Sonic and Gwen speeds past the neon sign and past the resident who had his hands up to the bot. The robot looks to where the hedgehog siblings head off and sets off the alarm. Gwen looks back while roller skating and immediately goes to destroy it with her weapon, only to release electric volts from her finger. It causes the robot to malfunction and then shut down instantly, shocking both Gwen and the resident.

"What the...?" she questioned, only to be cut off by Sonic.

"Finding Tails would be a lot easier if everything was covered in grass and palm trees, like it should be."

"But this isn't Green Hills as it used to be. I get the feeling that we're not in our home anymore."

As soon as she finished her sentence, they see a big flying robot with colored lights stops them and lands on its feet.

"Whoa!" Sonic exclaimed, skidding to a stop.

"Eggman!" Gwen glared at the robot.

"Finally! I don't know what you did, and I don't know how you did it, but we're gonna kick your Ro-butt!"

The robot pressed the yellow button in the middle and started making infantile chatter. This left Sonic and Gwen confused on what he was saying. The colored lights flash in a circle and they stop on the one with the rattle. A giant rattle pops out of the arm. Gwen immediately pulls out her giant fist whip and gets into her fighting stance, but not Sonic who looks rather amused.

"What is that, a baby rattle? Not exactly scary-"

"Sonic!"

He was cut off when the other arm punches him and he flies back. The robot lets out a childish laughter as Sonic slams into the wall again. The rattle retracts and the robot crawls towards Gwen. She charges back and spins her giant fist whip and swings it towards it. The robot catches the fist and starts swinging her.

"Whoa whoa whoa!!"

The robot then lets go of the whip and she went flying to the top of the building. The robot then charges at Sonic by crawling. Gwen gets up with a groan and jumps back down, not noticing a certain two people was watching her with wide eyes. Sonic gets up and tries to run but he was having a hard time as his shoes spin.

"Whoa! Come on, shoes!"

The robot leaps at Sonic, but misses once he speeds past him. The robot turns and chases him. Sonic trips, flips, and smacks into a wall.

"Ow!"

He turns and dodges a punch thrown by the robot. Sonic then jumps on top of it and runs over the robot. He flips and falls. The robot let out a childish shout and did a frustrating stomp before crawling after him. Sonic flips and jumps to a different ledges around him. The robot jumps up, but Gwen charges in and kicks it to the ground as the robot lands on its feet. Gwen quickly lands in front of the robot and she notices her bangs of her strand glows red and suddenly feels energy. She looks around and notices the street lights started flickering. Having an idea, she stands perfectly straight, holding her fingers in her hand. She moves her arms in a circular motion, generating electricity and firing the bolt into the robot, sending it flying.

"You can make lightning?! Awesome! How did you do that?" Sonic asked in awe.

"I... I don't know. I just... feel it somehow. It must have something to do with my hair."

She repeats her actions, generating electricity again and firing it off into the robot again that was about to get up. The robot let out childish cries as it lies on its back, throwing tantrums by kicking. Sonic lands and spins around the robot and makes a tornado that lifts and spins the robot. The robot started shouting as it spins.

"Whoa! Unh!"

Sonic's shoes stop and he slides and slams into the wall. The robot falls back down. Sonic and Gwen jumps on the toter to face the robot up close.

"Okay, Eggy, you tell me what you did and how to fix it!" he demanded.

A hatch opens as the smoke comes out. Inside the robot, a baby with dark brown glasses like Eggman holds a pacifier in his mouth. He lets out childish whimpering, throwing his hands out.

"What the?!" Gwen cried out in shock.

"Whoa! You really are a baby." Sonic exclaimed in shock as well.

"What in the name of Green Hill's going on?" she asked.

Sonic runs and Gwen skates off, leaving the baby crying. The hatch closes and with the baby Babble, the robot flies after the hedgehog siblings while shouting angrily at them.

"Ugh! Sorry, kid, I don't bust up babies."

"I don't even have a heart to hurt a child either."

Sonic and Gwen sees chopper bots fly into a 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!"

