(POV none, Rocky Jungle Zone)

"How are we going to get to the Death Egg?" Misty asked the two.

"I know someone," Shifter told her.

"Well, who is he?" Misty asked.

"She," Shifter corrected.

"Wait, what?" Eclipse asked. When he didn't get any response, he turned around to see that Shifter was on the phone.

"Hey, who're you calling?" Misty asked Shifter.

When the other side of the line picked up, Shifter said, "Hey, babe!"

"Shifter has a girlfriend!?" Misty and Eclipse exclaimed.

(A few hours later)

(POV none, Soumerca Egg Army dig site)

"I keep telling you, I don't think you heard anything," A guard said.

"Are you deaf or something?" Another guard said to the first, then added, "It was, like, a big explosion that most likely woke up Thunderbolt."

(Author's note: The guard's talking about the explosion caused by one of the Imps' fireballs.)

"Dude, I think you're doing this just to get over-" the first guard started before he was interrupted by the engine of a spaceship and Shifter shouting, "SORRY ABOUT THE MESS, GUYS!" After he said that, the spaceship then took off into space.

(Author's note: The image below shows what the spaceship looks similar to.)

"How about that!? Did you hear that!?" the second guard asked to the first, shouting when he did.

"Yeah yeah, I heard it," the first guard said.

(POV none, the Death Egg)

"Whatever happened to, 'Fuck it, let's just take it by storm?'" Misty asked, noticing that the ship isn't thrusting straight into the Death Egg.

"Tractor beams, remember?" Shifter told Misty, then added, "and besides, just because Eggman knows that we're coming after his Chaos Emerald doesn't mean that he knows when we're going to come."

"And that kind of thinking is why I'm in love with you, Shifter," said an Avalician known as Sash Lilac.

(Author's note: For those of you who don't know what an Avalician is, look up Freedom Planet, and those who want to know what Lilac looks like, the image below shows that.)

"Indeed it is," Shifter replied, then the two leaned closer to each other to kiss until something had hit them. When everyone went to see what it was, they saw an entire pack of flying demons.

(Author's note: The image below shows what the demons look like.)

Then a demon shot another projectile, which had missed the Mobians and Avalicians.

"Why would they miss us and take their leave just like that?" Shifter asked before something makes the ship rock about.

"I think they did that so that we would get caught in the Death Egg's tractor beam," Another Avalician named Carol Tea suggested.

(Author's note: The image below shows what Carol looks like.)

"Why do you think that way, Carol?" Shifter asked her.

"Because we're being pulled straight towards it," she said to Shifter.

Shifter stammered after hearing that, then shouted, "WHY DO DEMONS KEEP GIVING AWAY OUR POSITION!?"

Misty then said, "Looks like we're going for Plan B after all."

"Looks like it," Shifter said, agreeing with Misty.

"What's Plan B?" Lilac asked Shifter.

"We go in, fight through as many forces as possible, get the Chaos Emerald, get back to the ship, then get to the next location," Shifter told her.

"Knowing you and your plans, that's going to be easier said than done," Lilac said, flirting a bit.

"You know me so well," Shifter said, putting his arm around Lilac.

"As much as I don't want to ruin your little moment, we're nearly in the hangar," Eclipse told them.

Carol was sitting by herself, thinking about two things: why she was so obsessed with the thought of Eclipse being her boyfriend, and why those demons didn't bother trying to get their bounty. Misty noticed Carol's silence, so she went over to Carol and stated, "You're awfully quiet."

"Oh, just thinking about something," Carol told her.

"Well, don't think too much on one thing because we're going to need you soon," Misty said, trying to help Carol focus on the current objective.

When the ship landed into the hangar, all of Eggman's Egg Robots marched to the entrance of the ship and one more Avalician called Spade came out of the cockpit.

(Author's note: The image below shows what Spade looks like.)

Before Shifter could ask why Spade would help Lilac and Carol, Spade said to Shifter, "The only reason I'm doing this is because you and I have a common enemy."

