Hop To It - Advance 24

[Elsewhere]

It had been a stressful couple of months since the music video came out. Ever since that… robot Sonic doppelganger showed up at his door, Cosmo has been looking over his shoulder every time he went outside. A couple weeks with no more trouble, and he finally started to relax… but the worry never quite went away. Not entirely.

Progress on the album was proceeding apace; he had songs for Sonic and Tails recorded, and his mentor had been willing to do the vocals for Knuckles’ song. Currently, Cosmo was working on a song dedicated to Shadow the Hedgehog, which would be the second music video. He was thinking of using Radical Highway in Central City for it; maybe some time travelling would ease his nerves. After all… Eggman’s robots knew where he lived, so logically the safest place to be would be not in his apartment. Right?

He would have moved, but… he was hoping to save up for someplace nicer than his current digs. Once the album dropped hopefully he’d be able to afford something.

Cosmo was on the way back from the grocery store, a bag of primarily pasta and soda nestled in his arms, when his bus lurched to a stop a block from his building.

“What’s going on? We’re not at the stop yet,” someone said.

He didn’t mind walking the rest of the way, so Cosmo stepped off the bus… and found that the reason why the bus stopped was because his apartment building was cordoned off with police tape. Two Empire City police cruisers were parked outside the buildings, blocking off that section of the street, and a G.U.N. armored van was present as well, and a handful of the black-clad soldiers were waiting outside.

Cosmo approached the barrier cautiously. He glanced up, and noted with a dull sense of dread that one of the windows was broken. His window.

A G.U.N. officer noticed him. “Sir, please step back. Three Eggman robots were seen entering the building. We have it under control.”

“That’s my apartment…” Cosmo said weakly.

The officer’s eyes sharpened. “Is it? I see. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?”

Cosmo sighed and adjusted his grip on his bag. I’ve changed my mind. I’m just going to move after this…

--------------------------------

[Gamma]

Angel Island was a strange place. Carnivals, canyons, volcanic activity, snowy peaks… it seemed as if every possible biome was accounted for. There was even a ‘haunted’ area in Sandopolis where ghosts could be found.

Encyclopedia: Angel Island is home to the Master Emerald, and once served as a long-term home for all seven Chaos emeralds. It is also the place where the water spirit Chaos is sealed.

Analysis: Hypothesis: Could the abundance of Chaos energy be warping the environment?

Or perhaps the Ancient Echidnas were terraformers. Historical analysis indicates that they became highly isolationist before their fall; was it likely that they sought to replicate everything the world had to offer on this one island so as to remove the desire to ever leave it?

That would be something interesting to discuss with Iota next time they met, but one thing was certain: it took longer for Gamma to cross Angel Island in a straight line than it did for him to walk around its circumference. Logically it should be the opposite, and this was only possible if there was some sort of spatial distortion going on. If he hadn’t met Humi and seen what she could do, Gamma would have dismissed the idea outright as simply… a bug in his systems, or somesuch.

So yes, Angel island was a strange place.

One could spend a lifetime on the floating island and never cease finding wonders, but Gamma’s actual goal kept eluding him. The Flickies he was looking for were not in any of the woodlands, nor in the urban areas, nor in the desert. He was beginning to wonder if he should check Hydrocity after all. In fact, Gamma wondered if Birdie, Pinky and Gray were even on the island. He distinctly remembered Amy saying they lived here… but maybe they decided to move on after being captured by Eggman. They could have gone to Flicky Island, or any of the other islands in the great archipelago.

…Or, he admitted to himself glumly, they could just be avoiding him.

Chrono: 4:00. Time’s up!

It was entirely within Gamma’s ability to search the island nonstop, but part of the deal that allowed him to be on the island was that he would help in guarding the Master Emerald, so Gamma abandoned his quest for the day and returned to the Altar.

Knuckles, likewise, was capable of guarding the Emerald at all times… but while his status as Guardian afforded him the power of constant vigilance, it wasn’t good for him. He napped often, but a light sleep where he was ready to spring awake at the slightest sound, to defend his people's great treasure, wasn’t a restful sleep. So now, they were working in shifts. Thank goodness Rouge was there when Gamma proposed this idea; Knuckles might have been too stubborn to accept otherwise, but thankfully the bat could match him in that regard.

