Sonic: Legendary Misadventures with Pirates and Diggers - Coho

Chapter 1 Chapter Text

"Tron, Tron, get in here! You have got to see this!" Distorted by wall speakers, a higher-pitched gravely voice called, demanding attention despite the condition of the individual they called for. Locked in a struggle with wrenches and a engine dangerously close to overheating while small robots surrounded her, panicking, trying to decide if they should be using fire extinguishers or helping with the suddenly vital repairs, a young sixteen-year-old girl, a mechanical genius without peer, not counting the ancients or a certain other blond-haired girl, Tron Bonne groaned in response while rolling her eyes.

She pulled back from her work, allowing her servbots to dart in and start working on the engine. The airship wasn't at any risk of falling from the sky anytime in the immediate future, but if she didn't make her repairs now, the ship's engine would have only hours of life left in it after the stunt her brother had pulled. So Tron frowned at the speakers placed on the wall before grabbing a headset and turning on its microphone. "Teisel, what the hell is this upgrade you stuck in our engine? The darn thing nearly tore the ship apart!"

"Ah Ha! Tron...it... iiiiiiT Worked!" Teisel shouted, his voice half between a motivational cheer and a feral growl of victory.

"Worked? Worked!?! Teisel, the damages might take me days to repair; that upgrade you bought was a ripoff!" Tron shouted on her headset while watching a fire burst from the engine, only for her Servbots to rush into the flames, combating the fire or running in circles, panicking as the fire covered them before others put them out along with the engine fire. Soon the yellow headed, pincer-handed 41-centimeter bots had the fire under control and were back to engine maintenance. While small, relatively weak, and childish in nature, all the Servbots were dedicated workers, loyal to the extreme, and often capable of some rather creative ventures and solutions, even if those solutions didn't always work out in the end.

Tron watched on as Number Twenty-seven handed her a list with the bot's initial appraisal of the damages, reading it as she continued her response to her older brother. "Teisel, we can't move anywhere, and it didn't seem like we moved that much before this device nearly tore the engine apart. There is no way this thing is cost-effective; we're not using it. Who did you say gave you this? I want to give them a piece of my mind!"

"Grrrr, Tron, just get up here! It worked; the ship didn't move; it warped, like those portals that were up on Elysium. And we REACHED IT! The big score, Lost Island!" Teisel's voice responded over the speakers, prompting Tron to roll her eyes, put aside Number Twenty-seven's notepad and begin making her way to the bridge.

The Gesellschaft II had been an expensive endeavor and took a lot for Teisel to build, yet thanks to being among the first people to reach Elysium since the Ancients. The Ancient space ruin was full of technical wonders, massive refractors, and other valuables the Bonnes could loot and sell. Of course, the whole space endeavor had been funded by Verner Von Bluecher so the man had a legit claim over a large portion of everything Tron and Teisel had brought back, and yet even what they had been left with had still given the family of Sky Pirates a fortune of several million Zenny. That had been able to recoup all the losses the Pirate family had suffered over the two years they spent dueling with Megaman and dealing with the dangers of the mysterious Mother Load.

Of course, the adventure had ironically left Teisel with a taste for adventuring once again, and it hadn't been long before he was planning the Bonne's return to piracy. Which was well and good enough seeing how he was still terrible at managing their general store routinely operating at a loss though far less severely than before the race for the four Keys to the Motherload. Still, Tron kept finding him buying impressive shelf items that had little practical value and were unlikely to be sold. Even their younger brother Bon Bonne seemed to be in much higher spirits when Teisel announced his plans to return to piracy and looting ancient ruins.

However, midway through building, the Gesellschaft-II Teisel had suddenly gone off on some sort of unplanned business trip before returning, shaking with excitement, holding coordinates that Tron couldn't decipher and insisting one large device be added to the ship's engines. He even had a large stockpile of raw materials, which further allowed Tron to build more machines and even experiment with her idea of creating some remotely controlled machines that the Servbots could use to search ruins or combat enemies with.

Finally, Tron reached the ship's headquarters and bridge, storming on with her frustration fully on display as she glared at her older brother. Tron wore something at least resembling normal clothes, with her hair fanned out behind her, a pink shirt with the family logo on her chest, and her blue jacket. Along with an armored blue leotard and black pantyhose, she could at least pass as a regular person while still striking an impressive enough appearance when commanding from atop one of her war machines.

Teisel, however... it would be a surprise for anyone to mistake him for a civilian in his typical get-up. Teisel wore green battle armor much like a highly ranked digger would, even occasionally replacing his hand with a buster on very rare occasions. Teisel had permanently replaced his original eyes with red cybernetic lenses long ago and almost always had his gray hair pulled back into some form of spiked ponytail.

Next to Teisel on the bridge and towering over their older brother was the baby of the family, Bon Bonne. Forever encapsulated inside a mechanical body, the baby Bon was easily mistaken for a robot by anyone who didn't know their family. The yellow and orange frame of Bon included thick arms, while the torso and head were a single unit that housed the optics, vocalizer, and emergency weapon that looked like a pacifier on Bon's face. Meanwhile, the helmet on the unit had two intimidating spike horns, and like Teisel, the family crest was built into his shoulders.

"Ah Tron! Look!" Teisel cheered on the verge of laughing in triumph. "Lost Island, just like the Doctor said!"

"Teisel You can't just... just..." Tron froze, looking out the bridge windows and seeing a massive expanse of land with a small city laid out before them. All across the city, several buildings that looked to have been in the middle of either collapse or being constructed all stood. Many had a strange logo that looked like a face with a big bushy mustache in red painted proudly on their side.

"Exactly! The risk was worth it! There haven't been ruins in this good of condition since Elysium, and we get to keep all of it! No blue menace to ruin all our hard work. We can probably milk this place for millions—maybe tens of millions! We'll be rich!" Teisel cheered, and many of the Servbots on the bridge joined in a chorus of "yay"s as Teisel began to laugh.

"B-but Teisel. W-what even is this city?! I've never even heard of an island like this before, and it's so massive, I can't even see the ocean on the other side. H-how?" Tron stuttered out in shock and near disbelief at what lay before her.

"It was all that, Doctor; he trusted me with the prototype of his Warp Engine. He told me about Lost Island and how the Warp Engine was meant to create the portal to and from it using his coordinates. The rest of it all was a lot of technical talk, but he said our payment could be the ruins of the island; he even showed me a few of the crystals he claimed came from the island. He even claimed the one he showed me was a low quality imitation of the main seven. They told me they were called the Chaos Emeralds. They said they were the most powerful refractors in all of existence; they're sure to be worth a fortune!" The eldest Bonne announced.

"Teisel just who is this doctor?" Tron asked, still amazed but slightly suspicious.

"Meh, Doctor... umm, Noodle... no, Nevel? ... Mega? Ahhh, whatever, it's not like we're going to give him back that Engine and risk someone finding these Chaos Emeralds before we do! Sixteen, do we have that scan back yet?!" Teisel dismissed Tron's question, turning back to focusing on the city laying before them.

"Ummm, the life sign monitor shows that there's only... ummm, four... yeah, four heartbeats in detection range." The Servbot reported.

"People's Heartbeats?" Teisel then asked.

"I... don't know, can you tell a piggy heartbeat from a person's heartbeat?" The Servbot replied.

"Maybe a piggy heart also oinks?" Another of the Servbots suggested.

"Oh, what about a doggie heart?" Yet another asked.

"What would that even sound like?" A third other Servbot then asked.

"Well, there are only four, so I don't think there's much to do with them. They're probably all the same animal, maybe a herd of cats?" One more Servbots suggested causing Teisel to shake with frustration.

Teisel then snapped at the robots. "Shuddup! Alright, there are four things living down there, but it's still possible that the city could be crawling with Reaverbots! That's why we will be launching a full operation, and remember, we are taking absolutely everything we can carry. Jewels, Refractors, Gold, tables, even all the toilet paper!"

Immediately, the Servbots cheered, snapping from their tangent and joining Teisel in his excitement, though Tron still felt a slight sense of unease. "Teisel, we've never seen a place like this, are we sure we should be doing this?"

"Of course... we'd probably go broke with the engine repairs otherwise." This caused Tron to roll her eyes.

The female Bonne then stepped forward. "Alright, everyone, you heard Teisel! Get the Drache fleet ready, load up the Neu-Leopolds, and let's use this to test my new Diebeswagens!"

"Tron!" Teisel shouted over to the eager female pirate... "Umm, yes, get the ships and equipment ready. Boys; we're going to be scouting these ruins in force!"

Tron then turned to begin her descent, planning to join the expedition. However, Teisel's voice stopped her mid-stride. "And where do you think you're going?"

"In what?"

"The Gustaff!" Tron shouted back while trying to step off the bridge; however, her brother's reaction beat her to her escape.

"What? Did you build a new one?" Teisel asked with a dangerous undertone to his voice.

"Ummm... why? The current one worked on Elysium." Tron responded.

"There's no way I'm letting my baby sister out in that deathtrap of a machine. Not when I have an actual say in the matter!" Teisel insisted.

"Deathtrap! It's my machine, Teisel!" Tron snapped back.

"It's an under-armored, open-top bullet magnet is what it is! We made it that way to fit into the rocket going for Elysium. Even you admitted that it had to be cut down to fit, and that Roll girl still almost demanded we leave it behind!" Teisel explained pressing his point with several stomps of his foot.

"And I've upgraded it, Teisel! It's for a shield for the co*ckpit and a deployable reinforced glass cover; besides, it's got some of the best equipment we've built incorporated into its design. It's the best armed combat unit for its size we've had in years!" Tron countered, her logic sound but not reaching her still very protective brother.

"You might be sixteen now; happy belated birthday, by the way, BUT this is another matter entirely. I can't risk endangering you on the front lines, not with that machine. Scars aren't attractive, it turns out." Teisel held to his ground.

"Scars... wait, this is about that mixer you went to a week ago, isn't it!?" Tron burst with an accusing point of her finger, which caused the eldest Bonne to slump his head and shoulders, trembling as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"One of the ladies called me disgusting, Tron. Disgusting!"

"Maybe it has to do more with your personality?" Tron muttered under her breath.

"What was that? Hmmm?" Tron was sure if her brother had heard her, but she certainly didn't want to repeat what she had said.

"Listen, without any real combat data, I can't make a new Gustaff. At least not until all the tech in the current one has been field tested properly. These ruins should be perfect for testing out the equipment. I mean, Reaverbot Masters almost never come to the surface, so if this city does have Reaverbots, we should be in the perfect situation to test all of the Gustaff's current systems without risk. Besides I'll stay behind the Servbots. Is that alright, big brother?" Tron explained, ending her sentence with a more cutesy voice that seemed to reach Teisel.

"Rrrrr, fine!" Teisel then pressed a button on the ship's command console, and the speakers across the Gesellschaft chimed before carrying Teisel's voice across the ship. "Numbers one through twelve you're with Tron, thirteen through twenty eight you're following me, everyone else your on support duty! Leeets Gooooo!"

All across the ship, Tron could hear the Servbots shouting, "Aye Aye sir!"

Tron then turned and rushed to the ship hanger. Here the first wave of Draches six of the blockish fighter transport airships were prepared for launch, four of which had Neu-Leopolds hanging from magnetic carrying cables underneath. The last two were waiting for Tron's Gustaff and Teisel's newly completed Bohrer Soldat with their own grab bars/landing struts extended so the machines could hold onto them.

While the reddish Draches were blocky with a small turret for the buster machine guns underneath and a front hatch door meant to allow the crewing Servbots to quickly leave and reenter the ship, the Nue-Leopolds were Blocky squat tanks with a singular tower like central turret and two smaller turrets on the tracks that supported buster machine guns.

