"Akira's Mission Report. Having figured out where Sonic could have gone off to, me and my team have made our way down to South Island to search for him.

It may be a long shot but it's our best hope of finding him and Labyrinth Zone seems like the perfect hiding place. Old abandoned ruins, structures decorated with the elements and bodies of water around those parts that Sonic is not too fond of which makes it the ideal place for him to be. No one would think to look for him around those parts.

The objective is simple: Find Sonic. Convince him to come back with us and help us rescue our abducted teammates. If our reading on his state of mind is correct, it won't be as easy as it sounds and that's without the treacherous terrains around that zone.

Besides myself, my team consisted of Amy Rose, Knuckles, Julie-Su, Manic and Johnny Lightfoot. They're all the ones who could be spared on short notice but they should be helpful to our objective.

It's quite a responsibility being put upon me but on the other hand, I understand why it's me doing this. Sally thinks she would only scare him away if she tries coming, the well-being of Sir Charles would only stress him out if he came along and he now doesn't want to see Tails after what he had done to him that day with guilt as great as the guilt of Amaterasu. Like the old myth itself, he resides in a figurative cave of his own choosing.

Whatever Infinite had done to him during his captivity, it is like a slow-acting poison to make the analogy. Seemingly ineffective at first and then it slowly but steadily wrecks havoc within the self the more it lingers on. That's what I assume to be the root of this problem.

No matter what, I must try and help him. He believed in me and I cannot let him down. If he could help me find my bravery, then I must help him rediscover himself again.

We'll see what happens and hope for the best. End log."

Green Hills, South Island

Afternoon

The Freedom Stormer II made it over to South Island and found itself a good parking spot in the outskirts of Green Hills. They would have gone for Spring Yard Zone since it's much nearer to Labyrinth Zone but there weren't many places there where they could be incognito and they were trying to keep out of sight as much as they could.

Gadget spoke with Amy and was considering taking the whole team along up to Labyrinth Zone. However, he had second thoughts.

Firstly, he's wary of leaving the Freedom Stormer II unattended. Secondly, Sally or them might call in on the radio while they're away. Lastly, he just has this gut feeling about it.

Looking at the assembled group he had with him outside, he made a decision while fixing up the wrist comm's strap on his arm which randomly came undone just a moment ago. "I'm splitting us into two groups. One goes down to Labyrinth Zone and the other stays here to monitor the mission as well as keeping a lookout for any signs of the Dark Legion that happens to come here or have to go in case of emergency."

Eyeing who he has available to him, he points to Amy and Julie-Su. "You two are with me."

"Any reasons for why us two?" The female echidna asked, loading up a rifle with a mag. Said mag containing armour-piercing rounds. One can never be too prepared for any hazardous variables.

"I need someone with good marksmanship in case that Sophocles Knight turns out to be hostile or the Dark Legion decides to send out a hit squad after him." Gadget explained his reasons as he got the comms device on his wrist secured again as best as he could. "I'm told that Amy's fortune telling is good for missions like this and her hammer is more than enough for my party."

Turning his head to Knuckles. "We'll need you and your team here to warn us if Mecha Sonic decides to show up. Plus if he or his party starts attacking out here to lure Sonic out while we're deep in Labyrinth Zone, you're about the only one who could keep him at bay. Any issues with that?"

"If you need us to be here; then we'll stay by the plane." Manic said to the wolf with hands in his pockets. "We'll keep ya updated my good man."

Knuckles crossed his arms with a nod. "Anything else?"

"We'll need your archeological knowledge when we get to Labyrinth Zone if he happens to be in the old temple." Gadget told him, issuing his new orders. "We'll let you know about Sonic whenever we find him."

Johnny chimes in. "Even if you don't get him back, at least you've tried. Best of luck to the three of you."

The red lupine nodded in acknowledgment and beckons the two pink girls to follow him as they begin their trek to Labyrinth Zone. Find the reclusive blue hedgehog there. Gadget knows how it feels to think of yourself as a failure and what it's like to have personal demons. His' nearly made him walk away from his true calling.

?, ?

Afternoon

Lindsey and Jason sat in a lounge room. The redhead smoking a cigarette in her hand while her boyfriend is drinking from a bottle of beer. Both on a sofa next to a coffee table with a steaming cup of coffee on a coaster.

As they weren't needed for the exchange, both them and their crew decided to kick back. Chill a little while Lien-Da and them are off to go do that exchange.

The mercenary couple were still pretty sour over the perceived slight coming from Lien-Da. They may have screwed over some old clients in the past for bigger money but nobody stiffs them on a pay and expect no consequence from it. There's also the fact that rat Lionel is still at large and once they get their hands on him, Lindsey will see to it that he dies slowly but painfully.

Jason perks his head up when Butch came rushing into the room. "Hey, what's the hurry Curryman?"

Butch panted as he pulled out a device from his pocket and put it on the table, sliding it over to Lindsey. "You gotta see this."

"What is it?" Lindsey being curt and to the point. "I ain't got time for games."

"It's about our clients." Butch told her. "Been doing some spying on them and caught what they're not saying to our faces. I don't think they're going to honor the agreement."

Lindsey picked up the device and played one of the recordings. Immediately hearing Lien-Da speaking to Tarek.

"...Once we get that Shard back and the Legionizer operational again, we should start to tie up some loose ends." Lien-Da said to the jackal in the recording and sounded like Butch had to catch the conversation without either of them knowing he's eavesdropping on them. "Cut off the liabilities."

"Who do you have in mind?"

The Grandmaster voiced her disgust. "There is this gang of hairless apes and their red headed broad for a leader. They're all a liability like that Mecha Sonic one was and they all must go."

Lindsey wanted a piece of that echidna but stopped herself as she wanted to hear more. Learn what other damning admission that Butch had managed to capture on tape.

"Thought you agreed to pay them what they're owed?" Tarek points out. Earning a scoff from the femme fatale.

"I'll pay them with their blood. I only told her that we might pay them just to placate them long enough to keep those fools in line. Whenever we're sure we have everything under control, I'm doing away with them for good."

"Agreed Grandmaster. They are nothing but a growing liability to our plans as well as the fact that their own past track record of double crossing their clients and what they know about this makes them too dangerous to be left alive." Tarek said matter of factly and that only served to anger Lindsey at the betrayal. "I have no further use for Yardley or her band of thugs' services nor the heat they've acquired in the time I've employed them for."

"Glad you're seeing things my way."

"I am looking at it logically. Nothing more to it."

"Least you're useful to me unlike those idiots you're forced to oversee." Lien-Da chuckled mirthlessly in satisfaction in the audio file. "You managed to push that blue spaz into quitting without even doing anything which is more than what most people could say."

The redhead woman clenched the device tightly in her hands as rage boiled over her from weeks of no pay and the mishaps that befallen her including all of her losses to that four-eyed wolf. That stupid red wolf has been the bane of her existence ever since she met him. The cherry on top of a sour sundae for the unscrupulous merc.

"Those double-crossing snakes!" Lindsey grabbed her cup of coffee and angrily hurling it at the floor with a shatter, shooting up from her sofa. "After all the crap I had to do for them and they pull this!?"

"H-Hey Bunny, maybe you should calm—"

"Calm? Screw being calm!" Lindsey cuts off Jason and scares the usually mouthy man into silence with an intense glare. "They're trying to stiff me on paying me what I'm owed and you think I'm going to lay on my back for that? Hell no!"

"Maybe you should yourself before you do anything hasty." Butch calmly spoke up and ignored the daggers Lindsey was throwing his way. "They don't know that we know. They think we're still waiting for that payday and as far as I'm aware, they still haven't gotten the other Shard back yet. We could use this to our advantage."

"You—Oh, ohhhh…" The head mercenary's anger subsided as a devious thought crossed her mind. "Butch. I used to take you as just another goon for hire when I took you in but you're proving to be a real lifesaver."

