SZ: Hey minna. I...don't have much to say at the moment really. GT?

GT: Sorry for the long wait. As an apology, double update.

Z: Ahh...yeah. Plus we hope this helps give you your Sonic fix while you wait on Sonic Forces, and...well..considering how it's looking like the archie Sonic comics are being canceled at this point, we hope this might help.

GT: Eeyup.

SZ: and no need for disclaimers. You all already know what GT and I own and don't own. So without further ado...GT?

GT: Right. *put a sign on the curtain rope reading 'This rope ate your banana' and a banana peel on that* Wait for it…*room starts shaking* Okay, move away from the rope.

SZ:...*moves from the rope*

Death Battle Donkey Kong: *slams through a wall and sees the peel* …*roars before grabbing the rope and pulling it, sending the curtains down on him*

GT: Gotcha! *pulls curtains aside to reveal DB DK in a cage made of Seastone* Okay. Cue story while I get the top men!

"Ugh...Are we there yet?" Manic groaned out of complete boredom.

"For the last time, no…" Ragna growled in annoyance, "Oi! Where exactly is this Lake of Trinity anyway?"

"Not sure. From what I overheard, it was in this direction," Mai replied, sitting at shotgun by the driving Sonic.

"Ugh...There better be a town nearby so we can stop," Ragna groaned, "Anyone got a map?"

"I...Iie…" Haseo shook his head, "...Oh! Demo, I do remember this area a bit. It's where Luin resides."

"Luin?" Ben repeated.

"I think I've heard of it," Sonia spoke up, "It's a town that resides over a fairly large lake."

"You think that's the Lake of Trinity?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know. I remeber me and Alpha-san-tachi have been to Luin once…" Haseo replied before he couldn't help but drool a bit, "And eating the delicious donuts from there…glazed, powdered, cinnamon, blueberry, strawberry..."

"Seems you liked the donuts from Luin," Roll noted with a small giggle.

"Hai! They're the best donuts I've ever had!" Haseo beamed, his tails wagging a bit, "They're freshly made each day with the right amount of ingredients! You could even request for what kind of donut you want!"

"...okay. Now I wanna try these donuts out for myself," Makoto admitted.

"C-can we stop by there to get some, onee-chan?" Haseo asked his sister, a cute pleading look on his face, "O-onegai?"

"Well…" Roll put a finger to her cheek as she assumed a thinking pose.

"I don't mind. We can get some directions to that Lake of Trinity probably," Sonic noted.

"Hai," Roll smiled.

"And we can get a few baker's dozen for the trip," Makoto added.

"Well...it's better than nothing," Tsubaki spoke, "Haseo, do you know the directions to Luin?"

"H-hai!" Haseo nodded, "I remember where it is!"

"Direct away," Mai replied, getting out of her seat to let Haseo take her place by the blue hedgehog driver.

"Un!" Haseo nodded as he walked over and hopped onto the seat.

"Soldier, tell me; how is progress on the plan?" a shaded figure asked as they stood before a large monitor.

"Good so far, Master Kvar. We've managed to collect what you asked for within Luin," a Mobian leopard in an azure military outfit replied.

"Good...and the project for those with cybernetic parts?"

"There have been...close calls with that nearly being triggered," the leopard replied.

"I see…" the figure noted, "...how many test subjects are left?"

"Considering we've barely managed to prevent that from happening each time...all of them."

"...I see…" the figure noted before a window popped up on the screen, "...Worry not. It seems some more test subjects are in the area...prepare a squadron to retrieve them."

"At once."

"T-turn left here," Haseo instructed as the team bus was going down a dirt path, "Luin should be just up ahead."

"Okay," Sonic nodded as he kept his eyes on the road.

"Whatcha up to?" Makoto asked as she walked over to Sonia, who was sitting in a lone seat near the other side of the bus, just looking at her medallion.

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about my medallion," Sonia replied, looking up from said medallion.

"Oh? Why's that?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to make it turn into its weapon state," Sonia replied.

"Like Sonic's sword and Manic's knife and armor?" Makoto asked.

"Exactly," Sonia replied as she looked back at her medallion, "From those old paintings of our ancestor, there are the sword, the knife, and a spear. But I have no idea how to call it out or what even triggers it."

"Ah...well do you remember how Sonic and Manic got theirs?" Makoto asked, "It might give you an idea on how to possibly get yours."

"Maybe," Sonia replied. "Hmm...if I recall, Manic said that he got his when he went against General Tsao back in Chunan while Sonic seemed to get his when he went against Tsubaki when she was being controlled by the Izayoi."

"That still creeps me out that the thing is alive," Makoto cringed.

"Yeah…" Sonia nodded, "But back on topic. From what I can tell, both Sonic and Manic got their's in very dire situations."

"And you think you might get yours if something like that happens?" Makoto asked.

"Possibly. Then again, it may not be just as simple as that..." Sonia frowned.

"I think I see something up ahead," Sonic noted, "That the place, Haseo?"

"H-hai. That's Luin. Demo…" Haseo paused for a moment, "S...something seems...off about it. Anyone have some bin..bino...binoculars?"

"Right here, lil bro," Manic spoke as he tossed him a pair.

"A-arigatou," Haseo nodded as he looked ahead with the binoculars, "?! N….nani….?"

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked.

"Th...the town…" Haseo whispered as he lowered the binoculars, a look of shock and horror on his face, "It...it's in ruins…"

"What?!" Manic and Sonic's eyes widened.

"You sure, Haseo?" Manic asked.

"H-hai…" Haseo nodded as the bus came to a stop.

Once the group rushed outside...their eyes were widened in complete horror. Many of the buildings were nothing but rubble and burnt wood, the doors of the ones that remains looked like they were forced open with bits of dried blood on them. The water around the city was littered in some of the wreckage while the trees were completely burnt and the lone fountain there was completely in pieces. Overall...it looked like a complete ghost town.

"L...Luin…" Haseo whispered as he fell to his knees, "It...it's all…"

"Oh, Haseo-chan," Roll whispered before pulling him into a reassuring hug.

"Wh-Who could have done this?" Noel asked as she looked around.

"...You think it was Eggman?" Manic asked.

"No. If it was…" Sonic began as he looked at some of the bloodstained doors, "He would've made sure to capture everyone here to make sure they were Roboticized."

Makoto rubbed a little of the dried blood off one of the doors, "Mai, we need your tongue."

"Wait, what?" Manic blinked at that as Mai walked over, "Dude, you're not gonna have her lick that, are you?"

"Trust me, Manic. This will help us out a lot," Makoto stated as she held her finger out to Mai.

Mai took a slow deep breath as she licked some of the dried blood off of Makoto's tongue, her eyes widening as memories began to flash within her mind.

"This village was attacked...but not by Eggman," the bluenette explained, "Whoever attacked Luin captured everyone here to take to a 'ranch' of sorts. Anyone who defied them...were killed on the spot."

"?!"

"Who...Who would do that?" Ben scowled.

"General...Kvar…" a voice weakly spoke up, causing everyone to look and see a Mobian cat walk over, bandages over one of his eyes as he used a stick to keep himself up, "One of...Rodyle's..men…" he managed to get out before his knees buckled and he fell to the ground.

"?! K-Kenta-san…" Haseo whispered as he rushed over to try and help him up, "D-daijoubu?"

"H...huh?" the cat grunted out as he looked over, "...You...You're Haseo...right?"

"H-hai. W-we met the last time I was here," Haseo nodded as he struggled to keep the cat up.

"Ahh...heh...wish you could've stayed...longer…" was all Kenta could get out before he lost consciousness.

"K...Kenta-s-?!" Haseo's eyes widened when he noticed some blood dripping from one of his sides, "...m-minna!"

"Oh my!" Roll gasped as she ran into the bus and out with a medkit before heading over to him, "Oh dear. Oh me. Oh my. Oh dear…"

Haseo managed to gently lay the injured cat down, letting him move back a bit while his sister began to examine him for any more injuries.

"Is...is he...gonna be okay?" Haseo asked hopefully.

"I think I can stabilize him enough to get him into a bed in the bus," Roll replied.

Before anything else could be said, Makoto's ears began to twitch, faintly hearing the sound of metal in the air, prompting her to bring her tonfa out "...Guys...heads up. I think we got company."

"Good or bad?" Ben asked, turning on his Omnitrix.

"Most likely…" Makoto paused before she jumped back from a whip aimed right at her, "Bad."

"Tch…" a voice scoffed as the owner of the whip was a female snake Beastkin in a deep blue jumpsuit with armor covering her shoulders, chest, arms, legs, and tail stood there, accompanied by a few more Beastkin and Mobians in similar armors, one half male and the other half female, each one wielding either a spear or serrated sword, "I really didn't want to come back to this dump…but considering the test subject ran back here, might as well take care of both objectives."

"Eh?"

"In the name of General Kvar, you're to relinquish two things," the Beastkin ordered, "One; to give us Test Subject E-3405, A.K.A that cat there. Two: Your freedom, or else you will be rendered useless, and thus be terminated on the spot."

"Yeah...You see, here's the thing," Makoto informed as a green light flashed behind her and a shadow overcame them, "You may have...one...two...twelve of you with your fancy weapons." she pointed her thumb behind her as Grimlock growled menacingly, "But we have a Grimlock."

"Me, Grimlock, getting mad at you…" Grimlock snarled, the aura starting to appear while displaying his sword and shield.

'It really tells that I know Ben turned into Grimlock when I just see the shadow,' Makoto thought, sweating heavily mentally.

"...Damn it…" the Beastkin frowned, "Retre-"

=You sure that's wise, Vypra?= a voice spoke from the helmet, causing her to tense up =I can't guarantee of your survival if you try to retreat=

"..." the Beastkin groaned, "Sir, you don't understand. One of the-"

=If they are being that difficult for you to face...then let's even it up=

The Beastkin tensed up before one of the men, a mobian bear, began to groan out, hunching over as he began to twitch violently.

"Dude...what's happening…?" Manic asked as he began to increase insize, his fur turning a sickly green as his armor began to crack.

"An example…" the Beastkin spoke as the bear's claws began to grow, becoming razor sharp as electricity crackled off them, "Of what happens when we go against Kvar's orders."

"GRAAAAAAAAAA!" the Bear roared as he shot up, the armor completely shattering as his eyes were completely black and blood red, electricity crackling off it as it tackled Grimlock...who barely moved.

"That...annoying," Grimlock growled behind his shield before slamming his fist into the bear's face, sending him crashing through some of the broken buildings.

The bear roared out as it shot out of the rubble, its snout a bit bent as it continued to charge at Grimlock. As it did, it repeatedly cut the air with its claws, sending multiple electrified cutting waves at him. Grimlock blocked the waves with his shield as the aura began to rise up his body.

"Stop making me, Grimlock, mad. You, stupid bear, no like me, Grimlock, when me, Grimlock, mad," the Cybertronian growled out as he began to approach the bear while shielding from his attacks.

"He can't hear you…" the Beastkin spoke up, "Once you've been transformed, you lose all senses of pain, and your mind becomes feral. In short, you become the warbeast."

"Funny," Makoto noted before the aura engulfed Grimlock, "We could say the same thing about Grimlock. But not a 'warbeast.' More of a…"

SRKREEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNK!-!-!

"Giant Transforming Fire Breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex," Makoto paled as the bear was slammed into the ground by Grimlock's tail.

The bear roared out as it managed to get up, its arm slumped as it leapt at Grimlock once more. However...it soon met its fate as Grimlock's fangs chomped down on it. Grimlock thrashed his head about before throwing the bear into the air and then catching it in his jaws at full strength, ripping the bear to pieces before unleashing a roar into the air, the air around his jaws heating up enough to be visibly seen.

"...That...That was more brutal than usual…" Makoto admitted as Noel, Mai, and Haseo hid behind her.

"He tore off Dingo's head the first time and blew fire at over ten thousand degrees celsius in his face to boot," Manic reminded.

"...comment rescinded then…"

"...Master Kvar…" the Snake Beastkin began in worry.

=Hmm...interesting...Vypra, return to the ranch at once. I wish to study this footage=

"...Understood," Vypra nodded, "Everyone, fall back to the ranch!"

"Yes ma'am!" they quickly saluted as they ran away.

"This isn't over…" Vypra frowned at the group as she followed after the soldiers.

A flash of green light went off once they were gone and Swampfire grunted, "I hate it when I go Grimlock. I black out when I get really mad and next thing I know, I get a weird taste in my mouth."

"N...noted…" Mai slowly nodded, 'Note to self; do not make him mad when he transforms into that form…'

"How is he?" Ben asked as Roll walked out of the guest room on the bus.

"I've done all I could, but he'll need to sleep for now," Roll replied, "Where's Manic-san?"

"He's on ThiefNet, looking up everything that he can on this 'Master Kvar,'" Mai replied, "Once he's got the info, he and Tsubaki will start planning."

"Good…" Ben nodded before looking over at Haseo, being hugged from behind by Noel, "Everything okay, Haseo?"

"Hai. Demo…" Haseo paused as he looked down, "Why...why would something like this happen to Luin? They...they didn't do anything wrong."

"It almost feels like General Tsao all over again," Makoto scowled.

"General Tsao?" Mai repeated.

"Crazy sexist rooster in Chunan that tried to take over the world, but we got him arrested and stole his family's treasures," Sonic replied.

"Ooh…"

"He even had a dragon in his enslavement," Roll added, "But still, Sly-Otoko and Sonikku beat it."

"And Manic managed to make Tsao turn tail for his 'wedding'," Sonic added, "And before you ask about said wedding, it was a forced one where we 'switched' the bride with someone from Interpol."

"Now Chunan's best prison has fried chicken," Makoto joked.

"Oh...I see," Mai noted.

"Yup!" Makoto nodded with a cheeky smile, "Seriously, Mai, it was a really...spicy situation."

"...Was that meant to be a pun, Makoto?" Tsubaki's voice asked from behind.

"Yep!"

*WHAP*

"OWIE~!" Makoto yelped.

"No. None of that…" Tsubaki frowned, holding a paper fan in her hand.

"Did Manic find anything?" Ben asked.

"A bit," Tsubaki replied, "He also wanted me to give Sonic these coordinates." she handed Sonic a folded paper, "During Grimlock's rampage, he slipped a tracking device on their leader and managed to find where their 'ranch' is."

"Cool," Sonic grinned, "That just leaves me with surveillance than. Shouldn't be too hard."

"I think we should let Ben-san and Makoto-chan handle that, Sonikku," Roll replied, "I need to stay near...Kenta-san?" Haseo nodded, "Kenta-san in case there's a change in his condition."

"Ah...good point," Sonic nodded, "Ben, Makoto? Think you can handle it?"

"Uh, hello? Former member of the NOL Intelligence division?" Makoto asked with a grin, "Also Ben can turn into XLR8 or any other alien he'll need for it."

"We can handle it. No worries," Ben assured.

"Ahh. Alright then," Sonic nodded as he handed the two the coordinates, "Good luck, you two."

"Okay, everyone. Me and Tsubaki have gone over the surveillance data from Ben and Makoto along with what I've scrounged up from TheifNet," Manic informed as he started up the slideshow, showing a large complex...with Eggman's logo on a few places, "Seems that Kvar is actually a subordinate of one of Eggman's top generals." the next slide came up, showing a Mobian great horned owl wearing a black and red version of Eggman's uniform, "Nasty rep on ThiefNet. Before becoming one of Egg-head' lackeys, he was a thief that liked to consider himself compared to the greats like the Coopers and Clockwerk. He's good at it, too. No one's been able to catch him when he steals."

"Because he's really that good?"

"No. Because he follows Clockwerk's modus operandi; you can't be caught if they're all dead," Tsubaki replied.

"Which is why we're taking a page out of the Cooper Gang's book and steal all the cash he's got and foil his plans," Manic smirked as the slide changed to an armored vault in the center of the complex, drawing money signs around it for emphasis.

"But the main concern is freeing those imprisoned," Tsubaki informed, changing the slide to show a set of buildings circled in red marker, "Makoto, Mai, we'll need you and Manic to go to this area to check on the prisoners, see what's being done to them." the slide changed to show a set of barracks, "Ben, you'll need to get into the barracks for the soldiers here and hack into their systems to get us the data on everything that's going on here."

"Got it," Ben nodded.

"Great. Okay, one last thing," Manic noted as the slide changed to an overview map, a green circle on an area, "There's a weird reading over here near this wall. Tsubaki will be checking it out. Haseo, you want to accompany her?"

"Hai," Haseo nodded, "I'll...I'll do my best to help."

"Okay. Bro, Step-Sis, you'll keep an eye on Kenta, so you can get the details from him when he wakes up," Manic informed.

"Gotcha, bro," Sonic gave a thumbs up in response.

"Okay. So let's do it to it!" Manic grinned.

A calm wind blew through the area as various soldiers stood in front of the building, armed and ready for any intruders. Not too far from the building was a large rock blocking what looked like an old ventilation shaft. Manic, Makoto, and Mai poked their heads out over a rooftop.

"Okay, Makoto, with your strength, you can easily quietly lift that large rock and move it away from that ventilation shaft. It looks big enough that we can go through no problem," Manic informed, "Once we are in, we're in the clear."

