On a less than typical day at Green Hill. Sonic dashes by, collecting six which were floating above the ground. In another portion of Green Hill, Big is slowly walking with Froggy on his head. Sonic speeds right by him, causing the cat to spin, and toss his fishing rod into the air.
"Woah." Big yelps as Sonic dashes back to Big, and stabilizes him to prevent him from falling over. Big's fishing rod lands back in his hand.
"Sorry, Big. Sorry, . Can't chat, gotta go help our friends!" Sonic dashes off
"No problem, Sonic!" Big waves in Sonic's direction. Froggy makes a croaking sound.
Ryder and Sonic are running through a different part of Green Hill.
Voice Over: Sonic
"Home is where your friends are, as they say, and that's Green Hill, where the best beaches, palm trees and Chili dogs are just the tip of the iceberg. We've saved this place a million times, from this doofus." Sonic says referring to Eggman, who is seen cackling evilly. After this, it cuts to Shadow destroying a rock in Green Hill. "And then there's Shadow. It's complicated, more on him later. The fact is, we never lose! 'Cause when you got a crew like mine, there's nothing that can stop you!" Sonic reaches the top of the Temple Mountain, and enters the cavern entrance at the top.
"Hey, guys! I made it!" Sonic announced.
Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Ryder, and Tails are shown in the cave, in the middle of a battle, then turn to him. "You're late!" They yell at him.
"How does someone with superspeed end up late from grabbing rings?!" Ryder complained.
"It's not my fault. I got sidetracked." Sonic defends.
Eggman notices Sonic and glares at him. "Sonic!"
"Eggman!" Sonic reflects with a smirk.
[Eggman is shown standing beside some sort of large crystal with four colors, red, blue, green, and yellow, partially embedded into the rock. Around him are Orbot, Cubot, and several drillbots attempting to excavate the crystal. A giant mech is also seen behind him.
Eggman smiles with evil in his face. "Just in time to watch me claim the Paradox Prism and transform your disgustingly green world into something more... me." He laughs maniacally.
"Yawn!" Sonic's teammates rush to his side "Yep, I "yawned" you, Eggman."
"Okay, as much as I love the banter, and really I do, can we please focus on kicking Eggman's butt?" Ryder asked.
"I thought you'd never ask." Sonic preps himself for running.
"Crush them all!"
A horde of Badniks charges forwards from Eggman's side of the cave. Sonic and his friends rush towards the Badniks from the opposite side.
Ryder runs ahead with his boots activated and runs at the badniks with all he's got. He jumps up and spin dashes at the caterpillar bots and bounces to the buzz bot in front of him, then after he lands he is charged by a drilling Burobot. He ducks from the main drill, grabs him by the neck and slams him to the ground. It breaks open revealing a Flying Flickie. He then gets hit from behind by a Buzz bot, making him lose some rings. He turns back and smirks at it.
"You know, you guys should bee a little more careful." He said as he charged it with a spin attack along with its friends. But then he is surprised by a bunch of them surrounding him. Then Sonic appears next to him.
"Wanna give them the old party trick?" Sonic suggests.
"Hahaha. That I can do Sonic. That I can do." Ryder then spins around the horde of robots lifting them off the ground. Sonic then runs outside the cave and then runs back and hits them all with a spin dash.
After they finish Sonic smiles. "Hah, it's always good to team up with your old bud." Ryder is about to agree but notices some caterpillar debris about to hit Sonic so he jumps up and catches it.
"Knuckles, heads up." He tosses the debris to Knuckles who then smashes it with ease.
Dr. Eggman Furiously yells, "Get that rock out of the ground!"
Several Burrobots attempt to drill away at the rock attacking the Prism to the ground, but are unable to break it. Then they are destroyed by the speeding Ryder.
"Hah, good luck getting your Prism now Egghead." Ryder quips as he speeds back to help tails.
Eggman groans. "Want something done, do it yourself." Eggman climbs into his mech after grabbing his mustache in frustration.
Sonic and Ryder spin over to Tails. They continue fighting Badniks
"Guys, we don't know what the Prism is capable of. Be careful." Ryder nods as Sonic rolls his eyes and dashes off towards Eggman.
"If Eggman wants it, it can't be good." Amy deduces.
"He's probably after the same old thing. Blah blah blah, world domination, blah blah blah, Eggmanland, blah blah, theme park." Ryder jokes getting rolled eyes from Tails. "What? He's always saying that stuff."
"Well he's not getting that today!" Sonic said, still charging Eggman who grips the Prism with his mech, and begins trying to remove it. "Step away from the rock, Egghead!"
"Not this time, you fool." Eggman refuses as he continues to pull the Prism.
As Sonic gets closer and closer to Eggman, the Prism is shown becoming looser and looser due to Eggman's efforts. Once close enough, Sonic jumps and spins towards Eggman and the Prism.
"Sonic, wait!" Ryder's ears perked up at Tails' warning and looked at Sonic's spin dash heading towards the Prism. Feeling unlucky about what could happen grabbed his purple Chaos Emerald.
"Chaos Control!" He exclaimed as he teleported between Sonic and the Paradox Prism. He then grabs the Prism and plans to teleport it out, but feels a surge coming from it and sees flashes of his friends in different looking appearances. Amy looks like a Jungle Queen, Tails is wearing black, Knuckles is dressed as a pirate captain, and he sees a Hedgehog in white gloves and shorter shoes rushing towards his vision in anger. Surprised, he then snaps out of it and tries to get back to it. "Chaos control!" He said, but before he could fully teleport, he is then slammed by Sonic's spinning and vestiges come from his back, escaping him as he moves towards the Prism.
"Sonic! Ryder! No!" Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, and Tails cry out to them as they are hit by the shockwave. The Paradox Prism shatters into shards, producing multicolored beams of light which blasts Team Sonic backwards. Additionally, they are all caught in the blast. Suddenly, all the light in the area is sucked into where the Paradox Prism once was, leaving the area in total darkness.
An unconscious Sonic appears out of a blue rift, followed by several large shards. Multicolored energy is pulsating on Sonic's shoes. Suddenly, an unconscious Ryder appears as well, with four multicolored beams speeding past him in different directions. As the duo drifts through the Void towards a bright red light, the Chaos Emerald slips through Ryder's hand and floats away and a giant astral figure resembling Eggman appears.
"One day I'll destroy that hedgehog, and the world will be a brighter place for it, lit by neon." The Eggman figure said.
The Hedgehogs drift towards an astral figure of Tails.
"As long as I'm around, you'll always have a wingman!" He said.
They continue to drift past an astral figure of Amy.
"The forest is the most beautiful place on Earth!"
The duo's bodies then witness an astral figure of Knuckles.
"I don't need the details. Just tell me who to smash." He clenches his fists together.
They once again see one of their friends in an astral form. Rouge the Bat.
"You may not like the way I do things, but I get things done!"
One of the four beams reaches a blue gateway. Another reaches a green one.
"Hey, I may be the one who can bring everyone together, but there's only one hedgehog they'll follow into battle." Another figure of Amy said with Ryder and Sonic going past her and past a figure of Tails.
"Ryder, all my life you've been there for me like the brother I never had. I'll always be there to fight by your side." He said.
"I will rule the world, and no rodents are going to stop me." The voice of Eggman announces as the third beam reaches a red gateway, that the Hedgehogs are closing in on.
"We'd follow you anywhere, Sonic." Amy said.
Ryder and Sonic are pulled into the red light, and the screen fades to white.
