Twilight had teleported herself, her friends, and her new allies back to Ponyville (more specifically, in front of Twilight's former Friendship Castle) to figure out what to do next after saving Cloudsdale from Eggman's Ice Factory.

Twilight: "I'm glad that we were able to stop Eggman's Cloudsdale attack," Twilight said to Sonic.

Sonic: "It's always nice putting a stop to his schemes, even if the sky is far beyond the limit for how far he'll go to get what he wants."

RD: "Speaking of which, how were you and the others able to walk on clouds without falling through them? Normally, you need a spell to be able to do that if you can't fly."

Twilight: "And I don't recall casting a spell on any of you four."

Sonic: "Well after splitting up in Cloudsdale, me, Tails and Knuckles activated a special feature on our shoes."

Tails: "These special features allow us to walk on clouds and not fall through them, or bounce on them by default though for me, it's in my jet anklets," Tails added.

Knuckles: "Tails upgraded our shoes a long time ago. While we don't use it that much, it's nice to have it."

Rarity: "Fascinating."

Twilight: "You must really be good with technology."

Tails: "You could say that," Tails said sheepishly.

Sonic: "My best friend has built plenty of gadgets over the years. It makes sense that he's smarter than Eggman despite having the same IQ as him."

Twilight: "How does that even make sense?" Twilight asked, a bit confused on Sonic's statement.

Tails: "Let me put it like this: Eggman's IQ says he's as smart as me, but his actions over the years have proven otherwise."

Applejack: "Makes sense, especially since y'all have been fighting this guy for a long time."

Shadow: "Speaking of the doctor, I hope we can find out where he is soon. The sooner we stop him, the easier it'll be to find the rest of the emeralds and get home. Of course, the doctor and his minions will be coming with us since they're our problem."

Rarity: "Well I hope we can have a bit of a break. I can't remember the last time we've had this much to do in the span of a few days."

Knuckles: "You ponies and non-ponies must not be used to constant battles as much as me, my friends, and Shadow are."

Spike: "Non-pony?"

Starlight: "Why not just call him a dragon?"

Knuckles: "Saying ponies and non-ponies rolls off the tongue better than ponies and dragon."

Trixie: "Trixie can somewhat relate to that. She's made titles for things that were a mouthful."

Knuckles: "I'll take your word for it."

Sonic: "Back to the topic of Baldy McNoseHair, I think in this case, it's better that we don't have to do much to find him."

Shadow: "Do you have to call him that name so much?" the black hedgehog asked while annoyed and leaning on Twilight's old castle.

Sonic: "I don't do it that much, Shadow."

Tails: "It's true. He does it sometimes, but not so much that it gets annoying or tiring."

Rarity: "If you don't mind my asking, why is it better that you don't have to do wait that long in order to find Eggman? That would mean you might have to go back out to find him not long after a battle."

Sonic: "Here's the thing Rarity: we're used to these things by now."

Starlight: "You're used to consecutive/continuous battles?"

Knuckles: "That's right. However, some of us are more used to it than others. When Eggman took over most of our world a few years ago, it was pretty much six straight months of fighting with very little down time in between."

Fluttershy: "He took over most of your world?"

Tails: "Yep. It was not a friendly stretch. Sonic, Shadow, a new recruit, and a much older yet younger friend were the only ones who were able to handle it so well."

Applejack: "Older yet younger friend?"

Sonic: "It's quite a long story, but not an important one at the moment."

Rarity: "Well regardless, we still need a little bit of a break after what happened in Cloudsdale." Unfortunately, that would have to wait because a message came for Twilight and her friends.

Spike: "A letter? Who's it from?" Spike asked.

Twilight: "It's from Cadence." The other ponies and Spike gasped while Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow were confused since they didn't know who this 'Cadence' was.

Spike: "Cadence messaged you? What did she say?" Twilight read the letter out loud for everyone nearby to hear.

Dear Twilight,

One of my guards found a strange gem last night. Shining Armor and I can sense powerful energy from it. Apparently, somepony else knows about it too and decided to invade the Crystal Empire. We need you and your friends to help drive this threat away. Please hurry!

Love, Cadence.

Tails: "Who's Cadence?"

Spike: "That's Twilight's sister in law."

Sonic and the others: "Ohhhh."

Sonic: "Well it seems that Eggman hasn't wasted any time finding another party to crash."

