Situation: Grim

New Yoke

The Eggforcers and Security Drones sweep the city, searching for Resistance members. Little did they know that they had one in their midst, hiding in an alley, waiting for a chance

"This is Squad Commander Red to Squad Commander Blue. Initiate Operation: Cheese," Squad Commander Red said. She then runs, bumping into something, alerting one of the Eggforcers to her location.

"Possible rebel suspect detected. Inspection in progress. Scanning for Resistance signatures. Resistance icon identified," the Eggforcers proceeded to follow.. As the Eggforcers prepare to search further, a loud bang erupts nearby. They turn to see a Security Drone crash down, hit by a Resistance member.

"It's a trap!" the Eggforcers shouted.

"Now!" Squad Commander Red commanded.

The Resistance opens fire with laser guns, led by Renegade Knucks. Rusty Rose and Wrecker Rex appear, noticing the chaos and they dash to the nearest rooftop over to get a good view.

"Targets acquired. Initiate recording." Wrecker Rex told Rusty as they both begin recording the attack for analysis of the resistance's movements.

"Eat plasma, you filthy bots!" Squad Commander Red yelled as she kept firing.

Suddenly, a portal rips open, and Sonic and Ryder tumble out, covered in vines, screaming.

Rusty looks up and notices. "Blue hedgehogs detected," Rusty announced.

Rex looks at that directions and sees them falling. "I see them. We must capture them immediately." He gets ready to pounce but is grabbed by the shoulder by Rusty.

"Think for once. We need to maintain our cover in order to locate the Resistance base. We will deal with Sonic and Ryder soon, and when we do we will take his power source." Rusty explains brilliantly, causing Rex to glare at her for a moment for making a fool out of her before backing away from the ledge.

"Very well. We will follow your lead." Rex crosses his arms in frustration.

Just before the Hedgehogs fall, the veins they brought from Boscage Maze catch them. They look around, bewildered.

Ryder groans in exhaustion. "New Yoke? Again? How did we get all the way here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine buddy." Sonic tells him. They then hear Knucks screaming. They see him spin dashing in the air and uncurling with a piece of an Eggforcer on him taking them down, along with the resistance.

"For a better tomorrow!" He swings the metal pipe, taking out two Eggforcers. "Who's with me?!"

"Oh, no..." Sonic said.

"Here we go again." Ryder agreed.

The Eggforcers continue to fire at the Resistance. One stray laser hits the veins, causing Sonic and Ryder to fall. They quickly scrambles to get up and dodge incoming fire as two Resistance members rush past them.

"Uhh, since when was this place a warzone?" Ryder asked, while dodging.

"No idea. New Yoke City isn't quite what I remember," Sonic remarked.

Knucks catches sight of the Hedgehogs. "Sonic? Ryder? Didn't think I'd see your smugs again. Where've you been?" Knucks asked. Knucks deflects an Eggforcer with a swift move. Rusty and Rex move closer to hear what they're saying.

"Hey! I'm not smug! I'm charming and powerful and everyone likes me." Ryder defended himself before back-kicking an approaching Eggforcer.

"Dude, I had zero intention of leaving you," Sonic replied, taking down an Eggforcer. "I touched the Shard and we got zapped to another world, with another you,  fighting another battle." Sonic explained as the trio continued to bash some bots.

"And trust me you do not want to meet the other you. He's crazier than his name." Ryder added.

"Shard? You mean that energy crystal thingie?" Knucks inquired ignoring Ryder's comment.

"Yeah, that." Sonic confirmed. They all tackle Eggforcers simultaneously as the cyborg duo watched.

"'Shard'...?" Rusty Rose echoed.

"Hmm... it seems like my theory was correct." Rex mentioned.

"What theory?" Rusty asked him, but declined to answer.

"Anyway, I'm stoked to be back. What's the situation? Where's Nine? I need to ask him about this other Shard we found," Sonic said.

"And the Emerald that I found." Ryder added.

"Oh yeah. That too." Sonic agreed.

"Nine? I ought to be asking you the same question. Now, do me a solid and pipe down. I've got shells to crack,"  Knucks replied. He spin attacks several Eggforcers.

Sonic chuckles. "Nice spin attack, by the way," Sonic said, wagging his finger playfully. "But I bet you can't do this." Sonic spins atop the pile of robots, sending them crashing into airborne Eggforcers. An Eggforcer turns to Squad Commander Red and Rebel Rouge, who are firing lasers.

"Retreat!" the Eggforcer shouted, retreating cowardly back to the Yoke, prompting cheers from the Resistance. Rex and Rusty move away discreetly. Sonic and Ryder continue to celebrate, laughing, until they see Knucks glaring at them.

Ryder looks at him nervously. "Hey, Knucks... buddy, you're not mad at us for disappearing on you guys right?" Ryder asked

Knucks looks at them growling. "Come on,"  Knucks replied, starting to walk away. "All right, everyone scatter!" The Resistance disperses as a Security Drone hovers in to patrol the scene.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in the Yoke, the Chaos Council are gathered around in the throne room, conversing about the Resistance's efforts.

"First, they steal our energy crystal. Now these ants decide to stand up for themselves? How dare they." Eggman said as he slams his fist.

Dr. Babble gibbers an idea.

"The baby is right. We won't rest until every last rebel has been sentenced to-" Dr. Deep slams his fist. "Oblivion."

Dr. Don't scoffs, while playing a video game. "Or until our backup power runs out."

A door whirs open. Rusty and Rex comes in.

"The Hedgehogs are back." She tells them before she projects her recorded footage out of her eye, watched by the Council. It shows the duo screaming while they fall down; followed by them battling the Eggforcers.

"We had zero intention of leaving you. I touched the Shard and I got zipped into another world with another you fighting another battle." Sonic said in the recording.