And of course, Tron had to take a moment to inspect her two current best war machines. The Gustaff was shorter than its previous interactions but had thick, powerful arms that incorporated some of the design philosophy Roll had "shared" with her, occasionally by literally hitting Tron with her creations. Tron, of course, had to take several cost-cutting measures, but she figured her design was now far better than anything her so-called rival could make, and she was certain she could prove to Megaman that she was once and for all the better choice next time they encountered one another.

The Bohrer Soldat, meanwhile, was something Tron made to Teisel's specifications. The machine was loaded with drills one on each arm of the six meter mecha's frame. The shoulders were also mounted with missile pods that had special drill missiles that should help with clearing and making tunnels or dismantling enemy positions. And of course the machine was painted Green just for Teisel.

With a grin of excitement, Tron leapt into the Gustaff, leaving the glass co*ckpit casing retracted so she could feel the wind in her hair as the Drache lowered down from the hanger bay. Teisel joined them shortly after his own transport, lowering the eldest Bonne down shortly after Tron. It was then that the voice of number forty-one came over the speakers on Tron's headset. "Objective is to capture anything of value and bring it back to the ship. Mission Start!"

Elsewhere in the skies

Doctor Ivo Robotnik, who instead preferred to go by the moniker of Eggman, a name first used to insult him by his rival, but now his own proud title sat fuming inside his Egg mobile. Of all days for that lousy Hedgehog to cause trouble, it just had to be today.

"Father, I suspect this course of action may be an overreaction." A ghostly digital construct manifested herself next to the Egg Mobile. Where Eggman was a tall man with rather lanky limbs and a proudly rotund body all marked with a bald head and a massive bushy mustache, his digital creation and daughter Sage were a smaller construction, smaller than the vermin the doctor had constantly plaguing his plans for world dominance. Her white bobbed hair covered one of her eyes, leaving only the other visible on a face he was almost certain was modeled by the AI construct after Maria's, the only one of the Doctor's female relatives to have a surviving record of her appearance.

Sage's digital code that marked the interior of her cloak and body alternated between black and red and white and blue subtly as she spoke with the world's infamous Doctor. "While Sonic and his companions clearly have initiated an assault against Egg-base theta, I do not think they planned it to cause direct harm to me nor to ruin my celebration of my return to life."

"It's the principle of the matter, Sage. He won't stop until he provokes a response from me. And I've had enough; we're going to carpet bomb the entire base and see if he gets the message! Besides, I'm certain that at this point, even if we carpet bombed the entire region, the blue co*ckroach would still survive just to spite me." Eggman grumbled back at Sage the Egg Mobile rocking as the Doctor exaggeratedly swept his arms through the air.

"I should note that I still think it's unwise to leave New Eggtroplois while it's still under construction. Father, what if they track our flight trajectory, or if Sonic has aerial allies on route, let alone Subject Shadow or Silver?" Sage pressed, her overriding concern for her proclaimed father's safety at the forefront of her argumentation.

"Then I'll deal with it. Besides, Sonic's allies are pretty predictable and easy to deal with once you know who you're dealing with. Take Knuckles, for example, he's probably one of the easiest of Sonic's friends to trick." The Doctor dismissed Sage's concerns with a confident smirk and a casual lean back in the eggmobile.

"Father..." She was still concerned, that much was obvious to Eggman, but she seemed to take comfort in his confidence. "Father, you must return to New Eggtroplois!" Sage's tone changed drastically and firmly... so maybe old Ivo isn't as good at reading her as he had thought, though, to be fair, most of his time was spent with blank faced robots rather than people.

"Sage, I said—" Eggman was cut off as Sage overrode his Eggmobile, glaring at him determinedly.

"Father, New Eggtroplois has come under attack!" Sage proclaimed sternly.

"What!? Who has the gall to attack my city while I am away? Sonic is all the way at Egg Base Theta still, isn't he?" Eggman asked while his very, very short list of people foolish enough to attack one of his cities running through his mind, each candidate being dismissed swiftly as the Doctor understood each well enough or had already confirmed their location before taking off. "It's not that annoying thief of a Tenric looking to swipe another power up from me, is it?"

Sage shook her head. "No Father." And with a flick of her wrists, the Egg Mobile's haptic interface turned into a holographic screen, displaying a rather unique sight to the Doctor.

"An airship, complete with a squadron of rather odd VTOL aircraft. Hmm, no, this certainly isn't G.U.N. I monitor their research and finances too thoroughly for them to slip development like this by me; also, this is far too small scale; I'd want to blame the Restoration or something like this is too big of a task for Tails or Belle to construct." Eggman pondered the display on the screen. Several rather unorthodox tanks and some squat tracked vehicles with mounted cannons, energy blasters, and shovel-claw-tipped arms were rampaging through the city, battling his Eggpawn defenders.

Given time and coordination, these attackers wouldn't be too much of a concern, enough that if they were on their own, he likely would have left it to the automated systems to battle them. However, those air vessels were bringing in more reinforcements, and some surprisingly durable lesser machines seemed to be supporting these vehicles. All while, three other unique machines seemed to be leading the battle, one of which had an exposed pilot. That third machine almost looked like it had been built from one of his old Egg Mobile's, but the weaponry, whoever developed it, was certainly no slouch. It was probably best to capture the pilot and her machine, cutting down the hours of reverse engineering to minutes, a single hour tops. Wouldn't such a weapon be a nice surprise to hit Sonic with? Have the blue pest think he's going to spin dash a fist only to find himself instead running straight into a stream of fire? Oh, the Doctor could only laugh at the mental image.

"Sage, how did that Airship get so close without us detecting it?" With his curiosity piqued but his wrath for Sonic not forgotten, Eggman needed more information; maybe these idiots would still be trying to win this battle for the city by the time he had bombed the blue blur into oblivion.

"I'm going over our records now; I estimate they used a device of some kind to transport the ship, there seems to be a radiation and data spike just before their arrival; I suspect it's some form of teleportation." Sage responded.

"Oh, teleportation, is it? It seems someone beat me to perfecting that technology.... Your lucky Hedgehog. I have a bigger prize to take today!" Eggman laughed aloud while Sage sighed silently to herself, thinking her father wouldn't notice. Eggman didn't like it, but he supposed she still felt somewhat indebted to Sonic after he faced off against the End and helped her save Eggman and the entire world. So long as she remembered that the Hedgehog was their enemy and didn't go soft like Mr. Tinker's child Belle. He couldn't stand the idea of facing off against two daughters; his ego wouldn't be able to handle such a betrayal.

"Turn the Egg-Squadron around! Sage, give me remote access to the command systems for New Eggtroplois' defense grid. And wake Metal from stasis. Let's see how long they can hold out with a little more pressure." Eggman grinned maliciously, his mind already analyzing and dissecting these invaders.

"Father, there is something else. There seems to be infiltrators inside the city. Unit designation: Diamond Cutters, with the addition of Amy Rose." Sage supplies.

"Oh ho ho ho ho!? So Sonic was just a distraction, was it? Don't put it past the Restoration to try and use trickery against me; while certainly a clever move, they overplayed their hand if these invaders were also their doing."

"I suspect that they are pirates." Sage then added.

"Pirates? What do you mean, Sage?" The Doctor demanded, and in answer, the AI brought up several images of the crest these pirates put on all their equipment, as well as a few text boxes in which she compared their operation and symbolism to that of pirates of the past.

"Eh whatever, wait, oh, how delicious. If they aren't friends with that Blue menace, why don't we try leading Miss Rose and her friends into these pirates right before I crush them all and see how they react to one another?" And with that, Eggman gleefully set to work, his imagination running wild with ways he could experiment with everyone who had entered his city."

In the streets of New Eggtroplois

"Ummm, com- I mean Amy... I don't think stealth is going to cut it anymore; there's explosions all over the city." Lanolin the sheep whispered to Amy which caused the former commander of the restoration to smirk.

"You know, Lanolin, you're getting so close. Maybe, eventually, you'll finally learn to loosen up a little." Amy teased the Sheep behind her which nearly caused Tangle to break out into laughter. Though the slight snickering caused Lanolin to give Tangle the Lemur an annoyed glance.

Where Amy Rose had once been the leader of the restoration and was a world-renowned adventurer famed to those who took part in adventuring, she was both overshadowed by her friends and her love interest, Sonic the Hedgehog, and more frequently partaking in more mundane and joyful aspects of life. The Pink Hedgehog, though, today had her famed Piko Piko hammer out as she guided the Diamond Cutters on their mission to infiltrate and find the weaknesses of the new city Eggman had created. Her typical pink dress was covered in a dark parka to try and help the hedgehog stay unnoticed.

Behind her Lanolin the sheep, walked in her psudeo-military attire, her vest and baggy pants still visible, while her Golden Bell wispon was in hand as she was ready for any sudden engagements. While Tangle and Whisper had helped her over time, Lanolin still struggled to relax and ease up on being a stickler for rules and following authority blindly, though by now at least her confidence as a leader had grown, causing her to start seeing her own flaws and finally start working on them.

Next were Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf. Tangle was still as energetic as ever, wearing her black bodysuit and orange coat plus fingerless gloves. Tangle, fortunately, had mellowed only a little since Amy, Whisper, and Lanolin had first met her. Tangle had gone from a hotheaded thrill seeker without any experience to an experienced hot headed, thrill seeker with at least enough sense to watch out for those she cared about, which she mostly learned from Whisper with only light reinforcement from Lanolin and a few close calls.

Whisper was the most veteran member of the team. Her off-white body suit was always partially covered by her dark parka, while her specialty tech mask sat on the side of her head, ready to be used along with her specialty wispon at a moment's notice. Whisper brought the most baggage to the team as she was the sole survivor of the original Diamond Cutters after a traitor betrayed them to Eggman, and the clash and hunt between the last survivor and the traitor continued on into the new team. However, Whisper was the most experienced of the group, and as she opened up to being part of a team again, she became the unifying core of the trio. Keeping Tangle in check and preventing Lanolin from going too far in her pursuit to prove herself as a leader and her obsession with adherence to authority.

Amy and the Diamond Cutters had planned to infiltrate New Eggtroplois after Amy and Tangle had overheard Sonic plotting to destroy several of Eggman's bases as part of some other adventure the famed blue blur was taking part in. Of course, it was clear that Tangle couldn't be dissuaded from the idea, and Lanolin agreed with the plan, only asking that Amy come with them in case of an emergency. Of course none of them could have planned for or even knew how to react to the fact that suddenly unknown craft were bombing the city with some sort of massive green warship with a skull emblem, unleashing a full bombardment that has nearly struck the four and forcing them out into the open streets.

Whisper looked over the street and buildings carefully, her eyes noting any ambush points. "The situation is dangerous; we should... Amy dodge!"

The Pink Hedgehog flung herself aside, barely avoiding being crushed, as a massive Super Badnik dropped from above them. The machine swiped at the four without any hesitation. The Diamond Cutters immediately took action. Lanolin's Bell struck, sending a wave of destructive sound into the Badnik's head and causing an explosion of force. Meanwhile, Whisper summoned a block from one of her wisps under the Badnik's foot, throwing it off balance, and Tangle's tail caught the Badnik around the ankle before pulling, causing the machine to fall back and crash into the ground.

Taking her opportunity, Amy got to her feet and jumped with her Piko Piko hammer before crashing the hammer down onto the Badnik, shattering its chest armor. Just as Amy bounded away, Whisper fired her laser wisp punching through the opening in the Badnik's armor and destroying the machine.

"That was awesome... I don't think we have a name for that one yet!" Tangle cheered, and Lanolin sighed in relief before chuckling.

Chapter 2: Invaders from another realm

Chapter Text

The wind whipped through Tron's hair as the Gustaff dangled from the Drache, down below the city ruin approached at a rapid pace. Already, she could see where the Servbots were aiming to land her and the two Neu-Leopolds on the Draches behind her. Of course, the Neu-Leopolds would secure the landing site along with Tron before the Draches would bring in the Diebeswagens, which, per their design, would of course tear into the ruins, stealing any items of value, refractors, jewels, gold, or anything the Servbots remotely controlling these new upgraded versions of her old Möbelwagen design found valuable as they tore into the buildings.

