Story Recap:

My name is Zonic, Elite Officer of the Zone Cops.

With Uncle Chuck's help, the Genesis portal was eventually stabilized for travel.

Splitting up into two Teams we began our expedition, with Team Fighters; formed by Sonic, Tails, and Sally, and Team Freedom; composed of Rotor, Bunnie, and Antoine.

Sadly, the moment we entered, my allies were assaulted by not only powerful distortions from the portal, but also visions from a past reality, and before long we were separated as a result.

While Team Fighters and I managed to arrive in the Genesis Nexus, we sadly lost contact with Team Freedom.

I can only hope we can reunite with them soon…


Chapter 4: Braving the Nexus

Genesis Nexus:

Sonic ran.

The blue hedgehog ran as fast as he could.

He ran so fast, he tried to ignore what was hot on his heels. He tried to ignore the fact that every step he took? The ground he ran across didn't even exist a second after. It wasn't that his feet were erasing the ground, no. Instead, the white void that chased after him was erasing everything it consumed.

Of course Sonic kept running and he didn't stop. He refused to even think about all those faces that were lost because of that void. How even his parents-

Sonic was forced to stop, his heels digging into the ground. He was forced to look on in horror at the sight before him. For a tall and flat mountain side stood before. It was too tall for him to try and bounce up, and there was no means for Sonic to try and run around it. He was trapped.

All there was was the oblivion rushing towards him-


"Ngh!" Sonic reacted as he was forced awake and sat up. He looked, almost frenzied, to see if the white void had claimed him before relaxing.

'Just a dream…' The hedgehog thought as he relaxed. Nearby Zonic, Sally, and Tails were all fast asleep. With nothing else, he would join them soon and return to his slumber uninterrupted…


In a world that was little more than a prison, a young red hedgehog opened his black eyes to an empty sky. He was dressed in nothing but the usual mobian wear - gloves and footwear (boots in this case). However, what troubled this hedgehog was the fact that he lacked any personal memories - he was left a blank slate in a sense.

Thus, as he lay dazed and confused on the ground, he had one thought.

'Who am I? What am I supposed to do?'

As he got up and slowly took in his surroundings, he realized that he was in some sort of mountainous range, or at the very least at the edge of it. Not too far away from him was a slanted cliffside that led down towards a dense forest, in the opposite direction, however, was a massive valley.

Looking up at the sky didn't really help matters either, oddly shaped planetoids floated just outside of this world's atmosphere. And the night sky seemed to be an odd amalgamation of various colors, from purple to deep orange to dark pink, all of them swirling together like some sort of nebula.

One thing for was for sure, he definitely didn't belong here.

As he made his way towards the edge of the cliffside leading to the valley, he noticed what appeared to be some sort of strange device sticking out of the ground. Curiously picking it up, it looked like some sort of odd... disc? One with a weird red visor attached to it...

[E... rror... Error...] The "disk" seemed to beep before the light in its visor faded away. Arching a brow in confusion, he turned it around and observed the strange lettering on the back of it:

S.W.A.T.

'It's a machine' He realized with a start, yet didn't drop the "disk".

However, the hedgehog's attention soon changed when he began to hear a commotion of sorts. Namely, it sounded like there was a fight going on somewhere. Thus, after silently hesitating for a moment, he tucked the "disk" under his arm and moved to where the source of the commotion should be.

Carefully sneaking towards the commotion and hiding behind a boulder, he peeked over the edge to see what looked like a massive armored Minotaur wielding some sort of mace, facing off against an equally armored Lion who was wielding a large battle ax.

The ground practically shook as Lion's ax collided with the Minotaur's mace. It was a contest of strength between the two massive warriors it seemed. However, it seemed that between the two of them it was the Minotaur who stood mightier (just barely it seemed). For with a grunt of effort, he managed to outpower the Lion and forced him back.

"Servant of Nagus, you should have known better than to challenge me," the Minotaur said with his mace glowing it seemed. "And now, you will pay for this insult with your life ."

"I've faced death before, Iron King." the Lion glowered with his ax still in hand. "A threat like that doesn't scare me."

