Amy read the title of the show. "It wasn't me, it was the One-armed Hedgehog."

"Weird title." Sonic said.

"Every title of the show that we watch is weird, Sonic." Knuckles pointed out.

"Still," Tails tapped his chin. "I wonder what this one is about."

Sonic chuckled, glancing at Shadow. The Ultimate Life-Form glared at the blue blur. "Do I look like I'm missing an arm, faker?" He hissed.

Amy was cautious. "It says 'hedgehog'." She paused. "You don't think..."

Eggman wished with all of his heart that he didn't. Was it too much to ask for two episodes without his twin showing up?

The scene stared inside Eggman's evil lair, the doctor singing while he dusted off some of his inventions.

Yes, apparently it was.

"Here we go." Knuckles braced himself for this one.

Spade humped. "Apparently, having one episode without the doctor is way too kind."

Silver wanted to laugh already. "First the Buddy Buddy Temple and now this?" HE glanced at the human. "Your twin must love singing."

"Pretty, pretty, pretty! My toys so full of evil! It warms my stony hear to think of the bad that we'll achieve-il!"

Eggman wanted to rip his ears out.

He danced over to another machine. "You're much more fun, oh so much fun 'cause I am your creator! From tiny robot pickpockets, to my particle-" He turned around and slumped in shock at the sight of an empty pedestal. "-accelerator? My particle accelerator?!" He held his hands to his head and screamed in shock.

Shadow sighed in relief. "Thank Chaos he's done."

"Took the words out of my mouth." Eggman muttered, not sorry at all that his twin was missing an invention. He deserved it for those off-key notes.

Disregarding the singing, Torque was a little confused. "Hold on, who would just steal a simple tool and nothing else?"

Lilac nodded. "It is weird for a thief to do that."

Carol chuckled. "You don't think he's gonna shout out 'My babies!' Do ya?"

"I hope not." Eggman didn't want his twin to act like a crying little fox, who treats his tools like they're his own children.

Outside, a few birds flew away from the base. Eggman screamed again. "My birds!"

"It is better to be free than to be trapped with that disappointment." Shadow commented.

Sonic gave a knowing grin. "Don't forget, Shads. In the future, you-"

The black hedgehog threw him a death glare. "Finish that sentence, I dare ya."

Not wanting to get punched again, Sonic left it alone for now. There was a saying; Actions spoke louder than words.

A while later, Eggman was listening to a beaver police officer. "So, Doctor Eggman." The beaver looked up at him from a notebook. "Does this particle accelerator have any distinguishing features that would help us identify it?"

"Huh?" Amy had to be missing something here. "Why would they want to return that thing to him?! Keep it away! Do they forget that Eggman's evil or something?"

"It's the villagers you're talking about. They're idiots." Neera reminded. "So, yes."

Eggman furrowed his brow in thought. "Let's see...it has a small scratch on its left side, so there's that, and also – it's a particle accelerator!" he yelled with a glare. "You got a lot of those roaming your village, hmm genius?"

The beaver scratched his head, and the doctor slumped his shoulders, holding his face in his hands. "I'm sorry...I'm just so upset!"

Sonic, who was sitting on a couch behind Eggman, bit into his chili dog and said, "I've never seen him like this." He grinned. "I kinda like it!"

Sonic slowly blinked. "So...he's just there now?"

"At least this isn't an Eggman only episode." Hopefully, Knuckles didn't just jinx himself.

Over in a nearby hallway, there was a group of tourists with Orbot and Cubot leading the way. Orbot motioned to a side door. "And this is Dr. Eggman's Thinkcubator, the room where he hatches his brilliant ideas. Get it?"

"Booooo!" Storm exclaimed, giving the TV a thumb's down.

Most of the audience inwardly agreed with him. That joke was terrible.

The crowd gave him a long deadpanned look. Orbot put his hands on his hips and muttered- "Pearls before swine" -before continuing the tour. "And it was from here..." He led them to the large room. "...that Dr. Eggman's particle accelerator was stolen."

The tourists loudly gasped.

One of the villagers, Mike the Ox, grumbled, "Not his particle accelerator...I was hoping to get a picture with it. This tour bites."

"No wonder why his stuff got stolen. He's giving public tours."

"He's got to get his income from somewhere, Knux. Cuz it's not from winnin'."

