Hi everyone! Happy 2012, and I hope you haven't forgotten about this fic, because...well, I think that should be obvious.

Nothing new to report really. Just took my time making this fic, and thought I'd give you what I have so far. So, please enjoy, and don't forget to review.

Bunnie pushed the grate out of their way as they all exited the shaft they crawled through. The Freedom Fighters had managed to find another way into the construction site. However, now, they had to hurry; the homunculi were on their tails. "Oh mah stars." Bunnie whispered as she observed where their detour landed them.

The ship was a vast array of tunnels and platforms. "Ivo just had to make this more difficult for us." St. John groaned.

"It's kind of odd that Chuck didn't tell us about this." Rotor noted as he observed his surroundings. As much as he hated Robotnik, he did have a begrudging respect for his mechanical skill.

"I'd imagine Robotnik is getting wise to our spy network." Sally replied. "Even so, this ship looks almost complete! It could take off at any time!"

"Any time?" Antoine asked in response to Sally's statement. "Vee ar doomed!" he yelled and panicked.

Bunnie suddenly slapped the cowardly coyote across the face. "Sugar 'twan! Hush! You'll attract 'bots!"

While Antoine continued to tremble silently, Sally popped open Nichole. "I've got to find a terminal to hook Nichole up to. Whatever this thing is, Nichole can stop it!"

"Which way, though?" St John asked. "The command center could be either left or right. Choose incorrectly, and we'll never be able to fix our mistake. Splitting up won't do us much good either, if you and Nichole wind up going the wrong way."

"No problem." Sally responded. "Nichole, track radio wave density." She commanded.

"Scanning, Sally." The computer replied. In a few seconds, it responded "I am detecting a large density of radio waves to your left, Sally."

"Excellent, Nichole!" She signaled for the Freedom Fighters to follow her lead. "I'd imagine that Robotnik set up some kind of satellite to send radio waves to the control console. They will converge there!"

"Here I come, Hedgehog!" Robotnik's egg mobile revealed a large canister receiving a blue liquid.

Sonic tried to hit him with his sonic spin, but the doctor was too high. He would have had Tails attack him, but he figured Robotnik anticipated that as well and decided not to chance it. Besides, he might need his help to keep his footing. The platforms kept turning, and it was all Sonic could do to stay ahead of them.

"I've used the rotating pipe to prevent optimum use of your agility! That way, it will give me enough time…to do this!" The canister was full, and Robotnik dumped it, aiming for Sonic.

Sonic managed to leap back, but the contents splashed across the pipe. A drop managed to touch Sonic's arm, instantly causing his fur and skin to burn. Sonic hissed in pain as he gripped his arm.

"Sonic!" Tails called. "Whatever that chemical is, it's dense, and the contents will spill all over, even if you dodge it!"

Sonic jumped off a section of the pipe just before it turned. "Yeah, I can see that!" He shouted back, taking a look at the burn on his arm.

"Bravo, Tails!" Robotnik chided, clapping his hands in mock applause. "You figured it out! I wasn't going to take the chance of Sonic dodging my blows! I decided on something that would do damage…even if I missed!"

The canister was refilled, and Robotnik once again spilled the contents. Sonic dodged most of it, but drops from the splash still singed his spines. "He's right! It's only a matter of time before I dodge the wrong way…or worse, fall into the mega mack below! There must be-"Sonic nearly fell over as the platform rotated again. "Whoa!" Sonic jumped to the other side, avoiding most of another chemical spill but once again feeling the burn of the drops. "They're getting faster! That one almost sent me flying!"

Sonic's eyes then widened at what he just thought. "That's it!" he exclaimed, snapping his fingers

"Sonic!" Tails flew right beside his friend. "I can attack Robotnik! Just-"

"No!" Sonic shouted, holding him back. "I got a plan!" Sonic jumped to the other side; he calculated there was a 5 second interval for each part of the platform before they moved position. Another one was about to turn. "Right…about…NOW!"

Sonic used the momentum to launch himself towards the egg mobile. Robotnik didn't even see him come up from behind, but he felt the vehicle fly forward against his command and the damage alarms blared. "AH!" Robotnik pushed the klutch to stabilize it, and had a look. There was a pretty bad dent in the side, along with scratch marks that exposed the inner workings of the craft. "You filthy rodent! Do you have any idea how much time this took to paint!" he yelled, shaking his fist.

Robotnik got another can of chemical sludge ready, while Sonic beckoned him to come, smiling eagerly. "I ain't done playing with you yet, Buttnik! Bring it on!"

"Are you ready, friend?" Snively asked maliciously. Snively flipped the switches on his egg mobile, which opened a compartment in the machine. Silver orbs floated out and began to surround him.

Ed just raised an eyebrow. "Eggs? You're fighting me with eggs?"

Snively cackled. "Just you wait! Egg orbit system…activate!" The eggs began to circle him like a planet, only at an incredibly high speed.

"You wasted enough of my time as it is!" Ed shouted, pointing at Snively. "I'm kicking your ass and getting the heck out of here!" Ed clapped his hands, and placed them on the ground. A spike of steel jutted out towards Snively's egg mobile. Normally, he would panic. But not this time.

He was prepared this time around. "I think not!" As soon as the spike landed, it broke into pieces, the eggs chipping away at it like a chainsaw on a tree.

