SZ: Well...Sonic Forces is out and...it got some pretty mixed reactions.

GT: I have not played it or watched videos of it, but I do enjoy the music.

SZ: True, plus Infinite is possibly one of the more threatening villains in Sonic history. I mean seriously, Eggman was so close to world domination once he had Infinite and the Phantom Ruby.

GT: True. ...Huh...Looks like Infinite isn't Sonic like you thought, SZ.

SZ: Yeah. He's actually a former mercenary Eggman had hired, but got 'destroyed' by Shadow in the past...surprised Infinite didn't betray Eggman at the end as the guy was dead set on bringing the world into despair.

GT: Probably overused and SEGA got bored of the new villain betraying Eggman.

SZ: Ahh..makes sense.

GT: *nods* Anyways, welcome to another chapter, everyone! We own only the OCs, aside from Alpha the Hedgehog who is owned by KKDSilver. Enjoy! *pulls curtain down*

"It seems Mother really likes to go all out with new clothes," Sonia noted.

She was currently wearing a purple blouse with a red tie over it. She wore elbow-length purple gloves with a red fire pattern on them while she had a knee-length skirt with purple and red flame patterns on them with a pair of purple jean shorts underneath. Over her blouse was a short-sleeved jacket based off a phoenix's wings while a feather hairclip was now in her quills/hair.

"Guess she wanted to be a fashion designer when she was little," Mai noted, wearing a white button shirt under an aviator's jacket and a pair of tight-fitting jeans with baggy pockets.

"Maybe," Manic shrugged, wearing a jacket version of his normal red and black vest over a white shirt that had a red claw design on the front and a pair of black jeans with a gold wolf on the left leg while he still had his spinning spiked bracelets on his wrists but with the white gloves exchanged for black and red leather ones and a wolf-themed scarf on his neck, his Medallion over it.

"Not bad, Ben," Ragna chuckled, his red jacket temporarily replaced with a pure white one with purple lining while he wore a sleeveless purple shirt with large collar and white flame detailing and white belts, baggy white pants with purple belts on the legs, and white combat boots with purple soles.

"You, too, Ragna," Ben replied, wearing a white and green hoodie with a stylized '10' on the left lapel and a green zipper over a black shirt with green bubble-like detailing and baggy jeans with a white and green baseball cap on his head.

"You look very nice, Haseo-chan," Noel smiled.

"Th-thank you, Noel-nee," Haseo smiled a bit, wearing a dark-grey hoodie jacket with an image of a twin-tailed fox on the front, one tail surrounding a fire-red sun while the other was surrounding a ice-blue crescent moon, a pair of light grey shorts with his tails sticking out the back, and a pair of ice-blue running shoes with the heels having a small fox head emblem on them.

"Aleena-Joō-sama really knew what works with you, Haseo-chan," Roll giggled as Sonic, wearing a blue jacket, a red shirt with white trimming and a gold sword symbol on the left side of the chest, and blue jeans tried to not blush.

Roll's attire consisted of a dark navy jumpsuit with a dark-pink skirt and vest-like jacket over it. The ends of her fingers were exposed, letting her claws poke out when she wanted them while her hands were covered in dark-pink and black gloves while a pair of dark-pink and black running shoes covered her feet. Strapped to her back was her family's katana while a pair of pouches were attached to the sides of her white belt.

"At least this feels like better protection for what's been going on," Tsubaki noted as she walked over.

"Hey, Tsu…" Manic began before a faint pink appeared on his cheeks.

Tsubaki was wearing a light-brown open vest over a cream shirt with a red dove on her right breast. She wore a pair of cream-colored jeans that hugged her legs with light-brown sneakers and elbow-length gloves. Her hair was pulled into a braided ponytail, the end of it having dove feathers mixed into it while a cream and light-brown hat finished her attire.

"Oh! You look great, Tsubaki!" Makoto beamed as she gave a thumbs up.

Sonia slapped Manic on the back of the head discreetly, earning Manic's senses, "Gah-reat! You look great, Tsubaki!"

"Why thank you, Manic," Tsubaki smiled, "You look great as well."

