Meanwhile, the Robotniks arrive at the vault.

"Our destiny awaits." Eggman said

Suddenly, Sonic arrives on the scene.

"Stop right there, Roboscums!" he ordered them.

"Let's do this!" Eggman suggested.

"Copy!" Gerald agreed.

They rush into the vault, but part of the floor turns red, and they get magnetized to the floor.

"Too slow, Eggmen. Now, if you don't mind, I gotta get that key..."

Part of the floor Sonic is on turns green, making him float up.

"My feet! Why can't I use my beautiful feet?"

Rockwell enters the room, holding a device that activates the gravity in the room.

"Because this vault is armed with variable gravity." she responded.

"No kidding." Gerald commented.

"Green goes up and red takes you down hard." Rockwell continued.

"Rockwell, listen to me. The Robotniks are planning..." Sonic tried to warn her, but Rockwell ignored him and spun him in the air.

"They're planning on stealing the second key just like you are. Yes, I'm aware. I called it the second Commander Walters was attacked. So, thank you for taking the bait and falling right into my trap."

"I don't believe this." Eggman said.

"I know, grandson. A woman in the military." Gerald said.

GUN Soldiers bring in Tails, Tom, and Maddie.

"Robotnik. Going full spandex, huh? Who's the fossil?" Tom commented with a tease.

"That's my grandfather, you dough-eating dimbecile." Eggman retorted.

"Who are they?" Gerald asked.

"A couple of bleeding hearts here to rescue their emotional support animals." Eggman explained.

"Enough!" Rockwell ordered them to stop talking. "It's over. The only way you're leaving here is in handcuffs. There's no other way out."

"You know, there might be one other way out." Sonic grinned mischievously.

"And what is that supposed to be?" Rockwell questioned.

"Big guy, I think it's time to...." Sonic called through the com.

Knuckles flies off, breaking the clock of the Big Ben, his fists blazing.

"Break glass in case of emergency!"

He bursts through the energy shield and into the building, knocking Rockwell away and leaving the device to Knuckles.

"Ha! Nothing can stop Team Knuckles."

"Open fire!" Rockwell ordered.

They fire at Sonic and Knuckles.

"Knuckles! Turn the stuff off! Hurry!" Sonic urged.

"On it." Knuckles nodded and smashed the device, which caused the device to turn all red. "Uh oh."

Knuckles and the GUN guards were sent flying.

"Ha! See how you like..." Sonic laughed at the GUN's karma.

Sonic, Tom, Maddie, and Tails end up glued to the floor on the red panels.

"Can you move?" Tom asked.

"No. Not at all. Tails?" Maddie answered.

"No. I'm stuck." Tails answered.

"We might be here for a while." Tom said.

Knuckles punches out a GUN soldier while Rockwell looks for the keycard.

"Where's the key?"

She spots it floating in the air, so she flies toward it. A metal bar from some debris falls near Maddie.

"Whoa!" she yelped in shock.

"What was that?" Tom asked with worry.

"We might have a problem." Maddie answered.

Sonic notices the debris crumbling above his friends and family and gets scared.

"No no no no no!"

Rockwell pushes through some soldiers to try to reach the keycard. However, the floor panels turn red and they fall to the floor. Eggman noticed and struggled to move, but he inched his way in a worm movement as he and Rockwell race for the keycard.

"I'm moving. I'm moving!" Eggman said.

"You go get it, grandson!" Gerald cheered him on, but his dentures popped out of his mouth. "Hey!"

Knuckles flies around while the debris is ready to break off and fall on the others.

"Whoa, whoa!" Knuckles yelped.

"No, no, no!" Sonic repeated, scared as he struggled to move.

Rockwell and Eggman continue to inch their way towards the keycard.

"Almost there." Eggman said.

More debris falls near the others.

"Whoa!" Maddie yelped.

Finally, the debris breaks off and falls toward the others.

"SONIC!!" Tom screamed.

Sonic struggled up and then activated his power to destroy the debris that were about to hit the others. Everybody falls to the floor and Rockwell takes the keycard before Eggman.

