History[]

Past[]

Sonic hails from parts unknown. What is known is that he has always been on the move, looking for his next adventure.^[10]

Sonic has spent years of his life battling his arch-nemesis, Dr. Eggman, and his forces for the fate of the world, with the hedgehog always prevailing in the end.^[11][12][13] Along the way, he has made numerous friends, rivals, and other enemies. Noticeably, he practically raised his best friend and closest ally, Tails.^[14][15] Some of the doctor's plots that Sonic has foiled include his countless attempts to procure the Chaos Emeralds^[13] and the deployments of at least one version of the Death Egg.^[13][16]

A long time ago, Sonic and Tails would visit Angel Island to destroy Eggman's Death Egg. During their trip across the island, they became quite familiar with its various regions. At some point, the duo also had to contend with Mecha Sonic, who proved to be a powerful adversary. In the aftermath, the heroes raided the spaceship and put it to ruin.^[17][16][18]

Classic Era[]

Seasons of Chaos[]

Shortly after the Phantom Ruby incidents,^[19][20][21] While in Spring Valley Zone, Sonic, Tails and Amy found a Chaos Emerald, only for Metal Sonic to steal it from them. Sonic tried to catch up to Metal Sonic, but was repelled by him. As he fell though, Knuckles caught him, who explained that he had been attacked by Metal Knuckles, who had taken one of the Chaos Emeralds from him. Suspecting that Dr. Eggman was seeking the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles decided to go to Summer Falls Zone, leaving Amy behind and forgotten.

There, they were attacked by Fang, Bean and Bark before they could get the Chaos Emerald they just found. During this scuffle, Sonic was busy fighting Bean. Though Sonic eventually managed to catch the Chaos Emerald, Fang shot it out of his hand with his Popgun, causing it to be lost below a waterfall. Unable to recover the Chaos Emerald, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles decided to move on.^[22]

In Autumn Forest Zone, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles found Eggman and Metal Sonic. The trio proceeded to attack Eggman and surrounded him, but Metal Sonic escaped them. Later, they were joined by Fang's gang and Amy, who had brought Mighty and Ray with her. Eggman proceeded to explain that Heavy King had overthrown him and begun collecting the Chaos Emeralds to gain ultimate power and conquer the world.

Hearing this, Sonic decided to join forces with Fang and Eggman. The group subsequently went to Winter Caverns Zone, where they got to the entrance of Eggman's base. There, Sonic and Knuckles were attacked by Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles. Sonic and Knuckles proceeded to fight the robots until Eggman regained control of them.

Inside the base, the group found Heavy King, who began bombarding them with energy projectiles empowered by the seven Chaos Emeralds. Finding themselves on the losing end, Sonic decided to distract Heavy King so that his friends could take Chaos Emeralds from him. After Sonic caught Heavy King's attention, he made the robot focus his firepower on himself, which would run out of juice after he lost the Chaos Emeralds. With Heavy King, weakened, Sonic defeated the robot.

Afterward, Sonic and his allies departed the base and decided to share the Chaos Emeralds between them to keep Eggman from getting them. Sonic himself took the blue Chaos Emerald with him and said goodbye to Tails and Amy as he left to hide his Chaos Emerald.^[22]

Sonic Learns to Drive[]

Sonic eventually decided to get his driving license in order to take part in Mr. Munch-Um's rally race and win a lifetime supply of world-class chili dogs. For his driving test, he received Kip the Capybara as his driving instructor. Sonic, however, did not know any road safety practices and kept talking to Kip instead of focusing on the road. When Kip gave him an "E" rank for his driving though, Sonic decided to get it together.

However, when Sonic heard on the radio that Mr. Munch-Um's rally race was about to take place, Sonic decided to hurry to the contest using Kip's car. After taking the car through a loop, Sonic heard on the radio that Mr. Munch-Um's Road Rally had been postponed due to an attack on the city by Dr. Eggman. Before Sonic could head out on foot to stop Eggman however, Kip asked him to take a shortcut in the car at high speed. Sonic liked the idea and told Kip that they were beginning a beautiful friendship.^[23]

Dr. Eggman's Birthday[]

Sonic and Tails were later attacked by the Hard Boiled Heavies and their fellow Badniks. However, the robots would be called back to base by Dr. Eggman himself. Along the way, Sonic also heard that it was Eggman's birthday, prompting him to give Eggman a birthday greeting.^[24]

Amy's New Hobby[]

One time, Sonic and Tails were out looking for Dr. Eggman's newest base. As they waited for a group Badniks to appear in order to see where they went however, Sonic got quite impatient. As such, when some Badniks did show up, Sonic blasted out from their hiding place and Spin Dashed all of them.^[25]

While patrolling around later on, Sonic noticed some commotion coming from Amy's house. Discovering a huge gathering there, Sonic tried getting to the bottom of it. Finding Tails and Amy in the center of it all, Sonic was told by Tails to check out Amy's self-made comics of their adventures. After taking a few looks, Sonic praised Amy for her awesome and accurate portrayals of himself. Eager to have someone to document their adventures now, Sonic began telling Amy about when he and Tails "fought" Eggman on his birthday, who eagerly took notes.^[25]

Flying Off the Rails[]

Sonic and Tails go on a vacation to Flicky Island, on the island waiting for their arrival would be the Witchcarters, who he would Spin Dash Bearanger and get captured by Witchcart in a crystal. Tails would go through the island and catch up to Witchcart in Panic Puppet Fortress, who he would be teased by her until Tails freed Sonic. After Sonic was released, he and Tails would trap her in a crystal. Sonic and Tails would continue their vacation afterwards.

Amy's 30th Anniversary Special[]

Sonic would be captured by Metal Sonic and saved by Amy Rose. He would then assist her in freeing everyone else from the other Capsules. Afterwards, Sonic would join Amy, Tails, Mighty, and Ray in a picnic to celebrate their victory.^[26]

Fang the Hunter miniseries[]

Sonic was resting in Emerald Hill on West Side Island until Fang's Gang attacked him. With their defeat Fang mentions how they are on a hunt for a rumored eight chaos emerald. Sonic says that there are only 7 but Fang begs to differ till they leave to go elsewhere. Tails then hurries over and tells sonic about a disappearing ship on South Island that attack in Marble zone then vanished, sonic curious him and tails go to the tornado to find the ship. Later that night sonic and Tails are on the Tornado ready to strike until the ship vanishes, this leaves sonic angry as to how there is no action, but tails reassure him saying he need to analyze its pattern back at his lab. The next day Sonic curious to continue the hunt is bored with tails saying he build a tracker but will have to install it to the plane first leaving sonic to wine about going nowhere. Later on, the duo reaches the plane with sonic and tails going inside to investigate with the duo overriding the reactor leaving the ship to crash into the water.^{[27][28][29][30]}

Modern Era[]

Pre-Eggman War[]

At a later point, Sonic became involved in one of Eggman's plans that included the deployment of the Egg Carrier.^[16] After the ship was destroyed, the two adversaries would have a mighty battle at the Final Egg, where the doctor was in his Egg Viper mech. The fight ended in the hedgehog's victory and the destruction of the Viper.^[12][13] Another encounter involved the Space Colony ARK, in which Eggman used its Eclipse Cannon to blow up a part of the moon in order to show the world the power that he wielded.^[31]

These events eventually led to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow and even the doctor himself to team up and stop a bigger threat.^[13][32]

Later, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles formed Team Heroes. Soon after, a battle happened between them and Neo Metal Sonic - the powered-up form of Metal Sonic - who was impersonating Eggman. This time, the fake doctor was piloting the Egg Emperor mech, but Sonic and his friends defeated the mech.^[12][33] After learning that Neo Metal Sonic had taken over the Eggman Empire however, the heroes defeated the robot, causing him to revert back to normal.^[34] At some point after that, the hedgehog fought Gemerl, a robot serving Eggman, at the Altar Emerald. However, he did not destroy the doctor's creation. Instead, Tails reprogrammed him into a kind-hearted robot who became Sonic's friend.^[35]

After that, Sonic took part in war against the Black Arms when the vicious aliens invaded; with the aid of Eggman's forces, the hedgehog and his allies were able to repel the invaders.^[36] During another adventure of his, he was hit by a curse, but managed to overcome this threat in the end.^[37][38] Sonic would even face Shadow o multiple occasions after their meeting.^[39][40] Sonic later on would even fight Blaze on the Dead Line.^[41]

Later on, Sonic foiled Eggman's plans again when the doctor shattered the planet with the Chaos Energy Cannon.^[13] During this incident, the hedgehog got an infection that turned him into the Werehog, but he eventually got over it.^[42][38]

At one point, Sonic saved Planet Wisp when Eggman tried to conquer it. Along the way, he befriended the Wisps, the alien inhabitants of that planet, including a White Wisp named Yacker.^[43][44]

Soon after, Eggman tried using the power of a monster known as the Time Eater to tamper with time until he was defeated by Sonic.^[13] During this incident, the hedgehog also fought and defeated the Egg Dragoon.^[45][12]

Not long after, Sonic and Eggman would clash on the Lost Hex but also found opposition in the Deadly Six, a group of Zeti that the villain tried to control. The hedgehog managed to stop the group, forcing them to relinquish their control of the doctor's Badnik Horde.^[13][46] While there, the Wisps assisted Sonic.^[47][44]

The Eggman War[]

Eventually, Sonic got caught off-guard and imprisoned by Dr. Eggman in a cell on the rebuilt Death Egg, allowing the latter to conquer the majority of Earth.^[12][48][49] After six months of imprisonment, though, Sonic was freed by the Resistance, a freedom fighting group formed by Sonic's friends and allies commanded by Knuckles the Echidna, whom he joined up with.^[48][49]

Participating in the Resistance's war efforts, Sonic fought a Metal Sonic phantom at one point during the war.^[33] He supposedly also encountered the Jackal Squad's members, but was able to defeat them.^[50]

After many battles, Sonic and the Resistance were able to break the Eggman Empire's control over the world.^[12] At the climax of their war, Sonic fought Eggman, who was armed with his Death Egg Robot. After Sonic beat Eggman however, the doctor simply vanished.^[12] In aftermath, Sonic left the Resistance, who began focusing on cleaning up after the Eggman Empire.^[51]

Fallout! and Big's Big Adventure[]

About a month later, Sonic noticed a local town called Vista View under attack from a Badnik force. He quickly rushed to their aid, helping trash many of the robots. He soon came across some Egg Hammers though, who were able to put the pressure on the hedgehog. While running underground in the sewers to avoid them, he met and said hello to Big. Fortunately, Sonic's best friend Tails was able to step in and help him destroy the Badniks. Afterward, Tails confided in Sonic that the Badniks had been undergoing much more coordinated attacks following Eggman's absence. Realizing there could be something controlling them, Sonic thought it might be Eggman, but Tails did not believe so, as Eggman was known for making sure they knew he had returned before attacking. Regardless, Sonic remained determined to take care of the rest of the Badniks like he always had, but Tails expressed his worry over the thought of Sonic losing again. Sonic thus promised Tails to be careful and even offered him to tag along with him. However, Tails decided it was more important to help the town that they had just saved rebuild and recover. Commending Tails for his decision, Sonic set off on his new quest alone.^[12][52]

At the neighboring town called Riverside, Sonic brought down the Death Crab down before it could cause any major damage. Amy Rose then arrived and helped finish the Death Crab off. She explained that she heard about Sonic and Tails' latest actions and came by to find Sonic to present him with a request: rejoin the Resistance. The Resistance had their hands full as there were many leftover Badniks from the last major battle against Eggman who randomly attacked citizens. However, much to Amy's dismay, Sonic declined her offer as he wanted to find out who was controlling the Badniks on his own.^[51]

Sonic and Amy soon discovered that the Death Crab was just a decoy so that more Badniks could invade from the west. While Sonic thinned them out, Amy rallied Wispon-wielding villagers to help destroy the Badniks that reached the town square. Sonic and Amy then continued to destroy more Badniks and find their source. During this time, Amy kept asking Sonic to join the Resistance. Soon, Sonic and Amy discovered a Blowfish Transporter unloading many more Badniks at the edge of the town. With their Croquette Bomber technique, the duo took out the Blowfish Transporter. Afterwards, Amy came to terms with Sonic's decision and let him be on his own. Regardless, she requested for him to check on Knuckles the Echidna in a nearby town as she had not heard from him since. Accepting the mission, Sonic set off to find Knuckles.^[51]

As he arrived at Barricade Town, which was a hub for Wispon distribution, Sonic found that Knuckles had already dealt with the Badniks that had been attacking the town. Knuckles explained that the town's Wispon shipments had dwindled and he had come to find out why. The two entered the town and found its citizens in a panic. They were told that all the town's Wispons had been stolen by a duo of mercenaries that had, before the Eggman War ended, driven Eggman's forces away and saved the town, only to then conquer the town and keep its arsenal to themselves. With this in mind, Sonic and Knuckles continued to the town's supply depot-turned-fortress to defeat the mercenaries. There, they encountered a group of captives Wisps being hoarded. Soon, Sonic and Knuckles confronted the mercenaries, who introduced themselves as Rough the Skunk and Tumble the Skunk. A battle ensued between the four, which seemed to be evenly matched until Sonic called upon the help of the Wisps that were trapped within the Wispons Rough and Tumble had stolen. They broke out of the Wispons and allowed Sonic and Knuckles to easily defeat Rough and Tumble, who were promptly arrested and hauled off to jail. With the town now free, Sonic and Knuckles began partying with the townspeople.^[44]

Continuing his journey, Sonic arrived at Spiral Hill Village, where a Buzz Bomber battleship was deploying by a stream of Badniks to attack the village. As he entered the village, he reconsidered Amy's invitation to rejoin the Resistance, but pushed that aside. He soon after noticed a ring-tailed lemur fighting the Badniks as well, who introduced herself to him as Tangle the Lemur. Together, they fought the Badniks until they got cornered by a large group of them. Fortunately, Blaze the Cat appeared and helped them tear through the rest of the Badniks' ranks, including the giant Buzz Bomber. Once the attack had ended, Sonic introduced Blaze and Tangle to each other, and asked Blaze what brought her to his world. She explained she had come to prevent a "terrible event" on his world, as per the Sol Emeralds' directions. Sonic thought she referred to Eggman's global takeover until Tangle brought up the possibility that the organized Badniks could a sign of something worse coming their way, which made Blaze stay until she understood why she was here. After bidding farewell to Blaze and Tangle, who went to calm the fires in the village, Sonic continued his search for the Badniks' ringleader.^[48]

The Fate of Dr. Eggman[]

Sonic was later contacted by Team Chaotix, who needed his help. Meeting up with his escort Espio, the two heroes were forced to clear out some Badniks that were attacking them. After that, Sonic was filled in on the Chaotix Detective Agency's activities by Espio, who told him that they had finally found Dr. Eggman, and that he was taking him to him. Arriving in Windmill Village, Sonic was introduced to a friendly Dr. Eggman, now going by the name "Mr. Tinker," but scoffed the doctor's greeting. Learning from the Chaotix that Eggman was suffering from amnesia, and had become a productive member of the village, Sonic began talking with the Chaotix and the village's elder about what to do with the doctor since it did not seem right to penalize him now that he was a good man with no recollection of his evil deeds. However, a horde of Badniks soon approached the village. Suspecting Eggman to be behind them, Sonic confronted him while the Chaotix faced the Badniks, only to find a scared Mr. Tinker protecting the local children. Convinced now that this form of Eggman was a new man, Sonic helped the Chaotix beat the Badniks. Telling the Chaotix about Mr. Tinker, the group decided to leave him to his new life. After properly greeting Mr. Tinker, Sonic prepared to leave, but then noticed Mr. Tinker mention Eggman Land. Immediately after, Shadow and Rouge showed up, with the former seeking to destroy Eggman.^[13]