"Let's get on with it then," Sonic noted as he ran to the driver's seat, "Let's go!"

"...Why does this place remind me of cyberpunk mixed with pinball?" Ben muttered as the group looked around a cliff like area surrounded by metal towers with satellite dishes on the top, pinball flippers, and various other things that are normally found in pinball machines.

"Seems more like a large-scale casino," Manic noted.

"...Maybe it's both?" Mai suggested.

"Regardless, we should keep an eye out for the next Time Stone, or any of those monoliths...or worse, that damn worm," Ragna stated.

"Right," Ben agreed, not noticing Makoto glancing at the bandaged arm he had.

"Let's split up and see what we can find," Sonic spoke, "Sis, you and Mai are team one, me and Roll are team two, Noel and Haseo are team three, Manic and…" he smirked, "Tsubaki are team four."

"Wait, what?" Manic blinked twice.

"And Ragna, Ben, and Makoto make team five," Sonic went on, "You find anything suspicious, contact the others before anything weird happens. Got it?"

"Got it/gotcha/Understood."

"Cool. Then let's head out."

"Right!" nearly everyone agreed.

"Eh? Haseo-chan, a...are those floating rocks?" Noel pondered.

"I...I think they are, Noel-nee," Haseo blinked, "How..do you think they got up there?"

"Ano...I don't know," Noel answered, "W...we should be wary of them just in case."

"So how do you think these work?" Mai pondered, looking up at a floating bar of sorts with three screens on it with an opening for something round on the top and bottom.

"...If it works like a normal slot machine, we might need to put something in it…" Sonia guessed as she looked at it, "But what though?"

"Hmm…" Mai looked up at the hole, noting that it looked big enough for… "Sonia?"

"Yes?"

"Can you curl up like Sonic can for his spin dashes?"

"...You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you?" Sonia's eye twitched a bit.

"Well...the hole is big enough for a hedgehog to fit in when curled up," Mai explained, "Maybe we should try it and see what happens?"

"...Mai."

"Hm?" Mai blinked as the area started heating up.

"Run," Sonia ordered, her spear out and the sharp end ignited in flames.

"Eep!" Mai yelped as she ran for it, a livid magenta hedgehog hot on her tail.

"...You know, I think Ben had it right about the pinball part of this place," Sonic noted as he and Roll looked at some floating pinball bumpers and flippers in the area, "Heh, think if we get the highest score, we'd win a prize?"

"Maybe," Roll replied as Yacker took a photo of the place.

"...Let's find out," Sonic smirked as he curled into a ball and jumped at one of the bumpers, sending him flying towards another before it shot him right towards one of the flippers, which soon kicked him up as he began bouncing between a pair of bumpers, "WHOO!"

"Oh my!" Roll gasped.

"This is awesome!" Sonic beamed as he bumped into another bumper, causing him to go through a loop as a loud ringing noise was heard, "Whoo! Bonus points!" he then flipped off another flipper before landing right next to Roll, laughing as his hair was a complete mess, "Ahahaha! Oh man that was exciting! Roll, you gotta try it!"

"Ano...I, uh…" Roll looked at the flippers with uncertainty.

"Don't worry. They'll just give ya one hell of a energy rush," Sonic grinned a bit.

"...I…"

"I'll let ya do one thing you want when we get back to the bus."

"...Anything I want?"

"Anything ya want."

"..." Roll gulped, "O-Okay then…"

"*243b#%*&& ?"

"I-I'd like that advice please, Tacker-chan."

"57Y," Yacker stated.

"!" Roll looked around before sighing in relief at seeing familiar sparkles that she had become accustomed to since Chun-nan, "Arigatou, Yacker-chan."

"Well come on. I'm waaaaaaitiiiiing," Sonic grinned, crossing his arms as he tapped his foot on the ground.