Eggman was still describing the stolen item to the cop. "It was about yay big, it was made of polished titanium, it accelerated particles..." He pondered to himself. "Am I leaving anything out?"

Sonic slurped a drink from a cup, looking extremely bored. "Someone wanna remind me why I'm here?"

Tails shrugged. "Plot??"

Eggman whirled around and pointed at him. "Because you stole it!"

Lilac saw that one coming. "That makes sense. He would think that Sonic took-

"Wait!" Tails interrupted. He tapped his chin. "Going by the title of the episode, does that mean that Sonic didn't take it? And that someone is using Sonic as a scapegoat?"

Amy snapped her fingers, smiling at him. "That's definitely gonna happen! Good one, Tails! Now-" She eyed Shadow and Scourge, pursing her lips. "Was it one of you?"

Espio tapped his chin in thought. "I don't think Shadow or Scourge is behind this."

The pinkette glanced at him what do you mean?"

"Who else, beside these two, would look like Sonic and frame him?" The chameleon questioned.

"Metal." Blaze answered, figuring it out. Though, she genuinely thought it was Shadow, but at the same time Metal hasn't appeared, yet. And Scourge... what would he need a participial accelerator for??

"Bingo." Espio nodded.

Sonic agreed with that as well. "I mean, if this is a setup made by Eggy, then it's gotta be Metal." He glanced at the Ultimate Life-Form. "Even though Shadow may look like me, I doubt he would steal from, Eggface." He paused. "I think."

"Or," Gong dove into his memory. "It could be that buck-toothed annoyance that works at that so-called fast-food restaurant."

Scourge groaned. He'd only seen the beaver a few times and yet, he was a pain in the ass. "Please no."

"Wait." Fiona called out. "Isn't Eggman's Lair surrounded by the ocean?? How the hell did that dumb beaver even make there, let alone get past his security guard??"

No one made no comment.

Anti-Tails sighed. "It's because he didn't steal the doctor's accelerator."

Fiona nodded. "Exactly."

Tails hummed. "Which means..."

"It has to be Metal!" Amy declared.

Sonic rubbed his chin. "Or Rosy."

Everyone stared at him like he was crazy.

"...What??"

Knuckles frowned. "What makes you think," Points at Rosy, "She would steal a stupid tool?!"

The blue hero shrugged. "I mean... she-"

"She's a female, Sonic!" Amy yelled, glaring at the blue hedgehog.

Tails shivered. "A crazy one to be exact." He would go to a point and say Rosy was even more crazier than Sticks. At least Sticks isn't exactly crazy, just paranoid around her surroundings. Heck, she and Amy are best friends.

Sonic scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh. Sorry, guys. Guess I was wrong."

"Dead wrong." Eggman knew Rosy wouldn't steal anything from him. But if she and him were to come into contact... she would smash him like an omelet. He would take Amy then her.

The tourists gasped once more.

Sonic wasn't as affected. "That's nuts."

Eggman huffed. "If it wasn't you, then why was my lair littered with chili dog scraps?" Said crumbs were shown scattered all over the floor.

"Okay, that's very telling evidence. Sonic does leave scraps wherever he goes."

"Whether that's true or not, you didn't have to tell them that, Tails."

Tails cheekily smiled at him in revenge for the amount of times he'd have to vacuum after chili dog days. And they were common.

Yet again, the tourists gasped.

Fiona's brow twitched. "Can we get duct tape for them or something!?"

Amy agreed with her. "They've been doing nothing but gasping all this time! It's like Just a Guy all over again!"

Sonic swallowed the rest of his chili dog. "I dunno," he answered before flinging the remaining breadcrumbs on the ground.

Another gasp from the tourists.

"Or super glue." Spade gritted out.

"And look at these footprints!" Eggman gestured to the polished floor. There were blackened footprints surrounding the littered crumbs.

The tourists, unsurprisingly, gasped again.

Scourge scowled. "Or a shotgun."

"Or a knife." Rosy hissed.

The police beaver frowned at the floor before going over and maneuvering one of Sonic's shoes over the footprint, finding them to be a perfect match.

"Okay..." Lilac began. "I think this is getting a little freaky.

Tails nodded in agreement. "It's not Sonic, but...how in the world did they do that? Did they already know that Sonic was going to sit there?"

