"You have trespassed the area beyond this line," the holographic woman said.

The Freedom Fighters, Monkey Khan, the Chaotix, the Royal Guardians, Silver's group, Team Dark, Runa, the five chao, Junior, Hope, Lucy, Bubbles and Dalia stood on the roof of the Sky Patrol as they faced the holographic woman.

Schlemmer, Junior, Lariel, Gold and Hope stayed inside the Sky Patrol for five reasons. One, they were guarding the Sky Patrol. Two, they were in charge of how it's functioning, especially in the Bridge. Three, Junior had to be kept safe inside. Four, Lariel was pregnant. Five, Gold felt like offering a support to the Fighters from inside the Sky Patrol.

As if to respond to the woman's statement, Sonic asked her in confusion, "What line?"

"The line between the area of the Temple of the End of Time and the world beyond it," the woman replied.

Clifton took a few steps forward and pointed at the woman while glaring at her. "Who are you?! What do you want from us?!"

"I am Tenzia. Guardian of the Temple of the End of Time," the woman said. "My master doesn't want any trespassers." Her right arm swooped in front of her. "Leave..." She swooped it open. "...and never return."

Sally crossed her arms while she and everyone else glared determinedly at Tenzia. "I'm sorry, Tenzia, but we came here for the purpose of fixing the whole world. Please, let us pass."

"If that's the case..." Tenzia said. With that, she stretched out her right hand and opened her palm. Then, one black mechanical robot via the red hologram. One robot became two, then they became four. Then, they became a large group of robots.

"...you have no choice but to face the wrath of me and my master," Tenzia finished.

Everyone slightly backed away upon seeing this, but they held no fear inside of them.

"They look like badniks," Rotor said. "Except... that they're not created manually."

"I agree. We have never faced something like zees guyz," Antoine said.

"Guys, time's a wastin'. We have to fight the robots here and now," Sonic said.

Everyone turned to Sonic for definite confirmation. Sonic turned to everyone else from left to right. He nodded at them as he did so.

"Alright guys," Sonic spoke with determination. "Let's knock out those robots—" Everyone turned to Tenzia. "—and prove ourselves to Tenzia."

In response, everyone else held their determined expressions as they readied themselves to fight the robots.

Words like "Yeah!" and "Hmph" were heard as everyone nodded.

—————————————————————

The robots charged at the large group of Freedom Fighters, Monkey Khan, Royal Guardians, Team Dark, the five chao, the Chaotix and three human friends. Once they got to them, they clashed.

Sonic spindashed a couple of robots. Once he finished spindashing them, he landed on his feet.

Amy whacked a couple of more robots with her Piko Piko hammer. It took several smashes before each robot became damaged.

Just then, one of the robots grasped Amy's back arms and picked her up. When her feet became lifted off the ground, she turned to the robot and glared at it. "Hey! Let go of me!"

Amy attempted to break free by using her Piko Piko hammer. Unfortunately, it didn't go well.

Just then, a blue blur smashed through the robot. This caused Amy to fall back to where she was picked up.

"WHOAAAAAAA!" she screamed.

Before Amy could prepare herself for a landing, the same blue blur sped towards her and pulled her in his arms. Once the blue blur landed, Amy looked up to see who just caught her. A blush appeared on her cheeks as Sonic looked at her with a smirk.

"Need a hand?" he asked.

"O-Oh... uh... s-sure," Amy said.

With that, Sonic placed Amy down gently. Then, they fought more robots side-by-side. Thanks to Amy's Piko Piko hammer and Sonic's spindash, the robots were damaged.

Sally and Monkey Khan fought side-by-side. Sally's blades from her bracelets shot through each robot. Monkey Khan blasted the energy from his staff towards one or two robots. After that, the robots were damaged.

As Sally continued taking down the robots, she spotted numerous more coming towards her. Once she saw this, frustration and exhaustion overtook her. Multiple breaths of exhaustion escaped her mouth.

Oh no. Not good, Sally thought.

Sally's knees bent slightly, but she stopped them from continuing to do so. She pushed herself back to her standing position and formed her fighting stance as she glared at the robots.

You can catch a breath later, Sally. Right now, you need to take down those—

Sally's thoughts were cut in by an energy zap shooting towards the group of robots. Electricity ran through the robots' wires. It took a few seconds before they exploded. Sally shielded her eyes as it happened.