Although Sonic tried telling Shadow that Eggman's amnesia was legit and that he was now a good man that did not deserve the punishment Shadow had planned, Shadow did not care. Eventually, their disagreement came to blows. While they raced around and fought however, Sonic convinced Shadow that Eggman was not beyond forgiveness, just like Shadow was in spite of his past attempt to destroy the world. However, when Shadow realized that Sonic had been leading him away from Eggman, the back hedgehog went back to Windmill Village, forcing Sonic to hurry back. Fortunately, by the time Sonic arrived, Mr. Tinker had convinced Shadow that he was not the person he used to be by showing him that the "Eggman Land" he mentioned earlier was but an amusement park for children which he had named after a word that "came to him." After Shadow and Rouge took their leave, Sonic promised Mr. Tinker that he would come back to visit, even if it was only to check if the doctor's memories were returning.^[1]

Eventually, Sonic joined up with Tails again, whom he began raiding bases within search of clues to who was commandeering the Badniks. While flying through the sky in the Tornado however, the duo encountered an Egg Fleet battlecruiser. Seeing this as a chance to get a noteworthy clue, Tails had Sonic board the battlecruiser with his Miles Electric so he could get some computer data from a computer. On the cruiser, Sonic met someone who looked like Eggman. Since Sonic had seen Eggman however, he didn't buy the bluff, and the faker revealed himself to be Neo Metal Sonic. Neo Metal Sonic revealed that he was supposed to be the doctor's greatest weapon in the final battle during the Eggman War, but he was completed too late. Since he had been given his creator's genius, vision, and drive however, Neo decided to take over the Eggman Empire and conquer the world for Eggman as him (making him the ringleader behind the Badnik attacks) and then find the real Eggman so he could hand his empire back to him. Sonic realized that this was the reason that he had to fight a phantom of Metal Sonic during the Eggman War instead of the real thing. Sonic tried to defeat Neo Metal Sonic and his army of Egg Pawns but was forced to flee after Neo Metal Sonic copied his bio-data. Destroying the ship's Badnik staff and artillery along the way, Sonic ultimately escaped Neo Metal Sonic with Tails and the Tornado's aid. Rendezvousing at Resistance HQ, Sonic told Tails, Amy and Knuckles of what he had learned. In an effort to undermine Neo Metal Sonic's scheme, Sonic and co. decided to search for any old plans that could tell them what Neo Metal Sonic was up to.^[33]

Soon after, Sonic infiltrated one of Eggman's bases. There, he encountered Silver when the psychic hedgehog destroyed a Spina for him. The two of them then noticed that the "Guardian Angel" was in the area when she sniped a Spina sneaking up on them. With Sonic oblivious to who that was, Silver told him about her and her efforts during the Eggman War. Silver then explained that he had come back from his time to help Sonic and co. stop an event which would lead to the extinction of all life in his time. The duo soon after found the Guardian Angel. Although Silver scared her into the shadows, Sonic convinced her to trust them when her Wisps playfully greeted him. With the Guardian Angel, who introduced herself as Whisper, on their side, Sonic and co. broke into the base's computer room. There, they overcame E-107 Theta and a horde of Spinas. After keeping Whisper from destroying the computer, Sonic had Silver access the Eggnet. On it, they discovered Neo Metal Sonic's horrific plans, which prompted Sonic and Silver to contact Knuckles and Amy at Resistance HQ and have them call everyone in.^[49]

Battle For Angel Island[]

Returning to Resistance HQ, Sonic and the Resistance's allies were informed of what he and Silver had discovered: that Neo Metal Sonic had conquered Angel Island, which he had turned into a flying fortress, and secured the Master Emerald for himself on the island. As Amy laid out a plan on how they could liberate Angel Island, Blaze offered to confront Neo Metal Sonic as Burning Blaze, which Sonic was all about. However, Tails shot down that plan, having deemed it too risky if Blaze had to face Neo Metal Sonic's powers. In the end, Sonic and Knuckles were chosen to confront Neo Metal Sonic instead and secure the Master Emerald while the others focused on breaking the Egg Fleet's control over the island.^[53]

On their way to Angel Island in one of the Resistance's battleships, Sonic thanked Whisper for joining them on this mission before paying Tails a visit in the captain's nest. As the two friends were having a moment however, the Egg Fleet began bombarding the ship. Using their Extreme Gears, Sonic and Knuckles left the crashing ship and flew to the Master Emerald's shrine, which had been turned into a fortification. Inside it, the two heroes found Neo Metal Sonic on top of the Master Emerald. When they tried to confront him however, Neo Metal Sonic used the Master Emerald to turn into Super Neo Metal Sonic.^[53] While Sonic was undeterred, Super Neo Metal Sonic went on the offensive. Sonic subsequently tried to distract Super Neo Metal Sonic while Knuckles went for the Master Emerald, but both him and Knuckles were foiled and outfought at every turn by the robot. When Sonic and Knuckles ended up lying in defeat before Super Neo Metal Sonic however, Shadow showed up and succeeded in making Super Neo Metal Sonic revert back to normal before laying the smackdown on him. Sonic brought the fight to a halt though, concerned that Neo Metal Sonic would copy Shadow's powers. However, Neo Metal Sonic revealed that he had just finished copying Shadow's bio-data, which, combined with Sonic's bio-data and the Master Emerald's power, would let him assume his final form. While Knuckles and Shadow tried in vain to stop Neo Metal Sonic, Sonic convinced them to evacuate the stronghold once the structure started to fold into Neo Metal Sonic. The ground soon after began to rumble and Knuckles noted that the Master Emerald had been cut off from Angel Island ― without its power, the island would fall. Meanwhile, Neo Metal Sonic grew into a form more monstrous than the last ― dubbing himself Master Overlord ― and demanded that Sonic bowed to him.^[15]

Getting attacked by Master Overlord, Sonic heard from Knuckles that Burning Blaze could not help them. He, Knuckles and Shadow were then grabbed and flown away by Master Overlord, who wanted them to see him destroy their allies, who were onboard an Egg Fleet battleship. It was then that Sonic came up with a plan: if they could drive Master Overlord closer to Angel Island and rip the Master Emerald out of him, they could deprive the robot of his power source and save the island. When the trio escaped Master Overlord's grasp, Sonic and Shadow focused on attacking Master Overlord's wings while Knuckles went for the Master Emerald. Sonic also taunted Master Overlord, which distracted the robot long enough for Sonic's allies, whom Knuckles had relayed Sonic's plan to, to swarm Master Overlord and help drive him towards Angel Island. During the battle, Sonic got shaken off Master Overlord, but was rescued by Silver with his psychokinesis. Knuckles subsequently got the Master Emerald away from Master Overlord after Tails rammed the robot with his battleship, and brought it back to Angel Island, returning the island to the sky while Master Overlord powered down to normal. Down on Angel Island, Sonic sought out Tails, who was safe and sound. With Angel Island now back to normal and Metal Sonic offline, Sonic and Tails celebrated their victory.^[54]

Sonic later had Tails partially repair Metal Sonic so he could talk with the robot. Upon waking up, Metal Sonic threw himself at Sonic, only to collapse in his arms, unable to fight. Sonic explained everything and proposed a truce and the chance for a new life since Eggman was out of the picture. The robot, however, rejected Sonic's offer and flew away. Although disappointed, Sonic decided not to follow him out of respect for his choice. Later, Sonic made several rounds around the Angel Island and informed Knuckles that the island seemed intact. He offered Knuckles to join the others on the trip back to Resistance HQ in the Egg Fleet battleship Tails was repairing, but Knuckles refused, having decided to remain and guard the Master Emerald. When Sonic then asked him about the future of Resistance, Knuckles decided to dissolve the organization. Sonic then went to the battleship, where he met Amy. He informed her about the Resistance's disbandment, and then ran to Tangle and Whisper when the Chaotix demanded payment. Tangle expressed her excitement about her new life to Sonic, but Whisper decided to remain silent. Sonic decided to give the latter some space. He then met Silver and Blaze, who were both holding off their trips home for the time being. This made Sonic note that this was a chance to have more adventures together. Sonic later met Rouge, whom he asked for her next plans and asked to thank Shadow for him. Sonic then visited Tails on the captain's bridge and congratulated him on the record-breaking repair of the ship and another well-finished adventure as the battleship took off Angel Island.^[50]

Jet Set Tornado and Sonic Fan Club[]

Sonic would later pilot the Tornado for Tails to test the biplane's new engine. During the flight however, the heroes stumbled upon a Stealth Balkiry who had stolen supplies from a Resistance warehouse. Sonic and Tails subsequently chased the Badnik to a volcanic island. There, they directed the robot so that it was hit by lava fired from a geyser. As it then dropped the stolen supplies, Sonic destroyed it in midair, and was caught by Tails on the Tornado's wing. Sonic proceeded to thank his friend and let him take the helm, stating that landing the plane is too slow for him.^[55]

Later, Sonic dropped by the Sonic Fan Club's first meeting and destroyed the Egg Pawn bothering them before taking off again.^[56]

Infection[]

While Sonic was relaxing with a Flicky, Tails came with a letter he had received which foreshadowed Eggman's return to his evil ways in Windmill Village. Deciding to check this out, Sonic and Tails went to Windmill Village. There, they found no one, except for Elder Scruffy, who had been beaten up and hung up in a tree. While helping him, Elder Scruffy revealed that Eggman had been kidnapped a week ago by two thugs, who had since returned and locked up the villagers in the community center. Immediately after, the thugs appeared, who turned out to be Rough and Tumble, now wielding new weapons. Sonic subsequently faced the skunks to distract them while Tails and Elder Scruffy freed the villagers. Knowing that Rough and Tumble were not smart enough to make their weapons or leave cryptic letters, Sonic guessed they were working with someone and demanded that they told him where Eggman was. However, the brothers were not interested in that. Eventually though, Tails joined the fight. Splitting Rough and Tumble up, Sonic took on Tumble, who became a blubbering mess after Sonic smashed his new prosthetic tail. Bringing Tumble together with Rough, who had been defeated by Tails, Sonic almost got Rough to tattle, only for the brothers to vanish through a portal. Although Sonic was reluctant to admit that the old Eggman was back and helping Rough and Tumble, Sonic figured that someone must have freed Rough and Tumble and told them where to find Eggman. With Tails staying behind to fix Windmill Village, Sonic left to find Silver to see if he had found something.^[57]

Following a lead from an informant Silver had met, Sonic and Silver went to Frozen Peak where they found an Eggman base teeming with activity. Before they could attack though, Metal Sonic ambushed them. During the subsequent fight, Metal Sonic got saved by Dr. Starline, whom Silver recognized as his informant. Introducing himself, Starline revealed he was behind their concerns and that he had staged this encounter to test himself against Sonic. Realizing that it was Starline who worked with Rough and Tumble, Sonic asked him about Eggman, and Starline revealed he had restored Eggman's memories. Sonic and Silver thus engaged Starline and Metal Sonic. Although Silver took care of Metal Sonic, Sonic got sent through a portal and over a cliff, prompting Silver to follow Sonic through the portal. After Silver saved Sonic, he and Sonic hurried back to Starline, whom Sonic pinned down and demanded info on Eggman from. In response, Starline gave them a code to a vault in the base, which Silver went to check out. When Starline then revealed that Eggman was up to something and that he had given Silver the activation code for a bomb, Sonic hurried into the base to stop Silver. Although Sonic was too late, Silver managed to protect them from the bomb's blast with his psychokinesis. Sonic then took the injured Silver to Restoration HQ to recuperate. After bringing Amy up to speed, she and Sonic tried figuring out their next move, as they knew nothing about what Eggman was up to. In an effort to locate Eggman and figure out his plan, Amy figured they could tap into his network from an unguarded Eggman base in Echo Mine. With a new mission target, Sonic got Amy to come along since its was her plan.^[58]

Eventually, Sonic and Amy reached the base in Echo Mine where they found an old Eggman computer. Amy soon managed to hack it and find plans for an ARK-like space station and talk about a "payload distribution". However, before the heroes could learn more, Rough and Tumble appeared in a large tank with a massive drill and guns. Sonic, however, again mocked the skunks' attempt at a rhymey introduction. He then took Amy and escaped with her through the mines until they reached a refuse pit, and they decided to use the narrow floor in the cave to defeat Rough and Tumble. When Rough and Tumble arrived, Sonic brought Amy in from to the rear of the tank. He then threw Amy up to the tank's cockpit, which she destroyed while Sonic hit the tank's treads. The tank subsequently fell into the refuse pit, but Rough and Tumble escaped and activated their backup backpacks. This made a metallic liquid gush over them and turn them into Zombots. Sonic proceeded to engage Tumble, only for the Zombot to instantly regenerate from any damage he got. As Sonic then wiped his mouth, he discovered he had been infected with the same liquid that turned Rough and Tumble into Zombots. After warning Amy not to touch them and fighting with Tumble some more, Sonic disposed of both Zombots by knocking them into the refuse pit. He then showed Amy the infection and asked if she had any good ideas.^[59]

Taking Amy's advice, Sonic hurried to Tails' Workshop to get Tails to look at him. While Sonic had Tails run some tests on him, Tangle came by for a visit. After discovering the extend of how contagious Sonic was, Tails conclude that Sonic had forced this Metal Virus into remission with his speed. Seeing that Tangle had questions, Sonic brought her up to speed. After Tails then realized that they had to warn people about the Zombots, Sonic and Tails heard what Tangle had been up to. Afterward, the group tried to figure out their next course of action. Since Amy had found plans for a battleship that Eggman was planning to spread his virus with, they concluded that they should find it. When Sonic tried to high-five Tangle however, he saw his infection had returned and withdrew himself. Seeing that Sonic's speed could only burn off the virus and keep in check, Tails wanted to conduct more tests. Not wanting to risk his friends' well-being, Sonic left to find Eggman's battleship. On the way, Sonic reflected on how different things were this time with this new threat Eggman was posing. Nevertheless, he assured himself that they would get through this.^[38]

Crisis City[]

Sonic later came to Seaside City after he learned that Eggman had attacked it with the Metal Virus. Upon arriving, Sonic saved Vector from some Zombots and learned that Team Chaotix were evacuating the inhabitants to the docks. Following Vector's plan, Sonic decided to distract the Zombots in order to facilitate the rescue operation. Along the way, Sonic blew past some Zombots blocking the way down from a roof in order to rescue two residents. Soon after, he saw a Rescue Shuttle arrive to take the survivors to safety. Knowing this would draw the attention of the Zombots, Sonic wanted to save everybody. However, noticing how much his infection had spread, Sonic decided to take a quick run-in order to burn it off. When Sonic later arrived at the port, he learned that Charmy Bee had flown back into the city. After ordering Vector and Espio to escape with the evacuees, he went to look for Charmy.^[60]

Having failed to find Charmy, Sonic went to Floral Forest Village to evacuate Cream, her family, and the other villagers before Eggman's Metal Virus hit them. By the time Sonic arrived however, Eggman had already created a Zombot outbreak. While fighting the Zombots, Sonic began thinking about how he failed to save Charmy and how he did not want history to repeat itself. Soon after, Sonic noticed that the Zombots were beginning to ignore Eggman's orders. Later, as Sonic helped villagers evacuate to the north glade where the Rescue Shuttle would be, Sonic noticed his infection was getting worse. As he thought about whether he should leave the villagers and go for a run to burn off the infection or stay and help the village, he was attacked by Gemerl, who had deemed him a threat to Cream and her family due to his infection. Sonic explained that he could keep his infection in check, but Gemerl refused to consider Sonic less of a threat. Sonic suggested to Gemerl that he could remove the Metal Virus by interfacing with it, but Gemerl noted that he and the Metal Virus were incompatible. Nonetheless, Gemerl gave Sonic an ultimatum: either run away and burn off his infection or stay and be eliminated. In the end, Sonic chose the former, since he could not fight Gemerl and the Zombots at the same time and because his infection was reaching its apogee anyway. During his run, Sonic kept two villagers from starting a forest fire to keep the Metal Virus from spreading. Hurrying to Cream's house afterward, Sonic blew away a Zombot trying to get Vanilla and Cream. Seeing that Cheese and Chocola had become Zombots too, Sonic encouraged a grief-stricken Cream to be brave and promised her that they could find a way to cure the Zombots. After seeing Cream fly her mother towards the north glade, Sonic was saved from some Zombots by Gemerl, who apologized for his behavior. Forgiving him, Sonic told where Cream and Vanilla went and instructed him to ensure the Rescue Shuttle took off safely. Sonic then trapped Cheese and Chocola in glass jars to keep them from flying away. As he engaged more Zombots, Sonic was contacted by Rouge, who needed aid evacuating Sunset City, which was Eggman's next target. Agreeing to help her and Team Dark with the interception, Sonic swore not to let any more of his friends fall victim to the virus.^[61]

