After getting the run down about "mr tinker" the chatoix decided to ask about Lincoln and the Scrapniks
"so is Lincoln the leader of the Scrapniks?" Espio asked
"no that would be sigma." elder scruffy said "Lincoln is the third in command from what I've been told."
"is it possible that they could go back to their old programming?" Vector asked
"actually that's why Lincoln collects lily's energy to stop such behaviour if it manifests." Elder scruffy said "and to prevent Lily from turning the village into a wasteland."
"I'm honestly surprised that a metal sonic wouldn't call himself sonic." Espio said
elder scruffy went silent at that
"well I may not know much about Lincoln but I do know this." Elder scruffy began "he wasn't always like that."
"what do you mean?" Vector asked
"earlier today I heard him mutter "I miss having actual hair" so it's most likely that he wasn't always a machine." elder scruffy said "though I feel like you may get more answers from him."
"ok thanks for the help." vector said
"one more thing try not to pry too much into Lincoln's past he may not appreciate it." elder scruffy said "and whatever you do don't hurt lily."
"not planning on it." Vector said "though may I ask why?"
"it seems that Lily is the only family Lincoln has." elder scruffy said "hurt her and he'll most likely hurt you ten times over."
"noted." Espio said "come on vector we have an robot to interrogate."
"can i come?" Charmy asked
"no sorry bud." Vector said
"actually since you are taking away Lincoln for a bit could you have your little friend keep an eye on Lily." elder scruffy said "if she starts to glow get one of the Scrapniks to disperse the energy."
"got it!" Charmy said before flying off
vector and Espio went to talk to Lincoln
"excuse me mr lincoln?" Vector asked the former human
"yes?" Lincoln said
"we have a few questions for you mind coming with us?" Vector asked
"sure." Lincoln said as he walked towards them
he then got close and whispered
"but if this is a plot to take my sister I will show you just how terrifying I can be." Lincoln whispered
"no kidnapping plot here we just want to ask some questions." Vector said
"very well." Lincoln said "follow me."
they followed him to his house
"this your house?" Vector asked
"yeah since I had Lily with me my house was a priority." Lincoln said as he opened the door
"hm nice place." Vector said sitting down on the couch
"alright then what do you want to know?" Lincoln asked
"well mostly your origins." Espio said "considering you look more put together then the other Scrapniks."
"well I wasn't always a machine." Lincoln said "I was once human."
"like the doc-er mr tinker?" Vector asked
"correct me and Lily both were once human." Lincoln said "she's my little sister."
"then what happened?" Espio asked "you obviously didn't stay that way."
"we were body swapped with the original inhabitants of the mechanical bodies we have now." Lincoln said
"uh hate to burst your bubble but if Lily was a machine she would have way better control of the ruby." Vector said
"the ruby was what made her organic." Lincoln explained "and it made me into this more advanced form."
"so did the doctor have anything to do with this?" Espio asked
"yes and no." Lincoln said
"you're gonna need to elaborate more on that." Vector said
"within this mechanical body is a device that can travel to and catalogue different dimensions while the dimension travel function is broken to my knowledge the catalogue system is not." Lincoln explained "while the parts used for my old mechanical body were made originally by the doctor it wasn't the version of him you are familiar with."
"I see." Espio said "one final question."
"lay it on me." Lincoln said
"who did this to you?" Espio asked
"sorry you haven't proven your trust enough to get that information try again once you've proven yourself." Lincoln said
"alright then." Vector said
they left the house and saw Charmy and lily playing
suddenly the phantom ruby began to glow
Lincoln was about to rush over but Charmy called Mecha knuckles over
and like the block head he was took most of the energy point blank
"oh that can't be good." Vector said
Lincoln flew over and checked on Lily
"Lily are you alright?" Lincoln asked
"knuc!" Lily said worried about Mecha knuckles
Lincoln looked over to the small crater in the ground and in the smoke saw mecha knuckles silhouette in the smoke
"he's fine lily." Lincoln said
when the smoke cleared however mecha knuckles was definitely not the Same as he was before
he was partially organic
now he still hade his mace arm and was still missing an eye
but other than that he looked like a full blown echidna
"oh." Lincoln said
and Mecha knuckles first words (that weren't mechanical sounds) were (understandably)
"WHAT THE FUCK!?!"
