Sonic Runs Wild! Big Strategic Capture Operation/How to Catch a Hedgehog

**Sonic Runs Wild! Big Strategic Capture Operation** (Or, **How to Catch a Hedgehog**) is the twenty-forth episode in Sonic X: Heroes Forever.

## Characters

* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Miles "Tails" Prower
* Knuckles the Echidna
* Amy Rose
* Cream the Rabbit
* Cheese the Chao
* Shard the Hedgehog
* NICOLE
* Sally Acorn
* Vector the Crocodile
* Espio the Chameleon
* Charmy Bee
* Saffron Bee
* Rotor Walrus
* Dulcy the Dragon
* Julie-Su
* Mighty the Armadillo
* Ray the Flying Squirrel
* Manic the Hedgehog
* Sonia the Hedgehog
* Mina Mongoose (First appearance)
* Ash Mongoose (First appearance)
* Sharps the Parachicken (First appearance)
* Mach the Rabbit (First appearance)
* Max the Monkey (First appearance)
* Aurora (Mentioned)
* Sir Charles Hedgehog
* Jules Hedgehog
* Sabina the Dragon (Mentioned)
* Hope Kintobor
* Christopher Thorndyke
* Chuck Thorndyke
* Mr. Tanaka
* Ella
* Sam Speed
* Doctor Eggman
* Snively Robotnik
* E-05 Rhinoking (Mentioned)
* E-06 Mantis Reaper (Only appearance)
* E-88 Lightning Bird (Only appearance)

## Plot

The episode begins with Shard and NICOLE walking in a farm-like environment with the former still struggling with his lack of memories, wondering what happened to him and why he was here. NICOLE tells him he was captured and Roboticized, which unfortunately causes Shard to fall to his knees and feel very upset. NICOLE apologizes for the harsh memories, but, Shard assures her that he needs the bad memories as much as he needs the good ones. NICOLE then goes on to explain about how they got to Earth via Chaos Control in a scuffle Sonic and Eggman had. She then concludes that the radiation of the wrap and his metal body had caused his memory loss. NICOLE also tells Shard that Eggman has forgotten about him, but, he'd best stay out of sight just in case and if he were to find Shard, he'd say things that'd make him doubt himself. NICOLE also assures that she would never give up on Shard. Unknown to the hedgehog and lynx a Mantis robot was spying on them and reports in to Eggman. Smirking that Shard had lost his memories, he'd be just right for manipulating into joining his side. The scientist hands Snively a radio transmitter that would make Shard hear some less than ideal words when it's turned on that would be hard to block out. Eggman also tells Snively to deploy E-88 Lightning Bird, which has an overcapacitor inside it.

Back at the farm, Sonic and Sally arrive and NICOLE tells them about the bad memory she accidentally brought up while talking to Shard. Sally asks if there's anything they can do to help and what appears to be a human farmer shows up to try and get the quartet out of the way. He says his name is Jed and he wants them to leave, but, Shard isn't buying it as his eyes emit a light that casts a shadow on the wall that isn't a human's shadow. Jed tries to say it's his gardening tools, but, Shard points out he doesn't have any. Jed then reveals his true self: E-06 Mantis Reaper. Sally and Sonic are about ready to destroy the robot, but, it instead grabs Shard, saying it's taking revenge for what happened to Rhinoking. Despite seeming like Mantis Reaper had the upper hand, Shard used his chest as a springboard to jump to safety and transform into his Robian form. Shard then tossed Mantis over his head and use a cross karate chop which made the robot explode. Sonic thinks the robot went down too easily, but, NICOLE says that Shard's Power-Type abilities had been amplified due to being turned into a Robian or the robot itself was poorly made. Satisfied it was now destroyed before they could see it's true potential, the hedgehogs, squirrelmunk, and lynx are about to leave when another robot suddenly begins charging towards the four of them and shines a bright light that blinds Sonic, Sally, Shard, and NICOLE. When the light finally dims, Sonic, Sally, and NICOLE look up, only to see Shard being carried away by the giant bird-like robot. Eggman taunts Shard, saying that he's his "loyal lieutenant" and that he "volunteered" to get Roboticized. Sally and Sonic call out to him that Eggman is lying. Tails arrives into the scene on the X Tornado, launching a Power Ring to Sonic and Sally (thankfully, her speed kicked in) and the couple uses it to destroy the robot. After Shard turns back to his organic form and flies Sonic and Sally to safety, Sonic saying that he knew Shard had it in him. Shard is still conflicted, but, Sally asks him to block out Eggman, saying he's a bad influence. Sonic begins to rub his ear while the two are talking and explains he has something stuck in his ear, unknowingly lodges it in further when he taps the side of his head. Sally tries to get it out, but, she is having trouble seeing anything, let alone solving the problem.

