For several sleepless days, Sonic has been battling and running from the Neo Metallix in the tunnels beneath the Hill Top Zone and is steadily weakening. Salvation briefly appears in the form of Tails, but Tails is no more than the Metallix, which assumed the fox's form. Metallix could easily kill Sonic, but that isn't its objective. It continues to pursue Sonic into a volcano and the hedgehog keeps trying to fight it, to no success. Just as the robot's about to finish Sonic off, he gets an idea, and proceeds to rocket all around the volcano's edges, starting an eruption. With only a 2% chance of survival, Sonic begins to use the falling rocks as stepping stones in an attempt to reach the newly opened fissure, pursued by Metallix and the rising lava. Metallix is consumed by the magma, whil