Thank you everyone for all of your support! from here, I've had to start a second Google doc to write this in because it's getting so long. You guys are the best.

Ch. 16: My Front Lawn?

Scuff feels the light whirr of his optic cameras shrinking as he adjusts to the bright light of the front lawn. Scuff slowly removes his hand from over his damaged eye, which always takes longer to adjust. The first thing he sees is some flying object retreating into the clouds before his gaze slowly trails down. Sitting smack in the middle of the lawn is a large box, about 30ft on each side, that looks like a giant gift box. A bright red wrapping with white dots across its surface, broken up by strips of large blue ribbon that meet at the top in an extravagant bow. A flat, black screen is on the side of the box facing the front of the house. Sonic is standing closest, with Amy and Scuff each slightly behind him and off to the side. Appearing on the screen is the grinning visage of Dr. Eggman.

"Eggman, what are you doing here?" Sonic stands firm, narrowing his eyes and clenching his hands.

"I know what you're thinking, 'Eggman, what are you doing here?'" The voice comes from the box, reverberating through the ground, all the while, the image of Eggman leans forward, steepling his fingers.

"Well shut up! Because this is a prerecorded message, so close your weirdly nonexistent lips and listen!" The image of Eggman points straight forward.

"I'm tired of you stealing my robots! So, to make CYBER'S stay more comfortable, I'll be sending you gifts!" the image of Eggman smirks knowingly.

"Think of it like Eggman's twelve days of Christmas, except it lasts as long as I want!" Suddenly the box pops, the walls falling off on all sides

Out of the box launches almost thirty egg pawns out around it in all directions, and rising from the center is a large robot. It looks similar to an egg pawn, except much larger, and atop its head are several square protrusions shaped in a ring around its head. In one of its hands is a tower shield, with squares at the top resembling crenelations on a tower, and the other hand ends in a square-shaped cannon.

Eggman's voice rings out one last time, "This is my Egg Rook!"

With an electronic screech, the entire force charges toward the house.

A small tear appears at the edge of Sonic's eye. "FINALLY!" is his battle cry as he charges at the oncoming badniks.

Amy turns to Scuff, "You don't have to fight if you don't want to."

"I want to help," Scuff says, puffing out his chest, and looking out at the Egg Rook.

As Scuff walks forward, Amy puts out a hand to stop him. "Leave that one for Sonic," Amy says, pulling her piko piko hammer out of nowhere.

With a nod, Scuff turns away from the Egg Rook, powers up his rocket boots, and charges at a group of egg pawns.

As Sonic blasts forward, rolling through several egg pawns on the way, the Egg Rook raises its cannon arm. The Egg Rook fires solid metal cubes from its square-shaped arm, simultaneously hiding behind its shield. Sonic curves around one of the heavy cubes as it embeds itself deep in the ground.

"Nice shot, that's Eggman tech for ya," Sonic says, leaping into the air.

As the Egg Rook fires more metal cubes, Sonic spin-dashes into them, bouncing off of each until he reaches the Egg Rook. Before Sonic has the chance to do any real damage, the Egg Rook swings its shield. Sonic turns in the air, putting out his feet to catch the shield. He rides the arc of the shield as it launches him high into the air. Sonic summersaults until he reaches the peak of his arc, at which point he spreads out his arms and legs, looking down. The Egg Rook quickly looks up, turning its square cannon to fire a barrage of metal cubes. Sonic turns his body, weaving between the metal cubes. Sonic spreads out his arms all the way, slowing his fall, and letting the metal cubes fall past him. The cubes cut through the air, falling back on the Egg Rook. The Egg Rook raises its shield to repel the cubes, the heavy metal chunks rain down on the shield, thudding like heavy raindrops on a metal roof. As the Egg Rook moves its shield to look at Sonic, he's already there. Sonic had used the Egg Rook's temporary blindness to his advantage. Sonic rolls up into a ball, dashing through the air. The Egg Rook attempts to pull in its arms to shield its body, but it's too late. Sonic falls past its defenses and strikes the Egg Rook directly in the forehead.

The Egg Rook speaks its first and last words, "Oh no-"

Sonic spins, burrowing straight through the Egg Rook's exterior, crashing through its interior, and bursting out the bottom. The Egg Rook explodes.

"Heh," Sonic says, walking forward as flaming debris falls around him.

Looking out, Sonic sees a field of smashed egg pawns. He sees Amy leaning on her hammer, wiping the sweat off her forehead. Sonic also watches as Scuff spin-dashes through the last active egg pawn. As Scuff comes out of a roll, he stumbles, but catches himself, a small smile on his face. The three of them converge in front of the house, surveying the damage, scrap everywhere, and large divots in the ground.

"Well, that was fun," Sonic says, looking over at Amy with a smile.

Amy smiles back, "In a way, I guess it was!"

"I did it…" Scuff says, looking out at the damage.

"You did good bud," Sonic says, giving him a thumbs up.

Suddenly everyone's eyes snap back towards the house as a loud crackling fills the air. What appears to be an empty doorway stationed near the garage door fills with green energy. Suddenly, stepping through the portal is a red figure. It's Knuckles, holding the Master Emerald under one arm.

"Hey, guys-" Knuckles looks up. "What the heck happened here?"

–

Tails' workshop

–

Borast stands slightly behind Tails as he continues working on the computer. Tails wipes some sweat from his brow, before hitting enter. The starting-up sequence has significantly sped up. CYBER jolts violently, and her screen eyes light up red. CYBER quickly pulls herself from the chains, jumping down off the platform.

"Ah, I feel great!" CYBER stretches and then looks around.

