In New Yoke City, the rebels could be seen firing off lasers against the Eggforcers.
"New Yoke City isn't quite how I remember it." Sonic said before running off.
Knucks could be seen punching the Eggforcer when he stopped to see him.
"Sonic?"
He jumps off the robot and glares at him.
"Never thought I'd see your smug mug again. Where were you? Where's Iris?"
Knucks spins off two bots. Rusty Rose could be seen on the ledge, recording with her right robot eye while dodging the flying Eggforcer. Suddenly, a portal appears above the sky and Gwen goes falling. Her jungle outfit turns back to her normal red suit outfit.
"Ahhhh!!!"
Hearing her scream, Sonic and Knucks looks up. Rusty Rose looks up as well.
"Iris Gwen detected."
Gwen then crashes onto Knucks.
"Oof!!"
"Ow!!"
Gwen rubs her head in pain and was about to apologize when she freezes to see Knucks underneath her.
"K-Knucks?!" she shouted in shock, blushing at the position they're in.
"Iris?! You're alive?!" he shouted back, blushing as well.
"Again, it's Gwen!"
They quickly got off of each other while dodging lasers.
"If you're here then..."
Gwen looks around the city, to the rebels, the robots, and others. She groans, facepalming herself.
"Great..."
She shoots electricity bolt at the Eggforcers after taking their energy and exploding them as pieces of the bots are scattered to the ground. More Eggforcers approaches as Gwen keeps electrifying them while dodging the lasers. Sonic kicks off the bots as Knucks helps out.
"Dude, me and sis have zero intention of leaving you. We touched the Shard and we got zipped into another world with another you fighting another battle."
"Sonic, fight first, talk later! You forget that those Eggman families have eyes and ears everywhere!" Gwen scolded, kicking off the bots.
"Shard? You mean that energy crystal thingy Gwen tried to grab before she disappeared?" Knucks asked, recalling it.
"Yeah. That."
Knucks, Sonic, and Gwen hit more bots. Rusty keeps recording them while looking a little surprised to hear what Sonic just said.
"Shard?"
"Anyway, super stoked to be back to help with whatever the heck's going on here. Where's Nine? I gotta pick his brain about this other Shard we found." Sonic said.
Gwen immediately snaps at hearing his name and turns.
"NO! WE ARE NEVER GOING TO SEE THAT TRAITOR!!"
Sonic and Knucks flinches at her sudden tone.
"Whoa! Sis! What's with you?"
Gwen ignores him and fights out more bots as she brings out her futuristic ice sword.
"Like I said, we'll talk later after this!"
"She's right and I ought to be asking you the same question." Knucks asked, looking not as happy about Nine. "Now do me a solid and pipe down. I got shells to crack."
Knucks spins up and knocks out Eggforcers. Sonic watches and chuckles.
"Nice spin attack, by the way. But I bet you can't do this."
Sonic spins to a bot pile, holds onto it, and runs. He kicks bot parts into Eggforcers. Rebel Soldiers run ahead and fire on more of them. Gwen roller skates in speed and spin dashes at the Eggforcers, sending them flying before she unballs herself and slices them off as it leaves frost bites on the parts.
"Retreat."
Eggforcers flees from the battle and flies away. Sonic, Gwen, and the rebels cheer at their victory. On the ledge, Rusty sneaks away. Sensing something, Gwen turns to the ledge just as Rusty disappears. She grows suspicious, having a bad feeling about this. Knucks lands in front of Sonic and glares daggers, protecting Gwen closely. Sonic stops smiling.
"Still bummed about me disappearing. Aren't you also mad at her as well?"
Knucks comes up to his face and growls.
"Come on."
He grabs Gwen's hand and walks past Sonic.
"Alright. Everybody scatter."
The rebels immediately run off and Knucks and Gwen stalks away. Sonic follows them in speed. Above, a chopper bot flies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Yoke denizens stand on the moving sidewalk. Underground at Rebel headquarters, Big gives a weapon to a soldier. Knucks, Gwen, and Sonic walks inside.
"I take it you radioed ahead and let Rebel know what's what."
"I did." Knucks crossed his arms.
Rebel turns and rushes towards Gwen and hugs her.
"Oof!" Gwen wheezed out in surprise.
"I'm so happy that you're okay."
She smiles softly and hugs the bat back.
"Well, I'm still here." she joked.
Rebel looks over Gwen's shoulder and glares at Sonic.