"On it," Makoto nodded as she climbed down, kicking off the wall to hide in a nearby tree just as a guard passed by.

Once the coast was clear, she shot straight towards the large rock, lifting it up off the ground before quietly placing it down, making sure not to cause any noise. She then looked back up at the rook and signaling Manic and Mai to hurry over. The two nodded before making their way down to her.

"That was surprisingly easy…" Mai quietly noted.

"Eh. We're used to this kind of thing," Manic shrugged, "Alright ladies, after you."

"..."

"..."

"...What?"

"...You just want to look at our butts, don't ya?" Makoto asked bluntly.

"What? No. I'm trying to be a gentleman by letting you two go in first before I head in after y-oh I see where this is going," Manic realized before facepalming a bit, "Fine...I'll go in first."

"You better," both deadpanned.

"Jeez...Try to be a gentleman…" Manic muttered as he slid into the vent first.

Makoto rolled her eyes a bit as she and Mai followed suit, slipping into the vent just as a guard passed by.

"Ugh...bored…" a guard yawned as a few were laying about in the barracks, "When is it gonna be our shift?"

"When Master Kvar says so," another stated, "In the meantime, just...do something."

"Like what?"

"Maybe go to sleep using a little Fluoromethyl-hexafluoroisopropyl-ether?"

"Fluoro-what now? Wait, wha…" the first began before both collapsed.

"Heh-heh-heh…" the voice chuckled before a mechanical humanoid in a green outfit with a green-tinted clear pane on its stomach showing nothing but gasses within came in through the window, "Gutrot. Not a bad alien form." he changed into Ben before looking around, "Okay…" he dug into his jacket before pulling out his black and green Binocucom, "Good thing I kept this." he changed into Greymatter, "Just gotta change the signal and there we go." he looked through, "Manic, you hear me?"

"Ben? Dude, where are you?"

"In the barracks. I changed the signal my handmade binocucom has to match the communicator in your pocket," Greymatter explained.

"Ahh. Good idea, man. You never know if we're being listened in on," Manic stated, "Anyway, me and the girls are heading to where the prisoners are being kept."

"Roger-roger," Greymatter replied as he jumped onto one of the guards and began to check them, "Eureka. A key card for the doors. Just gotta find the computer room so I can hack the systems. Shouldn't be too hard to find." he tapped his symbol on his back and turned into Ghostfreak, "Ghostfreak? Hmm...I wanted Shadow Edge, but this works just as good if not better."

With that, he disappeared from view as he silently left the room, leaving the two unconscious guards as they slept there on the floor.

"The signal seems to be coming from this hangar," Tsubaki noted, looking at a red and green device before giving it to Haseo, "Here. When we find it, let me know, okay?" she summoned her sun-themed shield and sword, "I'll protect us if anything happens."

"H-hai…" Haseo nodded as he stayed close to her.

Tsubaki nodded as the two cautiously walked towards the hanger, Tsubaki keeping her sword ready just in case. She slowly opened one of the hanger doors, seeing a faint light flicker in and out within the dark room. Looking around, she motioned for Haseo to follow and she raised her shield ahead before slowly entering.

"D-do you see anything?" Haseo asked.

"Nothing yet," Tsubaki replied, "Just a faint light flicker...wait. Haseo, did you happen to take morse code in your training as a Freedom Fighter?"

"I..I did, hai…" Haseo nodded as he looked at the flickering light, "...I...I think it's an SOS signal…"

"I thought so," Tsubaki agreed, "A visual one and one being sent out in a signal. Let's get over there."

Haseo nodded as they cautiously moved towards the source of the light. As they did, they saw bits of a machine each time the light flickered on and off. Tsubaki halted them near the flickering light and her shield starting to ignite and extinguish in a pattern.

'Hopefully, whatever this is can translate the morse code I'm sending,' Tsubaki thought.

The light seem to pause for a moment before it began to flicker once more, as if responding to her. Tsubaki let out another set of bursts of flame, earning another set of flickers. After a few moments, Tsubaki readied herself.

"Okay, come out slowly," Tsubaki spoke out.

The light flickered thrice in response as it began to move closer to the two, the flames from Tsubaki's shield starting to reveal the flickering light's owner. Tsubaki blinked once...then once more for good measure.

"You not to be scorching me with hot flames, yes?" Jetstorm asked awkwardly, keeping his hands up.

"...Um...no," Tsubaki slowly shook her head, "But...I do have a question. Why are you here? And where is your brother?

"I is to not be speaking with Brother," Jetstorm huffed, actually puffing a cheek like an annoyed kid, "Went off to give him time to being the 'cooling off' and ended up in nearby village. Was to being staying the hidings, but then Mustard Eggyman's Mobian troops were to being attacking. I was to being stealthing, but was caught. Was knocked to offline I was and rebooted on lab table. It is to beings the lucky for me that they did not to be thinking of restraining my fingers. I did the freezing on my bindings and did the escaping and ended up hiding in here. I started to be using special frequency that Mustard Eggyman never found and included the blinking lights of SOS."

"...I see," Tsubaki noted as she lowered her weapon.

"Yes. Though I am to being curious as to why you two are being here," Jetstorm admitted before looking around, "The Lady Fox with the zap-zap pistole is not to beings here, is she? I am not to be wishing to be zapped for something I no did...again."

"...He must mean Carmelita…" Tsubaki whispered to herself, "No. We're to help free the people that were captured by Kvar and his men."

"Oh! That is to being the very goods! From what I had been seeing, they is very goods. No caring for species, but theys do take issues with robots for reasons of goods," Jetstorm noted.

"Focusing on robots?" Tsubaki repeated.

"Older models, SWATBots, from early years of Eggyman's war attacks the village and takes many good ones away," Jetstorm explained, "Is painful times theys had and hearts very much to be aching. Is why I dids hidings very much good there. No one was knowings I was hidings there, not even villagers."

"...demo…" the two looked to see Haseo trembling, "Demo...why did the people of Luin had to suffer? They never did anything wrong!"

"I am to not being the sure. Maybe they was closest to here?" Jetstorm replied, unsure of it himself.

"But…" Haseo began before Tsubaki placed her hand on his shoulder, "?"

"Don't worry, Haseo. We'll rescue them," Tsubaki assured him.

"You are to being helpings them? I would very much like to be the assisting please?" Jetstorm asked.

"...Hmm…" Tsubaki pondered for a moment, "...Hold on. I need to talk to Manic about this."

"Alrighty then."

A vent grate rattled before a buzzsaw came out of it halfway before cutting it out of the wall. Manic's hand shot out and grabbed the grate before it could fall, the blade slowing down on his arm to reveal it as his glove's spiked wristband.

"Hmm…" Manic muttered as he peeked out, seeing no guard or security drone in sight, "...Alright, ladies. The coast is clear." he hopped out of the grate, "Come on out."

"Security's kinda lax in here," Makoto noted as she got out first.

"But you can never be too careless in a prison," Mai noted as she followed out.

"Very true," Manic noted, "So keep an eye out for anything s-" his communicator went off before he could finish, "...One moment," he chuckled sheepishly before pulling out a badge resembling the Omnitrix's emblem, "Gotta thank Kevin for giving us these when we see the dude when we get back…" he tapped it, "You got Manic on the line."

=Manic, it's Tsubaki= Tsubaki answered =Haseo and I found the source of the signal. It was Jetstorm, who….isn't speaking to his brother at the moment, and was captured by Kvar's troops when he was hiding out in a nearby village=

"Ah. Bro Argument. Yeah, I know how that fee-what?!" Manic finally registered what she said, "One of the Flyer Bros is here? Huh. I was kinda wondering where they went after the throwdown in Mobotropolis with Perfect Chaos. Take him back to the bus and try to get more information from him about what he's seen here. Makoto, Mai, and me are now in the prison." he tossed Makoto a camera, "We'll try to get some pics of the place to help with planning out how to get everyone out."

=Understood. Tsubaki out= Tsubaki stated.

Manic nodded as he put his communicator away, "Alrighty then. Makoto, you start taking pics of the place and keep an eye out for guards. Mai, you're with me on checking the cells to see if the prisoners are alright."

"Got it/Hai," the two nodded as the small group split up into different parts of the room.

"By the way, is it just me, or does this place seem more like a lab then a ranch?" Makoto couldn't help but ask as she took some pictures of the room.

"It's probably a codename," Manic replied, "Kinda like how some dudes call their HQ a 'house' or a truck's bed a 'trunk.'"

"Ahh...most likely," Makoto nodded.

"It's more...than that…" a voice weakly spoke up from one of the cells, causing the group to look and see an elderly mobian turtle barely standing there, "This place...is where Kvar does experiments...for Rodyl."

"Experimental?" Mai repeated.

"Yes…" the elder nodded weakly, "Before becoming a thief, Kvar was a master tactician who would capture his weakened enemies to experiment on…and his master...Rodyl is no different..."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked.

"To him...everything, living or dead is a test subject for his experiments," the elder explained, "With Kvar's help, he…" he paused to give a harsh cough, "...captured any Mobians or machines needed, especially the for…" he couldn't finish as he went into a violent coughing fit, a bit of blood escaping his lips.

"Easy now," Manic advised, moving closer, "Don't force yourself, dude."

"...Tell me...did any of you notice a factory of sorts?" the elder managed to ask.

"...Now that you mention it, I noticed one of the rooms was almost like a factory," Mai admitted, "Why?"

"...Do you notice how there's barely any of us in here?" the elder asked once more.

"Now that you mention it...Yeah," Manic replied as Makoto used her camera to look at some empty cells.

"That's because…" the elder paused as he gave a harsh cough once more, "...Kvar has two uses for the prisoners here...one for a secret experiment involving the robots. The other…" a somber look grew on his face, "...the Mobians are used to create strange spheres that increase one's power...but at the risk of becoming something...twisted...not even Mobian anymore."

"Spheres?" Mai pondered, 'Could there have been one of those 'spheres' in that bear Mobian?'

"...what...happens to the Mobians that're used to create these spheres?" Manic asked.

"...they die…" the elder lowered his head.

"?!"

"I do not know how he does it, but...in a way, Kvar is using their very essence...their souls to produce these spheres for Rodyl…" the elder stated, "Kvar...he...he is truly a cruel man…"

"..." Manic clenched his fist before looking at the elder, "We'll make sure that dude pays and get everyone that's still alive outta here."

"...Thank you…" the elder smiled weakly.

Manic nodded before turning to the girls, "We're heading back to the Bus."

"Got it," Makoto nodded, "I already have enough pics of this place anyways."

"Good," Manic nodded as he pulled his communicator out, "Ben, Tsubaki, change of plans. We're heading back to the bus."

"Understood. I've managed to hack into their systems and copied all the data into a USB," Greymatter replied as he moved about as fast as he could on the console he was on, "Had to make it from a few random objects, but it works." a beeping noise on the computer made him nod, "Got the last of it. Heading back now." he turned back into Ben, pulled out the USB, and turned into Big Chill and phased through the floor.

"Ugh! Dammit!" Ragna growled as he glared at the Chaos Emerald in his hand, 'What the hell am I doing wrong? Take in energy, concentrate on location, squeeze and go. It's that simple, right?' he sighed as he pocketed the red Chaos Emerald and walked out of the garage and away from the two X marks on the floor he had been trying to use Chaos Control to get to and fro from with no results in time to see Haseo sitting at the table, his ears and tails drooping, "..." he walked over, "Hey. You okay there?"

"...I...Iie, Ragna-san…" Haseo shook his head sadly, "L...Luin...it….it's…"

"What happened?" Ragna frowned, 'How long was I training on trying to use Chaos Control?'

"It...it was destroyed…" Haseo looked down sadly, "One of Eggman's troops attacked it and captured almost everyone there while those who resisted….those who...resisted…" he hands clenched up as he began to tremble, "Why….they...they never did nothing wrong…"

"...That's just the way the world works at times," Ragna frowned, "Even if they didn't do anything, they just get targeted for no other reason then just...being there. Only thing is what are we going to do to get back at those assholes who hurt them now."

"Okay. We know so much more now about that jerk Kvar thanks to both the dude in the cell and from what Ben got from the computers," Manic informed as the slide showed a picture of the turtle and then a picture of the bus's main computer with data scrolling on it, "Dude's messed up in the head big time especially with what he's doing to those he's got hold up in his jail here. He's using them as fuel for making other Mobians a hell of alot tougher if they've got Eggman's cybernetics in them and he seems to be doing something with other Mobians and some of Eggman's robots that work here." he changed slides to a door with various words all basically meaning to stay out, "We left the jail before we could check out the room where those 'spheres' are being made, but lucky for us…" the slide changed to show a picture of Roll, Haseo, and Sly, the raccoon having an arm over the shoulders of the two siblings with a grin on his face and smiles on the two siblings, "A certain Sis-in-Law knows quite the few Master Thief moves from her cousin and their shared family's book of master thieves. Roll, you and Sonic will be checking out that area and get some pics with the Binocucom Ben's making for everyone in the lab."

"Hai/Got it, Bro," Roll and Sonic replied.

"Manic managed to develop a small bug. Ben, while Ragna is acting as a distraction," Tsubaki informed as the slide changed to show a well decorated office, "We'll need you to slip the bug into his office, preferably where he'll never think to look."

"Understood," Ben nodded.

"Heh," Ragna cracked his knuckles, "Distraction? Fair enough."

"Ano...wh-what about the prisoners?" Noel asked.

"While Ragna's making his big distraction, I'll be using it to tunnel under the jail with Makoto, Mai, and Sis there to help get them out," Manic informed before looking over at Jetstorm, "Any chance there's a long distance signal that will shut you down here?"

"No. Before leavings Mobotropolis long way back, Comrade Bentley did removing of shut down programmings," Jetstorm explained.

"Great. Because you'll be taking Noel and shooting at these…" the slide changed to show the skyline of the area, "Few communication arrays. You freeze them, Noel will shoot them to pieces. When those are shut down, I'm sure that Eggman's main base will get a signal and we'll have someone from there coming here to check on it."

"Oh. U...understood," Noel nodded with a slight salute.

"I will be making sure you are the safes with me in the air, Comrade Noel," Jetstorm assured.

"W...what about me?" Haseo asked.

"You'll be staying here with Tsubaki to keep track of everyone, okay Lil' Bro?" Manic replied.

"Oh….O-okay, Manic-Nii-san," Haseo nodded.

"Okay, so let's get this next round of jobs underway," Manic smirked.

-linebreak-

"Okay, Ragna, we're in position near the jail," Manic informed on a pair of Binocucom.

"Right. Ben, you ready on your end?" Ragna asked, looking out at the area with a blood red and black Binocucom.

"All ready over here," Big Chill replied, "Go for it, Ragna."

"Got it," Ragna nodded as he put his Binocucom away, grinning as he began to crack his knuckles, "Alright...time for some 'venting'...Haven't had to really bust up a base in a while now. Hope I haven't gotten rusty..." he grabbed the hilt of his sword and began to charge into the area, giving out a bit of a loud roar.

"What was that?" a guard blinked.

"I don't know. It sounds like a-OH MY GOD!" another freaked as the guards noticed Ragna charging in.

"No worries. We've got that electric barrier spell we paid that voodoo gator a while back for," a guard waved the other off.

"The guy just held an arm up and the field dispersed," another noted.

"WHAT?! That is the last time we buy anything from a gator!" the guard snapped before Ragna's Azure Grimoire arm slammed into the gates below them, buckling said gates, "?!"

"...Uh…" one more began with a gulp as he held up a white flag, "...Parlay?"

"Idiot. That only works for pirates!" the first guard hissed, "Also, you do know Master Kvar w-"

"Hell's Fang!" Ragna roared, the guards now aware he had gotten up to them by that roar and the fact that the red and black fire-coated fist ramming into the first guard's face and sending him across the complex, "Dead Spike!" Ragna swung his blade upwards, releasing the energy-made beast head that tore into more guards and sending them scattering, "Oh yeah. Not rusty at all."

"Ow…" the guards groaned as they laid in a pile.

"D-don't just st-" the first guard began before he spit out a tooth or two, "Standth there! Geth...oh greath! I got a Lisp! D'oh…"

"And we don't have a dental plan…"

"...ugh. Nevermind, just geth h-!"

"Carnage…"

"He's right behind me, isn't he?" the first guard asked.

"SCISSORS!"

"Well...That didn't take long at all," Big Chill noted, standing at the tallest point in the area, looking at the explosion that went off near the gates, "Well...no time like the present." he phased right into the building before he was in Kvar's office, 'Okay...need a good place to hide it...somewhere that won't be obvious, and he won't expect it…' he turned and stopped, seeing a portrait of the Mobian owl, "Bingo." he tapped his symbol and FourArms replaced him, "Okay." he reached out and plucked it off the wall before using his other arms to start removing the back, "Good thing I've got so many arms," he chuckled as he slid the bug behind the picture's back and sleaed it up and placed it back on the wall, "There we go. Tsubaki, Haseo, ya read me?" he pulled out his Binocucom.

"We heard you loud and clear, Ben. Good job. Now we can listen in on him," Tsubaki informed.

"Great. I'm on my way back to the bus," FourArms responded.

"Understood. Over and out."

