GammaTron: *whistles the Mission Impossible theme while sneaking about*

Seanzilla115: *hums 'Death by Glamour' a bit as I worked on a script for something* Okay. maybe...no no. This would be a bit better for another scene later or something…

GT: *tackles SZ* HI!

SZ: Gah! GT! *quickly grabs script and hides it* Hey….buddy. You uh...didn't see anything...did you?

GT: Not really, no. Why do you ask?

SZ: Okay good. *gets up, clearing his throat* Anyways...time for today's chapter.

GT: Yes-a-rooney! I've been waiting to do this one for a good time now.

SZ: Eeyup. A lot of stuff is gonna happen, so let's cut the chit chat short, and start it.

GT: Okay! No disclaimers since everyone should know them by now! *pulls screen down*

"Did you sleep okay, Haseo-chan?" Roll asked as her younger brother walked down the stairs, a stuffed fox doll held by his hand.

"Hai, Onee-chan," Haseo nodded, rubbing a bit of sleep out of his eyes.

Roll nodded as she gave him a small hug, "Good. Now go freshen up, hai? Breakfast will be ready soon."

Haseo nodded as he walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Roll gave a soft smile as she watched him leave, the hedgefox happy she found her little brother. She adjusted her cooking apron once more before going back to the mixing bowl she had been preparing breakfast in.

"Morning, Roll," Sonic yawned as he walked in.

"Ohayo, Sonikku," Roll greeted, "Breakfast will be ready soon. Don't let Haseo-chan be near Manic-san when it's ready."

"Why?" Sonic rubbed an eye.

"It's Sunday."

"?!" Sonic fully awoke at that, "Aw crud. I forgot it's..." he looked around before whispering to her, "Waffle Sunday…"

"WAFFLES?!" manic's voice exclaimed as he rushed downstairs, fully dressed as he sat at the table, "Where?! Gimme gimme gimme gimme!"

'How the hell does he hear me everytime?!' Sonic mentally exclaimed.

"Not until everyone is down here and ready to eat," Roll scolded, "And I've just finished making the mix, Manic-san."

"...Dang it," Manic groaned as he laid his head on the table, "But I'm hungry for waffles now~"

"Wait until they're done," Roll restated as she resumed making breakfast, "And you are not allowed anywhere near Haseo-chan when we eat."

"What? Why?" Manic raised a brow at that.

"Because she's most likely afraid you'll corrupt him," Sonic deadpanned.

"Aw, I wouldn't do that to the little step-bro," Manic assured.

"We caught you trying to teach him to pickpocket without telling Ben about it beforehand that he was the target," Sonic deadpanned.

"...Kid needs to be ready just in case," Manic argued

"Oh? And the time Sonia caught you trying to teach him to spy by trying to peek on Makoto in the hot springs downstairs?" Sonic countered.

"...Fine...I'll stay away from him," Manic muttered in defeat.

"You don't have to stay away from him; you just need someone else with you when you're near Haseo-chan," Roll replied.

"I'm so glad you guys have so much trust in me," Manic deadpanned.

"We do; just not around Haseo after those two times," Sonic replied, "You did good with the baby-bot."

"Baby...bot?" Roll repeated.

"Eggman made a robot that looked and felt exactly like a baby hedgehog that would've been used to track where Sanctuary was," Sonic explained, "Manic was actually the one who was the most responsible around it when we thought it was a real baby hedgehog."

"It was kinda sweet to see," Sonia added as she walked in, dressed in her normal attire, "Good morning."

"Ohayo, Sonia-chan," Roll greeted.

"Morning, sis," the two hedgehogs greeted.

"So...any plans for today?" Sonia asked as she sat down.

"The usual. Find the emeralds before Eggman and/or Chaos does, deal with the former's Dark Legion, so and so," Sonic replied.

Roll opened the waffle-maker and blinked twice, "Ano…"

"What's up?" Sonic asked as Roll turned and showed a letter.

"Good thing I didn't plug it in yet," Roll giggled sheepishly.

"If you had broken it…" Manic glowered before Sonic slapped him on the back of the head, "Ow!"

"Roll, may I see it?"

"Hai," Roll nodded, handing the letter to Sonia before the magenta hedgehog opened it.

"...It's from Mom!" Sonia gasped.

"Kaa-sama?" Roll blinked twice.

"Mom?!" Sonic and Manic exclaimed.

"Apparently, she's asking us to go to these coordinates on the sea," Sonia explained, showing the letter to the three, "Apparently, she knows about a Chaos Emerald is involved with something there."

"Hey, there's a little thing for Step-Bro," Manic pointed at the bottom, "'And to Haseo, I am so happy that you've been found by your sister and step-siblings. I'm so happy to have another child in the family and hope your sister and step-siblings will take care of you until it is finally time for Robotnik's reign to end and we can liberate Robotropolis of his hold there.'"

"Guess Mom's always wanted a big family," Sonic noted.

"And her having the three of us doesn't imply she wanted a big family?" Sonia joked.

"Heh...good point," Sonic chuckled a bit.

"...Wait a sec. I think I might know where this is," Manic spoke up as he looked at the coordinates, "This is somewhere in the Southern Oceans, and there's only one island I know is possibly there; Kaine Island. But...that place is supposed to be a myth."

"So we're going to a place that's most likely a myth," Sonic noted, "Then again, Knuckles's race and his place were supposed myths and it turns out they were real."

"Let's talk more once everyone's up before we head out," Sonia advised.

"Agreed," Sonic and Manic nodded.

"Hai~!" Roll agreed before going back to the kitchen to start making waffles.

Meanwhile, over at Eggman's base, the mad doctor was sitting in his chair as he looked through the various Dark Legion chapters he had in nearly every part of Mobius. Before he encountered Lien-Da, he never would have dreamed of an idea like this; an army of Mobians and Beastkin at his beck and call, and to look over each part of Mobius he controls. In fact, his Dark Legion was still growing strong, having about nine, maybe eleven, Grand Masters looking after each chapter...though it wouldn't hurt to find someone to make the number even.

"...Shockwave, any luck on finding a good candidate for my twelfth Grand Master?" Eggman asked, "Seriously, having it at eleven just feels so...wierd."

"So far, we have had no success in any of the candidates that have been examined for the position," Shockwave explained, "Aside from that, the project is ready for launch."

"Excellent!" Eggman grinned as he got up, "Those last minute additions you suggested were a brilliant idea after Lien-Da mentioned the other me had tried the same vessel for a base and it failed epically."

"Of course. The information she has given so far has been helpful in advancements in many of the designs and structure of your empire," Shockwave nodded, "Though, I do find it illogical to leave the city to be aboard the vessel, my lord. Without you here, an assault on the city would have an increase of an estimated 27 percent chance of success from the original 1.0442 percent."

"Not to worry, Shockwave. I'm leaving Lien-Da in charge with Sleet here to distribute her orders," Eggman smirked.

=What?= Sleet squeaked out over the intercom.

"Unless you have a problem with that, Sleet?" Eggman asked in an unsettling manner.

=N-no, no! Nothing at all!= Sleet yelped.

"I thought so. Now connect me to Dr. M. I need to check on his progress on getting me what's really inside that island," Eggman ordered as he sat back down.

=At once, my liege= Sleet replied.

Eggman tapped a button on his throne before the ground below it rose up, revealing the throne now acted as a pilot seat for a hover device resembling the lower half of an egg. Shockwave followed Eggman out and into an elevator. Minutes later, the two exited and Eggman looked out with a smirk.

"Truly amazing...isn't it, Shockwave?" Eggman asked.

"Indeed, my lord," Shockwave agreed.

"Ah...I'm good now," Manic patted his stomach, five emptied bottles of syrup around his part of the table, "Step-Sis, you make THE best waffles ever…"

"Arigatou," Roll thanked before looking at Haseo, who was sitting between her and Sonic, "Did you like them, Haseo-chan?"

"U...umai, Onee-chan," Haseo smiled, his tails wagging a bit as he had a bit of syrup on his nose.

"...Roll, I don't know if I already told you this, but you have one of the most kawaii little brothers ever," Makoto spoke, the squirrel girl resisting the urge to hug the young twin-tailed fox right now.

Roll just giggled as she picked up a clean napkin to wipe the syrup off his nose.

"Okay, now on to business," Sonic informed as he took out the letter, "Mom just sent us coordinates to where a Chaos Emerald is most likely at...and that she welcomes Haseo into the family with open arms and can't wait to meet him when it's time to free Mobotropolis from its state of Robotropolis."

"...K-kaa-san…" Haseo whispered, a small smile on his face.

"Hai," Roll nodded, giving Haseo a small side-hug.

"That's great to hear," Ben noted with a small smile at the growing family.

"It is good," Sonia agreed, "But we also have a mission from mom to check these coordinates. We can't let Eggman get a single Chaos Emerald, especially since he has Chaos 0 thanks to Starscream."

"Okay, I'll just activate the bus's flight mode and…" Ben began as he got up and went into the driver's room before coming back out, "...who broke the button?"

"..." everyone looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"Mom probably thought flying over there would've been a bad idea," Manic noted.

"Guess we're using the boat mode again," Sonia noted, "It's been a few months since we last used it, hasn't it?"

"It has, yeah," Sonic nodded.

"It'll take a few hours to drive to the nearest shore," Makoto looked at a map on a nearby screen, "And a few days to get near the area."

"You gonna be okay, Bro?" Manic teased.

"Yeah. I'll be fine," Sonic frowned, "I'm not as scared of the water as I used to be, Manic."

"...Care to make a wager on that?"

"No. Because I know for a fact I w-"

"Urp…" Sonic resisted the urge to throw up as he clung to the side of the bus in its boat mode, his face a bit green as Manic looked at him with a know-it-all grin, "...Shut up…"

"I'm not sure if this is an improvement or not," Sonia noted as Roll rubbed Sonic's back.

"Maybe he got seasickness to make up for the aquaphobia," Makoto noted.

"Aq-what now?" Manic raised a brow.

"Fear of water."

"Oh," Manic nodded, "Probably."

"Just when I thought I...urp! Oh man!" Sonic gagged as he rushed to the side, expelling the contents of his stomach.

"I have a recipe to deal with sea…" Ben began from the wheel.

"NO!" everyone but Haseo and Sonic declared in unison.

"Okay, okay! Sheesh...was just trying to suggest something," Ben muttered.

"...I'm gonna go down below to check something real quick," Manic said as he walked down below deck.

"Go ahead," Sonia waved him off as she walked over to a set of folding chairs and laid down in one, putting on some sunglasses, "I'll be enjoying the sunshine."

Manic entered the bedroom quarters before going down the stairs to the bottom floor. He entered the lab and locked it behind him. He walked over to a computer and pulled up ThiefNet. A few minutes later, he was checking his email on ThiefNet for anything.

"Okay…" Manic looked around his unread mail before pulling up a map of the oceans and inserted the coordinates, "Okay, so we're here and the place Mom wants us to check out is there…" a ring went off with a notification appearing in the corner, "Video chat?" he checked the screen-name and his eyes widened, "Bentley?" he answered and the turtle appeared in a video chat, Penelope sitting on his lap, "Hey, dude, dudette, how's it hangin'?"

=Everything has been going fine= Bentley replied.

We got your pic," Manic noted.

=Glad to hear. And we saw the pic you guys sent. Haseo just looks so adorable= Penelope giggled.

"Heh...thanks," Manic chuckled, "So, what else did ya call me for?"

=Remember what I told you back in Chunan in exchange for a cut of Tsao's treasure?=

"Yeah."

=It's time for it=

"...Awesome."

=However, we will also need Roll and Haseo here as well=

=Probably safer to bring your entire team= Penelope added.

"Yeah. Especially for Step-Sis's case," Manic agreed.

=We'll be meeting you at these coordinates in a few days= Bentley informed, displaying a set.

"Hey, we just got those same coordinates from a letter from our Mom," Manic realized.

=Really?= Penelope raised a brow =She must have learned from fortune telling or something…=

"Who knows? But hey, we'll be able to get two things done at once," Manic stated.

=Right= Bentley adjusted his glasses =We'll see you in a few days so we can go over the plan on what's going on, Manic=

"Got it, dude," Manic nodded as the screen went black. "...Well. Might as well tell bro and the others."

"Okay, if we continue to proceed on our course with our current speed," Brainstorm calculated, "We shall be there in an estimated twenty-seven hours and eighteen minutes."

"That's good," Sonia noted, "Hopefully, when we reach land if there's any there, Sonic will be feeling much better."

=Mayday! Mayday! SOS!= the radio crackled to life =We are being in the major dumps right now! This jive turkey water is filling up below deck and we be needing the sweet release of a major rescue!=

"...What?" Sonia blinked twice as Brainstorm walked over and changed back into Ben.

"We've got your call. Keep things on the beat with evacuations and we'll be boogying on over ASAP," Ben informed, "We just need some swinging coordinates and we'll be groovy, man."

"...What did Ben just say?" Sonia blinked twice.

"He said 'Hang on tight, we'll be there as soon as possible. We just need some coordinates and we'll be good,'" Makoto translated, earning a look from Sonia, "...What? I asked Ben if he could teach me 60's speak for the past few days."

Ben hung up the radio, "Okay. We've got a ship that's sinking about ten minutes away. We'll pick up everyone there and try to get them to the nearest shore."

"Good...urp. To know…" Sonic got out, his face still green as Roll was rubbing his back while they got up into the control room, "Sooner we get to shore and such...the better…"

"You really should lie down, Sonic," Ben noted.

"Don't you think I've been trying? I….oh man not again!" Sonic groaned as he moved to the side and expelled whatever was left in his stomach, "Ugh…"

"Look, I'm serious. I've got an old recipe for seasickness and…"

"We don't want to be unable to go back into the bus for a week again, Ben," Makoto deadpanned.

"Eh?" Haseo blinked twice.

"Long story, Haseo-chan," Roll sighed, "And very smelly, too."

"...I'll...just go and steer the ship," Ben said as he walked back over to the wheel.

"I see a ship, dudes! And, hoo boy, it is sinking," Manic noted, seeing an old galleon sinking into the water.

"I'll go check to see if anyone fell overboard or if there's anyone trapped in the bottom of the ship," Ben informed, quickly activating his Omnitrix before Ripjaws splashing into the water below.

"...Is it just me, or does it look like a pirate ship kinda?" Makoto asked as she looked at the sinking ship in the distance.

"I was just about to ask the same thing, dudette," Manic nodded before he noticed someone on the ship, "...Uh, Roll? You might want to see this."

"Hm?" Roll looked up from rubbing Sonic's back, "Sly-Itoko?!"

"Ahoy!" Sly waved, holding onto the mast, "A little help please? Some of us can't swim."

Ripjaws erupted from the water and landed on the Underground ship. Bentley coughed and gagged before finally spitting out a starfish and a bit of saltwater while Ripjaws put him and his wheelchair on the deck.

"...Okay...I'm going for a long shot and say that's Ben, right?" Sly asked, pointing at Ripjaws with his cane, currently held in his tail.

"Eeyup," Manic replied as a ramp extended from the deck and connected to the sinking ship's deck.

"Climb aboard!" Makoto called, waving from the control booth.

Minutes later, and the galleon was now beneath the water. Ripjaws tapped his Omnitrix and Heatblast stood in his place, warming up the area to help dry off the members of the Cooper Gang that had ended up in the water.

"How the heck did you guys sink a ship?" Manic asked as Panda King was drying his head off with a towel.

"Penelope and I were trying to replicate the 'bigger on the inside' trick you have for your bus," Bentley explained.

"Unfortunately, it blew up in our faces...and took out the back of the ship," Penelope blushed.

"Be thankful no one got hurt," Ben frowned, "Making that kind of thing is a delicate procedure since if you make one mistake, it'll go up in an explosion that gets bigger the more you try to do at once."

"We'll try to keep that in mind next time we try," Bentley noted before he rolled over to the Cooper van, "Fortunately for us, everything of importance was stored in the team van."

"What were you trying to do on the seas?" Makoto asked.

"Does it have to do with the picture you sent, Sly-Itoko?" Roll asked.

"Yeah," Sly nodded before looking over at the purple lizard nearby, who was looking around the deck, "That's our new frog man, Dimitri."

"Pretty happening ship," Dimitri noted, "Very fresh crib you got here. Put some lights up, some nice grooves, and it'd be a happening party boat in the downtime."

"..." Roll and Haseo blinked twice as they looked at the purple lizard in confusion.

"N….nani?" Haseo tilted his head.

"Thanks for the compliment," Ben noted, holding his hand out, "Ben Tennyson."

"Dimitri Lousteay," Dimitri bumped his fist against Ben's, "So you're the hip mixmaster Overlander with a funky fresh power to change into aliens that cracker box has been telling me about. Tight."

"Thanks, man," Ben nodded.

"..." Sly looked over at Bentley.

"We are not asking him to join the Cooper Gang just because he can translate Dimitri for us," Bentley deadpanned.

"Darn it," Sly muttered.

"Thank you for rescuing us," Panda King bowed.

"It was no problem, Panda King," Sonia curtsied.

"Hey, where's Tsubaki?" Penelope asked, looking around.

"She's on an exchange program," Makoto replied.

"A….ano…" Haseo spoke up, "I...I'm her replacement...k-kinda."

Sly looked over at Haseo. Glancing over at Roll, she nodded at the raccoon. He nodded in turn and walked up to Haseo.

"Hey there," Sly greeted, getting down on a knee to be a little closer to Haseo's height, "You're Haseo, right?"

"H….hai," Haseo nodded slowly and shyly, "O...Onee-chan told me y-you're our itoko, h-hai?"

"Yeah," Sly nodded, patting his shoulder, "Glad to see she was able to find you and that I get to meet a cousin."

"H….hai…" Haseo nodded with a small smile.

"So where were you dudes heading to?" Manic asked.

"..." Sly glanced at Bentley.

"We were heading to Kaine Island for an important heist," Bentley informed.

"The island's real?!" Manic gawked.

"Oh, it's real," Sly replied, "There's something very important on that island."

"However, the island is under the control of a Mobian by the name of Dr. M," Bentley explained.

"Dr. M?" Ben repeated.

"There's not a lot of information on him," Bentley explained, "But given the footage we did get of him, we believe he's in league with Robotnik."

"...Why am I not surprised?" Manic groaned, "In fact...I betcha he's also part of Eggman's Dark Legion or something."

"So Conquering Storm was correct in there being more Mobians and Beastkin outside of her clan allying themselves with him," Penelope frowned.

"Yeah. We ran into another Dark Legion group back in Northamer," Sonia confirmed.

"That explains the recent surveillance pictures of the island," Bentley sighed before pulling his laptop out and bringing up a set of pictures, displaying a series of what could best be described as frankenstein creations made of different Mobian parts and machinery, "From what I could tell from our first surveillance, Dr. M is a geneticist and all his soldiers are beings he's created."

'This is almost like Dr. Animo,' Ben thought.

'Okay. I am not going to let Kokonoe learn about this if I ever see her again,' Makoto thought.

"So...what's the plan?" Sonic asked.

"Hm?"

"We were actually heading to the coordinates to this Kaine Island because of a letter from our mother saying that a Chaos Emerald was most likely there," Sonia explained.

"It seems that we'll be having a bit of an interesting set of stories to tell while we're heading there," Sly noted.

"Let's-ugh-go down to the main floor," Sonic spoke up before zipping over to the side and emptying his stomach again.

"Seasickness," Manic and Sonia explained to the confused looks.

"Oof. Major bad mojo for Blue Cracker over there," Dimitri cringed in disgust before seeing Roll, who was rubbing Sonic's back, "Ohh...Who's the foxy lady over there giving blue cracker the comfort?"

