"Swat-Bot 2.0"
Sally is watching the Lake of Rings, with her arms crossed. All of a sudden Sonic speeds by, comes to a stop, and then speeds up to Sally.
"Hey, Sal, what's up with my number one girl?" Sonic asks.
"I just want some peace and quiet," Sally says.
"Sounds boring," Sonic jokes.
"It feels like my mind is running wild, trying to figure out what Naugus might do," Sally says. "We know nothing about his goals, or even the limits of his abilities, IF he has limits. To be safe, we should shore up security around Knothole…"
"Hey, you will only give yourself worry lines," Sonic gets Sally to turn and looks at him. "Besides, everything is gonna be fine."
Suddenly, the pair hears a loud explosion in the distance, causing them to turn in the direction of it.
Sonic turns back to Sally, with a half grin, "Well, almost everything'll be fine."
Sonic then speeds off, with Sally sighs, as she places a hand to her forehead.
A hut has smoke billowing out of an open window, with Rotor and Bunnie coming out, coughing, as Sonic speeds up to them.
"Hey, what's going on? Having an indoor BBQ?" Sonic asks.
"Not quite, Sughar-hog," Bunnie says, before coughing some more.
The three enter the hut to find Uncle Chuck is waving a large towel, blowing the smoke out of the hut's window, next to a large machine connected to a platform.
"We're working on a new deroboticizer," Rotor explains, as Uncle Chuck starts to fold up the towel. "But we ran into a small bug."
"A long bang and enough smoke to choke Cluck sounds more like a 'huge bug'," Sonic crosses his arms.
"Indeed," Uncle Chuck lays down the towel. "The unit seems to overheat as soon as it starts up." He turns to his nephew. "An undamaged de-frazzle chip could solve the problem."
"Unfortunately, all the de-frazzle chips we could find are in destroyed Swat-Bots," Rotor adds.
"Then we capture an undestroyed Swat-bot," Sonic snaps his fingers. "Problem solved.
"I doubt it would be as simple as that, Sonic," Uncle Chuck tells him.
Bunnie walks past her friends, staring at the deroboticizer.
A pre-roboticized Bunnie is running through a meadow of flowers. She stops to pick one of the flowers, smelling them.
"Bunnie? Bunnie?!"
"Oh, huh," Bunnie blinks her eyes, before turning to Sonic. "Sorry, Sugar-hog, I-I was lost in thought."
"That's fine, but the perfect way to clear your head is to bash some Swat-Bots," Sonic says, with a smile. "So how about it? Bash some 'bots and snatch the de-whatsit?"
"Sure thing, Sugar-hog," Bunnie nods her head. "I'm in."
"Sonic, we'll need the chip intact," Rotor reminds Sonic. "So no bashing."
"Fine, we retrieve the chip, then we bash," Sonic says.
In a factory within Robotropolis, a mechanical arm is holding a chip, as it slides it into a slot of a robot arm, before closing the slot and pulling away.
Lying on a table is a large robot, similar to a Swat-bot, but with a darker color, spikes on its shoulders and head, and larger forearms and hands.
Snively is in a control room, overlooking the factory, before pressing a button on a computer console.
The new Swat-bot surges with electricity, before its eyes glow and it gets up.
"Yes! It's alive! It's alive!" Snively calls out, before laughing.
The Swat-bot stands next to the table it was lying on.
"While Naugus is wasting time focusing on the past, going over the data files he found," Snively starts. "I will focus on the future, destroying the Freedom Fighters."
Snively gets off his chair, walks over to the control room's door, watching the new Swat-bot, "I should probably wait until I finish a platoon of my new Swat-bots, but…" He grins. "I just can't."
Snively presses a button on the console, "Swat-bot 2.0." The Swat-bot looks to the control room. "Go to the Great Forest, seek out the Freedom Fighters, and destroy them!"
The Swat-bot looks ahead, before starting to walk.