"I-I'm going! I'm going…" Roll answered as she looked at one of the flippers, taking a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself, "Okay...here goes…"

Roll jumped onto the flipper and shot off into the air. Roll bounced off a bumper in the air before hitting another flipper that sent her at three bumpers in the shape of a triangle. She began to bounce around, hitting all three in a random pattern, before a hit sent her bouncing off and at a ring. As she went through it, her tail shot out and hooked the ring, letting her spin around it a few times before her tail released, sending her high into the air and land in the top of a floating bar with three screens on it. The screens began to spin before landing on three red '7s.' A melodious tune of victory went off before Roll came out of the hole in the bottom, landing on a flipper before bouncing off and landing by Sonic, carrying a large sack over her shoulder.

"..." Sonic couldn't help but gawk, Yacker moving his lower jaw from the ground as he shook the initial shock off, "S-so! Did you enjoy it?"

"...Ano, how do I put it…?" Roll whispered as she tried to find the right words to say, "Sonikku…"

"Yeah?"

"It was...fun," Roll smiled before holding up the bag, "And look what I got."

"Hm?" Sonic raised a brow before Roll opened the bag, revealing it to be filled with nothing but platinum-colored rings with a platinum star in the middle of them, "?! Platinum Rings?!"

"I think I channeled Ryoichi-san when I was in there," Roll admitted with a blush.

"...We need to keep you away from Manic."

"Eh?"

"If he found out about this, he'd try and convince you to go to casinos to clean them out."

"Oh! Eh-heh-heh…" Roll sheepishly laughed, "M-Maybe...Then again, we went to one before and nothing happened."

"Yeah. But back then, we didn't know you were related to a clan of master thieves."

"...Fair enough, I suppose," Roll nodded, "Should we go back to the bus and drop this off in there?"

"Good idea. We'll put it in the A.M.S."

"A.M.S?"

"Anti-Manic Safe."

"Aah."

"Do you get the feeling you just missed out on something awesome just now?" Manic asked as he and Tsubaki were taking a safer route in the area to look around in.

"I...am unsure," Tsubaki sweatdropped a bit, "Let's just focus on the task at hand."

"Right…" Manic nodded as Tsubaki walked on ahead, 'Dang it, bro. Of all people you had to pair me with, why did it have to be the girl I'm crushing on?!'

"It feels as if this was all naturally made, doesn't it?" Tsubaki asked as she looked at one of the floating bumpers, "As if nature made this place as it were."

"Uh...y-yeah," Manic nodded, "I bet they call this place Collision Chaos with how many bumpers and flippers there are, right?"

"Most likely yes," Tsubaki nodded.

"Cool, cool," Manic chuckled awkwardly.

"Are you feeling okay?" Tsubaki asked.

"Just peachy!" Manic exclaimed, startling her a bit, "Just peachy, Tsuki."

"...Tsuki?"

'Crap! Did I just give her a nickname?!' Manic mentally exclaimed, "Uh...you know, like your name, but take the 'ba' out of it?"

"Oh! Well...I don't mind it," Tsubaki replied, "Makoto's come up with a few more...creative...ones when we were in the academy, so I don't really mind."

'...Roll with it,' Manic thought, "Uh...if that's what you want, sure."

Tsubaki nodded as she resumed looking around, "Though...I'm kind of surprised that Makoto hasn't thought of any nicknames for you or anyone else really. Normally, she has one after the first few days."

"Seriously?"

"Why do you think she likes to call Noel 'Noellie' or 'Noellers'?"

"...Fair enough," Manic shrugged.

"So I dare the guy to follow me outside. I open the door and let him out. Then I slam it shut, lock the door, and walk away whistling while throwing his emptied wallet away," Ragna finished telling as Makoto laughed heartily with Ben snickering.

"Oh...oh, I wish I was there to see that!" Makoto laughed, "But...I think I can top that."

"Try me," Ragna smirked.

"Okay. There was this one guy stalking me for a while-I was undercover at the time for a mission-, and he walks up to me and wants me to 'play nice' with him and his buddies. I agreed, but…" Makoto paused as she grinned, "I had a little surprise for them. I made a clone of myself using Asteroid Vision-tired myself out for a bit considering how long I used it-, and she led them to a 'hotel'. Only...it wasn't a hotel, it was an NOL station!"

"You're kidding me," Ragna smirked.

"I kid you not!" Makoto laughed, "Oh god, they were idiots thinking I was an easy lay! Then again..." she moved in front of the two and gave a slight pose, "Who could resist a body such as mine?"