When Sonic came to Sunset City, a massive Zombot outbreak had already begun. While fighting through the Zombots, Sonic looked for civilians to save while noticing that his infection was getting worse. After a while, he heard cries for help. Seeing some civilians being kept in a building by Zombots, Sonic rushed in to clear the Zombots out, only to pull back when Omega beat him to it by shooting at the Zombots. Sonic tried to persuade Omega to hold back against the Zombots as they did not choose to be Eggman robots, but Omega remained determined to destroy any Eggman-related robot. Nevertheless, Sonic noticed that the Zombots were too hardy for Omega to really damage. Sonic then saw Rouge, who told him to escort the survivors to the Grand Gold Flicky Hotel where they were organizing survivors. With Omega's help, Sonic managed to evacuate the civilians from the building. After then clearing out a path to the hotel for the survivors, Sonic met Rouge there and told her about his infection and that Eggman could no longer control the Zombots. Immediately after, Sonic heard some civilians call for help, as the Zombots were coming. At first, he wanted to reach out to a civilian, but then he remembered that he was infected. Sonic proceeded to create a whirlwind that blew the nearby Zombots away. Sonic then went to help Omega, who was slowly getting surrounded by Zombots. However, the Zombots were knocked away by Shadow when he arrived in a truck to take the survivors away in. Upon seeing Shadow though, Shadow blamed Sonic for this crisis; if he had not stopped him from destroying Eggman in Windmill Village, none of this would be happening. Although Sonic tried to defend himself by noting that Starline was the one who brought Eggman back, he had to cut his argument with Shadow short, as he needed to go on a run to burn off his infection. He thus left the evacuation of the civilians to Team Dark, although not before informing Shadow that if the Zombots infected him, he could run around to control his infection. As his run took him outside the city, Sonic began to feel his fatigue catching up to him. Seeing the city chaos also made Sonic worried about his friends. However, he shoved those thoughts aside in order to focus on the task ahead. By the time Sonic returned to Team Dark's site however, Rouge told him to "handle" Shadow. As Sonic wondered about what she meant by that, he got pinned against the truck by Shadow, who had become a Zombot.^[2]

Sonic began to fight his Zombot rival while also realizing he would get the chance to say "I told you so" to him later. He found discomfort in having to fight not only Shadow but an entire city of Zombots. Nonetheless, Sonic kept the pressure up on the Zombots and confirmed with Rouge that all the uninfected citizens were secure. When Rouge took off with the truck, Omega stayed behind to continue fighting the Zombots though Sonic teased him to say that he stayed to help him exclusively. Sonic soon spotted Shadow running after the truck. As the Zombot Shadow did not know how to properly use his air shoes, Sonic was able to catch up to him only for Shadow to throw him back. Omega suggested to Sonic that he should retreat before his infection took over completely, but he refused as he did not believe the truck was far enough away and he did not want to leave another friend behind. Omega protested, saying that they were not friends. Sonic instead suggested that they both retreat since Omega could not actually destroy the Zombots but the latter refused. When Omega began to violently fight Shadow, Sonic tried to remind him who he was, but Omega did not care as he saw his former partner as another Eggman robot. Sonic continued to fight the Zombots until Shadow ripped Omega's chest open and his two arms were torn off by two other Zombots. Sonic used a Spin Attack on Shadow and tried to reason with him but to no avail. He tried to suggest a retreat one more time to Omega, but he still refused. Just when Sonic thought it was all over, the recently healed Silver arrived on the scene and used his psychokinesis on all of the Zombots to clear a path for him. Tails told him to go to the Tornado which was waiting just outside the city to the east. With this, Sonic fled the scene.^[46]

Later at Restoration HQ, Sonic was let inside by Cream. He was told that though it was past her bedtime, she was permitted by her mother to help around. Cream goes on to tell him that she has been trying to keep the refugees happy by handing out snacks and sweets to them, which left Sonic to call her the bravest hero there. Sonic was told that Amy was asking for him. Before he could enter her office, Gemerl stopped him due to his hazardous infection. Cream told Gemerl off, saying that Amy had requested to see him personally. With this, Gemerl moved out of the way and Sonic joked that he was a "mechahazard" due to the Metal Virus. Inside, Sonic found Rouge and confirmed to her that Shadow was lost to the Metal Virus. This angered Rouge and she stated that he should have run when she said so. Sonic began to talk to Amy who wished to see how he was doing. However, she quickly turned her attention back to the search and rescue missions she was coordinating. Sonic next found Vector and Espio who have been taking shifts in finding survivors and supplies while also looking for Charmy, the latter part of which Sonic did not think was a good idea. Espio then considers Sonic's health, and the hedgehog told the duo that he could only afford small naps before the virus caught up to him. After the trio said their goodbyes, Sonic met up with Silver and Tails and thanked them for their help. He confirms with Silver that the Metal Virus was the cause of his metallic future, though he did not see any Zombots (or anyone) there. Sonic checked up on Omega whose body was left behind in Sunset City. Tails explained that he would give the robot a temporary body in the future once he had the supplies and the time. Tails went on to explain that since the data he got from Sonic before was too robust to create a cure from, he created a sensor for him that would read his biometrics to give insight as to how his speed combated the Metal Virus. However, he also stated that the computers in the HQ would not be able to read that kind of data and planned to go to his lab in Central City instead but was wary that he may get attacked by Zombots. Silver proposed to cover him, despite the risk that he may be called elsewhere but Sonic took Silver up on his optimism.^[46]

The Last Minute[]

Sonic took off with Tails' bio-scanner and started to burn off more of the growing Metal Virus infection. He soon called Tails, who had gone to Central City, when he was running at the outskirts of Barricade Town. After explaining how well he got the data from his bio-scanner and the situation at Central City, Tails suggested that Sonic kept running so he can find a cure for the virus. Sonic understood and wished Tails luck.^[62] When Sonic reached Barricade Town, he found that it had attacked and wondered if he would be able to help any survivors there. Once he sees Dr. Eggman present in the village, he goes to interrogate him on why he decided to go back to his evil ways after Dr. Starline restored his memories instead of being more like "Mr. Tinker". Eggman told Sonic that he was "bringing peace and unity to the world through his brilliant guidance", which he considered to be better than his deeds as Mr. Tinker. Sonic disagreed with Eggman's vision and after having had his patience spent, he demanded that he reverse the effects of the Metal Virus. Eggman refused, saying that he could not stop it if he wanted to and after he managed to control the Zombots he would be able to take over the world. This proved to be the last straw for Sonic and prompted the hedgehog to engage in battle with Eggman. After being taunted by the doctor, Sonic jumped onto Eggman's Egg Mobile in an attempt to infect him. Eggman instead dodged this by flipping over in the Egg Mobile, which forced him and Sonic to fall to the ground. As the duo got surrounded by Zombots, Sonic jokingly taunted Eggman on how he could not do anything about it. However, after Starline managed to find a working frequency with the Egg Mobile that could control Zombots, the infected instead attacked Sonic solely.^[63]

When Eggman demanded that Starline upload the frequency to the Faceship, Sonic burst out from the pile of Zombots and destroyed the Egg Mobile. After Starline rescued Eggman from Sonic and the Zombots, Eggman berated Sonic for destroying the only means of controlling the infected. Sonic sarcastically voiced his concern and told Eggman to work on a cure instead. Eggman refused again and then retreated with Starline back to the Faceship. Sonic looked to his arm to realize that the bio-scanner had been destroyed after he destroyed the Egg Mobile. Feeling hopeless, Sonic upsettedly reflected on how his little faith in Eggman has made several people pay for it in the end. Soon, as Sonic is almost fully infected, the hedgehog is nearly attacked by several Zombots that climbed up onto the rooftop. Sonic quickly ran out of Barricade Town and refused to give up as he still believed he had time to make things right. As the hedgehog took a brief break from full-speed running, he received a call from Amy. She told him that Restoration HQ and Tails' lab were overrun by Zombots, stating that they were now on the way to Spiral Hill Village to help evacuate it. Despite his fatigue, Sonic readily pledged his assistance, clinging to the hope that things cannot get any worse.^[63]

Soon enough, Sonic arrived at Spiral Hill Village ready to help. As he saw that the Restoration was helping out with evacuation, he believed that he should check in with Amy to see what he could do; out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Espio and decided to help him out first. After beating some Zombots back before they could attack the chameleon, Espio explained the current situation in the village; Amy and Gemerl were watching the Rescue Shuttle, while the latter scanned survivors for infections; Tails and Cream were helping evacuate any uninfected villagers they could find; he was last told that Silver went to Ice Paradise to help out there; and he, Tangle and Whisper were distracting the Zombots until it all survivors had been found. When Sonic asked where Vector was, the chameleon told him that they had found Charmy and had him contained. Espio felt that the situation was his fault as he believed he should not have let Vector bring Charmy back to Restoration HQ. However, Espio also angrily pointed out that he should not have let Sonic convince him to leave Eggman alone in Windmill Village. While Sonic argued that it was not Eggman and they did not know that Starline would turn him back into his evil self, Espio told him that they would not have had to worry should they have dealt with him earlier. Sonic went on to ask if they should then never give second chances to anyone, leaving him and Espio to have an intense stare at each other. Not wanting to prolong the events, Espio wished to continue the mission, which Sonic agreed with. The hedgehog tried to barricade a few Zombots within a building and was helped by Whisper after she used her Variable Wispon to cut down a streetlight to block the entrance.^[64]

Sonic soon arrived at the Restoration's choke point, where Amy jokingly noted his fashionably late arrival. She informed him that while Espio, Tangle and Whisper kept the Zombots in the village distracted, Tails and Cream helped rescue uninfected citizens. She also noted that if they attempted to retreat, the Zombots would swarm them, which led Sonic to want to find a way to cover the escape. When Sonic met Tails and Cream and the latter gave him the cold shoulder, Amy quietly told the hedgehog how Vanilla had stayed behind in Restoration HQ to hold back some Zombots. After Sonic told Tails that he lost the bio-scanner after a fight with Eggman and Tails stated that they could not find any more survivors, Amy called for a retreat. Sonic ran off to find Tangle and coordinate with her. He came across her fighting in the Mineral Museum and told her of Amy's call for a retreat. Unable to quickly flee without drawing attention from the Zombots, Tangle suggested Sonic carry her around while she wrapped her tail around nearby lampposts to create a trip wire to block the Zombots. When Sonic initially refused for fear of infecting her, she revealed her own infection. Sonic was horrified and apologized to her, but she urged him not to give up, stating there were still survivors to protect and that he could still set things right. With that, they enacted their plan, blocking off several Zombots. Having resolved to stay behind, Tangle asked Sonic to apologize to the others for her, knowing Whisper would be devastated when she heard the news. Sonic said he would, and the two friends embraced before parting ways. Sonic was last to arrive at the shuttle and stated that he would ride on the outside. He informed the Restoration that Tangle had gotten infected and chose to stay behind so that they could escape easily. Though the team were quite upset over this, Whisper became frantic and attempted to run back in the village to save her friend; Amy quickly held Whisper back from going and asked Sonic for help, though the latter knew that he could not do it as he would infect them. Instead, Whisper's Wisps sprung out and pulled her back into the shuttle. Amy then called for a take-off. Sonic jumped onto the top of the Rescue Shuttle and solemnly watched Spiral Hill Village as they flew away.^[64]

All or Nothing[]

The Rescue Shuttle arrived at Angel Island, a last resort for a safe haven. Sonic jumped off of the ship next to Knuckles on the pavement in order to prevent the grass from being infected, as his infection had spread so much to the point where only one of his eyes remained its natural color. As Knuckles expressed concern and wondered why Sonic looked like Metal Sonic, the hedgehog did not have time to stop and instead told him that Amy and Tails would be able to explain what was going on to him. With this Sonic ran off around the island. After his run, Sonic returned to find Knuckles confirming that he was now fully up to speed on the situation and expressed annoyance over trouble being brought to his island again. Suddenly, a portal opened of which Eggman, Starline and Metal Sonic dropped out of. As Amy prepared to attack them for everything that they have done, Sonic prevented her act and questioned why Eggman appeared out of nowhere all of a sudden unarmed since he had the advantage. Eggman responded to this by saying Starline brought the Deadly Six onboard the Faceship, which they swiftly took control over. Espio then appeared to inform everyone that they had just gotten word from Rouge. On the shuttle, Rouge reported that Eggman had been powering the Faceship with the Chaos Emeralds, which Zavok had now distributed to the rest of his team and then sent them out into the world; she went on to say that she was coordinating with Orbot to spy on their deployments and coordinate their counterattack. An argument soon arose between Tails and Eggman about a cure for the Metal Virus, to which the doctor clarified that he did not need to have one as his research found that as the Metal Virus mutated, it became unsustainable; soon, every Zombot would disintegrate approximately two hundred years into the future. An injured Silver came onboard and confirmed this claim as it described his current future well.^[6]

Later outside, while running on a makeshift treadmill, Sonic and the others tried to come up with ideas on how to counteract the virus. Amy suggested that Sonic could fix the situation if he went Super Sonic but he felt that though the Chaos Emeralds could give him unlimited power, they could not let him just do anything. Eggman instead came up with the idea to use the Warp Topaz, as if they had Super Sonic charge it with his power, they would be able to warp the virus away with one swoop. Starline protested against it due to its instability and decided to leave and create a solution on his own; instead, Eggman, with Metal Sonic's help, removed Starline's glove that had the Warp Topaz attached to it, fired him and had him thrown out via a Warp Portal. Recalling how Starline was the one to bring back Eggman and try to blow him and Silver up, Sonic was okay with Eggman's decision. Following this, Eggman surmised that Rouge would be able to steal the two Emeralds that were on the Faceship from Zavok; Espio noted that it left five Zeti left to deal with, but Silver felt confident that they would be able to overwhelm them so long as they had each other. The group realized that they would have to split up and ambush the Deadly Six all at once since there was a risk that one could contact the others should they get a sense of their plan. While Eggman thought to work on a "Multi-Portal Generator" to help the others reach their destinations, Tails thought it would be best if everyone had a backup in case someone turned into a Zombot; Sonic also noted how he did not know how much fight he left in him. This prompted Amy to call in the Babylon Rogues to increase their numbers. Sonic was unsure of Amy's decision, but she was confident in it as they were perfect for stealing Chaos Emeralds and would have avoided the plague due to staying in their blimp most of the time. Upon their arrival to the island, Jet wasted no time in insulting Sonic's appearance and stated that he may help if the reward was big enough. Sonic turned to his rival and told him that he needed his help, and the world needed the "Legendary Wind Master". Upon hearing this, Jet accepted Sonic's offer to save the world. Amy claimed that she will not tell Knuckles about Sonic boosting Jet's ego, though the hedgehog was accepting his own ego's hits; from this, Sonic set out for another run but promised to be back before deployment so that they could hopefully end things before they got worse.^[6]

After returning from his run, Sonic told the others that he had come up with a plan for who will be going with who and what Zeti will they go after. Before he could, his infection had resurfaced, nearly covering up all of his quills in metal, and he felt a sharp jolt of pain. As Amy showed concern for him, Sonic shook it off and continued to devise the plan. As Tails pulled up a hologram of Zomom, Sonic requested that he and Amy take him on as they would be able to outsmart him easily, seeing how the Zeti has very low intelligence. Once Sonic stated that it would be best for Knuckles and Espio to take on Zazz, Knuckles rejected his idea in assisting anyone as it would leave Eggman, Metal Sonic, and Sonic alone with the Master Emerald; since everyone was going to have the fight of their lives and Sonic was weakened and exhausted, no one would be able to keep Eggman from stealing it. Sonic questioned Knuckles' paranoia at first but went with it after remembering their history of working together with the latter and being stabbed in the back in the end; Espio made it clear that he was okay with the change, stating that he had a tactic in mind. Sonic moved on and assigned Silver and Whisper to Zor, stating that he was weird and they best handle him at a distance. Even though it was a huge gamble, he assigned Gemerl to Zeena, telling him to use her high and mighty persona to his advantage. Lastly, he assigned the Babylon Rogues to go after Master Zik, telling them that even though he was old, he was also smart and crafty. Following this, Eggman reminded everyone that Rouge had two retrieve the final two Emeralds on the Faceship which Sonic would use to become Super Sonic to undo the effects of the Metal Virus. He then joked that Sonic may succumb to the virus beforehand, until Sonic reminded him that he life rested on this as well. This caused Eggman to change his approach; he then called on Tails to assist him in building a treadmill for Sonic as his speed was not combating the virus as well anymore.^[65]