"Another world? And what does he mean by 'Shard'?" Eggman wondered.

"He is referring to the lost energy crystal Mr. Dr. Eggman." Rex explained.

"Yeah. Duh." Dr. Don't remarked.

"Where's Nine? I gotta pick his brain about this other Shard we found." the recorded Sonic added.

"And the Emerald I found." Ryder added in the record.

Mr. Dr. Eggman looked shocked. "What? Another Shard? We can power a city with one Shard. Imagine what we could do with two Shards."

"There might be like several Shards." Dr Don't deduced  while playing this game.

"You would be correct Dr. Deep. While I was under the control of the fox intruder, Sonic mentioned shattering a powerful object known as the Paradox Prism." Rex informed them.

Dr. Babble's pacifier falls out of his mouth and it lands on his eating tray. "Huh?"

"And you choose just now to reveal this information?" Deep asked, angered by the fact that the cyborg would withhold such important information for so long until now.

"Because there was no reason to mention it without any knowledge of the locations of the other shards. All I knew was that there was, judging by Sonic's weight, size, and the size of the energy crystal, there were three or four other pieces unaccounted for. So I checked the data library for any mention of a Paradox Prism or a powerful crystal." Rex explained.

"And did you find it?" Eggman asked, curious about his creations findings.

Rex shook his head. "No. But I did find an ancient scroll telling of a set of Emeralds known as the Chaos Emeralds, each with great power, and whoever holds all seven will reach a level far beyond one's dreams. I believe that Ryder has recently come in contact with one of these Emeralds."

"You sure he didn't just find some normal emerald and decided to brag about it?" Deep wondered if Rex's deduction was wrong.

"It is unlikely. Why would he want to mention something as mundane as a regular Emerald in the middle of a battle field, especially following the mention of a Shard." Deep scoffs at the quick correction. "Now that Sonic has confirmed the existence and discovery of another Shard, we now have a guaranteed way of finding them all. If we can capture the Hedgehogs and interrogate them, we can have them take us to Nine, and use that Shard to travel to this "other world" that they spoke of, and unite the Paradox Prism, and the Chaos Emeralds, and once we do... the entire universe will belong to you." Rex finished, impressing them with his presentation.

Eggman smirks at the possibilities that Rex had offered. "Very well deduced, my subordinate. We have to find those hedgehogs. If they've seen another Shard, then they can lead us to it."

"If my readings are correct, the last indication of his energy was in Deep's District." Rusty shows them on the screen.

"Let's smoke them out. Send in the bots." Deep ordered. The Cyborgs nodded as the projection ends and they walk outside to get the Eggforcers ready to attack.

"Since you've informed us of your theory, are you also going to mention what happened after the Hedgehogs disappeared?" Rusty asked her companion/rival.

"And what would that be?" Rex asked, confused.

"When your being controlled was being overridden, you zapped yourself before it could complete itself. Why?" She asked, wondering if her partner in battle was really a traitor.

"I have no recollection of this. Perhaps I was ordered to by Nine." Rex guessed.

Rusty shakes her head. "Hmm, I did not see him say anything to you." she countered.

"I don't know what to tell you." Rex said, honestly. He lied about not remembering it but he couldn't understand what happened. It was almost as if a remnant of someone else made him do it. The only question is... who?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, under the grounds of Dr. Deep's District, Knucks guided the two Hedgehogs, Ryder and Sonic directly to the base of operations of the Resistance.

Sonic turns to Knucks with a question. "I take it you radioed ahead and let Rebel know what's what."

"I did." Knucks tells him. Sonic gives a wink and thumbs-up to  Knucks. He simply rolls his eyes in annoyance. Ryder does too, knowing that it wouldn't be enough to sooth Rebels temper.

Rebel suddenly speaks with her back turned. "Look who decided to drop in. Welcome back. Here to face the music?"

"Depends what kind of music. Am I sensing a negative vibe?" Sonic asked.

"Get ready for some Country Sonic." Ryder said, signalling to him that it was gonna be negative.

Rebel turns to them. "Using us to help you steal the Shard then deserting us as soon as you got what you came for?" She walks up to them goes up in their faces and hovers in the air with her wings. "Yeah, I'd say the vibe is pretty negative. I should let the Chaos Council turn you into a handbag."

"Uh, I thought you explained everything." Sonic said to Knucks with a whisper.

"I did. She didn't care." Knucks said, causing Sonic to become worried.

"The rodents are lying. Let's toast em'." Commander Red said, pointing her blaster at them, but Ryder moves it downwards with his finger.

"Hold your horses angry cat lady. We didn't abandon anyone." Ryder said before turning to Rebel. "We were teleported to another world. We were basically kidnapped, and you can't be mad at us for being kidnapped. And besides, we didn't even take the Shard."

"But your fox friend did, right before he left us high and dry." Knucks tells the duo, shocking them both.

"He did?" Sonic said, saddened by the news.

"He wouldn't... he couldn't" Ryder said, in denial.

Rebel Rouge: "And to think we believed in you. After sticking our necks out like we did."

Flashback, New Yoke

Rebel,  Knucks, and Rusty are sat down, cornered by shooting Eggforcers. Mr. Dr. Eggman uses his mech to keep the door open, observing Sonic get sucked in by the Red Prism Shard. Sonic screams as Ryder tries to pull him back and is sucked in with him. Afterwards, Nine shakes off his misery and retrieves the Shard with an electric grabber, which coincidentally turns off the power. The power turns back on.

"Backup systems engaged." The computer announced.

"They have the energy crystal!" Eggman yells from the other side of the door. Nine uses his robot tails to climb on the wall, as Rex uses his stretch arms to climb as best as he can to the top of the door.

