"Time spent with Tekno and Vespa was very cathartic last night. Remembering the time I spent with Sonic when we first met made me realize just how far I've come since my kiddy days. If there's anything I've taken from this adventure, it is this: "Just keep running. Life will sometimes bring you down. But as long as you keep moving, it won't matter." I'll be writing an epilogue after this next venture through Miracle Planet. According to Vespa, we're heading to the heart of enemy territory - the Stardust Speedway and the Metallic Madness." - Amy Rose, Up-And-Coming Explorer

Team Rose makes their presence in the Stardust Speedway abundantly clear - explosions from one road to the next as Vespa and Tekno - holding Amy - fly over, destroying the guard robots protecting the area. As the trio make their way to a Time Warp Signpost, the regular Mobian duo take a moment to breathe.

Amy: "Whew. Robots on the left and robots on the right… I think whoever runs the joint is very aware we're closing in."

Tekno: "That's not all. The robot swarms are getting larger even in the past. Vespa, any theories?"

Vespa: "I can only suspect that our initial intrusion has riled up the one in command. Perhaps as a direct result of the Death Egg's destruction."

Tekno: "Information for another day. Anyway, time to get rid of that robot generator!"

The trio head to the past, warping the area before following Vespa to the closest signal.

Though the girls were making quick work of the Stardust Speedway, they were unaware just how closely they were being watched. By Omelette no less, who looking intently at her monitors.

Omelette: "So these pesky girls think they can mess with my base and get away with it? Well sorry to say, but Papa's not the only one who can get dangerous when the opportunity comes. As long as my back ups are in place, my plan will not crumble so easily this time."

Omelette takes off her glasses as she wipes them with a cloth, her angered expression fully pronounced as her previous defeat at the hands of Sonic and Lam on South Island play out.

Omelette: "That blue furball and stupid goat got the best of me last time. And that wretched aunt of mine… But I am not going to fail again. Not when I am so close."

Omelette turns to five glass tubes, each one containing robots of various sizes, but their distinct shapes showed to be upgraded Egg Robo models. Omelette smiles evilly in her reflection off of the glass tube labelled "Heavy King".

Omelette: "Only just a little more… time."

Omelette starts laughing as she sees Egg Robos carrying in Time Stones and converting their physical mass into raw energy which are pumped into the tubes of the five new robots. On their screens shows a percentage of them all, each showing to be just over 90% now.

The trio make their way through the various loops and bounce pads constructed to resemble or are decorated by instruments to find their way to the robot generator creating the army that they've smashed through thus far. Amy jumps at the generator and destroys it with her hammer.

Amy: "Whew! That was a ride and a half. Vespa? What's the word?"

Vespa: "No signals nearby. Meaning our path is clear."

Tekno: "Sweet! One stretch of road to our final destination!"

Amy: "Let's roll, Team Rose! Next stop, the end!"

As the trio head out towards the bridge leading to the Metallic Madness base, Vespa is rammed into by a flying object and slammed into the ground, covering the air with a dust cloud. As Amy and Tekno skid to a stop, two horns shoot out from the dust cloud and slam into them, knocking them off their feet and into the nearest wall. As the dust clears, the thing that crashed into Vespa reveals itself to be a robotic goat. Unbeknownst to Team Rose, this was a Metal series version of Lam, the one who helped Sonic on South Island when he went there.

Metal Lam: "Processing… Weaker, inferior models are the ones that have trashed my mistress's machines? How dull. I expected more fight."

Amy: "Oh you want a fight?"

Metal Lam sees Amy come out of the wall, looking quite angry as she rushes at the robot with her hammer out.

Amy: "Try a Piko Piko Hammer on for size!"

Amy readies her hammer, but as she closed in, Metal Lam then uses Vespa as a shield, causing Amy to redirect her hammer to the road beside Metal Lam.

Metal Lam: "Weakness detected. Your heart is pathetic, fleshy."

Metal Lam slams a clawed hand on Amy's face, slamming her to the ground before tossing her over the edge of the road. Amy grabs the edge, hanging on before she could fall into the void below.

Amy: "That's a one way ticket I think I'll pass on…"

Metal Lam: "Sorry. But I insist you take-"

As Metal Lam was readying to slam her foot onto Amy's hand, Vespa wakes up and stings her stinger onto the enemy robot's side, causing her to reel in pain. Tekno flies in and grabs Amy and helps her onto solid land.

Tekno: "You okay, Ames?"

Amy: "Peachy. Why's this thing so strong?"

Vespa: "Records unknown. This model belongs to an unknown series of robot previously not seen."

Metal Lam's eyes glow with anger as the rocket on her back starts ejecting flames, she readying herself to charge at the trio.