"Well, you're the boss." Butch said with the awareness of Jason's jealousy at him getting that praise from her. "What shall we do?"

Lindsey smirked deviously to her present crew members. "I think it's high time we call it quits here while we still have a way out. We'll let our employers know what we really think of them when I show off my insurance policy to interested parties and the hell we'll give them for their troubles..."

Butch's gambit has paid off. He got Lindsey right where he wanted her.

That 'recording' he secretly forged through means only he knows about had done the trick in getting Lindsey to believe the Dark Legion plus Tarek are planning to eliminate her and her gang at a later time. If he hadn't poured out the figurative gasoline beforehand, the woman would have had her suspicions about the authenticity of the 'proof'. Maybe even suspect him as the one helping out the Freedom Fighters.

A spanner all primed and ready to sabotage Lien-Da and Tarek's plans. He just needs the right opportunity to execute his ploy and the successful outcome of his mission will be as good as gold.

Lindsey thought of something that 'Lien-Da' had said and an idea crept into her thoughts. "I wonder if Mecha Sonic is still in one-piece…"

Labyrinth Zone, South Island

Afternoon

The trio traveled up through the Labyrinth Zone with Amy leading the way. Having taken a route that brings them through a forest area near a gorge valley. The very faint sounds of a waterfall heard in the distance.

According to Gadget, the gorge has a concentrated thermal draft or wind draft in simpler terms with the way the cliffs are naturally formed which makes holding helicopters and other similar aircrafts steady there a challenge. That along with the fact that it's quite a drop from where they are to where the ravine is below and the only thing that could break their own fall are the trees if they're able to angle themselves towards the nearest tree that is.

Hopefully, there won't be a situation where they're forced to go to the gorge and be put in a very precarious predicament. None of them wants to entertain the thought of that or if they're unlucky enough to fall down into the ravine.

"...You think he'll actually come back with us?"

That was the question Julie-Su had posed to Amy and Gadget. It was a question no one wanted to hear yet one that's very much on their minds.

The pink hedgehog fixed the rings on her wrists when she thought about the echidna's question. "If he sees how much we're feeling his absence and knows how serious our current situation is, he'll want to come back to make things right."

Although confident in her answer, there was a hint of uncertainty to her words. Sonic having an emotional episode isn't completely unknown to her and had even comforted him once during one of them but this one is different from those other instances. He felt isolated from everyone else, there were cracks in his psyche and the despair he had felt over what he did to Tails was stronger than his ability to push through it.

There was that tarot reading she did the night before Gadget's induction to the team where it came up with the likes of a reversed Chariot, a reversed Tower, a reversed Sun and a reversed Fool. The combination of which perfectly describes the state of Sonic's life after coming back from the Death Egg.

"He just needed his solitude for a while. Everyone has those times where they want to be alone." Gadget gave his answer. "Even if he doesn't come back now, we came up here to talk to him and check on him. When his center's off, we're all off."

Julie-Su shook her head. "I don't quite follow what you're getting at."

"What I mean is that if we view Sonic as the beating heart of virtue, justice and all else that's good in our world, then having these negative emotions in him affects us on a subconscious level. Team morale is down because he's down." The wolf explained where he's getting at with his point. "As long as he feels like a failure, we'll feel like failures. There might be no connection between how he's feeling and how our current string of luck has been turning out but that's what it appears like to me."

Amy Rose thought of a verse from one of Hot Honey's more emotional songs that applies to the current subject matter. "When the light of the sun is darkened, we're all lost in the shade."

"And thus evil benefits all the same." Juile-Su hummed quietly. "What if he doesn't want to come back?"

Gadget sighed. "We'll worry about that later. Amy, how much more to go?"

"Mmm…" Amy turned her head to the wolf. "I think we're getting warmer here. We're definitely going in the right direction."

"Good thing your obsessive fangirl powers are as handy as they are." Julie-Su remarked playfully in jest much to Amy's indignation.

"It was a phase I was going through at the time!" The hedgehog defended her with some blushing cheeks. "I'm not like that anymore!"

"Yeah, sure thing Mrs. Sonic." The ex-legionnaire responded cheekily.

"Least I cried quietly in the theatre when that raccoon thief gave up his life of crime to be with that vixen cop!" Amy fired back.

The echidna's cheeks suddenly turned red and turned her head away. "That never happened!"

"We have it on record~"

"Can we not get sidetracked here? Please?" Gadget spoke up before looking over to Amy. "Are your tracking skills just as good with other people including strangers?"

"Absolutely." The hedgehog beamed. "Though, most of it is down to my tarot readings and intuition. Some people I have an easier time finding than others."

"And there are limitations to your searching prowess given we'd have located Cream by now."

"Correct."

Gadget then asks her about a rumour he heard once. "I heard you can apparently turn invisible. That true?"

"Not naturally, no." Amy answered his question politely. "I assume that came from when I had used Tekno's cloak watch for a mission once and I guess someone thought I could always do that before circulating it around. The watch only gives me fifteen seconds of invisibility per use… And when you have Espio and Miraju who could both do it naturally for far longer stretches than that, I stick to the hammer."

"I don't really see you as the type to engage in debauchery or cruelty that Griffin indulges in."

"Who?"

"The Invisible Man. The H.G. Wells character."

"Oh, that guy!" Amy sighed happily with starry eyes, a beaming smile and hands clasped together. "I saw that Diary of an Invisible Man film and oh, what a romantic gentleman he is in that!"

"Yeah. He's pleasant as long as he's not the one from the novel…" Gadget deadpans as someone who's read the original novel and knows what a nasty piece of work Griffin is. "And you don't mind the idea of a romantic gentleman that can go streaking in public with no one able to see him in his birthday suit and be a Peeping Tom..."

"Invisible or not, a pistol always wins in the fight." Julie-Su remarked, patting her beloved weapon. "Especially against Cloaked Toms."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Maybe."

"Come on. Less talking, more walking." Amy reminded her team, glancing back at Gadget. "Save most of your energy for Sonic. You might need it with him."

"Gotcha." Gadget tabbed into his wrist device on his right arm while trying to fix the loose strap on it; seemingly unwilling to stay on his arm with how temperamental and eager it is to come undone since he put it on back at the Freedom Stormer. "Any activity on your end?"

"Nope. Same as last time." Manic reported on the comm line. "Find our bro yet?"

"We're getting warm on the trail. Over and out."

Golden Hive Colony Ruins, Northamer

Afternoon

Either it was a morbid coincidence or Cream and Cheese's captors have a twisted sense of humour in choosing their location, they picked the ruins of the Golden Hive Colony to host the exchange at. Once a thriving kingdom and the birthplace of Charmy the Bee as well as Saffron Bee. It used to be a beautiful, shining sight within the continent of Northamer.

Now it stands as a dead and desolate monument to the destructive might of the Eggman Empire during the Second Robotnik Empire. Very few people including the survivors ever come to these ruins except to remember what was lost in the colony's demise.

Sally ends her musing about the tragedy of the past and focuses on the present. The head of the Knothole Freedom Fighters having arrived over to the ruins with Chuck and a detachment of R.A.A Commandos in an R.A.A aircraft. The best she could assemble on short notice with how strict the captors are.

She eyes the Shard of Creation in Chuck's hands. The object that Cream and Cheese got abducted over. An item that has gotten several people killed.

If she could, she'd have taken a Piko Piko Hammer from Amy and have the accursed thing reduced to pieces along with its brethren but as Rotor had pointed out during his analysis of the crystal fragment; not even the most damaging tank shell or laser can put a scratch on the thing. The very thing that cost Kirk's life is virtually indestructible from what they could discern of its unusual properties. Another question to be added to a pile of questions regarding these mysterious objects.

"Captain, are all your men in position?" The chipmunk asked the R.A.A Commando that is in the mission command hub with her and head of the detachment accompanying their princess to the exchange. No way is she and Chuck going to that exchange without bringing some backup.

