Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, while waiting for Eggman to recover, Sage goes on her own to retrieve what she can of the Death Egg's remains, leaving Omelette to plan and create her own projects. Meanwhile, on Angel Island, Sonic begins his first day to collect the pieces of the Death Egg, but with Kicks joining him. After a rough ride, he begins to understand Kicks better as she tells of why she's so distant from Sonic and why she and Knuckles protect the island. But as they spoke, they see an alert signal go off, causing them to double back in that direction.

A little time after Kicks and Sonic left, Knuckles laid about on a branch of a tree as he stares at the sky above, his mind wandering a bit with questions on what Kicks was doing with Sonic since she volunteered to take him.

Knuckles: "I've known Kicks since we were a couple of brats. …Funny, she used to smile a lot more back then… But after what happened with that accursed Emerald on this island, I guess I'd have problems smiling too…"

Knuckles then sat up, deep in thought, partly to keep the boredom of being a sentry out of his head.

Knuckles: "There is also that hedgehog… He seems genuine enough, but we've seen enough liars in our heyday that fooled us with their wit and general talking… Though, in Sonic's case, he seems… familiar… Like we've met before somewhere… Or, well… Not exactly him, but someone who had his eyes… Green eyes…"

Knuckles tried to dig deep into his memory to find out why Sonic was so familiar. But the answer didn't come clearly enough. He did recall two hedgehogs though… But they couldn't be related to him… right?

Knuckles: "Ah… Screw it. I'll ask him when he gets back. Assuming he does anyway; Kicks isn't very gentle and if you annoy her enough, she'll definitely seem like she's out to kill you."

Knuckles laughs at the few times his sister put him through the wringer. Those were painful, but fun times. And it made him who he is - strong, tough, concentrated. As Knuckles lays back to relax, he soon spots something flying through the air. It wasn't going so fast that he couldn't spot it, but it was going fast enough that he couldn't properly identify it.

Knuckles: "What the…? What was that?"

Knuckles hops from the tree and pursues the flying object, being quiet as to not accidentally alert it just in case it proves dangerous.

Knuckles arrives at the crash site of the largest possible piece of the Death Egg, which was the face and eyes of the gargantuan metal beast. He hides in the brush nearby, looking around for the flying object, soon detecting it. It was a small metal orb with a single "eye". The eye, however, turned out to be a projector as a girl appears from the eye, looking at the destroyed wreckage.

Sage: "...Unit: Death Egg. Condition: Damaged beyond repair. Father's Mood: Likely not going to be very happy. I will have to fix that…"

The girl soon floats into the wreckage of the Death Egg, Knuckles looking on from afar as he growls.

Knuckles: "Great… She looks like genuine bad news… And I don't like the sound of her making "Father" happy. Better alert Kicks just in case things get ugly…"

Knuckles rushes over to a tree and looks into a hole in it to find a stack of crudely made fireworks. He pulls one out and lights it, letting it shoot into the air with a colorfully red pop. With the signal sounded, he moves to pursue the girl within the Death Egg.

As Knuckles moves through the Death Egg, he sees the remains of many destroyed robots, either destroyed by Sonic himself or destroyed by the crash. He glanced at the robots for a bit before finding a shaft leading upwards. He climbs it using his clawed knuckles, punching the wall before starting to climb. Once at the top, he found the girl he saw earlier. She was now observing the wreckage of a much larger robot, though this one looked more intact than the others, aside from the chest being blown open, revealing a few shiny gems inside.

Sage: "Chaos Emeralds are still here. Excellent. This will ensure Father's next plan will come to fruition without interruption."

Knuckles: "I wouldn't count on it, kid!"

Sage looks up from her observation as she turns to see Knuckles, now approaching her while pounding his fists together.

Knuckles: "You know, I was planning on saving this big piece of junk for last since it'll be the biggest pain in the ass to haul off the island. That's what I get for putting things off I guess. But you're not leaving with those gems, lady."

Sage: "...An echidna. How quaint. You are no more annoying than that hedgehog though. Are you a resident of this floating rock you call an island?"

Knuckles: "You could say that. You could also call me its guardian. Now beat it… Or I beat you."

