[FanFic] Alternate Ending

[Ekajra]

So apparently my old fanfic topic no longer exists... or maybe it never did... regardless, since I don't remember where I was in posting it here, I'll just start at the beginning of my latest story, Alternate Ending. Totally original title, eh?

Splitting the story into three posts, this first one is just the prologue.

Prologue:

A Hero’s End.

‘Handing over the fake emerald, I can kill two birds with stone,’ Sonic thought as he pulled out the yellow gem he was holding. He looked up at Tails for a brief moment as the fox nodded in acknowledgement.

“Put the emerald down right there and back off!” Dr. Robotnik said from his Egg-Walker, pointing at a circular spot on the floor with the gun in his hand. Beside him, Amy Rose cowered in fear.

Sonic smirked as he walked slowly up towards Eggman. “You’ve turned into a big-time villain, doctor.” Sonic was just about to set down the emerald as Eggman pressed a quick series of buttons on his control panel, laughing. “Whoa!” Sonic yelled as an escape pod suddenly came down and trapped him.

“You thought you could trick me with that fake emerald, didn’t you?” Eggman mocked.

“So… how did you know it wasn’t the real one?” Tails asked, leaning forward in the Tornado mech.

“Tails!” Sonic yelled, trying to stop him, but it was too late.

“Because you just told me, fox boy!” Robotnik said, laughing as Tails face quickly took on a dumb struck expression. “Now for a little space ride,” Eggman said, redirecting his focus back to Sonic. “The capsule clears the colony… BAM!”

Sonic took one last look at his friends. “I’m counting on you Tails!” he said to his young friend, frozen in shock. “And Amy, take care of yourself,” he said softly to the pink hedgehog on the verge of tears.

“Farewell Sonic the Hedgehog!” Eggman proclaimed as he pressed the capsule launch button, sending the escape pod blasting from the colony.

As the pod shot closer and closer to the planet, Amy look out of the window in fear and sadness, calling, “Sonic…”

In the capsule, Sonic recalled Tails’ words that the fake emerald had the same wavelength and properties of the Chaos Emeralds. ‘But, can I really do it?’ he thought.

The timer on the bomb inside the capsule quickly reached zero, and it exploded, flames and debris flying out into the great vacuum of space. “Farewell Sonic… my admirable adversary,” Robotnik said, watching the explosion, as Amy broke down into tears and collapsed onto the floor. Robotnik turned back around to face Tails. “Now, we have some unfinished business to take care of. If you give me the real Emerald, I’ll release you both. You have my promise!”

“Sonic…” Tails said quietly to himself.

“What?” Eggman asked.

“Sonic has asked me for the first time to do something for him. I won’t let him down. I won’t give up!”

“Do you really think you can beat me?” Eggman asked as Tails locked on to him with his laser sight. Tails launched a cannon shot, and Eggman attempted to maneuver out of its way. The shot however caught up to him, exploding on the back of his walker. “What?” he yelled as his mech shook. He fired a quick shot at Tails, and he grunted in anger as the laser hit.

Tails aimed for one of the green canisters floating up through the center of the room, just as Robotnik passed it. He fired, and the canister exploded, the flames and debris smashing against Eggman. He quickly turned to face Tails, yelling, “That’s it! You’re no match for this, Tails!” The front end of the Egg-Walker changed, and suddenly a giant laser shot out of it. Tails jumped, activating the mech’s hover boosters, but the edge of the laser caught him as he fell.

Tails targeted Eggman as he checked the Tornado’s status. “No, the Tornado’s power is failing! I have to hurry this up.” He launched the laser blast as Robotnik’s laser slowed down, and he didn’t have time to dodge it. Tails, in the mean time, ran to the other edge of the room.

“Alright, no more games!” Eggman proclaimed, pressing a series of buttons on his dashboard. Two large missile launchers fanned out from the back of his walker. “Take this!” Suddenly dozens of miniature missiles launched from Robotnik’s mech. Tails kicked the Tornado into high gear, constantly moving to try and dodge them as they exploded just behind him. Eggman was moving in on Tails, and carelessly passed the center of the room as another canister began to rise. Tails quickly targeted it and fired. Eggman didn’t have time to move, and the canister exploded just behind him. The Egg-Walker began to explode and smoke, falling to the ground as Eggman muttered to himself, “I can’t lose to Tails…”

* * * * *

Moments earlier, Shadow stood by a window in the central area of the ARK. He looked out as Sonic’s capsule exploded. “I guess he was just a regular hedgehog after all.” He stood up from leaning against the wall, and walked out of the room.

* * * * *

Rouge walked up to the panel where the Chaos Emeralds were stored in the Eclipse Cannon. “Legend has it that when all seven Chaos Emeralds are collected, the power creates a miracle,” she said to herself. “I have six of them. They’re mine, all mine.” She began to move towards them, when a voice stopped her.

“I don’t think so!” Shadow said as he walked into the room.

“Shadow…” Rouge said as she turned around.

“So that was your plan from the very beginning, huh? Or was it a direct order from the President? Now I know who you are. You’re the government spy, Rouge the bat, aren’t you?” He turned to her, a look of triumph on his face.

“So you did your homework, is that it? I’d say that’s an invasion of privacy.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Hmm! It looks like things aren’t quite going your way, but since my job is done… I thought it was time to take what’s mine and get out of this place.”

“You are one pathetic creature!”

“Hmm, look who’s talking? What about you?” Rouge jumped off of the platform surrounding the control panel and began to slowly drift to the ground, a large manila folder, bulging with papers, in her hand. “Here are the results of the research project called “The Ultimate Life Form.” But, if this picture is of the real ultimate life form named, Shadow…” Rouge landed on the ground, waving a piece of paper bearing the picture of a large lizard creature in front of her face. “Then exactly who, or what, is standing in front of me?”

Suddenly a crackling noise came from Shadow’s walkie-talkie. He picked it up, and as expected Dr. Robotnik’s voice came from the other end. “This is Dr. Eggman. I have all seven chaos emeralds. Shadow, I’m heading for the Cannon Control room. Get over to this research lab and take care of these two. There’s not much time before the cannon fires again.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Shadow said, putting the walkie-talkie away. He turned back to Rouge. “If you want to live, leave the Chaos Emeralds where they are! The fake emerald should be enough for you.” He turned to leave.

“Do you actually believe that you’re the real Shadow?”

“No doubt.”

“Even your memories might not be real, you know.”

“Even if my memories are not real, it’s still me, Shadow. And I will fulfill my promise to Maria. That’s the only thing that matters to me now.” He left the room, running down the halls.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Knuckles was also running through the corridors of the space colony. “I’m getting these weird feelings from the Master Emerald. Something is definitely not right. I have to find Sonic and the others, wherever they are.”

* * * * *

Tails looked at his own walkie-talkie, and murmured. “Sonic, I did it…” He looked downward, dropping the walkie-talkie, knowing there wouldn’t be an answer.

“Yes, well, you certainly slowed the Doctor down, but you haven’t stopped anything,” Shadow said as he strode into the room. “Looks like that faker died in vain…”

“You take that back!” Tails yelled, jumping out of the Tornado and running forward, grabbing Shadow at the neck. Amy stood behind him, holding her hammer.

Shadow merely smiled, looking down at the young duo in front of him. “Do you really think you can beat me? Chaos Spear!” Shadow flung Tails away, a blast of yellow Chaos energy shooting from his hand. Tails skidded along the ground, but got up quickly, fiery tears of anger in his eyes. He grabbed a large wrench from the Tornado and charged Shadow, swinging it like a madman. Shadow simply brought his hand up, grabbing onto the tool and twisting it from Tails’ grasp. “You’ll need more than this to take down the Ultimate Lifeform!”

“Then how’s this!” Knuckles yelled as he punched Shadow in the back of the head. He was stunned and flew forward, crashing into a collection of control panels at the edge of the room. He attempted to stand up, but collapsed and slid along the panel to the ground, unconscious. Knuckles turned to Tails and Amy. “Hey you guys… where’s Sonic?”

Tails and Amy both looked away, and Tails soon looked back. “Sonic’s…”

Suddenly an alarm began to sound around them. Red light’s flashed, and Robotnik’s voice soon came over the speakers. “Shadow! Forget about those brats and get to the control room! Something’s gone wrong!”

“What do you think is going on?” Amy asked.

“I don’t know, but we’d better get out of here!” Knuckles yelled, running for the door. “Let’s go guys!”

Tails jumped in the Tornado along with Amy, and the three quickly blasted through the halls, trying to find a safe way out.

* * * * *

“Aghh, what’s going on?” Eggman yelled, trying to make sense of the various warnings appearing on the screen. He knew the cannon must have fired, but he had no idea why the computer was acting like this.

Rouge put her hand to her ear as a call came in from earth. “Rouge, what the hell’s going on up there?!” a G.U.N. commander said. The signal was faint and filled with static, and various cries of terror were clearly audible in the background.

“I don’t know. Dr. Eggman fired the cannon, but all these warnings and sirens are going off,” Rogue said, her worry about what was going on below clearly showing.

“It might… omethin… o do wi… ARK… fall…” The signal broke completely, leaving Rouge with nothing but static.

“It can’t be… Doctor, quick, can you check what our altitude is?”

“Yes, I should be able to…” Eggman said as he punched a series of commands into the computer. “No, that can’t be! The Ark is falling at an alarming rate!” Robotnik began to enter more commands into the computer, when suddenly a video image came up onto the screen. The image was grainy, but you could make out the form of an old man, clearly worn down by extreme anger, driven to insanity. A light swung above him, illuminating his features. Eggman’s face showed his surprise as he realized whom the video was of. “It’s my grandfather… Gerald Robotnik!”

* * * * *

“There has to be a way out of here! Another rocket, a transporter, something!” Tails said quickly, looking over a map of the colony. The trio stopped however, as a sound clip began to play over the speakers. “Who is that?”

“This, is a death sentence, for every human being on Earth!” Gerald began, his voice coarse and broken. “If my calculations are correct, the space colony ARK will impact the Earth in twenty-three minutes, sixty-two seconds.”

“We’re falling to Earth?” Amy proclaimed as Gerald paused.

“All of you will be destroyed, along with your beloved planet Earth. I plan to give you a taste of my revenge, one all the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected. Once I initiate this program, it cannot be disabled. All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me, will feel my loss, and despair!”

“Is there anything else you want to say?” a voice said.

“No,” Gerald replied.

“Ready… fire!” the other voice said. The audio, and the video playing elsewhere on the ARK and around the world, stopped as Gerald was executed. The ARK suddenly began to shake more violently.

“The vibrations are getting stronger! We have to find a way out of here!” Knuckles yelled.

“I’ve got it!” Tails proclaimed. “Robotnik built a transporter from here to one of his bases! We can use that! Let’s get moving!”

* * * * *

“No, my Grandfather can’t really mean to destroy us,” Eggman said as the video ended. “Rrrgh, we have to get out of here!” He jumped off of the control panel platform and began to run for the door.

“Doctor, what about the Chaos Emeralds?” Rouge asked as Robotnik ran past her.

“Forget them for now! Better to survive than to go down with them.” Eggman continued to run, headed for the transporter room. Rouge headed after him.

“Where’s Shadow?”

“He’s either escaped already or is somewhere on the ARK. I’m sure we don’t need to worry about him. Now let’s go!”

* * * * *

Tails, Amy, and Knuckles had reached the door of the transporter room. They attempted to open the door, but it was locked. “It must use a password. But I don’t think I’ll be able to crack it in time,” Tails said as numbers and letters flew across the screen in front of him.

“I’ve got your password right here!” Knuckles said, putting on his shovel claws. He lined up his fist, then punched the door, his knuckle spurs sliding into the groove in the middle. He twisted them around a bit, then put his fingers in, pulling against the door. He strained, sweat breaking out over his body. Eventually the doors made a slight movement, then with one more burst of strength, they flew apart.

The three entered the room, Tails quickly turning the transporter on. It began to power up, just as Eggman and Rouge came running down the hall. Tails spotted him, and once again his rage was ignited. “Eggman! You’re gonna pay!” He jumped out of the Tornado, but Knuckles caught him, holding him back inside the transporter. “Let me go Knuckles!”

“No! What’s important now is to get off of here! You can get revenge on Robotnik as much as you want later,” Knuckles said, as the three of them began to fizzle away. “He’ll certainly be getting it.” And with that the trio was transported back to the planet.

“Hmph, foolish fox boy. Let’s go Rouge.” Eggman walked into the room, setting the transporter to an alternate location, not wanting to run into those three again.

“But what about Shadow?” Rouge asked again as she walked up to the transporter.

“Like I said, he’ll be fine. He is the Ultimate Lifeform after all.”

‘I certainly hope so…’ Rouge thought as her and Robotnik were transported away from the ARK.

* * * * *

The ARK was beginning to enter the earth’s atmosphere. The propulsion stabilizers broke off, flying into space. As the outer edges began to rapidly heat up, some sections exploded entirely, chunks of rock and metal bursting into flame.

Shadow stirred, sitting up from the floor. He looked out the window, seeing the earth rushing up to meet him. “Maria…” he said as glass shattered all around him.

[Ekajra]

Part 1:

Red Revenge

Business as Usual.

Another cloudy day in the city, as usual. Thick black clouds hung in the sky for miles. As they did every day. And they didn’t bring life giving rain. If anything these clouds formed from smoke and pollution would only bring death, and more darkness.

It was also quiet, once again, as it usually was. The only sounds came from various factories and the occasional transport. In fact, if not for these sounds, one might think that the city was abandoned. Those more knowledgeable, however, wished it were.

Miles away, low in the sky to avoid the smog, an airplane was cruising through the air. It was small, the cockpit only having room for one, comfortably at least, and propelled by a powerful but relatively silent jet engine. The blue paint that coated it was peeling away from the many years it had seen, revealing an earlier red paintjob. The pilot didn’t think about the appearance of his aircraft at all however, as he looked at towards the city in the distance. “Hmm, doesn’t seem like there’s many guards. I could probably get farther into the city today. Doubt I have enough ammo though…” The pilot thought for a moment. “I’d better play it safe at first. No need to get too risky.”

The plane was nearing the outskirts of the city, and the pilot began to slow down, preparing for descent. The words outskirts weren’t quite accurate, since what is now the unpopulated outskirts of the city were once part of a large metropolis. But these days, the main city was centered on a large hill inside an even larger crater. Citizens of the area had long said there was something strange about the hill, and for good reason, but few these days cared to think about its origin. Even the ones who didn’t know it.

Slowly, with skills honed through years of flying, the pilot brought in his plane. Immediately upon entering the city limits he had cut his engines down to the lowest possible power. He didn’t want to announce his presence with the roar of a jet engine, even one as quiet as his. He landed beside, or rather in, a run down building, probably a former home. Judging the area to be hidden enough he slid the goggles he’d been wearing up to his pointed ears, and replaced them with black sunglasses.

He jumped out of the cockpit, strapping a long sheath to his back. The pilot wore a brown, hooded overcoat, the sleeves rolled up past his elbows, and black combat boots. He pulled a small remote control from one of his coat’s pockets. Pressing a button on it, his plane began to shimmer in that way the air seems to on a hot summer’s day. Soon, it had disappeared completely from sight. Carefully remembering the location of his plane, the pilot walked away, ducking behind a nearby wall that had been broken down to standing only a few feet tall.

He made his way towards the city proper, diving behind an overturned barrel as he heard footsteps approaching. Slowly, he crept over the side of the barrel to look for the source of the footsteps. He was surprised, and slightly amused, at what he saw. They were guards, but not the kind he was expecting.

‘He can’t be serious. Guess I can’t blame a guy for saving resources though. These guys won’t be very useful, but beggars can’t be chooses,’ the pilot thought as he ducked back behind the barrel, grabbing a small gun in each hand out from the holsters in his coat. He got into position to attack, and waited for the opportune time. Soon enough the guards, still unaware of their attacker’s presence, began to walk past the barrel.

The pilot jumped out from behind the barrel and sent silenced shots at both of the guards. The bullets hit them square in the chest. They fell to the ground, motionless. “Perfect,” the pilot said as he holstered his guns.

‘Well, I should be able to salvage a few parts from these guys. Still, these are really old models,’ the pilot thought, scratching his head as he looked over the two robots in front of him. They were circular in design, with thin limps connecting their various ball-like body parts. They each carried a large, but weak, blaster gun. ‘Seriously, these are even less threatening than the ones from… back then.’

* * * * *

A rolling hillside stretched out for miles in front of the young fox. Next to him stood his new friend, who had a mischievous smirk on his face that showed his complete confidence. He looked down at the fox beside him. “Well, we aren’t gonna accomplish anything by standing around. Let’s gooooooooo!” he said before running towards the hills.

“Hey, wait up!” the fox called, running after his friend.

* * * * *

The pilot shook his head as if to shake away the flashback. ‘I’d better get to work. Never know when more guards will show up. Even these guys could prove dangerous in large groups.’ The pilot knelt down towards the robots to retrieve his bullets. This may sound like a strange thing to do, but his bullets weren’t exactly your standard ammunition. The mere fact that someone of his technical prowess would be using traditional metal bullets should have been clue enough that something was different. The bullets he used were in actuality specially designed canisters, each containing four small darts. When fired the canister would open and the armor piercing darts would shoot out, embedding into their target. They then delivered an electric shock, but also emitted a low range electromagnetic pulse, shutting down any sort of mechanical victim that they should hit. In addition, they had been designed so that the same darts, should they be recovered, would be reusable. And since they shut down the robots instead of destroying them, the pilot could use them as parts.

The pilot knelt to one knee, scanning the first guard bot for his darts. As soon as he began to reach for them however, he was blinded by an excruciatingly bright light that flooded the area. As his eyes adjusted he looked around him to see, approximately ten by his count, silver robots drop down from the sky in a ring around him as more searchlights came on. They landed in a crouching position, but soon stood up one after the other as they activated, their red eyes lighting up. These were much more imposing than the first guards by many levels. They were tall, sleek, heavily armored, and carried more dangerous weaponry. And above all they now had the element of surprise that had been so favorable to the trapped pilot moments ago. “DECOY STRATEGY SUCCESSFUL. TARGET HAS BEEN SURROUNDED,” the leader of the squad, identifiable by the red stripe that stretched down the right side of his front, said.

‘Crap! I should’ve figured!’

The leader turned to the pilot, scanning him. “TARGET IDENTIFICATION… SPECIES: FOX, MALE. ARMED. SEARCHING DATA FILES… ENEMY IDENTIFIED. PREPARE FOR BATTLE,” it said aloud in its deep metallic voice. With an ominous series of clicks, the silver robots raised their right arms, each baring a machine gun.

“This going to be pleasant,” the fox said, reaching for his sword.

“OPEN FIRE.” The air was instantly filled with the sounds of machine guns firing. The entire area around the pilot exploded, dust and debris flying into the air, the decoy guards completely obliterated. After firing for a good thirty seconds, the robots ceased fire to examine the damage. The dust settled, revealing the ground to be riddled with bullets. However, there was no sign of the fox. The robots analyzed the situation and simultaneously looked up.

The pilot had jumped into the air just as they had opened fire, and now hung in the air above him, hand grasped around the handle of his sword. He was falling towards them, and they pointed their gun arms in his direction. He pulled his sword from his sheath just as he was on top of one of them. As he did so he pressed a small button just below the guard. The center of the sword split and slid apart, revealing what appeared to be coursing blue lightning. He swung it in a wide arc, slashing the robot straight down the middle. He jumped away, the split remains sparking before exploding.

As if on cue, the other robots began firing at the smoke cloud. The pilot dashed out from behind it, headed for his next target. The robots followed him with their guns, tearing up the earth behind him. He held his sword at a horizontal to his hip as he ran, bending forward. He slashed the next robot in half, and its comrades quickly dispatched the rest of it. He continued running, but the robots’ bullets were gaining on him. One grazed his tail, sending jolts up along his spine. He dove forward, and the robots, not anticipating the movement, continued in their movement. This gave the fox enough time to roll over, get to his feet, and begin charging the group.

They began firing at him again, but this time he kept up his assault. He weaved this left and right, dodging the stream of ammunition as best as possible. He jumped up, flipping over the center robot, slashing its head off. He landed behind it and immediately thrust his sword through its center, using the robot as a temporary shield while he planned his next attack. He pulled out of the robot, charging towards a somewhat more solitary target on the edge of the half circle.

He slashed its legs off, and the robot fell down, still firing its gun in a futile attempt to hit its target. It took out two more ‘bots before the pilot slashed its head off. The remaining three guards, the leader and two others, regrouped into a single line across from where the pilot was. He charged them as they opened fire, holding his sword in front of himself horizontally to try and block as many bullets as physically possible.

As he neared them this became much harder, and series of rounds shot through his shoulder, knocking him back on one side. He hefted his sword in the air and slashed an “X” through the robot that had shot him. He immediately slashed the next one across the chest diagonally. The two fell apart, exploding and sending up a cloud of dust. As it cleared, only the leader stood before the fox.

“SQUAD DOWN. TARGET HAS PROVEN MORE DANGEROUS THAN THOUGHT. HOWEVER, ANY FURTHER ATTEMPTS TO FIGHT WILL BE FUTILE,” the leader said as he raised his gun arm, pointing it at the fox’s forehead.

‘Even at this close of a range my sword wouldn’t be faster than his gun. And I don’t have time to draw my gun!’

“ELIMINATING TARGET,” the robot said. Within the processors that made him operate, he sent a command to fire the gun to the gun arm, which was aimed with careful precision as dictated by his targeting system. He also calculated that the chance of the fox destroying him were less than one percent. However, he overlooked one minor detail. When the machine gun should’ve fired all that came was a light clicking sound. “AMMUNITION EMPTY. RELOADING,” the robot declared.

“Heh, guess it’s my lucky day,” the fox pilot said. Holding his sword at his side with on hand, he reached into his coat and pulled out one of his handguns. “Unfortunately for you, I’ve got plenty of ammo.” He pulled the trigger, and his usual darts flew straight into the lead robot’s head. Electrical currents surged around his body, and then he fell back wards with a metallic thud.

The pilot let go off his gun with all but his trigger finger. With a flick of the wrist, the 9mm handgun twirled around his finger, a thin wisp of smoke trailing from the tip like a ghost. He holstered it, and with a flourish, slowly sheathed his long curved sword as well. The blue current died away and the center blood-groove reformed as the sword slid into place with a soft metallic “chik”.

The pilot walked over to where the robot had fallen, and knelt down. Grasping all the darts in one hand, he jerked his arm up. They gave surprisingly little resistance considering the tough armor they had been embedded in. He looked them over as he rolled them into a line on the palm of his hand, then dropped them into one of his coat pockets. He stood up, flicking the strands of hair that grew quite, if one thought about it, randomly from the middle of his forehead away from his eyes. It really made no difference, as they soon fell back down over his left eye, but he had grown accustomed to at least one of his eyes being covered.

He surveyed the area carefully. He was still on the outskirts of the city, but much nearer to the hill than from where he had touched down. The aforementioned thick, black smog hung in the air, covering the blue sky above like a blanket, once again, as it usually was. Yet somehow, the fox noticed as he gingerly touched the bullet wound on his shoulder, today seemed brighter. Was it the fact that he had just come out of battle, which had been decided with a veritable miracle? Or maybe he was just sensing something big was about to happen? More likely, however, as he quickly realized, was that the searchlight bots were still hovering above him.

“Ah, dang, forgot about those guys didn‘t I?” The pilot crossed his arms as he reached into his coat, grabbing a gun in each hand. Carefully calculating the circular flight path of the robot combined with the wind speed and the trajectory of his bullets, he deduced exactly where he needed to aim for the most successful shot. Of course, all this was done in less time than it would take the average human to read that sentence.

He whipped his guns out, arms pointed at the two flying robots. He pulled the triggers simultaneously, and the dart bullets hit right where the robot itself connected to its searchlight. The lights turned off as they shorted out and the robots crashed into the ground. There was still one more spotlight, and the pilot looked up to see the last spotlight-bot was hovering above him. He drew his sword, reactivating its electric core, and jumped into the air, slashing it down the middle. The robot split apart as the fox flew past him and it fell to the ground, exploding. The pilot, however, stayed in the air unnaturally long. He wasn’t very light, even being a fox, especially with the equipment he was carrying. The fact that he staying in the air was likely due to one little mutant attribute he’d had his whole life.

He lowered down to the ground, his twin tails spinning slower as he settled to his feet. He flicked the tails for a moment before letting them fall down to rest on the backs of his legs. The small crater had now grown dark as the surrounding city, and the pilot was alone again. He sheathed his sword and went to go retrieve the darts from the other spotlight sentries.

As he removed the last bullet he looked at his haul. ‘Well, this went surprisingly better than expected. One silver guard and two spotlights. These could be pretty useful. Hauling them back to the T3 is gonna be a frikkin‘ chore though.’ He sighed as he began to haul the two spotlight robots into one pile.

* * * * *

Back at the plane, the pilot was busy taking apart the robots. A small cargo hold was open in the back of the cockpit, and he was trying to sort out what was useful now to save space. He’d already gutted one searchlight robot, and was busy doing the same to the other. He didn’t take much from these apart from their propulsion systems and central processing units. He always took the CPU from every robot he scrapped, as their computing power was higher than anything he could otherwise acquire. Once he’d wiped them for hacking software of course.

He moved on to the gun robot, detaching its gun arm. “This I can definitely put to use,” he said as he nonchalantly threw it behind him into the cargo bay. There was a metallic ring and a thud as the part rolled around for a brief moment. After removing the armored plating, the pilot took out the CPU of the last robot and climbed into his jet. He reached behind his chair and slid the door over the cargo hold, locking it in place. Once there had been a chair where the hold was, but these days the fox flew alone.

The pilot ran his pre flight diagnostics then powered on the engine. Grabbing the controls, he flipped a toggle labeled “TRGT. SYS.” A crosshair appeared on the screen in front of him, and he aimed it towards the wall in front of him. Carefully making sure he had the area he wanted, he pressed a lock-on trigger and a small beeping noise came from his dashboard. He slammed his thumbs down on the red buttons on top of his controls and streams of bullets spewed forth from his dual machine guns embedded in the plane’s nose. They decimated the wall in front of him, and he taxied out into the deserted street, turning so his plane faced straight down the road. As soon as he had straightened out the pilot expertly pushed the throttle and began to jet forward. Sensing he had reaching the needed speed for take-off, he pulled back on the controls, and the plane lifted into the air.

Once a few miles out from the city, the pilot typed in a series of numbers on a panel next to him. His plane’s global positioning unit entered the coordinates into its system and plotted the quickest course to the pilot’s destination. He relaxed and sat back in his seat, still keeping a firm grip on the control sticks with one hand, and took off his sunglasses, revealing his bright blue eyes. He quickly slid his goggles back down over his eyes as he drifted into a wisp of the smog above him.

* * * * *

“DESTINATION REACHED,” the GPS’s computerized voice chimed with a ding. The pilot looked out around him. He was flying over a low plain with a small forest located on the edge of it. Originally this whole area had been a large forest, but much of it had been destroyed years ago, and even some of the prairie that replaced was dead from pollution. Still, here and there clumps of tree dotted the landscape. But to the casual observer, the pilot’s landing here would be confusing. There was no town, no roads, not even a small house with a landing strip where he might live. But, that was just to the casual observer.

Turning the GPS off, the pilot flipped another toggle switch on his dashboard. “This is the Tornado 3. Ground control, do you read me?” the pilot asked, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. “Rhetorical question of the month,” he muttered under his breath.

His radio system came to life with a jolt of static as a voice on the other end of his frequency spoke. “We read you T3. Relay your request,” it said in a very professional tone.

“Skip the formalities, what else would I want? Just open the runway,” the pilot said, not even attempting to hold his annoyance in check.

“Of course, right away. Always a pleasure dealing with you, sir,” the ground control personnel member said before cutting off communications. The pilot was now approaching one of the clumps of trees, which on a closer inspection almost looked as though they were aligned in rows. A few seconds after the ground control had disconnected there came a deep rumbling noise, and the ground around the trees lifted out of the ground, tilting to the side. Slowly, a gray runway rose up out of the ground, angling into a cavern.

The pilot slowed and pushed his plane down towards the new opening in the ground. He flipped a series of switches in a row, and with a loud “clunk” his landing gear extended out from the bottom of the plane. The pilot carefully touched down, he tires squealing as he shot down the angled road. He began to slow down and the runway began to move back to its horizontal resting position as the ground closed up above it. The plane came to a stop on top of a circular platform that rose about a foot off of the rest of the ground. He turned off all the plane’s systems as it locked into place. The pilot jumped out onto the platform, landing in front of a pedestal with a control panel in front of it.

He turned it on, and entered in his name and a pass code. With a loud click and whirring noise the platform moved along the road, which ran through the center of a large underground hanger. It was filled with planes of various sorts, a large amount of them military fighter jets, as well as a larger amount of ground vehicles. Most of them, however, hadn’t been operated for quite some time, evident by the heavy buildup of dust. The platform reached an empty space in the collection of vehicles and turned, settling into its proper home. The fox turned the control panel off and climbed back up to the plane.

Opening the cargo hold, the pilot reached around, groping for something amongst the metal. Feeling course fabric, he pulled out a large burlap sack and began to fill it with the parts. He stopped to switch his eyewear yet again back to sunglasses, then hefted the bag over his shoulder and walked off towards the door of the hangar.

The hangar, as was earlier noted, was underground. It was the only thing hidden below the surface here though. In fact, dug into and out of a series of catacombs, an entire underground city had been constructed. Over the years it had expanded from a small village of mostly animals who used it as a temporary safe house to a medium sized city, home to both humans and animals, who existed in harmony, more or less.

The fox walked through the passageways towards the residential district where his small home was. He paused at the door to reach into a pocket for his keys, but stopped and simply reached for the doorknob. He turned it, and as he’d suspected it was already unlocking. With a sigh, he walked inside his house. He flipped the light switch next to the door, and removed his sunglasses as the swivel chair at his desk turned around, seemingly on its own. “Well well, look what the cat dragged in,” the figure seated in the chair said.

“What are you doing in my house, again, Hopper?” the fox said flatly as he set the burlap sack down.

“Hey, why so angry?” the frog, Hopper, asked as he stood up from the chair. “And here I was worried about when you’d come back.”

“Yeah, which is why you broke into my house right around now and waited for me. It gets old considering I know you’re going to do it,” the fox said as Hopper walked up to him.

“Well, whatever. But dang Miles, you seriously got beat up dude. You know someone’s not gonna be happy about this,” Hopper said, looking at the fox’s various wounds.

Miles simply uttered a “hmph.” “Whatever, just get out of my house,” he said, pushing the young frog outside the door.

“You know she really does worry about you!” Hopper said, only to be answered by the door slamming in his face. “Geez, that guy. Seems to get more uptight every day. But I guess he has good reason,” Hopper said, putting his hands in his shorts pockets. He walked away, taking one last glance at the door marked with the address number “92” below which was the name of the resident…

“MILES PROWER.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Livin’ In the City.

“Miles, let me in!” the feminine voice called from the outside of Miles’ door. It was followed a triplet of knocks on the hard wood. “And don‘t think I don‘t know you‘re home, Hopper already filled me in on your condition. I‘m not going to let you just sit there and bleed to death because you don‘t want any help!” Miles did simply sit there in the swivel chair by his computer desk, holding a dirtied rag against his bleeding shoulder. There was a long silence, pierced only by a faint squeaking noise. The fox’s ears perked up, and he straightened in his seat. “Okay, have it your way. But if you aren‘t going to let me in,” the voice continued. “I‘ll just have to open the door myself!” Miles bolted from his chair to the door and wrenched it open in a matter of seconds. In the doorway stood a pink female hedgehog, and in her raised arms was a comically enormous hammer. “Thank you,” she said with a smile.

Miles stepped back from the door and walked back over towards his desk, grabbing the rag which he had dropped on his living room table. Really, it was his only table, and the house was mostly one large room with various inset areas, but it was the table by the couch and T.V., so it was the living room table. He sat down in the swivel chair and spun around to the desk, typing in a series of commands on the keyboard with his free hand. “I really don‘t need your help Amy, I can take care of my self,” Miles said as the hedgehog walked in, closing the door.

Amy sat down on his couch, her hammer disappearing in a small puff of smoke. No one could really explain where she kept the massive hammer that she used as a weapon. Some theorized that it was magic, some said she could access a sort of special zone with limited chaos powers, and others had more, less tasteful, explanations. Amy looked at Miles like a mother scolding a child. “Yeah, sure you can. Last time I let you patch yourself up, I found you like this, bleeding all over. You‘re going to face some serious damage if your wounds aren‘t treated properly.” Feeling her hard stare on his back, Miles turned around in the swivel chair, looking at his slightly unwelcome guest. She wore red and white boots, white pants, a long sleeveless shirt that hung down almost to her knees, and white gloves. Her hedgehog spikes were quite a bit longer than average, and were held down by a red hair band, causing them to grow more like hair than spikes. And her fierce green eyes were staring at Miles, with a friendly worry behind them.

“You don‘t need to worry about me. Hopper just over exaggerates things, I‘m fine,” Miles said, trying not to look Amy directly in the eye.

“And that‘s why you‘re sitting here with a bloody rag against your shoulder, which I can tell from here obviously got shot. Now come over here and sit,” she said, picking up a medical kit she’d brought with her.

“Not now, I‘m working,” Miles began before being cut off.

“Sit. Now.” Amy said firmly. Miles was frozen, but soon stood up and walked over to sit on the table in front of Amy. She took Miles hand off the rag, grabbing it and depositing them on the table beside him. She looked over his shoulder was she reached around in the med kit. “You really got it this time. What did you do, run straight at whoever was firing at you?” Miles didn’t say anything, trying not to give away the fact that he had, in fact, charged a firing machine gun. “Well, this shouldn‘t be too bad, you do heal pretty fast so there shouldn‘t be too much lasting damage.” She began to wipe the wound with antiseptic, holding Miles’ arm tightly with her free hand so he’d stop twitching. She set down the wipe on the rag and pulled out a roll of gauze, wrapping it around Miles’ shoulder. After a few minutes she had sufficiently treated the bullet wound.

“Thanks, I should be fine now,” Miles said, standing up as soon as Amy moved her hands away from him.

“Fortunately for you, I think you‘re right,” she said as he sat back down in the swivel chair. She picked up the dirty rag and wipe in one bundle and deposited it in the wastebasket. After packing the gauze back into the first aid kit, she stood up, smoothing out her shirt. “Well, I‘ll be leaving then, I have to return this kit to the doctor. I‘ll see you later, okay Miles?” She began to walk towards the door, but when there was no answer, she turned back towards Miles, the fierce side of her voice showing again, “Okay?”

“Yeah, see yah,” Miles said, turning around to wave as Amy left. As soon as the door clicked shut, he walked over to his desk. He sat down and spun the swivel chair around to face his computer monitor. Checking over the numbers streaming down the screen, he quickly typed a series of commands into the keyboard. They appeared amongst the scrolling data, and in a few moments the words "DATAWIPE.EXE COMPLETE" appeared on the screen. The letters and numbers ceased appearing, and a high-pitched noise sounded to Miles right. He rolled the chair over to where the desk curved to align with the curve of the wall. There on a small platform was one of the CPUs of the robots he had scrapped.

"This one's clean," he said as he detached various wires from the roughly cube shaped computing unit. The fox gently set it in a cardboard box and reached into his burlap sack for the next. He pulled it out, looking it over. Pushing himself over to the keyboard, he typed in a command to lock down all his connections. Miles then hooked up the robot brain as he had before, typing more commands into the computer. The data-wiping program initiated, purging the CPU of any hidden hacking program or viruses.

* * * * *

Amy Rose walked into the expansive room, squinting to see in the darkness. "Hopper? Are you in here?" she asked the shadows.

There was silence, and then a voice answered from above. "Yeah, can you turn on the lights? Some jerk flipped 'em off on me. Should be a switch nearby you." Amy groped in the darkness behind her, eventually finding the small flip switch that would turn on the lights. She flicked it upward, squinting as the bright hang lights above turned on. As her eyes adjusted, she looked up at the green figure hanging from the ceiling. "Hey Amy, how's it hanging?" he asked as he jumped down, landing right in front of the pink hedgehog.

Amy looked over the individual standing before her. He was green tree frog, with oddly shaped purple spots all over his body. His eyes, which were positioned on small bumps on the top of his head, were a matching violet color. He wore a simple outfit of sandals and red shorts bearing a single flower on the right side. His expression was a smirk that never seemed to change.

"I'm fine, Hopper. Thanks for telling me about Miles, he actually wasn't as bad as I thought he'd be."