"Nothing could break our friendship, guys." Tails said as the duo reached the red gateway not long before the fourth and final beam reached the grey one.
XXXXXXXXX
In a surge of blue energy, a weakened Ryder and Sonic are teleported to a large city, in the middle of a street. Painfully, he rises to his feet. "That's a sonic boom of a headache. Wh-where am I?" Sonic begins walking through the city, but is interrupted by a vehicle with a loud horn and bright lights coming his way. "Huh? Aah!" Ryder and Sonic are hit by the vehicle, but climbs up its front to reach the top. "Uh..." Ryder and Sonic are interrupted by another horn, coming from a monorail-like vehicle above him. Sonic quickly ducks. "Aah! Close one." The vehicle hits a bump, and Ryder and Sonic are knocked off, landing next to a bleak-faced citizen on a moving sidewalk. "Aah! Ow!" Sonic hits the bend of the sidewalk, and falls off into the street, where he is swept around by a street sweeping robot.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ryder and Sonic are launched away into a wall. "Why can't I remember how I got here? Think, Sonic, think!" Sonic gets up and notices the bright energy coursing through his shoes] Whoa, what is up with my shoes? Huh. I haven't seen anything like this since I ate truck stop chili dogs. Tails? Amy? Ryder? Heck, I'll even take Knuckles at this point."
Suddenly, a second surge is heard and Sonic's ears perk up at it. He runs to where he heard it from in an alleyway, and see's two dark legs sticking out of a dumpster.
"Hello?! Somebody? Can someone help me out here?!" Ryder calls out to an avail when he is pulled out by Sonic.
"Ryder! Good to see a familiar face."
"Sonic!" Ryder catches him in a bro-hug before pulling back. "Where the heck are we?"
Sonic sighs. "Well there goes any hope of you knowing."
"Well if we both don't know what's going on then let's ask around. There's gotta be someone who can help us."
"Good idea."
Sonic walks off to confront a citizen on a moving sidewalk. "Uh, pardon me, what do you call this place? Are you ignoring me? You're ignoring me. Why are you ignoring me?" The citizen walks off.
"Excuse me ma'am? Where are we?" Ryder gets ignored so he tries another person. "Sir, can you help me and my friend out?" He is still ignored. "Someone listen to me!" He yells but gets nothing. He gives an exhausted sigh.
"Can anybody give us a straight answer around here?" The other citizen also ignores Sonic, then walks away. "And you're busy staring at nothing. Okay."
A loud horn suddenly sounds out. Ryder covers his ears to block out the noise. The source of the horn is revealed to be a floating circular device with text displaying on it. Sonic reads off the text. "Welcome to New Yoke City. You're welcome. Never heard of it. Has to be far from home." Big quietly walks past Ryder Sonic and stands next to him, while the hedgehogs are distracted observing the city. "Where are the mountains, the beaches, the palm trees? [Sonic notices Big with Froggy wearing green overalls and a green shirt. "Big! Froggy! Am I glad to see familiar faces! I thought I was losing my rings, you know what I mean?"
Ryder picks up the conversation. "Since you're here Big, can you tell us where we are? No one seems to be paying any attention to us for some reason."
"Uhh, I don't know who you are, but my name isn't Big." 'Big' told them, much to their confusion.
"Wait what? But you look just like him except with... well pants. Is this a prank? Because you know how I feel about pranks done by someone other than me. Well you don't but Tails does so he probably-" Ryder is interrupted when a spotlight suddenly appears on them. 'Big' puts his hands up, while Ryder and Sonic look up to see what is going on. They see a Security Drone flying by saying: "Unidentified citizen. Alert! Alert!" The Drone plays a siren.
'Big' and the other nearby citizens flee from Ryder and Sonic.
"Big! Don't go!" Sonic cries out to Big but is met with silence.
"Don't waste your breath Sonic. He's long gone."
Several Eggforcers drop down from above. "You are both in violation of City Ordinance 27 B/6."
"Uhh, I have no idea what that means." Ryder is stumped.
"By the authority of the Chaos Council, stand down or be disassembled." The robot arms its two cannons.
"Chaos Council?" He whispers, but before he could think deeper of it, Sonic's quips get in the way.
"Sounds important. Give me directions, and I'll take it from there." [Two more Eggforcers arrive behind the Hedgehogs, which signals them to dash off. But they suddenly receive sparks coming from their shoes as they run, and they are stuck in place. They stop and slip on the moving sidewalk and then suddenly take off at full speed, much to their surprise, leaving a trail of energy in their wakes.
"Woah, woah! What's up with our shoes?" Sonic wondered.
"I don't know, but I'm not sure I like it." Ryder said with a panicked tone as they encountered a wall. Sonic crashes right into it as Ryder tries to turn away but ends up slipping and sliding across the ground into the wall.
"Ugh! I'm not used to all these walls. And where are my Rings?"
Two Eggforcers approach Sonic, and begin firing laser blasts. They defeat them both with a jumping Spin Attack, although no Flickies emerge.
'Robots without Flickies? What the heck is going on? Though I guess this makes more sense. I always wondered why Eggman would waste time kidnapping forest critters. I would just leave them alone, grab Metal Sonic, and get him to collect the Chaos Emeralds. Bam. Eggman Land Dream: reality.' Ryder thought as more Eggforcers arrive and shoot lasers, narrowly missing the duo. They try to run away, but are blocked by a transport vehicle. They take a sharp turn, causing some of the Eggforcers to slam into the vehicle. They dodge another vehicle, but begin slipping towards another one, which quickly approaches. "Whaah! No, no, no, no, no, no!" Sonic yells as he slides under the vehicle as Ryder jumps above it and lands next to him and they continue running while avoiding lasers. "This is not. Working! We gotta get off the ground!" Ryder nods and jumps to and grabs a monorail with Sonic following him bringing him to the top of a building, with the Eggforcers still in pursuit firing lasers. They can barely dodge them as Ryder notices a giant crane lowering a new floor onto a building. He taps Sonic in the shoulder and points to the crane. Sonic nods as they jump off the monoral and land on the building as the new floor is being installed above them. Their shoes start slipping again. The Eggforcers follow Sonic, chasing him to the edge of the building but start to get crushed along the way. Ryder dodges laser fire, and jumps off along with Sonic just before the new floor is added, crushing the Eggforcers and creating an explosion. They start to fall to the streets but are able to stick the landing via Spin Attack.
"Smog, concrete, evil robots. It's like everything I hate all in one place!" Sonic said.
"You said it buddy. Now let's get out of here and find our friends." Ryder led on.
"But we don't even know where we are." Sonic gasps upon seeing something.
Ryder turns to him. "What? What is it?" Sonic points his shaking hand towards the wall he was looking at. Ryder turns to see it and gasps at a wall with a checkered texture similar to the soil of Green Hill.] "No! It can't be." The duo dash off through the city and up a tall building, in a panicked fashion. "Please be wrong. Please be wrong!" [Upon reaching the top, they jumps and spins, launching himself in the air, and allowing him a view of the city. Ryder looks down to see a checkered loop-de-loop. "The Loop-de-Loop..."
Sonic darts his eyes to another part of the city. "Hedgehog's Pass ..."
Ryder's gaze then shifts to a small building, with Sentry Drones heading towards it. "Tails' lab! No no no. This can't be happening."
Sonic turns to him with sad eyes. "What happened?" He asked as they thought back to earlier that day.
FLASHBACK: Before Prism Shatter
Ryder is on the wing of Tails' plane, the Tornado, flying through the area.