"Okay, Noel, Jetstorm, remember what your part of the plan is," Manic informed, "Those five control towers keep a constant 'everything is okay' signal to the main base of Eggman's operations so that he doesn't send anyone here to check on things. Destroying them should send someone from him down here."

"Why woulds we be doing that, Comrade Manic?" Jetstorm asked.

"Because this operation here reeks of 'under the table' and 'No one squeal to the boss about our plans,'" Manic replied, "Ferrel taught me how to look out for signs like this in case someone went rogue in the Thieves Guild and this shows a lot of signs so far."

"Ahh...that is being very clevers," Jetstorm noted.

"Yeah. So listen. Jetstorm, you'll be flying around, freezing each tower. Noel, with your shot record, I know you can hit each one that Jetstorm freezes. A few shots from your Bolverk on each should shatter all of them," Manic noted.

"H-hai," Noel nodded as she summoned her guns.

"Is okay. We can be doings it!" Jetstorm beamed before he transformed and took flight.

Noel nodded as she stood ready, aiming her guns at one of the towers, waiting for the right moment to fire. Jetstorm flew along the skies before swooping down and firing a blue beam at one of the control towers, freezing the satellites broadcasting their signal solid. With that, Noel fired a few energy bullets at the frozen tower, destroying pieces of it before it completely shattered.

"Great job," Tsubaki noted, "...Ah! Jetstorm, heads up! They're deploying mini-fighters after you. Noel, try to shoot them down before they hit Jetstorm!"

"On it!" Noel nodded just as some mini-fighter jets began to fly out of the base.

"Ah! They is to beings not nice!" Jetstorm yelped as he started to dodge laser fire.

"D-dont' worry! I'll take them out!" noel called out as she transformed her guns, "Zero-Gun: Thor!"

*BOOM!*

"Man..things must be crazy outside…" Sonic quietly noted as he and Roll quietly ran through the halls, avoiding any guards that passed by.

"True…" Roll agreed as the two entered another room, one side separated from the other by a series of lasers, "I don't think we can run through this without triggering any alarms…" she looked at the lasers, seeing blue sparkles on them, "But I think I can grind on them."

"Neat," Sonic grinned before pulling out a bag from his head quills, "Maybe one of the gems for my sneakers can help me through this…Then again, I haven't really tested any of them. Oh well...might as well give them a go."

With that, he started looking through the small bag. As Sonic looked through the small bag, Yacker started floating around the lasers before ending at the other side, giving a wave at the two. Sonic pulled out a purple gem.

"Okay. Maybe this one will be good," Sonic smirked before bending down and sliding it into a slot in his left show, turning the yellow on it purple, "Okay. Time to try it out."

With that, he tapped the gem. The gem glowed as Sonic awaited for whatever it would do. He blinked before blinking again in surprise. When had everything gotten bigger? A shadow came over him and he turned around and looked up...and up...and even higher. He couldn't even see all of Roll's face.

"It shrinks you," Roll's voice made Sonic cringe a bit from how loud it was to him.

"Ahh...geez…" Sonic winced before blinking a bit, "Wait...is my voice higher? Why is my voice higher pitched?!"

Roll's giggle made him cringe a little from the pain in his ears. The next thing he knew, Sonic was being picked up by Roll's pointer finger and thumb by his back quills. His face lit up in a heavy blush when Roll placed him in her cleavage.

"Hold on," Roll whispered, the blue hedgehog unsure how to feel at the moment.

Roll jumped at a laser and began to grind down it. As she near the end of the laser, she made another jump onto one above it and went down that one. After a few more jumps along the lasers, Roll landed beside Yacker as Sonic barely managed to grab the fabric of Roll's shirt to not fall down deeper. He managed to climb out and jump out, tapping the gem and regrowing to his normal height.

"Okay...purple makes you shrink…." Sonic muttered, trying to shake off the heavy blush on his face, "Noted…Ahem! L-let's just continue on…"

"Hai," Roll nodded as the two entered the next room before tensing at the sight before them, "Nan de?"

Pods. A multitude of purple pods were set up in rows before them. Inside of nearly every single one was an unconscious Mobian, Beastkin, and the occasional Overlander. All of them were without clothes with just metal bars securing each pod to a wall being the only thing keeping them 'modest.'

"...What the hell…?" Sonic whispered with wide eyes.

One of the pods suddenly lit up as the Overlander inside grunted in pain, struggling a bit as he began to fade before Sonic and Roll's eyes. After a few moments of silence, the Overlander gave one last breath as he faded away, leaving a sphere in his place, big enough to fit on the back of your hand.

=Test Subject 3785 conversion into an Exsphere successful= a computer spoke up as the sphere was pulled down into a small tube located at the bottom of the pod.

Yacker put it best for the situation. The sound of a tiny alien three-tentacled squid/octopus thing went unnoticed by the shocked Hedgehog and Hedgefox, the latter of which having a hand over her mouth in shock.

"My god…" Sonic whispered in disbelief.

"How...how horrible…" Roll added, tears in her eyes before her ears twitched, "Someone's coming."

Sonic quickly shrunk himself as Roll scooped up Yacker. Sonic was picked up by her and she quickly used the Ninja Spire Jump along a few of the empty containers, managing to hide between two, as another door slid open and Kvar entered the room. The pictures Manic had shown them did nothing to truly describe the Mobian owl. He was...large. Possibly as big as Rath even. The red eyes of the owl were sharp, cold, and calculative as he looked around. At times, sparks would come off of the ground from where Kvar's sharp talons would scrape the metallic floor in his slow, intimidative walk, large wings folded like a cloak of sorts on his body.

"Hmm…" Kvar muttered as he looked around, looking at the various pods, "...Computer, how many Exspheres have we farmed so far today?"

=Estimate total: 86, approximately forty to fifty percent of them created from the people of Luin= the computer answered.

"...people...you speak as if their lives mattered," Kvar stated, "All they are is nothing but a herd of sheep ready to be 'sheared' for our goals. After all…" a small cruel smile grew on his beak, "Their lives are nothing compared to superior beings."

Roll tried hard to not expose herself to attack the owl. Sonic just clenched tighter to the fabric he was clinging onto in his small size as he glared at Kvar. Yacker managed to recover enough to take a picture of Kvar and the devices around them discreetly with Roll's Binocucom.

"But enough prattling on, computer…" Kvar spoke up, "Tell me, how long until we reach our quota? My partner is still looking forward to completing our little project."

=Within a month or so, there will be enough Exspheres needed for Project MC=

"Good...and our other project involving the machines and those with robotic limbs?"

'How many projects can one guy have at one time?' Sonic thought, 'Oh wait…' Eggman came to his mind, '...I retract my previous thought.'

=The project is coming along well. However...it seems former Eggunit JF41R3 has escaped, and is currently retreating from the drones=

"...I see…" Kvar frowned as he walked off, "Give me an update on the situation when you can. I'll be within my office."

=Of course, Master Kvar= the computer answered as Kvar left the room, the metal door shutting behind him.

"Good," Kvar spoke as he began to walk off when an alarm went off, "What?"

=Master Kvar, the radio towers are being destroyed at this time. It seems that former Eggunit JF41R3 is the cause=

"...Damn…" Kvar frowned, "Rescind the remaining towers and activate the EMP barrier...I will not let this project fail and have that fat fool Robotnik find out."

=Of course, Master Kvar=

Once Kvar left, Roll hopped along the pods before landing near the exit, letting Sonic hop off her and grow back to normal size.

"Yeesh...that guy's a really piece of work…" Sonic whispered with a frown, "I mean seriously, what's with the 'superior beings' talk? Does he think he's better than everyone else?"

"It's almost like dealing with Tsao all over again," Roll shuddered.

"B49 B1S…"

"Bad birdie indeed," Roll agreed with Yacker's statement.

"Bad birdie? The guy practically gives Bird Mobians a bad name," Sonic added, "But nevermind that. Yacker, you got enough pics of the factory and Kvar?"

Yacker nodded as he held up Roll's Binocucom.

"Nice. Let's get back to the bus," Sonic grinned.

"Hai," Roll nodded as Yacker handed her back her Binocucom.

"Hey, bro. We're done on our end over here," Sonic spoke through Maic's communicator.

"Nice work, Bro," Manic grinned, "And from the sirens going off, Jetstorm and Noel are doing their thing."

"Cool. We'll meet you back at the bus with the others once you're done on your end."

"Got it, bro. Over," Manic nodded as he turned his communicator off, "You girls ready?"

"You bet," Makoto grinned.

"Time for a jailbreak," Mai nodded.

"Let's get going, Manic," Sonia spoke.

"Gotcha," Manic nodded as he summoned his drums, "One tunnel under the prison comin' right up."

With that, Manic began to deal out a drum solo. Before them, the ground opened up into a tunnel entrance. The ground under the four cracked before a small disc of it beneath them floated up and into the tunnel, Manic still dealing out his drum solo.

"Okay. Shouldn't be too long before we get to where the prison is," Manic stated as they moved forward, "But just to be sure, you girls keep an eye out for any traps Kvar could've set up."

"Good idea," Sonia agreed.

"But we're making this tunnel as we go," Mai noted in confusion.

"It's happened more times than I can count that Eggman's forces would find one of Manic's tunnels while we're in the middle of making them," Sonia replied, summoning her keyboard and shifting it into gun mode, "So be on the lookout for anything coming from the ceiling or floor. Manic needs to keep playing so the tunnel remains stable while also making it, otherwise it could cave in on us...again."

"At least it was a good bonding experience?" Manic weakly noted.

"It was, but the dirt in my hair, fur, and quills took hours to get out," Sonia frowned.

"I said I was sorry…"

"And I accepted the apology after you threw that tidal wave of mud on Sleet and Dingo when they nearly shot me just as we got out of the cave in," Sonia nodded.

'We have got to hear more stories from when it was just the three of them,' Makoto thought before her ear twitched, making her turn and look to see a drill coming in through the ceiling before a robotic bee with the drill as its stinger flew down, "Heads up!"

"Told you," Sonia deadpanned as more robotic bees began to drill through the ceiling and she open fired, "Remember! Not a single one gets to Manic or else it's a cave-in!"

"Got it!" Mai nodded as she threw her spear at the robotic bees, the weapon changing directions in mid air each time it destroyed a few before it reappeared in the blunette's hands as she used it to destroy a robotic bee that attempted a sneak attack.

"Boy…" Makoto grunted between punches, "Never thought Eggman would make animal-themed robots!"

"Kvar may have had them built," Sonia replied as she fired at them, "Eggman always prefered to use Overlander-like robots like his old SWATBots and his EggPawns."

"Ahh...still…" Makoto paused as she backhanded a robotic bee, "These Buzzbombers are kinda annoying."

"...Buzzbombers?" Sonia raised a brow.

"What? They're bees, and they're trying to dive-bomb us," Makoto explained.

"...That's like calling robotic crabs 'Crabmeat' or 'Shellcracker'," Mai sweatdropped a bit.

"...Huh. You know, it's been a long time since I had a good cooked crab…" Makoto muttered, backhanding a robot bee that had tried to drill into her, "And those are really good names for robot crabs, Mai. Maybe the Shellcrackers could be for ones with huge claws that they use like clubs."

"I was just...nevermind," Mai sighed before yelping as she ducked under a robotic bee's sting, "Good thing Noel isn't here. She'd freak out if she saw these."

"Achoo," Noel softly sneezed, accidentally firing one of her Bolverk and blew up a attack drone that had attempted a sneak attack on Jetstorm.

"That is being last one after me!" Jetstorm exclaimed, "Thank you, Comrade Noel!"

"H-hai…" Noel nodded before she noticed the remaining radio towers retract, "Eh?"

"Odd. Why woul…" Jetstorm began before neon green barrier phased through him and Noel, the former starting to glitch out as he tried to stay in the air, "Oh d-Bzzt! That was being EMP wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-BZZT! Field. I am thinkings Kvar is is catchings on to the pla-pla-pla-pla-pla-pla-pla-pla-BZZT! Mission."

"Oh no!" Noel gasped as she pulled out her Binocucom, "We have a problem. Kvar's deployed an EMP field and it's causing Jetstorm to short out."

"You and Jetstorm get back here," Sonic ordered, "We'll try to come up with a new plan."

"H-hai," Noel nodded.

"Affermiti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-BZZT! Gotcha," Jetstorm replied.

"I think that was the last of them," Sonia whispered, seeing the ground littered with the now broken Buzzbombers.

"I'm just glad we didn't have to keep moving and were on this platform Manic made to move," Makoto noted.

"Heads up. We're below the jail," Manic informed, "Be prepared for anything."

The girls nodded as Manic played his drums at a rapid pace once more, causing the ground above them to open up as the platform began to rise through the new entrance.

"Okay...this should be a good spot," Manic noted as they stopped, "Makoto, if you would?"

"You got it," Makoto cracked her knuckles. Reeling her fist back, she aimed at a spot in the wall before slamming it hard with her fist as she created an opening, "Pst! Hey don't worry. Help is on th-"

"Uh...Makoto?" Mai spoke up.

"What?" Makoto as he Mai pointed forward, making her look back at the opening...too see multiple blasters aimed right at them, "...oh...crap baskets."

"...Oh come on…" Manic groaned, "If it's not the tunnel ambushes, it's the ambushes in the exiting."

The guards said nothing as they prepared to fire.

"...Manic…"

"Carn!" Manic shouted, surprising some of the guards with the sudden random word.

The main drum glowed before the tiny mechanical wolf shot out of it, shooting about the guards and knocking their guns about before spinning in the air and shifted into its Knife Mode, letting Manic catch it as his drums turned into its armor state.

"Carn?" Makoto repeated, "You named your knife Carn?"

"Well...Yeah," Manic shrugged, "Can't just call him 'you' or 'it' or whatever."

"Oh...fair enough," Makoto shrugged before Mai struck a guard with the pole of her spear just as he was about to shoot them.

"They're snapping out of their surprise!" Mai called.

"Huh?! Oh, right!" Makoto yelped as she quickly tossed her tonfa, knocking two of the guards out as they ricocheted off them and landed back in Makoto's hands.

Manic spun around, digging his knife in the ground as he did so. A group of guards tried to jump him from all sides before the circle he dug out erupted stone walls that slammed them into the ceiling before retracting almost instantly, letting them crash down on the ground out cold. Some guards attempted to grab their guns before pink laser shots blew them apart before a pink tornado picked some of them up and slammed them on the others, stopping to reveal Sonia.

"...How did you…?" Mai began before ducking under a shot aimed at her, "...I'll ask about it later then…"

"Yeah...good idea," Makoto nodded as she backhanded a guard before knocking another one away with her tail, "Besides, we're almost d-" a brief scraping sound soon caught her attention, "...Who's grinding metal against the floor?"

"Not me," Manic replied as he cut one of the guards' blaster in half.

"Iie," Mai shook her head.

"It wasn't me," Sonia added.

"...Then wh-"

"Well now...what have we hear?" Makoto tensed as she slowly turned around, seeing Kvar looming over her and the others, "Seems some mice have infiltrated our ranch, some rather…" he licked his beak a bit as he looked at the two hedgehogs and one Squirrel Beastkin, "Interesting mice at that..."

"Oh shit," Manic whispered, tensing up in his armor.

"M...Master Kvar…" one of the guards still conscious whispered.

"You four weren't thinking of releasing my livestock, were you?" Kvar asked the group, "I'm afraid that's rather...impossible."

"...Livestock…?" Mai repeated before frowning, "You're talking as if their lives aren't worth anything."

"But of course. The lives of those lesser than Superior Beings such as I are inconsequential," Kvar replied.

"...What do you mean 'Superior beings'?" Manic managed to ask.

"Heh heh heh...let me answer that question with another question…" Kvar chuckled lightly as he turned his back to them, "The cybernetic parts Robotnik has given to Mobians and Beastkin under his control...what do you think they do?"

"Improve their natural abilities at some bad drawback if they betray him?" Makoto guessed.

"Correct, yet incorrect…" Kvar stated, "What most of those in the Dark Legion say it's a curse...it's more of a blessing in disguise. For you see..." he looked back at the group, "It's but a small ingredient in the key to immortality."

"Oh I don't like where this is going…" Manic muttered.

"Immortality?" Sonia repeated.

"Yes. If a limb becomes useless, you just replace it with something better," Kvar continued, "If used right, the cybernetics can provide both immortality, and eternal youth...There was one who believed in this philosophy...no, in this path of being something near akin to a god...someone who I modeled my life by before I joined my partner...Clockwerk."

"?!"

"However...there is one slight problem with his path to immortality…" Kvar continued, "His rage towards the Cooper Clan poisoned his mind. He truly was someone beyond his time, but he let his hate towards that clan of thieves get the better of him. For me however…" a smirk grew on his face once more, "I found a way to obtain immortality, and retain my youth...the Exspheres."

"...what?"

"Exspehres...a little project me and my partner created to help Superior beings such as ourselves. Using the body and soul of someone, we can increase the power of our troops. Unfortunately...the prototypes had rather...nasty side-effects. But...thanks to this mysterious man's gift, we were able to keep the Exspheres stable enough to use as boosters, and an energy source. He didn't explain much of what the substance was, but he did tell us its name...Seithr."

