Surprise everyone! Didn't expect the next story so soon, huh? Well, that's just how I role. *Puts on sunglasses*

Well, I hope you guys are ready for action, suspense, humor, unexpected kill offs and just a touch of romance to keep things interesting.

Enjoy the first chapter of the second story…

(The following events occur after Sonic Legends: Fire and Ice)

*With Sonic and the others, at their headquarters, a month and a half later*

"I'm tellin' ya, strength beats smarts any day!" Knuckles scoffed. "It's a known fact."

"Are you kidding? Tactics and knowledge can outsmart any opponent of strength!" Tails countered. "That has proven true in tests."

"Make them stop," Rouge groaned, massaging her temples. "They've been at for two hours. I'm starting to get a migraine."

"Guys, can't we just agree to disagree?" Amy suggested.

"NO!" The fox and echidna shouted in unison.

"Sonic? Any ideas?" The pink hedgehog asked, turning to the Blue Blur, who was lying on the couch watching a film on the TV.

"Don't care," Sonic sighed. "All I care about is watching this movie, The Fast and the Furry-ous."

A loud knocking on the front door of the headquarters interrupted the group's issue. Tails walked over and opened it to find Big and Cream standing in the doorway.

"Cream!" The fox cheered. "Nice to see you! What're you doing here? Hi, Big."

The cat looked around some bushes, paying no attention to Tails' comment.

"I thought it would be nice to stop over and say hello to you all. I don't really have much else to do, so I figured I would hang out with you guys!" The rabbit cheered. "Big kinda followed me over here. He's looking for his frog again."

"Doesn't he think maybe that the reason his frog keeps running off is because that that frog doesn't wanna be around him anymore?" Tails whispered, and Cream shrugged in reply. "Never mind. That's his deal. Come on in! Maybe you can help us settle a little debate…"

*The next day, with Eggman, at his headquarters*

"The duplicates have passed the obstacle course with flying colors again, Doctor," A robot reported, rolling up to the mad scientist.

"So I saw. Bring them in. I wish to speak with them," Eggman stated, stroking his mustache thoughtfully. "I feel that their time for action is near."

After a few minutes, the Darkspine clones walked in to the room to meet with their master. All of the Darkspines had two white lines traveling from the back of their head to the top of their faces. They had blank, white, soulless eyes and were purple all over. The rings that made them this form were permanently infused on their left ring fingers. Sonic had gold rings on his ankles and wrists, Tails had one gold ring around his neck along with a technological wrist band on his right arm, and Amy looked the same, except her hammer now had spikes on both ends and when a button on the handle was pushed, a long whip with dark energy flowing through it fell out the bottom of the handle. Shadow also looked the same, except his usual pistol was more advanced now and his shoes were more sleek and aerodynamic. Knuckles' whole gloves were covered in large spikes, and one gold ring wrapped around his left bicep. Rouge's wingspan was twice the size of the normal Rouge's, and instead of the pink hearted chest plate that usually stood out, the pink was black with silver, metallic, vein-like lines snaked all over the heart. Silver, too, looked similar, like Tails, Sonic, and Shadow, but instead of blue telekinetic clasps on his legs and wrists, they were red. Blaze was the one who stood out the most. With twice as many wisps of hair coming out of her hair band and white lines that snaked across her forehead, she looked even more menacing with a dark spot on her forehead instead of the usual red. She was clothed in a black outfit with real flames traveling up it, and her gloves were blackened with fire coming from her palms.

"Ah, there are my golden tickets," Eggman cheered, walking up to his creations. "You've impressed me once again, but now it is time for you to learn your true purpose in this grand scheme."

"What is it, Doctor Eggman?" Sonic asked, stepping forward. "We stand ready to fight."

"Who died and made you leader?" Darkspine Shadow asked, stepping forward as well.

The evil Sonic turned to the team member and pointed to the back of the group. "I'm the one who beat you before, all those years ago. If you want to spare yourself from another such action, I suggest you go back there with the others and shut up."

"I don't take orders from anyone…" Shadow muttered, drawing his pistol.

"Interesting. They seem to have somehow acquired the memories of Sonic and his friends as well, which means they already know where their hideout is," Robotnik muttered to himself. "You two, stand down. You will need your strength for what you will be up against."