"That's his fiancee, Roll," Ben informed.

"Whoa. Dimitri knows when not to be playing the sweet moves and this is one of those times," Dimitri held his hands up.

"Seriously. Get over yourself," Penelope deadpanned.

"Whatever you do, Noel; do not let go!" Rook called as he pushed down harder on the accelerator.

"H-HELP!" Noel screamed as Jake jumped around from tree to tree, the blond holding tightly onto the tail, the stinger caught on her belt.

"How does she always end up like this?" Ragna grumbled as he and Tsubaki were standing on top of the roof of the truck, "We look away for a few minutes and shit like this happens to her."

"I take it this happened before?"

"Lady...you have no idea," Ragna deadpanned.

"KYA! T-Tsubaki-chan, Ragna-san, Tatsukete~~!" Noel screamed.

"Alpha, we need a catapult!" Ragna called.

"Okay!" Alpha nodded before his arms shifted into the large gold ones.

"What?!" Tsubaki gasped before Alpha grabbed the two and reeled back.

"Fastball!" Alpha shouted before throwing them at Jake and Noel.

"EEEYAAAAAAAA!" Tsubaki screamed as she flew through the air at high speed.

"Hell's Fang!" Ragna roared.

Jake grabbed a branch and spun around on it. Ragna and Tsubaki missed him before both were slammed from behind by him. He let out a snarl before swinging off once more, Noel screaming for help while still stuck on his tail.

"Ugh...Goddamnit…" Ragna got up as the truck halted to let Alpha scoop them up in his robotic arms.

"That god possessing him sure is zapping annoying," Alpha frowned as the truck drove off after the mutated raccoon.

"Tell me about it," Ragna frowned as he looked over at Tsubaki, "Oi. You alright?"

"A...b...wha…." Tsubaki stammered, her hair completely blown back.

"Oh yeah. We never told them about this," Alpha blinked twice, "Well, I got caught in this machine and when it blew up thanks to Ragna here, I ended up with nanites inside my body that transform my limbs into things."

"...S….Soka…." Tsubaki got out before she fainted, her eyes replaced with swirls.

"...Zaps. I think I threw her too hard," Alpha blinked.

"Ya think?" Ragna deadpanned before the truck skidded to a halt, "Dammit, Rook! We're up here, remember?!"

"I know. But I cannot continue," Rook informed, pointing at the collapsed tree before them, "Jake is quite the interesting foe to try to capture now that he is possessed by a god."

"...Ugh. God damn water god…." Ragna groaned out.

'Please be safe, Noel…' Tsubaki thought.

'I need to change my outfit so this doesn't happen again…' Noel cried in her thoughts as Jake continued to swing from tree-to-tree.

He jumped before an orange foot slammed into his face, knocking him into a tree. Noel screamed as she fell before a blue blur caught her.

"Oh, you were to not being the kid with me, brother," Jetfire noted as Jetstorm landed beside him.

'Wh-What? These are...Are they Eggman's robots?' Noel thought as Jetstorm put her down.

"You are to being the okay, yes?" Jetstorm asked.

"...Ano...h...hai," Noel nodded slowly before Jake let out a frenzied howl, startling her, "Meep!"

"It is to being time, Brother?" Jetstorm asked.

"That is being right," Jetfire nodded, both grinning, "It's time to…"

"DOUBLE UP!" the two declared.

The two took to the sky. Their heads folded into their bodies as the lower halves of their bodies split down the middle. Their arms folded to the back of their bodies, flattening and widening out into a pair of jet wings, as Jetstorm's lower right half and Jetfire's lower left half went to where the respective arm had been before extending out a bit more with armor sliding down onto them, becoming larger legs and feet. The two connected together down the middle, creating a bulky torso made from their two original ones. A split head emerged from the united torso, sporting Jetfire's burning optics and Jetstorm's armored mouth.

"Th-they combined…" Noel whispered with wide eyes as the combined robot landed.

"Safeguard, ready!" the combined robot declared, his voice rich and mature.

"S….Safeguard?" Noel repeated.

SAFEGUARD VS JAKE (CHAOS POSSESSED)

Theme: Chaos 2 Boss Theme

Stage: Emerald Forest - Within Order, there is Chaos; within Chaos, there is Order.

Jake let out a frenzied roar as he stood ready, his stinger poised to impale Safeguard.

"Defense measures engaged," Safeguard eased into a fighting stance.

=THE WHEEL OF FATE IS TURNING! - REBEL 12 - ACTION!=

Jake's stinger glowed before it shot at Safeguard. The combined robot performed a backflip, dodging the speedy sting. Upon landing, he swung a fist, releasing a fire-made spear at Jake. The possessed raccoon jumped over the spear before being slammed in the face with a blast of pressurized air, sending him crashing into a tree. Jake snarled before grabbing the tree.

"What's he doing?" Noel whispered before gasping as Jake ripped the tree out of the ground and threw it at Safeguard.

Safeguard grabbed his wings on his back and they disengaged from his body before combining together into an oversized shuriken. Safeguard threw it at the tree, slicing it right down the middle and causing the two halves to miss him and the blonde behind her. Jake ducked under the weapon before opening his mouth wide, a red glow coming from it. Noel yelped as a red laser erupted from his mouth and shot at them. Safeguard picked up Noel and jumped to the side, managing to avoid the laser as it hit the cut tree behind them, sending the halves into a fiery explosion on impact.

"Threat level is escalating," Safeguard observed.

Jake roared as he prepared to fire another blast at the two, his claws digging deep into the ground as more energy started to gather in his mouth, preparing for a larger blast this time around.

"Calculating…" Safeguard spoke before forming a spear of ice, "Calculations complete."

He threw the spear of ice at Jake as hard as he could. The spear collided with the energy that had started to come out of Jake's mouth before releasing a large explosion, sending Jake tumbling away with burns on his body. Jake let out a dazed growl before he shook his head, hissing as he turned around to face Safeguard. He sent his stinger out once more and Safeguard moved to the side, grabbing the tail just below the stinger. He rocketed into the air before spinning around as he as he could, pulling Jake up to him. Safeguard proceeded to throw Jake at the ground before shooting down at him, his fists engulfed in fire and icy-blue electricity. Jake crashed into the ground before Safeguard's fists slammed into him, releasing an explosion.

=DISTORTION FINISH!=

"Target incapacitated," Safeguard examined.

=SAFEGUARD WIN=

'He...He's powerful…' Noel thought before Safeguard split back into the twins.

"Ugh...That is always to being weird," Jetfire muttered.

"Agreed, brother," Jetstorm rubbed his head, "It is to be feeling good that is to being last resort form, ja."

"Is...Is he okay?" Noel asked.

The two robots looked at the crater, now sporting the knocked out mutated possessed Raccoon.

"Um...I am thinking the yes," Jetfire replied as Jetstorm hopped down and pulled out Jake.

"Phew. Now we is to not beings scrapped," Jetstorm noted, "But I am to be feeling sorry for Vortex and Swindle. They is beings with Combaticons and are to ends up beings scrapped."

"I...I can't let you take him," Noel summoned Bolverk.

The two robots readied themselves for a fight. However, before any shots could be fired, a ball of soft red-orange light floated from the sky, hovering between them.

"What is being this?" Jetfire asked, lowering his ignited hand while blinking twice at the hovering ball of light.

"Is very shiny," Jetstorm noted.

"...N….naniyo…" Noel blinked as the ball of light floated between her and the two robots before releasing a large flash of light, startling the trio.

"Ugh...Little ball should be giving warnings when it is going to be flashing us," Jetfire rubbed his optics as the light faded.

"Brother, the racoon with funny lower half is being missing!" Jetstorm yelped.

"Not again…" Noel whimpered before looking around, "Um...Where did the forest go?"

"Hmm?" the two robots blinked as they looked around.

"...She is beings the right, brother. Where has the forest have gone?" Jetstorm asked.

"I am not beings the sure," Jetfire replied, "In the fact, I am not in the knowing where we are."

"..." Noel looked around before seeing a large shrine across a stone bridge, "A...A shrine?" she gasped, "Ch-Chaos Emeralds?!"

"Huh?" the twins looked over her to see the shrine...with seven Chaos Emeralds on the seven pointed pillars around it.

"Mustard Eggyman did not say there was to being more than seven," Jetfire scratched his head.

"We must have not to being the listening gooders then," Jetstorm noted before grinning and jumped over the two, running to the shrine, "Being there first!"

"No fair, brother!" Jetfire called out as he ran after him.

"Ahh! M-matteyo!" Noel called out as she ran after them.

A minute later and the three were standing near the shrine. A musical humming of sorts earned their attention. Turning to the noise, Noel had to hold back a squeal of delight. Playing and humming the little melody was a small group of blue creatures with bits of yellow on their bodies, tiny pink fairy wings on their backs, and a yellow ball floating above the point on their heads. All of them had large, adorable blue eyes with content and curiosity reflecting in them.

'KAWAII!' Noel squealed mentally.

"Brother, you are to being picking up on the popping-ringing we is hearing, yes?" Jetstorm whispered.

"Yes. I think it is be coming from there," Jetfire pointed at the lowest level of the rings of water in the shrine, the two catching sight of a bubble forming before popping, making a ringing noise with the ripples.

"No! Don't go any closer!" a voice pleaded, making all three stop and turn to see a soft orange echidna in tribal clothing, looking them over before blushing in embarrassment, "Oh, I'm sorry. I see you must not be one of them, huh?"

"E-Eh?" Noel blinked twice.

"Uh...We is not knowing who the 'them' is, but we is just to being curious about this place," Jetstorm informed as Jetfire's metal cheeks turned red while trying not to look at the echidna.

"Did you notice the presence guarding these children?" the echidna asked as she walked up to them.

"A...A presence?" Noel repeated, looking around.

"He is a very loving and gentle creature," the echidna noted with a small smile, "These little creatures are too vulnerable without his protection."

"I...I see…" Noel noted, looking at the little creatures as they began to let out noises that sounded like they were singing to the shrine.

"This protection allows them to continue living in peace," the echidna smiled gently at the little creatures, the smallest of them crawling over and picked up by her.

'K...Kawaii…' Noel mentally whispered as she looked at the scene.

"Even I was surprised when I first saw him," she continued, looking out at the bottom ring of water of the shrine, a sad look developing on her face, "But now, my father is trying to take their sacred home. It seems that his heart is closed off to us all."

"Oh, that is being horrible!" Jetfire gasped, earning Noel's attention, "But...what would to be happening to these little creatures?"

"I am unsure. Which is why I worry for them," the echidna replied, "My true hope is that, someday, everyone will be able to understand each other."

"That woulds be the nice," Jetstorm nodded, "Is very tirings to be fightings. Seeing places is very nice if we do not be needings to be the fighting."

'These two…' Noel thought in a confused manner before a flash of light blindsided them again.

"What is with the flashes and not to be telling us?!" Jetfire snapped as the light faded again.

"Brother, we is to being back in forest," Jetstorm noted before looking down to see Jake was still knocked out on the ground, "And he is to beings back as well."

"O-Oh no…" Noel whispered, about to summon Bolverk when a shadow came over them, "E-Eh?" she let out a scream when a human-sized fist slammed into the two flyers, sending them crashing through a tree.

"Found it," Bruticus growled out as he picked up Jake and walked off, toppling trees as the combined robot walked away with the raccoon.

"O-Oh no...Jake!" Noel gasped, about to chase when a net engulfed her, "Eep!"

"Well now, what have we here?" Noel was lifted up to end up face-to-face with a smirking Starscream, "While you may not be the raccoon, perhaps turning in a Freedom Fighter will be more than beneficial to keeping me active."

'Oh no!' Noel thought before Starscream changed into his jet mode and flew off, carrying her away, "HELP!"

"I'm really happy for Sly," Murray noted as he looked over at the living room area of the first floor, seeing Sly talking with Roll and Haseo, "He's got blood relatives again after so long."

"You're not worried about him forgetting you?" Sonia asked.

"Nah. Sly wouldn't do that," Murray assured, "He's just that awesome! He's like...our BBF!"

"BBF?"

"Best Bro Forever!"

"That's pretty nice," Sonia noted with a small smile, "So how's the van been holding up?"

"She's been awesome! We got sidetracked on our way to Dimitri's when we heard about Mugshot stealing this fancy watch and decided to try out the new stuff Ben added to the van to get it," Murray explained, "We...didn't get it."

"How come?" Sonia asked.

"Sly gave it to Carmelita when we were escaping the crashing airship we were on," Murray replied.

"Ahh…I see," Sonia noted.

"I'm just relieved she didn't shoot him with the blaster she had taken from one of the guards," Murray noted, "Then again, Master did say he saw her distracted when Sly kissed her while switching the gun with the water."

"Oh my…" Sonia gasped, "Seems that Sly must really like the inspector."

"You think so too?" Murray asked.

"From the way you said it, y-"

"Hey, dudes and dudettes! We're nearing the island and...hoo boy!" Manic called out from above deck, "Bentley wasn't kidding about the defense of this place."

"Now I'm kinda glad that Bentley had us all get some sleep earlier," Sonia noted, seeing the time was around one in the morning.

"Yup. This is gonna be one very long night," Murray added, "Not that it bothers The Murray! I am pumped and ready to go!"

"Also, it's kinda starting to rain!" Manic added as a loud crash of thunder was heard outside, "...Scratch that. It's starting to storm out!"

"At least this will give us more cover when we sneak in," Bentley noted as five Ditto finished setting up the projector and the projector screen while a sixth Ditto was in the kitchen, "Ben, what are you doing in the kitchen?"

"Making popcorn for the presentation," Ditto 6 replied.

"This is serious, Ben," Bentley frowned.

"Yeah! A lot more than just plain butter on popcorn! You forgot the most important thing!" Murray added.

"Eh? And that is?" Ditto 6 asked.

"The salt! Having popcorn without salt is like...having tortilla chips without the salsa!" Murray added, causing everyone in the room to facefault, "...What? It's true."

Minutes later, the projector was turned on, displaying the image of Kaine Island.

"As you all know, this is it; the biggest heist that we've ever done yet," Bentley informed, changing the slide to show a gold circular vault door with a marking resembling Sly's cane in it...with multiple machinery surrounding it and trying to get through the door, "Our goal is to get into this vault and to do that, we'll need to get Sly, Roll, and Haseo up there since it requires the blood of the Cooper Clan and Sly's cane to open it. However, in order to get to it..." the slide changed to an overhead shot of the island, "We'll need to take care of the guards and defenses Dr. M has set up around the island both on, above, and below it." he changed the slide again, showcasing troops resembling a mixture of gorilla, lion, and elephant with hints of robotics, "These are the guards; genetically created lifeforms enhanced further with the Legionization process. Fortunately for us, they're not all that smart." he changed slides to show one of the guards chasing a butterfly...off a cliff.

"...Wow. That….I don't know how to react to that," Sonic admitted.

"My thoughts exactly. However, in exchange for...well, brains, they have the combined physical strengths and defenses of the animals that make them up," Bentley added before changing slides, showing the back of the guards...and showing tiny bat wings on their backs, "However, it seems they're extremely weak in the back, making it easy to pull off a sneak attack on them."

"Got it," Sly nodded.

"Now then, Manic; you are a key component to the success of the first part of the plan," Bentley informed, changing slides to show Manic playing his drums, "Your geokinesis is needed to help stabilize the ground of the island. After so many years of attempts to get into the vault, the ground has become dangerously unstable. Your job is to keep the ground stable long enough so Sly and his team can get into the vault."

"Got it, dude," Manic nodded, twirling his drumsticks a bit.

"That just leaves the defenses around the island," Bentley went on as he changed the slides again, this time showing the water surrounding the island, "Robotic sharks now roam the waters around the island with lasers attached to their backs. Dimitri, you'll be going down below to handle these guys." He then changed slides to show the security towers surrounding the island, "Panda King, it'll be up to you to destroy the security towers."

"It will be a glorious sight to behold," Panda King assured.

"Indeed it will," Bentley nodded as he changed the slides again, showing what looked like planes and flying fish with cybernetics flying around the island, "Unfortunately, this might catch the attention of a few security drones flying around the island. Penelope, you and Sonia will take care of these."

"Huh?" Sonia blinked at that, "Why me?"

"Your job will be to take out any stragglers that'll try and get away," Bentley explained.

"Ahh...gotcha," Sonia nodded.

"That just leaves me, Ben, Makoto, Guru, and Murray," Sonic noted.

"With Ben's Omnitrix and large variety of alien forms, he's considered our emergency plan," Bentley informed, "Should all else fail, it'll be up to Ben to get them to the vault."

"Got it," Ben nodded.

"Using the Guru's disguise skills, Makoto and Murray will be doing guerilla tactics on the guards to distill confusion and suspicion amongst the guards while also getting the van to a specific spot on the island. As for you, Sonic…" he changed the slide to show a room, "You'll be getting into Dr. M's base of operations here on the island and plug this USB into the main computer," he handed Sonic a USB shaped like a turtle shell, "Inside is a powerful computer virus Penelope and I developed that will steal all of the files in Dr. M's computers and send them to the nearest Freedom Fighter HQ and straight to Interpol before deleting them all from the computers they were sent from. After that, you'll reconvene with me, Murray, Manic, and Sonia in the van for phase 2."

"Head to Dr. M's base of operations, install USB to steal files, and rendezvous with you guys. Got it," Sonic nodded as he carefully put the USB away in his quills.

"Glad to hear," Sly patted Sonic's back.

"And now for the most important thing in the plan; Codenames," Bentley informed.

'Here we go…' Sly rolled his eyes.

It was 1:15 in the morning as a storm came down on Kaine Island. Three of the guards marched along the dockside, shining their flashlights around. Two didn't notice one suddenly grabbed from behind and then thrown onto his head, knocking them out. One didn't notice the other fall to the same fate with with a large blue sledgehammer shaped like a cube to the head. Sly smirked as he threw the last into the air by their pants with his cane before slamming them down on their back, letting Roll slam the Cube Hammer in their face to knock them out. Yacker separated from her weapon and Roll waved over to a large rock. Haseo poked out before quickly hurrying over to the other two.

"How're you holding up?" Sly asked the young fox.

"I...I"m doing fine, Sly-san," Haseo responded, trying his best to stay calm as he had a brave face on.

"Good to hear," Sly nodded as he pulled out his Binocucom, "Okay, Bentley, we're in position."

=Good. Everyone else is in position as well= Bentley responded =For the rest of the operation, you three are 'The Ball'=

"Roger. We're gonna start our approach," Sly stated as he looked at the fortress walls, "Getting over those walls shouldn't be a problem. Look, we're running five by five here, so let's make sure everyone else is in sync."

=I hear that. Artillery, sure you can make that shot?=

=I endeavor not the miss= Panda King replied.

=Excellent. Radio Control?=

=In position= Penelope replied.

=Same= Sonia added.

=Recovery team?=

=I'm pumped!= Murray responded.

=Same here= Makoto agreed.

=Stealth team?=

=Ready and raring to go= Sonic answered.

=Submersibles?=

=Showtime, baby!= Dimitri responded.

=Last resort?=

=I'm ready just in case= Ben responded.

=Telekinetics?=

=Habajiwa= Guru responded.

=Stability expert?=

=I'm ready whenever you are, dude= Manic replied.

=Alright, it's the crime of the century, and 'The Ball' is in motion!= Bentley exclaimed.

"...Ano, wh-why are we 'The Ball'?" Haseo asked as Sly put the Binocucom away.

"To make sure everyone else knows where we're at and such," Sly replied before looking at Roll, "You practiced Tennessee's technique while you were in Northamer, right?"

"A little," Roll replied, earning a nod from Sly.