Sonic and Gwen runs and skates into the pipe. Babble's bot gets stuck in it and tries to reach them, only to feel nothing. The baby lets out a childish shout once again and the other robots pull it out by the feet. The baby Babble started crying and smacked the robot away. A bat and a echidna watch from the roof.

"They're fast, powerful, and hates the egg. Especially the one that can summon electric power. We gotta follow those two."

The echidna though had doubts.

"I don't know, Rebel. What if we follow them right into the hands of the Chaos Council? Feels like a trap."

Rebel places a hand on his back.

"When have I ever steered us wrong?"

The echidna looks at her with an unamused look.

"Rhetorical question. Though, that girl..."

Flashback to Gwen sent flying on top of the roof where Rebel and the echidna are. When she got up, they were shocked to see her face as she turns and glares down at the robot before jumping back down. They follow after her and look down to see her fighting.

"Could it be I-?"

The echidna holds up a hand.

"Don't say her name. It can't be her. She..." he said shakily.

"You know that I am right, Knucks. It's gotta be her. And we will follow her one way or another."

Knucks hesitates, thinking it's still a trap but at the same time he knows that she's right. He wanted to see Gwen up close to see if she is the person they were thinking it is and he doesn't want to believe it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a tunnel, Sonic and Gwen follows the chopper bots and jumps onto the platform.

"Departing trainsport from Circle Station arriving in the scareport..."

A train arrives as it brings in the depressed residents.

"Oh, man, I could really use a familiar face right about now."

Residents walk on other platforms. Gwen spots a certain yellow face of the fox with pointy ears.

"Sonic! I think it's him!"

"Tails? Buddy?"

Sonic and Gwen jumps to a platform and follows. Through a crowd, they spot a fox ahead.

"Tails! Tails!"

"Tails! Wait up!"

Sonic and Gwen quickly follows while dodging the residents. They turn to a corner, only to find an empty platform.

"Wait, what?"

"Where'd he go?"

"Hmm."

Sonic and Gwen walks along the door with the keypad next to it.

"Huh! I knew you were here somewhere. Please be the same. Mmm..."

Sonic types "1992" and the door opens. He smiles knowingly along with Gwen.

"Tails, you crafty fox."

They then walk inside.

"Finally something around here makes sense."

They look around to find different gadgets they've never seen in this room. Gwen spots a graffiti spray paint on the wall of a rather dark, serious version of the fox. She starts to get a bad feeling about this as she looks around the room, spotting nothing familiar.

"Weird. Nothing about this is like Tails' workshop." Sonic said, thinking the same thing as her.

They turned to see a fox sitting down working on something. Sonic fist pumps in happiness.

"Yes! There's my two-tailed genius friend."

Gwen though had second thoughts and tried to stop her brother.

"Sonic, wait!"

But he didn't listen and speeds over to the fox and turns him.

"Surprise!"

A fox gasps and holds up a wrench. He glares and growls at Sonic, which caused him to flinch.

"Tails! It's me, your best, uh..."

A fox gets up and Sonic backs away, seeing him looking at him as a threat.

"What did you just call me?"

A fox throws the wrench away and presses a button of his belt and activates the mechanical tails.

"Uh-oh..." Gwen muttered.

"Uh... Tails?" Sonic asked nervously.

"The name's..."

The fox jumps up to the wall and leaps towards Sonic.

"Nine!!"

"Wahh! Ahh!"

Sonic dodges. With the tails, Nine jumps onto the wall like a spider and climbs.

"What do you want?"

He climbs up to a light.

"Who sent you?"

He points it at Sonic, blinding him then he jumps down and kicks Sonic into some barrels. Nine was about to stab him with his mechanical tails if it weren't for Gwen blocking them with her crystal ice katana sword. Nine turns to her and his eyes widens in recognition.

"I-Iris...?"

Gwen looks at him confused.

"Uh... I think you got the wrong person."

Nine stood there in shock for a moment before shaking his head.

"No! No, no, no! You can't be her! She's gone! This is trick to get me to join the Resistance, isn't it?! You're just a clone!"

He starts attacking her with his tails as Gwen blocks the stabbing tails with her sword.

"Whoa! Wait! Geez! How many tails do you have?!"

