What's up everyone, if I'm posting this it means that I am in a decent living situation and that you get the continuation of this great –I think- story. I'm so happy to be back on writing and posting

Thanks a lot everyone for the patience!

"What?" said Sally after the group stopped due spotting something unusual or better said the lack of something was the unusual-ness of the situation "The escape pods should be here, I recognize this area".

"I've tried to tell ya girl, this world is supposed to be different, you can't know if a design of a place is just as you remember… Now, we gotta return to the ship, they should be waitin' for us ya know?"

"Indeed," added Antoine "But our only way out seems to be unavailable".

"And this way out doesn't seem to even exist… Wait, where's T-Pup?"

"You sent him to find a way out, we should have followed him o' communicate with 'veryone else".

"Maybe we should… and maybe we shouldn't have looked for a way out on our own, I'm- I'm sorry it's just that I-"

"Sally, I know that something distracting you, and maybe I know what, but-" Bunnie was interrupted by a loud rubble –that wasn't some sort of earthquake- and it didn't took a genius to find out what exactly was happening, the Death Egg was more than ready for a takeoff and they were going to be carried along with it.

"We have to get out of here!" said Sally.

"But how?" replied Antoine trying to keep his balance.

Naturally Sally didn't had an answer at the moment but what she did had was her ring-blades so why not try to make a way out instead of finding one?

For the Sonics they also felt the rubble but it felt like the roof was going to fall on them at any minute but despite that there was no desperation… at least not for one of them, Boom was alarmed but not in a negative state, a weird feeling but a possible one but Archie on the other hand needed to act immediately. At this moment he knew that if they didn't found anything then Sally definitely did otherwise they would contacted them long ago, also his partner was slowly but surely getting on his nerves… Even though that partner he was with; was him.

Without wasting any second he blasted through all the rooms –even those who were locked- checking every detail that could give him a sign to where to go… except that the way Team Sally took previously was already disconnected not just sealed so for him there was nothing of interest to find. When he noticed that he grabbed Boom to head out except that he got another painful reminder to why he shouldn't make contact with his other selves.

Instead he just commanded him to follow him back to the way they came from to go outside, and when they did… the Death Egg was rapidly lifting from the station it was attached to. The awe of it froze them for a minute before Archie 'returned' thinking of what to do. He was about to find some high ground and jump into the ship but he was interrupted by a call from Tails… his Tails.

"Sonic! C'mon!"

He answered without hesitation despite hating the sight of the ship leaving.

"Where's Sally?" asked the fox once they reached the Sky Patrol's entrance.

"I don't think those got out" Boom replied pointing at the Death Egg flying away.

"What?!" said Tails shocked "We can't leave them!"

Right when he said that, the three of them noticed that the 'eyes' of the Death Egg turned to them and they tried to spot what was gonna be the next move, except that it wasn't that much of a surprise, the second they saw the slightest of compartment open, they immediately knew that he was going to open fire.

"Get inside!" shouted Tails with the Sonics following him. Their obvious predictions came true as just seconds later; a large blast was shot to the elevated terrain they were parked in plunging the Sky Patrol hard into the ground followed by more shots fired all around the ship but none of them directly to the Patrol itself. Once the fire ceased, one could only see a cloud of smoke among the icy terrain.

"Do you think we actually landed a hit on them?" asked Orbot to Cubot but being overheard by Eggman.

"Do you think I want to do that? Ho-ho! This is something too exciting to end so quickly! I already have one Sonic… I can have more, and I already broke the Freedom Fighters once, what's stopping me from doing it a second time?"

Inside the Sky Patrol the situation was far from manageable and despite the team had gone through similar attacks in the past this was in a completely different scenario and with the team itself being apart and as for the status of the ship it was even worse than in previous occasions, you could at least traverse through it but in a weird diagonal angle, the lights were also out with some of them flickering so it wasn't easy either. In regards to the passengers… that was another story.

The Sonics and Tails didn't had more than a few bruises, their pain came from the two hedgehogs accidentally making contact more than once during the fall. After they were able to get up, they quickly tried to find their way to the main lobby through the wacky corridors and luckily they did, unluckily, it wasn't a pretty scene either. Just as them everyone was trying to get up on their feet and everything was all over the place.