Sonic was fighting Eggman, who was in a gray Eggcrusher. Amy and Knuckles were occupied fighting badniks at a lower level of the cliff.
Ryder was staring at them from a distance. "That's strange. Eggman usually has badniks backing him up when we fight him, but instead he's having them all fight Amy and Knuckles."
Tails turns to him from the cockpit. "Maybe he just wants to fight one-on-one." He guessed.
"Hmm, maybe. But he usually wouldn't do something so reckless. And he's at a clear disadvantage. There has to be a plan behind this."
Eggman is then knocked to the edge of the cliff, but after gaining balance stays there.
Now that is suspicious. "Hmm. You know, you may be on to something. Dr. Eggman's too smart not to realize how terribly positioned he is." Tails brings up a handheld device, which shows a scan of the mech's outline, and makes a beeping noise. "It's almost like he's... he's not in there." He realizes and gasps.
"What?" Ryder is shocked to hear this.
"No, really. Look." He hands him the device and shows that there is no one inside Eggman's cockpit.
"You're right. But that means... It's a trap. Sonic!"
Tails gasps. He quickly flies the Tornado in, and fires several blasts at the Eggcrusher, before swooping away again.
"It's a trap, Sonic! It's a trap!" Tails yells in warning.
"Sonic glances around. "I don't see a trap, though I guess by definition I wouldn't see a trap if there was one." Dr. Eggman laughs maniacally. "Something funny, egghead?"
"You are! Watching you try to think with that two-cent brain of yours is hilarious!" Eggman goads him.
"Sonic! You gotta listen! It's a trap!" Tails warns again.
"He's just trying to trick you. Get out of there!" Normally Ryder would go out there, but his shoes were still recharging at the moment. He needed time to get ready, and if he just used Chaos control he would just be vulnerable to attack.
Eggman grunts, and fires several small blasts at the Tornado, followed by a large red laser, all of which barely miss. You're as stupid as your mutant, two-tailed fox friend and that ridiculously haired hedgehog is ugly." Eggman insults.
"Wait, what was that about my hair?" Ryder asked with his eyebrow raised. He turns to Tails who is just innocently turned away whistling.
Sonic starts getting angry. "Oh, you're really asking for it!"
"Yes... I am!" Eggman said suspiciously.
"Sonic wait!" Ryder warns to no avail.
"You can mess with me, Eggman! BUT NO ONE MESSES WITH MY BEST FRIENDS!!! Sonic dashes off from his vantage point.
"Sonic! No!" Ryder and Tails try to stop him but Sonic's attack collides with the Eggcrusher and knocks it off the cliff and they both crash into the ground, creating a crater and a large shockwave, more powerful than anything he or an enhanced Ryder has ever been able to accomplish.
A newly-formed fault line travels from the crater, up the Temple Mountain, to its peak, where it breaks a large portion of, leaving a visible cracked wall. Ryder and Sonic are shown on top of the Eggcrusher's remains.
"Whoa! Didn't know I had that in me." Sonic starts gleefully dancing. "That's what you get for messing with my friends, Egghead!" Sonic looks inside the cockpit, but only finds a device inside where Eggman should be with sparks coming out of it. "Huh? Wh-where's Eggman? He must have ejected. Well, it looks like we win again." He turns to the Tornado and starts shouting. "Tails! Ryder! He's not even in here. Lame, right? Too chicken to face us in person. Whatevs! Couldn't have done it without ya, buddy!" The duo stares at him in annoyance and Tails flies them both away in the Tornado to the workshop.
XXXXXX
Dr. Eggman is cackling from a distance"It worked! Without the power of that blue buffoon, we would have had to dig for months. Thank you for the earthquake, Sonic, and thank me for my plan, which went off spectacularly."
Cubot being Cubot spoke in his own idiotic way. "And it worked, too!"
"Of course it worked! I just said that! Ugh, let's go. Papa wants his Prism." Eggman walks away, tossing the communication device behind him, where it bounces off Orbot's head and hands in the robot's right hand. Orbot and Cubot follow Eggman.
XXXXXX
Sonic dashes up to the lab, which has its garage door shut. Sonic inputs the code "1992" on the keypad outside, and the door opens. Tails is seen inside typing on a keyboard. Sonic slowly walks up to him, holding comic books.
"Yo! How's my genius friend?" Sonic greets gently, trying not to upset him.
"Hey, Sonic." Tails responds in a tired tone.
"I brought you some comics."
"Thanks, Sonic, you can put them over there." Tails gestures behind him.
"Where's Ryder? I-i thought he was with you."
"He went to check out the crash site to see if there was anything Eggman would use."
Sonic chuckles. "How about a little break from the big brain stuff?"
"I can't. Something's not right. I gotta figure out what Eggman is up to."
Sonic sadly walks up to Tails, and places the comic books on the lab's table. He then spins Tails' chair around so the fox is facing him. "Sorry, Tails. I didn't mean to upset you. In fact, I've never seen you so upset. I just kinda got into the moment and..."
"Sonic, it's cool. Really. But thanks. I appreciate it." After a short pause Tails voices his concerns. "Don't you think it was weird that Eggman wasn't in the Eggcrusher?"
"Uh, not really. I mean, he is a total chicken. But I did find a hunk of junk in the cockpit where his big butt shoulda been."
"Hunk of junk, huh? Wonder if that was all part of the trap? Tell me you didn't toss it in the barge of Badnik parts."
Sonic looks up nervously. "Uh..." He was about to dash and grab it, but Ryder had just returned holding it.
"I found this with the badnik parts." Ryder told them and Tails gave Sonic a narrow-eyed stare at his nervous grin. "Did I miss something?"
"Nah. Just hand it here." Ryder does this and Tails examines the device. "Wait a second. It wasn't a trap, it was a trick. Sonic. you've never created a blast that destructive.
"Not on purpose anyway." Ryder murmurs.
"I think that this device was some sort of Speed Amplifier. Long story short, he used your speed against you!"
Ryder takes the Amplifier back. "Wow, it must be made from the same tech that I use for my amplifiers. Only it's bigger and... much more powerful."
"The fox is on to something." A voice had suddenly appeared, startling them. They turned and saw Rouge sitting in the rafter of the lab.
Ryder, Sonic, and Tails: "Rouge?"
"How did you get in here?" Sonic asks.
Rouge ignores the question. "He played you for a fool, Blue."
" Pfft! Please!"
"Rouge, what's going on? What is Eggman after this time."
"Well... I have a hunch." Rouge spreads her wings and gently floats down to Sonic and Tails. "You see, I've been searching for years for a super rare and shiny gem called the Paradox Prism."
"Paradox Prism?" Sonic repeats as the trio look at each other in confusion.
"Legend speaks of untold power, and it's buried-"
"Wait, I thought you said Legend spoke of it." Ryder interrupts.
"Uhh, yeah. I just said that." Rouge said as if it was obvious, which it was.
"But if it's spoken of, then how is it untold?"
"Because it's unmeasurable."
"But they said there was power, so that means they told us, so why don't they just say immeasurable power. That would make more sense, plus it wouldn't be so confu-"
"You're just wasting time to make fun of me aren't you?"
Ryder drops the facade of confusion. "Heh, you got me." He smirks.
Rouge stares for a second before smirking back. "You know, I like you. Anyway, the Prism is buried deep within the Green Hill bedrock. My guess is that he used your power against you to try to find it."
"Fascinating. But what I really want to know is, how did you get in here?" Sonic repeats and Ryder hits him across the head. "Ow! What was that?!"