"Okay. Because we're going to need it to walk along the cables to get over that," Sly informed as he picked up Haseo and put him on his back, "Hold on tight, kid."

Haseo nodded a bit as Sly and Roll started heading to the fortress wall, climbing up a nearby wooden post as they ran across the cable lines. The two slid down a metal pipeline, managing to avoid a set of three guards looking around on wooden platforms above a narrow path.

=Agent Hotbun, Agent Fashionista, get ready for the Yank 86= Bentley informed on the Binocucom.

=We've got a visual= Penelope replied.

The guards seemed to mind their own business before one of them was suddenly yanked off his metal platform, said platform crumbling as soon as he was taken off. The other two guards looked around for what may have caused it before the second one yelped and fell with his metal platform. The third whimpered while looking around before he was yanked off his platform before the platform landed on him in the water. Sonia blew some smoke from her keyboard-blaster's barrel as Penelope landed her RC beside her to give it a quick refill.

=Third's skyward. Roll on ball, over= Sonia informed.

"Arigatou," Roll thanked as the three continued on.

"Of course he pollutes," Sly muttered a few minutes later as they were obstructed by a river of sludge that was too wide to cross.

=Agent Moonrock, we have an obstruction= Bentley informed =Press the tipper, over=

=Hajajabah=

=Let 'er rip, Moonrock; the ball is in position= Bentley confirmed before a tower across from them glowed periwinkle and bent down, making a path over the river of sludge.

"Thanks," Sly nodded as he and Roll walked across the newly made 'bridge',' arriving on the rooftop on the other side. After climbing a few pistons and some rocks, they came across a fairly large ventilation shaft, blocked and nailed shut, "Ball requesting door via Agent Monarch, over."

=Launching….Stand clear!= Panda King warned as a firework was heading towards a metal crate hanging over the vent, the firework knocking said crate over as it crashed into the vent, breaking the bars and fan as it cleared the way, =You are clear to continue=

"Thanks," Sly noted as he put Haseo down and motioned the two to follow him into the vent.

=We've got visual confirmation on the door= Bentley informed as the three went on =Be advised; Ball is nearing the lab. Agent Deep Six, you ready?=

=Spear gun loaded= Dimitri replied before the area began to rumble.

=Agent Rumble, the area the ball is in is destabilizing!= Bentley yelped.

=On it, dude!= Manic replied before drums began to go off and the rumbling settled down =Ground is stabilized over with the ball, over=

=Perfect, Agent Blue Blur, how's everything in your position?=

=Making my way there= Sonic replied before they heard a trunk squeak on the line =And stay down, you weird mutant thing...know what? Why don't we just call these things Goriliobants or something to make it easier on us?=

=Goriliobants?= Bentley repeated as a set of forefields between a metal floor and the three went down thanks to spears impaling a generator in the water.

=The things are practically half gorilla, half lion, half bat, and half elephant anyway, so…=

=I get it, Sonic. I get it= Bentley deadpanned =Just...hurry on over to…=

=Oop. Heads up, Ball. You got company nearing your position= Sonic said as he cut the line on his end.

"Eh?" Haseo pondered as they got on top of a metal floor...before it started rising up, "?!"

"Shh…" Sly hushed them as he pointed down to the glass top of the elevator, showing a Goriliobant and a purple Mobian Baboon...with the back of their head replaced with an oversized plug.

"How's your wife doing, Richards?" the baboon questioned.

"Oh...um...she's doing fine...why?" the Goriliobant asked in confusion.

"And your son, um, what was his name? Mike?"

"Mark, sir. H-He's doing good, yeah," the guard replied as the elevator began to go up.

"A shame you won't be seeing them again," the baboon informed.

"Huh? Wh-?" the Goriliobant began before tensing up.

"Afraid I poisoned your drink at lunch," the baboon went on, "Sorry, Richards, but I don't tolerate poor performance. You should've changed the security code from '1-2-3' after you stole the new security system."

"Ahh….s...sir...I…gah…" the Goriliobant gasped out as he dropped to the floor, grasping his chest as he breathed his final breaths, "I can improve, I swear."

"No, you'll die. Any second now," the baboon replied before the mutant breathed his last just as the elevator stopped at the top, "Messy, messy, messy," he shook his head before answering a radio on his hip, "Yes? ...Water leaking into the lab?! I'm on my way down. Oh, and get a janitor for the lab elevator… Richards got sloppy."

Sly, Roll, and Haseo got off at the last second just as the elevator went back down, a metal door closing behind it. Haseo sniffled as Roll gave him a comforting hug.

'That bastard,' Sly thought, glaring down at the metal door on the floor.

=The Cooper Vault is just across these wires= Bentley informed =I'm on route to your position, over=

"Hai, Bentley-san," Roll replied before pocketing the Binocucom away.

Sly put Haseo back on his back and the two began to make their way along the wires to a tower. Both yelped as it started to tilt before drums went off and the ground stabilized beneath the tower, letting them quickly get to the next set of wires. They barely managed to dodge a few spotlights before coming to a metal platform around the top of the island, a safe-like control panel in front of what looks like blast shields as various machines were trying to open a familiar vault door, drills, laser cannons, the works.

=Oh shoot! I forgot to check for a passcode on the security!= Bentley realized.

"Ano…" Haseo walked up to the console and put in 1, 2, and then 3.

The machinery halted as the security shut down. One by one, the machines moved away from the vault door, exposing the door in all its splendor. Sly patted Haseo on the head with a congratulatory smile.

=What the?! How did…=

"Th...the password was 1-2-3, B-Bentley-san," Haseo replied.

"Richards got sloppy, it seems," Sly muttered, a bad taste in his mouth at saying that.

=I….I see= Bentley noted =Ahem! Anyways, I'm nearing your position now=

Sly nodded as he, Roll, and Haseo started to approach the vault door. Now that they were getting a closer look at it, the vault door was imposed over an indent of a raccoon head shape. Sly looked at his cane before he held it up to the cane-shaped indent in the door. He placed it into the indent and a click went off. They moved back with Sly keeping hold of his cane, as ancient gears began to move after so long of being inactive. The door began to open up before a laser blast hit the door, slamming it shut. The trio turned to see the baboon flying in the air via the plug on his head connected to a strange flying contraption.

"Cooper!" the baboon growled before he took a bit of a closer look at Sly, "No...you must be Sly Cooper, the new keeper of the cane. Oh how I've longed for this day…" he then looked over at Roll and Haseo, the former standing in front of the latter as she stood ready, "And I see you've brought along some pests along with you."

"This vault belongs to the Cooper Family and the Sakurai Family," Sly informed, "You're trespassing."

"No, my naive boy, you're trespassing," the baboon corrected, "I've got the deed to this island. This fortress is mine, everything on this island...IS MINE! Which now includes the key to the vault. Hand over the cane, now!"

"Sorry pal, family heirloom. Buy a knockoff at the gift shop," Sly replied.

"BURST!" Yacker declared before Roll aimed the Burst Bustersword at him.

"What?!" the baboon gasped before a fireball shot out of the barrel on the blade and collided with one a wing at the same time a dart with a grenade on it hit one of the engines on his flyer, blowing both parts up and sending him flying off, "Gah!"

"Quick! Let's regroup with the others!" Bentley called out from the distance, causing the three to turn and see him on top of one of the towers, "Follow me!"

"Hold on tight, Haseo," Sly advised, picking up the youngest member once more.

"H-hai," Haseo nodded as he held on tight just as Roll and Sly started climbing across the cables once more, dodging any incoming fire from the the guards in the security towers.

=I'm guessing things are getting rough out there= Ben noted.

"Not yet, Ben," Bentley informed before the four jumped down the exposed elevator shaft and down into the flooding lab, "Sonic, please tell me you're doing good on your end."

=Inserting USB now!= Sonic replied.

"Good! Meet us outside when you're done!" Bentley said as the three jumped onto a piston, sending them to the upper floor as they rushed through the ventilation shaft they entered beforehand, Haseo in Bentley's lap, "We're almost home free!" Haseo held on tight as Bentley hovered across the water and threw a grenade at a post beside them, the pole falling over to make a bridge for Sly and Roll, "The boat's just up ahead!"

"?!" Haseo tensed when he spotted something approaching them from behind, "A…Ano.. B-B-Bentley-san…"

"What, Ha-" Bentley began before he heard something loud crash behind them, followed by a guttural growl, "...There's something bad behind us, isn't there?"

"H….hai," Haseo squeaked out, shivering like a leaf as he hid behind his twin tails.

Bentley slowly turned his chair around and looked up. Towered at sixteen feet was a massive monstrosity, a multitude of different skins stitched together amongst machinery, muscle, and bone. Its massive arms ended in razor-sharp bone claws while pipes emerged from the back of it. It gave out a bellow, exposing the multitude of rows of natural and metal razor-sharp teeth, the metal ones buzzing like saws inside of its jaw.

"Gee-ahh!" Bentley screamed before the two were grabbed in one hand by the monster, "Code Omega! I repeat, Code Omega! Oh, shoot! I can't grab my binocucom!"

"There's no escape, Cooper!" the baboon informed, plugged into the neck of the beast by his head while grabbing onto a pair of handles emerging from the neck.

"Roll, you contact Ben. I'm gonna try and get Bentley and Haseo out of that thing's grip," Sly said as he rushed over.

"Hai!" Roll nodded.

The beast roared as it swiped one of its claws at Sly, only for the raccoon to barely dodge it as he ran towards the baboon. He delivered a few hits before the baboon kicked him away, sending him over the river and beside Roll as she was getting off the line.

"Ugh," Sly got up before charging in again.

"It's not working, Sly! Save yourself!" Bentley shouted as the beast tried to swipe at Sly again.

"Sorry! Afraid I can't do that!" Sly shouted as he dodged the swipe and ran to the baboon again.

"Not another move, Cooper! Or else my pet will have himself a midnight snack," the baboon threatened.

"If he wants to eat...EAT THIS!" Sly shouted before throwing his cane, causing it to get caught in the beast's mouth.

The beast roared as it let go of the two, Bentley barely managing to activate his hover systems before they landed on the ground. The baboon tried to reach for the cane, but the monster swung its head and dislodged it, sending it flying away.

"The cane…!" Roll gasped before the monster grabbed Sly, "Sly-Itoko!"

"Hmph...while I lost the cane.." the baboon began as the beast looked at Sly hungrily, "At least I'll have the pleasure of seeing the son of the person I, Dr. M, hated the most die in front of me!"

Yacker poked his head out of Roll's hair and his eye widened at the situation. The monster was about to eat Sly...about to eat a member of Roll and Haseo's family long lost...About to leave so many with nothing but...but...but a…

"Void…" Yacker intoned, his eye turning violet.

Yacker floated out of Roll's hair before a black smoke engulfed him, dispersing to reveal a violet Wisp, its body/head shaped like a black hole with the demonic mouth replacing the eye(s) once more. Unlike the savage snarling of the Frenzy Wisp, this Wisp just gave a raspy, barely audible groan.

"Y-Yacker?" Haseo whispered before the Wisp slammed into Roll's chest, "?!"

Roll gagged as a purple mark resembling the wisp appeared on her chest. Black slime erupted from where it came and engulfed the Hedgefox, her eyes changing to violet. The slime collected around her lower legs and feet first, dispersing to reveal violet scale-like armor with spikes emerging from the kneecaps. The slime covered her arms next, dispersing to reveal pitch black gloves with the same scale-like, violet armor, her fingers ending in claws. Her clothes were engulfed next, the slime dispersing to reveal they had turned into a single-piece bikini with the center missing, exposing her navel and the middle of the cleavage. A black belt covered her waist while an obsidian collar held the upper half of the bikini up, a tainted green gem resembling a demonic eye in the middle of it. Her tail swished before the slime dispelled from it, revealing violet armor that gave her tail the appearance of a shark's, before it engulfed her head and gave way to a full-covering helmet resembling a demonic shark's head, two tainted emeralds as the eyes with a demonic violet eye in the center of the head. The last of the slime engulfed Roll's sword, transforming it into a revolver shaped like two of the Void Wisp with their backs facing one another. The storm continued strong, but a bit of the coverage gave way to let a half moon shine down on her like a spotlight.

"Just like with Tsao…" Bentley whispered.

"Hmph," Roll's voice scoffed through the helmet, not a tone able to be discerned from her voice, before she aimed and pulled the trigger.

The heads of the 'wisps' spun before black shots raced out of the gun and hit the handles Dr. M had been holding onto before hitting the connection between him and the monster, knocking him off.

"What?!" Dr. M gasped as he fell to the the ground, glaring at roll "You fool...now there's nothing to control the beast!"

The beast's eyes became slitted as it let out a frenzied roar, said roar causing the area to rumble a bit as it held onto Sly and charged at Roll, intent on taking care of the threat before it could have its meal. Roll stepped back into a shadow and fell through the ground.

"What? But that wasn't an unstable point…" Dr. M began before a barrage of black shots nailed the beast in the back, "What's this?" he looked to see Roll on a higher level, her gun aimed at the beast's back, "How did she get up there?!"

The beast turned back with a roar before a sphere of electricity rammed into its face. Bentley turned to where the shot had come from to see…

"Inspector Fox?!" Bentley gasped before a barrage of laser fire rained down on the beast, making him look up to see a group of gorillas in all out riot gear with jetpacks, "And she brought mercenaries."

"Seems that the tip we received was right in there being an island here," Carmelita noted before seeing Sly stuck in the beast's claws, "Hold on, ringtail."

"Grr...more pests," Dr. M frowned before he whistled out to the water, causing some mutants with crocodile heads and crab claws to shoot out.

"Ah! C-Crabodiles!" Haseo yelped as the mutants surrounded them, only to be shot down by Carmelita from the distance, "P-Phew…"

A few more jumped out of the water behind the fox only for their heads to explode. Carmelita looked behind her to see Roll lowering her Void Revolver. Carmelita nodded to the armored hedgefox, though she was unable to tell that from the armor, before she crouched down and did a strong leap, landing on a nearby part of the island and began to fire at the beast once more with her shock pistol. The best growled out in slight annoyance as he leapt over to where Carmelita was, glaring right at her as it attempted to slam his claw down on her. However, it tensed when it saw Roll next to the vixen, the two aiming their guns at its face before shooting at the same time, the monster roaring out in pain as dark electricity crackled off it as it fall to its back.

"Impossible…" Dr. M whispered before he glared at Carmelita, "You harpy witch! Why are the police invading my home!?"

"I'm here to see that justice is done," Carmelita responded.

"Justice?! I'm the victim here, defending what's mine from thieves!" Dr. M snarled.

"Looked to me like you were attempting to murder that man," Carmelita replied.

"'That man', please. You know this is Sly Cooper," Dr. M argued, "You're as a transparent as you are narrow-minded."

"Cooper is a criminal. I'm here to bring him and ALL law breakers to justice," Carmelita argued.

"I'm no law breaker, it was all self defense!" Dr. M snapped.

"Funny coming from one of Robotnik's lackies," Carmelita countered, making Dr. M tense a up, "We received files of your recent actions, a-"

"I….am...NO ONE'S LACKY!" Dr. M growled as he hopped away, just as the beast was starting to get back up, "Crush their bones to dust!"

The beast roared as it glared at Carmelita and Roll, rage and anger evident in its eyes as it bared its fangs at them.

"Now to find that cane," Dr. M muttered to himself as he leapt from rock to rock, "Heh...I can't believe that idiot Cooper just brought it to me….Poor fool, he looks just like his father...and he'll be just as dead soon enough."

For a brief moment, Roll's symbol appeared behind the hedgefox. The emerald 'eyes' of her helmet flashed before the head snapped open, her violet eyes flashing once exposed. She held her Void Revolver high before the shadows all over the island...came to life. All over, the shadows rushed out, the darkness gathering and swirling up into the 'mouths' of the two 'Wisps' the gun was made from, their 'heads' spinning rapidly. At the barrel of the gun, a blackhole appeared...before it exposed a pair of sinister glowing yellow eyes and a jagged pumpkin grin.

"Shadow….Asgard," Roll whispered as she pulled the trigger.

The 'black hole' roared before turning into a pitch black laser. It rocketed out and struck the Beast. The attack ended and the hands of the beast and its lower half collapsed to the ground, the rest simply gone. The armor glowed before shattering, normal Yacker falling on top of the passed out Roll, her clothes in tatters once again.

"A...A hedgefox?" Carmelita pondered in surprise, "Thought she was some sort of aquatic Mobian."

"O-Onee-chan!" Carmelita looked over to see what looked like a young fox with two different colored tails run over to check on Roll, "O-Onee-chan? Daijoubu?"

'Who is this?' Carmelita pondered.

"Sly?! He's over here!" Bentley's voice made her turn to see the Cooper Gang run over with Sonia, Makoto, and Manic.

Manic skidded to a halt, "Hoo boy! It's the crazy fox again!"

"You again…" Carmelita narrowed her eyes at Manic as Maoto ran by her and knelt down beside the downed Raccoon beside the opened claws.

"Come on now…" Makoto whispered, putting two fingers on his neck, "...He's got a pulse still! He's alive!"

"Oh thank god," Bentley sighed in relief.

"Mmm…" Roll groaned out in her unconscious state.

"The princess to be's been russled up, but she's still in the land of the happening," Dimitri informed, "Now where is the Blue Cracker Box at?" a blue blur skidded to a halt, covering Dimitri in a large pile of dirt, "..."

"Okay! I got the virus in and...ROLL?!" Sonic yelped, picking her up gently, "Did she use Frenzy again?"

'A blue hedgehog?' Carmelita pondered before seeing the necklace Sonic wore and then saw Sonia with her medallion, 'I...It couldn't be...They were rumored to have been killed as infants!' a roar made everyone turn to see another beast coming towards them, "Ai-yai-yai...Another one?!"

It leapt at them before a large fist smashed into the beast's face, sending it crashing through a structure. Humongosaur cracked his knuckles and then his neck.

"Been awhile since I got to fight as this guy," the Vaxasaurian smirked.

"Dios mio!" Carmelita exclaimed as she aimed her blaster at him, "What are you?! Another of Dr. M's crazy experiments?!"

"Don't shoot! He's a Freedom Fighter!" Sonic moved between her and Humongosaur, "Glad you made it in time, Ben."

"No problem," Humongosaur nodded before turning back to the beast, "I'll keep this thing off you all. Get Sly and Roll back to the ship!"

"Already on it!" Manic shouted as he helped Sly up, carrying him over to the ship, "Don't worry man...we gotcha."

"If you're looking for those gorillas, don't bother," Humongosaur informed, seeing Carmelita look around, "The guy who made the creatures here included a few suicide bombers in the mix."

"...I see…." Carmelita whispered, her fist clenching up a bit as she growled, "That bastard…"

"Don't worry. We'll…" Humongosaur began before the second Beast came back, tackling him to the ground as it roared in his face, "Ugh! Didn't anyone tell you to brush your teeth?!" with that, Humongosaur grew until he was twice the size of the second Beast, who now let out a whimper and waved a white flag, "Nope."

"Wow. It has been awhile since Ben turned into that," Makoto blinked twice as they ran for the ship, "I almost forgot he could grow to sixty feet tall."

"That is the most awesomest form I've seen him take yet!" Murray whooped as he looked over his shoulder to see Humongosaur go to town on the Beast while swatting a few guards on jetpacks from the skies, "Bentley, can we…?!"

"For the last time, no!"

"Aw…!" Murray slumped before the Guru spoke up, "Oh, right! Still running!"

"Raaaaahh!" Humongosaur roared as he picked up the Beast and sent it flying into the water, the creature crying out as it fell into the ocean, "Oh yeah! Who's bad? I-"

"Ben!"

