A sound is coming behind the trees as the birds are flocking past Team Sonic and Tikal, leading Team Sonic to prepare themselves for a fight.

A crash has them seeing a small fog as Hey Ho is behind it as its glowing red eyes flashes.

"Eggman!?" Amy exclaimed.

"No, it's Eggman's mech!" Tails points out.

"Wait… Didn't Eggman lose all his robots after the Death Egg incident? I mean the only things he has left are the Eggrobos." Sonic had a feeling this robot should never have happened after how Sonic himself trashed the Death Egg in his super form.

"You're right. That means…" Tails is getting the picture as this robot's stance is more human than any robots Eggman created.

"Agent Stone!?" Amy had caught onto the one behind the robotic suit.

"Who?" Tikal is confused about the name.

"He's a traitor to the military and Eggman's lackey. A human behind the suit." Sonic confirmed the identity behind Hey Ho.

"How did you escape prison!?" Amy shouted while grabbing her hammer.

"So you knew I was inside. You know, for a bunch of children like yourselves, I commend you for making it this far. But unfortunately, the doctor needs all your emeralds." Hey Ho holds up an axe in a similar position as Amy and her hammer.

"That doesn't answer my question!" Amy snapped.

"Amy, we need to run!" Tails warned, even Tikal walked backwards after Hey Ho levitated up near a tree.

"Hmph! He's just flying next to the tree, what's next? Chopping it down? It's gonna take more than-..." Amy stops herself.

Little did Amy know, an axe spits a tree log like a sword cutting a bamboo, causing Amy to drop her hammer out of shock.

"That to cut down… A tree? Uh oh." Amy spoke too much out of shock.

Afterwards an axe bats a log, bullets its way towards Tails, Amy and Tikal.

Immediately, Sonic boots the log upwards as it flies towards the sky.

"Everyone! I'll handle this guy!" Sonic raises his fists, seeing if Agent Stone is stronger than before.

As Tails nods, he, Amy and Tikal run off, leaving Sonic to deal with Agent Stone.

"Back for round 2?" Sonic taunts Agent Stone with a smirk.

"Of course. Have a coffee." Hey Ho shoots a coffee out of his jetpack, making Sonic confused after catching it.

"Uh…"

A beeping has alerted Sonic to toss it, causing the explosion to cover the area in smoke as Sonic realised the Agent Stone gave him a bomb.

A barrage of logs are hitting the ground as Sonic immediately dodges and then spin dash as the logs keep missing him.

After Sonic leaps while still in his ball position, Sonic is seeing Hey Ho closer as Hey Ho raises his axe and swings diagonally, causing Sonic to uncurl himself as a bit of fur and quills are being shaved a little.

"Not bad." Sonic grunts and then drop kicks Hey Ho down to the ground.

As Hey Ho boosts towards Sonic, Sonic spin dashes again as the axe blocks the ball, buzzing the metal handle, causing Sonic to bounce off and is then smacked by the side of an axe in a split second.

After Sonic lands on a tree, Sonic alerts himself by diving down before Hey Ho crashes onto different trees, leading to Sonic landing on a mushroom.

"Heh. These sure come in handy. And they're bouncy too." While Sonic bounces on a mushroom, Sonic bounces up higher as Hey Ho misses a cut.

This gives Sonic a chance to smack Hey Ho's head off, revealing Agent Stone's face as Agent Stone grunts, looking far more serious than he was before.

"Insolent hedgehog. Hand over the emeralds." Agent Stone charges through, making Sonic hop over an axe.

He's gone, giving Sonic a chance to breathe.

But he hasn't returned, making Sonic realise that Agent Stone is after the emeralds.

"Tails!" Sonic spins his legs and then charges through the trees while chasing Agent Stone down.

On Tails' side, a banging noise has Amy and Tikal worried that Sonic is getting himself killed, even though Tails wants Sonic to survive his fight against his opponent from the Kingdom of Acorn.

"I hope Sonic's okay." Tikal said while looking to her behind.

"Let's hope." Tails agreed.

What stops Amy is a buzzing noise heading towards them as Amy rushes and pushes Tails and Tikal.

Missing, Agent Stone appears while shaking his head after spinning like a buzzsaw.

"You…" Tikal gasped.

"Nothing personal. Now, Miles, hand over the chaos emeralds." Agent Stone raises his hand, causing Tails to raise his fists.

"Over my dead body! Chaos Spear!" Tails holds out a yellow chaos emerald, revealing a spear as he uses it to defend Amy and Tikal.

Amy taps the hammer to her palm while growling.

"Then we'll do this the hard way." Agent Stone releases some steam out of a mech suit's body, making him move at a speed similar to Sonic.

"What the- GAH!" Amy screams after being barged towards the mushrooms.

"Amy! Why you!" Tails flies up and dives by jabbing a spear.

Before that happens, Agent Stone instantly moves aside, causing Tails to gasp and then is punched to the stomach as he falls to the ground unconscious.