"Didn't you hear what she said? If what Rouge is saying is true, then if Eggman gets this Prism his power will dwarf even the Chaos Emeralds!"
"Yeah, I got that, but I would at least like to know how she even got into Tails' workshop if we're gonna listen to her." Sonic said.
Rouge flatly explains. "You left the door open."
Sonic and Tails glance at the Lab's door, which is wide open.
"Gather your crew and meet me at the top of the loop-de-loop. Let's find out what Eggman is up to."
XXXXXXX
Later that evening, our heroes are at the Green Hill Loop-De-Loop standing on top of it, gazing at the Temple Mountain.
"I think Rouge is right. Eggman picked that spot for a reason.Why else would he hide a power amplifier in his own Eggcrusher?"
"So we start at the scene of the crime." Knuckles guesses.
Amy confirms it for him. "Exactly. Let's go investigate and see if anything might lead us to this "Paradox Prism" you guys are talking about."
Flashback ends: New Yoke City
Ryder and Sonic continue falling from the building remembering what happened.
"Paradox Prism. Right. That's what Eggman was after. How?" Sonic lands flat on the ground with a thud, and groans as Ryder lands on the dumpster and flips off it. "Show off." Ryder just shrugged. "We didn't leave Green Hill. This is Green Hill. He did it? I don't know how he did it, but he did it. Eggman won.
"Uhh... Sonic? We have bigger problems." Ryder points to the Eggforcers flying towards them.
"Badniks. We gotta find Tails!" Ryder and Sonic dash off.
At the same time, in a lab as before, two figures are watching Sonic and Ryder through the camera in real-time.
"Badniks. We gotta find Tails!"
A light flashes on in the lab's hallway, and the shadow of a tall, large man is projected. The two figures. begin watching footage of Sonic's earlier actions in New Yoke City.
"Who are you?" The pink female figure wondered as the blue male figure moved closer.
"It seems we have a few new players in this game." He said.
"More ungrateful rebels?!" The large man asked.
"No. Something new. Not in the databanks." The female types on the control panel in front of her, and a visual of the Hedgehog's energy profile is brought up.
"They seem to possess a familiar energy source. The Unidentified Running Organisms have outrun the Eggforcers and are heading towards Babbles area." The male explained.
"We will notify Dr, Babble, so he can handle this." The female said.
"Good. I want him alive and brought to the council as quickly as possible." The large man said as he walked away, leaving the duo to watch the Hedgehogs through the screen.
At the same time Ryder and Sonic are dashing through Babble's area of the city. He runs straight by a citizen being threatened by a gray Eggforcer. The Eggforcer notices Sonic, and gives chase.
Sonic sighed. "Finding Tails would be a lot easier if everything was covered in grass and palm trees, like it should be." Suddenly, before Ryder could reply, Dr. Babble in his mech hovers down right in front of Sonic, who skids to a halt. The mech drops to the ground with a thud.
"Eggman!" Ryder said with a stoic look on his face.
"Finally! I don't know what you did, and I don't know how you did it, but I'm gonna kick your Ro-butt!"
Babble laughs and presses the button on the door of his mech suit, causing the color roulette to start, much to the hedgehog duo's confusion. The color roulette slows down and lands on the yellow icon. The baby rattle shaped mace arm appears out of the funnel of the mech suit's arm as Babble shakes it.
"Uhh, you know what Egghead, this just became weird. I mean really? A baby rattle? Did you just run out of ideas or-"
Babble then uppercuts Ryder, sending him flying to the wall, hitting his head, as Babble continues laughing. The purple icon on Babble's mech starts ringing as the mace-arm retracts as Babble crawls towards Sonic. Sonic attempts to run, but his shoes slip.
"Whoa! Come on, shoes!" Babble leaps at Sonic, barely missing. Sonic jumps over Babble, and continues running. Sonic's shoes slip again, sending him into the same wall that Ryder was sent to.
"Did anyone get the number of that jerk?" Ryder asked, feeling dizzy.
"Uhh, based on the baby based stuff, one." Sonic guessed.
"Thank you."
"Sonic jumps another punch from Babble, and runs up the mech's arm, but slips again. He picks himself and Ryder up and they continue dodging, then run up a building, allowing them to slam down on Babble, knocking the mech on its back helplessly. Sonic and Ryder then circle the mech at high speed, creating a tornado which spins it around into the air. Ryder then backs away from the tornado and charges it with a kick, like they did earlier slamming Babble to a wall, and then his mech slips onto the ground backfirst, making it difficult to move.
Sonic and Ryder Run up to the mech. "Okay, Eggy, you tell me what you did and how to fix it!" The cockpit opens, revealing Babble's true nature as a baby.
"Okay, can I be the first to say, THE HECK?!" Ryder said, shocked to find out they've been fighting a baby.
"Yeah, uhh... we're leaving right?"
"Obviously. I'm not gonna fight a baby. Old fat man, yes, but baby, that's a no." They dash out of there.
The cockpit on Babble's mech closes again, and the mech springs into action again, pursuing the duo through the city, and slamming into several walls along the way. The color roulette begins spinning again, while Babble makes baby noises.
"Ugh! Sorry, kid, I don't bust up babies." Sonic looks in front of him, and sees several Security Drones dragging citizens into a large pipe. He taps Ryder's shoulder and points to the pipe. "Go home, change your diaper, think about your choices, and tell Eggman we'll deal with him later. Right now, we've got a fox friend to find!" The two quickly change direction, running into the pipe.
Babble attempts to follow, but doesn't fit in due to the size of his mech, and is instead stuck in the opening. Babble reaches the mech's hand through, but fails to grab anything. He whines, as several Eggforcers arrive to pull him out. Babble starts crying and punches one Eggforcer away in a fit.
From a ledge above, Knuckles and Rouge wearing military outfits witness the situation.
"They're both fast, powerful, and hate the egg. We gotta follow them." Rouge tells him.
"I don't know, Rebel." Knuckles disagrees. "What if we follow him right into the hands of the Chaos Council? Feels like a trap."
Rouge grabs his shoulder. "When have I ever steered us wrong?" He narrows his eyes at her, implying everytime. "Rhetorical question."
XXXXXX
Sentry Drones fly past, carrying captured citizens. Sonic follows close behind. Soon, they arrive at the train station, and Sonic jumps off the tracks onto a platform. Several monorails are present nearby, as well as tubes leading to other parts of the city.
"Oh, man, I could really use a familiar face right about now." Sonic said.
"Good point but where would we find one. It's not like someone is magically going to appear in this exact train sta... is that Tails?" Ryder notices a fox resembling Tails with mechanical tails, who enters one of the tubes. "Tails!" Ryder dashes off after his childhood friend.
"Hey, wait for me!" Sonic calls out as he follows, trying to keep up.
After exiting the pipe, they weaves through the crowd in an attempt to keep up with "Tails". "Tails" goes around a corner into a tunnel. They follow, but find no sign of him.
"Tails? Where'd he go?" Ryder wonders as they slowly walk through the tunnel until they notice a door on the left and a keypad.
Sonic gasps. "This is the same as the one in Tails' lab. It's gotta be him."
"That depends. Please be the same." Ryder types 1992 into the keypad
Note: This is the same year that Sonic first met Tails.
The door clanks, and slides open. "Tails, you crafty fox." Sonic comments as they walk into the room. "Finally something around here makes sense."