"NINE!!"

Sonic zooms over and kicks Nine back. Nine leaps and misses Sonic and Gwen when dodges him. He grabs Sonic's shoes and Gwen's quills and pulls them back. He then spins and throws them out as the train goes by. They ride on top of it. Nine leaps at Sonic and Gwen as the hedgehog siblings leaps back. They jump from car to car.

"Tails, stop! We're buds! Amigos!"

"Please! Let's just talk about this!"

Sonic and Gwen spin dashes and jumps on top of the track.

"Come on! Best friends!"

Nine leaps to face them.

"I have no friends!"

He pokes at the hedgehog siblings, who backs up.

"'No friends'?"

"You have the best friends."

At the station, another train goes by. Sonic, Gwen, and Nine jumps on it. A resident watches and pulls out his tablet to show the face of Rebel.

"Target located. We're at the Scareport."

"Loud and clear. On our way."

Rebel flies off the building and Knucks renegade and jumps after her.

On the train, Nine chases Sonic and Gwen and jumps in front of them.

"You've been working out? Who's your trainer?" Sonic asked, trying to be casual while dodging the stabbing tails.

Gwen keeps blocking the attack with both of her sword and her shield she summoned from her ruby.

"Ow!" Sonic yelped, getting knocked back by Nine.

Gwen jumps away and lands besides the down Sonic.

"I was trained by the misery of life and this foul and heartless city."

Nine drives Sonic and Gwen back further.

"Snap out of it! We go way back." Sonic pleaded.

"Please! Just stop and listen! Please be rational! I don't want to hurt you!" Gwen pleaded.

"Don't you dare use Iris' lines, imposter! That's exactly what she would always say!" Nine snapped at her.

Sonic and Gwen jumps away from Nine that leaps towards them again. They all leap onto another train.

"All my best memories of Green Hill have you in 'em, and you're not punching me." Sonic said.

"Sonic, I don't think he knows about that. Didn't you hear him call me 'Iris'?"

Nine keeps leaping with his tails and chases them around the train. Sonic and Gwen jumps back on top of the track. Nine comes after them.

"Don't you want to go home? Blue skies, sunny beaches, palm trees?"

"I don't know who Iris is, but I can assure you that I'm not her. My name is Gwen."

In a Scareport, the rebel spy films Sonic, Gwen, and Nine. The trio jump onto another train.

"I don't know what kind of mind games you're playing, but it won't work! And stop lying, imposter!"

Nine leaps at them again and Sonic and Gwen dodges. Nine slips off and hangs by a couple of tails. His eyes widens to see another train approaching as it's about to crash into him. Sonic and Gwen jumps down, grabs Nine, and lands on the platform just in time from the approaching train. They slid and roll to a stop. Nine pants heavily and looks up at them in shock.

"You two saved me?"

"We've been trying to tell you that we are friends."

"And I'm not Iris."

"Fabricated stories and lies and won't keep me from beating you back, intruder and imposter!" Nine glared at them.

"Stop. Just stop." Sonic said, having enough of the fight and chase. "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."

In Green Hill, Tails was happily walking by when behind the bush leaps out two brown foxes and they start pulling on his twin tails while laughing. Tails starts crying and begging them to stop.

"Some blockhead bullies were picking on you for having an extra tail. Me and sis ran by, and they lost interest in being jerks."

Sonic and Gwen speed pasts the foxes and knocks back two brown foxes as their eyes spins in dizziness from the speed they brought them while Tails was surprised. He looks at Sonic and Gwen as the hedgehog siblings gives him a wink before going back to speeding away.

"How do you know about that?" Nine asked in surprise.

Tails smiles and gives them thumbs up and flies after them using his twin tails.

"That's not how it happened, and you weren't there... But... she is."

In New Yoke City, Nine was walking on the platform passing by the street lights.

"I was a kid, minding my business, but not minding my surroundings."

Two brown foxes jumps out from the bushes and pulls his twin tails and laughs at Nine. Nine starts crying and begs them to stop.

"Some creeps came along and picked on me for having one extra tail."