"Let me guess, the Cult of X?" Shifter said.

"Indeed," Spade said to Shifter.

"Now, make sure that you watch where you step, and only use the radios in case of an emergency," Misty informed everyone, then added, "You don't want to end up like Swift."

"Wait, what happened to Swift?" Eclipse asked Shifter.

"Nobody knows. The GUN never found him," Shifter said, then added, "Or at least they never told anyone about it."

The very second the doors opened, all six of them charged straight into the horde of robots, using their own unique techniques to beat the robots.

"CHAOS RAIN!" Shifter shouted while at a high altitude in the hangar, firing multiple Chaos Spears down onto the robots.

"Okay, where's that security override?" Eclipse asked, trying to find a way to deactivate the alarm that was going off at the moment. Eclipse figured that if he didn't turn the alarm off, then Eggman would know that they were in the building, and him and his companions wouldn't ever want that.

"Dammit!" Eclipse shouted, slamming his fist on the terminal that he was at, accidentally turning off the artificial gravity in the process, then, after immediately seeing what he had done, he said, "Uh-oh. That's not good."

"Hey guys, things might get a little... floaty," Eclipse said, trying to let them know that the gravity was turned off.

After he said that, the anti-gravity kicked in, making everything have no weight and everyone and everything float about.

"Eclipse, get that artificial gravity back on while I deal with the 'bots," Shifter said after grabbing Eclipse, then threw him back at the terminal so he could fix the mess he had made.

Using his hover shoes, Shifter had been the only one to actually land anymore hits on the security forces.

After Shifter ransacked every single robot that he saw, Eclipse was able to work on getting the artificial gravity back on.

"Got it! I got it!" Eclipse exclaimed letting his allies know that he turned the gravity back on, then saw a Super Badnik coming towards him, making him shout, "SWEET GAIA!"

Eclipse ducked right before the Super Badnik hit him, which crashed into the wall behind him, then, after getting back up, he asked himself, "Why do Badniks hate me?" After he said that, everything then went back down onto the floor, Shifter pulled off a superhero landing, and everyone else crashed onto the cold, metal floor on either their backs or stomachs.

"Eggman definitely knows that we got in here. Eclipse, Carol, disable the roboticizer so that Eggman will have a good distraction from our real objective," Misty said, then added, "Shifter, Lilac, locate and get the Chaos Emerald that's currently here. We don't leave without it."

"Okay, but what about you and Spade?" Shifter asked.

"Me and Spade will make sure that the hangar is secured so that we can be able to get out of this place," Misty told him.

"Looks like someone wants to spend some alone time with Spade," Shifter said playfully, which made Misty angry a little bit.

"Just get moving, or else I'll get you moving," Misty threatened the Mobian.

"Yeah, boss," Shifter said.

"Come on, at least you and I at least get a little bit of alone time," Lilac said, trying to lighten Shifter up.

"As much as I would want to do so, I think that we save the alone time for after we get out of this place," Shifter said, wanting to get out of the Death Egg as fast as possible.

"Agreed," Lilac said.

(POV none, The Death Egg's Chaos Emerald Storage)

"CHAOS MISSILE!" Shifter shouted while performing a Spin Dash that was charged by Chaos Energy.

"Don't you think that Eggman's going to be mad about the fact that most of his doors have been smashed?" Lilac asked Shifter, who gave her a look that said, 'Seriously?' "Yeah, that sounded a lot smarter in my head than it did out loud."

"Amen to that," Shifter said, agreeing with Lilac.

After entering the room, Shifter and Lilac immediately saw the only Chaos Emerald that was in the room.

"There it is!" Lilac said after spotting the emerald. However, before she was able to grab it, a cage that Eggman dubbed a Prison Egg came from below the floor and trapped her in it.

(Author's note: The image below shows what the Prison Egg looks like.)

"LILAC!" Shifter shouted, trying to reach the Prison Egg, but then a Super Badnik known as Metal Sonic stopped him.