The evidence was too damning. "I think Eggman's totally in on it," Vector said. "And that Metal probably stole Sonic's shoes at some point to do that."

"But, even if he did steal it," Silver started. "The villagers shouldn't throw Sonic in jail just for that."

"He has been banished from the village before simply for losing a race against a robotic shrew." Jet pointed out before adding. "Who doesn't look anything like me!"

The tourists gasped, and Sonic glanced askance at them. "Would you stop gasping dramatically?" They didn't listen, doing the complete opposite of that.

Rosy itched to jump into the screen and bring out her spiky hammer. Wait. The purple cat took her hammer! She hissed.

Sonic gestured to himself. "Seriously guys, I'm the hero, he's the villain." He pointed over to Eggman. "I mean, he has an evil lair, he has mindless henchmen!" He regarded Orbot and Cubot. "No offense."

"Yeah!" Amy leaned forward in her seat. "Get them to listen to common sense!"

Cubot shook his head. "No, I think you're on to something here."

The beaver looked up at Eggman. "Sorry Dr. Eggman, I'd love to close this case, but before I can arrest Sonic, I'm gonna need more. Like uh...if this was part of a pattern?"

Another policeman walked in, a wolf, carrying a medium-sized box. "Sarge, where you do want me to put this crate of recent photos of crime scenes where partial eaten chili dogs and Sonic-shaped footprints are found?"

"That's the only things they found?" Vector huffed. "That's more evidence that someone's tryin' to frame Sonic's double! He doesn't eat chili dogs everywhere he goes!"

"Indeed, and we all know where this is going." Espio was starting to wonder how on earth were these village still functional for this long. "They're gonna use their negative IQ to jail him. Even though they should be jailing Eggman who's right there for trying to conquer them in the past."

"Honestly, I don't understand it myself." The human genius admitted.

"They see him as a joke to society," Blaze deadpanned. "Just like how society in their dimension is a joke."

The tourists gasped.

Rosy took a calming breath.

The beaver nodded. "That'll do it." He approached Sonic, and the blue speedster held up his hands innocently. "Sonic T. Hedgehog, you are under arrest! You have the right to remain silent."

Sonic face-palmed.

The tourists gasped.

Sonic did it again.

"I want to kill them." Scourge retorted, with a blank expression.

"I'm right there with you." Shadow growled.

"Save some for me." Rosy hissed.

Eggman laughed victoriously.

"A hundred percent he's in on it," Charmy grumbled.

Sonic frowned. "You leave me no choice! I'll find the real thief and clear my name. Know why?" He pointed to himself. "Hero!" Sonic then ran past the crowd and out of the lair.

Orbot tried to take charge of the tour again. "So um...who wants to see the rumpus room?"

The tourists gasped again.

"Scratched that. Let's torture them."

Scourge nodded at Rosy's words. "Hopefully, this is the last time."

The scene changed-

Fiona slumped in relief. "If we never see those tourists again, it'll be too soon!"

-to the Mayor's mansion, where another crowd was gathered in the lobby.

"I demand action!" A wolf with a brown top hat yelled at the Mayor, "Sonic stole my walking stick!"

"And my jewelry!" Lady Walrus added.

Amy had the very sudden and violent urge to yell. So she did. "What's the point of Sonic saving these people all of the time if they're gonna act like this!?"

"It's probably less about them and more about seeing Eggy's hilarious and pathetic defeat," Sonic brought up with a snicker.

Amy calmed down. "I mean, that's true, but I know I'd be tired of being constantly jailed and banished for no good reason. While Eggman is still walking free, just because."

Lilac and Carol glanced at Neera. The panda sighed sadly at the memory.

Milla hummed. "Sonic's twin doesn't seem too bothered by it though, so, I guess it's okay...?"

A garbage man stepped up. "He stole my keys and hid them in my sofa cushion!" After a moment, he admitted, "Okay, I lost my keys and found them three days later in the cushion...but we should get him anyway!"

Eggman refused to be reminded of the times that he'd done the exact same thing.

Sonic smirked over at Tails, and Tails averted his gaze.

He'd sworn he checked the couch first when the TV remote went missing...

Dave was there too. "We should totally form a posse."

Milla was confused. "What's a posse."