Nine manages to get away from them and runs away, holding his twin tails close to him.

"I took a beating. It was the same for years, until Iris came and saved me from them."

The light blue hedgehog that look like Gwen comes to a rescue and fights off the bullies. The bullies gets defeated and runs away with fear. Iris turns to Nine and comforts him.

"She never judge me for having one extra tail, rather she admired them and my geniuses. She was my first friend I have ever made and I didn't think it would be possible to find one, but she came to me."

Iris and Nine chats and laughs as he impressed her with his gadgets.

"We've been friends for a while and she was the leader of the rebellion called the Resistance. She was trying to save our home and bring light to this city. I find it impossible, but she would always tell me that there's always hope. She even asked me to join the Resistance. But I wasn't sure and worried some people like those creeps wouldn't accept me because I'm different. Iris assured me and told me to think about it."

Iris gives Nine a hug before walking away. Nine had a thoughtful look for a moment before smiling and grabbing his things.

"I had thought things through and was about to go and see her after having enough courage. Only to find chaos. The Resistance were being ambushed and I thought the worse that Iris is in trouble."

Nine sees the Resistance trying to fight back and were forced to flee while some kept on fighting. He looks around to search for Iris.

"I searched for her and couldn't find her until I found her getting captured by the Chaos Council."

Nine tries to go after Iris and reaches her, only for the robots to fly higher and he falls back.

"I tried to save her, but everything was too fast. I went after her and managed to sneak into their base with my hacks."

Nine goes after them and sneaks inside the building, crawling through the vents.

"Just when I found her and was about to save her, only to find her... she..." his voice shaken as he struggled to finish his sentence.

Nine sees Iris lying on the ground badly injured, barely breathing. He comes to her aid and tries to revive her only to see her giving him a smile and placing a hand on his cheek before closing her eyes, passing away. His eyes widens in horror and begins to cry, hugging her close.

"The world took away my one and only friend... Since then I used my cunning fox brain to give me a real way to fight back."

Nine activates seven mechanical tails and brings out twin tails along as they come together as a nine-tailed fox.

"I take care of myself and need no one. Period."

Sonic was shocked and saddened along with Gwen. Nine looks sad before quickly getting mad.

"No one has friends here. Why do you think I live down here? To avoid everyone... to avoid... making friends again... you two included."

Nine sits and looks down. Sonic starts thinking while Gwen looks at Nine with sympathy. She approaches Nine and sits down next to him. She hesitates for a moment and slowly places a hand on his shoulder. He flinches and turns to her.

"I'm... so sorry for your loss and for what you've been through... It must hurt, doesn't it?"

"...Yeah... You're not... Iris?"

"No." she shook her head.

"But you look and sound exactly like her."

"We may look alike, but... I'm not your Iris. I'm Gwen. Just Gwen."

Nine's ears drops and he frowns. Deep within his heart, he was hoping it was Iris and that she was pranking him and that it's her, the real Iris that came back from the dead. But all of his hopes died down, seeing that she was confused with the name "Iris".

"Oh..."

He looks down again. Gwen feels bad for him. Now that she knows who Iris is and has come to conclusion that she and Sonic are in another world. She thinks for a moment before hugging Nine.

"W-What are you-?"

"I know you need it. Iris may be gone, but she will always be there for you."

"How would you know?"

Gwen looks at Nine and places a hand on his chest.

"She comes from here. The past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it."

He looks at her speechless before he starts crying. Gwen hugs him again and Nine hugs back as tears wets her shoulder, but she couldn't care less about that. Sonic smiles at the scene before frowning, thinking something wasn't right.

"Doesn't make sense. You are Tails, but you're not. Here, but gone?"

Gwen deadpans that he still doesn't get it and will let him figure it out on his own. Sonic crosses his arms and taps one foot. Nine sniffs and pulls away and looks up at Sonic, wiping the tears away.

"So- so what else did we do?"

Sonic looks down at Nine and smiles.

"Well, first of all, you have the coolest plane."

"I do?"

"Oh, yes. You do. It was amazing. It's called the Tornado. Your geniuses was crazy and I mean, good crazy." Gwen said with a smile.