Soon, when Sonic was running on his new custom treadmill, he turned to Metal Sonic and talked about how Eggman did not get a chance to stay reformed due to Starline. However, Metal Sonic had a choice and chose to go back to Eggman, unlike fellow robots Gemerl and Omega. Eggman stepped into the conversation, asking if Sonic actually thought neutralizing the robot would make him less of a threat. When the hedgehog made it clear that he did, Eggman explained that he only neutralized his hardware but not his software, which demanded battle and conquest; his sole desire from that point on would be to become dangerous again. Sonic pointed out that they did not think anyone could restore him, to which Eggman found him to be right on; however, he did not know about Starline or his return, which had things take a turn for the worse for the hedgehog. Sonic then brought up how Eggman was living happily and peacefully as Mr. Tinker, bringing joy to others and slyly remarked on how it must have been a waste. When Eggman asked when Sonic is going to let that go, the hedgehog responded that it was to be done until he got a clue. Eggman told Sonic not to get too high-and-mighty on him, noting that he helped spread the Metal Virus. Though Sonic noted that he was not dumping gallons of it on people, Eggman clarified that Sonic did fight back the infection for a while and wondered how much it mutated after the failed attempts to remove it; Eggman continued asking how much he spread it fighting Zombots and many miles of infected grass he crossed, or rather caused. Sonic passed Eggman's comments as trying to get into his head and told him it will not work. The doctor did not believe this and told his enemy that he had infected him with a little germ of doubt, noting that even when it was all over, he would not be able to shake it; Eggman dubbed this as his passing gift to the hedgehog. Sonic told Eggman that they would go back to being enemies when it was all over, which the doctor responded saying that they never stopped being enemies and that helping him was just a convenience. Later, as everyone took off on their missions, Sonic wished them luck.^[65]

A little while later, Sonic and Eggman saw that the Faceship had arrived at Angel Island, meaning that Zavok had found them. The others soon arrived back on the island with their Chaos Emeralds, except for the Babylon Rouges, Cream and Gemerl. Sonic instead caught the red Chaos Emerald from the Sunset City Warp Portal as indication that neither Cream nor Gemerl was returning, which distressed him. As Amy grew worried, the blue hedgehog stated that she will be fine with Gemerl by her side. He then turned to Silver and told him that the future had already fallen to the infection, meaning that the current events had already occurred but had failed. However, the difference is Silver coming back to their present to help them change the future and he asked Silver to help fix things once and for all, to which the young hedgehog agreed to. Eggman contacted Rouge to hurry up with her mission in retrieving the last two Emeralds as the Faceship drew near every second. She soon flew out of the Faceship with the white Chaos Emerald in hand, forcing the ship to short circuit and fall into the ocean on top of the many Zombots Zavok had led there. Eggman complained that his best effort to date had gone to waste, with Sonic adding that he was glad that the Zombots could survive that sort of damage. Sonic then asked if Rouge knew that the Zombots could survive the Faceship crushing them, to which she replied that she did as she does her research, adding that Sonic was welcome for her help. When Sonic asked about Zavok's Chaos Emerald, Rouge told him that they will retrieve it when the fires die down and stated that the Zeti was not going anywhere; Eggman contradicted this, pointing back down to Zavok who was emerging from the rubble and was heading straight for them. The Zeti proceed to power himself up with his Chaos Emerald, transforming into Giant Zavok; he then shot a fireball from his mouth at the island in anger. Sonic asked Tails and Rouge for air support and told Silver to bring the Chaos Emeralds. Before Sonic could finish his sentence, he and the others were met face-to-face with Zombots that were thrown onto the island by Zavok, some of which were his fallen allies.^[66][67]

Sonic revealed that he had a last-ditch effort plan to get rid of the Metal Virus once and for all. Before taking off, he saw Knuckles willingly punch a Zombot Shadow in order to buy him some time and protect the island. Sonic requested that Metal Sonic help him as well, which Eggman permitted. While Silver carried the Chaos Emeralds, Metal Sonic flew with Sonic. Zavok told Sonic to give up and began throwing hordes of Zombots at them; this did not slow Metal Sonic down as he simply flew around them. Zavok then fired a large fireball at Sonic and Metal Sonic, only for the latter to activate his Black Shield in protection; following this, Sonic remarked that he was glad he and Tails did not deactivate the robot. Zavok tried to grab the duo but was stopped by Silver using his psychokinesis. Metal Sonic attempted to fly Sonic directly to the final Chaos Emerald on Zavok's chest, only for the Zeti to blow them downwards to the Faceship wreckage. On the ground, Sonic found himself surrounded by Zombots. While Sonic planned to run up Zavok's body, the Zombots forcibly grabbed onto him and slowed him down. Metal Sonic soon returned and hit the Zombots out of the way. The robot carried Sonic upward, only for Zavok to use his electromagnetic his powers on Metal Sonic to prevent him from advancing. Nonetheless, Sonic ran up Zavok's body and managed to pull out the Chaos Emerald from his chest while calling on Silver. The force taking out the Emerald caused Sonic to fall. Silver flew to Sonic with the rest of the Emeralds as his infection nearly completed and Zavok clasped his hands around them. With the power of the Emeralds, Sonic and Silver became Super Sonic and Super Silver, with Super Sonic completely burning off his infection. The hedgehog proceeded to beat back Zavok, forcing him into his regular form. With the Warp Topaz in hand, Super Sonic opened up a Super Warp Portal to the sun while Super Silver used his enhanced psychokinesis to remove the Metal Virus from every living infected thing on the planet. When the Topaz began to spin out of control, the duo flew around the planet many times at super speed with to quicken the process. After Super Silver detected that all of the Metal Virus had been sent into the sun, Super Sonic tried ditching the Warp Topaz through the Super Warp Portal. This only backfired and created a large explosion (that Sonic disappeared through), resulting in a green gate of energy to be left in the sky.^[68]

Out of the Blue[]

The resulting explosion thrust Sonic to Blaze's world, where he crash landed in the garden of the Imperial Palace and fell unconscious.^[69] During some tea with Blaze later, it was revealed that Sonic had lost his memory and could not remember what had occurred before he arrived in Blaze's world; he could not even recall his own identity but accepted being called "Mr. Needlemouse" by a young girl that he had met there. Sonic did mention that there was nothing concrete and his memories seemed warped; he dreamed of sea and sky, of golden fire and a sense of falling, and nothing more.^[5]

Sometime later, Sonic returned from a run around the island. Upon returning to the Imperial Palace though, Blaze treated him with the power of Sol Emeralds which restored his memories. Back to his old self, Sonic thanked Blaze and asked her to send him back to his world after explaining that he had recently saved it with Silver's aid. As he was being sent home, Sonic suggested to Blaze that she should visit them sometime soon, which she agreed to. Sonic appeared immediately after in a fiery blast in Spiral Hill Village, breaking up the attack Dr. Eggman had launched on his friends with his Giga Omega mecha. There, Tails informed Sonic that Eggman was using Omega as the core of his Giga Omega. Sonic defeated Eggman by attacking the mecha and release Omega, who destroyed Giga Omega. Sonic then announced to Eggman that he would always ruin his plans. He also wanted the doctor to come closer because he wanted to settle some scores with him, one of which included being infected with the Metal Virus. Instead, Eggman flew away, promising him that he would soon have a new scheme ready. Sonic was then greeted by his friends and received a group hug. Afterward, Sonic helped put out the fires in Spiral Hill Village that Eggman had created. As dawn then came, Sonic summed up his latest adventure and decided to head out to find his next one.^[70]

Chao Races and Badnik Bases[]

Sonic was later resting near Tails' Workshop when he heard Tails talk to Amy and Rouge about repairing Omega, with Tails needing both data and spare pairs to fix Omega. Sonic then jumped in and informed Tails that during one of his runs, he found an old Eggman base near Windmill Village, which they could break into to gain access to data from Eggnet. Initially, Amy wanted to join Sonic, but Sonic discouraged her from coming along by saying that it would be dark, cold and dangerous in the base. While Sonic and Tails decided to head to the base, Rouge decided that she and her group would get the spare parts, which the Chao trainer Clutch the Opossum might have in White Park Zone. Soon after, Sonic and Tails flew Tornado to the base. There, Sonic started joking that Eggman had abandoned the base because it was haunted. Regardless, Sonic and Tails soon reached a computer terminal, which Tails went to work on. Meanwhile, Sonic felt uncomfortable being in the presence of the dolls that Eggman had made in Sonic's image.^[71]

While waiting for Tails to do his thing, Sonic got bored and tried to tackle a Knuckles doll for fun, but to no avail. Soon after though, he discovered a mysterious robot he believed to be a Badnik and attacked her while trying to figure out her name. When he stepped on her tail though, she kicked him. Tails soon stopped him, however, and calmed him down, explaining that the robot did not look like a Badnik. The stranger robot introduced herself as Belle and explained that she was not the work of Eggman, but a creator whom she was looking for and whose name she did not want to reveal. However, an alarm soon went off in the base because Tails had forgotten to turn off the base's firewall. The heroes were then surrounded by numerous Beats. Since Sonic could not build up momentum to get rid of all the Beats, his only choice was to break down the exit door while Tails covered him. He also asked Belle for help.^[72] After some trouble, Sonic, Tails and Belle escaped from Eggman's base and its Badniks. They then received a message from Rouge, who asked them for help in White Park Zone. Sonic thus decided to go there but was hesitant to take Belle with them when she asked for a lift. Ultimately, however, he allowed it as she had saved Tails' life twice during their escape from the base. After reaching the White Park Grand Chateau in the Tornado, Sonic met up with Amy, who told him that the situation was not critical, and that Rouge was acting quite strange. Amy proceeded to lead Sonic and Belle to the suite of Clutch, who was lying unconscious on the floor while Cream and Gemerl tried to free some Chao from a cage. While Belle decided to help Cream open the cage, Sonic ran off to find Rouge and Tails. He eventually found them both, trapped on a moving roller coaster led by a hooded figure. The figure threw a cart at Sonic, causing him to lose balance on top of the roller coaster's rails, but Shadow saved him from falling. The two of them then set off in pursuit of the hooded figure, who turned out to be Dr. Starline. There was then an explosion on top of the White Park Grand Chateau's Mountain, causing an avalanche. Starline then gave Sonic the choice between saving his friends or the hundreds of hotel guests.^[73]

Upon Tails' insistence, Sonic decided to stop the avalanche, although he was unable to persuade Shadow to help him. When he got in the way of the avalanche however, Shadow joined him. The two of them then felled nearby trees in order to form a barricade. Despite this though, the avalanche broke through their barricade, prompting Sonic and Shadow to chase the avalanche. After the avalanche had collided with the White Park Grand Chateau, which withstood it, the guests had been led to safety. In the process however, Sonic and Shadow had been buried by the snow. Fortunately, they dug themselves out quickly and received congratulations from their friends. Sonic also apologized to Belle for being too hard on her during their first meeting after hearing how she helped his friends. After returning to the Tails' Workshop, Sonic admitted that things got dicey, but was glad that Shadow helped him.^[74]

Test Run![]

Sonic and Tails later took Belle to the Restoration's new HQ where they met up with Amy and Jewel to get Belle somewhere to live. While there, they found out that Eggman had built a mysterious tower on the coast that was influencing the weather. Sonic, Tails and Amy thus decided to investigate it. Tangle wanted to go with them too, but she had responsibilities with the Restoration to attend to. However, Sonic consoled her by saying that she could get the opportunity to come along next time. Afterward, Sonic and co. flew to the tower in the Tornado, where they defeated a group of Egg Pawns and blew through the tower's front door. By doing so however, they accidentally fell into a portal and woke up in an unusual corridor. There, Sonic destroyed another Egg Pawn, which for some reason was using a piece of chalk to draw on the walls. As Sonic and his friends tried making their way forward however, they discovered that the corridor they were in was constantly changing. Sonic therefore grabbed Tails and Amy and started to run faster and faster to see if the altering space could keep up with him. When the corridor started to overload, Sonic, with Amy's help, demolished one of the walls in the corridor, causing the trio to fell into a strange space.^[75] There, Sonic and Amy were caught by Tails, who hypothesized that the space they were in was a creation of Eggman's where he could bend the laws of spatiality. Sonic and Amy were then taken to another portal Tails spotted, but when they passed through it, Sonic and co. found themselves in an abandoned town. Sonic tried to run around the area, but Tails reminded him that this space was using the same spatial warping as the first one. As Sonic thought about overloading the space again, Amy called them to an open house. There, they found mannequins that they initially mistook for normal residents. Suddenly though, they heard a disturbing noise, which turned out came from a Badnik that was a hybrid of different models. After taking care of it though, other Badnik hybrids launched an attack on the group, but Sonic and Amy managed to defeat them. Upon noticing an army of Badnik hybrids approaching from the window though, Sonic and co. barricaded themselves inside the house. There, Tails came up with the idea of finding an exit by tracking the signals for the incoming Badniks. Suddenly though, Sonic and co. heard Eggman's laughter from the kitchen. There, Sonic found the doctor transmitting to him via the kitchen appliances. Eggman proceeded to inform the heroes that the spaces they were in were used as test chambers for his new robots, and that he would now use this opportunity to test his machines on them.^[76]

With a way pointed out for them by Tails, Sonic prepared to take his friends out of the test chambers, only for Eggman to reverse gravity in the test chamber. Keeping Amy from falling into the sky, Sonic eventually let himself and Amy fall into the sky with Tails, suspecting Eggman had prepared something for them, which beat their current situation. Arriving in a dark abyss that materialized into the room, Sonic and co. came under attack by an upgraded Egg Viper, which used electrified shields. Regardless, Sonic managed to destroy it with Tails' help. However, the trio were quickly attacked by three new Egg Vipers, which began to overwhelm them.^[77] As the fight progressed, Sonic rescued Tails and Amy, who were surrounded by the fire-type Egg Viper, by directing the water jets from the water-type Egg Viper into the fire-type Egg Viper's flames, extinguishing them. Afterward, Sonic managed, with Amy's help, to damage the water-type Egg Viper. When the wind-type Egg Viper overwhelmed the trio with a gust of wind however, Tangle arrived to help. Sonic and his friends subsequently managed to subdue the Egg Vipers, only for Eggman to attempt to crash the mechs directly into the heroes. Sonic and co., however, evaded the final attack and Sonic got dragged out of the test chambers by Tangle with her tail while Tails Any followed them. Arriving back in the tower, Sonic dragged everyone back to the Tornado, which they used to escape the tower before it imploded from an overloading test chamber portal. After then parting ways with Orbot and Cubot, Belle, who had accompanied Tangle to the tower, revealed that Eggman really did create her, but while he was "Mr. Tinker". However, Sonic's friends consoled her, saying that she had done a lot of good and was not like Eggman.^[78]

Zeti Hunt![]

As Sonic fought Dr. Eggman in Winterburg, he found out that the doctor was tracking the Deadly six. He went into battle with Eggman and beaten him by managing to destroy Eggman's local base. During the doctor's escape, he received a message from Tails, who told him that the Deadly Six were causing trouble again, and according to the Chaotix, they were heading for Sunset City and Winterburg. Ready for the challenge, Sonic prepared to face the Zeti in Winterburg.^[79] While still in Winterburg, Sonic had a video conversation with the Chaotix, Jewel and Tails over how to handle the Deadly Six. However, when it was discovered that the Deadly Six were attacking Restoration HQ, Sonic quickly ran there and challenged them just before they could break into the control room.^[80]