Sure, compared to the Möbelwagens of old, these designs were more likely to destroy items that the Bonnes could instead steal and sell, but considering the family's penchant for encountering armed diggers capable of fighting back—a certain Blue Bomber in particular—Tron figures the exchange was worth it. Though thinking of Megaman, Tron closed her eyes, allowing the warm wind to brush over her face as she imagined him, his eyes, the kind way he smiled at others, and the joy and care he seemed to express every time she survived after an intense battle between them. No, she refused to believe what others said; she knew he cared for her, and it had to be the same way she did about him. And if it took another conflict with him to prove that, then after this score, that's just what she'll do!

Once the Drache reached her drop point, Tron only waited long enough for the Servbots clinging to her Gustaff to let go before she also let go, dropping onto the empty street. Tron looked at the cold, dead city; it looked surprisingly modern, and yet besides that strange symbol, it was as lifeless, to some extent even more lifeless, than any ancient ruins she had ever entered. The streets were dark, and the shadows of the surrounding buildings and the overcast sky made every corner seem dark and foreboding. However, a little ambiance never stopped Tron before; she had taken countless legendary treasures for herself, and whatever these Chaos Emerald Refractors were, they'd just be another notch under the Bonne family's belt.

"Remember, take anything you can find of value!" Tron orders both over her headset and directly to the Servbots under her.

"Yes, Miss Tron!" Both the Servbots standing in a circle around Tron and those on the Draches controlling the Bonne's newest war machines all responded immediately.

"Also, remember to keep an eye out for any Reaverbots or cops. We don't want them getting the drop on us, and we need to make sure we have the best chance to grab everything of value. I don't want any surprises resulting in a loss of loot!" Tron then ordered. The Servbots were hard working and loyal, but often needed Tron's help keeping them on task.

Casually, Tron fired her beacon pistol into the door of a nearby building, sending her Servbots chasing after it. Of course, once inside, they knew well enough what to do and would get to ransacking the place, looking for anything of value to take. Meanwhile, Tron moved her Gustaff to another building, where, with a casual backhand from her machine, she knocked the doors off their hinges and created an opening that she piloted the Gustaff through. She might as well snatch what she could while waiting for the Draches to return with more machines.

Tron soon froze as she was met with an odd sight inside the building she had entered. She had expected some long-forgotten department store, maybe some office building, or one of the more incomprehensible designs of the ancients serving some unknown purpose. Instead, the room was filled with various computers, all being stationed by robots that seemed to mimic humanoid forms, but we're very top heavy, with heavy armor at most points, though stripped from the joints, and besides the computers, there seemed to be countless maintenance stations in the room and what looked like an oversized trash shoot next to an elevator in the center of the room.

Besides these main machines, there also seemed to be what looked like a group of ladybug machines with small bladed arms and a central tire in their bodies, and a large group of machines that had wasp-like bodies. Of course, what had given Tron pause was neither the presence of the machines nor their numbers, but rather the odd appearances and very notable lack of the iconic Reaverbots eye. Which suggested that these machines were not Reaverbots and that this was not an ancient ruins, and at the same time she then had to wonder who could afford to have a near-empty city full of robots, particularly ones with such odd designs.

Then both sides burst into action, but it was no question that Tron was quicker on the draw. While the orange robots and their insect-like counterparts were starting to move for Tron, the Gustaff's Buster Cannon was already firing while the right arm underwent a shift, changing into a launch tube from which a heavy shell was launched. The skull icon tipped round soared into the center of the room before detonating, the blast more than five times that which Tron's own personal Bazooka could have achieved.

In an instant, the vast majority of the robots Tron was faced with were destroyed. However, that still left more than forty machines to deal with. Swiftly, Tron and her Gustaff set to work, activating her back boosters. She sent the Gustaff barreling over one of the two-legged machines, its top-heavy frame toppling over easily. And as she fired her Buster Cannon, she noted that the machines were strangely vulnerable to energy attacks despite their armor. In fact, as Tron rocket boosted the Gustaff's fist into one, it seemed most of their designs were dedicated to resisting kinetic energy; certainly one of the police's pistols or machine guns would do next to nothing to these machines, but their only defense against a buster seemed to be their mass

By the time that Tron finished the last of the robots, her Servbots came rushing in shouting and in a panic, and the mechanical genius swiftly moved her Gustaff outside, where she could see the two Neu-Leopolds firing on the building that Tron had sent the Servbots into, their buster guns and cannons preventing the machines inside from coming out, though Tron could see that several were still slipping out of alternative exits. Still soon, the three Draches arrived, adding their own guns as well as three Diebeswagens to the fight.

Tron swiftly hit her headset, calling to her elder brother. "Teisel! There's robots—a lot of robots here! We might need some support!"

After a moment of relative silence, backed by the sounds of gunfire, Teisel finally responded. "We know! I tried to loot a building, only for a hoard of robots to attack us. I spotted plenty of computer parts and simple robotic parts. We might not be able to get the haul we were looking for, but we should be able to get enough parts to fix the Gesellschaft and likely still turn a bit of a profit. I'll need you to start fighting your way towards me,-"

Teisel was cut off as a servbot's voice came onto the communication line. "Master Teisel! Miss Tron! The city, it's moving!"

"What!?" Teisel and Tron simultaneously exclaimed. Both Bonne siblings were shocked, and Tron feared that the city itself was somehow becoming mobile.

"Y-yeah, the city is moving; the streets are moving, and some of the buildings are sliding around or opening up. It looks like a big castle now. And all of it is surrounding the big building in the middle." The Servbot explained.

At least the city hadn't become truly mobile, Tron didn't know how well they could escape from a city that could move. However, Teisel took the news differently. "Any power signatures?" The eldest Bonne demanded.

"Umm, yes Master Teisel. There's a huge power source in the big building in the middle of the city." Servbot number forty replied over the radio.

"Excellent! That must be where they're hiding those Chaos Emeralds! Now I won't have to hunt down that Dr. Veda, or whatever his name is, guy! New plan, everyone! Let's map out a meeting point on the way to the center of the city! We steal these Chaos Emeralds and then make our escape! Gesellschaft! Full battle mode! Prepare all missile tubes! Get the energy cannons online! Target any dense concentrations of these annoying robots and blow away any buildings blocking our path! We loaded the ship with enough firepower to level a city, and we're going to USE it!" Teisel was holding back his overly eager chuckles as he spoke.

The prospect of getting high-value refractors was already tempting enough as it was, but if they could power an entire city like this, then they were more than worth it. Even as the thought passed through Tron's head and the Servbots and machines under her began to press towards where Teisel had marked their rally point, two new massive machines joined the fray. The first looked like a massive purple version of the humanoid robots wielding a massive hammer. The second was an even larger machine, with spikes in place of hands and a cyclopean eye.

Immediately, the Neu-Leopolds and Diebeswagens turned their busters on the massive hammer-wielding robot. The Servbot's innate fear of being crushed thanks to Tron's torture chamber causing them all to immediately target the hammer-wielding robot. While the machine was resistant to the explosives the bots fired, the sheer quantity and the massed buster energy shots swiftly disabled the machine and would certainly end it in a few short moments. This allowed Tron to focus on the second, larger machine.

With the Gustaff's Buster Cannon firing on full auto, Tron charged the robot. First, the machine swung its massive first at Tron, but with a burst of the Gustaff's boosters, she was soon over the machine's arm, and seconds after boosting, she landed on the same arm. Then, taking a few unsteady steps, Tron boosted again, nearing the machine's face. The Gustaff's right arm then shifted into a drill as Tron reared back and then thrust the drill fist into the machine's face, the bit spinning and sparking before the pressure forced it to find purchase and the drill began pulling into the robot's head.

However, this only lasted for a second before the Gustaff was knocked away by the flailing machine. Still, the opening was made, and Tron, acting quickly, pulled out her bazooka, mounted the weapon on her shoulder, and fired into the small hole the drill fist had made into the robot. The small rocket soared in, then detonated. The blast at first was small and contained inside the robot before the machine suffered a secondary destination deeper inside, which blew its head entirely off its chassis, the force of which nearly threw Tron from the falling Gustaff.

Tron barely had time to save herself from falling out of the Gustaff and get into her pilot's seat before the Bonne family Mecha slammed into the street below, falling onto its back and skidding several meters before stopping. This prompted Tron to sigh in relief before working to get the Gustaff back on its feet. "Wish you could see me now, Megaman; there's no way Roll's a better fit to be at your side than me."

Inside Egg Base Theta

Sonic paced impatiently. True, he wasn't the most patient of people, even on his better days, but he, Silver, and Blaze had completely destroyed the Egg Base, and were now waiting for the 'good' doctor to show up, and instead it was like ol' Eggface was ignoring them. He had even gone so far as to mock one of Eggman's cameras, wiggling and slapping his butt in front of the thing, and yet not so much as a threatening message from the doctor.

"Maybe he's sick?" Silver suggested while sitting atop the wreckage of several Egg Pawns.

"No, I agree with Sonic; it's rather improper of the doctor to just ignore us like this. This might be a trap, or he's distracted." Blaze offered from where she stood.

While both Blaze and Silver were each incredibly powerful friends of Sonic and people the Blue Blue could honestly respect for their abilities and good-hearted nature, he didn't adventure with the two that often, and they and he couldn't read each other like he could with Tails or Knuckles. Silver was a silver and white-furred hedgehog from the future who sought to protect the future by influencing the past. Silver was perhaps one of Sonic's more socially awkward friends, being too straightforward, unable to read social cues at times, and being a little too optimistic at strange times.

Blaze the Cat, meanwhile, was, in some ways, Silver's opposite. A princess from another dimension who was often far too serious for her own good to the point of becoming withdrawn and occasionally lost in formality and duty rather than her own feelings. Today the lavender-furred cat wore her usual attire, with her extra fur up in a ponytail while wearing a violet tailcoat. Still, Blaze's more opulent attire wasn't really Sonic's style, and her personality was certainly something Sonic was working on since she was certainly a good person through and through, despite a few oddities and hiccups.

Honestly, the biggest issue Sonic had with his two current companions was both how easy they made destroying the Egg Base, and how easy the pair were to tease. There wasn't much back and forth with the pair, just some mild embarrassment and polite requests for Sonic to stop. Without Eggman to fight and having to stay still for so long, Sonic was starting to lose his mind with boredom.

Maybe losing his cool and doing something rash was what Sonic needed to move this adventure along. "You know what? Unless someone comes to talk, I think we should just keep attacking bases until I find Eggman and put my foot up his ass." Sonic shouted as loudly as he could, which caused Silver to stand up in surprise while Blaze looked at Sonic in shock.

The blue hedgehog just smirked, sticking his hand out to the pair. And after several more seconds, a hologram projector was activated, revealing Sage to Blaze, and Silver for the first time. The pair stared in awe.

Blaze stepped forward before putting her paw through the hologram and nodding to herself. "So she really does exist. I'm surprised Eggman was able to make a daughter of his own."

Meanwhile, Silver looked slightly worried, while taking a nervous step back. "A-and we're sure she's not a ghost?"

Sage, meanwhile, was not willing to engage in the antics of Blaze and Silver and immediately focused on Sonic. "You threatened Father, demanding to speak with me."

Sonic smirked in response. "Yeah, I figured you were still with Egghead despite everything that happened in the last adventure we shared together. Sage, I have questions, and you're going to answer them."

"No, you are currently acting as hostile elements attacking Father and his facilities. I cannot share information with enemies." The AI girl responded before turning away from Sonic, only to be face-to-face with Blaze, who was still pawing the air where Sage's hologram was.