Ryder furrows his eyebrows at the room. He walks to a cabinet at the far side of the room where he sees blasters and experimental limbs. He then opens the cabinet and sees a photo with a cracked frame in it. He pulls it out and sees a photo of himself with his hair more down and he's wearing all black with a jacket with blue stripes on it, and he is carrying "Tails" on his shoulders. He did not remember taking this photo or even owning this outfit. And he definitely didn't remember Tails ever having an arsenal like this. Before he could think of it any further he hears yelling. "The name's... Nine!!!" He sees Tails (or Nine) jump into the air, and pounce at Sonic, who barely dodges. Nine begins climbing the wall of the room.
"What do you want?! Who sent you?" Nine climbs to the ceiling, and redirects the lamp to shine on Sonic brightly. Sonic is momentarily blinded, allowing for Nine to drop down and knock Sonic across the room.
Sonic falls onto some cylindrical containers. He picks one off himself, and begins dodging Nine's rapid strikes.
"Whoa! Heck! How many tails do you have?" Sonic asks as he dodges frantically.
"Nine!" Nine yells as he continues his attack before being picked up from behind by Ryder.
"Woah! Chill dude. We're all fri-" He gets slammed in the face with a headbutt and pushed aside by the mechanical tails.
Sonic gets to his feet, and kicks Nine away. Nine dashes back, and grabs Sonic's legs with his robotic tails. He then swings Sonic around, tossing him out of the room and over the subway tracks. A monorail speeds by at that exact moment, catching Sonic on the roof of its cars. Nine quickly grabs on. As the monorail speeds through the Tunnel, Nine continues fighting Sonic, chasing him across cars.
Ryder soon recovers and notices them leave. "Tails, Sonic wait!" He said as he ran outside the lab and saw them speeding away on the monorail. He chases after them and tries to call out for Tails but the sound of the monorail mutes him.
He is having trouble keeping up with a moving train so he tries to grab the Chaos Emerald.
"Chaos Control." He then realizes that the emerald is missing. "My Chaos Emerald. It's gone!"
He continues to chase after the train until he grabs on to it and just as he does the fighting duo jump off of it. "Oh come on!" He yells as he gets on top of the car and jumps onto the beam and runs on it.
"Guys stop!" He yells just as they jump on to a new monorail. "Seriously?!" He jumps onto the back of the car but it's round so he starts to slip off it. He then sees them coming towards him in a second monorail and starts to groan. He then realizes he still has his shoes, and activates them at full power. His eyes and chest start to glow and a tattoo appears. He then gets fast enough to catch up to the monorail. Just as he's about to run he sees another monorail come towards him with the duo on it and runs next to it.
"I don't know what kind of mind games you're playing, but-" Nine gets interrupted when Ryder comes between them.
"Tails stop!" Ryder raises his arms and closes his eyes for impact... but the impact never came. He opens his eyes and sees a shocked look in Nine's eyes.
"Rex?" Nine questions, which confuses Ryder for a second before seeing Nine start to slip and topple off the monorail. Nine manages to grab on with two of his tails, leaving him dangling from the side with his other tails scraping the ground. "Whoa!" As Nine attempts to climb back up, and horn blares, headlight shines directly at him signifying another monorail approaching swiftly on the other track. Just before the other monorail would hit Nine, Ryder spins into action, and grabs Nine out of harm's way, leaping through the air to a platform, which they land on and tumble across, before coming to a halt, and falling face flat. Nine turns his head to Ryder with widened eyes.
"Rex? Is that... really you?" Nine asked, feeling shocked to see him.
"Buddy, I need your help. There's a lot going on right now and you're the only one I know who can help."
"Where have you been? And what happened to your hair?"
"Aha, so you admit it. I told you guys, the hair makes me look cool and it goes well with the shoes, so can we please stop making fun of it behind my-" He gets interrupted by a sudden hug from Nine. He starts to feel his scarf go moist which shocks him and gives him the impulse to return the hug. "Whoa hey, it's okay. I'm not that mad."
"I'm so sorry. I let you down." Nine said with tears flooding down his eyes.
"Let me down? What are you talking about?" He pulls out of the hug and holds Nine by the shoulders. "Miles? What's wrong?" He usually doesn't call him by his real name, especially since Tails found it embarrassing whenever Ryder called him "Miles Per Hour", so they switched to Tails.
Tails then gets an embarrassed look before turning around with his arms crossed. "You know I don't like it when you call me that. My name's Nine now." He said, trying to act mad but his tears are still coming down.
"Dude you know how silly that sounds right?"
"Hmph. You have no right to make fun of my chosen name when you've ditched me for a YEAR! You said you were just going on a supply run! But then I hear you were captured and executed by the Council, but here you are. Alive! And now you come back here acting like you barely know what's going on and you brought some stranger? What excuse do you have for abandoning me huh?! What could you possibly say to make up for that?!" Nine said as he banged him weakly in the chest in blind rage, before stopping and crying again.
"I didn't abandon you buddy. I can explain everything. Okay?" He turns Nine's head to face him and he nods.
"Tails listen. You know me. I've been trying to tell you that we are friends." Sonic tries to explain.
Nine turns to him angry. "Fabricated stories won't keep me from beating you back, intruder."
"Stop! Just....stop. We're friends. Best friends. This has to ring a bell. From the very moment we first met, you were a happy, brainy little fox doing happy, brainy little fox things. Some blockhead bullies were picking on you for having an extra tail. Ryder tried to defend you but he got grabbed. I ran by, and they lost interest in being jerks."
"How do you know about that? That's not how it happened... and you weren't there." Nine begins his own story. "I was a kid, minding my business but not minding my surroundings. Some creeps came along and picked on me for having one extra tail. I almost took a beating, but Rex was there to protect me. But we weren't always able to win. It was the same for years. Even so, he was always there to protect me, so I used my cunning fox brain to give me a real way to fight back and protect him. But then one day when we were at my lab, he left saying he was going to get some supplies. I hadn't heard from him in days until I heard a report that he was caught stealing machines from some Eggforcers and executed by the Chaos Council. From there on I was all alone. I take care of myself and need no one. Period." He ends his story.
"No one has friends here. Why do you think I live down here? To avoid everyone. You included. I guess the list might have to grow huh Rex." He sits down in annoyance..
Ryder was really confused about what was happening. Rex? That wasn't his name. What exactly did Eggman do? Then he remembered. 'The Paradox Prism. Rouge said it had "Untold Power", so maybe that power is the ability to rewrite reality, and maybe because me and Sonic collided with it we were unaffected. But why do I still exist in this timeline, but Sonic doesn't?'
"Doesn't make sense. You are Tails, but you're not! Here, but gone?!" Sonic is really out of his element with this whole mystery and it's sending his head out of whack.
"So...so what else did we do?" Nine asked, curious about their perspective.
Sonic stops pondering the situation, and turns to Nine. "Well, first of all, you have the coolest plane."
"I do?"
"It's called...."The Tornado"." Sonic starts running and punching in place. His shoes glow brightly. "And we fought and busted Eggman like, so many times, I've lost track."
Nine gets up and smiles. "You mean the Chaos Council?"
"No, I mean Eggman."
"So, Mr. Doctor Eggman, then?" This sets an odd silence.
Ryder just shrugs. "You know what? Sure, let's go with that. Also more importantly, my name isn't Rex, it's Ryder."
Nine shakes his head. "Uhh, no, it's Rex."
"Ryder." Ryder corrected.
"Rex."
"Ryder."
"Rex!"
"Ryder!"
"Rex!"
Sonic sighs. 'No matter what, these two won't change a bit. He stands between the arguing duo. "Okay, we're getting off topic. As I was saying, we've had our share of ups and downs, but when we stick together, we never lose. And when all's said and done, there's no better reward than sharing a chili dog with your best pal. And that's just the tip of the Iceberg. We've got a lifetime of adventures and memories together."