'Not Ben, that's for sure,' Ragna thought as he noticed Ben's blushing face, "So, Ben...Got a funny tale of an idiot you had to deal with yourself?"

"Huh? Oh! Hmm...not that I recall…"

"Come on, Benny!" Makoto beamed, instantly behind him as she rested her head on his shoulder, "Sure ya don't have one story in particular~?"

"Well...there was the last time I ran into Animo before ending up on Mobius," Ben noted, "Guy's really fallen behind in a way. He still tries to mutate everything he can, but his plans have been ending up more or less the same pattern. I was working at Bellwood Park and was assigned to set up some chairs for a birthday party when he 'attacked' with mutated pigeons."

"I-I'm sorry. Mutated pigeons?" Ragna repeated, "What was he planning on doing, having them crap on every statue and car in the world?"

"Considering they pooped a white-colored acid, yes."

"Ew~" Makoto scrunched her nose up in disgust.

"Tell me about it. I turned into Swampfire and ended up batted into a cart of rice and the birds started eating it up. They didn't respond to anything Animo tried to get them to do and that let me tie him up like a pinata and de-mutate them. The kicker? He shouts 'Cures you, Ben Tennyson. Curse you and your meddling ways.'"

"...Okay, wow. Just...ok. That is really hitting the bottom of the barrel," Ragna chuckled.

"He actually said that?"

"Yep. Word for word," Ben replied.

"...Oh my god, that's so corny!" Makoto laughed, "Seriously, that sounds like something a saturday morning cartoon villain would say!"

"That's what I said! And he just sputtered and tried to defend his choice of words until the Plumbers arrived to take him into custody."

"He actually tried to defend it?!" Makoto exclaimed as she fell down, holding her gut as she went into a laughing fit, "Oh...oh god! I can't breath!"

"I had to wait until I was off-shift to start cracking up," Ben chuckled.

"Okay, okay. I think that's enough," Ragna chuckled as Makoto was kicking her legs into the air, "We better stop before squirrel girl here dies from laughter."

"I'm okay….I'm okay…" Makoto panted as she stood up, "Hoo...haven't laughed like that in a long time."

"Well, glad we could he-EEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLP!" Ragna screamed out.

"Ragna?" The two looked to see a spring settling down by them before looking up to see a faint white and purple thing in the air.

"What the crap?! Where'd th-oh Fuuuuuu-!" Ragna's voice screamed as the white and purple thing began to fall down.

"Oh shoot," the two spoke in unison as their eyes widened before they just barely jumped out of the way as Ragna crashed down where they had been, resulting in a crater shaped exactly like his body.

"..."

"...Y-"

"Don't….just…..don't…" Ragna's voice grunted out from the crater.

"So in the end, I get stuck in a palm tree for six hours and got a bad sunburn from it, Sonia looked like a wet rat and smelled like seaweed for three days, and Sonic hid for a month in a box that we never thought to look in," Manic finished explaining, "Sis and I agreed then and there that I was to never secretly or purposely spit in his Chili-Dogs ever again."

"I...see…" Tsubaki slowly noted.

"Yeah...but not like you've been in a similar situation before."

A silence followed.

"...Have you?" Manic raised a brow.

"...Well...someone on the school council decided to ban Chestnut parfaits from the school because they cracked their tooth on one of the chestnuts in it..." Tsubaki explained.

"...I'm guessing Makoto didn't react too kindly to that…" Manic figured.

"No...no she did not," Tsubaki shook her head, "So instead of physical violence...she decided to pull an all out prank war with the entire school."

"Oh….well that doesn't sound to b-"

"She backed up all the toilets, reversed signs, and stole everyone's left shoe and dunked them in caramel and covered them in peanuts on the last day," Tsubaki deadpanned.

"Seriously?"

"Hai...and trust me, you don't want to know what she specifically did to the student council member that banned Chestnut Parfaits in the first place."

"...Try me," Manic challenged.

"..." Tsubaki looked around before bending down and whispering into one of his ears.