Sonic proceeded to fight the Deadly Six, during which he was supported by Tangle and Whisper. Sonic initially tried to keep the Deadly Six at bay until Tails could arrive with his Zeti Zappers, but was eventually overwhelmed by the group. Fortunately, Tails soon came and saved Sonic, who helped Tails place the Zeti Zappers on each of the Deadly Six, who were incapacitated by the devices. Afterward, however, Sonic heard from Tangle that Belle had been kidnapped by Dr. Starline.^[81]

Afterwards, Sonic and Tails announced to the Zeti that they would be sending them back to the Lost Hex in the Zeti Launcher. This confused Zavok, as the hedgehog was still showing them mercy despite their actions, to which Sonic responded that winning was enough and humbling for them. However, Zavok ignored him and told Sonic that he would make him regret this by promising that he would return and make him suffer. This made Sonic remember that his compassion indirectly led to Eggman's return and the creation of the Metal Virus. Despite this, Sonic chose to stick to his principles and promised that he would be there if Zavok ever tried anything. Sonic and Tails then learned from Jewel that there was no news from the Chaotix. Sonic, however, assured her that they would be able to find Belle, but that he would join the search if necessary.^[82]

Trial by Fire and Deep Trouble[]

Coming to Tails' lab in Central City, Sonic would help Amy out by packing some camping gear she needed for a trip with her friends in her Pink Cabriolet. Tempted by the allure of nature, Sonic considered coming with Amy's group until Tails reminded him that he had promised to play a video game with him. As such, Sonic decided to stay with Tails. During the following night however, Sonic would mysteriously sneeze while playing Tails' game.^[83] Coming to Tails' Workshop not long after, Sonic enviously listened to Tangle and Amy's tale about the adventure they had been on when pulling out a forest fire. As Sonic then inquired Tangle about her next move, she explained that she was going to join Whisper on her travels. After Tangle left, Sonic had a playful conversation with Amy, although he would quietly contemplate about whether the forest fire was a fluke or not.^[84]

Eventually, Sonic and Tails were called upon Knuckles to come to Angel Island to help him with a problem. After the duo traveled there in the Tornado, Sonic and Knuckles briefly got into an argument due to Knuckles saying that Sonic brings trouble to his island, and angrily blaming Sonic for bringing the Metal Virus and the Zombots. Regardless, Tails managed to defuse the tension between the two, prompting Knuckles to reveal that he needed their team to investigate some strange quakes in Marble Garden. Sonic thought that meant that Knuckles counted on them, but Knuckles snarked that he counted on Sonic to cause trouble and relied on Tails to keep him focused. Soon after setting out, Sonic and Tails began discussing which way would be the quickest to Marble Garden (among other things) until Knuckles took them down a shortcut through the mountains. While Sonic was impressed by the shortcut, Knuckles would admit that he had only found it recently and that he had yet to explore all of Angel Island. Eventually reaching Marble Garden, Sonic and his team came across Dr. Eggman, who was causing the quakes by recklessly drilling for rare minerals in a drilling vehicle. Following then a few brief exchanges, the trio engaged Eggman and his vehicle. During the battle, Sonic almost got swallowed by a crack in the ground that Eggman made had it not been for Tails, and by working together, Sonic and his friends defeated Eggman's vehicle. After Eggman had then fled from Angel Island, Knuckles declined coming back with them for some R&R and see what had been going on without him, insisting that he still had a lot to discover about Angel Island first. Accepting this, Sonic promised Knuckles that he could count on his teammates if he needed help again.^[18]

Sonic, Tails, and Belle soon after began conducting an experiment on lesser Badniks that they had gathered at Tails' Workshop. With the group having isolated the nonaggression subroutines of Motobud, a friendly Motobug that Belle had befriended, Belle would transfer them to the other Badniks, which made them docile in the presence of Sonic after Tails unveiled him to them. Their experiment a success, Sonic assured Tails when he began to worry about recent events that they would be able to handle whatever storm was coming, before heading into the workshop for lunch. Later at night, however, Sonic awoke to find Belle and Motobud under the influence of a control signal. As the possessed Belle tried to punch Tails, Sonic protected Tails and proceeded to occupy both Belle and Motobud while Tails whipped up something to fix this. Eventually, Sonic got pinned down by Belle and Motobud. However, Tails came to his rescue with a prototype Zeti Zapper that blocked the signal controlling Belle. With Sonic keeping Motobud pinned down as well, he learned from Belle that it was a beacon signal controlling her and that it was being used to summon an army of Badniks from everywhere in one place. Since Belle could not recall where however, Sonic and his friends resorted to setting Motobud loose and following it to the signal's source. Along the way, they found people surrounded by Badniks, but Sonic managed to get them out of the robots' hairs. Resuming their chase, the trio eventually reached some woods after hours of pursuit, with Eggperial City just ahead of them. Belle then tried to stop Motobud, which caught the attention of the surrounding Badniks. As Belle then went to work cutting Motobud's power and make the Badniks cease their attack, Sonic and Tails held the Badniks off. After Belle's plan worked and the Badniks resumed their mindless march, Sonic discovered that Belle had found a written confession for her from Mr. Tinker inside Motobud. After Sonic had then cheered up Belle, who chose to come with him and Tails, Sonic grabbed his friends and zoomed towards Eggperial City for an investigation.^[85][86]

Battle for the Empire[]

As Sonic headed into Eggperial City with Tails and Belle, he and Tails discussed Eggman's odd way of summoning his Badniks. Sonic also offered Belle the chance to sit this out, but Belle was determined. Inside the city, Sonic and his friends noticed Eggman was fighting someone. As Belle then found a deactivated Metal Sonic, Sonic permitted her desire to fix him. As Tails pointed how fixing Metal Sonic last time backfired however, Sonic got dragged away from the scene by a tenrec named Surge. Brought to an isolated site, Sonic nonchalantly tried make introductions. Surge, however, told Sonic of how much she hated him due to his insistence of not killing his enemies in hopes that they would turn over a new leaf. However, due to the continued antics of people like Dr. Eggman and Dr. Starline, she was made without having a choice in the matter. Furthermore, she did not understand Sonic's resolve to keep fighting such enemies but not to kill them, nor did she understand why the world loved him for that. As such, she said that she would end all of it, believing it was what they all deserved. Though confused, Sonic engaged Surge in battle when she attacked him.^[8]

Though their vicious battle kept them both on their toes, Sonic enjoyed this and hoped Surge felt the same way. This infuriated Surge, who insisted this was a battle to the death. As Sonic explain that he had been in similar situations with people who were wronged by the world and wanted to destroy it before, Surge told him that this was who she was. Though Sonic understood this, as he did not know her story, he was not in much of a position to judge and preferred to give Surge a chance to bounce back. Surge believed this to be naivety, but Sonic explained his philosophy and how he wished for everyone to have the same freedom he has; if he ended Surge's life, she would not have the opportunity to do so. However, Surge still saw herself as an outcast that the world had rejected. As such, she agreed with him that she had freedom to do whatever she wanted. However, Sonic made it clear that if she chose to harm anybody and try to take their freedom, he would stop her. As their fight continued, Surge tried to end Sonic when he insisted on not giving up, only for him to trip her and leave her dangling from the edge over a giant chasm. Sonic tried to help her get up, but Surge zapped him as a final hit. Debris from up above then came crashing down, forcing Surge to fall into the chasm. Disappointed over what Surge chose, Sonic returned to the surface where he found Tails, who brought a fennec named Kit with him. Learning that Kit had attacked Tails, Sonic told Tails about Surge's apparent fate. Belle the showed up, having repaired Metal Sonic and returned him to Eggman. As Tails then revealed Starline was behind Surge and Kit, Sonic thought they had to deal with him as well, only for Eggman to announced to him and Tails over the city's speakers that he would give them a proper welcome, just as the city's Badniks surrounded them.^[8]

As Sonic, Belle, and Tails, who is carrying an unconscious Kit, attempt to escaped from Eggperial City while being pursued by a massive Badnik Horde. Sonic spots an alleyway and sends the others through before creating a whirlwind to knock away the Badniks. After escaping the Badniks and finding a place to hide, Sonic asks to know what has been happening and why. With Belle explaining that Starline attacked the city with his enforcers named Surge and Kitsunami before summoning the Badniks to get the attention of the heroes and raise an army. She adds that Eggman fought back and that she witnessed Starline's demise herself, which Sonic shows little pity towards.

Tails explains that he was ambushed by Kit, who lost consciousness when his water pack was disabled and has been deeply traumatized by Starline in some way. Sonic notes a similar series of events happening with Surge, with her seemingly being crushed to death after their fight. Sonic asks Belle how she knows so much, to which she answers that she downloaded some data when interfacing with Metal Sonic. After locating a hangar in a nearby district, believing there could be a shuttle there they could use. While Sonic distracted the Badniks out there, Belle, and Tails, who is carrying an unconscious Kit head for the shutter.

Sonic scales a building and calls out to Eggman, attempting to bait him into attacking. However, Eggman catches onto this and instructs Metal Sonic to track down and intercept Sonic's friends, after feeling ignored when Eggman appears behind a screen on a floating satellite, remarking on how Sonic is standing still for once. Sonic tauntingly states that he is able to since there is no threat, at which point the Badniks begin tearing down the building that he was standing atop. Sonic proceeds to fight his way down, bouncing off debris and dodging attacks.

While Sonic continues battling the Badniks, Tails managed to take control of an shuttle, much to Sonic's joy and Eggman's frustration at having it stolen. He then makes a run for the ship, unaware that Metal Sonic is flying nearby to intercept it. Sonic asks if Eggman called off the Badniks or gave up, to which the doctor responds that he did not want to rob Metal Sonic of his moment. To which Metal Sonic bursts straight through the shuttle, damaging it severely and sending it crashing back into the city. Sonic asking if Tails and Belle are alright, which they both confirm, although Belle notices that Sonic has been injured. He asks Tails how much farther they are from being in the clear, to which the fox answers that they were not able to make it halfway to the city limits. Sonic notes that would be a problem as the three look up to see Kit regaining consciousness.^[87]

As Metal Sonic looms over them at the site of their crashed aircraft. The robot charges up another attack, prompting them to evade him. The group goes into an alleyway to prevent Metal Sonic from gaining speed. Tails throws Sonic up to a platform carrying boxes and barrels leading Sonic to kick the platform with his non-sprained leg. This causes the rubble to collapse on Metal Sonic and temporarily slow him down. As they reach safe shelter, Kit struggles in Belle's grasp. He asks where Surge is, as he's been gone too long, and she'll be upset that he has been gone. Sonic notices that Metal Sonic has begun to make his move once more and requests that Kit help them deal with the robot. Kit obliges, but notes that his Hydro Pack will need to be refilled. As Metal Sonic blasts out of the alleyway, Kit utilizing water coils to pin him to the ground before breaking apart large crystals in the back, causing the debris falls on top of him.

On the wall surrounding the Eggperial City, Sonic and Belle overlook the setting before Metal Sonic rises into the air, with Sonic keeping Belle behind him. Sonic remarks how low of a blow smacking Belle was and is about to get into a fight, only for an explosion to come from the main tower. He mocks Metal Sonic, telling him to 'run back to Daddy Dearest' to make sure Eggman's okay. Angry, Metal Sonic departs. Sonic checks up to see if Belle is okay, but she does not reply. Tails quickly flies up upon hearing the explosion, Sonic catching him up to speed on what just happened.^[88]

Overpowered[]

After leaving Eggperial City, while at his lab, Tails finishes wrapping some gauze around Sonic's left leg. As Kit returns from putting away the first-aid kit, Sonic begins recounting the events of Eggperial City to him: how he fought Surge and watched her fall despite trying to help her, and how Belle witnessed Starline's demise after he fought Eggman. The news leaves Kit silent and dejected as Sonic apologizes, stating that he did what he could but that they are gone now.

After learning of Surge attacked in Central City, Sonic and Tails head out. As Surge has another hallucination of Starline, Sonic and Tails then arrive on the scene, the former of whom is shocked to see Surge still alive yet disappointed that she has not changed her ways. As Surge uses the Orange Wisp's power to launch an attack at the surreal Starline, Tails takes Whisper to safety while Sonic confronts Surge.^[89]

As their fight with Surge continues in Central City, while carrying Sonic, Tails admits they may not be able to keep this up, but Sonic states that they need to so that Surge's attentions stay on him rather than the rest of the city. Surge rushes them with a Spin Attack, knocking them out of the air and onto the ground, the impact of which causes Sonic to hurt his leg again. As Surge taunts him, Whisper whistles for their attention and uses multiple prisms to send her Cyan Wisp to Sonic, allowing him to absorb its power and use the Cyan Laser. As he blitzes Surge with a barrage of attacks, she puts up a shield using the Blue Cube Wisp ability, giving her time to figure out where he will strike from next. From there she manages to grab Sonic mid-attack and separate him from the Cyan Wisp, taking its power for herself.

As Surge absorbs the Wisp's power, Sonic pleads with her to stop saying she's hurting the Wisps. Surge tells him she doesn't care and is tired of his grandstanding. Tails then gets Sonic's attention and leads him into a hardware store. As Sonic hides, Surge breaks into the store by shooting lasers out of her eyes with Cyan Laser. As she walks over to Sonic, she slips over on some screws. As she looks up in anger, Sonic puts a bucket on her head and makes it to the appliance section as she tries to take it off. Sonic comes down to see Tails has hooked up a bunch of appliances to jumper cables. Surge then makes it and Tails attaches the jumper cables to Surge, causing the power to transfer from the Dynamo Cage to the appliances. Before the appliances can drain her energy, Surge lets out a blast of energy destroying the room. Surge passes out, and Sonic and Tails come out from cover to take the Dynamo Cage off. Sonic tweaks his ankle and goes down, and as Tails goes to Surge, he sees Kitsunami looking over them, who left the lab to help Sonic.

Shocked, Kit goes down to check on Surge. Sonic pleads him to take off the Dynamo Cage. Kit tells Sonic he told him Surge was gone. Sonic says he thought she was, as he saw her fall when they first fought. Kit says Surge is hurt bad, and before Sonic can explain himself, Kit attacks Sonic with his water coils. Kit tells Sonic he understands he lied to him so he could finish off Surge. Kit says he won't let him and attacks him again, but Tails flies in to stop his coils. With hate in his eyes, Kit rhetorically asks why Sonic would bother to help him when he has Tails as a friend. Before Kit attacks again, Surge stirs awake. Kit then goes to pick her up and take her out of the shop. He tells Sonic and Tails not to follow them. Back at Tails' Lab, Sonic and Tails free Belle from being trapped in the lab before going to follow Surge and Kit.^[90]

The duo eventually find the base after following Surge's energy readings. They carefully approach the entrance, when suddenly Metal Sonic attacks Sonic from behind and drags him into the base. While fighting him, Sonic tries to get into his head by asking about the hesitation he had with attacking Belle. Just as Metal pins him down, Tails comes in to help. Later in the fight, Metal hears a noise and senses Eggman is in danger and runs off to his aid. Tails is concerned Surge has discovered them, but Sonic says they have to go, and the duo follow Metal. Sonic arrives in time to stop Surge from fighting Eggman and Metal. Sonic pleads for her not to make things harder than they have to be, but Surge then retreats into the rafters.

Sonic demands and explanation for why Eggman is here. Eggman says he is here to reclaim his Dynamo Cage. Sonic and Tails talk in private for a moment, agreeing that fighting both Surge and Metal would be a major risk. Sonic says Surge is the bigger enemy right now and he can destroy they Dynamo Cage during their fight. Sonic proposes to help Eggman against Surge, as long as they don't double cross them. Eggman is disgusted by the idea, but he agrees to a truce seeing their support as useful. Sonic is concerned Surge is following them, to which Eggman says she will likely go after them first and he and Metal won't help if that happens.