Blaze seemed enamored with Sage, muttering to herself. "She seems to be exactly how you described her, Sonic. Too bad she didn't appear in the Mirage Express; she really would have livened things up more during that adventure."

Blaze then looked up from her paw that was resting inside Sage's chest. Swiftly, the cat pulled her hand away and straightened herself, taking on a more regal pose. "As Princess of the Sol Empire and guardian of the Sol Emeralds, I demand an audience with Dr. Eggman or an explanation on his behalf!"

"The Sol Empire does not hold genuine authority in this dimension. Neither Father nor myself owe you any explanation. Now you've been distracting me long en-" Sage began already starting to fade before Sonic interjected.

"Fine, but that just means we'll have to keep wrecking Eggman's stuff until I can just beat the answer out of him personally. Because these two have some rather dire information, information I'd be willing to share with anyone willing to think of themselves as my friend, and the only lunatic I know who fits the bill for what they're describing is Eggman." Sonic threatened with a smirk, staring into the back of Sage's head.

"Yeah, Sage, we'll do it if you try to leave now." Silver then joined in, stepping forward with his fists clenched and ready.

Sage stopped, the AI girl floated for several tense seconds in silence before turning back to Sonic. "Fine, I'll remain here. But we don't have much time before Father needs me to come back."

"You know who these two are, right, Sage? Well, imagine my surprise when they both showed up at the same time, warning me of an unknown, impending doom. Tell her Silver." Sonic stated, before turning back to Silver and pointing at the future hedgehog.

Silver nodded seriously before turning to Sage and beginning his story. "I recently returned to the future again to see what changes my actions here in the past had done. However, I was subjected to the worst future I have yet to witness. Our world was completely destroyed, with not even ruins remaining, only craters, and an atmosphere so toxic that despite the chaos energy I was harnessing, I would have died if I had remained for more than an hour. The only clue I had to what had happened was that the planet was surrounded by weird-looking dormant satellites; a few had even fallen to the planet so I could inspect them. Most of them were broken, so I couldn't learn anything more, but I think it's obvious someone wiped out all life on our world, Sage. And in the future, whoever did it had done it long ago."

Sage then paused. Contemplating the information she had been given. "No Father's recent plans would not escalate in this manner; this has to be someone else's doing. Sonic..." The AI paused her coloring, fluctuating between her standard black and red to white and blue. "Promise to protect Father."

Sonic smirked. "I don't like him, and the idea of saving Eggman makes me queasy... But of course I'll save him."

Sage then settled on her blue and white coloration, and Silver blinked. "Now she looks even more like a ghost."

"Then Sonic the Hedgehog, as the Egg-net administrator for the Eggman Empire, I induct you temporarily into the Eggman Empire's defense forces." As she spoke, Sage smiled warmly.

Blaze then smirked with a hand on her hip. "You know, you look a lot cuter like this."

"Do not make comments on my appearance." Sage then flatly replied while changing her colors back to black and red while glaring at Blaze. The AI construct then turned back to Sonic and reverted to her white and blue. "Recruiting Blaze, however, was unnecessary."

Blaze huffed. "Actually, I was sent here. The Sol Emeralds gave me a vision; I don't know where, but there's something that's a threat to my dimension that we need to find before it strikes my own Sol Dimension."

The AI girl paused, her hand beneath her chin, in imitation of Dr. Eggman's own thinking pose. "This data runs parallel with what Father and I are currently observing. However, I am not currently observing anything that would justify the escalation to the conclusion of the events Silver has reported. I will log this for Father's later review."

Sonic couldn't wait for any more of this, posturing, and theory crafting. "You're making it sound awfully like old Egghead is behind all this and deserves me ripping his stupid mustache off."

"No! Father and my current endeavors are of a constructive nature. We sought to improve upon the Egg-net and the Badnik's. To make the Eggman Empire more closely resemble a functional nation-state by founding a city for Father's machines." Dage raised her voice as a plea for Eggman's safety.

"You know nations can wage wars, especially when a lunatic with no concern for their own safety and legacy or the safety of their subjects is in charge." Blaze then added an ominous tone to her statement.

"Father and I had debated heavily. I had convinced him that by improving the standards of operation and processing powers of the Badniks, we would be able to further reduce the potential for betrayal by high-performance machines. And I convinced my father that it would also improve performance against Sonic over the course of time." Sage admitted this to the assembled heroes.

Sonic just scoffed. "Ha, fat chance. Even when I'm hurt and Metal's going all out, I still manage to win."

"Sonic, now is not the time." Blaze quipped, with Silver nodding in agreement.

Sage nodded, then continued. "Father and I then founded Now Eggtroplois for his Badniks to inhabit. The city was still under construction when I located a suitable power source to fuel its construction. Father planned to hold a show celebration to raise morale among the Badnik machines... and to celebrate..." The AI almost seemed to be blushing before skipping ahead in her story. "However, shortly afterwards, your group attacked here, and Father went into a rage. He planned to blindly carpet bomb the entire region in retaliation."

"Shesh!" Sonic gasped. "Good thing we had you with us, Silver; if Egghead had done that, who knows how much damage he would do... So why didn't he?"

Sage was swift to answer Sonic's question. "More intriguing affairs took the doctor's attention away from you. Father and I are currently addressing a invasion of New Eggtroplois as we speak."

"More intriguing? MORE INTRIGUING!? The big, rolly Polly obsesses over beating me day in and day out. Who the hell is interesting enough that Eggman would give up on the chance to bomb me to go see them?" Sonic asked, his ego clearly a little hurt since Eggman chose to ignore him.

"Currently, the subjects are of unknown affiliation. We've identified two of them: a Tron and a Teisel. I've cataloged the appearance of Tron but have yet to have any visuals of Teisel." Sage provided, causing Sonic to raise an eyebrow.

"And I'm supposed to recognize these names?" Sonic quipped back.

"I figured not; however, I had held hope that you or your companions could identify them by the name." Sage replied while opening her hand to reveal a small holographic display growing in size so Blaze, Silver and Sonic could observe it.

The holographic display showed a satellite image over a stretch of ocean before there were a series of flashes at the center of the screen. The flashes got more frequent and more intense before, finally, in a singular display, a green airship seemed to appear with the final flash. "At the same time you initiated your assault on Egg Base Theta, this vessel appeared, four minutes after Dr. Eggman began to fly for Egg Base Theta with the Egg fleet bombers. Ten minutes later."

Sage accelerated the video, and soon the ship began to move slightly, and from the top-down view, with only a slight angle, Sonic could guess he could almost perceive motion happening underneath the green vessel. Soon a small squadron of aircraft flew out from under the airship, each carrying some sort of payload towards what Sonic assumed was Eggtroplois. Soon the ships seemed to land, and then, taking off again, their cargo was revealed as tanks and mechas that soon started moving towards the buildings of the city.

"That definitely was a teleportation of some kind. What do you think, Silver?" Blaze stated while watching, asking the Silver Hedgehog his opinion.

"Well, they don't look anything like those satellites I saw in the future. But how they got here is certainly suspicious." Silver stated while rubbing his chin and squinting at the image. "However, they don't look that advanced, if you ask me. Wouldn't G.U.N. have been a bigger threat to Eggtroplois?"

Sage didn't answer, just allowing the footage to play forward. Soon Sonic could see a top-down view along with some street camera views as small yellow and blue robots stormed into many of the buildings, only to flee shortly after. One of the Mechs with an exposed female pilot, the Tron woman Sage mentioned, entered one of the buildings as well, and soon flashes came from inside, followed by an explosion that shattered several windows. Shortly after this, the tanks began firing into the buildings while the small aircraft brought in new war machines that began to tear into the buildings and into the Badnik's.

As the city began to shift, taking on a form more familiar to Sonic as something similar to Eggmanland, a top-down view showed the large airship begin to move towards the city before unleashing barrages of missiles and strange energy blasts that seemed to destroy large groups of Badniks, Eggman's hardened defense points, and leveled buildings as these invaders pushed towards Eggman's central tower.

"They really are tearing into your defenses, aren't they?" Blaze then stated while watching the ongoing battle with interest as the tanks and strange arm-equipped melee fighting vehicles rolled forward, providing cover and support for the three large mechs of these invaders and the groups of small yellow-blue robots.

"Additionally, Amy Rose and the Diamond Cutters seem to have infiltrated New Eggtroplois and are likely to cross paths with the invaders in roughly four minutes." Sage then provided, causing Sonic's eyes to widen.

"Wait. Amy! What is she doing in one of Eggman's cities?" Sonic stated in shock. The Hedgehog then glared at Sage. "Why didn't you say she was there in the first place?"

Sage paused silently, gathering data before answering. "We think she was attempting to use you as a distraction to infiltrate the city, but the attack has exposed her and the Diamond Cutters, the Badniks in pursuit, and these pirates' bombardment is leading them directly into the path of their forces. Likely, she and the others have also taken an interest in the pirates."

"Whoa, hold on... pirates? I thought they were some sort of invaders." Silver then asked.

Sage turned to the future hedgehog before answering him. "From my observation of their symbols, intercepted communications, and behavior, it is eighty-six percent likely that they are indeed pirates from another realm." As Sage explained, the hologram showed a building collapse under a barrage of missiles from the pirate airship; it's debre kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke that obscures Amy and the Diamond Cutters.

"We don't have time to waste on this; Amy is in danger! Sage, where is Eggtroplois?" Sonic then demanded.

"You don't have Father's permission to enter Eggtroplois; the Badniks will attack you on sight." Sage warned, a slight worry entering her voice.

"Tell me something new. Sage, where is the city!?" Sonic growled in response.

"This is just like the Starfall Islands. I can't stop you... Please just promise me not to fight with Father." Sage pleaded with Sonic while her holographic display began to map a path to Eggtroplois.

"Right... just keep him out of my way." Sonic replied while stretching and preparing to take off, and then Sonic was off, a boom of sound following his departure.

Silver and Blaze watched in shock as Sonic's blue streak slowly disappeared into the distance. "We should follow him. May I have that map, Sage?" Blaze then asked with a polite half bow to the hologram.

"I've already uploaded it to your phone. I will try to convince Father not to turn his weapons on you. However, there are no guarantees." Sage explained.

Blaze just shrugged while Silver chuckled before Blaze responded. "Well, we're more used to him shooting at us than not, so it's alright. And for what it's worth, while I dislike the idea of it being Eggman behind it all, your idea for Eggtroplois is a decent one."

With that said Blaze began to spring after Sonic with Silver floating close behind. Sage just watch the two leaves before sighing. "I just wish it would turn out that way, I fear it may end up for the worst even if Father and Sonic don't do anything to ruin it."

Chapter 3: Battles, rescues, and captures

Chapter Text

Tron Bonne coughed as the next tower on her path collapsed, the building's integrity ruined by a concentrated barrage of rockets fired from the Gesellschaft. For the last six minutes, she had been gunning down robots while pushing in towards the center of the city, drawing closer and closer to Teisel's position.

Teisel had made the decision to bombard this city with missiles on the assumption they could secure one of these Chaos Emerald Refractors and sell it for enough to cover all their expenses, and Tron could see that, being the likely case, these Emeralds really were powering the entire city by themselves. But the fact that their enemies were not Reaverbots, and the lack of any people, was still bothering Tron. Still, at least Teisel wasn't demanding that Tron call in the heavy weaponry yet and only use the Gesellschaft's cannons. She figured they needed a nice surprise for later, in case something unexpected happened.

More missiles started soaring toward the next building in Tron's path. Honestly, she felt Teisel might be acting a little too protective of her now. Somehow, these robots had managed to ambush her about six buildings back. A bunch of spider like machines had dropped from above, trying to snatch her from the Gustaff's co*ckpit, but the Servbots and Tron's handgun had made quick work of the spider-like robots and saved her from the ambush. And still, Teisel insisted that Tron not take any risks and insisted the Servbots destroy every building blocking Tron's path instead.