(Author's note: Metal Sonic's design is the one used in the Post-Super Genesis Wave continuity.)

After reorienting himself, Shifter heard the evil cackle of Dr. Eggman and it said, "Well, it appears as though someone other than Sonic has decided to take away my Chaos Emerald."

(Author's note: The image below shows what Eggman looks like.)

"Look, I was trying not to cause any trouble in this place, but since you decided to put my sweet Lilac in a cage, the gloves are officially coming off," Shifter said, doing some leg stretches in front of both Eggman and Metal Sonic.

"Well, since I'm in the mood for some entertainment, I'll let Metal have some fun with you," Eggman said, the added, "Also, just to give you some more motivation to go along with this, I'll make you a deal. If you defeat Metal, then I'll let your friend go, but if Metal defeats you, then she ends up as my little experiment for a week or two. Of course, if you refuse this deal, then you automatically forfeit the battle and your friend is all mine."

After Eggman said that last bit, Shifter stopped doing leg stretches, stood straight up, started cracking his knuckles, and said, "Looks like I got no choice but to agree with this deal, but if I win and Lilac becomes your little lab rat anyways, then I will make sure that you go down to Hell personally!" 

"Duly noted," Eggman said.

After he stopped cracking his knuckles, Shifter charged at Metal Sonic while creating a drill-shaped weapon made of Chaos Energy that spun behind his back with his right hand, shouting, "CHAOS..."

Right after Metal Sonic put up his Black Shield, Shifter threw the Chaos made weapon that was still spinning straight towards Metal Sonic, shouting, "DRILL!" Eggman couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Metal Sonic's Black Shield was penetrated!

After that had happened, Shifter then threw multiple Chaos Arrows at Metal, shouting, "CHAOS ARROWS!" Just before the attack hit him, Metal Sonic flew to the side by using the thruster on his back, then tried to circle around and hit Shifter from behind him, but Shifter somehow knew what Metal was planning and threw a punch at his back that sent him flying into a metal wall, shouting, "CHAOS IMPACT!"

After Metal started to recover, Shifter said to Eggman, "When you mess with any of my friends, including Lilac, you mess with me as well."

After he said that, Metal flew upwards, flew towards Shifter, and then fired what looked like a micro version of his Burst Shield from his finger, and when Shifter saw the attack, dodged it, and it hit the wall, it exploded, causing smoke and a big crater in the side of the wall to form.

"That's new," Shifter commented before Metal fired another one from the palm of his right hand, which Shifter dodged as well by jumping into the air, causing another crater to form and smoke to rise.

After he landed on his feet, Metal fired a normal-sized Burst Shield at Shifter, who was able to barely dodge it. Then Metal appeared from behind Shifter and was able to hit him with the V. Maximum Overdrive Attack just a mere second after Shifter encased himself in Chaos Energy, shouting, "CHAOS ARMOR!"

When the attack landed, an explosion happened and when the smoke cleared, Shifter was without a scratch and Metal Sonic was damaged a little bit, but he was still in the worst shape to fight between him and Shifter. "Okay, I get that Metal would sustain at least a little bit of damage from this fight after that first attack that you used, but why didn't you get injured from that attack!?" Eggman asked Shifter, then exclaimed, "Metal Sonic's ultimate move should've given you at least a little bit of damage!"

"I used a technique called Chaos Armor, which covers my body in Chaos Energy, making me nearly immune to energy-based attacks and renders me immobile for as long as it's used, before the attack hit me," Shifter explained to Eggman.

"Well, it looks like I learned my lesson today: never underestimate a Mobian," Eggman said, then added, "Keep at it, Metal. He's likely to mess up if you keep the pressure on him."