"That was so not worth it!" Eggman groaned in frustration.

Gerald puts his dentures back on as the others get up.

"You okay?" Tom asked Maddie.

"Yeah." she nodded.

"Sonic!" Tom called with worry.

They rush over to Sonic.

"Hey."

"Sonic one, concrete boulder zero." Sonic groaned out dizzily.

"Thanks for the save." Maddie smiled.

"Getting a little close, don't you think?" Tom questioned.

"Secure the room!" Rockwell ordered as she head out of the room with the keycard in hand.

"She's got the key." Maddie said.

"I got an idea," Tom said, heading after her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rockwell walks down the hall when she stops to come across... a still-alive Walters?

"Commander Walters. Sir. You are..." she said, shocked.

"Still alive?" Walters finished, unamused. "I will die before I let the key fall into the wrong hands. Thanks for keeping it safe. I'll take it from here." he said, walking towards her and holding out his hand, but she hesitated. "That's an order, Director Rockwell."

Rockwell reluctantly hands Walters the keycard.

"Now, organize the reinforcements." he ordered.

"Yes, sir." she nodded.

As Rockwell leaves, Walters goes off before revealing he's actually Tom in disguise. He calls out to others on com.

"Guys, guys, I got the key! I repeat, I got the key! Now let's get out of here."

Unfortunately, as he puts his Walters disguise back on, Shadow and Gwen bursts into the building. Gwen is on top of Shadow, trying to take back the first keycard he managed to take back from her while chasing after her. The two stopped at what they're doing and spotted him.

"Commander Walters!" Shadow said angrily.

"No, no, no! Wait!" Fake Walters tried to explain, holding out his hands.

Shadow pushes Gwen off of him and zips in and punches Walters away, knocking him out. As Shadow grabs the second keycard, the disguise turns off, revealing he's actually Tom. Gwen gasps in horror.

"What?" Shadow questioned in surprise to see it's not Walters.

"Dad!!" Gwen ran over to check on him.

Seeing that he's not waking up whenever she tried to shake him, she slowly turned to Shadow in pure anger.

"What did you do?!!"

"Gwen... I..." Shadow tried to explain.

Glowing electric red along with her eyes, she got up and zoomed towards him and grabbed him by the neck.

"YOU HURT MY DAD!!"

She then pinned him against the wall, creating a huge crack and summoning her Chaos Spear.

"You will pay for it!!"

Shadow struggled to get out of her grip as Gwen raised her spear, ready to strike him down. Though she stopped when she saw fear in his eyes along with hurt. She turned back to unconscious Tom and recalled what he said to her. Realizing what she was going to do and looking at the spear she's holding, she made it disappear and turning back to normal. Gwen released Shadow as she backed away.

"No... I can't... I-I'm sorry, Shadow..."

https://youtu.be/EeTGJL-IhUA

Shocked at her mercy, Shadow was about to open his mouth when Sonic arrived in the hallway and called out.

"Tom, everyone's cleared! Come on, let's go!" he then noticed Shadow and get defensive. "You.. what are you...?" he then noticed Gwen. "Sis! You're okay! I..."

He eventually notices Tom's unconscious body on the floor.

"Tom!" Sonic zipped over to the downed Tom. "Tom. Tom, what happened? Speak to me, come on! Come on, come on, it's gonna be okay. Please, please, please get up! Hey, come on, please wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up! Come on! Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

Seeing Sonic panicking over Tom's body reminds Shadow of him being saddened by Maria's death.

"Maria." he called in distraught.

Out of the flashback, Shadow realizes that he's no better than GUN, which Gwen notices. Sonic turns angrily to Shadow.

"What did you do?" he demanded.

Shadow looks at the two keycards before turning to Sonic, back to his coldness.

"What I had to."

He looks back at Gwen for a moment and quickly disappears as Maddie arrives and gasps in horror.

"Oh, my God! Tom!"

She and the others along with Gwen rush over to the unconscious Tom in worry and fear. Back with the villains, Gerald struggles to get up.

"Help me up, kid."