"No problem. That fox may be one cold-hearted Lone Wolf techno genius, but if he died I'd lose the best sparring partner I've got," Hopper said, barely pausing to breath.

Amy simply took his words with a smile. She knew well what Hopper really thought of Miles behind all the joking. Hopper was one of the few people to try, somewhat successfully, to get close to Miles in years. She blamed it on the fact that the frog was way too stubborn for his own good, and Amy knew it would be good if Miles could open up to new people after so many years. "Honestly, sometimes he acts just like that echidna," Amy said, her thoughts breaking their way to her tongue.

"Who does what now?" Hopper asked.

"Oh, nothing. So, how has the training been going?"

"Feh, don't even really need to ask. Same old same old. Not much to report, just, you know, trying to "better my skills" and all that."

"I'm surprised your master doesn't think you're that good. You can do that whole climbing on the walls move after all."

"Yeah, but my whole family can do that, it's just natural for me. Anyway…”

"Hopper! What did I say about the lights! You need to train in total darkness to improve your senses!" called an elderly rat from a doorway at the end of the room.

"Oh look, the "lights-off jerk" returns to finish the job. I'll see yah later Amy," Hopper said as he walked over towards the other end of the room to his sensei.

“Yeah, bye Hopper,” Amy called, turning off the lights as she left the dojo. The door closed behind her with a resounding echo as Amy stepped out into the city streets. She looked back at the building she had just exited. It was built in a very traditional style of most martial arts schools, seeming out of place in the modern city that surrounded it. Of course, the city itself seemed quite out of place with its own surroundings.

The city of Subagri. Originally it was simply a series of underground caverns constructed by the mainly animal citizens of a village formerly located in the area. They used it as a storage cache and safe-house in times of danger. Within the past years, as more wars began to ravage the land, the citizens moved completely into their caverns and began to expand. Soon others came seeking shelter from their enemies, and the simple village became a massive city. Within the center of all the canals that were continuously being expanded was a roughly dome shaped underground cave, dug out of the inside of one of the many hills that dotted the fields above. And within this was the city proper, a modern metropolis of tall skyscrapers. Though I suppose dirtscraper would be a better term in this case. People went to work, children played along the streets, and life continued on as it always had. Simply underground instead of above it.

Amy took a deep a breath as she looked up at the circular hole that let in sunlight at the top of the hill. It was reinforced with metal plating so that the rock wouldn’t wear away and crash into the city below, and it could also be sealed. Surrounding it on the surface, camouflaged among the trees, were defense turrets of various makes and models. In this day and age, one could never be too safe. In fact, the reason the weapons were surrounding the city was the same reason they were living in it.

After collecting her thoughts, Amy turned and began to walk down the street towards the Market District. She was about to go grocery shopping when Hopper had come to tell her that Miles was back. She then rushed over to the hospital, where one of the doctors always knew exactly what she needed. Amy showed up at the hospital fairly often, whenever Miles would come back from one of his little excursions badly injured. And considering the small amount of fame he had, it didn’t take long for the medical staff to catch on to the situation whenever Amy dropped in for a visit.

Both her and Miles were had actually been very well known throughout the world years ago, though that had all quickly faded away during the wars that had ravaged the land for the past decade. Still, within the city of Subagri, Miles especially was well known, though not so much for the reasons that he used to be. These days, most people knew him only as, “that insane fox who is always trying to pick a fight” with his regular reconnaissance mission. Few knew what his real purpose was, and even fewer cared to find out. If Miles Prower wanted to keep to himself, then they figured why bother trying to talk to him.

Amy’s thoughts were broken as someone yelled out, “Hey, someone stop that guy!” She looked up to see a rather shady looking character running towards her, an obviously stolen purse in his hand. She immediately spread her left arm out, her hammer appearing in it. The thief, a porcupine by the looks of him, had little time to react as Amy brought the mallet swinging into his face, slamming him to the ground. He hit the concrete a few feet away, unconscious and with a bloody, and most likely broken, nose. Amy walked over and picked up the purse as its owner ran over to her.

“Oh thank you very much, young lady!” the woman said as Amy handed her the purse. She was human, with long reddish brown hair, and she wore blue boots, tight brown pants, and a blue vest jacket with a white T-shirt underneath.

“It was no trouble ma’am,” Amy said politely, putting away her hammer. “I have no idea why people would still act like this the way the world is.” Amy knelt down and grabbed the porcupine. She hefted him up onto her shoulder, wary of his long, thin spines. “I’ll just take this guy down to the police station and have them take care of it.”

“That would probably be the best thing to do. Thank you again, Miss…?”

“Rose. Amy Rose,” Amy said, with a slight curtsy that was hardly discernible due to the fact that she was still carrying the rather large porcupine.

“Thank you Miss Rose. My name is Sally by the way,”

“Well then, you’re welcome Miss Sally. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime,” Amy said as she turned and walked towards the police station a few blocks away.

* * * * *

“That’s the last of them,” Miles said as he unplugged the last of the robot CPUs from his computer. Setting it in the box with the rest of them, he opened up a document on his screen. It was a journal of some kind, and scrolling to the bottom, Miles began to type in an entry.

“6/1, 10th year.

Went on another salvaging mission today. Acquired one silver guard and two searchlight robots. Resistance was tougher than usual today; enemy used a decoy to maneuver to ambush me. I took severe bullet wounds to my left shoulder, Amy Rose patched it up. I’ll have to be more careful next time; they’re beginning to anticipate my movements. ”

He saved the entry and closed the window, opening up another program. It brought up a 3D image, with various technical writings surrounding it. Schematics of one of the silver robots he had fought earlier that day. Drawing a line from the gun arm, Miles created a word box, saying “Possible to take down in-between ammunition cartridges. When caught in a long-term firefight, seems to overlook reloading. Might not hold true for all units.”

Leaning back in his chair, Miles grabbed an aluminum can sitting on the desk. The drink inside it had gone flat, having been sitting there half-drunken since yesterday, but he didn’t mind. He drained the last of it, crushed it in his hands, and threw it in the overflowing garbage can. Miles checked the time, then walked over towards the door. His long coat hung on a small hook on the wall, and below it was small table with his handguns. On the wall just to the left was a sword rack with a wooden practice sword and his specially designed katana. He had developed the long curved blade after seeing the effectiveness its more traditional cousins could have on an object. Built within the reinforced metal the composed the blade was a thin electronic device, hooked up to a powerful battery in the handle. By pressing a button concealed near the hilt, the blood groove of the sword would slide inward, revealing the coursing electricity inside. The blade would become covered in the sparks, heating up incredibly. And when these factors were combined with a well-trained swing, the blade could slash through anything.

Miles turned to his guns, picking them up and walking back to the desk. He also retrieved the darts from his coat pocket. These he placed in a small metal box, and a small light in the corner of its frame lit up green to signify that the darts were charging. He then proceeded to take apart the guns, examining the individual pieces. One error in the inner workings of his weapons, and he wouldn’t have a chance against the metallic armies he fought regularly. And if there’s one thing the fox would never do, it would be losing to them…

* * * * *

Miles away from the where Miles was holding his own personal war, there was a mysterious island where a different war was taking place. Yet the enemy in both cases was the same. The circumstances in each, however, were somewhat different. Miles fought for his own personal reasons, the war fought on this island was fought out of a duty to protect it.

A figure jumped from tree branch to tree branch. The trees shook, and leaves rustled. Birds nesting in them would have likely flown away from their homes with a ruckus. That is, if any of them had remained. The red being was moving quickly, hardly pausing to catch his breath. Not that any of this was strenuous for him. He’d lived his entire life training for battles such as these, and he knew his surroundings well. Jumping from an upper branch, he grabbed onto a shorter tree as he fell, spinning around the thin branch that stuck out parallel to the ground. He let go, flipping through the air and landing in a patch of low-lying jungle plants. He quickly scanned the area, his palm pressed flat against the ground. He caught something moving in his peripheral vision, a thin red light piercing through the night’s darkness, and he jumped into the air as a high caliber bullet flew towards him.

“TARGET SIGHTED. INITIATING CHASE,” a metallic voice said. The small squad of robots shot into the thick growth of the jungle, the machines in front hacking down a small path through the trees. They had been designed to fight in this environment, and worked efficiently, rarely being slowed by the dense vegetation. Yet even the best of computer programming can’t beat the instinct of something that has lived in the area its entire life.

The figure continued to run through the treetops, swinging from branch to branch. Frequently, he would change his direction, diverting left or right as he judged the path he should take. He was having trouble losing his pursuers, and wanted to get rid of them quickly before they destroyed any more of the jungle. He landed on the ground and immediately jumped into a tree branch, perching low as he waited.

The trio of robots flew towards him quickly. They hadn’t yet noticed that their target had stopped, which he had counted on happening. Just as they passed the tree he was hiding in, he jumped down, ambushing the robot in back. He slammed it into the ground, smashing its head with his powerful punch. He looked up, his long dreadlock-like spines falling in front of his face. The other two robots quickly turned around and spotted him. He dove towards the ground as one of the robots threw a small canister towards him. The incendiary grenade hit the jungle floor and exploded, engulfing the jungle in flames for a five-foot radius. The two robots moved forward to examine the charred remains of tropical forest for signs of the body. Finding none, the robots were about to split up and search for the target when one of them was suddenly smashed through the center by a fist.

The red figure dove out of the ground, tearing one of the robots apart as he did so. Immediately he ran back into the dense jungle, the other robot firing its weapon at him as it gave chase. “TARGET IDENTIFIED. ECHIDNA, MALE. PREPARING TO ELIMINATE.”

“I’ve got to give this guy the slip somehow!” Looking around him as he ran, the echidna sniffed the air. Recognizing the scent of seawater, he turned to the left, the robot close on his tail. The jungle was slowly beginning to thin, and he could see a faint light from the moon up ahead. The robot was gaining on him, and he only had one shot at this. He was approaching a cliff over looking the ocean. Yet he didn’t stop running at full speed, and the robot, focusing all its power on maintaining its gain on its target, didn’t anticipate that the echidna would jump off of a cliff.

However, that’s exactly what he had planned. Just as the robot was about to fire a shot straight for the echidna’s head, he jumped off of the cliff. The robot, its engines blasting at full power, couldn’t slow down in time, and shot straight off of the edge, plummeting to the ocean miles below. The echidna however, was perfectly safe, clinging to the underside of the cliff. He slowly pulled himself up to land, and sat on the edge of the cliff, catching his breath. Looking up he stared at the disfigured moon, half of it having been missing for almost ten years. Reaching up to his face, he felt the long scar along his right eye. Memories began to float through his head, and he quickly stood up, driving them from his mind.

He turned back to the jungle and dashed off in the direction of his home. Years ago he’d lived out in the open near ancient ruins, or just settled down wherever was most convenient for him. But those were simpler times, when the island hadn’t been in turmoil and he wasn’t living in hiding. Back then, he had control of the island. These days, he fought to survive on it.

He soon arrived a cave hidden deep in the jungle. Its entrance was small, but as one would go deeper inside, the cave became larger, having been dug out by the echidna over time as a suitable house for two. As he walked into the main living space of the cave, he was greeted by a relieved voice.

“Oh, thanks heavens, you’re back!” the orange furred female echidna who had been sitting waiting in the house said, running to her partner. “You were gone so much longer than you’d said, I was worried something had happened. Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, Shade. I just ran into a little bit more trouble than I’d anticipated and had to lead one of the robots off the island,” the male echidna said, hugging the one called Shade tightly.

“Alright then, I should have expected you to do something like that, Knuckles,” Shade said, stepping back from the other echidna and kissing him quickly on the cheek. “And I suppose you’re probably hungry, so I’ll throw together some dinner.”

“That sounds great. But nothing too much, it is getting late,” Knuckles said, sitting down on the couch and crossing his arms. He looked at the spikes on his fists, characteristic of members of the Knuckles Clan that he was descended from. “I will get the Emerald back,” he said quietly to himself as Shade walked off towards the kitchen. “even if it’s the last thing I do.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isolated Memories.

Knuckles ran towards the robot horde. Nothing could stop him from reaching his goal. Yet, what his goal was, he wasn’t sure of. He could sense the Master Emerald’s power from within the giant metal fortress, but there was something else driving him. It felt like more than his lifelong calling to guard the giant Chaos Emerald. It felt like he was being driven solely by rage.

A large mechanized giant crashed down from above him. It raised a giant energy sword into the air, the hot plasma charging it causing the air around the blade to shimmer in the heat. With a great rushing noise, it swung down towards Knuckles. Then, everything went blank.

The real Knuckles woke up and bolted to a sitting position, panting for breath. He quickly looked around himself and saw that he was still in his cave home, on the bed he shared with his spouse, Shade, who was now stirring after Knuckles had made such a sudden movement.

“What‘s wrong?” she asked, somewhat drowsy, but still with the alertness of a soldier.

“Nothing, nothing,” Knuckles replied, slowing his breathing back to normal. “Just some weird dream, I‘m fine.” He turned so his legs went over the side of the bed, resting on the floor. Reaching over to a sort of table carved out of the rock wall, he grabbed a small clock, one of the few technological items they still had from when Shade first arrived. Seeing that it was getting close to the time the sun usually rose, Knuckles reached down and grabbed his shoes which were sitting beside the table. After living on the island his whole life, the Guardian’s internal clock was well tuned to the solar patterns of the floating island. In fact, if not for the nightmare, Knuckles probably would have woken up just minutes later anyway.

After putting on his shoes, Knuckles stood up, stretching and letting out a yawn. He turned to see that Shade, along with her normal dress, was also attaching two silvery bracelets to her wrists. After pressing a button on each, a dotted line around the center lit up a bright pink color. Knuckles knew that these were weapons developed by Shade’s people that could manifest energy from the bracelets into a powerful blade. He wondered, however, why she was putting them on, as generally, even when moving around the area, she generally relied only on her other fighting skills.

Sensing her partner’s questioning stare at her, Shade turned to face Knuckles as she slid on her black combat boots, which also possessed the strange energy that powered her bracelets. They were one of the few pieces of her battle suit that she still wore daily. The rest had either been destroyed, put to other purposes, or just waiting for a time when they could be used again. The simple form fitting black shorts and sleeveless shirt that she wore was better suited for the jungle environment where any of her battles would be fought, and allowed her to move even quicker than she could with the battle armor, which, while developed to be simple and lightweight, was still, after all, armor. “In case you‘re wondering,” Shade said as she clasped the top of the second boot shut. “I‘m planning on heading towards Sandopolis today while I get some supplies. We‘re mostly getting low on food, and for some reasons I really want some of those strange fruits that grow near the large oases.”

Knuckles nodded, knowing exactly what fruit she meant. He honestly had never really liked them, they were sour and had a strange aftertaste, plus they didn’t look too appealing after being exposed to the harsh conditions of the Sandopolis desert. But he figured that if she was going to head all the way to that part of the island, she must like it.

“So I figured I‘d bring the Leech blades with me, just in case I run into a large amount of trouble. We haven‘t been in that area recently, who knows what the enemy could be up to over there,” Shade finished, and walked towards the cave’s main exit. Knuckles followed her.

“True. Just be careful, okay?” he said, leaning in to kiss her good-bye.

“Should you really be worrying about me being reckless?” Shade asked playfully after they parted. She then walked into the dark cavern that led out of the cave, while Knuckles walked over to a strange rock that stuck up in the middle of the main room. He’d originally found this cave years ago, though it had been much smaller then, after falling down a concealed hole while exploring. The island was filled with secret passageways, and Knuckles had known them all. Or at least he thought so at the time. After finding his way out of the cave, Knuckles figured the passageway had taken him a distance of about half the total length of the jungle. Now, the shoot made for quick transportation from the cave, and helped to hide its location. Knuckles bent down, slid aside the flat rock that concealed the hole. He stepped over one edge of the stone rim, then jumped into the tube, curling into a tight ball as he shot through the subterranean channel at incredibly high speeds.

* * * * *

Minutes later, Knuckles emerged from a similar hole. As usual he came to a stop just short of bursting out of the ground like a geyser. Slowly lifting the rock lid, he looked for signs of any robot presence. Seeing that the coast was clear, he stepped out of the rock, quickly concealing the hole again. He was now in a small clearing, though partially in an effort to keep the secret passage concealed and mostly due to robot problems, the undergrowth of the jungle was beginning to fill it up. Looking up through a hole in the trees, Knuckles found the direction the sunlight was coming from, turned so it was shining on his right and began to head south. He wanted to see how things were on the edge of the jungle, and for that matter, the edge of the island. And this time, any scouting parties would be much easier to get rid of.

Traveling through the jungle in the early morning was much easier than at night. The light from the just rising sun gave enough light for Knuckles to see, especially thanks to his sensitive echidna eyes, yet the long shadows of the trees gave him cover from roving robots. Yet for this reason Knuckles still didn’t leave the cover of the trees. While it would certainly be much easier to just glide along the air currents towards his destination, it would also make him easier to spot. So he simply jumped from branch to branch, high up in the trees. Rarely did he lose track of where he was, he knew the island like the back of his knuckle-spurred hand. After all, he’d lived on it, alone, for almost his whole life.

The trees soon began to shorten in height, though their thickness didn’t increase. Knuckles stopped suddenly on one tree branch, perched like a cat waiting to pounce. He looked around, checking his surroundings before jumping onto the soft ground below. He walked slowly to where the trees, and the ground, ended and the sky began. He sat down, his legs dangling off the cliff, and he looked down.

Far, far below, the sea glistened up at him, and here and there a cloud drifted by. To the average person, such a sight would be beyond their thinking, but to the echidna it was nothing new. Still, he thought as he laid back on the ground, it was a beautiful sight. When he managed to get peaceful moments like this, they reminded him of the days when he hardly knew there was a world outside his home, and hardly anyone knew of him. Back when it was just him, the small animals of the island, and the Master Emerald. But when he thought of this, always his mind would return to the day when all of that began to change. When the emerald he had guarded with his very life fell into the hands of Dr. Robotnik…

* * * * *

The day had started off peaceful as any other. The sun was shining, hardly a cloud in the sky, or on the ground, and everything seemed at peace. Knuckles leaned back on the side of the sheer cliff that towered over him, as he sat on a large flat rock jutting out from the side of it. He crossed his arms behind his head as he looked out at the island. To his left he saw the small separate island nestled in the mountains that were the ruins of an ancient shrine to the Master Emerald, the jewel of infinite power that not only controlled the seven mystical Chaos Emeralds, but also kept Angel Island airborne. Of course, the Master Emerald was no longer kept there. It had been moved not long ago after an increased pressure from others wishing to possess it.

It had been just over a year ago, nearly a year after the incident aboard the space colony ARK. Knuckles had returned to Angel Island with the Master Emerald and went right back to guarding it. No news came to him by way of his former allies, and fortunately neither his enemies. For a time, the Island seemed to have returned to its days of being just a legend, and Knuckles could go about his business in peace, knowing the Master Emerald was safe. However, the past soon caught up to him, and unfortunately it involved his enemies.

Small groups of robots, made by none other than the infamous Eggman that Knuckles had fought against on numerous occasions, began to land on the island. Knuckles did his best to fight them off, though his main priority was to stay near the Master Emerald, which was easily exposed in its open environment. The squads being dispatched to the island quickly grew larger and more frequent, with such a ferocity that Knuckles had never seen from the doctor. They had already reestablished a base deep in the mountain valleys where Eggman had already constructed a launch base for his Death Egg the first time he’d come to the island. And now they were beginning to expand their territory. Knuckles knew that if he were going to battle this threat alone, he’d need to move the Master Emerald to a more secure location.

At first he attempted to simply shrink it to a more manageable size to keep with him when he went into battle, but this proved harder than expected, and Knuckles couldn’t keep the emerald small for long while fighting at the same time. He moved it into the Hidden Palace, though he still kept a close eye on it, as Robotnik already knew of its location and would likely send a scout to the cavern shortly. When Knuckles returned from destroying a robot outpost in the Ice Cap one day, he found a small scout droid floating about the Emerald Chamber. He destroyed it, then took the Master Emerald to find a new hiding place.

Now, it was hidden in a cave dug out entirely by Knuckles deep in the Red Mountain range. He was positive no robot would find it, as he had then concealed the cavern with rock, and so he was able to fight against the Eggman Empire more freely and frequently. And thanks to the strange link he shared with the Master Emerald, Knuckles could always keep tabs on its location, and would know if it had been moved.

Stretching, Knuckles stood up. He’d overheard a commander robot the previous day giving orders to start building outposts near the Hyrdocity ruins. There always seemed to be one flaw in Eggman’s machines, and in this case it seemed to be the lack of non-vocal communications systems. Now with the advantage of knowing their plans, Knuckles could destroy the outpost, eliminate the robots there, and still have time for lunch. Confident in his plan, and sensing the Master Emerald remained untouched, Knuckles jumped off the rock edge, plunging through the air. After free falling for a few seconds, Knuckles stuck his arms out in front of his face, his dreadlock spines fanning out as he caught onto an air current. With a little help from the chaos energies that he could control as Guardian, he was soon gliding towards the lake region where the ruins of an underground city lay partially submerged beneath the waters.

Slowly he began to grow closer to the jungle canopy as he descended through the air at a fairly consistent angle. He could see the ruins and signs of construction near them about a half mile away. Careful not to make too much of a disturbance, he landed on top of a tree and climbed down to the ground. He continued the rest of the way on foot, the trees thinning into bushes and undergrowth as he neared the lake. In the distance he could hear a waterfall and a running river, and the low level of vegetation after the jungle being set ablaze during the first Robotnik invasion told him he was headed in the right direction.

Soon he could see clearly through the plant life at the Hyrdocity area. Sure enough, a small squad of robots was busy constructing a small base of operations. There were about three or four constructors, simple robots with low armor and almost no weaponry apart from their building tools. And standing guard were five spiked Orb-bots and two humanoid robots that appeared to be of G.U.N. design. “Not even using his own ideas these days. This‘ll be too easy.” Knuckles commented to himself as he watched the scene for a while. “Maybe a little too easy. Knowing Eggman, he‘s probably got something hidden or a larger force close by. Though I highly doubt that the robot I overheard was a trick. Robotnik may have been a genius, but he was never that clever.”

Knuckles walked sideways slowly, till he was in line with the two bi-pedal robots who were pacing back and forth. Waiting for the right moment he watched as the robots passed each other, and one began to walk towards him. Smirking with the anticipation of a nice quick fight, Knuckles waited for the robot to reach the end of its pacing. Timing it just right, Knuckles burst from his hiding place just as the robot turned its back to him. He jumped on its shoulder, wrapping his legs around its head. He pulled his weight backwards quickly, snapping the robot’s head off. He then jumped off and did the handstand to get back on his feet. Just as he’d anticipated, the other pacing robot now turned and began to fire at him. Knuckles grabbed the falling body of the robot he’d just dispatched and spun around, throwing it with incredible force at its partner. The two collided and flew backwards, exploding.

As Knuckles watched the impact, he felt something flying towards his head. He ducked just in time as a spiked mace ball flew over him. Rolling to the side, he turned to face the Orb-bots, they’re spike balls rapidly orbiting their simple spherical bodies. He charged at them as they began to launch their projectiles at him, one after the other in quick succession. Knuckles weaved in and out of the spiked horde, until all that stood before him was the five, non-spiked, black robotic balls with eyes. Which soon ceased to exist, as he threw them one by one at the constructor robots.

Looking over his completed job, Knuckles was about to turn back towards the mountains, when he was stopped by a sound coming from just behind him. It sounded like a hover engine, which could signal nothing other than an incoming robot. However, the situation seemed to grow tenser as a clanging of metal sounded in a rhythmic pattern, almost like slow clapping. And then came the voice, cold, metallic, and villainous. “Well done, Guardian, well done.”

Knuckles quickly turned around to face his new foe. What met his eyes shocked him more than he’d expected. Standing before him, hovering just above the ground, was a robot he never thought he’d see again. It was the height of the average animal, with a generally red color scheme. Coming off the back of its head were several long exhaust ports/flight stabilizers, and its hands were clawed and possessed two long spikes on the back of each hand. And on its chest was a white crescent, identical to the one on Knuckles’. Knuckles smirked as he looked at his robotic counterpart. “Well, never thought I‘d see you again, Metal Knuckles.”

“Actually, it’s Metal Knuckles m.k. II. I have had some improvements since we last met,” Metal Knuckles replied, landing on the ground.

“Yeah, whatever, that‘s what all you Eggman robots say. So, you here for a fight?” Knuckles asked, cracking the knuckles on his fingers for emphasis. “Cause I‘ll be sure to make it a quick one.”

“As much as I‘d love to prove my superiority, eliminating you is actually only my second mission objective. Though when the time comes for that, I‘m sure it will be a quick fight.”

“Well then, if I‘m not who you‘re after, then what are you here for?” Knuckles asked.

“Really, is it that hard to figure out? What else could I be here for?”

“You don‘t mean you plan on taking…” Metal Knuckles nodded. “Well, you‘re never going to find it. Its hidden in a completely different location, and only I know where it is.”

“That would be true, and the Emperor Robotnik assumed this after scouts reported that both the Master Emerald Shrine and Hidden Palace where empty. Which is why he had me equipped with this.” Metal Knuckles reached to his side and opened up the casing on his body, revealing his inner workings. Pointing to a strange glowing piece, he continued. “A Chaos Energy tracker. With this, finding your precious emerald should be a simple job. And then I‘ll come back to take care of you.”

Knuckles closed his eyes and faced the ground, chuckling. “You really think it‘ll be that easy? It’s not like I‘m just gonna let you go free!” Suddenly Knuckles jumped at his metallic doppelganger, throwing a well aimed fist at his still exposed chest cavity. Metal Knuckles reacted quickly and caught Knuckles’ fist and shut his casing. Knuckles attempted to hit Metal with an uppercut, but this too was blocked. However, Knuckles had expected this and twisted his body around, picking up Metal Knuckles and throwing him towards the jungle.

Metal Knuckles engaged his hover engine and righted himself midair, landing on the ground. He slid back, his feet digging two shallow trenches in the soft ground. He paused for only a second before blasting back towards Knuckles, throwing a couple of punches of his own. Knuckles side stepped them, holding his fists close in front of his face. Watching Metal Knuckles timing, he found an opening and managed to hit him in the face, throwing the robot off balance. Before he could orient himself, Knuckles pounced, grabbing onto Metal’s arms and flinging him into the air. Knuckles jumped after him and grabbed his feet, throwing him towards the lake.

Metal Knuckles hit the water with a heavy splash as Knuckles landed back on the ground, crouching. He waited for a minute, then stood up and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Like I said, it‘d be a quick fight. Though I will admit, that was the most challenge I‘ve had in a long time.” Knuckles turned and was about to walk away from the area when he was once again stopped, this time by the sound of water splashing.

“Well, then, why don‘t we continue this fun!” Metal Knuckles called from where he floated in the air above the lake. “Over in Red Mountain. Where a certain Master Emerald is hidden. Let‘s see who‘s really fit to be its Guardian. Knuckles the echidna, or his metal twin.” And with his mocking complete, Metal Knuckles turned towards the mountains, and blasted off through the sky. Without so much as the slightest though, Knuckles chased after him. The race for the Master Emerald had begun.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Double the Losses.

Leaves rustled violently. Shrubbery and twigs crack and crunch with every step. Whole trees are bent, thrown to the side, or just smashed in half as the enraged echidna frantically charges through the jungle. Overhead he can still he hear the slight hum of his robotic counterpart’s propulsion engine, heading towards the mountains in the distance. Knuckles glanced to his left through the trees. He was running just on the edge of this section of the jungle, and would be completely free of the bothersome vegetation if not for the lake blocking his way.

He continued, trying his best to clear a path for himself. If he’d been thinking straighter he probably would have taken to the upper tree branches, and maybe even taken to the sky. However, with this powerful of an enemy threatening to get their hands on the Master Emerald, Knuckles was being driven purely by his instinct. He looked to the left again, and saw that the lake had begun to shrink as it rounded off into one of the many rivers that ran down from the mountain, through the jungles and forests, and off the island. Of course, somehow there was always water flowing, but that was just one of the many mysteries of the island.

He sidestepped out of the trees, now running along a large plain like clearing. Up ahead he saw a strange collection of mushrooms. The island, with its large size, was rich in its variety of vegetation and terrain. A majority of the outer edge of the island was covered in tropical jungle, but a large amount of the forests were also deciduous and coniferous, as well as fungous. A large part of the forests were covered in strange, giant mushrooms. They had various properties, from being abnormally strong and springy to ones that could be held on to and used to glide on air currents. Knuckles reached the clump of parasitic organisms, finding three of ascending lengths conveniently lined up in a row. He jumped, bouncing off the first, then the second, and the third. Growing off of the side of a tree was another mushroom, which he recognized as the parachute variety. He grabbed a hold of it, and soon a gust of wind caught it and he began to float into the air. As he reached the peak of his climb, he let go of the mushroom, breaking into a glide. Metal Knuckles still had a gain on him, and Knuckles did everything he could to increase his speed.

The descent of his glide was almost ground level when he reached the base of the mountain. He latched on to the side, and using all his strength, he repeatedly launched himself higher up the mountain, climbing higher and higher with each jump. Here and there he would climb straight along the rock face till her reached an outcropping. He saw no sign of Metal Knuckles, and hoped it meant that he had beaten the robot there. Just as he was getting to the height where the Master Emerald was hidden, however, he heard the low roar of Metal’s engines, and the red robot came streaking around the mountain, headed straight for where the Emerald’s cave was. Knuckles jumped off the side of the mountain, glided around its edge, then grabbed back on and continued to climb up to where the freshly dug cave had been exposed.

He walked in, cautious of where the robot could be hiding. Overhead small stalagetites were already growing. As he traversed deeper into the cave the light from the entrance faded, and he was plunged into darkness. However, he soon rounded a corner, and new light began to shine. A strange green glow, that could only come from one source. The Master Emerald. Knuckles soon entered a circular chamber. And there in the middle of it stood Metal Knuckles, the Master Emerald in his hands.

“So, you finally decided to show up,” Metal Knuckles said, turning to face his original.

“Yeah, and this is as far as you’re getting. Hand over the Emerald. Now,” Knuckles said, taking a fighting stance.

Metal Knuckles laughed. “Well then, if you want the Emerald so badly, then you can have it!” Metal Knuckles spun around, throwing the Master Emerald towards Knuckles, who dove forward to catch. Metal Knuckles dashed towards him and slammed him into the wall, catching the Emerald before it fell. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Metal Knuckles said as one of his hands began to spin, transforming into a gun barrel. He pointed it at the ceiling of the cave and fired a yellow laser which blasted through the rock. Sunlight blasted into the dim cave, blinding Knuckles as he tried to stand up. Metal Knuckles fired up his boosters and shot out of the cave.

“You’re not getting away that easily!” Knuckles yelled, stumbling towards the light. He jumped out of the opening and managed to catch onto Metal Knuckles leg. The weight of the two passengers began to wear down Metal’s engine, and the two slowly descended towards the side of the mountain. The landed on a flat plateau-like formation on the edge of one of the lower peaks, and Knuckles, still holding onto Metal’s ankle, tried to throw him to the ground. Metal twisted free and kicked Knuckles in the face, flying a few yards away from him and setting the Master Emerald down.

“I can tell you’re not going to give up easily,” Metal Knuckles said as he got into a fighting stance. “In which case, I‘ll simply have to eliminate you now!” Metal Knuckles dashed forward, slamming the flat side of his arm into Knuckles’ stomach. The echidna’s body bent at the middle as his robotic counterpart towards the edge of the plateau. He recovered, and grabbed Metal Knuckles’ arm. Fighting inertia, Knuckles slammed his feet to the ground. His heels dug deep trenches in the rock, pebbles flying into the air. The rock eventually won and the slowed the two to a stop. The crimson combatters stood still for a minute until Knuckles pulled Metal to the ground. His armor produced a high ringing noise as he hit the ground.

Knuckles moved to finish off the robot, but Metal Knuckles jumped up, kicking Knuckles in the face. He stumbled back a step, but was prepared when Metal threw his next punch. Knuckles caught his fist, and did the same with the next. Once again, the two were at a standstill, but only for a brief moment. Knuckles jumped, flipping over Metal Knuckles. Landing behind Metal, he had pulled the robot with him throwing him to the dirt. Knuckles quickly grabbed him by the neck, lifting him into the air. He popped the robot with an uppercut, sending him upwards. Metal Knuckles flipped in the air, pointing himself towards Knuckles. He blasted straight down, arm pulled back for a punch. Knuckles jumped to the side at the last second. Metal slammed into the ground, causing a cloud of dust to fly into the air.

Knuckles squinted, trying to see through the brown haze. His eyes opened wide as Metal Knuckles came bursting from the cloud, spiked fist aimed at Knuckles’ head. He ducked, kicking Metal Knuckles in the stomach. He grabbed Knuckles’ foot before he could pull it away, taking the echidna with him as he executed a mid-air version of the flipping technique used against him earlier. Knuckles landed on his back but sprang to his feet quickly. Just in time to be elbowed in the back by Metal Knuckles at full speed. He landed face first in the dirt, coughing on impact. Red specks stained the dust by his face. Feeling Metal approaching, he rolled to the side quickly, barely dodging the killer robot’s fist.

He swung his leg out, tripping Metal, then spinning around to the deliver two spinning kicks to his face as he fell. The robot crashed to the ground, giving Knuckles time to stand up. He was still gasping for breath as Metal Knuckles got to his feet. “It would seem you may be harder to get rid of than I thought,” Metal said. “So, I‘ll just have to make this more interesting.” He glanced to his right, where the Master Emerald was still sitting. Knuckles did the same, and quickly realized what Metal Knuckles was implying.

“You can‘t really…?”

“You‘d be amazed at the upgrades I‘ve had.” Knuckles began to run for the Master Emerald, but Metal’s hover drive was faster. He grabbed the Master Emerald, a circle opening on his center just below his white crescent. Green energy began to course from the Master Emerald to him ,and his armor began to become lighter colored as the Chaos Energy surrounded him. The circle in his armor closed and Metal released the Emerald. He began to float into the air, laughing maniacally. “Let‘s see how long you can last against Hyper Metal Knuckles!”

“I‘ve beaten one of you super powered robots before, I can do it again!”

“We‘ll see if the years have proven otherwise,” Hyper Metal Knuckles replied. If he had a mouth, it would be smirking. Suddenly, he disappeared, only to reappear a second later standing snout to metallic snout with Knuckles. “Boo,” he said as he raised his hand to the stunned Knuckles’ face, flicking him just between the eyes with a single finger. Knuckles flew backwards, all the way to the edge of the plateau. He would have continued flying had Hyper Metal not flown behind him, stopping him just before he went over. He quickly punched Knuckles in the back, sending him back towards the center of the plateau. Knuckles managed to land on his feet this time, attempting to block Hyper Metal’s next attack, with some success.

Hyper Metal Knuckles began to launch a volley of punches, and Knuckles swerved from side to side, attempting to dodge them. However, delirious from being knocked around, he was unable to keep up with Hyper Metal Knuckles’ high speed punches for long. Soon, the Guardian was being ruthlessly bombarded by his robot clone. After what seemed like a perpetual series of punches, Hyper Metal ceased, allowing Knuckles to fall forward to the ground. The battered echidna tried to push himself off the ground, but his arms gave way and he fell. He tried again, speaking through clenched teeth. “I‘m not… letting you… get way… with… this…”

“Oh really?” Hyper Metal questioned, his electronic voice clearly taking on a mocking tone. He reached down, picking Knuckles up by the neck. He pulled the struggling echidna to his eye level. “Face it original, I‘ve already won. And there is nothing you can do about it.” He tossed Knuckles lightly into the air, only to slam his fist into Knuckles’ muzzle with a fierce uppercut. Knuckles was propelled high above, and Hyper Metal Knuckles flew after him. He stopped just above Knuckles, interlocking his clawed fingers, and slammed his duel fists into Knuckles, sending him back the way he came. He then proceeded to fly around Knuckles, attacking him from all sides, never allowing the echidna to fall more than a few feet. Eventually he grabbed onto Knuckles on each side, holding his arms in against his body. “And now it is time to say goodbye.” He spun around and threw Knuckles towards the cliff, into the jungle. He watched as Knuckles passed over the plateau’s edge, soon followed by the sound of something crashing through the forest canopy. “The chances of him surviving that fall are low, and I can‘t find him with my sensors. Objective B accomplished.” Metal Knuckles lowered himself to the ground, going out of his super state. He walked over to the Master Emerald, and picked it up off the ground. “And now my main objective. Returning to base. Farewell original, you put in a good fight.” Metal Knuckles took to the skys, flying deeper into the mountains.