Sonic turned to face his master once again, and Shadow reluctantly stepped backwards. "What will we be up against?"

Eggman smiled sinisterly. "Yourselves."

The group took a step back in surprise.

"Ourselves? We have to fight ourselves?" The Darkspine Amy asked. "Well, if that's what we have to do."

"Not only fight yourselves, but make sure they don't get up again," Eggman continued. "Not only do they pose a threat to our final plan and our overall success of conquering Mobius, but they are deadly to your very existence."

"So, it's kill or be killed?" Blaze asked, grinning slightly. "I like the sound of that."

"As do I," Silver added. "I'll enjoy ripping myself apart. Sounds odd when I say it like that, but true nonetheless."

"There can only be one thief in Mobius," Darkspine Rouge stated. "I don't plan on retiring any time soon."

"When do we start?" The evil echidna asked. "I've always been itching for someone who is equal to my fighting skills."

"You will face the heroes tomorrow," The doctor replied. "Rest up, because you all have a very big day coming up. Dismissed!"

*With Blaze, twenty minutes later, in the woods near the heroes' hideout*

"Tell me, Silver, how did you feel when you first heard Blizzard say that he was went to kill me?" The pyrokinetic asked, walking alongside her friend in the forest.

"That was nearly two months ago, Blaze," Silver countered. "Why do ya wanna know? That's over and done with."

"Just tell me. I'm curious as to your response."

"Alright," Silver replied, giving his cat friend an odd glance. "I felt that he was actually going to kill you, and I'd ha—Sonic, the others and I would have to protect you. Not that you would need protecting, it's just that your amount of fire and his amount of ice would cancel each other, and neither of you would win."

"So…nothing else?" Blaze asked, her voice contained a little disappointment. "No other feelings?"

The telekinetic shook his head.

"Naïve…" Blaze muttered under her breath. "We haven't heard much from Eggman. You think he's up to something?"

"Probably some robot thing that'll take us about an hour to defeat," Silver chuckled. "He builds the stupidest stuff. All robots. Won't he ever realize that those things'll never beat us?"

"Just think of what he could do if he broke away from those creations. Construct something non-metal," Blaze laughed slightly.

"He created Shadow," Silver replied, drawing a surprised look from the cat. "What? You didn't know that? Yeah, Shadow was evil up until Amy turned him. Funny how except for Tails and Amy, all of us that are on Sonic's team now were against him at some point."

*With Eggman, three hours later, in his base*

The evil doctor strolled into his personal workplace with a confident grin.

"What're you so smug about?" An echidna asked.

"Shut up and keep generating electricity," Eggman snarled.

The echidna was chained in the air by four metal wires, and each one held an arm or leg. He was orange and black with a white scar traveling down his left eye. He had blue and black gloves with bluish black circles all over them. The same design was imprinted on his shoes, as well as the metal leg and arm guards the came up to his elbows and knees. Electricity flowed from the four cords that held him in the air.

"Let me down from here and I'll show you how much electricity I can generate," The echidna shot.

"Until I have the Master Emerald, you're not going anywhere. I found you, and now, as the rule goes, I get to keep you," Robotnik laughed. "What was your name again? I'm never good with names."

"Why would you care?" The prisoner shot.

Eggman pressed a button, and water began to fall on the hostage, making the electricity that coursed through him thrash around violently. The echidna yelled in pain and trembled uncontrollably until the water had stopped.

"I'm gonna electrify your brain, Egghead," The prisoner growled, sucking in air.

The doctor pressed the button again, and this process repeated.

"My cousin…Tikal…will have your head…for this…if I don't GET TO YOU FIRST!" The hostage roared, trying to lunge at the scientist.

Eggman chuckled to himself as he walked away, ignoring the thrashing and insults that echoed behind him.

"Let's give a check up on T-zero-X-one-C and The Plague. I wonder how they are holding up," The doctor said to himself. "After all, THEY are my greatest creations, not those Darkspines."

There it is everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of the new story!

Anyone picking up on little clues that I'm leaving that deal with future events? Also, does anyone know what T-zero-X-one-C makes out to be when the numbers are written out? Those two mentioned at the end of the chapter are *hint* not good guys. Shocker, right?

Remember to leave a review!

More to come…