"Oh right!" Humongosaur said as he quickly shifted back into Ben and started running to the ship.

"Okay, the good news is that they'll be okay. Roll's just exhausted while Sly has a minor concussion," Bentley informed on the deck, "If Sly were up and about, I'm sure he'd want us to retrieve his family cane." he glanced at Carmelita, "Though, there might be some issues."

"Boy, you really got here fast," Sonic noted, "Guess the info in those computers made a quick response."

"A few days ago, Interpol received a tip that Sly Cooper had appeared at these coordinates," Carmelita informed, "I received a message a few minutes before the mercenaries I brought and I arrived, informing me of all the little details of Dr. M being involved with Dr. Robotnik, his illegal operations, all the thefts he performed, every single thing."

'Guess Mom wanted to make sure all bases were covered for this,' Sonic thought.

"Okay...so what's the game plan now?" Manic asked.

"Well it's obvious really. Finding Sly's cane before DR. M does," Bentley replied.

"Found it," Makoto informed, lowering her binocucom and pointed out to buoy.

"Cold grab the thing! Jump in, do the swim, and take it. Legit, eh? My main man bro," Dimitri spoke up.

"...What?" Manic blinked twice.

"It's not that simple, Dimitri," Ben noted as he pointed out at the rain around the buoy, showing sparks coming off each time a raindrop hit the buoy.

"Whoa! What's with the zippity-zappin here?!"

"That's an electromagnetic buoy," Penelope noted, looking at a copy of the island blueprints, "Dr. M has set 'em up all around the island to snag approaching metal boats and absorb any electrical charges."

"But how did you all get here when this…" Carmelita tapped the railing, "Is metal?"

"A light coating of an anti-electromagnetic spray," Ben replied, "Lasts roughly three hundred days straight in constant rain."

"Greymatter again?" Bentley asked.

"Nope. Tails made it."

"That's bad for Dimitri then. If you get too close, your diving gear will become magnetized to it. And we can't shoot it since it will just absorb the laser shots, shock pistol rounds, or burn away my darts," Bentley noted before the Guru spoke up, "That's an excellent idea, Guru. You're the only member of the team who doesn't carry anything metal. If you can 'convince' some of the local marine life into joining you in an attack, it might be enough to break the buoy."

Guru nodded as he hopped onto the side of the ship, focusing on the water down below as if he was waiting for something. Carmelita raised a brow before the water bubbled and a school of sharks began to jump around the surface of the water. When one surfaced, Guru jumped down and landed on the shark's head, the creature bucking around a bit before it calmed down, Guru chanted something as it and the rest of the sharks began to swim to the buoy Sly's cane was on.

"How did he…?"

"Dreamtime Shaman," Makoto smirked, "I've seen him levitate all kinds of things, shapeshift, and even connect minds." she shuddered, "Did not need to see that…"

An explosion made them turn to see the buoy being attacked by the sharks and the cane fall into the water. The Guru sadly spoke up as a shark returned him to the ship.

"It's okay, Guru, the cane's not lost. We've got a diver on the team, remember?," Bentley reminded before the Guru spoke up sadly once more, "Now don't talk like that. No one else could've gotten the cane off that magnet. You're a credit to the team...just leave your shark friends behind. They freak me out."

"Agreed," Manic and Makoto nodded.

"I'll go check on Roll and Sly," Bentley informed, "Penelope, can you prep Dimitri?"

"Uh, sure, Bentley," Penelope replied before walking over to the lizard, "Okay, Bentley's going down to check up on Sly and Roll, so I'm going to prep you for this."

"Oui. The turtle dude made for the sounds of le scuba. So here you go, baby! Dimitri au-natural! Whoo! Your plan, she has worked to perfection!"

"My plan to get you alone in a swimsuit?" Penelope shook her head.

"...Uh...I'll just go and check on Sly and Roll with Bentley," Sonia as she followed Bentley downstairs.

"Come clean my lovely and play your cards straight. These are dangerous waters and I am a big...strong...macho, macho man!"

"And this is why I kept as far away from him when he was in the jail in Italy…" Carmelita muttered, pinching her nose to abate the headache forming from his talk.

"Okay, first; get over yourself. Second, I mean it. Get over yourself," Penelope frowned, "And third, jump into that water and find Sly's cane or I'll ask Rath to have a word with you!"

"Wrath? That is a thing, not a…" Dimitri began before Ben turned into Rath.

"LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN', DIMITRI LOUSTEAU!" Rath roared right in Dimitri's face.

"Uh...L-Let's not, yeah?" Dimitri sweated before he jumped into the water below, putting his oxygen mask on, "I'm diving, man!"

"See that you do!" Rath roared as he changed back into Ben.

"Nice work, Ben," Penelope applauded.

"I'll go in after him to help if he needs it," Ben informed, slapping his Omnitrix once more and turning into a humanoid red manta ray, "Jetray!"

"...I think I might need a vacation after this is all over," Carmelita whispered as Jetray dived into the water, "What kind of Overlander is capable of doing that?"

"One with a watch that lets him transform into aliens," Manic replied, earning a growl from Carmelita and him to back away slowly, hands up.

Under the water, Jetray was following behind Dimitri as they followed the cane into a tunnel of water. However, Jetray had a slight feeling they weren't the only ones inside the water tunnel before, much to his suspicion and surprise, metallic lobster claws poked out of each end of the water tunnel, trying to grab the cane and grab the two chasing after it. Jetray's eyes glowed before he began to fire beams from his eyes, hitting and stunning the claws. Dimitri looked at him with wide eyes.

"Neuroshock rays," Jetray informed, "Now get moving! We can't lose Sly's cane!"

Dimitri nodded as they reached the other side of the water tunnel, arriving in a fairly large cave area. However, there was also a fairly large mutant in there, said mutant being a mix of a angler fish, a jellyfish, and a lobster with hints of robotics in it. Jetray tapped Dimitri's shoulder and pointed at the antennae of the anglerfish part. Inside a red bubble was Dr. M, plugged into it.

"More of Cooper's lackies, I see…" Dr. M noted as he looked at the two, "...No matter. I'll deal with you two first, and then retrieve what is mine."

"That cane is Cooper Family property!" Jetray argued before the two dodged the lobster claw sent at them, "And you're not going to lay a finger on it no matter how hard you try!"

"Heh…" Dr. M merely smirked as his beast's claws shifted into a pair of large laser cannons, "Go ahead and try."

"Ooh, that is not good," Jetray whispered before yelping as he and Dimitri dodged the laser fire at them, "Phew...c-" he soon yelped as he barely dodged what looked like a large shuriken, the 'stars' of it replaced with Jellyfish stingers, "Seriously?! What doesn't this thing have?!"

"A decent meal," Dr. M countered as his creature began to inhale, drawing the two towards it, intent on eating them.

"Oh no you don't!" Jetray growled, his eyes and the tip of his tail glowing green before he fired three lasers right into the creature's mouth, causing it to screech in pain, "EAT THIS!"

The creature thrashed about as it wildly fired lasers and 'shurikens' everywhere, destroying most of the area as it thrashed about.

"Grr...annoying little pests," Dr. M frowned as he managed to get his creature back under control, "Fitting since you both are Cooper's lackies."

"We're not lackies," Jetray frowned as he glared at him.

"Oh please. As if there's anything beneficial to working alongside a Cooper," Dr. M snorted, "In fact...I know of you from the reports given, Benjamin Tennyson. You and the rest of those 'friends' of yours are nothing but servants, nay. Commonfolk to be used as cannon fodder for those blasted hedgehogs."

"We're not cannon fodder. All of us are a team," Jetray argued, "Something that you don't seem to want to grasp or even can comprehend. Wait...compre..." he facepalmed, "Of course." he slapped his Omnitrix Symbol, "Brainstorm! Ah, much more fitting for dealing with a pompous, maniacal, odiferous, and egotistical simian such as yourself."

"Oh? You think a crab can stop me?" Dr. M laughed.

"Oh, I do believe that my mental capacity far surpasses your mere sentience, Dr. M," Brainstorm replied.

"Are you inferring that you're smarter than me because your head is bigger?"

"No. I'm implying that I'm smarter than you because my brain is bigger," Brainstorm replied.

Dr. M merely frowned as he had his creature aim its blasters at Brainstorm. Brainstorm opened his head, exposing his brain to Dr. M, before firing a blast of electricity that slammed into where metal and flesh met on one of the arms, causing the creature to screech in pain as its arm slumped, unresponsive.

"What?!"

"While your creation is...rather garish, it has quite a few flaws within it," Brainstorm informed, "I've merely exposed one of those. Your creation is an amalgamation of different species and robotics, but there is a flaw that you cannot overcome; the nerves. What I just delivered was the equivalent of the typical bolt of lightning in terms of voltage into the point where the nerves and circuitry of the body meet nerves and circuitry of the arm. Since the brain is that of an entirely different species, any voltage coursing through an amalgamated form will result in movement issues with the amalgamated parts. In short; your mutated creation is utterly useless."

"...heh. Perhaps I may have underestimated you," Dr. M chuckled a bit, "It's a shame you have to serve under those idiots and work alongside Cooper. Also, you have made a slight error…" he then disconnected from the anglerfish antenna, an oxygen mask forming on his face, causing the creature to gasp out as it began to turn to bone, the baboon floating out as he used his foot to grab Sly's cane before Dimitri could grab it, "You may have control of the water, but I have the skies, and the cane!"

"It is perfectly fine, Dimitri. We have done our best beneath the waves," Brainstorm assured Dimitri when he saw the lizard shaking a fist at Dr. M, "However, we can reobtain the cane and ascertain a great control of the skies of the island."

Dimitri nodded as he began to swim back the way they came in, Brainstorm changing back into Jetray as he followed after him. A few minutes later, and the two got out and back on the ship.

"That rude dude, threw down heavyweight. Space Dude here had him solid, but he ran, baby, ran and we're flat nowhere," Dimitri explained with a slump.

"We chased the cane, Dr. M had another creation with himself down there, I fought the thing while Dimitri tried to get the cane, but Dr. M got it and swam off while his monster turned to bones and scrap," Ben translated.

"I think you did a great job down there, Dimitri," Manic encouraged, "You focused on the job and trusted that Ben could handle the rude dude. That's alright in my books."

"...Heh. Thanks, little green man. And it is true. Afterall…" Dimitri paused as he shouted to the heavens, "I'm Mag-to-the-jag-to-the-efficent, baby!"

"Word," Ben nodded, the two trading high-fives at that, "Listen, we got a situation. Where are Penelope and Sonia?"

"Below deck helping Bentley," Manic replied, "Why?"

"Well from what Dr. M said, we might be looking at a sky battle," Ben replied before looking at the towers surrounding the island, "And it's gonna be difficult with those radio towers and drones still in the way." he looked at his Omnitrix to see it was in the red, "Darn. Needs to recharge after all that."

"Darn," Manic snapped his fingers, "It's especially a major bummer since those radio towers are link to missile turrets."

"Yo. Couldn't we just be blowin' them up to high heaven in this bizznitch?" Dimitri asked.

"...We need the Panda King," Ben said after thinking about it for a few moments before pulling out his Binocucom, "Panda King, are you there?"

=I am here, yes= Panda king responded =What is it you need?=

"We've got demo work for you," Ben informed, "You see those radio towers? They're connected to a series of missile turrets that we'll need to get rid of. Take out the towers and the turrets won't work."

=...I have the perfect fireworks for this= Panda King responded =They were made in tribute of the Freedom Fighters that helped rescue my daughter=

=Great to hear, Panda King. We're counting on you= Ben agreed.

Panda King nodded as he pulled out four fireworks, each a different color and having a crimson phoenix, an azure dragon, a silver-white tiger, and an emerald turtle respectively on them. He looked around and smirked.

"Four towers, four fireworks," Panda King counted, "The fireworks will be glorious tonight!"

Once he loaded the fireworks into his wooden bazooka, he aimed at each of the radio towers. The panda took in a deep breath, closing his eyes. Once he was focused, his eyes snapped open as he fired each of the fireworks at the four radio towers.

Sly hopped out from below deck just in time to see the towers explode in the colors of crimson, azure, silver, and emerald, the smoke of each giving the shape of a phoenix, dragon, tiger, and turtle.

"Wow. What did I miss?" Sly asked before seeing Carmelita on the deck, "...Either I'm still out of it, or Carmelita is on the deck and not trying to shoot us."

"As of right now, this is a truce, ringtail," Carmelita stated, giving him a serious look, "Dr. M is the bigger threat right now."

"Sly, are you sure you should be up?" Ben asked in concern, "If you take another blow to your head anytime soon, there's a chance you'll end up in a coma."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine," Sly reassured him, "All I need to know is what happened after I got knocked out."

"You want the good news or bad first?" Manic asked.

"Either one," Sly replied.

"Your cane has been taken by Dr. M and he is enroute to getting up to the center of the island for that vault of stolen goods your family has collected," Carmelita frowned.

"Statute of Limitations," Ben spoke up.

"..." Carmelita growled at the human.

"Dude's right, you know. All that stuff in there is probably centuries or even millennia old, and since it's been longer than the limitations, it's all pretty much legal Cooper stuff," Manic chuckled, "Nice thinking there, Ben." Carmelita turned her glare to him, "...Please don't zap me again."

"And the good news?" Sly interrupted anything else.

"We've taken the seas from him while the Panda King just destroyed the radio towers that control the missile turrets," Ben informed as Penelope climbed up with Sonia, "There you girls are. Penelope, we need your RC skills to take out the drones on the ground."

"No sweat. I just modified my RC car with punchers on the sides and a new blaster on the top," Penelope smirked as she held it up, "Just leave those drones to me."

"And I'll take care of any stragglers," Sonia added as she held her keyboard-blaster up.

"Sly, what are you doing?!" Bentley demanded as he hovered up to the deck, "If you get another blow to your head, your brain will snap!"

"If Sly tries something, I have an alien that might make him think otherwise," Ben assured, 'Just as soon as the Omnitrix finishes the recharge.'

"Okay. So what is the situation up here?"

"We've taken out the radio towers and are now in the process of dealing with the drones," Manic explained, pointing towards Penelope and Sonia at the side of the deck, the latter firing on any drones that Penelope missed with her RC.

"Great! With the guided missiles offline, we've got a chance at air superiority!" Bentley beamed.

"Good. So what do I need to do?" Carmelita questioned.

"You?" Bentley asked.

"Chief Barkley had me take a three month vacation three years back after the Fiendish Five case," Carmelita informed, "I spent it taking lesson on piloting planes and jets." Sly opened his mouth and Carmelita aimed her shock pistol at him, "You are not going, Ringtail. You are going right back down under the deck or so help me Dios, I will give you a bigger reason to be on bed rest. Comprende?!"

"Fine fine. I comprende," Sly nodded as he held his hands up, "But you still need someone on the turret."

"Sly, this better not be…" Ben began.

"This is my family's legacy we're fighting for, you think I want to sit this one out?" Sly questioned, "But, I know when I'm going to lose an argument."

"Out of everyone here, aside from Carmelita-who'll be piloting-and Sonia-who is currently busy at the moment-, Haseo of all of us has the best shooting record based on files I pulled up on the Freedom Fighter Database," Bentley informed, the mentioned fox looking up from where he had been hiding from the explosions going on.

"Ano...h-hi," Haseo waved meekly.

"You sure he's the third best shooter here?" Carmelita asked in concern.

"I'm positive," Bentley adjusted his glasses, "He was the second-best shooter in his other team, the Rebellion Freedom Fighters, right after Noel Vermillion, who is the best shooter overall in all the Freedom Fighters. She curbstomped every single record for all things shooting that the Freedom Fighters had set up."

"H-hai. N-Noel-Nee was the one who taught me in order to defend myself," Haseo added.

"...While I don't like it that you're so young, you're one of the best shooters here," Carmelita informed, "I'll need your shooting skills while I pilot."

"The biplane launcher, although untested, should get you two aloft," Bentley informed.

"Another modification?" Manic grumbled as a slingshot emerged from the deck.

"Bentley and Penelope did it this time," Ben informed, "And Sonic gave his permission."

"You sure you'll be fine with this, Sly?" Ben asked.

"It's going to be tough, watching others fight my battles for me," Sly frowned as Carmelita and a nervous Haseo got into a blue and yellow biplane with the Cooper Gang emblem on the wings.

"Okay, Haseo, you're going to be targeting the sensor banks on the missile turrets," Bentley explained as the launcher was loaded, "However, you'll only have a small window when they're vulnerable; just ten seconds after some missiles are fired."

"H-hai," Haseo nodded, trying to keep a brave face on, "I'll do my best, Bentley-san."

"Good. Remember what's at stake here, Haseo, and good luck," Bentley saluted.

"Make sure he stays safe up there, Carmelita," Sly warned, "Otherwise, you'll be answering to Roll most likely."

"And before you ask, she's the hedgefox you saw earlier," Manic added.

"You'll do great, Haseo," Sly nodded to Haseo.

"H-Hai, Sly-Itoko," Haseo nodded.

"Wait, what?" Carmelita blinked twice as she looked over her shoulder at Haseo.

"Fire!" Bentley pushed a button on his wheelchair and the launcher went off, sending the biplane into the air.

"Be safe you two…" Sly whispered.

"Mmm….itai…" Roll groaned out as she started to regain consciousness, the hedgefox sitting up in the bed she was laying in as she rubbed one of her eyes.

"Easy now, Roll," Sonic spoke gently.

"S-Sonikku…?" Roll mumbled before her eyes widened, "Sly-Itoko! Sonikku, he's…"

"He's okay, but he's being forced to take it easy until we can get his cane back from Dr. M," Sonic informed, "You've been out for about an hour or so."

"S...soka…" Roll noted, "...D...Did I and Yacker-chan do something again?"

"I think Yacker was afraid of losing another member of the family who took him in," Sonic noted, looking over at an open dresser where Yacker was sleeping in a makeshift bed.

"...Did...did Yaker turn into Frenzy again?"

"No. From what Haseo and Bentley told me, he turned into something called Void," Sonic replied, "And from what that Interpol lady, Carmelita, said, she thought you were a Shark Mobian until your armor shattered when you separated from Yacker."

"S….soka…" Roll whispered, "That's the third time something like this happened…" she pursed her lips and pulled her family's book out, "Maybe there's something in here…"

"...Wouldn't hurt to check," Sonic nodded.

Roll nodded as she opened the book up and began to leaf through it, looking for anything about Yacker's two forms; Frenzy and Void.

"Buena. That's the last of them," Carmelita noted as the last of a wave of flying mutants fell and exploded in the sky, "You did a good job, Haseo."

"Eh heh...a-arigatou, Carmelita-san," Haseo replied with a sheepish chuckle, blushing a bit.

=Oh boy. Here comes the big guns…= Bentley noted as a large orange whale/dragonfly mutant emerged from the waters below =And by 'big guns,' I mean a giant flying whale-dragonfly thing covered in robotic junk=

=I think I see Dr. M hooked up to that giant monstrosity= Manic added.

=Where?=

=Ass=

=Manic! How r...=

=No. I literally mean its ass!=

"I see it," Carmelita felt another headache coming as she indeed saw Dr. M connected to the creature in the back.

"Mmm...it's that blasted harpy witch again…" Dr. M frowned before seeing Haseo, "Ah! And the younger cousin of Cooper! So, a Cooper is skyward with the harpy witch! So good! So nice! Time that family felt what it's like to play second fiddle! I am the master here! Sidekick no more!"

"Hang tight, nino. This is gonna be rough!" Carmelita advised Haseo as the Whale/Dragonfly fired missiles at the plane from the turrets on its back.

"H-hai!" Haseo nodded as he did so, just as Carmelita did a barrel roll to avoid the missiles.