"Guys?" asked Archie Tails.

"We're okay… I think" Amy replied with a few grunts.

"What happened?" asked Boom Tails not letting go of T-Pup "Did we got shot? Is everyone here..? And what happened?"

"He happened" Archie Sonic said being obviously directed at Boom.

"Of course it was me- Your move back there could have saved us all of the time y'know?"

"Well, there was no need for that… I thought this thing was stationary regaining fuel".

"See? Not everything has to be my fault," he said proudly "Wait, then why did it launched?"

"Wait, weren't you guys with the others?" Boom Tails noticed the lack of the team.

"Sonic, where's Sally?" added Amy re-phrased the question.

"They're back at the Death Egg," Sonic answered with a sigh "Unless they found another path they're still there… we can still contact them through Nicole right".

"In these circumstances I don't think we can make any of these computers work and… her handheld can't be used at the moment" Archie Tails explained with a bit of pain which Sonic noticed.

"What happened?"

"Uh, Mecha Sally was here and she-".

"What?! She was?" a sense of guilt suddenly hit Sonic for not being there and instead having been practically fooling around, and despite not having even seen her, the information he was given about her was enough for she 'being here' be quite a big deal.

"Are you okay?" the fox asked.

"What happened with Nicole?" he resumed the question with Tails showing what was left of the handheld with Sonic immediately understanding how the encounter probably went. He was going to call the main Tails but he instead walked into the room by himself.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked to the group genuinely concerned.

"Tails, I thought the Death Egg supposed to stay still?"

"It was!" he clarified "Even if the fuel had already been sent I don't think it would have been ready to be flying that fast… And this mission was about locating Mecha Sally I've never knew that she would come to us".

"But she did… so not only the mission was pointless but it was also a failure and we're in no condition to keep going, not even the Sky Patrol. I'll go after it".

"What?" the three Tails said at the same time.

"I'm sorry but I don't think you guys should go, not now".

"And you should?" asked Tails.

"I'm the one that can keep up with that and I can't leave them behind".

"So what?" asked the fox with such a straightforward tone that caused everyone to look at him "They're still there right? It's not like they're completely gone…"

"What are you talking-" Sonic cut off himself Tails looked away clearly holding back some tears that he noticed.

"I shouldn't have brought you here…" he resumed abruptly changing the tone to a slower one "None of you should- you shouldn't have to go through any of that… I-".

"Don't apologize," Archie Tails interrupted him knowing what he was gonna say "They can handle it on their own no matter where and we're not here for nothing, we're the Freedom Fighters after all right?"

Tails cracked a light smile meaning that the little cheering up from his counterpart worked.

"Sonic," Amy called switching the topic "We shouldn't split the team more than what it already is, and I shouldn't remind you that there you're not the only one in the room that can go after the Death Egg".

"You're talking about him?!" he said pointing at Boom "Yeah, sure".

"What? You think I'm not ready for the job? Heh, you just need to relax" with that he unexpected blasted out of the ship without waiting any permission with shook everyone and annoyed Archie Sonic… Luckily he returned back after a few seconds like someone forgetting his key "You comin' buddy?" he asked to his Tails.

"No, thanks- I mean, yes! But… maybe three Tailses can fix this faster?"

"Eh, your choice" Boom replied with approval before heading out again. Archie wanted to follow him but he actually agreed with Amy, splitting the team wasn't a good idea and he had a feeling that perhaps he was needed here… although maybe that feeling was just called 'guilt'.

"Wait," said Amy once the dust settled "Where's Tom?"

Freedom HQ, lovely place right? Mina was still confused about the multiple Sonics despite having it explained to her a few times, she ultimately understood but that just brought more questions that they didn't have all the time to explain. The other non-Sonic character in the room was Chris who was a bit harder to deal with not because he required answers to questions he had but because Prime refused to let him come with them.

"But I've already had adventures with Sonic!" he cried out "Just because you're not that Sonic doesn't mean I can't do it!"

"Not that you can't do it kid, it's- -sigh- we're dealing with something that isn't a fun little adventure, and if you're here then that means your Sonic is also here and I don't think that having more than three Sonics was part of the plan… I need you here, can you do that for Sonic?" said Prime offering a handshake which Chris accepted very disappointed and frustrated. Prime smiled and walked away to the stairs as Sonic approached Chris.

