The Eggdome...

In the detention center of the Eggdome, Eggman can be seen in his white straight jacket sitting on the floor. He was still broken, mumbling nonsense and random things which included his hatred for Sonic. However, amongst those mumblings was the override code to his containment cell which unlocks and creaks open.

Down the hallway, Snively heard the noise. Curious, he made his way back to his deranged uncle.

"What was that sound? Did you manage to break something, uncle?" he asked as he neared the cell. "I do hope it was something serEEEEEEE!"

Eggman threw open his cell door and looked at his nephew. "SNIVLAAAAAAY!!!" He grabbed the smaller man by his collar. "What are you doing out here?! SNOO-PING AS USUAL?!"

"I--! You--! U-Uncle, p-p-please--!" Snively was left in shock. How did his uncle escape?! "Y-you're not well! I-if you'll just g-get back in your--OOP!"

He was thrown aside and hit the floor as Eggman walked away.

"NO TIME!" the deranged doctor announced. "MUST. DESTROY. HEDGEHOG!"

"How the blazes did e manage to get out?" Snively asked as he watched his uncle walk away. He then stood up and ran off, speaking into his communicator watch. "Voice command: open channel to all forces! All Dark Legion and Yagyu Ninja report to the detention level immediately! Iron Sonic, get your butt down here! We have an--OOF!"

Snively stops when he slams into someone and gets knocked to the floor. He rubs his nose in pain before looking up to see the Iron King staring down at him.

"Watch where you are going, runt," he huffs out a breath through his nostrils. "What is wrong?"

"Robotnik's escaped!" Snively declares.

"WHAT?!" the Iron King yelled. "You dare betray me?!"

"NO! I don't know how he got out!" Snively tries to save his skin. "But if we hurry, we can catch him before--"

There was a loud booming sound and both human and ox look up at the ceiling. Snively gulps.

"--he escapes."

Outside in his tortoise mech, Eggman now wore his straight jacket around his neck with an assortment of tech on his left arm.

"I am Warlord Doctor Julian Ivo Eggman Robo-Kintobor Mach Two!" he announces. "My rule is law, and the law is my will! AND I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!"

Eggman declares as he pilots his mech forward, making any Yagyu and Dark Legionaires run away in fear.

"I will destroy the blue one, you know!" he continues. "He's the obstacle that always gets in my way!"

From back inside the Eggdome, Snively and the Iron King watch as Eggman leaves to find Sonic.

The Iron King grunts. "Inform the queen."

"Y-yes, sir," Snively nods his head.

New Megaopolis...

In the Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital, Bunnie is seen in a hospital bed with Antoine sitting in a chair at her bedside. Dr. Quack was there as well. The, suddenly, Sonic ran in with a "Get Well Soon" balloon with Khan and Y/n behind him.

"Hey, Bunnie!" Sonic smiles. "How're you feeling?"

"Howdy, sugar-hog!" Bunnie greets the Blue Blur. "Ah'm doin' just fine. Ah just needed a bit of rest, s'all."

"And an emergency influx of electrolytes and constant supervision through the night," Quack said. "But if you want to call that "rest"..."

Khan stepped forward as he revealed a bouquet of pink flowers, offering them to Bunnie.

"You never should've been in that kind of danger," he says. "I should have warned you, and for that, I'm sorry."

"Darlin', Ah'm a Freedom Fighter. Ah've been in plenty of danger before, and Ah don't plan to stop," the half-Robian assures the Monkey King and takes the flowers. "Ah appreciate the flowers, though."

"I hope so," Y/n smiles. "I helped him find them."

"So that means you two left your beds to get them and do exactly what I told you not to do, hmm?" Dr. Quack asks the monkey and human.

"Well..." Ken couldn't answer as Y/n chuckles nervously.

"Take it easy, Doc," Sonic says. "I was with 'em the whole time."

"And that's supposed to comfort me? You and Y/n are disaster magnets, kid," Quack states. "Magical possession is dangerous stuff. Technomagic just makes it worse. You both should've been in here the minute things calmed down. And Y/n, you should've been here instead of fighting. We're still unaware of all of the side effects caused by your resurrection."

"It was safer at Freedom HQ, Doc," Bunnie tells the duck doctor.

"And I feel completely fine, Dr. Quack," Y/n waves the ducks worries away dismissively. "Other than my Chaos Gem gone, I'm perfectly the same."

"And I got her back here the second things cleared up," Sonic assured. "Literally."