Even so, he was taking a rather circuitous route to get to the Altar today. He was feeling… down, yes, and wanted to unwind by taking in the scenery. As such, Gamma elected to make for the ‘coast’ of the floating island and follow it until he reached the Echidna ruins. Looking over the ocean from so high above was pleasant.

Analytics: There is something cresting the horizon.

Gamma zoomed in; Angel Island was indeed drifting closer to land. Some mountains were just barely visible in the distance, and an offshore oil rig rose above the waves.

Analytics: Judging by rate of approach, Angel Island is slowing down. Estimation to complete stop: six hours.

Encyclopedia: Referencing maps: based on current trajectory, the Island will come to a stop directly above the continental shelf, approx. twenty miles offshore from Ice Paradise.

Ice Paradise. That pinged at something in long-term memory, though he couldn’t be sure what. The file was cached and probably zipped up due to disuse; something important enough to keep but not needed in active memory for a while. He set a program to searching for why Ice Paradise sounded important to him.

“Oof! Hey!”

Gamma froze. He had inadvertently kicked something while he was walking. He looked down and saw a tiny Omochao, knocked over on the ground. It stared up at him with half-lidded eyes and a frown before its rotor buzzed and it flew to hover at eye level.

“What’s the big idea, buster? Watch where you’re going!”

“Apologies. I was lost in my thoughts,” Gamma explained. Another memory pinged, and this one was still in RAM. “Aren’t you one of the Omochao that followed Humi from the ARK?”

It huffed, crossing its arms. “Only Ono was up there, but yeah, I went to Mystic Ruins. What’s it to you?”

“I simply wish to clarify. What are you doing here?”

“...I dunno,” it admitted. “One minute we were exploring Meropis, then Razor and Waverly left to go back to the Ruins for something, and then the three of us got separated and now I’m here.”

Gamma tilted his head. “What is Meropis?”

“It’s an underwater city populated by aquatic Mobians,” Dono told him. “Very pretty, even if listening to Yuno’s fish facts got tiresome.”

Gamma took a moment to process. “...You got lost in an underwater city… and ended up on Angel Island?”

“Is that where this is? I guess so.”

“...How?”

“I dunno, do I? What’s with the invasive questions?”

He was so, so tempted to keep asking questions, because his CPU was already starting to heat up trying to figure out how that was possible, but any attempt to seek answers was put on hold as his search program regarding Ice Paradise finished.

Encyclopedia: Ice Paradise is a city-state on the border of United Federation space. The city and much of the territory exists in a state of near-perpetual winter despite bordering an active volcanic region; a particular arrangement of hills and mountains serves to funnel cold air down from the Arctic while acting as a barrier to the heat from Hot Crater to the west.

Encyclopedia: Ice Paradise is one of--possibly the only--UF territory where Mobians outnumber humans, likely due to their fur and hardy nature making the region more hospitable for them.

Encyclopedia: Dr. Eggman set up a base in an abandoned oil rig near Ice Paradise.

Gamma’s head swivelled back to the rig he saw down below and he zoomed in further than before. As the Island had drifted closer, he was now able to make out a familiar logo on the platforms.

“Oh, no.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

Gamma ignored the little robot, turning and falling into his sprint mode; the terrain was rough on his wheels, but he needed to make a beeline for the Altar. Eggman would not pass up an opportunity to attack with Angel Island so close!

“Hey, stop ignoring me! Come back!”

-----------------------------

[Knuckles]

He eyed the gathering robots carefully. Knuckles didn’t doubt he could take them all, but there were still a lot of them, and he wasn’t willing to stray too far from the Master Emerald; it would be too easy for one of these badniks to snatch it while he was distracted fighting. He had every intention of waiting until one of them made a move first; if even a single robot touched the Emerald, he would shatter it once more. He hated to do it again so soon, when it was still recovering, but she would understand; anything was better than Eggman.

And speak of the devil; there he went, hovering down in his big stupid chair. Knuckles felt himself bare his teeth instinctively. “How many times do I have to tell you you aren’t welcome here, Eggman?!”