After Eggman said that, Metal tried to kick Shifter's face, but Shifter ducked backwards to dodge it, then he got back on his feet and threw another punch at Metal, shouting, "CHAOS IMPACT!" Before the hit landed, Metal dashed upwards using his thruster, and then made multiple sharp turns in the air until he charged at Shifter from above, then Shifter immediately dodged it and the impact of Metal Sonic's attack made the floor crack. Then Shifter hit Metal with a palm strike to his back that was charged by dark blue Chaos Energy, shouting, "CHAOS LANCE!" The attack sent Metal flying again, but he quickly recovered, putted a burst shield around him, and charged straight at Shifter, who was able to hurl Metal into the air with an uppercut, shouting, "CHAOS IMPACT!" The redirected Burst Shield hit the ceiling, causing a crater the size of the shield to form on it and parts of it to fall off of it. Eggman couldn't believe that someone other than Sonic the hedgehog is able to be on par with Metal Sonic. "Alright, time out for a second," Eggman said, wanting to use the time that he gave himself to take a breather from what he had witnessed just a few minutes ago.

'He's completely countering every one of Metal's attacks. He even managed to defend himself against Metal's ultimate technique!' Eggman summarized in his thoughts, then added, 'His Chaos Powers are unbelievable.'

Shifter then smiled and said to Eggman, "Metal's pretty close to beating me right now, just so you know."

"Don't patronize me," Eggman said.

"I'm not. I'm just telling you that if the fight keeps going on like this, then the pressure Metal's putting on me is going to make me mess up, and if that happens, then I'm going to lose," Shifter told Eggman, then added, "The reason why I got these powers is so that I would make sure that no more people that I care about die right in front of me, and the only way for me to do so is to keep on defeating my opponents. However, after my battle with Thunderbolt, one of your Egg Bosses, I knew for a fact that the only reason that I was able to defeat her was because I used her emotions against her, and lured her into a trap. Her strongest electrical technique was able to cause a burn mark to form on my right arm when I used my Chaos Armor to defend myself against it, meaning that I could've lost to her if it wasn't for that emotional advantage I had. This proves that if I end up meeting foes as strong as that, then I'm eventually going to lose not only a fight, but my friends as well, and I can't let that happen, not in a million years."

"Then what are you going to do about that?" Eggman asked, curious what Shifter will do about his current problem.

"I did some research during the long flight here, and I found out that Ring Energy is just Chaos Energy that hasn't been refined yet, which makes Ring Energy the key to protecting my friends..." Shifter said, then got in a squatting position, looked down, and pressed down on his left leg, making the Ring energy within the Power Ring on his left shoe cuff enter his body, making it turn bronze and a bluish-white aura form around him, and then after he did this, Shifter said, "To keeping anyone from sending anymore of my family or friends to the grave..."

'I'm fairly certain that he knows for a fact that Power Rings aren't going to cut it against Metal Sonic, yet he's using them anyways,' Eggman said in his head, then silently asked himself, 'What's he up to?'

Then, Shifter pressed down on his right leg, making the Ring Energy in the Power Ring on his right shoe cuff enter his body, making it turn bronze, Shifter's fur turn red, and an aura that looks like fire appear on his body.

"That did it," Shifter said, then added, "Not one of your Badniks, especially Metal Sonic, can catch up to me now."

"What?" Eggman asked, not sure what he meant by that.

"All of my skills and techniques might be unique from one another, but they all have one thing in common: They have all just advanced to the next level," Shifter said, then, after putting his right fist on the floor with the knuckle facing downwards, shouted, "RING... DASH!"

"Ring Dash?" Eggman asked Shifter.

"That's right, and I have both Sonic and Shadow to thank for it," Shifter said, then added, "If if wasn't for those two, then this idea wouldn't have popped in my head in the first place."

'What does he mean by that?' Eggman asked himself.

After Eggman asked that question, Shifter stood straight up, then pulled his right fist behind him with his left hand as an open palm in front of him, shouting, "CHAOS..."

"Wait, you're holding still to aim?" Eggman asked, then added, "That only gives Metal Sonic time to dodge your attack and hit you."

After Shifter gave Eggman a look that let him know that Shifter was being serious, Eggman said, "Fine. Let's see just how good your aim is. Time in."