Pinkie: "Party? What kind of parties does he attend that he'd be invited to?"

Sonic: "That was a figure of speech, Pinkie." Starlight then started to think about the places that Eggman had already attacked. She didn't think it was a coincidence.

Starlight: "Why does he seem to be attacking the more well known places/important places of Equestria? Like Ponyville, Canterlot, and now the Crystal Empire?"

Twilight: "Maybe because that's where royalty lives?"

Fluttershy: "Then why would he attack Cloudsdale?"

Sonic: "Not sure. Eggman isn't the type to attack in random places," Sonic responded, pondering what Starlight said.

RD: "We can worry about that later. We need to deal with Eggman's current invasion!"

Twilight: "Rainbow Dash is right!" Before teleporting everyone to the Crystal Empire, she asked Starlight "You coming to, Starlight?"

Starlight: "You bet I am. What about you, Trixie?"

Trixie: "No thanks. Somepony has to be hear in case that rotten egg returns." Sonic and Tails couldn't help but snicker at Trixie's comment.

Tails: "Nice wordplay, Trixie."

Sonic: "I agree. It wasn't necessarily great and powerful, but that was a nice way to mock the old doctor."

Trixie: "Thank you, Sonic and Tails."

Twilight: "Alright, now let's go to the Crystal Empire." The princess of Equestria then teleported the Council of Friendship, the current headmare at the School of Friendship, along with Sonic and the others to their next battle.

The group had arrived just in time. In addition to the crystal shaped buildings, they also saw the Egg Carrier 4X dropping robots, ready to attack. Some of those robots were bigger than what the ponies and dragon had already seen the past two days.

RD: "Um, anyone noticing that some of the robots are bigger than what we've seen so far?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight: "Actually yes. I wonder why." Twilight and her friends might not have known what they were, but the anthropomorphic creatures did.

Sonic and the Others: "Super badniks."

Twilight: "Super badniks?"

Sonic: "They're much stronger and much bigger than what he normally makes. While they aren't made often, they're still tough to deal with," Sonic said in a serious tone.

Fluttershy: "Bigger and stronger? Oh my."

RD: "Why doesn't he make them more often if they're so tough?"

Tails: "Time. As much as Eggman wants us gone for good, he's not going to make so many badniks like that unless he has the upper hand, which has only happened once." A laser was then shot from two of the laser flappers towards the Crystal Palace.

Twilight: "CADENCE!" Twilight screamed in worry. Badniks were now coming in fast, and Eggman had clear instructions for the machines.

Dr. Eggman: "Attention all members of the Eggman Empire: GATHER CRYSTALS! I don't care how much you get, just get some! If anyone intentionally tries to stop you, take care of them!" Eggman said from the speaker on his flying fortress.

Tails: "Why would he want crystals from here?"

Sonic: "We'll have to focus on that later buddy. Right now, we have a robot storm to deal with," Sonic said before charging towards some of the robots

Applejack: "Does Sonic always charge into situations without a plan?" Applejack asked Tails.

Tails: "Most of the time he does."

Starlight: "Well we should help him and the citizens of the Crystal Empire," Starlight said, which everyone agreed on before joining Sonic.

Sonic had used his speed to destroy a few egg pawns before they could even register him approaching. While he was having fun as usual, he also knew that he had to start taking this more seriously now that stronger badniks are being used. The screams of two ponies caught his attention and he quickly ran over to save them from harm.

Crystal Pony Resident A: "Who are you? What are you? Please don't hurt us," the female pony said, pleading with the E-2000 robot. Said robot had no intention of sparring either of them. But before the robot could fire, its head was taken off resulting in a shut down.

Sonic: "Are you two okay?" Sonic asked as he stood in front of the crystal ponies.

Crystal Filly: "Who are you?"

Sonic: "Name's Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm here to help."

Crystal Pony Resident A: "You are?"

Sonic: "That's right."

Crystal Filly: "Thank you for saving us."

Sonic: "No problem. Now you and I'm assuming your parent need to get to safety. Me and some friends of mine can deal with these tin cans."

Crystal Pony Resident A: "We will. Come on sweetie. Let's get out of here," the crystal pony told her child.

RD: "Head for the palace, you can wait in there until things clear up," Rainbow Dash had instructed the ponies.

Sonic: "Have you been here this whole time?"