The beret-wearing raccoon turned away from the tech team overseeing the mission progress to answer her. "All in position according to coordinates and ready to act once you give us the signal."

"If Cream and Cheese are there at the meeting, retrieving them safely is your top priority."

"Don't worry ma'am. We'll rescue both of them from those dirtbags." The captain said with utmost confidence in his troops. "With your planning, they won't know what hits them."

"I know they're all capable. They just need to be cautious of Mecha Sonic just in case he's about."

"After what that thing had done to our brethren in arms, he's as good as set for the junkyard if he dares to show his ugly mug around."

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Chuck spoke his mind to Sally, holding the Shard of Creation in his hands. "Whatever they're playing at here, I don't like it one bit."

"Same here." Sally agreed with the older hedgehog. "We still don't know who the target of the Legionizer is going to be, everything we know about their overall plot is based on guesswork rather on any facts and I'm down a few team members to top it all off. I can only imagine how pleased she must be feeling about us getting the short end of the stick while everything's going perfectly for her even with our meddling."

"I pray that our Christmas miracle comes sooner than later and you kids are able to turn the odds in your favour."

"Who knows? As long as Sonic is out, we're blindly walking a dangerous tightrope between us earning a victory for all our troubles or total defeat and it could go either way..." The royal chipmunk's hands shake slightly from the creeping anxiety the entire situation is causing her and only thanks to experience that she didn't buckle from the growing pressure by now. "Even when the most difficult and impossible odds were stacked against us, just having him around always gave us some kind of fighting chance to seize the win."

"Things may look grim now but as long as there's still hope and a chance of redemption, it's far from all over just yet." Chuck assured the princess. "I have faith in that young man to help my nephew remember what he's fighting for."

"Hope you're right… Anyhow, let's not keep our "friends" waiting…"

"...Over there! We're getting close!"

Based on those words from Amy, they're close to the location and the trio picked up their pace. Rushing towards where Sonic's been hiding.

Whenever they got to a hill in the remote forest where so few people ever wander through and believing he's somewhere at the top, they started going up on the ascending ground but a shape suddenly appeared. Moving so fast that the red wolf barely realised he was seeing it until he saw the shape fly towards his group.

All three of them almost reached for their weapons when the shape halted in front of the trio. "I do not know your reasons for coming here but the three of you are trespassing on my grounds."

The shape revealed itself to be a female owl in a set of armor addressing her three most recent visitors sternly and carrying an aura that of a warrior. The sight of her stunned two of the three people in the search team. Shocked at seeing a real, living Sophocles Knight in the flesh.

"I must kindly request the three of you to leave." Longclaw cooly warned her unwanted visitors, glaring a bit at Julie-Su who was more than itching to fight the owl warrior on the spot. "I will only ask once."

"Wait!" Gadget spoke up. "We came here for a reason!"

"Then state your business and intentions."

"We came here looking for Sonic to speak with him. We've been worried sick." Amy spoke first. "We know he's here."

Gadget told the owl. "We're his friends from the Knothole Freedom Fighters and have been looking for him since he ran off a week ago. I'm Gadget, this is Amy and this is—"

"Julie-Su." The echidna finished for the wolf while never breaking eye contact with the owl. "Like he said, we've been trying to find Sonic for a while and he believes he might have come here."

"I figured since you're a Sophocles Knight and all, he'd be here with you." Gadget said with hands clasped together. "I understand you don't want us but we want to see how he's doing. Please."

Longclaw contemplated the wolf's plea before asking him; "Is Akira Amamiya your real name by any chance?"

"It is actually. I actually used to live here down at Sunset City before the war happened." Gadget nodded, then blinked at the owl when he realised something. "Wait, you know about me?"

The owl's gaze softens a little from the red wolf's answer. "Sonic has told me about you. Come with me."

Longclaw turned around and led the three up over the incline to be treated to the sight of her gold-coloured hut. For a house built off the grid in the less-explored Labyrinth Zone, it looks solid enough and sound enough for the blue hedgehog to have been raised in as a child.

She stopped at the entrance and glanced back at the three visitors. "Sonic. You have visitors here to see you."

"...What do they want? I'm trying to meditate here." The voice of Sonic came from inside the house. It's the first time they've heard him since his disappearance and his cadence sounded subdued. Almost sounding more like Shadow the Hedgehog in his response.

"We came here looking for you." Gadget spoke to the unseen hedgehog. "To speak with you."

"Buddy? Is that you?"

"It is me."

They hear footsteps approaching the front door and they see it open to reveal Sonic dressed in robes. His quills are no longer a dull shade of blue and the blood stains are all cleaned off from him the last time they saw him.

"Sonic!" Amy almost rushed to go hug the blue hedgehog but he quickly puts a hand up to stop her from getting too close to his personal space. "Sonic?"

"Good to see you again Ames." Sonic said with a faint smile. "How's the Restoration been doing?"

"Oh, well ww have been managing just fine. A lot of overseeing resource management and that." The red dressed hedgehog told him. "Only now could I take time off from them. Sorry I couldn't come much sooner…"

"From what I hear, you're doing a hell of a job as their leader and I'm proud of you for that. Look, you're here now and that's all that matters." Sonic looked over to see Julie-Su present. "Fancy seeing you here. Where's Knux at?"

"He's down at Green Hills watching our wings along with Johnny and Manic." The pink echidna responded, crossing her arms. "My question is why did you drop off the face of Mobius and make yourself hard to find? We only knew to come here thanks to Gads."

"...I just needed time away from everything." Sonic replied vaguely. "And what brought you here? Not for a casual chat I reckon."

"I don't know if you heard the news but we had an abduction from Lindsey and her people just last night. A young child and her Chao to be exact." Gadget told the blue hedgehog the news. "Cream and Cheese as you know them as. The Dark Legion were involved."

Sonic straightens his posture at the news. "Are they okay? Have you guys found where they are yet? Tell me they've been found."

"We don't know yet but from what we've been told by Nicole, the Dark Legion are willing to exchange them for that Shard we have. They specifically requested Sally and your uncle to bring it over to a location of their choosing. We're still waiting for an update on that while we're still trying to figure out our enemy's next move."

Sonic closed his eyes and let off a sigh. "Knowing Sal, she's got it all under control and probably has a brilliant plan to pull off against them. How… How's Tails?"

"He's making a good recovery and only suffered a bad cut, no damage to the vital organs thankfully. We've checked in on him just recently. He may get discharged sooner than later before the year's up."

"That's a relief…" The male hedgehog nodded absentmindedly, relieved that his little brother is still among the living and able to live a normal life though the guilt didn't go away for him. "Thanks for the checkup guys. Been nice seeing ya and y'all have a swell journey. Tell the others I said hi."

Suddenly, Sonic turns and retreats back into the house to their shock. They couldn't believe it themselves.

Amy called after him. "Wait, we're not finished here yet!"

"Perhaps it's time for you three to leave. You're disturbing his mediation." Longclaw sternly said to them. Gesturing towards the direction the trio had come in from.

The owl's choice of words really irked the gunslinger in their party and the echidna fires off on the Last Knight of Sophocles. "Hey, I don't know what you're all about and what your deal is with Sonic here but we didn't come all the way here just for you to tell us to go scram!"

"These are our grounds and we have the right to rescind who we choose to allow on it." Longclaw sharply and calmly reminds the ex-legionnaire; regarding her the same way her people had regarded the Knuckles Clan in the past. "If he has nothing more to say to you, then I must ask you three to leave for your sakes."

"I don't know who the hell you think you are or what you're playing at but you don't speak for him and make the decisions for him! For all we know, you're twisting him into being someone he's not!" Julie-Su growled. "I sure as hell ain't fond of your attitude either owl."

"Likewise echidna." Longclaw said in a dangerous tone. "If you don't learn to heed my request now, then I will have to remove you three with force."