Eggman helps his grandfather up from the floor. However, GUN soldiers surround the two.

"Freeze! Don't move!" GUN Soldier ordered.

"Any tricks on your sleeve, Captain Grantastic?" Eggman asked.

Suddenly, Shadow teleports around and takes out the soldiers. When he pops up, Eggman yelps in fear and hides behind Gerald before popping back out.

Shadow holds up the two keycards.

"We got what we came for."

"Great job, Shadow." Gerald grinned.

"We have both keys. Where's your little project?" Eggman asked.

"It's closer than you think, my boy." Gerald explained.

Later, the three are teleported to the Eclipse Cannon, surprising Ivo. The lights turn on inside the ship.

"Welcome to my masterpiece. I must hand it to GUN. They built her to my exact specifications."

"It's remarkable, astounding. That's my genius grandino!" Eggman exclaimed in happiness.

"And I have one more surprise." Gerald continued.

Two costumes rise up on display, with Eggman'a looking more like his game counterpart.

"It's a new suit!"

Eggman ooks back and forth before squealing in joy. He gets on the floor and crawls to Gerald's boot, kissing it.

"Gee." Gerald chuckled sheepishly.

Meanwhile, Stone makes it onto land while the Mecha Crab sinks. Back to the Robotniks, they've put on their suits as Eggman sing.

I'm a chip off the old block. I'm a chip off the old block. I'm a chip off the old block!

Just then, his communicator rings and he answers it.

"What do you want, Stone? I'm busy."

"Doctor, I've a bad feeling about this." Agent Stone said with a warning. "I don't think your grandfather's been completely honest with us. Something Shadow said. There's more to their plan."

Eggman looks at Gerald, who's silent before he answers back to Agent Stone in anger and disbelief.

"How dare you?! You've been jealous of my long-lost grand-pop tart since the very beginning. I no longer require your obsequious groveling. Consider this your notice of termination. Your letter of reference will be L for loser." Eggman ranted with a funny face before continuing. "Of course, I'll expect you to stay on until you've been successfully cloned, but you and I are done! Like a blackened catfish dinner!"

"Sir, it's too dangerous and I'm not there to protect you! I already lost you once! I-" Agent Stone tried to explain.

"Unsubscribed. Blocked. Not important." Eggman said and hung up.

"I can't lose you again..." Agent Stone said in distraught.

Back in the ship, Gerald holds up the two keycards to Eggman.

"Do the honors, grandson."

"Here we go." Eggman said giddily.

They insert the keycards together, activating the weapon. Something opens in the River Thames before a spaceship/weapon, the Eclipse Cannon, rises out from it. Everybody, including Team Sonic, watches in bewilderment. In the ship, Eggman offers a high-five to Gerald, who refuses. Eggman awkwardly places his hand to the back of his neck. Stone also watches as it takes off into space.

Back with the heroes, Tom is taken to an ambulance while Maddie tags along. Sonic and the others sadly watch them go. Maddie looks to Sonic and Gwen, telling them it's not their fault. The doors close and the ambulance drives away. The gang is at a loss, especially Sonic and Gwen. Tails tries to comfort the hedgehog siblings.

"It'll be okay, Sonic, Gwen."

"It'll be okay? Tom is fighting for his life, and you think it'll be okay?" Sonic questioned angrily.

"And not only that, Shadow made me so angry that I almost hurt him that I almost lost control over me." Gwen added, using her hands to cover her eyes in pain.

"The fox is simply trying to comfort you two." Knuckles said, placing a hand on Gwen's shoulder.

"Comfort's not what I need right now. I need to stop them by any means necessary." Sonic said seriously.

"Wait, you don't mean...?" Tails started in realization.

"The Master Emerald." Sonic said.

Gwen's eyes widened in shock.

"Sonic, you're not seriously gonna..."

"I am, sis. He deserves it." Sonic stated.

"No. You're not doing this." she shook her head.

"She's right. The Emerald must never be wielded for vengeance. Not ever. We swore a sacred oath." Knuckles reminded.