[The door opens. Dr. Don't, Mr. Dr. Eggman, and Dr. Deep, the latter two in their mechs, pass through, unknowingly passing by Nine and Rex, Nine crawling upside-down past the doorway in the other direction, holding the Shard in his two tails, and Rex swinging discreetly with his arms attacked to the ceiling. He crawls around the walls, noticed by the rebels. He stops and looks at them, until he hears a voice from afar.

"Find them. They can't be far." He heard Eggman say.

Nine wonders what to do for a second before hearing the sound of glitching. He looks to his left and sees Rex's eyes shifting from yellow back to red. "System override." Rex whispers. He then turns his left hand to a taser in his red eye state pointing it at Nine, before his eyes start to glitch again for a few seconds before turning bright blue for a short period of time. "Run... Miles." He said, shocking the fox. Rex then proceeded to shock himself with his taser, essentially shutting himself down and he was left dangling on the ceiling unconscious. Nine decides to follow his long-lost friend's parting words and continues crawling around the walls until he finds a safe place to jump off and land. He jumps over the doorway wedged open by an Eggforcer, to dramatic music and the rebels' horror. Knucks growls in anger with the screen closing in on him, and attacks and destroys the Eggforcers in fury. He carries an unconscious Rebel through Yoke HQ's exit hole that Ryder had made before, and jumps down. Rusty crawls to follow with a smile at their escape but then beeps and malfunctions.

"Initiating system override. Chaos Council programming restored." Her eyes shift back to red. She moves back inside and she sees her companion dangling on the ceiling and grabs him, pulling him out. Rusty, seeing that he is unconscious, takes him to the nearest lab to find the equipment to reactivate him.

While Denizen 1998 is fishing inside a skip, the rebels fall with a thud, causing him to notice. The Rebels look up at an angry Denizen 1998, then he offers them a lift. He carries the two Resistance members around his arms and runs. In the next scene, many members of the resistance equip themselves with weapons.

"Word of our work spread throughout the city. Our army grew without you or that traitorous fox."

Flashback End, New Yoke

"And, tonight, we finally-" Before Rebel could finish her monologue, she is interrupted by a slam coming from a table aside from them.

"Tonight, we finally finish what we started." A large crocodile said, interrupting her.

"Dang it V, I told you not to interrupt my speeches." Rebel scolded.

"Hey, you know me. I'm always one to speak up when I've got something to say." He said.

After squinting, Ryder realized who he was. "Vector? Is that you?" And he was right. The croc steps into the light and is revealed to be the headphone wearing, leather jacket wearing, Vector, along with his two battle-hardened compatriots, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy the Bee.

"And you bet that us Chaotix are gonna be here to back him up." Charmy said with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, traitor. And how do you know my name anyway. Though I shouldn't be surprised. News travels fast of my skills as a detective."

Ryder narrows his eyes in annoyance. "Dude, I know yo-... you know what, I'm not in the mood."

"So let me get this straight." Sonic said, taking back the metaphorical mike. "We skip town for a day and you cook up a revolution?"

Rebel, annoyed and goes to Sonic's face. "A day? You've been gone weeks."

"Weeks? Really? Time must move differently there."

"All that matters right now is taking out the council while we still can." Knucks said.

"If they get that energy crystal back, we're done for." Rebel said with dispair.

"Nine won't let that happen." Ryder declares.

"You tell us where he is and we'll make sure he doesn't." Espio said, hinting they are gonna hurt him as the Hedgehogs back up, with Ryder glaring at the chameleon.

"How would I know?" Sonic said, feigning innocence.

"I smell baloney. Let's put the screws to em." Knucks suggests with his knuckles at their chests.

Squad Commander Red turns her  gun to face the hedgehog. "Come on, boss. Let me tear this scoundrel limb from limb."

"Seriously lady, what's wrong with you? We just want to help, but instead you want to go all Hemingway on us. Geez." Ryder said disturbed by the purple cat.

"Yeah. Also, screws and baloney would taste— terrible." Sonic pushes Squad Commander Red's gun down. "There's better ways to get more iron in your diet."

Rebel, annoyed glares at them. "Jokes? After all we've been through? Don't you understand what's at stake?" She turns her back on them and taps her bracelet which triggers a circular platform to ascend from the ground. A palm tree appears inside the cylinder... the palm tree. "It's a symbol of the life we deserve, growing and thriving in peace."

"If we lose this fight, there won't be anything left to fight for." Knucks adds, miserable.

"All hope... will be lost." Charmy said, not exactly living up to his name.

Ryder touches the cylinder and takes a closer look at the palm tree. "Just like The palm back home." He thinks back to when the gang surprised Sonic with a palm tree just like this and the Great Green tree in Boscage Maze. He becomes guilty and miserable.

Ryder turns to the rebels. "I'm sorry that all this happened to you, and even more sorry that I wasn't there to stop it, but I'm gonna help make it right." Ryder promises.

"Me too." Sonic takes a place next to Ryder. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me, but I'm not a traitor and neither are Ryder or Nine. Let me prove it to you. Let us fight by your side."

They stare at the duo and their strong hope to be apart of this and to help them. Rebel, Knucks, and the Chaotix look to each other for a moment before nodding.

"Okay, we'll trust you... for now." Rebel offers her hand, which Ryder quickly accepts and gets a surprise yank from her. "But you ditch us again, and I'll make you a handbag." She said menacingly.

Ryder nods furosciously and fearfully. "Yep, yep, got it. Totally. Scouts honor." He then snaps out of his fear and grows curious. "Oh, by the way, I never got to ask, how do you know Rex?"

Knucks and Rebel look to each other wondering what to say, and they decide to tell him. "It was a long time ago, before he became Wrecker Rex, and not long after the Council arrived." Rebel began.