"It's where a body of men, typically armed, are summoned to enforce the law." Theo answered.

"And Dave wants to do that?" Knuckles scoffed. "What does he or anyone else know about the law."

Everyone murmured, agreeing with the echidna.

The Mayor held up his hands. "Everyone, please calm down! This is not the time for rash behavior!"

Soar the Eagle spoke up, taking out his planner. "When would be a good time? I'd like to plan my rash behavior in advance."

"Whoever this thief is really can get around..." Tails mused. "There are so many people here."

An elderly wolf raised her voice, grabbing their attention. "How about I bake up a batch of my famous cookies and put them on the windowsill? Sonic would smell them and come to steal one, but he won't know that they're laced with poison, so..."

"All of a sudden, I like her."

Sonic scoffed. "Of course you would, Scourge."

The Mayor blinked in surprise, interrupting her. "We're not trying to kill him!"

"Oh?" The wolf chuckled sheepishly. "I'm so embarrassed." She pulled out a plate of cookies. "Have a cookie."

"Bold." Eggman complimented. He wondered what her exact recipe was.

The Mayor didn't get a chance to answer, for a high-pitched screeching sound filled the air, causing him to cover his ears.

The noise had been coming from Knuckles, who was grinding his nails down a nearby chalkboard with a crude drawing of Sonic on it.

Knuckles sunk lower in his seat, bracing himself again.

Knuckles pointed at everyone when they looked at him, saying, "I'll catch this hedgehog for ya!" He caught his fist with a palm. "But it ain't gonna be easy..."

"Now he believes that Sonic – you know what? It's not that surprising actually." Amy mended her words. She was disappointed, but not surprised. "Since he's here now, I want the other Tails and my twin to stop this madness."

Knuckles scoffed. "And interrupt the nonsense? No way in hell."

The Mayor raised a fist. "Don't worry! We'll all pitch in!"

Knuckles shook his head. "No! Unlike tying my shoes or brushing my teeth, I have to do this without any help!"

Amy recoiled at the thought that followed. "He doesn't-? But then, who...?"

"The paranoid badger." Spade answered with a drawn-out sigh.

Shadow groaned. "Oh god no."

He confidently marched over to the front door and immediately struggled to get it open. Knuckles grunted as he tugged over and over again until the Mayor helped out with a, "Uh, you have to pull and jiggle the knob!"

Knuckles would've just punched the door down at this point.

Knuckles propped his foot up to help pull, putting his back into it. "I am pulling and jiggling!" After trying for a few more seconds, he stopped with a defeated frown and jabbed a thumb over to the side. "I'll use the window." He then proceeded to dive headfirst out of it, crashing, and the front door cracked open outwards.

Sonic laughed along with Silver that time. "Okay, I'll give him that one! Everyone's done that at least once, right?" He just hoped that the echidna didn't hurt his head too much with that dive.

The scene cut to a shed sitting along the edge of the village. Sonic was gathering up a stack of crates, quickly carrying them inside. He ran back out and did the same with another stack, passing by a worker wearing a yellow hard hat.

"Whoa, slow down there, Bob!" he said, making Sonic slide to a stop. The worker smiled. "Making the rest of us look bad!" A bell rang overhead, and he led Sonic – who was wearing glasses and a green bandana – to a place to sit outside for lunch.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Let me take this all in." It was a lot for Knuckles' mind to process all at once. "So, Sonic got a job for some reason, changed his name, and is wearing a disguise that does nothing to hide his identity?"

It was definitely not the step Sonic's would've taken. "...Yep."

"Well, the disguise is doing something at least." Tails defended even though the bandana was a bit tacky. "The guy doesn't know who he is."

Sonic sighed as the worker took out his food. "Sorry, Earl. Just trying to finish so I can knock off early." He jumped up on the crate Earl was sitting on.

Tails knew that this was an alternate reality where anything could happen, but wow. "I never thought I'd hear Sonic talk about working an actual job." He barely does chores around the house.

Earl was holding a sandwich from Meh Burger.

Amy winced.

"Big plans tonight? Not like there's much to do around here except play horseshoes." A horseshoe then whacked Earl against his head, bouncing off the hardhat and making him drop his food. A co-worker apologized offscreen, and Early waved him off.

Sonic frowned. "I'm on the trail of a man that did me wrong."