"Um, I... I think your shoes are smoldering." Nine points down at Sonic's shoes
"Of course they are. What else can go wrong in this crazy place?" Sonic sits down in frustration.
Nine groans "The only thing I despise more than people in my space is whiners." One of Nine's robotic tails places a gun-like device in his arms. Nine points it at Sonic.
Ryder's eyes widened. "Whoa, whoa, dude! You don't need to do that!" He steps in front of Sonic.
"Yeah! I thought we just had a bonding moment." Sonic said behind him.
"Stay still." Nine activates the device. It shoots a cyan light which Nine gradually directs down Ryder and Sonic's bodies, stopping at their shoes. The gun then projects a holographic display of Sonic's energy levels, which Nine reads. "Curious. There's low-level energy throughout your entire body. But possibly a could... Follow me!" Nine uses his mechanical tails to crawl off. They follow.
XXXXXX
Later, as they wait for Nine to finish his little project, Sonic turns to talk to Ryder. "This is all so strange. It's almost as if we ended up in some other world or something. What did Eggman do, and why doesn't Tails remember me? You're smart right? What do you think?"
Ryder turns to him. "Sonic, I don't think that that guy-" He points to Nine. "-is tails at all."
"What? Of course he is. Look at him. He's a little fox guy with a big brain and looks just like him. Who else could he be?"
"Don't you remember what happened before all this? Eggman was after something called the Paradox Prism. With a name like that, imagine what we could be looking at. This could be another time travel disaster, or worse, reality altering."
"Uhh, isn't that the same thing?" Sonic furrows his eyebrows in confusion.
"No. With time travel it causes a change in the timeline by going back and directly changing one little thing. But like last time, we can just go back in time and fix that. But with reality this isn't an aberration of anything. This... this is history. And we wouldn't know the difference because that would be how our entire lives were."
"Okay, makes sense. And it isn't something I would put past Eggman. But how come we remember everything?"
"We were the ones who came in contact with the Prism before it happened. Maybe it preserved our memories. But that doesn't matter. What matters is finding Eggman, finding the Prism, and setting everything right."
"True, but what about you?"
This statement confuses Ryder. "What about me?"
"You exist in this world, but no one recognizes me. How does Tails, Nine, whatever, how does he remember you."
"Maybe reality doesn't like you." Nine, who was eavesdropping offers as an answer while he types.
"What? But I'm a total hero type. That's not fair."
"He's kidding Sonic." Ryder consoles which works for a second before Nine ruins it.
"Not really."
Ryder sighs. "Hey, by the way, do you need any help with whatever it is you're doing?"
"I really doubt you would know much about how to deal with stuff like this."
"Hey, you don't know me. I actually know plenty."
"Maybe I don't know you, but I do know Rex, and you're anything like him, you clearly don't. Now back off." Nine said. Clearly a nerve was struck.
"Oh yeah? Take a look at these shoes." He gestures to them. Nine indulges but wonders what's special about them, until Ryder presses the button and starts to glow in places. He then starts running faster than he usually does, bouncing around the walls, though other than Ryder, no one noticed that there was a problem... he was slower. He's usually fast enough to be at least as quick as Sonic was, at least with those shoes active. But he was significantly slower than he usually was.
Nine didn't notice this when he made his next statement. "Wow, impressive technology. Who built it? Tails?" Nine said as he went back to typing.
"Uhh, actually, while he did help, I was the one that made them. I sort of became his lab assistant, and over time I learned a few things."
Nine stopped his movements after hearing that Ryder was the one that developed those boots. He then went back to typing just before saying: "Rex was never able to figure something like that out. I guess you really aren't him." He said with a sad tone. Ryder felt bad for him and walked up next to him and grabbed his shoulder.
"Hey, I know that it seems hopeless right now, but I'm here for you. Just remember to take a breath, assess the situation, and use that big brain of yours to figure out how to deal with it."
Nine looked at him in shock after saying that. "What?"
"N-nothing. It's just... Rex said that a few times. It's okay though. I get it. You were just trying to help." He got back to typing, and Ryder decided to give him some space.
Sonic begins examining Nine's inventions, while the fox types away at a computer. He tries to think of a way to put a more positive spin on things. "I, uh, like them by the way."
"Those ratty old sneakers? Obviously."
"No, I mean I always thought your extra tail was cool, but the metal ones? Man, you're amazing."
"Uh, sure. One last touch." Nine swivels his chair around to face The Hedgehogs while holding eight Regulators. "Attach these. They might be able to regulate the excess energy coming off your gear so they don't explode."
"Might?" Sonic questions the chances as Nine attaches the Regulators onto the both of them.
This is still a mystery." The Regulators begin to glow with blue energy, and make a mechanical whirring sound. Ryder, Sonic and Nine watch in suspense. Suddenly, Ryder and Sonic glow brightly, and their shoes and gloves transform into more stylized forms.
Whoa! What are these?" Sonic dashes back and forth. "No energy overflow, and the look." He gazes appreciatively at his new attire. I mean, come on." He gives his gloves a chef's kiss.
"Dang. I feel like I'm in the future." Ryder said admiring the new look.
"Ah, curious. They're still your gloves and shoes, only now they seem to have attuned with the Energy in your body instead of resisting it. I wonder why that is." Nine wonders.
Sonic dashes up to Nine "Oh-ho, these are killer! No more slipping and sliding, no smoke. Thanks, Tails! I mean, Nine. Time for a test drive." He dashes out of the lab.
"No, wait, you dope! It's not safe." Nine hurries after him.
Ryder sighs. "Okay, I'd give it about twenty seconds before we get into trouble." He said before following their lead.
Sonic emerges from a pipe in the streets of New Yoke City. Nine and Ryder follow close behind.
"Hey, if the mad scientist/loner thing doesn't work out, you should get into fashion accessories. Stylin'." Sonic said, still dashing around and admiring his shoes.
Nine shushes him. "Shhh! We need to maintain a low profile. The Council has eyes everywhere."
Sonic slowly walking backwards replies. "When you get your memory back, you'll remember that low profile isn't my thing. Wanna run up the walls?"
"What? No!"
Suddenly, Nine, Ryder, and Sonic are grabbed by the first of Babble's mech, which emerges from behind a corner. Several Eggforcers arrive.
Sonic groans in annoyance. "Ugh. Not the baby."
"Huh, guess I was right." Ryder comments on their predicament.
"I told you to keep a low profile!" Nine said.
"No, you didn't." Sonic denied.
"Yes, I did."
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
Babble's mech blasts off, with the group still in its left fist. The Eggforcers follow.
"No, you didn't."
"I can break this tie. He totally did." Ryder answered.
"See? Are you sure we were best friends?"
From atop a building, Knuckles and Rouge watch.
"Those Streaks have a friend?" Knuckles asks.
"Didn't look friendly. But whoever he is, he's involved now." Rouge said.
XXXXXX
The trio were then brought to the Chaos Council's building known as the Yoke. Inside Ryder and Sonic's limbs are restrained by electronic shackles from a restraining device. The room is in total darkness. Footsteps are heard.
Ryder struggles with his restraints. "This is why we stay low Sonic."
Sonic rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah." A bright light suddenly shines directly at Ryder and Sonic. Sonic grunts. "Ow! A little warning! Man, that's bright." He blinks a few times as his eyes begin to water. He begins to notice this. "Hello? Tissue?"