"Look who decided to drop in. Welcome back."
She pulls herself away from Gwen.
"Here to face the music?"
"Depends what kind of music. Am I sensing a negative vibe?" Sonic replied.
"Using us to help you steal the Shard, then deserting us and Gwen as soon as you got what you came for?"
Rebels flies up to Sonic and brings up her fist.
"Yeah, I'd say the vibe is pretty negative. I should let the Chaos Council turn you into a handbag."
"Whoa, there! Sonic didn't leave you guys behind. It was Nine, plus he disappeared into the shard just like I did, remember?" Gwen said, coming in between Rebel and Sonic.
"Uh, I thought you explained everything." Sonic whispered to Knucks.
"I did. She didn't care. She only cares about Gwen's wellbeing."
"The rodent is lying. Let's toast him." Rebel Soldier said, aiming a cannon at Sonic.
"I didn't steal the Shard." Sonic said.
"No, but Nine did, right before he left us high and dry and making me disappear." Gwen gritted her teeth in anger.
Sonic looks surprised.
"He did?"
"You wanna know why I snapped? Well, here's the thing. He's not loyal as I thought he is. And to think I believed and trusted him..." Gwen said, looking down in sadness, betrayal, and anger.
Knucks comforts her by patting her back as Rebel explains what happened.
"After sticking our necks out like we did. Like Gwen said, Nine left us behind when we thought we could count on him and we managed to catch up to him, only for him to make Gwen disappear after. He got away after with the shard. We managed to escape though. Word of our work spread throughout the city. Our army grew without you or that traitorous fox. And tonight, we finally finish what we started."
"But wait, what happen to Rusty Rose?" Gwen asked, looking around.
"She was restored back to the Chaos Council's control." Rebel said sadly.
"Darn..."
Sonic looks at them in disbelief.
"I skip town for a day and you cook up a revolution?"
Rebel spread her wings again and comes up to his face again.
"A day? You and Gwen have been gone weeks."
"Weeks? Really?" Sonic and Gwen said in unison, looking surprised.
"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 finished the sentence.
"Nine won't let that happen." Sonic defended.
"Yeah, right." Gwen rolled her eyes.
"You tell us where he is and we'll make sure he doesn't." Knucks demanded, stalking towards him and punching his fist.
"Whoa, hey guys." Gwen tried to stop Knucks.
"How would I know?" Sonic asked in confusion, backing away.
"I smell baloney. Let's put the screws to him."
"Hey! Did you not hear what I just said? Sonic would never betray you nor abandon you!" Gwen said, but they ignored her.
"Come on, boss. Let me tear this scoundrel limb from limb." Rebel Soldier said, pointing a cannon at Sonic.
Before anyone could react, three shurikens were tossed towards Knucks, which he quickly acts and dodges in time. But it ends up pinning a Rebel Soldier against the wall.
"Huh?"
She looks at the weapons on her right arm in confusion. They turn and flinch to see Gwen glaring straight at them with her face darken, holding the weapons in hands as she had summon them from her ruby as they glow around her neck. She rises her free hand and cracks her fingers, looking ready to snap at anyone's neck.
"You dare accuse and threat my brother that way?!"
She then throws a bunch of darts at the second Rebel Solider, which they bring out the metal pipe and uses it to deflect the darts. Big backs away, looking scared. They charge and swings at Gwen, who manages to get behind them and perform chi-blocking on their back as they grunt in pain and shock.
Rebel and Knucks backs away as well, never seeing Gwen this angry along with Sonic as the Rebel Soldiers didn't know what to do whether to attack or not since Gwen is like Iris to them. After a few moments, other soldiers try to attack Gwen, but she dodges all their blasts and retaliates with her knives, pinning them all down by their wristguards. Gwen rears up in front of a female soldier, who stops in fear, and deploys four knives that send the two soldiers behind her flying. She pulls out her three-pronged sai and pins down the last soldier. Gwen stands up and looks at the down rebels and turns to the people that are standing.
"Anyone else?"
They immediately shook their head with a nervous smile and salute. Gwen then turns and glares at Rebel and Knucks, who flinches.
"You think Sonic is the enemy here when you guys have the Chaos Council to deal with?! How dare you?! Sonic has helped you through your hard times and you're just going to turn your back on him just because he disappeared when he had no intentions to!!"
"It's his fault that we're still in the middle of the war when we're close to winning!" Rebel shouted.
