The episode opens with Sonic running through a deep canyon, hot on the tail of Dr. Eggman. Upon coming to a clearing, Sonic nearly falls off the edge but catches himself. At this point Dr. Eggman introduces his latest creation: "Burn Bot", a robot with pincer hands. Sonic tells Eggman that the name is unfitting because the robot has no functions that can set things aflame and suggests some alternative, more appropriate names. Eggman grows annoyed with Sonic, saying he gets to name his robots whatever he wants, and a battle begins. However Sonic planned for such a confrontation and calls in his backup: Tails, who was flying overhead in his plane. Sonic leaps off the edge of a cliff and Tails extends his EnerBeam tether down, allowing Sonic to grab on and swing himself into Burn Bot, kicking it into a canyon wall.
However, Burn Bot is not yet licked and recovers. Using its extendable arm, it clips one of Tails's wings and sends the plane into a fatal dive. Sonic cries for Tails to eject, but the ejection mechanism on the plane fails and Tails is forced to go down with the craft. Now concerned for his friend, Sonic breaks from the battle, dropping a large rock onto Burn Bot and heading for the crash site. Declaring they'll be back, Eggman ends the battle outright, scooping up his robot and evacuating to his lair.
Sonic finds Tails at the crash site and is relieved to find he's still breathing. He picks up the unconscious fox and vows that he'll never let something like this happen again. Tails is brought back to Sonic's house where he regains consciousness with a bandage around his head. Not wanting to let his mishap get him down, he springs back up and says he's ready to get back on the road. However, Sonic hastily tells him that he's granted Tails an "early retirement", which leaves Tails confused and forces Sonic to bluntly clarify that he fired Tails from his position as the hedgehog's sidekick. Afterwards, Sonic— who feels guilty about what he just did, but is certain he "did what [he] had to do" in the interest of his best friend's safety— begins hanging posters near his house for a replacement sidekick tryout, saying anyone with a resume and references can apply for the job. This news makes its way to Eggman's lair, and he decides he might want to pay Sonic a visit.
The casting call results in a large turnout, including some familiar faces. Sonic interviews all the candidates and dismisses them either because he knows them too well (Amy Rose and Knuckles the Echidna) or just finds them unsuitable. But the last candidate, a mysterious hooded fellow, proves he has every quality Sonic is looking for in an assistant. However, the reason for this is made clear shortly: it's simply Tails disguising himself in order to try out for his old job, but his dramatic reveal is spoiled when he trips on his shroud as he attempts to pull back his cloak. As Sonic tries to explain that he isn't simply going to rehire Tails, a surprise candidate appears: Eggman! At first Sonic is off-put that his arch-enemy would try out to be his sidekick, but Eggman counters (like Tails did after revealing his identity) that the casting call was an open invitation, to which he is eligible. Defeated, Sonic says he will advance Tails and Eggman to the next round of selection but says they're wasting their time because he refuses to pick either of them. When they protest, Sonic hastily names a cowardly beaver whom he interviewed earlier as a potential third candidate.
The candidate selection process moves into the jungle for the next phase, with the challengers all riding hoverboards. Sonic says the one who is able to retrieve a flag from the "incredibly dangerous, but inaccurately-named Mt. Safety" will be named his new sidekick. Eggman immediately resorts to cheating, shoving the beaver off the hill before they begin. Eggman continues to cheat by deploying a pair of hovering wheels with blades attached to eliminate Tails. Tails himself plows into the beaver, who was still recovering from the unexpected start, and eliminates him from the competition by knocking him off his board and into the canopy. Tails successfully neutralizes Eggman's obstacle then hops into his plane while Eggman jumps into his Egg Mobile to give chase. Sonic, who had been following the racers from the sidelines, starts to doubt Eggman's motives and pursues the pair. The beaver, now thoroughly beaten, quietly gives up and lies on the ground where he fell through the trees.