They soon stumble into a dank lab and Tails finds documents showing Dr. Starline's plans for Surge and Kit. Sonic realizes Surge and Kit are creations of Starline. Eggman reaffirms this and says Starline was successful with his venture. Sonic implies Eggman is impressed by the work, and Eggman admits it and praises his former assistant intellect. Tails disproves of Starline and blames Eggman for it happening, saying all he to do was recognize Starline's brilliance. Eggman admits this but says he would never do it, reasoning that admitting the skill of Starline after his demise only improves his own brilliance. Sonic says he's heard enough and walks into another chamber.

Sonic calls out and says he knows Surge and Kit are watching them. The two impostors reluctantly come out from the shadows. Sonic offers them to hand over the Dynamo Cage and they will leave. Surge and Kit look at each other, then get into a battle stance, with Surge saying it's not up to him. Sonic, Tails, and Metal Sonic then start their battle with Surge and Kit, with Eggman watching from the sidelines.^[91] Tails and Kit take on each other as Metal Sonic and Sonic fight Surge. They have control of the fight, but Surge uses a fake attack on Eggman to grab Metal and hit Sonic away with him. Metal Sonic then traps Surge with his Black Shield, but she absorbs Metal's power using the Dynamo Cage. Surge then charges at Sonic with Orange Rocket, but he gets out of the way, causing Surge to break some tubes and flooding the floor. Eggman tells Sonic to get out of the water, making Sonic think he's insulting his swimming ability, but Eggman grabs him out of the water so Surge doesn't electrocute him. Eggman lets him go and says the Dynamo Cage will overload and he needs to keep her busy as he repairs Metal.

As Surge continues to attack Sonic, Sonic tries again to plead with her to stop. Surge makes it clear she's only interested in killing him. Sonic reasons that since Starline is gone, she doesn't have have to kill him anymore. Surge says she can't and gets Sonic to fall into the water again. This time she zaps him and holds him down, yelling that she will never be free while he is still alive. Before her shocks can do any serious damage, the Dynamo Cage overloads and breaks, letting the Wisps get out and causing Surge to pass out. Sonic gasps out of the water as he looks again on a defeated Surge. Tails helps him up and Sonic is still in good spirits. Eggman then commands Metal to take Surge and the Dynamo Cage. Sonic says that wasn't the deal, but Eggman retorts Sonic wouldn't hold his end of the deal. As he braces for Metal, Kit attacks Metal with a jet of water. Sonic thanks Kit, but he then wraps him in his water coils and takes Surge to him. Kit starts to destroy the room and says Sonic just wants to help Surge and him to prove his worldview is right. He says he will be with Surge and leaves while the room crumbles. Tails starts to fly Sonic out, but rubble hits the fox and Sonic uses his speed to get to the top of skylight. He reaches to it and hangs on by a thread, but Tails grabs on as well and the climb out.

Sonic is unsure what to think of the situation, but is not surprised to see Eggman and Metal alright. As he looks angrily at him, Eggman asks to continue the truce till they return home. Sonic reluctantly agrees as they need to get the Wisps back to Whisper.^[92]

Scrapnik Island[]

Sonic and Tails fly across an ocean with the Tornado during a storm. Sonic spots the wrecked remains of the original Death Egg on an unknown island as they search for somewhere to land. The Tornado is then struck by lightning, causing the plane to hurdle to the ground. A while later, Sonic wakes up with a headache and finds himself in a room full of broken Badniks. He calls out for Tails and gets off the table he woke up on. However, as he lands down, he finds a metal brace on his ankle and yells out in pain. Sonic doesn't remember who put it on him. On another table, Sonic the Miles Electric, noting it isn't like Tails to leave it on its own. Sonic leaves the room and calls out to Tails, unaware of the Badniks that started to move after him. Using the Miles Electric's flashlight to navigate his way around the ruined Death Egg, Sonic is amazed by the decay of the ship. The hedgehog figures he must have blacked out after the crash.

Sonic limps onward and continues to call for Tails and discovers a room with a sunflower in a Containment Bubble in it. Before he can touch it, he hears something outside the room and goes to see if its Tails. In another room, Sonic finds the remains of the Egg Carrier. Hearing a screech behind him, Sonic turns scared and shine a light on what's behind him. It turns out to be an old Coconuts Badnik, much to his relief. However, the Crawls forward with a Caterkiller body. Several other Badnik amalgamations emerge and surround Sonic. He starts to think he's in a nightmare and backs into a rusty Mecha Sonic. Sonic prepares to fight the robots, only for the pain in his ankle to shoot through him. Sonic uses a Spin Attack to duck out of the group and tries to run off. However, due to his injured ankle, he can barely run and the robots pursue him. Sonic tells himself he needs to find Tails to get out of the Death Egg.

Sonic hides himself in a Capsule to hide from Mecha Sonic, but the old robot finds him and opens it. Sonic uses the door of the Capsule as a board and rides away from Mecha Sonic, taunting him. Sonic is them swiped off the board by an E-100 Series robot. From around the same corner, Tails appears and more Badniks come out to gather around the pair, causing Sonic to put his guard up. However, Tails tells Sonic that the robots are actually friendly. He explains that the "Scrapniks" helped drag Sonic inside the Death Egg after they crashed and built the metallic brace for him. The E-100 robot introduces himself as E-117 Sigma; it explains that Sonic was placed under observation due to the ankle injury he sustained and guesses that Sonic's lack of knowledge about the situation raised his stress levels. Sigma says that their intention was not to frighten Sonic and apologizes for their behavior, which Sonic accepts.

Sigma leads Sonic, Tails, and Mecha Sonic to the surface, saying the storm is likely over. It asks for forgiveness for the crashing of their plane as it was their fault; the Death Egg's climate disruptor was malfunctioning, and Sigma has been unable to fully repair it. Sigma says that they can make their home their own until the Tornado is fixed and introduces them to Scrapnik Island, a civilization made from recycled machines and spare parts. Tails shows excitement over the whole area and follows Sigma to be shown more around the place. Sonic finds Tails' excitement amusing and shoots Mecha Sonic an suspicious glare. He walks off to catch up with Sigma and Tails as Mecha Sonic watches.^[16]

A little later, Sonic relaxes on the beach while Tails messes with the Miles Electric. A Scrapnik comes up to him and he says hi to it. Sonic is shocked when he hears it say hello back. Tails explains he created a translator module with his Miles Electric and the Scrapniks can speak through the speakers of his tablet. Sonic is impressed by it, as is Sigma when Tails shows it to him. Sigma tells the duo the Tornado most of the damage to the airplane is superficial except the integrated drive generator. Tails tells Sonic it makes power for the plane and they can't fly without it. Sigma says he can find a spare in the Death Egg and Sonic volunteers to help. Tails objects to it, saying Sonic needs rest. Sonic appreciates his concern, but assures he is fine and doesn't want to sit anymore. Sigma reassures Tails he and the other Scrapniks will make sure Sonic is OK. Sigma leaves his helpers to Tails to repair the Tornado and he, Sonic, and Mecha Sonic leave to the Death Egg.

They stop to the sunflower Sonic saw earlier and he asks Sigma what's the deal with it. Sigma says it washed ashore one day and Mecha Sonic has taken care of it ever since. Sigma also says they all wish they could leave the island, along with their shameful Eggman origins. Sonic playfully elbows Mecha Sonic, saying he's a big softy and they'll get off the island one day. He nervously smiles at the robot, but Mecha Sonic gives him no acknowledgment. They stop by the Egg Carrier, with Sigma calling it the Scrambled Egg Carrier. he states they are working to reconstruct it so they can evacuate the island. Sonic cracks a joke, saying he didn't get a good look at it since the "scared the scrap outta me". Sigma laughs and he splits off from the group, leaving Mecha Sonic and Sonic together.

Later, Sonic finds a moment to apologize for getting off on the wrong foot with Mecha. He says he's chill now and is moving forward about his past, unlike another robot he knows. Sonic offers to put their transgressions behind them and holds his hand out for a handshake. Before Mecha can shake it, he hears someone coming and pulls Sonic away from an attack from Mecha Knuckles. Sonic is surprised another robot copy is on the island, but Mecha Sonic runs away while holding Sonic before he can say anything else. They reach where Sigma is and Sonic asks what is up with Mecha Knuckles. Sigma explains he had to change his directives from defending the Master Emerald Shrine to defending the Scrambled Egg Carrier. Sonic calls the robot a blockhead and Sigma tries to make Mecha Knuckles stand down. He instead knocks Sigma out, causing Sonic to cry out.

Sonic then gets out of the way as the two robots fight. Mecha Sonic is knocked down and Mecha Knuckles closes in on Sonic. He tries to talk it out with him, but Mecha Sonic awakens and knocks out the robot. Sonic compliments his robot copy on the save, saying it might of been overkill, and offers a high five. Mecha Sonic then rushes at Sonic and hold him up by the neck.^[93] Sonic is brought into another room and strapped to a table. Mecha Sonic puts a device on his head and starts up the computer in the room. Sonic says he's getting tired of the people he gives the benefit of the doubt betraying him. He asks why Mecha threw away his second chance. Mecha says nothing and the monitor of the computer shows Tails and the Scrapniks working on the Tornado. Sonic asks why he has something on his head and rhetorically asks if its "gonna suck his brains out". Mecha Sonic turns to Sonic and gives him a cold look. Sonic starts to think Mecha will actually do that. Mecha Sonic leaves Sonic to confront Tails and the other Scrapniks trying to stop him.

After Mecha Sonic defeats Sonic's rescuers, he returns to the room and Sonic sees he has the Miles Electric. He demands to know to know what he did to Tails. Mecha simply says he's "where he belongs" and hooks up the device to the computer.^[94] Mecha prepares for a mind transfer and Sonic asks what he is talking about. Mecha explains the device he's wearing was made by Eggman to control Badniks with his mind and he has modified it so he can download his own mind into Sonic's body. Sonic is shocked Mecha is actually going to suck his brains out and asks if he's serious. Mecha Sonic says he is and the only way for him to escape the island is take use Sonic's body to run across the sea. Sonic asks if he is going to ditch Sigma and the other Scrapniks like Eggman ditched him. Mecha states his friendship with them was an error in his program and they were never his friends. Sonic tells Mecha he's full of it and doesn't mean it. Mecha ends the conversation and starts the transfer process.

Sonic riles in pain as Mecha's mind is implanted in him. A group of Scrapniks, who were watching in the shadows, attack Mecha and destroy the computer. Two of them release Sonic from his restraints, who hears another voice in his heads. He feels like someone's memories and feelings are being shoved into his head. He realizes Mecha Sonic's feelings are now connected to him. Sonic looks on and sees Mecha attack a Scrapnik. Feeling his anger, Sonic lets it out by attacking Mecha. Sonic runs along side the robot copy as he feels sharp pain in his broken foot. Mecha can hear his thoughts and says Sonic doesn't know pain like he does. Mecha admits he defeated him before, but he will win this time since this time he is injured and alone. Sonic lets out a smile and tells Mecha limits were meant to be broken and Super Peels Out in front of him.

The two fight along the rim of an active furnace and Sonic eventually gets and open hit on Mecha Sonic by kicking him with his bad foot. Mecha falls into the scrap pile and Sonic goes down to help him out. Mecha Sonic smacks his hand away and tells Sonic he is a useless failure and deserves to be destroyed. Sonic tells him to cut the crap and you give yourself value and purpose and you have to live for you to be free. He holds out his hand again and this time Mecha grabs it. Sonic tries to pull Mecha out with both hands but he realizes he can't move with bad foot at all now. Mecha says he said all that big talk for nothing and Sonic says he's working on getting them out. Suddenly, Tails grabs Sonic's other hand and jokingly says he should of stayed back to rest. A daisy chain of Scrapniks, with Sigma and Mecha Knuckles at the end, start to pull them out of the furnace.

After they got out, Sonic watched on as Mecha Sonic reunited with the other Scrapniks. Sonic them started to cry, but after Tails asked if he was, Sonic said it wasn't his own tears but Mecha's. Soon after, Sonic was there to see Tails remove the Eggman programing out of Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles. Sigma patted the duo and said the Scrapniks will never forget all they have done for them. Sonic smiled and said it was all in a day's work. Later, Mecha Sonic thanked Sonic for helping him realize what matters in life is having the courage to keep moving forward. Sonic then joined Tails on the repaired Tornado and they flew off the island back to Restoration HQ.^[95]

Shattered Diamonds[]

Sonic would inform the Diamond Cutters he'd meet up with them to head to Eggperial City. Sonic and Tails soon arrive with Sonic apologizing for the wait and says they had a few Badnik's to pummel and Tangle responding saying how she could've benefited but Tails reassures there will be plenty of Badnik's in Eggperial City and they hero's leave.^[96]

Urban Warfare[]

Sonic arrives in a meeting room to see Jewel at Restoration HQ, saying she needed a favor. Tangle, Whisper, and Lanolin are also in the room and Sonic says hi to them. Jewel says Lanolin has a plant to expand the Restoration's efforts beyond rebuilding a humanitarian work. The sheep explains they are making a rapid response to take the initiative against any threats and Tangle and Whisper have volunteered to join their squad. Sonic asks Whisper if she is alright after dealing with Surge, and she tells him she's fine. Sonic asks what the favor is and Lanolin says they have heard about him visiting Eggman's new base and she wants to take the team there to figure out how to take it down. Jewel asks if he can lead the group since he has experience and expertise with Dr. Eggman. Sonic says it sounds fun and agrees. He then pulls Lanolin aside and says he doesn't think they have meet before. Lanolin explains he saved her town of Riverside and he inspired her to join the Restoration. Sonic shakes her had and says its a pleasure to meet her again. He asks when they are leaving for the mission, and Lanolin says as soon as he's ready.

When they arrive outside the Eggperial City, Sonic and Tangle rush right in after Lanolin and Whisper scope out the area. Sonic and Tangle began fighting some Badniks and Whisper and Lanolin soon join them. After taking care of the Badniks, Lanolin yells at Sonic for rushing in. Sonic says "slow 'n' sneaky" isn't his thing. After an exchange with Tangle and Whisper, Sonic asks if they should keep going into the city. Lanolin says they should assess their surroundings first. Whisper uses her Green Wisp to take up a device to overlook the city. Sonic asks what she found out and Lanolin says she can confirm the city has gotten bigger. Tangle and Lanolin are confused on how that's possible since there isn't any construction equipment. Sonic says he has an idea and transforms into Green Hover, overlooking the city and seeing the spot where Metal Sonic wrecked their escape plan the last time he was in the city. Sonic returns and says the spot is repaired and it's unusual for Eggman to clean up after itself. He says somehow the city is able to heal itself. Lanolin asks how, and Sonic tells her he doesn't know.

Lanolin says the city has to have resources to fuel its construction. Sonic says he didn't see any of Eggman's mining equipment. Tangle suggests they are mining underground because the trees around the city were in bad shape. Sonic remembers Belle saying there was a whole network of tunnels under the city. Lanolin tells the group to move to the tunnels cautiously. They reach down to the tunnels on an elevator and stealthy take out some Badniks. Eventually, they reach what seems to be the lowest point of the tunnels. Whisper blows a hole at the bottom of the tunnel and Lanolin rappels down with Tangle into the hole. They exit and tell Sonic it was an empty, stripped-mined hole. Sonic sees Eggman's plan: he will keep expanding the city until the entire planet is converted. Lanolin says they have to get back to HQ to rally the troops to take down the city. Sonic then suggests for them to take down the city themselves since they are already in it and know where Eggman is. Lanolin is against the idea, saying its too dangerous and their team is untested. Sonic reminders her the city will grow as they marshal more troops. Lanolin replies saying it will grow unopposed if they get taken out today.