Gwen slowly towers over Rebel, who shrinks as she immediately regret her words. Knucks would've act but choose not to as he could feel her glaring straight into his soul.
"Excuse me?!"
Sonic approaches Gwen.
"Okay, okay, you both need to calm down."
"'Both'?!"
She rapidly turns to face Sonic, her expression crazed and her eyes bloodshot.
"I'm completely calm!!"
He sweatdrops and smiles awkwardly.
"I ... can see that."
He backs off. Gwen looks back at Rebel and Knucks.
"I get it. You're all struggling to get your home back, but there's no reason to accuse anyone like that. So let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Sonic, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends ... right then and there. Permanently."
Gulping, Rebel and Knucks rapidly nods before Gwen slowly backs away from them.
"I'm guessing it's also because of that tree that gave you hope."
Rebel and Knucks were surprised.
"How did you...?"
"When we went to another world, we discovered that a tree is the one that brings memories we hold and people to come together. My guess is that your tree is the one that give you hope to get your life back."
"That's... yeah."
"Show me."
Rebel presses the button of her watch around her wrist. From the floor, the cylinder rises with the palm tree inside. Everyone gazes up at the tree. Gwen steps closer to the cylinder and touches it.
"I can... feel it. It's still alive and well." she voiced out.
"You're right about one thing, Gwen. It's a symbol of the life we deserve, growing and thriving in peace." Rebel said.
"If we lose this fight, there won't be anything left to fight for." Knucks said, frowning.
"The palm." Sonic voiced out, remembering things before closing his eyes and frowning. "I'm sorry me and sis weren't there when you needed us, but I'm not a traitor and neither is Nine. Let me prove it to you. Let me fight by your side."
"Give him a chance. He's not the bad guy here." Gwen added.
Suddenly, the room shook, and chunks fall from the ceiling as everyone stood their ground.
"It's the Chaos Council."
Rebel flies over to the computers.
"They've located us."
She brings up video of Eggforcers on the street. One Eggforcer lands and looks around then spots the camera and knocks it out.
"Secure the tree!"
"How did they find us? It can't be a coincidence." Rebel Soldier asked, about to blame Sonic if it weren't for Gwen glaring at her.
"Everyone up top before our location is compromised." Rebel ordered.
The rebels run out and Sonic and Gwen watches the palm tree go back down before running out.
"They are somewhere near. Continue the attack. We will force them out." Eggforcer said.
Rebel Soldier comes behind the cover of debris.
"Not on my watch, automaton."
She then aim fires. Eggforcers march and fires back. Rebels join them behind the cover. Big, Rebel, and Knucks fire back. Sonic spins on the street towards the Eggforcers and knocks out three and heads for Eggman's giant bot. It knocks Sonic against the wall as he groans and slides down. Babble's bot and Knucks speed toward each other with fists and giant fist whip out. Knucks punches Babble back, but Babble fires from his canister arm. But then Rebel swoops and grabs Knucks as they fly. Babble though smacks them down. Big smacks the bots with his pipe. Deep in his robot suit disarms him with his sword.
"Surrender the energy crystal and we'll promise to make your demise quick and painless."
"Not on my watch!!"
Deep turns to see Gwen glaring at him.
"Haha! If it isn't Iris herself. Thought you'd be dead already. Destroy her!"
The bots fires at her. Gwen brings up an earth shield, deflecting them all. She turns part of the shield on them then creates a fissure, sending them flying. More bots charges and fires at her when she grabs a debris from the piles on the street and throws it at them. Then bends up a series of pillars, sending more of them flying as they crash onto the buildings and the down bots. Deep growls and charges Gwen with his sword. In slow motion, Gwen jumps up and knocks the sword out of his hand and into the wall. Gwen fires a rock she earth bends from the ground, which he dodges it. He tries kicking her, but she uses the opportunity to knock down Deep. She prepares to strike with her electricity blast when he kicks her down. He prepares to punch her down with his spiked robot fist if it weren't for her back flipping away in time. She steps back and wields her futuristic sword. Gwen glances at the sword on the wall and summons her fan as she throws it and sends the sword flying towards Deep as it slides towards his feet.
"Pick it up."
He look at her in confusion.
"Pick.It.Up."
Deep eventually picks up his sword after a few hesitation.
"Let's make this a fair fight, shall we?" Gwen asked with a smirk.
He smirks back.
"Fine by me."