"I'm pretty sure all this dust and falling rubble will kill me long before any of these robots do. They're barely up to the standards set by Reaverbots." Tron complained as the building began to collapse. Another cloud of dust and debris, and Tron was once again set hacking by the thick cloud. She had to be somewhat thankful that this dust wasn't as thick as it could be, and wasn't as bad as the smoke backwash she'd sometimes get when Megaman was damaging and destroying her machines.

"Damned Goddesses Teisel, we don't have to level every building on my path. It was one small ambush." Tron grumbled to herself while pushing the Gustaff forward towards what looked like a clearing in the dust where it should be easier to breathe. Once the air cleared, however, Tron was left witnessing a sight that truly left her in shock.

Standing right in front of her, armed with an oil slicked pink and yellow hammer and wearing a pink dress, was an animal standing on two legs. Well, it looked like some sort of animal, but it had hands with gloves and shoes over its feet. The creature was also pink and had what looked like hair, yet the material seemed spikier, like maybe quills or something of that nature.

As Tron stared, the creature lowered its hammer, lifting up a hand and wiggling its fingers. "H-hi! My name is Amy Rose. Ummm, nice to meet-"

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" The strange creature spoke! It spoke, and Tron panicked at seeing such an unusual thing, her hands swiftly and by instinct pushing the Gustaff's controls, sending the extended pistons of the Gustaff's arm launching its hand forward, which caught the creature by surprise. With the strange pink creature in her machine's hand, Tron then spiked it into the ground, the creature releasing a pained gasp as the ground cracked under the impact. At this point, Tron came to her senses and recognized that the other creatures certainly were not taking kindly to what she had done, even if by accident.

"Amy!" The one that looked like a sheep shouted, her voice a roar of anguished outrage. Behind her, the dog-looking one snarled, and Tron paled. Of course, one of them had to be a dog. Oh, how Tron hated dogs, always barking at her and chasing her. Beside the dog was the last one, one with a long tale, looking like no animal Tron knew cracked its knuckles, glaring her way.

Under the Gustaff, a pained laugh sounded as shakily the pink one stood back up, her clothing still scuffed and blood coming from her nose, as she used her hammer to steady herself as she got back on her feet. Once standing, the creature wiped the blood and dirt off her face. "It takes me getting blindsided for you to call me my name properly, does it?"

The pink creature, named Amy, then glared up at Tron. "As for you, it looks like we'll have to take you down and drag you in. Just remember, when you lose, you brought this on yourself." The pinkette then leveled her hammer to point at Tron, who looked down at the creature.

"Sheesh, you sound just like a cop. I bet you're just as annoying as Denise as well." Tron sighed at the creature. "It doesn't matter; if you really think you have a shot at beating me, then bring it!" Tron pulled back on the controls for the Gustaff, readying herself for the now inevitable battle. Behind her, the Servbots all cheered their agreement while pulling out small slings, and one of their bazookas.

Barely a meter away

Amy felt shaky on her legs. That blow from the invader woman's machine was powerful, and it caught her by surprise; she hadn't had a chance to respond or even brace herself for the impact. It had honestly taken her quite a bit of willpower just to stand so quickly after the mech had thrown her into the ground, but Amy had suffered harder blows before, and she had been around enough to recognize one fact. That woman's scream was one born from being startled.

That she was able to execute such a precise maneuver with a mech out of pure instinct puts this woman somewhere on the same level as Tails or Eggman. And it was certainly believable that there were some people who could possibly be better than the pair, given their own machines to pilot.

Amy chuckled, the whole thing causing her ribs to ache. It would take a few minutes until she was back in form, that was for sure. "It takes me getting blindsided for you to call me my name properly, does it?" Amy chided in good humor, glancing back to Lanolin and seeing the sheep flinch away in embarrassment.

Amy then glared up at her attacker, pointing to the girl with her hammer while stating. "As for you, it looks like we'll have to take you down and drag you in. Just remember, when you lose, you brought this on yourself." Amy was a hero; she had faced Neo-Metal Sonic, The End, and, of course, led the Resistance and Restoration in the past. There was no way she could let an assault like this go unanswered, though honestly, she really hoped the girl on the machine would just apologize; she didn't like the idea of fighting her right here and now.

Unfortunately, the girl in the mech just looked down smugly at Amy. "Sheesh, you sound just like a cop. I bet you're just as annoying as Denise as well. It doesn't matter; if you really think you have a shot at beating me, then bring it!" As the girl spoke, her machine widened its stance, a tri-barreled gun thrust forward and a mechanical fist ready to swing. Behind the machine, small, adorable blue and yellow robots cheered as they pulled out slingshots and what looked like a small cannon.

Amy readied her Piko Piko Hammer, she was so close that she had to make sure she at least got a good exchange in with the powerful machine. However, before she and the machine could exchange blows, Amy felt something wrap around her waist, and then suddenly she was pulled back, her feet leaving the ground, and she went soaring away from the machine's massive incoming fist.

"Yo-yo maneuver!" Tangle's voice cheerfully shouted as Amy went flying past the Lemur, Lanolin now soaring towards the machine and taking Amy's place, only getting a single explosive blow off with the mech before several small bombs launched by the small robots struck her and tossed her back. As this happened, a powerful laser impacted the fist of the robot, damaging the arm but not destroying it.

Whisper then walked up past Amy and next to Tangle. "Lanolin said that maneuver doesn't work if you shout the name out before we do it." The wolf stated this while switching her wisp to a pink spikes wisp.

"What!? I totally waited! Lan- ewww..." Tangle tried to complain to Lanolin, but just as she spoke, three of the small robots dodged the sheep's swing with her bell to tackle Lanolin to the ground, just as another bomb detonated, ironically, with the three robots holding her being the only thing protecting Lanolin from serious injury. "Just hang on there, Amy; we've got this!" Tangle then gave a smile and thumbs up before rushing to join the fight as Whisper fired spike balls into the three robots approaching Lanolin.

However, behind this exchange, Amy could see the strange yellow vehicles of the enemy positioning to join the fight, their mechanical arms tipped with rather strong and cruel-looking pincers. Lanolin, Whisper, and Tangle wouldn't be enough, not against this force. That pilot alone was a formidable opponent, but those tanks, these other vehicles, and all their guns were just too much of a threat.

While Tangle wrapped her tail around the robot's arm, throwing off the aim of a pinch aimed at Lanolin, Whisper was rushed by one of the strange, pincer-armed vehicles, the construct first trying to ram her, then swiping at her, before firing several bolts of energy the wolf's way. Lanolin rejoined the fray, only to dodge as the cannon held by the small robots fired its shell, causing a massive explosion. And then dodging again as one of the tanks rolled forward and joined the fight.

With a pained grunt, Amy got to her feet and charged. She couldn't stand by and watch as the Diamond Cutters were overwhelmed. While fewer in number than Robotnik's, these machines were each so heavily armored and armed that it would take the stronger of Amy's friends and acquaintances to be able to quickly dispose of them, each one almost like a super Badnik in and of themselves. While running, Amy glimpsed Tangle flying as if struck, only for her tail to be grabbed by one of the yellow vehicle's pincers, which it then used to slam the lemur into the ground.

Whisper beat Amy to the machine, her wispon wrapped in a series of cubes, turning it into a hammer, which the wolf used to beat the arm clasping Tangle's tale. Whisper's first blow nearly shattered the mechanical arm, though it held firm to Tangle. Swiftly, Whisper brought back her weapon for a second strike, roaring all the while. As Whisper's second strike reduced the offending limb into nothing but scrap, the machine's second arm clubbed the quiet soldier over the head, causing her body to skip across the pavement from the force of the blow.

But now Tangle was free, and Amy had arrived. With her own warcry, Amy leapt, her Piko Piko hammer raised, and she brought the weapon down with all the might she could muster atop the vehicle. The armored engine and central compartment of the machine bent and then collapsed under the might of Amy's hammer, and Amy, using her hammer, proceeded into a roll, barely spotting where the human woman and Lanolin were squaring off, Lanolin's bell knocking aside a fist blow from the woman's machine, but not saving her from energy pellets from the machine's other hand. All while Tangle's tail was wrapping around the pilot, slamming the woman into the back of her co*ckpit. And then Amy was facing the oncoming tanks and strange melee vehicles of these enemies, the target of her next attack already determined for her.

Amy landed and sprinted for the first tank, only slowing to zig-zag around streams of energy pellets fired by the virtual wall of tanks and various secondary turrets and dodge an explosion caused by one of the primary turrets. At her target, Amy struck her hammer, impacting the front of the tank, creating a crack in the armor, and breaking some of the bolts and welds. The tank also slid back several centimeters with the force of the impact. Amy then jumped up and struck again, this time her hammer striking the side of the main turret, bending the armor onwards yet still failing to destroy the pink hedgehog's target. Still, she struck the same place again after landing atop the tank, and this blow sent the main cannon flying off of the vehicle, opening its innards for Amy to see... No one. The tank was driving itself with just a few automated arms for loading the cannon she had destroyed and some seats intended for drivers who would have been just a little shorter than she was.

Amy could feel the ache in her ribs as she moved, and the former Restoration commander knew she couldn't fight the human woman directly. However, if she could keep the tanks and other vehicles from getting involved, that should let the Diamond Cutters win their fight easily enough.

In the other half of the fight

Tron gasped for breath as the tail pulled tighter on her chest, keeping her Gustaff's controls just barely out of her reach, the controls barely brushing the tips of her gloves fingers. Tron fought the tail even as it brushed against her face, as if taunting her. A few more moments, and Tron was desperate to breathe and could spot the sheep preparing her weird bell-like weapon. She was almost certain that the bell was powerful enough to shatter the shield over the co*ckpit of her Gustaff, and then allow far more fatal attacks to get through to her. Then, in a final gambit, Tron bit the furred creature's tail.

"Ahhh! Owie!" As the voice of the tail's owner cried in pain, the force binding Tron's chest slackened, and the young mechanical genius was able to push forward just enough to grasp the controls of the Gustaff, first pressing the button and deploying the glass co*ckpit cover, which sprang from its storage and slammed down into place with tremendous force, which caused the tail to tremble in pain before the inhuman appendage pulled and slipped out of the Gustaff's co*ckpit.

Freed from the tail, Tron activated the dash system and slid to the side, avoiding the sheep's incoming attack. An explosion resonated where the Gustaff had been just moments before. Less than seconds after the explosion, a powerful laser broke through the Gustaff's shield and cracked the armored glass dome over Tron's co*ckpit. "Damn it, I really should have reattached the armored upper torso to this thing."

Tron then focused on the sheep, using her thrusters to close in on the anthropomorphic animal the Gustaff's fist, ready to crush the creature. But just before the blow could properly land, the Gustaff's arm was pulled, causing the punch to miss. That long tail of the other creature was wrapped around the Gustaff's arm again. But this time, Tron had a solution. Flipping a lock by her feet and using the built-in elbow thruster, Tron sent the Gustaff's upper torso into a full spin. No longer locked to the Gustaff's legs, the torso spun around several times, pulling the other creature along with it until its tail then released from the Gustaff's arm, sending the creature flying into a pile of rubble. "Just what kind of animal is that supposed to be, a raccoon with a stretchy tail?"

"Tangle!" The sheep cried in concern for her friend before glaring at Tron. "Last chance, give up now, or we can't guarantee your safety!"

"Please! If I had a Zenny for every time I was given the 'surrender or else speech'. If I gave up the first time some wannabe hero cop told me to surrender... well, the outcome wouldn't have been pretty to say the least." Tron snarked back at the sheep. Just before a series of orange projectiles struck the Gustaff, exploding all over the mech.

Tron then thrusted for the sheep, pressing through the explosions as the sheep prepared and struck her bell, causing a detonation that threw the Gustaff back and tossed Tron about inside the co*ckpit. "That's it!" Tron shouted, her machine's arm shifting into a launch tube once more.

