Sonic Vs. Dr. Eggman
Project 20

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.


A blue blur was speeding through the base, unhindered by any obstacles in its path! Robots of many types, sizes, and colors scrambled after the speeding creature, firing lasers, slashing blades, shielding themselves with spikes, and using any other means at their disposal to try to stop the intruder. The blue streak became a bouncing, blue ball, smashing each robot in quick succession, not letting anything slow it down. When the ball finally landed back on the ground, the speedy creature landed on his cool, red sneakers. The blue hedgehog, known to the whole world as Sonic, glanced around the room, admiring his handiwork. "More junk for the scrap heap! I wonder what Eggman's thinking. First, he attempts to kidnap the President. Then as soon as I show up, he runs off, leaving a trail of robots, and the President, behind. Seems like he wanted me to follow him, but the robots guarding this base are all stuff I've beat a million times before!" he said to himself as he started up a nearby stairway, heading for the twentieth and final floor of the tower Eggman had apparently lured him to. "I guess I'll just have to ask him what he wants!" he reasoned. At the top of the stairs, Sonic emerged in a large room, with a lot of empty space. There were a number of statues along the edges of the room. Many of the statues sported the round body and giant moustache of Dr. Eggman, but several were statues of Sonic himself. Dr. Eggman's voice seemed to come from everywhere as Sonic entered the room. "Welcome, Sonic the Hedgehog! How did you like my tower? I call it Eggstermination Station!" Eggman's voice declared. Sonic scratched his head, looking around with an unimpressed frown. "The decor leaves a lot to be desired. So, where are you, Eggman?" he asked. Eggman laughed menacingly. "Always in such a hurry, Sonic. Did it never occur to you that this whole thing was a trap?" he asked. Sonic grinned and chuckled. "Of course. The question is, where is the trap? Leave it in your other tower?" he teased. Suddenly, a giant robot dropped down from above, landing in the center of the room! The robot resembled Sonic a great deal, but its eyes were made of glass, revealing a cockpit inside. Dr. Eggman was piloting a giant Sonic suit! "This is the end, Sonic! Sure, I've said this before, but this is one machine that you won't break. No, this robot is designed to break YOU! Say hello to Metal Sonic 20.0!" he bellowed. Sonic let out a low whistle. "Now that's the biggest me I've ever seen. Well, except for a balloon at a Thanksgiving Day parade. They say imitation is flattering, but when you do it, it's just disturbing." he said, mocking the machine. Eggman chuckled confidently. "Make all the jokes you like, Sonic. It does my heart good to see you having fun... before you die!"

Sonic grinned at Eggman. "Well, you certainly went to a lot of trouble to get my attention, so I guess I'll humor you." he said. Eggman raised the fists of his robot, and then pointed the robot's fingers at him. "All right then, Sonic. Let the final showdown begin! Try this on for size!" he said, pressing some buttons on his control panel. The tips of the robot's fingers opened up, and ten missiles soared towards Sonic! Naturally, Sonic sped out of the way, nimbly dodging each missile as they homed in on him. As the last missile exploded behind him, Sonic jumped into the air and attacked Metal Sonic 20, knocking it back just a little bit. Sonic landed in front of the robot. "Been there, dodged that, Eggman." he remarked. Eggman chuckled softly. "I would expect nothing less. That was just a warm up. You see, Sonic, I've been prepping for this battle from the very beginning. Ever since you got in my way at Green Hill Zone, I knew you were a threat. So I started preparing for a long term battle." he said. Sonic crossed his arms and looked at him skeptically. "You don't say?" he muttered. Eggman nodded. "You were dangerous. So I took steps to ensure my ultimate victory." he recalled, "I had fought you several times. I was nearing my wits end. So, when you arrived at Scrap Brain Zone, I bought myself some time by dropping you into the section of the Labyrinth Zone beneath my base. I then designed a room to test you with. You remember. As soon as you entered, I attempted to smash you with my machines. What you didn't know, was that my machines were riddled with sensors, meant to collect data on you." Eggman recalled this battle quite vividly, especially how tired it had made him to dash between different columns of his smashing machines, trying to gather the data into a disk. Sonic chuckled as he recalled the fight as well. "I thought that scheme was weird. You knew I'd outrun those things, didn't you? But I bet you didn't expect me to trash your hover vehicle afterwards!" he teased. Eggman pounded his control panel angrily. "It was my Egg Mobile! And I still can't believe you had the gall to attack me while I was fleeing! So, think of this as payback!" he growled.

The Metal Sonic mech charged at Sonic, throwing quick punches at him, but Sonic dodged the attacks with ease. He then jumped and attempted to hit the robot back, but Eggman managed to dodge Sonic as well! Sonic landed on the ground and glanced at the robot he'd just missed. "Hmm, pretty fast for a big guy. I guess I'll have to step it up!" he said before attempting several more homing attacks. Eggman's robot dodged several of the attacks before Sonic scored a hit, but the robot took the blow without budging. Eggman laughed at Sonic's failed attacks. "Silly hedgehog. This robot is the result of ALL the data I've collected on you. I've had a lot of time to collect this data, perfecting my strategy and my technology." he explained. Sonic stood in front of Eggman, still grinning smugly. "Heh, big deal. I've been getting stronger all this time myself. I remember barely being able to defeat your first metal-me." he recalled. They both remembered that battle well. Eggman watched from safely behind the scenes while Sonic boarded his Death Egg, what he'd planned to be his ultimate weapon. Within moments, Sonic had found his way to Eggman's first robotic copy of him. This early Mecha Sonic was silver in color, and its attack patterns slightly mimicked Sonic's own attacks, though it had to improvise a bit. Eggman based the robot on what little data he'd collected on Sonic so far, so it was no small wonder that Sonic managed to destroy it. All he had to do was dodge the robot's semi-predictable attacks, and then attack the front of the robot, the back being covered with razors instead of quills. While Sonic was thinking back on it, Eggman attempted to kick Sonic with his latest Sonic robot, but again, Sonic dodged it. "Whew! Sorry I spaced out there, Eggman. I was getting a little nostalgic!" Sonic chuckled. Eggman chuckled as well. "This robot isn't like the first one. I knew you would destroy that Mecha Sonic! It was designed only to test you... To collect even more data! Do you see what I'm getting at now? I'm finally done gathering data. This is not a prototype robot, nor an alpha or beta model. This is the final instrument of your destruction!" he declared. Sonic shook his head. "Nah, it's just a cooler version of the OTHER robot you used after I trashed that first metal-me!" he said.


After Sonic had destroyed Mecha Sonic at the Death Egg, he found Dr. Robotnik, as Eggman called himself then, waiting nearby. Robotnik ran into the next room as fast as he could, and Sonic followed at an equal speed, allowing his nemesis to reach his final weapon. Once Robotnik was inside the cockpit, the giant robot rose out of the floor, towering over Sonic. The robot was designed to resemble Robotnik, and was heavily armored. Its hands had spikes for fingers, it came equipped with lasers and a jetpack, and just its foot alone was bigger than Sonic. The robot slowly and menacingly stomped towards Sonic, using its spiked hands to defend its weak spot on its belly. Sonic ran back, easily avoiding getting stomped by the robot's giant feet. Whenever he got an opportunity, Sonic jumped up and slammed against the robot's weak point, gradually breaking through its armor. Robotnik periodically flew high overhead and attempted to squash Sonic on the way down, but Sonic watched him carefully and ran out of the way just in time. It was a tense battle, but Sonic sensed that Robotnik was holding back in some way. After all, the robot's movement was so slow. Little did he know, Robotnik was planning for the failure he sensed coming. He watched Sonic's reactions to his attacks carefully, recording his observations with a camera hidden in the robot's eyes. He attempted to anticipate Sonic's moves in order to end their struggle here, but Sonic outran and outmaneuvered Robotnik's massive machine at every turn. Finally, Sonic broke through the robot's armor and hit its weakest point, setting off an intense chain reaction. Robotnik's machine crumbled to pieces in a spectacular series of explosions, which spread through the Death Egg. With no time to think of another plan, Sonic jumped out of the nearest exit and began to fall. The Death Egg was at the edge of space, and Sonic almost thought that this was the end. Suddenly, he heard a plane engine speeding his way. It was his best friend and ally, Tails! The Tornado, the plane Tails used to get Sonic aboard the Death Egg, had been damaged, but Tails managed to finish its repairs and caught Sonic on the wings in the nick of time! Sonic had to hand it to his little buddy, Tails had saved the day.