They charge at each other, Gwen swinging her sword with cold fog seeping out and Deep blocking it with his own. As they clash, Deep somehow manages to take her down as she was now pinned down to the ground with his foot against her stomach and his sword pointing at her face. Her own sword was thrown a couple feet away from her.
"Looks I won, and you lost."
Gwen glares at him. Eggforcers lands and surrounds the rebels.
"We need backup."
Babble aims a canister at the down Rebel and Knucks. Knucks groans and opens his eye to see Gwen pinned down by Deep. He tries to get up and help her, but was too weak to move and closes his eye. Mr. Doctor Eggman faces Sonic in his giant bot. Just then, an aircraft bursts through a hole into the sky.
"Sonic, Gwen, hang on!" Nine shouted in his aircraft.
"Nine?!!" Sonic, Gwen, Knucks, and Rebel said in shock and surprise.
"You got a plane... kinda." Sonic said with a smile.
"Nine..." Gwen growled in anger.
The Council watches Nine.
"Wait. Was that an energy portal? How did he do that?" Mr. Doctor Eggman asked.
"It's the fox who stole the Shard. Get him!" Deep said.
Bot fire at the aircraft, which Nine dodges. With Eggman and Deep distracted, Sonic and Gwen runs and skates off. Sonic grabs some Rebel Soldiers and drops them out of harm's way. Nine fires back at the bots. Gwen grabs Rebel and Knucks away from Babble and drops them to the Rebel Soldiers. Nine flies over them then turns back and flies lower and shoots Eggman. Nine goes around some buildings.
"I'll be back!" Gwen said to Rebel and Knucks before roller skating away in speed.
"Gwen!" Rebel and Knucks called out to her.
Gwen catches up to Sonic and they run and skate behind Nine. Eggforcers comes and fires at them. They spin them up and knocks them out. Nine looks down and smiles as Sonic and Gwen knocks out more Eggforcers that are chasing after the fox. Nine slides open the hatch and Sonic and Gwen jumps into the cockpit behind him.
"Nine! Holy, man. Just in time! We could really use some backup." Sonic said.
Nine instead makes his craft go in speed and creates a portal in the sky.
"Whoa. Whoa. Where are we going?"
Nine flies through a hole through the void.
"We got a fight on our hands back there and- What did you just do?"
Gwen was silent the whole time as she glares daggers at Nine behind his back.
"I opened a portal." Nine said.
"Whoa. I think me and sis cross through here every time we enter the other worlds."
"I call them Shatterspaces."
"Huh, I guess that makes sense."
Gwen smacks Nine in the head, surprising Sonic.
"Ow!" Nine yelped.
"Sis! What was that about?"
"What the hell was that back there?!" Gwen shouted right into Nine's ear.
Nine winces and rubs his ear.
"You mean the part when I just saved your life?"
"No! Before that!! What were you thinking leaving the people like that?! You left me and my friends behind to defend ourselves against the bots when we needed you! You even made me disappear when I tried to take back that Shard you stole!"
"L-Look, I get it. You're angry, and-"
"Angry?! I'm enraged!! Not only did you leave us, you even caused my friends to lose trust in Sonic making them think he's also a traitor like you!"
"I know, and I'm sorry."
"Sorry?! If you're truly sorry, why aren't you bringing us back when our friends need our help?!"
"Not until you tell me where you've been."
"Oh, now you care where we are?!"
Sonic immediately jumps in, not liking this tension.
"Well..."
Sonic begins to explain about him and Gwen falling into Boscage Maze, Mangey snarling at Sonic, then him and Gwen falling back into New Yoke.
"Then you showed up in your spaceship and pulled us into this portal thingy."
He then takes a deep breath after explaining.
"That confirms what I've discovered. From the moment you guys vanished, I suspected there was more to the Shard then I'd realized."
Nine pushes a button and a red shard rises in front of him.
"So you did take it." Sonic said in realization.
"Duh." Gwen sassed, crossing her arms.
"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."
"Shatter what?" Sonic asked. "This is cool and everything, but we really gotta get back to New Yoke."
"I have to show you two what I found." Nine said, ignoring about going back.
"Did you even listen to what we just said?" Gwen asked in disbelief.
Nine pushes the lever forward, causing the Shatter Drive to speed up into another portal. Under a greenish sky, Nine flies over bare and brown land. Formations of beam stick up far apart and Nine lands.
"What the?!" Gwen said.
"Another world?!" Sonic asked in surprise.
"Welcome to our bright new future."
Nine flies up in the sky using his twin tails.