Sage seemed unphased by the threat, prompting Knuckles to lunge at her. But when he did, he tumbled forward as his fist went right through her "body".

Sage: "My body is a hologram; an illusion with no corporeal form. Your attacks will do nothing to me. Now "guardian", go away. I am very busy."

Knuckles: "Okay… A direct attack won't work… How about I destroy this whole… space station? …building? Whatever… I'm gonna wreck it anyway so who cares!?"

This got a reaction out of Sage. She looked at the Death Egg Robot, secretly scanning it with her eyes before turning back to Knuckles.

Sage: "I cannot afford to let you destroy Father's work. As such, I will just destroy you…"

Sage raises a hand before sending energy into the Death Egg Robot. The mech starts to react to it before its eyes glow red, starting to stand up before towering over Knuckles. Knuckles is a bit shocked that a robot in its condition could still function, but he soon smiles at the challenge.

Sage: "Even at 40%, this Death Egg Robot model will be sufficient enough to destroy you, echidna. This Death Egg shall be your grave."

Knuckles: "Big talk for a little kid. Let's see you back up those words."

Voice: "Yo, Knuckles! Don't hog all the fun!"

A voice rings in the room as a blue stripe of energy rushes by Knuckles and slams into the Death Egg Robot, causing it to slide back from the force. Sonic lands on his feet, smiling as he dusts himself off.

Sonic: "Well, at least I can run without too much strain today! I was worried about that!"

Knuckles: "Sonic?"

Sage's emotionless expression turned into frustration as she saw Sonic, completely ignoring another figure entering the fray, Kicks the Echidna.

Kicks: "Knuckles. Are you unharmed?"

Knuckles: "Unharmed? Sis, the bell didn't even ring yet. That said, you two arrived quick."

Sonic: "Thanks to ol' Sonic speed. Can't run as fast as I usually can still though. Just fast enough for me and Kicks to save time."

Sage: "You…"

Sonic turns to Sage, recognizing her as the girl who sent robots at him during the ascent to Eggman himself.

Sonic: "Oh hey, it's you. Are you gonna toss more robots at me to trash? Because I can do that all day again."

Sage: "Shut up. You… You annoying pest… I had hoped the explosion on the Death Egg or perhaps the reentry into the planet's atmosphere would be your demise… But here you stand… Alive… Breathing… While my father has to build a new body for himself!?"

Sage's eyes start glowing a sinister, deep shade of red as her anger became more pronounced.

Sage: "It's not fair! My father worked hard to achieve his dream of a robotic utopia! He spent weeks… MONTHS! Trying to complete his work! And then you come… And destroy it all… And STILL live to tell the tale!? I hate it! I absolutely hate it! I hate you even more! I HATE YOU! IHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOU! I HATE YOU WITH ALL MY AVAILABLE FURY!"

The trio could only stare as Sage practically leaked a slip of insanity as she starts panting, tired from her rant. Sage's hair becomes a mess before she calmed down. She glares at them, at Sonic specifically, before snapping her fingers.

Sage: "Death Egg Robot… Use every last bit of energy from the Chaos Emeralds… To destroy these fools! Leave nothing - not even viscera - left when you're done!"

The Death Egg Robot walked forward, its eyes glaring down at Sonic, Knuckles, and Kicks. Sage turns before vanishing, her orb projector flying off to somewhere else.

Sonic: "I don't like where Sage is going. She's insane enough as is, so I think it's best if someone stopped her."

Knuckles looked at Kicks, who nods before jumping at the robot and slammed both feet onto its face, knocking it off its feet, in order to bypass it. She then makes a dash after Sage, leaving Knuckles and Sonic to fight the Death Egg Robot.

Sonic: "Man, this thing is a lot more sluggish than before!"

Knuckles: "Could be because of the damage it sustained… Anything to look out for?"

Sonic: "Just it's endurance being ridiculous! Everything I used against it just bounced right off!"

Knuckles: "Then… Leave the brunt work to the ol' Knuckle-fisted echidna!"