"?!" Mai and Makoto tensed.

"But why should I tell you all this? Oh yes…" Kvar paused as he began to unfold his wings, "Because I'm feeling a bit...peckish…"

"Damn. Abort!" Manic stabbed his knife into the ground and it erupted around the four in a massive wolf-shaped head that 'ate' them before going into the ground, leaving behind smooth terra firma.

"...Sh..should we…?" one of the guards began.

"No need," Kvar said as he began to walk away, "Just focus on increasing the defenses. Knowing them, they'll try another infiltration mission, so stay sharp...unless you want to become my next meal."

"Y-Yes, sir…" the guard saluted, a nervous gulp escaping him.

"Ugh. Major bummers," Manic scowled as the slideshow went to work, "While Ragna, Ben, Bro, and Step-Sis did radical on their jobs, the rest of us stunk big time." it changed to show EggPawns and soldiers marching about, "Kvar's tripled security in almost everywhere and from what the pics Yacker got for Bro and Step-Sis while they were all hiding," the slide changed to showing one of the pods in process, "They're turning innocents into power sources for them in some sort of sick immortality experiment."

"Grr…" Ragna frowned at that.

"Furthermore, we found out the prototypes for these 'Exspheres' were pretty unstable until Kvar-thank god we got out of there in time before we became owl chow-told us some mystery dude gave them Siethr t-" Manic began.

"What?!" Ragna banged a fist on the table, "Who gave him that?!"

"No clue. But after what happened on Space Colony ARK, we do know that there's been research into Siethr before," Manic frowned, changing the slide to a picture of the Cauldron on the ARK that had been lifted from video feed of the chamber, "And after seeing what it did to Shadow's Prototype, no way we're letting Kvar and this partner of his use it any further. And we better hit him fast and hard, otherwise..." his frown grew, "We'll have ourselves another Clockwerk."

Roll held Haseo close at that. Having read the Thievius Raccoonus, she knew very well the dangers of Clockwerk and if one should ever rise again.

"Well, we can't do another stealth job," Ragna scowled, "You said the guy was a thief before becoming a member of Eggman's army, so he probably knows the tricks and trades of it."

"Exactly. He knows that we'd be doing another stealth job. And with those EMP field set up," Manic spoke as the slide changed to show the EMP fields, "Jetstorm can't do a thing to help take out the radio towers and Ben's locked out of Grimlock and Upgrade."

"A few others that have tech on them as well," Ben admitted.

"What we need is to find out where the main controls of the EMP field generators are and take them out," Tsubaki noted, "And also where to find the controls that can let us get the towers back up in the air to take down."

"For all we know, Kvar will have them on his person at all times," Mai noted, "Did the maps you got from the system say anything about controls, Ben?"

"Nothing," Ben shook his head "And even if they did, no doubt Kvar deleted them afterwards to make sure nobody would get their hands on them."

"In short, he's covering all his bases…" Ragna noted with a frown, "Damn owl…"

"Then…wh-what can we do?" Noel asked.

"I...I'm not really sure," Manic sighed, shaking his head, "He shows little care for his hostages and would most likely off them if we tried an all out attack."

"...o...off them…?" Haseo whispered with wide eyes.

Manic nodded, "Ugh. If only we had managed to bring those towers down and...and gotten the… his eyes widened.

"You have a plan?" Sonia asked.

"Yep."

"Insane?" Sonic assumed.

"Yep," Manic grinned, "Aside from here, where's the nearest base belonging to Eggman with lightest security?"

"We're receiving an emergency transmission from Sector M-427," Shockwave informed, looking up from a holographic monitor.

"What? Put it up on screen!" Eggman ordered.

"Bringing it up now," Shockwave confirmed as a holographic screen appeared before Eggman, Lien-Da, Starscream, and Shockwave.

=Hello there~= Jetstorm waved.

"Jetstorm?" Eggman raised a brow before frowning, "What're you doing there?"

=Oh, I am just to being destroying the base with new Comrade Ragna the Edge of Blood= Jetstorm replied.

=BloodEDGE! Dammit, get it right if you're gonna say it!= Ragna's voice snapped in the background.

=We is to be heading for Kvar's base next with big bombings= Jetstorm informed.

=Good bye= Ragna's voice spoke before the screen cut out, Ragna's blade the last thing shown.

"...Big mistake," Eggman grinned at that, "Lien-Da, call Kvar's base and tell him t-"

"There's no signal coming from his base," Lien-Da stated.

"What?"

"It's likely that he's put his communication array down for the standard maintenance," Starscream responded, "That area gets constant storms that cause terrible rust issues in the communication towers' vital metal components."

"...Or perhaps...he's trying to keep himself hidden from everyone," Lien-Da stated with a frown, "I've seen this kind of tactic before."

"...Explain."

" I'll show you. Shockwave, mind pulling a map of the area where Kvar is based up?" Lien-Da asked as a holographic map showed up, "See this spot here? This is when Kvar's base was first built when you started the Dark Legion here in this Zone. And if I move it forward a couple of months…" she began as the spot she pointed towards seemed to completely vanish, "It's gone. Almost like nothing was there."

"...Shockwave bring up a map of the area from the last month," Eggman ordered, "Point out any differences, no matter how minute."

Shockwave nodded. Within a matter of moments, three maps from 72, 48, and 24 hours had appeared. Red marks began to appear in just one area.

"A village has been destroyed between 48 and 72 hours ago," Shockwave noted, "In the area near where Kvar's base was built before it seemed to have vanished." he typed down some more and the last two maps vanished as it began to show a time lapse of the three maps on just the 72 hour map while he continued to work, "Magnifying the image and clearing interference should reveal what happened."

Eggman said nothing as he focused on the screen, an anger starting to boil up inside him as he began to breath through his nose, his hands clenching his arm rest tightly.

"Hoo boy...I know where this is going…" Lien-Da whispered as she slowly hid behind Starscream.

"...What're you…?" Starscream began.

"WHAT?!" Eggman's voice snapped throughout the entire planet.

"Great job, you two. I just got in contact with some dudes in the Thieves Guild through ThiefNet and they spotted the EggCarrier heading in this direction," Manic grinned, giving a thumbs up to Jetstorm and Ragna.

"No problem. Now we are playing the waiting ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-BZZT! Activity."

"I'm going to have to take a look at you for any damage," Ben noted as he turned on his Omnitrix and turned into Greymatter, "Continue while I assess the damages in Jetstorm."

"Right, dude," Manic nodded as the slide changed to show the EggCarrier, "Now that we've got Eggman's attention and he's heading this way, Kvar's going to have to either do some major cover up, but we'll make sure to spill the beans. Thanks to Ben's work at planting the bug, we've been getting everything that Kvar's been saying in his office, including what he thinks of Eggman. Once Eggman shows up, Bro, Step-Sis, Sis, and I will be doing this one ourselves with everyone on standby should something happen." he turned the slide to show it depicting Kvar with words superimposed over him, "I call it Operation Caged Bird Sings. I'll start the operation by using my armor and Carn to dig a tunnel instead of going with just my drums to try to conserve some energy. Once that's done, Bro will carry Sis to the PA system where she'll attach the recording device that Step-Sis will carry to the PA and start it. If anything happens, everyone will commence a full-scale assault."

"My favorite sport…" Ragna smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

"Wait. What about the EMP barriers?" Mai asked, the group not noticing Haseo was quiet the entire time, his head fur shadowing over his eyes.

"...DAMN IT! I knew we forgot something!" Manic slammed his face on the table, "What c-"

"Oi." Haseo suddenly spoke up, his normally shy and reserved voice suddenly sounding serious as he stood up, "Did you try looking under the base itself?"

"Under the…" Manic began before facepalming, "I am an idiot." he then grinned, "Little Bro, good idea. While we're waiting for Egg-butt to show up, we can set up the echolocation machine and belt out a few drum beats through the ground for anything suspicious. When Eggman arrives and I make the tunnel, I'll make a second path straight to that spot we find and then we go and disable it."

"Or destroy it," Haseo stated as he walked forward, "Even if you could deactivate it, it could have an emergency program to turn it back on."

'It seems that Haseo-chan has your planning, Otou-san,' Roll thought, a smile on her face.

"...Okay little bro, then who do you suggest we send down there to destroy it?" Manic asked.

"Simple, the three strongest people here," Haseo answered, "With how careful Kvar is, he could have something defending the source of the EMP barrier, so it's best to send Makoto, Ben, and Ragna down there."

"Heh. Not a bad idea," Ragna grinned.

A panel on the top of Jetstorm's head opened and GreyMatter poked out, "A good strategy." he dove back in, "Ugh! Really did damage on your vocal processor. How you're still capable of speech is beyond me."

"Alright," Makoto cracked her knuckles, "And when everything goes down, we get the trapped Mobians, Overlanders, and Beastkin outta there."

"But wait. What about the ones still in the factory area?" Sonia asked.

"...May I?" Haseo asked as he moved next to Manic, pulling up the map of the area, "Most likely not too far from there is a kill switch. You turn it on, the entire factory shuts down and frees those still in there."

"Well, looks like Operation Caged Bird Sings has some extra steps," Manic noted, "Once the EMP generator goes down, we'll have a third team go and deal with the kill switch."

"Noel, Tsubaki, and Mai should be able to handle that part," Haseo added, "Once the teams are done on each end, we regroup and retreat, letting Eggman deal with Kvar while we get the hostages to safety."

"Alright," Sonic grinned.

"Let's make sure we're all prepared with the time we have until Eggman arrives," Tsubaki advised, "Makoto, help me get the gear out of the lab to attach to Manic's drums for mapping out where Ben, you, and Ragna will need to go."

"Got it," Makoto saluted as she got up.

"Alright! Then let's get to work!" Manic grinned as the slideshow ended.

"Grr...that no good double crossing…" Eggman growled out, his face red with anger as he popped another stress ball, "...Starscream, get me another one!"

"Do you want a blue one with a goofy Sonic face drawn on it?" Starscream suggested, "Or a blue one with Sonic's face looking as if it's been smashed in drawn on it?"

"Don't care. Too angry right now," Eggman stated, "Now give it to me before I downgrade you into a toaster!" he caught the thrown ball and began to squeeze it, "Razza-frazzin' no good…"

"So how will you deal with Kvar?" Lien-Da asked, "Deep fried, honey roasted, baked?"

"No. I will first assess what he's done to his captives and, depending on what he's done and how he's done it…" Eggman popped the stress ball, "He will be getting that."

"...Well seeing how long he's been in hiding, it's probably gonna be something even worse," Lien-Da guessed.

"Shockwave, make sure to build a hydraulic press once Kvar has that happen to him so we can stuff him into it," Eggman ordered, "And add a thousand degree plate to it for good measure."

"Of course," Shockwave nodded.

"And should the hedgehog and his group be in the same area…" Starscream began with a sinister smirk, holding up his blaster, "I'll take care of them for y-"

"Nope. While I loathe to admit it, if they are in the area, then we are to ignore their presence," Eggman instructed, "Considering our last report has Ragna the Bloodedge with them, they wanted us to be notified about Kvar."

"...I guess that is true, but still! Sire, this would be the perfect opportunity to deal with both KVar and the hedgehog! It would be killing two birds with one stone!" Starscream argued.

"That is true, Starscream. I'll tell you this then. If they show up at all, then you have full permission to deal with them…" Starscream grinned, "...Once you finish beating that simulation you keep failing in your sword training." Starscream nearly fell over, "Is that a problem?"

"N...no. Of course not, lord Eggman," Starscream quickly regained his composure and bowed.

"Excellent. If you go after them, then I want you to be truly ready for it," Eggman nodded.

"But of course, my liege," Starscream nodded.

"Freakin' kiss-ass…" Lien-Da muttered, earning her a glare from Starscream.

"I think I see the...ugh...EggCarrier heading this way. ...Seriously, what is with this guy and calling his shit egg-something?" Ragna scowled on the roof of the bus, lowering his binocucom.

"Ben, did you add a cloaker or something to the bus?" Sonic asked.

"Pink button behind the steering wheel," Ben replied.

"Did I mention how much I love your upgrades to the bus when you go GreyMatter?" Sonic grinned.

"Quite a bit," Ben chuckled a bit.

Sonic moved into the driver's seat and looked behind the steering wheel. After finding a small pin button, he quickly pressed it. Outside, the bus shimmered before vanishing.

"Alright. Bus is out of sight," Sonic smirked, "You guys ready on your end?"

"Yep, and hoo boy…" Manic grinned, "Turns out Kvar has a treasury underneath where we need to go. Exposing the dude and stealing from him? Oh, this is gonna be good."

"Just try and keep yourself in control," Sonia advised.

"I know, I know," Manic chuckled as the EggCarrier flew overhead.

"And right on time…" Sonic smirked.

=Master Kvar, we've detected Doctor Robotnik within the vicinity= the computer spoke up.

"...Excuse you?" Kvar frowned.

=He is attempting to contact you, and...he seems rather angered=

"Damn. How did…the hedgehogs…" Kvar scowled, "...Tell Vypra to get some troops on standby, and put him through...I'll take care of him."

=Yes, sir=

"It seems I may have underestimated them…" Kvar whispered to himself before a holographic screen popped up in front of him, "Greetings, Lord Robotnik. How may I…?"

=Kvar= Eggman spoke, his face completely calm =Lower the EMP field around your base immediately. This is an emergency inspection of your base=

"Oh? Why, my lord?" Kvar asked, "I assure you nothing is wrong."

=Are you going against a direct order, Kvar?= a scowl formed as a beeping noise began to permeate Kvar's head =You are aware of what will happen if you are. Now lower the barrier immediately=

"...Computer, lower the EMP field…" Kvar complied and the beeping ceased.

=The barrier is down= Shockwave's voice spoke from off the screen.

=Excellent. Prepare for your base's immediate inspection, Kvar= Eggman informed before cutting off communication.

"...Computer, seal off and conceal the factory," Kvar ordered, "Also, what is the status of the Exspheres' transportation?"

=They will arrive at Point B in exactly five minutes=

"Good...the less he knows about our plan, the better," Kvar whispered.

"Everyone know their jobs?" Manic questioned as he donned his armor and knife.

"Eeyup," Makoto nodded as she strapped her tonfa on.

"Got it," Ben added.

"Heh...I'm ready," Ragna smirked as he cracked his neck.

"Ready as we'll ever be, Manic," Sonic went next, "Right, Roll?"

"Hai, Sonikku," Roll nodded as Yacker nodded as he flew around her while she carried a purple device on her back.

"I'm well prepared," Tsubaki went next.

"Same here," Mai nodded.

"Let's get on with it," Sonia informed.

"Alright then," Manic nodded.

With that, he stabbed the ground with his knife. In a matter of seconds, the ground before him gave way, quickly becoming a tunnel. After a moment, Manic removed his knife and gave a thumbs up.

"Haseo-chan, contact us in case you see anything go wrong, okay?" Roll asked her little brother.

"Hai, onee-chan," Haseo nodded.

Roll gave him a quick hug before the teams went off into the tunnel.

"Keep an eye out for anything suspicious," Eggman whispered to Shockwave and Lien-Da as they walked through the halls, "The more dirt we find on Kvar, the deeper we'll bury that traitorous owl."

"Yes, sire," Shockwave nodded as Lien-Da just nodded.

"Good…" Eggman nodded as he spotted some troops walking by, "...So far nothing suspicious...aside from those strange spheres."

"My scanners indicate they contain a large amount of power," Shockwave observed.

"...I see…" Eggman noted, "Akin to a Chaos Emerald perhaps?"

"Inconclusive," Shockwave responded.

"...Grr…" Eggman frowned, "This truly does stink of something suspicious…"

"Tell me ab-" Lien-Da began before she spotted a SWATbot passing by, "..."

"Hmm. Interesting. It seems that he has a few SWATbots still. Perhaps he rebuilt them as fodder for defensive purposes," Shockwave observed.

"Makes sense," Lien-Da admitted, "Though...for a second, I did notice something."

"What's that?"

"On that SWATbot's chest...it was that same sphere those two Legionnaires had back there."

"...Okay. The moment you can, get one of those spheres for study," Eggman ordered the two.

"Of course." Shockwave bowed slightly.

"You got it," Lien-Da nodded.

"Excellent," Eggman spoke before a shadow came over them before Kvar landed before them, "...Kvar."

"Lord Robotnik. A pleasure to see you once more…" Kvar greeted, "I assure everything is going perfectly?"

"It would...but I do have one question for you though," Eggman stated as his frown grew, "Those spheres. What are they?"

"Ahh...excellent question. You see, those spheres are a little something I came up with," Kvar answered, "They're known as Exspheres. They provide not only a power boost to its owner, but it acts as an alternate power source. Think of them like batteries, only they last longer, and only require one."

"...And how do you exactly make these 'Exspheres'?"

"That is a secret I'm afr-" Kvar began before the siren went off, "..."

=Master Kvar, intruders have been spotted within the EMP generator room= the computer spoke up.

"...Grr…"

"It seems that everything is not as fine as it seems," Eggman noted.

"...Just a minor inconvenience," Kvar stated, "Computer, have Vypra and a few soldiers head there now."