Their argument is cut short as a device arrives in front of them that generates a portal. Tangle remembers the portal from the Eggman Tower that took Sonic into a simulation. Sonic tells them they don't want to go through that portal and they run off. Tangle grabs Sonic's hand and grabs Lanolin and Whisper with her tail. A group of Badniks appear on the elevator to stop them and Sonic warns them that things are about to get bumpy. Sonic jumps and runs up the shaft with the rest of the group fighting off Badniks. Just as they reach the top, a Zoomer breaks Sonic and Tangle's grip, causing Tangle, Whisper, and Lanolin to fall into the portal. Sonic is able to get away, but a group of Badniks surround him. He then runs into a building and calls for Jewel on a wrist watch. Sonic says they are in trouble, he's surrounded, and needs some help.^[97]

Sonic holds off off more Badniks and then sees Silver and Blaze show up to help him, followed by Tails and Amy. Amy holds him and says Jewel called them for backup and asks if he's alright. Sonic says he's fine and appreciates them coming to help. He apologizes to Blaze for interrupting her vacation, but she says to think nothing of it and Silver says he's happy to have some direction. Tails asks where the Diamond Cutters are, and Sonic explains how he lost them and what the city is doing. The group considers their options and decide to get over to one of the giant crystal so Tails can investigate. Sonic leads the way as they clear a path to a crystal. They keep Tails covered as they fight off Badniks, with Silver using his powers to fling Sonic around Badniks. Sonic high-fives Amy after she used the hammer of a Egg Hammer Super Badnik.

With a calm in a wave of Badniks, Tails explains the crystals are actually Giant Fake Chaos Emeralds. Sonic asks why they are so big, and Tails explains it is to increase their power output. Sonic suggests destroying them, but Tails says not to as that would blow up the city block and themselves, causing the city to grow more. Sonic throws out an idea to destroy the entire city by themselves, but Tails explains the command tower is powering all the emeralds. Sonic gets that they need to destroy the central tower to stop the city. Tails flies by him and says they need to reverse the energy of the command tower to save their friends first, which Sonic thought was given. Silver flies by and says his work needs a delicate touch and Sonic smugly grins at him. Sonic thinks to himself that Lanolin was right and this is a lot easier with help. He thinks solo missions are fun, but doing it as a group is also fun. His thought is interrupted by an explosion in the city. Amy asks what that was and Sonic tells everyone to head for the tower while he and Tails check it out.^[98]

The two arrive at the explosion site and Sonic asks if Jewel was sending more help. Tails says none that he knows of and they look to see who arrived; surprised to see Team Dark fighting Badniks. As Silver and the others return, Sonic tells Team Dark he is flattered for them to come save him, but they are "late to the party". Shadow walks past Sonic saying he has no idea what he's talking about and he doesn't care. Rouge leans on Sonic and tells him they are here to see what could do to destroy Eggperial City. Sonic isn't convinced, neither is Amy and she pushes Sonic aside to pressure her to tell the truth. Rouge fesses up she wants to take anything interesting she finds, such as what's inside Eggman's private vaults. Tails and Silver suggest for them to team up so they can take out the city. Omega says the conversation is irrelevant to their mission and Rouge coldly tells the other heroes they will only slow them down. Sonic doesn't think they would slow down if they work together, but Blaze tells him their efforts can only help them even if they don't work together.

Eggman then "welcomes" the heroes over the city's loudspeakers and releases a horde of Shadow Androids to take them out. As the Shadow Androids began their attack, Sonic ask Tails what they are dealing with. Tails says he doesn't know because the robots are moving too fast for them to get a clear reading. The group struggles to fight them and Sonic says they need to leave. Sonic asks Silver to make a ramp and Silver raises the ground ground to make one. Sonic then launches off while holding Amy, Tails, and Blaze. As they launch off, Silver notices Team Dark and Sonic says they are holding their ground. He thinks if they join forces, they can get an upper hand. Blaze then grabbed a hold of Sonic and Amy and dashed them closer to Team Dark. Blaze then threw Sonic and Amy down onto the androids in front of Shadow. Sonic, Amy, and Shadow then fought off more Shadow Androids as the whole group gathered together. After Omega was forced to the ground by the androids, Tails and Rouge convinced Shadow to use his Chaos powers to take out the androids via the Giant Fake Chaos Emeralds.

Using Chaos Control, Shadow eliminated the Shadow Androids that surrounded them. The group cheered Shadow on, with Sonic considering to use the powers himself. Shadow told them not to celebrate yet and then felt a sudden surge in energy. Giant Fake Chaos Emeralds started to grow out of the ground with the group being tossed up. Shadow screamed as a beacon of Chaos Energy is shot out of him. The group ran off as Giant Fake Emeralds started to pop out everywhere. The group, minus Shadow and Omega, looks over the city from a building. Sonic goes to comfort Rouge and says Omega and Shadow are tough. Rouge shakes and says she knows. Silver says that now that they know what they are up against, they can take it out. Blaze agrees and says they won't be away from their friends for long. Rouge appreciates Sonic's chipper attitude and Sonic says he can't wait to see Shadow's face when they save him.^[99]

Sonic then listened as the group planned their next move. Suddenly, Tangle appeared and Sonic looked on curiously at Tangle's ability to phase through objects. He asked Tangle if the trap the Diamond Cutters did this to her. Tangle says yes and the other Diamond Cutters are still stuck. She yells at Sonic to look out as he dodges a Spatial-Displacement Trap. Metal Sonic flies in with more traps and Sonic starts to fight him. Sonic recognizes the green light from the trap as the same light from the trap that got the Diamond Cutters. Silver disposes of a trap and the two get ready to fight Metal, but Amy destroys the building bellow Metal before they can do anything. The group then splits up with Sonic joining Amy, Tails, and Tangle in breaking into the control room of the central tower to disable the safeguards for the city's power grid and free the Diamond Cutters. The elevator they are on then stops and they see Metal Sonic cutting the elevator's cable. Sonic grabs onto Tails and they fly up, but Metal grabs Sonic and pulls him down. Tangle then gets on Metal and covers his eyes, allowing Sonic to spin jump up the shaft.

Sonic runs into the control room with the group, taunting Eggman while he does. Sonic then starts to battle Metal again, but he is unimpressed by his fighting moves. Sonic calls out in shock to Amy after Eggman shoots her hammer away, which allows Metal to punch him hard in the face. He's knocked down for a moment, but Tails manages to override the computer's systems and the Fake Chaos Emeralds start to grow out of control. Dr. Eggman resorts to making his central tower mobile, causing Sonic and the others to lose their balance.^[100] Sonic gets up and tells Eggman he hasn't won yet. Sonic lunges to fight Eggman, but he is then caught in a Spatial-Displacement Trap. This doesn't last for long. Thanks to Tails making the city's computer systems offline, Sonic and the other Diamond Cutters are freed from their traps. He returns just in time to stop Metal Sonic from attacking his friends; kicking him out of the tower. Sonic then crushes the gun Eggman was using and tells him he took things too far. Sonic then leaves with Tails and Amy to destroy the city. Before they can make it to the Fake Emerald tower Shadow created, Sonic is grabbed by Metal Sonic, who is riding a Turtloid. Omega and Blaze fire at them and Sonic tells Metal he needs to learn when to quit as he throws them into their fire. He is brought down safely by Rouge as Shadow traps the central tower with the Fake Emeralds. With the help of nearly all his friends, Sonic is flung into the air and at the central tower, ignoring Eggman's pleas for him not to. He falls to the group with Tangle and Whisper just as Shadow teleports the Fake Emeralds into the sky. He watches in amazement as they explode far above them.

Later, Sonic joins a celebratory picnic with the Restoration, but runs off before Amy can serve him cake.^[101]

Endless Summer[]

Sonic visited Tails behind his lab in Central City and invited him to hang out with him to enjoy good weather. However, Tails was busy modifying the Tornado and asked Sonic to check if Restoration HQ's metal shop had a part he is missing. While passing through the HQ, Sonic came across Jewel and learned that her hard work was causing her to miss time with Tangle and Whisper, who had been busy with their own missions and training as the Diamond Cutters, causing Jewel to feel left out. She pretended that everything was fine and returned to doing paperwork. Sonic left to collect the missing part for Tails. However, he got an idea and rushed back to Jewel's office, telling her they had a very important mission.

Soon after, Sonic, Jewel, Tangle, Whisper (along with her Wisps) arrived at a beach near Green Hill. Jewel was initially unimpressed, but Sonic told her that if she pushed herself too hard and held back her feelings, she'll get burnt out and be unable to help anyone. Jewel thanked Sonic and joined Tangle and Whisper in the water. The four of them later play a game of volleyball, during which Tangle lost the ball and Jewel found it near the Babylon Rogues. Sonic came over and asked what the holdup was. Jewel tried to shush him but they got discovered.

The two groups stared each other down and got into an argument how to share the beach. Jet said Sonic would ruin their vibe, but Sonic retorted he was "all-vibes". Wave proposed that they settle it with a tournament involving beach games, with the winning team being the one that got to stay. The first round was Disc Catch, which was won by Team Sonic. The second round, Swim Relay, was won by the Babylon Rogues. Team Sonic won the Sand Sculpting round, while the Rogues won at Surfing. The final round was a game of volleyball. As the teams continued playing, Jewel began feeling left out again. Sonic gave the team a quick pep talk as the end of the game drew near, motivating Jewel enough for her to form a plan.

The plan involved isolating Jet and exploiting his ego by keeping Wave and Storm away from the net, thus making Jet feel left out, and then creating a false opening for him, allowing Team Sonic to score. With the last point being scored by Jewel, the game was won by Team Sonic. While they cheered and celebrate, Jewel notices the Babylon Rogues leaving and began to feel bad. She decided to let them stay and the three teams enjoyed the rest of the day at the beach eating marshmallows over a campfire, with Sonic showing his preference to burnt marshmallows.^[102]

900th Adventure[]

Sonic visited Tails in one of his labs, where his buddy was recalling their past adventures. Sonic asked if he was feeling nostalgic and Tails said he wanted to figure out how many times Sonic saved the world. He finished his countdown and reached 899 times. Sonic reminded him his victories were a group effort. Sonic did take credit for supercharging the Warp Topaz to end the Metal Virus, and at that moment, the Topaz warped right beside him, much to their surprise as they assumed it was destroyed. Tails analyzed the Topaz and discovered it still supercharged from the Chaos Emeralds. He detects the gemstone will cause a cataclysmic amount of damage if it overloads again. Sonic asked what they need to do, and Tails said they could neutralize it if they put it back where Starline found it. Tails warned him if he takes too much of its unstable energy, he may not come back the same. Sonic said they can figure that out on the fly, and he'll guide him as always. Tails checked if Sonic had his wrist-comm on and Sonic grabbed the topaz, warping out of the lab.

Sonic wound up in Green Hill and Tails said he will see someone nearby could help him. Later, he called Tails and asked what the gemstone will do. Tails told him to expect lots of portals to open up and objects to appear out of them. One of the portals that appeared brought out a road from Dragon Road into Green Hill. Sonic raced around the road, only to come face to face with an Orca from one of the portals. Amy then came to Sonic's rescue by hitting the Orca with her hammer. The Orca crashed into the road and Amy to fell with it. Sonic grabbed her hand and they rode the fin of the Orca. Sonic explained they have to get the Topaz as far away from him as possible to stop portals from appearing. Amy said its doable, but was worried about the Orca. Amy came up with a plan the involved Sonic running on the water to get the Orca's attention. He made his way up a tall island and threw the rock at Amy, who swung it away with her hammer as the Orca jumped to get Sonic. The Orca went through the portal behind Sonic and he and Amy slid off its back into the water. Later, they made it to shore and Sonic asked her to make triple chocolate chip cookies for all the trouble. He was about to leave to get the Topaz, but Amy pulled him for a hug, wishing him good luck and telling him to save the world. Sonic thanked Amy and ran off.

Soon, Sonic wound up running in a desert with the Warp Topaz. Tails told Sonic Knuckles is really close to him now. Sonic saw him and thanked him for leaving Angel Island to help. Tails told Sonic he had to get rid of the Topaz right now because the readings were going off the scale. Sonic tried to hand it to Knuckles, but he was warped away before he can. Sonic was then warped to a lab. Metal Sonic was in the lab and with Sonic seemingly too weak to stop him, Metal picked up the Topaz. Tails demanded Sonic to get out of there with the stone, but Sonic insisted he was too weak. Sonic plead with Metal to put aside their differences and give the Topaz to him so he can dispose of it. Metal thought for a moment and smacked Sonic to the side.

The hedgehog started to sound weak and defeated as he cowered behind a computer. Sonic then gave up the act and said that was probably enough time for Metal to have the Topaz. Tails got very confused and Sonic explained since he couldn't give the Topaz to Knuckles, giving it to Metal was the next best thing and he played weak to trick him. Tails praised his idea and said the effects of the Topaz wearing off him quickly. Sonic saw the Topaz making a new portal and Sonic quickly grabbed Metal into it. They wound up back in the desert, exactly where Sonic wanted. Tails said Sonic was learning how to control the Warp Topaz and Tails said he thinks the Topaz is going to a cave. Sonic told Metal to head back to Eggman before he gets mad and taunts him with the Topaz in his hand. As Metal leaves, Knuckles tells Sonic to hand him the Topaz and explain why Metal was here later. Sonic said he changed his mind and he'll hold onto the Topaz. The echidna gets angry as Sonic ran off. Tails told Sonic that wasn't funny and asked if he was going to tell Knuckles he didn't need to hold it since Metal did. Sonic said he would, eventually.

Sonic then winds up in an abandoned city where Eggman is testing a new mech robot with Orbot and Cubot watching by. The Topaz ended up in Cubot's, but he was unable to use it. Sonic tried to take it from them and Eggman used the mech's sword to attack Sonic, cutting his Eggmobile and a building in half. Sonic teleported somewhere else and Eggman tried several times to hit him, but Sonic managed to get the Topaz and get Eggman to hit himself. Eggman had enough and launched a barrage of rockets at him. They blew up in the air, but Sonic managed to hitch a ride on one and redirected it via a portal to Eggman. The rocket hit the mech, but didn't do much damage. Sonic, now on top of another building, said he would love to destroy Eggman's robot, but he is too busy saving the world and leaves via a portal.

Sonic ran into a colorful desert as he looked for someone to pass the Topaz to. He ran into Blaze, who was out sightseeing with Cream and Cheese. After he meets up with them, Cream confessed she wanted to join Sonic on his adventure even though it's dangerous because she didn't want another bad doctor to use the Topaz for evil again. Blaze and Sonic were taken aback by her outburst, but Sonic made a quick decision and lets her join, seeing her mind is made up. Sonic tosses the topaz to Blaze, which causes them to warp to Tropical Jungle. Sonic started to think on how to get back on track, but they were teleported again to Water Palace. Blaze was teleported to Monopole and looked through the portals to find the others. She then warped to Red Mountain, and after some thought, she heard Cream calling out to her. She turned to see Sonic and Cream over a lava pool and jumped to help them, creating another portal. The portal caused them to free fall in the sky. Sonic held the Topaz with Blaze and explains if they focus, they can guide where the portal to appear. They focused on the gorge from earlier and a portal to it appeared. Cream tried to get them there, and with a boost from Blaze, they got through the portal. They arrived back in the desert and Sonic thanked them for the help but Blaze said they didn't make any progress. Sonic pointed out they are in the lower part of the gorge now and left.

Later, Sonic ran through a mountainous terrain. He told Tails he felt it wanting to sprout portals again. Tails said there was an abandoned mine nearby that could negate the damage done by the portals. Sonic went in and ran into the Babylon Rouges, with Jet demanding he hand the Topaz to them. Sonic ran off, saying he assumed they intercepted a transmission, so they should know the Warp Topaz is unstable. The rogues are unfazed, but Sonic made work of them and ran ahead. Sonic reached the end of the mine, where Shadow and Rouge were sitting on a large gold nugget. Sonic assumed Tails brought them to a gold mine to entice them to help, and Rouge partially admits to it. Shadow said he can't stand power in the hands of fools. The rouges then arrived on the scene and Sonic gets ready for a 3 on 3 battle, but Shadow had other ideas. He demanded Sonic give him the topaz or he would take it by force. Sonic drilled a hole out of the mine for him and blocks the path with a portal. Tails communicates with Sonic again making sure he is OK and apologizing for cutting out before he could say Rouge and Shadow were there.