RD: "I only saw you slice that robot's head off and instruct those ponies to safety."

Sonic: "Well then, care to help me do more of that?"

RD: "With pleasure." The two speedsters then started taking down more robots, using their quickness to also get ponies out of harm's way. When both heard a scream not too far from them, Sonic was first to reach the two and destroy the robot holding said pony hostage. Rainbow Dash then instructed the pony towards the Crystal Palace.

Sonic: "With Eggman's goons threatening lives for real, this situation just got more serious," Sonic said after taking down the egg pawn that was holding the crystal pony. Rainbow Dash not only heard Sonic say that, but she also noticed that he sounded more serious than he had the entire time he'd been in Equestria. Even when he and the others told her and her friends about some of the dangerous things that Eggman had done over the years. Her thoughts were then interrupted by another scream.

RD: "It's coming from over there," Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing East of where she and Sonic were. After quickly locating the source of the scream, they found themselves in the Crystal Flower Garden.

Sonic: "What is this part of the empire?" Sonic asked.

RD: "I honestly don't know." Sonic then saw a wrinkly looking unicorn shooting down some of the Egg Fighters.

Sonic: "Who's that old mare?"

RD: "That's Mistmane!" Before Sonic could ask more, they noticed a blue robot in the air with laser cannons for arms approaching from behind Mistmane. When Sonic told Dash about it, she quickly flew towards it. "Not on my watch!" she yelled. The robot tried to attack, but the pegasus was too fast and destroyed it quickly.

Mistmane: "Thank you for saving me. Um I don't think I ever got your name. You're a friend of Twilight Sparkle, right?"

RD: "That's right. Name's Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty. My blue friend over here is Sonic the Hedgehog."

Sonic: "Nice to meet you, Mistmane."

Mistmane: "Well I've never met a hedgehog that looks like you before. Where do you hail from?" The conversation was cut short by lasers firing from blasters.

Sonic: "We'll have to put that question on hold for now," Sonic said before fighting more egg pawns. While Rainbow Dash and Mistmane helped him, they didn't see two robots escape the garden with crystals in their possession.

With Shadow:

Despite not seeing them before today, Shadow was determined to take down the Egg Fighters and the variations thrown his way. Starlight was helping Shadow fight the robots while Rarity mostly helped get Crystal ponies to safety.

Shadow: "Nice try, but not nice enough!" Shadow said as he dodged two Egg Fighters with cannons for arms before destroying them.

Starlight: "Whoa, those shields they have are strong," Starlight said while trying to blast a shield an Egg Fighter had. When Shadow saw this, he quickly knocked the shield out of the robot's hand, allowing the unicorn to blast a hole in its chest and four other robots that were conveniently in the same path as the laser.

Shadow: "You're an impressive unicorn."

Starlight: "Thanks. You aren't so bad yourself. You might be stronger than Sonic."

Shadow: "Correction: We're equal in terms of strength." More robots then came, which normally would cut the conversation short, but the hedgehog and unicorn decided to continue it while fighting.

Starlight: "I can't believe you and Sonic are friends despite having similar strength and speed, yet completely different personalities," Starlight said while creating a shield around her and Shadow, blowing up a few of the robots that got close.

Shadow: "Let me correct you on something else: me and that blue hedgehog aren't friends. He told you and your friends this when we formally introduced ourselves yesterday," Shadow replied before using his chaos spear on aerial robots.

Starlight: "Oh right, I forgot." More robots quickly approached them, and Shadow quickly got annoyed.

Shadow: "This is getting old." Shadow then pulled out the chaos emerald he found in Ponyville and used it. "CHAOS CONTROL!" He yelled. With time slowed for the robots and Starlight Glimmer, the hedgehog quickly destroyed all the enemies in front of the hedgehog and unicorn before time returned to normal.

(end music)

Starlight: "What just happened?" Starlight asked, staring at the broken robot parts on the ground.

Shadow: "I slowed down time so that taking out the doctor's minions would be easier."

Starlight: "I've manipulated time before, but not like that."

Shadow: "You have?"

Starlight: "Yeah, I once modified a spell to go back in time to stop Twilight and her friends from meeting," Starlight admitted nervously.

Shadow: "How are you friends with the ruler of Equestria after doing something like that?"

Starlight: "Long story short, she decided to take me in as her student to teach me to better control my magic."