=At once=

"Please. Let us convene to my office," Kvar offered.

"Yes...let's…" Eggman nodded, keeping an eye on Kvar as they followed the large owl.

"Okay, this is is," Makoto noted as she looked at a machine before them, "We take this down, it'll let Ben use his tech aliens and get Jetstorm back in the fight if we need him."

"Yup. So…" Ragna paused as he gripped his sword, "Let's go nuts."

"HOLD IT!" the group looked over to see Vypra and a few soldiers approaching them, the latter aiming their blasters at the trio while the snake Beastkin glared at them, "You even touch that, and you'll pay the price with your lives."

"...Ben?"

"Yeah Makoto?"

"Think you can go Omniketsu for me?" Makoto asked, "Been a while since I trained in that form, and these 'dummies' here will be perfect to use."

Ben blushed, "Uh...Right."

"Ragna, you got the generator?" Makoto asked as Ben turned on his Omnitrix.

Within a flash of light, Ben began to transform. Only..it wasn't Omniketsu this time, but rather a bulky alien that resembled a metal suit with a grill vent for its 'face.'

"NRG!" the alien declared in a Russian accent before looking at his hands, "Ach. Should've guessed the Omnitrix would have done this sometime today."

"...huh. Guess so…" Makoto noted, "...Oh well. Maybe next time then."

"Ja," NRG agreed, "Still...Been a while since I used NRG."

"Then what's stopping ya?" Makoto asked with a grin, "You got some 'targets' set up nicely in front of you."

"Good point," NRG chuckled before one of the soldiers fired at him, not even leaving a scratch on the armor, "I should varn you. Mein armor is fairly strong. Only Taydenite can cut it. And just because I am big..." a red beam shot out of his grill and struck the soldier, knocking him back while melting the gun, "Does not mean that I am slow."

"...Be cautious of that one," Vypra frowned, "Aim for the squirrel instead. But be sure to keep her alive...Master Kvar will be looking for a nice meal after dealing with Robotnik."

"...Okay just for that, You're getting a taste of this," Makoto stated with a frown.

"Hmm? A taste of wh-" Vypra began before Makoto was instantly in front of her, her arm reeled back, "?!"

"Sirius Jolt!" Makoto declared as she slammed her fist into Vypra's face, sending her flying back as she bounced off the wall, leaving an imprint before she crashed into the wall clear across the other side of the room.

"New move?" NRG asked.

"Eeyup," Makoto nodded with a grin, "Just reel my fit back, and Bam! Send them flying across the room, possibly causing them to bounce off any nearby walls."

"Ah. I s-look out!" NRG grabbed Makoto and moved her behind him as the soldiers shot at them, the shots bouncing off his armor, "They do not learn, ja?"

"No..no they do not…" Makoto shook her head, "Ragna? You got things handled?"

"You just focus on the mooks," Ragna stated, bringing his sword out, "I'll handle the generator."

"Ahh...alrighty then," Makoto nodded, "NRG, let's have ourselves some fun."

"Ja. Let's!" NRG nodded before turning around and firing another laser from his grill, hitting another soldier, before he proceeded to charge in with his fist glowing bright red.

"Okay. Looks like the coast in clear," Sonic noted as he and Sonia poked out of the small opening in the tunnel, hidden behind a dumpster.

"While I am glad Manic made an exit that was hidden, did it have to be near a dumpster?" Sonia questioned, wrinkling her nose at the smell.

"Best I could do," Manic shrugged in the tunnel, "Besides, the PA System isn't too far from here."

"Yacker, go find it please?" Roll asked.

Yacker saluted before flying out of the tunnel. Due to his small size, he went unnoticed as he peeked around before spotting the PA System near the dumpster. He flew back over and spoke up, pointing out the PA System.

"Great job," Roll smiled, petting Yacker and earning a happy noise from the Wisp.

"Okay. Get me over there so I can wire the device into the system, Sonic," Sonia spoke.

"You got it," Sonic nodded, picking his sister up before he rushed over to the PS System, "Alright. Work your magic, Sis."

Sonia nodded as Roll ran over with the bulky device, gently putting it down where Sonia pointed at. As they did that, Manic hummed to himself underground as he stabbed the wall to his side, moving the ground to expose the back of a vault. Dismissing the armor and letting Carn shift into Wolf Mode to hop on his head, Manic pulled out a blowtorch.

"Won't be long now…" Manic whispered with an excited grin.

"As you can see Lord Robotnik, aside from our little issue in the EMP generator room everything here is going fine," Kvar assured Eggman as they stood within his office.

"Perhaps, Kvar, perhaps," Eggman admitted, "However, it does not explain why your base vanished from the map nor why your men were spotted in a now destroyed town roughly seventy two hours ago."

"Ahh..well let's just say for the latter, the townspeople of Luin were speaking ill of you, so I took care of them for you," Kvar answered, "As for the former...well with what happened with GUN, you can't be too careful. They…"

=Are nothing more than inferior beings= Kvar's voice suddenly spoke from the PS system =Overlanders, Beastkin, Mobians...everything is an inferior being compared to Superior beings like I=

'?!' Kvar mentally tensed as Eggman raised a brow.

=Even if we run out of test subjects, we could always acquire more with the Sandblasters' help= Kvar's voice continued =Those barbarians will do anything for 'freedom' and money…=

"Sandblasters?" Eggman scowled.

=What of that doddering old fool Robotnik? He's caught in his own delusions of trying to defeat those annoying hedgehog triplets...while he did give us this blessing, his time has long passed= Kvar's voice continued as Eggman's eye twitched behind his glasses =The age of these Inferior Beings is over...it is time for Superior Beings like us to rise and and exterminate those below us=

'Impossible! How did...No...They managed to bug my office?' Kvar thought, '...Clever...I truly did underestimate them...something I will correct myself…'

Eggman's fist slamming on the table snapped him out of his thoughts. Eggman's nose flared as Kvar could feel the harsh glare behind Eggman's tiny glasses aimed directly at him.

"Inferior beings? Superior beings?" Eggman seemed to start foaming at the mouth, "You...You…" he cleared his throat as he stood up fully, "Kvar, I command you to tell me what you have done to those residents of that town right. this. Instant."

"..." Kvar began to give out a low chuckle, "Very well...since I'm in trouble apparently...I will tell you. Recall those Exspheres I mentioned, Robotnik?"

"...Yes?"

"Well…" Kvar paused as a dark look appeared on his face, "How do you think I was able to create them?"

Eggman thought before his eyes widened, "...you didn't…"

"Oh I did...the body and soul is but a mere part of the recipe to create Exspheres," Kvar explained, "While it is a shame those used to create them end up dying but really…" he leaned in close to Eggman's face, "Who would miss such Inferior beings anyhow?"

His response was Eggman slamming his hands on the table, actually managing to splinter the reinforced wood, as he glared down Kvar, "I would. Do you have any idea, any idea, what it means to take over a country? The populace is key. It's why I went with Roboticizing them instead of just killing any of them, so that I would have them under me. Now killing them?" he gave a dry, dark chuckle, "Killing only inspires rebels to work even harder, make them become far more bloodthirsty and, as consequence, far more dangerous. That's because they will start to go to any length to enact revenge for the fallen, even becoming the very monsters they rebel against to do so or further. You should have noticed, but the Freedom Fighters? They were losing morale, becoming weaker with each passing day as another day went by with more of their friends and family becoming Robians. Were it not for the appearance of Tennyson and Nanaya with the royal triplets and showing Overlanders and Beastkin that they could also do something to aide in the war instead of just being passive? Why...I would have won within a year at the rate it was going." a beeping noise made way into Kvar's head, "That's because I never killed but enslaved through Robiticization. To let them know that their relatives and friends were so close, yet all too far from their reaches, giving them false hopes of reversing the process in some way. But you? You overstepped that fine line." the beeping noise began to increase pace, "You, Kvar, have performed the gravest of sins and have betrayed your loyalty to the Eggman Empire." he held up a hand and snapped the fingers, "Наказание."

*Ba-BUMP?!*

"?!" Kvar choked on a sharp intake of air as he grabbed his chest.

Eggman just stood there as all of Kvar's nerves began to feel like they were going off all at once to the Mobian Great Horned Owl, the scientist merely putting his arms behind his back as he just watched. Kvar gagged and choked, his eyes bulging out as saliva dripped from his beak as he felt as if he couldn't breathe. The Mobian stumbled back, ending up crashing through the window behind him. Roll had to hold in a yelp when the owl ended up crashing down before them just as they were sneaking towards the hole behind the dumpster, twitching and spasming. The three Mobians and lone WIsp witnessed as something seemed to be moving, slithering, beneath Kvar's convulsing skin and feathers as Kvar's bloodshot eyes seemed to be trying to completely pop out of their skull. As the pain reached its zenith, Kvar's sight could only see blurry images. Roll stepped back as Kvar managed to get up, staring directly at her as she pulled her katana out with Yacker ending up grabbing the top of the blade. To Kvar...it looked as if the blurry image before him pulled out a cane.

"?! G-g-GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Kvar screeched as whatever was writhing beneath finally made itself known.

The three jumped back as muscles, sinew, blood, skin and feathers scattered as metal erupted from beneath. Kvar's agonizing screech grew higher and higher as more and more metal and wires began to burst from his body, wriggling and writhing as they began to reshape and rip right out of his body. Yet the entire time, Kvar continued to glare at Roll as his eyeballs finally burst, revealing sinister red optics while the bone beak broke apart for a metallic one. Unaware to any of them, a dropped Exsphere had been scooped up in the metal and wires, interconnecting and reshaping it into a cold, pulsing metal heart deep within the metal behemoth.

=COOOOOOOPPPPER!= Kvar's metal roar echoed as thunder rumbled above.

"...Um….was that supposed to happen?" Lien-Da asked, a nervous tone in her voice.

"So that is what happens when it's an organic that is subjected to it instead of a dummy," Shockwave analyzed, "Fascinating. Lord Eggman, I..." he turned to Eggman to see him pale and sweating, "Sire?"

"Th….that...that wasn't supposed to happen...that…" Eggman shuddered in fear as he slowly stepped back.

Kvar began to flap his wings, taking flight as his glowing red optics kept their sights on Roll.

"N-Nani?" Roll whispered, shivering in shock.

=COOOOOOPER!= Kvar screeched as he flew right down at Roll, razor sharp talons aimed to slice her apart.

"Look out!" Sonic tackled Roll out of the way as Kvar's talons barely missed them, "What...What was that?"

"Worst case scenario….really bad worst case scenario…" Manic whispered as he peeked out of the hole, "Kvar...is now Clockwerk. But...how?!"

"Let's get outta here!" Sonic ordered.

"Right!" Sonia agreed as the trio made it for the hole.

Sonic was the first to jump in before a shadow overcame Roll and Sonia. The two turned and barely jumped out of the way of Kvar trying to grab them, the metallic owl crashing into and through the wall before them and causing it to collapse right over the hole and sealing it. In the office above, Lien-Da was barely caught by Shockwave due to the tremors caused by the impact.

"My lord, we need to evacuate immediately," Shockwave informed.

"That...but...he shouldn't be...yet…" Eggman trembled, his mind flashing to his first and only time he had ever tried to deal with a robotic owl and the nightmares that became ingrained within him through it, "Wh...what have I done? I...I brought this nightmare to Mobius once more!"

"Uh, I hate to break this little episode of yours, but…" Lien-Da paused as Kvar started to get up in the floor beneath them, "We need to get out of here before you're made into poached egg!"

Shockwave picked up Eggman as he ran out with the echidna. Below, Kvar emerged from the rubble, giving a metallic screech as his optics targeted Sonia and Roll, the two pulling their weapons out.

"What the hell's going up up there?" Ragna whispered, sitting on top of the wreckage that used to be the EMP generator.

"Whatever it is, it's making my tail stick up," Makoto grunted, trying to get her tail to stop sticking straight up, "Seriously, it feel like it wants to pop out!"

"Looks like you're not the only one," Ben noted as he looked at the tied up soldiers of Kvar's, their tails all sticking straight up as well.

"Guys! Guys do you read me?!" Manic shouted through their communicators, "Pardon my language, but shit has hit the fan! Things have gone from good to REALLY REALLY WORSE!"

"...Why?" Ben asked through his Binocucom.

"Worse case scenario has happened...Kvar is basically now Clockwerk MKII!" Manic freaked.

"And Roll and Sonia are stuck up there since the tunnel's collapsed!" Sonic added.

"This is bad...this is really bad...game over man! Game freakin' over!" Manic panicked, "So here's the new plan. We grab the girls, rescue whatever hostages we can, and rush the hell back to Mobotropolis!"

Ben winched at the loud 'smack' that went off on the radio.

"Better?" Sonic questioned.

"Yeah...I-I think so," Manic replied, a red handprint on the left side of his muzzle, "Still...this is really really bad. We need to get the girls out of there stat."

"Ragna, can you contact Noel, Tsubaki, and Mai?" Makoto asked, "They should be starting their job right now. I'd contact them, but..." she gave a tiny glare at Ben while holding up a partially melted Binocucom in the color of an acorn, "Someone's radiation beam hit it during the fight."

"Eh heh...sorry…" Ben sheepishly chuckled as he held his hands up in defense.

"...Roger," Ragna nodded.

"Okay. We should be nearing the kill switch," Tsubaki whispered as she, Mai, and Noel were near the location, "Once we activate it, we sh-"

"Tsubaki, don't say it," Mai interrupted.

"What?"

"It's something Ben and Sonic pointed out to me. Lately whenever we say something involving that line of thinking, the opposite happens," Mai noted.

"...That is true…" Tsubaki whispered, "Ahem. Let's just focus on the mission then."

"Right," Noel and Mai nodded.

"Good idea warning us before Tsubaki said something like 'nothing can stop us now,'" Noel noted with a happy smile...not seeing Mai and Tsubaki nearly fall over, "...Eh?"

"...Three...two...one…" Tsubaki counted down before their communicators went off, "...Noel, can you answer that please?"

"Hello?" Noel answered.

=HELP! EMERGENCY! WE ARE GOING TO DIE PAINFULLY BY THE LIVING NIGHTMARE OF THIEVES EVERYWHERE REBORN!=

*POW*

=...Thank you, Bro= Manic calmly thanked, ignoring the fist-shaped mark on his cheek.

"...N...nani?" Noel blinked, "Wh-what's going on?"

=Long story short? We learned just what happens when these guys double-cross Eggman, but well...it went very, very bad somehow= Sonic explained.

=Bro, that's like saying you just like Chili-Dogs. We're stuck underground and Sis and Step-Sis are up above having to fend off the flying metal terror of doom reborn!=

"..." Tsubaki quickly turned her communicator on, "What are you talking about, Manic?"

=I'm saying the absolute worst case scenario has happened! Kvar just became Clockwerk MKII!=

"He turned into Ben's clock alien?" Mai asked.

=...Manic, you can tell her later. Right now, we need to focus. Are you girls on your way to cut the power to free everyone?=

"We are, yes," Tsubaki nodded.

=Good. Once you do, you have to get them as far away from the area as possible= Sonic advised =We don't want any innocents to get involved in the crossfire up there=

"...Understood," Tsubaki nodded, "Just be careful out there."

=You too=

"Wh...what happened?" Noel asked as Tsubaki turned her communicator off.

"Change of plans. Once we turn on the kill switch, we need to get the people out of here as fast as possible," Tsubaki explained.

"Ahh...finally finished with that blasted simulator…" Starscream muttered as he walked into the main deck of the EggCarrier, "Now then...to go deal with th-"

"Starscream."

"Ah!" Starscream yelped as he turned to salute Shockwave, "I have completed the final simulation!"

"Excellent," Shockwave nodded, "Lord Eggman is currently in the Medical Wing of the EggCarrier due to...complications...with Kvar's punishment for betrayal."

"He got to do it at last? I was beginning to wonder if there'd be idiots among those Mobians with the enhancements in them…" Starscream noted, "...It wasn't as horrific as the…" he shuddered, "Biolizard was it?"

A loud metallic screech outside was his response.

"That answer your question?" Lien-Da asked back, jerking her thumb over to the window as something blurred by.

"What in the great three laws was that?!" Starscream exclaimed.

"Kvar," Shockwave replied as he began typing at a digital console, "Activating defensive measures for the EggCarrier now and activating outer scanners to see just what went wrong with the process."

'Now I'm feeling I should've requested my vacation time yesterday…' Lien-Da thought.

"...Oh come now. It can't be that bad, can i-?" Starscream began before within a second, he spotted Kvar fly by once more, "...I uh….think I'll go back to the simulator…for an entire month..."

"Didn't you finally beat that last sword training simulation?" Lien-Da raised a brow.

"Practice makes perfect," Starscream replied quickly as he ran off.

'...Honestly, if I were in his shoes, I'd do the same,' Lien-Da thought.

"Hello? This is being Jetstorm," Jetstorm answered.

=Was hoping Haseo would answer…= Ragna muttered before saying aloud =The EMP generator's destroyed, but now we've got a giant, metal owl gunning for Roll and Sonia=

"Oh? Giant metal owl?" Jetstorm repeated.