"don't curse in front of the kids." Lincoln said
"what's fuck?" Lily asked
Lincoln turned to the no longer Mecha Mecha knuckles
"oh you're dead meat." Lincoln said cracking his knuckles
"Lincoln we can talk about this!" Mecha knuckles said slowly backing up
"the time for talking is over justice must be served." Lincoln said before stretching his arm to grab the former robot
"GET OVER HERE!!"
"oh no!"
5 minutes later
by the end of it the not Mecha Mecha knuckles was in a tree
"didn't you swear at the egg carrier?" Mecha sonic asked
"yes but I whispered it." Lincoln said "there's a difference."
"sure." Mecha sonic said "keep telling yourself that."
"gentlemen could you help me in getting him down from there?" Sigma asked
"I say leave him there." Lincoln said
"linky!" Lily said upset that her brother would just leave him there
"fine fine I'll get him down." Lincoln said
he flew up and grabbed him
"there we go." Lincoln said "now what are we gonna call you because you aren't exactly Mecha anymore."
"how about...spike?" Spike asked
"yeah that's accurate." Lincoln said
the chaotix left the scene to discuss what to do
"so Lincoln's good?" Charmy asked
"yes and while I'm bit iffy on Lily keeping the phantom ruby Lincoln has made it clear that if we a hand on her he's gonna make us wish we were dead." Vector said
"what about the doctor?" Espio asked "for all we know he could be faking it."
"true I say we interrogate him and stay for a couple days to see if it's legit and then contact sonic to get his opinion on the matter if it is." Vector said
"good idea." Espio said
little did they know how chaotic those couple days would be
day 1
"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!?" Vector asked seeing the absolute flaming mess of the mini bakery that Lily had made using the phantom ruby
"I bake cookies!" Lily said holding a tray perfectly baked cookies
"I AM ON FIRE!!!" Spike yelled as Lincoln ran to put him out with a fire extinguisher
"WITH THE PHANTOM RUBY?!?" Vector asked with his hands on his head
"these aren't half bad." Espio said eating a cookie "good job."
day 2
"WHO TAUGHT LILY HOW TO SAY THE B WORD?!?" Lincoln yelled
"vector." Espio said
"vector." Charmy said
"traitors!" Vector said
"when I'm done with you I'm gonna make you wish I killed you." Lincoln said cracking his knuckles
"bring it I ain't scared!" Vector said putting his fists up
Lincoln pulled out a container of phantom ruby energy and absorbed it accessing his super form
"you were saying?" Lincoln asked
"guys help." Vector said definitely scared now
"you are on your own." Espio said
"don't worry he shouldn't kill you he'll just break every bone in your body!" Charmy said
"that's not very helpful." Vector said
"I'M GONNA MAKE A LEATHER BAG OUT OF YOU!!!" Lincoln yelled
"Gaia help." Vector said before Lincoln rushed at him
it took a lot of effort from sigma and Mecha sonic but vector only left missing his breakfast lunch and dinner after Lincoln beat them out of him
day 3
"what in Gaia's name are you doing?" Espio asked Lincoln who was carrying every single child and Scrapnik (plus vector and Charmy) on his back
"entertainment." Lincoln said "want in?"
Espio sighed
the next day
the chaotix decided to bring sonic to get his opinion on this...situation
"huh what gives? nothing seems off." Sonic said as he approached the village
"sonic you made it!" Charmy said
"hey little buddy is everything okay?" Sonic asked
"oh yeah this place is great! There's lots of kids my age and-" Charmy began
"so you're the famed sonic the hedgehog." Lincoln said from on top of a roof he was adding the chimney to
"metal sonic!?" Sonic asked
"nah that's Lincoln he's really nice!" Charmy said
"hello." Lincoln said slowly floating from the roof
"I'm not sure how egghead managed to upgrade you but I'm gonna kick your-" sonic began
"please refrain from swearing in front of the children." Mecha sonic said having been given a proper voice box
"Mecha sonic!?" Sonic asked "how are you- better question why do you care about swearing!?"