However, far below in the jungle, Knuckles still alive, silently pledging his vengeance as he lay there, slipping in and out of consciousness…

* * * * *

Knuckles opened his eyes, leaving the world of his memories. Looking to the sky, he saw that it was almost noon. “Better head back. Can‘t spend all day daydreaming.” Knuckles stood up, taking one last look at the ocean, and turned back to the jungle.

* * * * *

Knuckles stepped out from the tunnel, looking around his cave home. Strangely, it seemed empty. “Shade? You home?” he called as he placed the cover back on the secret rock. There was no answer. On the table was a small pile of the fruit shade had wanted, and as Knuckles walked over to it he saw a note. He quickly picked it up and read it.

“Dear Knuckles, if you’re reading this, you likely got home before I returned. The fruit didn’t take long to find, and I picked up the other supplies on my way there, so I decided to do some scouting of the desert after I dropped them off. I’ll be back around noon.

Also, there’s one more thing…”

Knuckles read the last paragraph, and series of emotions swept over him. First a slight doubt, then an uneasiness, both wiped out by an overwhelming sense of joy. A smile erupted on his face and set the note down, sighing a “Wow…” He walked towards the main cave entrance. “In that case, I certainly can‘t just wait for her. We have to celebrate!” He left the cave, heading towards Sandopolis.

* * * * *

In about half an hour, Knuckles had reached the edge of Sandopolis. The harsh, yellow desert stretched out before him, and here and there ancient ruins dotted the otherwise flat landscape. Far to his right was the oasis that was his destination. As he neared it he saw footprints matching Shade’s. But as he got closer he grew more worried. Soon he spotted other tracks in the sand, which were obviously of a robotic origin. He picked up his speed, sprinting to the oasis.

There his fears were realized. Clearly there had been a struggle. The sand was churned up, making the footprints indistinguishable from one another. It was unclear who the winner was to Knuckles as he frantically searched the area. The odd robot part was strewn here and there, but Knuckles need evidence to dispel his worries. Unfotunately, the evidence was against him.

Just to the left of Knuckles’ frantic searching, s small item was hidden. Had he not happened to brush over it with his hand, it likely would have stayed hidden. Knuckles removed his from the sand slowly, his hands shaking. Sure enough, it was on of Shade’s Leech Blade bracelet. Rage built up in Knuckles and he began to forcefully slam his fists into the sand, sending it flying up at him. He didn’t care, or even notice, as he continued to mercilessly pound the desert floor, the ground beneath the sand cracking. He looked skyward and let out a long, painful roar as Shade’s last words echoed in his head.

“I‘m not exactly sure how to say this, and I didn‘t want to tell you till I was almost sure. But I suppose just saying it is the simplest way the do this. Knuckles, I‘m pregnant. We‘re going to be parents!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shaded Past.

Shade moved stealthily through the jungle. While Knuckles, having lived on the island all his life, used secret passages and knowledge of the geography to his advantage, Shade had been trained in espionage tactics and silent strikes. And while some may have based this skill on Nocturnus technology, the truth of the matter was that she was still a trained soldier. And one with, technically speaking, over four thousand years of experience. She moved swiftly through the foliage, stepping smoothly between the low growing vines. She was nearing the Sandopolis border, and the trees were growing shorter, but still just as tightly packed. The sun was growing brighter as the jungle cleared and she stepped onto hard, sandy ground.

The sands of Sandopolis were painted a deep red by the rising sun. Though during the day it was dry, hot, and almost too bright to stand, in these early morning hours the cool of night still hung in the air, and light dew covered the ground. It was at this time that most creatures were active, before the desert became an oven. As Shade walked across the sand, small creatures darted back and forth, preparing for the day. As she neared a small oasis, a trio of light blue Chao toddled up to her.

“Hello little one,” Shade said, keeling down to pet one of them. Even with all the troubles the island had encountered, the Chao continued to live happily in their small, concealed gardens. Of course, even since ancient times, they have had difficult lives. But still they persevered. Shade stood up, and the Chao ran off towards the oasis, where its friends already were. Surrounding it were trees bearing the very fruit Shade was looking for. The chao flew up to them, grabbed the fruit, and walked back. Shade watched as they disappeared into the jungle, then walked up to the oasis. She stood for a while at the edge of the trees, looking over the area. This was obviously a deep oasis, judging by the number of trees that lined its fertile waters. Shade bent down and ran her fingers through the water. It felt cool and refreshing, and got Shade thinking. “I really haven’t bathed properly in quite a while, and a nice cool dip in the water feels good right about now,” she said to herself.

Shade leaned back from the water, removing her boots and setting them next to a tree, along with the sack she’d brought to carry supplies. She stood up and stripped off her shorts and top, dropping them in a pile beside her boots, and laying her bracelets on top of them. She stepped lightly to the water’s edge, and then dove in. The cool blast of water rushed to meet her as her streamlined body shot through it. Ripples spread out from where she’d entered, but there had been hardly a splash. She floated under the surface for a moment, enjoying the feeling of floating freely as the water soaked her light orange fur. She turned towards the surface as burst out of the water, taking in a deep breath. She treaded water for a while, her long dreadlock spines drifting around behind her, before swimming to the opposite end of the oasis. She turned around as she reached the sandy shore and pulled herself up slightly, resting her elbows on the sand to keep her in place. As she lay there relaxing, she looked up to the high mountains in the distance, marveling at their beauty, lone marred by invaders, and wondered how more beautiful they must have been in the years before she had arrived.

* * * * *

They had said it would be a routine mission. And everyone believed them. It was simple for the same soldiers who had helped to conquer countless peoples. Just get on the island, retrieve the Emerald, and get out. Simple. At least, that’s what Shade and her unit were thinking as they warped onto Angel Island. They had chosen a location close to the edge of the island, just to be on the safe side. However, the Nocturnus soldiers highly doubted that the single Knuckles Clan survivor guarding the island could stop them. However, they hadn’t anticipated that for the past few years a different presence had occupied the island. Still, they moved on through the jungle, confident that they would emerge victorious.

The Nocturnus Clan of echidnas. An ancient, mysterious nation, that completely disappeared off the face of the planet over 4000 years ago, soon after the demise of their enemy clan the Knuckles Tribe at the hands of Chaos. History never showed how they had disappeared, and where they went. At least, no history still on the planet. Because on that day, know to them as the Argus Event. It was named such after a strange word that all the Nocturnus heard after they were ripped into a strange dimension known as the Twilight Cage, where time passed differently than in their home dimension. So while 4000 years passed by, only a few years went by in the Twilight Cage. Still, in that time the Nocturnus took over the other denizens of the Twilight Cage, led by their ruler, Lord Ix. The other races were no match for the Nocturnus’ advanced technology and fighting skill, and fell to their might quickly. Now, Ix wanted to gain freedom from the Twilight Cage for his people, and his own motives of conquering the world.

Their plans of escape were also simple. Scouting missions had reported that all seven of the Chaos Emeralds were together in one location, while the Master Emerald was located farther away, on the floating Angel Island. So, Ix himself took the majority of the army with him to take the Chaos Emeralds from where they were hidden, while a smaller squad led by Shade would acquire the Master Emerald. Quick, effective, and they’d be out of the Twilight Cage in no time. And so, Shade’s unit moved through the trees. She had a Chaos Energy tracking device with her, and it was guiding their direction through the jungle, heading deeper into the island. The trees were beginning to thin, and they soon could see that they were nearing a grassy valley at the edge of a mountain.

Suddenly, a rustling noise was heard. Shade held up her hand, ordering the soldiers to stop. They looked around, but could not find the source of the noise. Shade then gave more hand signals, commanding the soldiers. Two, carrying large blasters, moved to the edge of the trees and hid themselves, quickly followed by more, the groups dividing up on either side of a break in the tree line. Shade checked the scanner. They were nearing the Emerald; it was located somewhere in the deep part of the mountains. But something else worried her. Her radar was picking up strange signals in addition to the Chaos Energy. It almost seemed like it was coming from something of a robotic nature. But she thought there must be something wrong, there couldn’t be robots up on this island. She motioned for the troops to move forward, while behind them a figure was hidden in the trees, watching them.

The reached the edge of the mountain and saw that there was large ravine, that didn’t appear to be natural. Once again, Shade became suspicious that something wasn’t right. Still, this was where the tracker showed the Master Emerald to be, and so they continued forward, slowly. Something flew past them, and a soldier pulled out a blaster and immediately shot it down. “Hold your fire soldier, do you want to give away our position!” Shade said. She walked over to the remains of whatever had just flown by. The burning, metallic remains. “So it is a robot. Very well then, it would seem we have a new threat to deal with. No matter, we shall dispose of them just as easily. Let’s move,” she commanded, walking to the front of the squad.

They soon reached the edge of the ravine, which opened into a large valley deep in the center of the mountains. Shade had a strange feeling they were being followed, but ignored it. She selected two foot soldiers to go scout ahead, and they soon returned with somewhat disheartening news. “We did not locate the target itself. However there seems to be a large military base, though it seemed to be a military base.”

“That does not seem right. The initial scouts said they had only seen the one Knuckles echidna on the island. Then what could this city be?”

“Also, something else was odd. There seemed to only be robots within it.”

“More robots? Whoever this is they must have highly advanced technology. Alright men, here is the strategy.” Shade delivered her plan of attack to the squad. They all got to their positions, and the attack was launched. They swarmed out of the ravine, quickly assaulting the nearest building, destroying it before moving to the next, constantly on the lookout for the Master Emerald. Up on the side of the mountains, a red figure was watching them.

“I can’t believe it. These people, whoever they are, might actually drive off Robotnik’s forces. Of course, I will have to stop them once they get my emerald back,” Knuckles said as he looked down at them. It hadn’t taken long for the bases forces to come out to meet the Nocturnus, a small army of shining silver robots, each equipped with a deadly weapon. Overhead flying robots shot out of concealed factories in the mountainsides, and cannons turned to face the intruders. Obviously, they’d underestimated the strength of their enemy. “Uh oh, they might need some help.” Knuckles jumped off from his roost and glided over to the nearest opening in the mountainside. He climbed to the top of the door and slammed his fist into the rock, causing the artificial cave to collapse. A cannon turned towards him, but he jumped out of the way and quickly glided over to it and destroyed it.

Meanwhile, down in the valley, the Nocturnus weren’t faring well. The robots were surrounding them and driving them back to the ravine. Slowly, Shade watched as her comrades fell one after another. Knuckles saw them being routed, and swooped down towards the mob. Shade tried her best to fight off the robots, but she was soon overpowered, left alone. All around her, the bodies of her allies were strewn about, dead. And she would be next. She was thrown to the ground, and looked up as a robot, with its cold, uncaring face, raised its gun arm to her head. “So this is the end. At least I will die in my home world, and not in that cursed Cage. I’m sorry I failed you, Lord Ix,” she said to herself. However, death did not come, for her at least. A red blur came down from above and smashed the robot. Shade looked to her savior, and soon realized he was the echidna. He began to smash through the rest of the surrounding robots, clearing their area before turning to Shade.

“Hey, are you okay?” he said, helping her to her feet. “Well, anyway, let’s hurry up, I need to get you out of…” he was cut off as a laser blast caught the side of his face. He fell to the ground, his hands held against his right eye. Shade quickly ran to his side and picked him up, which proved harder than she’d though, and threw up her cloaking device.

‘I’m a fool that I didn’t think of this sooner!’ she thought. The robots were momentarily confused as she disappeared, and she managed to escape into the ravine while they sorted out which visual frequency to use. Shade kept running, carrying the bleeding Knuckles over her shoulder. “What is your name, Knuckles Clan echidna?”

“It’s Knuckles,” he said through clenched teeth. “And you are?”

“Shade, of the Nocturnus Clan,” she responded quickly. Knuckles’ eyes opened wide, or at least, they would have, had one of them not been injured and he hadn’t also just passed out from pain and shock.

Later, he awoke with a start. His hand flew to his face, and he found that it was bandaged up. He looked around with his good eye, getting a bearing of his surroundings. He was obviously in a cave, with light coming from somewhere. At first he didn’t know how he got there, and then he remembered. “Shade! That woman said she was of the Nocturnus!” he yelled suddenly. He thought for a moment. “But that can’t be right, they disappeared years ago.”

“Not exactly,” Shade said as from behind Knuckles. He turned to see her sitting on a rock, a small cube that was emitting bright light sitting next to her. “Before you say anything, allow me to explain the situation.” She then went on to explain how the Nocturnus had been taken from this world into the Twilight Cage, and all that had happened there. How Ix had formulated a plan to escape, and the reason she had come to the island. “Unfortunately we hadn’t anticipated such a strong military presence here.”

“Yes, it was almost four, maybe five, years ago. They came to the island. I tried to fight them off, but they kept coming back stronger, and soon Robotnik, the Eggman Empire, and Metal Knuckles had taken over the island, and the Master Emerald. I’ve been in hiding since, fighting them whenever I can.” Knuckles paused for a moment, as silence settled over the cage. “But hey, at least now I have company, right?”

“Yes, I suppose you do,” Shade said. Still, their relationship wasn’t easy. Shade still held some feelings of animosity towards Knuckles because of his clan. Though these soon faded as she got to know him better as she helped him heal. At the same time, Knuckles was apprehensive of Shade, since for a long time she was still intent on completing her mission some how. Yet time went on, and she never received any sort of communication from the other Nocturnus, and they never answered her. Soon it seemed to both of them, that they were the last echidnas alive, and the only ones who could free Angel Island.

* * * * *

Shade opened her eyes, leaving the world of her memories. “But there’s no time to think about the past when there’s the present to worry about.” She slid back under the water and swam back to the other side of the oasis. She climbed out of the water, and paused to strain some water from her spines before moving to one of the fruit trees. She began to fill the brown sack she’d brought with, allowing the now more fully risen sun to dry off her fur. After filling about a quarter of the bag, leaving space for other supplies, she walked back to where she’d placed her clothes and put them back on. As she pulled on her shirt, she glanced at her belly. Placing a hand on it, she smiled. “I guess today’s the day I tell him,” she said softly as she picked up the bag and headed back to the jungle.

A few hours later, she arrived back at the cave, supplies in tow. “Knuckles, are you here?” she asked as she stepped into the cave. There was no answer. “I guess not.” She walked over to the large outcropping of rock on the wall that served as a counter and set the bag down. She began to pull out the items she had been retrieving, such as food, wood, and medicinal plants, and put them in their respective locations. She then poured out the fruit, piling them together into, well, a pile. Shade then looked around for something she could use to write with, and found some birch tree bark and coal. She quickly wrote down a note for Knuckles, detailing that she planned to explore the Sandopolis area and would likely return some time around noon. She paused after this, then wrote a closing paragraph about the news that she had to tell him. Smiling, she set down the “pen and paper”, grabbed one of the strange dry looking fruit, and left the cave again.

Shade reached Sandopolis quickly, and began to head towards the oasis. It was an easily visible landmark of the area, and it would serve as a good location to map the area around. So far she hadn’t met any robotic resistance whatsoever, which meant one of two things. Either they weren’t patrolling this area, or, more likely, they had an ambush planned. She proceeded with caution. As she neared the oasis, a sound caught her ear. There was slight humming, like an engine, and the sound of something light moving through the sand. She spun around, activating her Leech Blades in the nick of time as a circular white robot rolled by her. It began to transform to a walking form, brandishing a high power laser weapon.

“WE HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO RETRIEVE YOU. COME PEACEFULLY OR WE WILL USE FORCE,” the robot said. When it said “we” she turned and spotted the robots partner, a flying version of the same model.

“I highly doubt that whoever your commander is would be as peaceful if I did go with you,” Shade said, lowering into a fighting stance.

“FINAL WARNING ORGANIC. COME WITH US PEACFULLY.”

“As I said, that isn’t going to happen.” Shade dashed at the ground robot, dodging to the side as it fired its gun. She slashed off its gun arm, but couldn’t finish it off before the flying robot swooped down and knocked her to the ground. She rolled to her feet quickly as the flying robot fired his blaster. Sand shot into the air, but Shade had dodged the blast easily.

“TRAGET PROVING HARDER TO NEUTRALIZE THAN CALCULATED. CALLING REINFORCEMENTS,” The ground robot said. She ran towards him and slashed him in half, jumping away as the robot exploded. However it was too late, as the call had already been sent. Suddenly the ground began to rumble, and Shade jumped back just in time as a giant robotic claw shot out of the sand. She watched as a monstrous robot rose out of the sand. It had a yellow colored armor, causing it to blend almost perfectly with the sand, and it had the shape of a scorpion. No doubt there was probably one powering it. Its pincers were lined with spikes, and its tail, composed of a series of strange floating orbs, ended in a horridly spiked maul.

Shade looked at it in awe. “This certainly adds a new challenge. No matter, I’ve fought worse than this.” She charged the giant robot, and it thrust one of its pincer arms towards her. She jumped, and landed on its claw, running up the long arm. The flying robot swooped down towards her, as she’d anticipated, firing its blaster with more rapid, smaller shots. She extended one of her Leech Blades into a shield like form to block them, then slashed the robot down the middle. It exploded, and Shade continued to run towards the top of the scorpion robot. What she didn’t anticipate was that it was also carrying more troops on its back. Smaller versions of the robot, their tails carrying blasters instead of spikes, rushed forward to meet her, firing their blasters. She dodged them as best she could, but got knocked back by a blast to the shoulder. She proceeded forward, unleashing a large amount of energy through one of her bracelets, firing an energy beam at the smaller robots. She quickly destroyed them. However, a remaining laser bullet from the swarm caught her wrist, knocking off her bracelet. As the pain began to course through her wrist, the pain in her shoulder that she had ignored also caught up to her. Suddenly, she felt dizzy, but not from the pain. “They… must have… poisoned me… some… how,” she said slowly as the world swirled around her. She fell off the large robot’s arm, but he caught her on the inside of his claw, which he shut around. Her.

“TRAGET NEUTRALIZED, RETURNING TO BASE,” was the message the robot sent, though the unit itself lacked any vocal mechanics. The message returned however as from a robot who did, and one with more personality than the units he commanded.

“Well done soldier. Now that we have captured the female echidna, that fool should fall quickly into our hands, along with the rest of this island he so feebly protects,” the message, broadcast to all units, said. “I should know, I was build on his data after all.” High in the mountains, Metal Knuckles’ electronic voice rang out with terrifyingly natural laughter, which sounded naturally evil.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Flames of War.

Knuckles let out the last breath of his roar, bending forward, his face to the ground. He slowly breathed in and out, his harsh exhaling sending the newly settling sand swirling around his face. He placed one hand on his knee, bracing himself as he slowly stood up. His face was still turned towards the ground, his fists clasped tightly. The fabric of his gloves began to tear as his knuckle spurs pushed forward. Knuckles’ face was shrouded by his long dreads which hung down in front of it. He slowly pulled up his right hand, unfolding his fingers to reveal Shade’s bracelet. He grabbed it between his thumb and forefinger, and held it up to his face. He then reached down to his left arm, and snapped the bracelet onto his wrist. He flicked his head up, his dreads flying back to reveal the hard look of determination on his face. It was a face cold and ruthless, set only on one goal: revenge. Knuckles looked towards the mountains. They were a mix of deep red volcanic rock and ice covered peaks in the center. At least, that’s what would be seen, if not for the Eggman Empire. All over the mountain sides they had built gun turrets, factories, and power plants. And wherever there wasn’t a building serving some purpose, they had simply covered up nature with more cold metal. “Ten years,” Knuckles said slowly. “Now, I‘ll finally do what must be done to save my home…” He ran across the sands towards the mountains, where his final battle would soon begin.

* * * * *

The young fox looked over the city, or at least, what was left of it. What had once been a sprawling metropolis, had quickly been destroyed. If something hadn’t been obliterated by the first disaster, it had surely been decimated by the second. And the rare buildings that survived these were likely burning down to their foundations. “This can‘t be happening… why did this have to happen?” He never got his answer, before he was rushed away from the scene by a pair of military jets.

* * * * *

Miles jolted up in his chair. His eyes darted left and right, scanning his location. He was sitting in his apartment, screwdriver and prototype supercomputer still in his hands. “Must‘ve just fallen asleep,” he checked the time on his clock. “22:37... I should probably get some proper sleep, judging by the last mission I might expect a difficult fight tomorrow.” He set down his work, turning his swivel chair towards his main computer’s keyboard. He opened up his journal file, and entered a new entry;

“6/18, 10th year.

Continued work on new A.I. project. Is advancing well, should be ready for test flight of auto-pilot soon. Preparing for another attack mission tomorrow…”

He paused for a moment, thinking, then continued typing;

“In two days it‘ll be the tenth anniversary of when this world went to hell. Not that it matters anymore, but noting for the sake of history. Who knows, maybe someday I‘ll be able to put an end to this long drawn out battle.”

He hit enter and added the entry to his data base. He reached for the soda can on his desk, but soon found it to be empty. He tossed it into the ever growing pile in the corner of the room. Miles then proceeded to shut down his computer systems for the evening. He made a quick trip to the bathroom, then walked back into the living room. He sat down on the couch, only removing his large combat boots before throwing a thin blanket over himself. He pressed a switch on the wall next to him, and the lights went off. He soon drifted into sleep.

* * * * *

Knuckles barreled through the jungle, crashing, literally, through the trees. With every punch he threw a line of trees fell. Normally he would be wary of causing this much damage to his home, as it would also alert the robots to his coming. But nothing was going to stall him from his mission today. Roots snapped and popped as they were ripped from the earth, bark cracked and all sorts of fruits fell to the ground and smashed open. The mountains were still a long ways off in the distance, but they were alight with activity. Already, the various defense turrets were trained in the direction of Knuckles’ carnage, and an alarm was sounded. Knuckles turned to his right as he heard a whirring noise. He jumped into the air just as a flying sentry bot burst from the trees. Knuckles grabbed onto a tree branch and swung around to face the robot as it flew back towards him. Knuckles grabbed it and slammed it to the ground. Its white casing cracked, parts flew away, and its circuitry sparked as Knuckles smashed its “head”. The sound of its comrades could be heard, and Knuckles spun around, sending the robot carcass flying. It crashed into another of its same model just as it burst from the trees. Knuckles charged back into the jungle with more of them hot on his tail. He slammed his fist through a thin, shorter tree, and grabbed its trunk, swinging the tree in a wide arc. He knocked three robots aside, but more were following. And he could see figures moving through the jungle ahead of him. But no matter how many they threw at him, he wouldn’t lose.

* * * * *

The sharp beeping pierced the silent air, filling the small apartment. Miles was instantly awake as his alarm went off, and he pulled himself off the couch. He walked over to his clock and stopped the noise, and stretched. It was 5:00. Time to get moving. Few in the city were up this early, except maybe those who’d already been up all night, or those with jobs that required such an early time to be awake. Miles found it the best time to get out of the city without anyone noticing. He hated being questioned on where he was going, because everyone knew the answer. And he knew what they’d say. They’d talk about how he was suicidal, crazy, or was just planning on leading the Empire straight to their front door. And it was true, the Empire had been spreading its territory towards the fields that Subagri lay under, but it wasn’t like anyone in the city was going to fight it. Defeating the Eggman Empire was the only purpose left in Miles’ life, and even that was beginning to fade away.

Miles sat back down on his couch, putting on his combat boots. He stood up, and grabbed his long overcoat from the hook it was hanging on. He threw it on, making sure the sleeves were well rolled up. Reaching down to the small table he grabbed his guns. He spun them around in his hands a few times before sliding them into their holsters on the inside of his coat. He then removed his electro-katana from its rack, and strapped it across his back. As he walked to the door he ran his fingers through his bangs, smoothing them out away from his eyes, before sliding his goggles onto the top of his head, just below his ears. As he stepped out the door, he put on his sunglasses and turned off the light.

* * * * *

Miles walked into the hanger, the bright ceiling lights activating automatically. The entire expanse of the giant room was empty that morning, as it was every morning. And really the entire day. Rarely would someone apart from the fox enter the hanger. No one else really had reason to. Still, today something felt different to Miles as he walked up to where the Tornado was parked. This was the third model of plane bearing that name, though it looked incredibly similar to the second. Still, there were some key differences, not the least of which was that this model also had multiple transformations, including a car and a walker with advanced weaponry. Of course, the plane’s age was beginning to show, and it wasn’t helped at all by the fact that many sections of the Tornado 3 had been replaced using parts of the original Tornado, which had been wrecked during one of Prower’s earlier adventures. He ran his hand over the side of the cockpit, the tips of his fingers, which stuck through his gloves, carefully avoiding the rust and chipped blue paint, which revealed the red paint job of the original Tornado…

* * * * *

“Why?! Why did he have to go?!” the young fox yelled as he stormed around his workshop. Tears ran from his eyes like a roaring waterfall, staining his fur. He toppled into a standing tool cabinet, sending it crashing to the ground. Metal rang in a deafening cacophony as the tools flew across the hard floor. The young fox’s hand reached out and grasped a large wrench as he turned towards his familiar blue plane. He’d only just finished this latest model before the past days’ events had unfolded. It was perfect, combining the best features of the last models and also adding new features. It was going to help his friend win his fights. But it had failed. He had failed. “Why couldn‘t you have been better?!” the young fox yelled as he swung to wrench at the plane. The cockpit windshield cracked and shattered from the impact. He swung again with more fury, bending the top of the side door down. Again and again he swung, his anger swelling with each strike. No longer was he simply smashing his plane to pieces, as he had another mechanical image in mind. A large section of the left wing was bashed through and fell to the ground. With one last malice filled yell he swung with the wrench, and it became embedded into the side of the plane. He fell backwards, releasing his grip on the wrench. He stumbled back to the wall, crying even more than before. “Why couldn‘t I have been better… why couldn‘t I save him?” He sank down to the floor and bowed his head as a grim silence fell on the room, and only his mourning could be heard.

* * * * *

Miles opened up the storage bay, and threw the burlap sack in. He was about to slam the cover shut again, when he noticed something. The sack seemed bulkier than usual. It hadn’t simply fallen flat around the inside of the chasis. In fact, it looked like it was covering a body. “Hopper, get out. Now,” Miles said.

“Ahh, so you found me. Guess I really should practice more,” the tree-frog said as he stepped out from the storage bay. He landed on the plane’s launch platform next to Miles. “So, off on another raiding mission, eh Miles?”

“Yes.”

“Really? Seriously man, I don‘t think you should be doing this,” Hopper said. There was no reply. “Just going out, killing a few ‘bots, and coming back just to mess with their parts doing nothing really? What‘s the point?”

There was a pause before Miles answered. “I have to fight them, cause no one else will.”

“Well, you don‘t seem to be doing much fighting. Think about it this way Miles. So you kill some robots on the outskirts of the city, so what?” Hopper leaned against the Tornado, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “The Empire can replace them in a matter of seconds. They‘ve got practically the entire world‘s resources at their disposal, and whatever they don‘t have they could take whenever they want, the ‘bots and their leader just haven‘t decided to do yet.”

“Exactly. There‘s no resistance force, and the military people here aren‘t fighting. They just protect their little underground city and everyone goes on living ordinary lives, like they don‘t even care of the danger just above them.”

“And what‘s wrong with that? I understand you want to destroy the Empire, I do too. They destroyed my homeland, and most of my people got captured and enslaved. But you‘re going about it the wrong way. The only thing that your methods accomplish is getting more injuries.” Hopper nodded to Miles’ shoulder, then leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “You hardly even get close to the city itself. He would‘ve at least made a move towards their main base long ago…”

Hopper’s next words were cut off by the sound of a clicking gun, and when he opened his eyes he found himself staring down the barrel of one of Miles’ handguns. “Get away from my plane. I have work to do,” he said sternly and with no emotion. Not even anger registered in his tone.

Hopper leaned forward from the T3, putting his hands up. “Come on, you wouldn’t really shoot me? What‘s wrong? Look, if I said somethi…” He stopped as he reenacted the past few minutes in his head. Hiding in plane, getting out, scolding Miles, mentioning… “Oh…”

“Move it. I don‘t want to waste ammo on you.” Miles flicked the gun in a motion to point towards the hanger wall. Hopper didn’t move.

“Okay dude, this seriously has to stop! It‘s been ten years! Either end this long drawn out battle, or just give up and join Robotni…” Hopper’s sentence was cut off once again, but this time from being shot in the chest with a shoulder by Miles’ gun. Blood began to seep out from where the needles had embedded themselves in his smooth skin, but that wasn’t the part that worried him. “Wow… more pissed off than usual I see…” Hopper said before he the electric shock jolted his body. He collapsed on the floor as his muscles spasmed and gave out, but Miles quickly caught him and set him down against the wall.

“Lucky for you I avoided your vital organs. Just remember to watch your tongue once you regain consciousness,” Miles said, his voice still cold as Ice Cap. He holstered his gun, and walked back to the Tornado. He closed the storage bay, then typed in his activation code into the platform’s control panel. It activated and began to move towards the runway. Miles climbed into the cockpit and ran his pre-flight diagnostics. He removed his sunglasses and slid his goggles down over his eyes as a voice recording began to direct him through takeoff. Below him, a small rod connected to each end of his plane. As he powered up his engine, they began to move him along the runway, which slanted up to the surface. Like a catapult, it flung him forth out of the ground and the Tornado’s power kicked in as it continued to ascend into the clouds. They were dark today, but this far from the metropolis the pilot knew they weren’t completely from pollution. “Looks like a storm is coming. I‘ll have to watch out.” He directed his course towards the city.

* * * * *

Knuckles wrenched a guard robot’s gun-arm from its socket. It continued to spray out bullets long enough for Knuckles to destroy its owner. He threw the arm down and flipped over the robot as the rest of its squad entered the clearing. Knuckles hefted the large humanoid robot in the air and threw it at the approaching enemies, smashing them. As he turned once again to run, he felt the air around him becoming hotter. He jumped back just as two horizontal columns of fire rushed towards where he was, combining into a fiery explosion. The trees in front of him were scorched to nothingness, and in the late afternoon sun he could clearly see the source. Two small red robots consisting almost completely of a large circle had been the source of the first flames, the center of their bodies glowing bright red from the flamethrowers that they had just used. But behind them a larger autonamaton was walking forward. It was a giant version of the silver units he’d just destroyed, in all its proportions. It however had red and orange armor covering its shining silver skeleton. Its center plate had the same fan-like flamethrower that the two smaller robots were made of, but on each of its arms was another flamethrower, this one appearing to be much more powerful and streamlined. It was in fact capable of firing a large and widespread blast of flame from its chest just like its smaller comrades, but the two arm blasters could shoot a concentrated flame for a longer period of time and over an even greater distance. And what Knuckles could not see was the short range incendiary bombs the could fire into the air from its back.

Of course, even if he could see them, it still wouldn’t affect his actions. He charged forward as the all three robots fired their fan attack. Knuckles jumped into a still standing tree as the flames converged. He barely had time to dodge as a trio of flying guard robots swooped past him. He ducked down and swung around the tree branch he was perched on. He began to pick up speed as the larger robot directed its main cannons at him, as the two smaller firebots were restricted to the ground. The large robot turned at the torso and Knuckles could see the fire igniting in its “hands”. The white flying robots came in for a second dive attack, and Knuckles released his grip on the branch and flew forward as the large robot fired. It decimated the trio of attackers, and Knuckles landed on the ground. He quickly dispatched one of the small firebots and used its wreckage to destroy the other. He rolled to the side just as he threw it, dodging the laser beam to blasted past him. The ground based cousin of the flying white robots had wheeled in and began firing at him. He ran towards it, only to be cut off by a column of flame. The giant had redirected its blast, and was aiming down at Knuckles now. He jumped backwards, left, and right, dodging the duel blasts of fire, in addition to the laser fire, which had increased now the more of the wheel bots had come in. Flying sentries continued to dash back and forth in the air, waiting for him to take to the trees.

Knuckles was backed to the edge of the burnt out clearing, when he heard the sound of another wheel sentry approaching. He quickly turned around and caught it before it could unroll. He jump to the side as the flames neared him, then into the air. He spun around, then with careful aim, flung the robot, which was just as big as him. It twisted through the air and took out its comrades on the ground as it circled the clearing. Finally it smashed into the giant flame robot’s right arm. It knocked the arm to the side, and the column of flame shot across the robots body and destroyed the left arm. Knuckles glided away just as the flames reached him, though he could feel the backs of his spines being singed. The giant robot had deactivated its right cannon for a brief moment to cool while it located Knuckles. It power up again as it found the echidna, but that split second was all the skilled martial artist needed. He jumped into the air and flipped onto the robot’s arm. He ran up it and reached its head. Positioning himself carefully, he slammed his fist into its head with incredibly force. The head dented into the body, and sparks began to circle around Knuckles’ hand as cracks appeared in the robot’s body. Knuckles jumped off just as it exploded. Unfortunately, this had the unwanted effect of also shooting off all of the incendiary bombs, which, in addition to the fire from the battle, quickly set the remaining trees on fire. Soon, the small area of the jungle was ablaze, and the fire was spreading. Elsewhere in the forest, more of the flame bots had been deployed to flush out Knuckles and burn down his main hiding place. But he wasn’t planning on hiding. His only goal was the mountain fortress.

The jungle cleared much quicker than it normally would have, considering it was now almost completely ablaze. From far away, the normally lush green island, long since metallic and fortified and weaponized, would have appeared to be completely engulfed in flames. And in a sense it was. The flames of the Eggman Empire, of its Emperor’s evil ambitions, of Metal Knuckles’ mockery, and of the Guardian’s vengeance. All of them converged on Angel Island, in the final battle for supremacy. High in the command center of the mountains, Metal Knuckles watched everything play out on the monitors surrounding him. Three high pitch beeps sound, signifying an incoming message. Metal Knuckles bowed as the video screen popped up. “Greetings, Emperor Robotnik,” the robot said to its creator.

“You may rise Metal Knuckles. How goes my plan?” the figure on the screen asked.

“Everything is going exactly as you predicted, the echidna has fallen for the trap,” Metal Knuckles said as he stood up. Just then another beeping was heard, as a message from the surveillance robots came in.

“SURVEILLANCE UNIT ES-0293 REPORTING. ECHIDNA IS APPROACHING FIRST RAVINE GATE.”

“What?” Metal Knuckles said. He quickly looked over the screens. Sure enough, Knuckles was making quick headway towards the mountains.

“I would expect this from him,” the Emperor said. “But, even if he should get through I trust that you can take care of it Metal Knuckles. You‘re the most advanced robot of your line, and you have our best bargaining chip ever. I leave it all to you. I trust you won’t fail me.” With that, the message screen closed, and soon faded away.

Metal Knuckles stood still for a moment. If he’d had a brain, it would be swirling with thoughts right now. However, in his organized CPU, only one line of data was processing. He must be victorious. With a mental smirk, he turned around to his prisoner behind him. “We had best be heading outside. A guest is coming whom I‘m sure you can‘t wait to see.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cornered.

Knuckles peered out from behind the charred stub of a tree. He had just pulverized a mob of silver combat robots, and, for the time being, seemed to have lost his pursuers. Before him stood the entrance to his enemies headquarters. It was built on the location of one of Dr. Robotnik’s earlier bases, when he was attempting to re-launch the Death Egg. For all anyone knew, a similar operation was going on currently. A road lead from jungle towards the heavy, reinforced gateway that blocked the entrance to the ravine. Along each side of the road were evenly spaced dirt-toned mounds. Hidden defense turrets. High on the sides of the metal mountains, heavy artillery cannons were aimed at the spot, waiting for any sign of the echidna who was crouching in the shadows. But he wasn’t waiting for the gate to open, or planning any sort of advanced strategy to get past. He had simply paused to catch his breath.

With a sudden bolt of motion Knuckles blasted out of the cover of the trees. Immediately the advanced programming of the entire surrounding area kicked in. The turrets in the ground rotated into their attacking positions and aimed towards him. Knuckles slammed his fist through one before it began to fire, and used it as a shield against the others. He jumped into the air and threw the turret at one of its partners. They exploded, and Knuckles jumped to the side as soon as he hit the ground. The turrets were firing at him with high-caliber laser machine guns, and each turret rotated from side to side, sending the bullets in a wide spray. However, their range fire power had carefully been calculated in their placement so that they never shot down each other. However, that didn’t mean their streams didn’t cross, and when it did it often caused large explosions. Knuckles had to dodge these in addition to the regular stream of laser. He jumped into the air and glided across to another turret, spinning out of the air towards it. He smashed it into the ground with a heavy punch, and did a back flip in time to dodge the incoming bullets.

