Editor] (Don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question!)

Anyways, that'll be all from me for now, but because this is a One-Shot (and because of how much I love replayability in video games), my editor and I decided that we'll leave a list of recommended songs to listen to if you wanted to read the chapter again to help with the immersion.

[Editor] In case this becomes a series of chapters, don't expect this music list to show up for every single chapter, only every so often if the author and I feel it's worth the inclusion.

There'll be quotes and sentences that'll go along with the insertion of music, so you'll know when you'd want to start or change to a different song.

List of Music:

"With the Death Egg at long last destroyed and Angel Island returned to its rightful place in the sky, peace had returned to the lands." - Beginning of the story (1).

- A New Journey, Sonic Unleashed

"He began to stand up when a sharp golden ring fell from his fur, thumping softly in the grass. He picked up the ring and held it to the sky, observing the runes along the outside of the ring to which Sonic only assessed as an ancient language." - (2).

- Legend of Babylonians, Sonic Riders OST

"A resounding metallic clang echoed against the scenery, scaring flocks of flickies as they flew away from the unpleasant noise." - (3)

- Eclipse Cannon - Shadow the Hedgehog [OST]

"Within the confines of the Death Egg, Dr. Robotnik roamed the corridors leading to his laboratory in his Egg-Mobile." - (4) Optional

- E.G.G.M.A.N. [Doc. Robeatnix Mix] - Shadow the Hedgehog [OST]

"It was the mythical Angel Island, still flying, still drifting along with the wind." - (5)

- Vast Nazca - Shadow the Hedgehog [OST]

"This is my dream come true, for so long now I have been humiliated by that blasted Hedgehog! But now with this beautiful gem, my glorious eternal empire will be realized upon this world and I will rule it all!" - (6)

- Event: 3 Black Noises (Revival) [Game Version] - Sonic Adventure 2 OST

"Robotnik asked rhetorically, his voice sounding much more youthful than before, knowing full well Sonic couldn't get his voice out, being frozen in time and all." - (7)

- Null Space - Sonic Forces [OST]

"What!?" Robotnik stared bewildered at the new development before everything around him succumbed to chaos." - (8)

- "Death Egg Robot - Phase 3" - Sonic Forces Epic Orchestral Cover - By Stephen Ddungu

...

[Editor] Well, with all that, I think it's a good time to close things out. Until next time friends!

I hope you enjoyed the One-Shot!

---

[Editor] Woah, It's been way too long since our last update! I figured its best to catch up, so if you didn't notice this chapter received some serious changes, what with over 8,000 words added onto it, crazy right! The chapter was already massive as is, but now it's even bigger.

[Editor]So, what's the reasoning behind the change? Basically while looking back on older previous chapters the author and I felt some segments of the earlier chapters needed to be fleshed out more, especially chapter 1, as we felt the latter half seemed rushed and incomplete. As a result, many of the changes made were quality of life changes that helped to flow the chapter better. Nothing too important or significant was removed, just revised!

Since we made a significant amount of changes within this big change, Editor told me to say something, so here you go. "Something."

Moving on from the joke, this update is, uh, I guess you can say it's an expansion pack in that it includes patches to a few misspellings, corrections for grammar issues, and missing words in Chapters 1 and 2.