A door opens, and in walk two Eggforcers, along with a captured Nine.
You're wasting your breath." Nine informed.
"Nine, is that you?" Ryder said in relief.
"Hey Nine, are you the small blurry thing or the medium blurry thing?" A duo of familiar pink and dark blue walk by. "Or one of the big blurry..." Sonic gasps, realizing who one of the figures are. "Amy?! Amy! All right. Now we're getting somewhere. Got a key?"
"Amy" types at a computer. She then turns to the Hedgehogs. "Negative. My identification is... Rusty Rose." She said, revealing that she had been roboticized.
"You're a robot!" Sonic said, aghast.
"No. Mechanically enhanced. My survival required adaptation, as you will soon learn." Rusty Rose said.
"Oh, Amy." Sonic looked at her in a very sorrowful way, but while he cared for her Ryder was more curious about the other figure still monitoring them on the computer.
"Rusty Rose! Cease talking. You will need all the breath you can muster if you are to survive." She silences Sonic.
"Wait, if you're Rusty Rose, then who's that guy?" Ryder said, referring to Rusty Rose's counterpart. "I don't recognize him. You wanna introduce yourself?"
The blue cyborg stops his typing and turns slowly to Ryder. "Interesting, we seem so much alike yet you couldn't deduce it." He said, mysteriously.
"What? What are you talking about? Who are you?" He was met with silence from the cyborg, making him impatient. "Answer me!." He yelled.
"My designation is C-12, as Rusty Rose is C-11, however you may call me by my other name, Wrecker Rex." He said, stepping into the light, revealing a roboticized version of himself.
I did not make this. https://www.deviantart.com/phi-unit/art/OC-Redesign-Echo-the-Robot-750225609
This shocks the main trio. They didn't expect to see his other self, and as a cyborg no less. Though it appears almost as if he barely has anything left of himself. The self-proclaimed "Wrecker Rex" stands before them as a lifeless pawn to the Chaos Council. Ryder turned his head to Nine to see how he was handling this, and saw widened eyes of terror and despair. It was awful. His best friend, who he had seen as a brother, had become something they both despised; just another Eggforcer. Before they could think any further of this, a door opens, and five figures on hovering chairs enter, obscured by the shadows.
"More silhouettes? Who does your lighting?!" Sonic jokes.
Wrecker Rex is more than happy to answer. "The Chaos Council." He said as Rusty Rose pressed a key, turning on a spotlight above a sleeping old man.
"Dr. Done-It." She introduces.
Dr. Done-It grumbles and sleeps, then wakes up suddenly. "I'm awake, I'm awake! Go on. You were saying?"
Rusty Rose: presses a key, turning on a spotlight on above a tattooed green hair man. "Dr. Deep."
The man twirls his mustache as he grins at his new specimens. "The philosophical ramifications of this discovery rock my very core."
Ryder raises his eyebrow. "Really?" He said, half-heartedly.
Another spotlight reveals a teenager with blue hair dye in the end playing a video game. "Dr. Don't."
"Whatevs!" He said ignoring the whole thing.
"Oh, and you have already met the baby, Dr. Babble." Wrecker Rex says as Rusty presses a key, turning on a spotlight above Dr. Babble who babbles angrily.
"That is the angriest baby I've ever met." Sonic commented.
"You said it." Ryder said in agreement.
Rusty Rose took back the attention and finished the intro. "And finally,..." She presses a key, turning on a spotlight above... "Mr. Dr. Eggman."
Sonic turns to face Nine "Oh! So that's who you were talking about."
Nine just rolls his eyes.
"By the dumbfounded look in your eyes, I gather you've come to grips with the gravity of your situation." Mr. Dr. Eggman said, thinking that their shock meant they were scared, but they were just shocked to see five Eggmans, or maybe Eggmen? Whatever. The point is that they have five times their usual enemy.
""The Council"? Looks like an Eggman family reunion. When did you call in reinforcements, Eggy?" Sonic tries to egg him on.
It works, as Mr. Dr. Eggman seemed irritated by the assumption. "We are not a family, Rodents! We are The Council. One makes five." The four other members of the council move their chairs directly behind Mr. Dr. Eggman's, making it the only one visible. Then, they move them back. "Five makes one." The Chaos Council then proceed to laugh maniacally at the hedgehogs.
"So many Eggmans, so many questions. Does anyone have aspirin?"
"Wait is it Eggmans or Eggmen?" Ryder wonders.
"How the heck am I supposed to know?"
"I don't know but I'm freaking out here and I could use a little bit of a distraction."
"I know what you mean. Five versions of our greatest enemy all at once."
Ryder furrows his eyebrows. "Wait, what about Shadow?"
Sonic shrugs. "He's more of an anti-hero."
"Okay, but we beat Eggman all the time but Perfect Chaos took our super forms."
"Okay, maybe, but-"
"And even Eggman admitted he couldn't beat Zavok alone."
"Okay, that's just not fair. But that doesn't matter. They don't call me the fastest thing alive for nothing! I beat them so I can take five Eggmans no problem."
"First of all, we beat them, second of all, if you think about it, Shadow can stop time," This acts as a trigger for Sonic, who widens his eyes. "So that technically makes him faster than-."
"NO, NO, NO! OKAY?! I AM NOT SLOWER THAN FREAKING SHADOW!!!" Sonic yells in rage which startles not just Ryder, but Nine, the Chaos Council, and even the cyborgs flinched.
"Sonic, calm down." Ryder tries to calm him down but Sonic's not having it.
"NO, SHUT UP! YOU SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE!" He then starts doing a Ryder impression. "Oh, don't worry, you're just slower than Shadow! I don't wanna hear it! You! Don't! Get it! Everyone has something special, I don't. Amy's the nature lover with a hammer, Knuckles is the punching guardian guy, Tails is a genius, and Rouge is a master thief. What am I? The big blue speedster. That's all I got."
"Oh come on man. You got plenty of stuff going on. Like, you're faster than everyone in the gang. And you're the hero they'll follow to Heaven and Earth. You're my best friend. I mean, barring Tails." He turns to Nine with a sad smile.
This starts to cheer Sonic up. "Aww, thanks dude. You're my best friend too."
"Ahem!" Mr. Dr. Eggman and the readers yell to remind them of what was happening.
"Oh right. Sorry, carry on."
Dr. Done-It then floats his chair to the duo. "So these are the creatures that made all that fuss?" He moves his chair up to Sonic "Doesn't look like much..." He pokes Sonic with his cane "...to..." He pokes Ryder this time "...me." He pokes Sonic with his cane again.
"Hey! I respect creaky old stuff. But poke me again, and I'll crack your antique shell, Egg-gramps!" Sonic warns him.
Babble points at Sonic, and babbles.
Eggman says to Babble: "I told you. These things seem to know who we are, yet we have no information on them in our databanks."
Ryder narrows his eyes in annoyance. "Things? Really? You're seriously gonna pull that card?"
"Like they popped into existence from nowhere." Deep ignores him and says.
"What?! We've been here the whole time, dude." Sonic reminds them.
"My lieges, we believe that your answers lie in the energy signature that the two Creatures exhibit." Wrecker Rex presses a key, and footage from earlier of Ryder and Sonic outrunning Eggforcers plays on a TV screen in the room.
"May I suggest a series of grueling life-endangering diagnostic tests?" Rusty Rose suggests.
"Not helping, Amy! You know I don't do well on tests." Sonic said.
"It's true. I tested that. Literally." Ryder confirms for them.