'I don't wanna get caught up in that.' the hedgehog thought as the Lion charged the "Iron King" and resumed their brawl. 'I better put some distance before anything else happens.'

However, he found himself distracted by something that occurred to him - there was someone else watching this unfold. Namely, a female chameleon in yellow boots whom wasn't too far away.

'Maybe she has some answers on what's going on.' He thought, carefully crawling behind the various boulders, the Hedgehog attempted to approach her, occasionally freezing up when one of the impacts from the fight shook the area.

However, just as he was about to get close enough, he ended up tripping over a small unearthed root, falling over and dropping the disk he had grabbed, the metal frame rattling against the ground with a loud CLANK .

Startled, the pink chameleon immediately turned her attention to the Hedgehog, reflexively drawing a kunai in self-defense.

"Nuh-No, don't… " the Hedgehog whispered with a hand out. He slowly picked up the disk and kept his hand out. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you-"

"Who are you?" The pink Chameleon asked with her kunai still in hand.

"...I don't know."

This answer surprised the female Mobian. "What?" She responded, sounding confused.

"I... I just woke up here, no memory or anything," the Hedgehog explained as the ground shook again. "I found this... machine and heard those two fighting. I need help, Miss...?"

The chameleon hesitated for a moment, eying him with some suspicion, however after analyzing his body movements It was clear to her that he wasn't a threat. "Liza... Liza the Chameleon." She answered before another quake shook the area.

Startled, the two Mobians turned their attention back to the fight and saw the Iron King standing over the lion, who lay on his back battered and bruised with various parts of his armor broken off, his battle axe still in his outstretched arm, now shattered to pieces.

"That's... bad, isn't it?" The Hedgehog asked Liza.

"To be frank, either one of them winning was a bad outcome..." She whispered as the Iron King held his mace up in triumph.

"The Iron King stands victorious once more!" He bellowed arrogantly, his voice echoing throughout the valley. However, the two were shocked when he simply attached his mace to his hoister instead of finishing him off. "Yagyu! Front and center!"

At his command, three bats in ninja garb and one wearing armor rushed out of the shadows and landed before him. "A stunning display of raw power, my King." The armored bat stated in a respectful tone. "Do you wish for us to… dispose of the body?"

The Minotaur shook his head. "No, he still lives despite his defeat. A Mobian which such durability could be useful to us..." The Iron King stroked his chin with a devious smirk. "...bring him back to the Iron Fortress and prepare him for Legionization."

"Legioni-what?" The Hedgehog whispered to Liza. However, privately, there was something in the back of his mind that stirred at the word "Legion" for some reason.

"As you command, my King." The armor-wearing bat said with a slight bow. He and the others began to move the body... but they soon found a complication.

Namely, several complications.

From the shadows, a smoke bomb was thrown that landed nearby the body. Before anyone could react, it went off and covered the area. Thankfully it would be brief... only to reveal something new.

The Yagyu were bound in silk while the Iron King sneered at those responsible.

"Causing trouble once again, aren't you?" The Minotaur said to several multiple armed ninjas. "Your disobedience before your King is losing its novelty, Gossamer."

"You are not our master," The lead nin spat in return as the other six hoisted the prone body of the lion. "We would rather die than bow our heads to an arrogant bull like yourself."

The red Hedgehog took a few steps back, only for Liza to grab his arm. "Follow me, quickly." She whispered, dragging him in the opposite direction of the battle. "The last thing we need to do is draw attention to ourselves."

"Ah-Alright, lead the way," he said to Liza with a hint of hesitation. Ideally, the spider ninjas will be their distraction against the Iron King that way they can get far, far away from here.


A familiar streak of blue and red rushed through the distorted forest, speeding up one of the trees that seemed to protrude from the side of a cliff at an awkward angle before launching himself off the edge. Timing his positioning just right, Sonic curled into a ball and landed on a long twisted archway reminiscent of the ones he'd seen back in Green Hill Zone, the Hedgehog then bolted up the side of another cliff, slowing down just enough to uncurl from his ball form as he reached the top.

"Ah… no matter what dimension, nothing beats a good morning run!" The Blue Blur remarked as he made his way back towards the campsite.