Sonic started to feel the Warp Topaz act up again and said he needed to get rid of it, causing him to warp into a cavern. Tails managed to partially tell him he was in the cave where Starline took the gemstone in the first place. Sonic ran around to find the exact spot and found a hole with graffiti left on it by Starline. He thanked the late doctor and placed the topaz into it. The stone started to go haywire, and Sonic quickly got out of the cave before it collapsed on him. On the surface, Tails asked if he was alright. Sonic said they're in the clear and victory #900 "belongs to all of us!"^[103]

A Very Chaotix Halloween[]

Sonic and Tails were flying to Seaside City in the Tornado during Halloween. Tails saw the Chaotix bellow and they decided to land near them, hoping they can Trick-or-Treat with them. They landed and Charmy told them about the case the Chaotix were investigating: a monster stealing candy from kids. Sonic suggested ditching Trick-or-Treating to help the Chaotix, and Tails agreed. Sonic asked if they can join and Vector said the more the merrier. They soon reached the spot where the monster struck and they saw another group of kids run away from the monster. Tails pinpointed where the monster was with his Miles Electric via the direction of the screams. As they walked over, Sonic asked Vector what clues they should be looking for. He decided to save time by running ahead of the group. He found a clue and showed it to the gang: a candy bag in a tree. They found a trail of candy nearby and followed it. Soon, Charmy heard some people and quietly looked ahead. They saw a kid tricking another group of kids, but he ran away as soon as Charmy yelled at him. Sonic and Espio chased him, while the others consoled the kids he left behind.

Sonic and Charmy cornered Herschel, but got the monster to defend him. It grabbed Sonic just as Vector came to help. Him and Vector attacked the monster, which turned out to be three kids in a costume. The kid from earlier landed a cheap shot on Vector and ran away, but Sonic and the others managed to nab the kids in the costume. Tails got the kid, Herschel, and brought him back to the group. Rowdy tried to negotiate the stolen candy with them, but Espio refused. Noah said they stole it fair and square, but Vector said they are returning the candy they stole. Charmy managed to find their stash and started bagging it up.

Rowdy cried and explained to Sonic they spent a year making those arms and now their plan was ruined. Sonic said they aren't keeping the candy for themselves because it belongs to everyone. He compared their actions to what Eggman does, and told him helping people feels good. They manage to convince the kids what they did was wrong and the kids apologized. They freed the kids and returned to the city to hand out the candy. Brady admitted to Sonic it feels good to help people. They split the remaining candy between everyone there.^[104]

Misadventures[]

Sonic and Blaze ran through the sewers in Spagonia, with Blaze not particularly liking the route he chose. Sonic thought she would have wanted to see more interesting locales after all of the peaceful ones they had been to. Blaze agreed despite having heard of Spagonia's beauty as a city. They reached the sewer exit and jumped outside, leaping and running across the rooftops. Sonic asked Blaze if she was willing to scale the clock tower, promising a good view, and she agreed despite her acrophobia. While standing on the clock's arms, Sonic offered to get them some food from one of the city's restaurants, only to notice her distracted by something, which wasn't the view or the high point they are standing on.

Blaze explained that all the sights Sonic had shown her gave her a love for his world that matched her own world and, as such, she felt a need to show an equal amount of dedication by striving to protect it. However, Sonic reminded Blaze her world has already been saved and she was here on vacation, one that did not involve working. His words reminded her of what Knuckles told her, causing Sonic to jokingly remark that if the concept was obvious to Knuckles, it should be easy to understand. Blaze told Sonic she was envious of his ability to balance recreation with duty, and wished to learn how to do this. After being briefly interrupted by the clock hands moving, Sonic told Blaze that he does not want to be in charge of how she spends her time, instead only wanting her to enjoy herself. Sonic asked if she wanted to get their food on the go as he was already intending to bring Tails and Amy some lunch. Blaze accepted, once again questioning Sonic's definition of a scenic route when he brings it up, and the two descended the tower.^[105]

Sonic and Blaze went to the Emeraldville Ruins to deliver some food to Tails and Amy. Blaze pointed out they are probably cold, but Sonic said Tails has a machine that warms up food perfectly. Sonic then sees Silver in the garden around the secret entrance to the Restoration HQ. Blaze notices he is upset and hands what she was holding to Sonic. He watches them talk and rudely interrupts them by sipping his drink loudly. He tells Silver and Blaze they are great together, saying they are in sync and compliment each other as a duo, similar to him and Tails. He then leaves to deliver the pasta he got to Tails and Amy.^[106]

Winter Jam[]

Sonic and his friends were relaxing in Green Hill, when a Giant Chopper ambushed them, swallowed them, and took them to an unknown location. They were let free in a TV set and Cubot announced to them that they were in Orbot and Cubot's "Winter Jam". Orbot revealed that the prize for winning was a purple Chaos Emerald, but only one team can have it. The groups were split into teams, with Sonic and Tails teaming up. The first game was to create a scenery related to the holidays. Sonic cost him and Tails a win due to his carelessness, entangling both into the lights. In a post-game interview, Sonic admitted it was hid fault, but Tails said speed was just his style.

The next game was "Snowball Jam", where teams had to carry an Eggman Doll to the finish line safely, while avoiding snowballs from the other teams trying to destroy it. Sonic took the Eggman Doll, but the doll couldn't handle his high speeds, disintegrating into mere fleeces. In the next interview, Sonic was shocked his speed caused them to lose. The contestants went through several more games before they came to "Sculpt Jam", where the teams had to make ice sculptures. Team Sonic created a simple sculpture of Sonic and Tails' friendship, but the legs were too fragile and collapsed, leaving Sonic distraught at his failures during the reality show. It was soon revealed by Cubot that "Froggy" was actually a Badnik; the real Froggy escaped the Giant Chopper. Omega went into a frenzy and destroyed the arena, while Rouge stole the Chaos Emerald. The commotion caused Eggman to arrive at the scene and Cubot pressed a button that sent Sonic's friends out of arena and back to Green Hill. Artificial snow rained down on Green Hill and the lights that landed from the set made a beautiful scene. Sonic said they should enjoy the moment and the group goes back to relaxing and playing.^[107]

Phantom Riders[]

The racers take off on their Extreme Gear, Nite reminds the racers that to qualify they must fully finish the race before a certain number of people cross the finish line. Sonic encourages Tails and Amy to show them what they can do but while doing so, Tails is too busy geeking over people's extreme gear to which Sonic questions him if he wants to test his new prototypes or watch, whereby Tails then regains his focus on the race. The Babylon Rogues catch up to Sonic's team and Jet begins to mock the hedgehog, taunting him with their busy recent work and cockily questions the speedster if he thinks he can truly beat the Babylon Rogues. Wave then teases Tails over his extreme gear, but Amy quickly defends him, telling Wave she would choose Tails' gear over hers any day. Storm attempts to threaten Amy, but the attempt quickly fails as Amy strikes fear into the albatross. Jet goads Sonic into making his own taunt, but the hedgehog ignores him and sets his acceleration to the max. As Jet fumes over his rival getting away, Sonic praises Tails over the acceleration of their upgraded Extreme Gear. Both Team Sonic and the Babylon Rouges continue to race through the streets until Jet tries to take a swipe at Sonic's gear. The two groups are interrupted by Lanolin firing a version of the variable wispon, noting that attacking another competitor is a violation to the rules. Meanwhile, Tangle enthusiastically greets her friends. Somewhere further back, Surge clicks a controller, causing team Sonic's boards to go out of control.

Tails carries Sonic as the pair try and save Amy, which leads to the trio hanging on to the back of the upgraded Pink Rose. The chaos is ended by Whisper who blasts the three boards with her Cyan Laser to help them. Tangle asks the trio if they are alright. Lanolin cuts in and coldly calls them a hazard to the race, telling them to get off the track, which leads to Tangle becoming aggrieved with her teammate's callousness towards their friends who could have been hurt, but Duo agrees with Lanolin's "harsh" behavior. Lanolin retorts that a pileup was only averted due to Whisper's good aim as the Diamond cutters drive off. Team Sonic is disqualified from the race. Later in Central City Sonic, Tails, and Amy are sitting in a restaurant and become suspicious over their disqualification, questioning their Extreme Gear, until Eggman walks in saying he has a proposition. He recalls of how after the heroes wrecked Eggperial City he wanted to do some more research but after catching the opening ceremony of the race, he became furious over Clean Sweep Inc. mocking him. Eggman managed to create an extreme gear called the Eggstreme Gear and a proposition is made: Sonic becomes a distraction in the races while Tails and Amy investigate the airship.^[108]

On a nearby building, Sonic listens to the announcements made by Nite the Owl. Nite continues by saying how the objective of the race is to survive, he then counts down while Sonic transforms into the Phantom Rider, once the race began Nite calls out how the Babylon Rogues already have a lead, but then Phantom Rider comes in and mocks them. The Phantom Rider grabs Omochao and addresses the audience, saying how he is the fastest and no one can beat him. Then he catches up to Jet. Jet claims he has never met him before. Storm tells Jet to wait for him and Wave. Soon the Phantom Rider blasts through other racers causing them to fall off until Tangle manages to catch them. Soon after, Jet is neck and neck with Phantom Rider. When Jet catches up to the Phantom Rider, he causes a smoke screen, causing Jet to go blind for a while. The Phantom Rider mentions how he should make his exit before things get out of hand, but the Clean Sweepstakes Security catches up to him. Lanolin orders him to land with Nite commentating on his reign of terror being over. Lanolin uses her Golden Bell to stop him, but that caused the glass of the track to break making riders fall off the track. The Phantom Rider, along with two of the security guards fall. Tangle uses her tail to save the riders with the Phantom Rider also helping rescue the contestants. Soon after he leaves, Surge hits him with her Extreme Gear. Kit tries to tell Surge to stand down, but she continues by introducing herself to him and complimenting his moves during the race. She mentions how he looks like a guy who can appreciate a good thrashing. Surge punches him in the face, causing a portion of Sonic's face to be revealed. The Phantom Rider kicks her away and escapes.^[109]

In Misty Spire, the next round of Clean Sweepstakes is underway Sonic, still disguised as the Phantom Rider, prepares to enter the game using the Eggstreme Gear's camouflage feature as Lanolin flies by. Nite is heard attempting to calm the audience and assuring them that the referees will deal with the situation. Another individual wearing nearly the exact same disguise as Sonic but riding the Omnitempus Extreme Gear has appeared in the arena, holding Duo's scarf as he mocks the Diamond Cutters for being unable to stop him. The new Phantom Rider charges at the racers, knocking one off his board with one hand and catching a ball with the other.

Sonic watches from below, only to notice Whisper and Tangle ahead of him. Sonic hides behind one of the area's rock towers, thinking about his next move when Mimic suddenly grabs his helmet from behind, unmasking him and accidentally launching all of the Eggstreme Gear's weapons at the same time, one of which blows up a nearby rock tower. Mimic slips away into the mist before Sonic can see who he is, leaving the hedgehog face-to-face with the other racers. Confused, Tangle asks Sonic why he is doing this, but the rock tower falls over, separating Sonic from the rest of them as they are forced to flee.^[110]

Sonic hiding amidst the sky near the battleship aboard the Eggstreme Gear. He tries to equip his mask but to no avail and hopes that Tails and Amy are faring better than him. A bolt of lightning suddenly strikes nearby, alerting the hedgehog to the sudden change in weather, and causing a couple of the cars to crash into each other. Some of the drivers spot Sonic, who uses a hood to conceal his face, with one of them questioning if "Phantom Rider" is responsible for the storm. A bolt of lightning hits a nearby car and causes it to start falling. Sonic is then spotted by Jet amidst the crowd and begins chasing him down, determined to stop whatever Sonic is up to. Sonic throws his hood at Jet, distracting the hawk long enough for Sonic to lose him.

However, before he can plan his next course of action, he and the Eggstreme Gear are grabbed by Nite the Owl and pulled into his van. Sonic prepares for a fight, only to recognize Nite's voice as that of the event announcer. Nite is amused by Sonic's reaction and introduces himself and his vehicle to the hedgehog. Sonic also meets Nite's partner, Don, who comments the events in Misty Spire. Sonic states that that was not him, which Don had already suspected to be the case. Don sees Jet ahead of them and pushes Sonic out of sight until the hawk leaves, after which Nite offers Sonic cocoa. After listening to Sonic's explanation of what happened, Nite asks if he is worried about them possibly revealing his identity, but Sonic answers that it is a bit late for that. He explains that although he would have preferred to keep it a secret, he will still do what he needs to do regardless of what the world thinks since his friends are counting on him. Sonic asks Nite what he and Don are up to. Nite explains that the Chaotix Detective Agency have been investigating Clean Sweep Inc. for a while and were going to search around the shuttle, but he and Don have not heard from them since, which is why they approached Sonic. Sonic tells them that Tails and Amy are on the shuttle and might know something about Team Chaotix if they can find them. Don returns from repairing the Phantom Rider's control panel, and Sonic is able to transform into his full disguise again, setting off to get to the bottom of the situation.^[111]

Sonic is waiting for the race to start and says that this is his last chance and that whatever Tails and Amy are up to it better be wrapped up and soon after the race begins with Nite announcing it is set right in the streets of Central City.

Suddenly the Phantom Rider appears, and Jet immediately goes after him while Wave crashes trying to remind him to be gentle when Surge and Kit blast through the crowed when Surge tries to run into him, but he does it when suddenly Surge jumps from her Hang-On and knocks him off the Eggstreme Gear after trying to taunt her while Kit grapes her using his Hydro Pack tails. Soon the Diamond Cutters surround him with lanolin telling him that he is done and it's enough and Lanolin counties saying that he would not like her kick on her wispon. Sonic disagrees when suddenly the Babylon Rogues surround him when Nite announces a halt in the race, saying that everyone is going after the Phantom Rider with him dogging attacks from Lanolin, Surge and Kit who Surge manages to grab on to his Eggstreme Gear while Whisper uses her Variable Wispon to fire. Jet than orders the rouges to attack but are stopped by Kit's tails when Tangle uses her to grab Surge until she zaps her and tells her to not get in her way while the Phantom Rider continues to taunt her saying their fights aren't it. The Phantom Rider launches at her while Surges also blast towards him and Surges gets knocked by the collision when after she laughs at him saying she got the device turning the Phantom Rider back to Sonic while Kit ask Surge is she's okay and she replies saying she's fine and did not ask any stupid questions. Sonic then ask her what the game and Surge replies is saying that she is following order and ask her boss if he is happy.^[112] Later on, Sonic and the others watch as the shuttle is falling and soon Sonic heads towards the shuttle but once he realizes Lanolin is chasing him he stops her saying they can do whatever they want with him later but they he's going to help the people on board.^[113]

Spring Broken![]

Sonic and Tails go to the Spring Flower Festival to have fun and rude rides, while there they run into Amy who tells sonic about the Annual Flower Frolic Competition being held, later on they would meet up with Silver, Espio and Jewel who are competing. Once Amy and Nite introduce the participants Silver's plant catches on fire causing him to be eliminated, after Sonic tries to cheer him up and say that there is always next year, which Vector helps Sonic and Tails find out who tampered with Silver's flower. But after discovering that Silver was the cause of his failure the case would be solved until they found out that someone but herbicide in his plant. Then they run into Big who mentions the suspect running throughout the festival later they would find out that it's Charmy, but he was confused due to the label being purposely swapped by Rough. Shortly after the winner was announced Sonic and Tails enjoyed the rest of their time riding rides.^[114]

For My Destiny[]

Sonic who is sitting on top of the Master Emerald on Angel Island says how he'd thought Knuckles would never say that when Knuckles responds saying he wasn't talking to him when Sonic starts to tease him. Knuckles yells at him to come down from the emerald when Sonic says he was totally just thinking about him and Knuckles says how he was never thinking, and Sonic says how Knuckles has no idea what he's saying when Tails and Amy tells them to stop arguing.

Knuckles then ask the group what they're doing here and did something happen. Amy responds saying does something have to happen to come visit their good friend and Tails jumps in and says that they just wanted to check in on him and make sure he wasn't getting lonely. Tails further explains that it was Sonic's idea when Sonic says how it was a good idea and saying how he missed their "beautiful friendship" when Tails apologizes for being late saying how they got sidetracked. Knuckles then says how an unexpected adventure happens and knows them to well and asks what happened when Sonic starts by saying it started this morning.^[115]

References[]