A bird flew around in circles up in the sky.

Meanwhile Sonic and Manic were practicing flying airships via a virtual reality game called 'Castle Conquest'.

"Watch your back Manic!" Sonic said.

"I'll put on the brakes and fly right by. Get ready!" Manic said.

"Hold steady!"

"I've got ya' in my sight, hedgehogs!" Destructo said.

"Hold steady, not yet…" she said and Sonia entered and unplugged the wire. "Hey, what you do that for?"

"We were just about to toast Destructo!" Manic said.

"I called you fifteen minutes ago, I called you five minutes ago, and now... it's time to go!" Sonia said.

"We didn't hear you." Sonic said.

"Exactly!"

Later Sonic, Manic and Sonia were riding in their vehicle.

"Hey, we were learning valuable skills in that game." Sonic said.

"Yeah, right!" Sonia said.

"Even when things were going well for the Freedom Fighters, my children could not afford to let down their guard because Robotnik was always looking for a new way to destroy them." Aleena said.

Later.

"Time to cruise and bruise!" Sonic said.

"And they're gonna lose!" Manic said and they gave each other a high-five.

Sonia walked off in a different direction and Sonic and Manic soon found Cyrus in a room looking at a small screen showing footage of the two of them.

"You guys sure you wanna do this again?" Cyrus asked.

"Well, I know I'm not so good... But since you're really desperate for pilots, I figured I'd give it another shot!" Sonic said.

"Ok... let's do it."

Later Sonic and Manic were ready to set off.

"Ready? Sonic, Manic?" Cyrus asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure, go!" Sonic said and they started to fly the airship as they avoid missiles in their path. "Starting to come back!" she said and used the airship to shoot some obstacles.

"Nice shot bro!" Manic said.

"Good move Sonic!" Cyrus said and they landed the airship safely. "That was great guys! So, what's going on? How did you get so good?" he said and Sonic and Manic looked at each other.

"CASTLE CONQUEST!" Sonic and Manic said while Sonia walked in.

"It's confirmed. Our inside source reports that Robotnik started are on it next week." Sonia said.

"So he's bound to find out how much we've been skimming off his supply ships. Well it had to happen sooner or later..." Cyrus said.

"So time for plan B?" Sonic asked.

"Yep. Time to take all his supply ships. Now we're really gonna need pilots!"

"Hedgehog pilots reporting for duty!" Manic said and Sonia laughed.

"The crash dummy twins?! I don't think so..." she said and laughed.

"It's hard to believe but Manic and Sonic aced the simulator." Cyrus said.

"You're right - that is hard to believe! Okay... how did ya' do it?"

"CASTLE CONQUEST!" Sonic and Manic said.

Later an airship landed and Manic brought the staircase down.

"Clear!" Manic said.

"Two more ships after this. Manic, why don't you take this one, Sonia the next, and Sonic, you take the last one." Cyrus said.

"But the last one's the most likely to get chased. You need your best pilot!" Sonia said.

"He's got it!" Sonic said.

"In a game, maybe. But this is real Sonic hedgehog, this is real! Cyrus?"

"He aced it! Let's give him a shot. Next one's inbound. Let's move!" Cyrus said and Manic jogged casually into his airship.

"See ya' round!" Manic said.

Sonic and Sonia stood there a little concerned watching his airship lift off. Shortly after, Sonia's airship arrived and Sonic brought the steps down for her.

"Well if you insist on doing this... good luck." Sonia said.

"Thanks sis." Sonic said and Sonia entered her airship.

Later.

"Sir, the supply convoy is late. Auto communications not responding." a Swatbot said.

"What? Readouts, now!" Robotnik said and turned on his screen. "What's happening? Get a surveillance bot up there, now!"

Meanwhile.

"Almost as good as the game!" Sonic said and another small but rounded airship appeared in her view. "Huh? Hi mom, we're number one!"

Back with Robotnik.

"Blast that cursed hedgehog out of the sky!" Robotnik said.

"Firing launch platform one Sir." a Swatbot said and missiles were aimed at Sonic.

"Hey Robotnik, this thing pulls a little to the right. Might wanna get it in fortuna." Sonic said and the missile came towards her airship. "It's time to make some funny noises too!"

"Attention hedgehog! Get ready to be obliterated…" Robotnik said.