"Don't talk to me about oaths. Not now." Sonic said, upset.

"But you told Tom using the emerald wasn't the right choice." Tails brought up.

"Well, now it's the only choice! And if neither of you have the guts to help me, then I'll do it alone." Sonic said angrily.

"Sonic, no! Remember what we said about revenge! I almost lost control and I'm not letting you do something you're going to regret!" Gwen said firmly, holding his shoulder.

"But you saw what he did! And you almost had him, but you cowardly didn't do it!" Sonic snapped, removing her grasp on him.

"Sonic!" Gwen said, shocked.

"Don't talk to her that way!" Knuckles growled, defending her.

"But I thought the four of us were a team? I thought that's what made us special." Tails said.

Sonic turns angrily to Knuckles.

"I'm not asking you twice, Knuckles." he powers up his fists. "Where is the Master Emerald?"

Knuckles powers up his fists and glares back.

"Your heart is being consumed by anger, hedgehog. You are in no condition to make decisions right now."

Gwen's ruby necklace glows along with her fists as she gets into her brother's face.

"Don't make me do this, brother. Listen to us!"

"I know you're upset about Tom. We all are." Tails said, trying to break the tension.

Sonic ignores Tails and looks at Knuckles and Gwen.

"Last chance. Where..." His eyes glows blue as they're full of anger. "IS IT?!"

"Don't do this." Knuckles and Gwen said in unison, eyes glowing as well.

Sonic and Gwen and Knuckles stare down at each other before the couple reluctantly stands down.

"Part of our oath is to trust each other, and I must abide by that promise, even if you have chosen to break it." Knuckles explained. "But heed this warning. The Master Emerald is guarded by a fearsome warrior, and to seize this ultimate power, you will have to go through him."

Sonic looks at his sister, who looks away from him in disappointment.

"Do what you want..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

https://youtu.be/8e_tu6OzKsY

Back in Green Hills, Montana, where Wade Whipple uses the Master Emerald as a puck for hockey practice on top of the sheriff's station building, taking a deep breath.

"Okay, Wade, it all comes down to this."

He bats the emerald around.

"Last few seconds. Whipple down the ice. He shoots."

He then shoots the emerald into the goal.

"HE SCOOOOORES!!! Wade Whipple is the champion again!" Wade laughed triumphantly.

Just then, Sonic arrives via the ring portal.

"Oh, hey, Sonic. Seen my goal, right? Pretty sick." Wade greeted.

"I'm here for the emerald." Sonic said sternly.

"Look, Sonic, I'm sorry. I promise to guard this emerald with my life. I will do whatever it takes to..."

Sonic quickly takes the Master Emerald from Wade's hand.

"Well, I tried." he shrugged.

Using the power of the Master Emerald, the revenge-seeking hedgehog goes into his super form as wind blows around.

"Whoa! Too bright!" Wade exclaimed, holding on.

Super Sonic then flies off, ready to make Shadow pay. Meanwhile, Stone is watching the news being broadcast in the UK.

"This is an urgent national emergency broadcast. The spacecraft designed by the agency GUN has been hijacked and launched out of the River Thames." Female British Newscaster said on TV.

The broadcast in Tokyo being told by a Japanese newscaster, revealing that the Robotniks are behind the crime. In New York City in America...

"All residents are urged to seek immediate shelter." American Newscaster said on TV.

Meanwhile, in space, the spaceship starts to resemble Robotnik, complete with solar panels to form a mustache. Inside, Shadow stares out the window to see Earth.

"It's time, Shadow." Gerald Robotnik said.

"Professor, is this really what Maria would have wanted?" Shadow questioned with doubt.

"The question isn't "what Maria would've wanted?" It's "what do they deserve?"" Gerald kneeled over to Shadow's level. "Remember what she meant to us. Remember what they took from us."

Shadow walks up and starts to get flashback once again. At the same time, Gwen notices her ruby glows bright and finds herself back in Shadow's memory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in 1974 as Shadow was in the makeshift pillow fort with Maria, who's playing a guitar when Gerald barges in with bad news.