"Come on…" Sly whispered as he looked at the fight in the air with his Binocucom.

"HASEO-CHAN IS WHERE?!"

"Uh-oh," Manic and Ben began to sweat before Roll zipped out onto the deck, looking around.

"Dude, who told her Haseo is in the air?" Manic asked as Sonic came up.

"Murray on the Binocucom," Sonic replied.

"...Dang it, Murray," Manic facepalmed, "You had one job...one. Freaking. Job."

=DIOS MADRE!=

"Carmelita!" Sly gasped.

=We've been hit!= Carmelita informed =Our left wing's on fire right now!=

=I Must be brave! I Must be brave! I Must be brave!= Haseo repeated in the background.

"Over there!" Penelope pointed at the sky.

Roll gasped before looking over the side of the ship, "Panda King! Fire me at the plane!"

"Wait, what?!" Sonic exclaimed.

"I shall grant you flight with the power of fireworks!" Panda King declared as Roll curled into a ball and jumped into his fireworks bazooka before he aimed and fired at the plane, "Fly, bird, fly!"

"Ahh! Roll!" Sonic freaked.

Manic began to chuckle before he started laughing.

"What is with you?!" Sonic snapped.

"Th...That's something I thought you'd do!" Manic laughed.

"Sh…" Sonic began before he saw where Manic went with this, "...Damn it. You're right."

Manic just laughed harder. Roll landed on the non-burning wing of the biplane and managed to keep her balance on it.

"What are you doing up there?!" Carmelita demanded.

"No one shoots my baby brother!" Roll growled at the flying whale, Yacker woozily poking out of her hair.

"Ha ha! You and your foolish friends keep trying to beat me with your guns! They're like toys compared to my creature!" Dr. M laughed, "If this Whalefly had vocal chords, he'd be laughing in your silly little faces! Ha ha ha!"

"LIGHTNING!" Yacker declared.

"What-what?" Dr. M blinked twice as Yacker went into Roll's blade.

Her arms turned ivory along with her eyes. Her sword glowed before transforming into a large multi-barreled blaster shaped like the Ivory Wisp twice her size.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Roll shouted as she pulled the trigger.

A barrage of ivory lightning erupted from the blaster and began to strike at the Whalefly, Dr. M babbling incoherently as the lightning coursed through him and the flying mutant with each hit. Carmelita and Haseo tilted their heads, wondering why they were hearing the 1812 Overture.

"What-Bzz! Is-Bzzz! This!?" Dr. M shouted through each zap, the last one making him holler out like an actual monkey, 'That hedgefox's weapon changed forms again! How….that creature with her. Somehow, it's able to upgrade her weapon with each form...how very interesting…I must have it for further studies!'

Another blast of electricity shocked him out of his thoughts. Yacker split from the sword as Roll panted.

'Not good...Still tired…' Roll thought.

"That's it. I'm settling this now," Sly narrowed his eyes, "Panda King! Fire me at the Whalefly!"

"WHAT?!" Bentley screamed.

"Not without me, you're not!" Sonic snapped as he got into the bazooka first followed by Sly hopping on top of it.

"Paragliding onto that thing?! This has to be your craziest idea!" Bentley shouted.

"FIRE!" Panda King shouted, pulling the trigger and sending the two into the air.

"Hold on tight!" Sly shouted, pulling the ripcord and deploying his paraglider.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Sonic shouted as he held onto him.

The two landed right on top of the Whalefly as the biplane landed near the vault entrance. Dr. M disconnected from his creation and hopped onto its back, cane in hand. Sonic summoned his sword as Sly readied himself for a fight.

"Headstrong...just like your father," Dr. M frowned before looking at Sonic, "Same goes for you, you little blue nuisance."

"You don't know anything about me or my father," Sly argued.

"Same with me and my dad," Sonic narrowed his eyes.

"Really?" Dr. M asked with a smirk at Sly, "Who let you in on the secret of this place, eh? Was it my old pal, McSweeny perhaps?"

"McSweeny works for you?" Sly's eyes widened, "This was all a set-up to get the cane!"

"No m'boy, once upon a time he and I worked together...for your dear old dad," Dr. M informed, venom filling the last three words.

"...My father wouldn't have run with a guy who'd try to steal from the Cooper Vault, let alone attempt to kill his son," Sly frowned.

"Time does strange things to people," Dr. M countered, "I mean, just look at the real leaders of your groups."

"Real leaders?" Sonic raised a brow.

"Yes. Cooper's friend Bentley, and your human friend, Benjamin Tennyson," Dr. M stated, "They have so much potential, and yet they waste it on idiotic egotistical fools like you."

"Whatever! We're friends, equals!" Sonic argued.

"Same here!" Sly agreed.

"Then tell me, why are your groups called the 'Cooper Gang' and the 'Sonic Underground Freedom Fighters' respectively, you self-centered egomaniacs?" Dr. M countered with a frown.

"Okay. This guy is seriously pissing me off," Sonic narrowed his eyes.

"That's enough!" Sly snapped as he rushed at Dr. M, grabbing his cane and knocking him off the Whalefly into the water below, 'Time to meet the past…'

"Hold on, Sly," Sonic said as he looked at the staff in Sly's hands, "He could've made a fake to trick us so he can get into the vault."

"No, this is my father's cane," Sly replied flipping it upside-down and showing Sonic a mark in the pole, "I know because I made that mark on it when I was twelve."

"...Still, I got a bad feeling about this," Sonic admitted.

"We'll be extra cautious then," Sly nodded before the two jumped off the crashing Whalefly and landed by the biplane, where the three that had been on it were now out with Roll looking Haseo all over.

"Are you okay? You didn't get hurt, did you? Are you sure you're fine?" Roll asked quickly as he looked him over.

"H-hai. I'm fine, onee-chan," Haseo replied.

"Oh thank the kami," Roll sighed in relief as she hugged him, "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

Sly walked up to the vault door. He held his cane up to it...before moving back.

"...Bentley, you there?" Sly asked.

=Yeah, pal=

"I'm about to head inside the vault and…" Sly looked over at Roll and Haseo, hugging one another, "...I want you and Murray to come with us in there." the other four there looked at him, "We're a team, a family. We should do this together."

=Okay, be right up...partner= Bentley replied, Sonic looking down over the side to see Bentley wheeling into the Cooper van...which had its wheels covered in fireworks.

=Nice! We'll have the Panda King give the van a boost! Stand clear, guys, we're about to get awesome!= Murray warned as Panda King ignited the fireworks.

"The fuse is lit!" Panda King declared in pure glee as he ran for cover.

=Buckle up, guys! We're about to fly!=

=Wait, what?= Sonia asked before the fireworks went off and sent them flying into the air =EEEEEK!=

=YAHOO!= Murray and Manic whooped as the van landed on all fours at the top right beside the biplane.

"We are NEVER doing that again," Bentley informed.

"EVER!" Sonia agreed as Sly unlocked the vault.

"Well, I kinda enjoyed it," Makoto added.

"Glad y-Makoto?! What're you…?"

"I hardly did anything this mission, and I want to help!" Makoto argued.

"Fair enough. You're in charge of keeping an eye on Carmelita," Bentley informed.

"Gotcha. And I'll keep an eye out for anything suspicious," Makoto said as she cracked her knuckles a bit.

"Everyone hop in!" Murray called.

Once everyone was in the van, Murray drove it into the vault. The ground rumbled a bit before it began to lower down into the tall mountain of the island. However, at the last second..something slid in through an opened crack.

"This place is amazing!" Bentley awed, his voice echoing in the large, ancient chamber, decorated with the Cooper Clan's emblem and Egyptian statues of raccoons.

"Yeah. It's gotta be like...at least a hundred years old!" Murray added.

"It's probably even older than that, Murray-san," Roll noted, looking up at one of the statues.

"An archaeological marvel!" Bentley noted.

"Okay, I'll admit it; this is quite fantastica," Carmelita admitted, 'Even if it was made by thieves…'

"S...Sugoine…" Haseo whispered as he looked around.

"Looks like the one thing they didn't think about was preserving bridges," Makoto noted, seeing an old bridge with the boards broken, and a single rope keeping the few remaining ones held up.

"No sweat," Manic smirked, "Murray, get the boulder out."

"I was wondering why you had a boulder in there," Sly admitted as Murray went into the van and rolled out a large boulder.

"Here ya go, Manic! One boulder, hold the granite," Murray joked.

"Thanks, man," Manic bumped Murray's fist before summoning his drumset, "One, two, three, four!"

Manic began to play out a drum solo. The boulder floated up into the air before reshaping into a long flat slab. He finished his solo as the slab was put down over the broken bridge.

"Order up. One wheelchair-accessible bridge," Manic twirled a drumstick before dismissing his drumset.

"Thank you," Bentley nodded, about to move forward before Sly held a hand up.

"Sorry guys, but me, Roll, and Haseo will be the only ones moving forward," Sly stated.

"Huh? But why?" Sonia asked.

"No, it's understandable," Bentley waved off the question, "Go on Sly. We'll hold down the fort here."

"...You okay with this, Roll?" Sonic asked as he looked at the hedgefox.

"I guess so," Roll replied.

"If this was made for our family," Sly noted, "It might mean we'd have to go through paths made by our ancestors. If we do, a path might open up for others to go. If it does happen like that, Roll will come get everyone. I don't want anyone getting hurt because of something our ancestors may've made as a test."

"Ahh...alright then," Sonic nodded.

"I can do this...I can do this...I can do this…" Haseo quietly repeated to himself as he prepared for the trials ahead, "I...I'm ready, Onee-chan...Sly-Itoko."

Roll and Sly nodded and the three ran up the bridge. The door resembling Sly's calling card slid up and let them walk through before closing behind them.

"Hmmm...Could be dark in there," Sly admitted just before the door closed.

"This is going to be the payday of all time!" Murray cheered as everyone began to set up a perimeter, "Think of all the loot piled up back in there!"

"Which is legally Sly, Roll, and Haseo's," Makoto added, ignoring the annoyed grumble from Carmelita, "Wonder what they'll find in there? My guess...probably some stuff belonging to their ancestors on Sly's side of the family."

"...Do you ever feel like you're second fiddle to Sly, Murray?" the hippo looked over at Bentley when the turtle asked the question, "Like he treats us as sidekicks?"

"No way, Sly's cool. We're all in this together!" Murray replied.

"Sure we're all here, but are we equal?" Bentley questioned, "We had a perfectly good bridge, but who were the ones who went into the vault? Sly, Roll, and Haseo."

"He was just trying to look out for you guys," Sonic spoke up, "I mean, there's probably traps set in there only a Cooper can get through."

"You know, I've been kinda wondering this, but why did you guys call your team the Sonic Underground?" Makoto asked.

"We haven't really used the first part of it since you and Ben showed up," Manic shrugged.

"Frankly, I had forgotten that first part since we haven't really used it in almost a year now," Sonia tapped her chin.

"Yeah. Plus...well, we haven't really performed for anyone since Christmas," Sonic added with a shrug, "We really need to do a few concerts to boost morale again."

"True."

"Yeah."

"Especially considering what's been happening lately," Sonic added, referring to the Dark Legion and such.

"You know, I just thought of something about why you called yourselves the Sonic Underground," Makoto noted, "You probably put your names together for it with Sonia first, Sonic second, and Manic last."

"Yeah, that probably sounds right," Sonia nodded.

"Probably something we'd have done when we were thirteen back when we first found each other," Manic chuckled.

"Aw, that's so sweet," Murray beamed before seeing Bentley still contemplating, "Think about it like this, Bentley; if it were you in that vault and Sly and I were out here, what would he do if Dr. M's goons forced open the door and we didn't have some teammates aboveground protecting the door?"

"He'd stop the thugs and protect his friend," Bentley replied.

"Right! And that's what I'm gonna do if anyone that isn't in our teams comes down here!" Murray declared.

"...You're right, Murray," Bentley nodded, "Sorry I asked such a stupid question."

"It's fine, man, W-" Murray began.

"Hold it," Makoto spoke up, her eyes narrowed as her ears flicked a bit, "...I don't think we're alone here…"

"?!" Carmelita armed her shock pistol as she looked about, "...It sounds like...agua?"

"Agua?" Manic repeated.

"Water." Carmelita answered.

"Ahh…"

"Wait. How could...there...be…" Sonic began before his eyes widened in realization, "Oh…..crap."

"What?" Sonia asked before a large amount of water came down the elevator and spilled all over the van.

"Ah! The van!" Murray freaked before the water reformed below it, revealing Chaos 1.

"What is that?!" Carmelita gasped, "Another of Dr. M's experiments?"

"Worse...Chaos. A really pissed off Water God," Sonic answered before yelping as he barely dodged a strike from Chaos, "And I got a pretty good idea what he's after here!"

"Sonic! His arm!" Sonia gasped, tumbling out of the way of another attack.

"Huh?" Sonic looked to see the metal bone-like limb inside of it, "Shit! He got one of the Chaos Emeralds already?!"

"Stay back, buddy!" Murray advised to Bentley, "I'm going to be bashing some skulls in tonight and I don't one of them to be yours!"

Chaos 1 just glared at him as he reeled his bone-like limb back. He was about to fire it before…

"Comet Cannon; Break Shot!" Makoto declared, summoning an energy sphere before she punched it at Chaos, only for it to pass through him, "What the...?!"

Chaos 1 turned to Makoto before the Chaos Emerald in its arm began to glow. Chaos 1 vanished before appearing behind Makoto, slamming her in the back with a right hook. Makoto cried out as she ended up crashing into the charging Murray, knocking him over.

"He teleports now?!" Sonic gasped as Chaos 1 turned to him and was about to attack when it screeched in pain, electricity coursing through its body.

"Yes! Got him!" Carmelita smirked before firing another shot at the God of Destruction, only for Chaos 1 to jump away from the shot.

"It's avoiding Carmelita," Sonia noted, "D'oh. Of course! Chaos is made of water!"

"And water conducts electricity!" Carmelita shouted as she kept firing at Chaos, each shot missing as the water god teleported around the room, "Ugh! Stand still you annoying little...!"

Chaos 1 ignored her as he kept dodging the shots via teleportation, stopping in front of the bridge leading to the entrance Sly, Roll, and Haseo left in. His body collapsed into a puddle of water before sliding under the door.

"He's going in after them!" Sonia gasped.

"Damn it!" Sonic cursed.

"After that water creature!" Carmelita shouted as she charged up the makeshift bridge.

"I just hope everyone above is alright," Bentley noted as he followed.

Above ground, the others were currently busy dealing with a wave of Goriliobants, Crabodiles, and a swarm of cobra/frog/tiger mutants. FourArms grabbed four of the Crabodiles and threw them at one of Cobra/frog/tigers, sending them into the direct path of a firework sent by Panda King.

"Geez...how many of these things did that M guy make?!" FourArms shouted as he backhanded a pair of Goriliobants that tried to sneak up on him, breaking their teeth and tusk before grabbing them and threw them over to Panda King, who slammed them to the ground with his hands covered in flames.

"I am unsure, but it is a glorious day for the fireworks!" Panda King declared before hearing a surprised trumpet followed by a splash.

=Less talking, more paying attention to surroundings!= Penelope's voice snapped from her RC chopper.

"Right! Sorry!" FourArms shouted as he uppercutted a Crabodile before he grunted out when a cobra/frog/tiger hit him in the back before its eyes glowed, sending out a few red energy rings at him, "Oh no you don't!" he slapped his Omnitrix and Howler stood in FourArms's place, "Send sound at me, will ya?" his mouth split open down the middle, "Have some sounds back!"

With that, he let out a loud howl, the resulting shock wave canceling out the mutant's own as it sent them and a few others crashing into the water.

"Raaaaahhh!" Panda King roared out as he fired his fireworks at multiple mutants, "Come! You monstrosities have yet to face the Panda King's true strength!"

"Ah, yes, you are much stronger than McSweeny was, Panda King. Along with your last few forms, Ben Tennyson," Dr. M noted.

"?!" the two tensed as they turned to see the baboon standing behind them.

"I don't have time to get into a screaming match with cavemen such as yourselves," Dr. M informed.

"Then why not a fight with just me?" Howler growled.

"I have no fight with you nor Bentley, Ben Tennyson. The three of us are the same," Dr. M informed, "Geniuses under glory hounds."

"Huh?" Howler raised a brow at that.

"You young Benjamin have a plethora of forms under your beck and call, and yet you waste them on that annoying blue hedgehog," Dr. M stated, "In fact, the rest of that hedgehog's lackies are holding you down from your true potential. Why with your little device, you could bring this planet to a new prosperity, even more than Robotnik. Or better yet...work alongside him to create a true utopia...one where no one has to waste their potential with such egotistical idiots, like Cooper or 'prince' Sonic."

"It's no secret that this has that kind of potential," Howler noted, glancing down at his Omnitrix symbol, "But the guy who made this never wanted that. It's meant to help one understand others by 'walking a mile in their shoes'. Me? When I first got it, I just thought it was something awesome to let me not get bored on a summer roadtrip with my cousin and grandpa. But as time went on, I know that what I really want to do is use the power this gives me to help others and right now, my friends are who I'm helping to get back what was stolen from them." he narrowed his eyes, "And that includes helping on getting this island back for Sly."

"..." Dr. M glared at him before he let out a sigh, "Such a shame...you had your choice of being free of that 'prince', but it seems I was wrong...which means I won't regret doing this!" Dr. M snapped as he threw a metal ring around Howler's neck.

"What th-" Howler began before he howled out in pain, electricity coursing through him as he changed back into Ben, "What?!"

"A bit of something Shockwave developed in his lab. Every time you try and transform, you'll receive an electric shock to your body,"Dr. M stated, "And even if you could transform, the resulting shock will force you out of it. Oh, and the real surprise...the larger the form, the more intense the shocks will feel."

'Shockwave…' Ben thought in annoyance, 'Wait...electrical shocks…' his eyes widened, 'That's it!'

Dr. M jumped back from a fire-engulfed karate chop from the Panda King, "Do you have a plan, Tennyson?"

"Yeah. But I am going to be in a world of hurt while trying it," Ben replied.

"I will handle the madman," Panda King informed while Penelope's RC chopper grabbed another mutant and threw it into the water, "The mouse shall distract the soldiers."

Ben nodded as he turned his Omnitrix on, the collar going off as it began to shock him. Ben winced in pain as he tried to go through the selections of DNA, mentally hoping the Omnitrix will give him the right one he needed. If he messed up, even more pain would ensue, so he only had one shot at this. He slapped down on the Omnitrix and a flash of green light went by. The collar clattered to the ground as Ben was nowhere to be found.

"What?!" Dr. M gasped, "Impossible. Shockwave made it so that the collar would adjust to any size of the forms you have!"

"Not all of them," a squeaky tiny voice informed before a tiny green laser hit Dr. M in an eye, causing the baboon to screech and grab his eye.

Panda King looked around while Penelope zoomed in on where the tiny shot had come from. Flying in the air, no bigger than a lice, was a metallic, humanoid alien. Its body was primarily silver with green cybernetic insect wings on its back and a single green eye. The alien flew over and landed on Panda King's nose, letting the large Mobian to look at him.

"He doesn't know about this one," the alien beamed, "Nanomech." he flew off Panda King's nose before Spidermonkey replaced the tiny alien, "And now, I'm mad. And when I get mad, I don't go Hero. It's time to go...Ultimate!"

He tapped his Omnitrix emblem and the spikes emerged. The green energy washed over the tiny, blue, four-armed monkey...and replaced it with a large, Panda King-sized, purple ape with six green eyes and four spider legs emerging from its back.