"Yeah. And we fought and busted Eggman like, so many times, I've lost track."

Nine gets up along with Gwen.

"You mean the Chaos Council?"

"No, I mean Eggman."

"So, Mr. Doctor Eggman, then?"

"...Sure. Sounds good." Sonic said.

"Look, we've had our share of ups and downs, but when we stick together, we never lose." Gwen said.

"And when all's said and done, there's no better reward than sharing a chili dog with your best pals. And that's just the top of the iceberg. We've got a lifetime of adventures and memories together."

Nine and Gwen notices Sonic's shoes is glowing with sparks. Nine then notices Gwen's hair strand glows red.

"Um, I-I think your shoes are smoldering." Nine pointed down.

Sonic looks down at his shoes as they start smoking.

"Of course they are. What else can go wrong in this crazy place?"

He sits down with his arms crossed. Gwen rolled her eyes at his childishness while Nine groans.

"The only thing I despise more than people in my space is whiners."

"Agreed." Gwen said, making him smile.

Nine then points an device, surprising Gwen. Sonic gets up quickly.

"Wait! I thought we just had a bonding moment."

"Stay still."

Nine shoots a beam that scans Sonic, including the shoes. The device projects the screen.

"Curious. There's low-level energy throughout your entire body. But possible a regulator could..."

He then turns to Gwen and scans her too and it shows the screen again.

"Whoa... Your body is... it's like nothing I've ever seen. Like you boosted up your level higher."

"Is it bad?"

"Follow me!"

Nine walks away on his tails and Sonic and Gwen follows. Later in the workshop, Nine works on something as sparks fly. He also types with his other tails and sips from a juice box. Sonic approaches him while Gwen is looking at the photo to see another version of herself with Nine as they look happy.

"I, uh, like them, by the way." Sonic said.

"Those ratty old sneakers? Obviously." sassed Nine.

"No. I mean, I always thought your extra tail was cool, but the metal ones? Man, you're amazing."

"Very amazing."

Nine was surprised at the compliments.

"Uh, sure. One last touch."

With a few more things, he finishes and turns to them with devices in his hands.

"Attach these. They might be able to regulate the excess energy coming off your gear so they don't explode."

"'Might'?" Sonic asked.

Grey rings attach to Sonic and Gwen's shoes and gloves.

"This energy is still a mystery."

The sparks that zapped around shoes zap around the rings. A white light around the shoes and gloves gets brighter. The glare bursts to reveal new shoes and gloves. Gwen's gloves and boots are still the same except for the new wheels from her original ones attach to her boots.

Sonic, Gwen, and Nine were surprised at this.

"Whoa! What are these?"

"Wow! New wheels! Fancy!"

Sonic speeds across the room normally without any problem while checking out his new shoes and gloves.

"No, energy overflow and the look. I mean, come on. Mwah!"

"Ah, curious. They're still on 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 said with a thoughtful look.

Gwen wonders the same thing, thinking about her new cyber power she discovered while fighting against the baby Babble. Nine perks up.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Gwen."

"Hm?"

"I did an upgrade to your sword as I discovered it has the power of the ice. I thought you might need it."

He hands her a sheathed katana as Gwen unsheathed it and was surprised at the futuristic version of her crystal ice katana.

She starts swinging it and fires out ice towards the barrels, freezing them. She then swings it at the junk and slices it off, causing it to fall in half with a hint of cold frost on it. Gwen admires her new weapon.

"Cool!!"

Nine smiles to see her happy. She may not be Iris, but she sure acts just like her. Sonic zooms next to Nine and Gwen.

"Oh-ho, these are killer! No more slipping and sliding, no smoke. Thanks, Tails. I mean, Nine. Time for a test drive."

Sonic speeds away.

"No, wait, you dope! It's not safe."

"Sonic, wait!"

Nine runs and Gwen skates after Sonic outside. Sonic checks out his shoes again.

"Hey, if the made scientist-slash-loner thing doesn't work out, you should get into fashion accessories. Stylin'!"

"Shh! We need to maintain a low profile. The Council has eyes everywhere." Nine whispered.