=Apparently from what Manic said, it's Kvar turned into...damn it...what was it called? Clowwork? ...Clockwerk MkII=

"Isn't that form of Comrade Ben's?" Jetstorm asked.

=...This better not end up as a goddamn running gag…= Ragna scowled =Know what? Just...put Haseo on before I pop a blood vessel out of annoyance=

"Okiey dokie," Jetstorm nodded, "Comrade Haseo, you is to being here for call from Comrade Ragna. He is asking for you, yes?"

"Oh...o-okay," Haseo nodded as he took the communicator, "Wh-what is it?"

=Well, the good news is that we exposed that damn owl and we've taken out the EMP field generator. Bad news is that Kvar's now a giant metal owl and is trying to blow up Roll and Sonia since Sonic and Manic are stuck underground due to a cave-in=

"?!" Haseo's eyes widened at that, "G….giant...metal….owl? O...Onee-chan is in trouble?"

=Yeah..and if we don't do something…your sister could...=

"...No...no no…" Haseo whispered, dropping the communicator as he began to shake, his eyes dilated as he began to hyperventilate, "No no no…"

=Haseo? Haseo!=

"A…AHHH!" Haseo let out a fear filled scream, absolutely terrified that his sister could die...scared that he'll lose another member of his family. For a moment, his eyes flashed a fiery crimson before he began to faint.

"Ah! Comrade Haseo!" Jetstorm yelped as he caught the fox before he could fall all the way, "He is to being out of it." he picked up the communicator, "Worry not, Comrade Ragna. I am to being on the way!" he placed Haseo on the passenger seat in the front of the bus before running out and flying off in his alt mode, "I am coming, comrades!"

=COOOPER!= Kvar roared as he attempted another talon swipe at Roll, the hedgefox barely rolling out of the way and regroup with Sonia.

"Lightning!"Yacker declared as he quickly went into the katana, turning it into the large blaster.

"Fire!" Roll shouted, her ivory-colored eyes glinting a bit as she pulled the trigger as Sonia began to fire more shots from her keyboard gun.

Kvar seemed to flinch a bit from the barrage of lasers and lightning blast before he took off into the air once more. Once the laser fire stopped, he gave a powerful flap with his massive wings, sending a barrage of razor sharp metallic feathers at the two girls.

"?!" Sonia and Roll tensed up as they began to avoid as many of the feathers as they could, wincing a bit from the few that managed to hit them as they left scratches and tore up bits of their clothes.

"Oh come on!" Sonia groaned in annoyance as she looked at the tears in her clothes, "These were a gift from mother!"

"Laser!"

A cyan laser swatted a few stray metal feathers from hitting the girls as Roll lowered her rapier, "Ah mou...This is getting insane. I really hope this isn't what it was like for Sly-Itoko and our ancestors to have to deal with the first Clockwerk."

"Well considering how much of a hard time we're having…" Sonia paused as Kvar gave off a metallic screech, "Most likely."

"True. Bu-Jump!" Roll yelped, jumping to the side to avoid another divebomb from Kvar.

=Cooper...You will pay!= Kvar screeched loudly.

"I'm guessing Eggman must have made a file on you being related to Sly Cooper," Sonia whispered, earning a nod from Roll.

"Maybe, b-dodge!" Roll yelped as she and Sonia quickly rolled out of the way of another claw swipe, "I think that last swipe took some of my tail fur."

Kvar screeched as he did another sweep to strike at Roll again when a barrage of missiles struck his side, causing ice to start forming. The mechanical owl screeched as he shattered the forming ice and looked around for the source.

"What?" Sonia gasped before Jetstorm shot by, firing another missile barrage at Kvar.

"You are to be leaving my comrades alone, you very mean birdie!" Jetstorm shouted.

Kvar screeched as he flew after Jetstorm, barrel rolling out of the way of the missiles fired at him. He sent a wave of metal feathers at Jetstorm, but the smaller robot swerved and spun out of the way of each one while firing more ice missiles at the mechanical owl.

"Comrades, you go on and meeting up with others! I will keep the very mean bird busy!" jetstorm shouted to Roll and Sonia befor he barely dodged a swipe from Kvar, "Watch it! I had just had the painting job!"

"But...what about you?!" Roll called up.

"I will be the fine. Just hurrying on out of here quickly!" Jetstorm shouted.

"Demo…" Roll began as she looked at Sonia, "We can't just leave him alone to face him…"

"I know…" Sonia agreed, "But right now, we're not sure just where Sonic is. With how big this place is, you have a chance of ending up outside his range and we both know that no one wants that to happen to you again like in Chunan."

"...True...demo…"

"Roll….He'll be fine. He can take care of himself," Sonia assured her, 'At least...I hope.'

"There's the kill switch!" Mai exclaimed as she, Tsubaki, and Noel ran into a metal room with a set of switches in it, "... 's the kill switches…"

"Hmm...We probably have to flip all three at the same time to activate it…" Tsubaki noted, "...Noel, Mai, you take the left and right ones." The two girls nodded as they moved to the designated switches while she took the center switch, "Okay. On the count of three, we flip the switch before us."

"Do we go on three or do you say 'go' after you count to three?" Mai asked.

"The former," Tsubaki answered, "One….two…"

Noel gulped slightly as she gripped her switch tightly. Mai's ahegao twitched a bit as she kept a tight hold on her switch. Tsubaki took in a deep breath.

"Three!"

With that, all three girls flipped their respective switches at the same time. In the next room over, which happened to be the factory, the pods began to go in and out as the liquid keeping those trapped within floating began to drain, the pods opening up and freeing those within.

=Warning. Warning...test subjects are being rel-Bzzt! Rel-bzzt! Rele-bzzt! Daisy….daisy…= the computer spoke slowly as it began to die out =Give me...your answer… truuuuuuuuuuuuu-Bzzt!=

"Is it just me, or do AI systems do that 'daisy' thing a lot here when you do a shutdown like this on Mobius?" Mai asked.

"I...honestly never noticed it before until now…" Tsubaki admitted with a sweatdrop before clearing her throat, "Ahem! A-anyways, let's hurry and check on the hostages."

"Right," Noel and Mai agreed as the girls moved out.

"Any luck finding a way out, Manic?" Sonic asked.

"Nope. And it's too small in here for me to summon my drums," Manic replied before pointing at Carn, poking out of his quills, "And I need them out with Carn to turn into the armor."

"Damn…" Sonic sighed, "So unless we had a drill or something, we're pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place...literally."

"You sure you don't have anything in your bag of gems from Mom that can help?" Manic asked.

"Maybe..let me check," Sonic said as he began to search through the bag of gems, "Let's see…" he pulled out a green gem and slid it into his shoe before tapping it, causing a swirling green-tinted wind to come over him, "Whoa!"

"Oof-gah-ook-geh-gah-gee-gah-guf!" Manic grunted out as the winds struck him repeatedly.

"Whoa!" Sonic tapped the gem and took it out, causing the wind to vanish, "Sorry."

"We're...training...on those gems...later…" Manic groaned on the ground as Carn sniffed at him.

"Well...Aside from that one now, the only other one I have is one that makes me smaller than Carn," Sonic noted as he put the purple gem in and activated it, "See?"

"Dude...I think you're as big as Nanomech," Manic compared as Carn sniffed the miniscule hedgehog.

"Yeah. I'm starting to think that, too."

"...You show Roll this in…"

"Manic, you finish that and I will not make waffles Sunday!"

Manic gasped before frowned, "Ohhh...You are evil, Bro." he looked around, "Hey...I think I see an opening small enough that you could fit in at your size."

"Really?" Sonic asked as Manic held his hand out and he jumped into it.

"Yeah," Manic moved to a small gap just slightly bigger than the miniscule Sonic, "See?"

"I see. Okay, I'll go through this and figure out how to get you out," Sonic informed.

"Yeah, Mini-Bro," Manic nodded, trying to hold back a snort of laughter.

"...You wait until everyone's seen it and then you and Makoto go on with the puns and jabs at this gem's ability," Sonic deadpanned.

"Careful, bro. I'm gonna hold ya to that," Manic grinned.

"...Just put me before the hole already."

"Yeah yeah…" Manic chuckled as he put Sonic into the hole, "Good luck, Bro."

"Same to you, Manic," Sonic nodded before running off through the hole.

"Okay, easy now," Tsubaki advised.

"Everyone who's strong enough try to help others get away from here," Mai called, the elder Mobian on her back as they were trying to direct the freed prisoners away from the building that had housed their cells and pods.

"Eggman must have ordered the remaining guards to evacuate the area," Noel noted, seeing a distinct lack of guards in the area.

"Most likely," Tsubaki nodded, "Still, better keep an eye out for any stragglers just in case."

"Got it/h-hai," Mai and Noel nodded.

"L...Luin..." the elder whispered, "What of...Luin?"

"...A lot of buildings are still standing," Mai replied after a moment, "There were lives lost both there and here, but I know you'll be able to rebuild."

"...That is true…" the elder nodded, "...And what of...Kvar? Did he...finally…?"

=COOPER!=

"We kinda blew the whistle on his operations and, well, we have no idea what happened, but now we have a giant metal owl in the air that is trying to kill a friend of ours," Mai replied.

"...I...think I'll go back to sleep…" the elder whispered before fainting.

"You do that," Mai nodded.

"It is Clockwerk! Flee!" an older tortoise Mobian panicked as he fled...with a snail going faster than him and his cane, "Flee!"

'...Just hope the others are doing alright,' Tsubaki thought.

=COOPER!=

"Yeesh. That guy's loud," Ragna noted as the heavy hitters ran down the tunnel.

"Come on, come on," Ben muttered as he glared at his Omnitrix, still red, "Recharge already."

"That thing has some issues with recharging," Makoto frowned before Sonic skidded to a halt before them, "Sonic!"

"Manic's still trapped," Sonic explained, "Ben, can you..?"

"Can't. Omnitrix still needs to recharge," Ben explained.

"...Man that thing has some charging issues," Sonic frowned, "And at the worst possible time too."

"How did you get out of the cave-in?" Ragna asked.

"My shoes have slots for magic gems. One of them shrinks me down to the size of Nanomech," Sonic explained.

"...Huh. That's pretty useful," Makoto noted before adopting a squirrely smirk, "So does R…"

"You finish that and no parfaits or smoothies with any kind of nuts in them for a month," Sonic warned, his eye twitching.

"...Oh you are evil," Makoto frowned, "...Maybe we should change your name to Scourge the Hedgehog."

"My brother is trapped in a cave-in while my sister and girlfriend are up above fighting a monster metal owl that is trying to kill my girlfriend. You try to be 'good' in a situation like this," Sonic deadpanned.

"...Fair enough," Makoto shrugged, "But seriously, we need to figure out how to get Manic out and get to the girls in time."

"...I'll go and help the girls out," Ragna offered, "And before you say anything, Makoto...think about it. You're a Squirrel Beastkin, and Roll and Sonia are dealing with a GIANT metal owl."

"A Great Horned Owl to be precise," Ben added, earning a look from Ragna, "...What? I had to do a report on them for my last science class before I ended up on Mobius. Blame Gwen for the constant surprise tests on identifying them."

"Sounds about right," Ragna nodded, "And last I recall, owls EAT squirrels."

"...Okay. So me and Ben and grumpy pants Sonic will go help Manic," Makoto offered, realizing what Ragna meant.

"Good," Ragna nodded.

"Just...be careful. Okay, Ragna?"

"Heh. You worried about me dying to an owl? The only one dieing here is gonna be that son of a bitch," Ragna snorted before going off to get out of the tunnel.

"Let's get going, you two," Sonic ordered before going off down the tunnel he had come from.

"...Ben?"

"Yeah Makoto?"

"Just throwing it out there but...on the chance an owl does come after me...you'll protect me, right?"

"Yeah," Ben nodded, "I'm sure Rath would like a few words with an owl."

"Heh...yeah," Makoto giggle a bit, "Just wanted t-"

"Hurry up, you two!" Sonic shouted offscreen.

"Coming!" Ben and Makoto shouted as they ran off after him.

"Ahh!" Sonia yelped as she barely dodged another metal feather from Kvar, the metallic owl dodging each of Jetstorm's missiles.

"BURST!"

"Come on! Come on!" Roll shouted, firing...well...fireballs from her transformed blade at Kvar, "You got nothing on me, ya flying wind up owl!"

=COOOOPER!= Kvar screeched as he flapped his wings, sending a powerful gust of wind that dissipated the fireballs.

"...Except maybe that."

"Memo to self: check Roll's family book on if this personality change thing always happens," Sonia muttered as she tried firing more lasers at Kvar, only for them to bounce off the metallic owl's wings.

Kvar gave a screech as he shot down towards the two girls, talons outreached as he attempted to swipe at them until…

"Gauntlet Hades!"

Kvar crashed into another building. Ragna snorted as he landed on his feet before the girls, the flames on his leg dissipating.

"They weren't kidding at how big he got," Ragna noted.

"Phew...thank god…" Sonia sighed in relief before Kvar shot out of the building, shaking off the debris as he screeched at the trio, "Oh come on!"

"Kvar isn't staying down," Roll gulped, Yacker separated from the blade once more and hiding in her hair.

"Shit...stubborn son of a bitch too…" Ragna muttered as he looked at his hand, "...I may need to go all out just to beat him."

Kvar screeched as he sent another flurry of razor sharp wings at the trio, causing them to barely roll out of the way.

"...That is if he'll let me…" Ragna muttered.

"At least you've been able to hit it," Sonia noted, "Our shots keep on splashing off like water against his frame. What kind of alloy did Eggman use for this?"

"Worry later. He's coming right this way," Ragna stated as Kvar flew right at them, talons out once more, before swooping around to avoid a missile barrage from Jetstorm.

"You are not to be forgetting about me, yes?" Jetstorm questioned as he transformed and landed beside the three.

Kvar growled as he hovered in the air for a few moments, his eyes widening as they gave an ominous...almost hypnotizing glow.

"Now what's it doing?" Ragna questioned.

I...am...unsure…" Jetstorm replied as he couldn't help but stare, "Those eyes...so...mesmerizing…"

*CLONG*

"Ah!"Jetstorm yelped, holding his head.

"Don't look at his eyes," Ragna warned, "Great...Just fuckin' great. Now it can hypnotize people? I'm starting to hate owls…"

"You're not the only one…" Sonia muttered, trying her best to not stare into Kvar's hypnotic eyes, "Roll, any ideas?"

"Give me a few moments," Roll replied, pulling her family's book out, "Keep him distracted and I'll check for anything I could try in here."

"Easier said than done…" Ragna frowned as Kvar attempted to divebomb the group.

"...O...Onee...chan…" Haseo whispered in his unconscious state, a faint aura surrounding him as he tossed and turned, "I...Iie...don't...want to...lose...nakama...don't...wanna lose...kazoku…must...protect..." he soon began to rise up, his head fur shadowing over his eyes as he stood up, "Must...protect...minna-tachi...must…" his eyes soon shot open, revealing them to have a more serious look, his ice-blue eyes now a more crimson/fiery red color, "Protect…"

"...heh...so this is how I'm gonna go out eh?" Manic noted as he sat down on the ground, "Funny...figured I'd go out stealing something big." he rubbed the head of Carn with a finger, "And just when I figured out how to get you out without the armor, too."

"Mmm…" Carn whined as its ears were drooped.

"Don't worry buddy...I'll stick with ya," Manic assured, "Still...there's a lot of stuff I've yet to do…heists to do...family stuff to get to do with mom, bro, and sis...an-"

Before Manic could finish, Carn's ears perked up as it heard a rumbling sound.

"Hmm? Something up?" Manic blinked.

"Manic!"

"Eh?" Manic blinked further, "Was that…?"

"Manic, you might want to stand back!"

"Stand back? Wh-?" Manic began before a fist broke through the wall of rocks, "?!"

"Just one more...and…" the voice began as the fist retracted...only to slam through once more as it broke the way, "Nailed it!"

"Makoto?" Manic asked.

"Yo," Makoto winked as she held her hand out to him, "Need a hand?"

"...Very much so," Manic smiled a bit as he took her hand, "What did I miss?"

"Ragna went up to fight Kvar," Sonic replied.

"And we got confirmation from Tsubaki that the prisoners are safe and sound," Ben added.

"How so, dude?" Manic asked.

"From what she said, they're on their way to an opening in the wall around the base," Ben replied.

"What?!" Manic exclaimed, "Dude! Is that the one Ragna made?"

"Well...I think," Ben replied.

"...They're going into a trap," Manic facepalmed.

"...What?"

"That Kvar is one truly sneaky bastard…" Manic groaned, "He set up a trap in case anyone tried to get away...basically...it's a gas chamber trap."

"Say what?!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Yup. If anyone is close to the exit, steel doors block every possible exit, and the room fills with a poisonous gas that paralyzes the nerves," Manic explained, "Any longer, and it could result in perma-death."

"And you were gonna say something when?!" Sonic exclaimed.

"I thought I didn't have to since Tsubaki read the same stuff I did when we were making the dang slideshow for this operation," Manic replied.

"Oh I'm sorry! It's just that Roll and the others are dealing with fucking nightmare fuel!" Sonic argued, butting heads with Manic.

