Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic gets into a fight with the fake Tails, a robot doll created in order to cause discourse in the Freedom Fighters and sabotage the defenses of West Island. During the fight, Tails Doll creates a dark copy of Sonic, which quickly turns the tides against him. With Sally's help though, they quickly gained the upper hand, forcing Tails Doll to retreat and stall for time… But what of the other Freedom Fighters?
At Emerald Hill Resort, just before Sally left to help Sonic with his fight, Jenni stood with her newly built robot named 'Beta'. After reassuring the princess that she had everything under control, Sally left, quickly dashing away towards Hill Top Mansion. Once Sally was gone, Jenni looked to the fight ahead and adjusted her glasses.
Jenni: "Let's see… Four potentially dangerous Mobians, three of which have range. I will need to scan them to see what's wrong with them, but in the meantime… Beta? Do beat them up - preferably to only being knocked out and not any worse. Non lethal means."
Beta: "Non lethal arsenal activated. Any further orders?"
Jenni: "Yes. Keep collateral damage to a minimum. This will be a perfect test of your abilities."
Jenni moved to behind a building, walking there nonchalantly, in order to take cover. Smart as she is, she is not durable for whatever battle was coming. Once Jenni was behind cover, Beta's boosters went on full blast before he charged at the most dangerous combatant first - Amy. As Amy was swinging her hammer at Julie, avoiding gun shots as she did, the pink hedgehog was tackled hard by Beta, sending her some ways from the fight. Julie was not impressed.
Julie: "Hey! Bolt for brains! Who said you could-"
Beta quickly rushed at Julie with a barrier active, deflecting incoming bullets from the echidna. Julie quickly jumps to the side to avoid the barrier tackle. She fires her gun at robot afterwards. Beta is hit but shrugs off the blasts as he arms his missiles and fires them at Julie. As Julie was readying to jump over, a boot jumps on the echidna's head, knocking her to the ground - dodging the missiles - as Amy lunges at the robot. She swings her hammer at Beta, causing him to block the impact with a shield.
Amy: "Stay out of this, you!"
Beta: "Negative. Unusual behavior detected. Subduing target."
Beta quickly moves to grab Amy by her foot and slam her to the ground, multiple times, with extreme force. He then tossed her to the side, hitting Tekno out of the air as she was preoccupied with Rosie. As Beta slowly gains the attention of the fighters, Jenni was looking through Beta's vision as she scanned the four.
Jenni: "Hmm… Something is definitely up… Their aggression is far too high to be considered normal… Or healthy… In fact, their aggression seems to only be rising progressively… Whatever is slowly eating away at them, it will cause them to kill each other and maybe others if left as is. Sooo… Beta? Phase 2 armaments are authorized."
Beta's eyes glowed as he received the authorization. He engages his blasters before firing a barrage of blasts from them, aiming to scatter the group. Amy dodges the blasts before swinging her hammer from below, slamming Beta's shield with enough force to knock it offline. Rosie follows up with a barrage of arrows, not caring if Amy was hit by them or not. Amy dodges the barrage while Beta was struck by them, knocking him down.
Beta: "Damage taken: 30%. Switching tactics."
Beta quickly gets up before barrier bashing Amy and Julie aside before closing in on Rosie. The woodchuck fires more of her arrows, but the arrows go through an afterimage of the robot. Her eyes widen as she sees Beta charge up his cannons and fire directly on top of her. Once the dust settles, Amy and Julie see Rosie on the ground, injured and out cold. Jenni then sees a mass of strange energy leave Rosie's body.
Jenni: "Ah ha. So there is foul play at work. Some kind of hypnosis that's causing them to become this aggressive towards each other. Well… if knocking them out helps calm them down, then that's our option."
Amy and Julie glare at the robot, getting ready for a tussle. The pink hedgehog then swings her hammer at the dirt, creating a smoke screen to blind the robot. Beta seemed unphased as he detects movement from the veil of dirt. Julie then appears and fires at Beta from above, landing on his shield before jumping off. Amy slides under the robot before slamming her hammer from below, severely damaging Beta as his armor cracks and his left arm falls off.