With Tikal taking the chaos emeralds, an axe hits the ground as Tikal shrieks, causing her to walk backwards with 5 emeralds in her hands.

Before Tikal runs, an axe has her falling as Tikal quickly crawls backwards, causing an axe to slam between her legs as Tikal is cornered.

"While I spare the children, you're an exception, echidna." Agent Stone raises his axe, causing Tikal to hug the chaos emeralds closer to her chest.

Luckily, Sonic headbutts the suit, causing Agent Stone to slide as he sees Sonic making it in time for another round.

"Tikal, are you okay?" Sonic asks while lifting Tikal up.

"Yeah. That man. I know we can defeat him, but you need to use the chaos emeralds to subdue him." Tikal explained.

"Say no more. I got this." Sonic takes the emeralds and then vanishes at the speed of sound.

As Agent Stone spins like a blade, he's charging towards Sonic, causing Sonic to desperately run.

Unfortunately, Sonic was unceremoniously split into 2, causing Agent Stone to stop as he sees half of Sonic fall to the ground, only for him to vanish into white chaos energy and sparkles.

"What the?"

To his shock, many glowing spears are firing like bullets as Agent Stone blocks with his suit falling apart and his axe breaking to pieces.

"You…"

"Like my Chaos Substitute?" Sonic appears to be alive as he's holding the white chaos emerald with a smug grin. "I'll admit it, you're way cooler and tougher than Eggman. I win, Stone." Sonic charges his spin dash while Agent Stone struggles to get his suit to work.

Finally, Sonic pierces through the suit, causing the suit to explode as Agent Stone ejects himself out of the suit as he escapes in his jetpack.

"You may have won this time, Sonic, but the next time we meet, I'll bring you to the doctor and you will give him the chaos emeralds." Agent Stone flies away, leaving Sonic and Tikal watching a human man leaving as his machine explodes into pieces.

After the battle is over, Sonic is lifting Amy up while Tikal picks up Tails.

"Amy, are you okay?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah. Geez, this guy is no joke when we're fighting him." Amy grunts while standing up.

"I'll say. Yo, Tikal, how's Tails?" Sonic calls while turning towards Tikal.

"He's fine. Just barely conscious." Tikal is carrying Tails by her arms while walking towards both hedgehogs.

As Sonic looks at Amy while nodding, Amy blushes as she sees Sonic being closer to her, making her pucker her lips until Sonic drops her and leaves, causing Amy to pout with disappointment.

"Okay, let's go. Tania's waiting and we'll stop Eggman from taking over Angel Island. Eggman seriously upped his game a little too much."

"Judging from your experience, I can agree with you on that. The mad doctor is throwing everything at us in order to take the Master Emerald from us." Tikal nods and walks with Sonic and Amy.

With Agent Stone out of the way, Sonic and his group are moving towards their next location.

Mystic Ruins

Sitting alone at the altar where Eggman is not around, looking at the sky is Tania, thinking back about what she had done earlier which led her to attack her own brother as Eggman's badnik.

What's worse is a buzzing that's been in her head as if she envisioned a shadowy version of herself, causing Tania to hold her own head.

"Why? Why us?" Tania is wondering what she did that made Eggman go out and attack other people including her family.

Lowering her head, Tania is looking at the bracelets on her wrists, thinking that she's unworthy to hold these after her fight against Metal Sonic.

"Big brother Eli… Why did you and Mr. King give me this bracelet? I hurt my brother with this."

Before Tania removes the bracelets from her wrists, her ears perked up as she halts after hearing a bush moving.

Coming out is Mecha Sonic, causing Tania to summon an energy Caliburn and points at Mecha Sonic.

"Don't come any closer! You Eggman trash should be trashed!" Tania growled.

Mecha Sonic shows no hostility, only for him to scan Tania and then approach her.

"Identity: Tania the Hedgehog. I'm not here to fight you. What I can tell is that you hold a grudge against my master." Mecha Sonic calmly said as he stood in front of Tania.

"Your master is the reason why we lost everything! You and your brothers are the ones that caused nothing but pain to other people! Your master doesn't want me and my brother to go back together! I… I…"

"From what I heard, you missed him." Mecha Sonic can see Tania's anger broken to tears as Tania herself wipes her face with her hoodie sleeves.

"So what!? You'll kill him anyway! My big brother is always the target!" Tania's shaky voice shouts while she still holds up her sword as she also shakes.

Mecha Sonic is aware of that as he was built to kill not only Sonic, but Tails and Amy as well, making him look at his own hand and then walk towards the Master Emerald and sit on the step.

"Let us speak." Mecha Sonic taps the step, giving Tania a reminder that her father used to sit like that, making her sit down next to Mecha Sonic.

Mecha Sonic holds a little pink bird with twin tails on his finger, making him admire nature as he pat the bunny's back.

To Tania's surprise, Mecha Sonic is unlike any robot she encounters, even Mecha Sonic can tell how his predecessors felt after being chained by their master.

Metal Sonic is clearly Nicky who is a robot, showing his nature as a second version of his real deal.