The campsite wasn't as great as a room in Skypatrol, but it was rustic in its own way. The basic idea of five people together, camping out with little in the wildernes was a nice, appealing matter for Sonic. It almost reminded him of Knothole rather than being at the Acorn Kingdom; just being close to nature and all.

Plus, it'd been three days since they'd arrived at this strange place. Despite the Genesis Nexus being a bizarre world of odd shapes and features, it hasn't been too unfamiliar by now. The routine of starting each morning with a run has helped resolve such.

"Morning Tails," Sonic greeted, as he walked past his two-tailed friend, who was tinkering with a pad-like device.

"Morning Sonic," Tails muttered in response, his eyes focused on the pad. In his gloved hands were tools, but rather simplistic and small. They weren't exactly mechanical tools, mind you, but good enough for the job.

"Not yet," soon came Tails' response. "Whatever the Genesis Nexus did when we..." Sonic watched as the fox frowned, the kit refusing to so much as glance in the direction of the wrecked plane.

"Came in?" Sonic suggested, which Tails gave a slight nod to.

"Yeah, that. It's still screwed up my equipment; if I can get the network adapter working, I can link with Nicole and boost the signal." He explained as he continued tinkering with his device. "The sooner we make contact with Team Freedom, the sooner we can coordinate and figure everything out."

Sonic crossed his arms, taking a moment to think about their current situation. "Has Zonic said anything about his headquarters?"

"Nope." Tails sighed, the pad's screen freezing for a moment as it slowly adjusted itself. "He's having as much luck as I am."

"Greeeat…" Sonic sighed, his demeanor going from hopeful to somewhat disappointed in a few seconds, not at his friends, but rather at the situation as a whole. "What about Sal? Is she… doing okay?"

Tails took a moment to glance over to the other side of camp where their respective airboards had been lined up… with Sally's noticeably missing. "She said she wanted to scout the area some more, but it's pretty clear she's still a little shaken up…"

Tails's words gave Sonic pause, which was an odd thing given his reputation as being fast and constantly on the move. Despite such, there were times where Sonic had to stop and think about matters, usually personal, that had to do with himself or with people he cared about.

It was clear that all of them, beyond Zonic, were affected by something when they entered the Genesis Nexus. Nobody's said anything openly yet, as far as he knew, but that experience they each had? The period between the Tornado going down and waking up after it crashed? That unaccounted for time?

Something happened, plain and simple. They each experienced some vision or whatever that affected all of them, looming over them like some kind of ghost, maybe. But having to face one's past was an experience all of them could've done without.

Especially after Sally learned what happened to her in the old world.

"Has she said anything before? About the whole..." Sonic couldn't help but trail off. It wasn't that he was so stricken from the ability to speak, but that Tails knew what he was referencing.

Tails shook his head. "Not as far as I know, but it's not any of my business. And even if Sally's getting haunted by that time again? The less we pry into it, the better."

Sonic crossed his arms as he leaned against a large rock, his mind drifting back to what he experienced within the depths of that portal. "You may be right, as usual. But I really hate not being able to help her out in some way…" He mumbled as he closed his eyes, trying to pry deeper into his own memories, hoping to find something, anything regarding witnessed in the portal that would bring him some form of clarity… but sadly, a lot of it was a blur of inconsistencies.

…Why would he ever fight Tails, anyway?

"Don't beat yourself up about it." The twin-tailed Fox chimed in as he continued tinkering with his device, snapping the Blue Blur out of his thoughts. "The first time we've ever had to deal with a situation of this magnitude, so we can't have all the answers…"

"The kid's right," a familiar voice added.

Sonic and Tails looked up to see Zonic standing on one of the larger outcroppings, still fiddling with the device on his arm. "Take it from someone who's been through more dimensions than he can count, the best we can do is keep moving on forward with clear heads." He stated bluntly, pausing for a moment as a holographic map flickered to life from his wrist. His expression softened for a moment before the device shorted out yet again and the image dissipated. "At least, that's how my comrades tend to put it anyway…"

Tails was about to retort, however something caught his attention and caused the Fox freeze up for a moment. "Did… did anyone hear that…?" He asked, looking off into the distance.