He continued this gliding maneuver for a moment and managed to destroy a few more turrets. However, they gauged the situation and began to increase their fire power, as well as putting up and electrical shield around themselves. Knuckles jumped and rolled left and right, looking for a weakness in their design. He quickly spotted that there was a small hole in the shield where the guns were located. He charged a turret, aiming for that. Every few seconds the stream of bullets from any one particular turret would stop as it rotated too close to another turret, and Knuckles had to time his attack perfectly. He jumped over the gun fire and threw himself forward. His hand entered the hole in the shield just as the turret ceased fire. He grabbed a hold of the bowl shaped top of the turret and used his inertia to pull himself through the air behind the turret. Knuckles wrenched of the cap of the turret, causing its shield to disappear. He quickly grabbed the turret and turned it towards its comrades. Their programming prevented them from directly shooting each other, which meant the Guardian was protected. Knuckles soon destroyed the remaining turrets and tore the last turret out of the ground. He was about to throw it at the ravine barricade to attempt to damage it when he felt a vibration. It quickly grew to a powerful tremor as another of the gates defense mechanisms activated.

High walls shot out of the ground on each side of the road, stretching all the way to the gate and connected to its frame. Knuckles ran towards the jungle, but a third wall shot out of the middle of the road, sealing him in. He ran back towards the gate and jumped onto one of the side walls. He dug his knuckle spurs into the black metal and began to quickly climb out. He had almost reached the top when he heard a loud boom, followed by a whistle of sorts, but with a strange electricity to it. Whether the temperature actually increased, or it was merely Knuckles heightened senses, he felt his back getting hotter and turned to see a large energy blast rocketing towards him from one of the mountain cannons. He jumped and glided to the opposite wall, and the laser blasts obliterated the spot where he had been hanging a few seconds earlier. But before Knuckles could get free he saw more rounds coming in. And there was nowhere to run.

* * * * *

Miles was approaching the city, looking as dismal and desolate as ever. He didn’t see much activity, and began to descend. However, something just didn’t feel right, and the fox’s suspicions were answered when the T3’s defense system began to sound an alarm indicating oncoming projectiles. Miles immediately checked the radar, located the missiles coming from below him, and pulled back on the controls. The Tornado 3 arched up just in time, the two antiaircraft missiles shooting past him and exploding a short distance away. “So, finally decided to go on the offensive, huh?” The explosion rocked the plane, but Miles kept it steady, quickly executing a barrel roll to dodge the third incoming missile. However, he didn’t see the fourth coming in from the opposite side, which blasted the left wing off. “Crap!” Miles yelled as the plane began to go into a tailspin. He spotted the location of the SAM site and forced the Tornado 3 towards it, grabbing his sword and jumping out at the last second. “Looks like I’ll have to rebuild this plane again.”

The Tornado 3 crashed into the missile launcher as Miles landed on a nearby building. Flames coiled into the polluted air as the SAM site building collapsed. Miles watched for a moment before running to the edge of the building and jumping off. He began to fall down the multi floored building, his coat flapping noisily as it twisted around him in the wind. He spun his tails around and slowed himself down, landing in a crouched position. He slid his flight goggles up to his ears and replaced them with his sunglasses. He stood up slowly, reaching into his coat and drawing his handguns. “Well, if it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they’ll get.”

* * * * *

The last of the cannon rounds exploded on the ground, and the smoke began to clear. The road had been utterly obliterated. A giant crater was all that remained, lined with rubble from the walls that had trapped Knuckles. And even most of that had been disintegrated by the blasts. Even the heavily fortified gateway had been damaged, and almost looked like it would soon fall off its hinges. The cannons analyzed the area and saw no sign of their target, and so returned to their stand-by positions. A deathly silence fell over the area. It was punctured a minute later by the sound of the densely packed ground of the crater cracking. A fist shot out of the center of the crevice, quickly followed by the rest of Knuckles’ body. He ran forward and threw a punch into the seam of the gate, which had been opened by the explosion. He slammed his other fist into the hole, and pulled against the two sides of the towering doors. After struggling for a moment the two halves were flung apart, leaving the ravine wide open. Knuckles dashed in as the cannons prepared to fire.

* * * * *

Miles rounded the corner of the building and was met by a stream of bullets. He jumped back around the corner, pressing himself against the low wall. He waited for the gunfire to stop, then dashed around the corner, firing two shots quickly. Two of the silver robots fell, and Miles quickly spotted the third advancing behind it. He charged forward, holstered his guns, jumped off the bodies of the fallen robots, drew his sword in mid-air, activated the electric core, and slashed straight through the robot. Miles skidded along the ground as the robot exploded behind him. He sheathed his sword and dashed into one of the buildings still standing nearby.

* * * * *

The ravine was lined with more turrets, firing rapidly at him as he ran. He weaved from side to side, dodging the laser bullets and smashing turrets as he got the opportunity. The lasers’ heat scorched Knuckles fur, but he continued to move forward, ignoring them. The laser fire continued to fall heavily, but began to get more focused as Knuckles moved through the ravine. The reason for this was soon revealed to be the army of battle robots marching against Knuckles. They stretched across the entire ravine, and all their weapons were trained carefully on Knuckles. He met them head on, smashing into the fire ranks. They began to fire at him, but he moved his way carefully through the horde. He smashed his fists through the metallic soldiers, throwing them into each other, knocking them down in groups. Combining this with the turret fire that Knuckles also used to his advantage, it was almost too easy. It would almost seem, at least to an outside observer, that Knuckles was being enticed into the valley. Of course, none of this occurred to him, only his warrior’s instinct and rage drove him on through the battle. Eventually he had fought his way to the end of the ravine, and the robot numbers began to thin, he destroyed the last of them, as well as the turrets surrounding him. He paused again to recover, the grand expanse of the Eggman Empire’s Floating Island Headquarters stretched out before him.

Factories, warehouses, research facilities made up the majority of the buildings, where new units were developed and awaited deployment. Build into the sides of the mountains were hangers and more factories devoted to aerial units. Similar hangers existed all along the underside of the island itself. There were also new structures that Knuckles hadn’t seen before. They were single level buildings, made of gleaming metal like all the others, and they were positioned next to more factories, but of a different kind than the robot-producing kind. Whatever they held, they obviously didn’t bode well. There were no power plants of any kind in the base, except for the power produced inside the towering Central Command building that stood in the center of the fortification. It, more so than all the other buildings, seemed to glow a strange green energy. Knuckles knew the source of this power, which had been stolen from him. He knew it as well as he knew himself, and felt its mystic power coursing through his body, strengthening him. At the top of the building stood the power source of Metal Knuckles’ operations, the Master Emerald. And no doubt Metal Knuckles was there with it, waiting for a challenge. A challenge Knuckles would be sure to provide.

Rain began to fall on the gleaming metal city, as nature itself realized the powers preparing to wage battle that night.

* * * * *

Miles quickly ascended the stairs leading towards the roof. He walked across the small room at the top and kicked the door open. He dashed out and quickly scanned the roof of the former office building. No robots. Miles ran to the edge of the building. He jumped off and flew onto the next building. This roof wasn’t empty. Miles landed running, immediately taking out the quintet of silver robots waiting for him. He leapt to the next roof, which only had a small arch along one edge remaining. As he ran across, two jet-like robots flew in straight towards him, trying to trap him and force him off the thin ledge. He turned back for a moment to see another robot flying in behind him. As two trio drew closer to him as he ran, and idea struck him. He shot the two robots coming towards him, causing them to fall and crash into the side of the building. Using his tails to keep balance as the roof shook, Miles continued to the edge and jumped straight off. He turned around in mid-air as he fell, and aimed up at the black jet robot. It passed the edge and turned to descend towards Miles, but the robot wasn’t quick enough for the fox’s trigger finger. He shot straight into the robot’s core, and it began to fall towards him. He flipped around and began spinning his tails, moving away from the falling mech’s path. It fell past him, and he pushed himself off it to help propel himself to the next building.

He ran across the roof of the lower building, taking out the two robots that jumped out of holes in the cement and attempted to capture him with an energy net stretched between the two of them. He jumped the crossing light beams, turning around to shoot the small flying robot that was flying in to finish him off. He jumped off the edge of the roof and flew towards a broken skyscraper in the distance. He was about to step onto the edge of the highest level still intact when a laser blast shot past him, he fired in its direction, barely missing the large robot that had fired it. Miles began to lose his balance and fell off the building. He turned in mid-air to see the small squad of battle robots waiting for him, and the smaller robots flying up towards him. He shot them down as he fell, however their comrades dodged the falling remains. Miles fired down at the robots, but they deployed shields, blocking to darts. They began to fire at him. Miles bent himself from side to side, using his flying skills to help direct his body. He holstered his guns and drew his sword, slowing himself down. He impacted the center of the squad, slashing through their shields with his sword. He immediately eliminated the machines closest to him and dashed through the group, cutting them in half. Sparks and oil flew through the air as the robots exploded and collapsed on the ground. Miles stood up from the wreckage and looked around. He’d made a lot of progress, and soon realized he was only a mile or so from the base of the hill. From there, the real city began. Not abandoned and lifeless wreckage, but bustling metropolis. Still lifeless none the less. But that should be expected of Robotnikland, capital of the Eggman Empire.

Miles’ ear twitched as he heard the sound of jet engines coming towards him. He sheathed his katana as he jumped into the shadows of a brick wall. As three more of the black jet robots neared his location he reached down and drew his guns. They passed his hiding spot, and Miles jumped out of the shade and quickly shot them down. He ran over to where they fell, fighting off the swarms of small bomb robots they had deployed. Miles ran to the robot that appeared to be the least destroyed in the crash and opened up its core. “A little quick work should fetch me a ride from one of these ‘bots,” Miles said as he fiddled with the CPU. He soon brought the robot back to life, removing the darts and putting them in his pocket. He was almost out of ammo, but at this point he didn’t plan on turning back, or even returning for that matter. Miles quickly reprogrammed the robot to allow him to input orders directly from the outside and then jumped on the back. He powered its engines and pointed them towards the ground. The robot began to lift into the air, and Miles ascended above the ruins. He then turned the robot towards the building he’d been shot off of. He spotted the large machine that had fired at him and destroyed it as he flew past. He was approaching the edge of the mountain quicker now, shooting down robots with help from their former comrade. Until one of them managed to shoot him down.

The fox jumped from his robot steed onto the building where the attack had come from. It was another office building, the exposed floor being a room full of small cubicles. The attacker was hiding in one of them. Miles drew his guns once again as he slowly walked forward. He kept a keen eye and ear, waiting for any sign of the enemy. It decided to show him a sign. A row of cubicles exploded as Miles barely dodged the laser fired through them. He turned to see a machine he had not yet encountered. It stood a good two feet taller than him, its body large and bulky, the head flat against the wide core. Its arms were especially large, with clawed hands that were sliding out to replace the laser blasters there previously. The robot’s thick armor was a menacingly dark red and black, and its left shoulder bore an ancient symbol that could be likened to a strangely formed upside-down “U”. Its electronic voice was deep and foreboding.

“SUBJECT: MILES PROWER. FOX. APROXIMATELY 20 YEARS OLD,” it declared. It pointed its arms back towards Miles, transforming them into Gatling guns. “RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. COME WITH ME OR BE ELIMINATED.”

“So, you must be the latest of Robotnik’s super robots, sent to finally eliminate me once and for all,” Miles said, keeping his guns aimed at the robot’s head.

“AFFIRMATIVE. I AM E-123 OMEGA, THE GREATEST OF THE E-100 SERIES AND ALL EGGMAN EMPIRE ROBOTS. THEREFORE, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.”

“We’ll have to see about that,” Miles said as he quickly fired at Omega. The robot brought up his arm, deflecting the darts with his powerful armor.

“ELECTRICOMAGNECTICLY CHARGED DARTS. IMPRESSIVE, BUT THEY WILL NOT SAVE YOU,” Omega said. He pointed his guns back at Miles, and began to fire heavy streams of bullets. Miles rolled to the side to dodge it, but the E-100 series robot’s advanced sensors immediately followed him. He ran around the robot, but it continued to fire at him, destroying the entire office area. “TARGET IS FAST THAN IN DATA, SWITCHING TO MORE POWERFUL WEAPON.”

Miles turned back to Omega as the gunfire stopped, only to see tiny missile launchers extend themselves from his wrists. Omega began to fire, and Miles jumped back and to the side as the projectile sped towards him. He wouldn’t be able to run around these as the robot would likely predict the maneuver. So he continued to jump back as Omega fired round after round. Miles quickly glanced behind him as he felt his foot leave ground, and realized he’d been backed to the edge of the building. “Not good,” he muttered as he turned back to Omega.

“PREPARE TO BE ELIMINATED,” the robot said, before firing another missile. He shot through Miles left side. He yelled in pain, dropping one of his guns as his hand flew to grasp his side. He stumbled back, and fell off the building, plummeting to the ground below. Omega walked to the edge of the building and looked down, scanning the area. “TARGET CAN NOT BE LOCATED. TARGET HAS BEEN ELIMINATED. RETURNING TO BASE.” Omega fired up the flight boosters on his back and took off for the center of the city. Polluted rain began to fall on the dusty ruins.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Combat Chaos.

“This may be harder than I thought,” Knuckles said as he surveyed his future battle field. Everywhere the enemy was mobilizing. Cannons and turrets powered up, aerial units flew overhead, and armies of all kinds of robot soldiers marched into position. All of them stood between Knuckles and vengeance, and, naturally, all of them would soon be demolished by his hand. Knuckles blasted out of the ravine’s shadow, and the battle began.

Knuckles jumped towards a smaller flying robot, slamming it into the ground. He threw it towards a jet-like robot, which in turn crashed into a group of silver battle robots. A laser turret mounted on a nearby building began to fire at Knuckles. He jumped left and smashed an advancing Flaming Orb-bot’s core in. He vaulted himself off of the still floating, but dented, sphere and glided into the turret. Knuckles ripped the turret out of its base and spin around, releasing it. The turret rocketed into a trio of flying bots. Knuckles jumped off the roof and tried to glide, but was blown back by a robot equipped with a powerful fan. He landed on the ground and slid backwards, destroying two silver robots waiting behind him. The wind robot alternated its fan’s direction, creating a vortex to suck Knuckles in. The robot’s center was lined with a myriad of blades. Knuckles ran forward, jumping into the air a few feet from the robot. He flipped over it, and immediately spin-kicked it into a wall.

Knuckles bent backwards as lasers shot past him. He quickly did a handstand and got to his feet, immediately charging around the corner. He ducked the laser fire, sliding along the ground on his side. He tripped one robot, then leapt back, smacking the two others’ heads in with the back of his fists. A small snail-esque Badnik fired a bomb at him from its position on the wall. Knuckles dodged the mini bombs, and decimated the entire section of wall the robot was attached to. He rolled into the factory and quickly dove for cover. He grabbed a heavy steel drum and hoisted it in the air. He sent it flying across the factory, smashing into a smelting machine. The apparatus exploded, flames engulfing everything around it. Knuckles dashed out as the flames died down and fought his way out before the factory collapsed.

The smoke, fire, and rubble gave Knuckles some temporary cover from the robots. He burst from the haze and took down five red gun-bots, similar in design to the early E-100 series, in quick succession. He was knocked back by a blast from a high powered laser, and looked up to see the source being an angular black and white robot with laser blasters imbedded in each arm. Knuckles scaled a nearby wall as the robot launched a line of homing missiles. Knuckles jumped onto the robot, smashed its head in, and glided away as the missiles destroyed their owner. The robots had regrouped around the destroyed factory, and Knuckles drill dove through them, burrowing into the ground. He burst out and uppercut a silver robot. Knuckles punched it in the chest plate, sending it crashing into its comrades. He took out three more with heavy punches before jumping over missiles launched by another red gun-bot. He slammed it to the ground with a flying roundhouse kick. He jumped back again as two silver machine gunners shot from behind. Knuckles back-flipped, landing on his hands between their bullet streams. He pushed himself back, and grabbed the robots’ heads as he passed them. They were slammed together on the ground as Knuckles landed.

He charged, staying a crouched position. Spreading his arms out, Knuckles clotheslined a group of red gun-bots as they fired, causing them to explode each other. He stopped and swung his leg out, tripping more silver robots. Knuckles stood up and lunged right, slamming his elbow through a robot’s chest. He punched his way through a few more silver bots and destroyed two more snail Badniks, these equipped with more powerful bombs. An Orb-bot dropped from above, but Knuckles caught it by the core and sent it spinning through the robots in front of him like a bowling ball. Of course, the echidna had never bowled before, but the simile still applies. He used the time the long distance attack bought him to scale a wall to his left. Knuckles dashed across the roof and leapt onto a jet-bot speeding past. He climbed to its top and destroyed its core. The robot crashed into corner of another building. Debris flew off and destroyed more of the army.

Knuckles had already jumped off and destroyed the turrets atop the building before jumping back down. He dashed into the smoke, dispatching more enemies. He picked up a large mass of concrete and steel, hurtling it through the haze. It obliterated an advancing squad and even toppled the giant flame-bot with them. Knuckles ran forward with two of the more powerful flyers rushing in low to meet him. They fired homing missiles, and Knuckles maneuvered as best as he could in the close space. Most of the missiles exploded on the walls. Knuckles jumped at the robots, but they deployed laser shields, knocking the echidna back. He immediately dashed under them and grabbed their tail-like flight stabilizers. Knuckles pulled them to a nearby crossroad and began to spin around. He sent them flying down the roads right and left of him, crashing through the enemies waiting there. Knuckles chose to run forward.

Knuckles caught two Orb-bots and slammed his fists through them. With his new robo-boxing gloves, he smashed through a squad of silver soldiers, Orb-bot spikes flying in all directions as they disconnected from the robot’s gravity field. The maces spent, Knuckles pulled off the Orb-bot remains and flung them into the horde. A red gun-bot fired a missile from a roof top, and Knuckles jumped left to dodge it. The missile blew a hole in the opposite wall, and Knuckles jumped inside the building. Instead of a factory, this was a research area, the walls lined with supercomputers, and robots moved quickly between them performing various tasks. In one side of the room there were robots putting together parts. Knuckles ran straight through, smashing the tall columns of computers. He dug his fists into one that reached to the ceiling and climbed, smashing through the ceiling. He ran across the roof and jumped at the red gun-bot, who was accompanied by two more on each side as well as five silver robots. He smashed the center gun-bot, then jumped in the air and kicked both of the other gun-bots to the ground. They each fired missiles straight up. Knuckles punched one of the machine gunners through the core, swinging it around to destroy to more. He jumped on top of another and ripped its head off, then dove at the last, taking it with him off the roof. The two gun-bots missiles flew down into them and exploded, soon causing the whole roof to collapse inward on the research facility.

Knuckles stayed crouched close to the ground with the robot he’d taken with him as rubble flew past him. As the rumbling slowed, Knuckles stood up and threw the robot through the smoke. He charged, dodging laser fire from beyond the haze. He quickly emerged and took out two robots of similar stature and design to the silver machine gunners. These however wielded high powered laser guns. They shot thin beams, which erupted in powerful explosions of heat upon impact. Clearly Knuckles was beginning to face the more advanced robots. He ducked their next shots, then jumped up and ripped one’s arm off, swinging around the bash in the head of the other. He stabbed the arm through its original owner, ducking as more lasers were shot from behind. He dove to the side of the alleyway, and quickly climbed backwards up the wall. Knuckles launched himself off the building, tumbling into the robots. He slammed the leader to the ground, taking another robot with it. Knuckles uppercut another, spun around the dodge laser fire from the last. He twisted around it and slammed his fist through its back. He charged towards back in the direction he was headed, using the robot as a shield. Knuckles managed to plow through a large group of laser gunners before his robot shield began to break down. He jumped in the air above a small squad of laser gunners along with a red missile-bot. Knuckles spun around, throwing the remains of his shield at them. The missile robot fired at him, and their projectiles collided in the air. Knuckles dove through the fiery smoke and destroyed the missile-bot. He took out two of the laser gunners quickly, dodged left as one of the others fired, and quickly jumped right. He slammed into another laser gunners with his side, running him, with another, into the opposite wall. Knuckles ducked as they were destroyed by the last gunner, who Knuckles tripped to the ground. Knuckles smashed its head in as he ran past.

He rounded a corner as pairs of yellow lasers flew past him sporadically. He peered around the edge to see the source. He was somewhat surprised by what he saw. Standing in the center of the road, and lining the sides of the building, were a variety of robot he hadn’t seen for nearly a decade. They were comprised primarily not of metal, but of a strange blue liquid. Their head was the only metal part, which was really just a helmet on the top of the robot. Just below this were yellow eyes, out of which the lasers were being fired. A secret G.U.N. project, developed by Gerald Robotnik aboard the ARK. Artificial Chaos. These particular models were very simple, having only the basic body. They attached to their surroundings and spun around at the center, fired lasers sporadically. And with this many close together trying to time an attack properly would prove difficult. Knuckles counted how many their were. At least, he tried, counting three, before he was interrupted by an explosion behind him. He turned to see a missile-bot standing at the end of the alley he was in, more standing atop the buildings. Knuckles soon realized how he could get past the Artificial Chaos. He ran to towards the far missile-bot. It fired at him, but he jumped above the missiles. However, this time the strategy didn’t work, as the missiles curved back towards the echidna. Knuckles ran straight to the robot, jumped on top of it, and dove towards the building as the missiles collided. He latched onto the corner of the building and climbed up. He dashed behind the missile-bots, pushing them off the edge of the building. The robots on the opposite wall fired at him, but Knuckles simply jumped and glided across the gap. He flew around the missiles, leading them back towards their owners. Some destroyed the missile-bots, others simply crashed into the side of the building. Knuckles didn’t have to worry about destroying the survivors, as the building soon began to collapse.

Knuckles dashed towards the next building and jumped across. He turned back to see the Artificial Chaos still firing randomly. He’d passed them, and was nearer than ever towards his goal. He reached the edge of the roof and was about to jump to the next when more yellow lasers crossed his path, this time from above. He looked up and saw more Artificial Chaos, these models spherical and floating in the air. They turned towards Knuckles and fired again. He jumped back, the lasers exploding on the roof, sending metal and concrete dust into the air. Knuckles ran through the cloud, and jumped towards the Artificial Chaos. However he missed its head and was knocked back by its gelatinous body. He regained his balance and glided under the robots. He landed on the opposite roof and jumped again. This time he reached its head and smashed it in. The fluid body exploded as the head was smashed, and Knuckles landed on the opposite building again. He jumped for the second and destroyed it, continuing to run forward. More Artificial Chaos flew in from the side, firing at him as he went. He dodged their attacks, destroying a few, but most went past him. He ignored them, considering in the past these models had simply continued to fly away and hadn’t posed much of a threat if you avoided them. But underestimating them was Knuckles main mistake. He was thrown off the roof as one of the Artificial Chaos turned back towards him, firing at his feet. Knuckles landed on the ground and quickly jumped to his feet as blue tentacles lashed out towards him. There were more Artificial Chaos waiting for him below, these the most advanced of the early models. These captured enemies with tendrils formed from the liquid core, then fired lasers straight at them. Knuckles dodged the first tentacles and jumped up the wall as the Artificial Chaos fired at him. He reached the top and destroyed more of the flying Artificial Chaos who were coming towards him, making sure he didn’t miss any this time. He ran forward, jumping across the roof towards what he thought was another stationary flying Artificial Chaos. However, it’s liquid body quickly disappeared, melting away to the ground and transforming into more robot heads. They moved along the ground, and before Knuckles could pull away he landed in the middle of them, setting off their self destruct mechanisms. He was blown back by the explosions, but recovered and maneuvered around in the space afforded him by the destroyed heads. The remaining began to close in on him, but he dashed towards the main head, which was still floating above them. He jumped towards it and destroyed it with a quick uppercut. The spawned heads all exploded below him as the core was destroyed.

Knuckles landed back on the roof and immediately took off running. He jumped off the roof, landing in the alley as more flying Artificial Chaos swooped in from above. He ran to the right and destroyed a tentacle Artificial Chaos blocking his way. He ran down the path, dodging laser fire from basic sentry Artificial Chaos, as well as more random fire. He dove past two on either wall as they were facing the other way. He destroyed both of them, the explosions from their combined destruction knocking out the corners of the buildings on which they were placed. The support slowly began to give way, and the two buildings soon collapsed. Knuckles destroyed another tentacle Artificial Chaos, before turning down another street to avoid a pod Artificial. He jumped up three flying Artificial Chaos that were coming down in sequence, destroying one after another. He landed on another rooftop and dashed across. He slide under the fire from two sentry Artificial Chaos, standing up just in time to launch himself to the next roof. He smashed through more sentry Artificial Chaos, then jumped back towards the road. Knuckles was nearing the center of the base, where the main control tower stood. A circle around it had no other buildings, and this area was likely filled with enemy forces.

Knuckles smashed his way through an alley filled with tentacle Artificial Chaos, as well as some flying. The tentacle Artificials had also begun to show advancements in design, such as retreating their heads inside their cores, changing direction, as well as moving from their stationary position. Knuckles was finding it tougher to destroy them, and eventually had to retreat to a roof top. He dashed across and back onto the main road. He entered the final stretch of narrow path before the central tower. It was lined with Artificial Chaos of all kinds. Tentacle, sentry, rotating, flying, pod. All of them determined to destroy Knuckles. He dodged lasers from the rotating Artificials, focusing on eliminating pod cores. Destroying these, he caused the spawned heads to explode, which subsequently eliminated much of the ground forces. He destroyed what fliers he could, but mainly kept an eye open to dodge their lasers. He had soon smashed his way to the end, and emerged into the center of the base, the central command towering above him. Finally he had reached the end of the battle. At least, other than the vast army sprawled out in front of him.

Everywhere were silver laser wielding combat bots, all aiming towards him. In front of the building stood a giant robot, armed with a vast number of weapons, its size far from the least of them. But worst of all in the army were the units which Knuckles had not yet seen, but clearly recognized. An all new model of Artificial Chaos, far more advanced from the models adapted from the original ARK dwelling designs. Their bodies were more developed than just blobs of liquid, bearing an actual shape, with arms and legs. They were the closest to their project name than all the others that came before. All throughout the army that stood before Knuckles were units baring an almost exact resemblance to the basic form of the fabled Chaos, apart from their metal heads which bore the Eggman Empire insignia. And they weren’t prepared to give up their head quarters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final Fight…

Knuckles scanned the vast army in front of him. No doubt even more dangerous enemies were hidden throughout its ranks, as if the Artificial Chaos weren’t enough. He was facing straight on towards the tower, but the giant guard robot would prove hard to get past. His other option was to try and get around to the side and climb up there, but it would take longer and be more tiring. And Knuckles didn’t have the time, and he would need the strength for the real battle soon to come. He decided to use the tried and true strategy of charging straight into battle.

The first robot sparked and exploded as Knuckles bashed its head off. The rain was falling heavier now, and while the fiery explosions were lessened, the electricity clearly arched through the air like lightning. The laser gunner fell, and Knuckles slammed his fist through another’s chest and spun around to kick another to the ground. The others fired at him, but he charged forward, the lasers shooting past him. A blue fist rocketed towards him, and he ducked as the Artificial Chaos’ arm extended past him. Knuckles grabbed onto it, and the Artificial dragged him towards it. When Knuckles closed in on it he let go and uppercut the Artificial Chaos in the face, destroying its robotic core. He jumped over another and bashed its head in, instantly crouching to dodge an attack from two more. He planted his feet firmly, grabbed onto their arms, and pulled against them as they retracted their arms back. They lost their footing and collided into each other. Knuckles spun them around and threw them into the army, mowing down a group of laser gunners. He ran through the passageway he had created, sliding on the wet ground. He skidded under a laser gunner, grabbing its legs and pulling it to the ground. As he slowed, Knuckles bent back and vaulted himself off his back, kicking two more laser gunners in the chest. He got to his feet and ran on.

Knuckles twisted to the side to dodge a punch, ducking to avoid the next attack. He swung his leg out, tripping an Artificial Chaos, then jumped up and punched another in the face. He ran over the first, crushing its head, then leapt in the air, kicking a laser gunner’s head off. The head flew forwards, destroying another laser gunner, and Knuckles landed on his feet with a spinning kick into an Artificial Chaos. He charged forward and slammed into another, pushing it back into two more Artificials before slamming them all to the ground. He got knocked back by a punch from an Artificial to his left, but he recovered and caught its next punch. He pulled the Artificial by the arm and launched it into the air. It collided with the army, smashing a small group of its comrades. Knuckles ran forward, spinning around a laser gunner. He shoved it to the ground as he continued to run forward. No more time could be wasted with this mob, he had bigger bots to bash.

Weaving left and right, Knuckles dashed through the swarm. He jumped over an Artificial Chaos, but it caught him and slammed him to the ground. Knuckles rolled to the side as another threw a punch at him. The Artificial’s hand smashed the concrete as Knuckles jumped up, smashing the Artificial Chaos that had caught him. He ran forward, diving between two laser gunners as they prepared to fire. They shot each other, the explosion causing the rain around them to turn into steam. Knuckles dashed low to the ground while his enemies were disoriented. He uppercut another Artificial Chaos as he neared the tower. Knuckles let his fists fly as he pulverized his way through till he reached the giant guard mech. The other robots backed off as it prepared to attack. It was heavily armored and armed to the teeth. Each arm bore a massive mini-gun, a high powered laser blaster, and rocket launchers on the shoulders. Within the monstrosity were two laser cannons that extended out of the back over the shoulder, multiple grenade launchers built into the back, jet boosters in the feet, machine guns in the front lower leg, a plasma sword, and finally a massively destructive energy blast that was launched from the core of the machine.

Knuckles simply looked up to the beast as it aimed its mini-guns at him. He smirked as the barrels began to rotate. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Knuckles charged the robot as it fired at him. Heavy bullets blasted holes in the ground, shooting up dust into the air. Knuckles dashed from the side to side, dodging the streams of bullets. The robot was powerful, but slow and bulky. It couldn’t keep up with him without likely shooting itself. The machine guns in the legs began to fire, forcing Knuckles’ path to become narrower. Rockets shot off and streaked through the air towards the ground as the machine guns ceased fire. Knuckles jumped back as the first hit the ground and exploded. He continued to jump from side to side, buffeted by the shockwaves but maintaining control. The mini-guns clicked as they ran out of ammo, and Knuckles stopped. The robot switched to its laser blasters, and Knuckles ran forward again. However, he hadn’t anticipated the increase in the giant’s speed. He was blasted back as lasers exploded all around him. He tried to dodge, but to no success. A blast hit the ground right in front of him, and he was thrown into the air. Knuckles flew back a few yards before landing on the destroyed road.

The robot pulled its arms back as its lasers began to overheat. Knuckles strained to look up as the robot’s wrist opened and a rod shot out. The robot caught it, and the top of the pole split in half and folded outward. It began to glow, and a blade of energy soon extended outward. Knuckles got to his feet as the robot grasped the sword with both hands. It raised its arms up, and Knuckles charged. The robot swung downward, the blade streaking through the air with its incredible heat. It collided into the ground, smashing what remained of the concrete road to nothingness. As the smoke cleared, Knuckles was nowhere to be seen. However, he wasn’t defeated. He was climbing up the robot’s arm. Knuckles quickly made his way to the robots should before it could pull away from the ground. He jumped onto its head, and positioned himself in the center. Mustering all his strength, Knuckles slammed his fist into the robot. A crack appeared, small at first, but it quickly extended straight down the center of the giant. Knuckles jumped to the side of the tower as the guard exploded. He began to climb.

“Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise,” Metal Knuckles said as Knuckles jumped onto the roof. Its flat, shining metal roof was slicked by the rain, reflecting the coursing lightning now even closer to the echidna and his copy than it already was. One of the many troubles of being on a floating island in a thunderstorm. But Knuckles’ eyes were focused on a single structure behind Metal Knuckles. It looked remarkably similar to the ancient ruins he had protected for the majority of his life, but instead of weathered stones it was cold metal. And on pillars like the ones where seven emeralds had rested in ancient days, there were energy harvesters, gathering power from the glowing green gem that stood in the altar in the middle. The Master Emerald shone in all its usual brightness, filling the air with its mystic light and empowering its Guardian. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t make it,” Metal Knuckles finished.

“Why? Worried you’d have to face me yourself?” Knuckles said, staring down his doppelganger.

“Actually, quite the opposite. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to destroy you personally.”

“Then keep dreaming Metal, because you’re the one who’s going to be destroyed!” Knuckles yelled. He ran forward, and was about to swing a fist for Metal’s face when he noticed the robot wasn’t moving at all. He stopped inches from his opponent.

“Don’t be so hasty. After all, aren’t you concerned about my other guest?” Metal Knuckles snapped his fingers, and a strange flat machine came out from behind the Master Emerald shrine. It tilted up to show the one it carried. Strapped to the platform was Shade, battered and beaten.

“Shade!” Knuckles yelled, running towards her.

“Knuckles, get away! It’s a trap!” Shade called back, but it was too late. Metal Knuckles dashed in front of Knuckles, slamming him to the ground.

“She’s right. And you shouldn’t just worry about me, she has her own problems to deal with.”

“What do you mean?” Knuckles asked as he stood up.

“Do you think she’s strapped to that machine just to hold her? No, that is just a bit of insurance. One wrong move… and she will be electrocuted.”

“What?!”

“And no doubt this heavy rain will only make her all the more conductive. That is, if I have to use the machine.”

“You monster!” Knuckles yelled, but he didn’t move.

“Monster?” Metal Knuckles questioned. “I am just a machine, it’s in my programming. And my creator just happened to program me with some personality drives. Though they have become more advanced over the years of defeating you.”

“Well that ends today!”

“That is true. After all, today you die. And you won’t be coming back.” Metal Knuckles began to hover above the ground, then blasted forward. He slammed headfirst into Knuckles, throwing him to the ground again. He turned and slammed his elbow into the roof, but Knuckles rolled out of the way. Metal spun around and kicked Knuckles in the stomach, then dashed around to punch him in the back. As Knuckles fell forward, Metal uppercut him, then roundhouse kicked him into the metal ground. As Knuckles lay there bleeding, Metal leaned in close to his ear. “You will die, she will die, everyone will die.”

Knuckles pulled his head up and looked at Metal Knuckles. “Those weird buildings?”

“So you saw them. The latest step in the Emperor’s plan. This island is an aerial attack base, and what’s one of the best air based weapons?”

“Missiles…”

“Exactly.” Metal Knuckles kicked Knuckles in the stomach, sending him rolling along the roof. He stopped and bent over, holding grasping his stomach with both hands.

“Knuckles, don’t give in! Even if you die, he’ll still kill me! Don’t let them destroy the world next!” Shade screamed.

“Silence!” Metal Knuckles yelled. The machine powered up and electricity began to course through Shade’s body. She arched her back, screeching in pain, trying desperately to get free. But there was no hope. Her body fell limp, her breathing ragged, as Metal Knuckles stopped the machine. “That should keep you quiet for a while.” He turned back to Knuckles, who was still bent over. Unseen to the seemingly triumphant robot, Knuckles was removing the Leech Blade from his wrist. “She is right. We’re going to use those missiles to demolish what’s left of those who resist the Empire. They haven’t been a problem, but the Emperor has decided it’s time to finish them off. But first we need to get rid of you.”

“Well it’s not going to be as easy as you think!” Knuckles said, suddenly flinging his arm out towards Shade. A silver and pink bracelet flew from his hand. Shade caught it and activated its weapon. With a quick slash she had freed herself from the machine’s clutches. She snapped the weapon on to her wrist and charged Metal Knuckles. The robot turned to face her as she made a horizontal slash with the blade. He ducked, throwing a punch for her stomach. She twisted around and elbowed the back of Metal Knuckles’ head. He dipped forward, but pulled back up and swung his leg around. Shade blocked the kick with the side of her arm. She grabbed Metal’s leg and slammed him to the ground. Shade jumped back as Metal got to his feet.

