Eggman Air Cruiser Theta, Command Center

Tangle watched the carnage on the ground with stars in her eyes. This was amazing! It was like watching one of those human movies! Sadly, what put a damper on the epic clash was that Eggman's robots were the ones losing.

Tangle shook her head, still smiling. No matter. Even if there are a lot of badniks down there, the only robots down there are fodder. I can't wait to send down the Super Badniks. She thought, her smile turning into something malicious. Suddenly, Alcurine walked in through the command center doors.

"You know, I thought Eggman was joking when he said the Air Cruiser I was on was actually under your command." Alcurine joked, looking at Tangle sitting in what could be called a captain's chair.

Tangle's chair could spin, so she dramatically spun over to Alcurine, putting her hands into an 'evil mastermind' pose. "Why yes my dear A. I'm the leader of this cruiser. In fact, besides the mission of 'getting the Chaos Emeralds', I'm actually the one in charge of this operation." She said, before trying to do an evil laugh.

She wasn't very good at it, but Alcurine smiled anyway. Alcurine was also fairly surprised. "So wait. The Doctor actually trusts you enough to do something like this?" She asked.

Tangle just shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I can't force the badniks under my command to suddenly try to coup Eggman. And I mean…" She started, a bit embarrassed. "Look, I'm not smart enough to drive the Air Cruisers, alright? I may be the 'captain' but I'm not the one making them move." She muttered. Alcurine just laughed.

Suddenly, a holographic screen like the ones Tangle was just using to watch the fight popped up in front of her face. She jumped a bit, but after she got over her initial surprise, it was replaced with disappointment. The Restoration had already destroyed all the badniks on the ground, and despite many islander's being injured, none of the heavy hitters were incapacitated.

Tangle sighed again, before rubbing her temple. Damn, now I know how Eggman feels whenever we destroy his badniks and his major plans. She thought to herself.

Tangle shook the disappointment away, before pulling up a holographic microphone that was connected to the speakers of the Air Cruiser. Before she activated it though, she looked back to Alcurine. "Do you think we should go all out?" She asked Alcruine, the more tactical of the two.

Alcurine smiled. "Of course. Now that the main enemy force is exhausted, they will have a much harder time defending against everything else." She said. Tangle's face configured into a dark smile. "Perfect!" She shouted, before activating the microphone. She also activated the command for the Super Badniks to be deployed unto the ground.

Her excitement immediately got the better of her, and she started laughing maniacally. Alcurine raised an eyebrow. When Tangle was actually trying, her 'evil' laugh sucked, but apparently her genuine maniacal cackle was actually pretty intimidating.

"HAHAHAHA! WOW! That was AMAZING! That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Bravo! Sadly, as much fun as that was to watch, seriously, it was like a movie! …The boss man still wants me to get those Chaos Emeralds, and I've got a job to do! So, we have all our guns leveled on Restoration HQ, and we have several super badniks deployed, ready to rock your world! So, what's it going to be, heroes?" Tangle monologued into the mic, already signaling the robots in the command room to lower the Air Cruisers for effect.

While Tangle wasn't expecting surrender, she was still excited when the Restoration made it clear they were not giving up that easily. She brought up her microphone once more, the evil smile clear in her tone.

"Alright then… Your funeral." She said smiling devilishly, before cutting off the mic. She then pulled up another holographic screen with a logo that looked kinda like Sonic's logo, but sharper and metal. She clicked it, which caused it to go to a video call.

On the other side stood Metal Sonic, who was in front of what looked like a contingent of egg pawns that were themed as knights. Instead of the usual Eggman Empire colors, these ones were painted the same colors as Tangle's fur was currently.

"Metal Sonic, it's finally time for you to shine. I know how much you've been missing combat, so here you go. Your mission is to take out Sonic. However, your main objective is to actually stall Sonic while T-squad secures the Chaos Emeralds in the confusion. Oh, and if you get the chance, maybe steal a Chaos Emerald on your own and bring it here. Got it?" Tangle said, looking at her personal robot squad.

Metal just nodded, before turning back to T-squad. Metal seemed to shout at them in beeps and boops, and T-squad saluted him before getting into formation. T-squad then marched into a much smaller Air Cruiser, before the mini-cruiser was launched out, Metal Sonic following behind while flying.

Tangle deactivated the hologram, before turning back to Alcurine, a grin on her face. "So, I know that this might be an insensitive ask after… well. But… Do you think you can get out there with the Morality Ray again?" Tangle asked her quietly, yet her grin was still in place. Alcurine just nodded her head, not seeming to care.

"We got the list, don't we? I'll be fine. Besides, you got something to prepare for too, you know." She said, smiling.