After Eggman said that last bit, Metal Sonic charged straight towards Shifter, who then easily sent Metal flying into another wall at an alarming speed, shouting, "... ROCKET SPEAR!" After Shifter did this, both Eggman and Lilac's jaws dropped in utter shock.

After hitting the wall, Metal recovered immediately to counterattack, but when he looked back at where the attack hit him, Shifter was gone and was replaced with his flame aura. A second later, Shifter punched Metal with another high velocity attack. The punch sent Metal flying a few feet before he fell onto the floor, then Shifter charged straight at Metal at exactly the speed of light and hit him with a Chaos Drill at a high velocity, shouting, "CHAOS ROCKET DRILL!" Metal was being hurled through the air at a high speed until Shifter somehow appeared right above Metal and punched him straight into the floor. After pulling this maneuver, Shifter spun vertically in the air, then landed onto the floor a few feet close to Metal in the position of a superhero landing, and just like before, when Metal looked in the direction of Shifter, the only thing that was there was Shifter's flame-like aura.

'I can't follow his movements at all, and I think Metal can't either!' Eggman thought, confused as to how Shifter was moving so fast.

After looking around the room trying to locate Shifter, Metal was sent flying again, courtesy of another high velocity punch delivered by Shifter, but this time, Metal was able to recover from the attack and got back on his feet. However, that recovery wasn't going to help Metal one bit because Shifter had landed horizontally on a steel wall in the blink of an eye, then, using the same speed, jumped straight towards Metal, hit him with a punch that was stronger due to being boosted by Chaos Energy and the speed that Shifter was currently going at, and skidded a few feet away from Metal after delivering the blow, shouting, "CHAOS ROCKET IMPACT!" After dealing more damage to Metal Sonic's armor, Shifter then turned around used a Chaos Missile that was a lot faster due to Shifter's new technique, shouting, "CHAOS ROCKET MISSILE!" The attack made Metal hit another wall, but this time, the wall nearly broke apart, causing huge cracks that were originating from the impact to form.

After Metal recovered, got a faceful of speed-boosted fist, barely recovered from the attack, and Shifter circled around Metal like a shark with that same fire-like aura completely surrounding him, Eggman realised not only how Shifter's moving so fast, but what he meant when he said that he had both Sonic and Shadow to thank for the concept. Eggman then said in his head, "He's using the Lightspeed Attack. Only Speedsters like Sonic or Shadow should be able to use this technique, but he's clearly found a way to use it!' 

Just before Shifter hit him, Metal fired a normal-sized Burst Shield at the ground, which caused a smokescreen to form, and when Shifter cleared away all of the smoke, Metal was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Shifter asked.

After knowing for a fact that Metal was able to get out of the fight, Eggman let out a sigh of relief at the fact that his most prized creation was still in one piece and he thought, 'Okay, I would be able to understand how any expert Speedster would be able to use a technique like that, but a Mobian with a fighting style focused around Chaos Control utilizing one of my arch nemesis' best techniques? Without any training at all? On top of that, he's somehow managed to make all of his Chaos Abilities and Chaos Powers as fast as his physical speed. The only possible explanation for that is that he somehow came up with another method to use the Lightspeed Attack.'

Eggman then focused on the whole point of the fight and thought, 'No matter. Metal still has the advantage when it comes to technology, and he will win this. What Shifter doesn't know is that Metal can form the Burst Shield in any size on any part of his body and fires it like a bullet, even on his feet. All he has to do is use the element of surprise to catch Shifter off guard, and use that to win.'

A few seconds later, Metal appeared from behind Shifter and formed a Burst Shield on his right foot, just as Eggman had hoped for, but before the attack was able to connect, Shifter used his temporary speed to disappear again. Eggman was completely shocked, wondering how Shifter knew what Metal Sonic was up to.