Back at the Thorndyke Mansion, Sally is still trying to figure out what is in Sonic's ear. Hope, Tails and Chris are all watching them curiously from below on the driveway. Sally explains the situation, and Tails asks if they can help. Sally says she feels she's got things under control, but, while that's going on, Mr. Tanaka flips the switch on a remote control. This causes Sonic to perk up and pull down his lower eyelids and yell as if he suffered an electric shock. Hope says they have to get whatever it is out of Sonic ear right now, but, Sonic suddenly jumps off the roof and begins to run around like a lunatic. Chris remarks the situation is stressful and Sally says she has another reason to hate Eggman if he's responsible. Sonic makes a journey through Station Square, surprising Vector, Espio, and Charmy while Chris, Tails, Hope, and Sally board on the X Tornado to track down the hedgehog.

During this journey, Sonic finds out that he cannot stop running. He runs past Sam Speed who jumps in at the chance to race against Sonic. Chris tries to reason with his uncle that there is something stuck in Sonic's ear and he continues to peruse the hedgehog. Sam fails to catch Sonic due to his racing vehicle running out of fuel. Meanwhile, Shard was looking over the battle that he, Sonic, and Sally had against Lighting Bird (he had this recorded in his Robian form). While playing the footage, he spots a piece of the robot about to enter Sonic's ear. He realizes it's some kind of microchip and quickly reports this to Hope. Now with this new information, the X Tornado turns around heading home.

Chris, Hope, Tails, Sally, and Shard explain the situation to Chuck and the others when they get back and Hope explains that an overcapacitor got into Sonic's ear. Chris asks what that is and Hope explains that it can enhance the performance and power of the machine it's installed in. Chris is surprised as Sonic isn't a machine, but, Hope shows him an overcapacitor and that it has small prongs on it which can transmit from a Power Gem into anything it comes in contact with. In order to turn it off, Sonic would need to be standing still, which Tails says would be very difficult. Hope also explains Power Gems are much more common than Chaos Emeralds, but, not as powerful, that Shard's lanyard has a whole Power Gem while the overcapacitor has a fragment of one, and that a fragment of a Power Gem can be dormant until a transmission awakens it. They believe that Mr. Tanaka opening the garage may have had something to do with it. Tails, Hope, and Chuck began to discuss plans with each other in the laboratory on how to catch Sonic and Rotor and Sir Charles join them a bit later while everyone else turns in for the night.

That night, Sonic still continues to run despite the time and rushes past a group of five Mobians, who realize that the blur was Sonic. The rabbit, revealed to be Mach, speaks too fast for any of the group to understand him and Sharps, the apparent chicken, suggests they help Sonic before anyone get hurt (much to Mach's annoyance). The monkey, Max, suggest to use dynamite to slow Sonic down, but, one of the two mongooses say that's a bad idea, much to his disappointment. The female mongoose asks the male mongoose, Ash, if he's taken his motion sickness medicine, to which he says he has. With that, the two take off while Mach picks up Max and Sharps and the five all catch up to Sonic. He recognizes the group to be the Forget-Me-Knots and greets them warmly. He admits to them he can't control his legs and the female mongoose spots a plateau coming up. Max quickly blows up a tunnel to have everyone go through safely. Sonic suddenly takes a sharp turn and disappears and Ash tells Mina (the female mongoose) to take them back. Realizing they can't help Sonic right now, Ash tells the rest of the group to recharge and get some sleep.

The next day, Manic spots the Forget-Me-Knots and Amy gets excited, asking them for an autograph while Mina is surprised to see the Freedom Fighters. Sonia quickly gets things back on track. It's here we find out Sharps is actually a parachicken, a hybrid of a parakeet and chicken. Mina says they'll get into proper introductions once Sonic is safe and after Mach says something, it's revealed Amy can understand Mach due to replaying interviews with Mach's slowed down speech and taking notes on how he speaks. Chuck, Tails, Rotor, Sir Charles, and Hope then announce the first method: to wield a rocket launcher and fire a bomb filled with helium directly at Sonic from the X Tornado, causing him to stop running as he floats up in the air. Rotor gives Sally the launcher and she and Tails hop into the plane. At that moment, Jules notices that the Chaotix arrived with Saffron in tow and they say they're willing to help since they saw Sonic zoom by them yesterday.