Mecha Sonic Mk.1, Silver Sonic is Tania being put inside of a robot that can't control her, even manifesting something that haunts Tania's mind for a while.

And here's Mecha Sonic Mk.2, Mecha Sonic who is his own person with a moral dilemma going on as he wants to live life as a free hedgehog, but was stuck under his creator's chain as he was built to be a killing machine.

"I'll spare your brother. But it's going to take more than that to tell me what to do. Your brother and friends are the targets I must eliminate. I wish I was like you, kid." Mecha Sonic speaks out.

"Huh?" Tania halts while looking at Mecha Sonic.

"You heard me. Free and adventurous. Although you may not think it, your hope is not lost." Mecha Sonic points out.

"Yeah. I don't wanna sit around moping because I lost everything. Mom and dad are gone and I can't see Nicky again." Tania cocoons herself while looking at the animals playing around.

"My scanners confirmed that Paul Jules is still alive. Same goes for your mother." Mecha Sonic reveals the status of Tania's parents, causing her to jolt up.

"Really!?"

"Yes. But they stay as far away as they could for your safety. There's a reason why they left their son to continue. We may be enemies, but I can sympathise with you, kid." Mecha Sonic looks at Tania and pat her head.

Although it's not much, this makes Tania feel better as she smiles and then stands up.

"How about we could be friends, M.Sonic?"

"M.Sonic? As in M for Mecha?" Mecha Sonic asks while pointing at himself.

"Yup. What do you think?" Tania nods with a cheerful smile.

"Of course. M.Sonic indeed. We will be friends, Tania." Mecha Sonic accepts his newfound friendship with his supposed enemy, making him and Tania hug as Mecha Sonic feels warm inside.

Afterwards, Mecha Sonic let's Tania go so Eggman doesn't see her, making him and Tania wave goodbye to each other.

"Mecha Sonic! There you are! I need you to help me with lifting the Egg Mobile! Hurry up!" Eggman orders while walking back to the Hidden Palace.

"Yes, master." Mecha Sonic follows Eggman, knowing that there's so many questions he has in him. "Master, what would you do if you had a dream?"

"Huh? What kind of question is that? I either make it come true or abandon it." Eggman answers his question.

"But what is the reason behind killing Sonic the Hedgehog?" Mecha Sonic asked.

"Because he's the target that's ruining my work! Don't forget, your battle starts when I say it will!" Eggman finally picks up his building kit while pointing down to get Mecha Sonic to lift the Egg Mobile up.

"Is it because you lacked any friends?"

That question Mecha Sonic said is a wakeup call as Knuckles halts and turns towards Eggman and Mecha Sonic.

"Who needs friends when you have minions! Except for you, Knuckles, you're my friend." Eggman quickly reminds Knuckles of his friendship while continuing his repairs.

Knuckles is curious to know why Mecha Sonic made friends with a yellow furred hedgehog in a parka hoodie, making him suspicious and walk outside.

"I'll be right back." Knuckles called.

"Sure thing, Knuckles!" Eggman waves with a friendly smile.

That was a close call as Eggman sighs in relief.

Marble Garden

Tania is looking through the murals, making her think that something is off as she's walking through the pillars.

"So you're 'friends' with Mecha Sonic. Sonic's little sister." Knuckles called.

"I'm guessing you're Eggman's sidekick. Why?" Tania is now hostile towards Knuckles as she sees an echidna appearing from behind.

"Because Sonic is the reason Eggman is hurt. He and his friends must be stopped." Knuckles raises his fist as Tania growls.

"Eggman? Hurt? He's lying! He's the one who hurts Nicky, Miles and Amy! Even M.Sonic is hurt because of him! You'll be hurt next if he keeps going!" Tania warned, making Knuckles laugh.

"Really? That sword and hearing about your fight, you're just like your mother. And now you're defending the horrible actions of your bro- !?"

Abruptly stopped as Knucked is booted from below by Tania, making him crouch down and hold his lower region.

"My… Manhood… You little brat…" Knuckles growled, only for him to be met with an energy sword closer to his face.

"When you see Eggman, tell him Tania is hunting you down." Tania lets Knuckles go, only for Knuckles to stand while holding his lower region.

"Tch! Don't think I'll let that slide. But here's the truth about your brother and the chaos emeralds." Knuckles had Tania curious as Tania herself walks forward out of curiosity.

"What is it?"

"The negative chaos energy. If your brother uses them, then he'll be consumed by it, making him blinded by rage." Knuckles is making a point about the negative energy around Sonic and how it's affecting him.

"What? What are you talking about?" Tania is confused, yet nervous about what Knuckles is talking about.

"Sonic will never come back at this rate. In other words, he'll die to the negative energy, leaving him to be an uncontrollable monster." Knuckles reveals the warning signs of Sonic's flickering body.

Tania gasped, realising that Sonic's journey is going to be his death as if Nicky is nowhere to be found but his body is a husk of rage.

"Big brother…"