The Zone Cop blinked in confusion. "Hear wha-" He froze up as well, turning his head in the same direction as the Fox's.

Sonic was about to question what they were so nervous about, only for the ground to start rumbling… and it was then they all realized the direction they were all looking in… was the direction Sally had left to scout with Nicole.


After a few more minutes of stealthily sneaking through the valley, the duo found themselves leaving behind a canyon and entering the forest, using the cover of the trees to avoid being spotted.

"Okay, I think we should be far enough for now." The Pink Chameleon sighed as they took a moment to catch their breath. "If any of them did spot us they would've chased us down… by the way, how are you holding up?"

"I'm... managing… "The red hedgehog panted with the metal "disk" still tucked under his arm. "Can you... can you tell me where we are, Miss Liz? What this place is?"

Liza took a moment to stare up at the sky, sighing. "From what I know, it's called... the Genesis Nexus." She explained in a somber tone. "Don't ask me how I ended up here, or anyone for that matter. None of us really know. All I can recall is a bright flash of light… and then I just woke up here…"

"Like me, right..." He said quietly, trying to think… to remember something . To his fortune, he began to remember something.

Em... Met…

"Em...met?" The red hedgehog thought aloud, as if he was mulling something over.

"Hmm? You say something?" The Pink Chameleon asked.

However, right at that moment, the ground started rumbling… followed by a massive triangular shadow covering most of the area.

"Oh now what!?" The red hedgehog groaned as an airship of some kind made itself known, he could only make out the bottom of it but its size was daunting as it loomed over the area.

"Of course he'd show up..." Liza grumbled as the two of them slowly backed into the shadows.

"Wh-who!?" The Hedgehog nervously asked.

"Dr. Nega..." She replied, anger evident in her voice as she glared up at the ship. Said ship seemed to have a red and yellow color scheme, with even the bottom of the ship heavily armored with various large turrets. "He wants what every Robotnik wants; world domination, the annihilation of all who dare to oppose him..." Liza scoffed as the airship immediately began firing down upon the forest. "...as well as the annihilation of all plant life while he's at it." She added, biting her lip as she turned her attention to the Hedgehog. "We need to get out of h-"

*CLANK*

[ORGANIC LIFE-FORMS DETECTED.] A new, more robotic voice called out from behind them. The duo turned to see what appeared to be a golden humanoid robot with a blaster in place of its right hand.

"A robot?" The red hedgehog responded, bemused by the golden exterior.

[SURRENDER YOURSELVES FOR PROCESSING.] The robot said with it's cannon arm raised. [COME QUIETLY OR ELSE.]

"I don't think so!" The red hedgehog snapped, moving the disk out from under his arm. Just as the robot began to take a step forward he hurled the disc at with as much force as possible. Spinning through the air the disc bounced off of it's arm-cannon and right into it's "face", sending the robot stumbling back.

Seeing an opening, Liza immediately dashed towards the stumbling robot with two kunai drawn, darting behind it and jamming one into its arm-cannon and another into its right leg, causing both to short-circuit.

The gold plated robot cried out as it short circuited, the red hedgehog could only stare, almost transfixed by the machine for reasons he couldn't explain. He couldn't look away as the machine suffered and collapsed onto itself, almost pitifully. 'Plated in gold, a soft medal. The servos must be so delicate and-'

"Hey!" The red hedgehog heard beside him. The effect brought him back to reality, noticing that Liza was to his right and was grabbing on his arm. "We need to keep moving!" the chameleon continued. She inclined her head to the downed machine. "The longer we stay out in the open, the more we're at risk of an ambush by more of Robotnik's bots."

"Yeah, that..." The red hedgehog blinked, trying to ignore the machine. He turned towards Liz and focused mainly on her. "Lead the way."


[On your left!] came Nicole's voice as Sally weaved to her right, avoiding a Badnik as it soared past her. The winged mechanical dingo failed to bank and was sent crashing directly into the ground below. As the force of motion left the crashing Badnik practically destroyed, Sally continued as she currently was: flying on her extreme gear, while multiple Badniks swarmed her like pests.