"He's right. We don't know what we're up against nor this place." Gwen whispered.

"When you get your memory back, you'll remember that low profile isn't my thing."

"Sonic, come on. Take things seriously for once."

"Want to run up the walls?" Sonic asked, not listening to her.

"What? No." Nine declined.

Babble bot grabs Sonic, Gwen, and Nine. The baby inside the robot speaks angrily at them. Sonic scoffs at this.

"Not the baby."

"I told you to keep a low profile." Nine scolded him.

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, he did." Gwen deadpanned.

"He didn't." Sonic argued.

"Yes, I did." Nine repeated.

"No, you didn't."

"He did. You weren't listening to him, again." Gwen glared at him.

The bots flies away with Sonic, Gwen, and Nine.

"Are you sure we were best friends?" Nine questioned.

"I even question myself whether me and Sonic are related." Gwen said.

"Well, that's hurtful." Sonic said.

Rebel and Knucks watches from the top of the building.

"Blue Streak has a friend?"

"Didn't look friendly. But whoever he is, he's involved now. Along with her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a huge building shaped like an egg, sparks surround four bubbles.

"Who's there? Hello? Hello?"

Bright light show the bubbles holding Sonic's hands and feet. He struggles to get out of these binds, but it ends up hurting him.

"Ow! A little warning. Man, that's bright."

He hears a noise being opened and closed.

"Hello? Tissue?"

Nine and Gwen walks towards Sonic with two orange Eggforcers.

"You're wasting your breath." Nine said.

"You okay, Sonic?" Gwen asked worriedly.

"Nine, Gwen, is that you?"

Sonic tries to get a good look at them, only to see blurs.

"Are you the small blurry thing or the medium blurry thing? Or the big blurry-"

Sonic and Gwen gasps to see...

"Amy?!" they said in unison.

"Amy! Alright. Now we're getting somewhere. Got a key?" he grinned.

"Negative. My identification is Rusty Rose."

Rusty turns to Sonic with no emotion. Sonic's eyes widens.

"You're a robot!"

"What have they done to you? You're... roboticized..." Gwen said in horror.

"No. But she's right. I am mechanically enhanced. Survival required adaptation, as you will soon learn." Rusty said, looking at her hand as they twist.

"Oh, Amy."

"Rusty Rose. Cease talking. You will need all the breath you can muster if you are to survive."

Rusty glances at Gwen with recognition.

"I'm surprised you survive from their torture, Iris."

"Sorry, but I am not Iris. It's Gwen."

Rusty looks a little surprised and turns to a line of five egg-shaped chairs, which float forward to a large chamber. Each chair carries a figure wearing glasses. They stop in front of the large ring which holds Sonic in the bubbles.

"More silhouettes? Who does your lighting?" Sonic asked.

"The Chaos Council." Rusty introduced and pressed a button. "Dr. Done-It."

The light reveals an elderly Eggman who's asleep before he quickly wakes up after hearing his name being called.

"I'm awake. I'm awake. Go on. You were saying."

"Dr. Deep."

Another light reveals Eggman with green hair and tattoos on his left arm as he plays with his green mustache.

"The philosophical ramifications of this discovery rock my very core."

"Dr. Don't."

The light reveals a teenage Eggman playing a mobile game as he wears a headphone. His hair was shaved to the side with light blue dye on the ends of his light brown hair. He's not paying attention to them, but he greeted them.

"Whatevs."

"And you have already met the baby, Dr. Babble."

The light reveals Babble talking childishly before slamming his fists on the table in anger outburst at seeing Sonic and Gwen.

"That is the angriest baby I've ever met." Sonic deadpanned.

"And finally, Mr. Doctor Eggman."

The last light reveal Mr. Doctor Eggman with fancy brown hair, grinning. Sonic and Gwen were flabbergasted.

"Oh, so that's who you were talking about!"

Nine rolls his eyes.

"By the dumbfounded look in your eyes, I gather you've come to grips with the gravity of your situation." Mr. Doctor Eggman said.

"'The Council'?" Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Looks like an Eggman family reunion." Gwen sassed.