“Hohoho…” The Doctor set his vehicle down an… admittedly respectful distance away, at the far end of the Altar’s walkway, before climbing out and strolling over on his own two feet. Robotic hummingbirds and armadillos moved out of the way as he passed. “Knuckles, is that any way to speak to an old friend?”

He snorted. “Old, maybe, but friend? I don’t think so.”

Eggman’s face twitched before settling into an easy grin. “Hoho, good one! Good one. Ahem. Knuckles my boy, I have a proposal for you--”

“Save it, Doctor, I’m not interested. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…”

“Twice, thrice, quice…” Eggman frowned. “Quice? No, that doesn’t sound right--anyway, no. I’ve turned over a new leaf! I’m a changed man!”

“Pull the other one.” Knuckles’ eyes narrowed. “And of course you’ve got no interest in the Master Emerald, either.”

“Not a one,” he said, sincerely enough that Knuckles had to blink. “I’ve had it with magic rocks, and the Master Emerald in particular has never been anything but trouble for me.”

Suddenly, Eggman sighed, and as he reached the steps leading up to the Altar, he turned around and sat down, looking exhausted.

“Knuckles, I’m sure you remember what happened on the ARK. I nearly destroyed the world by accident! Not to mention finding out what kind of man my beloved grandfather actually was. After Shadow sacrificed himself, after I’d almost been able to call him a friend?” He shook his head sadly. “My heart’s not in it anymore.”

Knuckles… hesitated. And he felt a sense or confusion from the Master Emerald; it didn’t know what to make of this either. Cautiously, he started down the steps to meet him. “What about a month ago when we had to beat you again?”

Eggman tossed him a frustrated look. “I think we can all agree that that wasn’t my best work. I just… wasn’t feeling it. It just took another failure for me to realize it. I’m getting old, and taking over the world doesn’t interest me anymore.”

Knuckles said nothing, just silently glared at him.

Eggman shrugged. “I don’t know what I’m doing next, but I’m done with the conquering game. Or I would be, if not for one thing…”

“Sonic.”

“Sonic!” the Doctor agreed. “I’m trying to go straight, but that little blue menace won’t let me! I started a logging company to provide cheap lumber for construction, and Sonic came along and destroyed it! Then he went and ruined my mining operation; that’s a dangerous job, you know! Doing it with robots is the safest way to do it, but Sonic won’t let me live in peace!”

Knuckles frowned. “If you’re really trying to be good, why don’t you--”

“Tell him? I tried.” Eggman slumped, chin resting in his hand. “But that selfish hedgehog… he just loves being the hero so much. He’s not willing to let his villain have any peace. He just wants the game to keep going, no matter what.”

That… was uncomfortably plausible. Knuckles had known Sonic for years now; he wouldn’t call the speedy hedgehog a friend, exactly, but he’d grown a grudging respect for him. And yet, he had a hard time imagining Sonic slowing down. Would he--was this something he’d do? Maybe.

…It didn’t sit right in Knuckles’ head. The pieces of this puzzle didn’t quite fit together. But on the other hand, the picture they were making almost made sense.

“Assuming you’re telling the truth,” Knuckles said slowly, “why come to me?”

“Why, because you’re so strong! As strong as Sonic is fast, in fact,” Eggman said matter-of-factly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “If anyone can get him to stop harassing me, it would have to be you! Amy is too infatuated, Tails worships the ground Sonic walks on, and that only leaves you, Knuckles.” He stood up, smiling. “Sonic’s bound to come here, since it’s between him and my base. Think you can give him a well-deserved thrashing?”

…

He kind of? Wanted to? If Eggman was being honest, then Knuckles had a valid reason for punching Sonic’s face in, and that was… a very appealing prospect, if he was honest.

Eggman reached out for a handshake, still smiling all friendly-like.

Knuckles raised his own hand, haltingly. “Well, if you--”

A badnik hummingbird suddenly exploded, and bullets rained down.

“Cease and desist!”

Eggman yelped, friendliness melting off his face and leaving behind an expression of fury. “What?!”

Gamma leapt out from behind a pillar, guns blazing and taking out a swath of badniks.

“Gamma?” Knuckles asked, surprised.

“Gamma?!” Eggman shouted, enraged. “This is where you’ve been hiding, you traitor?!”