Shadow: "Interesting. Now come on, lets go see if there are any more ponies that need help," Shadow then said.

After all of the robots (regular and super) had been destroyed, the Council of Friendship, Starlight, and Sonic and the others met up where the Crystal heart resides.

Sonic: "So Twilight, who or what are we waiting for exactly?" Sonic asked. His question was soon answered as four ponies approached them. One was a white unicorn stallion with purple and yellow armor, one was a pink alicorn with a multicolored mane and tail, one was a younger alicorn who was a lighter shade of pink, and an orange pegasus guard with yellow armor.

Twilight: "Shining Armor! Cadence!" Twilight said to her family.

Shining Armor: "Twily! You're okay," Shining Armor replied before giving her a hug.

Cadence: "It's good to see you again, Twilight," Cadence happily replied before doing a little song and dance with Twilight.

Cadence and Twilight: "Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves, and do a little shake!" The two of them sang before hugging.

Twilight: "It's good to see you too. How's my niece doing?" she asked when going up to the alicorn foal.

Cadence: "She's doing very well," Cadence replied. An 'ahem' was heard soon after.

Sonic: "Hate to break up this reunion, but I think a certain princess should introduce her new friends who are new around here.

Twilight: "Oh right. Shining Armor and Cadence: This is Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow. Sonic and company: this is Shining Armor, Cadence, and Flurry Heart, my older brother, my sister in-law, and my niece."

Sonic: "Sup?'

Tails: "Nice to meet all of you."

Knuckles: "Hello there." Shadow just simply gave a two finger salute.

What I'm referring to:

(At 0:44)

Shining Armor: "Uh, what's up with the black one?" Shining Armor asked, confused on why Shadow didn't say anything.

Shadow: "No offense, but I'm not into these types of introductions."

Cadence: "None taken. Any friend of Twilight is a friend of ours too."

Sonic: "Question: who's the guy in the yellow armor?" Sonic asked after raising his hand.

Shining Armor: "This is Flash Sentry, a member of our crystal guard."

Flash Sentry: "Nice to meet you, Sir Sonic and company."

Sonic: "Just Sonic will do."

Flash: "Regardless, it's good to see the Council of Friendship here again," Flash said. "Especially the Princess of Equestria," he added in a slightly flirtatious tone. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Tails, and Knuckles snickered while Twilight could only blush in response.

Shadow: "If I may insert myself in this conversation, we were told that you found a powerful gem here."

Shining Armor: "Oh right, we did. More specifically, Flash did." But before the guard could say anything on the matter, Sonic noticed more robots coming from the flying fortress.

Pinkie Pie: "There's more?"

Sonic: "Looks like Eggman's releasing wave 2."

Shining Armor: "Eggman? That's a weird name."

Knuckles: "I know you aren't talking, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor." The stallion was going to argue, but he realized that he had a point.

Shining Armor: "Touche."

Applejack: "Anyone notice that some of Eggman's robots look tougher than the first wave?"

Tails: "Some of them he hasn't used in a while."

Cadence: "Look, some of the robots are parachuting into the stadium. There are still ponies in there!"

Shining Armor: "Guards!" Shining Armor yelled. The guards then came.

Crystal Guard A: "What are your orders, sir?" One of them asked.

Shining Armor: "Keep Flurry Heart safe in the palace."

Crystal Guard A: "Yes sir." The crystal guards then took the foal inside the Crystal Palace. Rainbow Dash then noticed one robot in particular land in the streets.

RD: "Uh, who's that robot?" she asked. After they all got a good enough look, three of them recognized the robot immediately.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles: "Mecha Sonic," the trio said seriously.

Twilight: "You know him?"

Knuckles: "Sure do. Sonic, leave Mecha to me."

Tails: "I'll help Knuckles."

Sonic: "You sure, buddy?"

Tails: "Positive."

Sonic: "Okay then. I trust. Just be careful against him. Both of you.

Tails and Knuckles: "Okay," the echidna and fox said before charging towards Mecha Sonic.

Sonic: "I'll go see if there are any more ponies that need help."

Applejack: "We'll go too."

Twilight: "I'll go help those in the stadium."

Starlight: "Me too."

Shining Armor and Cadence: "Us too."

Shadow: "Might as well. Haven't fought a super strong badnik of the doctor's in a while." After it was clear who was going where, everyone split off to battle the second wave of Eggman's attack on the empire.