"Kids! We have to go now!"

The three start running for their lives, holding hands. Gwen run along with them.

"They want to take Shadow away from us, Maria!" Gerald warned his granddaughter.

Maria and Shadow looks at each other in shock and continues running. As they run, GUN soldiers point their weapons at them. Gwen's eyes widen in horrifying realization of what they're going to do and tried to defend them.

"No!!" she yelled, hoping to at least block their attack, not caring if she's in the memory.

Walters hurries towards them and tries to push the gun of one of the soldiers away.

"Hey! Wait! What are you doing?! Those are children!" Captain Walters reminded them.

"We've got our orders, Walters!" GUN Soldier told him, struggling to shoot them.

"Stand down!" Captain Walters ordered him.

One of them fires at an energy tank nearby. The three stopped and Maria and Gwen gasped in horror at the same time before it causes the glass to crack and a huge explosion erupts at the base. When the dust clears, Gwen gets up and checks herself to see she's still alive. She hears a grunt and turns to see Shadow shakes his head as his ears rings from the massive explosion, slowly standing up. He places his hand on the side of his face where his head is to ease the pain. Once the ringing stops, Shadow gasps to find Gerald kneeling over Maria's corpse and runs over to them.

https://youtu.be/lBtQLr7P7q8

"Maria!" Shadow called in distraught as he kneeled over to her.

"No..." Gwen gasped in horror and ran over.

Shadow looks at Gerald with hope, only to see him tearing up. This made Shadow froze in horror as he looked down at Maria. Gwen covered her mouth and started tearing up as she mourned over her death. GUN soldiers then surround the two. Shadow's blood boils over the loss of Maria and his eyes surge in chaos energy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bring back to present day, Shadow yells and teleports to the cannon's core and starts running angrily, powering it up with chaos energy.

"Excuse me, grandpasadoble. What is that thermonuclear gerbil doing?" Eggman asked.

"Infusing the core with chaos energy. That's my little secret." Gerald explained, revealing his real plan. "The Eclipse Cannon is about to turn this planet into a flaming pile of rubble, wiping out everything in a 25,000-mile radius..." Eggman's expression turned pale. "including us."

"...WHAT?!?!" Eggman exclaimed, shocked. "We can't annihilate the Earth! By combining our genius, we can rule humanity together!"

"Humanity is a failed experiment. If anyone should know that, it's you. All your life, you've been rejected by this world. You have nothing down there. No one who cares about you." Gerald said evilly as he never cares about humanity.

"But I have you now. We're family. We have each other." Eggman said sadly, clasping his hands.

"Oh, Ivo... You're no Maria." Gerald said coldly. "The moment I lost her, my family was gone forever. The only way to give Maria's life meaning is to destroy the world that took her from me, so I'm burning it all down!"

Shadow teleports to Gerald.

"It's done." he said.

"Good work, Shadow. I'm prepping the firing sequence." Gerald activated the Eclipse Cannon. "The weapon will be fully charged in 10 minutes."

Shadow looks at Earth through the window, placing a hand against it.

"It's almost finished, Maria. You will have justice."

But Shadow also thinks about Gwen who got really mad at him back at GUN headquarters as he gets really worried about her. It's like he really likes her or loves her more than a friend. His face turns to sadness as he really messes up his friendship with Gwen.

"Gwen, please forgive me for this."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back on Earth, Gwen knew she needed to stop her brother and turn to Tails.

"You still have the rings?" she asked eagerly.

Tails holds out three rings.

"Only three. Are you sure you have to go? You're not super." he asked.

"I have to. It's the only way to waken him and Shadow." Gwen said firmly, taking one ring.

"Gwen, it's too dangerous. You could get hurt." Knuckles said with worry.

"Everyone will get hurt if we don't act now. I need to reach Sonic and Shadow."

Knuckles' expression softens for a moment and cups her cheek, which she leans against his hold.

"Just... be careful."

Gwen smiles and nods, pulling away before throwing the ring, creating a portal. She looks back at Tails and Knuckles before running through it.