Amy: "Tekno! If you have a brain blast, we could use one!"

Vespa: "You two get going."

Amy: "Yo, what?"

Vespa: "You two are living beings. With hopes and dreams. I am a robot, programmed data and artificial. I can be rebuilt, if not replaced. You two cannot. So go. Stop Ivo. Save the Miracle Planet."

Amy: "Oh don't play the hero, Vespa! I am not leaving a friend behind, no matter what!"

Tekno: "Plus, if we work together, we can get out of here faster anyway!"

Metal Lam flies at the trio, causing them to scatter as the robot goat flies off the road and over the void.

Tekno: "Amy! Think you can send this robot packing with your hammer!"

Amy: "Watch me! I'll give this thing a home run it won't forget!"

Tekno: "Okay then! Vespa! With me!"

Vespa: "...Affirmative."

Tekno jumps off the ground and flies at Metal Lam, jumping on the robot's head to knock it down some. The robot's eyes lock onto Tekno and fly after her. Tekno flies as quick as she could before Vespa flies from ahead of the canary, heading directly for Metal Lam after passing Tekno. The two continued to charge at each other before Vespa flips and slams her stinger into Metal Lam's right eye, causing her to reel back in agony.

Metal Lam: "My optical receptors! You damaged my optical receptors with your posterier."

Vespa: "No. I just made you an easy target."

Vespa and Tekno nod to each other before they quickly flew at the robot and slammed a double drop kick on her, sending her towards Amy. Amy smiled as her hammer ignited on fire, glowing red hot.

Amy: "Hasta la vista! GOAT-BOT!"

Amy swings her hammer hard at Metal Lam, slamming into the robot with such force, the robot is sent clean into the sky and out of orbit, disappearing with a twinkle in the sky. Amy held her pose for a moment before swinging her hammer around and slamming the head down onto the road before wiping her head.

Amy: "And that's how you start the robotic space program."

Tekno: "Woohoo! Go, Amy!"

Tekno and Vespa land to rejoin Amy, Amy and Tekno exchanging a high five then a fist bump.

Vespa: "Correction. Go us. We all pitched in."

Amy: "She's right, Tekky. We were all awesome!"

Tekno and Amy laugh before the trio walk down the road, coming up to the big base itself - Metallic Madness, shaped like a giant fortress sized chrome egg.

As the trio reach the end of the road, they are met by a large door. It was locked, of course, with a terminal nearby used to gain access to the inside.

Vespa: "There is a very large signal in the inside. This is the base of operations for Ivo."

Tekno: "And of course, enemy base, big locked door, terminal to said big locked door. All the basic jazz. Just give me a minute."

Tekno walks over to the terminal, hacking into it using her computer hacking skills. Amy and Vespa meanwhile take a moment to talk.

Amy: "Hey. Sorry if I robbed you of that spotlight back there. But I wasn't going to let you needlessly sacrifice yourself just to save me and Tekno."

Vespa: "Part of my programming is to help others, even at the cost of myself. I am willing to self terminate if it means keeping you and Tekno alive."

Amy: "That is sweet, but foolish. We got here together, we leave this planet together. As a team."

Tekno: "Agh! Dang it all!"

Amy and Vespa look up to see Tekno huffing with her hands on her hips.

Tekno: "This Ivo guy's a crazy genius; his security's locked behind a firewall and password. I guessed the password, but the firewall is almost impenetrable."

Vespa: "Perhaps I can try? I could destroy it through my central programming."

Tekno: "You got a USB?"

Vespa pulls out a wire from her back, showing it to be a USB. Tekno grabs it, but pauses.

Tekno: "What if it's a trap? Are you sure you want to risk that?"

Amy: "Yeah. Just let me bash down the door!"

Amy pulls out her hammer, readies a swing and goes full strength onto the door… only for the trio to be hit by a loud 'BONG!' as Amy is seen vibrating from the impact. The swing did not even dent the doors.

Tekno: "...Risk it we shall then."

Vespa: "I shall be careful."

Vespa is plugged into the terminal, causing her body to shut down and go limp as her AI goes into the terminal. Inside the terminal, Vespa's AI sees herself in front of the firewall in question. After a quick scan through her optical receptors…

Vespa: "A Level 5 firewall. Created by the one called 'Sage'. No doubt these security measures were made for their most important bases. Still, it is no match for sifisticated machinery like me."

Vespa quickly flew at the firewall and slammed her stinger into the wall, piercing it. But upon piercing it, her body started to violently twitch and spasm, as if her body was having a seizure. This seizure was also witnessed by Tekno and Amy as Vespa started writhe in pain, forcing Tekno to force Vespa's connection out.

Tekno: "Vespa! Are you okay!?"