"Whoa." was Ed's only reply.

"Hehehe. These eggs are rotating at the speed of sound; half of Sonic's maximum. If these can break steel…" The eggs' orbit began to expand rapidly towards Ed. "…imagine what they'll do to you."

Ed tried to jump out of the way, but one of the eggs managed to graze him and sent him flying. "Oof!" Ed landed hard, but thankfully, nothing was broken. "I gotta remember not to underestimate the technology of this place…" Ed quickly transmuted a wall in front of him, but it bent under pressure from the eggs. "Jeez!" Ed covered his head and retreated.

Snively drove his ship forward, laughing at the thought of making his own kind fear him. "Run run run little man! You can't block forever!"

Ed suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" he shouted, slowly turning his head and giving Snively his best death glare. Despite Snively having the upper hand at the moment, it seemed to work.

"I-I said, you can't block-"

"NO! BEFORE THAT! NO ONE CALLS ME LITTLE, EVER!"

Ed charged and transmuted his arm into a sword. Snively momentarily feared for his life, but expanded the orbit. "Fool!" Ed jumped above the eggs, as the area of the circle was still possible to dodge. Ed brought his sword-arm down, aiming for Snively's head. "Egad!" Snively put the ship in reverse, narrowly missing Ed's blade. Snively breathed a sigh of relief, not realizing a strand of his hair came off. "Ha! You're not Sonic! He would never miss!"

Ed just smirked. "Don't worry; I always follow through with my attacks."

Just then, the egg mobile's metallic skin peeled, revealing a deep cut all the way on its circumference; the cut was so deep even part of the engine was showing. "Eep! Uncle is going to kill me!"

Snively sped the eggs up again, but this time, Ed was ready for them. An egg raced towards him…and Ed clapped his hands, placing his palm on it. Though the force initially began to push him back, the force rapidly decreased and the egg glowed, beginning to alter shape. "These are pretty dense for their size; I can easily turn them against you." Finally, he stopped, and seemed to be holding onto a chain with a ball on the end. "Be warned, this ball here is heavy; no one wants to get hit by this thing."

"What in the world!" Snively asked, befuddled. "Is this alchemy? The sorcery those monsters spoke of!"

"Yes and no." Ed replied. "It's science, not magic. I'm getting sick of explaining that. But yeah; if they told you anything about me, this is just the tip of the iceberg!"

Snively got a better look, and saw that Ed had changed the egg into a ball and chain, a medieval throwing weapon. "Crap!" Snively sped up the egg rotation, hoping to form a shield around him. Ed began spinning himself; ball and chain weapons were not very accurate. That being said, Ed was still pretty good with them. Just as the egg orbit was about to reach him, he jumped up and threw it. Snively vainly tried to dodge, but the ball hit its mark, denting the side and dislocating one of his fingers. "AHHH!"

Snively tried his best to ignore the pain, but he wasn't exactly a tough guy. Before throwing a tantrum again, Snively took a few deep breaths and calmed down. "Well done. Well done." He hissed. "Not even Sonic has been able to make me look like such a fool." He winced as he put his finger back in place. "Ow."

"You don't need his help for that, Pinocchio." Edward taunted back.

"Mock me, make spite of me. But I'll show you how dangerous a man I am." Snively flipped a few switches on the console. "I didn't want to do this, but now you have forced my hand. Get ready…for phase 2."

"Hold still, you miserable hedgehog!" Robotnik shouted as he aimed for his nemesis once again.

The chemical was poured again, but Sonic dodged like he usually did. And now, the splash had no effect on him; he simply spun like a top, dispersing the excess chemicals without touching them. "Uh…no!" The hedgehog taunted him. "Besides, do I ever listen to you?"

As the platforms spun again, Sonic once again used the momentum to launch himself at the egg mobile, this time getting a deep cut in. Robotnik growled and slammed his fist. "To think, I had you!" The tyrant then flipped a few switches on the console. "No matter; I actually wanted you to force me to do this!"

Suddenly, a tube sprouted from the egg mobile's center, and turned towards Sonic. "That looks like it could be a problem." Sonic thought. Then, a blue liquid shot at Sonic. Though he ducked, the acid was so corrosive the platform behind him began to melt. "Mondo problem! Definitely!"

Robotnik wouldn't even have to hit him; if the entire tube broke down, Sonic would fall into the waste below. "This will be over quickly, rodent!" Robotnik cackled madly as he kept shooting at Sonic.

Tails, who looked from the air in horror, charged. Sonic told him not to, but he needed his help! "I was wondering when you were going to do that!" the overlander chided as he pressed a button. A sprinkler from the front of the ship showed itself, and began spraying. Tails immediately retreated, narrowly dodging the chemical sprays. Tails also noticed that they too were melting the floor Sonic was on.

Robotnik laughed, confident he won. "It's your choice; stay safe and let Sonic perish even faster…or go down and help him. I promise you, you won't dodge my spray gun!" Robotnik pointed it at him for good measure.

Tails momentarily panicked. "What do I do! What do I do!"

"Tails!" Sonic called out to him as he dodged and watched his steps. "It ain't as bad as it seems!"

"What do you want me to do! He can hear us!"