Earl took off his hat, raising a brow. "That so? You know, a fella just came through town. In a real hurry, too." He pointed over to the side. "Heading toward the East Forest, yonder."

"A fella?" Tails repeated.

Amy gasped. "Metal is gonna show up soon!" She faced Eggman. "It would make sense, right?!"

Eggman sighed. "Perhaps."

Sonic looked in that direction, frown deepening. Earl crumbled the bag his lunch came in.

"Wait, so did he even eat?" Carol asked, wondering if she'd blinked and missed something.

Cory chuckled. "I mean, he did drop the sandwich on the ground, but that wouldn't stop me. Five second rule, y'know?"

Gong deadpanned. "Food should be treasured and should be allotted a longer time frame."

The wild cat shrugged. "Hey, ask the germs, not me."

"Well, them crates ain't gonna stake themselves. Unless they're self-stacking crates." Earl hopped down from his perch. "Heh. That'd be sweet." He picked up his hat but got hit by another horseshoe before he managed to put it on.

"And...there it is." Knuckles had a feeling that this was going to happen as soon as Earl took off that hardhat.

"What kind of intense horseshoes are they playing?!" Amy asked, worried about how many brain cells Earl just lost.

Fiona rolled her eyes. "There's no intensity. The person who's playing it in is a terrible shot."

Earl collapsed on the ground, unconscious, as the same co-worker passively apologized again.

Sonic ran over to him in worry. "Earl? Earl!"

Somewhere deep in the forest, Knuckles hacked a leaf in half and jumped over a root. "Phew!" He wiped sweat off his forehead before focusing on a twig on the ground. He picked it up with a hum. After looking the stick over for a moment, he sniffed and licked it. "Mmhmm!" He pointed the twig at the dirt. "Sonic was here!"

A violent shiver ran down Amy's body as she cringed in disgust. "That's disgusting!"

"Who in their tight mind would just... lick a stick in the middle of a forest??" Blaze asked in disgust.

Silver was worried about something else. "Hold on, how does he know that Sonic was there...by sniffing and licking a stick? Does that mean...?"

Multiple eyes widened.

"No!" Theo immediately shut down that idea then and there. "No. Ask for damn permission first."

Andy scratched his head. "Silver, maybe you shouldn't speak your mind. It might bring out the wrong idea."

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Shadow jeered.

"Sorry." Silver apologized.

Knuckles then heard a creak from a distance. He looked over before turning around, screaming when he realized that there were a few citizens standing right behind him. He pouted after screaming. "Aww, how did you track me?"

Soar easily answered, "We followed the trail of twigs covered in spit."

"That..." Amy whispered, still traumatized. "That'll do it..."

Knuckles glanced at the soaked stick and ordered, "Stop following me!" He slowly started to sink. "I don't need help!" He then noticed that he was indeed sinking, courtesy of the quicksand he was standing in. Knuckles blinked up at the staring villagers. "This is a shortcut."

Laughter bubbled out of Silver, unable to keep it in.

Knuckles wished he could feel joy.

Sonic was now standing in a doctor's office with Earl laid out on a table. A wolf doctor wearing a stethoscope was examining him. Sonic looked at the wolf and asked, "What is it, Doc?"

The doctor answered, "Well, the scientific term is he got hit in the head with too many horseshoes."

"You gotta help him!"

"Oh, sure," The wolf said, drawing out the word. "Let me just...whip up some anti-horseshoe elixir."

Sonic whistled lowly as the giggle duo gradually contained themselves. "Anyone else chokin' on the sarcasm there?"

Amy puffed out her cheek. "He didn't have to be so mean!"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Hey, if you can't help him, just say so!"

The doctor looked at him in confusion. "No, seriously. I've got a recipe for anti-horseshoe elixir. I just need some pink orchid roots." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "But it only grows in the west forest."

"An anti-horseshoe..." Torque stared in confusion.

"It's not a bacterial infection or a virus! He got a concussion! All he needs is water and rest to heal!" Tails stated.

"Yeah, I get the feeling that he's not really a real doctor." Carol pointed out.

"No surprise there." Knuckles groused. "My twin was mayor for the village. If you ask me, anything is possible."

Sonic sighed. "Oh. I don't suppose it's anywhere near the east forest?"

The wolf walked away with a sharp glance.