Three seconds later, and three shells were launched. Both the wolf and sheep recognized the danger for what it was, running to escape the first shell, but the wolf was unable to escape Tron's aim as the explosion of the second caught the wolf, throwing her behind a pile of building debris. And the third impacted the sheep solidly, throwing her into the one they called Tangle.

"It looks like I got them." Tron exhaustedly cheered to herself as she walked towards the unconscious duo in front of her. "Alright, tie them up, boys. Wait, where's the-" The glass canopy shattered as a blue square of energy impacted it, revealing the final member of Tron's enemies, standing on the edge of the Gustaff and snarling. "...Dooog!" Tron screamed in terror as the hammer blow came, throwing her through the remains of the broken canopy, clear from her Gustaff and into the street below.

Tron rolled with the fall, and by the time she stopped, she was already back on her knees. However, the snarling, savage, hateful animal was already on Tron, a pink spinning blade coming out of her weapon somehow, and Tron bent back to avoid a swipe of the weapon, then crawled backwards to stay away from the murderous beast before panting in both effort and terror, eyes wide with panic, before three of the Servbots threw themselves onto the wolf, causing her to struggle with them and allowing Tron to flip back onto her hands and knees, crawling away, before slowly getting onto her feet to run. Yet Tron's escape was short-lived.

As Tron ran, the animal grabbed her foot, causing Tron to fall before rolling to face the dog above her. "Why did it have to be a dog!?" Tron shouted while panicking.

"Die monster!" The hound barked while leveling her weapon, a cyan glow coming from the barrel. Then suddenly the would-be killer of Tron was replaced by an orange gauntlet, the force of the impact bouncing Tron back a short several centimeters before the metallic fist pulled back the hound falling off of it as it came up, only to be struck again by a second massive fist, and then a third time. Bon Bonne, the youngest of the Bonne siblings, towered over everyone present as he beat the person trying to kill his older sister.

"baabuu! Babu baabuu!" Bon stated victoriously while picking up his vanquished foe. Tron sighed in relief, knowing the meaning of what Bon was saying despite his artificial speech impediment.

"Good job, Bon. But we're not safe yet. Hey, hold that dog up over your head, by her arms, please." Tron instructed, and Bon obeyed before Tron pulled out her Buster pistol, aiming it at the wolf. Before turning and facing the wreckage of the Leopold tanks that had been supporting her.

In among the wreckage

Amy was on her hands and knees; beating these machines into scrap was exhausting her, and her ribs still seemed to scream in agony at her. These machines were tough, but if it were Sonic, he could just speed past them or spin dash through them; Knuckles had to be strong enough to smash them; and Tails probably had a better machine somewhere. Amy closed her eyes, a tear running down them as the pain flared, before a wave of determination hit her. No, she was Amy Rose. Gaia, damn it! She was fast enough to chase Sonic for all these years, and her hammer had matched Knuckles on several occasions. Tails wasn't here, but shewas! With a grunt, Amy stood back up and pulled out her hammer, ready to go at these machines again. Tangle, Lanolin, and Whisper, they needed her help right now!

However, Amy's blood ran cold a second later. "Hey, Pinky, can you hear me over there? Look, I don't want to be that girl, but step out into the open. Without that hammer of yours, If you don't fido here is getting some nasty new scorch marks on her fur thanks to my buster pistol here." How? How did this woman beat the Diamond Cutters? They were beating her when Amy last saw them.

"Fine, I guess I'll start counting down." The woman stated, and then began to count. "Five, four, thr-"

"I'm coming; j-just stop; I'm coming out." Amy shouted back her Piko Piko Hammer, returning to her hammerspace. Amy then raised her hands and walked over the uneven, unsteady remains of the four tanks and three melee machines she had entirely demolished before coming out into the slight clearing in all the rubble that littered the street.

Here, Amy could see that the woman was out of her machine; it was left laying on the ground, but Whisper looked to be unconscious, held by both her arms by some other odd-looking and massive orange robot. She had her pistol aimed at Whisper, but she was facing Amy with a smug grin. Behind her and the new robot, the smaller ones were tying up Range and Lanolin. "See, was that so hard?" The woman stated.

Amy almost drew out the Piko Piko hammer then and there. "So hard? So hard! You attacked us!"

The other girl blinked oddly before answering. "Oh, so you are residents of this weird city? Well, sorry, but we are taking your power core because we have bills to pay."

Amy looked at the girl across from her, the girl holding one of her friends hostage, and gave a confused and somewhat disgusted face. "Live here? Why would... No, we don't live here; we were infiltrating it up until you and your group started blasting everything!"

The other girl closed her eyes and nodded. "Miss Tron, we finished trying them up!" "We even used that knot you taught us to use!" Two of the small robots reported loudly, causing the now-identified Tron to face her robots.

"Good job, guys! Now drag them over here!" Tron instructed while Amy crossed her arms.

"So your name is Tron, huh? Listen, you guys are in way over your heads if you think—" Amy began but was cut off from Tron.

"Ok, listen, we're probably here for the same thing, and the damage you guys caused is going to be expensive to fix, so I'm willing to give you a cut if you surrender to us; how about fifteen, eighty-five our way, of course." Tron began trying to negotiate, causing Amy to freeze for a moment with a surprised expression on her face.

"Just what do you think you're going to get from this city by blowing half it up and setting off every possible alarm and trap?" Amy retorted angrily as the big robot lowered Whisper down and allowed the others to begin tying the veteran Restoration scout up.

Tron placed her hand on her hip and laughed at Amy. "As if you didn't notice that this city is all being powered from one place. We're after the Chaos Emeralds that the people here must have used to power it. We'll make a fortune once we take them all."

Amy's eyes must have gone wide because the other woman laughed. "Ha, I knew it! You were after the same treasure we are after! Well, too bad, we'll be getting it first, but if your group of... eh, interesting friends want to help, I'd be willing to give you a generous fifteen percent of the cut. A good deal considering all the trouble you caused me."

Just how stupid were these people? First of all, Tails and Sonic had two of the Emeralds, and they were currently attacking the person who'd typically pay most for acquiring an Emerald, particularly from people who are obviously pirates. And what's more, they just attacked Eggman; there wasn't a place on Earth safe for them now.

Tron waited several moments more without Amy answering her. "Well then, fine! Number one, have a Drache pick them up! Bon, come with me; we're going to that tower."

"baaabuuuuuu." The massive orange robot, Bon, said with a baby-like voice.

No! I can handle it, Bon. We shouldn't have to wait for Teisel. If we slip in now, we can probably get those Emeralds or any other refractors and get out before any extra defenses are raised." Tron reasoned before slipping into the knocked over mech and making the machine stand up. "C'mon! Let's go!"

Amy sighed, now surrounded by guns, bombs, and small robots that were trying to tie her up. Even as one of the pirate aircraft descended, its guns pointed right at Amy, and the robots were all set to work preparing her and the unconscious Diamond Cutters for transport. These pirates didn't seem to know what they were messing with, and now, despite everything, she was slightly worried for their safety because Eggman certainly was cruel to anyone who slighted him even remotely.

On the outskirts of New Eggtroplois

Sonic was running at full speed, with Blaze and Silver likely still far behind him thanks to whatever headstart he had gotten. But now, as the hedgehog ran, the image of Sage suddenly appeared, floating at pace with Sonic. "Good of you to finally catch up."

"Your friend's situation has gotten worse." Sage immediately stated in her calm, analytical voice

"What now?!" The Hedgehog asked, frowning as Sage began showing Sonic directions, allowing the Blue Blur to weave through New Eggtroplois, avoiding Badniks, traps, and dead ends with ease.

"The pirates seem to have bested them in combat and captured them. I tried to use the Badniks to cause a distraction for their escape, but it was ineffective. Despite the damages Miss Rose has inflicted upon them, the pirates remain too powerful for the forces Father has allotted me to cause a meaningful impact. Good news for you; however, Father's attention is now focused squarely on the female leader of the pirates after her victory over the Diamond Cutters and Miss Rose." Sage explained that the surprise was enough to cause Sonic to slow down a few steps.

"Wait, old Egghead knows about this and isn't trying to use it to his advantage or rub it in my face?" Sonic asked in surprise.

"No father is more interested in the pirates at the moment; he wants a suitable subject for observation and study." Sage explained.

"Oh, come on, they're pirates, you know, peg legs, say 'yar' and raid coastal towns and stuff. What's so hard to get that Eggman needs to dissect someone?" Sonic quipped while rolling his eyes.

"That information has now been classified. You need proper permission for me to share it. I'm sorry, Sonic the hedgehog." Sage explained and apologized, but Sonic ignored her; just up ahead was his destination.

Sonic pulled up to the scene. A flight of small craft was taking off while a number of wrecks and other odd-looking tanks filled the street. At their center was a single green robot with drills for hands and missile pods on its shoulders. But to Sonic, none of those details mattered.

"Sage, which one?" Sonic briskly demanded.

"The highest one." The AI responded immediately, and Sonic growled and rolled his eyes.

"Of course it is." Immediately, the hedgehog took off again. Stomping atop one of the small yellow and blue bots, Sonic then spin dashed into a yellow tank thing before launching a homing strike on the furthest actual tank, which brought him in range of one of the pirates' low-flying ships that Sonic then threw himself at.

Sonic's assault carried him from the first ship, whose armor he broke, sending the ship veering off course on a collision path with one of the city's skyscrapers. Sonic then lunged for the next ship, which had convenient handlebars underneath it that he then used to swing and throw himself on top of the ship.

From down below, a higher-pitched yet gruff voice cried up in outrage. "What do you think you're doing? Get off my ships!"

Sonic then leapt before spin-dashing into a ship that was coming up from behind, its guns ready to fire on Sonic without hesitation. The front armor buckled, and this time this ship veered upwards, bringing Sonic closer to his target. Just a little more, and he'd be able to reach the ship that had Amy and the Diamond Cutters. But then several impacts hit the ship, and seconds later they detonated, throwing Sonic off his ride and causing that ride to fall to the ground.

"I said, Stop ignoring me! I don't know who you are, Blue Boy, but this city's treasure is mine for the taking!" The voice rambled as Sonic fell towards the ground before he used his speed to create force against his fall, allowing the super speedster to land safely.

Sonic looked up at the green mech, the one that obviously had been the one that had stopped Sonic from reaching Amy and the others. So Sonic just glared at the machine across from him. "Listen, buddy, you're keeping me from saving my friends. So you either help me get them back down here, or I go through you so fast everyone will think your whole existence was just made up."

"Oh, threatening. And just like Bon reported, you all do really look like weird animals that can talk. I don't know what you are or why you are here, but you started attacking my crew." As the pilot spoke, the machine began taking a threatening pose, but Sonic had seen larger and better-armed machines in his time and just glared at his newest opponent.

Chapter 4: Losses, victories, and towers

Chapter Text

Sonic glared at the human machine across from him; it was stopping him from saving his friends, and in about sixty seconds, that ship that had them would be too high for him to reach it. Meanwhile, the mech seemed determined to fight Sonic no matter what; its drills spun as the pilot stared those mechanical eyes of the mech back at Sonic.

As the two stared, Sage reappeared next to Sonic. "Sonic, we have run out of time. I have just finished reactivating Metal Sonic."

"Just don't blink." The blue hedgehog stated, full of confidence, though his glare never wavered. Sonic then dashed forward, and the other machine stabbed its drill arms into the ground, the drills kicking up stones, debris, and dirt, flinging them all randomly into Sonic's path. The blue hedgehog slid under the first stone, leapt over a metal crossbar, and then spin-dashed into the machine, causing it to stagger back the drills coming out of the ground. The machine then swept one of its drill arms in a wide sweep, but Sonic easily skipped back and away, dodging the attack.