"Hey if you wanted your brain back, all ya' had to do was say so." she said and the missile hit the back of her airship. "Okay, I'm taking that as a yes. Ready or not, here I come!" she said and directed her airship left, right, up and down.

"What is he doing? Shoot him down!"

"Launching server." a Swatbot said and another two bullets were close to Sonic.

"Wuh, oh... Playtime's over!" Sonic said, picked out a small tool from the pilot area, then threw it outside and it smashed a part of the vehicle that was attacking her.

She reached for the controls, but some electric sparks gave her a little shock.

"Whoa!" she said and steered her wheel left.

"It can't be... No! Argh!" Robotnik said and sprinted away.

"Uh, oh. I hope I didn't cut this too close."

Meanwhile.

"No!" Robotnik said.

"Gotta time it just right!" Sonic said and his airship crashed and he started to flee.

"Argh! Uh... hedgehog!"

Then Manic came to assist her as she flew by on his hover board.

"Yo, need a lift?" Manic asked.

"I think I got his attention." Sonic said and he laughed.

Later.

"And Robotnik has to re-gear all his factories to build cargo ships. We heard him this time." Cyrus said.

"Alright! We did it!" Sonic said.

"Great job for us!" Sonia said.

"Hip hip, horay dude!" Manic said.

"So take a well-deserved break hedgehogs! I'll be in touch." Cyrus said.

"Well, it hurts me to say this but; it seems your silly game may have improved your pilot skills a little." Sonia said.

"Oh Manic, we've improved!" Sonic said.

"I heard." Manic said.

"I'm fine. I'm out of here - it's definetly makeover time. See ya' later." Sonia said.

"Is that a neglected chili dog stand calling my name? Back in a flash!" Sonic said and dashed off, leaving Manic on his own.

Manic yawned.

"Yeah… okay." he said, walked over to a small bench and lied down. "Maybe I'll just take a little nap till Sonic get's..." he said and Sonic arrived in a flash and burped..

"Hmm, good! C'mon bro. Let's get back to castle conquest." Sonic said.

Later.

"I'll put on the brakes and he'll fly right by!" Manic said and he and Sonic played Castle Conquest again.

"You're not gonna get me like that!" Sonia said.

"Sonia?"

"Oh this game is so easy! You guys are so lame, you didn't realise you could do this!" Sonia said and collided with their virtual reality airships.

"WHOA!" Sonic and Manic said, got off on hover boards instead along with Sonia.

Sonia brought out her piano, then Sonic got her guitar out and lastly, Manic brought his drums.

"Time to really play!" Sonia said.

["Don't Let Your Guard Down".]

Sonic and Manic gasped as Destructo appeared again.

"Well, well. Three hedgehogs all arose." Destructo said and prepared to launch his cannon.

"Manic!" Sonic said.

"Let me go, we're about to be blasted!" Manic said.

Meanwhile Manic was in a dream.

"What? What are you talking about? Man, you must have been dreaming." Sonic said.

"I was dreaming about Destructo coming after us." Manic said.

"Hey, you don't have to dream about that - let's go get it."

Later.

"So where's the big De-?" Sonic started but was cut off.

"Looking for me?" Destructo said.

"Hey demon, wanna go one-on-one? Or double up against the gauntlet?" Manic asked.

"I'd love to teach you two some respect but... I'm in the mood to see if we can finally kick it on the gauntlet."

"Cool! Let's do it to it!" Sonic said.

"Hang on, I've got something for ya'! Check this out…" he said and fired a red laser at a wall.

"Whoa, I've never seen anything like that before!" Manic said.

"I wrote the software myself. I, I got something even bigger for you later but, download this first. If you want it…" Destructo said and Sonic pushed the button.

"Downloading." Sonic said.

"One file downloaded. Install... Installation complete." a bot said.

"Wanna test it?"

"Oh yeah!" Manic said and Sonic and Manic turned a corner in their airship.

"Oh c'mon guys, you wouldn't." Destructo said and Sonic fired a blue laser at his airship and destroyed it. "C'mon on guys. That wasn't very…" he said and the light from the explosion reflected in Sonic's eyes as she smiled.

"I like it!" Sonic said.

When Sonic and Manic thought they had got rid of Destructo, he reappeared.

"Oh, ha, ha. Very funny. Just for that, I don't think I'll share the rest of my new software." Destructo said.

"Aw, c'mon!" Sonic said.

"New software? What is it?" Manic asked.

