Sonic leads Zazz and his Moon Mech on a wild chase through the borderlands of Windy Hill, doing all he can to make Zazz lose control and crash. However, the Zeti proves a surprisingly adept pilot, matching every turn Sonic makes, and after a few minutes, it's starting to get on Sonic's nerves.
"What's the matter furball?" Zazz cackles. "Gettin' tired already?"
"I'm just gettin' started!" Sonic retorts with his trademark smirk. Need to get creative… That looks promising!
A few seconds later, Sonic suddenly turns hard left and sprints into a dense cluster of trees.
Zazz overshoots the point where Sonic turned. "Hey, get back here!" he demands angrily.
"What don't ya come and get me?" Sonic teases from deep in the copse.
"When I catch you, I'm gonna skin you alive!" Zazz cackles, unleashing a torrent of yellow five‑pointed stars from the mouth of the Moon Mech, the trees quickly beginning to fall as they're cut down.
In the copse, Sonic is forced to duck as the first stars fly overhead so he doesn't end up a foot shorter and dead. But even that's not enough: with trees falling just seconds later, his only option is to quickly Spin Dash out of the copse and back into open air. "Hey, that's cheating; first bosses are meant to be pushovers!" he quips once safely out of the copse, his trademark smirk absent as he speeds away again. I need to get more creative.
"The longer you run, the more it'll hurt!" Zazz vows as he once again gives chase.
"Assuming you can even catch me!" Sonic retorts. Can't keep running forever. Sonic activates his communicator. "Tails, sit‑rep."
"Still under attack," Tails reports. "A second squad just arrived."
"You'll beat 'em bud," Sonic assures before closing communications again. Eggman's really making us work for it this time… Sonic spots a Yellow Wisp a short distance away. I have an idea. "Yo Zazz, that thing got a drill?"
"Who needs a drill when I can tear you to shreds with my bare hands?" Zazz answers malevolently.
Perfect. "Yo bud! Lend me a hand!" Sonic calls to the Yellow Wisp.
The Wisp turns its two‑tone yellow striped triangular head, its single eye spotting Sonic's being pursued. Squeaking with determination, it flies directly at Sonic, entering his body and transforming him into a glowing yellow triangular drill head with trailing spines.
An instant later, Sonic dives and drills straight into the ground.
Zazz again overshoots and quickly comes to a halt. "What is this trickery‽" he demands, anger pushing him towards uncontrolled rage.
His answer comes a second later: Sonic bursts out of the ground at high speed directly below the Moon Mech, drilling straight through it and popping out the other side. The last of the Wisp's power lifts Sonic just out of range of the explosion that shreds the Moon Mech into scrap and throws Zazz a hundred feet away.
Sonic lands gracefully among the debris, sees the Yellow Wisp fly away squeaking happily, then turns his attention back to Zazz. "Sorry about breaking your toy," he quips in fake apology as Zazz gets to his feet.
"You'll pay for that!" Zazz barks, charging directly at Sonic in wild rage.
"You'll have to settle for an IOU," Sonic smirks before charging a high‑powered Spin Dash, waiting until the last possible second to unleash it directly at Zazz.
Unable to turn in time, Zazz is hit squarely in the torso by the full‑power Spin Dash, the wind being smashed out of him as he's sent flying backwards straight into a low cliffside.
"Give up?" Sonic smirks, sliding to a halt twenty feet from Zazz as the Zeti slumps to the floor.
Every fibre of his being wants to continue the fight, but after that impact with the cliff, Zazz is too dazed to continue. "…you win this round, furball," he growls. "Next time, you won't be so lucky!"
Sonic watches as Zazz flees, chuckling to himself at the Zeti's unsteady path. No surprise he wants to have another go. Wonder if he realises it'll end the same way? Sonic activates his communicator. "Tails, how's the skies?"
"Clear," Tails answers. "I'll be there to help in a moment."
"Thanks, but I've already sent Zazz packing," Sonic answers. "Have you ever heard of the Zeti before?"
"No, can't say that I have," Tails answers. "Meet back where the mech was?"
"Will do," Sonic agrees.
A few minutes later, Sonic, Tails, and Clara are sat beside the Tornado, taking advantage of the peace to get a drink and a snack while Sonic tells them what Eggman told him about the Zeti.
"The 'Deadly Six', huh?" Tails asks rhetorically once Sonic's finished. "Talk about a boring name."
"I'd have gone with the 'Malevolent Marauders' or something," Clara interjects, her arms wrapped loosely around the makeshift rubber‑lined carrier hung over her stomach that Sparky is happily snoozing in.
"I'll pass that on next time I see one of them," Sonic replies.
"Did Eggman describe what the others are like?"
"No, but if they're anything like Zazz, they're all off‑the‑wall crazy," Sonic answers. "At least now I know what to expect."
"Question is, have they learnt anything about us?" Tails asks.
In his command room in his fortress in Lava Mountain, Eggman finishes watching through the footage of Zazz's fight with Sonic. "So much for the 'deadly' part of 'Deadly Six'," he sighs in disappointment.
"Zazz is wild and prone to mistakes," Zavok replies. "I assure you the next encounter will see the end of the blue menace."
"You better be right about that," Eggman growls. "Dismissed."
Zavok exits the command room in silence and approaches the largest and most corpulent of the Zeti waiting outside for him. "Zomom, put that sandwich down and listen."