Tangle's small grin instantly widened into what could be described as pure excitement. "Gaia YES. I really hope That we can get the last two Chaos Emeralds. I heard that Eggman was making some kind of invention for all seven, and I REALLY want to use Eggman's newest invention!" She rambled excitedly. Alcurine just rolled her eyes with a grin, before leaving to find her personal Egg-mobile. She had to get some things done before flying down, but surely the battle wouldn't end that fast.

Restoration HQ, Outside

Sonic quickly sped over to the nearest Super Badnik, aiming to crush its head as fast as possible. The Death Egg Robot rip off activated its single red eye's laser, trying to carve a swath of destruction Sonic's way. Sonic was too fast for the laser to hit him, speeding towards the back of the robot before quickly climbing up. Before he even got a chance though, the robot spun around, much faster than it should have been able to, tossing Sonic off of it into the ground.

The impact didn't hurt that much, but Sonic realized that what he normally would do wouldn't work. Sonic sped around, hitting some more regular badniks that followed after the Super Badniks, thinking of what he could do to the bigger ones. Suddenly, an idea hit him. Literally.

A Super Badnik managed to grab Sonic, before throwing him. It didn't do anything, but it reminded Sonic of the Titan's from Starfall Islands, and it made him think of the abilities he was able to use there.

Sonic looked to the nearest Super Badnik with a determined expression. Well, I haven't tried this since Starfall, but no better time than the present! Sonic thought, before running in.

To his relief, a blue trail started to follow him, making a screeching sound that he knew well from his time on the Starfall Islands. He smiled, before quickly running around the Super Badnik, his cyloop following. After reconnecting the blue trail with its starting point, the Super Badnik suddenly glitched out.

The Super Badnik deactivated, falling down to one knee, its arms hanging limply from its side. Sonic smirked, planning to run up the machine. Before he could get a chance though, A green hedgehog with short quills that was wearing a black and white hat with black and white gloves along with purple shoes grappled onto the machine. He was quickly self-pulled up, before pulling up his void wispon to the Super Badnik's eye.

One full powered blast and the badnik's face was caved in, before it toppled backward. The hedgehog looked at Sonic, smirking and giving him a tip of his hat. He pointed a finger at Sonic, then the badnik, then himself, before zipping away in purple light.

Sonic smiled, before turning to the next Super Badnik. The islander may not have said much to Sonic, but he got the gist. Just deactivate the Super Badniks, then let others deal with it, got it.

Sonic quickly cylooped the next nearest Super Badnik, watching deactivate before another Restoration Member went to deal with it. Sonic didn't get a good look before immediately turning his attention, but it looked like a rabbit islander with light and darker grey fur was acrobatically jumping up the arm.

Suddenly, Sonic felt something hit him from the side, hard. Sonic went sprawling, before jumping up in a defensive pose. Right in front of him was Metal Sonic. If Sonic didn't know any better, he could swear that Metal Sonic was smug about getting the drop on Sonic.

"Man, I've been wondering where you were. Last time I saw you, you were working with Tangle right? Seems like Eggman might be shafting ya for his new best buddies Tangle and Alcurine, right?" Sonic snarked. Metal Sonic rolled his eyes. Well, his eye-lights.

Sonic's grin shrunk a bit. He really thought that would get under Metal Sonic's skin. Oh well. "Alright then, let's see if you've gotten any better since our last fight, huh?" Sonic said, before starting to run in place.

Metal Sonic was happy to oblige.

The two clashed violently with each other, both trying to overwhelm the other with pure force. The clash seemed to turn to Sonic's favor, as he was able to knock Metal Sonic back, before homing attacking him right in the face.

Metal Sonic was brutally thrown into the dirt, before he clawed into the ground to keep him from being pushed farther back. Now Sonic didn't get the sense that Metal Sonic was smug anymore.

In fact, if you asked Sonic, he would've told you that Metal Sonic was probably pissed.

Metal Sonic slowly stood up, his movements only showing contempt. Suddenly, Metal's chest cavity started glowing yellow, and Sonic only had time to widen his eyes before a large beam of crackling yellow energy and lighting shot out.

Sonic quickly dodged to the side, before once again boosting straight to Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic's laser blast kept Metal in place for too long. When Metal got its bearings again, Sonic was already on top of him, coming down with a devastating kick.

Metal Sonic quickly activated its Black Shield, causing Sonic to smash his leg down on what was basically a forcefield. Sonic was confused for a split second, which allowed Metal Sonic to grab onto Sonic's foot, spinning him around like a top before throwing him a couple feet away into the ground.

Sonic jumped up, only looking a bit worse for wear. He looked towards Metal Sonic. Sonic's eyes went wide. Metal Sonic was holding the Cyan Chaos Emerald Sonic had hidden in his quills, studying it like an interesting piece of art. Metal Sonic looked back to Sonic, and he could feel the smugness radiating off of Metal.