Knuckles rushes at the robot, slamming a fist at the robot, which it blocked using an arm. It fires off its rocket arm, which Knuckles catches as he's sent flying back across the room. Knuckles slams into the wall, causing dust and smoke to envelop where he impacted. Sonic wastes no time and immediately does a Spin Dash at the chest of the robot, noticing the robot's open chest and exposed Chaos Emeralds. He bounces off the robot before landing, looking back at where Knuckles was.

Knuckles: "That your best shot, big guy? I expected… WAY BETTER!"

Knuckles grips the rocket fist, keeping it from returning to the Death Egg Robot before he smashes the docking port of the arm and slams a fist into the arm itself, destroying it.

Knuckles: "There! That should disarm you!"

Sonic: "Good work, Knux! But we're going to need the other arm! I have an idea."

Knuckles: "Oh? Let's see what you got cooking, blue scout!"

Sonic then smirks as he rushes at the robot with Knuckles, slamming into it while Knuckles punches at it. The robot's sensors could not keep up, confusing it. It quickly jumps away from them, floating in the air before targeting Sonic with a rocket fist. Sonic smirked as he stood still, waiting for the rocket fist to fire. Knuckles then intercepted the rocket fist, grabbing it as Sonic kept him from being pushed by it like the last one. The two did slide back from the force, but not as forcefully, nor with any impact. The two shared a smirk before Sonic ran at the disarmed Death Egg Robot.

Sonic: "Time for you to get grounded, tubby!"

Sonic jumps at the Death Egg Robot, slamming himself into its chest once more before bouncing above it, slamming an axe kick onto its head, sending it back to the floor, onto its back. As it stands, Knuckles has the robot's arm aimed at it, ready to throw.

Knuckles: "Here! How about I… RETURN TO SENDER!?"

Knuckles throws the arm as hard as he could, sending it stabbing through the chest of the Death Egg Robot, and causing the Chaos Emeralds to scatter onto the floor. The robot steps back a bit, sparks appearing all over it before it permanently shuts down. With a loud CRASH, the robot slams onto the floor… and explodes. Sonic lands next to Knuckles before the duo do a victory pose.

Sonic: "Alright! That felt sweet!"

Knuckles: "Heh. Not bad, Sonic. …But we better catch up to Kicks. I don't think we're out of the woods yet…"

Sonic quickly gathers the seven Chaos Emeralds before pocketing them away.

Sonic: "Don't wanna leave any powerful artifacts of pure energy lying around for any old mad scientist to take, you know? Let's go."

Deeper into the Death Egg, Kicks ran through the destroyed halls, hopping over obstacles in the form of debris as she chased after Sage's drone. She soon runs into a room - a destroyed lab, but with reserve energy flowing into it. She sees Sage, accessing a computer as the AI girl finishes her work.

Sage: "Hm? Oh you… You're too late to stop me. I have transferred all necessary data from the Death Egg to my Father's citadel in Robotropolis. There, we will simply start anew… Mobius will bow to us, no matter what."

Kicks: "...I'm not one for corny one liners. So I'll just kick your ass and be done with it."

Sage: "I think not. While I was transferring data, one piece of equipment managed to survive the destruction of the Death Egg… One which is still experimental. A robot creator… Think of it like a 3D printer, but with the proper data applied to it… It can create a robotic clone of anyone… Stronger… Faster… Truly destructive… And…"

Kicks turns to the machine in question, seeing it finish creating a robot… one in the shape of a hedgehog, colored blue.

Sage: "Though I loathe it, that blue menace might prove to be… an excellent test subject."

The robot soon activates, its red eyes glaring at Kicks.

Shortly, Sonic and Knuckles are seen running through the same hallway, hearing the brief sounds of a fight going on. When they enter the room, they see a horrifying sight. A beaten Kicks, beaten, bruised, and bleeding, being held by the neck by a clawed, metal hand. A blue hedgehog-like robot with yellow arms, a distinct quill shaped head, spiky "nose", and a generally bulky build compared to Sonic glares at the duo, Sage in the background, smiling evilly.

Sage: "Hello. I see the Death Egg Robot didn't stop you like I hoped… But no matter… This one should definitely destroy you… Meet… Metal Sonic."

To be continued…