Beta: "Error… Sufficient damage taken."
Amy: "Yeah, and there's more of that, you trash pile!"
Amy then slams her hammer on the ground to send a shockwave at the robot. Beta floats higher in the air to avoid the shockwave, but then his thrusters are shot at by Julie, knocking him back to ground level. Amy jumps up to ready her hammer, slamming it onto Beta and causing further damage.
Beta: "Error. Sufficient damage taken…"
Julie gets ready to finish off Beta, but then… A swing of Amy's hammer throws her back some distance, with the two glaring at each other.
Amy: "Now that that distraction is out of the way. Time to smash you, you pink wannabe!"
Julie: "Bring it! Your face makes me gag anyway!"
As Amy and Julie stare each other down, a small spherical device rolls under the echidna, catching her attention. Then, just as she was about to shoot it, an EMP shocks her and causes her cybernetics to start glitching out.
Julie: "Gah! What the hell!?"
Amy smirked, thinking someone was helping her… But then Beta grabs her from behind, holding her tight.
Amy: "Ack! Hey! Bad touch, robot! Let me go!"
Beta: "Negative. Transferring remaining power to shock systems. Initiating shock therapy."
Amy: "Wait, what!?"
Amy is then given a hefty shock as Beta unleashes his shock therapy, zapping Amy so much as her body spasmed from the electricity coursing through her. The shock therapy ends as Amy faints, Beta falling over as he ran out of power. Julie holds her cybernetic arm in pain as she glares at the knocked out hedgehog. But a tap on her shoulder brings her attention away from Amy… only to then to be met by a roundhouse kick from Jenni, quickly knocking the echidna out before her cybernetics could fix themselves.
Jenni: "Well, that was messy. The lot of you really do cause me a lot of hassle…"
Jenni then narrows her eyes as she counts who all are present.
Jenni: "...Where's the canary?"
The feeling of a gun put against her back is felt, forcing Jenni to raise her hands slowly.
Tekno: "Right here, you monster."
Jenni: "'Monster'? My dear, you are the one holding the echidna's blaster against an unarmed woman. A bit of the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?"
Tekno: "Shut up! I know you were the one that started the attack on this island… Both of them! You Robotniks are all the same…"
Jenni: "...Tekno, is it? Do you mind explaining yourself? I haven't the slightest clue what you are on about."
Tekno: "You murdered a little girl at the Central City hospital! According to reports, a girl was brought in for a cure for NIDS, but instead, you killed her!"
Jenni's look of calm then turned into a look of pity; this young canary was so ill informed that it was impressive she didn't see the holes in that plot. She lowers her hands and stuffs them into her lab coat pockets as she turns to face Tekno.
Jenni: "Hmm… Tell me this, Tekno. What was the girl's name?"
Tekno: "Nicole. She was a lynx. Don't you know th-"
Jenni: "And how exactly did she die, if by my hands?"
Tekno paused for a moment, trying to remember what she could. Certain parts of the file were… redacted so information was scarce."
Jenni: "The truth of the matter is… I was not the one who killed Nicole… Though at first, I did think that… Ivo has done some truly horrible things when he decided to show himself again… But taking away the one way me and Charles could have saved Nicole was by far the worst. And I will forever hate him for it."
Tekno: "B-But that doesn't exempt you from your entire family's history of bloodshed! I lost my parents to your family!"
Jenni looked at Tekno, raising an eyebrow as she wanted to hear this one.
Tekno: "When I was in the Battle Bird Armada, we were attacked by an army of humans… One led by a Robotnik named 'Colin'. My parents fought him off personally… But they perished during the battle… It was because of your family that I lost my parents!"
Jenni once again looked at Tekno with a look of pity before sighing in aggravation.