"Uh-huh...Okay, so she had that, but I d…" his eyes widened, "No...No way. She...She did that?" Tsubaki nodded, "And I thought Waffle Sunday when I was growing up was a mentally scarring thing for those who've never seen it or were raised in it. But that?" he shuddered, "I wouldn't wish that on even Eggman."

"Exactly," Tsubaki nodded as she stood back up, "Which is why that particular member not only unbanned chestnut parfaits, but also resigned from the school entirely."

"...Okay, so keep chestnuts on hand at all times," Manic gulped before yelping.

"Manic!" Tsubaki gasped as the spring he stepped on settled down.

"YAH!" Manic screamed before reaching the top of his rise, "Huh? Is that..." he began to fall, "Oh no."

"Manic!"

Tsubaki started running around, trying to catch the falling hedgehog while avoiding the spring so she didn't get shot into the air. Manic and Tsubaki yelped as the former landed on the other.

"Ooh...anyone catch the number of that...whatever it was that tossed me?" Manic groaned as he slowly got up, his hand reaching out for something to use as leverage.

"Ahn~!"

'...Please don't tell me my hand is where I think it is…' Manic mentally gulped as he slowly looked down and found his hand not on her breast, but her behind, '...Huh...Soft, but firm.'

"Manic…"

"Sorry!" Manic yelped as he shot up, holding his hands up in defense.

"You...ugh...nevermind…" Tsubaki sighed a bit, "Did you happen to see anything while you were up there?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Manic nodded, fighting off the blush, "I found it in the middle of...well...you're going to think it's nuts, but I saw it in a naturally-formed roulette wheel."

"Excuse you?" Tsubaki raised a brow.

"I'm not joking. It was in a naturally formed roulette wheel."

"..." Tsubaki said nothing as she pulled her communicator out, "Did anyone by any chance come across what looks like a naturally formed roulette wheel?"

"Nope," Sonia replied, Mai groaning a little in the background.

"We got a little distracted," Sonic admitted, "We're at the bus right now."

"I think I saw something like that when I got sent into the air by a spring," Ranga grumbled.

"Dude, I feel your pain," Manic agreed, "You can't even see them until you set them off, too. I mean, who makes them like that?"

"No idea, but I'm gutting them when I find them," Ragna growled.

"A-ano, Haseo and I came across some floating rocks, but...we avoided them…" Noel spoke, "Oh! B-but I think we were near where that rock formation was not too long ago."

"Head back there. We'll meet you there as soon as we can," Tsubaki stated.

"Yeesh. It really is a giant roulette wheel," Sonic noted as the team entered a massive area that, from above, could easily be mistaken for a giant roulette wheel.

"Wonder if we have to guess a word puzzle after we spin the wheel?" Makoto joked.

"Huh?" the Mobians of the group blinked twice, not getting the joke.

"It...nevermind…" Makoto sighed.

Ben looked around before looking at the structure in the center of the 'roulette wheel,' "I think I see another obelisk at the top of that."

"Seriously?" Manic raised a brow as the group looked at the center, "...Great. Guess that means we'll have to spin and win our prize then...Not it!"

"Huh?"

"You guys were gonna try the 'finger on the nose' shtick while I wasn't looking so I'd end up spinning this thing first," Manic smirked, "Well guess what? I beat ya to it, so ha!"

"...Even if that did happen, how exactly are we gonna spin it?" Sonia asked.

Manic opened his mouth up to give a response, only….he couldn't think of anything.

"Yeah. I thought so…"

"Oh shut up…" Manic grumbled, blushing at that point.

"Hold on. Before we go up there, we should probably just pick three first," Mai suggested.

"Huh?" Makoto looked at Mai.

"Well...So far, both times we ran into one, all but three of us get separated from the others when someone shows up from the Obelisk," Mai noted.

"...She does make a point," Ragna spoke, "I mean, last time it was Manic, Tsubaki, and Haseo, and the one before that was me, her, and Roll."

"Exactly!" Mai exclaimed, "So we should probably choose who to go first before anyone does something to make that thing go off."

"Only thing is, we still have no idea how they activate," Manic noted.

"...M-maybe it's because of this?" Haseo offered, holding up the object Prof. Paradox gave him.