"I call it The Grim."
Sonic and Gwen jumps down.
"Yeah, that seems accurate."
Sonic looks down at his light purple shoes with pink stripes. Gwen's boots is also purple as it makes her float from under her boots without touching the ground and her red suit changes to purple.
"What?" Sonic and Gwen gasped in amazement.
"Fascinating. Your shoes, boots, and clothes have recalibrated to The Grim." Nine said.
"Yeah, we get fancy upgrade every time we enter a new Shatterspace." Sonic said.
"At least, it didn't change into something embarrassing." Gwen said, looking at her purple outfit in relief.
"Huh. Prism energy truly is magnificent. We're only just scratching the surface of its capabilities." Nine said with a thoughtful look.
"Be on the lookout for whacked-out versions of you, me, sis, or anyone else you might now." Sonic warned.
"That's the best part of all."
Nine lands in front of them, looking excited and happy.
"There's no one here. 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."
He approaches them and places a hand on Sonic's shoulder while using the other to grab Gwen's hand.
"The one I never had. I can make that hope a reality, for the three of us."
Sonic and Gwen frowns.
"This is what you wanted? Here?"
"Look, Nine, it's incredible but it's not going anywhere. And those rebels really need our help."
"Yeah, come with us. Help us finish the fight. Your home isn't here, but out there in New Yoke is your home."
Nine backs away and glares.
"That city never brought me anything but misery. I owe it nothing."
Gwen starts to get mad.
"Are you serious? There's more to that city than you think! There's also this tree they have and-"
"I am never going back."
"What would Iris say about that?"
Nine freezes and turns away.
"She's gone."
"We both know that's not true. You can't run away from this. Let me help you."
"Stop..."
"No, you need to listen to me right now. Iris would want you to fight for what's right."
Gwen approaches Nine.
"Stop..."
"She would want you to bring back her home and yours as well."
"I said, stop!"
"No! You need to learn this the hard way! Me and Sonic even saved your life! You forget that?! I even tried to reason that there's light in every way and help you make friends, but you ended up ruining that chance! We would've won against the Council earlier, but we didn't! If there's anyone to blame, it's you! You think you're carrying your own weight?! You're not! Me and Sonic are! We're carrying your weight! We never had a problem helping you when we cared for you as a friend!"
Nine turns and goes to snap and attack her when Gwen grabs his wrist and glares straight into his eyes.
"Don't.Even.Try."
Nine gulps and stares back at her as the two stare for a moment. Sonic watches anxiously and worryingly. After staring, Gwen sighs and releases him.
"Take us back. Do whatever you want. It's not like Iris would be here to see this disappointment of the Nine she thought she knows and cares for."
Nine looks down with a sad expression as his ears and tails droops down. He begins to tear up a little and gets back in the drive. He presses a button and a portal opens behind Sonic. Sonic sighs sadly with his ears down.
"I hope I see you in New Yoke."
He walks backward into the portal. Gwen looks back at Nine with disappointment before going into the portal. Gwen falls through the void.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!!"
A same familiar deep voice calls out.
"Gwen."
"Huh?"
"Gwen!!"
"S-Shadow?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In New Yoke, rebels back up, firing. Knucks keeps shooting when his gun runs out of ammo.
"I'm out." Rebel said, dropping her gun.
"Same. Lousy Egg tech. You can't trust it." Knucks said, grabbing a pipe.
Mr. Doctor Eggman jumps down in his giant bot. Deep and Babble fly behind him, advancing towards the rebels.
"Surrender the energy crystal." Deep ordered.
"Or tell us where the two hedgehogs went. We're not picky." Mr. Doctor Eggman added.
"We don't know where they are." Rebel said.
"And wouldn't tell you if we did." Knucks added.
Mr. Doctor Eggman pounds his fists on the ground.
"Spill it, punks, or we'll spill something else."
"I got a better idea. How about you bums line up and kiss my bright red-"
Knucks stops to hear something from above and he and Deep looks up along with everyone else.
"Another portal?"
Sonic and Gwen spins through it and heads straight for Eggman, Deep, and Babble. They send them flying and Sonic and Gwen lands between Knucks and Rebel. They scowl at Sonic, which Gwen immediately scowls back at them.
"If you guys are going to think he's leaving you behind or a traitor, I will tear you all limb from limb!"
Knucks and Rebel nods rapidly.
"Let's just get back to beating those guys up and no screwing my brother's baloney!"