Sonic, Rotor, and Bunnie are lying on the ground, behind some brushes, with Uncle Chuck is behind a couple trees further ahead. All of them watching a path.
Sonic tabbing a finger on the ground, "Waiting must be the worst part about all of this."
"We shouldn't have to wait long," Rotor tells him. "Sir Charles said a Swat-Bot patrol always comes through here around this time."
"I know, I know, I just wish they would hurry," Sonic says.
Rotor turns to see Bunnie, who is looking down slightly, "Everything okay, Bunnie."
"Yeah, I guess, sugar…" Bunnie says.
"Bunnie, if this works…" Rotor starts.
"I know," Bunnie interrupts. "Trust me, I'm excited about going back to normal." Bunnie holds up her roboticized arm. "But previous attempts had always failed. I just don't want to get all my hopes up.
"Everything'll be fine, Bunnie," Sonic says, as she looks at him. "You will be flesh and blood in no time."
Uncle Chuck turns toward the other three, raising a hand with three fingers.
"That's the signal," Rotor realizes, with him, Sonic, and Bunnie looking ahead, to see two Swat-bots are walking down the path toward them. "The patrol is coming. Remember the plan, Sonic?"
Suddenly, Sonic runs off, speeding through the brushes.
"Nevermind," Rotor adds.
Sonic speeds up to the two Swat-bots, "Hey there, bunch a bucket of bolts." The Swat-bots look at each other. "Wait, wait, let me guess." The Swat-bots look down at him. "Get him!?"
Small blasters pop up on the Swat-bots' arms before firing at Sonic, just missing him, "Yep, that's it."
Sonic speeds into the forest, with the Swat-bots giving chase.
"Very good, Sonic," Uncle Chuck has a hand to the side of his head. "And I'm blocking their transmissions…" He looks to the side. "That's strange. An unknown signal is getting through. But what…?"
The Swat-bots are chasing Sonic through the forest.
"You're up, Bunnie," Sonic speeds ahead.
Bunnie suddenly stops out of some brush, punching one of the Swat-bots in the head, knocking it down, with its head falling off.
The other Swat-bot continues to chase Sonic, when the ground under it collapses, trapping it in a pitfall.
"Quick!" Rotor calls out, as he and Bunnie jump into the pitfall.
Bunnie's legs stretch, wrapping around the Swat-bot's arms, pinning them, as she also stretches her roboticized arm around it, "Now now, be a good little trash can."
Rotor opens a panel on the back of the Swat-bot, "Now, where are you…"
"I don't want to rush you, sugar," Bunnie says, as she struggles to keep the Swat-bot's arms pinned.
"Ah! There it is," Rotor presses a button, before a small chip pops out, which he takes.
The Swat-bot's eyes go dim, before lowering its head.
Uncle Chuck is running up to the group, as Sonic is helping Bunnie out of the hole, with Rotor climbing out.
"Good, everyone okay," Uncle Chuck says.
"More than okay, we got the de-frazzle chip," Rotor holds up the chip, when it is suddenly blasted apart. "Hey!"
They turn to see the Swat-bot 2.0 approaches them.
"What in tarnation is that?!" Bunnie asks.
"Some new model of Swat-bot," Uncle Chuck realizes.
"New or not, it is still junk," Sonic starts to speed ahead.
The Swat-bot's POV is watching the speeding Sonic, as it is calculating, with an image of Sonic appearing several feet ahead of the speeding Sonic.
A small cannon comes out of its arm, before firing a green gloop, hitting Sonic and getting him stuck to the ground by the gloop.
"Hey, you caught me!" Sonic tries to pull himself, but he is completely stuck. "YOU actually caught ME?! What is this world coming to?"
"We'll get you out, Sugar-hog," Bunnie and Uncle Chuck start to run ahead.
A small antenna pops up from the side of the Swat-bot's head, before the antenna starts to beep.
Bunnie and Uncle Chuck fall to their knees, as Bunnie's roboticized limbs and Uncle Chuck's entire body surges with electricity.