"What's this, Haseo-chan?" Roll pondered.

"I...I'm unsure…" Haseo replied as he looked at the crystal ring, "Demo, Paradox Hakase said it was the 'key' to this planet….a-and it seemed to react whenever we were near one of those monoliths."

"A key?" Mai blinked twice, "Well, that kinda makes sense."

"It kinda does. I mean, it glows whenever w-" Manic began before the monolith began to glow, "..."

"...I invoked Murphy…" Haseo sighed before it released a bright flash of light.

The shadowed figure floated, twitching wildly, before a group of figures looking at them in mixed reactions. Paradox approached, hand outstretched that the shadowed figure accepted before the two were gone. 'Time' went on before it revealed a stoic shadowed figure standing by a concerned Paradox.

Knuckles cried out as he was knocked back by an explosion. He grunted as he crashed through a burning tree before a robotic claw on a plasma chain grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the ground before dragging him back from the explosion and the encirclement of burning jungle and ruins. The claw connected to an all metallic arm connected to...an echidna. Knuckles slumped in the grip, conscious lost. Nearby, Lien-Da was just staring in shock with Julie-Su.

"It…It can't be..." Lien-Da gasped.

"But...how?" Julie-Su gulped.

The jewel of the obelisk shined bright before the obelisk transformed before them, releasing a burst of smoke. A white glove with three spikes on the back of it swung out, dispersing the smoke. Before them was an Echidna with fur as red as a roaring inferno. He wore a brown cloak acting as a cape of sorts, exposing the black sleeveless shirt, slim camo-pants with a utility belt on his waist, and the completely robotic arm replacing the left arm. It looked to be a near-perfect copy of the organic right arm, but two long, jagged spikes emerged from the middle of the outside of the arm going a few inches past the robotic hand with three crescent spikes emerging from the shoulder and pointed upwards. His face was set in a scowl, his left eye a brilliant amethyst while the right eye was a robotic eye.

"Bow to me and I shall be your salvation. Defy me and I shall be your worst nightmare!" the Echidna snarled before swinging his organic hand out, erupting in green flames that created a green-tinted barrier that cut Ben, Makoto, Noel, and himself from everyone else, "What will it be?"

"...How about C: None of the above?" Makoto countered as she summoned an energy sphere, "Comet Cannon: Break Shot!" She shouted as she punched the energy sphere at him.

The Echidna held up the cybernetic arm. The moment the energy sphere touched the outstretched limb, the sphere was absorbed into it. The echidna gave a dark smirk as his robotic eye glowed briefly while Makoto gawked.

"Thank you for the recharge, hybrid," the Echidna flicked his robotic wrist, causing the hand to retract into the arm to reveal a blaster, "Now perish."

"...Oh crap," Makoto muttered.

"Scatter!" Ben shouted as the three barely dodged the laser shot out of the blaster.

"What the hell? Dude, I thought it was just Knux that was the only Echidna still around," Manic noted, "Well...born in this Zone at least."

"Is he from another Zone?" Sonia pondered.

Ben rolled on his landing before slapping his Omnitrix. In a flash of green light, Cannonbolt rolled at the Echidna flexed his organic hand before slamming it into the ground, ripping out a chuck on it in the form of a ramp.

"Whoa!" Cannonbolt yelped as he was sent flying into the air by the makeshift ramp and crashed into the barrier, "Oof!"

"Heh…" the Echidna smirked a bit, about to aim at Cannonbolt before…

"You're wide open!" Makoto shouted as she charged at him, fist already reeled back.

The Echidna looked over his shoulder before his organic hand glowed once more with the green flames. Makoto swung only for the Echidna disperse into green flames. She stumbled in her surprise and was shot in the back by a sphere of plasma, sending her crashing into the ground a few dozen meters away. The Echdina gave a bloodthirsty grin before switching his blaster of it claw, letting him catch and absorb Noel's energy shots.

"Mou...this guy has his bases covered…" Makoto muttered as she stood back up.

"I'll say," Cannonbolt grunted before slapping his emblem and turning into Swampfire, "He's strong like Knuckles, made this dome, can teleport, and soaks up energy. Let's see how he handles what Swampfire can do."