"Just do as I tell you!"

Ed waited patiently as the eggs spun around Snively, waiting for him to attack. Soon, much like Sonic would (unbeknownst to him), his foot began to tap the ground with impatience. "Um…I'm waiting here!" he growled.

Snively only laughed. "Then come and get me; I am at your mercy after all." He emphasized the point, spreading his arms away from the controls.

Ed only gave him an evil grin as he charged. "It's your funeral!" He leaped right at him, the eggs seemingly nowhere to be found. And that set off an alarm in Ed's head; there were opportunities that were too easy, and then there were opportunities that were ridiculously too easy. Ed tried his best to halt his attack; unfortunately, the blade's tip just scratched Snively's egg mobile. Ed retreated, but not far enough to protect him from the explosion that immediately followed. Ed was sent flying back and tumbling. Ed moaned as his ears rung; he was so close to the blast that now he could barely stand from the impact.

It was then that Snively seemingly reappeared from oblivion to mock him."HAHAHA! I hope that didn't hurt too bad…I would like to use these tactics longer, after all…" he continued chuckling lower.

Ed got up, thankful that his only major damage was a bump to the head. "How? You blew yourself up…"

"Yes, I suppose that's what it would look like to someone of lesser intelligence." Snively sneered.

Suddenly, a duplicate seemingly popped out of nowhere. Minus the floating eggs, it matched him to the tee. In fact, now that Ed had a good look, the machine had two less eggs orbiting it. "The eggs!" he shouted in realization.

"Wow. He got one right." Snively laughed at what he believed was a good joke. "The eggs produce holograms that resemble me. If you make the slightest contact with one, the eggs go off. You got lucky last time; had you not braced yourself, your leg would have been broken."

Then, the two separated, flying into the air. They surrounded Ed, and began to spin rapidly. "Oh crap!"

They were trying to pull a switcheroo, so Ed wouldn't know which one to hit…Or avoid. "Ready?" Snively yelled from above. Ed said nothing, causing Snively to grin maliciously. "I didn't think so!" The two ships made a dive for him. Ed reacted instinctively, transmuting the metal beneath him. A pillar allowed him to rise from ground level. Ed then leaped off, as it was shown the pillar wasn't as whole as he made it out to be; it was constructed like a jenga tower, and purposefully made unstable. The blocks fell just as the two Snivelys were about to ram into it. One managed to move away, but another block fell on the other, detonating it. The real egg mobile reeled from the shockwave, and got a good amount of frag lodged into its side.

"There you are!" Ed transmuted again, this time sending metal spikes into the ship and eggs. The eggs exploded all around Snively; Ed was momentarily worried that he might have killed him. As the smoke cleared and revealed a ruined egg mobile on the floor, Snively emerged from the cockpit, his face black with soot. The alchemist could've sworn he also saw Snively's few strands of hair on fire, like candles on a birthday cake. "He must have ducked to protect himself." Ed noted. Snively furiously jiggled with the clutch and managed to get it flying again.

"You…you…" he seethed.

Ed just held up his hand to shut him up; he had enough of this clown. "Spare me with the name calling; it just shows what an idiot you are."

Snively then began to snicker as he pressed a button on the switchboard. "If you think those eggs were my only weapon…then you're dead wrong." The yellow circle in the ship's front began to glow. Ed didn't know how he knew, but his eyes widened in realization at what was coming next. "Or, perhaps in your case, just plain dead."

Ed could do nothing as a beam began to form…

"Stay where you are!" Sonic ordered his companion. He ran towards Tails while Robotnik fired at him; a miss, but at least that part of the platform had finally melted away. If Sonic made a wrong move, he could not avoid being eaten alive.

Predictably, Sonic grabbed on to Tails, and the two charged towards him. Robotnik only sneered at their apparent foolishness, attacking him head on. "If it's a painful death you both want, I shall give to you, gladly!" Robotnik prepared to aim.

"Tails! Catch!" Sonic tossed his friend a power ring. "Use it!"

"Right!" Tails said excitedly. Tails concentrated on the energy inside, and let it flow within him. Suddenly, he felt better than he ever recalled, like he had been trained to the peak of physical perfection with no fatigue at all. He felt like he could run a thousand miles….or fly a thousand, to be more precise.

Suddenly, Tails accelerated past the acid gun, just when Robotnik fired. The stream missed the two mobians completely. But Robotnik had another vial ready. "They're planning to go under! I'll douse them with this!" However, just when Tails approached the egg mobile, he circled around. He began going faster and faster, making Robotnik dizzy. "Ack! Trying the same trick all those months ago, heh? Well, it won't work!" Robotnik prepared his gun to spin around; at that speed and direction, he would just need a continuous stream of acid to nail them.

"Now, Sonic!"

Tails threw Sonic into the egg mobile, faster than he could on his own. The momentum was enough to not only scratch the egg mobile, but for him to burrow completely through it!

"NO!" Robotnik cried as he saw the meters on his control panel spin out of control. Then, a large explosion rocked the immediate area…

"Say goodbye, Alchemist!" Edward began another transmutation, but even he knew it was too late to protect himself against a weapon that traveled the speed of light.