"Y-Yes, ma'am." Rebel said.
"Better late than never." Knucks grinned.
"That's the spirit." Sonic grinned.
Sonic, Gwen, Knucks, and Rebel run forward onto the soldier's covering fire. They knock back Eggforcers. Babble gets up and screams, running ahead swinging. He smacks away Rebel, Knucks, Gwen, and Sonic. Sonic lands on the wall and runs through it.
"Hey. Play nice."
He knocks Babble down and jumps on top of him.
"Isn't it past your bedtime?"
Sonic ducks from Deep's sword and Gwen jumps over and blocks his sword with her own. Rebel pulls Sonic away just in time from the giant foot and throws him at Eggman. Knucks jumps down from the roof of the building with a grappling hook. He swings it around Eggman's leg.
"Get ready to give it everything you got."
The rebel soldier swings a hook around Eggman's other leg.
"Pull!"
Gwen manages to disarm Deep before skating over to Knucks and joins him by pulling the rope as they pull Eggman's leg apart. Sonic joins in after and pulls and Eggman falls into a split. Deep flies after Rebel with his flame discs. She kicks away from him and Deep attacks with his two swords. Rebel dodges them. On the ground, Babble gets back up and goes over to the rebels.
"Comin' in hot. Take cover!"
Sonic pulls the soldiers away.
"How is a baby so mean?"
Babble smacks Sonic with his rattle and Sonic lands on the wall again and falls to the ground. Babble claps his hands in victory. Soldiers run past Knucks and Gwen. The two look up at Rebel and Deep fighting. Deep though manages to land a kick, causing her to fall.
"Rebel!!" Gwen and Knucks shouted, running and skating after her.
With Gwen's speed, she manages to catch Rebel in bridal style. Knucks was about to help when a sword blocks him and Deep knocks him down and points a sword at him.
"Ah-ah-ah."
Rebel blushes at how Gwen holds her. Gwen stops to the sidewalk and places Rebel down. Rebel looks up and gasps.
"Gwen, look out!"
Gwen turns only for Babble to pummel her and Rebel down to the ground with his rattle. Babble holds them down with his foot and giggles in gibberish. Mr. Doctor Eggman picks up Sonic.
"A noble effort." he chuckled.
"It wasn't noble. It was annoying." Deep pointed out.
Mr. Doctor Eggman pops his head out of his robot and looks at Sonic.
"Enough games. 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."
Babble gibber something as if angry and impatient with wanting Sonic be destroyed already.
"Pace yourself, Dr. Babble." Deep said.
"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? We're all ears." Mr. Doctor Eggman said.
"Really? I mean, I'd say you're more jowls but I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." Sonic said, rolling his eyes.
"This should jog your memory."
Rusty Rose walks out of the alley.
"Rusty Amy? Yes! Butt kicking time."
"Sonic, she's back to the Council's control, remember?" Gwen grunted out.
"Rusty Rose. And she's right. I have returned to my original directive under the Chaos Council."
"Oh, no butt kicking." Sonic whined with his ears down.
Rusty projects the footage of Sonic and Gwen helping Knucks fight against the Eggforcers. Sonic's voice could be heard, which causes Sonic to wanting to shrink deep into Eggman's hand while Knucks shook his head.
"Me and sis have zero intention of leaving you and got zipped into another world with another you fighting another battle. Where's Nine? I gotta pick his brain about this other Shard we found."
Rebel drops her head while Gwen covers her eyes in embarrassment and anger.
"Sonic, you buffoon..."
Mr. Doctor Eggman faces Sonic, who smiles nervously.
"Gulp."
He starts squeezing Sonic, causing him to groan. Babble pushes Gwen and Rebel down further with his foot and Deep points his sword further into Knucks' neck.
"You will talk, cretin, or you will scream."
What they didn't notice is that Gwen's eyes begins to glow white for a moment like she's ready to snap when they heard a noise from above. They turn to see Nine flies down in the Shatter Drive and swoops over Eggman.
"Did he just do that portal thingy again?"
Nine flies up and turns, swoops back down and fires. Eggman falls over, and Sonic escapes him. Rusty watches the Shatter Drive with her robot eye.
"My scan indicates he has the Shard. There is heavy prismatic energy on the craft."
Gwen was genuinely surprised that Nine came back.
"This confirms everything we've suspected." Deep said.
"And more." Mr. Doctor Eggman added. "The Shard was never just an energy source."