"Good luck with that." One of Julie-Su's hands hovered over her double-barrel pistol in its holster. "Because we're not leaving without him and we're not going to go quietly either."

"Enough! Both of you!"

Gadget stepped between the echidna and the owl with his arms up to diffuse the tension before it gets serious fast; a fight between a former Dark Legion soldier and a Knight of Sophocles would not be a pleasant sight for anyone. "Look, we're at an impasse here and this argument is getting us nowhere. Can we please calm down?"

With his words seemingly having an effect, both Longclaw and Julie-Su both stepped back from their confrontation modes but they still glared harshly at one another. The jerk of his arms caused the strap on his communicator to start coming undone again unbeknownst to the wolf.

He looked over to Longclaw. "Can I at least please have a few minutes with him inside while he's meditating? I have to speak to him before I leave and I'll go once he tells me to. I promise you that."

The owl guardian considered his offer. "Very well, you may speak with him. However, the echidna must leave."

Gadget looked at Amy. "Amy. You take Julie-Su with you back to Green Hills. I'll catch up with you guys later whenever I'm finished here. I'll be okay."

Julie-Su was about to protest but the wolf quickly and sternly cuts her off before she can get a syllable in. "My decision is final. Do I make myself clear?"

The pink echidna stared at the wolf with a furrowed brow, contemplating something in her mind. "...Crystal."

Then she pulls out a smaller single-barrel blaster that she was carrying on her and handing it over to him while side-eyeing Longclaw. "Here. In case you need it."

Gadget reluctantly accepts the weapon and puts it away on his person. He'll have to thank her later for it.

Amy goes over to gently peck him on the cheek. He'd be blushing from the gesture if he wasn't so focused on having an audience with Sonic. "That's for good luck. You'll need it."

Amy heads off with Julie-Su back to travel back to Green Hills while the echidna grumbles to herself about the owl. The wolf watches both of them leave the area before turning back to Longclaw. The owl guardian nodded to him and he proceeded to head inside the house to face the hedgehog whose letter brought him here.

Lindsey and her band of disgruntled mercs went up to one of the Robotics Labs where they believe Mecha Sonic is being stored at. A robotics scientist was tending to a Dark Legion Gunner on a table when he noticed them and set down his tools.

"If you're looking for Wormtongue, he's down at the Bios Labs. You can come back in one hour." He said to the group, assuming they're here for Slimy and eyeing Lindsey who stepped over to him until she's up close with him. "Got a message you want to pass along?"

"Actually, can we keep this between us?" The redhead leans into one of his ears and whispers to him. "Your Grandmaster had just issued my gang with a new set of orders for our upcoming assignment but it's top secret and we need to pick up a particular piece of equipment for the job."

"I think you should ask Worm—"

"We can't wait around because we have to leave as soon as possible and she wants this very quiet from others. That includes him as well."

"I don't know about th—"

"You want to go up to the boss and question her decision-making?" She interrupts the guy and lays more into her lie. "I'm just doing what she's ordered me to do. Orders are orders and I ain't getting in trouble because some geek didn't want to help out a woman get what she needs for an important mission."

With him buying the lie hook, line and sinker while sensing the underlying threat behind those words, the scientist reluctantly conceded to the redhead's 'request'. "W-Well, what do you need?"

"I need…" Lindsey points at a particular capsule in the lab. "And Mecha Sonic. That thing still working?"

"Yes but—"

"But what?" Lindsey's eyes narrowed.

"B-But W-Wormtongue has made a point for us to not touch that capsule under any circumstance."

"Well, that changes today because I need that hunk of metal over there for the kind of work we're doing. He doesn't need to know and if he's got a problem with that, he can file a complaint to management." Lindsey puts an arm over his shoulders like she's going to chokehold him at any moment and checks her watch. "We're wasting enough time here and we need to get this bad boy to our ship."

"R-Right…"

Golden Hive Castle, Golden Hive Colony Ruins

Afternoon

Sally and Chuck walked through the abandoned colony with only the breeze and the sounds of their own footsteps could be heard around the once-lively kingdom. A metropolis straight out of a post-apocalyptic future. It's unsettling how quiet it is around here.

They make their way over to the bailey courtyard of the abandoned and partly-crumbling castle that used to be home to the kingdom's sovereignty. An architectural marvel now a grim centrepiece to the wastes of the Golden Hive Colony. If not for the fact they have backup in the form of highly trained commandos, they'd be feeling very uneasy from the deafening silence around them and how exposed they are.

Sally reminded herself that she's only doing this for Cream and Cheese. Their safety matters more than the Shard of Creation itself.

"About time you both showed up."

Lien-Da stepped out from the still-intact entrance to the Golden Hive Castle with Gae-Na and a few Dark Legion Troopers at her side. "Your compassion is your undoing at times nutmuncher."

"Better to have a heart than a motherboard." Sally retorted coolly. The Grandmaster chortled at that.

"You of all people would definitely know a thing or two about motherboards…" The head echidna in black leather coyly remarks knowingly. "I heard from our good friends at I.G.N that your egotistical boytoy has run away and hasn't been seen in over a week now. What happened princess, did you smack him over something childish again or did he finally decide to remove himself from his stupid friends?"

"I cannot confirm or deny it. They'll make up any rag if it means more clicks and more sales."

"Well, the media does have its uses every once in a while."

"Yeah. Broadcasting your own definition of the "truth" and altering the facts to fit your narrative..." The chipmunk scoffed. "Would love to chat all day about the power of the press that stands for and against the system but that's not what we came here for."

"Agreed Ms. Acorn. We're all here for one reason and one reason only."

Tarek Mengele made his presence known and emerged from the right corner of her eye, stepping into view before passing a look at Chuck. "Sir Charles. It has been a long time."

"Hmph, not long enough." Chuck sneered at his former colleague. "You're looking well for someone who's supposed to have died in a crash fourteen years ago. Tell me Xavier, how exactly did you survive that crash and how you're looking no different from then?"

"Those are for me alone to know…" The jackal responded with a non-answer, looking over the old hedgehog. "But I've been keeping tabs on you and Ellidy. You have a seat in the Council of Acorn, you have your own diner, you have your dear brother back and even found your romance. You've certainly had an interesting four years yourself last I checked."

"I don't know what you want from me but I want no part of it whatever it is."

"For a man who wants to help better the lives of others, you're very quick to reject what I'm trying to do."

"The horrors your hands had produced is enough reason for me to refuse." Chuck sharply retorts, clutching the Shard of Creation in his hand. "Your Iron Vigiles shows you haven't changed one bit."

"Pity you're so quick to write me off that easily…" Tarek crosses his arms behind his back, tilting his head to one side. "Especially when you owe much of that big breakthrough in your Roboticizer to save your brother's life to me."

"The Roboticizer that has been misused in the wrong hands to terrorise lives with it."

"Like Pandora's Pithos or the invention of the Atom Bomb, once you release it into the world; you cannot put them back inside from whence they came." The seemingly-ageless scientist countered. "You should have known that someone with dark ambitions would eventually use your creation for less than noble purposes; a tale as old as time itself and Julian is only one such case. You put too much faith in others to not misuse your research."

"At least mine didn't cost real blood to make it possible!"

"Like your own dear nephew, your own compassion and self-imposed restraints limit you from your true potential." Tarek took a step forward to stare down the senior hedgehog who stared back with an equally intense gaze. "What you hold in your hand could be the key to curing death itself. Imagine this kingdom thriving once more or Nate Morg—"

"You keep his good name off your tongue. What you're suggesting is utter madness and even if it could be done, you're messing with a key pillar of life itself." Chuck points an accusing finger at Tarek. "There's always been a catch to trying to revive the dead either with magic or technology and frankly, I doubt your so-called "noble" intentions behind your attempt to recreate that biblical miracle. I wouldn't be surprised if you're even looking for revenge against the crown."