"Okay, I'll give you a clue. No more lamer castle walls. I created a whole new level." Destructo said.

"Cool!" Sonic said.

"But first, there's something I wanna show you..."

"Oh, great!" Manic said and Destructo launched a huge bullet.

"Man, he really got us." Sonic said.

"Yeah but he's sending us the download! Excellent."

"Downloading!"

"One file downloaded. Install." the bot said.

"Affirmative!" Manic said and Sonia entered.

"Oh goody. More game." Sonia said.

"Hey!" Sonic said. "Don't worry, I'm just passing through."

"Install complete. Activate play?" the bot said.

"That's a big affirmative."

"Nice shot Destructo. A nice game background!" Manic said.

"Uh oh yeah! Killer software!"

"Word is, you guys did some good work too. I'm on Robotnik's cargo ships." Destructo said.

"Thanks. It's gonna be months before he gets back to chasing us!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. Ha, ha, ha!" he said and Robotnik appeared chuckling.

"You fell for it, oh this is rich!" Robotnik said.

You guys want something to eat? ...Oh my God!" Sonia said and a laser was fired back at Sonic and Manic causing them to be paralized then disappeared.

Their eye masks were left on the floor.

"It's Robotnik!" Sonic said.

"Argh!" Sonia said.

A few minutes later.

"Sonic, Manic!" Sonia said and put on one of their eye masks.

Meanwhile Sonic and Manic briefly float.

"What happens when the ship's gone?" Manic asked.

"Who cares? It's just a game!" Sonic said.

Suddenly, they fell, screamed and landed on their backs.

"You don't get it yet, do you hedgehogs? You're inside the game! And if I destroy you in here, you're gone forever which is, by the way, my intention." Robiotnik said and Sonic tapped her foot.

"Do you believe this guy?" Sonic said, dashed away and landed on the front of Robotnik's airship.

Robotnik electrified her for a few seconds, let go and she fell.

He laughed as she ran up to Manic.

"So, what do ya' think?" she asked.

"Not good!" Manic said and Robotnik launched another laser towards them.

The laser cracked a part of the ground behind them, causing them to fall forward and Sonic and Manic got up and started to run.

Robotnik laughed.

"This will be delicious!" he said.

Meanwhile.

"Oh, oh. Cyrus. It just drew them inside." Sonia said and Cyrus attached the wires back together.

"This is the last download and it's not good. I didn't even know this could happen." Cyrus said.

"What?" Sonia asked.

"Robotnik's pulled them into the game."

"Well why don't we just pull the plug?"

"No! If you pull the plug, they've got no path back! There it is... what an ingenious program. But I think I can reverse it..."

"Can we get Sonic and Manic out?"

"No, get Robotnik IN! I can put someone in the game and if they get inside this control room, they can pull Robotnik inside! Of course it'll take a good pilot!"

"I'm in!"

"Well while you're in the game, I'm gonna try and find Robotnik's satellite dish. If I disable it, he loses control and the game's over!" he said and she put on her headgear. "You ready?"

"Do it."

Meanwhile Sonic dashed around a loop with Manic hanging on to her as Robotnik chased her in his airship.

"Dude, how long do you keep up this pace?!" Manic asked.

"I don't know, but we're not giving up!" Sonic said and Robotnik fired a large missile towards them.

"Oh no, concussion impact missile right on our tail!"

"Reversing course, hold on!" she said and sprinted several times around another loop avoiding the missile that ended up hitting a wall next to them.

A few minutes later.

"I think we lost him." Sonic said.

"It's his game Sonic, I don't think we can lose him!" Manic said and Robotnik entered.

"That's correct hedgehogs!" Robotnik said.

"Well that's not exactly fair, is it?" Sonic said, grabbed a hold of Manic's arms and dashed away.

"Sonic dude, try a super spin!" Manic said.

"Good idea bro!" she said, spun in circles and suddenly became dizzy.

"Oh, bad idea..."

"A big yep on that." she said and Robotnik hit a laser around them that had them surrounded by fire.]

Sonic and Manic screamed.

"Trapped." Manic said.

"One more concussion impact missile and my Hedgehog troubles are all over." Robotnik said and tried sending another bullet but suddenly, his cargo ship started to spin out of control in the air.

Then, Sonia arrived as a pilot, flying in her airship.

"Go sis! Horray!" Manic said and he and Sonic jumped up and down celebrating.