"I give up," Quack says as he walks away.

Bunnie turns back to Ken. "Ah mean it now, sugar. Don't beat yourself up over this. We all make mistakes, and Ah forgive you."

"Oui. I am having forgiven you as well," Antoine nodded.

"Thank you," Ken smiled. "I don't deserve it, but thank you."

Nicole suddenly materialized next to Y/n and Sonic. "I'm sorry to disturb everyone..."

"It's fine, Nic," Y/n tells his girlfriend.

"What's up?" Sonic asks.

"I've been scanning for threats as far as the Great Forest," Nicole informs, "and I've detected something large inbound."

"I'll check it out," Sonic says and turns to Antoine. "'Twan, you stay here with your wife."

"If'n it's trouble, give 'em for me," Bunnie told Sonic and then looks at Khan and Y/n. "And that goes double for you two."

"It will be our pleasure," Khan waves goodbye.

"Get well, Bunnie," Y/n tells the half-Robian. "If it's the Iron Dominion, we'll definitely teach them a lesson."

The two step out of the room and into the hallway, only to see Dr. Quack glaring at them both. They sigh in defeat.

"Or we could go back to our rooms and rest like tne doctor told us to," Khan slumped his shoulders.

"Yeah, I think that's a great idea," Y/n chuckles nervously.

"Ah, don't worry," Sonic tells the two. "You're with me in spirit."

And with that, the Blue Blur sped off as he made his way to the Great Forest.

"I don't know what you're throwing at me now, Iron Creeps," Sonic says, "but you've earned an extra helping of payback payback what you did to Bunnie."

Meanwhile, Eggman was running rampant in his tortoise mech in the middle of the forest. He was firing missiles and shooting lasers everywhere trying to find Knothole, but found nothing.

"BLAST IT!" he yelled in anger. "Knothole wasn't under that tree, either!"

Sonic stopped running when he saw Eggman tearing up a tree from the ground. His eyes went wide in shock at the sight of the deranged doctor.

"Okay... I wasn't expecting this," he tells himself. "Question is... is he back? Or is he still...?"

Robotnik spots the blue hedgehog. "Ah! A Mobian! They can tell me where to find--" He stops as he recognizes said Mobian. "Wait... I recognize that one... It's... SONIC!!!"

"Yo, Doc! Are you back?" Sonic asks the mad genius. "Y'kniw, like back-back?"

Eggman only responded by sending missiles at Sonic. However, he missed as they struck the ground behind the hedgehog and they blew up, sending Sonic flying forward. Sonic quickly caught himself and landed on his feet, quickly beginning to speed around to avoid Eggman's attacks.

"Here it comes, rodent!" Eggman tells Sonic. "Right from the show!"

"From the show?" Sonic questioned his arch-nemesis' choice of words.

"FROM THE SHOW! I'm going to be on TV!" Eggman announced. "I'm going to be a TV star!"

Sonic leapt up to avoid a missile which shortly explodes after. "Okay, we can rule out him being lucid."

The Eggdome...

In the throne room, Regina was shouting out orders to her servants as Yagyu and Dark Legionaires ran around.

"Yagyu, to the saucers! Legionaires, to defensive battle stations! Prepare my flying pod!" the Iron Queen orders. "Iron, do you have Robotnik's location."

"Yes, your majesty," Iron Sonic confirmed. "He is currently in the Great Forest battling a single individual. Most presumably Sonic."

Conquering Storm walked in. "A thousand pardons, Bride of the Four Houses."

"Can't you see I'm busy?!" the Iron Queen asked her servant.

"I can, but I have received word that Espio failed his mission... and has been recalled to the Shinobi Clan," the lynx bows before her queen.

"Blast it all," Regina mutters to herself. "We'll have to worry about this so-called "Master Emerald" later. I won't take any chances. Return to the Dragon Kingdom and make sure the other houses stay in line!"

"It will be my pleasure, your majesty," Conquering Storm smirks.

Iron Sonic immediately became intrigued. Not by the mission itself or the lynx, but what his master called their target. The "Master Emerald", she said it was called. It intrigued him for some unknown reason.

He followed after his queen as she walked past Snively.

"Your forces and pod are prepared, darling!" the almost bald man told the woman.

"Good," Regina growls. "I will not have my flawless conquest marred by your stupid uncle."

"O-of course not," Snively stutters.

Regina points to Dimitri. "You're in charge of defenses while we're gone, Grandmaster."