"Uncle Chuck! Bunnie!" Sonic tries to pull himself free, but is unable. "What's wrong?!"
"T-The Swat-bot is emitting a high frequency signal…" Uncle Chuck continues to surge with electricity. "I-It's disabling all machinery, n-not shielded…"
Swat-bot's POV turns and focuses on Rotor, as data starts to scroll through the POV, before the words "Danger Levels: Low" appear.
The Swat-bot starts to walk toward Rotor.
Rotor looks on, worried, then notices the old Swat-bot in the pitfall hole, also surging with electricity, "It's not shielded…"
Rotor jumps into the pitfall hole, with the Swat-bot turns to look down the hole.
Rotor is on the old Swat-bot, still surging with electricity, aiming its arm up, "Here goes nothing."
A cable shoots from the Swat-bot, hitting the new Swat-bot, allowing the surges of electricity to fly across the cable, hitting the new Swat-bot, causing it to surge with electricity.
The new Swat-bot's POV is cracking, before the words "End Signal" appear.
The antenna retracted back into the Swat-bot's head, causing it and the old Swat-bot to stop surging. Bunnie and Uncle Chuck also stop surging.
"Ah, much better," Bunnie says, placing a hand on her roboticized shoulder.
"Indeed," Uncle Chuck returns to his feet.
The new Swat-bot pulls the cable off its chest, then pulls on the cable, ripping it off the old Swat-bot's arm. As the other end of the cable whips through the air, Bunnie's roboticized arm stretches up and grabs the cable, before retracting.
"Let's see how you do with a little hogtied," Bunnie says, as her legs stretch and she starts to wrap the cable around the new Swat-bot.
Uncle Chuck pulls Sonic from behind, before finally pulling him free of the green gloop.
"I really hate staying still," Sonic says.
Rotor is rewiring the back of the old Swat-bot, "That should do it."
The old Swat-Bot raises its head, as its eye glows red, "Systems overload! Systems overload!"
"Yeah, that does it," Bunnie says, landing on the ground.
"Speaking of hate staying still," Sonic says, before grabbing Uncle Chuck, then speeds past Bunnie, grabbing her, and speeding past Rotor, grabbing him, then speeds away.
As soon as the group speeds away, the old Swat-bot explodes, blowing apart the new Swat-bot, tied with the cable, as well.
A security orb is floating in the sky, watching them.
"Argh!" Snively angrily calls out, watching the security orb's POV on a monitor. "Still, my new Swat-bot was easily destroyed!"
Snively exhales, "But no, I will have more than enough to make up for it, soon enough."
Snively looks out the window of the control room, to see several new Swat-bots being made in the factory, with mechanical arms at work.
At the edge of the forest, Rotor and Bunnie are checking their breaths, with Uncle Chuck looking past them.
"I-I don't think I will ever be used to that," Rotor says.
"At least we all are okay," Uncle Chuck.
"That's great and all," Sonic says, with them looking at him. "But we still lost that de-whatsit chip."
"De-frazzle chip," Rotor says. "But we might have another chance. I am certain that's new Swat-bot would have the same chip."
"And there's no doubt more are being made," Bunnie adds. "Probably as we speak."
Uncle Chuck places a hand to his chin, "There're little places left where such a construction project could be made. But I know of one possible spot." He looks at his friends. "We should get the chip we need for the deroboticizer, and destroy the factory before Snively has a chance to build an army of those Swat-bots."
Sonic grins, "We should get to it, then."
Uncle Chuck, Sonic, Rotor, and Bunnie are walking alongside a building.
"You're sure this is the place, Uncle Chuck?" Sonic asks.
"Pretty sure, son," Uncle Chuck says, as the group comes to a stop near a door. "This factory is normally used for smaller constructions, like Surveillance Orbs. But due to the devastation to Robotropolis done by the Deep Power Stones, this is currently Snively's only choice to make new Swat-Bots."