Suddenly, a fast projectile ran into Snively's egg mobile, sending it careening like a hockey puck. Snively's egg mobile hit a column just as the beam finally went off point blank into a steel pole. As a result, the ship's engine exploded, sending its pilot flying into the air. Ed turned back to see what exactly hit him. "Al! Your timing is impeccable!" he smiled appreciatively.

Alphonse seemed to have some kind of rocket with handle bars strapped onto his back. "Sally actually let me see the blue prints for some of the tech this world has. It was simple putting the parts together; controlling it was another matter. I was flying in circles forever before I could point it towards you! If I had a body, I would've puked back up there!"

"Well, what's important is that you're here. Come on; we've got to get that disorganisero ore before we attract any more trouble." Ed pointed to the citadel behind him.

Snively seemed to come back to his senses, and stood. Though he was shaky, he managed to pull out a strange pistol and aimed it at them. His teeth clenched with fury. "You…fools…you will…pay…for making a fool…out of SNIVELY THE GREAT!" he bellowed once more in a vain attempt to regain some dignity.

The two brothers looked back behind them, rolling their eyes. "Look, just back off." Ed groaned. "Your little thinga-majig is gone, and even with that pea-shooter, there's no way you can…" Then Ed noticed something that shocked him. His shock soon became laughter, which grew more maniacal by the second.

Snively could only stare at him in fear. He tried his best not to, but he couldn't keep himself from trembling. Laughter like that was always a bad thing. "What's so funny!" Snively tried to sound infuriated, but even he could tell that it came out more as a squeak.

"FINALLY!" Ed shouted ecstatically.

"Brother…?" Al began to ask.

"AFTER ALL THIS TIME, AN ENEMY WHO IS SHORTER THAN ME!" His mouth practically morphed into a more demonic form with a snake-like tongue. "MWHAHAHAHA! I CANNOT WAIT TO TAKE THE PAIN OF BEING SMALL OUT ON YOU!"

Ed charged before Al could pull him back. Snively only aimed the ray gun closer to his target. He began to hiss "Die, you cocky-"

Before Snively could pull the trigger, his nose met Ed's foot and was sent flying! "HAHAHAHA! NOW I SEE WHY PICKING ON LITTLE GUYS IS SO FUN!" Ed turned to a fit of giggles.

Al was quite saddened to see Ed become a bully, but then again, that was probably nothing compared to what Snively did.

"Ed, stop!" Al continued to protest. "We need to-"

"YOU!" Snively screamed. "I have just about had enough-"

Ed body slammed him and locked him in a headlock. He then proceeded to noogie the poor overlander. "Hehehe…I could do this all day…"

"Ow! Ow! Mercy, please!" His pleas went unheeded, as Ed continued to torment him with various physical techniques. Everything from an elbow drop to suplexes he saw in wrestling, Ed tortured Snively in a way that Alphonse had never seen before.

"Say Uncle!" Ed screamed, cackling evilly as he got Snively in a knee-bar.

"OW! OW! OK, I GIVE! UNCLE!" Snively smacked the floor, trying to communicate his surrender.

Unfortunately for him, Ed wasn't the forgiving type. "NOT LOUD ENOUGH!"

"Brother, ENOUGH! We have to find the disorganisero ore!" Al yelled at his brother (although a part of him did enjoy the show).

Ed looked back at him, and smacked his head. "Oh yeah." He muttered. He walked over and picked Snively up by the collar. "So, you think you can take us to that ore?"

Snively snapped out of his daze and just looked at him curiously. "The ore? What in the world could you possibly want with it?"

"None of your business. Just tell me where it is."

Snively's face then contorted into a malicious grin. "OH…I get it now. You want to help those filthy vermin-"

Ed suddenly spun Snively around and began to twist his arm. "You don't know when to quit, do you?" he growled.

"OW! OW! OKAY, I'll TALK!" Ed released him, but made sure he wouldn't try anything funny. "The Disorganisero is located within the citadel, near the war room. I don't know exactly where, Uncle Julian never tells me these sorts of things." He then thought "A smart move on his part. If I knew…"

"Take us there. And no funny business." Ed ordered him.

"Yes, yes, of course." Snively led the way, wary of the tight grip of Ed's automail arm.

It wasn't smooth going to the control panel for the Freedom Fighters. Swatbot patrols seemed to double the further they went. They could take on 1 squad of bots, but a whole army was out of the question. Sally wouldn't have been surprised if some Combots were around as well. God, she hated those things.

"Any ideas on what ta do, Sally Girl?" Bunnie asked her friend.

Sally scratched her head. "Well, if Sonic were here…" She stopped herself. No, not an option. No one with her was nearly as fast as Sonic, and she wouldn't risk anyone getting captured. St. John brought up the idea of using his crossbow to shimmy their way over the robots, but even they were smart enough to look up every now and then. If they spotted them, the way down would be quite painful.

As she was brainstorming, a gloved and torn hand grabbed her wrist. Sally instinctively put the person in a jujitsu lock, only to find Sonic hiss at the sensation of his arm being twisted. "Sonic! Oh no, you look awful! What happened to you…!"

Sonic had burns and scratches all over him, not to mention he looked like he was in a lot of pain. Judging by his breathing, it seemed he was exhausted to; something that almost never happened. "Robotnik…" Sonic panted. It seemed he really pushed himself against the doctor.