The speedster glanced down at Earl. "If I'm gonna catch the guy who framed me, I gotta go east. But if I'm gonna help you, I gotta go west..."

Shadow drummed his fingers. "This is getting too drawn out. There's no immediate danger here. If that worker was going to die, he would've done it the second he was hit on the head."

"All the rodents are bleeding hearts." Eggman replied. "You should know this."

Sonic then looked to the side when a very familiar voice filled the air. "Excuse me, ma'am." It was shown that Knuckles was talking to a goat woman, showing her a picture. "Goes by the name Sonic, and he's very fast." Sonic then sprinted past him, and Knuckles pointed. "Kinda like that guy. Hey wait a second..." He gasped. "I bet that guy knows Sonic!" He ran off as well.

Knuckles took a deep breath.

Carol glanced at the echidna, her smile wobbly, threatening to release some chuckles. "He really knows how to throw in those sudden turns, huh?"

"It's an unfortunate talent."

Deep in west forest, Sonic skidded to a stop in front of a patch of flowers. "Found a pink orchid!" He snatched one out of the ground, smiling. "Well, that was easy! I was expecting some kind of complication."

Sonic smirked. "Wait for it..."

A wooden basket then covered his head.

"There it is!"

"Kinda like that. Knuckles, is that you?"

Knuckles held the basket in place. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But it is. Who's this?"

"Sonic," Sonic said, exasperation clear in his tone.

"Oh, sorry!" Knuckles removed the basket and put it on the ground. "Didn't recognize you with a basket on your head."

"That doesn't-"

"Tails."

"Right. Sorry, Knuckles."

Sonic put a hand on his hip, emphasizing, "Dude, I didn't steal anything!"

Instead of arguing, Knuckles agreed with him. "I know! But there's a posse on your tail!" He placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "I don't want to lose you."

Amy clasped her hands together, eyes glistening. "Aw! Okay, forget about all Mittens did beforehand because this makes up for it! He wanted to find Sonic to help him!" She smiled over to Knuckles. "Come on, Knuckles, you gotta give him credit for that at least!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes but couldn't argue. "Yeah, I can admit that he's a good friend." Most of the time. "But can you blame me for wanting to give him a good punch a couple times?"

Multiple 'yes's and 'no's bounced around the room.

"You're a valuable member of Team Knuckles!"

Sonic barked out a laugh at that. Tails smiled knowingly while Knuckles rolled his eyes again.

"Team Knu-" Sonic held up a hand and shook his head. "I'm not even gonna argue."

"Smart move."

"Let's get this orchid to Earl."

"Right! Just one question!" Knuckles tilted his head. "Who's Earl? What's an orchid? And..." He looked around, completely lost. "And where are we?"

Knuckles glanced over at Amy and gestured at the screen.

She shrugged. "Eh."

Back at the doctor's place, Sonic handed over the flower. "Here ya go, Doc. Am I too late?"

The wolf took the plant. "Don't worry, Bob. I'll fix up Earl newer than a summer cricket whistling on a fallen dewdrop." He winked. "Know what I mean?"

"I think I just had a stroke."

"I think we all did." Blaze told Spade.

"Not at all." Sonic said with no hesitation. "But we got no time to waste. Come on, Knuckles."

The duo began to run off, but they were immediately stopped by the arriving posse. Knuckles smiled. "Hey! I know those guys from somewhere!"

Sonic grabbed the echidna's wrist and sped off with him. The Mayor pointed at the fleeing pair. "There goes Sonic! And he's taking Knuckles hostage!" A horseshoe then came flying out of nowhere, crashing against his head. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

There was a round of applause.

The posse gasped dramatically.

The clapping stopped.

"Sorry!" Said that same co-worker from before.

Now in the east forest, Sonic and Knuckles ran until they found a secret hideout: some dilapidated shack. Knuckles pointed at a window where they could see the faint outline of someone. "Hey Sonic, it's you!"

The figure then vanished from the window.

Shadow and Scourge narrowed their eyes. There had been no way to tell with that shadowed silhouette.

Sonic looked around wildly. "Where'd he go?"

A blue robot with red eye suddenly popped up in front of the heroes, glaring at them.

The robot was none other than Metal Sonic.

Amy and Tails gasped in surprise While Espio crossed his arms. "Looks like my theory confirms it."