"When did you call in reinforcements, Eggy?"

"We are not a family, rodents. We are the Council. One makes five. Five makes one."

The five Eggmans all laugh. Sonic groans at this.

"So many Eggmans, so many questions. Does anyone have an aspirin?"

"I could use one right now as well." Gwen raised a hand.

"How could you not know?!" Done-It exclaimed in shock.

"We're famous." Don't added.

"We are what we are. Always have been, always will be." Mr. Doctor Eggman said.

Done-It approaches Sonic.

"So this creature made all that fuss? Doesn't look like much to me."

He pokes him with a cane.

"Hey, I respect creaky old stuff, but poke me again, and I'll crack your antique shell, Egg-gramps."

"Yeah."

"How are you even alive, Iris? We destroyed you!" Done-It demanded, looking at Gwen.

"That's because I'm not!! Why can't anyone get that?!" Gwen yelled in frustration.

Babble points and babbles something that Mr. Doctor Eggman seems to understand.

"I told you. Those things seems to know who we are, yet we have no information on them in our databanks. Especially that look-alike Iris doesn't seem to know who she is."

"'Things'? Really?" Sonic asked, looking offended.

"Like they popped into existence from nowhere." Deep said.

"What? We've been here the whole time, dude."

Gwen rolled her eyes at his obliviousness.

"Perhaps answers lie in the energy signature the creature and Iris exhibits."

Rusty plays a video of Sonic running with sparks and purple streaks behind him and Gwen flying with the power of the ruby and zapping electricity at Babble bot.

"May I suggest a series of grueling life-endangering diagnostic tests?"

"Not helping, Amy. You know I don't do well on tests." Sonic said.

"Those in favor of stress-testing this blue rabbit and then to Iris, say yes." Done-It said.

They all raise a hand, laughing.

"Oh, yes, please."

Don't presses a button on his game.

"Hey, hey!"

The ring turns and take Sonic into an enclosure. The window comes down between Eggman and the Council.

"Rusty, put him through the paces. Let's see how powerful he is." Mr. Doctor Eggman said.

Rusy presses a button. Sonic struggles to get out of the electric binds.

"Do not fight them. It will only end badly for them."

The orange bots tases Nine and Gwen and they grunt in pain.

"Nine! Sis!"

Rusty presses another button and the ring releases Sonic.

"Okay, let's start the test. The sooner we do this, the sooner Nine, sis, and I can get out of here."

On a wall behind Sonic, a weapon points down at him. Sonic turns and dodges a laser.

"Lasers. I hate lasers."

A weapon on the opposite wall fires. Sonic runs from more shots from both weapons. The five Eggmans laugh at the sight.

"Nice!"

Sonic slides, runs, and spins up the wall. He spins around one of the weapons, which spins with him. The other weapon points at them. Sonic jumps off the wall. The spinning weapon stops and points at him. Gwen and Nine watches with worry. Sonic flies in the sights of both weapons and they both fire. Sonic rolls down and the weapons hit each other. He lands and grins, wiping underneath his snout with his thumb.

Mr. Doctor Eggman snaps fingers and Rusty hits a button. The ring restrains Sonic again. The enclosure turns to reveal a treadmill with hills and valleys. The ring drops Sonic onto it and he starts running. Flying robot flowers shoots at Sonic. He flips and spins.

Later, Sonic faces cones smashing together. He runs through them and yawns, jumps and springs between blades and spikes, and lands on a propeller, runs on the blades and kicks it away. The propeller cuts through pushing cones down. Sonic dusts off his hands and turns to the Council.

Mr. Doctor Eggman smiles. Gwen and Nine looks at Rusty's screen. She starts another test as Sonic finds himself running in a ball with balls of spikes rolling around him.

"Seriously? A hamster ball? What is wrong with you people?"

"The tests are still inconclusive. His maximum limits remain unknown." Rusty informed.

"Make the blue badger run." Done-It grinned.

Rusty presses another button as Sonic starts running in speed with blue streaks behind him.

"Come on, Amy! Some compassion for your boy Sonic! You can't suddenly be this heartless."

"Birdie would disagree."