A lot of time had passed since those early battles. Sonic and Dr. Eggman had both come a long way, but as Sonic battled the latest of Eggman's robots, it seemed as though Eggman may have learned more in that time. Sonic found it difficult to land any attacks. This robot was pretty quick, and though Sonic was quicker, Eggman seemed to know just how to move to avoid his attacks. "What's the matter, Sonic? Can't you keep up?" Eggman taunted. Sonic sped towards the robot and leapt into the air, attempting to execute a homing attack. His balled up body flew at the giant Metal Sonic. Eggman reacted quickly, and the robot raised its hands and caught Sonic between them! Sonic struggled to break free, but was instead hurled into the air by the robot! On his way down, Sonic was kicked by Metal Sonic and went flying into one of the Sonic statues, crumbling it to pieces on impact! "Ha ha ha! How did you like that, Sonic!?" Eggman laughed. Sonic climbed out of the rubble shakily. He was a little beaten up, but fortunately, he was used to being tossed around like a ball. "Not bad, Eggman. You've got good reflexes for a chubby old guy." he said. Eggman chuckled. "Did you recognize that move?" he grinned. Sonic nodded. "Angel Island." he remembered. It was not long after the Death Egg crashed. Sonic and Tails ventured to check out the crash site and make sure Robotnik couldn't fix it. However, every step of the way they were met with the interference of Knuckles the Echidna, whom Robotnik had fooled into thinking Sonic was his foe. Still, Sonic managed to reach Launch Base Zone, where Robotnik was putting the finishing touches on the Death Egg's repairs. Sonic hijacked one of Robotnik's Egg Mobiles, evaded Knuckles, and found Robotnik waiting for him with some powerful machines. The most deadly of those machines was a more armored version of the Egg Mobile, complete with spikes on top. The machine had a pair of massive arms attached. Sonic did his best to outmaneuver it, but the machine managed to grab him in its giant hands and slammed him against the floor, injuring him. However, now that Sonic knew the robot's attack patterns, he ducked and dodged the arms and struck the cockpit, once again destroying Robotnik's machine. The new Metal Sonic being piloted by Eggman now didn't seem as imposing as that machine, but Eggman remained confident. "When I had you in my clutches then, my machine collected data on your annoying spin abilities. I put that data to use various times, but I was never quite prepared for it." he explained. Sonic chuckled at him. "Well, we'll see if you're prepared now!" he said.

The fight continued, and this time, Sonic moved a bit faster. He hit Metal Sonic 20 several times in different places, searching for a weak spot. The mech bobbed and wobbled in the directions Sonic kept hitting it, but it would not fall over. Eggman's eyes couldn't keep up with Sonic, so he put the machine on auto pilot for a moment. "See if you can handle this!" he shouted. Metal Sonic 20 threw some swift punches at Sonic, who dodged a few as he hit the machine back, but once a punch connected, several more followed before Sonic was kicked away once again! "Whoa!! That robot's pretty strong... Reminds me of Knuckles..." Sonic muttered as he climbed back to his feet. Eggman laughed a bit, but Sonic retaliated fast and hard, hitting the head of the robot with a homing attack! The robot fell over, but stopped the fall with its hands and somersaulted back to its feet! Eggman moaned dizzily from inside the cockpit. "So this is what it's like to be Sonic... Ugh..." he groaned. Sonic smirked at the dizzy doctor. "Maybe you should've made a real robot and not a suit, Eggman." he chuckled. Eggman recovered from his dizziness quickly. "A robot just doesn't work as well as someone with a brain! I learned that possibility watching you and Knuckles at the Hidden Palace." he said. Robotnik had been watching as Sonic made his way through the Hidden Palace Zone. He arrived at a room with a somewhat prophetic mural. Knuckles was waiting there. Almost immediately, a battle had begun, with Knuckles using flurries of punches while Sonic attempted to hit him with his spin attacks. Robotnik dispatched a sensor to gather data on the fight while he prepared for his next move. When Sonic finally managed to knock Knuckles down, noises in the next room caught both their attention. Sonic and Knuckles ran ahead to find Robotnik pulling up the Master Emerald with a claw attached to his Egg Mobile! Knuckles finally knew he'd been tricked, and chased Robotnik as he fled, grabbing on to the Master Emerald! Suddenly, a pair of electrodes came out from inside the Egg Mobile and gave Knuckles a terrible shock, hurling him back to the floor! As Sonic and Knuckles watched Robotnik escape, the floor below them collapsed, probably having been sabotaged by Robotnik. They landed in a room below which seemingly had no exit. Knuckles, however, revealed a path to a teleportation device, which he and Sonic used to arrive at Sky Sanctuary Zone.

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently. "Did you come here to fight or to reminisce? Not that I mind. I like how these stories end..." he snickered. Eggman's mech took a few steps toward Sonic. "Those stories are mere chapters in our epic struggle! The real ending comes today, and I guarantee you won't like how it TRULY ends!" he sneered. Metal Sonic 20 charged at Sonic, and Sonic ran as well, leading it on a chase around the room. This version of Metal Sonic was quite fast, capable of keeping up nicely, but Sonic was clever. He jumped atop the statues of himself, leaping from one to another. In its haste, the robot crashed into the statues over and over, smashing them to bits as it continued its pursuit. Sonic ran a safe distance ahead and turned to see how the bot was holding up. To his surprise, Metal Sonic 20 was still coming at him! The robot had scratches and scuffs here and there, but it was still in one piece, and it lunged at Sonic, curling into a giant ball before crashing into him! Sonic was knocked into the air a good distance, and before he could land, the robot caught up again and slapped him into a nearby wall! Sonic, thinking fast, launched himself from the wall and over the robot's head, landing behind it. "Not bad, Eggman. This one's almost as fast as me..." he said, panting a little. Eggman's robot turned to face Sonic. "So is the Metal Sonic you're more familiar with. Remember your first race? Ha ha, I designed that track to gather even more data on your annoyingly impossible to replicate speed." he said. Sonic thought back to his race with Metal Sonic on the Little Planet, when Eggman sought the power of the Time Stones. "He wasn't that fast... Your traps on the track just slowed me down a little!" he recalled. Eggman frowned, looking a bit dumbfounded. "No wonder that data proved to be of such little use... But at least I gained a nice recurring hostage! Your hapless girlfriend could be considered my greatest ally!" he teased. At the finish line of the race, Sonic finally rescued the young Amy Rose, seemingly winning her heart for all eternity. As he recalled the many times she was captured since, Sonic gave Eggman the same dumbfounded expression. "You might have something there, doc... Eh, if it wasn't Amy, it'd be someone else. Now, are you through goofing off, Eggman?" he asked. Eggman wore a sinister smirk. "We're just getting to the fun part..."