Shade gasped for breath. She was wounded greatly, her body scorched and unresponsive from the electricity and numbing rain. Knuckles ran for Metal while his back was turned, but the robot detected his approach and turned around. He caught Knuckles with two quick jabs before kicking him to the ground. Metal turned back to Shade as she tried the same, slashing up with the Leech Blade. Metal Knuckles jumped back and the trailing edge of the energy scratched his chest plate. While the Leech Blade was designed to suck life from the victim and healed the wielder, there was no life to be given to Shade. She faced on a cold-wired machine. Metal Knuckles blasted forward, catching Shade’s arm as she slashed again. He flicked his fingers around the Leech Blade bracelet, causing it to fall to the ground. If Metal Knuckles had a face capable of emotion, it would no doubt be twisted in a demented smirk. He grasped Shade’s wrist, crushing it until the bones snapped. She yelled in pain, but her cries were cut short as Metal Knuckles thrust his other arm upwards. With a horrifying sound, Metal tore through Shade’s body with his claws, his arm shooting straight out her back.. She fell completely limp as life left her. Metal Knuckles threw her to the ground, blood pooling around her body only to be washed away by the rain. Metal Knuckles spread his fingers out, watching as the blood slid from the gleaming metal. “Now, back to you…”

Metal Knuckles turned to where Knuckles was previously, only to find that he was gone. He turned just in time to meet Knuckles’ fist as it collided with his face. Metal stumbled sideways, and Knuckles continued his assault. He launched an onslaught of uppercuts, hooks, and jabs, hitting Metal back further and further. Not even the killer robot could keep up with Knuckles raw fury, as hit after hit pounded his metal frame, inching him ever closer to the edge of the roof. The gloves on Knuckles’ hands stressed against his clenched fists, the stitching wearing away. As the impact of his fists on the metal of his enemy coursed through his body, Knuckles continued to beat Metal towards the drop. Finally Knuckles stopped the punches, only to deliver a kick to Metal Knuckles’ stomach, sending him falling off the building. However, Metal simply engaged his flight boosters, shooting up to the roof and throwing Knuckles back. Metal Knuckles dashed towards him, fists flying. Knuckles ducked in between the robot’s clawed fists, blocking attacks and countering. The two fought evenly matched, hardly moving from the single spot. However Metal Knuckles soon managed to land a punch to Knuckles’ gut, and the echidna bent back, allowing Metal to throw him to the ground. He walked over to him, raising both arms for the final strike. He came down with his fists at Knuckles’ unmoving body, but did not get the satisfaction of finally finishing off his original.

Knuckles bolted up and caught Metal’s hands. He pushed against the power of the robot, forcing Metal Knuckles away from himself. As he grasped Metal’s hands tighter, Knuckles looked at him. The flames of vengeance burned so brightly in his eyes that it was almost as if they would burst out and engulf him. In a sense, they already had. “You really shouldn’t have done that, Metal Knuckles,” Knuckles said calmly but fiercely. “Now, there’s no holding back.” Knuckles threw his metal self off, kicking him in the face. “Now, you’re going to die!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

… Final Sacrifice

Metal Knuckles’ head snapped back, soon taking the rest of his body with it. Knuckles used the momentum of his kick to roll back, kicking Metal Knuckles in the stomach. Metal Knuckles fell to the ground as Knuckles rolled to his feet. Without a second’s pause Knuckles ran forward and threw a punch for Metal. Metal Knuckles shot away on his back, but Knuckles caught his ankles and threw him into the air. Knuckles jumped up, and before Metal could stabilize himself, he was once again punched in the face. Knuckles grabbed Metal’s legs as he fell, slamming the robot to the ground. Knuckles pulled Metal Knuckles from the ground and spun around. He sent Metal flying, and immediately chased after him. Knuckles jumped underneath him, wrapped his arms around him, then twisted around and slammed Metal headfirst into the metal and concrete, which was smashed on impact. Knuckles got to his feet, kicked off of Metal Knuckles and waited, ready to strike.

“It would seem I underestimated you,” Metal Knuckles said as he slowly pulled himself from the ground. “I had thought time and getting here would have weakened you, but your rage seems to…” Metal was cut off as Knuckles slammed a fist into the back of his head. Metal again crashed to the ground, and Knuckles pounced. However, Metal Knuckles swung his arms back and caught Knuckles by the stomach. He threw off his balance and subsequently threw him forward. Knuckles stopped himself with a handstand and flipped to his feet. He turned and charged as Metal Knuckles got to his feet. Metal was prepared this time and sidestepped Knuckles’ first punch. He caught the elbow that followed and parried with a punch to the gut. Knuckles bent forward but swung his leg out to trip Metal. Metal jumped and twisted around, kicking Knuckles to the ground. He rolled away as Metal Knuckles’ fist stabbed into the ground. Knuckles got to his feet and jumped as Metal Knuckles turned to face him.

Knuckles once again charged immediately, and Metal Knuckles dashed forward to meet him. Knuckles threw a wide punch, curving towards Metal Knuckles’ head. Metal caught it and launched an uppercut at Knuckles’ face. Knuckles also blocked it, and the two were caught in a struggle. Straining, Knuckles began to move his arms closer together, pushing against Metal’s same attempts. Suddenly, Metal’s gears gave out and Knuckles twisted his arms together, sending him to the ground. Knuckles kept his grip on Metal Knuckles’ hands and pulled him off the ground, only to turn around and slam him to the ground again. He grabbed Metal’s wrists with one hand put the other on his head, pressing it to the metal rooftop. Knuckles began to rotate, grinding Metal against the ground, creating an ear-piercing screech. Metal managed to twist his legs around and trip Knuckles. Knuckles released his grip on Metal in order to steady himself, but he couldn’t stop the robot before he slammed Knuckles face to the ground with a powerful kick.

As Metal raised his foot to crush Knuckles’ head, Knuckles rolled to the side. Metal slammed his leg into the cement and was stuck for a moment. Long enough for Knuckles to tackle him to the ground. He bashed Metal Knuckles on both sides of his face, denting the gleaming metal. Metal Knuckles managed to throw Knuckles off of him. He jumped to his feet as Knuckles charged again, and crossed his arms to block the echidna’s fist. Knuckles continued to assault Metal, slowly driving him back. Metal soon found an opening, and caught Knuckles in the stomach again. Knuckles skidded backwards, but steadied himself quickly. The two fighters immediately charged each other with fists raised. As soon as they met, each threw a devastating punch at the other, knocking both combatants away from each other.

Metal Knuckles slowly stood up from the ground. Knuckles was already on his feet and began to attack, but stopped as Metal began to speak. “I was hoping I would not have to use this on you again, but our power is too closely matched.” Metal Knuckles began to float into the air, spreading his arms out. A small sphere in each of his hands began to glow green as energy seemed to stream towards him. “So I’ll just have to borrow some power from the Master Emerald!” There was a sudden flash of light as Metal Knuckles filled with energy. When it faded Metal had disappeared from Knuckles’ sight. He sensed the attack coming, but had no time to stop it. Hyper Metal Knuckles slammed into Knuckles’ back, sending him blasting forward. He dug a trench as he landed. Knuckles pushed himself up, attempting to stand, but Hyper Metal warped over to him and kicked him in the face. Knuckles was flung up into the air, and Hyper Metal Knuckles blasted up to meet him.

Knuckles hacked up blood as Hyper Metal punched him in the gut at full speed. Blood began to seep out from the holes carved by Hyper Metal’s edged knuckle spurs. But without a second’s computation, Hyper Metal Knuckles continued to pound Knuckles, shredding his flesh. He then kicked Knuckles in the side, sending him flying through the air with a horrible crack as a few of his ribs broke. Hyper Metal warped into the middle of Knuckles’ path, kicking him back the way he came. Finally Hyper Metal appeared above Knuckles, fists clenched together. He raised them up, then brought them down on Knuckles’ head. Knuckles shot straight into the stairs of the fake emerald shrine.

A small pool of blood began to form around Knuckles, streaming down the staircase. His breath was haggard and he could barely move. He couldn’t feel his muzzle either; it was likely broken. Hyper Metal Knuckles looked down at him from above. “I hope I have not killed him yet. I still have more torture planned.” Hyper Metal calculated it over for a moment. “Then again, it may be best to eliminate him now.” Hyper Metal turned to face the fake shrine and began to fly forward for his finishing move. Knuckles struggled to push himself up, but to no success. He could barely open his eyes and the world seemed to swirl around him. As he began to lose conciseness, he focused on the object just above him, which glowed with magical light. Knuckles smirked, at least, as much as he could with a mostly broken face.

Hyper Metal Knuckles was almost on top of Knuckles when there was suddenly another bright flash of green light. Hyper Metal’s chaos energy readings began to go berserk, but he would have recognized the power right away. A swirling sphere of energy began to rise from the fake shrine. Inside it, Knuckles’ wounds were healing, his bones snapped back into place, and even the blood disappeared from his fur. The sphere slowly faded, but Knuckles continued to float in the air, his fur flashing brightly. “Let me guess,” Hyper Metal Knuckles said. “You are Super Knuckles.”

“Wrong,” Knuckles said, clenching his fists. Suddenly he faded away, only to reappear directly in front of Hyper Metal. “It’s Hyper Knuckles.” Hyper Knuckles slammed his fist into Hyper Metal’s face. The force of the punch almost seemed to slow time as it grinded into Hyper Metal. The stitching of Knuckles’ gloves, which so far had valiantly tried to hold against his furious fighting, finally gave way and exploded from his hand, revealing Hyper Knuckles’ fearsome trademarks. As Hyper Metal was thrown back by the attack he realized that now the gloves were off. Literally.

Hyper Knuckles flew forward to catch Hyper Metal. He started to rapidly throw punches at Hyper Metal, aiming primarily for his face. Hyper Metal bounced side to side with each hit. He struggled to put up a defense, but Hyper Knuckles continued to pound him with earth-shaking hits. They slowly drifted through the sky, Hyper Metal trying to back away from Hyper Knuckles, who wasn’t giving him an inch. Finally Hyper Metal broke free after Hyper Knuckles tried to kick him. Hyper Metal flew upward and Hyper Knuckles gave chase. Hyper Metal lifted one arm towards the black clouds above and pointed the other at Hyper Knuckles. A lightning bolt shot down to Hyper Metal, and he channeled it through his body and shot it down at Hyper Knuckles. It shot straight through him, but instead of being electrocuted he simply faded. Hyper Metal turned to see him floating beside him. “Nice technique, but a little too slow.” Hyper Knuckles spun around and kicked Hyper Metal back towards the ground.

Hyper Metal turned around in the air and began to fire chaos energy blasts at Hyper Knuckles as he fell. Hyper Knuckles weaved around them, continuing to close the gap between the two. Hyper Metal began to charge up power, releasing a long blast once Hyper Knuckles was within a few feet of him. Hyper Knuckles got hit in the chest but quickly threw up an energy shield. He managed to absorb most of the blast; after all, he was being fueled by chaos energy too. As soon as the blast ceased, Hyper Knuckles shot forward. But Hyper Metal was ready and blocked the first attack, catching Hyper Knuckles’ fist. He attempted to swing his leg up, but Hyper Metal pulled Hyper Knuckles to the side. He spun around and threw Hyper Knuckles, blasting to meet him. Hyper Knuckles crossed his arms in front of his body to block Hyper Metal’s attack. He held up this defense as Hyper Metal continued to assault him with various punches and kicks. Eventually Hyper Metal broke through and spun forward, his heel slamming into Hyper Knuckles’ head.

Hyper Knuckles fell towards the roof, with Hyper Metal hot on his tail. Hyper Metal grabbed onto Hyper Knuckles, pointing him headfirst at the ground. The two crashed through the roof of the tower, and subsequently the upper floors. Hyper Knuckles struggled against his enemy as they continued to smash through half the floors of the building. Eventually Knuckles twisted around on top of Hyper Metal and turned towards the side of the building, shooting through the wall. Hyper Knuckles threw Hyper Metal towards one of the relatively smaller buildings, which had a laser cannon mounted on it that conveniently chose that moment to try and shoot Hyper Knuckles. He watched the explosion carefully, and soon spotted Hyper Metal falling towards the ground. He dashed to attack him while he was weakened, but the robot quickly recovered and shot up to meet Hyper Metal.

The two went into a flying fury of a fight. Literally. They streaked through the sky throwing punches, blocking punches, and throwing punches at punches to block the punches. Which each hit the world seemed to shake from the power. As soon as one broke free, the other would fly over to meet him. Hyper Knuckles momentarily gained an advantage and grabbed onto Hyper Metal’s core. Pointing straight at the ground, he propelled forward, shooting through the air like the lightning bolts around them. His speed was so great that afterimages appeared behind him. Finally, a few feet from the ground, he released Hyper Metal Knuckles, charging chaos energy into his fist for that extra kick. “Eat this!” he yelled as he hit Hyper Metal. They exploded their way into the ground, sending up a beam of green energy. Hyper Knuckles flew into the air to watch for Hyper Metal’s next move.

Hyper Metal slowly rose from the crater his impact had formed in the ground. Pieces of rubble fell off him as he looked up at Hyper Knuckles. His flight engine began to rev up, blasting away the ground behind him. Then in a split second Hyper Metal blasted off of the ground, shooting towards. Hyper Knuckles. Hyper Metal collided straight into Hyper Knuckles, or rather, through Hyper Knuckles. As Hyper Metal flew by, Hyper Knuckles faded like smoke. “No! An afterimage!” Hyper Metal looked up as Hyper Knuckles came down on him with both fists clenched together. Hyper Metal shot back the direction he’d just come, and Hyper Knuckles shot down beside him. He strafed into Hyper Metal, elbowing him through the side of the tower again. Hyper Knuckles followed Metal through the hole, and immediately swerved sideways as Hyper Metal threw a large piece of rubble. It crashed through the wall, and Hyper Knuckles threw a chaos energy infused punch towards Hyper Metal. The power of the punch left Hyper Knuckles’ fist and flew at Hyper Metal. He dodged it however and began to launch small spheres of energy. Hyper Knuckles flew side to side, twisting through the air. He stopped and threw up a shield as a widespread barrage of energy tore through the room. Hyper Metal blasted a hole through the wall behind him and flew back up to the roof. Hyper Knuckles quickly covered the distance between them, shooting back through the center of the tower.

Hyper Knuckles blasted straight into Hyper Metal as he broke through the roof. He got a hit with a well-aimed uppercut, and Hyper Metal knee’d Hyper Knuckles in the chin. Hyper Knuckles grabbed Hyper Metal’s leg and pulled him down to his level so he could punch him straight in between the eyes. Hyper Metal let his head fly back, only to nod forward and headbutt Hyper Knuckles. Hyper Knuckles was dazed, and Hyper Metal laid a quick series of hits to his stomach before sending him flying. Instead of recovering and flying back, Knuckles seemed to drift for a while, his glow diminished. “An opening!” Hyper Metal Knuckles yelled as he quickly charged and fired an energy blast. Hyper Knuckles yelled as he recovered his power, destroying the shot with an outburst of energy. He flew back up to Hyper Metal’s level. “It appears I have found your weakness, “Hyper” Knuckles,” Hyper Metal taunted.

“Oh yeah, and what would that be?” Hyper Knuckles asked.

“You may be fueled with energy from the Master Emerald, and your infamous rage, but you still cannot get past your injuries, even in this semi-invincible state.” Hyper Knuckles grimaced. “The simple fact of the matter is, you cannot stay in this form forever. I’ll defeat you with the same tactic you used to defeat Super Mecha Sonic those many years ago!”

“We’ll see if you can manage to last that long!” Hyper Knuckles yelled as he charged Hyper Metal. He began throwing chaos punches, and Hyper Metal blocked them using small energy shields surrounding his hands. Hyper Knuckles blasted right up to Hyper Metal and slammed an energy filled punch into his forehead. However the power of the attack once again drained his power just long enough for Hyper Metal to grab onto Knuckles. He spread his hand out across Knuckles’ face. “My turn,” he said as his hand began to glow. Hyper Metal released the energy in a powerful explosion. Knuckles began to fall the ground, but quickly regained his power. The burns on his face began to fade, but it was obvious that he was healing slower than before. Hyper Metal was already on top of him, throwing punch after punch. Hyper Knuckles could only throw up his arms in an attempt to block the assault.

Hyper Metal began to drive Hyper Knuckles closer to the ground. With each hit Hyper Knuckles’ power faded for a moment, and each hit was harder than the last. He tried to fight back, but each time he made a move Hyper Metal blocked it and made an even more powerful attack. Eventually Hyper Knuckles broke through. Channeling all his power he shot one last beam of energy at Hyper Metal. It shot straight through the robot, and Hyper Knuckles hovered in the air, drifting between his normal and hyper forms. Still, he had been victorious. At least, that’s how it appeared for the brief moment before he felt a cold metal touch on his shoulder. “Too bad original. I managed to replicate your afterimage ability. And now I will destroy you.” Hyper Metal carved his clawed fist into Knuckles’ back. The weakened and battered echidna crashed to the ground, right into the same staircase leading up to the Master Emerald. Despite the heavy rain, it was still stained with his blood, and now more would come to join the stain.

Slowly and painfully, he tried to drag himself to the Emerald to which he had devoted his life. His fingers were about to brush its surface when Hyper Metal Knuckles shot down and slammed his fist into Knuckles’ back yet again. He coughed up blood, some of which flew onto the Master Emerald, marking its vibrant green with dark red. Hyper Metal crouched down beside Knuckles and grabbed onto his dreadlock-like spines. He hoisted him up to face the Master Emerald. “Look at it original, is it not beautiful. I am certainly glad you worked so hard to protect this. After all, it will be fueling my master’s destruction and domination of the world.” Hyper Metal Knuckles let out a bone-chilling laugh.

Knuckles stared into the Master Emerald. All his life he had been on the island, guarding the Master Emerald. He never exactly knew why the duty was given to him, why it was his fate. To live, and die, for the Emerald. But perhaps it was better than he never knew. For now, staring into the glowing gem, he knew there was only one way to save it, only one way to save the world. “The server’s are… the seven Chaos…” Knuckles said, struggling even to breath. He coughed, and more blood splattered on the ground. Hyper Metal continued to gloat, speaking of the Eggman Empire’s “glorious” plan. “Chaos… is… power… power enriched… by the heart,” Knuckles continued, slowly growing louder, despite beginning to lose feeling in his body.

“What are you doing?” Hyper Metal asked when he finally noticed Knuckles was speaking. “If you are begging for your life there is no point. I am still going to make you suffer.”

Knuckles’ resolve was set in stone. There was no turning back now. He knew it was the only way. “The controller… is the one… who unifies… the Chaos… only you… can do this… to save the world… destroy this island and yourself!” Knuckles yelled the final command to the Master Emerald, which began to rapidly spin around in its stand.

“What are you babbling about?! Destroy the island, and the Emerald? There is no way you would…” Metal Knuckles was cut off as a wave of energy spread out from the Master Emerald. Everything went still, as if the entire world was frozen in time. “This… does not compute!” he yelled, releasing Knuckles and frantically looking around him. Everything began to glow green, even the air. “There is no way the Guardian could sacrifice the very object he protects with his life! There is no way!”

“You’re wrong… Metal,” Knuckles said, coughing. “Now my destiny is complete… and the Master Emerald will be… safe.” Knuckles smiled, and closed his eyes. “Now, I can die peacefully…” he said, slowly drifting off into death.

“No! I am not going to be defeated like this! I am an ultimate machine, Metal Knuckles! I will kill you with my own hands!” Metal Knuckles thrust down at Knuckles, but was stopped by a strange blue liquid that suddenly appeared and covered him. “What is this?” Metal Knuckles said, looking at the liquid that had suddenly begun to come from the Master Emerald. It began to take shape in front of Metal Knuckles as he rapidly searched his data files for information on this creature. “It… it cannot be…!”

In the world around Angel Island, Metal Knuckles’ cries could not be heard. Everything was in total silence and peace. Even the sea seemed to be calmer this day. The island in the sky was enveloped in a sphere of swirling green energy, and in total silence, disappeared from existence.

* * * * *

Far away, on an ordinary island in the sea, all seemed peaceful. The majority of the island was covered in rolling green hills, with beautiful trees and blooming flowers. Strangely, this island was on of the first places Dr. Robotnik had nearly conquered, only to be defeated by a hero of the island, and the world. And yet now it was one of the few places yet to witness total takeover by the Eggman Empire’s robotic redecoration. On one of its many hillsides, a creature was lying on the ground, arms spread wide. He seemed to be sleeping, but slowly opened his eyes, blinking rapidly as the bright sunlight nearly blinded him. He sat up, shaking running his hands through the spines on the back of his head. The hedgehog glanced at his empty hand. “That was some trip, looks like the fake Chaos Emerald couldn’t handle it.” He got to his feet and looked at his surroundings. “But the thing I wanna know is… how did I wind up in Green Hill?”

Edited October 3, 2010 by Ekajra

[BakingBluePotatoe]

Wow. That's insane.

I noticed some spelling and grammar errors... you may wanna fine-read it.

[Ekajra]

Yeah, I read through it a bit before posting and caught some things, but a lot probably slipped past. I really need to just go through all my stuff and fix 'em up. Anyway, here's the second half.

Part 2:

Bellicose Blur

Blast From the Past.

“Where… am I?” the blue hedgehog asked himself as he slowly opened his eyes. Everything around him was completely white. He couldn’t even feel any ground beneath his feet. He was simply floating, curled up into a ball. Slowly, his senses began to return to him, and he tried to stand up. Strangely his feet seemed to meet a platform, despite the fact that he was still simply floating through nothingness. “This is really weird.”

“Blue hedgehog, hero of the world,” a soft, female voice said. The hedgehog looked for the source of the sound, but it echoed all around him. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, and a glowing red ball drifted towards him. It began to take the form of a female echidna. She had orange fur and blue eyes, and wore clothes that looked like they came straight out of a history book. The hedgehog recognized her.

“Ti… Tikal? What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I am here to tell you your purpose has not yet been fully fulfilled. There is still much for you to do,” Tikal answered.

“What do you mean?” Sonic asked impatiently. Even when in a strange unknown void of whiteness talking to an ancient echidna spirit, he still wished people would just get to the point.

“You have yet to complete your ultimate destiny. But don’t worry; you’ll have some help on your return.” Tikal reached out and touched Sonic’s chest. As she pulled her hand away, a green marking, shaped like one of the Chaos Emeralds, appeared, only to quickly fade away.

“Hey, good luck Sonic,” another voice, this one deeply masculine, said. “You’ll need all the help you can get.” Sonic quickly looked up to see Knuckles standing behind Tikal with another echidna he didn’t recognize.

“Hey, Knux, what’s going on here?”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out Sonic,” Knuckles called as he and his companion walked away into a bright light. Before Sonic could say any more, the light grew stronger, enveloping everything. The next thing he knew, he had woken up in Green Hill Zone, staring at the rising sun.

“Oh man, that was the weirdest dream ever,” he said as he ran towards the edge of the island that Green Hill was located on. “I probably ate one too many chili-dogs before I fell asleep. Wait a minute…” Sonic suddenly stopped running; his shoes emitted a squeal as they dug into the ground. “I got shot out of the ARK, and then…” He looked at his right hand which had held the fake Chaos Emerald he’d tried to use Chaos Control with. “Eggman was going to fire the cannon on the Capital!” Sonic turned towards the sun, then used it to figure out which direction to head. He quickly dashed in the direction of the United Federation Capital City. Even water couldn’t stop his incredible speed. At least, it couldn’t until he noticed he was swimming over it. And then he remembered he couldn’t swim. He quickly dropped like a stone, flailing about and desperately crying out for help of some kind. Despite his phobia and longtime inability to stay afloat, Sonic soon found himself treading the surface of the water. “Ahhh! I don’t even mind a boat filled with annoying rich ki… wait, am I floating?” Sonic stopped thrashing around and simply let his arms swish back and forth as his legs continued to kick. “Guess I’m not that bad of a swimmer after all. Still, I really don’t want to stay in this water. So I’ll just have to see if I can swim as fast as I can run.”

If not for the fact that any boats at sea belonged to Dr. Robotnik, a fisherman would likely have soon found himself being blasted by a wave from a hedgehog swimming at nearly the speed of sound.”Whooo! This is way more fun than trying to run underwater! At this rate I’ll reach the continent in no time!” Sonic soon reached a small island where he rested for a moment. The sky while travelling, he’d noticed the sky had begun getting darker and cloudier, and now there was a heavy covering of black clouds. Sonic assumed it was just a big storm moving through the area. After stretching out and reconfiguring his direction, he ran across the island until he found a bridge. By the condition it seemed like no one had used the road in years and the bridge had fallen out of regular maintenance. Some section even crumbled away as Sonic slowly edged out onto it. He took it slow, avoiding spots that looked dangerous.

About halfway across, the bridge began to shake, and Sonic starting losing his balance. The cement began to crumble, and the bridge began collapsing from underneath Sonic. He bolted across the remainder of the bridge all the way up the nearest hill. He may have figured out how to swim, but he still didn’t feel like taking another dip. Stopping at the top of the hill, Sonic bent over and gasped for breath. “Whew, that was a close one. But I think the city should be just over here,” he said. Sonic looked up, and immediately jumped back in shock.

The landscape all around him was completely desolate. Destroyed constructions covered almost everything, and whatever wasn’t covered by ruins was just hard dirt. Thick clouds hung in the sky, which Sonic quickly realized was from the heavy pollution in the area. He coughed as the foul air invaded his lungs. If there was still sunlight above, this place certainly hadn’t seen it in a long time. As he surveyed the area, Sonic spotted a strange dome-shaped hill in the distance. He could make out a skyline that seemed more stable than the city around him. Smoke was clearly rising from some buildings there. “It can’t be… what happened here? Did Robotnik…” Sonic decided the best way to find out would be to investigate.

* * * * *

“AGGGHHHH!” Miles yelled as he woke up, obviously in pain. He quickly remembered where he was and shut up, cursing under his breath. He dragged himself over to a countertop, grabbing onto it for support. He pulled himself up, trying to keep the pressure off his left leg, which definitely felt broken. Despite his injuries, he’d managed to slow himself down enough during his descent to survive. But there was no doubt that he wouldn’t be making it back to Subagri easily, if at all. He untied his sword and sheath from his back and used it as a crutch. Slowly, he walked towards the door of his shelter.

He stuck his head out the door, checking all around him for robots. The coast appeared to be clear, so he proceeded to hobble out of the building. Miles slowly moved towards the edge of the city, constantly staying in the shadows and always looking over his dislocated shoulder. Considering the little sunlight that pierced the clouds, almost everything was shadows. As he walked, he kept looking to the edge of the city. There was nothing there. No hope of being saved. He was the only crazy enough to travel here. After all, everyone else was perfectly content to live a new life hiding underground. And considering Dr. Robotnik hadn’t destroyed them in the years since he’d conquered the world, it seemed their existence was safe. “I guess I’m just a fighter who won’t let go of the past,” he said, shaking his head. Just then he heard the sound of robots walking in his direction, and he dove out of sight. Two silver guard robots walking past him, having a conversation out loud. Which was strange considering they usually just communicated with internal communications. But one could never really understand the reasons behind much of the development that went into Eggman’s robots. The man wasn’t exactly all that sane, at least not any more.

“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY A BATTLE FORCE IS BEING MOBOLIZED,” one said.

“YOU DID NOT RECEIVE THE EMPEROR’S BATTLE ANNOUNCEMENT?” the other responded, stopping.

“NEGATIVE, I WAS IN MAINTENANCE.”

“THE EMPEROR HAS DECIDED TO INITIATE HIS PLAN TO DISPOSE OF THE REMAINING RESISTANCE COLONIES IN THE WORLD AT ONCE. IT WOULD SEEM THE LOSS OF THE FLOATING ISLAND BASE HAS FORCED HIM TO MOVE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE.”

“I FIND IT STRANGE HOW A MASSIVE FLOATING ISLAND SIMPLY DISAPPEARS FROM ALL MAPS AND COMMUNICATIONS.”

“I CONCUR. PERHAPS THE PURPOSE CAN BE EXPLORED AFTER OUT CONQUEST.”

“AFFIRMATIVE.” The robots continued to walk. After they were a safe distance away, Miles emerged from his hiding place. He tried to smirk, but it hurt his face too much.

“Then again, maybe everyone should remember why we’re in hiding,” he said as he continued to walk towards the edge of the city. However, his energy was fading from him quickly, and his vision became more clouded than it already was. As he looked to a hill in the distance, he spotted a strangely familiar figure. “It must really be the end… I’m starting to see things…” Miles said. Slowly he began to fall forward, as the faraway figure disappeared from the hill in a flash.

* * * * *

“There’s no way this can be the right city! I must have made a wrong turn… unless… unless it really did,” Sonic looked at the city, trying to find any sign of life in the gray abyss. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a speck of color, brown and yellow. He dashed towards it, and in a split second he’d reached the collapsed fox. “Hey, are you okay?” Sonic asked, slowly picking the fox up. As he did so he noticed the pair of long, fluffy tails that the fox possessed. “Tails? No, it couldn’t be. Tails isn’t this old.” Sonic lifted the fox up onto his shoulders. “Or this heavy… maybe he’s a relative? I just hope I don’t run into whatever did this to him. Better get out of here.” Sonic ran out of the city, and continued to run until he’d gotten out of sight from the city. He stopped and set the fox down gently. “Now I just need to figure out where to go.”

The fox stirred for a second, then suddenly jolted awake and grabbed onto Sonic’s arm. “Head… south…” he said weakly before collapsing again.

“South it is,” Sonic said, picking up the fox.

* * * * *

The Subagri security room. Located at the top of the underground dome that the city was contained in. From here former G.U.N. members, now reformed as the Subagri Armed Neo Defenders, held a constant vigil over the city, watching the sky and land around it. Of course, it had been a long time since any serious threat had come near, and they mostly just dealt with Miles’ angst these days. Two members in particular were simply playing a card game.

“You got any jacks?” the rabbit asked, looking at his cards.

“Go fish,” his human friend replied. “Have any… fours?”

“Ahh man… here you go,” the rabbit said, handing over a card with four red diamonds on it. Just then a far older man walked in. He was their leader, formerly one of the highest ranking members of G.U.N. But he didn’t mind being a security officer, as long as the people were safe. And his men actually did their job.

“Privates! You can play games when you’re off duty! But right now you have work!” he yelled in his gruff, commanding voice.

“Sorry sir, but really there isn’t much going on,” the rabbit replied as he gathered up his deck of cards. “The only thing we can expect is Prower, and he hasn’t even come back yet.”

“That’s what worries me. That kid has been out there dong who knows what for years now, and he’s always returned. He wasn’t exactly uninjured, but he came back. His absence worries me.”

“Sir! Something’s coming in fast!” another soldier called out. “Really… really fast! Whatever it is it’s nearly running at supersonic speeds!”

“Can you get a visual?” the commander asked as he stepped over the soldier’s station.

“Working on it… here!” A video came up on the screen, depicting a blue blur of something. “It doesn’t look like a robot, and it appears to be carrying someone. It almost looks like… Prower!”

“Open up the hangar. We need to let him know we’re here,” the commander said, before striding towards the door.

“But sir, we don’t know if it’s hostile or not!”

“Don’t worry, I think I know just who this is,” the commander said, closing the door behind him. “Still, to think he’d return after all these years…”

* * * * *

“There’s nothing around here but grass and trees,” Sonic said, slowing down his pace. At least, slower to him. It was still incredibly fast for everyone else. “Still, it’s better than that city.” As he ran, everything seemed to blend together, and he couldn’t see any sign of civilization, until the ground started to shake underneath him. He skidded to a stop and looked around for a source of the shaking, fearing it was an enemy. Just ahead of him, a clump of trees started to part through the middle, and the ground sank downwards. It split apart and disappeared, revealing a road that angled down into the ground. Sonic ran over to it and looked down. He didn’t see anyone, so he decided to just go on in. As soon as he reached the end of the ramp the ground closed up above him.

Sonic walked out into the large room he’d entered. It appeared to be some sort of garage or hangar, with a variety of vehicles parked inside. Sonic heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see three people walking towards him. All of them wore blue-grey military uniforms similar to the ones worn by G.U.N. Sonic assumed these soldiers were the same. “Oh great, I’m guessing you’re going to arrest me again, right?”

The commander was about to respond questioningly, but quickly assumed the hedgehog was being sarcastic. “Not right now. First we need to get Prower here to the hospital.” The two soldiers behind the commander walked around from behind him, carrying a stretcher as Sonic carefully handed the unconscious fox to them. They hurried out of the hangar.

“So… what exactly is going on here, and where am I?” Sonic asked, crossing his arm and tapping his foot.

“You’ll get filled in later. But first, you need to come with me. I have some questions of my own.”

* * * * *

“What happened to Miles?!” Amy asked angrily, nearly shoving Hopper into the ground.

“I don’t know for sure, Amy,” the frog said, steadying himself and trying to calm down Amy. “I was hanging around in the hangar waiting for him so I could pay him back for shooting me, and all of a sudden these military guys walk in and come back out with him on a stretcher. They were talking him to the hospital. He looked pretty bad.”

“I need to get over there. If he dies on me I’ll kill him!” Amy said, walking past Hopper and storming towards the hospital in the center of town.

“Note to self: do not die without telling Amy,” Hopper said to himself before following her. They got to the hospital and were directed towards the room where he was. The S.A.N.D. soldiers were just leaving, and Amy managed to catch him.

“Do you know what happened to him? How’d he get back when he’s hurt like this?” she asked.

“I’m not entirely sure what happened to him, but it seemed like this guy carried him back.”

“What “guy”?”

“He was a blue hedgehog. He kind of looked familiar actually, I just can’t quite place where I’ve seen him before… in any case, I assume the commander took him to HQ for questioning.”

“Blue… hedgehog… it couldn’t be,” Amy said, a shocked expression on her face. “Hopper, you stay here with Miles. Sir, I’m coming to the headquarters with you.”

* * * * *

The commander took a sip from the coffee mug emblazoned with an image of a shield crossed by a sword and a gun. The letters S.A.N.D. stretched across the middle. He set it back down on the table and folded his hands, placing them in front of his face as he leaned forward. “So, you’re positive you don’t know anything about where you are, or where you just were?”

“I told you everything already. One second I was hurtling through space in an exploding escape pod, next thing I know I’m in Green Hill. So I headed towards the capital, but I just ran into some sort of destroyed city. Pretty dismal place, not somewhere I’d want to take a vacation. That’s where I found that fox guy…”

“Yes, Miles Prower,” the commander said, cutting Sonic off.

“See, I think you’re mistaken there because Miles Prower is just a kid. That guy was, like, ten years older than him. But anyway, I picked him up and he told me to head south. I did, and that’s how I wound up with you, Mister Crazy Eyes.”

The commander raised an eyebrow at the hedgehog’s snide remark about his heterochromia. Still, it was to be expected from Sonic. After all, the hedgehog hadn’t seemed to change at all over the years, in his personality or physical appearance. He seemed exactly the same as back when G.U.N. had first mistaken him for Project Shadow. ‘And he doesn’t even realize how long it’s been since he’s last been seen.’

A knock came from the door, and the commander stood and walked over and stepped outside the room, leaving Sonic inside to cultivate his boredom even longer. A soldier stood outside, and he saluted the commander when he left the room. “Sir, there’s a Miss Amy Rose here. She wants to speak with the prisoner.”

“Amy Rose… ahh, yes, Prower’s friend. Let her in.”

“Yes sir.” The soldier turned to a speaker on the wall and pressed a button activating it. “Miss Rose can come in.”

“Copy that,” a voice from the other end replied. A door in the middle of the hall opened, and Amy Rose stepped out of the headquarters’ front office. She turned left and walked up to the commander.

“He’s right in here Miss. Though I should warn you, he doesn’t…”

“Don’t worry sir. I can handle him, if he really is… him,” Amy said coolly as she opened the door and entered. Her heart jumped though as she saw him sitting there, his legs up on the table. He looked exactly the same as he had those many years ago, and she thought for a moment that he was just a phantom of her memory that would fade away any second. But he remained, completely corporeal. Finally Amy’s words caught up to her. “Sonic? Is it really you?”

“What? Of course it’s me, who’re… Amy? You’re here too?” Sonic asked, standing up as soon as he saw the pink hedgehog standing in front of the door. “You look different. How did you get away from Eggman? And where’s Tails?”

Tears started to well up in Amy’s eyes, but she forced them back. She had gotten stronger over the many years. And now she needed to be her strongest. “Sonic, there’s something you need to know,” she said firmly. “The world is much different than you remember.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sonic… you’ve been dead for ten years.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raging Angst.

Hopper sat on the windowsill, looking out at the people walking around outside. Inside there was nothing but the beeping of the various medical tools hooked up to Miles. His pulse was steady, and it seemed like he’d simply passed out from exhaustion and shock. The doctors had bandaged him up, and now Hopper was just waiting for the fox to wake up so he could ask him what happened to him. But that didn’t seem to be happening any time soon. The more Hopper thought about it, actually, he realized the Miles rarely wanted to talk to him coming back unharmed from one of his “outings”. Considering he now had quite a few broken bones and was almost dead, he’d probably try and kill Hopper. And pass out again in the process. Nevertheless, Hopper inched farther back from the bed. He really just wanted to know what was up with Amy and that other hedgehog.