"Ultimate Spidermonkey!" the kong roared, crushing the collar under his feet.

"?!" Dr. M tensed at this, remembering the files he read on the ultimate forms Ben would turn into. He then looked out at his Mutants, "Well don't just stand there! Keep them busy while I go after Cooper!"

"I don't think so!" Ultimate Spidermonkey growled before turning to the opened vault door.

His lower jaw split in two before he unleashed a large amount of webbing, completely engulfing the vault door in a thick layer of it to the point no one could even see a hint of what had been there before.

"NO!" Dr. M roared, lunging at the evolved Arachnochimp, only for the ultimate alien to jump high over the lunge and land in the middle of the remaining mutants.

"Normally, it's Monkey See, Monkey Do," Ultimate Spidermonkey noted, "But this time, it's Gorilla See…" he grabbed two of the mutants and smashed them together before using them as clubs on the other mutants around him, "GORILLA SMASH EVERYTHING!"

"...Grr...damn you…!" Dr. M growled out, 'I was so close...so close!'

=You know what I don't get; how is you getting everything in the vault supposed to help Eggman?= Penelope asked.

"Because there is a Chaos Emerald in there!" Dr. M snapped, "Once I retrieved it give it to him, I can further transform this place into a far more fitting place for Dr. Robotnik's Dark Legion!"

"And yet, he'll also demand the money as well as, most likely, a 'downpayment,'" Panda King pointed out, "Or perhaps as payment for the robotics inside of your minions."

"Already taken care of," Dr. M stated, "With the money in the vault, I'll be able to keep the island, and I'll receive more Mobians to improve my army and research."

"So in short, you'll be serving Eggman as his lackey a-"

"I AM NO ONE'S LACKEY!" Dr. M snapped.

"Sure sounds like you're a lackey," Ultimate Spidermonkey pointed out, wiping his feet-hands as he was surrounded by pummeled mutants, "Guess you just like to be controlled by others."

"Grr…." Dr. M snarled before he let out a rage filled monkey howl, the baboon shooting past Panda King as he grabbed one of his fireworks, lighting it before throwing it into the side of the mountain, the resulting explosion creating a hole as he jumped through it.

"Oh no you don't!" Ultimate Spidermonkey growled as he tried to give chase, only to see the hole was too small for him to go through in his current form, "Only got enough charge for one last form. Better make it count." he slapped down and a flash of light replaced Ultimate Spidermonkey with Omniketsu, who fell to the ground, "...Oh come on!"

"...Clothing?" Panda King blinked.

=I think Makoto told me about this form= Penelope noted before deploying a hook to pick Omniketsu up =Panda King, I'm heading into the vault for a delivery! You try to widen the hole and get down there, too=

Panda King nodded as he loaded his bazooka with a few fireworks, the panda aiming at the hole before firing, the resulting explosion making the whole big enough for him to get in.

"The deed is done!"

Earlier with Sly, Roll, and Haseo, the three entered a large chamber fitting that of an Egyptian pharaoh's treasure chamber. They then noticed what looked like an Egyptian hieroglyphic of a racoon holding two, Khopesh' in his hands, the blades shaped like the hook on Sly's cane.

"Our ancestors sure knew how to decorate," Sly noted, "Nothin' but big piles of gold!" he walked up to the painting, "This place was started by our ancestor Slytunkhamen II. He built his fortune in the employ of the great pharaohs. That must have been around...1300BC."

"Sugoi~" Roll and Haseo awed.

"Yup. And we're possibly about to see more 'portraits' of our ancestors," Sly said with a small chuckle before looking ahead and frowning, seeing a mechanism consisting of ropes, barrels, and a pole with the top resembling a platform version of the family cane...surrounded by a deep pool of water and gold, "..."

"What's wrong?" Roll asked.

"I...can't swim," Sly admitted, looking at the water.

"Oh…" Roll said as Haseo looked out into the water.

"...A...ano...I-I can try carrying you," Haseo offered.

"Hmm? H-" Sly began before he noticed Haseo hovering in the air for a bit, his tails spinning like a propeller, "That's pretty awesome, Haseo."

"HOVER!" Yacker declared.

"Like, yeah. You're so gnarly, bro!" Roll cheered on her Hover-Board.

Sly blinked at this before he shrugged a bit, hopping onto the Hover-Board as the two made their way across the water, Haseo following behind them. The three reached an outcropping with a medieval theme to it. The three removed the cobwebs of it, exposing a large lance resembling the Cooper Clan's cane on a pedestal before a portrait of a raccoon wielding that same cane in a heroic stance.

"That's Sir Galleth Cooper, Knight of the Cooper Order," Sly explained as the three looked at the portrait, "Honorable knight and cunning thief. He and his order would steal from the corrupt and other thieves. His grandson, Robin Cooper, would go a step further and share what he stole with the poor."

"S...sugoine…" Haseo awed.

Sly looked around and then in the water, "I think I see a large boulder down there. When we get the others in here, Manic can probably pull it out to connect this to the first part of the place."

"H-hai," Haseo nodded as the three went on, going along another test and reached another outcropping, this one having an arabian theme to it.

"A lamp?" Roll tilted her head once they cleaned the cobwebs there, exposing a golden lamp, a scimitar shaped like a Cooper cane, and a stone mural of a muscular purple-furred raccoon.

"Ano...w-who's that, Sly-Itoko?" Haseo asked.

"Salim Al-Kupar of Arabia. It was said that he had the stealth of 40 thieves," Sly replied, "And that he had a genie in a lamp as his partner in crime."

"Eh? G-genie?" Haseo repeated.

"Yeah. Go figure," Sly shrugged as the group passed another set of traps and such before arriving at another outcropping, this one having more of a Scottish feel to it.

"He's a big Cooper," Roll noted once they cleaned the area, exposing a fabric-made portrait of a large, muscular raccoon in a kilt, hefting the large wooden club-like Cooper cane resting below it...looking rather amusing on its tiny stand.

"The strongest of the Cooper Clan, Slaigh MacCooper. It was said he could break any lock with a single blow," Sly explained.

"Eh?!" Haseo gawked at that before looking at the portrait, "W...wow…"

Sly nodded before looking ahead at the traps ahead...before cringing at a narrow path against a stone wall...with stone axes chopping in a rhythm, "Mind if we pass this on Yacker again? For Haseo's sake, of course."

"...Th-that sound okay, Yacker?" Haseo asked before the Hover-Board moved again, "Ahh. M-matte!" he called out as he landed on top of it, the board going past the traps as the three reached another area, this one having a Japanese feel to it.

"...Rioichi Cooper," Sly whispered as he looked at a highly-detailed sumi-e of a raccoon in ninja attire once they were done cleaning it.

"The one that started it all," Roll whispered as Yacker floated out of her hair, looking at the sumi-e with a mixture of sadness, joy, and melancholy.

"He fished out a shark, befriended it when he saw it bore our family's symbol on its chest as a birthmark, rode it into many battles, and the shark gave its life up near the end of its life to help him invent sushi," Sly noted, looking at a set of four hanging scrolls depicting a sumi-e made set of drawings of the tale, "That's...pretty awesome, really."

"H...hai…" Haseo nodded slowly before he saw a faded sumi-e near the larger one, "! O...Onee-chan…"

"Hm?" Roll blinked twice before Haseo pointed at the faded sumi-e, "By the Kami…"

Sly looked at it as well, "Guess Rioichi came here one last time before he died."

Haseo said nothing as he got down on his knees and began praying a bit, Roll following his lead. Sly stood nearby, letting them have their moment of praying.

'It's kinda nice having more proof that we are cousins,' Sly noted before looking ahead at the path filled with moving blades all with sharp points, 'And I am so glad that Roll's been practicing the Ninja Spire Jump.'

"W….we're ready...Sly-Itoko…" Haseo spoke up, both he and Roll finishing their prayers as they stood up.

Sly nodded, "You may want to get back on my back for the next part, Haseo."

Haseo nodded as he jumped onto Sly's back, holding onto him. Roll and Sly proceeded through the path until they reached the next area. Haseo gulped nervously, seeing a worn out pirate's flag resembling a one-eyed raccoon's face hanging off it. They were quick to clean it, exposing a portrait of a beautiful raccoon with a mixture of shinobi garb and a pirate's outfit, her mask covering her right eye and her left hand replaced with a hook...the same hook resting on a pedestal beside a cannon.

"Henriette "One Eye" Cooper sailed the seas and stole from pirates... guess I really take after her," Sly chuckled, recalling the adventure he had recruiting Dimitri.

"...A...ano...wh-why does she also look like a shinobi?" Haseo asked.

"She's Rioichi's daughter and your many-times great half-aunt," Sly replied, "It was said that she had the ability to smell gold no matter where it was, letting her get the Legendary Goblet of Sinbad from its hiding place."

"Sugei…" Roll and Haseo quietly awed.

Sly nodded as he looked at the path ahead, seeing a dark corridor of sorts with what looked like lamp posts going through it, revealing a few knocked over barrels. He narrowed his eyes as he saw that the moving lamp posts were actually skulls with two bones crossed over them, the eyes acting as searchlights. He looked at the barrels to see that the light didn't go through them. He motioned for the two to follow him and began to use the barrels to crawl past and hide from the lights. Once they got through it, Sly and Roll slid down a rail of sorts while Haseo followed after them via hoverwing with his tails, the three arriving in another area with a western feel to it. The portrait for the place wasn't a portrait...it was a wanted poster for a brown-furred raccoon with a pair of revolvers with the handles shaped like Cooper canes, a brown bowler hat, a black domino mask, a yellow scarf, brown gloves, and an orange long-sleeved shirt with a brown vest over top. He wore a leather holster around his waist, and leather boots with gold trim and spurs on his feet.

"'Wanted...Tennessee Kid Cooper,'" Haseo read off the poster.

"8,474,577 Rings?!" Roll gasped.

"He learned to slide along rails in the old west," Sly noted while looking at the two revolvers on the pedestal before the wanted poster, "His signature technique was the Crackshot, which let him take out multiple targets within a second."

"W...within a second?!" Haseo repeated in shock and awe.

"Yeah. He stole from rich landowners by carrying out old style train robberies and by using his invented technique of walking the rails to escape capture," Sly continued, looking ahead to see the next part of the path, "And it seems that he thought it'd be a good test by having that technique be the one needed to get through here."

"..." Haseo gulped a bit as he saw the traps ahead, seeing a pair of eight-shaped rails moving up and down, and a pair of ropes with that looked like stone pulleys going down them.

"Just hold on tight," Sly advised, picking him up and putting Haseo on his back, "Did you practice this while we were on the boat, Roll?"

"Just a little," Roll replied.

Sly nodded and the two went off. After dealing with the rails and going up the ropes, they came upon a part of the vault that resembled a quaint Victorian abode in a cavern. A piano, still in a well-preserved condition, was in one corner while the portrait before them had a top hat, a gold chalice, and a gentlemen's cane resembling a Cooper cane on a pedestal around it. The protrait contained a raccoon in fine attire, using the Cooper cane as a cane. Haseo and Roll tilted their heads at the well-mannered mustache on his face.

"Victorian London was the stomping ground for the most gentlemanly thief, Thaddeus Winslow Cooper," Sly informed, "His section of the book holds a lot about disguises and being a gentlemen. He actually worked with Scotland yard while he was alive, helping solve difficult cases they had." he looked ahead, seeing the same first set of traps near Slytunkhamen II's area, "Guess he was the one who made this set of traps."

"S….Soka…" Haseo noted.

"Let's keep going," Roll's tail wagged.

Sly nodded as they traveled through the path, jumping from pike to pike as they neared the next area. However, they noticed one more obstacle...a series of metal platforms hammering in a fast, set motion. Sly and Roll waited a few moments before they began to jump up the platforms in time of the rhythm. After timing one more jump, they eventually reached the top, seeing various engines and plane parts strewn about. Instead of a Cooper cane...there was a large engine with the propeller blades shaped like the Cooper cane on a pedestal. Behind that was a portrait of a Raccoon in flying gear.

"Besides being a thief, Otto van Cooper was a great fighter ace," Sly noted, "Due to his physical ineptitude, he used his talents to pull off heists, his machines facilitating his thievery."

"Soka...interesting," Haseo noted as he looked around, seeing the plane parts, "...T-Tails-nii would've loved to see this. I...I remember he liked to work on planes and such."

"He's still working on them," Roll noted with a small smile.

"If there are any blueprints of his here, I'd be glad to make some copies for him to look at," Sly shrugged.

"N-neat," Haseo gave a small smile before he heard something splashing in the water below, "?!...a...ano...S-Sly-itoko? A...are there fish in here by any chance?"

"Maybe," Sly replied before putting him on his back, "I think we might be close to the innermost part of the place."

Haseo nodded as the group of three made their way past the next path, which was a set of hooks and fast spinning propellers that stopped every few seconds. The last part of the area didn't have a way forward; just a laser going from one end to the other while another set of non-threatening lasers was making the Cooper Clan symbol in the ceiling. Sly frowned as the three looked at a portrait. Roll couldn't help but give a coo, seeing a little child raccoon, sucking his thumb, while looking up at another raccoon in a chair they were in; the head area for the raccoon missing.

"This must be my father's work," Sly noted, looking at his cane and at the empty pedestal.

"Y….your...tou-san?" Haseo said as he looked at him.

'This is Sly-Itoko as a child?' Roll pondered in surprise at the portrait.

"Yeah…Conner Cooper," Sly nodded sadly before looking over at the laser, "How are we supposed to get through this thing? He made this challenge for a move I never learned…"

"There's nothing like this in the Thievius Raccoonus?" Roll asked.

"Nope," Sly shook his head, 'Come on, Dad. Help me out here.'

"...Ano…" Haseo blinked a bit as he walked over to the laser leading to the other side.

"What's up?" Sly asked.

"...I...maybe…" Haseo whispered a bit, carefully placing his foot on the laser before, much to Sly and Roll's surprise, started sliding down it, "Ahh!"

"Haseo(-chan)!" the two gasped before they jumped on it.

Sly caught Haseo with his cane before they jumped off at the end, landing before an array of lasers.

"...No way…" Sly chuckled, "Did...Did we just slide down a laser of all things?" he looked around, seeing blue sparkles on a series of horizontal lasers, "There's a thieving opportunity on a lot of these lasers."

"Conner-san must have improved Tennessee-san's rail slide technique to work on lasers!" Roll realized.

"Nice work, Haseo," Sly patted the fox's back.

"Heh heh...arigatou, Sly-Itoko," Haseo smiled a bit, his tails swaying a bit in excitement from that, "Heh...I-I slid on a laser...w-wait until Onii-chan-tachi and Sonia-Onee-chan hear this."

"That must be the inner sanctum ahead," Sly noted before his eyes narrowed, seeing the door had been punched open ahead, "And I think we have company in it." the three made their way down the laser path and got to the door, "Sure wish the others could were here for this…"

"This must be the founder of the vault," Sonia noted, looking at the stone carving of Slytunkhamen II.

"Amazing! It looks to be from around 1300BC!" Bentley noted.

"Though, how are are all of us going to keep going on ahead?" Murray asked, "There's no path except for one with a lot of jumping and grabbing stuff in the air."

"Dunno. Any ideas, Manic?"

"..."

"Manic?"

"Ho...ly….crap…" Manic whispered as he saw the mountains of gold within the area up ahead, "...Sis, please pinch me. I think I died and gone to heaven…"

Sonia slapped him upside the head, "Focus, Manic! We need a way to get to the Chaos Emerald!"

"Oh. Right!" Manic nodded before pulling out the tracker, "The Emerald Radar says that it's probably in the deepest part of the place."

"That must be the Inner Sanctum," Bentley noted.

"I see some boulders and broken stalagmites in the water below," Carmelita informed.

"Manic, use your Geokinesis to get us a path to that sanctum," Bentley advised.

"You know what, dude?"

"What?"

"You think pretty awesome," Manic grinned.

"Don't he?" Murray grinned.

"Thanks," Bentley nodded.

Manic cracked his knuckles before summoning his drumset. He proceeded to begin a drum solo. The rocks below the water rumbled before rising up, reforming into a bridge connecting to each area of the vault. By the time Manic finished and dismissed his set, he was panting with a bit of sweat.

"That...My arms are achin' now," Manic groaned.

"This is the longest you've used your drums and their geokinesis since we first learned how to use our medallions," Sonia noted in concern.

"Guess we've got a lot of training to do after this with you, Manic," Sonic noted, earning a nod from the green hedgehog as the group began to cross the bridge, passing through each part representing each member of Sly's family.

"...Man, this place is big," Makoto whispered as she looked around, seeing the mountains of gold in the area as they passed through Galleth's area.

"He has a knight in the family?" Carmelita looked at the portrait.

"Seems like it," Sonic noted, look closer at the portrait, "I...I think I see the original castle before Eggman tore it down for his palace."

"Really?" Sonia asked as she and Manic looked at where Sonic was pointing.

"Oh, dude. We had a Cooper as a knight? Tight," Manic grinned.

"Guys, focus! God of Destruction after the Chaos Emerald here?" Makoto reminded.

"Oh right. Sorry," Sonic shook his head as the group resumed their trek through the area, none of them aware of Dr. M entering the cavern.

"Now let's see...Judging by the tracker I put inside Cooper's cane, he's breached the Inner Sanctum," Dr. M noted before looking at the stone pathway, "And it seems that the fools made an easier path for me to reach it." he ran off down the path, jumping off at a point and started climbing up a side.

"This is humiliating!" Omniketsu snapped as Penelope's RC flew in, Panda King running in after it.

"Tennyson appears to be annoyed by this," Panda King noted, seeing the twitching 'eye' of Omniketsu.

=Come on. We need to find the others before Dr. M does!= Penelope informed before her RC flew off.

Panda king nodded as he ran after it, crossing the stone made bridge. When he was out of sight, Chaos 1 poked his head out of the water, looking out ahead before diving back in and swam next to the bridge.

Meanwhile, deep within the inner sanctum of the vault, a familiar red echidna was looking around. He jumped up and looked in an old biplane before pulling out a shard of the Master Emerald.

"That's the last one here," Knuckles noted, "That makes eighteen shards." a door opening made him tense and look out to see Sly, Haseo, and Roll slide down a laser and land on the large platform shaped like Sly's calling card floating in a bed of water, "Roll?"

"Knuckles-san?" Roll looked up to see the echidna, who glided down to them, "How did you get in here? Why are you even here?"

"You know this guy?" Sly scowled at the echidna, who glared up at him in return.

"This is Knuckles-san, the guardian of Angel Island," Roll introduced, "Though why he's on private property to our family is anyone's guess."

"Wait. You own this place?" Knuckles asked.

"It belongs to the Cooper Clan, yes," Sly responded, "Now...mind telling me why you're in the inner sanctum of our vault?"

"...Eggman's men blew up the Master Emerald and some of the shards of it landed here," Knuckles informed, holding up the last shard he found since he hadn't pocketed it yet.

"...Ohhh…" Roll's eyes widened.

"What?" Sly and Haseo looked at her.

"I think the radar mistook this for a Chaos Emerald," Roll noted.

"Makes sense considering it was two before," Knuckles frowned before the shard went into his body.

Sly looked around as Roll introduced Haseo and Knuckles to each other, the raccoon seeing the many vehicles hanging about, "This is just...overwhelming!" he looked at a helicopter themed after the Cooper cane, "Amazing! How'd Thaddeus make a flying machine in the eighteen hundreds? Bet this thing still works!"

"Oh, I'm sure it's operational."

"?!" Sly tensed as he jumped back, seeing Dr. M jump down into the area, connected to a robotic spider-like machine with neon blue electricity crackling in the center, "Dr. M...glad you could see all this. I know you've been looking forward to it."