Vespa: "Running… diag…nost…ics…"

Amy: "I knew that was a bad idea! I knew it! Is she okay!?"

The trio see the doors slide open, indicating that Vespa was at least successful in bringing down the firewall. Vespa soon stood up, feeling a bit shaken up though.

Vespa: "Diagnostics complete… I feel shaken up, but… I am still functional."

Tekno: "You sure?"

Vespa: "I am… Sorry for the worry, you two."

Amy: "Okay… Vespa, why don't you hang back? Me and Tekno will enter first while you follow."

Vespa: "If you insist, then very well…"

Amy and Tekno nod before Amy gets her hammer ready. The trio then slowly enter the base. A large chamber greeted them; large and spacious, which gave a clue to Tekno on what to expect. But as they entered, they hear a stomp from outside. As they turn, Amy and Tekno's eyes widen as they see… Metal Lam, back from orbit and still functioning!

Amy: "What!? But how'd you-"

Metal Lam: "Glory… to… Lord… Robot…nik…"

Metal Lam starts to glitch a bit, showing lots of wear and tear as she lunges at Vespa and grabs her, holding her in a bear hug.

Vespa: "Ah! U-Unhand me!"

Tekno: "Vespa!"

As Amy and Tekno run to assist Vespa, the door start to close with Metal Lam jumping out of them. The doors' opening thins to the point that Amy couldn't squeeze out, only see as Metal Lam holds Vespa.

Amy: "Leave her alone! Vespa! Fight her!"

Metal Lam's remaining eye glows as she activates her self destruction. Vespa stabs her stinger through her attacker, causing her to escape Metal Lam's grip. She then tried to fly toward the door as Tekno manages to open it some for Amy to extend a hand to pull Vespa in. As the explosion goes off though, Vespa is forced to blast Amy with a laser from her stinger, pushing her away from the explosive blast as Vespa herself was engulfed. The doors immediately slam shut after Amy was pushed back in, only a bit of smoke making it through. Silence filled the room, as Amy stared at the door from the floor she was on, wide eyed and mouth agape. Tekno was also at a loss for words as she stepped back from the adjecent terminal, holding her mouth as tears began to form.

Tekno: "V-Vespa… Sh-She…"

Amy: "Sh… She's not dead… She's out there… We can still get her if we…"

Voice: "Pry open the door and walk out? What a noble thought. It sickens me!"

The duo suddenly hear a girl's voice ring out from the intercom, causing Tekno to turn to face the voice, with a truly terrifying glare.

Tekno: "Are you Ivo!? Open up the doors, right now!"

Omelette: "Or what? You'll peck me to death, bird brain? Get real! Your foolish friend thought she could escape my metal minion so easily. I had that bomb planted specifically as a last resort in order to destroy any intruder who dared to make it this far. Sad to see it didn't work on you two though…"

The lights come on as a monitor becomes visible, revealing Omelette on the screen, giving a double V-sign.

Omelette: "Also my name isn't Ivo, that's my brilliant and cool Papa. I am his wonderful, equally cool daughter. Omelette Robotnik! And a brilliant prodigy who has turned Miracle Planet into her own little mining operation, collecting the precious materials here for my Papa!"

Tekno: "What the hell are you planning!?"

Omelette: "Hehehe. As if I'd tell. Let's just say it involves a certain blue hedgehog. The same one who humiliated me before! I intend to get my own back at him! That stupid wasp robot thing was just the start. Once my mining operations are done, this whole world will feel the true power and ferocity… Of the Robotnik Emp-"

Before Omelette could finish her monologue, a hammer is tossed at the monitor screen, silencing the robot girl as the monitor breaks. Amy had stood up, her eyes covered in shadow, but her fangs were visible, her teeth gritting angrily.

Amy: "I don't give… a flying fuck who you are… I just watched my friend sacrifice her life to save ours… After I just declared we would all go home together… You… You ruined that… You ruined Miracle Planet… If you think for one second I'll forgive you for that…"

A pink aura began to enshroud Amy before her eyes were visible, full of rage now as she spawns - not just one hammer this time - but two, one for each hand. Though the monitor was destroyed, Omelette could still talk through the intercom speakers.

Omelette: "...How rude. At least let me finish before you fly off the handle like that. Oh well, the moment is ruined… So how about I just crush you?"

The ceiling then opens as a giant robot falls from it, slamming down onto the ground with enough force to send Tekno off her feet and onto her butt. But Amy still stood strong and defiant. The robot stands tall, towering over the duo of Mobians by about six times; a robot designed to resemble Omelette herself, similar to her Papa's own Death Egg Robot.

Omelette: "Time to stomp you flat! And make my Papa proud!"

Amy glared at the mech before getting ready for the final fight, Tekno standing to join her.

To be continued…