Flashback, Green Hill (New Yoke World)

A young Rebel Rouge is fast asleep upside-down on a palm tree without a care in the world, and without a war to fight, until suddenly, the ground rumbles, dropping coconuts off the tree and waking her up.

"Huh? Whoa--!" She falls and lands on the ground on her feet. She looks behind her and sees trees being plowed and knocked down, creating huge clouds of dust from behind. Rouge gets caught in the tree stampede, by what is revealed to be a group of Eggforcers pushing the trees away. Rouge, hanging on, flies up while dust clouds scatter and cover the ground to her horror. She shakes her head, but hears a young Knucks screaming over by the pier, taking on a swarm of Eggforcers.

"Get away!" He yells pushing an Eggforcer to the pier. "Stop destroying our forest!"

Before another Eggforcer could challenge him, Rouge flies and carries Knucks away to safety. They see the devastation of their land from above as fires and smoke are scattered all over Green Hill at various points, and over time, the beautiful Green Hill was transformed and corrupted into the evil New Yoke City that stands to this day.

"It's gone. All of it." Knucks said, feeling saddened.

"We'll get it back." Rebel said, with hope as she kept flying.

"How? It's... it's hopeless." He wonders.

"Except it's not. Nothing's hopeless." A voice was heard from a rooftop next to them but too close to the exit to be seen, due to darkness. Rebel stops her flight and hovers at her spot.

"And just who are you?" Rebel asks causiously.

The figure steps into the light, revealing a fully genetic Rex. "My name is Rex, Rex the Hedgehog, and I couldn't help but hear you guys talking."

Knucks looks back to the dark and mechanical city before him. "We lost everything. The trees, the grass, everything that was beautiful about this place. How can we hope to get that back?" He asked, not believing for a second that they could prevail.

"By fighting back." This response surprises him and Rebel. "If we can all work together, and take the fight to the Chaos Council, we can stop them, take the city back, and save our home." Rex said.

"I agree. We can do this, Knucks. We're the only people who can." Rebel said, knowing that it was the only way to get their home back.

"I can't... there's no hope."

Rex walks up to Knucks and holds his shoulder. "There is always hope. You are strong Knucks. I can tell just by looking at you. You can be the renegade of New Yoke, a man with the purpose of saving his home. And you, Rouge, can be the one who can rebel against the system and cleanse it." He tells them, with optimism in his voice.

Rebel turns to Rex. "Will you fight with us?"

Rex smiles but shakes his head. "Nah, I got a fox to take care of. Can't get caught in this. Where would he be without me. Even with me he decided to name himself after a manga. He'd be all alone in a cave hating everyone without me." He laughs for a moment. "I do hope to see you both someday though. And if you still aren't convinced, go to the sewers of Deeps district. There's something I managed to save there that can be a real help in building an army." Rex turns to take his leave.

"And what would that be?" Rebel asks him, still not sure if she can trust him.

He turns his head and looks at them from his shoulder. "Hope." He said before running off and jumping between rooftops. The duo look at each other wondering if they should follow his advice, and they did. They went to the sewers and found the hope they were looking for... the palm.

Flashback End, New Yoke City

"Wow... Nine named himself after Naruto?" Ryder said, as if that was the biggest thing in that story.

Rebel gives him a look of disappointment. "Seriously? I just told you he inspired us and gave us this tree and that's your takeaway?"

"Oh. Um, sorry. By the way, where is he? Still on our side?"

"No, before he left he knocked himself out and couldn't come with us. I'm guessing he's still there." Rebel said, letting his hopes down.

"Oh... hey, since we're on the subject, did you ever see Rex carrying  a gem that looked a lot like this." He opens his satchel from Boscage, and shows her the Cyan Chaos Emerald he got from there.

Rebel looks at it closely. "Hmm, no. I've never seen anything like it, though he never showed us his home so we wouldn't know. If anyone would know... it would be that traitorous fox."

Before Ryder could reply to that, a heavy thudding sound alerts and shocking everybody.

Rebel's eyes harden with conviction, knowing exactly who is responsible. "It's the Chaos Council." She flies to the computer. "They've located us." She presses a key and looks at a webcam. It shows Eggforcers walking along the road. One of them lands in the middle of the camera's view and chatters to their fellow robots. He shoots into the camera and disables it.

"Secure the tree!" Rebel orders.

"How did they find us? It can't be a coincidence." Squad Commander Red accuses and points at Ryder.

"You are very cynical." Ryder points out.

"Better cynical than dead." She counters.

"Better dead than friendless." He counters.

"That's it!" She aims her gun directly at his head.

"Stand down soldier. Everyone up top before our location is compromised." The cylinder descends and the resistance run away. Sonic stays there, watching the Palm Tree in misery come down. Ryder taps his shoulder.

"We gotta go now." He said before they both run off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eggforcers march together looking around for suspects.

"They are somewhere near. Continue the attack. We will force them out." One of the Eggforcers orders as they continue their search.

Little did they know that Commander Red and Ryder were hiding behind rocks, waiting to attack.

"Not on my watch, automaton." She said before she prepares to fire.

"Technically, since we're all here, they've already forced us out, and it was on your watch so you've already failed." Ryder jokes with a smirk.

"Do you ever stop talking?" She asks, feeling fed up with him.

"Not when I'm awake." Ryder replies, seriously.

She growls before she fires a laser. It cuts through and destroys a robot. The shooting commences. An Eggforcer shoots and breaks a rock. Ryder slides behind the rock to the front and launches a spin attack at the Eggforcers closest to him before stopping and flipping backwards to escape an attack from the rest and gets shot, which flings him back to the rock with Commander Red.

"Who's the failure now?" She smirks.

"...I hate you." Ryder tells her.