"What could Robotnik have created to hurt Sonic so terribly?" Sally worried. "What did he-?"

"Tails." Sonic interrupted her. "He got Tails…"

Sally placed her hands over her mouth. "We've got to…!"

Geoffrey placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, luv; I got this one."

Sally politely pushed his hand down. "No, that's okay. You can do it, I'm sure. But Tails needs Sonic and I. And the rest of us need you."

"I can't agree to that luv; you could put yourself in danger." St. John protested. " And besides, who will operate Nichole?"

"I've got it covered." Rotor volunteered. "Sally would have needed my help anyway, even with Nichole on the control console. We can split up without compromising the mission."

St. John sighed. "Is there anything I can do to convince you to let me go in your place?"

Sally stroked his fur and smiled. "Sorry; you know me."

St. John sighed, and relented, giving her a brief bow. "Very well; as you command." St. John then looked at Sonic sternly, but not with contempt. He knew better than to let a rivalry get out of hand, especially if it put someone's life in jeopardy. "You better take good care of the Princess! You got me, mate?"

"Yeah…" Sonic panted, giving him a brief salute. "…sure thing, buddy."

With that, Sonic and Sally took off. St. John felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Somethin' the matter, St. John?" Bunnie asked.

St. John waved her off. "I'm sure it was nothn'. Come on; we best get this over with. Rotor, mate, lead the way."

"Do it." Ed pushed Snively in front of him, earning a grunt from the small overlander.

"Pushover." Snively typed the code in, and the door swung open. "This way." He gestured.

Ed and Al followed him down the corridor, looking around. It was all like a giant factory, with technology their world was probably centuries away from developing. "This Robotnik guy sure does like machines." Ed noted. "I'm glad Winry didn't come with us; I'd hate to imagine how much this would complicate things…" Ed then pictured her throwing herself at Robotnik with all kinds of scenarios; apprentice, henchmen, even… Ed stopped right there. "Ew. No. Do NOT go there." He noted to himself in disgust.

Ed was brought out of his thoughts when a laser passed him less than an inch away from his head. "Damn!"

Ed, Al, and even Snively ducked as close to the walls as possible, trying to hide from the high-tech onslaught. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" A group of swatbots marched towards them, prepared to do their master's bidding.

Ed grabbed Snively by the collar, growling "You little sneak! I thought you cleared the way for us!"

"I-I did! But the Swatbots here are under Dr. Robotnik's control before mine! They'll probably sacrifice me before letting the two of you in!"

Ed groaned and face palmed himself. "Of course. Evil mad dictator indeed." He called to his brother "Hey Al! Those things aren't roboticized mobians, are they?"

Al checked the module. "Nope! Just Buttnik's staple soldiers!" It seemed Sonic's way of talking was starting to rub off on him.

"All right then!" Ed then pointed a finger at Snively. "You! STAY HERE." Ed warned him.

"Y-Yes! Of course!" Ed only looked at him skeptically as he held up his hands in submission. "Better safe than sorry." The Alchemist thought. He then pressed Snively's arm against the wall, and transmuted the later into shackles around it. "WHAT!" Snively yelled as he tried to pull his arm free.

"Sorry. Don't trust you to keep your word."

With that, Ed charged at the Swatbots. While the lasers were fast, their path was predictable by looking at the swatbots' wrists. Ed transmuted the front of his forearm into a small shield, altering the contents of the automail slightly. The lasers deflected off the arm, and Ed side kicked a swatbot onto the floor. Al pushed forward fearlessly, the lasers also deflecting off his metallic hide. He uppercutted one swatbot, and decapitated another with a back fist. Since getting in close, Ed reverted his arm back to normal and transformed it into a sword once more. He sliced one swatbot after the other; if they were too close he would kick them down. Just when Ed impaled the seemingly last robot, a whole new platoon charged and fired.

"Jeez! There's no end to them!" Ed quickly erected a wall between them and the swatbots before they could fry him. This was only a temporary solution, however; the swatbots would probably be able to push down the wall if they got closer. Ed thought quickly, and looked at the power lines above. "Al…I hate to admit it, but I'm going to need your help with a little something that does not involve alchemy."

Al understood, and placed his palms forward. Ed ran, jumped on them, and Al hurled him towards the ceiling. "I really don't like copying Scar, but I have to admit destruction does come in handy!" Ed began a transmutation reaction on the power cords, but they did not reconstruct into something else. Instead, the power cords exploded, and a series of other explosions around the building followed. With that, the main lights went out, and the only things to light the way were flames.

"Halt attackers! Priority one!" a mechanical voice called.

"They're still alive!" Al exclaimed in shock.

"I guess being made up of oil and gears has its advantages." Ed murmured. The swatbots came closer into view, and Ed was relieved to see they did not escape unscathed. Most of them had gaping holes exposing their circuitry. And that gave him an idea. "Al…what's below the first floor here?"

Al quickly checked the module. "Uh…it seems to be the sewers!"

"Perfect!" Ed transmuted the floor into a cannon, similar to what he used when Bald took that train hostage years ago. "I hope for your sakes you don't have any sense of smell…because I'm going to regret this in a second!" He pushed the lever, and the contents of the waste below sprayed forth. The swatbots, having their circuitry exposed, short-circuited and finally went down.