Nine fires down and hits Babble, releasing Gwen and Rebel as they stand and run or roller skate. Nine turns and fires at Deep and Knucks gets away. Nine flies besides Sonic and Gwen.
"Nine, your came!" Gwen said, smiling a little.
"When this is over, I'm going home and never looking back. Whether I go it alone is entirely up to you." Nine said, glancing away.
"I knew you'd come back, buddy."
Sonic and Gwen jumps on the wing as they take flight. Above them, Sonic and Gwen watches the fighting on the street.
"We'll take 'em low. You take 'em high." Sonic said.
"Already on it." Nine grinned.
Sonic and Gwen jumps down and spins and smashes bots apart and lands next to Rebel and Knucks.
"We're back on. Let's take these clowns down once and for all."
"Heck, yeah!"
Gwen generates electricity after taking the Eggforcer's energy and fires at them. She then summons her shield from her ruby and throws it at the bots.
"Once again, better late than never." Rebel said.
"Hey, I never let you down, Rebel." Sonic said.
"When you say 'never,' you do mean 'all the time?'"
Explosions were heard as the four ducked from it.
"No time for small talk."
Sonic spins into some Eggforcers and Nine flies down, firing and swoops back up. Gwen uses earth bending to block the attacks then earth bends three columns from the street to hinder the bots as they crash into them.
"Time to go home." Deep said, before he and Babble fly away.
"Eggforcers, keep them distracted." Rusty ordered.
Rusty looks over at Gwen and glares. She appears before Gwen, who stops and looks at her, and a battle ensues between the two. Rusty extends her fist and aims at Gwen, who manages to block them using her shield she summoned from her ruby. Rusty continues to attack with her fist only to have each one of her strikes blocked by rocks Gwen earth bends. She eventually destroyed the rocks that are thrown at her, sending Gwen back. The two narrowly dodges the several fire attacks that are thrown toward them at that moment. Gwen uses earth bending again and send rocks at Rusty as she kicks them, who manages to avoid them all. Rusty sends another assault with her powerful swinging fists that slams Gwen into the piles of debris, leaving her unconscious.
Rusty walks over to her with her fist closed, preparing a deadly final strike, but Gwen awakens and send her skidding back using an earth bending gauntlet from the debris she was slammed against. Suddenly, Mr. Doctor Eggman's voice calls over Rusty.
"Rusty, the vermin is on the bus. I repeat, the vermin is on the bus."
"Eggforcers, finish them off. We have what we need."
Rusty looks at Gwen, who's confused.
"Until we meet again, Iris."
She runs down the street with the ship in the distance. Gwen looks over and gasps at the sight of the mother ship.
"I don't like this."
Eggforcers stalk towards Sonic and Gwen. Sonic slides away and spins back and knocks them down. Gwen slices the bots into pieces with her futuristic sword and freezes them. Knucks stomps the ground and flies up with some blocks. He smashes one into the bot. Rebel lands on another bot and lodges its head in. Once all the bots are down, everyone cheered in victory.
"Yes! We did it!" Sonic cheered. "You guys good?"
"We're good." Knucks said. "Not sure what happened to your friend, though."
"I don't like this. The Shard could be anywhere." Rebel said.
"I don't like this, either." Gwen said, recalling the giant ship she saw earlier.
"You're right. Me and sis better find him before he portals out of here again. Back in a flash."
Sonic spins around Rebel and Knucks and runs off. Gwen looks to where Sonic has gone and turns to Rebel and Knucks.
"I have a feeling we don't be back in a flash, but I promise you that we will come back for you guys one way or another."
"Alright. Just be careful." Rebel said.
"Don't worry about me. You should worry yourself and your team. See you, guys."
Gwen was about to leave when Rebel and Knucks hugs her.
"Um..."
"Just give us a moment." Knucks said, burying his face into her neck.
After a few moments, they pull away from Gwen, who gives them a shy smile before skating off in speed. She looks around while speeding through the streets.
"Nine? Nine, where are you? Nine??"
She starts to get worried and looks up at the ship, getting bad feeling he could be there.
"I better get to him."
Gwen makes her roller skates speed up more as she heads for the ship. Suddenly, she notices that she's glowing bright blue the more she skates.
"What the heck?!"
Shadow appears next to her.
"Gwen!! Keep going!"
"Shadow?! H-How-"
Shadow disappears before she could ask. Gwen does what he said and keeps on going and then disappears into a burst of light.