Gamma didn’t answer, simply pointing his gun at Eggman. The scientist paled and fled, shockingly fast, towards his Egg Mobile--fast enough that Gamma’s bullets all missed, though they conveniently always hit a badnik anyway. Eggman clambered inside the cockpit and rapidly flew away.

The goodnik kept firing away as it flew, not doing significant damage, until Knuckles ran up and knocked his gun aside. “Gamma, what the heck? That wasn’t necessary!”

“Eggman has invaded Angel Island. Fulfilling duty as secondary guardian.”

Knuckles growled. “I never called you that, and he was trying to make peace!”

Gamm’s head swivelled to look at him. “Have you sustained a concussion?”

“What?”

The robot grabbed the side of his head and peered closely. “No signs of pupil dilation. Are you feeling dizzy or nauseous?”

Knuckles swatted him away. “I’m just fine! Get off!”

“You were defending Eggman. This is highly uncharacteristic.”

“He told me he was giving up evil!”

Gamma stared at him. “...I see. He told you. Well, if he told you, that’s alright then. Clearly Eggman’s word can be trusted.”

Knuckles crossed his arms. “He sounded pretty convincing to me.”

“He--”

A squealing sound cut him off, and they both turned to look as a huge, one-wheeled vehicle with rotating segments drove into view. One segment held a massive mechanical arm, another a mounted laser, and the final one held Eggman himself, grinning madly as he drove towards them.

“I don’t know what you’re doing here, Gamma, but it doesn’t matter! I’ll just kill two birds with one stone!”

Gamma’s speakers barked a wordless, annoyed sound. “--lied to you,” he finished blandly.

A second passed, and then Knuckles scowled. “I knew that! I was… playing along! To see if I could trick him for a change.”

Gamma whirred, considering his response, eventually settling for, “...Acknowledged.” He reloaded his gun and took aim.

The saucer-shaped vehicle sped towards them, all the flighted badniks taking off to avoid getting squashed. Eggman suddenly swerved, rolling in a wide circle around the Altar, while the Madillos slowly waddled towards them.

The thing about fighting one of Eggman’s weapons… the thing about fighting a foe designed for one specific guy… is that it should be easy. That’s how Knuckles felt, anyway. All of Eggman’s big battle vehicles were built to face Sonic first, and everyone else a distant second. You would assume, right, that such a specialized enemy would be easy for someone else to fight, right?

Not the case. Not at all. Because Sonic was fast and Eggman had clearly built this machine with that speed in mind. It was a chase fight, one where Sonic was meant to push himself to catch up to all while Eggman shot at him from a distance, and the big hand was obviously to run interference once he got in range.

(Some people said Knuckles wasn’t very bright, but if there was one thing he understood it was fighting.)

The Saucer rolling in circles was too fast for Knuckles to hit, too erratic for Gamma to shoot reliably, and Knuckles couldn’t get close enough to try and time a hit anyway because the badniks were interfering! And Eggman didn’t have any of those same problems hitting them.

So they were left fighting badniks while dodging lasers from random directions.

“Lousy cheating computers,” he muttered. “Don’t you have some fancy targeting system?”

“Correct. However, his path around the Master Emerald’s Altar keeps going in and out of my range, disrupting my attempts to lock on. I will request an update next time I meet Tails.”

“Not very helpful right now…”

“HAHAHA! What’s the matter boys?” Eggman taunted, voice dopplering from the motion. “You’re making this too easy!”

Knuckles growled. Jumping up onto a charging Madillo, he bounced from robot to robot until leaping off the final one just as Eggman was coming around again. Time seemed to slow down, and he got an immensely satisfying glimpse of the Doctor’s surprised face, so close to his fist--

And then Eggman grinned and jerked his steering wheel hard. The Egg Saucer stopped on a dime and spun in place, and Knuckles got smacked back by the giant rubber wheel. He managed to catch himself in midair, smashing through one of the hummingbirds to arrest his momentum before landing on his feet.

And then the Saucer was back on its path, while Eggman laughed.

“This isn’t working.”