Eggman critically scrutinized the robot. "Hm. He does look similar enough to Metal."

"If my copy is lame in this upcoming fight, then he's a total toaster." Sonic remarked.

Sonic glared, body tensing. "Metal Sonic!"

Knuckles clenched a fist. "Allow me!" He charged Metal and started wailing on him, only for the robot to not budge at all, tanking every single hit.

Scourge scoffed in disappointment. "He's not even fazed by those 'punches'."

Knuckles bit back a groan. He inwardly agreed with Scourge. His twin would've at least put a dent in him, sent him flying, something.

Metal then started to float, his midsection lighting up.

Sonic snickered. "Get ready!"

Sonic blinked. "Oh, that can't be good." When the light finished charging and when Sonic realized that Knuckles was the one he was aiming for, the speedster held out a hand. "Knux! Look out!' He ran forward to knock Knuckles out of the way only for the laser ball to hit both of them, hurling them backwards.

Sonic winced. "Yeah...gotta keep reminding myself that they might not have our level of experience."

Sonic used the momentum to flip and land on his feet, but Knuckles was sent crashing into a nearby tree. He sank to the ground with crossed eyes. He slurred- "My cupcakes are missing, grandma!" -before slumping over, out cold.

Cory chuckled. "At least he was thinking about something good before he passed out?"

"Unless those cupcakes were made by that wolf lady from earlier."

She glanced at Scourge. "Dude, can't you-"

"No."

Sonic gritted his teeth, refocusing on Metal. "You're gonna regret that!" Metal charged up another laser, but before he could launch it, Sonic spin dashed over to the shack. He ran across the wall as a red-hot beam nipped at his heels, carving a line into the rusted metal.

Again, nothing special. "At least he knows the basics." Eggman's twin was competent enough to install that into him."

"But I want more!" Sonic bounced in his chair. "I need more high-speed actions! There's so much missing here!"

Sonic landed on the ground, avoiding the attack, and Metal was taken aback that he missed. However, their attention was then on the weak and creaking shack. "Uh oh!" Sonic watched, frozen in place, as its walls and part of its roof collapsed on top of him.

Sonic pouted.

Metal silently celebrated until Sonic jumped up out of the debris, spinning over the robot's head and landing unharmed.

Eggman narrowed his eyes. "Unless he's holding the rodent's head on a silver platter. Don't celebrate."

"Don't forget what we're watching," Shadow reminded.

Metal turned to face him and charged up his laser, but he then looked down in surprise when the light died out.

Manic snickered. "Looks like someone ran out of batteries."

Sonic smirked. "Don't you just hate when that happens?" Not wasting any time, the blue hero sprung up and spin attacked the robot, sending him crashing to the ground. He did it over and over again, his smirk widening. "I can do this all day!" He attacked Metal once more, and the robot was sent sprawling into the debris.

Even though Sonic was used to more action, he couldn't say that wasn't satisfying. Just like old times.

He shakily stood up before digging through the rubble and pulling out a metallic ring exuding purple energy.

"That's the particle accelerator!" Tails pointed out.

Cosmo eyed the invention. "What exactly does it do, Tails?"

"It accelerates particles!"

Sonic's eyes widened. "Eggman's particle accelerator?!" He frowned. "Well, that's just cheating! How do you live with yourself?"

"Poor choice of words to ask a robot, monkey."

Metal held the accelerator up, and the purple aura spread all over his body. He floated high into the air, his heated eyes focused on nothing but Sonic.

Sonic's frown deepened. "Uh oh again." He turned on his heel and sped away. Metal instantly started chasing him, throwing out lasers that barely missed every time.

"He's using the particle accelerator...as a charger." Tails almost felt insulted as a scientist and inventor. "He's not moving faster, creating stronger lasers, or anything!"

"Maybe it's the only thing it can do. The other Eggman made it, after all." Knuckles was surprised that it, or the other Metal, hadn't exploded yet.

"He also made a Doomsday machine."

"Oh, right."

Sonic ran full speed out of the forest, through the canyon area, past the warehouse where Earl got hurt, and didn't stop until he reached his beach-front home.

He put his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. He faced Metal when the robot lowered closer to the ground. "I guess when you get tired, you can just recharge." Metal held up the device and did just that, the purple aura brightening. Sonic wasn't put-off; actually, he grinned. "That's the difference between you and me, Metal. I don't get tired!"