Metal Sonic 20 leapt into the air and launched its very own homing attack at Sonic! The hedgehog retaliated with a homing attack of his own, but when the two blue spheres collided, Sonic was hurled across the room! Before Sonic could land, the metal Sonic suit caught up to him and unloaded several punches on the helpless hedgehog! After a final uppercut, Sonic was allowed to land. He was bruised and battered, but not beaten yet. "That... all you got?" Sonic smirked. Eggman was beaming; his machine seemed to be a success. "Just think if I had a Chaos Emerald installed..." he grinned. Sonic chuckled. "Yeah, you might actually stand a chance..." he joked, "But I think you'd need all seven." Indeed, the power of even six emeralds had failed to defeat Sonic in the past. Dr. Eggman's plan at the time was almost complete. He'd just swiped a Chaos Emerald from the flicky Amy had been protecting, and now he'd found Big the Cat and Froggy, which was inevitable, in his mind. They had no way off his Egg Carrier. His latest minion, Chaos, had just obtained his sixth Chaos Emerald, and now swallowed Froggy as well, reclaiming the tail that the frog had somehow acquired. However, Eggman sensed that his plans were about to fall apart as Sonic managed to catch up to him. "Oh, no! Not again! Chaos! Could this be the same beast?" Sonic wondered. His attention turned to Eggman's sinister laugh. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, yes! Attack Sonic, now!" he commanded. His over-enthusiasm masked his true feelings. "Sonic already... Chaos has failed time and again... Good thing we're atop the ship's sensor array. I can collect data on this fight for future use..." he thought. Suddenly, Big stepped closer to the impending battle. "Froggy! ...I must save Froggy!" he cried, not quite knowing what to do. Sonic glanced at the hapless fat cat. "Another victim of Eggman's scheme... He's sure gettin' around today..." he thought. Of course, he couldn't turn a blind eye to Big's troubles. "If he's your friend, I'll help you. Just leave it to me!" he said. Eggman grinned at his good fortune. The hostage situation might just improve his chances. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Now I have six of the Chaos Emeralds! There's only one more left to find! I even found Chaos' missing tail!" he laughed. "You won't get away with this, you madman!" Sonic shouted, more determined than ever to stop him. "I will! You're no match for Chaos... even though he's not perfected yet!" Eggman declared through his doubt, "Okay, Chaos! Destroy them all... Immediately!" With that, Chaos went on the attack, jumping around, attempting to inhale Sonic, even lashing out with tentacles and his powerful tail. Sonic sped around, avoiding every attack, while Big cast his fishing line to rescue Froggy. With the frog saved, Big left the battle, and Eggman began to get frustrated. "You won't make a fool out of me! ...Aha!!" In his desperation, Eggman hurled ice-spewing devices at Sonic. It was a big mistake. Sonic grabbed the machines and hurled them into Chaos' mouth, freezing the beast long enough for him to smash through it, breaking it into a thousand pieces! "No way! I can't believe this!" Eggman groaned. "Sonic!" Compounding Eggman's troubles, Knuckles arrived on the scene next. "Hey, there, Knuckles! Glad you finally made it! I thought you got lost or something!" Sonic remarked. With his plan in ruins, Eggman saw no choice but to retreat. "Until we meet again, Sonic!" he growled as his Egg Mobile carried him away from the Egg Carrier. "Stop! Come back here!" Sonic gave chase, jumping down into the Mystic Ruins below. Eggman's day would be ruined further in time.

Eggman had grown sick of Sonic's endless jokes and mocking. It seemed he had no inkling of the seriousness of the situation. So, before Sonic could catch his breath, Eggman had Metal Sonic 20 grab the hedgehog in its hands, squeezing him in its grip. "Chaos Emeralds or no, I've come too far to lose now! Don't forget, I've nearly killed you before! I'm rather glad you escaped on the ARK, though. That would have been a truly anticlimactic end..." he said, thinking back to the ARK. Amy had fallen into Eggman's clutches yet again, and Eggman was waiting from the seat of his Egg Walker, holding a gun on Amy so Tails, who had arrived before Sonic, wouldn't try anything. Soon, a metal door slid open and Sonic emerged. Eggman continued pointing his gun at Amy. "Let's take care of business first, shall we Sonic? Hand over the Chaos Emerald, slowly and then we'll talk about your girlfriend. That is, if you really care for her..." he said. Sonic had an idea at that moment. "Handing over the fake Emerald, I can kill two birds with one stone." he whispered, glancing at Tails, who nodded in agreement. Eggman pointed his gun at a circle in the center of the room. "Put the Emerald down right there and back off!" he ordered. Sonic smirked at Eggman as he strode to the center of the room. "You've turned into a big time villain, doctor!" he said, a bit too sarcastically. Eggman was no fool, and he took a moment to activate a capsule, which slid down from the roof to where Sonic was standing, locking him inside! "Whoa!" Sonic gasped, surprised. "You thought you could trick me with that fake Emerald, didn't you?" Eggman growled, his sensors having alerted him to the apparent fake a while ago. Tails was particularly surprised by this turn of events. "So... how did you know it wasn't the real one?" he wondered. "TAILS!!" Sonic shouted, too late to stop his friend's unwitting remark. Eggman chuckled. "Because you just TOLD me, fox boy!" he pointed out. Tails and Amy watched in terror as Eggman prepared for what might be his ultimate triumph. "Now, for a little space ride! The capsule clears the colony, BAM!" he said, brimming with glee. Sonic, realizing that this could very well be the end, turned to his friends. "I'm counting on you, Tails! And Amy, take care of yourself." he said. Eggman grinned triumphantly as he sent the capsule into space. "Farewell! Sonic the Hedgehog!" he grinned. Amy ran to the window and watched in terrified disbelief. "Sonic!" she cried. Within the capsule, however, Sonic hatched a last minute plan. He recalled Shadow's Chaos Control, and also what Tails said about the fake Chaos Emerald. "The same wavelength and properties... But, can I do this?" he asked himself. To the onlookers above, it seemed that Sonic was blasted into oblivion in the next moment. "Farewell, Sonic... My admirable adversary." Eggman whispered, feeling somewhat empty over the ease of his victory. Little did he know, Sonic had pulled off the Chaos Control, and was alive and well elsewhere in the ARK. It relieved Eggman later, when his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, appeared on screens throughout the world, announcing the completion of his own plot from beyond the grave. Working together, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, and Eggman himself foiled that plot, saving the world. Furthermore, Eggman gathered some data on Shadow after his robots rescued him at the last minute. He would put this data to good use in the future.

Even now, Sonic grinned from within Eggman's grip. "Gee, Eggman. Seems the only time you win is when we're on the same side." he taunted. Eggman retaliated by hurling Sonic across the room. Sonic landed on his feet, and ran at Metal Sonic 20, dodging missiles along the way. The robot ran up to Sonic with incredible speed, taking Sonic by surprise! It kicked Sonic a few times before spin dashing into him, knocking him onto his back! Eggman laughed manically. "Look at you, Sonic! You're finished! Ha ha ha! And for all your jokes, I'm still here! In fact, the only time I thought I might have been finished... It wasn't at YOUR hands!" he laughed, "Well... Metal Sonic... But not you!" Back then, Metal Sonic had betrayed his maker. Eggman was trapped aboard his own ship, with little he could do, save for sending a walkie talkie to someone for help. Lucky for him, help soon arrived. "We're here to save you!" said a voice on the other side of the metal door blocking his exit. The door was busted open, and Vector the Crocodile emerged, followed by Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee. "Dr. Eggman, I presume." Vector said. Eggman sneered up at them from his seat on the ground, and Espio and Charmy stared in disbelief. "What's going on?!" Espio gasped. "What's up?" Charmy added. Eggman had disguised his voice, but Vector alone had deduced his identity. "You knew it was me all along, didn't you?" Eggman remarked. "It's all part of being a good detective." Vector replied smugly. Espio looked embarrassed. "Were we fooled that easily?" he said. "You're ROTTEN!" Charmy yelled. Eggman stood up hastily, sensing he wasn't out of the woods yet. "Hey hold on you guys! It's no trick, and besides I plan on paying you! You'll be rewarded handsomely for helping me! As soon as I conquer the world... I WILL PAY YOU!" he said dramatically, desperate to escape. Vector clenched his fists angrily. "Some nerve promising what you ain't got..." he growled. "We've been had!" Espio added. Eggman backed away slowly. "It's just... Wait a minute! Just listen to me!" he begged. Charmy pointed his stinger at him. "Take this you bad man!" he yelled, charging at Eggman, who shouted in agony as he got what was coming to him! It took a few minutes of pain, but soon Eggman managed to get Team Chaotix to hear him out. "Then who was it?" Vector asked, "Who locked you up here for trying to conquer the world?" Eggman looked ashamed as he was forced to admit it. "It was... Metal Sonic. My own creation..." he sighed. Luckily, a large group of Sonic's friends, as well as Sonic himself, had assembled. Together, the Sonic Heroes defeated Metal Sonic's ultimate form, leaving him deactivated in his normal form. Eventually, Eggman salvaged the robot, and all the data it had collected. He had somehow come out ahead!