"Okay! Hold it!" Makoto pushed the two apart, "We are getting nowhere with this." her ear twitched at the sound of the Omnitrix signaling it recharged fully, "And I think I have a plan to deal with the gas chamber if it hasn't been triggered yet."

"...Huh?" Sonic and Manic blinked at that.

"There's their mobile base," a honey badger Beastkin noted, his right arm robotic and wearing the Dark Legion uniform, as he and a few other soldiers looked out from behind a few trees.

"Can't believe they hid it so well," an Overlander with his hands replaced with robotic claws noted.

"And yet, Master Kvar's computer was able to find it from just their two times sneaking into the base," a cobra Mobian noted, his jaw replaced with robotics.

"Of course. Master Kvar is an expert when it comes to stuff like this," the Overlander stated.

"Hey. I wasn't saying anything bad about Master Kvar," the cobra narrowed his eyes.

"Enough. Both of you," the Beastkin growled, "We go in, capture anyone in there, and then blow it up. Don't forget Master Kvar is expecting us to be done and report in an hour from now."

"Yeah...or else…" the Mobian began with a gulp, looking down at the Exsphere embedded in his chest, "...We won't fail him."

"Right," the Overlander nodded as electricity sparked from his claws before looking at the bus to see the door opening, "Someone's coming out."

"Weapons ready," the Beastkin ordered as his metal fist went into his arm and turned into a blaster.

"Oi…" a voice spoke as the door fully opened, revealing Haseo, a serious expression on his face and wearing a labcoat of sorts, "Can I help you?" I was in the middle of finishing a project."

"...We demand you come with us," the Beastkin ordered, "Any resistance will result in death."

"...Are you threatening me?" Haseo frowned, 'Because normally onee-sama would have a word with you three...but considering she's busy at the moment...I'll handle you three."

"...You...handle us?" the Mobian blinked, looking at the Overlander and Beastkin for a moment before they gave off a low chuckle.

"...Is something funny?" Haseo frowned.

"You're just a little kid," the Mobian stated as his metal fangs began to spin, revealing they were drills, "What can you do against three grown men with enhancements to their bodies?"

"...You ever heard the saying; don't judge a book by it's cover?" Haseo asked.

"What?"

"...I'm gonna enjoy making you three into test dummies…" Haseo couldn't help but smirk a bit as he unrolled his sleeve, revealing a high-tech bracelet of sorts that seemed to resemble Yacker a bit, "Koi, Wispon." he whispered as he pressed one of the symbols on it.

=BURST: RANGE MODE=

"Huh?" the trio blinked before the bracelet glowed a bright fiery red color as it suddenly began to shift around, changing into an arm-cannon of sorts that resembled the Burst Wisp, the flames along the 'barrel' of it.

"Now…" Haseo began as his inverted tail twitched a bit, only it now had a few fire-red highlights in it as he aimed the arm-cannon at the three, "How would you like to be cooked? Baked, or honey roasted?"

"Dead Spike!" Ragna roared as he swung his blade, creating the demonic beast head and barely blocked the barrage of feathers aimed at him.

"Winter Assault!" Jetstorm cried out, releasing a barrage of missiles from his arms at Kvar, making ice start form on the points of impact before Kvar shattered them while moving, "Shoots…"

=Stay out of my way!= Kvar screeched as his talons opened up, sending out small metal rings before they expanded, purple electricity crackling through them.

"Oh not again…" Jetstorm meeped.

"HOVER!" Yacker yelped.

"Hover?" Ragna repeated before he and Jetstorm were suddenly lifted up, "Woah!"

"Huh...I did not know you new this, brah," Roll noted, lying on the Hover Board as it was sending small green pulses that were causing the two to hover while Sonia managed to get onto a building and summoned her keyboard in its gun mode once more.

Sonia shot at the rings, causing them to spin around and cause the purple electricity 'nets' within to disperse and instead aim outwards. Roll flew through the rings in a lackadaisical manner as Jetstorm and Ragna managed to 'swim' through them.

"Phew...thanking goodness…" Jetstorm sighed in relief, "I was not to be looking towards the jumbled up voicebox again."

"So we just need to shoot them when he sends them out?" Ragna pondered before the two were dropped, "Gah! Hey!"

Yacker panted as he popped out of Roll's katana, the hedgefox catching him as she landed on her feet.

"He's exhausted," Roll noted in concern.

"...and this may be the bad timing, but..I am starting to run low on ammo…" Jetstorm spoke up.

"And Kvar's still not tired…" Ragna frowned as the metallic owl flew through the air, "What's it gotta take to bring that damn bastard down?"

"I wish I knew…" Sonia whispered as she looked down at her keyboard, 'Come on..what do I need to do to transform you?'

Kvar just gave a screech as he flew through the air, circling around the group, as if he was waiting for the right time to strike. He gave out another screech as he dive bombed at them, mainly aiming for Roll as his talons were out. The three dodged, but one of Kvar's talons managed to get Roll, making her cry out and tumble.

"Roll!" Ragna and Jetstorm gasped.

'Kuso...It...It cut into the tendons,' Roll thought, grabbing her leg where it had been cut, 'I...I can't run!'

'Oh no...what do I do? What do I do?' Sonia thought as she saw Roll's injuries, 'I...I don't know what to do...I'm not like Sonic or Manic...I...I don't know if I can help...but…' she looked up at the cloud covered sky as Kvar circled back around, 'I can't let him get to Roll...I can't let someone like him ruin anymore lives…'

"He is coming back…" Jetstorm whispered as Kvar flew down towards them again.

"Roll, move!" Ragna shouted as he began to move towards her when Kvar sent out a flurry of metal feathers and electrical rings at him and Jetstorm.

"I can't...he cut into the tendon…" Roll whispered as she tried to get up, only to wince.

Yacker whimpered as he held onto Roll's arm.

'No no no no no no…' Sonia thought as she began to tremble, 'I...My shots aren't doing anything to Kvar...We've run out of options...But even with that…' she grit her teeth as she jumped off the building just as Kvar was flying by her towards Roll, 'I won't let him hurt her!'

The keyboard began to light up. Kvar was about to strike Roll with his talons when a blast of intense flames slammed into him, knocking him away and through a wall. Sonia landed before Roll, her keyboard gone. The intense flames let out a screech as they dispersed, revealing a metallic phoenix of sorts, looking more like flames made up its main body while its wings and head were made of metal, more flames filling out the wings as 'feathers' while its 'beak' was a blade.

"...A Phoenix?" Ragna raised a brow, "Was kinda expecting water…not fire."

The phoenix screeched once more as Kvar rose up from the rubble of the destroyed wall, his red optics glaring at it. The phoenix erupted in flames before dispersing, revealing it had vanished. Kvar was slammed in the back by a blur of flames, getting his head stuck in the ground, before the flames dispersed before reforming before Sonia. The phoenix gave another cry before flipping around and changed. The flames dispersed as the wings snapped together beneath its head, forming a staff while the head and beak became the blade of a spear. Sonia caught the spear before flames covered her legs, dispersing to reveal armored heeled boots had replaced her boots.

"...N...nani?" Roll whispered with wide eyes, "Sonia...you…"

"I...I did it," Sonia gasped, looking at her new weapon, "It transformed!"

"Uh...I hate to break the moment and all, but…" Ragna began as Kvar shot back out, his optics glaring as he screeched in anger, "A certain robotic bastard is not finished!"

Kvar sent out a barrage of metal feathers at Sonia. The magenta hedgehog yelped before flames engulfed her before dispersing, revealing her missing and the metal feathers hitting the wall behind her. Kvar looked around before hearing a cry from above. He looked up to have Sonia ram her spear into one of its optics.

=GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!= Kvar screeched as he began to try to shake Sonia off, only for her to vanish in a burst of flames once more.

"HiYAH!" Sonia cried out as she stabbed her spear into one of Kvar's legs, the blade engulfed in flames.

Kvar let out another cry as the flames melted where they had made contact with. Kvar swung a wing at her, only for Sonia to vanish in flames once more, appearing beside Ragna.

"How are…?" Ragna began to ask.

"I-I'm not actually sure," Sonia replied, "I guess it's...it's like it's just giving me the information on how to teleport with fire." 'Is this what Manic and Sonic went through when they first got their knife and sword?'

Kvar's screech soon broke her out of her train of thought, the metallic owl trying to shake off the flames as he sent a flurry of metal feathers and electric rings at the group.

"Dead Spike!" Ragna roared as he summoned the demonic wolf head, blocking a majority of the feathers and rings.

"Winter Storm!" Jetstorm called, spinning like a top while releasing his missiles, hitting more of the rings and freezing them with a few more feathers.

=You...you…= Kvar hissed as he glared at the group, mainly Roll and Sonia =I will see to it that you suffer...your entire legacy will suffer...your entire family line will suffer so only I remain!=

Sonia readied her spear again when Ragna moved past her.

"Me? Suffer? Buddy, let me tell you, I already know what that's like," Ragna snorted before grabbing his blade, "But let me do something for you instead." before anyone realized it, Ragna shot at Kvar, skidding to a halt as his emblem briefly formed, "Now let me show you…" the orb on his Azure Grimoire opened as he swung his blade, digging it into Kvar's underside, "THE POWER OF THE AZURE!" the impact of the blade force Kvar to bend backwards, allowing Ragna to rip his blade out and unfold it into its scythe mode, "Let me show you...That there is no hell…" Ragna unleashed a barrage of slashes with his scythe as he spoke, the three seeing black and red orbs erupting from Kvar with each strike and going into Ragna...with the wounds on the white haired man's body healing with each orb absorbed, "There is only darkness…" he spun around and the azure erupted around him, leaving behind only a pitch black and red 'demon' with a lone 'wing' that tore repeatedly into Kvar, absorbing more of the black and red orbs, "And…" the demon spun once more and Ragna stabbed ahead, "DESTRUCTION!"

"There's a large power reading being detected," Shockwave informed before a pitch black pillar of 'light' erupted from one of the ruined buildings, shooting into the distance.

"...What…..was that?" Lien-Da asked with wide eyes.

"Comparing to known energy signatures," Shockwave replied, "..." he tensed, "The energy signature was an exact match for the signature detected when the 'Cauldron' on Space Colony ARK was opened to release the Biolizard."

'...Nope. Nope! So much nope! I am not dealing with the same stuff that created that thing' Lien-Da mentally exclaimed, "...Uh...once we get back to the base and Eggman is acting well, I...think I'm gonna take the vacation days I missed."

"I believe that is a logical plan."

"D...Please tell me you two saw that," Sonia gawked, looking at the large hole where a wall and part of the ceiling had been.

"I did...but I am not to being the believing of it," Jetstorm replied while Roll just nodded with Yacker fainting once more, "There...there is nothings left of Kvar…"

"H-hai...it's as if...the darkness itself swallowed him…" Roll whispered as Ragna walked over, sheathing his sword as he popped his neck a bit.

"Ugh...Been a while since I used an Astral Heat," Ragna noted, "Forgot how damn tiring that thing is."

"Astral...Heat?" Jetstorm repeated.

"Insanely powerful attack that leaves you tired afterwards," Ragna answered, "But still...Dealt with a bastard owl, got him turned into a freak machine, got to pummel said freak machine, see a keyboard turn into a metal phoenix and then a staff, and got to pummel the freak machine again. Not bad for an attack on a base." 'And no getting stabbed in the gut this time, too. That's a first. Then again...those were at the NOL bases.'

"-ello? Roll? Roll, do you come in?" Sonic's voice spoke up from the Hedgefox' binocucom.

"Sonikku?" Roll answered, "Daijobu?"

"I am. We got Manic out safely and we regrouped with Tsubaki and the others in time before Kvar's trap could go off. I'm heading over to your location with Manic," Sonic answered, "How're things on your end?"

"We managed to defeat Kvar, demo…" Roll paused as she tried to get up once more, only to wince as her wounds opened up a bit, "Ite…"

"Roll? What's wrong?"

Sonia took the binocucom gently from the hedgefox as Ragna pulled out a small medical kit from inside his jacket, "Roll got hit by one of Kvar's attacks and got her in the leg."

"Just be glad you didn't get stabbed through the gut by something here," Ragna snorted as he worked on a quick patch job on the injury, "And that it didn't hit any main arteries. And I am going to stop you right there and say that it's personal and I do not want to talk about it."

Roll closed her mouth and nodded. She had wanted to ask about the 'stabbed through the gut' part.

"In other news, I got it working," Sonia informed, showing her new weapon on the Binocucom.

"A spear? Oh sweet. Congrats sis," Sonic smiled, "But in all seriousness, we'll meet you in a few minutes, then we're heading back to the team bus, and getting the hell out of this place."

"Good idea...but why the r-"

"I...may have set up the self destruct sequence once we got Tsubaki and the others out of the trap," Manic spoke.

"...Manic. The. Hedgehog. You did not just tell me you set off a self destruct sequence," Sonia's eye twitched.

"Ah! Hang up! She's gonna yell!" Manic yelped.

"See you in a bit, sis!" Sonic yelped as he cut the connection.

"..." Sonia took a deep breath as she looked back at the others, "Okay….good news, the prisoners are safe and out of the base, and Sonic and Manic are coming to meet up with us."

"...I'll bite. What's the bad news?" Ragna asked.

"Manic set up the self destruct sequence."

"Oh...well that's not so b-HE WHAT?!" Roll exclaimed.

"That is not good," Jetstorm gulped.

"...Remind me to smack him upside the head once we see him," Ragna frowned.

"Take a number," Sonia deadpanned.

Meanwhile, deep within the remains of Kvar's office, the computer seemed to buzz to life a bit before the face of a certain Wyvern Beastkin appeared on it.

=Kvar...thanks to you, everything is set into motion…= Rodyle grinned a bit =The Exspheres you sent will prove proficient for our...well...my plans...for Robians...and for Project Mana Cannon...pity you aren't around anymore to see it come full circle...but oh well. Sometimes in chess, you need to sacrifice a pawn or two to plan your strategy...Mmmm hmm hmm hmm...things are about to become very interesting= the screen turned off just as a piece of debris fell on the monitor, crushing it completely.

"How are you feeling, my lord?" Shockwave asked as he and Lien-Da entered the medical ward of the EggCarrier.

"Better now," Eggman nodded, "My apologies. I had a small...flashback...to the last time I...met...a being that resembled what became of Kvar. Now then...what happened while I was...ahem, incapacitated?"

"..."

"...Do I even want to know?"

"...Permission to speak without chance of being harmed?"

"Granted, Lien-Da."

"The explosion was fairly large for a base so small," Lien-Da stated, earning a groan and facepalm from Eggman.

"Just...Just set a course back to the main base," Eggman ordered, "I need to figure out a way to handle this situation since it is technically my fault for what happened to that town and possibly others through Kvar's actions."

"At once, my lord," Shockwave nodded.

"Just one last thing...any sign of Kvar before the base exploded?"

"...Well...not sure how, but...good news. He's dead," Lien-Da answered, 'Not sure if he'd believe me if a black pillar of Siethr was most likely the cause of his death.'

"He was dead the moment I had that activate in him," Eggman reminded before frowning, "And yet...he still acted like an enraged Kvar. It was almost as if the robotic brain he now had rejected the 'only obey orders given by a member of the Eggman Empire' command and was actually his own. At least, for the few moments I was still cognizant and not thrown into a bad flashback of my only time meeting..." he shuddered, "Clockwerk."

"...Maybe he had an Exsphere on him, and it got mixed up with...that when you activated it," Lien-Da guessed, "But...I think I'd rather forget what happened today if that's alright."

"Yeah...best we do that," Eggman agreed, "Now let's get out of here. This area is near where that lake is and I'd rather not be anywhere near it in case whatever happened to my failed attempt at making a robotic duplicate of Sonic happens to any of the robots on board."

"Mmm...itai...my head…" Haseo whispered as he slowly opened his eyes, revealing them to be back to their normal ice blue color, "Wh...what happened? I…" his eyes widened when he noticed the area was scorched, the twitching bodies of Kvar's troops on the ground as they were completely covered in soot while electricity crackled off them, "?! N...nani...?"

"Holy…" Haseo looked up to see Sonic and the others, a look of surprise on their faces.

"Dude...what happened here?" Manic whispered.

"Huh...Reminds me of the time you called the rabbit fat," Ragna noted to Ben, "Only you're not the one twitching on the ground."

"Yeah…" Ben slowly nodded, looking at the twitching guards on the ground, "...Still, what could've caused this?"

"...Hey. what's that on Haseo's wrist?"

"Eh? On my…?" Haseo began before he noticed the bracelet, "...Nani? Wh-what's this?"

"It kinda looks like Yacker," Makoto noted, mentioned Wisp floating over and poking at the bracelet before speaking up.

"Well...You have been eating more sweets than normal lately," Roll, on Sonic's back, noted to the Wisp, who began to wave his tentacles wildly while sounding like he was vehemently denying such a thing.

"Translation for those of us who can't speak alien squid?" Manic asked.

"He said the bracelet looks like him, but fatter," Roll replied, "Still...where did it come from?"

"I...I honestly don't know," Haseo answered, "I...I just woke up, and...w-well…" he motioned to the area.

"Must have knocked you out before that guy's claw must have malfunctioned," Makoto noted, seeing sparks come from the Overlander's metal claws in one of the twitches.