“I know!” Knuckles took a step back, trying to find any kind of opening. Let’s see… the Egg Saucer is a hollow wheel with a big hole in the middle, and all the weapons are only on one side… “Got it; Gamma, can you toss me through the ring when it passes by?” The flying badniks were keeping them boxed in, trying to get past the Saucer the normal way would fail because those stupid wasps would stall them until they got run over; but the robots were staying out of the wheel’s way, and once they were fighting from both sides maybe Eggman would be distracted enough that they’d have a chance.

“Working… Assessing timing… Done.” Gamma grabbed Knuckles and pulled an arm back to throw. “Ready in three… two… o--”

The ground shook, upsetting Gamma’s balance and sending Knuckles falling to the ground. “Oh, now what?”

Dirt plumed, something exploding and taking a handful of Madillos with it. A group of Buzzers was suddenly reduced to scrap in midair.

The Egg Saucer slowed down. “What’s going on?” Eggman demanded.

Knuckles almost charged forward, ready to capitalize on this opening, but he didn’t get the chance. A pink blur dropped out of the sky, resolving into what looked like one of G.U.N.’s robots carrying a lance and a shield. It pierced the Saucer’s big tire, shredding the rubber and ruining its ability to move. The vehicle sputtered to a stop before falling over.

“What? You?!”

Eggman bailed, the Egg Mobile rising from its socket. A bevy of missiles burst just over his head, preventing him from leaving, and the source of the assault fell to the ground heavily.

Knuckles blinked. Wasn’t that Humi’s mech? The Y-Not, or whatever it was called?

Eggman recognized it too. “Oh, I see now.” He grinned. “I must say, I didn’t expect you to catch up to me like this, mouse.” His smile fell. “But wait, that thing can’t fly on its own. How did you--”

“EEK!” A robot monkey stood from the Y-Nought’s cockpit, screeching angrily at him as Eggman approached. “Oo oo OO ooh!”

“Gah! What the?” The Egg Mobile drew back.

Knuckles and Gamma shared a perplexed look. And since Knuckles had to look up to do that, he saw it first: a giant robot fell down, hidden in the glare of the sun, to land with a BOOM right behind Eggman. The Doctor’s vehicle whirled around to face this new threat, ending up hovering at chest height.

“...So is this the mouse, or should I just wait for her to reveal herself?” Eggman asked, sounding unimpressed.

The titan’s fist rose and fell in a flash, clipping the edge of Eggman’s vehicle and sending it spinning end over end. While he worked to correct this, yelling angrily, a hatch opened on the titan’s chest.

Humi hung there, suspended by a series of straps and levers. As Eggman righted himself, she leaned out of her own mecha and dropped something into his cockpit, unnoticed.

As soon as she leaned back, the Doctor finally took notice of her. “There you are. I must say, I’m impressed, if not a little annoyed. Did you build all that by yourself so quickly?”

“I had it half-built already,” she said, voice flat. She stared at him unblinkingly. “The top half is a patch job, but it’ll do the job.”

Eggman had the audacity to smile at that. “A rush job, is it? I might not have noticed. Though, I can see it now; the torso is a distinctly different style from the legs, short and stocky versus long and elegant. I can see the control scheme you’ve got there. It’s primitive, but as long as it works--”

“Where,” Humi said, a hard edge cutting through his speech, “is Heyu.”

Knuckles’ eyes narrowed. They were being ignored for now, but who knew when that would stop. He started moving towards them--

--------------------------------

[Eggman]

But Eggman spotted him, and with the press of a button set the badniks to resume attacking. Knuckles and Gamma quickly had their hands full, but unfortunately the pink lance robot and the… monkey in the Y-Nought were helping them this time.

Frowning, Eggman turned his attention back to Humi. “Who?”

Humi’s glare intensified. “The hare. The tall brown rabbit who keeps calling you Robotnik. Where is he?”

“Oh, him.” Eggman leaned back, apparently unbothered. “Rest assured, he’s being taken care of. You’ll see him again soon, but first, I have a proposition for you.”

Humi didn’t answer.

