Sonic and Tails quickly dismantled the robots and the other machines in the barn, even in their weakened state. They freed the farm animals as well, letting them all return to the grassland. With that done, they continued wandering in the large field. Exploring deep cave systems, rolling down steep hills, and crossing wooden bridges, they were enjoying taking in the sights of natural landscapes and the occasional wooden structure. They had this whole wondrous world to explore, and they could hardly wait to see what it had in store for them. They still had to stop Robotnik and the Deadly Seven, but they couldn't stop themselves from taking a few pictures and making new memories on the way there.
Sonic and Tails were trying to pick some fruits that the Tails Electric had detected as edible from a large tree, when the Tails Electric rang. Tails picked it up. "Hello?" Tails asked.
"Tails! Let me talk to my Sonikku NOW!" Amy exclaimed, her face showing up on screen.
"Okay!" Tails replied, suddenly concerned. If she had to talk to Sonic that badly, it must have been pretty important. "Sonic, c'mere!" Sonic hopped down from a branch, and took the Tails Electric.
"What is it, Ames?" Sonic asked.
"I need to tell you something!! Very very important," Amy exclaimed. Sonic had a feeling this had to do with the strange sounds Tails told him about after he landed on the Lost Hex. Amy seemed hesitant to say anything, meaning something REALLY bad must have happened! "I love you!" Amy cried, almost as if it was something she had been wanting to get off her chest.
"I know," Sonic replied. He was just relieved nothing bad happened.
"I'm just happy to be able to tell you that, because the world just split apart a few hours ago and I could have died," Amy stated in a casual tone of voice.
"WHAT?!" Tails shouted, shoving his way into the frame of the Tails Electric's camera. Amy looked like she was in some kind of shuttle.
"Are you okay?!" Sonic asked at the same time, visibly concerned. Amy blushed.
"I'm hella fine, and I'm sure you'd agree," Amy answered, nodding profusely. The person next to her tried to avoid her large spiked headband as she nearly hit them multiple times. "A very nice shuttle came by to save people. There was a lot of lava."
"I bet it was because of Robotnik," Sonic grumbled. "But… how?"
…
Inside one of the many Robotnik factories littering the Lost Hex, Zavok was overseeing the progress reports of some kind of machine. She was crossing her arms, glaring at the monitor intently. "What is that?" A little Erian frog girl asked, hopping onto the keyboard to get a better look at the monitor. This inputted a random command, and Zavok freaked out. She grabbed the frog girl and held her away from the keyboard, but as soon as she got ahold of her, a little woolly mammoth boy climbed onto the keyboard and gazed up at the monitor, walking along and staring at the screen incredulously.
"Hey! Get down from there!" Zavok shouted, reaching forward and picking the mammoth calf up by his overall strap. He trumpeted in surprise as Zavok held them both up in the air by their collars. "Susie! Pico! What has gotten into you two? You've been very bad the past few hours!" The mammoth averted his eyes sadly and frowned. As soon as she saw this, the frog stared Zavok in the eyes defiantly. Zavok hid her anger.
"Oh, shame. Maybe if there was something to do around here, things would be different," Susie the Frog complained.
"This is a very important machine," Zavok growled, sounding it out for the small children. "Not a toy. Don't go messing around with it."
"So what is it? That's what I asked before!" Susie exclaimed. Pico looked up at Zavok, anticipating an answer.
"Tsch…" Zavok hissed, looking away. "Fine. I'll tell you if you stop playing around with it." She plopped the two kids onto the ground, and they sat down obediently. "It's the Dark Battery." Zavok, still wary and not very versed in machinery, hesitantly tapped a few keys on the keyboard and returned to the camera of the Dark Battery. Pico and Susie gasped in amazement, as a dark purple energy floated up from the world below into a giant tank in Lava Mountain.
"Is that where Lord Robotnik is?" Susie asked, pointing to the screen. "Can we see him? You're boring, and he's nice."
"Boring---?" Zavok whispered, looking at Susie confusedly. She shook her head rapidly, and returned to a serious expression. "No. Lord Robotnik is very busy siphoning Dark Gaia's energy from the world below into the Dark Battery."
"Why?" Susie asked. Pico let out a sad whistling sound from his mammoth trunk.
"He's using it for some kind of machine," Zavok replied. "Dark Gaia's energy is very powerful. Besides, if it's allowed to fester, it'll start turning into evil spirits that will wreak havoc on the world below." Pico almost fell asleep from what he perceived as a nice bedtime story, but jolted awake with a wide-eyed expression at this.
"Evil spirits?" Susie asked. "Well then, it's a good thing Lord Robotnik is going to save the day!" She stood up, and pumped her fist. Pico jumped for joy.
"Yes, it is," Zavok sighed. The two tots walked out of the room, and Zavok turned to them. "Where are you going now?"
"To fight Sonic and Tails, of course. We can't let those defectors wreck Lord Robotnik's plan," Susie stated, barely even turning to face Zavok. Zavok ran towards and walked along with them.
"Why? Zomom will probably be able to finish them off…" Zavok asked. She didn't know why she was trying to reason with a child instead of just sending Susie to her room.
"Hey, we got this. After all, we're trained by Lord Robotnik himself," Susie replied, turning around and looking up towards Zavok cockily. "If anyone can beat up Sonic and Tails, then it's us." Pico nodded. Zavok watched as they exited the fortress.
"Don't take another step!" Zavok ordered strictly. "Are you listening?" Pico was holding the door open for Susie, but it wasn't the type of door that would close on its own. He didn't seem to notice this.
"Or what? We only listen to Lord Robotnik, not you, ya big dumb brute," Susie jeered. Zavok, stunned by these words, could only stand and watch. Zazz squeezed through the doors as Susie and Pico walked out. She had her head down, but Zavok could still see the scratches. Zazz didn't stay anything. Zavok watched as she carried the damaged Moon Mech along on a string as if it was a balloon.