Rusty presses a button on her chest and shows a pink Flicky, which made Gwen gasp in horror. It chirps sadly.

"That's so messed up." Sonic frowned.

"Very messed up." Gwen frowned.

A spiky ball hits Sonic, which caused him to start rolling and stopping his running.

"Sonic!!" Gwen and Nine called worriedly before getting shocked by the orange bots again.

Sonic glares in anger.

"You want to test me, Eggheads? Question: How do you tick of a hedgehog? Answer: Mess with his friends and his only family member!!"

Sonic goes faster and spins around the hamster ball. His scan on Rusty's screen appears red. The hamster ball fills blue and purple streaks. Don't plays his game while the others watches with interest.

"I totally call dibs on his quills." Don't said.

Babble watches and Mr. Doctor Eggman smiles. Sonic goes faster and Gwen starts to get angry at getting tased and seeing Sonic getting tested as her body begins to spark with electricity as they glow. Sonic yells as he pushes forward. Nine looks at the screen that is now red.

"I knew it. He's got the same energy that power the city. Including hers." Nine said, looking at the screen then to Gwen.

Gwen starts shocking the orange bots, surprising Nine as she takes all the energy from them while doing the same with the rest as she gets more angry. The binds that holds her starts to break.

"The energy field is supercharging our systems." Mr. Doctor Eggman said.

Rusty backs away from her screen.

"Turns out the blue possum has some juice after all." Done-It said.

Sparks and bolts flicker through the ball. A white flash goes off. In a blue and purple field, streaks curve and twist.

"Sonic, it's broken! It's all broken!" Shadow's voice said.

He sees a figure of Shadow flying around him before disappearing.

"Shadow?! Uh-oh, I think I'm starting to hallucinate."

Scenes flash by. The Eggcrusher and the shockwave. The meeting on the loop-de-loop. Tails and Gwen flying away in the plane. Sonic races Shadow and gets punched.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the loop-de-loop, Sonic and the others are back to where the destruction of the shockwave was made.

"Let's stick together and we'll-"

Amy was cut off by Sonic.

"Perfect! I'm gonna ring up. Meet you there."

"Sonic!"

"Sonic, hold up!" Gwen called.

Sonic spins down to the ground and runs through a purple puddle.

"He promised he'll listen." Gwen facepalmed.

"I guess he didn't hear the 'stick together' part." Amy said in frustration.

"Does he ever?" Knuckles questioned, not surprised at this.

"No. But he also hasn't let us down when it really counts. You know Sonic. He'll catch up at some point." Tails assured.

"I hope you're right..." Gwen said.

Later, Knuckles and Gwen hangs onto the wings of Tails' plane. Amy rides in the seat behind Tails. Rouge follows them towards the mountain. They fly over the crater.

"Wow! Are you guys seeing this? Look at the fault line. It goes right up the mountain." Tails said.

"Whoa, you're right." Gwen said.

"Ugh." Knuckles scoffed.

"Anyone noticing that?" Amy pointed to the cloud. "That cloud hasn't moved an inch. Something's unnatural. Tails!"

"Already on it."

Tails and Rouge fly up to the mountain. They burst through the cloud and reach the cave entrance with different Badniks outside of it.

"Whoa. Do you think Sonic's in there?" Tails asked.

"With all those Badniks still standing?" Rouge questioned.

"Our pal's not exactly the stealthy type." Knuckles added.

"We got here before him? How?" Tails questioned.

"That's unlikely of my brother. He normally comes in first before us." Gwen said, looking concerned.

"Find a spot to land. Let's find out what's going on." Amy said.

"I just hope Sonic comes soon." Gwen said.

On the ground, Sonic keeps running.

"We can wrap this up before dinner. Mmm. Chili dogs. But first, just in case Eggman gets in a lucky shot, Rings!"

He gets a few floating gold rings that pops out then a few more. He turns and gets some more.

In another direction, Shadow skates with yellow streaks behind him. He jumps onto a higher path then he jumps down and speeds towards Sonic. Sonic sees him and screams.

"Ahhhh!!"

Before he could stop himself, Shadow punches Sonic into the air.