Taking her silence as his cue, Eggman went into his pitch. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you playing around with my robots. What you did to E-108 was a surprise to me, and then you pulled out that monster of a mech on the ARK,” he said, gesturing down to where said mech was destroying robotic wasps. “Mecha Sonic’s recordings showed me that you managed to trounce him quite thoroughly with salvaged scrap from random vehicles, hehe.” He pushed his glasses up on his nose. “And then I saw what you were doing with my scraps; I saw that robot butler you built for that woman. I know full well that you set up shop near the Final Egg, where I had all those robot maids. And you went and turned them into something new.”

The mouse’s lips twitched.

“And I got to thinking recently. I am a genius. But, perhaps my designs have… stagnated as of late. Perhaps I need a fresh viewpoint to liven up my work, and perhaps you could work wonders with tailor-made components instead of rooting through trash.”

She was grinning now, and Eggman smirked.

“I admit, I wasn’t entirely sure of this before, but seeing you in person like this? Yes, I can tell. You’ve got that look in your eye that tells me you’re made of sterner stuff. Prower is wrapped around Sonic’s finger, but you, you have what it takes… to…”

She was laughing.

Down below Knuckles looked up worriedly at the sound of that laughter, but he couldn’t dwell on it because Gamma called out to him.

“Something is moving in the trees!”

He glanced at the forest surrounding the shrine, wondering what was happening now.

Humi laughed, wiping a tear from her eyes. “You really think--ha--you really think I’d do anything to help you, after you kidnap my dad?”

Eggman’s expression flickered, but he hid his surprise well. “A… misunderstanding,” he lied. He didn’t forget the two’s relation, he just… underestimated the depth of it. “Don’t dismiss this offer, because I’m only making it once. You’ll have access to far more resources than you can imagine.” His control slipped, and he growled, “Think about what you're refusing!”

“Doc, you don’t need to worry about me,” she said easily. To Eggman’s shock, she actually reached out with her hand. “I know what’s best for me.”

Grinning once more, he went to accept her handshake--only for her to stretch out, her straps supporting her, and reach past his hand to pluck his glasses from his face before she snapped back to her cockpit.

Eggman blinked in the sunlight, flabbergasted, as Humi put the cybernetic shades over her own eyes; given that her eyes were much bigger than his, it would have been a comical sight if it weren’t so infuriating.

“I don’t need you to give me anything, Eggman,” she said. “Because I’m going to take it.”

“WHAT?!”

“Thanks for giving me time to get into position, though.” Humi brought her fingers to her mouth and whistled, just before the chest hatch closed over her again.

The trees shook.

Knuckles swore under his breath. “Great. More robots?!”

“Yes…” Gamma said, uncertainly. “But…”

“We’re barely breaking even here!” Knuckles shouted. “If Eggman’s sending in reinforcements--”

“I do not think,” Gamma interrupted, “that they are Eggman’s reinforcements.”

The army that flowed out of the forest wasn’t very large, only a dozen strong. But they were a dozen strong, and they hit the badniks like a truck.

Knuckles couldn’t help but stare; even he could tell that these new robots were Eggtech, but they definitely weren’t Eggman’s. They were haphazard, cobbled together, and ugly as sin, but by Chaos they worked.

A mole-like robot on stumpy legs and with drills for hands tore through the Madillos’ armor like tissue. A pair of frog robots with long, bladed tongues were sniping Buzzers out of the sky. A trio of mechanical rats were fighting with miniature wrecking balls on the ends of their thick corded tails . A crudely-made goat was charging through badniks like they weren’t even there. It was chaos.

Glorious chaos, and made all the more so by Eggman’s enraged screams.

“No! You can’t just--just show up and take over! That’s my thing, you copycat!”

Humi’s voice crackled through a speaker somewhere on her mecha. “Take it up with my lawyer, Mr. Knight.”

The G.U.N. drone reappeared, trying to run its lance through the Egg Mobile, which barely got away in time with only some scratched paint.

“You think you’re so smart, you rat?!” the Doctor roared. “I’ll make you regret this!”

“You and what army?” Everyone present could hear the grin in her voice. “Not the one I just destroyed, probably.”

“GRRAARRGH!!”

Humi chuckled. Her mecha’s right arm stretched out to the side, something unfolded, and then it was holding a truly gigantic morningstar--or rather, a lamppost stuck through a Circus ball. The Eggman logo had its eyes crossed out with spray paint.

“Get scrambled, jerk!”