"Have you found where these things are coming from?" Sally asked the AI as she banked around and took notice of another flying dingo Badnik. With ease of practice and experience, the machine's wings were cleanly sliced at their joints by her the blue blade ignited from the rings on her wrists. All that was left was for the Badnik to plummet to the ground below; not that any of the other Badniks paid any heed to such.

[Unfortunately not,] Nicole said, Sally transitioning to use the side of a mountain to glide across. Hardly a moment later, two flying dingo Badniks slammed into the side of the mountain, both of them failing to bank properly but the latter crashing into the other and sending them both slamming into the mountainside. [These Badniks are operating under an archaic frequency. If my system was functioning as it should, this wouldn't be too much of a problem.]

"Great, another question…" Sally huffed before she raised her wrist and parried an attack from another winged dingo Badnik before stabbing through its head.

[Behind you!] Nicole called out, Sally deactivating one of the rings and letting the Badnik fall. She then forced the Extreme Gear downwards, feeling a hard force of wind as something almost chomped down where the back her head was moments ago. Sally face tightened with a frown, an idea of what could have been obstructing her mind.

"This Badnik Horde came from somewhere." Sally spoke, more to concentrate herself as she righted her descent and kept moving forward. "And there's always a Commander. It has to be around here somewhere."

At Nicole's cry, Sally quickly twisted herself and turned to avoid the rush of Badniks. Unfortunately, the maneuver forced her to turn away from the desert and descend downwards towards the forest. Based on the activity behind her, this chase wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

'They're trying to box me in,' Sally thought, as she flew on the edge of the forest. The desert was to her left, dense foliage to her right. 'If they're so concentrated around here, then the horde commander has to be in the forest.'

[Above!] Nicole cried, Sally immediately swung her ring blades upwards to slice through a Badnik that was practically dive-bombing her. Unfortunately, once she had sliced the machine in half, she saw multiple Badniks diving down towards her.

'Gotta move fast,' Sally thought, as she immediately deactivated her left blade and reached down to her board. With a split second to spare, Sally pulled on her extreme gear and turned hard to her right - narrowing avoiding the Badniks, which all crashed to the ground on top of each other.

'They're going to keep chasing me no matter what I do,' Sally thought, before turning to avoid a bizarrely composed shrub. 'If I head out to the desert, I could get away, but then how would I get back to camp? If I went back into the woods...'

It was then that Sally's eyes widened as she realized a solution. With a strong right turn, she dove back to the forest that awaited her.

[Sally, what are you doing? We just escaped those woods and now you want to go back?] she could see Nicole's face, the confusion in her eyes from the incredulousness in her voice. [The desert would give you unlimited room to maneuver.]

"It would, but the Badniks would've chased me anyway and be harder to shake," Sally explained, before weaving below a thick branch. "If we find the horde commander, then this all ends."

[But what if-]

"Hold that thought!" Sally shouted as she leaped over an overturned tree and quickly shot towards a trio of Badniks flying straight towards her. 'Gotta time this just right...' She thought, readying her ring blades as they got close.

[Uh, Sally!?]

"NOW!" She shouted as she jumped off her board, landing on the back of the leading Badnik as her air board passed under them.

Wasting no time she sliced off both its wings before jumping to the left and landing on the back of the next one. By the time the second one registered what was going on she'd already slammed her blade into its back before jumping towards her third target. It quickly dive-bombed at her in an attempt to catch her off guard, but the Chipmunk smirked and quickly swung her blades in an X formation, slicing off it's head before kicking it into the sky.

With a proud chuckle, Sally jumped on to its headless body this is it started to plummet to the ground and leaped back on to her still moving board, leaving the three Badniks to crash while the head exploded above the trees.

[Very nice maneuver Sally, but was there a point to these theatrics?] Nicole asked in a serious tone.

"Just to get some attention before we run into-" She began, only to bring her board to a screeching halt as she reached a clearing in the forest... with a rather large chasm at the very center of it. But what peaked Sally's interest... was what she saw at the bottom. "...and there it is..."

Although the bottom of the chasm was cast in shadow, Sally could make out her target. Despite the lack of light, the Badnik Horde Commander stood out to her due to how inconspicuous it was. A fact that, as the Badnik emerged forward with a step and clank of metal, the details of this foe became more overtly clear...