* * * * *

“WHAT?!” Sonic yelled, jumping so far back he practically broke through the wall. After staring at Amy and taking in a few deep breaths, he calmed down. “No, you’re just messing with me. You do look a lot older, but I bet you aren’t even Amy, right? You’re just playing a really complicated trick on me for some reason. You guys took care of Eggman, and now we’re having some fun like usual, right?” Sonic strolled back over to the table and sat down, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “This is the part where someone bursts in and says I’ve been Punk’d!”

Once again, Amy fought to hold back her tears. Over the decade she had realized it had been foolish to just follow someone around, carelessly throwing out her love and devotion. She had grown more independent since Sonic’s “death”. But seeing him again, thinking she wasn’t even herself, brought back old feelings. But she had to make him see the truth. “You always were stubborn,” Amy said, shaking her head. She sat down across from Sonic, staring him down. “Fine, I’ll just explain everything you… missed…”

* * * * *

Ten years earlier, desert area, Pyramid Base. Elapsed time since Cannon fire: 5 minutes.

“Hold still Tails!” Knuckles yelled as he struggled to keep his grip on the enraged fox. “Calm down!”

“Let me go, Knuckles!” Tails screamed. “I have to find Robotnik!” Tails flailed around, but the echidna was too strong for him. Out of options, he opened his mouth and bit down on Knuckles’s wrist.

“Ah, you little punk! I said CALM DOWN!” Knuckles let go with one of his hands, only to quickly slam it down against Tails’s neck. Tails entire body went limp, and Knuckles gently set him down in the cockpit of the Cyclone.

“Knuckles! You didn’t have to do that!” Amy yelled. “Are you just going to let Eggman get away?”

“Of course not. Not after what he’s done,” Knuckles replied. “But Tails is in no state to fight right now. He needs to be more focused, even I know that. And we have no idea where Robotnik teleported to.” Amy opened her mouth as if to reply, but instead said nothing and simply went over to sit against a wall. Knuckles bent over into the cockpit and started messing with the controls. After a few minutes of fiddling around, he managed to transform the mech back into plane mode. A short while later he walked over to the wall in front of the Tornado. He began to tear away at it with his Shovel Claw. Soon he had worked his way to the outside of the building, creating an exit for the plane. Turning around, he widened the passage, then walked back and lifted up the back end of the Tornado. He turned the plane so it was facing straight through the opening, and then walked over to Amy. “I think I managed to set the autopilot to go to Tails’s work shop in the Mystic Ruins. I’ll be getting back to my island from there. You should probably come with.”

“Right,” Amy said, slowly standing up. She walked over to the Tornado and climbed into the back seat. Knuckles jumped up onto one of the wings, reaching down to activate the auto-pilot. The Tornado’s engine began to roar to life and the plane inched forward. It picked up speed as it rolled down the improvised runway, and took off into the sky as it left the pyramid. The auto-pilot quickly directed itself towards the Mystic Ruins. As they flew closer to the Mystic Ruins they also grew closer to the city. Fortunately they passed a good distance away from it, and didn’t have to witness the destruction. That is, until Tails woke up.

As the Tornado closed in on the small island where the Mystic Ruins were located, the young fox suddenly jolted up in his seat, and, realizing he was in his plane, grabbed onto the controls, disengaging auto-pilot. “Tails, don’t do anything; just fly back your workshop!” Knuckles called from the wing.

“No! I have to go to city! Robotnik is probably finishing the job now!” Tails turned the Tornado around. “I have to stop him!”

“No Tails! Now is not the time! What would Sonic do?!”

“He’d keep fighting! And you’re not helping!” Tails twisted the controls and caused the Tornado to spin into a barrel roll, throwing Knuckles off the wing, and Amy, screaming, out of the back seat. Knuckles caught her and glided over to the island as Tails flew away.

“Stop Tails! You’ll just get killed too!” Amy screamed after him, but it was no use.

“Don’t worry Amy, he’ll be back. We just need to wait for him.” Knuckles said sternly, before stomping off towards Tail’s workshop. He’d restore the island to its natural state after he had a talk with the fox.

* * * * *

What little remained of the capital city was a hellish nightmare. The area surrounding where the President’s house once stood was wiped clean, and just the shockwave from the laser had caused massive damage, ripping buildings to shreds, ripping up the ground, and burning everything. As if that hadn’t been horrible enough, as people fought to escape and G.U.N. tried to maintain order, the massive nightmare of the ARK was bearing down from the sky, like a flaming comet of death. In the distance, Tails flew the Tornado, pushing it to its limits. The sky was a flaming red as the massive space station hurtled through the atmosphere, sections being torn away and flung through the sky. Tails could only watch in horror as the tip of the eclipse cannon pierced the sky, quickly followed by the rest of the ARK. And in a blinding flash of light, the metropolis had disappeared. A column of flame and ash blasted into the air, only worsening the cataclysmic surroundings. A few seconds later Tails was nearly thrown from the Tornado as a shockwave tore through the air. As it passed, the ash and smoke began to settle and spread throughout the air, fully revealing the destruction.

The once great city was no more, replaced by a massive crater. All but a few buildings just outside the city limits had survived being crushed by the massive space station, and they had quickly been destroyed by the shockwave. The ground all along the rim of the crater was cracked, sections breaking off and rising above the rest of the ground. Along the coast water was pouring into the basin. The highways leading away from the city, on which many had been escaping in G.U.N. vehicles, were equally torn up and cars and trucks had been tossed around. Now the survivors were either running away for fear that something might happen next, while many simply fell to their knees in terror and shock. Their world has just come to a crushing end, literally.

Tails continued to fly towards the city with the same expression as those below. “This can’t be happening… no… why did this have to happen?!” he yelled. No answer came to him, but two military jets shot past him. They each then flipped around and flew next to the Tornado.

“For your own safety, leave this area immediately!” one of the pilots said over the radio. Tails quickly slammed his finger down on his own communications switch.

“No! I have to stop Robotnik!” Tails pushed the Tornado even faster. The fighter jets had no problem keeping up with him.

“That mad man isn’t anywhere near here, and if he was he’d be dead anyway. Now turn your plane around and leave!” the pilot called again. The two began to turn, forcing Tails to move with them. Finally he loosened his grip on the controls and slumped down in his seat.

“Yeah… I guess they’re right,” he said. Tails turned back towards the Mystic Ruins.

* * * * *

Inside Tails’s workshop, Amy sat silently, while Knuckles stood in front of the runway doors. He crossed his arms in front of his chest as he looked for any sign of the Tornado coming back. He fought to avert his eyes from the red sky, and the destruction to the north. He looked up as he heard the sound of a plane coming closer. The Tornado touched down on the runway and skidded to a stop just before running into Knuckles, who didn’t move an inch. “Get out of my way, Knuckles!” Tails yelled from the cockpit of the Tornado.

“Not until you calm down! This isn’t like you!”

“I said MOVE!” Tails slammed the throttle, pushing the Tornado forward. Knuckles dove out of the way and the Tornado crashed through the hangar door. Amy screamed, but she wasn’t hurt. Knuckles charged inside, and as Tails jumped out of his plane Knuckles socked him in the face. Tails flew across the room and collided with the wall. Amy screamed again. Knuckles stomped over to him and picked him up by the tufts of fur on his chest.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! You could’ve killed Amy, or me! Do you want to lose all of your friends?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore!” Tails yelled, tears streaming down his face. “Everyone’s dead, or they will be! There’s no point!”

“Listen to me Tails, LISTEN!” Knuckles slammed Tails against the wall then brought him close to his face. “It’s not over until we let it be over. Do you think Sonic would just want you to give up?” Knuckles let Tails go, and he fell to the ground with a heavy thud before curling up in a sitting position with his knees held to his chest. “Even with what’s happened, Robotnik might not have an exact plan thought out. If we can find his base we can start an attack and hit him right back,” Knuckles slammed his fists together to drive the point home.

“Why should you even care,” Tails mumbled so he was barely audible. But echidnas have surprisingly good hearing, and Knuckles turned towards him. “All you ever worry about is your island and that stupid rock you’ve got with you…”

“What was that? Is that really all you think I care about?” Knuckles said, once again picking up Tails and slamming him against the wall. He held him there with one hand, pointing the other in his face. “Look fox-boy. I care about the world, I care about you two, and I cared about Sonic. And I am going to help you beat Robotnik.”

“I don’t care; I don’t need your help!” Tails screamed at Knuckles. “Just go back to your stupid floating island and leave us alone! We were better off without you!” Tails flinched as Knuckles pulled back his fist, but the presumed strike never came. Instead Knuckles released Tails and walked away.

“Fine, I’ll go back to my island. Good luck without me,” Knuckles said. He briefly looked to Amy, who had been watching with tear-filled eyes, then walked out the door. It slammed behind him, and a deep silence covered the room, broken only by Amy’s soft crying. Tails was on his knees, staring at the gray concrete floor. Small drops began to speck the ground as tears once again began to fall from Tails eyes. Clenching his fists he arched backwards and let out a rage filled scream. “Why?! Why did he have to go?!” he yelled, standing up and storming across the room. Amy’s sobbing was silenced as she watched him. Tears ran from his eyes like a roaring waterfall, staining his fur. He toppled into a standing tool cabinet, sending it crashing to the ground. Metal rang in a deafening cacophony as the tools flew across the hard floor. Tails’s hand reached out and grasped a large wrench as he turned towards his familiar blue plane. He’d only just finished this latest model before the past days’ events had unfolded. It was perfect, combining the best features of the last models and also adding new features. It was going to help his friend win his fights. But it had failed. He had failed. “Why couldn‘t you have been better?!” Tails yelled as he swung to wrench at the plane. The cockpit windshield cracked and shattered from the impact. He swung again with more fury, bending the top of the side door down. Again and again he swung, his anger swelling with each strike. No longer was he simply smashing his plane to pieces, as he had another image in mind. A large section of the left wing was bashed through and fell to the ground. With one last malice filled yell he swung with the wrench, and it became embedded into the side of the plane. He fell backwards, releasing his grip on the wrench. He stumbled back to the wall, crying even more than before. “Why couldn‘t I have been better… why couldn‘t I save him?” He sank down to the floor and bowed his head as a grim silence fell on the room, and only his mourning could be heard. Too shocked to even cry, Amy sat silently watching Tails. Soon the exhaustion from the rest of the day caught up to the weariness brought on by her sorrow, and she fell asleep.

* * * * *

Amy woke lying on the floor of the workshop. Someone had draped a blanket over her. She sat up slowly, stretching. She felt like she’d just had the worst nightmare of all time, and she was glad it was finally over. With a yawn, she looked around and realized where she was. And then she remembered it wasn’t a dream. Noticing the blanket, she looked for Tails, but he wasn’t inside. She then heard a pounding sound coming from outside. She got up and left through the large hole left by the crashed Tornado. The crashed Angel Island had disappeared; Knuckles had obviously restored the Master Emerald. Out on the cliff jutting out from the hangar Tails was busy tearing apart the now scrapped plane. Parked next to the building was the red Tornado 1.

The biplane still looked just as impressive as it always had, even though it had lost a wing when it was shot down by the Egg Carrier. Amy ran her hand along the side, but stopped when she noticed a blue streak. It looked like someone had just slashed a paintbrush across the plane, crossing out a single word emblazoned on the side. The name of the plane’s original owner: “SONIC”.

Amy stared at the mark and almost started to cry again, but she tore herself away from the Tornado 1 and walked over to where Tails was tearing apart theTornado 3 in a more organized manner. Amy stood silently as he went about his work. After a few minutes Tails finally spoke. “With the city destroyed, you don’t really have anywhere to go,” he said bluntly. “You can stay here if you want. You can use my room; I’ll sleep in the workshop.”

“Thank you, Tails. I…” Amy tried to speak, but she was cut off.

“That’s not my name,” the young fox said calmly.

“What do you mean?” Amy asked in a worried tone. “That’s what I’ve always called you.”

“That’s not my name. He called me “Tails”. My name is Miles. Miles Prower.”

“Tails, please, don’t do this. Just because Sonic….”

“I said, my name is Miles!” Miles yelled, stopping his work.

“Sonic wouldn’t want you like this! You can’t just forget about him!”

“It doesn’t really matter anymore does it?” Miles said, continuing to loosen a bolt from a side panel. “After all, he can’t say anything in the matter.”

Amy felt like she was about to burst, but her tears quickly turned into anger. “So you’re just going to forget about Sonic?! You’re just going to leave it all behind and not look back, is that it?!”

“Of course not. Dr. Robotnik needs to be brought down, and I’m the one who’s going to crack that egg.” Miles raised his wrench into the air, and then slammed it down on the top of the Tornado. “Crack it right open.”

“No, I can’t believe this is the real you. Tails, you aren’t like this! You looked up to Sonic, what happened to trying to be like him?!”

“That’s just not something I can do easily,” Miles replied, returning to his work. “I need to find my own way through life now. And like I said before, my name is Miles.”

Amy stood, staring at Miles, her fists clenched in rage. Reaching behind her back she pulled out her Piko Piko Hammer from its special pocket zone. “I guess I’ll just have to knock some sense into you,” she said to herself as she lifted the hammer into the air. With ferocious strength from someone her size, she brought the mallet down towards Miles’ head. However it stopped short of its target. Amy looked down to see Miles had blocked it with his wrench.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said.

“I can’t leave you like this! I need you to help me help you, Tails!”

“For the last time, my name is Miles!”

Amy raised the hammer up again, but slowly brought it down and it disappeared. “Fine, Miles, but I’m not going to just stay here and watch you destroy yourself,” Amy said, turning away. “Once you fix the plane, I need you to take me to Westopolis. I’m sure that’s where any survivors would have gone.” Amy turned back towards Miles. “I’m going to help them Miles, and if you have any heart left then you know that revenge isn’t the only option.” She walked over to the stone steps leading down from the cliff. “I’ll be with Big. Hopefully you finish that thing before he loses Froggy again and I have to help him look for it.” Miles said nothing but continue to work. With one more long look, Amy walked down the steps and headed towards the mine cart that lead to the ruins. “Good luck with your new life Tails. I hope you’re happy.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dark Creatures, Darker Secrets.

Westopolis, just a few months after the Impact. The United Federation had quickly moved the government operation to this city, far from the former capital. The president had been evacuated from his home prior to the disaster, and many other government officials and citizens had left the city, not willing to hope on a miracle. They were the smart ones. But things hadn’t gotten much better. Westopolis was a city well known for its crime rate, and in the aftermath of the Impact, the government was struggling to maintain its grip on the masses. G.U.N. was doing its best to police the city. With the survivors of the Impact fleeing to the city with nothing, many wound up on the streets, and most had lost faith in their leaders’ power. Gangs were rising up, and anarchy was brewing in the streets. And some just waited for the next disaster; after all, as they thought, it was only a matter of time until Dr. Robotnik attacked again and finished them off. Soon news would come that would increase all of these feelings.

Amy Rose was walking along the sidewalk towards the homeless shelter where she was volunteering. Chasing Sonic for so long, it didn’t even faze her that she was homeless herself. Technically, her last home had already been destroyed in the Chaos incident, and it was a short time before Eggman unleashed his last plan. Her ears perked up as she heard someone cry out behind her. “Thief! Someone stop him!” Amy turned to see a bat running down the sidewalk, a purse in his hands. Seeing Amy, he spread his wings and jumped into the air.

“You’re not getting away from me!” Amy said, summoning her Piko Piko Hammer. With a powerful swing she flipped into the air, bringing the mallet down on the bat’s head. He fell to the concrete, and Amy quickly snatched up the purse.

“Oh, thank you!” the woman said as Amy returned the purse.

“It was no trouble, really. People like this guy are the real problem with the city these days.” Amy glanced back at the bat, who was stunned, wobbling back and forth with his hands on his head and his eyes screwed shut. He wore baggy, torn jeans and a t-shirt with the word “VAMPS” emblazoned in a graffiti font on the front. “If everyone would just band together in times of trouble instead of just thinking about themselves, we could pull through this.” Amy looked up to see the woman looking at her thoughtfully. “Sorry about going off like that, I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“No, no, I understand what you mean,” the woman said. “You actually remind of that Sonic the Hedgehog a little bit.”

“What?”

“He was always such an independent fellow, but he really cared for people. After all, he did beat that Robotnik so many times. It’s too bad what happened to him…”

“Yeah, I…” Amy began, but the woman cut her off.

“Getting arrested, and then breaking out of jail… twice! And then nothing.” Amy’s face turned down. Of course no one would know what had really happened to Sonic. All they heard and seen were news broadcasts and wanted posters. “Of course, I don’t believe G.U.N.,” the woman continued, leaning a little too close into Amy’s personal space. “I doubt Sonic would do the things they claimed he did. Between you and me, I have pretty good feeling that the hedgehog in the news wasn’t really Sonic, and the government was trying to cover something up. You know what I mean?”

“Um.. er, yes ma’am, I understand,” Amy stammered out.

“Well, you take care now dear,” the woman smiled and walked away. Amy stood there for a moment in bewilderment. Shaking her head, she began to walk away, when someone else yelled from across the street.

“No! This is not happening!” Amy turned to see a young frog, probably about Miles or her age, standing by the window of an electronics store. The window was filled with various television models, all of them set to the local news. Amy, and everyone else in the vicinity, rushed across the street to see. A reporter was reading off a report while the headline scrolled along the bottom of the page; “ROBOTS SIGHTED IN CENTRAL CITY RUINS.”

“We go now to G.U.N. footage of the sighted robots,” the reporter said. The screen changed to show a view from a surveillance jet showing a group of round humanoid robots nearby the coastline. “At this time it is not positive what the purpose of these robots is. They appear to be building some sort of dike along the fractured coast. Their designs appear different from those last used by Dr. Robotnik. However, it is unlikely they come from a different source. We will keep you updated as more news arrives.”

A horrified murmur arose from the crowd. “Well, folks, that’s it!” The frog said, turning to face the crowd. “Show’s over. Go home and await all of our impending dooms!”

“Hey kid, why don’t you go home yourself,” one of the adults there said.

“I wish I could, man…. I wish I could,” the frog muttered before walking away, hands in his pockets. Amy followed him.

“Hey, do you need a place to stay? There’s this homeless shelter…”

“Nah, I’m fine,” the frog replied, still walking. “I’m hanging in some place outside of town. The other inhabitants are kinda creepy…” the frog glanced at the bat Amy had stopped, who was just now coming to his senses. “… and apparently criminals. Hmm, that would explain the gang name, and the guy with the awesome bike, and the chick with all the computers… and the guy with all the explosives…” the frog stopped and faced Amy. “Perhaps I’ll reconsider your offer. What’s your name?”

“Amy Rose.”

“Hmm, that sounds kind of familiar.” The frog looked Amy over carefully, his hand beneath his mouth in the closest he could get to a thinking pose without a chin. He walked around her completely before returning to his original position. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. I’m Hopper, and yes, I know it’s not very original.”

“It’s better than some other names I’ve heard,” Amy said, thinking of Big the Cat’s friend Froggy… and most of her friends’ names as well.

“So, where is this homeless shelter of which you speak?” Hopper asked.

“Just a few blocks that way. Follow me,” Amy said, leading Hopper towards her original destination.

* * * * *

About a week passed, and the robots continued to work diligently, and with incredible speed. Just overnight from the first sighting they had completed the wall to block out the ocean and turned the sunken area into a “man-made” lake. By now their numbers had increased dramatically, and swarms of the small droids were working constantly all over the city, restoring what had been destroyed by the ARK. Government officials released no information about the robots other than surveillance footage, and G.U.N. stated that they were holding off an attack until they determined the robots’ ulterior motive.

Amy was sitting with Hopper in the overflowing homeless shelter, watching the television. The reporter had just finished the latest on the robots, which had now restored nearly the entire southern half of the city, and were now continuing north. Currently they seemed to be filling in the crater surrounding the ARK, which now sat as a large hill in the center of the city. “In other news,” the reporter continued, “today witnesses the return of the Black Comet, seen for one night every fifty years.”

“Huh, that sounds cool, I’ll have to check it out,” Hopper said. “But right now I’d better get going.”

“Where to?” Amy asked.

“Well, I was thinking just in case even more chaos broke out, I should learn to fight or something. So I found this cool martial arts place. The master is some old rat, I think his name’s Sliver or something. Anyway, my lesson is soon, so I’ll see yah around.”

“See yah, Hopper,” Amy sat, waving as Hopper walked away. However, as soon as the doors closed behind him, his voice rang out through the building.

“Okay, something is not right here!” Amy, and most everyone else, ran outside to see what was happening. The sky, perfectly sunny just moments before, had suddenly become dark as thick, black clouds rolled in. They began to form a cyclone shape over the center of town, glowing red. And then, something began to fall from the clouds. But it wasn’t rain. Strange creatures, black, red, and very much alien, descended on the city. Some were humanoid, carrying strange guns, others massive in size and crushing everything with purple swords or just their fists, and small dragon-like creatures flew overhead. G.U.N. troops, already patrolling the streets, immediately jumped into action while back-up arrived. The city had erupted into a war zone in a matter of seconds.

Amy was about to charge into the street as more of the black aliens mobilized, when just as suddenly as the aliens a small jet plane flew in. Bullets began to trace the ground, and the aliens quickly fell. The plane flipped over, did a barrel roll, and came to a stop in front of the crowd of people watching. The pilot, a young fox, immediately jumped out of the cockpit, a massive wrench in his hands. He charged at one of the surviving aliens, a giant. It lumbered towards him, its glowing sword raised. The fox swerved around the blade as it slashed downward, building momentum until he reached the giant’s leg. He slashed with the wrench, cutting off the giant’s leg at the knee. The giant fell to the ground, and the fox jumped on top of him, ran to his head, and bashed it in.

The crowd stood there completely speechless. “T… Miles, is that…?” Amy stammered, but she was interrupted by Hopper who was running up to the fox.

“Dude! Hardcore!” Hopper called offering the fox a high five. He didn’t take it. “So where did you swoop in from all of a sudden?”

“I was coming here for business,” Miles replied. “And these aliens decided to come for a visit as well. And it looks like we have more visitors.” Miles turned to look down the road, where another group was approaching. From a distance they appeared to be G.U.N. soldiers, but as they marched closer their shape was the only similarity. It was a squad of robots, tall and sleek, with a smooth curve to them. But each armed with powerful weapon systems. With aliens on one side and robots on the other, Miles turned to the group he knew he had something against. “Here to take advantage of the alien attack? I’d expect that from you Eggman. Bring it on!” He got ready to fight, but was shocked when the first row of robots marched past him, and the second, and the third, and so on, without so much as raising their guns. As soon as they had passed the group of onlookers they armed their weapons and eliminated any aliens in sight. They then quickly moved on to find more aliens.

“The robots just… saved us?” Amy questioned. “Why would they?” Just then, someone still inside the shelter ran outside, frantically waving their arms.

“He’s on the show! Dr. Robotnik!” the man yelled. Everyone ran back inside, and sure enough, the television screen showed Dr. Robotnik.

“This is a message to all whom it should reach, especially those of the United Federation. No doubt I am the last person you want to hear from; I don’t blame you, but hear me out. Earlier today my Egg Pawns, busily restoring Central City, were attacked by a strange alien force. Their leader, who came to my headquarters, said his name was Black Doom, and these creatures were the Black Arms. I believe they are somehow connected to the Black Comet. I quickly engaged in battle with them, but I soon detected more of their forces landing on the planet. I have sent out some of my finest battle robots to help your military fight. Please do not attack them; they have been programmed only to attack alien life forms.” Dr. Robotnik paused. With a deep breath, he continued. “I know this may seem like a feeble excuse for my actions of the past, and I doubt any will believe me so soon. While it is true that I terrorized your land and attempted to destroy your government, I had no intention of causing the ARK to crash into the planet. My grandfather, Dr. Gerald Robotnik, had placed that programming into the Eclipse Cannon’s system, and I had no way of stopping it. But after witnessing the horrors that came out of my actions, I have realized that no true utopia can be made through force and imperialism. I have decided to change my ways, beginning with the reconstruction of your city. While I still expect none of you to trust me, I am opening the city up to anyone who needs shelter. All the Egg Pawns throughout Central City are unarmed and peaceful, and the number of military robots is no more than the number of soldiers your military employs. Please, I ask you, consider my offer carefully. Now is the time to forget past differences and join together in pea…” Robotnik was cut off by a wrench flying through the screen.

“Don’t believe his lies,” Miles said. “He’s probably just planning on capturing everyone who moves back into Central.” Miles walked over, pulled his wrench from the television, and walked towards the door.

“Miles, wait!” Amy called, grabbing him by the shoulder.

“I have places I need to be,” Miles said, shaking Amy off. He walked out the door and jumped into his plane. The side now read Tornado 4. No longer was there any mention of the original Tornado’s owner.

* * * * *

Earlier, deep inside the supposedly abandoned ARK. The once great space station now sat in a crater in the center of the city, which was currently being filled in by Egg Pawns. Still, it held many secrets, least of which were seven mystical gems, last used to power the ARK’s ultimate weapon. Now another evil sought them for its own purposes. Outside, black clouds swirled in the sky and alien forces began to descend upon the city, including their leader. Black and red like his offspring, Black Doom had distinct features that set him apart from the lesser Black Arms. He had three glowing red eyes, and the skin on his face seemed to fold inward where his mouth should be. Two long horns extended from each side of his head with numerous smaller horns in between. He wore a flowing robe and strange jewelry, and he seemed to lack a lower half. With his ability to control space he could teleport and move through anything, even right into the cannon control room of the ARK.

“Foolish humans,” Black Doom spoke in a deep, rumbling voice, “leaving all 7 Chaos Emeralds in one place. Just waiting for me to take what is mine.”

“I don’t think so,” a calm, cool, and slightly metallic voice said from behind him. Black Doom turned around to see a familiar figure standing behind him.

“Ahh, perfect, it would appear you have brought the emeralds here for me.”

“No, Black Doom, just the opposite,” the figure said, before disappearing. Not even the powerful alien leader could keep up with him. The figure reappeared behind Black Doom, holding a gun to his head. “I make my own destiny.”

* * * * *

True to his word, Dr. Robotnik’s troops helped fend off the alien assault, and they were quickly eliminated. As soon as all the aliens had been killed the combat robots returned to Central City, though no one followed them. A few months passed, and the Egg Pawns finished restoring the city, even improving it in a way. All the construction was perfectly and precisely put together, and everything seemed to give off a futuristic grow. The Pawns even went outside the city and restored the surrounding landscape. Finally, they moved onto the remains of the ARK, and built more of the city, primarily government buildings, on top of the hill. To someone who had been living under a rock, it would appear to be a perfectly normal city. More time passed, until about a year after the Impact. At that time the President announced that, after extensive talks with Dr. Robotnik, he would be moving all government operations to New Central City. The United Federation would keep the same system they had used in the past, and Dr. Robotnik would be placed in charge of city maintenance, as well as contributing to G.U.N.’s Research and Development department.

Soon people began to move back to the city, and life seemed to pick up right where it had stopped. Dr. Robotnik had even built a memorial to all those who had lost their lives that day. And as people began to move to New Central City, Robotnik’s Egg Pawns were deployed to other parts of the country, soon helping people throughout the world. A sort of utopian feeling began to settle in, now that fighting had ceased, and, with help from EggCop police robots, crime was at an all time low.

However, on an island just a short train ride from Station Square, Miles Prower sat and waited. He knew this peace wouldn’t last long. Eggman had to have another motive, and once the time was right he would reveal to Doctor as the villain he truly was. He only hoped that when he did, people would believe him. Soon, however, he wouldn’t have to worry about doubt towards his actions. Soon, Eggman himself would reveal why sometimes things are too good to be true.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Machine Megalomania.

Amy Rose stepped off of the rail train, looking at her rather bright surroundings. It was the first time she had set foot in New Central City, and she was taken back. Everything seemed to have futuristic shine, as if the entire city had been dipped in chrome. The sidewalks had lanes of moving platforms, taking pedestrians in their desired directions briskly but comfortably, while those with closer destinations simply walked alongside them. Traffic was calm, considering how easy hazardous speeder could be stopped and caught on the streets outfitted with anti-crime technologies. A small team of EggCops could be deployed from every street corner to assist the human police force, as well as more advanced robots that patrolled the streets. In the center of the town was the great hill that was once the ARK, but had since been built upon, with skyscrapers, government buildings, and even a public park covering the former space station. EggPawns could be seen all over, helping citizens, working in businesses, and expanding the city. As trusting and forgiving as she was, Amy still had trouble believing Robotnik’s story, especially after what Miles had said. But once she saw all the good the Eggman had done, under his new company name of MeteoTech Enterprises (often seen as a rather grim reference to the ARK Impact), she had decided to move to the city as well.

Moments after the train moved away to its next destination, a chopper motorcycle sped past. Close behind it was a trio of security robots, shaped like wheels and chasing down their target. “I guess some people will always try to cause trouble,” Amy said as she watched the chase. Suddenly a small blue jet swooped out of the sky and began to fly parallel to the road. “IS that… the Tornado?” Amy asked herself. The plane opened fire on the police robots, destroying them and part of the road. It then caught up to the motorcyclist while a group of EggPawns marched out into the street to fix the damage. After a brief talk with the motorcyclist, the plane’s pilot turned around, shot down the EggPawns, and flew away.

“When is he going to learn?” a citizen standing nearby said.

“That boy’s talents could be used for good, not helping gang members.”

“He sure has changed.”

“So it was Tails,” Amy said to herself. She shook her head and looked in the direction the Tornado had flown. “No, it wasn’t Tails. It was Miles. And I shouldn’t worry about him anymore. He can make his own decisions.” Amy turned on her heel and marched towards her new apartment building.

* * * * *

“The Vamps are growing too powerful for some small fry gang!” the N.C.C.P.D. Chief said, slamming his fist on the conference room table for emphasis. “And with that Prower kid on their side they’ll only get stronger.”

“Well, what do you propose we do?” the mayor responded. “For a “small fry gang” they have managed to make a mess of things and yet keep their operations mostly secretive.”

“We just need to search more! Start in Westopolis, that’s where they originated.”

“And search any entire city? Even with robots it would be a waste of time and resources.”

“I think for now, gentlemen, we wait. Apart from localized property damage and thefts, they haven’t caused too much mayhem,” the president said. “What do you think Dr. Robotnik?”

“As the mayor pointed out, even with my most advanced line, the BE-MR, the Vamps would likely evade our eye,” Dr. Robotnik said, leaning back in his chair and stroking his mustache. “Their leaders are bats, who excel at being sneaky. However, the Fox Boy should be no problem for me to take care of. As you all know, he fought with me in the past, and so with your backing I should be able to catch him.”

“Very well then. You may use whatever forces you need,” the president replied. “But bring him in alive; we may be able to use him to find where the Vamps are hiding out.”

“Yes sir, I’ll get right to work.” Robotnik stood up, nodded to the other officials seated in the conference room, then walked out. He suppressed the overwhelming laughter building up inside of him.

* * * * *

“Nice work guys, we made off with quite the haul,” the Vamps leader said as he got off of his motorcycle. The Vamps were based in a long abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Westopolis. Through various means they had managed to keep their presence there a secret, and neither G.U.N. nor MeteoTech had bothered to check the area. Mainly because their technology expert had put up a holographic field around the warehouse (made even better when Miles had joined forces with them), making it look even more run down than it actually was. The leader, Hellsing, walked over as two other members were unloading a pickup truck filled the majority of an electronics store’s inventory. The sound of a small jet airplane filled the room, and a few minutes later Miles flew down from the door leading to the roof. “Good shooting out there today,” Hellsing said as Miles walked up to him.

“All in days work,” Miles replied. “Still, I’m getting the feeling this little jobs aren’t doing enough damage. Eggman has the power to find us and wipe us out, so why hasn’t he?”

“Who knows? I say we take advantage of it while we can.”

“Which might not be for long,” a female bat, the Vamps’ tech expert, said as she walked up to Hellsing and Miles.

“What do you mean, Niv?”

“Look at this,” Niwea said, handing a piece of paper to Miles. It was a wanted poster asking for his arrest, alive. “The government just plastered this on about every website they could.”

“Heh, and here I thought the billboards were bad,” Miles said. He crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it behind him into a trash can. “Well if they want me alive, I’ll gladly oblige.”

“And I’m guessing you don’t mean turning yourself in,” Hellsing said with a smirk.

“No, I think it’s time for me to take a stab at the heart of this beast. I’m going straight for the doctor himself.”

* * * * *

“Small aircraft inbound. Acquiring visual… it’s the Tornado sir,” a police officer said as he watched one of the city’s security monitors.

“Dr. Robotnik said he would take care of Prower. Contact MeteoTech and let him know,” the police chief replied.

“We’re actually get an incoming message from him. It seems he already knows, and he believes Prower is heading for MeteoTech headquarters.”

“He’d better be right. The last thing we need is that fox boy tearing up more of the city. And keep your eyes peeled for the Vamps!”

* * * * *

“Emergency alert! Emergency alert! First defense units deploy!” the calm feminine voice announced as warning sirens rang out around the MeteoTech complex positioned near the center of the city. New experimental robots, with large armored chest plates and conventional machine guns, dropped to the ground from deployment rooms on the upper levels, and battle ready EggPawns filled out their ranks. The tops of builds opened up secret areas revealing anti-aircraft turrets. The streamlined BE-MR units stood at the ready as backup.

The reason for all this soon came into the robots’ scanners. Streaking through the sky was the Tornado. The rapid fire turrets began to fire volleys of lasers at the small air plane, but the skilled pilot behind the controls swerved around them. Nearing the first building, he executed a barrel roll then fired his own weapons, taking out a turret. He looped in the air then bore down towards the ground. The machines waiting below began to fire at him, but Miles quickly took out most of them, swopping back into the air. With exact precision he ran the Tornado along the side of another of the skyscrapers that were clustered together. Turrets from the other buildings, set to such a high priority mode that they were told to shoot immediately, shot at him all the way up, decimating much of the building. Large chunks of debris fell to the ground, crushing the robot troops below. Spinning around again, Miles flew towards another turret and destroyed it, proceeding to do the same with the remaining turrets till all that remained was the main tower in the center of the complex. Miles flew straight towards it as lasers bore down straight in front of him. He rolled left, then right, then dove quickly and circled the building. As he reached the top he shot across the center of the roof. The turrets on each corner all took aim to fire and ended up destroying each other. Miles took one more run at the ground troops before landing on the roof of the main tower. He jumped out of the cockpit, a small pack hung over his shoulder and two handguns. He wasn’t sure how effective they would be on the more heavily armored units, but Hellsing had said it was better than nothing. He quickly dashed for roof entry door, pausing to place something from the bag in the center of the roof.

He kicked open the door and began to dash down the stairs. Nearing the bottom he paused to wait for any signs of robots as he recalled where to go. Niwea had managed to hack into one of MeteoTech’s databases and gotten a basic floor plan of the building. She then pinpointed where Robotnik’s control likely was, and that room was now Miles destination. He heard the sound of metallic footsteps and took a quick glance into the hallway. Miles was standing at an intersection of hallways, and a group of EggPawns was approaching from both sides. He reached into the pack until he felt a small sphere, hardly larger than a gumball. But this was no gumball, and like most of the bag it was an extra something special from the Vamps’ explosives and heavy weapons expert. He grabbed a second on and put it in his other hand. Pressing down on an indent in the top of the sphere, Miles dashed across the hallway. He threw one sphere down each side then slid along the sleek waxed floor into the third hallway. A few seconds later an explosion rocked the halls, but Miles was already running. He had to make his way through the maze of hallways to a large room in the center of the top floor. He pressed himself against the wall as he reached another cross hall. Clearly the EggPawns had been a decoy, as a squad of BE-MRs was making its way towards his position. The Battle Equipped-Minimum Resistance line was the current top of Robotnik’s military machines. They were sleek, fast, and wielded powerful weapons. They were also simple to produce, which lead to their one flaw. In exchange for large numbers with little resources used, as the name suggests they sacrificed their armor. While not as easily destroyed as Badniks or EggPawns, Miles figured he could probably still take care of them, provided he had the element of surprise. And in this instance, he did. Taking his guns in hand, Miles leaned around the corner and fired off a couple bullets into the head robot. They met their mark, hitting right in the head and destroying the robot’s CPU. It fell to the ground, sparked, and exploded. The rest of the BE-MRs immediately moved quickly, but Miles was ready for them. He threw out another mini grenade, and soon the robots were eliminated. Miles turned down the hall he had just cleared, shooting a surviving robot before it managed to get to its feet.