Sonic climbed to his feet, still intent on fighting this battle. He dashed towards Metal Sonic 20, but suddenly, the Eggman statues in the room began to move, shooting at him with laser eyes! Sonic jumped and dodged the lasers frantically, and was forced to back away from Eggman's mech a bit. "Ha ha ha! You see? Even my base itself is rigged against you!" Eggman laughed. Sonic was busy avoiding lasers, and Eggman watched with glee. "My many data collections are paying off... Though it has been a slow process. Take Darkegg Fortress... The entire base was rigged with hidden sensors. I thought I'd finally have enough data to finish you off, but oddly, I didn't get much on you... I got more on Tails..." Eggman's cameras on Darkegg Fortress had captured one memorable battle in particular. Tails had arrived at the final elevator leading to the roof. He had taken it upon himself to face Copter, who had been working for Dr. Eggman throughout that day. He was fairly certain Copter was headed this way, but expected he had arrived first. The elevator came to a stop at the top floor, which was Darkegg Fortress's power plant. To Tails' surprise, Copter was already there! "I've been expecting you!" Copter said. "You must think you're so great, being 'real!' Kinda wish I was." he growled. Tails stepped out of the elevator slowly. "Copter, why are you siding with Eggman?" he wondered aloud. Copter ignored him. "Look at you! You make me sick! It is painfully clear to me: You don't deserve that tailband!" Tails thought Copter meant that in response to his question. "What does that have to do with anything!?" Copter pointed at the tailband, which Tails was already wearing. "That tailband contains power beyond your understanding! Give it to me!" Tails would not let Copter intimidate him. "Not until you tell me why you want it!" he demanded. "Why!?" Copter yelled, "You want to know why!?" Copter was stopped cold. "Hey... Why IS that?" he thought. "Then again, who cares!?" He laughed at Tails. "You do realize that you're in no position to be asking questions! That belongs to me! I opened the Chaos Shrine! So hand it over!!" Tails could tell that Copter was a bit uncertain about this, which served to increase his belief that there may be some good in him. "You don't even know why, do you? Why can't you just stop this then?" Copter was suddenly seized by an intense rage. "You want to stop me!? Just try and stop me!! Come on, if you want the tailbands so bad, take it from me!" Copter seemed ready to fight to the death over this. Tails felt Copter misunderstood him. "I don't want them! But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let you have them!" Copter's anger only increased. "You annoying little.... GIVE ME THAT!!" He rushed after Tails and kicked him into the elevator doors, breaking them with the force of the attack. Tails fell to the floor in front of the elevator shaft. "Fine, then, Copter... Have it your way..." he muttered, rising to his feet. "If you want to fight, then I guess there's no choice!" His determination surprised Copter somewhat, but he found it more annoying. "Then face me, coward!" he shouted. The ensuing battle was not fully captured by Eggman's cameras, since they ultimately took it outside, and then took off in their planes to continue to battle in the air. The sensors, however, had collected quite a bit of data, and Eggman was surprised by what young Tails was capable of. He thought perhaps that data on Sonic's friends may be more useful than he originally believed after that.

Eggman was so busy daydreaming, that Sonic's next attack took him off guard! Sonic jumped from statue to statue, smashing them one by one as he worked his way to Metal Sonic 20. He then smashed into the robot's cockpit, actually cracking the bulletproof windshield slightly! The robot staggered backward, and Eggman was a bit aggravated. "Crack my window, will you!? Let's see you catch me NOW!" With a push of a button and a flick of a lever, Eggman activated a pair of jets in the soles of the robot's feet, allowing the robot to fly up out of Sonic's reach! "Hmm, what data led you to do THAT?" Sonic said, surprised, but amused. Eggman started firing missiles at Sonic from above, but Sonic took off at incredible speed, building momentum so that he could run up the walls of the room! He jumped from the wall to attack Metal Sonic 20, but the robot flipped in midair, causing Sonic to miss! "Nice try! I collected data on your speed, skill, and reflexes as well! Remember the EX World Grand Prix? I knew the treasure of Babylon MIGHT be a dead end, though I'd hoped it would be better than a carpet... Anyway, I had my robots rig your extreme gear with bugs and other gizmos to gather even more data. It was useful... But ultimately, incomplete. You see, something happened in the finals..." Eggman recalled. Sonic glanced up at him from the ground. "I really should have kept a closer eye on that board..." he realized. The final race had gone very well. Sonic managed to get a good lead, and as they reached the home stretch, it looked like his rival, Jet the Hawk, would be stuck in second place. "Noo!" Jet growled as he realized this. But he still had an ace up his sleeve. Eggman wasn't the only one who had rigged his board. As Sonic got close to the finish line, Wave the Swallow was hiding nearby, and she pressed a button that set off a bomb attached to Sonic's board! Sonic tumbled to the ground as Jet crossed the finish line first, and Eggman's bugs were wrecked in the explosion. Jet showed off for the crowd a moment before stopping to taunt Sonic. "Ah, the dirt suits you so well!" he grinned. Sonic wasn't quite sure what had happened, but it was pretty obvious he'd been cheated. Still, Sonic got his rematch moments later, when the Chaos Emeralds reacted with a strange cube in Jet's possession, causing Babylon Garden to rise into the sky. With a new, untampered-with board, Sonic raced Jet to catch up to Dr. Eggman, and emerged victorious.