Uncle Chuck presses a button next to the door, which opens, before he leads his friends inside.
The four race into the building to see several Swat-bots being constructed, as the nearly entire room has mechanisms working on them.
"Snively definitively doesn't waste any time," Sonic says.
Two cables fly through the air and wrap around Rotor and Uncle Snively.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Uncle Chuck protests, as they see the two Swat-Bots 2.0, with their arms raised at them.
"It's as your miserable nephew says," Snively is heard, as Sonic and Bunnie look up and see him through the window in the control room. "I waste no time."
Snively presses a button, with several more of the new Swat-Bots, some of which missing arms or armor plating, activating and turning toward the Freedom Fighters, "All Swat-Bots, priority one, eliminate the hedgehog."
The first two Swat-Bots fire cables from their arms, with Sonic scooping up Bunnie and speeding past, dodging the flying cables.
"Just like Uncle 'bot-nik," Sonic jokes, as he speeds.
"I am nothing like Uncle Julian," Snively angrily says. "For starters, I won't fail like him."
Speeding Sonic jump kicks one of the first Swat-Bots, knocking it back, before Bunnie jumps out of his arms and uses her roboticized arm to knock the second Swat-Bot's head off.
"Really, because your track record amounts to about the same," Sonic says, as he comes to a stop, before he speeds ahead, dodging an one-armed Swat-bot's grasp and stops on a table. "Though this time around you don't have a wizard as a dance partner for an excuse."
Snively gets angry, "What're you buckets of bolts waiting for?! Destroy! The! Hedgehog!"
Two Swat-Bots, with missing armor platings, jump at Sonic, who speeds away to dodge, with the Swat-Bots crashing into each other.
"I have to admit, Snively," Sonic speed rolls into a Swat-Bot, knocking it onto its back, with him landing on its chest. "Your Swat-Bots are bigger and meaner than last year's model."
An one-armed Swat-Bot manages to wrap its arm around Sonic and lifts him off his feet, "But they can't beat me, even with only one hand."
Sonic grabs a mechanical arm, then slams it against the one-armed Swat-Bot's head, causing it to let go of Sonic, who then swings off the mechanical arm.
Bunnie tosses aside two cables, having free Rotor and Uncle Chuck, "There you go, sugars."
"Thanks, Bunnie, now you better help my nephew, while Rotor and I head up to the control room," Uncle Chuck tells her.
"You can count on me," Bunnie says, before running off.
Sonic backs up, as four Swat-Bots cornered him, "You know, all this tech and you could build something more helpful. Like a bald cap."
"Excuse me."
Two Swat-Bots turn around to see Bunnie standing on a table, holding onto a mechanical arm, "Is this a private party, or can two tango?"
Bunnie swings the mechanical arm, knocking down the two Swat-Bots.
"That's my cue," Sonic says, as he starts to speed around the two standing Swat-Bots, before seemingly disappearing, then suddenly landing on one of the Swat-Bots' shoulders. "How much do you charge for a ride?"
The other Swat-bot sees Sonic and tries to punch at him, with Sonic jumping off and the first Swat-Bot gets hit in the head.
"Now, now, if you can't pay nice with one another," Bunnie uses her roboticized arm to pick up one of the fallen Swat-Bots and throws it at the other three.
"Then pay time over," Sonic speeds around, rolls into a ball, before slams into the four Swat-Bots, blowing them apart.
In the control room, Snively slams his hands down on the console, as Uncle Chuck and Rotor enter.
"Ah, Sir Charles," Snively starts to step back from the console and towards the opposite wall. "If my Swat-Bots had been completed, your nephew and his friends would be mince-meat."
"Keep telling yourself that, Snively," Uncle Chuck says, as Snively presses a button on the wall.
A spot in the wall slides open, with Snively backs up into it, and the wall slides close.
"He surely knows how to make an exit," Rotor says.
"No time for that, we must hurry," Uncle Chuck says, as he starts to type at the console, with Rotor joining him.