"Sorry," Zomom replies, the orange‑yellow Zeti's words muffled slightly by the food he's yet to swallow. "I know I shouldn't eat as much as I do, but sometimes I can't help it."
"I know, and I understand why you eat so much," Zavok replies. "Therefore, I wish to help by giving you the next attempt at eliminating that blue pest and his friends."
Zomom's expression visibly lifts at the suggestion. "You really think I can do it?"
"If I didn't, then I wouldn't be giving you the opportunity," Zavok assures. "The blue pest should be entering Desert Ruins any moment. Intercept him before he makes it to Tropical Coast."
"If I win, can I eat him and his friends?" Zomom asks.
"If eating them won't make you ill, then yes," Zavok agrees.
"Thanks," Zomom smiles before turning and bounding away happily, each step shaking the floor slightly.
"Must you continue to indulge his voracious appetite?" Zeena asks disapprovingly once Zomom is out of earshot. "The last thing he needs is to get fatter."
"While it is true his appearance is one source of his insecurities, there are more immediate sources to address," Master Zik advises. "Once those are appropriately addressed, Zomom will have the strength to address what remains himself."
"You've been saying that for over a century," Zeena comments.
"It will take as long as it takes," Zavok states with firm yet kind finality. "Return to your duties."
Zeena looks like she wants to argue further, but she decides against it. "Very well," she reluctantly agrees.
The landscape of Desert Ruins quickly proves to be far less chaotic than Windy Hill, much to the relief of Sonic, who can speed through the area without having to worry about unpredictable changes in gravity. However, that doesn't make the area any easier to get through; not only have Eggman's badniks infested the entire area, there are also large pits of quicksand that suck down and bury anything unfortunate to enter them, huge spherical cacti rolling around, and colossal sandworms regularly bursting out of the sand and consuming anything caught in their jaws.
Of course, none of these obstacles prove a problem for Sonic, who easily draws on his unerring instincts and years of experience to avoid falling victim, leaving a trail of broken robots and dazed sandworms in his wake.
In the skies, the Tornado is finding progress equally smooth; aside from the occasional easily dispatched squad of Balkiries, nothing gets in the way of Tails' and Clara's flight. But after twenty minutes, they spot something large in the distance.
"Hey Tails, you see that emerging from the heat haze?" Clara asks as the first to spot it. "Kinda looks like… a temple, maybe?"
Tails takes a moment before replying. "I think you may be right," he agrees. "I'll radio Sonic and ask him to investigate."
On the ground, Sonic quickly dispatches a line of Motobugs before answering Tails' call. "Yo bud, what's up?"
"Clara spotted a large building up ahead," Tails answers. "We think it looks like a temple of some sort."
"You want me to check it out in case Eggbutt's in there?"
"Sure do."
"Consider it done." Sonic closes the connection, locates the temple up ahead, and accelerates.
As Sonic, Tails, and Clara approach the temple, in his command room in his fortress in Lava Mountain, Dr Eggman is preparing for the first test of the Extractor. "Orbot, are all the monitoring systems online?"
"Online and fully functional," Orbot confirms. "However, I'm not sure we should be testing the Extractor without refining the design."
"If you mention that one more time, I'll feed you to that enormous orange oaf!" Eggman snaps. "Are the power levels stable?"
"They are, sir," Orbot acquiesces. "Ready when you are."
Eggman types in a few last commands. "Commencing Extractor test… now!" he declares, pulling the large red‑handled lever down.
In their quarters on Sky Patrol, Nicole is continuing her research on the Lost Hex and the Zeti, research which is interrupted when she detects some highly unusual energy readings. Immediately switching focus, she dispatches a high‑speed remote camera drone and locates the source of the unusual readings in under a minute. "Sally, you need to see this."
"Can it wait until I'm out of the shower?" Sally asks.
"I can erase my video logs?" Nicole offers.
"I have a better idea." A few moments later, Sally emerges from the shower and joins Nicole at the desk, her modesty protected only by the towel wrapped around her. "What's that?" she asks, concerned by the footage on screen.
"I need to analyse it properly, but initial readings suggest it's pure energy being extracted from the planet," Nicole explains.
"Inform Sonic and Tails of what's happening, and keep monitoring whatever's extracting the planet's energy," Sally instructs.
In his command room, Eggman is watching the amount of gathered energy climb steadily. "Excellent, the Extractor is working as designed! How are the readings?"
"Nominal so far, s‑ Correction: they're beginning to fluctuate, and it's getting worse by the second," Orbot replies. "If it's not shut down within thirty seconds, it'll enter runaway instability."
"I had hoped it would last longer," Eggman sighs as he pushes the lever back up and shuts down the Extractor, ending the test. "Still, the amount of energy gathered is enough for now."
"May I suggest you construct an emergency shutdown sequence now, just in case?" Orbot recommends.
"What did I say about suggesting I refine the design?" Eggman growls.
"Hence why I suggested an emergency shutdown sequence instead," Orbot points out.
Eggman wants to argue but he cannot deny Orbot has a point. "…fine, I'll give you that one," he relents. "It won't be necessary, as we'll always be here to ensure it doesn't destroy the planet."
"I hope for all our sakes you're right," Orbot replies.
Just outside the command room, Zavok has heard the entire conversation. A machine that can destroy a planet… That sounds like something we can make use of.