And how bizarre it was.

From the serrated and spiked edges on the soldiers and forearms, to the sharp looking claws and teeth, Sally could see some danger of the enemy. Especially the size, but that was standard for any horde commander Eggman sent out. And while the white dots on black that served for eyes did stand out, there was some personality to this one - how it carried itself as it approached. An air of superiority and general arrogance covered the machine.

At least, discounting the fact that the body seemed dented, beaten, worn, and a walking scrap pile. The only thing about the machine that seemed relatively intact was the torso, but the hedgehog shaped hole and bent metal said otherwise. The lower half alone was hardly constructed well, a basic wire frame decorated with bits of metal, but lacking a tail or proper feet for that matter. The right claw seemed to be not even attached properly, as it struggled to move its talons correctly.

'Is that...?' Sally privately wondered, standing atop her Extreme Gear as she watched her opponent's approach. 'Is this supposed to be a crocodile?'

[So…] The Badnik began as it brought its crooked and uneven jagged claws up, its jaw slightly askew as it tried to move. [We finally meet, Princess Sally Acorn. And it pleases me that I have you in my trap!]

'So I was right.' Sally thought, her eyes narrowing as raised her wrists, blades at the ready.

The horde commander simply laughed. [While I would have preferred priority one or that two-tailed freak, you're more than worthy to fill their place. I can use you for my revenge!]

"And all it cost you was your Badniks," Sally commented in an unamused tone. "Not a great strategy, if you ask me."

[Minions that can be easily replaced once I bring you to my master!] The Badnik snapped, sparks erupting from his left eye while smoke started coming from his disjointed legs. [And it was more than enough to lure you here!]

Before Sally could retort, she noticed that a few of the Winged Dingos had caught up… but hadn't bothered attacking her. Instead, each and every one of them seemed to be gathering around the chasm, as if they were waiting for something…

Suddenly, the horde commander let out a fierce roar, more sparks erupting from his legs as they twisted and spasmed. Then to Sally's horror, both legs completely split in two, giving the massive Badnik four disjointed legs. Surprisingly enough, the patchwork job done on them didn't seem to hinder his movements as much as Sally assumed they would, as each leg dug into the sides of the cavern, allowing the robot crocodile to climb up out of it and straight towards the Princess.

[And soon, you and your meddlesome allies shall know the wrath… of CROCBOT!] The Badnik snarled as his forces surrounded the Freedom Fighter.


After what the red hedgehog could assume was at least two hours of running and avoiding several robots, the duo finally managed to exit the forest... and found themselves in a rather peculiar location. It looked like a wide valley, or a very distorted one at the least. Deep purple ooze seemed to pour out of the sides with several rock pathways that connected one side to the other, said pathways having a strange loop de loops or twisted paths near the middle.

"Just what kind of bizarre place is this!?" The Hedgehog groaned as he glanced over the edge.

"I told you already-"

"I know, the Genesis Nexus and all, but it's pretty weird between the machines, strange figures, the weird terrain and the sky ..." the red hedgehog sighed, as purple ooze continued to trail down a nearby rock way. "So many questions, and I don't know anything. Not even how I knew how to throw that disk, or even my own name. I'm… I'm just lost, confused and… scared , Miss Liz."

"It's okay," Liz said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Plenty of us feel the same way, but it doesn't have to be like that. While times can be seldom, they aren't going to be like this forever."

The red hedgehog looked at her cautiously. "How do you know?"

Liz smiled at him with a knowing look in her eyes. "Because, nothing's ever as bad as it appears. Not if we have anything to say about it."

Before he could ask what she meant by "we", the Chameleon made her way towards the edge of the cliff and pulled out a strange device. After she pressed a few buttons one of the ooze waterfalls on the opposite end shook and began to split down the middle, revealing the hidden cave inside. Afterwards, a rectangular platform emerged from the cave and hovered up towards them.

"Get on." Liza stated firmly and the platform stopped just at the edge of the cliff. "This is one of our more out-of-the-way secret entrances, and I'd rather keep it that way."