Then Sonic grabbed Manic's arm and ran away trying to escape the missiles that Robotnik was trying to send at him. They managed to hide behind a rocky wall.

"How rude…" Sonia said.

"Sonia, over here!" Sonic and Manic said and stepped into her airship.

Meanwhile Cyrus was looking through his binoculars.

"It's gotta be there somewhere... Ha! Got it!" he said.

Back with Sonic, Manic and Sonia.

"Yo, this message should get us into the control room." Manic said.

Robotnik chased after Sonic and her siblings via her cargo ship. All of a sudden, Sonia's airship disappeared, the three of them fell and landed on the ground.

"That's not my favorite ride." Sonic said.

"Here it comes." Manic said and Robotnik kept shooting.

Sonic grabbed Manic and Sonia's arms, started to run again and all three of them headed for the control room.

"Not that way!" Robotnik said.

"I had to make this one, Robotnik may get sucked into the game!" Sonia said.

"Okay, but you better hurry! Here he goes!" Sonic said and Robotnik came forward in his cargo ship.

"Goodbye hedgehogs!" Robotnik said and pushed a button causing a huge bullet to be launched from the front of his ship.

"Wuh oh..."

Back with Cyrus.]=

"Game over Robotnik!" Cyrus said and cut the wire for the virtual reality game.

Suddenly, Sonic, Manic and Sonia appeared back in their world.

"What happened?" Sonic asked.

"Cyrus must have found Robotnik's satellite dish!" Sonia said.

Back with Robotnik.

"Oh, so close! Next time hedgehogs!" Robotnik said.

Later.

"Well, that's the last of the cargo." Sonia said.

"Great. Well, what do we do with these cargo ships?" Manic said.

"We give 'em back! We'll call this advantage hedgehogs!" Sonic said and they played Castle Conquest against each other.

"Auto pilots failed to respond on the cargo ships. Collision imminent." a bot said.

"No! Hedgehogs!" Robotnik said.

"Oh yeah, we did it!" Sonia said.

"Alright!" Manic said.

"Game over butt-nik!" Sonic said.

Four years later.

Sonic, Sonia and Manic had found Aleena a week after the fight and got the Council of Four created.

A few months later Sonic found out Robotnik was alive and left to stop him herself. Knuckles had gone with her and a few months after they met Tails and created Team Sonic.

For the past few years she had been on multiple adventures with and without them. She had fought a god called Chaos, learned about her now rival Shadow, fought Metal Sonic with Tails and Knuckles, found out about the future, met and worked with Silver, learned about the Seven Rings, become a werehog, became a knight, saved Wisps in space with Tails, met and worked with Classic Sonic to stop the Time Eater and learned about the Lost Hex and the Deadly Six.

Shadow was at Mystic Jungle looking for some cover while intruding on the entrance of Eggman's Facility right now and reached for his communicator watch on his wrist.

Then someone leapt from stone pillar to stone pillar finding a spot to attack him.

"Hey, you! I know you can hear me! You're captain of Squad Jackal, aren't you?! Your squad was useless! Go clean up their mess already!" Eggman said over the radio.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it... You. You destroyed my squad. I'll show you why they call me the ultimate mercenary! Take" the jackal said. "THIS!" he said and charged at Shadow who activated Chaos Control. "What?!"

Then Shadow attacked Infinite with a roundhouse kick, launching the jackal in the air, and slammed him down with his two fists, making him fall to the ground. Shadow delivered the final blow to the jackal with another roundhouse kick, launching him into another stone pillar, where he could be heard groaning as he struggled to get up from getting easily thrashed by Shadow and his chaos powers.

Then Shadow stepped on top of a nearby stone, looking down at the jackal.

"Worthless. Don't show your pathetic face around me ever again." Shadow said and teleported away to continue his mission.

"I... I'm shaking... Me? Me... Afraid...?!" the jackal said. "Ugh. Pathetic?! Me..." he said. "He's calling ME weak?! No...! I am not weak. I'm... I'm not. I'm not weak! I AM NOT WEEEEAAAAK! URRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!" he said and got up.

Later at Eggman's laboratory the jackal was putting on a mask, and showing off the finalized Phantom Ruby prototype on his chest. A red aura surrounded the jackal as he spread his arms out.

"That day, I gave up my own unsightly face. And I let go of the old me, the one that was so weak, so that I could become stronger. And then, at last... I obtained the power. The power to make all yield to my will. I... was... REBORN!"