The mechanical arms start to reach down, picking up Swat-Bots and ripping them apart, slowly destroying each of the remaining Swat-Bots.
"Whoa, a Swat-Bot disassembling line," Sonic crosses his arms. "Me likey."
The mechanical arms then start to punch into walls and the ceiling.
"I'm assuming this isn't normal behavior," Bunnie says, as she and Sonic are watching the mechanical arms.
Uncle Chuck and Rotor exit the control room, with Uncle Chuck waving at Sonic and Bunnie, "We must hurry, before the entire factory is leveled."
"Oh, but first," Sonic speeds over to a disassembled Swat-Bot torso, opens its chest panel and pulls out two de-frazzle chips. "These should do nicely."
Sonic speeds away, grabbing his friends, and speeds out of the factory, as the mechanical arms continue their attacks, collapsing the entire factory on itself.
An underground elevator comes to a stop, with Snively coming out, with his arms behind his back.
"Once again, that hedgehog pest got lucky, but it doesn't matter," Snively says, as he reaches a railing.
Looking past the railing, Snively sees a smaller assembling line, as more Swat-Bots 2.0 are being constructed.
Snively grins, "It's only the beginning."
Rotor inserts a de-frazzle chip into the side of the deroboticizer, before closing the panel.
Rotor and Uncle Chuck continue checking the deroboticizer, with Bunnie watching them.
Sonic walks over to Bunnie, "Ready to go?"
"I-I can't…" Bunnie looks away, hugging herself.
"Why not?" Sonic asks. "I thought you wanted to go back to… well, before?"
"I do, more than I could ever admit," Bunnie uncrosses her arms and looks at her roboticized arm. "I'm just afraid of getting my hopes up and it won't work."
"I feel the same way, Bunnie," Uncle Chuck walks over, placing a hand on Bunnie's shoulder. "In fact, I already had Muttski capture a test subject."
Sonic and Rotor look at each other, confused.
Uncle Rotor, Sonic, Rotor, and Bunnie, who is pulling the de-roboticizer on a large trolley, are walking down a damaged alley in Robotropolis.
"Muttski?! Muttski?!" Uncle Chuck calls out.
They hear barking, as they turn a corner to see Muttski, barking, next to an energy cage, holding a roboticized Cat.
"Cat?!" Sonic calls out, surprised, with Muttski running over to him, excited. "The Freedom Fighter we lost on the Stealthbot sabotage mission? I thought I would never see you again."
Cat angrily slams against his cage.
"Yeah, miss you too, buddy," Sonic says.
"Ever since Robotnik's disappearance, there have been Roboticized Mobians scattered all over the place," Uncle Chuck explains. "Some are put to work, but others are wandering, like they're waiting for instructions."
"Hey, Uncle Chuck, why don't you just reprogram Cat like you did with Muttski?" Sonic asks, as Bunnie pulls the trolley past them, with Rotor joining her. "At least he would be more sociable."
"Well, Sonic, Muttski is a very smart dog," Uncle Chuck says, as he kneels and pets Muttski. "But the programming for a Roboticized Mobian like Cat is too advanced. Simply trying to reprogram him could do permanent damage." Uncle Chuck shakes his head and he stands outright. "No, the only choice would be Cat's mind to be restored by sheer force of will, like I did, or…"
Sonic looks at the imprisoned Cat, as Uncle Chuck continues, "To be deroboticized."
Shortly later, Cat's energy cage is attached to the deroboticizer, with Uncle Chuck pulling a level.
Cat becomes surrounded by energy, as smoke starts to come out of the deroboticizer, before the energy around Cat fades, and he falls to the floor, unchanged.
"It didn't work!" Rotor calls out, surprised. "I-I don't understand what went wrong."
Uncle Chuck places a hand on Rotor's shoulder, "Don't worry. We'll figure it out. In time."
Bunnie watches the deroboticizer, with a single tear rolling down her cheek, "In time…"