Ed fanned the air around him as he observed his work. "Gross! At least that did the trick!" Ed gagged as he stumbled back to Snively.

He released his bonds, and Snively rubbed his small arm. "Did you have to make them so tight!" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I think I did." Ed replied stoically. "You ready, Al?"

"Just a minute! It's dark here!" Al stumbled towards the wrecked swatbots. "Let's see…" Al tapped the swatbots, inspecting their architecture. "Okay. There should be just enough silicon for glass…" He then placed some in a pile, and drew a transmutation circle around them. "This should help!" He then transmuted what he gathered into a lantern, complete with a flame inside.

"Good thinking, Al!" Ed commented.

Snively, however, was not impressed. "Pfft! All that power, and you can't make a simple flashlight?"

Ed kicked him in the shins from behind. "Shut up! You're not in any position to chide us!" Ed grabbed his collar and pushed him forward. "Now, I believe you were leading us to the war room, right?"

Snively growled "Yes, yes. As you command. It will take a while though; your brilliant plan of attack against the swatbots involved cutting off the power! The war room should still be functioning; the backup generators will take over function of anything essential. But our elevators won't be working now. I hope you're as fast as Sonic, because otherwise, this is going to take a long, long time."

Ed nearly smacked himself with his automail arm. They didn't have that kind of time to go up more stories than any building in Central they've been to. "There has to be a way…" But what? Super speed? No, only Sonic could do that. Creating stairs. No, that's the problem in the first place. "Aww, my head's about to explode…wait, that's it!"

He grabbed the module from Al, and looked at it. "Al, I need you to clear holes in the ceiling for several floors. Right about…" He then pointed to a spot within the corridor. "…there. Make sure the explosion is really, really big."

Al, understanding what Ed was about to do, then said "Such an explosion is more likely to take us out. Which means…a funnel is in order…"

Al and Ed got to work gathering the necessary materials for a powerful explosive…

St. John and the Freedom Fighters finally reached the control console. One swatbot was guarding it, but St. John easily took it out with a scrambler arrow. "Rotor, get to the control console, quickly! There'll be another bot sooner or later!"

He then pointed to Antoine and Bunnie. "You two! Be on the look out!"

Bunnie and Antoine did as they were told, with Antoine muttering "Who died and made heem king of zee world?" St. John pretended he didn't hear that.

Rotor got to work with Nichole as he hooked her up to an outlet on the console. "So, how long to destroy this thing?" St. John asked.

Rotor groaned as he rubbed his head. "It's not good. Robotnik upgraded his encryption programs, and he took no chances; something of that tall an order will likely take a few hours with all this crap."

Acknowledging it was not Rotor's fault, he asked "Is there anything you can do at the moment?"

Rotor replied "I can at least slow it down, and make a bunch of other things go haywire once this thing launches…"

"Do it." St. John ordered him.

Rotor typed in the command. In a minute, Nichole replied "Virus uploaded, Rotor."

"Excellent, Nichole. Sally would be proud if she were here…"

On her mention, St. John was reminded how uneasy he felt about letting Sally go with Sonic. Despite his taunts, Sonic could take care of himself, and Sally was a smart girl. So why did he feel that he made a terrible mistake in letting them both go?

"Ah just can't believe that Buttnik actually managed to hurt sugah-hog so easily!" St. John overheard Bunnie talk to Antoine.

Idle chat during a mission usually lead to severe consequences on the field. He was about to go straighten them out, but the next statement stopped him cold. "He was even friendly to St. John here! That must'a been some machine!"

St. John then realized what was bothering him! Sonic was way too polite and subdued to all of them, him especially! That could only mean one thing: He was an imposter! "Damn it! I should have realized that something was wrong! Rotor, take control of the console! If for any reason you have to leave, do it!"

With that, St. John rushed passed Bunnie and Antoine, leaving them in bewilderment. "Now, what do ya think that was all about?" Bunnie asked, not having the epiphany that St. John did.

Sally hefted Sonic over her shoulder as they proceeded through the city. "Are you feeling any better?" Sally asked, clearly concerned.

Sonic nodded no. "Sorry, princess. Robotnik managed to get me good. Uggh!"

Sonic collapsed to one knee, and Sally caught him before he could fall face first. "Sonic!"

"Don't worry about me your highness; I'll be fine. We have to look for Miles." Sonic wheezed.

"Right." Sally nodded. "Which way?"

"There." Sonic pointed to a run-down factory. Sally took a look at the building, and then at Sonic skeptically. "Please, Princess; I saw them go in there. I swear."

Sally nodded. "Okay. Let's go. I'm sorry I doubted you. This…this isn't usually Robotnik's style is all." With that, they went inside.

Sally kicked open a rusted metal door, and as expected, nothing, not even swatbots, were inside. "Sonic? There's nothing here…"

Then, she heard Sonic barricade the door behind them. He then flipped a switch on a cobweb-filled panel, causing shutters to descend and block the windows. The hedgehog then branded a laser pistol hidden beneath his quills, giving Sally an evil look. "You are just too kind hearted, little princess. I'll be sure you get to see that little fox brat…in hell." "Sonic" expected to see her face contort with fear and anguish. However, Sally's face slowly turned into a sly smile. "Huh? Don't you get what's going to happen? I'm about to splatter your brains all over the freaking ground, and there's not a thing you can do to escape!"