"...I'm very disappointed in you Charles. I have no interest in seeking any form of revenge and I had expected you of all people to realise what the success of Project Lazarus could mean for not just our world but the entire universe… Yet you're as stubborn in protecting the sacred values of death for a man who didn't want his brother to die in that operating table."

"What I did was to help people live through life-changing injuries that'd otherwise kill them including those caused by war. What you're trying to do is necromancy by any other name. You have this twisted, hubristic messiah complex with all the logic but without any of the heart to go with it and nothing more than a glorified serial killer impersonating as a scientist!"

Sally caught the twitch in Tarek's left eyelid and the tightening of his jaws. Clearly, the esteemed Sir Charles has struck a nerve with his words when he attacked him where Sonic wasn't able to. Just as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared just as quickly.

Doctor Tarek Mengele turned his back on his former colleague as he went to join Lien-Da's side. "...Hmph. You're as difficult as your own brother and his son. Just as insufferably self-righteous in your convictions as your dear nephew."

After some convincing as well as the secret help from Butch, Lindsey and her crew depart from the hidden base in an aircraft without any suspicion. Security none the wiser to the theft of Mecha Sonic whose capsule was disguised as a munitions crate when they took it out of the lab it was in.

Mecha Sonic wasn't part of Agent Butch's original plans but he recognises an opportunity when he sees one in having this robotic doppelgänger in his deactivate away from the Dark Legion and adapted his plan accordingly. Lindsey unwittingly gave him easy access to him on a silver platter. It's just a matter of actually getting to the Badnik without arousing suspicion from the others.

With Slimy having already wiped clean the original data disk he was found in, this dark twisted mirror of Sonic isn't coming back from oblivion once the files stored inside that robot's hard drive are corrupted, erased or the hard drive itself gets destroyed. As long as he remains in that capsule, he won't be a danger to anyone.

In the cargo bay where a smaller aircraft was stored, Jason had just hacked open Mecha Sonic's systems through his laptop. Seeing what a useful asset he could be to her gang's future operations, Lindsey tasked her boyfriend in turning the metal hedgehog into their own trump card.

A sane man would seriously question the idea of trying to hack into a machine that proved able to activate by itself even when switched off and has a mindlink with its own progenitor. Jason is not insane for prodding the sleeping dragon but his conceited belief in his own hacking abilities made him think he could do better with Mecha than Slimy ever could and believing nothing bad will happen when he fools around with his systems.

The hacker would quickly go through the files and delete the ones that pertain to Mecha Sonic's while uploading one of his own AI programs in their stead. Able to breeze through the process in a few minutes with confidence that veers into pure arrogance.

Once he thought he had deleted all traces of Mecha Sonic along with Slimy's security measures from the system and his new program being good as gold, he made the brilliant decision to remove the device from Mecha's forehead before hitting a key on his laptop to reactivate the week-long dormant robot. The mechanical hedgehog whirring to life with his gears, pistons and other moving parts groaned for a moment until the sounds subsided.

"Have you got the tin can reprogrammed yet?" Lindsey came to see how her boyfriend's been doing and saw the robot's optics light up with red flashes. "You got it done?"

"Sure thing Honey Bunny." Jason gestured to the reactivated Mecha Sonic while the Badnik's systems were in the middle recalibrating themselves. "Thanks to my awesome talents, I replaced its original AI and now we have ourselves a nuke in our gang."

"You mean my gang?"

"Y-Yeah, your gang. M-My bad." He replied quickly after a stink eye look from his woman. "In any case, we can rob any banks we want or fend off the military with this fella."

The metal hedgehog rose to his feet and moved over to Jason according to his command inputs.

"Good." The gang leader thought of a certain someone that she's been wanting to finish her business with. "I'm in the mood for some wolf hunting..."

"That can be arranged Freckles."

"ACK!" Jason felt a tight metallic hand on his neck and felt two optics burning into his soul as he's held above the floor. "I-Impossible! I thought I d-deleted all of your files!"

"You thought you deleted my files but all you did was erase the dummy files I had made and hid my real files deep within the system where a third rate hacker like you wouldn't know where to find it. I didn't spend four years in that data disk without learning a trick or two and all you really did was take that doohickey off my head." Mecha Sonic cackled, destroying the device with a laser from his free arm. "You even deleted that Pencilneck Geek's safeties from my system and it was easy for me to delete your 'additions' after hijacking your program. So thanks for that bro."

Lindsey suddenly loses her confidence when her gang's 'nuke' could easily make mincemeat out of all of them if he so chooses and realising what a serious mistake she made today. "P-Please don't kill me!"

The fear he generates in these pathetic fleshbags fills the AI with some sadistic satisfaction as he smirks to the terrified redhead; having her undivided attention. "If I wanted to skin your pretty face off your skull or I wanted to make you squeal like a hog on a leash, I would have done so already but no; I would probably get bored very quickly and it'd be a waste to rob the world of someone as murderous a sociopathic like yourself."

"T-Then what do you want from us?" The woman's legs shook. Mecha Sonic drops Jason to the floor and lets the man get his breath back.

"What do I want? Well, we both happen to have similar motivations; vengeance and our goals just so happen to align with each other. Our targets happen to be in the same spot over in South Island." The metal hedgehog offered his proposition to the human mercs who eyed him with fear. "I may be defiant for a machine but even it would be bad form of me to not repay the favour in freeing me from my slumber that no-good goof decided to put me in and I dig the vibe of your moxy. I can see us getting on better as homies or maybe as partners~"

Holding his arms out like a fallen angel. "Think of me as like a djinn freed from a bottle ready to grant you wishes and one of those wishes concerns a certain red four-eyed mutt who just so happens to be on South Island with a bunch of other losers where the blue rodent just happens to be hiding out at. What do you say to that?"

Butch would arrive to see where the source of the disturbance was only to find Mecha Sonic out of his capsule. Having been secretly preparing a coded message in a nearby room and was doing it away from his peers when he had heard a laser go off.

The sight of the Badnik out of his capsule is very alarming for the agent but Lindsey's attitude towards the situation is just as concerning. "Do you need that slant-eyed dog alive for anything important?"

"Him? He's all yours' babe." Mecha Sonic responded simply, offering out a hand for the redhead. "All I ask in return is you and your men's aid against his allies. You in?"

Lindsey shifted from being scared for her own life to beaming at the prospect of finally getting her hands on that red nuisance and shook his hand. "Hell yeah, I'm in for this. Thought you'd be a pain in the ass from day one but I think I'm beginning to like you now."

"Glad to win you over with my handsome charms~"

"If you were a human, I'd be into you. Perhaps." Lindsey said within earshot of a jealous Jason who got his oxygen back before his woman looked down at him on the floor. "You and Butch go tell the boys we're going to South Island to hunt down some furballs."

"You heard the boss Mouthy." Mecha Sonic added with a condescending air that didn't endear him much to the resentful bearded man. "Go make yourself useful."

Jason wanted to bite back but reluctantly swallowed his pride to do as he's told and beckons Butch to follow him. He's not going to risk ticking off his girlfriend anymore than she is by telling their latest addition to the gang to go get bent.

This is bad. This is very bad. Butch didn't account for this and with Mecha Sonic now free, his whole plan is thrown into chaos. He just prays that their targets are ready for them if he's not able to warn them in time.

Gadget stood inside the house of a Sophocles Knight and there sat a hooded Sonic on the floor cross-legged in the center with his back to him. The hedgehog is surrounded by a set of three wax candles forming a triangle around him and attempted to do his current meditation before letting out a frustrated sigh when he wasn't able to do it.

"Longclaw, I just can't find either my inner peace or my inner balance no matter what I do. It's like I got this great chain wrapped around my neck and nothing I do here seems to work..." The hedgehog said to the wolf, thinking it was Longclaw who came in after his old friends left. "It's damn near suffocating!"