As he walked onto the platform, the red Hedgehog could only glance at the Chameleon. "Exactly how long have you been here?"


"How much farther?" Sonic asked as he dash forward, with Tails keeping pace with him in the air as his namesakes twirled and Zonic following them both using the ExtremeGear, a device in his hand.

"Should be directly ahead. Given our current speed, we're hardly a minute out," the Zone Cop answered as the air blew against all three of them.

"What could possibly be attacking Sally?" Tails wondered aloud. "Unless there's some important secret base she's found, I can't think of anything."

"The Genesis Nexus is probably filled with all kinds of unknowns, Tails. Forces from different zones cast aside and exiled to a single place," Zonic commented as Sonic jumped over a sizable rock. "The number of possible enemies and allies are staggering. The more information we have, the better our chances will be moving forward."

Sonic rolled his eyes at his doppelganger's word. "Yeah, well, the sooner we reach her and Nicole, the sooner we-"

A sudden explosion in the middle of the air caught Sonic's attention, forcing him and the others to stop. As scraps of debris rained down, what was probably scraps of metal, the three looked to each other and shared a nod. Thus, turning in the same direction of the explosion, they immediately rushed onwards.


Back at the chasm, the Chipmunk desperately raced through the surrounding forest on her extreme gear, dodging left and right as the Badniks fired down upon her. Occasionally one of them would fly in closer in an attempt to snap at her, to which Sally would swiftly slice through its head with her ring blades, but her balance was thrown as the giant horde commander tore through the distorted forest, its four disjointed legs shredding through every tree like wet tissue paper.

[YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE!] Crocbot snarled as he grabbed one of the overturned trees and violently hurled it at the Freedom Fighter. [EVEN WITHOUT MY LESSER HALF, I'M STILL MORE THAN A MATCH FOR YOU!]

'How can something this big be so fast?!' Sally thought, swiftly flying down the side of the chasm and avoiding the massive tree just as it crashed into the forest. 'No matter, He's running low on minions, if I can just outlast him long enough…'

"Don't you know it's rude to invade a lady's space?" Sonic said, finishing his quip as Crocbot sputtered and growled and urgently worked to regain his footing.

"Sonic!" Sally cried out; hearing Nicole echo the same. The hedgehog turned to face her, Sally recognizing the expression of causal ease.

"Hey Sal, sorry it took me a bit to find you. This place is kinda huge."

[ Priority. One. ] Both of them heard the Badnik growl. Sally and Sonic turned to see Crocbot crouched with all four legs tightly secured on the ground. Crocbot's upper body just as tightly wound as he defied his set expression defined by metal. Surprisingly, his upper jaw no longer was askew but instead pressed perfectly against the bottom half.

[How!?] Demanded Crocbot with a furious glower. [How did you find us!?]

"Easy." Sonic answered, Sally feeling the familiar confidence radiate off of the hedgehog. She watched as he reached down and picked up the ruined dingo shaped badnik head that littered the ground nearby. "On the way here, we saw one of these in the air. Made it easy to track it back and get Sal."

Letting out a combination of a snarl and a glitched-out roar, the Badnik slowly crawled forward, sinking his right claw into a boulder and crushing it without tearing his gaze away from the two Mobians [No matter…] He scoffed as sparks erupted from his right eye. [The pleasure of tearing you both apart and making you pay for my past humiliations will now be all the more sweeter!]

"Keep telling yourself that!" Another voice called out from above.

Smirking, Sonic quickly curled up into a spin-dash as an orangish-yellow blur slammed into the back of his head. The Blue Blue eagerly joined his two-tailed friend as they started darting around their massive target, tearing up the ground, ripping apart several lingering Winged Dingos, and tearing through parts of the vicious Badnik.

"Sorry for the delay, Princess!" Sally heard a familiar voice call out. "Have to say though, clever move with the exploding Badnik!" The Zone Cop smirked as he casually landed next to her, blasting another one of the Winged Dingos out of the sky in the process.

[Accursed-AGH! Loathsome-RRAGH!] The Badnik snapped as he was assaulted from various angles, his desperate attempts to swipe at or catch the two blurs constantly darting around his body failing miserably as well as giving him a very nasty case of déjà vu. [STAY STILL , YOU MUTANT FREAK OF A FOX!]