Meanwhile, cutting ahead of the surprised resistance, Sonic spin dashes towards his enemies and homing attacks three of them, before spinning into Eggman's Mech, however, he parries the blue ball away, causing him to hurtle to the wall. He groans and slides to the ground.

Dr. Babble arrives to battle in his mech, taking on Knucks, now without his weapon. In slow motion, they fist into each other, but it's Dr. Babble that is blown back. The baby giggles and angrily deploys a large red laser back at him, but Rebel carries her team-mate away from the attack just in time and glides him to safety, only to get punched by Dr. Babble's robot, knocking them both out.

Denizen 1998 defeat more robots using the metal pipe and kicking attacks. His pipe clashes with the Mech of Dr. Deep's sword.

"Surrender the energy crystal and we'll promise to make your demise quick and-- painless." He points his sword at the cat's face. Squad Commander Red and two other members are cornered by Eggforcers.

"We need backup." She said to her com.

"Ask and you receive!" Ryder calls out as he rises up to the sky and spin dashes the Eggforcer to his front, before flipping up high and landing on another and charging the last one with a spin attack to the chest, causing a hole to appear on its chest. As the Eggforcer falls, Ryder turns his head slowly towards the trio with a smirk. "Still think I'm a traitor."

Red looks at him with shock and awe before snapping out of it and crossing her arms. "I had that thank you very much."

"And that call for backup was just a slip of the tongue." He said embarrassing her.

"Sh-shut up!" She yelled. He sticks his tongue out and then is about to go help the other rebels but hears a humming sound coming from the sky. Ryder turns to see what it was and sees a small portal gateway appear, and a ship coming up of it, with Nine inside of it.

"Ryder, Sonic, hang on!"

Ryder, Knucks, Sonic and Rebel look at him in shock before all saying: "Nine?"

"You got a plane... kinda."

Everyone watches as Nine swoops into the area. Ryder smiles at the entrance of his friend.

"Wait. Was that an energy portal? How did he do that?" Eggman wondered.

"It's the fox who stole the Shard. Get him!" Dr. Deep ordered.

The Eggforcers shoot lasers at Nine's plane. It corkscrews to dodge the lasers, while Ryder runs, carrying Squad Commander Red and three other resistance members to safety. Ryder then stops to drop them off.

"Still don't trust us?" Ryder asked rhetorically before leaving them to track down Nine, whom is shooting down the Eggforcers and then blasts Dr. Babble's robot. His ship turns around and shoots Dr. Deep down. Ryder and Sonic go after the plane, but are confronted by shooting Eggforcers. They spin jump and Homing Attack some robots in a line leading up to the plane. Nine smiles and then opens the doors for them to hop in.

"Nine! Boy am I glad to see you." Ryder then taps Nine's shoulders, ecstatic to see his friend. "We could really use some backup."

Before he could continue, Nine opened a portal with his ship and they went through it.

"Whoa. Whoa. Where are we going?" Sonic asked.

The Void

The trio then enter the world between worlds, the same place the Hedgehogs enter every time they enter a new world.

"We got a fight on our hands back there and..." Sonic scolds before he realizes it's not New Yoke City; starts looking around, confused. "What did you just do?"

"I opened a portal." Nine explains with a smirk.

"Whoa. I think we cross through here every time me and Ryder enter the other worlds."

Nine: I call them Shatterspaces.

Ryder furrows his eyes with a smile. "You can come up with that but not a good hacker phrase?"

Nine narrows his eyes in annoyance. "Oh ha ha ha." He laughs sarcastically.

"You've been hacked by Nine." Ryder imitates with a robot voice.

Before they could argue any further, Sonic cuts to the chase and grabs Nine's shoulder. "Really glad to see you but we have to go back. The rebels need our help."

Nine turns to them annoyed. "Not until you tell me where you've been."

"Well..." Sonic then explains the entire thing in just a few seconds. "Then you showed up in your spaceship and pulled me into this portal thingy." He takes a deep breath.

Ryder stares, impressed with that work. "Wow... just... wow. You just explained two episodes worth of information in twenty seconds. Bravo Sonic."

"Thanks. Wait, episodes?" Sonic realizes what Ryder said, who widens his eyes.

"That confirms what I've discovered. From the moment you vanished, I suspected there was more to the Shard than I'd realized." Nine declared before pressing a button. The red shard rises into their view.

"So you did take it." Sonic realizes.

"Yeah, that and I hacked into their power core schematics. Pretty elementary. So I adapted them and created the Shatter Drive. Now we can travel the Shatterverse at our discretion." Nine tells them and extends his hands to show them the Shatterverse.

"Damn Nine, your naming skills have gone up since the last time we met. You truly are my friend." Ryder compliments Nine who smiles at the comfort of those words. "So how many worlds have you visited so far?" Ryder asked.

"Just one. And just wait until you see it." Nine prepares them for something he says is huge.

"Okay, this is cool and everything but we really gotta get back to New Yoke." Sonic reminds them.

Nine rolls his eyes. "I have to show you guys what I found." He pushes the lever, accelerating his plane. It enters the purple gateway.

New World (Not One Piece)

The plane enters and lands on a planet of nothingness. Everything for miles is nothing but rock formations, sand, and some strange long hexagons stacked together to form small hills.

"Another world?!" Ryder and Sonic say in unison. The doors open and Nine rises up and flies in excitement.

"Welcome to our bright new future. I call it The Grim."

"Yeah, that seems accurate." Sonic looks at his recalibrated shoes. "What?"

"Woah. Now this is freaky." Ryder commented. The shoes look pretty much the same as the originally are, except with a bunch of grey hexagons on them, similar to the one's nearby.

"Fascinating. Your shoes have recalibrated to The Grim." Nine observes.