Once the robots disappeared, Sally turned behind her to see Monkey Khan running towards her. She smirked as she saw Monkey Khan coming to a stop. "Thanks."

Monkey Khan smirked back at Sally. "You are welcome, Sally."

With that, Monkey Khan and Sally continued fighting the robots side-by-side.

Bunnie and Antoine fought side-by-side. Antoine swiped his sword against the robots. Unfortunately, the robots dodged his attacks. Bunnie, on the other hand, used her kicks and punches against the robots. Her punches and kicks did well enough for the robots to be damaged.

After a few attempted slicing attacks, Antoine glared at the robots as he formed his fighting positon.

"Phew! You are fast, non? But let us see how fast you have becoming," Antoine said.

The robots made angry glitchy-like sounds. A few moments later, they flew their way towards Antoine.

Antoine attempted to attack the robots again using his sword. Again, the robots were not damaged.

The robots unleashed the claws from its bottom. Once they showed the claws to Antoine, his legs began to shake as nervousness appeared on his face. He even tried to gather up courage inside of him, but for some reason... he couldn't do it.

Just then, a robotic kick landed ontop one of the robots. Antoine looked up to see Bunnie.

As Bunnie launched punches and kicks towards the robots, more courage was gathered up in Antoine. Once courage was gathered enough inside of Antoine, he thought, Zherefore, I will not let them get past me.

With that, Antoine thrust his sword in one of the robots. Sparks exploded right after that happened. It took a few seconds before he pulled out the sword from the robot. Then, the robot exploded.

Once the robots were taken down, Antoine turned to Bunnie with a grateful smile. "Thank you, mon amour."

Bunnie smirked as she gave Antoine a wink. "My pleasure, sugah."

With that, Antoine and Bunnie continued fighting side-by-side against the robots.

Rotor launched a forward punch to the robot that came towards him. Then, he turned behind him. And gave another robot an uppercut.

Tails launched an uppercut punch towards the robot who came forth to him. Then, he turned to his right and gave another robot a roundhouse kick.

Silver and Aleyah fought side-by-side. Silver used his psychokinesis to gather a decent amount of robots. He clenched them together. This caused the robots to compress and get squished by the force around them. As a result, the robots became damaged.

Silver let out a chuckle after achieving his move.

"Haaaaaayah!" Silver heard Aleyah exclaim.

Silver turned behind him to see Aleyah, landing punches and kicks towards the robot that came forth. It didn't take long before the robot was surprisingly damaged.

When Silver saw this, he was surprised. Then, a few moments later, his lips curled up to an impressed and admiring smile.

Silver gave Aleyah a thumbs up. "Nice move!"

Aleyah turned to Silver. She closed her eyes as her right fingers covered her mouth. A slight blush increased on her cheeks as she let out a giggle. "Thanks, Silver!"

Silver glanced away as he scratched the back of his head with his right hand. A warm blush increased on his cheeks as he smiled. "No problem, Leyah."

With that, both Silver and Aleyah continued fighting alongside each other. Punches, kicks and Silver's psychokinesis helped stop the robots.

Espio and Destinee fought side-by-side. Espio threw a punch against the robot. Behind him, Destinee gave another robot a roundhouse kick.

A few moments later, the robot he was fighting delivered a punch to Espio's chest. Unfortunately, he flipped over the robot. Once, he landed, his appearance vanished.

Confusion washed over the robot. It looked around for a bit. Soon after, sparks exploded on its back. As a result, it became damaged.

Once the robot collapsed on the ground, Espio reappeared. He let out a light chuckle as the feeling of achievement and success rushed through his veins.

Espio turned behind him to check on Destinee. Turns out, she was still fighting the robots. Then, a split second after he saw her, another robot hovered above her and pointed its gun towards her.

Upon seeing this, Espio ran towards Destinee while reaching out his arm towards her.

"Destinee! Watch out!" he exclaimed.

Right when Espio said that, the robot shot in Destinee's direction. Fortunately, Destinee rolled over to his left, in the direction where Espio resided.

After a few rollovers, Destinee pushed herself back on her feet. She turned to Espio and gave him a smile. "Thanks, Espio."