Sonic whooped. "Now that's a good quip! Let's go, other me! Kick his head off!"

Shadow stared at him. "Everyone know that's a lie, faker."

"Shhhh! Let me have this, Shadow!"

With newfound energy, Sonic charged Metal while the robot did the same. They rushed each other, and when Sonic got close enough, he pulled out a horseshoe and chucked it at Metal. It stuck magnetically around his wrist and shorted out the particle accelerator, affecting his whole body.

Tails opened his mouth to refute everything that just happened, Metal was made out of metal too for crying out loud, but he decided to let it pass. The physics in that dimension were always a little...off.

Metal stopped midair, his limbs twitching as purple sparks jumped between them. Eventually, the malfunction became too much for his body to take, and he exploded in a white light.

Most of the audience cheered.

Eggman just shook his head. Not bothered.

"Sorry!" Sonic shouted, not apologetic at all as Metal careened away, the device falling to the hero's feet.

Sonic was then seen speeding toward the Mayor's mansion, where the Eggman, the Mayor, his posse, and the beaver cop were standing.

"I got a little something for you, Eggy!" Sonic came to a stop in front of the doctor, carrying a bag over his shoulder. "I found your particle accelerator." He held it up with one hand as Knuckles ran up behind him. "And all the stuff that was stolen from the village and brought it back." Sonic tossed the bag onto the ground. "Which proves that I didn't steal any of it! Case closed."

The singular thought of – Technically, it doesn't – was shared around the room.

Knuckles nodded with a grin. "He's got you there, Egghead!"

Eggman wasn't backing down that easily. "Case not closed!" He pointed at Sonic. "You got it. Therefore, you must've stolen it! Now case closed!"

Knuckles glanced at the speedster. "He's got you there, Sonic!"

Knuckles made a face, and Silver placated with a grin. "It's just the concussion talking."

Eggman held his head high. "Officer, arrest this man!"

Sonic began to back away, but then Metal Sonic appeared, blocking his path. It turned out that Metal wasn't activated, for Earl was carrying the robot over. His head was wrapped in bandages. "Bob!"

Milla beamed. "Yay, he's okay! He recovered from that concussion pretty quickly!"

Tails couldn't believe he was saying this, but, "That anti-horseshoe elixir has to be a real miracle..."

Sonic gaped. "Earl?"

Earl dumped Metal onto the ground. "These parts landed by the warehouse, and I thought you might need 'em."

Sonic put his hands on his hips, regarding the police beaver. "That's the real thief!" The officer began to arrest Earl.

Eggman wondered if it was possible to loss brain cells through association.

Sonic stopped him. "Not him! My robot duplicate that Eggman used to frame me!"

"All lies!" Eggman refuted before picking up Metal's lifeless body. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll take my metal duplicate of you, suitable for framing, and my particle accelerator-" He snatched it out of Sonic's grip. "-and go."

Eggman walked away.

"Just...like that?" Knuckles knew that he shouldn't be questioning this, but he couldn't help it. It was too ridiculous. "The beaver was so eager to arrest Sonic and Earl, but he just watches Eggman walk away?"

Sonia didn't really get it either. "No real evidence, I guess?"

Sonic turned toward Earl. "Thanks, Earl."

He smiled back. "It's the least I can do after you saved my life! I was deader than a peapod in a mud-bucket tea kettle after flippity-hoodledoop fazzle-bazzle!"

A horseshoe whacked Earl in the head again.

"Good." Scourge said. His mind wasn't at its usual sharpness to attempt to process what the worker had said.

Sonic caught it after it bounced off. He and Knuckles looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.

Later that night in some forest, the Mayor was walking with his posse. "We're closing in on him, boys! And we're not leaving this forest without him!"

A wolf howled in the distance.

The Mayor gulped. "Or we could go home now."

"Or you can get eaten." Fiona watched the screen fade to black. "I would be glad if that lousy metal doofus does not make any more appearances."

Sonic snickered. "I still wanna see him as a toaster. Maybe Eggy might melt him down into one after this."

"That would be one thing I would praise him for." Eggman retorted. He looked at Lucy. "Play the next one."

Lucy nodded and played the next episode.