"Yes...Looking forward to this...and your death!" Dr. M shouted as he jumped into the air, propellers popping out of the top of his machine as he began to fire a lava red laser at the group.

"Dodge!" Knuckles shouted as he jumped out of the way and began to climb up a wall.

"I see you have the guardian of the Master Emerald with you as well, Cooper," Dr. M noted, the baboon protected by a barrier the same color as his laser, "Tell me, what did you do to 'convince' him to become your lackey?"

"He showed up on his own," Sly argued, "And I still demand to know how you got in he…" Knuckles dug into the wall, "Oh."

"Leaving so soon?" Dr. M taunted at the hole Knuckles had dug.

"LIGHTNING!"

"Oh not again," Dr. M's eyes widened as the 1812 Overture went off, accompanied by a barrage of ivory lightning heading for him, the baboon screeching as he flew out of the way of the barrage of lightning.

"Heh..what's wrong, M? Running with your tail between your legs?" Sly smirked.

"No. In fact…" Dr. M began as he spotted Yacker coming out of Roll's sword to catch his breath, "I've been looking for a little upgrade!"

"Huh?" Sly raised a brow at that before Dr. M shot past him, snatching Yacker as he flew to the other side..

"Yacker-chan!" Roll gasped before one of the legs of the machine batted her away.

"I've seen what this little creature can do…" Dr. M stated as the center of his machine opened up, "Let's see what happens when I do this?" he smirked as he placed Yacker into the container, closing it as Yacker began to writhe in pain, multicolored energy coming off him as it began to power up Dr. M's machine, "Excellent...now let's test it out…"

"L..LaSeR!"

"?!" Sly tensed before he knocked Roll and Haseo out of the way just as Dr. M fired a tainted-cyan beam, the baboon protected by a barrier in the same color as the laser reflected around the room.

"Yacker-chan…" Roll whispered, "He's in pain..."

"Thank you so much, Cooper," Dr. M smirked darkly as he hid behind his barrier, "Not only have you allowed me entrance to the vault, but provided me with a new energy source."

"Let him go, Dr. M," Sly scowled.

"No. As I stated before, everything on this island is mine, which includes the vault, and my new 'pet'," Dr. M smirked.

"GRavITy!"

"Gravity?!" Roll exclaimed.

With that, a tainted, dark purple beam fired off at the three, who barely dodged it before they began to fall to the ground, feeling something intense pushing them down.

"And that's not all…"

"HawK! BUrsT!"

'Two at once?' Roll thought, 'H-How?'

Dr. M merely smirked as his barrier changed to a mix of tainted crimson and tainted fire-red, firing off a giant laser that was shaped into a large tainted crimson/fire-red phoenix as it headed towards the three. It nearly hit the three when a barrage of fireworks struck the phoenix, dispersing it in a colorful explosion.

"None shall harm Cooper or his regained kin!" Panda King declared at the entry into the place, "The Panda King decrees it!"

"M...minna…" Haseo whispered, grunting a bit as the others quickly arrived into the area.

"Grr..the rest of Cooper's Lackeys…" Dr. M frowned a bit before noticing Sonic, "And the so-called prince is with them...what are the odds?"

"What did you do to them?" Carmelita scowled, aiming her shock pistol at the baboon.

"Just gave them a taste of gravity. Speaking of taste...here's a little snack!"

"SPIke! BoMB!"

"Look out!" Sonia yelped as the group jumped to avoid the tainted pink spikes before they exploded on impact behind the ground, all of them managing to land on the center platform.

"H...He has...Y-Yacker-chan…" Roll got out.

"What?!" Sonic gasped at that before he glared at Dr. M, "Let him go, IR, or else!"

"Sorry, but no. He's my property now," Dr. M countered, "In return, I'll give you this!"

"CUbE! QUake! ASterOID!"

"Incoming!" Manic shouted.

A tainted azure and dark grey cube formed in front of Dr. M, nearby debris and metal forming around it before it came crashing down, shaking the area greatly as the debris and metal shot at everyone. Sonic summoned his guitar while Sonia called out her Keyboard-laser, the two firing at the metal and debris before Sonic switched his guitar for its sword state and charged at Dr. M.

"RockET! DRiLL!"

Sonic skidded back as he quickly blocked a tainted orange-yellow rocket-drill shaped laser headed at him. He grunted before managing to redirect the attack into the water.

"Heh heh heh… It's no use…" Dr. M smirked behind his barrier, "Thanks to this creature, I have an endless amount of attacks to destroy you all with. You can't do a th..."

Knuckles roared as he erupted from the ceiling. Dr. M's eyes widened as he looked up while Knuckles swung down with a fist, metal coating the back of it and the spikes on his namesakes, tearing one of the metal legs out of the machine.

"Gah!" Dr. M moved back.

"Knuckles?!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Hey," Knuckles greeted as he landed next to him.

"Why you….take this!" Dr. M shouted, managing to correct himself on three mechanical legs.

"LaSer! BUrsT!" Yacker called out in pain as DR. M fired a tainted-cyan and fire-red laser at the group, the baboon once more protected behind a barrier of the same color.

"Woah!" Manic yelped as he and the others dodged, the laser bouncing off the spot they were on as it began to melt, "...hoo boy."

"This is getting us nowhere," Sonic growled, "We have to surprise him like Knuckles did."

"Anyone see Makoto?" Sonia asked, realizing the squirrel Beastkin hadn't come in with them.

"...No. Where is she?" Sonic asked.

Dr. M prepared to fire another laser while jumping when he realized he couldn't get one of the remaining legs to move. He looked over to see Makoto smirking while digging her fingers into the leg, Omniketsu being worn on her.

"Hello," Makoto greeted, "Penelope, now!"

=Fire in the hole!= Penelope's voice came from the RC Chopper before she flew it right at another of Dr. M's machine's legs, blowing the RC up with the leg as Makoto swung her sword and tearing the other off.

"Wh-Whoa!" Dr. M yelped as he jumped away on his own legs, unable to keep balancing on the last one, "You little insignificant…!"

"Sorry I'm late guys! Had to get changed real quick!" Makoto waved to the others.

"..." Panda King raised a brow.

"That is awesome!" Murray whooped.

"Thanks. Now…" Makoto began as she aimed her blade at Dr. M, "Hand over the Wisp, and you won't have to lose your clothes and/or fur, monkey boy."

"I am a baboon! Not a monkey!" Dr. M snapped, "And if you want this, then have it!"

"VoId! LaSeR! GraVitY!"

"What the...?!" Makoto gasped before she managed to bring her blade up, blocking the laser sent at her. However, the gravity it was releasing was causing her to get down to her knees as she struggled to stay up.

"He's using Yacker as some sort of powerup," Omniketsu noted.

"What was...your first...clue…" Makoto grunted out as she struggled to stay up, 'Too strong...N...Need something to...fight back…'

Omniketsu tensed before green sparkles covered him. The sparkles faded, revealing her legs had gained thruster-like armor with vents covering the feet. His eyes had shrunk as a pair of jet wings had emerged from Makoto's back in the shape of an upsidedown 'V.'

"Wh-What?!" Makoto gasped before the vents erupted with green energy, sending her into the air.

"She flies?!" Dr. M gasped, 'The suit has another form?!' "Grr...don't think you'll get away!"

"HawK! FRenZY!"

"Oh no you don't!" Murray shouted as he threw a stalagmite that Manic had managed to pull out with his drums at Dr. M, obscuring the baboon's sight with the debris when it hit the barrier around him, "You're not just fighting them! You're fighting all of us still standing, too!"

"How did this happen?" Makoto looked at herself while staying in the air.

"I'm not sure. For some reason, I saw this in my mind and went with it," Omniketsu replied.

"Huh….still, this is pretty cool," Makoto admitted before looking back down at Dr. M, "...You have anything for that defense of his?"

"Hmm…" Omniketsu pondered for a bit, thinking hard before spikes began to poke out of him, two extending over Makoto's hands like daggers or claws, "Will these do?"

"Oh yeah...these should do…" Makoto smirked before she shot back down at Dr. M.

"I don't think so…" Dr. M frowned.

"RockET! DRiLL!"

Makoto saw the tainted Rocket-Drill shooting towards her, the Beastkin gaining an idea as she began spinning in the air at high speed, using her claws as the tip as she became a blur of black and green, charging right through the attack.

"Impossible!" Dr. M gasped before a barrage of fireworks and shock pistol rounds took out the last leg, leaving him with just the container he was plugged into.

"Game's over, Dr. M…" Sly stated as the group began to surround the baboon, Makoto landing on the floor as she readied her blade.

"You've got some moxie, Sly, I'll give you that..." Dr. M noted, his forcefield flickering in and out.

"I don't know what went down between you and my father, but I'm telling you it's not the same with me and Bentley," Sly informed, glancing over at the turtle.

"You might be right. He's risking his life to defend you," Dr. M conceded.

"I'd do the same for him," Sly crossed his arms.

"...Heh. Funny….your father was never such a good friend," Dr. M stated.

"We're all individuals. I might be part of all this, a member of the Cooper line. But in the end...I'm just me. Not Henriette, Thaddeus, Slytunkhamen, Rioichi OR my father... just Sly," Sly replied.

"Please! Keep your touchy-feely rhetoric to yourself! I can't stomach it!" M said in disgust, "You Coopers are a bunch of dirty, attention-grubbing thieves! All of you, THIEVES!"

A popping noise and a ringing went off at that. Haseo and Knuckles tensed, recalling that noise. Dr. M took a step back before a water-made three-clawed hand impaled him through the chest.

"?!" M gasped out, coughing up blood as he slowly turned to see Chaos 1, "...Y...you…"

Chaos 1 looked up at the container, seeing Yacker in pain inside of it. He rose his bulkier arm with the Chaos Emerald within before swinging, shattering it and sending Yacker out of it. The Wisp groaned as Roll barely caught it.

'He...He got Yacker-chan out?' Roll pondered before Chaos 1 tore M in two, tossing the halves at Sonic and Kncukles, knocking them over and sending the three Chaos Emeralds on them into the air.

"Oh no! The Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic yelped.

"You had two of them?!" Knuckles asked, throwing the half of M's corpse off him while getting the half on Sonic off.

The emeralds landed before Chaos 1. The emerald in Chaos 1 glowed brightly with the other three, forcing everyone to cover their eyes. The light faded and revealed Chaos was now the size of Panda King. Chaos 4 had a shark-like body with a dorsal fin on both its back and a horn on its forehead, and the flaps on the sides on its head had grown longer. It also had two sharp pelvic fins and a pair of arms like Chaos 1's larger one, except its hands looked more like fins and lacked thumbs. Inside its hands and wrists it had grey metallic bones, each with a Chaos Emerald embedded in them. It also had bones running from its tail fin to its belly where it had a pelvis-like bone holding two Chaos Emeralds.

"It...it changed form!" Sonia gasped.

"Madre de dios…" Carmelita whispered in shock, nearly dropping her shock pistol.

Chaos 4 let out a roar of sorts as it did a flip in the air, sending a large pillar of water at the group. Murray picked up Bentley before they jumped out of the way of the attack, the water pillar slamming into a wall and exposing the inner sanctum to the outside world where the storm was still going strong. Chaos 4 split his body into four large spheres of water and began to bounce them around, attempting to hit any of them with them.

"Woah man!" Manic yelped as he and Sonia barely dodged the sphere coming at them, "This just got really chaotic!"

"Manic!"

"It was not intentional!" Manic argued as the spheres reformed into Chaos 4, who did a swiping motion with its tail as it sent a large cutting wave at everyone.

"Taste the beauty of my fireworks, creature!" Panda King declared as he open fired once they jumped over the cutting wave.

Chaos 4 just floated there as it fired off a few water spheres, trapping each of the fireworks sent at him before the water pressure inside the spheres crushed them.

"I don't think it was hungry," Murray pointed out.

Chaos 4 let out a growl like noise as it flipped in the air once more, sending out a few more pillars of waters at the group. They managed to dodge the pillars again before the area began to rumble. Chaos 4 leapt at them only for a boulder to slam down on him. The god of destruction shook itself before jumping out of a hole in the walls.

"Manic, are you…?" Bentley gulped.

"Not me, dude," Manic replied.

"The fights! They've started to cause the place to collapse!" Bentley realized.

"We need to evacuate, now!" Carmelita exclaimed.

"But…" Roll began, looking around with a sad look.

"I know, Roll…" Sly sighed, "But our lives are more important right now."

"...No way," Manic replied, summoning his drums, "This place is way too important to lose."

"Manic, this is crazy. The manipulation of making all those stone pathways in the main vault had you exhausted," Bentley tried to reason, "Trying to control an entire island to not collapse could very well kill you!"

"..." Sonia summoned her keyboard as Sonic turned his sword into its guitar state.

"Manic's not gonna be alone this time," Sonic assured.

"When we work in harmony, anything's possible," Sonia added.

"Huh?" Murray scratched his head in confusion.

"Trust us," Sonic replied.

"...Okay...but you better hurry up! This place looks like it's about to come down any minute!" Sly noted, Carmelita shooting a boulder before it could hit one of the vehicles in the room.

The three nodded before they breathed in and exhaled slowly in unison. Sonia started them off. After a few times of repeated a set of notes, Manic began to add in a drum. Sonic soon joined in on the melody.

Sonic: The cycle repea~ted as explosions broke in the sky! All that I nee~ded was the one thing I couldn't find. And you were there at the turn, waiting to let me kno~ow…

All three: *their instruments began to shine, releasing pulses of their respective color-blue, magenta, and green-each time their instruments were played* We're building it up~ to break it back do~own! *the pulses brushed against the walls, seeping into the stone and forming glowing patterns in the three colors upon them, quickly spreading out* We're building it up~ to burn it down! We can't wait to burn it to the ground!

The patterns on the walls spread out fast, reaching out all over the inner sanctum and continued spreading outwards as the vault started to collapse in on itself. Out on the sea, Penelope, Guru, and Dimitri ran out onto the deck of the Underground Ship to see the outside glowing with the patterns.

"What is this hippity-hoppity mish-mash?!" Dimitri exclaimed in shock and awe, "The island, she is doing the rave party!"

"I...wh...how…?" Penelope whispered in shock and awe before the Guru spoke up, "It...It's ancient magic almost as old as the Dreamtime? C...Could it be Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are doing this?"

Sonic: The colors confli~icted as the flames climbed into the clouds. I wanted to fi~ix this *as a boulder was about to collapse on Henrietta's area, it stopped as the glowing patterns on it shined brighter* but couldn't stop from tearing it down. *the boulder flew back up where it had fallen from as Henrietta's area began to be moved along with the other areas in the vault with family portraits* And you were there at the turn, caught in the burning glo~ow. And I was there at the turn, *a pair of stone cane emerged from the water, grasping onto the ends of the platform they were on as the water fell away into openings in the floor* waiting to let you kno~ow…

All three: We're building it u~up to bring it back do~own! We're building it u~up to burn it down! We can't wait to burn it to the ground…

Manic: *the island began to pull its split parts together as the mountain began to lower, Penelope barely managing to get to the wheel and pulling the ship away from the churning waters* You told me yes! You held me high! And I believed when you told that lie! I played soldier, you played king; and struck me down, when I kissed that ring! *Dr. M's split halves fell off the side of the platform they had been left on, falling deep into the openings below before they sealed shut* You lost that right, to hold that crown! I built you up, but you let me down! *the walls moved away, combining the inner sanctum with the rest of the transforming vault* So when you fall, I'll take my turn and fan the flames as your blazes burn!

Sonic: *large stone canes resembling the ones below the different portraits emerged from the ground and touched the ceiling above* And you were there at the turn, waiting to let me kno~ow...

All three: We're building it u~up to bring it back do~own! We're building it u~up to burn it down! We can't wait to burn it to the ground…

Manic: *the island began to settle, shaped into the shape of a crescent moon, the vault entrance hidden away in the foliage* When you fall, I'll take my turn and fan the flames as your blazes burn!

All three: We can't wait to burn it to the ground…

Manic: When you fall, I'll take my turn and fan the flames as your blazes burn!

All three: We can't wait to burn it to the ground…

As the last of the notes were played, the instruments began to lose their glow. Upon the final note being played, their instruments changed back into medallions and the three fell over on their behinds.

"Ugh...Forgot how exhausting doing that is…" Sonia mumbled, shaking her head while holding it with one hand.

"Y...yeah...but hey...we….we did it…" Manic panted heavily as everyone looked around the massive restructured vault, the portrait areas going downwards in a spiral, their traps connecting one another in a descending path while the inner sanctum was now one with it in the center, the three stone canes letting it stay in place while a laser was connecting to each portrait area.

"..." Bentley squeaked as he fainted, his head overloaded with information on what just happened.

=Hey! Is anyone still there?!= Dimitri shouted on the Binocucoms.

"W...We're here, Dimitri," Sly answered.

=What just happened?! This island be straight tripping it up! It just done went and boogied on down into a new shape and everything!=

"Th...that...that's our….doing…" Manic got out before everyone heard a beeping noise.

"Uh oh," Makoto looked down at the Omnitrix symbol, the color flashing between red and green with each beep, "Aw shoot! Where'd my clothes go?!"

"...Oops," Sonic whispered, seeing some tatters of what used to be Makoto's clothes hanging off the wall before it fell into the water far, far below.

"Oh you've gotta be…!" Makoto began as the beeping started to pacing, "Uh...uh...anyone have or see any spare clothes?!"

"Ano…" Roll looked around before seeing something, "Oh!" she ran at one of the lasers before she began to slide up it.

"...When could...she do...that?" Sonia blinked twice before the hedgefox began sliding back down, carrying an old kimono that seemed to be almost new.

"Got something!" Roll ran over to the Makoto.

The men turned away while Sonic covered Manic's eyes and Sonia Sonic's. They heard clothes being ruffled before a red flash signified the Omntrix had timed out. Makoto sighed in relief, now wearing the kimono...though her entire cleavage was exposed due to the slight size difference in the chest area.

"I hate that form so much…" Ben muttered, lying on the floor and looking at the ceiling.

"You're not the only one when it comes to that form…" Makoto muttered a bit, trying her best to keep her cleavage covered, "...Great. Now I need some new clothes."

"So how do we get out of here?" Carmelita asked.

=We found the vault entrance. Looks like all that restructuring caused the webbing to tear apart= Penelope spoke up before the elevator lowered itself down to the metal platform, carrying Penelope, Guru, and Dimitri.

"Now this be a happening joint," Dimitri looked around, "A lot of cracker boxes put up on display, though…"

"I'll let that slide because you guys didn't see what went on down here," Sly informed, using his Binocucoms to see that all the treasure aside from some pieces related to each Cooper's time was beneath the water, a laser going out to a platform near the water at the bottom, "And nice security for the loot."

"Heh….thanks…dude..." Manic gave a tired chuckle as he sat up.

"So how is this going to go down?" Makoto asked as everyone was back on the deck of the Underground Ship, the Beastkin looking over at Carmelita.

"...The island sunk after one of the drilling tools Dr. M was using struck an integral part of it," Carmelita informed, "He was killed when a saw he was using to try to open the vault broke when a shot he fired at me missed and fell on him, his split remains falling into an opening in the island from it sinking."

"Ahh...sounds about right," Makoto nodded.

"You're going to cover this up?" Sly asked with a raised brow.

"Last time I mentioned magic at all in a report and I spent five hours in the chief's office as he ranted about falsifying reports," Carmelita frowned with a twitch in her eye.

"Some guys just can't believe in things they've never seen," Ben shrugged.

"Yup," Sonic nodded in agreement, "...heh, wonder how ol' Eggbutt will react to hear he lost one of his Dark Legion leaders?"