Sonic and Eggman began exchanging blows. For every hit that Sonic landed, Metal Sonic 20 smacked him away like a tennis ball. Neither had any intention of backing down. Suddenly, their fight was interrupted by an intruder, who appeared in the room with a puff of smoke! It was the strange, blue haired man in the alligator suit whom Sonic had encountered on his way to Darkegg Fortress some time ago. "Hey, guys! Time out a minute!" he shouted, getting their attention. Eggman scratched his bald head. "Erm... Who are you? How dare you trespass on my Eggstermination Station!" he yelled. "I am the Great Gator! Wait, didn't I tell you guys that before? Aw, never mind. My memory's not so great. Anyway, I got a bet going with the robots downstairs! Who's winning? It's Sonic, right?" the strange man asked. Metal Sonic 20 stomped its foot angrily. "NO, YOU DOLT! I'm winning!! How dare you bet against me!!" he shouted. Sonic snickered. "Oh, you're winning? I didn't know we were keeping score!" he joked. Gator shrugged. "There's a lot of robots who won't be happy to hear this. Plus me. C'mon, Sonic! You can do it!" he said. Eggman groaned in disbelief. "My own robots are betting against me...? Who's betting in my favor?" he wondered. "Oh, the kooky-crazy robot... Uhh, Alpha. Hey, this is a clip show, right? Ooooh!! Can I pick the next clip! Can I, huh? Can I, can I? Huh? HUH?" Gator begged. Sonic and Eggman stared blankly at him. "Ohhh, all right. If you'll leave us alone afterward..." Eggman said. Gator thought for a bit and began telling his story. "OK, the year was 2006. The job market was lousy, a young 2BIT was struggling his way through 12th grade, and Tails the Fox was shaping up to be the best Sonic game never played. Our old pal Copter had been trying to save that fiery red phoenix, Heather, from crazy old Vortex, who thought she killed Experiment 11..." he began. He went on to talk about the showdown between Copter and Vortex, where Vortex rode on Zeke the Dragon's back while Copter fought from the wing of his plane, the Hurricane, while Heather piloted it. Heather really didn't know how to fly a plane, so they got in trouble fast. Copter had to think of a plan. "We gotta end this, quick! Try to get us close to Zeke! Then, I can try to finish this!" he suggested. This was far easier said than done, since Vortex kept using Chaos Inferno and Zeke kept blowing fire, but soon, Vortex began to tire. "Blassst!! Chaosss Inferno drainsss ssso much of my energy! Enough gamesss!!! Zeke, I don't care how, get me a clear ssshot!!" he shouted. Zeke stopped blowing fire, and started chasing the Hurricane. "RAWR!! We're right behind them! Perfect!" he said, speeding up to get Vortex his shot. As they began to get close, Heather pulled back on the wheel, causing Zeke to pass under them! Copter jumped from the wing and landed on Zeke's back, right on top of Vortex! The chameleon pushed Copter to the side, but he wouldn't be pushed off of Zeke! As they began struggling, Zeke roared in pain as every punch and kick that missed hit him! "RAWR!!!! Stop that, you maniacs! I'll drop you both!" he growled, trying to shake them off! Copter and Vortex grabbed on tight, refusing to let go! "Sssstop that, Zeke! I'll get Copter off if you sssstop that!!" he yelled. "Fine, but make it quick!" Zeke said, steadying himself again. With this one chance, Copter and Vortex each called out their attacks! "Chaos Whirlwind!!" Copter shouted! "Chaosss Inferno!!" Vortex hissed! The two attacks were launched at the same time, and both Copter and Vortex were slammed directly! They both began falling from Zeke, and the dragon was unable to catch them due to the Whirlwind attack knocking one of his wings off balance! "Vortex!!!" he shouted, watching his companion falling alongside Copter! Heather wasted no time flying the Hurricane under Copter and catching him on the wing. Vortex, though within arm's reach of the wing, chose not to grab it. "Come on! Grab hold!" Heather shouted. "I'd rather die! Either way, I can't avenge Eleven now!" Vortex growled. As he fell below the Hurricane, it seemed he was done for. "Vortex!!" Copter shouted, stunned by his stubbornness. Suddenly, as Vortex fell, something flew towards him! In a moment, it caught up and grabbed him in its arms! "Dying is for losers! You're much too good for that! Oh, let me introduce myself. I'm Whisk!" As Vortex looked up at his savior, he knew who it was instantly. "A divine.... E-experiment 11!" he gasped, fainting in her arms with relief and exhaustion... "And that's how I learned to water ski!" Gator said at last, though no one could figure out what that had to do with anything. Eggman looked particularly puzzled. "What was all that babble!? Was it supposed to have ANYTHING to do with me or Sonic?" he wondered. Gator nodded. "You were fighting Sonic with your Egg Wyvern nearby! Don't you remember?" he asked. Sonic looked confused as well. "Egg Wyvern? I think you made this whole thing up." he said. Gator sighed in frustration. "Whatever, you two get back to your thing. I'm gonna go get popcorn!" he decided, vanishing in another puff of smoke.

"Now, where were we?" Eggman grumbled, furious at having been interrupted by Gator. "I was just about to finish taking apart your robot!" Sonic chuckled. Eggman growled at him. "You still don't appreciate my genius, eh, Sonic? Perhaps you think I never learned from any of my mistakes. I did! After losing with so much of your data collected and utilized, I realized that just collecting data on you wasn't enough! So I gathered more..." Suddenly, lasers emerged from Metal Sonic 20's wrists, and began firing at Sonic, the blasts resembling certain alien weaponry Sonic had seen before. "The Black Arms, for instance! How do you like their lasers?" Eggman shouted. Sonic dodged the lasers with ease, only to be smacked by a watery tendril coming from Metal Sonic 20's palm! "Ooof!! ...Chaos, too, huh?" Sonic grunted, jumping away from the tendril. From the robot's other palm came a powerful blast of dark energy, which Sonic scrambled to avoid! "And that present's from Dark Gaia! Unfortunately, though, I haven't been able to duplicate Silver's power, despite having collected some data on him as well, however..." Eggman pressed some buttons, and the robot swung its arm, sending numerous Chaos Spears in Sonic's direction! He dodged a few, but Metal Sonic 20 came at him with a fiery kick while he was distracted! Sonic was flung back a bit, but not badly burned. "Shadow and Blaze, I guess. Got anything on Marine?" Sonic joked. Eggman scowled at him. "Stop mocking me and acknowledge my genius!!" he yelled, coming at Sonic with a flurry of several different attacks! Sonic did his best to avoid the onslaught, but once he was hit by a single stray Chaos Spear, Metal Sonic 20 began pummeling him with punches, kicks, homing attacks, and Chaos' tendrils, attacks that left Sonic battered and bruised, but not beaten. Eggman stopped in a few moments to look down on the injured Sonic. "Today, I will FINALLY kill you... But not until you fully understand my brilliance! I want you to respect me before I finish you!" he said. Sonic glanced up at him, holding his side, his injuries apparently taking a toll. "Go ahead, keep trying. But, just to let you know... I won't give up!" he grinned.

Suddenly, a familiar laser was fired from Metal Sonic 20's chest, which Sonic barely avoided. "You go right ahead and keep fighting, Sonic! My robot still has more tricks left!" Eggman shouted. A bunch of bluish cubes were fired from the robot next, flying high into the sky before plummeting down on top of Sonic! While the blue hedgehog attempted to avoid touching the cubes, balls of spikes rolled towards him as well! Sonic jumped high into the air and landed away from the projectiles. "The Wisps' color powers, big deal. I've seen you use those before." Sonic pointed out. Eggman pulled a lever on his control panel, and suddenly, the entire robot began to transform! It became bigger and more fearsome, resembling Sonic's Werehog form! Sonic let out an impressed whistle. "OK, that's a neat trick. I'd like to see regular Metal Sonic do that!" he said. Eggman chuckled. "This form... It reminds me of my finest hour! The first moment when I truly managed to defeat you! Or don't you remember? Yes, Sonic... I beat you once before, only... I made a slight mistake..." he said, recalling an epic battle with Sonic. They were on a humongous battleship hovering high above the Earth, around the edge of space. Eggman had gotten the upper hand with a robot he'd built to challenge Sonic, or so he thought, but Sonic transformed into his super form! As Super Sonic, he easily smashed Eggman's robot! "Uh oh... Time to go!" Eggman yelped as he took off in his Egg Mobile. Super Sonic gave chase, heavily damaging Eggman's battleships in the process. They soon arrived at a ship that was shaped quite differently from the others, like a laser pointed at the planet. Eggman crashed his Egg Mobile in a room on this ship, and Sonic soon busted into the room through the floor! "S-sonic!" Eggman whimpered, groveling at the super hedgehog, "I-I'm sorry! R-really! L-look, go easy on me! I'll turn over a new leaf, I swear! Just give me a chance!" Sonic stood there, looking at Eggman with slight surprise. "Well, this is new. Showing remorse, Eggman?" he said skeptically. "If you played nice, I wouldn't have to break all your toys." he teased. Eggman grinned while Sonic was distracted with his speech. "Gotcha!" he said, pressing a button on a remote device! Mechanical devices surrounded Super Sonic, generating an energy field from which even this super powered form could not escape! Eggman laughed maniacally as the Chaos Emeralds were extracted from Super Sonic and drained of their energy! The ship they were on opened up, revealing its massive laser, while Sonic howled in pain, the energy coursing through his body in a way he wasn't used to. Eggman laughed again as he stepped to his ship's controls. "Oh, I've waited a long time for this! Fire!!" he shouted, unleashing his powerful laser on the planet below, shattering it into pieces and releasing something from within. "Whoa..." he gasped watching the results of his attack. Meanwhile, Sonic started to transform, growing larger, more muscular, hairier, and generally more beastly! "Ho ho ho! Success! A brilliant success!" Eggman cried as Dark Gaia emerged from within the Earth, "It's just as the Gaia Manuscripts foretold! The entity that was sealed within the planet has awakened. Now I just need to harness its power. Eggman Land will finally come to be! Nya ha ha ha!" Sonic slowly rose to his feet, panting and growling. "You've really... gone and done it this time, Eggman." he snarled. Eggman grinned down at him. "Ahh, Sonic! That's a good look for you. Festive!" he joked, "So long, friend!" Eggman sealed off his control area and opened a window near Sonic, causing him to be sucked out and plummet to the Earth along with the Chaos Emeralds! "I defeated you... no, Super Sonic, with my overwhelming brilliance! I just... underestimated the strength of your new form. Somehow, you survived that fall and went on to ruin yet another of my glorious plans!" Eggman growled from the cockpit of Metal Sonic 20, "Well, this time, it's a perfect plan. I'm not sure if you noticed, but in addition to all that other data I told you about, this robot was also created using data from the Gizoid, the athletes of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, and even what I managed to steal of Bucky's X Experiments reports!" Sonic chuckled. "Is that all? Too bad, Eggman. I think you still need more data. Because I'm still gonna win!" he said.