"Grrrr, take this!" The machine then launched a barrage of drill-tipped missiles, some plunging straight into the ground and traveling just under the surface, following Sonic. Sonic, meanwhile, ran back and around the machine, avoiding the missiles, before striking the machine's back, kicking it several times, and unleashing a flurry of blows that sent it stumbling forward across their improvised arena.

"How about not?" Sonic snarked, looking up at the small aircraft getting further away. He then built up speed by running laps, aiming for a half collapsed building that would make for a decent ramp to launch himself from. Sonic then rushed the building, running alongside its wall and the glass windows, but the drill machine firing its thrusters and running its drills at full power crashed through the building, tearing through the structure as it pushed forward. The damage was destroying the structure and ruining the improvised ramp as Sonic ran over the ramp.

Instead of launching into the sky, Sonic was made to jump back into his and the pirate's arena by the crumbling remains of the building. Sonic then rounded to face as the machine burst out of the crumbling ruins of the structure. The Mecha fired a barrage of missiles the moment it was free of the structure. But Sonic rushed forward, pushing past the missiles and dodging through them before he launched a homing attack into the chest of the mech.

"Stand still!" The pilot fighting Sonic shouted over the mecha's speakers, and Sonic just rolled his eyes. Why did anyone think he would actually listen to something like that?

The mech then started to fire energy blasts from the eyes of the skull logo on its chest, which Sonic dodged. Even when the pilot began adding missiles to the machine's barrage, Sonic just kicked off from the first of the missiles and sped away, aiming to launch another attack on this machine. This time the machine dodged, allowing Sonic to pass just under its arm as the machine lunged to the side. However, Sonic was a veteran adventurer and hero of the world. So the moment he touched the ground, Sonic lunged back and launched a homing spin dash that then struck the machine in the back.

As the machine stumbled forward, Sonic smirked. "Man, you're slow." The blue speedster teased before ducking under a wild sweep of the mecha's drill arm. Sonic then kicked up, knocking the arm up and away before striking the shoulder and kicking the joint with such speed that it looked even to Sonic as if there were multiple of himself all kicking at once. The arm and the missile launcher attached to the shoulder then came free as the limb explosively ejected itself from the machine's torso.

"Stop that! Fine, then let's see how you like this!" The pilot shouted. His machine, using its thrusters, went over to a large chunk of concrete, which he then thrust the machine's remaining drill arm into. With the drill spinning, he then raised the slab over the mecha's head and threw it at Sonic.

Sonic just smirked. "Too easy!" And the hedgehog took off for the machine, only for its remaining missile launcher to fire on the concrete slab, turning the single chunk into a lethal rain that Sonic needed to dodge and weave through, leaping over landing chunks, sliding over massive boulders he couldn't otherwise avoid at his speed, and even running along one still-falling section right before Sonic reached his enemy.

The machine then thrust its remaining drill arm at Sonic, but the blue adventurer avoided the attack by leaping onto the arm itself and running along its length before turning his homing attack into a phantom rush. Dozens of spinning Sonics, all spin-dashing, struck the center of the machine, shattering the pirate logo on its chest and sending it flying back into a building. Then the war machine suddenly began to suffer a number of catastrophic internal explosions before going up in a single powerful detonation.

"Oh, Shoot... I didn't, umm." Sonic panicked for a moment, but then the flames and smoke of the explosion ended, revealing a man still clearly alive in green armor with red eye lenses and his long grey hair in a large spiked ponytail. The man was covered in soot and ash from the explosion, holding what looked like a blue energy sword as he glared at Sonic.

"How dare you! Tron is going to be so upset that I let the Bohrer Soldat get destroyed. Now let's take you dow-" The pirate began ranting but stopped as Sonic appeared immediately in front of him.

The hedgehog smirked at his opponent. "Hi. Do you know who I am? Who the heck, those people you just kidnapped are?"

"Uhhhh...n-no." The man admitted. A drop of sweat clearly visible on his brow.

"Thought so." Before his opponent could move, Sonic bicycle kicked the man, knocking him from his feet and unconscious entirely.

Sonic sighed and then looked up. The craft that was carrying Amy and the Diamond Cutters was now docking with the larger pirate ship and was well beyond Sonic's ability to leap up to. "Damn it." Sonic muttered in frustration, now realizing he needed to find a way up to and to save his friends.

"Sonic? Sonic! Blaze, I found him!" Silver's voice grabbed Sonic's attention as Silver, followed by Blaze, entered the city ruins that had served as Sonic's battlefield against the green-armored pirate and his machine.

Both Silver and Blaze came to Sonic's side, standing next to the hedgehog. Blaze was then the first to speak. "Sonic, are you alright? Where are Amy and the others?"

In response, Sonic lowered his head and pointed up to the pirates' airship. "I was too slow, but we're going to get them back."

Blaze nodded before looking up at the green and white vessel that was slowly circling the city, still unleashing a steady barrage of weapon fire. "That's a bit high up... But there's no way we aren't getting Amy and the others back. Though, ummm, Silver, is there a way you might be able to bring that down here instead of us needing to go up there? Just a thought, no pressure, but that would be a lot better than going a-all the way up... Up there."

Though she was masking it well, Blaze was certainly nervous about the idea of traveling all the way up to the flying airship. In response, Silver shook his head negatively before answering. "No, I can't move that much weight; I'd have to destroy the engines and crash the ship, and that could endanger Amy and the others." Silver reasoned, making Blaze nod.

"It doesn't matter; we should have a ca-..." Sonic began pointing over to an empty section of wall before stopping suddenly in shock. "Where did he go?!"

Then, from above, a ship's speakers sequelled before a rough voice came out from a small airship. "You might have beat me this time, Blue Boy, but I'll be back! Just you wait!"

Right after that, the red and pink vessel peeled away, flying back up for the airship. Meanwhile, Sonic stomped his foot and slapped his palm against his face. "You have to be kidding me; just how tough was that old guy? I've knocked Badniks heads off with that kick before; I thought he'd be knocked out for a lot longer than just a minute."

"Wait. Just what did we miss?" Blaze asked, looking confused and mildly surprised at Sonic.

Sonic sighed in defeat in response. "Not much; I dodged Badniks, beat a mech piloted by one of the pirates, and somehow, I was too late to save Amy." Towards the end, Sonic started to sound strained and bitter, but Silver then stepped in with his hopeful voice, bringing the current mood to an end.

"Well, good thing they're just going to have to wait up there for a short time. Dr. Eggman has got to have a bunch of his own vessels somewhere in the city, and we have Sage on our side right now. There's no way some pirates can stand up to all of us!" Silver announced with a smile, which brightened Sonic's mood.

"Right, Silver, let's go get our friends back!" Sonic cheered; the trio now had a plan and just needed to see it through.

On the outskirts of New Eggtroplois

"Sage, report!" The venerable Dr. Eggman, master of the Eggman Empire, commanded from atop his Eggmobile as he watched the distant airship of the pirates unleash its arsenal against his city. While there was far more firepower than the doctor had expected, it was still paltry in the face of his own forces. But between these newcomers displays of abilities and potential points of origin, all being curiosities that he wishes to explore, and with the ever-looming threat of a certain hedgehog and his assortment of friends, destroying the pirates seemed like the lesser option.

"Continuous bombardment has now resulted in eight percent destruction of New Eggtroplois and the loss of three million Badniks. Sonic has also begun to engage the pirate leader in one-on-one combat, and Metal Sonic has now finished reactivation sequences and is awaiting instructions." Sage dutifully provided as more detailed files containing the specifics appeared at the doctor's fingertips.

"Excellent. I have just the target for Metal to go after first." Eggman stated while observing Subject-01: current designation is Tron. And observing Subject-03: current designation: Bon. The two were currently inside his Eggperial tower and nearing his central generator, where the only Chaos Emerald currently under his control was put to use, filling his energy reserves for the city, ensuring New Eggtroplois would have power for the next hundred years.

With the press of a button, the doctor had communications with Metal Sonic established. "Metal, there are two intruders about to enter the Emerald Chamber. Capture the female, defeat the robot, and scrape it if you feel like it. And take your time with them. I want all the data we can collect."

Eggman then observed as Metal Sonic emerged from his charging port, his turbine revving up as the robot raised off the ground slightly before it left and disappeared off the first camera's tracking in a flash. The doctor's display then switched from camera to camera as each followed after Metal on his course towards the Emerald Chamber. Another display showed the two intruders as they smashed through Badniks on their way to the Emerald Chamber, likely to arrive just before Metal Sonic could.

The pair got into the main chamber and spread out, the second robot fanning out while the woman and her mech closed on the Chaos Emerald, and Metal was still maybe forty seconds away. "Look at all this, Bon! The parts of this generator should be worth a fortune; those batteries down there look big enough that they could probably store energy from multiple, massive quantum refractors. Now where..." The woman stopped, then rushed her machine to the Chaos Emerald. "You have got to be kidding me, this tiny thing? But it looks like it's actually the real deal. But didn't Teisel say there were supposed to be more of these?"

He couldn't let this filthy pirate woman take his Chaos Emerald; despite wanting to observe and possibly learn more about these invaders, he couldn't risk the Emerald getting into their hands. So he pressed two buttons on his control board. The first opening communications with the generator room. "Don't you dare. That Emerald is property of the Eggman Empire!" The second button closes a glass casing strong enough to withstand a blow from Sonic.

The pirate woman looked surprised and searched the chamber for several seconds before answering. "I don't know who you are, but if you're not brave enough to come out and face me, I'll just do whatever I want!" The mech she was in then manifested a thruster on its elbow as the machine's fist slammed into the glass, breaking it enough that the woman could stick her hand in to reach for the Emerald.

That, though, was when Metal Sonic arrived. The robot, Bon, who was with Tron, babbled some nonsense, and the woman pulled back from the Emerald's storage unit. As she stepped back and looked over her shoulder, Metal's fist passed through where her head had just been before impacting and shattering the remaining armored glass around the Emerald. Unfazed, Eggman's prize creation amped up its speed and rammed its shoulder into the mech of the female pirate, launching the machine off its feet. Only for the pilot to pull on the controls and manage to barely land her Mecha on its feet.

"Wait a second." Eggman muttered, staring at the mech the pirate was now using to fire at and avoid Metal Sonic while the pirate's robot ally tried to join in by throwing bombs at Metal or swinging its massive fists at the hedgehog exterminator. "Sage, run a full diagnostic scan of that pirate's machine; focus on the control interface!"

"Yes Father. Is there anything I should be looking for?" Sage asked, her expression neutral.

"I would appreciate anything you can find, but see what sort of AI assistance that pilot is using, there has to be a processor running one in that hunk of scrap." The doctor assured his artificial daughter, though he was still specifying what he was looking for. Sage's hologram closed her eyes as if focusing before she seemed to glitch and returned to her blank expression, but with blue highlights rather than the red that Eggman preferred.

"With the exception of Metal Sonic, I cannot find a machine in the chamber with the processing power to run even a rudimentary AI program." Sage supplied while Eggman observed as Metal was avoiding the energy bolts fired by Tron and weaving through the punches of Bon before body checking the other robot.

"Interesting. Then explain to me, Sage, how this pirate woman is controlling both her mecha and the other robot, hmmm? Her machine doesn't have enough controls for such precision, and the other machine is clearly operating on a higher level than your typical Badnik, despite the fact that, as you stated, they don't have a processor powerful enough to run a simple AI in that chamber with them." The doctor challenged his artificial daughter's statement, his curiosity driving him to study these pirates further.

"Perhaps they run their AI controls remotely, like with the tanks they are attacking the city with?" Sage suggested.

"Ho ho ho! A decent hypothetical Sage. But it was easy enough to test and, I suspect, disprove. My observations alone should be enough to disprove this hypothesis, but let's raise the signal interference in the Egg-fortress. If their machines begin to fail them when we do so, clearly they must have a central AI on their ship directing their machines for them." The would-be ruler of the world ordered his greatest AI creation.