Eggman’s eyes widened. He started to turn and fly away, but he wasn’t fast enough. The morningstar hit the Egg Mobile, and Humi hit a homerun.

---------------------------

[Knuckles]

Knuckles watched Eggman go flying into the distance until he vanished behind a cloud.

Humi’s mecha crouched down, stowing its weapon away wherever it went, and she crawled out of the chest hatch. She ignored the both of them, instead running to a pile of destroyed badniks and collecting anything useful she could find. Her own robots were finishing off the last of them and gathering the scrap in a pile for her, which she and the monkey dug through rapidly.

Knuckles cleared his throat as he approached her. “Thanks for the assist, mouse kid.”

“Hm.” She didn’t even look up.

Knuckles scowled. “Hey!”

Humi pulled her head out of the pile, staring at him blankly. “What.”

Well, so much for being polite. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“Is Eggman engaged in a greater scheme, or was this spur of the moment?” Gamma asked.

“Do you know where Ono and Yuno are?” Dono asked, settling down on Gamma’s shoulder.

“What?” Humi blinked. “No. What are you doing here?”

“I dunno.”

The mouse grunted, turning back to her work. “Well, me neither. Eggman just showed up to the village and kidnapped Heyu. And Tails. And Amy and Vanilla, I guess.”

Knuckles folded his arms, frowning. “What’s he up to…?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Humi said bluntly. “He attacked my home, and now he’s going to face the consequences.”

Concerning. Knuckles turned to see the line of… goodniks, he supposed, waiting to be serviced for repair by the pile. Most of them looked okay to him, but the goat was missing a horn and one of the frogs was missing a leg. “What’s the deal with… these?”

She actually perked up a little at that. “You like them? I haven’t named them yet, and they’re going to need an overhaul once we get home so they look nice and pretty, but for now they’re doing just fine, aren’t you?” she said, turning to cradle the goat’s face like it was a puppy. “Yes you are, my little juggernaut, yes you are~.”

The goat shook in place, some internal engine stuttering, and Humi clicked her tongue before opening a door on its side and tweaking something. The shaking stopped, and she set about replacing its horns.

“They performed impressively,” Gamma noted.

“Thanks. Eggman’s robots are good enough, but I think I’d prefer to make mine to last.”

“Quality over quantity,” Knuckles summarized. “Surprising. Last I heard you did things quick and dirty.”

“Not when they’re important,” Humi pressed. “Honestly, making me save you is the worst thing Eggman’s done today…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Gamma held Knuckles in place with a hand on his shoulder, then stepped forward. “Humi.”

“Hm?”

“What are you powering these robots with?”

She paused, looking up at him. “...” She looked away. “It’s only six of them.”

“Humi.”

“I was going to set them free afterwards! Promise!”

“Humi.”

She threw her hands up. “I only had six of the chaos shards left, and I don’t have time to invent a brand new power source in the middle of a volcano!” She sulked. “It’s not like I’m going to just find a Chaos Emerald in the middle of nowhere.”

Gamma didn’t respond, simply letting his disappointment sit there. While Humi squirmed.

Knuckles didn’t know what a chaos shard was, but he could guess; he remembered the fake Chaos Emerald plan on the ARK. He hadn’t realized that they needed a real one to make them, but he supposed it made sense.

…

He turned to look up at the Master Emerald. It pulsed in his mind.

A solution.

“...I think there’s a special zone on the island right now,” he said slowly. “In… Sky Canyon.”

Humi stood up straighter, staring at him intensely. “There’s a Chaos Emerald nearby?” She turned around, muttering to herself. “Could I…? Yes, I could make the extractor with what I have here. It won’t be pretty but it’ll work good enough, and I’d only need one more ACE to get enough shards to power everyone with some left over…”

Gamma settled back satisfied, relaxing as much as his robotic frame allowed. “I was planning on searching Sky Canyon myself next, Humi. I can show you the way.”

“If all three of us go, we’ll find it faster,” Knuckles said. “Since you seem like you’re in a hurry.”

She looked startled. “I--yeah. Okay. Cavendish, take over repairs, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She stood up, dusted herself off, and turned to go. “Lead the way. Heyu’s waiting for me.”