"So… is this ringing any bells, Sonic?" Tails asked nonchalantly as he flew under one of the Badnik's many legs and rushed up a distorted tree. Their behemoth of an opponent angrily lunged at him in an attempt to impale him right then and there, only for the Fox to dodge at the last second, leaving him to get his claws lodged in the trunk. "I mean, we've fought our fair share of Super Badniks, but this guy really seems to have it out for us!" He added, taking a moment to curl into another spin dash and slam into Crocbot's jaw.

"To be fair, we tend to have that effect on every bot we don't tear apart on the first go!" Sonic chuckled as he took advantage of his opponents distracted state and bounced off of a few of the airborne Dingos, making sure he was at just the right angle above him before darting downwards and slamming down onto one of the Badnik's legs with enough force to impale it in the ground, throwing off his balance. "Old reality or new, these guys just tend to blend together!"

[DON'T YOU IGNORE ME!] Crocbot roared, violently trying to tear himself loose right as the Fox delivered another spin-dash to his chest. It was bad enough that that sufferable hedgehog had completely ruined his ambush, but now he was being made light of by that accursed fox… the very one that trembled in fear when at his mercy… he refused to stand for this, there was no way he could have fallen this low! [N-NO! I WILL NOT-GAH! BE HUMILIATED AGAIN!]

"There's always a first time for everything!" Sonic taunted as he dashed by, jumping over Crocbot's tail and getting caught by Tails in the air. With ease of experience, the duo spun together in a spin dash combo of blue and orange. This combination quickly crashed through Crocbot's left shoulder and completely severed his left arm.

[RAAAAAAH!] Crocbot howled, both out of pain and frustration, before the momentum of the joint spin dash sent him crashing forward. The badnik hit the ground with a loud thud, his lower jaw barely hanging on. As Tails and Sonic landed by Sally and Zonic, the assembled group watched as Crocbot forcefully tried to support himself with his remaining arm.

"Dude, just give it up." Sonic remarked as the badnik seethed with pure anger.

[Wh-When I get out of this, I will have my revenge. By the time I'm through, you will all pay,] Crocbot's legs moved to try and pull himself up, or at least free his front two legs. [The Doctor will give me the honors of being your executioner.] He snarled, the damage taking its toll on the Super Badnik as it's body started to glitch out, all while his remaining eye fixated on Sonic, making the hedgehog instinctively ready himself to run. [Des-troyed me once… de-stroyed every-thu-thu-thing. I-I will… have… h-have revenge!] Crocbot continued to seethe as he kept trying to pull himself free. [I w-w-will destroy y-you all! I-I will-]

Before Crocbot could finish, a bolt of blue lightning immediately came down from the heavens and struck him. As the Badnik screamed in agony, the party of four (excluding Nicole) covered their eyes from the flash. It was only mere moments later that they heard a sudden boom - a KRA-KOW! - of thunder almost. It felt deafening due to being so close.

When that faded, they looked to see hardly little remaining of their foe, aside from smoldering, his torso had been obliterated. There was barely any scrap left as his head remained frozen, eye darkened, in an expression of pure anguish and pain. If there was any conclusive proof their enemy was destroyed, then this would be it, just short of making him explode.

"Fall!" a new voice spoke as finishing for the late Badnik. Sonic, Tails, Sally, and Zonic all looked upwards as someone descended before them. Standing atop a cloud was a Mobian Monkey, who sneered down at the destroyed badnik. In his hands was a red tipped staff whose ends glowed not just glowed blue but radiated with power. Oddly enough there was something strange about it, a quality that was vaguely familiar to some of the assembled group, but otherwise was weird.

"All who dare threaten the beacons of hope of this realm are destined to fall!" The Monkey continued as leaped down from the cloud and the ends of his staff began to dim.

As the new arrival came to ground level, they could make him out better. The monkey had a golden circlet crown upon his head, a vest with golden plates resting on his shoulders, with said vest trailing in length as it turned from red to blue.

"So declares I… Monkey Khan , King of the Free People!"