As Tails and Eggman fly side-by-side, Eggman reveals why he's really in the competition: he simply wanted to get close enough to Sonic and Tails to get rid of them. To that end he scoops up the refurbished Burn Bot that he hid in the jungle. Now certain he had been played, Sonic kicks it into high gear to chase Eggman through the jungle. Burn Bot attempts to knock Tails from the sky and succeeds in once again rupturing his wing, sending Tails crashing into an iced over lake. Seeing this, Sonic pushes himself harder and follows the plane to the crash site where he finds Tails stuck and himself cornered as the ice around him begins to crack. Eggman decides to exacerbate the situation and uses Burn Bot's spinning saw hands to break up the ice even faster while Tails struggles to free himself from his downed plane. Sonic manages to pull his friend out of the plane at the last second before the whole thing descends below the frozen lake.
As they recuperate, Sonic confesses that he didn't want to pull Tails from the field and only did it because he was worried for his safety. Tails objects saying that the situation they're in now is just as bad, if not worse, than the situation that started this and Sonic admits his plan wasn't foolproof. Eggman interrupts and reveals he heeded Sonic's advice from their first battle with Burn Bot and made some upgrades: now Burn Bot really can burn things! He demonstrates this by having Burn Bot launch a pair of fireballs onto the surface of the ice, instantly melting all the nearby ice and fracturing the ice surface. Tails takes flight but Sonic loses his balance and slides into the water. Tails tries to pull Sonic out but is unsuccessful, with Sonic encouraging Tails to just leave him. Tails refuses to give up and ends up being dragged into the water but this proves advantageous as he's able to push Sonic out of the water using his tails. The pair leap out of the water and Tails drops Sonic in front of Eggman, where a well-placed spin attack slams Burn Bot into the ice, driving it beneath the surface of the water and defeating it for good. Tails grabs Sonic and the two fly off, parting ways with Eggman who swears to build an even better robot next time they meet (along with coming up with a more fitting name for it).
On the beach sometime later, Sonic offers Tails his old job back, and he gladly accepts. Back at Sonic's house, Amy is out front demanding Sonic give her an answer when Knuckles ambles by. Dejected by his inability to find his own sidekick (originally he tried to turn Sonic's sidekick recruitment drive into his own attempt to recruit Sonic as a "Knuckles, Jr."), Amy offers to be his sidekick, claiming she can do improv while juggling and singing (something she tried to offer as talents for Sonic's sidekick role).
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Didn't Think This Through: The page quote comes from this episode. When Tails calls out Sonic's attempts to stop him from being a sidekick again, Sonic explains he was trying to protect him. When Tails points out that he was put in more danger, Sonic admits "The plan had holes!"
- Exact Words: When Sonic fires Tails and tries to find a new sidekick, both Tails and Eggman show up. When Sonic protests, they point out that Sonic's ad says "All qualified candidates welcome".
- Failed Attempt at Drama: After being fired from his position as sidekick, Tails attends Sonic's interview sessions wearing a cloak. Tails tries to dramatically reveal himself by throwing the hood off, but it gets stuck and he ends up tripping.
- Grammar Correction Gag: Fastidious Beaver interrupts Sonic's description of the deadly jungle race he is just about to literally plunge into, so he can correct Sonic's grammar... And his correction was wrong.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: When Tails crashes into the frozen lake, he gets stuck in the pilot's seat of his plane, which starts to sink as Burn Bot breaks the ice. Sonic barely pulls Tails free before the plane sinks entirely.
- Loophole Abuse: When Sonic fires Tails, he puts down "all qualified candidates welcome". Not only does this allow Tails to try to get his job back, but also Dr. Eggman.
- Mythology Gag: Tails and Eggman ride hoverboards at one point.
- Non-Indicative Name: During Sonic's first encounter with Burn Bot, said robot does not have any fire or chemical weapons, but attacks with sharp and painful claws instead. Sonic suggests to Eggman using a name that isn't so misleading. Subverted during the second encounter, in which Eggman apparently takes Sonic's advice by adding flamethrowers to Burn Bot. Also in this episode, there's the "inaccurately named" Mount Safety.
- Pietà Plagiarism: Sonic carries an unconscious Tails away from the crashed plane this way.
- Shout-Out: During her audition, Amy starts doing a really bad Italian accent, much to Sonic's horror.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Happens after Sonic fires Tails from being his sidekick. Said terrible interviewees include Amy, who tries juggling and singing, and Knuckles, who interviews Sonic to be his sidekick instead of the other way around. That's still not rock bottom, as the final applicant is Dr. Eggman.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Fastidious Beaver, the cowardly candidate, goes into this after he drops out.