Soon enough, Sally and Tails find the speeding hedgehog and Sally explains that they are working the Chaotix and Forget-Me-Knots to help him and the fact he has an overcapacitor in his ear. Sonic asks why they didn't ask Dulcy to hold him down, but, Sally admits they left her behind to hold down the fort back at the Thorndyke Mansion. Sally prepares the weapon and after she tells Sonic to go left, she fires the missile at him. Just as expected, Sonic comes to a stop just in front of the operations headquarters where the others were and a balloon forms at Sonic's back. However, Sonic floats away in the air, which therefore the plan didn't work as Rotor notes they used too much helium and forgot to account for prevailing winds. Sonic continues to drift along in the breeze yelling for help. Knuckles and Julie-Su notice this and Sonic asks him to help get him down to ground. Julie-Su fires her pistol in response which breaks the balloon causing Sonic to drop into the river, to which Knuckles tells Julie-Su he forgot to mention Sonic can't swim, (the pink echidna states it's shallow, anyway). Sonic then runs toward the echidnas' direction and both move out of the way just in time.

Knuckles and Julie-Su headed towards operation headquarters and meets up with the rest of the group. Knuckles explains he nearly ran over him and Julie-Su, but, Hope explains about the overcapacitor. Julie-Su then asks about the bubble that was on Sonic's back and when Sally explains that was their first plan to catch Sonic, she asks why they didn't use Dulcy and Sally explains the same thing she told Sonic. Chris then stops the arguing and Julie-Su gets annoyed with "Zippy's" impatience. Mach then says a jumble of things in a rush and Sharps revealed he recorded it and the echidnas and Vector finally understand the jist of what's happening. Espio suggests Mach switch to decaf, but, Sharps tells him that Mach doesn't drink coffee. Max once again gets a dynamite out and Vector asks if he's on caffeine, but, Mina says that he doesn't think their concerts are as exciting without fireworks. Just then, a tumbleweed rolls by them and traps Tails inside it, spinning around as he goes. Cream gets him out and Chuck explains to the gang the next method of capturing Sonic: he would build a technologically modified wheel with a Dash Pad to lead Sonic into the trap and they'd have a spring loaded trap door to keep Sonic in. Mighty and Ray then went ahead to help lure Sonic into the trap, stating that while they may not be as fast as him, they can still keep up. Meanwhile, Sally is whipping up a chili dog for Sonic, who she admits would be very hungry after running around all night and all day. Amy offers to help as she made regular hot dogs for Manic while they were on the cruise, to which Sally agrees.

Meanwhile Sonic, still running, notices Mighty and Ray approaching him, the former explaining their new plan. Sonic says he'd take anything right now as he'd been running nonstop for about a day. In a short amount of time, Sonic is approaching towards their position. He runs onto the Dash Pad and gets trapped in the wheel trap. Sonic sees the glass of water and chili dog waiting for him, eagerly eating up his lunch. He compliments Sally on her cooking skills (to which she explained she had some help) and tells his uncle that he has some competition. Chris is surprised Sir Charles makes chili dogs, to which he says he'd never asked him if he does. Sonic begins to feel drowsy and Mina suggests she can help, activating her Slumber Song technique, making everyone very sleepily, apart from Hope, much to Mina's surprise. Hope explains that she was in suspended animation for twelve years and Mina uses a spray bottle to wake everyone up. Vector realizes that Sonic is still running and Hope realizes that the overcapacitor took control of his muscle memory. Chuck then starts to worry when he notes that the wheel was not designed to withstand the speed for a long time. The stand holding the wheel in place eventually breaks, releasing the wheel. Knuckles, who is unfortunately standing right in front of the wheel's direction, almost gets run over, but, he jumps out of the way. The wheel then falls onto its side and because of Sonic's speed, the wheel drills a deep hole in the ground, causing a geyser to shoot up through the hole taking Sonic with it. It turns out that this method of capturing Sonic was a failure again.

That evening, the group start to prepare the last plan and it was a tactic that Sir Charles was hoping they'd avoid using: Mega Muck. Chris asks what that is and Sir Charles explains that it's an artificial substance created by Eggman: one part petroleum, one part quicksand, and one part clay mud and that it would require the strength of at least a dragon to get Sonic out. The next day, Sam arrives to the operation headquarters. Sir Charles then explains everyone his third method of capturing Sonic: Sam and Sonic will race against each other until they reach two different-colored gates: green and red. Sam is expected to go through red while Sonic goes through green, where the Mega Muck will stick him to the ground. The others agree with excitement as they head to their positions. Soon, Sonic is running towards the race's starting position and Sonic realizes that this next trap would be a race trap. He decides to go with it, as he's been racing for almost two days straight now. Despite Hope attempting to remind Sam that it is not a real race and that he is supposed to be the bait to lure him into the trap, after misunderstandings between the two, Sam ends up going through the green gate leading into the trap while Sonic runs through the red gate and still continues to run, much to Rotor's annoyance. Once again, the method for capturing Sonic has failed. Tails also notices something on the radar and he goes with Hope and Sally to check things out.