Espio smiled back at Destinee. "It's no problem, Destinee."

With that, Espio and Destinee continued fighting the robots side-by-side.

Vector landed a forward punch on the robot that came forth. Then, he turned behind him and gave another robot a roundhouse punch.

Charmy flew and gave another robot a roundhouse punch. The robot wasn't damaged, but the mobian bee himself was happy that he hit him.

Charmy put his index fingers on the corners of his mouth and stretched it out. Then, he stuck out his tongue at the robot he just hit.

This provoked the robot. In response, it gave Charmy a punch. This sent him flying backwards as he let out a scream.

Vector heard Charmy's scream. He turned to Charmy. He reached out his hand to him as a worried expression appeared on his face. "Charmy!"

Fortunately, Charmy stopped himself mid-air. After he ragined his balance, he shot a glare at the robot who just hit him. Then, he flew his way towards the robot.

"Hey! I was just getting started!" Charmy exclaimed.

Once he got to the robot, Charmy launched a hard punch at the robot.

Leo thrust his lance towards one of the robots. This gave them damage as one thrust from his lance became enough.

Numerous robots approached Leo. As a result, he was surrounded.

Leo let out a gritted sound of surprise. I'm outnumbered. He looked around, starting from his left...

I have to...

...then to his right.

...find a solution.

As Leo kept looking around, he quickly went into deep thought. The robots closed in on him.

Okay, Leo. Think, he thought. What can I do in a time like this?

As the robots kept closing in, stress started taking over Leo, but he managed to set it aside. Just as he was about to think of a solution, a zap electrocuted the robots. As a result, they exploded.

Leo's immediate reaction as he witnessed the robots exploding was to crouch and buried himself in his legs. His arms covered his head and ears as he did so.

After a few seconds, Leo slowly rose into his standing position. When he did, a surprised expression appeared on his face.

Right before Leo was Intellizo, running his way towards him with a worried expression.

Intellizo let out multiple breaths as he asked, "L... Leo... are you... okay?"

Intellizo came to a stop. His knees bent as he laid his hands on his thighs. His wand was in his right hand the whole time. He let out more breaths than he ever counted.

As all that happened, Intellizo heard Leo's answer. "Yes. I'm okay. Thanks to you."

Intellizo looked at Leo. He spotted a smile on Leo's face.

In immediate response, Intellizo smiled at Leo back as he closed his eyes.

"You're welcome, Leo," he said.

With that, Leo and Intellizo continued fighting the robots. This time, they were side-by-side.

Solomon and Clifton fought side-by-side. Clifton landed an uppercut punch on the robot while Solomon landed a roundhouse kick on another robot.

Bashiri and Billie fought side-by-side. Billie whacked the robot with his staff. This gave it great damage. Then, he turned to his right and thrust his staff in another robot.

At the same time, Bashiri used her two fans to provide wind for robots to be blown away. Fortunately, her actions succeeded.

Shadow and Runa fought side-by-side. Shadow and Runa landed punches and kicks against the robots. It took some time before the robots became severely damaged. Shadow's chaos powers made things quicker.

Runa spotted another robot launching a punch towards her chest. In response, she dodged the attack by moving towards her left.

The robot launched a roundhouse punch towards Runa's right temple. As it happened, Runa hopped over the robot's arm. Her toes landed on its forearm and she pushed herself up. She made a few forward flips before landed on her feet.

Runa punched the robot's back using her right fist, then her left fist. Then, she sent it a hard double kick causing great damage to the robot.

A chuckle was heard nearby.

Runa turned to see Shadow, smirking at her. "Impressive as usual."

Runa glanced away as a blush increased on her cheeks. "Thanks," she said with a warm smile. "Although, you made things quicker than me."

Shadow chuckled. "Indeed. I am the Ultimate Lifeform."

"You always say that every now and then. We know how special you are, Shadow," Runa said with a smile.

Shadow chuckled again. "Thanks, Runa."

"You're welcome," Runa said with a close-eyed smile.

Shadow's eyes slightly widened as a tint of red blush appeared on his cheeks. He turned away slightly as he closed his eyes and let out a light chuckle. As that happened, his blush increased slightly.

The moment didn't take long before Shadow and Runa focused on fighting more robots side-by-side.