"Hmm…I doubt that for two reasons." Sally replied calmly.

"And what would those reasons be!" Sonic replied, more furious than Sally ever remembered him seeing.

"One: the Sonic I know would never, EVER betray his friends, least of all me. I believed that once, and I never will again."

"Well, apparently you don't know me too well then." Sonic hissed.

"You haven't let me finished; second…I knew you weren't Sonic from the get-go." Sally then flipped a switch in her vest pocket. It triggered an electrical charge Sally had placed on him while she was supporting him, causing him to scream in pain in a voice that wasn't his. As it continued, Sonic transformed into an androgynous overlander with green hair.

"Just as I thought: Envy, the shape-shifter." Sally stated.

"How…how did you know it was me?" Envy wheezed as he tried to recover from the shock. Even for a homunculus, a hard task; getting electrocuted did more than cause mere pain. Were he human, that could have caused permanent damage.

"Three things gave you away; first, I doubt Robotnik could beat Sonic, at least as badly as you made it appear. Second, you were way too polite; even in defeat, Sonic has always been snarky and crude. And lastly, you gave yourself away too soon. If you were more focused on doing your job and blew my head off while you had the chance instead of trying to drown me in despair before you pulled the trigger…well, you get the point."

Envy finally managed to stand. "Clever little rat." He snarled. "But you made one mistake; you separated yourself from your friends. I've read enough about you; on your own, you've got no chance…"

"If I allowed the others to come with me, they would most likely get hurt as well. And if we fought in the hangar, win or lose, the swatbots would catch us. So you see, for the sake of our mission, I couldn't let you interfere."

Envy then cackled sinisterly. "Well then, I'll reward your friends by putting your corpse over a frying pan after I'm done with you! I'll make sure to preserve the look on your face before you die for them…"

Sally crouched back, and reached into her pocket. "Then come and get me, IF you can."

An explosion rocked the citadel. While the alarms blared, no bot would be able to pinpoint and prevent the cause. For the ones who caused it were going up, and fast. Inside what seemed to be a giant metal nail with a glass base, Al shielded his brother from the G-forces and heat, while Snively was left to fend for himself. As a result, he was pancaked to the platform the brothers had transmutated into their launching pad and felt himself getting hot. "Hang on, Ed!" Al shouted.

Soon, they felt the speed begin to slow. "Everyone, jump!" Ed yelled. Everyone leaped out of the glass and got off in the nick of time, as the platform began to descend down and crash. Ed gripped his heart, hyperventilating. "Let's…never…do that…AGAIN!"

"You said it." Al moaned. "Sometimes not having a body has its benefits."

With that, the Elric brothers looked around the war room. "Jeez. I haven't even met this Robotnik guy and already his room is giving me the creeps." Ed then noticed a circular platform. Walking up close to it, he inspected it and remembered what Sally had showed him via Nichole. "This is the Roboticizer, isn't it?"

Snively hesitated at first, but remembering he was a potential hostage, quickly replied. "Y-yes, yes! I take it you know of its function?"

"All too well." Ed growled, and turned back to him, looking enraged. "You realize that you've been driving an entire race to slavery, if not extinction!"

"You can blame my Uncle Julian for that!" Snively defended himself. "Initially, he allowed everyone to remain organic beings as long as they followed his ridiculous rules, but too many broke them, whether by accident or purpose. When they became too difficult to enforce, he decided to roboticize everyone!"

"But you had no problem helping him, didn't you!" Al shouted, as Snively stumbled against his imposing presence and crawled away like the coward he was.

Ed, for once acting calm and collected, stopped his younger sibling from getting physical on the little man. "It's not worth it, Al! Guys who do this for a living aren't likely to change their ways. Besides, we have to find the disorganisero!"Ed then looked at Snively, who immediately understood the unspoken question.

"I don't know." Snively stated.

"WHADDYA MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!" Ed screamed, raising his fist. "You help him operate this stupid thing, don't ya!"

"Just the basics!" Snively protested. "The invention wasn't even his originally! Only he knows all there is to know about the roboticizer!"

"That's right…" Ed snarled, remembering Uncle Chuck's story. "He stole it."

The Elrics looked around the room, trying to get an idea of where the disorganisero might be. Ed hoped the room might tell him something about Robotnik's personality, and from there allow him to deduce where to find the ore. Unfortunately, their observations only told them one thing; Robotnik was sick, twisted and evil. "This is going nowhere." Ed muttered.

Ed then looked at the giant computer. Sally told him briefly about the strange but fascinating inventions; he would have to get blueprints of one and see if Winry could reverse engineer one. They were able to project images, record data, execute commands…wait a minute… "Hey, that's a computer, right?"

"Of course it is, you neanderthal!" Snively exclaimed. "I can't imagine what threat you would be to our empire if you don't understand basic machinery!"

For once, Ed chose to ignore the insult. "You're right; I don't know a lot about or understand the technology here. But in order for that thing to execute proper commands, it needs a source of transmission. I bet it works much like a radio or telephone pole…"

"What are you getting at?" Snively asked, perplexed where Ed's theory was going.