One of Eggman's robotic versions of Sonic stood not too far from Tails and Knuckles. Egg Fighters with shields were provided for him as backup.

Knuckles: "Bring it on, you mechanical menace!"

Tails: "Show us what you've got, discount Metal Sonic!" The fox's words seemed to get to the robot because he went straight for him. Fortunately, Tails was able to dodge in time. When Mecha Sonic came back, Knuckles punched him in the face. While he didn't have his shovel claws, he still knew how to land hard hits. Mecha Sonic then started to go blow for blow with the echidna. Most attacks were blocked, and only two of their punches landed, one from each. After a moment of not attacking, Mecha Sonic prepared a spin dash. However, he wasn't prepared for Tails using his arm cannon on him.

Knuckles: "Nice shot, Tails," Knuckles said.

Tails: "Thanks." Mecha didn't stay down for long though. It stared at the two heroes for a little bit before commanding the robots behind them to attack. It caught them off guard, but they were able avoid getting hit.

Knuckles: "How did they surprise us and we saw them with Mecha Sonic?"

Tails: "Doesn't matter. We have to take them down." The fox was dodging the swords that some of the Egg Fighters had. Thankfully, he had been watching Sonic over the years and picked up some pointers. Tails had kicked the swords away from robots, which left them disoriented long enough for Tails to use his arm cannon to take out them out. "They must've forgotten that they had shields," he said with some confidence. But the fox was so concerned about the destroyed robots in front of him that he didn't notice one behind him. And since the Egg Fighter had a spring on its shield, Tails was launched farther then he normally would have been.

Knuckles, however, was having less trouble with the robots. Not because of experience, but because he was better built for fighting. The only issue was that some of the robots caught the echidna by surprise more, leading to him getting hit a bit more. Despite that he was still able to take out the rest of the Egg Fighters, only to be met with a punch from Mecha Sonic because he was so focused on doing so.

Knuckles: "Come on. Is that all you got?" Knuckles asked. Mecha Sonic then shot a laser towards the echidna and the fox with his new visor.

Tails: "Um, did Mecha have a visor like that when you fought him, Knuckles?" Tails asked.

Knuckles: "Um, no. He mostly just used the master emerald," the echidna hesitantly answered. Mecha then fired a laser again, forcing both of them to dodge. After dodging, they came from opposite sides looking to land a punch. The robot saw this coming and blocked both attacks at the same time. However, Tails and Knuckles used their legs to sweep kick the robot and then punch it simultaneously. Mecha then got angry and turned his arms into cannons.

Tails: "Okay, THAT is definitely new."

Knuckles: "Doesn't matter what new tricks Mecha Sonic has up his robotic sleeves, he's going down like all the other robots that have come before him and after him!" (Somewhere, a blue teenage female is feeling a disturbance in the force). The duo then started dodging the explosives coming from Mecha's arm cannons. While neither of them could match Sonic's top speed (which grows every day), both could go fast enough to avoid getting hit. When Mecha decided to stop firing, he charged towards Tails. He was able to see the punch coming and stop it from hitting his face, but wasn't able to stop a robotic leg from hitting him in the gut.

Tails: "Well, that's gonna hurt for a while," Tails said in pain. Mecha was going to deliver a punch, but Knuckles beat him to the punch (cue rimshot).

Knuckles: "No one intentionally hurts any friend of mine and gets away with it!" the echidna said in anger. Mecha turned his arms back into cannons and fired two at Knuckles. Instead of dodging them, he grabbed both explosives and returned them to sender. Mecha then charged up a spin dash and went towards Knuckles, but the echidna anticipated this and grabbed the robot as he approached. Despite his strength, it was tough for the echidna to maintain his ground against the spin dash. Though after some time had passed, he threw the robot into the ground, punched it into the air, and kicked it away from him and Tails with both of his legs.

Tails: "Nice job, Knuckles," Tails said, still in some pain.

Knuckles: "Thanks, Tails. Now let's go finish that robot." The two then went in the direction that Knuckles kicked Mecha in.

Elsewhere, Sonic was with the Mane 6 (sans Twilight), Spike, and Starlight helping take down more of Eggman's minions. Most of them were aerial based, so Rainbow Dash either took them out or led them closer to the ground so the others could take them out. While doing this, one robot in particular landed not too far from Sonic, and he recognized him quickly.