"Two reasons why I'm not falling for any of Metal Sonic's tricks: One, I could easily hear the engine of the thruster on Metal Sonic's back, and two, I'm the kind of guy that expects the unexpected," Shifter explained to Eggman, then added, "Thanks to Sonic developing the Lightspeed Attack and Shadow using the same technique, I now have a real reason to bring these Power Rings with me: so that I can use a special trick that can be used by them, not just for decoration."

Before Metal tried another strategy, Shifter said to him, "If you plan to use your thruster to try to outsmart me, I think you dropped something," Shifter said, then showed something that no one would be able to. He held Metal Sonic's thruster in his right hand!

"How did you get your hands on that!?" Eggman asked Shifter in utter disbelief.

"I cracked the top part with my first Chaos Impact on Metal, then the bottom part by hitting it with my Chaos Lance, and then finally, after I dodged Metal Sonic's last attack, I was able to use enough of my strength to literally pull it right out of his back," Shifter said, then smirked, saying in his head, 'It's so difficult not to look so smug at this point.'

After that, Metal Sonic put up a Black Shield, but instead of it being indigo, the color was a pure black.

"What's up with the weird color?" Shifter asked, confused as to why the Black Shield looked like that.

"What would you say if I told you not only that the Black Shield having a pure black color means that its defense is at its highest, but also that he has an internal repair system that, for some reason beyond me, can only be activated when the Black Shield is up?" Eggman asked Shifter, confident that he won't be able to break through the Black Shield.

"I'd call that a challenge," Shifter answered, then added, "which I gladly accept."

"CHAOS..." Shifter shouted, prepping a Chaos Javelin that was faster due to the increase in speed.

'There's no way he's going to break through that,' Eggman thought confidently.

"... ROCKET JAVELIN!" Shifter after charging at Metal Sonic's Black Shield and hitting it with the Chaos Javelin at a very high speed, shattering the Black Shield and pushing Metal Sonic back quite a distance away from Shifter in the process. Eggman's jaw dropped to the floor of room that he was in at the sight of this. After Shifter pushed back Metal Sonic, his Ring Dash wore off, causing his fur to return to its normal color, his flames to disappear, and the Power Rings on his shoe cuffs to get their Ring Energy back. When that happened, Shifter went off to the direction of Lilac's Prison Egg.

"Why are you just ignoring the fact that Metal Sonic is still standing?" Eggman asked Shifter.

"Because I won the fight," Shifter answered, which confused Eggman until he looked back at Metal Sonic and saw something that he never thought he would see during the battle, not even for a moment. Metal Sonic collapsed onto the floor, too badly damaged to function properly! When he saw Metal Sonic in such a condition because of someone other than Sonic the hedgehog, Eggman blacked out with his jaw dropped.

After opening Lilac's Prison Egg, Shifter asked, "Are you okay?"

"I am now," Lilac told him.

"Come on, let's get back to the hangar and get the hell out of here," Shifter said, and the two lovebirds walked to the hangar where Misty and the others were.

(POV none, the hangar)

"We're back!" Shifter said, then saw that most of the entrances were barricaded and said, "Is this a bad time?"

No, it's not," Misty told him, then added, "In fact, we were waiting for you two to get back here. Now, get on board and let's get out of here!"

After he and Lilac got on board, Shifter noticed that Eclipse was the only one that wasn't on the ship, jumping on different tiles on the floor.

"Eclipse, what the fuck are you doing!?" Shifter asked Eclipse, then added, "Hurry up and get in here!"

"I don't want to end up like Swift!" Eclipse told Shifter.

"Oh, for Gaia's sake..." Misty complained, then took out a grappling hook, fired it at Eclipse's you-know-what, and pulled it so that Eclipse would be in the ship.

"SERIOUSLY, MISTY!?" Shifter asked Misty, shouting when he did.

"Seriously," Misty answered, then shouted to Spade, who was already in the cockpit, "Everyone's on board! Get us out of here now!"

After she said that, the ship took off and the Super Badniks that managed to break into the hangar could only watch as none of them were able to fly, nor did they have any ranged weaponry on them.