"Most likely…" Ben guessed.

"...Wh-where's Noel-Onee-chan and the others?" Haseo asked, noticing the shy blonde missing.

"Over at Luin," Manic answered, "They just arrived there not too long ago, and we're about to head over to check on them."

"Speaking of checking up on others, we still need to check Roll's leg," Sonic noted as Haseo noticed the bandages around his sister's leg near her foot.

"?! Wh...what ha-"

"Don't worry, Haseo. She's gonna be fine," Sonic assured him.

"...I-I hope so."

"She'll be okay, kiddo," Ragna assured, petting Haseo's head reassuringly, "She's tough, so she'll be fine sooner than later."

"...H-hai," Haseo nodded.

"I...I don't know what to say…" Kenta said once the group was back in Luin, the Mobian wearing a cast on his arm as he held it up in a sling, "Just...You rescued everyone that was trapped at Kvar's Ranch and got rid of that monster Kvar...we….we owe you all a debt we can't possibly repay…"

"It was just us doing our thing," Sonic assured, Roll leaning against him with a small tight wrapping on where she had been cut on her leg/foot, "There's no need to thank us really."

"Oh no. The people of Luin owe you a debt we can't possibly repay," Kenta argued a bit.

"...Still, what's gonna happen to Luin?" Makoto asked.

"It can be rebuilt," Kenta replied, "And this time...we'll rebuild it into one where people will be safe...a safe haven to give people hope in their dire times of need."

"Luin, The City of Hope…" Manic whispered, "Heh...kinda nice."

"Thank you…" Kenta nodded before he heard their stomachs grumbled, "...Why not stay for some food? The bakery managed to survive the attack, and we still have plenty of food to spare."

"Well...we really should be going…"

"Are you sure? Mitsa is almost done baking some blueberry donuts," Kenta stated, making Haseo's tails shoot up at the mention of said food.

"...Mmm…" Haseo whimpered as he looked at Roll, a begging look on his face.

"Um, well…" Roll sweated a little, trying not to cave.

"Meh. I could go for some of those," Ragna shrugged, "And some directions to that 'Lake of Trinity' would be nice."

"The Village elder knows about it," Kenta answered, "Once he regains consciousness, I'm sure he'll be glad to help you out."

"That's good to hear," Mai noted.

"Alright then," Kenta nodded, "Then let's hurry over to Mitsa's bakery. Trust me..her baked goods run out fast."

Before anyone could blink, Haseo had rushed off in a blur, leaving a dust cloud in his shape. Roll blinked a few times alongside Sonic. Finally, Sonic let out a slow whistle.

"Not bad. He's good with speeding with his tails," Sonic noted.

"I haven't seen him move that fast since Otou-san made waffles with blueberry syrup."

"Waffles?" Manic looked over at her.

"Oh otou-san would make the best pancakes and waffles when it was his turn to make breakfast," Roll giggled.

"...Bro…" Manic began as he put his hand on Sonic's other shoulder, "You are truly a lucky man to have someone like Roll and her family in your life."

"...You want her pops to make you waffles, don't you?" Sonic deadpanned.

"..."

"...Okay. I think we may need an intervention about your waffle problem…again."

"Well, at least everything's worked out so far," Makoto grinned.

A motor roared before a snowmobile shot over a mound of snow and landed and continued its progress through a mountainous range. Riding on it were Cassia and Clove, the younger sibling hugging the older sibling from behind somewhat tightly.

"You sure this is where that guy was last seen, sis?"

"From what Eggman said, most likely Cassia."

"But why did it have to be in one of the coldest places in all of Mobius?"

"Because it's likely that no one would want to come here," Clove replied.

"...Good point," Cassia whispered, "I mean, usually in RPG games and stuff, the rarer objects are hidden away in some pretty difficult areas...pretty...difficult...annoying areas..."

"...You're still playing that game, aren't you?"

"I will not rest until I get that ultimate weapon and beat that annoying boss!"

Clove rolled her eyes, a small smile on her lips, 'She's doing her best to keep positive even now…' she moved the snowmoblie around a corner, "?!"

"Smoke?" Cassia pondered, seeing something ahead was letting out a lot of black smoke, "...Oh that can't be good…"

"...Hold on, Cassia," Clove advised as she revved the engine of the snowmobile.

Cassia yelped as she held tighter to her older sister as the snowmobile nearly flew off the snow at the pace Clove was gunning it. Within minutes, the snowmobile skidded to a halt before a partially-collapsed cavern entrance, the smoke originating from it. Clove got off the snowmobile as she looked at it with wide eyes. She shook her head before looking over her shoulder at Cassia.

"Stay here," Clove ordered.

She ran into the partial opening before Cassia could object. What could have been a lovely home despite the frigid surroundings for a researcher or historian was thoroughly wrecked. Books were scattered, some still fairly intact with others destroyed in a multitude of variety. Bookshelves and furniture were overturned and shattered, Clove noticing that a few of the two categories were sporting scorch marks with some still on fire.

"...What happened here?" Clove whispered to herself as she carefully looked around, minding shattered glass that was scattered about, "Is anyone here still alive? ...Are the ones that did this still here?" a sharp cough preceding a pained groan earned her attention to a pile of books, a broken bookshelf, and a broken stalagmite, "!"

Clove ran over to the pile and ran around it before freezing. Lying against the stalagmite was the Oracle of Delphius...or rather...what vaguely resembled the profile Dr. Eggman gave her. His robes were in tatters with a sickly red blood obscuring what was exposed. Holes were littering random areas of his body while he was missing his entire right arm and the lower half of his left leg. Half his face was even burned to the point the eye where the burns were was partially melted and seemed to have popped. Each breath he took in was ragged and barely there, blood coming out with each time he gave a cough.

"...My god…" Clove whispered, a look of shock and horror on her face, "Who...who could've done this…?"

She neared the Oracle to try to better assess what happened. When she was within reach, his remaining arm suddenly shot out and Clove blinked before her eyes widened. Gone was the wrecked hideaway. Replacing it was a perfectly intact version of it.

"She came without warning, managing to hide her presence from even my detection spells," Clove spun around to see the Oracle lying on a chair, seemingly alive yet his strange mesh of furs and scales fading to grey, "She came for my life...she came for the knowledge I knew. We did battle, lightning crashed with land, ice was frozen by the flames, all that was was not in this abode...yet...I did not suspect that she was still hiding yet another...a one that should not be still here. They surprised me and the opening given allowed her to fall me." as he spoke, Clove saw more and more of the grey covered him, even touching his robes with their coloring, "You...I have been watching you and your younger sister...From the very moment she touched the Izayoi."

"The...Izayoi…?" Clove repeated in a whisper.

The Oracle gave a harsh cough, the pale red blood coming from his lips as he fully turned grey, before waving a hand, causing an image of the stone bow that was being studied at the main Eggman Empire base appeared, "It grants amazing powers limited only by the user's imagination and inspirations, but the cost is the loss of one's light in a myriad of ways that show up with different Izayoi." the bow turned into the statue that was reclaimed by the Underground Freedom Fighters, "This...combined with a spell that was given to me...by my mentor and a song from the Echidnas...can purge the negative aspects of an Izayoi and reshape it into a new form. However…" the image and, to Clove's concern, parts of the abode shattered, the latter exposing a black void surrounding them, "...it is now gone; I...had to cast it away from here so she could...so she could not use it for her purposes…"

"Oh no...wait. Who is 'she'? Who are you talking about?" Clove asked.

"She goes by no name...but a simple number," the Oracle informed as his body started to turn to ash before her eyes at a slow pace, "I...do not have enough time for all...all that you ask...but…"

He held up a hand and a brilliant golden light nearly blinded Clove. Clove regained her sight and gasped. Before her was a magnificent sword. While it appeared to be made of solid gold, it was actually a purely refined alloy that seemed to just be golden in coloration. Runes painstakingly etched into the surface of it, all from a dialect unknown to her. The butt of the sword had a small blade emerging from it while it seemed that the top of the blade extended a little bit further than expected. Surrounding the edge of the blade was an ethereal golden energy, creating an outer sharp edge to the blade. The guard of the sword was decorated in golds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds with one side of it sporting a golden crown motif to it.

"It's name...is Excalibur," the Oracle spoke, his waist below now nothing but ash, "The blade...of Mobius' true king…" Clove looked at him with wide eyes, "The blade...has been lost...since the era of the Dark King...when it all began…" his right arm followed next to become ash, "If...if you cannot find when...the statue lies...then Excalibur…" he began another coughing fit, the end of which caused his remaining arm to scatter, before looking her directly in the eyes, "...Then Excalibur will be needed to save those inflicted with Izayoi's curse. For the blade...for the blade…" his remaining body collapsed into ashes, "For the blade...cuts...all…"

"No!" Clove cried out, blinking before tensing as she was back in the ruined cavern, "Oracle! Please, I...!"

Her eyes widened. The Oracle laid where he had been, the faint trimmings of a smile on his decaying lips as his remaining eye was closed shut. His lone arm was on the floor, completely limp. Clove reached out slowly and laid two fingers on his neck, feeling no pulse no matter how long she kept them there. Only when the warmth of the body was gone did she remove her fingers, shaking as she looked upon the Oracle. A being that no matter what Eggman did during his reign was impossible to capture...a being who foresaw the man's downfall from ruling the Hedgehog Kingdom...a being who she had heard tale was capable of warping reality itself to his whims...laid there, deceased and in a horrendous state instead of dying in content...and yet...the smile never left the being's face even when the muscles should have been losing their strength.

"...Why?" Clove whispered to herself, "Why did he tell me all this...who is this woman that goes by a number...and...Excalibur...where…?"

"Sis? Is everything okay in there?" Cassia called.

"...Y...yes, Cassia...though…" Clove paused as she sighed, "We...have some grim news to tell Eggman. Just...Just get me the empty bag you brought."

"You mean the one that I always bring along when we go out so I can put stuff into it like those RPG characters with their inventories?"

"Yes, that one. Leave it by the opening, okay?"

"...Alright."

'I'll try to salvage as many books here as I can,' Clove thought, 'One of them may have a lead on this...Excalibur...or more information on the...Izayoi.'

In a forest not too far from Kvar's destroyed base, a long strip of it was torn to pieces with the ground looking at if something had carved it apart. Near the end of it, a pile of destroyed trees laid, smoke coming from opening within the trees. They began to shake as something within started to move. The trees moved more and more as whatever was underneath them moved about until finally the top of the pile exploded in a small place, revealing a set of talons on a metallic leg, dents and gaping holes sealing shut within seconds.

Roll's Interview Corner!

The curtains rose once more to reveal the talk show set. However, there was a noticeable change. Instead of Roll sitting in her normal seat, Sonic was taking her place.

"Hey, everyone. Roll normally takes care of this, but, well...she did get hurt in the chapter up above, so while the wound's being tended to, I'll be in her place," Sonic informed, "So you all know what's going to happen here; I'll introduce the guest, we chat a bit, questions get asked, and something happens. So let's just get on with it and introduce…" he looked at the list, "...ulp." he took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled it, "I am going to be honest; this is something that is going to terrify me more than anything else. The reason? Our guest for tonight is Skye Sakurai."

"Good evening, Sonic," Skye greeted as he entered and sat on the couch, "Glad to be here today."

"Glad to have ya on," sonic nodded, "Now I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions, and you're gonna answer them. That sound good?"

"But of course."

"Alrighty," Sonic nodded, "So...hmm...how're you holding up?"

"It's been...a bit trying at times. The last time I saw my children, Haseo was four years old and his sister was eight...and my wife was still alive along with her sisters."

"Ooh...reopened old wounds…" Sonic cringed, "Sorry…"

"It's understandable," Skye nodded, "You're feeling awkward speaking to me. It's because I'm Roll's father, isn't it?"

"...A bit," Sonic admitted.

"It's understandable. It happens to the majority of all boys when it comes to talking just one-on-one with a girl's father," Skye nodded, "Just be yourself. It's obvious my daughter loves you a lot."

"Yeah...I've been meaning to ask about something…"

"You mean the Hyorinmaru women and the Bond they make with those who save them, correct?"

"Yeah. I mean...no offense to those who live in Hyorinmaru, but well...it…"

"Feels like you're enslaving Roll, isn't it?"

"Well...yes," Sonic slumped.

"I had the same reaction as you did when Aphrodite and I bonded," Skye nodded in understanding, "You see, Sonic, the phenomenon involving the Bond...I believe that it is due to the benefits made by a certain item in Hyorinmaru in return for the benefits it gives. Those born outside of the city are unable to make the Bond, yet those born in the city are capable of doing so. It also didn't help that, at the time it was made, the believed gender ratio was one male every ten women. It's believed we originally acted like the Chun-ese Amazoness and you know how that ended for them."

"Yeah," Sonic cringed.

"You see, Sonic, the Bond connects one soul to the other, but it does not force itself on another. Should the Bond be incompatible, it will not happen and can be brushed off. It only works if the two are compatible, sharing likes and dislikes and can act as a foil to the other," Skye continued, "The Bond would not take unless the two are meant to be together. Are you understanding me so far?"

"Kinda yeah," Sonic nodded, "And not gonna lie, Roll's a pretty great girl. She's sweet, smart, and knows how to cook one heck of a chili-dog."

"Aside from the mastery of multiple weaponry, the Sakurai are famous in Hyorinmaru for being magnificent cooks," Skye chuckled, "It's rumored that if a school dedicated to making the best of the best of chefs in the world was made, the top of each class would be a Sakurai woman."

"Cool. Ahem...I think we may be getting off track a bit, so…" sonic paused as he pondered for a moment, "Hmm...aside from me and my two sibs, what do you think of the friends Roll and Haseo have made?"

"I commend them both for their choices in a Shield Sister and Shield Brother for our clan," Skye noted, "Ragna and Noel have shown me more often than not that they are protective of Haseo just as much as any older sibling would be for their younger one. Tsubaki is a decent person and I've been enjoying giving her and your brother Manic some technical advice when they've asked. Makoto…" a small silence followed, "...Well...she makes some good puns, that one. But as for Ben..." he took in a breath, "I must admit that I owe him so much for helping to defeat the man who took away my step-siblings and my wife from this world."

"We all owe him a lot…" Sonic nodded, "Seriously, you won't believe how many situations he got me and the others out of thanks to that Omnitrix of his."

Skye nodded, "It is remarkable. His Omnitrix, which I hypothesize is short for Omni Matrix, seems to act as a wireless receiver for sorts which releases a unique signal and energy frequency that alters one down to their very DNA within a near-instantaneous moment in order to become a selected species of extraterrestrial sentient being. And from what I've seen, it appears to utilize a genetic lock to keep it attached to his wrist. Though, it may not be the original since while it resembles a watch, the original may not have been capable of telling time like the one Ben currently has."

"Most likely," Sonic nodded, "...By the way, I got one more question involving Haseo. You know anything about that weird bracelet on his wrist?"

"Bracelet?"

"It kinda looks like Yacker, but more metal/robotic in a way."

"It does sound familiar…" Skye tapped his chin in thought, "Maybe an old blueprint or something?"

"Maybe…" Sonic shrugged, "Might figure out what it does later down the line, but for now..any questions you like to ask before we end things off?"

"Yes, actually," Skye nodded...before giving Sonic a sharp, calculative look, "What are your intentions involving my beloved only daughter?"

"Excuse you?" Sonic blinked, "...Oh god. You really are one of those protective father types, are you?"

"Considering the number of people left in my family? Yes, yes I am," Skye replied.

"...So no matter what I say, you're just gonna end up chasing me away, aren't you?"

"..."

"...I should start running, should I?"

"Oh, you should've started long before I approached the studios," Skye replied as multiple red dots appeared all over the blue hedgehog that was now sweating heavily.

"Eh heh...so...what's this one?"

"Name's a WIP, so for now...Bork Laser…"

"...Afraid to ask, so…" Sonic began before he ran off in a blur.

The curtains fells as laser fire went off.

SZ: Chapter is done..sorry for the long wait. Some...things came up.

GT: Eeyup. Real life is a pain in the tuckus.

SZ: eeyup..but hey, we're getting quite a few things lately for both Sonic and Blazblue, Sonic Forces for the former where you can make your own character, and for the latter...Jubei finally being playable, and…*grins excitedly* Blazblue Cross tag battle...and characters Persona 4(Arena) and RWBY are gonna be in it!

GT: I only know one of those things in the BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle game coming out; RWBY.

SZ: Fair enough...still, freaking hyped for it!...oh I hope Makoto's gonna be in it. I want a team up between her and Yang!...oh, and they better have 'I Burn' as Yang's theme for that game!

GT: We may have a remix of the character songs like how they remixed the BlazBlue character songs for Chronophantasma.

SZ: Ahh...that is true. If that does happen...oh I gotta get me a PS4 now! also..I am getting Jubei the day he comes out for Central Fiction! This I promise!

GT: *nods* Lucky for me, I've got the golden PS4.

SZ: Lucky…

GT: *nods* So everyone, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Remember to ask questions for Professor Kokonoe to answer next chapter!

SZ: Until next time, I am Seanzilla115, he is GammaTron…

GT: And we want you to read and review.