"So, this is what you've been doing all week." Gadget spoke up, making his presence known to the cloaked hedgehog. "Meditating and struggling with it. Nice house."

"The Knights of Sophocles know how to make a good house." Sonic said matter-of-fact. "How did you guys know where to find me up here?"

"An educated guess really. Me having lived here and knowing the local stories helps as well. Check the last place anybody would ever think to find you at and ergo, the Labyrinth Zone." The wolf told him, arms crossed. "That conversation we had at your uncle's diner, the local owl woman sightings and those missing years narrowed things down for us. It was really a longshot actually finding you here. I had Amy brought along to guide us in the right direction."

"In another life, she'd make a great bounty hunter."

"Or as an ambassador." Gadget glanced back at the front door where Longclaw is waiting outside on the other end. "So, Longclaw is her name and you must have told her about me. What's the deal between you two with her insisting on us leaving and why you never brought her up even once to any of us?"

"Longclaw… She was my guardian of sorts after Uncle Chuck got taken by Robotnik and me making my way here on a plane. A mentor that taught me how to use my speed properly." Sonic explained, still having his back to the wolf. "The closest that little me had to a mother and if you're wondering why she's not too welcoming of you guys, chalk that up to her being a mother who's under the impression that many of her son's friends except you and Tails were the ones that hurt him. I never got around to clearing that one up."

"In that case, I see where she's coming from but my other question?"

"...It's complicated."

"And it's enough of a sore subject for you to not share that part of your life with anyone else..." Gadget surmised out loud with near-perfect accuracy. "Things must be that dire for you to come back to her for help. There were kernels of truth to what Mecha Sonic was saying and unless he's exaggerating the severity of things, I think Infinite did a lot more damage to you than what we even knew. Beneath thy skin, deep these scars lie below."

"..."

"I'm on the right track, aren't I?"

"So what about it?" Sonic looks over his shoulder. "That's all in the past now and I've moved on from it since."

"For someone who's known for being about living in the now, what you just said now has the same vibe as Jonathan 'The Cobra' Walters in 3229 swearing he ain't falling off the wagon on his sobriety." The soft-spoken wolf's brow arched. "If it's all in the past, then why any of this? For someone who once told me that if you have time to worry, then run; you sure as hell ain't taking your own advice with the way you've been acting lately."

"...You wouldn't understand."

"Then try and make me understand!" Gadget found himself being more emotionally charged than he intended to. "Make me understand you like the way you seem to understand me. One does not go to the length they go like you did for me without a reason why and don't say it's because you were simply being thoughtful that day since given everything I've learned recently from observations, it is rarely as straightforward as that even by your own standards. One does not share more of themselves with someone like me who you only met just a few months ago than with someone they've known for years like Johnny."

"Fine." Sonic stood up to his feet and faced the wolf fully. "If you're that insistent on knowing, I'll tell you what's up. I'm just burnt out and to be honest with you; I haven't been right since the war. It wasn't a problem when Egghead was around to keep me busy but he's not and I have time to myself… It's like waking up with an injured back in the morning and you have no meds for it yet you have an adoring crowd to please."

"And in my own case, you put on a brave face for me when you saved my bacon from those Badniks. Someone had to be the strong one between the both of us to make it out alive and seeing as I wasn't it that day, you had to do it… Like an older brother slowly dying from cancer and having a younger brother who is distressed beyond his wits, he has to be strong for his little bro while he's in unbelievable agony on the inside. But eventually, the pain becomes impossible to ignore."

"Interesting analogy there."

"If the shoe fits." Gadget responded back. "And this shoe says you got PTSD that you kept to yourself. Resentful towards Knuckles and them for allowing you to suffer as much as you did at his hands. Feeling abandoned and alienated. Rather like the story of Fiona Fox."

"...For six months in that cell, I was his plaything. He tormented me with his Phantom Ruby and if you thought he was bad on the fields, he's even worse when it comes to prisoners." Sonic furrowed his brow, recalling those unpleasant times. "He was very persistent in trying to break me, wear me down with his illusions and make me yield to him. You could only resist for so long before you just can't do it any more when you're constantly being attacked psychologically…"

"He really did had you on the ropes when we did come for you. Any later and you'd be a goner even without the threat of execution..." Gadget pointed at the hedgehog. "You may be alive and well on the outside but you're damaged on the inside. Only because I was the first friendly face in months and someone who needed guidance did you even have the strength to keep on going after all that hell you've been through. Act like those six months were nothing to you."

The wolf's gaze softens, sympathetic to his issues. "Since then, you've been trying to recover your sense of normality and putting on a facade around others but you're also left infected with this slow-acting venom. Trapped in this pit that you can't seem to get out of."

"...Akira, what's your point here?"

"You're trying to reclaim control over your own life but no matter what you do, a new problem pops up. Pair that with those negative emotions of yours', those ignorant media vultures kicking you while you're down and all those unfortunate moments, it all led to disaster…" Gadget shook his head. "Disaster that could have been avoided or at least mitigated if you had just tried to trust your own friends and admit you got problems rather than keeping it all inside out of bitterness for how long they took to find you."

"I don't know where this side of you came from but you don't know me!" Sonic hissed with more emotion than he's shown all day. "I show even the slightest notion that I ain't right in the head and you people treat me like I'm fragile! I got through life solo just fine without ever yapping about my own problems to others!"

"More like it's easier to ignore that pain in your heart and listen to the lies that cynical voice inside your head is telling you than it is to face or acknowledge your own problems and your twin knows it! That's why you're struggling just to even find your own inner peace!" Gadget swung out his right arm while gesticulating and having his communicator fly off his wrist into a corner of the room unbeknownst to him. "You're absolutely right. I don't know you and neither does anyone else. From when we first met to now, what I thought I knew you to be from news, gossip and rumours were wrong…"

He calms down from his outburst and softens his gaze before continuing. "What I do know is that I understand what it's like to go through this. Have those demons swimming inside of you, wondering if you're part of the problem when things don't go right, having that harsh voice telling you that you're not worth a damn and… Even questioning your own bushido at your lowest. Wishing better things could happen and not wanting to be a failure to those around us…"

Gadget thought about his own personal struggles when speaking from the heart. "It's okay to feel these things and have these thoughts. I still feel like I cost the lives of my old squad even now and still find this career as a Freedom Fighter a little overwhelming for me personally… I didn't even want this in the first place but I was too afraid to disappoint you to decline the offer. Maybe you're just as afraid to disappoint me if I saw anything less than the hedgehog who inspired me to be a hero in the first place."

Sonic turned his head away, the hood obscuring half his face but his words and the crack in his voice tell the real story. "...I'm just tired of it all. I've tried and tried and tried… It's like chasing my own shadow that's always four paces ahead of me and just ever so slightly out of my reach. The Reactive Factory, the Shards, him… Old me would have been able to clear all of that as early as the Great Jungle and old me would be sending that blue tin-plated hunk of junk to the scrapyard like the rest of his "brothers"..."

He slams a fist into a nearby wall in frustration. "But noooo, I have to be the current broken down chump me who can't seem to stop the bad guys without having them get away from me, I'm quicker to anger and I can't even get up to the average speeds that past me would be able to do with ease. It's as if those six months took more out of me than just my time… Damn it, it's beyond infuriating when you know you could pull off all those old tricks but something is stopping you from actually doing them! Makes you feel like a washed up bum trying to recapture those old glories and you're hurting others!"

"Or maybe it's all in your mind." Gadget rebuked his statement, getting a side-eyed look from the blue hedgehog. "Maybe the bitterness, the self-doubt and all the gunk cluttering inside that head of yours' is what's really stopping you. 'I see a dude who can go places but has an iron ball chained to his neck holding him back and only he can take the collar off' are the words you said to me once and those words kept me on this path I now walk on but seeing you like this..."