Sam gets out of his car, only to discover he and the car are stuck. Amy, Sir Charles, and Cream give him a lecture of being reckless and Sir Charles says he'll call up Dulcy to get him out. After finishing her lunch and getting the call, Dulcy puts on her Cloaking Watch and disguises herself as a human with the chameleon setting. While that's going on, on the X Tornado, Tails, Sally, and Hope fly over Lightning Bird. Hope, with her EMP, manages to immobilize it. Sonic then runs by, destroying the robot by jumping into the air. This makes the overcapacitor in Sonic's ear to fall out. Sonic then lands in a haystack just as Sally jumps out of the X Tornado. He then realizes he can control his legs again, much to Sally's relief. Sonic remarks that there is something in his other ear. Sally looks into his ear and gently blows into it. This releases some hay that got its way into his ear from the fall. Sonic says that it is much better now and Sally says to get him home so he can rest.

Back with the others, Dulcy crash lands close by and upon realizing the ones who saw her were the humans from the Thorndyke Mansion and the rest come from Mobius anyway, Dulcy turns into her true self. Sam freaks out about a dragon, but, Dulcy manages to keep him calm and help lift him and his car out of the Mega Muck. She then explains that she never eats things which have a pulse and she loves chocolate as well as the fact she needs to eat every 10 to 30 minutes. Dulcy also comments that a few Mobians called her fat, but, she just brushes them aside thanks to some helpful advice from her mother. Sonic and Sally arrive and the blue blur thanks the group for their efforts. He then glances over at his siblings and Mina and outlines an idea to Sally: Sonia, a Power-Type and Manic, a Fly-Type, are two thirds of a team. Sonic had already started his two thirds of a Team with Tails and Knuckles is with them part-time, but, if Mina, a Speed-Type, joins up with his siblings, they'd make a full team. After speaking to the trio about the idea, they agree to it. They elect Sonia as the leader and decide to call their team "Team Music". Sonic assures Ash that Mina's in good hands as the episode ends.

## Differences between this and the real episode:

* The real episode starts with Amy and Sonic already in the middle of battling Lightning Bird. This episode starts well before that with NICOLE and Shard walking in a field, and Eggman and Snively sending out another robot on top of Lighting Bird. Furthermore, Amy is absent from this scene. This is also true for the rematch against Lightning Bird.
* Amy gets annoyed when Sonic wouldn't explain what's going on. Here, Sonic actually does explain what's going on to Sally, NICOLE, and Shard and the scenes at the Thorndyke Mansion revolve around Sally trying to get the overcapacitor out of Sonic's ear.
* Sonic doesn't run past anyone except for Sam Speed in the real episode. Here, he passes the Chaotix.
* Shard and Hope figure out what is in Sonic's ear after Sonic runs through Station Square. In the real episode, Amy doesn't know what happened to Sonic, but, everyone just figures something is wrong.
* Eggman's scenes with Decoe and Bocoe are cut in favor of showing the Forget-Me-Knots.
* Throughout this version of the episode, Sonic is aware of his friends' plans to trap him and rolls with it because he's tired. In the original, Sonic is none the wiser about the plans.
* In the real episode, Knuckles throws a rock at the bubble. In this one, Julie-Su shoots at it instead. In addition, Sonic accidentally gives Knuckles a fish in the original, but, here, he and Julie-Su safely move out of the way.
* Ella cooks everyone lunch in the original. Here, the scene is cut to make room for Knuckles and Julie-Su to get acquainted with the Forget-Me-Knots.
* Chuck originally thought of the hamster wheel plan on the spot. Here, he had the plan already in mind.
* Cream helps Tails out of the tumbleweed in this episode. In the original, she comments that riding in a tumbleweed looks fun.
* In the original, some rocks were painted for Sonic to follow and Knuckles pushed the wheel onto him, trapping Sonic. In this episode, Mighty and Ray guide Sonic to a Dash Pad which traps Sonic.
* Knuckles moves out of the way of the wheel in this episode. In the real one, he's not so lucky.
* In the original, Chuck simply mentions they need to call up "a friend". Here, Sir Charles explains the plan in detail before cutting to the next day.
* In this episode, Hope uses her EMP to immobilize Lighting Bird while Sonic takes it out. In the original, Sonic has to catch a falling Amy a second time. Furthermore, Sally blows the hay out of his other ear instead of Amy.
* The original episode ends with Sonic and Amy on the haystack, but, in this episode, it ends with Dulcy saving Sam from the Mega Muck and Sonia, Manic, and Mina forming Team Music.
* In the original episode, the gates had numbers on them. In this one, they didn't.