"You can count of the Legion," the elder echidna tells his queen who then walks away. "I'm returning to my lab. Lien-Da, I leave things in your hands."

A nearby Legionare salutes his Grandmaster as he passes him. However, Lien-Da only scoffs.

"Stick me with babysitting?" she asks. "Peh. I'll be in my bunk."

The Great Forest...

Back at the Great Forest, Sonic was running around Eggman and his mech. Up in the air, Tails had just arrived and saw what was happening.

"Oh, no! He's back?!" he questions in fear and flies down to his brother figure. "Sonic!"

"Hey, Tails!" Sonic greets his little brother. "Come to check up on me?"

"Yeah, and the source of Nicole's signal... What am I saying? Sonic! It's Dr. Robotnik!"

"Eh... it is and it isn't," Sonic said.

"HOLD STILL AND LET ME SHOOT YOU!" Eggman yelled at the Blue Blur.

"I've been running in the same circle for five minutes," Sonic tells Tails. "Be a pal and disable the guns? I don't think he even sees you."

"O-okay..." Tails says and flies over to Eggman's mech. He gets underneath it and opens a panel underneath as he begins to mess with it. "Actually, it looks like I can shut the whole thing down from here."

"Perfect!"

"This one doesn't seem that tough," Tails tells Sonic. "You could've trashed it, no problem."

"Yeah, I suppose..." Sonic says as as avoids some bullets.

Soon the attacks stopped, making Eggman confused. Then his mech just shut down as its head and legs retreated into its shell.

"WHY TORTOISE NO WORKIE?!" the evil genius asked himself.

"You're not going easy on him, are you?" Tails asks Sonic.

"I... guess I am," Sonic says as he skids to a stop.

"Why?!" Tails asks again.

Sonic leans on Eggman's deactivated mech. "I really wish I knew. I mean, I've had no trouble wanting to kick his big ol' butt in the past. Everything he's done is unforgivable."

"But...?"

"But this is different somehow. I didn't just beat him last time, I broke him. And as stupid as that sounds, that makes me feel bad," Sonic informs the young twin-tailed fox. "Please tell me I'm making some sense?"

"None that I can follow. I don't think he deserves any sympathy at all," Tails gives his opinion.

"Hello? Is anyone still there?" Eggman asks from atop his mech.

"But..." Tails continues. "That doesn't mean we have to be cruel in how we handle him. So I guess I can understand you feeling like your crossed a line."

"Yeah... maybe that's it. Thanks," Sonic smiles at his little brother and begins climbing up the mech. "So the civil thing to do now is arrest him. Leaving him locked up with the Iron Goons would be cruel."

"I suppose, but be careful!" Tails tells Sonic. "He may have lost his mind, but he's still dangerous!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Dangerous."

He made it to the top of the mech and Eggman looks at him, flinching a bit as he realizes the hedgehog's presence.

"Okay, Doc. We're done fighting for today," Sonic says and offers Robotnik his hand. "Why don't you come home with me, and we'll fight some more another time, huh?"

Robotnik looks at Sonic's hand and then back at his face. Then he socked him right in his nose, sending him flying back.

"I did it! I got the hedgehog!" Eggman cheered. "I got him, I got him, I got him...! HE NEVER SAW IT COMING! HAHAHA!"

The mad genius laughs and laughs with joy at his "victory" over Sonic. However, he soon doubles over and falls out of his cockpit just as Sonic climbed back up. The blue speedster sighs as he grabs Eggman and lifts him up by his arm.

"GNPF! Okay, Tails? I think I'm gonna need a hand with him," Sonic tells his little buddy.

Said twin-tailed fox flew up to the two and grabbed Eggman in an attempt to hoist him up. However, he was very heavy.

"NRRF! And here I thought he'd slim down a bit!" Tails grunted.

"Maybe I should just run ahead and get mighty...?" Sonic suggested.

"Or you could simply hand him over to us," a voice caught the Mobians' attention, "and surrender while you're at it."

Sonic simply smirked at the new arrivals and hopped off of the tortoise mech. He landed on his feet as he looked at his opponents.

"Get Robotnik back to the city," he ordered Tails.

"I can't just leave you here with them!" Tails argued.

"Relax, little bro!" Sonic turns to Tails and gives him a thumbs up. "You've got the hard job!"

_________________________________________

Who will win the right to Robotnik? Sonic or the overwhelming Dominion? Find out, next time on No Longer Human!