Metal Sonic 20 hurled a couple punches at Sonic, stretching its arms just like Sonic's Werehog form! Sonic was growing tired, and ended up taking the punches, staying on his feet through sheer willpower. "Give it up, Sonic! It's hopeless! This isn't like when Metal Sonic passively copied bits of you and your friends' data to become the Metal Overlord. I used TWENTY highly comprehensive collections of data for the construction of this robot! It is the pinnacle of EVERYTHING I've done so far! I've planned for anything you could possibly dish out at your best, and you're utterly exhausted now. Accept defeat!" Eggman said, his voice filled with more confidence than Sonic could ever recall. Sonic took a few steps forward and began stretching, readying himself for the rest of this battle. "It's true, Eggman... This version of Metal Sonic caught me off guard. In my current condition, I probably can't really beat it. But you wouldn't get any enjoyment outta this if I didn't give it my all, would you?" he said, his voice filled with respect for his foe for the first time Eggman could recall. The doctor smiled to himself. "Indeed. So, why don't you give me your very best shot? That will make it all the more satisfying when I wipe you out once and for all!" he said. Sonic was about to launch his attack, but suddenly, Gator reappeared in the room with a puff of smoke and a bag of popcorn! "Hey, guys! Did I miss anything?" he asked. Metal Sonic 20 stomped around to face Gator, Eggman sneering from the cockpit. "Go away!" he growled. Gator gulped at the werehog-shaped robot in front of him. "Ooooh, you must be almost done. Hey, got time for one more clip for the clip show? I've got a scary one this time!" he offered. Eggman glanced back at Sonic briefly. He was panting a bit. It would be too easy to finish him in this condition, wouldn't it? So, giving him some time to rest seemed fair. "All right, weirdo. Scare us." he said. Sonic sat down to listen. "I bet it's another made up story. Might be interesting." he grinned. Gator started his story. "It was a dark and creepy night... A terrible monster called Nightmare Xenegg had wiped out all of Sonic's friends. Even Tails and Copter! So, Sonic was on his own to fight this monster in the Nightmare Zone..." he began. Nightmare Xenegg, a fusion of a ghostly E-series robot and a shadowy version of Chaos, was seeking revenge on Sonic for the robot's untimely destruction. He had already killed Sonic's friends, and now was after him. "Y-you... monstrosity... What have you done!? My friends... all of them... I'll.... I'll..." Sonic was stuttering, he couldn't compose himself. Nightmare Xenegg laughed at the lone hedgehog, his voice having turned to a monstrous, gurgling, mechanical nightmare. "Look at the mighty Sonic now! You know you've already failed! After all, what do you have if not your friends? You are nothing, and now I shall end your pitiful, useless life at last!" Sonic was now more enraged than he'd ever been in his life. His hatred for Xenegg was infinite. A pair of glowing objects nearby caught his attention. They were the two Tailbands of Chaos, which had fallen from Tails and Copter when they died. Sonic wasn't sure if he could use them, but he ran to them and placed them on his wrists like bracelets. The power of his anger invoked the power of the tailbands, but in an unexpected way. Rather than Super Sonic, the rage within him transformed him into Darkspine Sonic, a form he had only previously used in the world of the Arabian Nights! "That's it, Xenegg... It's time for my nightmare to end, and YOURS to begin!" Sonic roared, ready to end this. He charged at Nightmare Xenegg with all the power inside him, but to no avail! Xenegg still stood, and quickly began flying after him! Darkspine Sonic tried again, but simply bounced off. Xenegg smashed his metallic fist into Sonic, sending him flying a fair distance. Still, he couldn't give up. He wouldn't! With all of the power he could muster, Sonic soared at Nightmare Xenegg. The monster didn't even try to dodge, it simply laughed as Sonic bounced off of him once again. What was worse was that Sonic felt as though he was getting weaker. "What's going on?! Why can't I hurt you?" he said in despair. Xenegg laughed as a bolt of lightning crashed into him and simply bounced off. "Fool! We are in the Nightmare Zone, and you are using darkness on me! I used the Book of Nightmare to absorb dark energy, so your attacks are simply making me stronger! Ha ha ha ha!!" He was right, too. Sonic felt the power of his new form quickly draining away. He dropped to the ledge as he reverted to his normal state. "Y-you... monster..." he muttered feebly. As Xenegg's monstrous form began dropping slowly towards him, Sonic began blacking out. Nightmare Xenegg landed on the balcony in front of him, and then picked Sonic up in his claws. Sonic's eyes grew dark as he began to lose consciousness. The final thing he heard was the victorious laughter of a spirit completing the dark task it remained on the world for and finally passing on to Hell... "AAAAAAAHHHH!! I've gotta go see my therapist!" Gator screamed as his story came to a close. He teleported away, leaving Sonic and Eggman alone again. "How did he know about Xenegg? That robot was destroyed before it even completed its first mission..." Eggman muttered. Sonic stood up, feeling a little better from the rest. "I bet you liked that story, Eggman. It WAS pretty scary, too." he said. Metal Sonic 20 reverted back to its normal form as Eggman turned to face Sonic again. "If you want scary, I'll give you scary! But I'll be sporting about it, Sonic. Come at me with all your strength! But know this, if you fail to defeat me this time, I will finish you once and for all!!" he declared.

