So far, it seems Johnny is the braincell of the group. He's the one who figures out the time-dilation-situation after Omni-Viewer leaves them without an explanation. IDK if that's a consistent characteristic, or if the writers randomly chose which of the sidekicks would do exposition this time.
Sonic and friends are back! Last time, Robotnik hijacked the sent them into the Omni-Viewer to send them into the future, when it would be too late for them to stop his rise to power. The Omni-Viewer technically obeys, but only sends Sonic and co forward by six months, so they're not too too late. Let's see what the future has for them.
They are immediately attacked by badniks.
Sonic taunts them until they shoot each other!
Tails notes that he's never seen badniks like these before, and yep, those are certainly not a model seen in the games! I always wondered why STC badniks looked... like that. I guess it's to make it clear than these are tougher than the cute little animal-oids you see in the games. These are Robotnik's designs with six months of no interference.
Robotnik has taken over Emerald Hill Village! In fact, he's conquered the whole planet!!
(This whole issue really is just Sonic Forces 24 years early... And it'll probably tell a better story.)