Lucy, Bearace and Juniper fought side-by-side. Lucy mostly did the fighting. She punched and kicked the robots, but it took some time before each robot was damaged.

At the same time, Bearace and Juniper assisted Lucy by punching and kicking the robots she had hit.

Bubbles, Rosy and Mystico fought side-by-side. Bubbles did most of the fighting, but it was to protect the chao from any attack the robot would give to them. Rosy and Mystico pulled out their punches and kicks, but they were not enough to damage a robot or two.

Dalia and Shania fought side-by-side. Dalia pulled out punches, kicks and Chaos Aura on the robots. Once she did, the robots became severely damaged. Shania assisted her in defeating more robots.

When Dalia took down a large robot using her Chaos Aura, Shania gave her an impressed smile. She clapped. "Chao-chao!" Roughly translated, "I'm impressed!"

Dalia turned to Shania and smiled in appreciation. "Haha! Thanks!"

With that, Dalia and Shania continued fighting the robots side-by-side.

Rouge gave several kicks to each robot while Omega sent multiple gunshots towards several more.

Punches, kicks, evades, flips, spindashes and other powerful abilities were bestowed upon the heroes' battle against the robots. Soon after, all robots were severely damaged and defeated.

Once the robots were defeated, the large group turned to Tenzia. Tenzia looked at them with a disappointed look.

"You've done well. You took out the robots I designed for you." Tenzia held out her right hand the same way she did when she was summoning her robots. "But this is not over yet. The obstacles for those worthy to go to the Temple of the End of Time... has just begun."

With that, everything slowly went white. Everyone turned away as they shielded their eyes while groaning. The next thing they knew, everything went white, then everything went black.

—————————————————————

Sonic finally came to his senses. His eyes fluttered open. The first thing he saw was a white blur. After he blinked his eyes a few times, his vision became clear.

Nothing. Nothing was in the room, except... that everything was white.

Sonic groaned as he placed his palms on the grassy ground and pushed himself up. His right foot made contact with the ground. His knee pushed himself up even more as his left foot made contact with the ground. Sonic finally stood in his standing position.

Sonic looked around to see if anyone was in the white room. Turns out, only Runa, Aleyah and Destinee were present. And they were lying down, unconscious.

Confusion appeared on Sonic's face. Where's everybody else? Hopefully, Tails, Amy and the others are okay.

Just then, Sonic heard grunts coming from Aleyah, Leo, Runa and Destinee. He watched as they got back on their feet.

Once Runa, Aleyah, Leo and Destinee were on their feet, Sonic asked, "Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, Sonic. We're fine," Runa replied with a friendly smile.

"We're okay, Sonic," Destinee said with a calm and friendly smile.

Aleyah looked around in wonder and curiosity. After a few moments, she turned to everyone else. "Where are we?" she asked.

"I don't know, Aleyah," Leo said as he looked around. Then, he turned to everyone else. "But whatever it is, it can't be good."

Just then, something rang in Sonic's, Runa's, Aleyah's, Leo's and Destinee's ears. They turned to see five portals opening before them. But the portals they saw were not the same ones when the MERGE happened. Instead, they're galaxy-shaped portals. The colors were full of blacks, purples and blues.

"What are those for?" Sonic asked, gesturing to the portals.

"I don't know," Destinee said as she took a few steps in the portals' directions. "But I think we have to choose which portal leads us to the Temple of the End of Time."

Aleyah walked towards a spot next to Destinee on her right. She looked at her, unsure. "Are you sure about this, Destinee? What about the others? They're still out there, so we have to look for them first."

Destinee let out a sigh of defeat. "I suppose you're right, Aleyah."

"I feel like..." Runa said as she laid her right hand on her amulet. "...one portal is meant for each of us."

Sonic, Leo, Aleyah and Destinee turned to Runa in surprise.

"Really? How do you know?" Sonic asked.

"I just... feel like it," Runa said as she laid her hand down. And also... she thought. ...I feel like Shadow is in one of the portals.

"Well..." Leo said as everyone turned to the portals. "...there's only one way to find out."

With that, Sonic entered the portal on the far left. At the same time, Destinee entered one beside it, Aleyah entered the portal on the far right, Leo entered one beside it, and Runa entered the portal at the center.