Metal brought up the hand not holding the Chaos Emerald, and wagged his finger.

Sonic boosted to Metal, trying to somehow get the Chaos Emerald back. Metal Sonic decided that the emerald was more important than Sonic apparently, because Metal Sonic immediately started flying upward, back towards the main Air Cruiser. Metal Sonic paused though, when he was out of range for Sonic to reach, but close enough to still see.

Metal Sonic waved at Sonic smugly, before continuing its flight.

Sonic cursed. That was careless.

He couldn't sit around and mope though, the Super Badniks without his help were starting to become a problem. Suddenly, through the HQ's doors burst open and out came Belle and the Chief Mechanic, hauling what looked like a large laser gun. Sonic noticed that the gun seemed to be powered by several Blue Wisps, all of them looking at the Super Badniks angrily.

Suddenly, the cannon seemed to charge a shot, before blasting out and hitting one of the Super Badniks through the chest. The Super Badnik fell over, its front chest steaming from the blast that just hit it. It wasn't destroyed, but Restoration Members swarmed it before it could attempt to get back up. Sonic looked back to Belle, who noticed him and was giving him a nervous thumbs up.

Sonic chuckled, before turning back to the Super Badniks with a renewed grin.

A couple of minutes later, the last Super Badnik was brought down by a well placed sniper shot by Whisper in conjunction with the pink wolf from earlier. Luckily, when the Super Badniks came down, they were not nearly as numerous as the regular badniks.

Sonic heard a shout of surprised pain, and quickly turned to the sound. He saw that Shadow had been snuck up on by an egg pawn that looked weirdly like a knight. It had hit Shadow with its sword, which was lit up with electricity.

The egg knight picked up Shadow's Chaos Emerald, before running back to some kind of mini-cruiser. Sonic sped over, planning to stop the machine. When he got close though, another egg knight jumped in from nowhere and nearly stabbed Sonic, forcing him to roll out of the way.

Sonic then became preoccupied with the egg knight in front of him, and the egg knight seemed to be far more competent at combat then most other regular badniks, actually stalling Sonic for a minute or two.

Sonic looked up, only to see that both Whisper and the pink wolf were trying to snipe the egg knight, to no avail. The thing apparently had a forcefield over itself. Sonic once again sped to the knight, gritting his teeth in frustration when even more egg knights blocked him.

While Sonic was handling them, he looked around to see if anyone else was trying to stop the knight. Omega was dealing with other leftover badniks, and Silver was currently too mentally exhausted to help out. Tails and knuckles were also dealing with stragglers, and Rouge was in a completely different area, too high up to see what was going on. The only people who seemed to notice the robbery was Whisper and the pink wolf.

For once, Sonic was too slow.

The egg knight quickly hopped on the Mini-Cruiser, before activating the thrusters at max speed almost immediately, speeding away back to the main Air Cruiser in the sky.

After Sonic finished off the last egg knight, he looked around and saw that all the badniks were once again crushed, people celebrating. The celebration was much more heavily subdued from the first one however, as most of the Restoration Members looked exhausted. More than that, there were a lot of islanders with critical injuries that needed to be attended to.

Speaking of injuries… Sonic rushed over to Shadow, who was still slightly twitching on the ground. Sonic quickly grabbed him, bringing him inside of HQ. Shadow was clearly unconscious, and without one of the Chaos Emeralds nearby, he clearly wasn't waking up for quite a bit.

Sonic rushed back outside, being able to catch several Restoration Members hauling some of the more badly injured islander's inside. He looked around in dismay. While the Restoration may have won this battle, everything was destroyed. The ground was so heavily torn up that it would take weeks of effort just to bring it back to walkable. There were also acres of scrap metal that would have to be cleaned up.

Sonic trudged over to Rouge, who was looking for Shadow almost panicked. Sonic met up with her and pointed her in the right direction. She seemed to bolt over to HQ, most likely to check on him. He walked over to Silver, who was still heavily breathing.

"Heh… Won't you look at that? My life was once again saved several times by the Guardian Angel." he muttered to Sonic, after Sonic had checked up on him.

Sonic just gave a strained smile. "Yeah, and unlike the war, I actually got to see it in person." He said. Silver gave a grin back to Sonic.

Sonic was about to walk over to Knuckles and Tails, who were conversing with Belle and Chief, when a maniacal laugh echoed throughout the air through speakers. Sonic groaned.

Oh come on! Can't you just let us have our win Tangle? He thought. Then his thoughts screeched to a stop. Wait… Tangle? Did I seriously substitute Tangle for Eggman?

Apparently, even Sonic was starting to liken Tangle to Infinite. That wasn't good.

And it was obvious it was about to get worse.