After a few minutes of maneuvering through the halls, destroying robots as well as placing more of the mystery item from the roof, Miles reached his destination, and he knew what it was just from looking at the door. In typical Robotnik style, it was the one room on the entire floor that didn’t have a generic door, but instead featured a logo in his likeness. Two of the newest unit, the tall and more heavily armored robots, stood outside. ‘Only one grenade left,’ Miles thought as he reached into the bag. ‘I have to make this count.’ He armed the grenade, then softly rolled it along the ground so he didn’t alert the robots. It ran into the closer robot’s foot, and he looked down just as the sphere exploded. Miles waited as the smoke cleared and listened. After a few seconds of silence he was about to turn into the hall when bullets traced along the corner next to him. Miles made an angered tick noise as he heard footsteps; only one set, the grenade had managed to take out one of the robots. Mustering up his courage, Miles rolled around the corner, fired at the robot, and slid behind the opposite corner. His bullets bounced off his armor, except for one which managed to nick the side of the robot’s flat head. However, this wasn’t enough to destroy it, and the robots following attack rendered the floor Miles had just slid on rubble. He wasn’t going to be making any more slick moves. The robot once again began to walk towards Miles. Miles dove around the corner and shot at the advancing robot, diving back around the corner. A bullet caught one of his tails, but Miles soon heard a satisfying clunk. The robot fell to the ground and exploded. Miles quickly proceeded down the hall and kicked open the giant doors to Robotnik’s control room.

“Eggman! You’re going to pay for everything you’ve done!” Miles declared, aiming his guns at where the assumed the rotund human would be sitting in his stereotypical villainous manner. Instead he found simply a large screen and an otherwise empty room. The screen then flickered to life, filling the room with an image of Dr. Robotnik.

“Did you really think it would be that easy?” Eggman laughed. “No Fox-boy, those schematics were placed in the open hoping you would find them. While you’ve been causing a mess in my corporate headquarters, I’ve been watching you from my real base.”

“What?!”

“And now that the government has given me permission to use all my resources to capture you, I think it’s time I launched my real plans for this world. Starting with the people of this city!”

“And what makes you think I’ll let you?”

“You can’t stop me Tails. I have the whole city under my control already, even if they don’t know it. And by the time the government realizes what I’ve done, it will be far too late for them!” Robotnik let out another maniacal laugh. “And about those bombs you’ve been placing throughout the building, don’t bother setting them off. I already plan on destroying this building with you in it! After all MeteoTech is just a cover for the true power of the Eggman Empire, hidden just below you.”

“You don’t mean… you’ve really been working from the…”

“And now, to finish what I started with Sonic! You never did hand over the real emerald…”

“SHUT UP!” Miles screamed, blasting the screen. Glass fell to the ground, but Robotnik’s laughter still filled the room, before the computerized woman’s voice announced the self-destruct sequence. Miles ran out of the room and dashed down the halls. He was just about to reach the roof access stairway when he ran into a mob of robots. Without even pausing to think, Miles jumped into the air, flew a few yards over the group, then ran along their heads and dove into the stairway. He ran up the stairs to the roof and jumped into the Tornado. Explosions rocked the building, and the roof began to fall out from beneath him as he drove his plane off the edge and into the air.

Below him, swarms of BE-MRs were moving out from the MeteoTech complex and spreading out over the city. They seemed like ants coming out of the ground, and in truth many of them were in fact rising out of hidden passageways beneath the city streets. Miles swooped down and began to fire at them, but there were too many of them for him to take care of. He had to warn the people. He flew over the city around the ARK and tried to access all radio frequencies with his communication systems, but he was being jammed. But never being one for a simple and quick operation, Eggman soon announced his plans himself. On every radio, TV, electronic billboard, and any other audio visual device in the city, Robotnik transmitted a message not unlike that he told on that fateful day years ago.

“Attention people of New Central City and the world! It is I, Dr. Robotnik, the world’s greatest scientific genius, and now, finally, the world’s greatest ruler! At this very moment my MeteoTech Enterprises headquarters was attacked and destroyed by the terrorist Miles Prower. But fear not, for under my control, malefactors such as him shall exist no longer. My BE-MRs are entering the city, but do not resist them. That is, unless you have a death wish!” Robotnik’s laughter filled the city as the message ended.

Pandemonium broke out in the city as the BE-MRs swooped in and quickly suppressed the people. The people began to run for their lives, trampling over each other. Cars swerved and crashed as the streets filled with people. G.U.N. at first tried to maintain control and calm down the populous, but as the robot army quickly destroyed the massive Big Foot mecha deployed as riot control, G.U.N. realized who the real enemy was. They began to fight back but soon found themselves overwhelmed as much of their strength had been replaced by Eggman’s robots. It quickly became evident that the genius doctor had been planning this very attack since he began to rebuild Central. The military immediately changed their focus to evacuating the people.

Miles was attacking the robot hordes when spotted a bit of pink amongst the gleam silver. Soon a circle of robots had been eliminated around it, and more followed. Amy Rose was already at the forefront of the battle, taking out robots with her Piko Piko Hammer. Miles called to her as he flew down. “Amy! Jump on! You won’t make it out in there!”

Amy looked up to see the Tornado. All her hesitation about whose side Miles was on immediately disappeared after Robotnik’s attack. Amy slammed her hammer on the ground and flipped into the air, landing in a second seat behind Miles. “You were right about him,” she said as she watched the terror below. “I should have listened to you.”

“Even I wasn’t expecting this, but now we just need to… no!” Miles suddenly yelled as he looked at the edge of the city. While some people had managed to escape, a thick wall was beginning to rise out of the ground, blocking people’s escape. Miles flew the Tornado towards the closest section and began to shoot at it, but it was no use. The wall was too thick, and his weapons weren’t enough.

“We have to help them!” Amy yelled as Miles began to turn around and swoop back at the wall.

“There’s nothing I can do! This wall is too thick… it’s up to them to save themselves.” Miles took one last shot at the robot army before flying away from the city. “I’m sorry, but now we need to save everyone else and hope G.U.N. can get the people out.” As they cleared the city’s airspace, the Tornado’s radio was unjammed, and he quickly contacted the Vamps.

“Miles, what’s going on out there?” Niwea asked as she answered his calls.

“Robotnik just launched an attack on the city. He’s officially taking over what he already owns.”

“We thought that message meant as much.”

“You need to contact the authorities in Westopolis. If you got the message too, then it’s only a matter of time until he attacks there too. They need to evacuate the city.”

“On it. Are you headed back here?”

“Yeah. I’ll try and take out any robots I see on the move. Miles out.”

“So, what happens now?” Amy asked.

“We survive so we can fight another day. I will get revenge on Robotnik for this… for everything…”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Devastation Proclamation.

Sonic’s jaw seemed to literally hit the ground. Amy paused her story while Sonic collected his thoughts. He closed his mouth, opened it, closed it again, then opened it. “What happened after that?”

“No one’s really sure. While G.U.N. was evacuating people they managed to pick up a transmission from a small village in the forests northwest of Central. They had an underground bunker where they offered to hide people. That’s what became this city.”

“And the people in Central?”

“G.U.N. tried to launch rescue missions and attacks from a secret base off-shore, but it wasn’t long before Robotnik struck there too. For all we know, the rest of the world is a wasteland.”

“So you’ve just been hiding here in this underground city? What if Eggman finds you?”

“He hasn’t yet, and the people are happy about that. Well… except for Miles. You found him in Robotropolis. Ever since G.U.N. was eliminated he’s been fighting back against the Eggman Empire as much as he can. But he’s never come back this badly hurt…”

Sonic suddenly stood up, slamming his hands on the table. His chair slid back into the wall and fell over. “Where’s Tails now?”

“At the hospital downtown. But Sonic, I really don’t think…”

“Thanks Amy!” Sonic said, dashing out the door.

“Sonic, wait!” Amy called, but he was long gone.

The door creaked open, and the S.A.N.D. commander walked in. His face was wet with coffee. “He ran off to see Prower, didn’t he?” the commander asked, drying his face with a handkerchief.

“Yeah.”

“And do you think Prower is going to take the news well?”

“No, I don’t.”

* * * * *

Hopper watched Miles from his spot on the windowsill. He took a sip from the soda can he had bought from the vending machine moments earlier. ‘Hmm, still hasn’t woken up,’ Hopper thought. ‘Guess I’ll just look out the windows dramatically then.’ Hopper turned to do just that. The bustling underground metropolis seemed peaceful under its fake sky, created by an advanced hologram system which mimicked the outside weather. Suddenly Hopper noticed something that piqued his interest. He pressed his face against the cool glass in attempt to focus on a sign down below. “Is Pizza Hill Zone having a special offer?!” His attention shifted back to Miles when he heard movement behind him. “Ah, Sleeping Beauty awakens.” Hopper jumped off of the sill and walked over to Miles’s bed. “How ya feeling?”

“Where is he?” Miles asked, sitting up.

“Who now?”

“The one who brought me back. Where is he?”

“Oh, the blue guy. Well, a bunch of S.A.N.D. guys came and met him in the hangar and took you here. He went with the Commander, so I assume he’d be with him.”

“And you’re positive it was a blue hedgehog?”

“Yeah, and that dude had an attitude.” Hopper paused, then chuckled. “Heh, that rhymed.”

Miles shook his head. “What am I thinking… it was probably just some guy out in the wastelands. But why would anyone else be out there? Or for that matter, how?”

“That’s just what I’m wondering,” came a voice from the door. Miles and Hopper both turned to see Sonic there, leaning against the wall with his arms folded in front of his chest. “Hey Tails, I guess this time it really is long time no see.”

Miles was completely silent. Hopper switched his focus between the two as the silence weighed down on the room. “Awkward silence. Guess I’ll have to break it up,” he said to himself, walking over to Sonic. “Hey. I’m Hopper, a friend of Miles.” He held his hand out to Sonic.

Sonic shook Hopper’s hand, a bit awkwardly. “I’m Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog. Also a friend of Tails.”

“So, you’re really Sonic? The Sonic who died ten years ago?”

“I guess so.”

“You aren’t a zombie then… are you?” Hopper said, his voice suddenly dipping to a serious tone.

“I don’t… think so?” Sonic said, unsure of how to respond.

“Alright, I’ll just say you’re an uncategorized Living Impaired then.”

“It doesn’t matter since he can’t possibly be who he says he is,” Miles interjected from the bed, not even looking at the two.

“Hmm, he has a point… wait, where did he… oh, there you are,” Hopper said, first turning to Miles, then back to where Sonic should have been standing, only to find him standing by the window. “Where’d you get the chili dogs?”

“Vendor down the block. Want one?” Sonic offered one of the chili drenched hot dogs to Hopper.

“No thanks, I’m not a chili person.”

“That doesn’t prove anything. Robotnik built plenty of Metal Sonics before. They’d only get more realistic with time,” Miles said quietly yet forcefully.

Sonic almost choked on his last piece of chili dog. “What?! You thinking I’m one of Butt-nik’s robots?”

“It’s the most logical explanation for how someone who was though dead for ten years, who I saw die, could suddenly reappear.” Miles retorted, his voice getting louder. “Unless you have a better explanation, Sonic.”

“I used… or… no…wait,” Sonic struggled to put a sentence together as images flashed through his head. The ARK… the fake Chaos Emerald… getting shot out in the escape pod… trying to use Chaos Control… the timer ticking down. “I… I remember, the escape pod, and I tried to use Chaos Control with the fake emerald… and then… nothing…” Sonic’s voice trembled as he recalled the events.

“That’s what I thought,” Miles said, sliding towards the edge of the bed. “Eggman probably sent you to find our location. And now he’ll be able to go through with his plan.” Miles stood up, wincing. You could almost hear the broken bones in his leg snapping as he tried to walk.

“Woah, dude, what are you doing?!” Hopper ran to stop Miles. “You shouldn’t be moving!”

“Out of my way, Hopper, I don’t have time to deal with... AGH!” Miles almost collapsed to the floor, screaming in pain. Hopper caught him and put him back on his bed.

“Like I said, you’re not moving for a while. What could be this important?”

Miles struggled to get out his next words. “Robotnik… going to… destroy…” was all he could say before he lapsed back into unconsciousness.

“Wait, what?! What’s Robotnik going to destroy?” Hopper asked, but it was too late. “Guess we’ll just have to wait ‘til he wakes up again. In any case, I’d like to know more about…” He was cut off as Amy burst into the room. “Oh, hey Amy. You already missed the drama, but there’ll probably be another helping once Angsty Mc.Sadface here wakes up.”

“So he doesn’t believe that you’re you?” Amy asked Sonic.

“No. Thinking about it, I wouldn’t blame him. Ten years… everything’s changed but I haven’t, and I don’t even know… why…” Sonic’s hands flew to his head as he started to shake. Images flashed through his mind. A bright light, then a blank space, which was suddenly filled with a familiar silhouette. He switched back to his surroundings to see Amy rushing towards him. “I’m fine… just a really bad headache.”

“Are you sure? That didn’t look like “just a headache”.” Amy asked as she helped Sonic to his feet.

“Yeah, I’m cool. Other than the whole… what did you say I was?”

“Living Impaired,” Hopper responded.

“Yeah, that.”

“Well, I guess right now we need to find a place for you to stay. I don’t know how many people will recognize you, but you should lay low. But knowing you you’re just… going to run off again,” Amy said, his voice trailing off in annoyance as she realized Sonic had already left via the window.

“At least he opened it first,” Hopper said, walking over to Amy. “He seems like the kind of guy who would break right through a bunch of windows and keep running. If I find him, I’ll tell him to stay at my place, I’ve got room.”

“Thanks Hopper. I think I’ll stay here and wait for Miles to wake up.”

“Kay. See yah.” Hopper did a small two finger wave as he walked out the door. Amy sat down in the chair next to Miles bed, watching the fox intently.

“What will it take to make you believe it’s really him?”

* * * * *

Sonic stood on the roof of City Hall, the tallest building in the city which reached almost to the top of the cavern Subagri was located in. He made a quick scan of the city then lay down, watching the hologram clouds go by. “Kind of reminds me of Station Square. Before the whole Chaos thing at least. But that’s all in the past… like, way past in the past.” Sonic sighed, then sat up, looking at the ground. “I mean, it’s cool I’m alive, but I just wish I knew how! And why did it take ten years for me to come back?” He thought to the figure he saw in his vision. He could make out a female form and could see that she was talking. “But what did she say? Ahh, this is too confusing! I’m just gonna get another chili dog.” Sonic sprang to his feet and walked to the edge of the roof, and was poised to run down the side of the ceilingscraper, but paused when he remembered Amy was saying something about laying low before he left. He stepped away from the edge and moved to the back of the building, where there was an alleyway with no one present. He jumped down, slowing his fall by jumping between the two buildings as he neared the ground.

Sonic walked out of the alleyway and merged into the crowd. It annoyed him to have to walk so slowly, but his more reasonable side was prevailing today, and figured he should listen to Amy. After all, she was technically his elder now. He eventually reached the corner stand of the chili dog vendor. “Ey, ring boy!” the vendor, who spoke with a thick Empire City accent, called as he saw Sonic approaching. The man had been amazed when Sonic paid with rings early as they didn’t appear naturally in the city. Sonic had found a ring box, almost completely covered in plant life, shortly after heading out from Green Hill, and old habits die hard.

“Two fully loaded dogs, my good man,” Sonic said, taking two rings and handing them to vendor.

“Comin’ right up,” the man said, taking the rings and getting right to work. “Say, where’d ya get them rings anyway?”

“On the surface,” Sonic said, not sure how else to explain it.

“No kiddin’? What were ya doin’ up there?”

“You ever heard of Miles Prower?”

“The fox kid, right? Yeah, I’ve heard o’ him.”

“I was out there with him.”

“Really. I always figured he was one of them lone wolf kind o’ guys.” The vendor handed Sonic the first chili dog before starting the next. “Yeah, everyone says that kids crazy. Can’t say I don’t agree with them either!” The vendor laughed, then leaned closer to Sonic. “But between you and me, I like what he’s doin’. No one ever wants to leave their comfort zone, you know? They’re all content to just stay underground and let the rest of the world go to waste. If more people were fighting against ol’ Eggman up there, we might be able to get our world back. Of course, there’s not much a simple hot dogger like myself can do other than keep making delicious chili dogs! They were that hero Sonic’s favorite after all.” The vendor paused as he finished the second chili dog, then handed it to Sonic slowly, eyeing him quizzically. “You know, ya kind o’ look like him.”

“I get that a lot,” Sonic said with a chuckle as he took the second chili dog. He thanked the vendor again then briskly walked away. “That was a close one,” Sonic said to himself. He took a bit of the chili dog, chewing it slowly as he pondered the vendor’s words. “More people, eh?”

* * * * *

A few hours passed and Miles still hadn’t woken up after his last incident, and Amy was still sitting by his bed when a nurse walked into the room. “Still here Miss Rose? You should really head home, it’s getting late.”

“No, I’m alright. How is he?” she asked as the nurse checked on the various machines hooked up to Miles.

“Everything seems fine, just a matter of waiting for him to wake up again. But this time, make sure he doesn’t get out of bed, okay?”

“I’ll try,” Amy said with a slight laugh. The nurse turned to walk out of the room as Hopper reached the door.

“Excuse me,” he said, sliding along the edge of the door frame to allow the nurse to exit. “So, still out of it I see. Guess I’ll just chill here with you.”

“You really don’t need to Hopper, I’ll be fine.”

“Nah, the guy’s my friend… well, more or less. He did shoot me. That’s not the friendliest thing in the world. I guess you can’t really have friends when you’re a lone wolf… he’s a friendquaintance, in any case. Besides, you might need me to help hold him down!”

“He was really that determined to leave?”

“Yeah. Right before he conked out he said something about Robotnik destroying something. It must be bad to get him this excited.”

“Robotnik destroying… You don’t think he’s talking about Subagri, do you?”

Hopper sat on the window sill, hunched forward, crossing his hands and resting his face on them. His voice took on a more serious tone. “The thought occurred to me, but it doesn’t seem likely. I don’t think he could have found our location. But how did Miles find out about it? And of course there’s Sonic… but perhaps he’s the connection…”

“No, it couldn’t be. He isn’t a Metal Sonic or some other robot. I just know he’s the real Sonic. I can feel it.”

“Chill, Amy, just thinking out loud,” Hopper said, returning to a more cheery disposition. He leaned back against the window. “We’ll just have to wait to get our answers when Miles wakes up.” Seconds after finishing his sentence, movement came from the bed. “And speaking of the devil.”

“Is “Sonic” here?” Miles asked as he sat up, wincing from pain.

“No he isn’t, and you need to stay put,” Amy said, standing up.

“Probably scouting out the city for Robotnik. I don’t have time for this.” Miles started to move, but Amy and Hopper both stopped him, shoving him back onto the mattress.

“Yes you do. And you just need to give up this tough guy routine and just admit he’s Sonic. But first you need to tell us what’s so important. If it involves us, we have a right to know.”

Miles closed his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling sharply. He opened his eyes and locked Amy with a fierce stare. “Robotnik is going to destroy Subagri.”

There was a brief moment of silence as the words washed over the others in the room. “But, how did he find us? Why now? Are you even sure?”

“I overheard two robots in Robotropolis after I was almost killed by some advanced E-100 series machine. He might have always known about us, and just didn’t care, or just liked watching us scramble around.”

“But why now all of a sudden?”

“The robots mentioned something about losing an air base. It’s forcing them to move ahead with their plan to wipe out the last of the resistance forces. Guess that means there’re more people out there. Not that it matters at this point.”

“When are they going to attack?” Hopper asked.

“No idea. But it can’t be too far off. It doesn’t take long to mobilize a robot army.”

“We need to tell S.A.N.D.!” Amy said. “They can pull together a force to fight Robotnik.”

“G.U.N. could barely hold off Robotnik when they were at their full strength, you think what little of them is left will do any better now that he’s got practically the entire world’s resources at his disposal?”

“We have to do something!”

“I would be preparing to fight him, but you said yourself I shouldn’t even be able to walk. The way I see it, we might as well be done for already.”

An ominous void fell over the entire room as Miles final words left his mouth. After what felt like an eternity, they were broken by a new voice from the door.

“Giving up already? We can take Eggman no problem!” Everyone turned to look at Sonic, who cracked one of his trademark smirks. “And I know just how we’re gonna do it!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call to Arms.

“And what exactly do you plan on doing?” Miles asked.

“Simple. We’ll get together an army!” Sonic replied matter-of-factly.

“Really? That’s your grand plan? We’ll just “get an army”? From where exactly? In case you haven’t noticed, everyone else has given up.”

“That’s what you think, but it’s not true. I already know one person who thinks you fighting Robotnik has been important.”

“And who would that be?”

“The hot dog guy down the street.”

“Oh, well that makes all the difference! Don’t worry everyone, the chili dogs will save us!”

“That’s not my point. It means that there are people in this city who think we should fight back, and now they’ve got some real motivation. They just need to know what we know.”

“And who’s going to tell them? You? Yeah, I’m sure they’ll believe someone who’s been dead for ten years… if that’s really who you are.”

“Would you just drop it, Tails! I’m me, and you need to accept it!”

“My name is Miles! And I have some recovering to do! So kindly get the hell out of my room!” Miles threw his arm up, pointing out the door and locking eyes with Sonic. Their usual crystal blue seemed dulled, yet at the same time burning.

Sonic silently bore down on him before sighing “Whatever you say, buddy” and leaving. As soon as he was gone Miles collapsed back onto his bed, breathing heavily and throwing his arm over his eyes.

“You really didn’t need to react like that Miles. What Sonic…” Amy began to scold Miles before Hopper cut her off, silently pointing to indicate she look more closely. By now Miles was clearly shaking and one could faintly hear sobbing.

“What Sonic needs is directions to my place, and I think we all need a little rest. It’s been a hectic day. See yah,” Hopper said, sliding out of the room.

“I’ll be back to check on you in the morning, okay?” Amy said, softer now. When there was no reply from Miles she turned to leave, switching off the lights. As she closed the door she thought she could hear Miles faintly whisper something, but decided against asking him. She left the hospital, the only light now coming from the streetlights, and started heading to the edges of the cavern where the main residential areas had been dug out. She wanted to believe Sonic’s plan would work, but without Miles and his knowledge of the area, a fighting force, or even the proper tools for a full scale assault, it seemed more and more like the cavern walls that protected the people were becoming more of a death trap every second.

* * * * *

It was about a week until Miles was released from the hospital, and in that time he had hardly spoken a word to anyone, and Sonic hadn’t even come to visit him. For that matter, Hopper could barely tell if Sonic was actually staying at his house. Once the doctors allowed Miles to leave the hospital, even if he was on a crutch with one arm in a sling, he seemed to just hole himself up in his apartment, constantly working. Amy and sometimes Hopper would drop by and try to coax him outside, but to little success. Amy would usually leave food outside, worried Miles wasn’t eating, and it was usually gone by the next day. She just hoped he was the one getting it.

Eventually Miles would leave his apartment, and instead starting spending all his time working in secret in the hangar. Hidden beneath the massive brown cover that now served as a tent, he toiled away on whatever had once sat next to his Tornado 4. Of course, that plane was nothing but a scrap heap now. And it was during one of these work sessions when Sonic came to talk to Miles again.

Miles stepped out from under his work tent, wiping the sweat off his brow and flicking his stray hairs out of his eyes for a brief second before they fell back down, but at least they were no longer sticking with sweat. Fabrication was hard work, made even harder with only being able to use one arm. He sat down and reached for a water bottle. He twisted the cap off with his teeth, and as he brought the neck of the bottle up to his lips, after letting the cap drop to the floor, he saw Sonic standing in front of him.

“What do you want?” Miles asked, taking a quick swig from his water battle before setting it down on the floor next to the cap.

“I just want to talk,” Sonic said, stepping closer to Miles. “So… what’cha working on?”

“None of your business.”

“Alright, I’ve always hated small talk anyway. Look Tails, the reason I came here is to ask you to just believe that I’m really me. I know it doesn’t make sense, I don’t even understand fully what happened, but that’s not important right now.”

“Give me on good reason why I should trust you.”

“For starters, I’ve spent the last couple weeks talking to people, and there are plenty of people who feel the way you do, that we need to fight back against Eggman, but they don’t have the tools for the job.”

“So what do you need me for, if you have all of them?”

“These days, you know Central… Robotropolis better than anyone, and you have the skills and resources to lead them.”

“Why don’t you just lead them? You’ve always been the “hero” after all.”

“That may be, but I’ve always worked better by myself, and with the whole “being dead for ten years” they’ll probably be more prepared to listen to you.”

“Forget it. If you can say you work better alone, don’t bother trying to tell me you really need my help.”

“There’s no other way this is going to work. I’m counting on you, Tails!”

Miles’s mind flashed back to that day on the ARK, when just before he was jettisoned from the colony, Sonic had said nearly the same words.

“Counting on me, huh? Counting on me just like you were ten years ago?! Well I’ve been doing just what you asked. I’ve fought Robotnik day after day; I’ve never given up, because I knew it’s what you would have wanted!”

“I…”

“And now you come back from the dead and expect me to just forget about everything that’s happened? Well you can forget it!”

“Tails, I never meant for you to…”

“My name… is… Miles!” Using his good arm, Miles swung at Sonic, but he dodged the punch only to get hit in the face by another from Miles’s seemingly broken arm. Sonic stepped back and stared at the ground as Miles gasped for breath after his speech.

“So that’s the reason, eh? You’ve been fighting so hard all this time because of what I said to you? Well if that’s your motivation, then why are you so focused on what I said in the past that you won’t listen to what I have to say in the present?!” Sonic looked up and locked eyes with Miles, who was now beginning to realize what he was really saying. “I told Amy something that day, too. I told her to take care of herself. And she’s done more than that. She’s been helping others in this city, and she’s taking care of you as much as she was anyone else. Probably more than you even think about. You’ve been fighting Robotnik, and if it weren’t for that no one would know what’s coming. But now you have to take that knowledge and use it to help everyone. Otherwise you really will have let me down.”

The two continued to stare each other down, then slowly Miles’s stubborn expression began to break down, and he fell to his knees. Holding a hand to his face, he shuddered, “I’m sorry. I was so focused on trying to protect everyone I didn’t even give them a chance to help themselves… and me…”

Sonic stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on his “young” friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay buddy, now you’ve got a chance to really show Eggman what your made of. We just need to get together some more friends to help us get to him.”

Miles got to his feet, his eyes now brightly blazing with newfound determination. “And I know someone who can help with just that.”

* * * * *

“And you’re sure this guy can help us?” Sonic asked as he and Tails walked towards the edge of the cavern, where the buildings starting becoming less metropolitan and more small city downtown before simply ending in rock wall where the original caverns that made up the city where filled with residential areas.

“As long as he agrees to help. He helped me fight Robotnik before Central was taken over, and if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s getting together a small but powerful fighting force.” Miles said. “I’m pretty sure he works around here...”

“What exactly does he do?”

“These days, he runs a pawn shop,” Miles said, pointing to a store a few yards down the street. As they reached it, Miles pulled open the door, finishing, “but he used to be quite the gang leader.”

“Gang leader? This should be interesting.” Sonic said as he and Miles walked inside. The store was dimly lit, and it took a while for his eyes to become adjusted. Eventually he could make out a figure sitting behind the counter. When the figure didn’t become any clearer Sonic realized that he was simply wearing rather darkly colored clothes. The store owner looked up as the open door hit a small bell hung next to it.

“Miles! Long time no see!” he said, walking around the counter. “What’ve you been up to all this time?”

“Oh you know, fighting Robotnik, getting hospitalized… the usual.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about it. I haven’t been doing much personally; barely get any customers around here. Of course, that’s probably my fault for deciding to open up on the outskirts of downtown. So who’s this?” he asked, indicating Sonic with a slight head nod.

“This is Sonic. Sonic, this is Hellsing, Leader of the Vamps.” Hellsing offered Sonic a handshake.

“Sonic, huh? Like the Sonic the Hedgehog?” Hellsing asked as Sonic shook his hand.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“Apparently not.”

“It took me a while to come to terms with it,” Miles said.

“Well, I’ve heard of weirder things happening. So what brings you out here?”

“I need your skills at organizing ragtag fighting groups.”

“For what, exactly?”

“We’re going to take back Robotropolis.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Hellsing burst out laughing. After about a minute, he calmed down enough to ask, “Are you serious?”

“Yes. Last time I was in the city, I overheard two robots discussing plans to destroy the last remaining resistance groups on the planet. Robotnik knows where we are, and he’s coming.”

“Well, I guess that doesn’t leave me much choice in the matter. I’ll get the old team back together.”

“You agreed to that quicker than I thought you would,” Sonic said.

“I miss the action from back when the Vamps were together. I figure you’d understand how boring everyday life gets.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Alright, now that we’ve got you onboard, all we need is the rest of our army,” Miles said, pondering aloud. “But we need to tell everyone in a way that will actually get them to believe us.”

“Why not ask G.U.N. or D.I.R.T. or whatever they’re called now?” Sonic suggested. “After all, the Commander already knows who I am; convincing them that Robotnik’s coming shouldn’t be much harder.”

* * * * *

A few hours later, an emergency meeting of the Subagri Council and top S.A.N.D. officers was called. A few hours after that, an emergency assembly was called, and the people began to file into the city’s massive amphitheater. On the stage sat Miles, Sonic, and the Commander. After the amphitheater was filled, the Commander stepped up to a podium and addressed the assembly.

“People of Subagri, I am Commander Abraham Tower of S.A.N.D., and I come to you today with urgent, and grave, news. Hours ago, we received information that the Eggman Empire has located our city and has been preparing for a full scale assault sometime in the near future.” He paused as the crowd erupted into shouts of worry and anger. “For more, I give you the source of our information, Miles Prower.” The crowd once again grew quiet as Miles stepped up to the podium.

Clearing his throat, Miles began. “Those of you who know me probably know me as “that guy who’s always going to Robotropolis.” Others might think even farther back as me being “that fox kid who always hung around Sonic.” But it’s because of those things that I’m here today. A few weeks ago, I was nearly killed in Robotropolis by a super-advanced fighting machine. The next day as I was lying barely conscious inside a destroyed home, I overheard communications between two robots. They mentioned how Robotnik had recently lost some sort of “air base” and was therefore pushing forward his latest plan. A plan, they said, to finally wipe out the last resistance groups that still exist on the planet. Whether this means there are more survivors out there, I don’t know. What it does mean is that Robotnik knows where we are, and has known for some time. It’s right up his alley to just sit back and watch as squirm before finally squashing us flat. But that’s not what will happen this time. This time, we know he’s coming. This time, we will be prepared. This time, we will fight!” He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “I know some of you - most of you, probably – don’t believe me. In the past Robotnik’s plans were often stopped by just a handful of people, like Sonic and myself.” He avoided glancing back at the hedgehog who sat behind him, as S.A.N.D. had advised them that revealing his existence would only cause the people to doubt his story even more, or possibly fly into a panic. “But now, we need your help. I need your help. Together, we can rid ourselves of the tyranny and destruction of the Eggman Empire, once and for all! Who will stand and join me?” Miles stepped back from the podium, hoping his dramatic speech would be enough to motivate the people, or at the very least convince himself that this would work.

After a few moments of silence, a voice finally spoke up. Standing in front of one of the aisles was Amy Rose, her massive Piko Piko Hammer in hand. “I’ll fight with you. It’s about time I paid Robotnik back for everything he’s done… personally.” She emphasized the last words by twirling the hammer in her hands.

“Count me in!” Hopper called, jumping out of his seat and running up to Amy. “You didn’t think I’d miss this, did you?”

“We’re with you too!” another voice called from the back, as four individuals walked towards the stage. All of them were bats, the group consisting of an albino female, her hair dyed black with a red streak, wearing a black miniskirt, high heel boots, black tank top, and a flowing black longcoat, a giant golden-brown furred male wearing camouflage cargo shorts, military boots, and a tight green t-shirt with a black military-style vest, a shorter and younger member whose only visible outfit was a black longcoat with a hood that covered his entire body, and a large rectangular case hanging on his back. Their leader wore combat boots, black pants with flame designs on the bottom, a black t-shirt bearing the gang’s logo, a fanged V, under a flowing black leather longcoat, and fingerless gloves. All of them were wearing sunglasses. “The Vamps offer all of our skills. We’ll crack that Eggman wide open!” Hellsing declared.

Miles smirked and silently laughed. Hellsing certainly knew how to make an entrance, and Miles wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d decided to drop from the ceiling. With S.A.N.D. clearly backing him, Miles had all of the groups and individuals that were practically guaranteed to help him. Now he only needed the help of the support of the people to make it work.

After what felt like an eternity, however, no one had spoken up. Miles was beginning to get worried, and the assemblies eyes were darting around, looking for signs of whoever would be “first” to speak up, whispering amongst themselves. Then, a woman few rows back on the left side stood up. “I will join you!” she shouted up to the stage.

Squinting his eyes to focus on her better, the Commander took the microphone from the podium. “I believe I recognize you. Have we met?”

“It’s possible, sir.” The woman said, then saluted the Commander. “Airman First Class, Sally Quercus, sir. I served in the G.U.N. air force, but with the move into Subagri I decided my services were no longer needed. But seeing as how we are no returning to the surface, I would like to aid in the effort, sir!”

“We are glad to have you back, pilot. Welcome aboard.” The Commander saluted Sally, and then both of them sat down. Shortly afterward, a man practically in the center of the room stood up. Looking closely, Sonic recognized him as the hot dog vendor he frequently visited.

“I’m ready to help in whatever way I can,” the man shouted up to the stage. Then turning as if addressing the crowd, he said, “Of course, there ain’t much a simple hot dogger like myself can do, so the rest of you better help out or were gonna end up fighting robots with chilidogs.” Turning back to the stage and looking directly at Sonic, he added. “Not that that’s necessarily a bad idea.”

Soon enough, another man nearby stood up, and another, and more and more people stood up, throwing in their own words and their own personal battle cries until the room was shaking from the great thunder of their voices. As their voices swelled, Sonic sat back in his chair, smiling. “If Robotnik had to trick me into an exploding escape pod in space to finally beat me, let’s see how well he goes up against an entire army of people he’s oppressed.” He turned his gaze towards his fox friend. “And with you leading them, there’s no way they can lose. After all, you’re the one who survived.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flying Freedom.

Great, not this again… let’s see… blank white space… check… weird floating feeling… check… random person who I just barely recognize but can’t quite put my finger on it… check… and now she’s saying something I can’t understand… if I could read lips this would save me a lot of confus… wait, what’s she doing now? She’s reaching towards me… something with my chest… wait, is that a…

Sonic woke up to the sight of Subagri’s cavern ceiling. He’d been sitting on top of a building when he accidently fell asleep. “Uh oh, I hope I didn’t miss the big strategy meeting. I’d better move it.” Sonic jumped to his feet and ran to the side of the roof, jumping down into an alleyway. He then calmly walked out into the sidewalk and proceeded to the hanger. “But I still don’t get what’s up with that weird vision. If I could just figure out what she was saying, it might give me a clue. Maybe it’ll help me figure out how I’m still alive in the first place.” As he entered the hanger, Sonic shook his head. “Ahh, whatever, I’m alive and it’s almost time to kick some Eggman butt, and that’s all that matters.”

The hangar was certainly much busier now than it was when Sonic had first arrived. The city’s best mechanics and engineers had gotten to work repairing and enhancing the G.U.N. vehicles that had earlier been gathering dust, as well as some that citizens had volunteered. In fact, after Miles’s speech, practically everyone in the city had been working in any way they could to prepare for the assault. While former soldiers, pilots, and those who now stepped up to the call where training themselves for action, others were helping to build the weapons and armor they’d need, or simply donating whatever supplies they had. And others were preparing to defend their home to the last second, should the worst happen. Sparks flew and grinding metal squealed as Sonic maneuvered his way to Miles’s platform, where the fox was still working on his secret project. “Hey buddy, how’s the work going?” Sonic called as he neared the station. Miles pushed himself out from under the tarp, lying on a wheeled platform. “I didn’t miss the meeting, did I?”

Miles grabbed his mini-computer sitting nearby to check the time. “No, we’ve got about fifteen minutes.” Miles sat up and grabbed a water bottle, taking a few large gulps of water before setting it back down.

“So how’s the work going? Looks like every techno-whiz in the city is here.”

“Probably. I gave the Commander some of my designs for weapon and defensive systems, so they’re busy combining that with what G.U.N. had before.”

“And what about this secret little project?” Sonic asked, nodding towards what Miles was working on.