Sonic: "Well, well, well. If it isn't Mecha me. Having fun fighting my friends?" Sonic rhetorically asked the robot. When he didn't get a response, the hedgehog simply said "Didn't think so," then punched the robot's visor off of him when it got up. Sonic then quickly ran towards the visor as Mecha Sonic got up. "Oh does this belong to you?" he teased before crushing the visor in his hand. This angered the robot, causing him to charge towards his blue enemy. However, Sonic not only dodged just as the robot passed, he tripped the robot and made him fall. When it came back, Sonic stopped playing around and started to land several hits on Mecha Sonic. After landing three, he hit the mecha counterpart with a homing attack, and the robot happened to land towards his two closest friends.

Knuckles: "Hey, Sonic," the echidna said.

Sonic: "Hey there, Knuckles." Sonic then noticed his best friend hunched over a little and got concerned. "You okay there, buddy?" he asked.

Tails: "I'm fine. Mecha hit me in the gut, but I'll recover." The ponies and Spike then came over.

Applejack: "We finished taking care of the robots."

Knuckles: "That's good to hear."

Fluttershy: "Um, is Tails alright?" Fluttershy then asked.

Tails: "Don't worry, Fluttershy. I'll be okay." Just as soon as Tails finished his sentence, Mecha Sonic got back up. He wasn't going down that easily. Mecha Sonic then boosted into the air with his built in jet pack, charged another spin dash, and went downwards towards our heroes.

Sonic: "You got this one, Knux?"

Knuckles: "You bet your chilly dogs, I do!" Right as Mecha Sonic charged towards the heroes, Knuckles cracked his namesakes in preparation to finish this fight. When the robot was close enough, he grabbed him, stopped him from hitting him, and threw him into the ground. Mecha Sonic didn't even have time to plan a counter attack because of what who stood in front of him. Tails had his arm cannon. However, it was set to ice shots instead of the normal electric shots. Without hesitation, the fox fired and froze Mecha's head. One of the ponies then came with a request.

Applejack: "Y'all mind if I deal the finishing blow?" Applejack asked. At first, Team Sonic was confused on why Applejack of all ponies wanted to deal the final strike, but they chose not to say anything about it at the moment.

Sonic: "You wanna finish Mecha Sonic off? Be our guest," Sonic replied. The earth pony then stretched her legs and kicked the robot's head off of it's body. When the head landed on the ground, it shattered instantly as Mecha Sonic's body fell over and shut down.

(end music)

(0:00-0:17)

Knuckles: "That was impressive, Applejack."

Applejack: "Thanks, partner."

RD: "Uh, any particular reason you wanted to do that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Applejack: "I just haven't been able to something like that with a lot of strength in a while."

RD: "But don't you do that on the farm?"

Applejack: "I don't need as much strength for Apple bucking."

Tails: "Well with help from all of you, that's another one of Eggman's stronger robots down."

Pinkie: "When are we going to be finished? I still have a party to throw all of you."

Sonic: "As much as I want to get this over with, battles like these can't be rushed, Pinkie."

Pinkie: "I guess that makes sense. So what do we do now?" As if someone else was listening to her (that would be me), and explosion was heard from the Crystal stadium.

Fluttershy: "Oh no! Twilight could be in trouble!" Fluttershy screamed.

Rarity: "Along the rest of her family and Starlight!" Rarity added.

Sonic: "Shadow might need some help too."

Spike: "We have to go see what's up." All of them quickly rushed to the stadium, hoping that everyone in there was okay.

To be continued. . .

Author's Note

Ninth Chapter: Completed!

Just like with New Horizons, this will be split into two parts. A few things I want to bring up in the author notes:

First, with help from the FiMfiction Discord community, I was able to find out why sometimes the publish dates for chapters weren't accurate to when I published them. Apparently, this site operates under Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (which I go by since I live in New York). So whenever I uploaded a chapter between 7 pm and 11:59 pm on one day, it would register as being uploaded the following day because of the time difference.

Second, sorry again for taking a while to upload this chapter. In addition to school, I'm working on another personal project.

Last, Mecha Sonic is the third boss in case you didn't already know.

That's it for stuff about this chapter. As for the next chapter, all I'm going to say is that the 4th boss/2nd mini boss is featured. See you then!