Before he could respond, Al did it for him. "Wires. It will probably have many, but one of them should lead to the disorganisero…"

"Right. It's going to take time though. Remember, it can't be farther than a hundred yards in either direction… and it should be right below us…" Ed looked around at the messy desk for materials to use, and gathered some plastic. With that, he transmuted them into 2 tape measures. "Here." Ed tossed his brother one of the tape measures. "We'll have to split up." Ed then tossed him one of their chalks; they came in handy in the event Ed couldn't transmute directly, and now they were going to be used for a different purpose. "Use this to mark your trail, so we don't wind up going down dead ends without even knowing it. When you think you found something, knock as hard as you can against the wall, three times."

Snively sneered. "Ingenious. Maybe while you're at it, you can write messages on the walls and hope for someone to pick you up…"

Ed growled clenching his fists. "Enough!" He transmuted the floor to ensnare Snively, and made sure to arrange the metallic coils to gag him on top of that. "One more peep out of you, and we'll find a different way to signal to one another by making you scream!" Snively only gave out a muffled eep and began sweating. "You ready Al?" Ed asked.

"Yeah!"

The two brothers grabbed the console, and began to pull. With some effort, the computer came off the wall, the wires still sticking out. Ed knocked to get a feeling of its atomic weight. "Aluminum, I think." He transmuted the wall into a large door, which Al opened. Ed went in first, and surveyed the paths they would have to take. "It'll be a tight fit, but I think you can make it through here." Ed pointed to a rather large vent. "You take this one, and I'll take the other." Al climbed in and squeezed through, while Ed made his way through another vent. "We better hurry…" he thought. "…we most certainly attracted some kind of attention, and I don't think we can take our time…"

A red shoe emerged from a pile of junk, right next to the chemical waste. Finally, Sonic emerged. "God damn, what is buttnik putting into his reactors these days?" The explosion from destroying Robotnik's egg mobile was stronger than usual. It caught Sonic off guard, knocking him unconscious. At least he and Tails were…

"Tails!" He suddenly remembered. Quickly, he dug through the junk, catching Tails' prone form. "Tails!" he shouted. When he didn't respond, he shook his young friend. "Tails! Wake up, buddy!"

Tails coughed, and slowly came to. "Sonic?"

Sonic helped him up to his feet. Sonic felt around the fox's temple and checked his body as well; he was dazed, but there was no apparent serious injury. "You're okay. That blast…sorry, little buddy. Didn't see it comn'."

Tails finally shook the cobwebs out of his head, and patted the dust off of him. "What now?"

"Crap!" Sonic said. "Our friends needed our help, and not only did Robuttnik serve as a nice road block, but he made us take a nap on top of that!" He then observed their surroundings. "We're at the end of the plant! We'll just have to continue from here and hope for the best! And Ed better get that ore from buttnik! That'll at least distract him. Ready to juice like crazy, Tails?"

Tails immediately spun his tails and hovered in the air. "Ready whenever you are!"

"Good! Do it to it, and pronto!" Both mobians took off at incredible speed, even in more of a rush than before.

In another pile of rubble some distance away from where Sonic and Tails had been buried, a Robotic hand emerged. Robotnik, covered in the filth he always neglected to clean up (some would say on purpose) shook himself off. "Ohh…how I hate that hedgehog…" At least he didn't foil a major scheme; not yet anyway. Best to take care of the problem before it started.

He then pressed the communicator to Snively on his arm. "Snively! Signal a pod to pick me up! We're launching the Flying Battery now!" No response. "Snively, you twit! Have you gone deaf as well as dumb! You better pick up now, or I'll make sure you'll go blind through terror as well!" Typing a few buttons on his arm, he found out the citadel was running on reserve power. "Confounded nitwit! Why do I have to do all the work around here!"

He then pressed another button, sending a signal to any nearby pods flying in the area. Too long to his liking, one finally came and touched down to pick him up. The door opened up, and he helped himself inside. "Swatbots, report! What is the situation at the command centerl!"

"We cannot confirm, Lord Ivo Robotnik. Surveillance shows a blonde-haired overlander, with another unknown creature in armor. Snively was coerced into letting them inside. Other swatbots cannot access the other floors, but are working on it. No further details beyond that."

Robotnik growled. "Show me."

The swatbots brought up the last of the footage they had from the citadel. Robotnik saw that it was indeed the Fullmetal Alchemist who broke into his command center. There wasn't much to go on; only a few seconds of footage before the power was cut. However, Robotnik did see something that could prove useful. The alchemist was able to change the materials around him into any form he wished. How, he didn't know. But, for a reason he couldn't understand, it intrigued him. It seemed that whenever the alchemist changed anything, he altered its shape, but not its overall composition. That meant it was no form of magic, but science; meaning it was a discipline he could learn. "Hmm…perhaps Lust was right. Perhaps their alchemy could prove quite useful to me after all."

He then changed his attention back to his escorts. "Hurry, you nitwits! There's no telling what damage they could be doing!"

"As you command."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Robotnik couldn't help but smile. He had a feeling that this encounter just might bear fruit.

I hope this update satisfied you all! Coming up next, the Elrics meet Robotnik, and a few other villains from the Sonic Universe will be making appearances. Until then, stay well, and enjoy!