Sonic took off at high speed, but instead of running toward Metal Sonic 20, he began running in circles around the entire room! "Try to outrun this, Eggman!" he shouted, picking up speed as he dashed around the room. Eggman tried to keep his eyes on Sonic, but it was impossible. Sonic was going at unbelievable speed, kicking up a hectic wind as he ran around, smashing through the remaining statues in the room as he went! He picked up an intense momentum, and Eggman braced himself for the inevitable impact. "This is it... Sonic's full power!" he thought. Once Sonic had reached the greatest velocity he could in this room, he charged at Metal Sonic 20, smashing into the robot with incredible force! The robot was hurled across the room, crashing into the rubble left by some of the statues! Sonic stood in the center of the room, panting heavily, waiting for the dust to settle. He was wiped out. "You... lose... Eggman..." he sighed, expecting the Egg Mobile to go flying away any moment. However, as the dust settled, Metal Sonic 20 began to rise from the rubble! The robot was battered and busted up, there were dents in its armor, even a few holes where electricity sparked out. It stood up shakily, but it was still standing. For the first time in this entire battle, fear flashed across Sonic's eyes. "I don't believe it!" he gasped. Eggman chuckled softly, and then burst into triumphant laughter. "It's over!! Now, Sonic, I will FINALLY kill you! Any last words?" he asked, his hands shakily grasping his controls. Sonic closed his eyes and heaved a defeated sigh. "Give me your very best shot!" he challenged. Eggman had pictured this moment in his mind for quite a long time, and now, he would finally make it a reality! "Sayonara... Sonic the Hedgehog!!" Metal Sonic 20 charged at Sonic, and Eggman unloaded everything it had! He started with a swift kick with its left leg, launching Sonic straight up into the air! Then, he pounded Sonic with a punch from its right arm, mimicking Knuckles' fighting stance! Not letting the helpless hedgehog land, he charged at him, firing a blast from his Black Arms style laser! Sonic bounced up from the blast, howling in pain! Next, bluish cubes slammed on top of Sonic, sending him hurtling back to the ground! Eggman circled around him and sent him into the air with a kick from the robot's right leg. Sonic rose high into the air, and Metal Sonic 20 flew up after him, smashing its metallic head against the hedgehog! Sonic yelled in agony as Eggman cackled in triumph, sweeping a cyan laser past his helpless nemesis to knock him higher up! As he started falling again, Eggman had Metal Sonic 20 perform a spinning kick, somewhat resembling a tail whip from Tails! Sonic crashed to the ground and struggled to stand, watching Eggman land nearby. Metal Sonic 20 rolled itself into a spin dash, which knocked Sonic aside yet again! Returning to its normal stance, Metal Sonic 20 held out its hand and sent jolts of lightning coursing through Sonic's body, just like Bucky! Sonic stood there, groaning in pain once the lightning stopped. "Nice moves, Eggman... But can you finish the job?" he grunted, defiant to the bitter end. Without a word beyond his maniacal laughter, Eggman resumed the assault, firing a blast of dark energy based on Dark Gaia's power, which made Sonic yelp even more! He charged Metal Sonic 20 at Sonic, hurling a punch from the left hand that returned him to the air! He then picked up a piece of a statue and hurled it at Sonic from below, propelling him higher! Next, a few Chaos Spears struck Sonic all at once. Eggman cackled with glee as he sent a ball of pink spikes to smack Sonic in the back, scratching him up a bit! As Sonic cried out, Eggman came at him with another fiery kick, inspired by Blaze! The kick sent Sonic soaring, but he was caught by a liquid tendril, based on Chaos. The tendril squeezed Sonic a bit before smashing him against the roof! Sonic screamed in terror, feeling the end was near. As he fell, released from the tendril, he was propelled to the ground with greater force by a homing attack from Metal Sonic 20! As he struck the floor, Metal Sonic 20 landed in Werehog form. Eggman smacked Sonic back into the air with the Were-bot's powerful hand, and as Sonic rose up high and started to fall, time seemed to slow down. Sonic sniffled, holding back tears as he fell. He glanced at Eggman and shot him a cool smirk. "Congratulations, doctor... It was fun... Now, wrap this up... I'm ready!" he said. Eggman pressed a red button on his controls, and Metal Sonic 20's Werehog claws extended, revealing them to be sharp swords! "Thanks for the memories..." he cackled, swiping a single one of his robot's claws at Sonic as he fell! With this, the 20th blow in a row, the blade passed through Sonic's nearly non-existent neck, coming out stained with blood as Sonic's head separated from his body, falling to the ground ahead of the body, which Eggman launched a flurry of missiles at, blowing the blue body to smithereens, every trace of his speedy legs and spike-backed chest annihilated by a fiery explosion! Eggman quickly exited Metal Sonic 20 and ran to Sonic's head, holding it up in his hands and laughing with glee. "SONIC!! Your head, your gloriously lifeless head, will be stuffed and mounted on my wall, an eternal reminder of the ultimate triumph of my genius over your speed!! LONG LIVE THE EGGMAN EMPIRE!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!"

This was how Eggman had envisioned the climax of this battle, a glorious final assault consisting of 20 blows, ending with the ultimate trophy, Sonic's dismembered head! As Sonic gave him his choice of last words, "Give me your very best shot!", Eggman felt certain of his victory. Indeed, it did play out nearly exactly as he'd imagined. A kick, a punch, an alien laser, a blue cube, another kick... But something wasn't right. The climax bugged him. "Decapitation? Am I THAT accurate? It could end too gruesome even for my taste..." he thought. A head bash, a cyan laser, a spinning kick, a spin dash, Bucky's lightning... Sonic's momentary defiance caused Eggman to hesitate again. "Cocky to the very end... The look on his face will be too peaceful..." he growled. A dark energy blast, another punch, a statue piece, Chaos Spears, pink spikes... "21! My triumph has 21 blows! That's no good..." Eggman thought. A fiery kick, a Chaos tendril, a homing attack, and a Werehog slap... 19 blows. Sonic was ready to die. Eggman hesitated, and shifted his mech back into its regular form. "I prefer a charred skull to a gruesome head, anyway! Thanks for the memories, Sonic!" He fired his missiles at Sonic, so many that he was certain he'd not miss. Explosions surrounded the hedgehog, a fiery climax sure to leave naught but a charred skeleton! Eggman started laughing, but his laughs were cut short by a figure emerging from the flames. In fact, it was a pair of figures. One of them was Miles "Tails" Prower! Tails was flying through the explosions, carrying Sonic to safety! Eggman pounded on his controls furiously. "Where did HE come from!? How DARE he ruin my moment of triumph! I guess I'll have two skulls for my trophies!" he yelled, launching more missiles at Sonic and Tails! "Hang on, Sonic!" Tails cried, bracing for impact. However, the missiles simply stopped in midair! "Take THIS!!" shouted Silver the Hedgehog, who used his psychokinesis to hurl the missiles right back at Eggman! Metal Sonic 20 flew over the missiles, landed on the ground again, and charged at Silver. "You pests won't make a fool out of ME!!" he shouted, only to feel the impact of a mighty punch and a powerful kick to his robot's chest! Metal Sonic 20 staggered back, and Eggman looked again to see Knuckles the Echidna and Rouge the Bat standing with Silver! "Gotcha, Eggman!" Knuckles teased. "Trying to murder someone just to satisfy your ego... You disgust me sometimes, doctor!" Rouge grumbled. Eggman couldn't believe what was happening. "This... This is CHEATING!! Fine, I'll crush you all!!" he roared.