"Wait, where's Sonic?" CYBER puts her arms down, looking at Tails.

"They all went outside to investigate some commotion," Tails says, stepping away from his computer.

"Well, then that's where we're going!" CYBER shouts, marching toward the door.

"No need," Sonic says, walking through the doorway, his hands behind his head.

"You did great!" Amy says to Scuff, patting him on the back.

"Thanks!" Scuff says, beaming.

CYBER glances at Scuff, an eyebrow raised, "What happened while I was out?"

"As far as I've heard, it was crazy!" Knuckles walks through the door, holding the Master Emerald.

"Knuckles? When did you get here?" Tails asks, looking over at knuckles with a surprised expression.

"Aght! I asked a question first!" CYBER declares, holding up a hand at Tails.

"Well, first off, there was a wicked fight!" Sonic says, leaning against the wall with a smirk.

Amy steps forward, slightly in front of Sonic, "The important thing is that Eggman sent robots, robots meant to reclaim you, Cy"

"Not only that, but he said that more would be coming," Amy says, looking across at everyone.

"When?" Tails asks, his back to his computer monitor.

"Well, he mentioned 'days' so I'd think we at least have until tomorrow…" Scuff offers, looking at Tails.

Tails nods at Scuff before looking to Sonic "Do you think we should move Cy here?"

"Maybe…" Sonic says, putting a hand on his chin.

CYBER's eyes light up, "Yeah, that's probably the safest option!"

"Well, I did just set up a room for Cy," Amy reminds, putting a hand on CYBER's shoulder.

"Plus… um… we are out of space here," Broast raised a hand, his telescopic eyes peeking out from under his lid.

"True, Scuff already has to sleep in the workshop…" Tails thinks, fidgeting with a loose wrench.

"Maybe we could swap rooms around?" Scuff raises a hand, still bouncing with energy.

"Well, Eggman probably knows about you now that you've helped us destroy his robots…" Amy says, glancing at Scuff.

"He'll probably be after them both!" Tails says, pointing the wrench at a midpoint between Scuff and CYBER.

"Exactly, and I don't think that Broast will fit through my front door…" Amy says, turning to Broast. "No offense,"

"None taken," Broast nods, but due to their construction it's more like a whole body shake.

"I think it's best to keep things the way they are, and I'll just bring Cy over in the mornings!" Amy says with a smile.

CYBER's face is still as stone, soft clickings activating as she halts all expressions on her face.

"That sounds good to me!" Tails says with a smile, hanging up his goggles.

"But what if you're attacked in the middle of the night?" Sonic asks, turning towards Amy quickly while no longer leaning on the wall.

Amy giggles, covering her mouth, "I can handle myself, Sonic"

"Ahem"

Everyone turns to look at Knuckles.

"None of my questions have been answered, and I only have more," Knuckles says, looking around at the room full of 50% strangers.

"Calm down Knuckles, I'll fill you in, walk with me," Tails says, walking over to Knuckles.

"Let's get your emerald down to the safe before anything else happens though," Tails says, pulling Knuckles along.

Knuckles follows, still glancing around the room.

"Oh, Broast, you should come too! I'll introduce you to the safe, and you can introduce yourself to Knuckles," Tails says, fishing something out of one of his belt pouches.

"Of course!" Broast stands up straight, walking quickly but carefully through the still-disorganized workshop.

"Bye Tails!" Sonic calls, already walking out of the workshop, with CYBER, Amy, and Scuff all following behind.

"Bye Sonic!" Tails shouts, walking toward the back of the workshop.

CYBER taps Sonic on the shoulder, "Um, Sonic? Why did you say goodbye? Are we going somewhere?

"Oh, well, Tails and I don't work together all the time anymore," Sonic explains as he walks. "Of course, Tails and I are still friends, so we have weeks where we just chill and hang out, and we still share the same abode," Sonic glances at CYBER with one eye. "But now we mostly adventure on our own," Sonic smiles.

The group of four make their way to the living room, escaping the cramped hallway. Sonic sits in a blue armchair, leaving three spots open on the couch. CYBER and Scuff subconsciously herd Amy to the couch, keeping her between them at all times. The three sit down nearly simultaneously.

"They grow up so fast," Sonic says, he says it with a lot of energy, but a bit of whimsy creeps into his voice.

"Well," says Amy, "I think we deserve a nice afternoon out, don't you think?" She says, looking back and forth between CYBER and Scuff.

Scuff glances at Amy, then CYBER, then Amy, "You sure? We don't exactly blend in"

"Tell me about it, pal," Sonic says, lounging in his armchair.

"Whatever," Amy says, waving her hands. "You two need to learn the joy of buying stuff!"

With a bit of effort, Amy manages to strike a deal, fifteen minutes of TV time, then SHOPPING!

–

As Tails listens to Broast and Knuckles chatter about pacifism vs the warrior way of life, Tails peels back a curtain, revealing a large pile of spare parts. Most of it is gray metal, but some of it has black or red fur on it. Tails places the fully functional spare eye on top of the pile and closes the curtain.

"Alright," Says Tails, dusting off his hands. "Safe time,"

As Tails whips open a door, and then the footsteps of the three recede down a metal hallway. The workshop, now empty, stands quiet except for small, fleeting sounds of machinery. But very slowly, the pile of scrap, concealed in the back corner, starts to shift. The robotic eye is swallowed up in a tangle of wires, metal beams, and synthetic black fur.

A voice, weak, but consisting of two similar, but slightly varying tones comes from deep within the pile. "They will pay for what they have done to us… pay with blood and bolts…"

The metal and wires coil a bit more like a pile of writhing snakes before settling into the quiet of the workshop once more.