"Yeah, we get a fancy upgrade every time we enter a new Shatterspace." Ryder explains.

"Huh. Prism energy truly is magnificent. We're only just scratching the surface of its capabilities." Nine mentions.

"Be on the lookout for whacked-out versions of you, me, or anyone else you might know."

"That's the best part of all. There's almost no one here." Nine tells them when he lands. Ryder furrows his eyes when he says almost. That means someone is here. Someone they don't know... but who? "It's a clean slate. The perfect place to start over and get the world right. With the proper fortifications and enough Shard energy, it could be home. The one you lost. The one I never had. I can make that hope a reality, for all of us." He holds both their shoulders with hopeful eyes.

Ryder looks at him, considering his offer. On one hand, staying here for a while with Nine doesn't seem like a bad idea. On the other hand, there are still some rebels to save. He needs to prioritize them but... he can't just leave Nine all alone to go somewhere he hates.

Before he could make a decision, Sonic talks to Nine first. "Look, Nine, it's incredible but it's not going anywhere. And those rebels really need our help. Come with us. Help me finish the fight." Sonic pitched to Nine, who only became annoyed and angered by this.

"That city never brought me anything but misery. I owe it nothing." Nine turns his back on them and walks to the ship. "I'll help you get back." He jumps into the cockpit. "But I have work to do." He shoots some lasers which open up the portal. Sonic sighs in misery. Ryder looks back in sadness.

"I hope I see you in New Yoke." Sonic walks backwards into the portal, leaving the duo alone.

"Well? Aren't you gonna bail too?" Nine asked Ryder without looking at him, hurt that one of his friends ditched.

Ryder takes a deep breath. "Nine, you're right." Nine perks up at that statement. "That world sucks. It's never done anything good for us and the people who run it are psychos, especially the baby. And to top it all off, it's where you lost Rex." Nine looks down at that, still sad about Rex becoming that robotic monster. "But that's why I have to go back. " Nine looks up, confused. "I need to go back because I want to make a better future. To quote Kylo Ren, "Let the past die."."

Nine raises his eyebrow. "I don't know who that is." He told him.

"Not the point. The point is... If we can all work together, and take the fight to the Chaos Council, we can stop them, take the city back, and save their home. That's what's worth fighting for... and I hope that we can save Rex while we're at it, cause that's all be got... hope." Ryder turns his back on Nine and takes a slow walk to the portal. "I hope you have some hope in that heart of yours too Nine. I know Tails did." He said before walking through, leaving Nine to his own thoughts.

Nine thought about what he said. 'Could there be any hope for a city like that?' He wondered. He had lived his entire life under the ridicule and humiliation that city provided. He hated every second. He even once had a talk with Rex about this. 'Do you ever wish we could just leave this world behind? This city, this place, all of it?' He remembered the fateful question that he asked his best friend and brother. Rex never understood that he meant it, but he understood his pain. What could he gain from saving the city that hurt him so?

"I told you they wouldn't come along." Nine was taken out of his thoughts by a figure who stood on top of the cockpit. "They are too stuck on their ways, their morals."

Nine sighed. "You were right. Now I guess we're all alone here."

The figure smirked from behind his robe and hood. "Maybe not. The Paradox Prism had enough power to create worlds. Perhaps if we reunite it, we can create life on this world, life that we can trust."

"And how do we do that?" Nine asked him.

"Oh I have a plan, but we need to help those two first. Not just to save your world, but to help ours... evolve." As he said that, he held something tightly in his right hand. Something Rex lost so long ago... the purple Chaos Emerald. The very same one that escaped Ryder's grasp before. The figure then but down his hood and revealed his face, he was a hedgehog, who looked very similar to Ryder. "Let's get to work." He declared.

Meanwhile, in the Void

Ryder flew through the void with a determined look in his eyes, as he flew towards the red gateway.

"Ryder!" He then hears the voice of Shadow appearing taking the look off his face, and replacing it with confusion.

"What the? Shadow?!" He called out before reaching the gateway and going through.

New Yoke City

The Rebels and Sonic duck as the shooting starts. Suddenly the portal behind them that disappeared, reopened, allowing Ryder to return and land a powerful kick on Eggman's mech before landing on the ground and backing up in a crouch position towards the rebels.

"Hope I'm not too late." Ryder said before preparing a Homing attack.

"Better late than never." Knucks declares before he and Rebel jump into action.

"That's the spirit!" Sonic said.

The Resistance start attacking. Knucks and Rebel dodge laser fire and take out Eggforcers, followed by Ryder and Sonic. Dr. Babble gets up and screams, combating the Resistance. He slaps Knucks and Sonic away. Ryder slides past him and crouches behind his legs.

"Hey! Play nice." Sonic yelled before he launched a Homing attack which moves Dr. Babble back, and he trips on Ryder and falls.

"Ha! Take that you stupid baby!" Ryder insulted.  Sonic steps on the buttons on the mech.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Sonic teases, and suddenly ducks to dodge a sword attack from Dr. Deep, then he spins back to dodge another attack. As soon as he lands, Rebel grabs him, evading him from a stomp by Mr. Dr. Eggman. Sonic Homing attacks Mr. Dr. Eggman, causing him to wobble. Knucks jumps down and throws a Ninja Rope, wrapping it around the mech's right leg. The Resistance is ready with the other Ninja Rope.

"Get ready to give it everything you got." Red orders and throws the Ninja Rope, wrapping it around the mech's other leg. "Pull!" They both pull the ropes simultaneously. Mr. Dr. Eggman tries to keep his balance. Sonic lands back down, watching the trapped mech suit.

"Oh, I love this game." Sonic said.

"Cool, mind if I play?" Ryder quips as well.

Sonic joins Red while Ryder joins Knucks.