"And three brawlers at once. Astroid Vision!" Makoto declared as she split into three, "Alright girls, let's get him!"

The trio shot off at the Echidna. The Echidna turned to them, his optic flashing briefly. The first Makoto swung her fist only for the Echidna to catch it in his robotic hand and threw her into the third Makoto while jumping over the shoulder-tackle by the middle one. He swung his organic hand out, making a green dome cover him in time for a barrage of fireballs to strike it. Upon touching the ground, the dome dispersed and the Echidna shot out at Swampfire. Bringing his robotic hand into a chopping shape, its panel shifted around into a blade form that turned bright red. He sung and sliced Swampfire down the middle only for the alien to reconnected his halves and turn around to face the Echidna.

"Ow...that didn't work…." Makoto groaned as her clones disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving acorns in their wake.

"Oh...oh dear...what do we do?" Noel asked as she helped Makoto up.

Swampfire slapped his emblem, turning into Feedback, "Well you know what they say; when the time to go Hero can't handle it, then it's time to go Ultimate."

Slapping his emblem, the four spikes emerged. Green energy washed over Feedback, transforming him in an instant. His body was a bit more muscular with his black and white coloration reversed. Black and white cables emerged from his shoulders and dug into his elbows while his plug fingers gained saw blade-like growths on the backs of them. His two long antennae split into six as a scorpion-like tail resembling them emerged from above his behind. His legs had shifted into more velociraptor-like legs with buzzsaw-like growths growing out of the back of the lower halves. Finally, his single eye had split into two with a plus in the left eye and a minus in the right.

"Ultimate Feedback!" the evolved alien declared.

"Ahh! He evolved!" Mai exclaimed.

"Ready for Round 2, metal head?" U-Feedback smirked, electricity crackling off the cables in his arms.

"It matter not what form you take, death is at the end for you," the Echidna growled before slamming his organic hand on the ground, green flames engulfing the hand.

The ground exploded as a barrage of land-made spikes shot at the three. Noel brought her guns together and they combined into a machine gun that she quickly fired, mowing down the spikes heading at them. A three-pronged claw shot out of the smoke from the destruction of the spikes connected to a chain made of plasma. It grabbed Makoto's wrist before U-Feedback's tail shot out and impaled the plasma chain. In an instant, the chain was gone and the cables on U-Feedback's arms began to glow before he flicked his fingers, causing plasma claws to engulf the tips of his plug fingers, as Makoto ripped the claw off her limb.

"Impossible!" the Echidna gasped, now missing his robotic hand.

"That's what ya get for underestimating us," Makoto smirked as she crushed the robotic limb, "And since ya can't absorb energy shots anymore...Ben-kun, Noellie?"

"Right," Noel nodded.

"Got it," U-Feedback grinned.

The Echidna narrowed his eyes, about to reach for something before rolling out of the way of a barrage of shots by Noel. U-Feedback was upon the Echidna, slashing with his plasma claws. The Echidna's robotic eye flashed and he began to easily evade each slash before delivering a roundhouse kick to send U-Feedback into the path of one of Noel's shots, knocking him over.

"Okay...even when he's not armed, he's dangerous…" U-Feedback muttered.

"...Laugh later, try to beat him now," Makoto bit the inside of her cheek.

The Echidna slammed his flame-coated hand on the ground once more before it erupted in the form of a stone-made Chaos 4 shooting at them.

"Woah!" Makoto yelped as she and Noel rolled out of the way, "Did he just make a rock version of Chaos?!"

"Magic...Why is it always magic when Gwen's not here?" U-Feedback facepalmed, realizing what the flames were.

The stone Chaos 4 moved back over to the Echidna, holding the broken claw. It handed the claw over to the Echidna, who touched it with his flames and repaired it. He reattached the claw before sending the stone Chaos 4 at them once again.

"Eh! He can repair himself too?!" Makoto exclaimed, "Hacks! I call hacks!"

"What's more, he can soak up Noel's shots again," U-Feedback scowled before slashing the stone Chaos 4 in two, "But I have an idea to stop his magic." he slapped his emblem and turned into Terraspin.