"...Sleet?"

=y….yes sire?=

"Why are Dr. M's heart monitor, brainwave readings, and a few minor other readings at zero?"

=W-Well, my liege. It's either he betrayed you and ended up with...that…or he was killed or died of natural causes or accident= Sleet gulped =At least, from what you told me the readings were for=

"...Shockwave! Play the last known footage on his base's security cams!" Eggman ordered.

"At once, my lord," Shockwave replied as a holographic screen appeared before them in a theater screen shape, the lights even dimming and a bucket of popcorn lowering from the ceiling for Eggman to grasp.

"Ah. Excellent touch. Now play!" Eggman ordered.

"Of course, my lord," Shockwave replied as the screen showed the hallway leading to Dr. M's lab. A few seconds past before something dashed across the screen, something...blue.

"Pause it, rewind one second, and play at a hundredth of normal speed," Eggman ordered.

Shockwave tapped a single button on the console beside him. The screen rewound and began to move at a snail's pace...aside from Sonic on the screen, running past the screen while blowing a raspberry at it while pulling an eyelid down.

"...Sonic…' Eggman growled, trembling in anger before he shot up and roared in complete fury, tossing the bucket at Starscream's head as he was entering the room, "That blasted hedgehog! Not only did I lose a Dark Legion base, but now I have to replace Dr. M!"

"My lord, there seems to be good news at least," Shockwave informed.

"What?! What good news could there be?!" Eggman demanded.

"The Combaticons have returned with the raccoon possessed by Chaos's tail while Starscream appears to have captured one of the five-fingered Overlanders," Shockwave informed, turning the theater mode off to reveal the Combaticons holding up the chained and bound Jake while a shivering Noel was being held at gunpoint by Starscream...bits of theater butter still on his face.

"...That's good…" Eggman grinned.

"Furthermore, we found a perfect candidate for your 12th Grand Master before Dr. M met his demise," Shockwave further explained, "Rodyle, a Beastkin that is based on the mythical creature, the Wyvern."

"...And what does he have to offer?" Eggman asked before a holographic screen popped up, showing a plethora of wyverns with cybernetic parts flying in the sky, "...Ho ho ho….I like what I see!" he then turned to the Combaticons, "Excellent work, you five!" he glanced over at Starscream, "A shame you were unable to capture him before they could."

"Oh, yes. Quite a shame," Starscream agreed, "But to the victor go the spoils."

"Yes," Eggman nodded before looking Noel over, the blond shivering at him, "And you did an excellent job at finding one of these strange Overlanders." he grabbed her wrist and held it up to see her hand, "And she really does have five fingers."

"My lord, I have performed a scan and have detected a rather...unusual energy pattern coming from her," Shockwave informed, "Almost as if she is not truly an Overlander."

'What?' Noel thought.

"How interesting," Eggman noted before looking at his Flyer, "Excellent work, Starscream. Considering that I am now without a Grandmaster thanks to Dr. M's...untimely demise...You will be serving under the new one as his air commander; Shockwave."

"My lord?"

"If you hadn't found that Rodyle fellow and Dr. M was not disposed of thanks to that infuriating eldest prince, I would've gone with you as the twelfth, but this still works out," Eggman smirked.

"I thank you, my lord," Shockwave bowed.

"Yes, yes. Now then, Starscream, put our 'guest' here in the finest cell we have here," Eggman informed, "Combaticons, you're dismissed. You've done well for me, my boys, so very, very well." Once the six robots exited, Eggman turned to Shockwave, "Are we ready?"

"Everything is ready for takeoff, my lord," Shockwave replied.

"Excellent! Contact Lien-Da and have her come here," Eggman smirked, "I don't want her to miss this, and I'll need as much security as possible in case that blasted hedgehog and his team comes...and who better than someone that has dealt with an alternate version of him for years."

"Of course, my lord," Shockwave nodded.

"Oh, and inform all Grandmasters that should Jetfire and Jetstorm be found, they are to be, sadly, decommissioned for failing to obtain the raccoon or a valuable prisoner. I don't go back on my word, after all."

"...Of course, Lord Robotnik."

'Heh heh...this is great. My new fortress is complete, I have the other half of Chaos, captured a VERY interesting Overlander, and I have twelve Grandmasters now!' Eggman thought in glee, 'I don't care if I lost Dr. M, or lost to the hedgehog, this is without a doubt my best day ever!'

'Someone help me!' Noel thought.

"Ugh…" Jetfire groaned as he opened his optics...before they widened at the very scary sword aimed at his face.

"You've got five seconds to tell me where the hell Noel is or else," Ragna growled.

"Ahh!" Jetfire yelped a bit as he scooted away and got up with a tree to his back, "W-wa-waiting! This is being the very bigs misunderstandings!"

"...Four…"

"Please! I-I did not do a-"

"Three.."

"She was being the kidnapping by Mustard Starscreaming and Combaticons!"

"Combati-what now?" Ragna raised a brow.

"They're five of Eggman's robots that can turn into a jeep, an ATV, a tank, a helicopter, and a rocket that can combine into a larger, more dangerous robot called Bruticus Maximus," Tsubaki informed as Rook kept his Proto-Tool aimed at a nervous Jetstorm, Alpha having a large golden sword made from one of his arms pointed at Jetstorm as well.

"Yes. That is to beings right!" Jetstorm agreed, "We is to beings the capturing of strange raccoon when we's being hit by big Combaticon. We's sees Mustard Starscreaming be takings little shy Overlander with guns off in net!"

"Ah! We is to beings lost competition!" Jetfire's optics widened, "If we is to be goings back, we is no longers, Brother!"

"Oh, is very bad, Brother!" Jetstorm gasped.

"...Did any of you get that? Because their shitty way of talking is pissing me off," Ragna growled.

"Uh...um...Oh! The signing language!" Jetfire gasped before he rapidly signed, ''Since we failed to capture the racoon with Chaos' other half in him, and if we head back to Eggman's base or a Dark Legion chapter, me and my brother are now good as scrapped, which is the robot equivalent of death!''

"...Anybody else get that?" Ragna asked, causing Jetfire to slump.

"I did," J informed, "Apparently, Eggman knows that Jake is possessed by a piece of Chaos; an entire half of him, even. Apparently, them retrieving Jake was considered a 'last chance' so to speak, correct?" Jetfire and Jetstorm nodded, "Yes. So now, they're as good as dismantled the moment they try to go to anywhere Eggman is or one of his Dark Legion chapters are."

"Yes yes! What the racoon in the sock hat is saying is being the very truth!" Jetstorm rapidly nodded.

"Where would he take Noel?"

"Um...Oh! I be making the goods guess!" Jetstorm noted, "Come! Come! We is to be goings fast! They's mosts likely to not be launching yet!"

"Eh? Launching?" Ragna rasied a brow at that, "What l-"

"There is not being the time, We must be hurrying!" Jetfire added, "Or else the Mustard Eggyman's new base will be leaving into sky!"

"W-Wait! I need to contact someone quickly!" Tsubaki yelped as the two robots, despite their teenage-sized builds, were able to pick up the five and started running off.

"Then please be doing it quickly! We is having the very little time!" Jetstorm shouted.

"Yo, this is Manic talking," Manic answered the radio, "Uh-huh. Yo, Tsubaki! Great to hear from y...Huh? Makoto? Yeah. I can get her. She's talking with that Carmelita dudette right now. ...Yes, it's a long story." he put the receiver down and poked his head into the living room, "Yo, Makoto! You've got Tsubaki on the radio lookin' for you! Quit talking cop stuff already!" he ducked a thrown book from Carmelita before muttering under his breath as Makoto entered the communications room, "You tick a dudette off and they never let you forget it…" he muttered as he handed the radio over to Makoto.

"Hello? Oh hey, Tsubaki-chan! How…" Makoto began before Tsubaki explained what happened, "...What?"

"Uh...Makoto?"

"...soka…" Makoto noted, her fist clenching up tightly, "...Thank you, Tsubaki. We'll see you soon enough." she crushed the receiver as she got up and went out to Carmelita, "How do I report a kidnapping to Interpol?"

"Who's been kidnapped and their last known location?" Carmelita questioned.

"Noel Vermillion, one of my best friends who's like a little sister to me, and her last location was with with the Rebellion Freedom Fighters before she got kidnapped by Starscream, one of Eggman's robots," Makoto stated, a very serious look on her face, "I think they were last seen in Soumerca if I remember what Noel said was right."

"I see," Carmelita noted as she wrote all that down, "I'll need to use your communications room to contact the headquarters in Soumerca."

"Oh...Um…" Makoto looked at the ruined receiver in her hand.

"I'll go get the tool kit from the lab," Manic muttered as he walked downstairs.

"You know, that's something that's been bugging me," Ben spoke up as he played checkers with Murray, "How does Eggman not target Interpol?"

"An agreement between the royal hedgehog family and the nations that make up Interpol that no ruling class is allowed to interfere with Interpol business except for a single yearly pardon," Carmelita informed, "It was actually the king almost eighty years ago that made the agreement since he felt that having an independent task force that wasn't under the command of the throne was a good idea and gave the populace a voice to the throne."

"Ahh...I see," Ben noted.

"Seriously, what are the Freedom Fighters doing when it comes to education?" Carmelita muttered to herself under her breath, "The chico is, what? 17? And yet doesn't even know that about Interpol…"

"Okay, I got the tool kit," Manic walked up and entered the communications room, "We're gonna have to restock on receivers, though. We're on our last one!"

"Sorry…" Makoto whispered, "...But seriously, we need to hurry up with this and go and rescue Noel ASAP!"

"Listen, you need t-" Penelope began before Makoto shot them a glare.

"I don't know if i stated this before, but I'm want to make myself very clear…" Makoto began as she leaned in, that serious expression still on her face, "If anyone brings harm to anyone precious to me…" her hand began to squeeze the metal table hard, crushing it, "I will hunt them down...and make. Them. Pay…" she emphasized her point as she held her hand up, letting the metallic sand that used to be part of the table fall to the floor, "Got it?"

"Got it," Penelope gulped.

"...That was awesome!" Murray whooped, "Do it again!"

"You okay, Sly-Itoko?"

"Hm?" Sly looked up from his spot on the deck to see Roll and Haseo walking over, "Yeah. Just...thinking is all."

"O...on what?" Haseo asked.

"When I was grabbed by that big beast of Dr. M's…" Sly spoke up, "...It's true what they say when you're about to die. I was born into a long line of thieves, each adding their skills to our family's book, the Thievius Raccoonus. I was to inherit it when I turned eight, but the fiendish Five stopped that from happening, killing my parents and tearing the book into five parts." he smiled a little, "After that, I ended up meeting Bentley, the brains of our gang, and Murray, the muscle. Our first heist was stealing cookies from the orphanage's mean caretaker. As the years went by, we ended up becoming...like brothers. And now look at our gang. It's gotten so big since we began to plan to get into the Cooper Vault and I found that I had an entire other family that I never even knew existed." he shook his head, "But what really came up was...That I've been a coward."

"Eh?" Haseo and Roll blinked twice.

"Not in general. Just...with Carmelita," Sly narrowed it down, "Never took the next step with her. When I look at Penelope and Bentley, it's clear what life's about. Yet...even though I want to tell Carmelita straight up about how I feel and her being here, to put our professions aside, and...and see if we can make it work...but when I try to, I just freeze up."

"Oh...S...soka…" Haseo noted.

"Poor Sly-Itoko…" Roll noted before noticing something, "Hm?"

"What's wrong?" Sly asked before the red sphere of light floated around and between them, "What the…?"

"N-Not again…" Haseo covered his eyes.

"Again?" Roll and Sly repeated before both were nearly blinded by the flash of light.

"Ugh. That's bright…" Sly muttered as the light faded.

"Ite…" Roll mumbled as she rubbed her eyes while Haseo uncovered his...before covering them just as fast.

Sly blinked a few times to get the spots out of his eyes before he looked around, "Uh...We were on a ship, right?"

Roll blinked twice as she looked around. Her eyes widened as, instead of a ship on the seas, the three were inside a large old stone city...filled with Echidnas! Looking down, Roll noted they were on top of one of the flat roofed buildings on one of the higher levels.

"...Where the heck are we?" Sly asked as he looked around, "We're not in Soumerca...are we?"

"I don't think we are," Roll noted.

"Then where are we?"

"A...ano...I don't know...demo...I feel like i've seen this place before," Haseo whispered as he peeked his eyes out to look down below, seeing muscular and somewhat larger-than-average echidnas walking about armed with spears and shields.

"Bentley, come in," Sly looked through his Binocucoms, "...There's no signal here." he lowered them before picking up Haseo, "Might as well look about."

"Hai," Roll nodded, "Hold tight to Sly-Itoko, Haseo-chan."

"H-hai," Haseo nodded as he held onto Sly.

The two proceeded to start jumping along the flat roofs. Managing to avoid being spotted by the echidnas, the two got down to the ground and hid behind a stone wall, Haseo sliding off of Sly's back at his signal.

"There's nothing but echidnas around here," Sly noted, "But...I thought that Knuckles was the only one from what you all told me."

Haseo peeked around the wall before gasping, 'It's the lady again…'

"What is it?" Sly asked, peeking out with Roll, seeing the girl echidna standing before the stairs to the tall pillar-like temple in the center of the city, "..." he looked down at Haseo, "Does someone have a crush on a girl echidna?"

"I...Iie. I..think I saw her before," Haseo replied.

"The servers are the seven Chaos Emeralds…" the echidna girl recited to herself before turning around and noticed the three, "Oh, hello there, friends. How are you?"

"Ano...What were you saying before?" Roll asked.

"It's something my grandmother taught me," she replied, "I'm never to forget it. It goes like this…" she looked up at the building, "'The Severs are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power… Power enriched by the heart. The Controller is the one who unifies the Chaos.'"

"Sounds interesting," Sly noted.

"Thank you, but I am still unsure as to what it means," she pursed her lips in thought, "But the number '7'...Is the same as the number of Emeralds there are."

"E...Emeralds?" Haseo repeated.

"Forgive me, but I don't think we've ever met before…" the echidna noted, "My name is Tikal...and you are?"

The light returned before any of them could reply.

"THREE!"

*SMACK*

"OW!" Sly yelped, rubbing his face, "What was that for?!"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes, Ringtail!" Carmelita frowned, hands on her hips, "We're getting onto the island and need everyone below deck for it. Though how getting a boat on land lets us get to Soumerca is strange and estupido…"

"Wh-What?" Roll blinked twice before all three noticed they were back on the Underground Ship.

"It...it happened again…" Haseo whispered.

"Pardon?" Carmelita looked down at him before Sly picked Haseo up and onto his back.

"Well, let's see why we're needed below deck, huh?" Sly noted before jumping down below deck.

Roll shrugged at Carmelita's raised brow before the hedgefox followed Sly. Carmelita sighed in annoyance before she went down as they reached shore. At the wheel, Sonic pressed one of the buttons and the ship converted back into a bus.

"You sure you fixed it?" Sonic asked.

"Yep," Ben replied.

"Oh, this is gonna be awesome!" Murray whooped as Sonic pushed the repaired button.

Carmelita poked her head into the driver's area just as they were taking off, "W...This thing flies?!"

"Ben here upgraded the thing to be a bus, a ship, and a plane," Sonic smirked.

"Que?! H...how?!" 'Is this from Wakanda?'

"Trade secret," Sonic smirked.

"...He used one of those other forms of his, didn't he?"

"Aliens and yes. Well, I used a few of them to make everything, but it was Greymatter and Brainstorm that did the majority of the thinking," Ben shrugged.

"Where are we going?" Roll asked, peeking out below Carmelita.

"Soumerca," Sonic replied, "Noel got kidnapped and Carmelita's been tasked with getting her back by her boss." He smirked a little, "Something about how a certain village leader got a message from a friend of hers and called in a few favors."

'Miyuki-sama?' Roll thought.

"Eh?! N...Noel-nee's been kidnapped?!" Haseo gasped.

"With how fast Ben's made the flight mode on our bus, it should take about three hours to get there," Sonic noted, "Go get comfy and be ready for when we get out."

"All of us are going after her?" Roll asked.

"No," Bentley replied, Roll and Carmelita pulling their heads out to look at the turtle as he was typing on his laptop, "While you are all going, the Cooper Gang has a little...trade...that we need to finish for some of the supplies we needed in Blood Bath Bay."

"That explains the picture you sent," Carmelita narrowed her eyes at a cheekily-grinning Sly.

"Fortunately, the Soumerca Grandmaster's base isn't too far off from where the coordinates you were sent to go to are," Bentley continued on.

"Wait, wait, wait. Dude, you're going where?" Manic asked.

"That crazy chinchilla's base?!" Knuckles exclaimed before looking at the Cooper Gang, "I do not feel sorry for any of you."

"But...What are you getting?" Sonia asked.

"That's private information between us and the provider," Bentley replied.

"So when will we get going?" Manic asked.

"Manic?!" Sonia gasped.

"The client specifically asked that no hedgehogs were to be a part of the mission," Bentley admitted.

"Bummer," Manic slumped, "Ah well. You guys do your thing and we'll do our thing and teach Eggman a lesson on taking one of our pals."

"Right," Sly nodded.

"Hope you're ready for dealing with Eggman," Sonia noted to Carmelita.

"Interpol has been hoping he'd slip and leave areas that were originally part of the real kingdom that he took over," Carmelita noted, "The coordinates are just at the border of one of those areas. If he can be tricked out of the area and into territory outside of the kingdom's area, I have free access to arrest him."

"We can try, dudette, but it won't be easy with that guy," Manic frowned.

"Hmph. I've dealt with immortal metal owls, being on the run for false accusations for three months with most of those months in Catada's frozen north, dealt with a gun-toting, overly muscled bulldog who walks on his oversized knuckles, fought off dozens upon dozens of guards in various areas of the world, and all that happened back on Kaine Island," Carmelita informed, "I'm sure I'm more than ready."

'And like that, I feel like we've been jinxed,' Manic thought.

'We're coming, Noellie,' Makoto thought.

GT: Okay, that was a long write. And boy was it a long one.

SZ: Indeed...hoo boy was this a long chapter.

GT: I just said that. But yeah, it was. Jake got captured by the Combaticons, Noel got kidnapped by Starscream, Jetfire and Jetstorm get double-crossed by them and are now in trouble with Eggman and are now on the dismantling list if they're caught… *takes in a deep breath* ...Yacker was taken by Dr. M and had his power forcefully used by him to attack everyone until Chaos 1 tore Dr. M apart and freed him before becoming Chaos 4, and now we're on a rescue mission.

SZ: Eeyup. Will they be able to rescue Noel in time?

GT: *holds up a stop sign before another question gets asked by SZ* We are not doing that Dragonball Z asking questions and then the 'find out next time' shit, SZ. *spays SZ with a bottle of water* Bad, SZ, bad.

SZ:...*wipes face* I was not intending to do that GT...ugh….nevermind. We'll see you all next time in possibly the last few chapters of the Chaos Arc. Till then, I'm Seanzilla115...he's Gammatron…

GT: And we say bye-bye! Also, for the bounty on Tennessee Kid Cooper...In-game, his bounty is 5000USD. To convert it into rings, I first looked for the price of a large apple in Japan, 125 yen, and then converted it into USD-roughly 1.18 USD-. After that, I checked the Sonic Wikia for the price of an apple in the Black Market in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, which was 2000 Rings. I then multiplied the ring amount by USD amount for Tennessee and then divided that by 1.18 and rounded to the nearest whole number. On Mobius, Tennessee Kid Cooper was worth 8,474,576.27 Rings, or 8,474,577 Rings since I don't think there's change in Mobius.