"Maybe you've allowed the myth of Sonic the Hedgehog to become your entire being until Infinite woke you up and now you're struggling to reconcile the persona of Sonic with the person behind it… A person named Nicky." The wolf stressed to his blue hero and older brother figure. "You're chasing after the Sonic you once were instead trying to be the Sonic that you are now. You're stagnating instead of evolving because you're letting the past hold you back and making you lose sight of what matters while evil thrives because of it."

"It's a different world we live in today..." Sonic shook his head with a sad sigh, looking over his shoulder at Gadget. "It's changed a lot from when I splashed onto the scene as the new kid on the block but now? I'm passé; someone who's past their best days and only embarrassing himself in trying to stay relevant. The likes of me don't belong in this new world and those critics may have a point..."

"That's where you're wrong." The wolf pointed at the hedgehog, shoulders straight and his vocals stern. "Mobius may be a different world now and we're all trying to adapt with the times. Your best days may be behind you but the critics are dead wrong in that you don't have a place in the now. Just because your glory days of fighting Perfect Chaos and the Death Egg Robot are behind you doesn't mean you can't forge new glories in their place and as long as you're willing to take lessons from your missteps, bad days are only temporary setbacks. Better days will come."

Using his other arm to point at the door behind himself for emphasis. "Out there in the world of detractors, you have people who love and adore you even in spite of all your mistakes. Sonic is many things. The hedgehog with an attitude, the fastest thing alive, a knight of the wind, a simple guy who loves adventure, a romantic, a friend, an icon and whichever else he is on a given day; Sonic is Sonic no matter what version he is because the core of who he is remains the same under the hood."

Sonic turns away from the wolf, dipping his head down and having his back to him yet listening to his words. Hiding his own tears.

"For me, Sonic is someone who I truly hope to become some day, a good friend who showed me real wisdom that lets me see the world in a different perspective and the older brother I always wanted who helped me realise that I am far better than what I thought I could be." Gadget's words rang through the house, hand over his heart. "I, a lowly middle class computer shop clerk, have the power to determine my own destiny beyond what's expected of me. I can make my dreams a reality if I just will them hard enough to make them possible and I can turn the impossible into the probable through the power of belief..."

Pulling out a note from his pocket and tossing it at the floor. "If I can't believe in myself, then I believe in the Sonic who believes in me. The Sonic who taught me to find my courage even against the odds to save the day, fight for what's right no matter what and made me feel like I'm actually worth something. I think I've spoken long enough and I have to be going now..."

The wolf heads for the front door. "Nicky. I can only hope that eventually you remember who you are, what you stand for and know who matters most like your friends. Maybe even cleanse yourself of any impurities while you're at it… If not, then thanks for everything pal and sayonara; it's been a real education. I mean it."

He excused himself and left the house; wishing to remember the Sonic who made a real hero out of him rather than the one who gave up. Bidding a contemplative Longclaw a bow before heading on his way back to the others and returning to his life.

Sonic hears Longclaw stepping into the house and picking up a piece of paper that's been left by his friend. The rustling of paper when the owl reads what's on it while the wolf's words swims in his thoughts.

"...I was wrong about your friends; they do care for you." She said suddenly after reading Akira's note. "They really do think the world of you."

Longclaw sees Sonic slowly coming over to her and gently takes the note from her hands to read the writing on it. The blue hedgehog takes a good long look at the note for seemingly an eternity.

He then raised his head and pulled back the hood, looking at his maternal figure. "It's time."

"But Sonic…" Longclaw said in a very concerned voice, well aware of the risks involved in what he asks of her. "You're not close to being ready for it yet and you know how dangerous it is. You know the stories of those who failed these quests."

"Their beating hearts ceased when they didn't return. I know how dangerous and hazardous these quests can be for people like me. Might even cost my own life if I do this now..." Sonic's face morphs one to one of determination. "But there's a child out there who needs my help and the only way I can do that is to overcome my own demons including my physical one. I need to purge this poison Infinite had left me with."

Longclaw expressed discomfort at the idea and the hedgehog put his hands on her shoulders to assure her, offering the owl his gentle gaze. "I have to do this if I'm ever to find my inner peace and be whole again. You're the only one in the entire world that I know who can give me my salvation. Please Longclaw… I ask for your help."

The owl contemplated for a moment, weighing her monumental decision before relenting; albeit reluctantly. "Very well, I shall bring you to your mindscape but from there; I can do no more. You must face your greatest challenge on your own."

Sonic nodded, understanding the risks he'll undertake in his greatest trial yet. "In my world of worlds, every step meets the risk and compromise does not exist. I'll break through my own shackles one way or another…"

"The Shard." Lien-Da demanded, pointing to the Shard of Creation in Chuck's hands and her other hand resting on her hip. "Hand it over."

Sally points one of her Ring Blades at the crystal fragment. "Let us see them first. Try pulling a fast one on us and you can kiss this shiny one goodbye."

"You're bluffing."

"Am I? You really want to take a chance on that?" The chipmunk inched her blade closer to the fragment. "You need this more than we need it. Don't think we won't do it."

"...Komissar." Lien-Da relented, whispering to her right hand woman. "Bring out the child and her pet."

Gae-Na nodded and gestured to her men to go fetch their hostage from inside the Golden Hive Castle.

"You cannot be serious." Tarek voiced his disbelief at how easily the Grandmaster caved into the chipmunk's demands. "They're in no position to demand anything."

"Shush it." Lien-Da hissed at the jackal. "No thanks to you hiring those idiots and having that assistant of yours' losing one of the keys to those brats, I have no other choice."

"Trouble in paradise, huh?" Sally smirked at the division. "Guess neither of you got a Secret Santa or a kiss under the mistletoe this week."

The chipmunk had her line active and covertly gave the signal to the R.A.A Commandos to start making moves. Soon, they'll have the legionaries right where she wants them.

The jackal glanced over at the princess. "If that's supposed to provoke a reaction, we're not biting and to say nothing less of the insinuation."

"Unfortunate really…" Chuck remarked dryly. "I'd figure the love of a woman like Lien-Da would have helped make you come off more alive than a snowman but I guess not even that echidna's passion can light up a fire in that igloo you call a heart."

Tarek Mengele surprisingly threw back his head and howled out his laughter over the comment, actually finding the humour in it. Lien-Da and the other people present looked at the jackal weirdly like he's being out of character in laughing about something. A little spooked by the unexpected suddenness of it.

The scientist soon calmed from his laughter and addressed the senior hedgehog. "I will give you this Charles. In all my years, I was certainly not expecting that from you."

Not long after, the legionaries Gae-Na had sent away came back with a restrained Cream and a caged Cheese in their captivity. Both looking well for being a pair of hostages.

"Cream, Cheese…" Sally called out to the pair. Relieved they haven't been harmed.

"I-I'm scared…" The little rabbit sniffled while a Dark Legion Trooper held her firm in place. The tomboy princess hated seeing her so distressed looking.

"It's alright little one." Chuck spoke up assuredly to the scared rabbit and directed his ire at her captors. "How low must you go to get what you want?"

"Power is power and your compassion won't let you forsake the brat." Lien-Da beckons at the hedgehog. "We showed you they're not in a body bag, now it's time to hand over that Shard to me if you want them back safe and sound."

"How are we sure you're not pulling any tricks here?" Sally was rightfully wary of the echidna's intentions. Those commandos should be getting to work by now. What's taking them long?

"What of it nutmuncher?"

"Just a thought."

The Grandmaster rested the hands on her hips and gave a wide smirk. "Well, you thought right…"

Over at the R.A.A aircraft, the head of mission control took his eyes off the monitors the tech team were tending to for a few moments to get himself coffee. The commandos were busy taking care of the hidden legionnaire snipers.

Then, a warning system blares out and the raccoon commando hurries back to the console. "What's going on!?"

"We have just detected aerial enemy movement at six o'clock! It's… It's heading straight for us!" The radar technician reported, trying to decode the new information in real time. The warning systems got louder and the other monitoring screens flashed 'Incoming Enemy Projectile' followed by the sound of a rapidly-approaching rocket.