"Those in favor of stress-testing these blue rabbits, say yes." Done-it puts it to a vote, and all of the Chaos Council members except Dr. Don't raise their hands.
"We're Hedgehogs you jerks!" Ryder yells.
Instead of raising his hand, Dr. Don't presses a "yes" button on his device. The devices restraining Ryder and Sonic are lifted off from its base, and placed in a sealed chamber with a glass wall for the Chaos Council to watch through.
"Hey, hey!"
"Rusty, Rex, put him through the paces. Let's see how powerful he is."
Rusty Rose presses a key on the access panel. The duo struggle against the electronic shackles binding them.
"Do not fight them. It will only end badly! For him." Rusty Rose points to Nine. An Eggforcer prods him with an electric weapon, electrocuting him.
"Nine!" Ryder calls out to him with worry. The worry in his face is soon replaced by anger.
Rusty Rose presses a key, and the shackles deactivate, causing Ryder and Sonic to drop to the floor of the chamber.
"Okay, let's start the test. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get out of here." Sonic said, eager to get this over with. While Ryder doesn't disagree, he doesn't think they'll let them go so easily.
"Very well Hedgehogs." Wrecker Rex said before he presses another key, and two laser turrets emerge from opposite walls. One fires at Sonic, and he barely dodges out of the way.
"Lasers! I hate lasers." Sonic mentions.
"I think it's safe to say everyone does unless they use them." Ryder replied.
Both turrets begin firing rapidly, forcing Ryder and Sonic to run to dodge. All the Chaos Council does is laugh at their peril, until Ryder runs up a wall, and rapidly circles the turret there, causing it to lose focus on him. The other turret prepares to fire. Ryder then jumps in the space between the two turrets, causing both to fire, which leads to the laser cannons shooting each other.
Mr. Dr. Eggman snaps his fingers, and Rusty presses a button to re-capture them. The entire chamber then moves upwards, while Ryder and Sonic are forced to the one below through a hole in the floor. In the new chamber is a curved conveyor belt. After being released, they run on the belt, avoiding moving laser beams while the belt ripples and bends.
For this next test Sonic and Ryder decide to take turns. Sonic runs past a crusher and between a set of to bounce on a bounce-pad. In mid-air, Sonic avoids several more sets of spikes, before landing on a fan, which he swings on until he can let go and land at the finish. Ryder then sets himself up to run, then does a Spin Dash in place for a few seconds before finally firing and just putting a hole through the top crusher, jumping on the bounce pad, and landing in the middle of the fan, effectively destroying it. Ryder uncurls, wipes his hands, and takes a high-five from Sonic. The Chaos Council looks on in interest. Rusty Rose presses another button, and the final test is for Ryder and Sonic to run in a rotating hollow glass sphere with bouncing spike balls around inside it.
"Seriously?! A hamster ball? What is wrong with you people?" Sonic asks, disappointed.
"I know right? This test just seems offensive, especially since they don't know what we are."
"The tests are still inconclusive. Their maximum limits remain unknown." Rusty informs.
"Make the blue badgers run."
"HEDGEHOGS!" Ryder and Sonic remind them for the last time.
Rusty Rose presses a key, and the rotation of the glass sphere speeds up.
Sonic grunts from struggle. "Come on, Amy! Some compassion for your boy Sonic. You can't suddenly be this heartless!"
Rusty Rose walks up to the glass barrier of the chamber. "Birdie would disagree." A portion of Rusty Rose's robotic torso opens up, revealing a defeated-looking inside.
"Oh sweet god." Ryder looks at it with his eyes wide and his jaw dropped.
"That's so messed up."
Ryder turns to face Wrecker Rex. "You don't have that too, do you android?"
"Negative. My organ system is far less severely damaged than Rusty Rose's. Therefore they require no Flickie to function. However I do have a much better power source."
"You know, that doesn't make you any less oppressed. Don't you see? They turned you into this."
"Negative. The Chaos Council saved me after a horrific accident. Since then I have sworn loyalty to them."
"That isn't true. They aren't telling you everything."
"Silence Whipper Snapper." Done-it warns Ryder as the ball speeds up and Ryder then gets hit by a Spiked Ball, and tumbles around the sphere.
"Ryder!" Nine calls out and gets electrocuted again by the Eggforcers.
Sonic starts getting angry and begins running faster and faster. "You want to test me, Eggheads? Question: How do you tick off a hedgehog? Answer: Mess with his friends!" Sonic performs a Spin Attack, and begins speeding along the interior of the sphere at rapid speed and destroys the spiky balls in the process.
The computer shows Sonic's energy level rising. A repeated beeping is heard. The Chaos Council (except for Dr. Don't) watches on in interest.
"I totally call dibs on his quills."
As Sonic speeds up, a mass of blue energy is forming in the sphere. This whole thing catches Ryder by surprise. Since when has Sonic been able to generate this kind of power? He tries to catch up to him and fails, so he uses his shoes to make himself pretty close to his speed, but not the same.
The computer shows Ryder and Sonic's energy reaching dangerous levels. The building begins shaking.
"I knew it. He's got the same energy that powers the city." Nine whispers in realization.
"The energy field is supercharging our systems." Eggman tells everyone.
The computer begins to spark. Rusty Rose and Wrecker Rex back away with caution.
"Turns out the blue possum has some juice after all." Done-It realizes with a smile.
The Hedgehogs continue straining their speed as the energy generates a great white light. Suddenly, a vision of Shadow appears.
"Sonic! Ryder! It's broken! It's all broken." He tells them before disappearing.
"Shadow?! Uh-oh. I think I'm starting to hallucinate!" Sonic starts to panic as flashbacks start to flash before him.
XXXXXX
We return to before the Prism Shatter with the team gathered at the loop-de-loop, preparing to fight Eggman.
"Let's stick together and we'll-" Amy tries to say before getting interrupted by Sonic.
"Perfect! I'm gonna ring up. Meet you there." Sonic jumps off the loop, and dashes away.
"Wait, we're supposed to stick togethe- and he's gone." Ryder said as Sonic dashed away.
"I guess he didn't hear the "stick together" part." Amy said, disappointed.
"Does he ever?" Knuckles asks rhetorically.
That doesn't stop Tails from answering. "No. But he also hasn't let us down when it really counts. You know Sonic. He'll catch up at some point."
"I hope you're right buddy. For our sake." Ryder said, having a bad feeling about it.
Later, Amy, Knuckles, Ryder and Tails are flying in the Tornado, with Rouge flying on her own close behind. They fly around the site of the defeated Eggcrusher.
"Wow! Are you guys seeing this? Look at the fault line. It goes right up the mountain!" The fault line's path is shown up to a point on the Temple Mountain, where it can no longer be seen due to a cloud obscuring it.
"Anyone noticing that?" Amy points to the cloud "That cloud hasn't moved an inch. Something's unnatural. Tails!"
"Already on it." Tails turns the place towards the Temple Mountain and flies up it through the cloud. He notices a hoard of Badniks pointed toward the cavern entrance. "Whoa. Do you think Sonic's in there?"
"With all those Badniks still standing?" Rouge asks, knowing that Sonic couldn't be there.
"Our pal's not exactly the stealthy type." Knuckles mentions.
"We got here before him? How?" Tails wonders.
"Doesn't matter. Let's just hope he's okay. We have bigger problems." Ryder reminds them.
"Find a spot to land. Let's find out what's going on." Amy tells Tails who has the Tornado descend. Little did they know about the danger that was about to transpire.
Thank you very much for reading. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I hope this interests you. if you have any questions, feel free to comment, and I hope you understood the references