"Terraspin?" Makoto pondered.

"Watch," Terraspin replied before going into his shells and shooting off at the Echidna with a burst of air.

The Echidna's organic hand erupted in the magic fire and swung it at Terraspin. The flames washed over Terraspin, leaving nothing on him. The Echidna's eyes widened before Terraspin crashed into him. He began to get up when Terraspin grabbed him.

"Got you!" Terraspin grinned, "Girls, now!"

"Right!" the two replied as they charged in and began to lay punches and gun-made smacks on the Echidna until the Echidna was able to get out of Terraspin's grip and moved away from them.

"What was that?" Makoto asked.

"Terraspin is immune to magic," Terraspin replied.

"...Ohh! I-I think I get it," Noel gasped a bit, "If his magic can't hurt him..."

"Then there's nothing stopping me from hitting him," Terraspin nodded before going into his shell and shoot at the Echidna once more...only to be caught by the organic hand and thrown at the two girls, "Or...he could catch me instead of using magic…"

"Ugh...Seriously...this guy has a strategy for everything…" Makoto muttered, "It's like that game involving the neighbor and the dead kid and the locked up kid….What was that game again?" she ducked under a laser shot, "Right. Think about that later, survive now."

"M...maybe we should try something unexpected," Noel suggested.

"Good idea," Terraspin agreed, "And I think I have an idea."

Ducking his head into his shell, his legs fused into one fin before he began to spin his three fins like a giant fan releasing a large blast of wind. The Echidna grunted as he slammed his organic hand into the ground, digging it into the ground.

"Oh, I think I get it," Makoto grinned before jumping into the wind and shot off at the Echidna, "HERE I COME!"

She let out a cry as she slammed her fist into the Echidna's face, slamming him into his own barrier. His robotic eye sparked as he began to stand up from the blow before Noel charged in, swinging her left gun into a blow. The Echidna staggered back a bit, about to fire at Noel before Makoto's feet planted straight into his face, sending him crashing into the ground as she jumped away.

"You…" the Echidna snarled before Makoto pointed up, "Hm?"

A shadow came over the Echidna. He looked up and his real eye widened as the iris turned into a dot. Humongosaur roared as he crashed down on the Echidna, having grown to twenty four feet in size. He got up and walked back from the newly-made crater as the barrier flickered away. The Echidna floated in the air before turning back into the obelisk as it and the gem on it shattered, crashing into a heap. The three sighed in relief as the Omnitrix timed out.

"Thank sweet god…" Makoto sighed as she sat down, "I thought he'd never go down…"

"That dude was nuts!" Manic exclaimed as the others ran over to the three, "It was like he knew what you were all gonna do before ya did it!"

"...Maybe that robotic eye of his was predicting our every move," Ben guessed.

"Maybe. But now we have another problem," Ragna noted, "We're gonna have to find another one of those damn Obelisks."

"And considering how the last one was...we're gonna have to fight someone from another timeline…" Noel sighed a bit.

"Oh come on. You can't be sure of that," Makoto noted.

"Yeah. If it happens, I'll eat a hat of your choice, Noel," Manic grinned.

"Famous last words…" Ragna muttered.

"Come on. Let's get back to the bus and think of a plan," Sonic offered.

"Good idea," Ben agreed, none of them noticing a black smoke coming from the remains and flying off into the distance.

"Another one added," the figure noted as Soundwave approached, "Were you able to get visual on what this Shade was?"

Soundwave's wrist opened and a cable slithered out and connected to a port on a console. The screen attached to it displayed the battle against the Echidna.

"Hmm...A fighting style utilizing martial arts, technology, and spellcasting," the figure noted after a few moments, "Interesting, yet it will most likely only the physical and technological aspects will be fully utilized."

GT: And like that, more mysteries added on.

SZ: Yup. Things keep getting more and more interesting as the story goes.

GT: Indeed. Hopefully the readers like it enough to give good reviews and questions for Kokonoe to answer.

SZ: Eeyup. We hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and sorry for the delay. Life caught up with us once again.

GT: So until the next chapter, please Read and Review!