"Alright Blue, time to prove yourself. Pull!" Knucks orders and Ryder does this at full speed. This causes the mech to do the splits. The mech lands on its body, knocking it out. However, the victory party does get to start as Dr. Babble gibbers and gets up, attacking the Resistance with a stomp.

"Comin' in hot. Take cover!" Red said before  Sonic grabs her and the other three rebels and dodges. as Dr. Babble stomps. The Resistance run away.

"How is a baby so mean?" Sonic wondered.

"Doesn't matter. What matters is crushing him once and for all." Ryder said before widening his eyes. He then looks forward. "I mean, getting him out of his suit and then giving him time out. Now harm for the baby. Kids, if you're watching, look away for exactly one minute."

"Uh, who are you talking to?" Sonic asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No one." Ryder said, dodging the question. He then winks at the readers.

Before Sonic could ask again, he gets clubbed by Dr. Babble's baby rattle mace and thrown into the wall. He groans and falls to the ground, while Dr. Babble claps and sings. Ryder gets mad and decides to confuse the baby with a wind up. He clicks on his boots and starts to glow again before spinning around the baby with his speed and the streak makes it hard for the baby to see, before Ryder uses a Homing attack and knocks him down again.  "Well, that was easy." Sadly, before he could cheer for his victory, he sees Knucks is down at the hands of Dr. Deep, surprising him. "Oh no." He said in horror. He then finds Rebel on the ground and somehow quickly recovered, Dr. Babble stands above her.

Sonic is also knocked out. Mr. Dr. Eggman picks him up and stares at both him and Ryder while chuckling. "A noble effort."

"It wasn't noble. It was annoying." Dr. Deep disagrees.

"Well, boo-hoo. Nobody cares, green man." Ryder insulted him.

"Silence raccoon!" Dr. Deep retorted.

"Don't call me a raccoon!" Ryder said, annoyed by the lack of understanding.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My mistake. I meant trash panda." He corrected himself.

"You son of a-" Ryder glares at him.

Eggman opens the top of his mech and looks out. "Enough games." He said before turning to Sonic. "Hand over the crystal, or we'll stick you in a hamster wheel and see how long you can keep the lights on before you drop."

Dr. Babble gibbers angrily

"Pace yourself, Dr. Babble." Deep chides.

"And while we're at it, do tell about another world with another Shard. That's what you're calling the energy crystal, aren't you?" Eggman said before turning to Ryder as well. "And why don't you tell us where we can find those Emeralds you mentioned. We're all ears."

"Really? I mean, I'd say you're more jowls but I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." Sonic jokes.

"Hah! Good one Sonic." Ryder complimented. "And Emerald? I think you got the wrong Hedgehog."

"This should jog your memory." Rusty Rose declared, stepping out of the alley along with Wrecker Rex.

"Rusty Amy and Wrecker Ryder? Yes! Butt kicking time." Sonic called out.

"Rusty Rose and Wrecker Rex. I have returned to my original directive under the Chaos Council." Rusty told him.

"Aw... no butt kicking." Sonic whined.

Rusty displays her recording on a screen in front of a building. It also records what Sonic said during his battle with the Eggforcers.

"I had zero intention of leaving you and I got zipped into another world with another you fighting another battle. Where's Nine? I gotta pick his brain about this other Shard I found." The recording pauses. Sonic turns to the Doctor.

"Okay, so Sonic screws up. That doesn't prove anything about the Emer-"

Rex then displays his recording of what Ryder said. "And the Emerald that I found." Ryder then heard some facepalms.

"Okay, you got me. Dang it." Ryder said, embarrassed.

Mr. Dr. Eggman squeezes Sonic with his hand. Rebel groans before Dr. Babbles foot. Dr. Deep pins Knucks with the sword.

Eggman turns to Ryder. "You will talk, cretin, or they will scream." He threatens him. Eggman then signals Rex to walk to the downed Red, which he does. Rex then turns his hand into a buzzsaw and puts it close to her head. "The Emeralds, or your friend's head. I assume you have a preference." He said to Ryder who stood there stoically.

He looks into the eyes of Red, who is scared for her life before looking back to the scientist/tyrant. "Oh, I do. Kill away." He said, not willing to reveal the secret. These words shock everyone. Even Rusty and Rex are flinching at this news. "I don't even know her. Her death means nothing."

Rex stares at him, not sure what to do, before copying his stoic look. He then moves the buzzsaw slowly towards Red while rotating it quickly. The closer it gets, the more scared Red becomes. She then starts screaming as it nearly reaches her face.

Ryder looks at the scared cat, not wondering how long he can keep up this act. He tries to keep it together, but seeing that someone is about to die makes him nervous. Suddenly, he's had enough. "Alright stop!" He yells, making the buzzsaw stop rotating before it reaches Red's face. She takes multiple breaths from the screams of fear she just made. She looks up at Ryder who has a face of guilt in him.

Ryder sighs and reaches in his satchel and reveals the cyan Emerald, and holding it out like a certain trickster God. "I don't know where the rest to them are... but I have an idea of where to start." Ryder declares, causing Eggman to smirk.

"Go on." Eggman orders, but before Ryder could continue, a portal opens and Nine swoops down with his plane, with the Grim hedgehog standing on top, almost hitting Mr. Dr. Eggman's mech. He ducks.

"Did he just do that portal thingy again?!"

Nine swoops up, U-turns, and swoops down, shooting lasers which hit Mr. Dr. Eggman and knocks him out. Sonic breaks free of the mech's grasp with a spin jump.  The Hedgehog on the plane flips does a flip while shedding his robe, revealing to be another variant of Ryder, with short hair, damaged-edge gloves, and New shoes with stars on them. Cross-hairs lock on to Nine's plane. A beeping sound is heard.