Jenni: "Colin, you absolute asshole… If you weren't MIA, I'd kick your butt to next year…"
Tekno: "...Huh?"
Jenni: "You're likely referring to my older brother, Colin. Truth be told, between him, myself, and Ivo, I'm sort of the black sheep. Whereas Colin was a warmonger, Ivo is a guy who's trying to take over the world… I just live what little of my life I still have trying to bring a smile to those I care about."
Jenni turns and starts pacing a bit before looking out at the sea horizon.
Jenni: "When I first settled onto West Island all those years ago, I was in a miserable state, both physically and mentally. The idea of losing Nicole haunted me for years to come. I failed her… But then… By some miracle, she and I would reunite again."
Tekno looks at Jenni with confusion before her eyes widened with realization. The lynx, that hologram from the meeting… That was no mere AI… That was Nicole! Tekno's mind raced with questions, but Jenni shook her head.
Jenni: "...So do you still think of me as a monster? Do you still want to shoot me?"
Tekno's hands shook as she held the blaster before she started bursting into tears, running to hug Jenni as she buried her face into Jenni's shoulder.
Tekno: "I-I'M SO SORRY, JENNI! I… I put a lot of unnecessary stress on you over NOTHING… Vespa… Vespa's probably looking at me with absolute shame…"
Jenni: "...Nah… She's probably happy to see you let go of what was holding you back…"
As the two embraced, the aggressive energy that had affected Tekno when Tails Doll caused that illusion earlier was dispelled from her body, vanishing into nothing. Tekno took a step back as she saw Amy and their friends on the ground, wounded and knocked out.
Tekno: "Oh my Gaia… I… I caused everyone so much hassle… I… I don't even know where to begin…"
Jenni: "Don't worry. Every great scientist is bound to make mistakes… But the truly greatest ones are willing to learn from those mistakes."
Jenni placed a hand on Tekno's head as the two share a smile. But this good feeling was short-lived as they see Tails and Sonic - or rather Tails Doll being chased by Sonic - in the distance.
Tails Doll looks back to see Sonic following him, smiling evilly as he fires a red beam from his antenna at the blue hedgehog, aiming to slow him down. Sonic dodges the red beams before accidentally running into the wall of a juice hut, face planting hard into it.
Sonic: "...Okay… That was a jerk move…"
Tails Doll smiles before rushing toward Tails' Workshop, creating a barrier as he slams into the building, landing with enough force to send the unaware Uncle Chuck and Aleena slamming into the walls, Chuck dropping the real Tails as he was sent flying.
Tails: "Uncle Chuck!"
Tails sees a shadow creep over him before he is picked up by his fake counterpart.
Tails Doll: "Hello, Tails. Miss me?"
Tails Doll smiles as he grips the doll Tails tightly in his fingers before walking out of the Workshop just in time to greet Sonic as he caught up to the fake.
Sonic: "Alright, fluff boy! You ready to stop playing the coward and fight like a real Mobian?"
Tails Doll: "Not so fast, boy… You wouldn't want to hurt your friend… Would you?"
Tails Doll holds out the real Tails in doll form.
Tails: "S-Sonic!"
Sonic: "Tails!?"
Tails Doll: "Don't make any sudden moves… Or I will turn him into a pile of fluff on the soil. And I'd hate to see what would become of him when he's returned to normal…"
Sonic glares at Tails Doll as the coward pulls a hostage situation. The evil doll smiles wider as he starts chuckling to himself, holding Tails close and placing a hand on the fox's head, just give Sonic another warning. Sonic was stuck in a rock and a hard place… And assuming Tails Doll wasn't bluffing, time was running out for Tails as well. What could Sonic do in this situation…?
To be continued…
Author: Hi. Dale here again. In most cases, I do tend to be pretty quiet and just let people enjoy a story without my yapping, but there are times where I have to say something. I am going to say this as nicely as I can... If you want me to answer any questions that you have, sign into your account and stop sending Guest Reviews. I cannot reply to them at all.