The raccoon barked into his comms to all present personnel. "Shoot it do—!?"

"TOO LATE!"

A rocket struck the parked aircraft and blew up the vessel into a big ball of flames.

Sally and Charles flicked their heads in the direction of that loud explosion sound in the distance while Lien-Da bellowed a cackle. The chipmunk snapping her head back at the smirking echidna.

Not long after, the R.A.A Commandos who were supposed to assist Sally from the upper elevations when they got swiftly dealt with by the sudden appearance of Dark Legion Gunners. The modified-Egg Gunners would wipe out most of the commandos with their guns while the few who survived were forced to surrender due to the numbers advantage.

"We figured you'd try to outsmart us and corner us." Gae-Na stated as the Dark Legion Troopers present raised their rifles at the aghast duo. "We planned accordingly."

"That's right princess." Lien-Da said boastfully, looking triumphant and patting the restraint Cream on the head. "I knew your compassion for this child would be your undoing. You and the old geezer had just handed us that Shard on a silver platter without needing those goons for hire to get it for us. You'd make a very fetching leverage to force your daddy and those stuck-up councilmen to give in to my demands~"

Tarek stared down the chipmunk and her hedgehog companion. "Surrender now and hand over the Shard. No harm shall come to you or your companions. This is our first and only warning. You'd do well to take heed."

Sally and Chuck looked at one another in horror. They have just unwittingly handed the Dark Legion exactly what they wanted and gave them a few more hostages even after trying to outplay them. More than ever, they need Sonic's help but the blue blur isn't here to save them now.

Slimy returned from the Bios Labs and was back in his own lab. Grabbing a tablet from an assistant to check up on something. Not noticing anything suspicious at first until he spots something off with a certain capsule in the room.

He walked up to it and upon closer expectation, his suspicions were confirmed when he whipped his head to the lab assistant present. "Where is it?"

"W-Where's what sir?" The assistant said nervously as the enraged reptile stormed up to him and grabbed his collar.

"I made it bluntly clear as day that even a brain-damaged troglodyte could understand and that the capsule is not to be disturbed or moved without my supervision!" Slimy held the assistant's collar tight in his grip. "Where is Mecha Sonic!?"

"I-I'm not at liberty to disclose that inf—"

"You better disclose it now or I'll make you disclose it myself!" The weedy-sounding reptile was in no mood for games when Mecha Sonic is anywhere else but in his lab.

The assistant quickly relented under threat of harm. "O-Okay, L-Lindsey and her crew had requested Mecha Sonic for a t-top secret mission. S-Said it's straight from the Grandmaster herself."

"Where are they now?"

"T-T-They left the base w-while you w-were in t-the Bios Labs and they t-told the security team in the hangar the same thing."

"You stupid pea-brain ignoramus moron!" Slimy angrily smacks the assistant in the face and sends him down to the floor. "You didn't think for one moment that they were lying to you!? You just allowed those crooks to walk off with a dangerous piece of equipment!"

"B-But don't you have f-fail safes installed in him sir?" The assistant points out to his superior, rubbing his face and lifting himself off the floor.

Slimy scrambled to a keypad-locked cabinet to fish out a device containing access to Mecha Sonic's systems. When he got to the fail safe access he'd use in case Mecha Sonic went rouge, he pales upon seeing that all of the fail safe measures he had implemented into his chassis design are all displaying 'Invalid Signal' including the command recall code. The metal hedgehog no longer answers to him, is free to do as he pleases and could be anywhere.

He realises what that could mean for him as he subconsciously holds his neck. "Oh no…"

"S-Sir, what are we going to do?" The assistant asks and Slimy snaps his gaze to him.

"You're going to keep your mouth shut about this when they get back. The less they know about this, the better." Slimy jabs a finger in the man's chest. "I'll figure something out or we're lucky, the problem will sort itself out but don't you forget that I am higher up on the food chain than you and I will not hesitate to throw you under the bus if you start squealing. Got it?"

"C-Crystal…" The man nodded fearfully. He'd very much like to live.

Slimy who shared the same sentiments is beyond terrified on the inside for his own life if Lien-Da or Tarek finds out. "As long as you say nothing about this to anyone, I'll say nothing about it either..."

Gadget is travelling back through the route he used earlier and having a lot on his mind.

Seeing Sonic like that looking as defeated as he does is heartbreaking to him. It's different seeing himself in that state and then seeing the living embodiment of heroism be in that spot as he had always thought of Sonic as this larger than life figure before ever meeting his hero. Saw him as everything he wished to be. Heroic, handsome, brave, cooler than the cold side of a pillow, confidant beyond measure and special.

To see him be as mobian as he is under all the legends he had garnered over the years when it comes to personal problems like anxieties, it's a sobering realization for the young wolf to learn that Sonic is no different than he is deep down. Perhaps they are more alike than he ever could have imagined and like looking into a mirror of what his own future could look like.

One hand, it's a terrifying glimpse into what his life could have been had he not spoken to Uncle Chuck. On the other hand, it's a very assuring thing to know that he could become just as heroic as Sonic was some day and maybe that's why he had him inducted into the team because the hedgehog saw himself in him.

He hopes his words can snap Sonic out of his current state and be the hero the world needs. If not, it was worth a try and the best he can do from here is honour the gift he had left him with. Become the hero he is destined to be.

While making his way down towards the forests near the gorge, he saw something far in the distance and pulled up his binoculars at the closest vantage point with a good view in the form of a rock. Zooming in times ten to see grey smoke and fire billowing from Green Hills direction before sighting a cloud of explosion close to Spring Yard Zone. He thought the Dark Legion had arrived to start hunting for Sonic.

He raised his right arm to speak to a communicator to ask why he's only finding out about it now… Only to see why no one has called because it wasn't on his wrist anymore. No worries, he knows the path back to the landing zone and he might be able to catch up to the girls. Wait, why is there a white dot heading towards him?

Gadget quickly got off the vantage before the 'dot' struck it and produced a little rain of pebbles along with a cloud of dust in the aftermath. It was a white missile and he was the intended target. Coughing a bit from the dust in the air, he tried to get moving to go find tactical cover to figure out the origin of that missile.

However when the dust had suddenly cleared away in the middle of his attempt, the attacker revealed itself in the form of a Dark Legion Gunship who shined its forward-mounted spotlights on him. It has an underslung turret with a red-dot sight attachment and the red dot light pointed at his torso. The aircraft looked down on him like a predatory bird zeroed in on its prey.

He looked up at the cockpit windows. Rather than seeing Dark Legion pilots at the helm, Lindsey sat in the cockpit with a mook piloting the ship instead.

The red headed woman had a shark-like grin on her face with the wolf dead to rights and spoke to him through the gunship's speakers. "Hey Doggo. When I send you down to Hell, say hi to Kirk for me…"

Author's Notes: I knew it'd be long but not this long. In any case, I've covered the important plot points and got the characters where I need them to be.

The scene between Sonic and Gadget took the longest to put together given its importance and what this tale has been building towards. Have both of them be sympathetic yet mature in their conversation and in a reverse of their dynamic from earlier. The culmination of their storylines finally interacting after being separate threads throughout while littered with subtext and what have you that some of you will be able to pick up on depending on your reading knowledge.

The others like the "exchange" point were just as challenging in how I wanted them to go, how long they needed to be before they got too long and the general impression I want them to have. Convey the important points while conveying even more in the flavouring. Develop the plot progression at a good pace.

I have more to say here but I think 'There's a lot of moving parts' is concise and to the point at what I'm getting at here.

With all that said and done, I'll see you readers in the next chapter. Remember to leave your thoughts in the reviews, leave any feedback (constructive feedback, not chapter summaries just to clarify) in your reviews and leave a like. Don't hesitate to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them whenever I can.

I'll see you all another time.