Eggman rushed back to get more room and prepared to fire Metal Sonic 20's multitude of weapons. However, a black and red blur sped into him and started beating up his robot, warping away whenever Eggman tried to retaliate! "We're more than a match for you, doctor!" shouted Shadow the Hedgehog, yet another foe for Eggman to contend with. Once Shadow backed off, bullets began rattling Metal Sonic 20, and Eggman looked to see E-123 Omega shooting at him! "Target acquired! Destroy Dr. Eggman!!" he yelled. The doctor was getting angrier and angrier, but before he could attack, two more attacks hit him! "Chaos Whirlwind!!" "Chaos Avalanche!!" A chaotic wind struck Metal Sonic 20, followed by statue pieces being hurled by similar chaos energy! Copter the Fox and Punchy the Echidna joined the others in defying Dr. Eggman! "Seriously, doc? A giant Metal Sonic?" Copter teased. "Ever heard of a simple hand gun?" Punchy joked. "Enough!! Take this!!" Eggman yelled, striking back by cracking the robot's Chaos tendril like a whip, knocking everyone away from him, but not really hurting anyone. Eggman grabbed a microphone by his controls. "Now hear this!! All robots, ATTACK!!" Suddenly, the back wall of the room slid open, and a massive army of robots started rushing to the room! "Too slow!" squawked Jet the Hawk, who flew by on his extreme gear, accompanied by Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross! Blaze the Cat stood on Jet's board behind him as he flew, tossing fireballs at the robots from above! "Sorry, Eggman, we're ready for you!" she said. Illusi the Shrew had joined Wave on her board as well, and sent several of his Wrongos to attack the robots. Despite being illusions, the Wrongos packed a punch! Accompanying Storm was Gemini the Fennec, who attacked the robots with several bolts from her magic wand. "It's no use, Eggman! You might as well give up!" she said. With help from a few of the others, the robots dwindled down to one before they could even begin to fight. The last remaining Egg Pawn, sensing the futility of charging in, attempted to flee, only to receive a swift kick from Gator, who had just teleported in. "Ha! That's for betting against Sonic when you didn't even have any money!!" he said. As everyone gathered around Sonic, eager to defend the hero who had laid his life on the line to save the world more times than any of them could count, Eggman couldn't help laughing, an insane, aggravated laugh. "You insignificant FOOLS!! It doesn't matter! Send in a hundred more of your friends, it makes no difference to me! Once I set Metal Sonic 20.0 to maximum power, I'll take every last one of you down at once!! YOU ALL LOSE!!" he screamed. Sonic, held on his feet by Tails, looked around and assessed the situation. Metal Sonic 20 wasn't at maximum power? How much stronger could it get? He couldn't chance it. "Everyone, go now! I appreciate the help, but I don't want you all to get hurt, or worse, on my account. It's not worth it..." he said, as everyone glanced at him with concern. "We won't get hurt." came yet another voice, one Sonic knew very well. Amy Rose approached him, helping Tails to hold Sonic up. "You'll save us all, Sonic. Like always. Because... well... You're just the best! And even if we didn't stand a chance, I'd still be here for you... I'd die for you, Sonic!" she said, tears forming in her eyes, hating to see Sonic so unsure. "I don't want you to die for me..." Sonic replied, about to say more, but he was interrupted. "I'd die for you, too!" said Tails, smiling. "You don't get to die before I prove I'm the fastest!" Jet added. "I'll lay my life on the line to protect you, too!" Knuckles insisted. "If Tails isn't afraid, neither am I!" Copter added. Blaze, Shadow, and Silver agreed next, followed by everyone. Sonic felt overwhelmed. "You guys... Heh... You win. We'll beat him together!" he grinned, filled with new determination. Amy giggled and placed something in Sonic's hand. "You'll need this!" she winked. Sonic glanced down to see a green Chaos Emerald. "We've got some, too!" shouted Cream the Rabbit, who arrived with seemingly the rest of Sonic's friends! She held Cheese in her hands, who in turn held a yellow Chaos Emerald. "Froggy found this nice rock!" Big the Cat said, holding out a cyan Chaos Emerald. The red emerald appeared to float in midair at first, but then Espio the Chameleon revealed himself, holding it out. Charmy Bee was flying beside him, holding a blue emerald. "I found two of 'em! Don't let Vector deny it!" he giggled. Vector the Crocodile was there with a purple emerald. "It took a lotta detective work, Sonic! Make good use of 'em!" he grinned. Lastly, Rainbow the Echidna showed off the white Chaos Emerald. "Here, Speedy! Teach Tubby a lesson he'll never forget!" she winked. Sonic hopped out of Tails and Amy's arms and called the emeralds to him. They circled him, filling him with renewed strength, healing his wounds, and transforming him! Eggman grabbed at his controls in a panicked frenzy, desperate to think of something, anything. "N-no! Stop that!! Th-this isn't fair!! All my work! My data collections! I never gathered any real data on Super Sonic! You were supposed to come alone, with no emeralds!! NOOOO!!!" he stammered, feeling utterly hopeless as Super Sonic emerged before him, greeting him with a wide smile. "Congratulations, doctor... It was fun! You've made real progress, too. But..." Sonic said, motioning to his army of friends gathered behind him, "I've made just as much progress, as you can see! Your power might be your brain and your data, but my power comes from something much greater! All my friends... They give me the strength to keep taking you down every time!" Eggman winced and shuddered in fear. "P-please! Have mercy! I-I wasn't really going to kill you! I was just... playing a game! You like to think of it as a game, right?" he stammered, desperate. Super Sonic chuckled at him. "Better luck next time, Dr. Robotnik! Game over!" Super Sonic charged at Metal Sonic 20, ignoring Eggman's screams as he blasted through the robot's metallic body again and again, tearing it apart with ease! A hatch on top of the robot's head opened and Eggman began to flee in his Egg Mobile as the fruits of his 20 data collections was blown to pieces, just like always. While the robot continued exploding, Super Sonic watched Eggman fly out through a hatch in the roof, which opened only long enough for him to get away. "I'll get even, Sonic! Just you wait!! You won't see the last of Dr. Ivo Robotnik until the very end, and I will be the last thing you see! I will have my revenge!!" he shouted as he escaped the Eggstermination Station, leaving Sonic to drop to the ground and revert to his normal form, surrounded by his friends.

Sonic's friends crowded him, cheering for yet another victory against unlikely odds. Sonic smiled wide. "Thanks, everyone. If you all hadn't shown up, I'd have been done for this time..." he said, "This victory was a team effort!" Sonic's friends shrugged off his praise. It really wasn't necessary; they knew he'd do the same and more for them. "Life wouldn't be any fun without you, Sonic." Knuckles grinned. "You're always there for me, so I'm always there for you!" Amy sighed, a romantic look on her face. "Hmph... I just figured I might need you someday..." Shadow said gruffly, though not without giving Sonic a quick wink. "You mean a lot to all of us... So, what I guess we're trying to say is... Thanks for all the good times, Sonic!" Tails said, summing it all up nicely. While everyone was talking and unwinding after the hectic battle, a camera in the corner of the room was watching them. Hovering a good distance away from the Eggstermination Station, Dr. Eggman watched his enemies on his monitor, holding a remote detonator in his hand. "All of them, gathered together... I won't see a chance like this again, most likely..." he muttered, contemplating pressing the button and blasting the Eggstermination Station to smithereens, taking every last one of his greatest enemies with it. However, he hesitated. "Metal Sonic 20... never reached full power... But Sonic... he held back at first. Maybe he didn't think I could win, maybe he was tired from climbing the tower... or maybe... he was being... sporting..." he thought. If Sonic had been at full strength, and if he had put everything he had into it from the start, would the result have been different? "Who cares..." he grumbled, his finger hovering over the button. Still, something stirred in him while he watched Sonic and his friends. "Greater power... Than data..." he murmured. He found himself thinking back on his past battles with Sonic, all the times he matched wits with the hedgehog. He caught himself smiling. Finally, he set the detonator down and sighed. "Thanks for the good times..." he muttered. "Doctor!! Doctor!!" Eggman glanced to his right to see Char the Chao, accompanied by E-2X Alpha, as well as Metal Sonic, all hovering in the air beside him. "I can't believe you lost, doctor! But there's still some robots left in the base!" Char reported. "Let's play! Let's play!" Alpha giggled, causing small explosions around himself. Eggman grinned and shook his head. "Oh, well, we better gather the working robots and scram! There are still loads of schemes for me to try! Next time, Sonic will be defeated for good! Heh heh heh!!" he laughed, causing Char and Alpha to cheer excitedly. "Yeah! You're the coolest, Eggman!" Char chuckled. As the Egg Mobile carried Dr. Eggman to his next destination, he kept glancing at his screen and chuckling softly. "This game's not over... No, I'd say it's just beginning!"

The End!

Thank you for reading!
Cheers to 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog, and to countless years still to come!