"Who are you?" Ryder asked, still holding the Emerald.

"I'm a friend. The name's Rory. It's about time we met Ryder. We have much to discuss." Rory then holds out the purple Chaos Emerald.

"My Emerald?" Ryder said, surprised. He thought it was lost to him forever when he arrived.

"My scan indicates he has the Shard. There is heavy prismatic energy on the craft." Rusty reports to the Council.

The plane shoots again, hitting Dr. Babble's mech and freeing Rebel. It returns to shoot at Dr. Deep, freeing Knucks. The Hedgehogs all follow Nine in their speeds. It seems that Rory is faster than Ryder.

"Nine, you came!" Sonic said happily.

"I never lost faith. By the way, who's this guy?" Ryder said, pointing to his variant.

"When this is over, we're going home and never looking back. Whether we go it alone is entirely up to you." Nine tells them.

"I knew you'd come back, little buddy." Ryder said as they all jump and hitch a ride on Nine's Plane. It U-turns laterally, turning the trio upside-down.

"I'll lure the fox away. Don't, Done-it, prepare the mothership." Ryder hears Eggman ordering the Council before he moves back into his cockpit.

While the plane flies high, the Hedgehogs watche the ongoing battle from a Bird's eye view.

"We'll take 'em low. You take 'em high." Sonic tells the team.

"Already on it." Nine replies.

Rory, Ryder, and Sonic then jump off the plane and Homing Attacks three Eggforcers at once. They then join Rebel.

"We're back on. Let's take these clowns down once and for all." Sonic said.

"Once again, better late than never." Rebel repeats.

"Oh come on. We've never let you guys down before. Why start now?" Ryder shrugs.

Rebel stops shooting for a second. "When you say "never," you do mean "all the time"?" Rebel said poking him. She then sees Rory. "And who's he?"

"My name is Rory, and I am not of this world. I am here on a mission to accomplish my one true purpose."

"What purpose?" Ryder asked.

""Peace in our time"." Rory quotes.

"Wait, how do you know that quote?" Instead of a response, Rory sprints to the battlefield and lands multiple Homing attacks on the Eggforcers, defeating the wave ahead before running up a wall to the top of a building. Rory looks up and sees Nine being chased by Eggman.

"Nine. Status?" Rory asks from the comm in his ear.

"My status is that this guy's an amateur. Time to put some scuff marks on that fancy paint job." Nine said as he rolls the plane 360 degrees and corkscrews down close to the road. Mr. Dr. Eggman's mech scrapes the road and causes sparks. Nine swoops up close to the building. With nowhere else to go, he corkscrews the plane one way and then the other way, unable to shake off his tail.

"Nine, I can't get to you. You need to attack now, or the plane is toast." Rory tells him.

"Working on it!" Nine yells from the comms before turning his ship and shoots at Eggman.

"I've got this weasel on the run. Prepare for launch!" Eggman yells.

Meanwhile, Ryder can see the top of the Yoke exhausting air and begin to rise.

"Time to go home." Dr. Deep said before he and Dr. Babble ascend and leave.

"Eggforcers, keep them distracted." Rusty orders.

"Make sure they cannot follow the council when the mothership launches." Rex adds.

Nine's battle with Mr. Dr. Eggman is ongoing. Ominous music plays as Nine suddenly notices the Mothership leaving the building. It turns upside-down and floats away, to his annoyance.

"Fox shmox, what we've got here is a sitting duck." With Nine distracted, Eggman shoots at the plane, hitting and exploding one of the turbines. Nine struggles to keep control of his plane.

"Nine!" Rory yells out as he tries to follow Nine, and tries to get him.

"No, no, no, no!" Nine said as he tries to regain control.

The Mothership opens up a suction tube of a bright yellow light. The plane freezes and is sucked in. Nine tries to shield himself from the light. He tries to get his plane working again.

"Come on, come on, come on. One more portal and I'm home free." He presses a button. Unfortunately for him, the plane powers down, to his sadness. "No..."

The three Chaos Council mechs surround him, making him afraid while Mr. Dr. Eggman cackles. "Rusty, Rex, the vermin is on the bus. I repeat, the vermin is on the bus."

"Eggforcers, finish them off." Rusty orders as she heads for the mothership.

"We have what we need." Rex finishes before glaring at the rebels one last time before following.

Sonic slides sideways to dodge and then prepares a spin dash from the side to knock the first robot out. Knucks pound the ground, lifting rocks up in the air. He punches one of the rocks into the second robot while Rebel jumps onto the third one and hits it on the head, knocking it down. Ryder jumps above a fourth one and launches a Homing attack on it, destroying it. They cheer in victory.

"Yes! We did it! You guys good?" Sonic asks.

"We're good. Not sure what happened to your "friend" though." Knucks said.

"Hey, I here those air quotes Knucks." Ryder tells him while pointing.

"I don't like this. The Shard could be anywhere." Rebel said.

"You're right. I better find him before he portals out of here again. Back in a flash!"

He runs in a circle around Rebel and Knucks, who flinch.

Ryder shrugs. "I guess I'm following him. I'll see you guys soon alright?" He then zips after Sonic.

"I still don't trust those guys... okay, maybe a little." Red said.

And that's the end. Thanks for waiting. I hope you enjoyed it. Also I could really use your input on the latest chapter of my other story Luck of the Irish. It's basically voting, but I could really use your opinion. Anyway, I'm sorry it took a while, but hey! The season's almost done, so that's good. Look, I know that I haven't been consistent, but I promise I won't give up on writing this story. I will keep writing until I finish the story. Also, question of the week, what do you think about Rory, and what do you think his goals are? Feel free to answer this and I hope to see ya'll soon.

Drift out!