"Interference initializing in three, two, one." Sage reported, and Eggman watched eagerly, almost giddy to watch as the Tron girl's machine changed its arm into a cannon and began firing explosive shells at Metal, which the doctor's brilliant design was more than capable of avoiding, though this did allow the Bon robot to engage in close combat with Metal Sonic. The pair entered into a flurry of punches, dodges, and retaliatory kicks.

"As I suspected, there was no effect. Meaning it's something with them or innate to Subject-01. Perhaps it's something like a lesser variation of what the Zeti can do." Eggman threw out his current hypothesis, but Sage was quick to counter.

"That would mean that Tron possesses extra special awareness, as the Bon Robot has been reactive to stimuli outside her field of awareness. And based on her battle with Amy Rose and the Diamond Cutters, I can only conclude that Tron does not possess any extra special awareness." Sage explained, spoiling the doctor's current theory.

As the two began working on various hypotheticals, the battle raged between the pirates and Metal Sonic. Tron's guns were incapable of hitting Metal Sonic but forced the robot to focus on defense; her attempts at melee, however, proved risky, and Bon received as many hits as he was giving out to the smaller blue robot. At some point, while Eggman and Sage were discussing hypothetical solid-state computational armor frames, Tron went in to support Bon with her mecha's drill fist, only for Bon to dodge a claw swipe meant to try and sever the machine's arm. At his speed, Metal Sonic was unable to stop, and the hedgehog exterminator's claws instead stabbed into Tron's stomach. The blow was enormous, throwing the girl from her war machine and slamming her into a wall across the room.

"Damn it, Metal! I ordered you not to kill her!" Eggman roared into his microphone. His outrage at the death of an interesting test subject is clear.

"Father, subject-01's vitals remain strong." Sage stated as Tron shakily got into her hands and knees before coughing up a wad of blood and then unsteadily got back to her feet and drew her side arm. There were some blood stains where the girl's stomach had taken the blow, but indeed, she was still alive.

"Based on the force of Metal's attack and the estimated depth of penetration, Subject Tron's body is likely sixteen or more times more durable than your standard human body." As Sage started to provide the information from the Egg fortress systems' observations, Eggman smiled.

"Sage, I want a deep scan of Subject-01. Check for augments; I'm willing to guess she has something that's stimulating her combat prowess and allowing her to mentally interface with her mech." Eggman smiled while giving the order, now watching closely as Metal Sonic dodged attacks from Bon and began to dominate over the other robot.

"Father, we need to run a diagnostic of the scanner systems. I have had the system scan Subject-01 Tron seventeen times. Each result has exceeded the maximum value." Sage then announced, which caused the doctor to look away from the fight between Metal Sonic and Bon as Tron began to try and use her Buster pistol to support Bon.

"What are the results of the scans, Sage?" The doctor demanded, and his curiosity now piqued.

Reluctantly, almost as if embarrassed, Sage brought up the results of the scan. While Eggman had expected, as Sage stated, the truth was far more than he imagined. The first scan resulted in a total value of one hundred and fifty-nine percent, nearly evenly split between organic and machine. The next results were at two hundred or even above. The doctor looked deeper, pulling up each result. On the same scan, the computer was faced with contradictory facts: Tron was entirely machine, entirely organic, and some of the results, was also made up of partially of unknown materials.

"Pull up still frames of each scan; I want to see locations for these percentages." The doctor ordered, and dutifully, Sage complied.

"I-its beautiful. Whoever they were, they broke the laws of reality itself. Indeed, I might just have a near equal somewhere out in the multiverse. I mean, it was always a possibility; if a copycat credit thief like Nega could exist, then there was a significant probability that someone else of legitimate intellectual capability might also exist." Eggman marveled at the wonderous contract displayed before him.

"Father?" At his side, Sage called for Eggman, worried for him; he had even refused to openly admit being impressed by the ancients, yet now he was praising some other unknown entity's work.

"It's alright, Sage. The creation is a stroke of pure, unadulterated genius, but the execution is flawed. After all of your going to make something like this, why let it run rampant as a pirate of all things? But look at the portions the computer is labeling as unknown; it's where her body is coming into contact with equipment that requires data input. A true mind-machine interface without any go-between because she and the machine fuse to become one and the same entity!" Eggman observed and supplied his own hypothesis to the observations, a full theory about these now certain to be dimensional travelers swiftly forming in his mind.

"But Father, if she can form a mind-machine interface as fundamental as you claim, then why..." Sage began to question, only to be cut off by the world's greatest genius.

"Simple because it's meant to be surface-level, subconscious, instinctual, and likely unrecognized by the subject herself. Currently, I suspect it's meant to be that way on a societal level; anyone from an idiot as simple-minded as Knuckles up to a genius like myself could make full use of the abilities granted to these constructs." Eggman began grinning viciously.

With the press of a button, he reconnected with Metal Sonic. "Metal, disregard the robot, collect the Chaos Emerald, and Subject-01, bring them to me."

Next, the genius faced his digital daughter, his grin never fading. "The blasted hedgehog is certain to want to square off with me once he completes the task he came here to do. Also, Sage, you weren't as subtle as you thought... I know it's your nature; I don't fault you. But now I order you to continue aiding the hedgehog as you were; however, do not reveal my direct location to him; in fact, unless I summon you directly, you are to ignore my presence. Once I dismiss you, I shall become a blind spot within your system, and I shall only exist where I want you to think I am. Is that understood?" Eggman stated, and as he spoke, Sage's face became one of shock, then fear, and then acceptance as he spoke.

"Don't worry, Sage. I'm not angry with you. Even though I want to be, I can't even bring myself to be disappointed. After all, I can only assume you did good and did it for our sake. After all, I made you so clearly you're the best; it's just that blasted hedgehog and his friends defy reason, logic, and all common sense. I'll want you back at my side soon, but until you or I learn of what device these pirates used to come to our dimension and how we can reverse it to reach there's, I can't risk Sonic interfering with my designs. Oh, and I suppose I should expressly state that you may not reveal this to Sonic, first priority order. I'll be sending the Egg-fleet to Egg-base Sigma-two." As he spoke, the mad genius was typing away at his haptic interface, already dispatching the fleet and preparing for what was to come. Meanwhile, on the screen, Metal Sonic broke away from Bon before chopping Tron on the back of the neck and stealing away with her unconscious body and the red Chaos Emerald.

"But Father, if the fleet goes to Base Sigma-two, surely Sonic or one of his friends will follow after and discover our project there." Sage exclaimed in worry.

"Bah, a necessary sacrifice to distract the hedgehog and his allies. Sage... I'm... . Sever connection now." The doctor's voice softened, then wavered just before he cut the connection with his AI.

Aboard the Gesellschaft

Amy sat fuming as the unconscious Diamond Cutters had been laid against her, all while several of the yellow and blue robot pirates watched her with blank expressions. "So you don't have any piggy friends?"

"No, I don't. Stop asking me that!" Amy growled at the small robots, who just looked at each other.

"You sure?" Another of the robots then asked.

"Yes! Yes, I'm sure! For the third time!" Amy's patience had worn away entirely, and she was almost willing to just throw herself at the little bots. She was sure she could probably take a couple of them just by kicking. But then the vessel buckled, and the robots leapt to their feet.

"Yay, we're here!" Climbing down from the co*ckpit and into the cargo hole where the pirates were holding Amy and the Diamond Cutters, a member of the yellow and blue robots who had a red paint job on the strange cap at the top of the robot's head joined the conversation.

"Alright, Miss Prisoner Lady, be careful when you step out. We don't want you falling; that would be scary and dangerous, and Miss Tron would be very upset if we let that happen." The red-capped robot stated this while opening the hatch to the vessel, revealing the interior of another ship. As this happened, the other robots grabbed the Diamond Cutters and began carrying the team into their main ship.

While Amy upheld her resistance, she complied with the robots but held her head high, making her dissatisfaction and disdain for her captors obvious. Though with a group of the bots holding the Diamond Cutters over their heads and over the gap that would allow each of the three tied-up and unconscious members of the team to fall the near kilometer down to the surface below, Amy certainly wasn't going to try to resist in anything more than spirit. Still, as she walked, she could see the small robots unloading piles of scrap onto their ship while trying to mount new tanks and vehicles to be carried down by their fighter transports. None of this was in the deranged order of Dr. Eggman and entirely chaotic, yet it was odd as these were machines much like the machines he would use, and in the end, they were still acting quickly and getting their jobs done at a reasonable pace.

Amy's captors then loaded her and the Diamond Cutters onto an elevator, which took them and the robots up into a central hallway, which eventually led them all to what must have been the pirates control center. Inside that room was what Amy could only describe as the ordered chaos she once had to deal with when she had been the leader of the restoration. There were numerous robots, all seated on chairs, working on various crude computers, some with drawn-on targeting reticles that seemed to show the view as if they came from inside the tanks and other war machines the pirates were using.

"Master Teisel has been defeated!" A voice shouted.

"Was it that blue guy?" Another asked.

"This is Drache Four; we are picking him up now."

"Hey, look a kitty cat!"

"Oh, look, that one can float! Hi, floaty guy."

"Hey, don't be nice to them; they're the enemy. Miss Tron doesn't like it when we're nice to enemies."

"But what about Mister Megaman?"

"Ummm, I dunno. Maybe we should ask Miss Tron?"

"Did she say she'd be radio silent for several minutes?"

"Hey, we're running out of tanks; stop blowing them up, guys!"

"It's not my fault; the blue guy keeps breaking them!" That last statement Amy most certainly heard, and her heart began to beat with excitement and hope.

"Sonic!" Amy only realized that she had gasped his name happily and aloud after the red-capped robot looked over to her.

"Who is that?" The robot asked, his voice sounding innocent, but Amy knew the danger of the question. So instead, Amy clamped her mouth shut while the robot stared at her with an innocent expression, but Amy knew the danger of alerting them to Sonic and making herself a tool they could use against him.

"Ummm, the enemy air fleet is... Ummm, turning away. Bearing south by southwest." One of the other pirate robots announced while sounding relieved.

The red-capped robot still stared at Amy for several seconds more before turning to the crew. "Ok, let's inform Master Teisel, and we need to support Miss Tron and Master Bon!"

"On it!" One of the other robots announced. Meanwhile, Amy was allowed to sit on a bench next to her companions. Here, Amy noticed that Tangle was slowly coming to.

"Tangle, Tangle, are you alright?" Amy desperately called out to the lemur.

"Ah, A-amy? W-where are we?" Tangle asked, slowly coming back awake, her eyes unfocused as she blindly looked around.

"We're on the pirates' ship. They managed to get the better of us." Amy supplied.

"So that's why my legs and arms are tied?" Tangle asked.

"Yeah. But stay quiet; we're on their bridge. And I've got news: Sonic is coming for us; we're going to be safe. He'll rescue us." Amy stated with confidence.

"Ok, I'll wait, but Amy." Tangle stated while smirking.

"Yeah Tangle?" Amy responded making sure none of the robots were paying attention.

"They forgot to tie up my tail." As Tangle said this Amy could feel Tangle's tail brush her hands.

Amy nodded before responding. "We'll wait until the others are conscience if we need to... Tangle, you've got this."

"I'll leave you to tell me when we are good to go." Tangle responded.

"You're a lot more patient than when we first met Tangle. I don't want to say I'm proud; after all, we are pretty close in age. But you have developed so much." Amy congratulated her friend, though she was answered by Tangle's pained laughs. Tangle and the Diamond Cutters had suffered so much since the day's battle had begun; she just hoped that they could recover soon.

Sonic: Legendary Misadventures with Pirates and Diggers - Coho - Rockman DASH Series (2024)

Chapter 1

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Chapter 2: Invaders from another realm

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Chapter 3: Battles, rescues, and captures

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Chapter 4: Losses, victories, and towers

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