"You seem great kid," he said with a thumb up "Don't take it too personal, remember that our job is to keep everyone safe… I guess if you could keep up he would let you in" with that message he followed Prime inviting the little Sonic as well.

"No thanks, I'll wait".

"Wait, really? Heh, I'm used to work with smaller Sonics… fair enough, -at least you talk-".

"Guys? Guys, can you hear me?" Nicole had been trying to contact the Sky Patrol for a while but she realized that after that attack it was pretty much useless. Right now she was in the digital world accepting the fact that her handheld was broken, the damage on the ship was enough for her not knowing what was happening and she could communicate with T-Pup but that would be the T-Pup with Sally so at least that was something that could come in handy but not exactly what she needed. The worst part wasn't only that she couldn't check on her friends but rather that they couldn't check on her and that was more concerning.

Suddenly she was greeted by the most unexpected expected person: Nicole.

"I can see that you're having trouble".

Seeing her counterpart was re-assuring for some reason.

"Well, I feel like it's them who are in trouble" Archie Nicole explained.

"Why's that?" asked Nicole lightly worried.

"The mission of rescuing Mecha Sally didn't go-".

"What?" Nicole interrupted with shock "You went to Death Egg, to save her?"

"That is why we're here after all".

There was a small pause.

"And what happened?" Nicole resumed.

"She… came by surprise, but it was nothing, it was the Death Egg that really strike unexpected. It was supposed to be refueling but it definitely took off".

"Are you sure?" she asked with a certain concern.

"Those engines aren't that quiet".

That confirmation was troubling because there was no idea where it could be heading and with everyone being as spread as they were you couldn't know if everyone was ready or not. Nicole stopped the chat and proceeded to make a call to where she hoped someone would answer, and despite no one seemed to be around at first but it was eventually answered by Sonic, not the Sonic she knew but it was a Sonic nonetheless.

"Hey! How's everything going?" he said in surprise of seeing Nicole again.

"Wait, which Sonic are you?" she asked for confirmation.

"The one you saw during your fight with the yellow being… so, not the one you're looking for I presume".

"That would be correct".

"Nicole?" said Prime attending the call "Any update?"

"A big one. The Death Egg is not gonna be where you left it last time; we believe it already finished its goal".

"What? It's already in the air?"

"Affirmative, the problem is that we don't know where it's heading, and everyone who was there might not be able to help".

"Wait, who were there?"

Nicole didn't realized that her Sonic didn't know anything about a new set of Freedom Fighters, let alone where were they or what was the mission, after all, having a bunch of Sonics that had a few to zero differences was confusing especially when handing information. Archie Nicole stepped into the picture to answer the question, also not knowing who was and wasn't aware of the full situation.

"That would be us".

"There are two of you?" asked Sonic with Prime not knowing exactly what was happening either.

"Sonic, we'll explain everything in time; just take a look on the Death Egg for now" said Nicole.

"I will… Mecha Sally is supposed to be there right?"

"I think" Archie Nicole stated with some light hesitation.

Prime nodded and the call closed leaving the two lynxes by themselves once again. A few seconds passed in silence but without awkwardness until Nicole asked a rather odd question for the moment.

"Don't you feel lonely?"

"Huh?" Archie said in surprise to the suddenness of it.

"Here, don't you sometimes feel a bit lonely".

"Well… I guess I did but it was this form that changed that, Sonic, the team and-" she was going to finish with Sally but realized that it wasn't the best thing to say in front of her "But it does get lonely if you're the only one in this place".

Another pause of silence, this time Archie noticed that her counterpart's silence had a reason, and she remembered that she couldn't touch her so everything had to be with just words.

"Nicole," she said still getting used to that "I can't imagine how hard would be to lose her… But that's why we're here, we'll get her back, that's why we're not gonna return until we achieve that goal".

"Sally's not the only he's taken" she answered after a deep sigh and she wasn't talking about Antoine either.

"Who?"

We'll leave it here for now folks! Thanks for the patience and I'm actually really happy to be back with the publishing, The moving has been completed and I'm happy to be here, I hope this chapter made up for the long absence.

Hopefully the next chapter can come out quicker and… see you soon!