"simple lincoln kicks the shhhnoot out of people when they swear in front of his sister." Vector said catching himself
"sister?" Sonic asked
"hey linky!" Lily said before going to hug the giant metal sonic
"hey lily how was school?" Lincoln asked
"good!" Lily said
"two questions one is that what I think it is and two why does she look like tails if he had knuckles's arms?!" Sonic asked
"we don't have the question for your second question but we do have one for your first yes it's the phantom ruby she was once a machine who absorbed it and the ruby made her organic." Espio said
"yeah Lincoln has been making sure the ruby doesn't do any collateral damage to the village." Vector said
"what about the "big man?" Sonic asked
"hold on I'll go grab him." Charmy said
Charmy went into the workshop and came out with Mr tinker and spike who had just gotten a new prosthetic eye from the carpenter
"is that..." sonic began
"it WAS mecha knuckles until he got a face full of phantom ruby energy he goes by spike now." Vector said
"how do you do they call me Mr tinker." Mr tinker said holding a hand out
"did ya really think this one would work do-" sonic began before Lincoln covered his mouth
"listen I just got the Scrapniks to stop thinking he's gonna destroy them don't ruin this." Lincoln whispered
"Scrapniks?" Sonic asked
"yeah sonic look around!" Charmy said
sonic looked around and saw a bunch of mismatched badniks in various degrees of damage
"woah." Sonic said
"he doesn't think I'm that doctor guy right?" Mr tinker asked
"nah just a case a mistaken identity." Vector said "go back to what you were working on."
mr. Tinker went back to work as sigma came outside
"hello sonic I am E117 sigma." Sigma said
"he's kind of the leader of the Scrapniks." Vector explained
"yes I welcome you to this humble village." Sigma said "we are an Independent badnik community."
"you do know that..." sonic began
"yes mecha sonic, spike, Lincoln, and I are well aware of who mr tinker is." Sigma said "but we hope that if he does regain his memories he'll leave us alone."
"and before you ask it's legit we've been here a couple of days and interrogated him thoroughly." Vector said "he remembers nothing."
"yeah but he can be extremely dangerous never mind the close calls while finding him. He can threaten whole planets at a time." Sonic said "but seeing him like this."
"that's why we called you here we have no idea what to do." Vector said "sure he's done some bad things but can you really punish someone who doesn't remember it?"
"that doesn't change the fact that he still is a threat Especially since there's a little girl with a reality altering gem fused to her living in this village." Espio said
"this was so much easier when it was just I hate that hedgehog!" Sonic said
"if I may say my piece." Sigma said "Lincoln is incredibly protective of Lily and is fully capable of defending her."
"yeah he keeps containers of phantom ruby energy just in case Lily begins to lose control of the power and fire bursts of energy." Vector said "he used one of those to power up and kick the snot out of me after I taught Lily a swear."
suddenly a villager ran by screaming
"badniks! They're attacking!" The villager yelled
"I'll deal with eggman you guys deal with the-" sonic began before Lincoln cut him off
"Mecha sonic spike you go to the forest and grab the badnik parts when you break them I'll make sure none get into the village." Lincoln said
Mecha sonic and spike ran to the forest
"we got this." Lincoln said
sonic ignored him and ran to check on mr tinker only to find him helping putting up barricades to protect the villagers
(didn't see that coming.) sonic thought to himself before running to the forest
he helped take out some badniks and saw Mecha sonic and spike picking up the parts
"why are you picking those up?" Sonic asked
"everyone deserves a chance of freedom." Mecha sonic said "but the question is will you give mr tinker that chance?"
"well..." sonic said
later
"I'm sorry mr tinker I got you confused with someone else I'd like to start over so..." sonic said "hi I'm sonic the hedgehog."
"the pleasure is all mine sonic." Mr tinker said "I hope you find whoever you're looking for they sound worrisome."
"I wouldn't worry about it. I think he's gone for good." Sonic said
"maybe so but the chaotix detective agency never does a half baked job! We'll keep looking for the doctor." Vector said "but you're free to stay here, mr tinker you've been very helpful in our investigation."
"thank you, it looks like I have a lot of tables to rebuild." Mr tinker said
everyone let out a laugh at that
"I cannot thank yo enough for helping these people." Mr tinker said to sonic
"don't sweat it. It's what I do." Sonic said
"I hope you come back to visit. I'd love to show you eggman land once it's completed!" Mr. Tinker said
"you'll never menace anyone with eggman land again." A voice said from above
everyone looked to the roof of the building they were and saw a black and red hedgehog and bat
Lincoln's data base identified the hedgehog as:
Shadow the hedgehog: the ultimate life form
"because I'm going to destroy you." Shadow said
that's it for now
see ya next time