“Well, I think it’s about ready to finally be revealed,” Miles said with a smirk. He stood up and grabbed onto the brown tarp. “Alright Sonic, feast your eyes on this!” Miles whipped the tarp off, revealing a bright red biplane, with yellow stripes along the wings and side. On the tail was an image of Miles’s trademark twin tails, and written on the side was the name “SONIC”.

“The Tornado!” Sonic exclaimed at the site of his old biplane. “I can’t believe you still have it!”

“After the whole Chaos situation I repaired it and kept it around as a backup plane. Of course, I used most of it for parts to build the Tornado 4 after I… wrecked the last one… but considering that plane’s now lying in pieces in Robotnikland, I decided now’s as good a time as any to fix the old plane up. With a few extra features of course.”

“It’s gonna feel good to fly into the city on top of this thing,” Sonic said, stroking the plane’s wing.

“Speaking of which, we’d better get to that meeting.”

“Yeah, I almost forgot about that. Let’s get going.”

* * * * *

“Our main forces will attack Robotnikland here,” the Commander said, pointing to a circled area on the map being projected on the wall. “The aerial units will hit first, weakening their defenses, then the ground forces will engage the enemy. It is entirely possible, given the nature of our situation, that we may encounter enemy forces prior to reaching the city. In any case, we must hold them off where we stand. While they are busy engaging us in battle, two small squads will break through the enemy lines and enter the city. On the ground will be a group led by Hellsing, and in the air a group led by Prower.” The Commander nodded, indicating that Miles should come to the front.

“Once we get inside the city, we’re on our own,” Miles said, looking at the group. All of those in the special groups were there; the Vamps, Amy, Hopper, and Sonic. “The terrain is treacherous, and don’t be surprised if you find yourself next to a collapsing building. In addition, there could be robots hiding anywhere, most of them likely more advanced than the last time anyone saw Robotnik’s army. If you run into any, destroy if possible, but don’t get dragged into a drawn out fight. Our main target is the ARK at the center of the city. That’s where Robotnik’s HQ is located. And here’s how we’re gonna blow it sky high.” Miles pressed a button the computer in front of him, bringing up a schematic of the ARK. “This is rough mapping of the inside of the ARK that I obtained ten years ago. No doubt things have changed, especially on the levels that took the most force of the impact, but by and large it should be the same. Our first objective will be to get to the central control room located here.” Miles pointed to a spot on the schematic.

“And what are we going to do there?” Hopper asked.

“Fire the Eclipse Cannon.” He paused for a moment to let his plan wash over the group. “Robotnik has no doubt expanded his base under and throughout the ARK. Though the cannon itself likely did not survive the crash, it should still be operational from the inside. If we can fire it, it should start a chain reaction that should destroy the whole facility. And to ensure that it does, I’ve been developing this,” Miles said, bringing up another image. “A device that will cause the Chaos Emeralds powering the cannon to put out violent amounts of energy. For it to work though, it will need to be installed at the cannon’s core, which is most likely to be located somewhere in the lower levels, separate from the control room.”

“Why not use a fake emerald like last time?” Sonic said. “If I hadn’t been… “interrupted”, it probably would’ve worked.”

“Except that back then we were counting on Robotnik firing the cannon. This time we have to fire the cannon ourselves, and we need to make it extra effective. Remember how that Tikal person we all saw during the Chaos incident talked about the Master Emerald controlling the chaos? This device should work in a similar fashion.”

“Tikal? Oh yeah, that echidna spirit…” Sonic said quietly.

“But just in case the cannon isn’t enough, the device does have another function,” Miles said, motioning to Hellsing.

“Miles figures that when the cannon is activated, regardless of whether it actually manages to fire, there’ll be a huge output of energy. Which is why Jub here as prepared these little babies.” Hellsing held his hand out to the largest member of the Vamps, who was their heavy weapons expert. Jub placed a small rectangular device in his hand. “These bombs are designed to activate when Miles’s device does. Once they do, we’ll have five minutes, at best, to get out of there before the whole place blows.”

“Once we’re inside, groups will split up and place the explosives at key points in the ARK’s infrastructure. It goes without saying though that even once we’re inside the ARK, it won’t be easy. I was nearly killed by a monster of an E-100 series robot, and there’s no telling what else could be lurking in there.”

“I think there may be one problem you’ve overlooked,” Niwea, the Vamps’ female tech expert. “How will we access the cannon controls in the first place? Even for an advanced hacker, a military computer like this, especially once nearly 60 years old, will take time to crack. Time that we just don’t have.”

“I have thought of that, and in fact, I think I have an idea of someone who would have the information and skills we need to get into ARK’s system, and find the core.”

* * * * *

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sonic asked as he and Miles were led down a corridor by the prison guard.

“She’s the only one who knows how to access the ARK’s computer systems, and she probably knows the layout better than any of us too.”

“Yeah, because she was working with Eggman!”

“That’s what I thought too. But it turns out she was actually under orders from the President. She was working as a G.U.N. spy. After the Impact though, she disappeared for a while, then turned up when New Central City was built. Of course, she never got her payment from G.U.N. and returned to her thieving ways. She got caught, escaped during the chaos when Robotnik took over, and eventually found her way to Subagri. But then…”

“Old habits die hard?”

“Which is why she’s been spending most her time here.” The conversation ended as the guard paused in front of a cell, and then turned to the two.

“This is her,” she said indicating the cell. She pulled a flashlight out of a loop on his belt and knocked on the metal bars. “Hey, bat girl, you’ve got company.” The guard stepped back and stood against the wall across from the cell.

Miles and Sonic stepped up to the cell, looking at its inhabitant, who was sitting on a small cot against the wall. Wearing a loose orange jumpsuit, her white hair unkempt, with glazed eyes, it was hard to recognize her as the sly, seductive, treasure hunting spy she had once been. But Miles knew who she was, and they needed her help. “Hello Rouge. Long time no see.”

“Hmph, hello fox boy. It has been a long time,” she said, leaning forward with lazy smirk on her face. “What brings you here?”

“We need your help destroying Robotnik once and for all.”

Rouge’s face twitched slightly. “Robotnik huh? So what I heard is true… you’re really going to try and beat him.”

“Yes, and we need your help to get into the ARK.”

“Oh, the ARK? Really? And why would you need my help for that?” Rouge asked, her expression becoming more demented.

“We need to access the computer systems. And, well, you were…” Miles was having trouble forming words as he saw Rouge’s face become more twisted.

“I was what? What was I?” Rouge asked, standing up.

“You were spying on Robotnik when he activated the ARK.”

“I was wasn’t I? Yes, that’s right, I helped him, didn’t I?” Rouge said, walking towards the bars. “And I got those emeralds from G.U.N.. And I helped him fire the cannon. And I helped him kill all those people!” Suddenly Rouge grabbed onto the bars, getting her face as close to Miles as she could. “Now, what was it you wanted me to help you do?”

Miles forced himself to stand still, despite Rouge’s facing being barely inches from his own. “We need to get into the ARK’s computer system so we can destroy it and Robotnik’s entire empire.”

Rouge backed away from the bars, lifting her head up and letting out a crazed laugh. Suddenly she stopped, then snapped her head back to Miles. “Listen foxboy. You may think you know Robotnik, but you don’t. At least, not anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s changed. He may have been a genius with plans to rule the world, but from what I saw he acted more like a little kid. But then… after he finally killed you,” she said, pointing to Sonic, “after it happened, something in him snapped. He knew there was no going back.” Rouge’s tough expression started to break down. “I’ve seen him do things you can’t imagine. And that’s just what I can remember…”

“What happened to you, Rouge?” Miles asked as the bat collapsed to her knees, gripping the bars of her cell.

“I told you already, I can’t remember. I remember getting off the ARK with Robotnik, then when I tried to get away from him he caught me… after that I have random flashes of memories, but nothing is certain until I woke up in a hospital in New Central City, with the story that I had apparently been found half dead in one of the construction areas. And you know what happened after that.”

“Random flashes of memory, huh? I think I know what you mean,” Sonic said.

“And you,” Rouge said, stiffening up a bit and turning to Sonic. “I thought you were supposed to be dead!”

“I got better,” Sonic retorted.

Rouge stared at him, and then started to shake as if she was laughing and sobbing at the same time. “The world really has gone to hell,” she said, placing her face in her palms.

“Not completely. At least not yet,” Miles said, kneeling down to Rouge’s level. “And that’s why we need your help. None of what Robotnik did is your fault, and whatever he did to you was obviously terrible. But now’s your chance to finally pay him back. Help us end this war Rouge, so no one else has to suffer like you have.”

A shroud of silence fell over the room. Then, Rouge started to laugh. A lighter laugh, no longer deranged or depressed. When she spoke again, it was with the hint of subtle sarcasm she used to have. “When did you become the big hero, fox boy?” Rouge stood up, placing her hands on her hips. “I’ll help you destroy that creep, but first… I’ll need a new outfit,” she said with a smirk.

* * * * *

The next day, everyone had assembled for battle. While the military officials prepared their personnel for battle, Miles looked over his own “troops”. Everyone had come prepared for battle. The vamps were all wearing their own personal style of battle armor, though it hardly looked much different from what they’d worn when they made their big entrance at the assembly, apart from Niwea now wearing a black stealth suit and their sniper, Sogeki, had discarded his massive coat for a suit of his own. Doing overly dramatic stretches nearby was Hopper, wearing an outfit that was just a facemask and headband away from being your stereotypical ninja, right down to his sword, which was of similar design to Miles’s but shorter and straighter. Even Amy had altered her usual outfit to be stealthier, though color wise it still kept her usual pink. Rouge had shown up wearing a variation of her usual outfit, with purple boots, gauntlets, a green monocular scanning device affixed to the side of her face, and a tough but form fitting armored middle instead of the usual heart-shaped breastplate. Meanwhile Miles had once again donned his brown coat, complete with new handguns and his modified sword. As Sonic pointed out when he had arrived, he was the only one who didn’t look like “some sort of action movie hero.”

As everyone was finalizing the preparations, the Commander stood on top of a stack of crates to address the troops. “Today is a day that has been a long time coming. Today we go to battle to protect the safety of our new home. Today we go to battle to reclaim the home we once had. Today we got to battle to save the future of this entire planet we call home!” The people cheered, and the Commander motion for Miles to come up, handing him the microphone.

“Everyone here is sacrificing something to fight today,” he said, looking out at the people. “And for that I want to thank you. I’ve realized that I can’t do everything on my own, but together, we will see the end of Robotnik’s reign of terror. So I’ve only got one more thing to say to you all… Let’s crack some eggs!”

The crowd erupting into a deafening roar of battle cries. Miles stepped back and looked over the room. The Commander then took back the microphone and began to shout out orders as everyone moved into position. Within moments, fighter jets were blasting into the sky, quickly followed by ground vehicles of all makes and models. Finally, the stealth strike force was cleared for go, and as the Tornado shot into the air, it’s engine roaring, Miles remembered the first time he’d flown this plane with Sonic standing proudly on its wings. His blue eyes burning with determination, he flew towards their final battle.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Infiltration.

The sky over the desolate plains was silent, its rolling hills hardly disturbed by the slightest breeze. The silence was broken by a small fleet of fighter jets tearing through the sky, followed by assault helicopters. In the distance could be seen a sprawl dark metropolis, its factories pumping out even more pollutant which covered the sky in dark clouds. Below the roaring jets were jeeps, small tanks, large trucks carrying infantry, and a handful of humanoid mechs. Their target was the city, and marching ominously towards them was a vast army of cold, lifeless, killing machines. And they planned to destroy every last one of them.

A short distance behind them was a single pick-up truck and a small biplane which was flying close to it. Once their allies had engaged the enemy, they planned to blast through in the confusion of battle and enter the city undetected. That was the plan at least. Flying in the Tornado were Miles, Amy, and Sonic. In the truck were the Vamps, Hopper, and Rouge. They would have divided the groups more evenly, but the Tornado wouldn’t be very useful if it was weighed down with too many people. Meanwhile in the truck, Jub was driving, with Niwea in the other front seat, Hopper and Rouge were in the back seats, and in the cab Hellsing sat at the controls of a mini-gun mounted in the back, while Sogeki was perched to snipe those in front of them.

It wasn’t long before the battle began. Just a few miles outside of the city, the pilot leading the airstrike began to order the units to report in. “This is Gold Leader ordering all squad captains to report.”

Miles waited for his point in the chain of squads to report in. “Blue Leader, standing by,” Sally reported, and Miles switched on his communications.

“Rogue Leader, standing by,” he said before going over a final operations check and fully activating his weapons systems.

“Alright folks, this is it,” Gold Leader said. “Bandit detected on radar, prepare to engage. Let’s give ‘em hell!”

As Miles looked ahead, he could see the fleet of aerial robots swarming towards their own meager air force. But he also knew that Robotnik had always focused more on quantity over quality, so he certain they had plenty of fire power to take them out. But as Niwea reported that the ground forces had engaged the enemy as well, it gave him all the more reason to get the ARK and finish this quickly. “Niwea, look for a space for you to break through. I’ll cover you.”

“Roger that. The enemy seems to be continuing to move in straight lines, so with our current formation, as crazy as it sound, it seems easiest to simply go straight through the middle.”

“Alright, let’s go for it!” Sonic said, crouching down and grabbing onto the Tornado’s wing.

* * * * *

On the front lines, the more heavily armed vehicles had set up a barricade of firepower, enabling the ATVs to begin unloading troops, who had started to open fire on the advancing robots. The front lines were composed of the quick and sleek BE-MR units Robotnik had revealed when he took over the city. Behind them were the more heavily armored assault robots that Miles had encountered in the city, as well as similar robots with long range weapons. Hovering over and amongst them were angular black and white robots with high energy dual laser cannons, known as E-1001s. In the skies dueling with the fighter jets were robot units of similar design but large size, and smaller yellow and red jet robots with powerful laser weapons.

“Keep the fire on the front lines, but watch for those flying units!” ordered the Commander from the large truck that had been modified to serve as a command center. “R7 units move to guard the flanks! Don’t let any of them get around us!”

“Commander, this is Miles. We’re going to make a dash straight through the middle of the battle. Think you can help clear a path for us?”

“I’ll see what I can…”

He was interrupted as the pilot of one of their few armed walkers radioed in. “This is R-1/S Flying Dog, reporting for duty.”

“Perfect timing pilot. Focus your attack on the forward point, and assist the infiltration group to get through. Relay those orders to the F6 units.”

“Roger that. Flying Dog out.” The pilot pulled back on his control stick, bringing the Flying Dog up into the air, and began charging the massive laser cannon on the front of his mech. Targeting the center of the robot forces farther back than those already engaged in battle, he punched down on the trigger button, launching a powerful laser blast. Before the dust from the explosion settled he had already switched to his missile launchers, sending a barrage of rockets into the robots surrounding the ones he had just destroyed. Finally he switched to machine guns and stepped on the accelerator. After flying past his allies, he began to open fire, making wide sweeping shots at the robots, taking out any who had the misfortune to be in his way. He quickly made a u-turn and came back doing the same, veering to the left to dodge a laser blast from one of the hovering units. Back on his side, he prepared to launch another barrage of missiles as more units from his squad reported in.

“This is Araneae troops F-6r Big Foot squad captain reporting in and awaiting orders.”

“Focus your fire on the center, we’re clearing a path for the infiltration team,” the Flying Dog pilot replied as he launched another barrage of missiles. Below him, three camouflaged F-6r units, similar to the F-6t Sonic had fought when on the run from G.U.N., began to move out towards the enemy robots, the other soldiers quickly moving out of the way. They too were capable of hovering, but for far shorter distances than the Flying Dog. With their own barrage of missiles they cleared out a large section of the front lines, with the tanks and foot soldiers behind them immediately working to widen and maintain the gap as the Big Foots activated their hover boosters and began their own aerial machine gun sweep. The Flying Dog had once again charged his laser cannon, and was flying forward to target another group farther back when an E-1001 launched its own missile attack, about a dozen small homing missiles. The Flying Dog swerved around to avoid them, engaging reverse boosters and firing his machine guns to try and destroy the missiles. However, he couldn’t dodge all of them, and his right missile pack was destroyed. The Flying Dog started to fall to the side, but the pilot quickly stabilized the mech and targeted a group of E-1001s with his laser cannon. He managed to destroy most of them, but more were flying in from all over the robot army and getting into a unified battle formation. “Watch out for those hovering units, they’re equipped with homing missiles!”

Up in the sky, the fighter jets were engaged in dangerous aerial acrobatics as the dogfight with the robot jets grew more intense. The assault helicopters were attempting to provide cover fire as well as shoot down incoming enemy fighters, while the Blue Eagle jets swept in to bomb the ground robots whenever they managed to shake off the robot jets. But while the large fighter jets were powerful, what was proving more troublesome were the smaller yellow and red robots, known as E-2000s. Their size made them harder to track than their larger comrades, and they packed surprisingly powerful laser weapons. And they had one more surprise up their metal sleeve.

“Incoming yellow robot,” the copilot of one of the helicopters said as one came swooping towards them.

“Targeting,” his partner at the weapons system said. “He won’t get away from us.” He fired at it with the helicopters powerful Gatling gun, and it seemed to be a direct hit. However, as the smoke cleared, something was still there. “What the? Is that a shield? Wait a minute, that thing just transformed! The smaller ones have another form, and they can-!” The pilot was cut off as the transformed E-2000 fired its laser gun, destroying the helicopter.

“Gray 3 is down,” the squad leader for the helicopters reported over radio. “It appears that the small robots can transform and possibly deflect attacks.”

“Well, that might make this more of a challenge,” Sally said to herself as she opened fire on the robot jet she was tailing. She quickly barrelrolled out of the way as another launched a missile towards her. Performing a looping maneuver she bore down on the enemy fighter, destroying it with a quick blast of machine gun fire. She pulled up to avoid flying through the shrapnel only to find herself right in the line of site of a transformed E-2000. She opened fire, but it blocked with its shield and charged a laser attack. She barely had time to move, but it wasn’t necessary as a helicopter came from behind and shot the robot down. “Thanks, I owe you one.”

“Then when we get back, drinks are on you. I know a good place,” the pilot said with a laugh.

“Just don’t get yourself blown up before you can show it to me,” Sally replied, looping around and heading back into the fray.

“Yeah, likes that’s gonna… Sh-!” the radio when silent for a moment, but before Sally could say anything, the helicopter pilot was back. “Frickin’ transformer guys are stealthy for bright yellow robots.”

As the helicopter flew away, Sally targeted another one of the E-2000s, who was starting to dive lower. She soon spotted its target and sped to catch it faster. Locking on, she blasted it down with machine gun fire, then arched back into the sky as the Tornado flew to the side to avoid the falling shrapnel. “Sorry about the junk Miles,” Sally said as she continued her ascent.

“Thanks for the save, Sally,” Miles replied. “We’re about to make our move.”

“Roger that.”

Miles switched his radio to all frequencies and started to ascend as they reached the edge of the battlefield. “This is Rogue Leader. Infiltration group is beginning our assault.” The ground soldiers opened up a path for the Vamps’ truck as Miles flew ahead.

“This is R-1/S Flying Dog calling Rogue Leader. We’re taking heavy fire here. See if you can take out those hovering units.”

“Roger, moving in.” Miles flew up and arched around the mech units, who had been pinned down by the E-1001s. The Flying Dog was missing both of its missile launchers, and one of the Big Foots had been destroyed. Miles managed to get alongside of them and started to open fire, taking out most of one side of the V-formation before they directed their first towards him. He took off into the air, preparing to loop around and take another sweep at them, when Sonic, yelling something that was barely audible over the rush of the wind, jumped off of the Tornado’s wing and started to dive towards them. He rolled up into a ball and smashed into the head of the V, before quickly homing attacking his way through the rest of them. Standing on the last one, he jumped into the air as the Tornado swooped around to catch him. Miles contacted the Flying Dog. “Keep your units where they are, we can handle it from here. Just make sure the truck gets through.”

“Roger, they’re approaching now.” Miles looped back to join up with the Vamps truck as it burst past the robot lines into the path the mech units had been clearing, though it was more than capable of making its own. In the front fender were concealed two mini-guns, and small explosive projectile launchers had seemingly appeared out of nowhere on the sides of the truck. Meanwhile Sogeki was sniping E-1001s in the distance, working quickly to make sure they couldn’t charge their lasers, while Hellsing was busy blasting everything around them.

As Miles flew ahead mowing down more of the soldiers, Sonic jumped off and blasted straight through the enemy, carving a hedgehog sized line through the robot hoard, which was followed by a wave of energy caused by his speed which knocked down even more robots. Suddenly he reached the end of the enemy line, just slightly inside the city ruins, encountering a large tank-like robot. It appeared similar to one of G.U.N.’s Rhino units, but of a much more massive size and equipped with three heavy missile launchers, two large Gatling guns, and a powerful laser cannon. Sonic paused for a minute to marvel the size of the machine before it started to attack him. He quickly jumped to the side to avoid its sweeping machine gun fire, then dashed forward as it started to launch missiles. Many of them flew past and hit the back of the robot lines, while Sonic jumped up onto the robot. Curling into a ball, he spindashed through one of the Gatling guns, cutting it off. He jumped back to the ground, then immediately jumped back into a ball and spun into the center of the laser cannon, shooting straight through the robot. Sparks flew from the hole Sonic had carved before the entire robot exploded. Sonic spotted more of the tank robots at various points on the robot army’s backline. Just as quickly as he’d dashed through the army, which he now saw was a lot larger than he’d thought, Sonic ran back to the command center. “Hey Commander,” Sonic said as he stepped inside the truck, to the surprise of everyone there but the Commander, “just warning you that there are some big tank robots at the back of the robot army, but their forces seem to end at the edge of the city.” Sonic immediately jumped out of the truck and ran to the Vamps truck and jumped in the back.

“How’s it look up there?” Hellsing asked as he shot down an E-1001.

“The ‘bots stop at the edge of the city, so once we get through this it should be a straight line to the ARK.” As the Tornado flew down alongside the truck, Sonic jumped back on the wing and told the same thing to Miles. The two vehicles continued to carve their way through the center of the robot army, and eventually they did arrive in the city, shooting their way through the last of the robots. Fortunately, whether because of the robots’ programming or sheer dumb luck, none Robotnik’s soldiers followed them the whole time they were moving through them. They just continued forward towards the S.A.N.D. soldiers.

“That was almost a little too easy,” Hellsing called over the radio.

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Sonic replied. “Sometimes it seemed like Eggman’s bases were designed for me to get to him on purpose.”

“Don’t let your guard down yet,” Miles retorted. “Where not in the clear yet, we’re just getting closer to the real danger.”

The group continued to move through the city, and as they did so, the ruins started to slowly become less and less ruined, and started turning into more and more factories where Robotnik produced his robot army. And soon they found themselves face to face with the massive hill that was once the world’s most advanced orbital space station, but now housed only danger and death. In the years of neglect, the ground that had been built over the crater had started to fall apart, and the group found themselves on the edge of a section of road that had fallen down into the crater. As Miles descended to land next to the ARK, he did think to himself that getting there had almost been too easy. And that worried him more.

Once the truck had gotten down to where Miles had landed, Jub placed explosives on the side of the ARK and with a blast had made a new door. Miles stepped inside to make sure the area was safe, and then, after establishing one of the more visible and stable skyscrapers as a rendezvous point, everyone entered.

The inside of the ARK was nearly pitch-black apart from a few faintly glow red panels on the walls that seemed to serve more as emergency lighting. After switching on some flashlights, Sonic remarked, “Our first objective is to find the light switch.”

“We’ll worry about that once we find the control room. Here’s how we’re dividing up; Rouge, Amy, and Sogeki will look for the control room. Hellsing, Niwea, Jub, and Hopper, you divide up and start planting the explosives. Meanwhile, Sonic and I will do the same until we can find the exact location of the cannon’s core. Once that happens, we’ll plant my device and blow this place back into space.”

Everyone nodded in approval before splitting off into various directions. But lurking in the darkness of the ARK were dangers both new and old… and all of them were prepared to kill.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dozing in Dusk.

“So, how are things going with you guys?” Hopper asked over their communications radio.

“Apart from the darkness, we haven’t had any trouble yet,” Miles replied. “Though honestly that worries me more. Rouge, have you found the control room yet.”

“Almost. Just give me a minute; this place is hard enough to navigate when it’s activated.”

“Honestly, I’m actually kind of appreciating all that training in the dark I did.” Hopper said, as he was placing a bomb on a metal column. “It’s really heightened my sense… wait a minute, I think I just heard something moving.” He pressed himself against the wall and inched towards the end of the long hallway he was in. He peered around the corner into the next room, spotting the source of the noise. Floating over a pool of some strange green fluid was a blue sphere with a robotic head. Hopper pulled a throwing knife out of a pouch on his suit and with a flick of a wrist he sent it into the robot’s head, causing it to explode. “I just found some weird bubble robot floating in here, but I took care of it.”

“There are probably still some of the experimental robots that were developed here lying around. Robotnik might have even made more,” Miles replied.

“This is Rouge. We’ve found the control room, the door’s locked, but I should be able to get in.” Just as Rouge finished saying this, Amy smashed the door open with her hammer, causing her and Sogeki to jump back in surprise. “I mean just using the password. Gerald Robotnik seemed to base everything off the same password.”

“That doesn’t seem very smart,” Amy remarked as they walked into the control room and Rouge flew up to the console. “So, what is the password?”

“The password is… Maria,” Rouge said as she typed it into the computer. Suddenly the whole room seemed to come to come to life, the various screens lighting up and a wave of energy coming out from the strange mechanism in the center of the room, which was in fact part of the eclipse cannon. Attached to it was the place where the Chaos Emeralds were placed, and even after crashing into the planet and staying seemingly undisturbed for a decade, they still shined with their strange ethereal glow.

“Maria? That sounds like a name.” Sogeki remarked as he set up his rifle to point towards the way they had just come in.

“It was the name of Gerald’s granddaughter, Mario Robotnik. The whole reason he began Project Shadow was to cure her of a rare disease,” Rouge said as she worked through the ARK’s system. “But when G.U.N. came to shut down the project, she was killed trying to save Shadow…” After working her way through some more files, Rouge placed a small disk into the computer, copied a file to it, and then placed the disc in a mini-computer. “I’m sending you a map to the cannon’s core, fox boy. I should get power restored in just a little longer.”

“Good, because this place is starting to give me the creeps,” Hopper said. “I get this feeling like I’m being watched… something’s not right.” He proceeded down the next hallway he found himself in. He turned left into another room when Rouge announced the lights were coming back on. With a blinding flash Hopper found himself in some sort of laboratory, which was understandable, considering that the ARK was a research facility. But it was the contents that shocked him. Holding down the “talk” button after intending to make a remark about giving him a little more warning before blinding him, all that left his mouth for a while were incomprehensible fragments of speech.

“Hopper, what is it? What did you find?” Miles asked while Rouge tracked his location in relation to the core.

“Remember those weird alien things, and how after Robotnik showed up they just seemed to disappear? I think I found them.” Littered all over the room were the bodies of Black Arms soldiers, many of them disfigured in horrible ways from dissections and other experiments. And in the center of the room was a row of tables with bodies on them that almost seemed like they had been abandoned to die in the middle of experimentation. Against his better judgment, Hopper continued to walk through the room, continuing to report to the others. “This is messed up. I knew Robotnik was crazy, but I didn’t think he would do something like this.” The aliens on the tables seemed to be in various stages of the same procedure, with various mechanical bits sticking in and out of them. The one on the last table seemed almost completely replaced with robotic parts. “Was he trying to make them into robots? But then why go to such extre…” Hopper froze as he heard the sound of a metal clinking on the floor.

“Hopper, are you still there? What happened?” Miles asked as he and Sonic began to move towards the path to the core.

Hopper slowly turned around, to find that it was just a wrench that had been sitting on one of the tables he had passed by. “I-I’m okay. It was just a wrench I must have knocked off a table. I’m fi… oh crap!”

Hopper’s radio was suddenly cut off. “Hopper! Hopper, are you there? Answer me?!” Miles yelled, but with no reply. “Sounds like Robotnik found us. Stay alert. Rouge, your group needs to hold the control room until we can get to the core. Stay there until I give the order to fire the cannon.”

“I’ll start the charging sequence,” Rouge said. Turning to her partners, she said, “Get ready for a fight. If they don’t go after Sonic and Fox boy, they’ll definitely come here first.”

“And things were going so well,” Hellsing said before drawing his dual submachine guns. He had started to head towards the far side of the ARK, knowing he’d have to move fast if he was going to lay his bombs and get out in time. He’d probably have to blast his way out himself, so he’d taken one of Jub’s larger bombs with him. He reached an intersection of two hallways, and leaned around the corner on the left. He didn’t see anything that way so he stepped out, but immediately turned around when he heard a dull screech like metal scraping on metal. “So that’s what the frog was freaking out about,” Hellsing said as he saw what made the noise. Approaching from the other direction was a group of what was once Black Arms aliens, but had since been heavily modified with robotics to the point where they were barely recognizable. They seemed to being moving slowly for now, so Hellsing put on of his guns away, pulled out a bomb, placed on the corner he had just flipped around, armed it, and grabbed his gun again. “This should be interesting.”

* * * * *

“That was the creepiest thing I’ve ever had to fight,” Hopper gasped as he looked at the robotic Black Arm he had just fought. Unlike the ones Hellsing and the others were encountering, whose remaining flesh still appeared alive, the one Hopper had found seemed to have been an incomplete model, as its flesh was rotting off of from the robotic attachments, while this made it easy to kill, since it could barely move and was falling apart, it gave it a clearly more zombie like appearance, which is made worse when it grabs onto your shoulder from behind moments after you assumed it to be as dead as the rest of the bodies in the room. Taking that into account, Hopper looked around the room, placed an explosive on the wall, and quickly ran away down the hall. Only to run into another squad of Robo Arms. “Seriously? Well, at least these ones don’t look as Living Impaired. But that’ll only make them more of a challenge.” Reaching for his sword with one hand and his throwing knives with the other, Hopper examined his enemy. The aliens weren’t much taller than him, but they were much larger in terms of bulk, and probably brute strength. On one arm they had some sort of laser weapon, and the other was a glowing purple sword, likely made of some sort of plasma substance. This group numbered five, but no doubt more were patrolling the corridors of the ARK, especially now that the power was reactivated and there would be no way for Robotnik not to know they were there. Because of this, it’d be best to conserve strength, but also be quick in laying the bombs and getting out, or else he might get caught in the explosion.

With this thought in mind, Hopper threw three knives with blinding speed, hitting the lead soldier in the face and the two flanking him in the chest and shoulder. He ran forward, decapitating the leader as it stumbled forward, then dispatched the alien to his left by running his sword through its chest. He kicked it away, causing it to knock over its ally behind him, then whirled around and slashed the next one diagonally along a break between its robotics and flesh. Hopper jumped sideways and rolled on the ground to dodge a sword swing quickly followed by a laser blast. Using his momentum he slashed up, cutting off the alien’s gun arm and stabbing its side into what he assumed would be its lungs and heart, or at the very least some kind of vital organ. He withdrew his sword, allowing the alien to fall to the floor as he turned his attention to the final alien, which had by now freed itself from its fallen comrade. He began to fire at Hopper, who jumped to the side to dodge the laser fire. He continued to run to the side, the alien’s shots just seconds behind him as it seemed to simply follow him instead of trying to aim for where he was going. As he neared the alien, Hopper jumped up onto the wall, ran along it, and then slashed down, killing the last alien. Seeing as there were no more around him currently, he took the time to pick up the three knives he had used, and continued on his way.

* * * * *

“These guys never seem to stop comin’!” Jub yelled as he threw a grenade into the crowd of Robo Arms.

“We are in a more central area of the ARK, so it’s more likely we’d run into large amounts of enemies,” Niwea, who was standing behind Jub, said as she shot one of the aliens in the head with her handgun. She usually relied more on hand to hand combat one the rare occasions she had to fight during their missions, but had decided a gun, modified in a similar fashion to Miles’s, would be more useful against the robots. It seemed to work just as well on robot aliens.

“Good thing I ran into you though, or this might not have turned out so good,” Jub said grabbing an assault rifle from his weapons pack. The two had originally been heading towards separate sides of the ARK, while Hopper was covering the upper levels and Hellsing was on the far side, but had both been routed towards the center by the aliens. As Jub started to shoot down the aliens who had survived the grenade blast, he said, “I just hope the others aren’t having too much trouble with these guys. But we still need to figure out a way out of here.”

“I managed to plant most of my bombs before I ran into any resistance, so we can go back the way you came.”

“Fine by me,” Jub said, reaching for a long tube-like weapon. “You might want to duck.” With a pull of the trigger Jub sent a powerful RPG into straight through the aliens, blasting them a clear path. The two made a run for it, shooting down the few who had survived the explosion. As they ran down the hall, Jub pulled the pin on one more grenade and tossed it behind them, buying them some time with a fiery explosion.

* * * * *

“Alright, just have to place this charge and… gah! Fricking aliens!” Hellsing yelled as he dodged a laser blast from one of the Robo Arms following him. He turned and let loose a few short bursts of fire, stopping the alien dead in its tracks, before turning back and finishing arming the bomb. He jumped to his feet and continued running down the corridor, only to find a dead end. “Well this isn’t good,” he muttered, turning around to face the oncoming aliens. “But I guess I’ll have to do this the hard way.” Hellsing pointed his guns at the edges of the advancing group, and started to fire while moving his arms in towards the center, he managed to take out the front few alien soldiers like this, before one of them managed to fire off a laser, forcing Hellsing to dodge. He rolled to the side and immediately jumped to his feet, shooting down the alien that show at him. Executing the same maneuver he managed to take out three more, leaving only two in this group standing. One of them swung at Hellsing with his sword, but the bat jumped up into the air, flying for a moment and firing down at the alien. He dropped back to the floor as the last alien began to shoot at him. He ran towards the alien, weaving left and right, and kicked it over before unloading more bullets into its face. “That takes care of that… those two better get to that core before I run out of ammo!”

* * * * *

“This path seems full of experimental robots, are you sure we’re going the right direction?” Sonic asked, as he sat on the strange device that when touched seemed to freeze time in the room.

“According to the map this is the quickest way to the cannon’s core. It would make sense that it would be heavily guarded,” Miles said as he shot the frozen Hornet unit hovering in the room. “All clear.” Sonic stood up, and the device began to emit a beeping noise, and soon enough the boxes that had been moving through the room via some strange transportation system began moving again, and the doors at the end of the corridor opened. The two walked through them to find themselves looking down a deep tunnel, lined with lasers and Artificial Chaos. “Looks like we need to go down there. If we hit that switch back there it should stop the lasers, but I can’t quite see what’s at the bottom.”

“Guess we’ll just have to go for it,” Sonic said, running to go hit the time freezing device, then dashing back as Miles jumped into the abyss. The two quickly fell started to fall past the numerous frozen enemies, but in the distance they could hear the beeping of the device speed up. As they neared the end of the tunnel they found a pool of the green fluid they had run into earlier. As time unfroze Miles spotted three of the devices along the edge of the tunnel, and quickly shot them, freezing time again. He then grabbed onto Sonic and started to fly, carrying the two of them the nearby door. “This would be so much easier in the Cyclone,” Miles said as the door opened revealing another room with a time switch, security door, and moving blocks. “But I also wouldn’t be able to do this.” Miles jumped up and flew over the deadly puzzle, carrying Sonic with him.

After blowing down the security door with explosives they found themselves in a large chamber with waterfalls of some sort of orange fluid. “Alright Rouge, what do we do now?”

“Currently the core is filled with that orange liquid. You’re going to need to drain it somehow… there should be a switch in the middle of the room you’re in now.”

“I see, but it’s got some kind of shield around it.”

“The switch to deactivate it must be in one of the surrounding rooms. Looks like you’ll have to figure that out on your own.”

“It looks like there’s a hallway through here,” Sonic said, pointing to one of the orange waterfalls. “But this current is strong, so unless we can find one of those time switches…”

“Let me look around,” Miles said, scanning the room. Around the drainage switch were four pillars of varying heights. “Maybe up on the highest one?” Miles asked himself, flying up to the tallest pillar. And as he had guessed, there was a time switch on top. “I found it Sonic! Go check that room!”

“Already did!” Sonic called back, standing on top of the switch in the center of the room. As Miles jumped back down, however, an alarm began blaring and a robotic voice echoed throughout the chamber.

“SYSTEM ALERT! SYSTEM ALERT! ENERGY CORE SAFE PROGRAM TERMINATED! SELF REPAIR PROGRAM INITIALIZING!”

As the words reverberated in the large space, doors on the walls opened, causing more of the orange liquid to come flooding into the room. “Well, it’s a good thing I can swim now!” Sonic said as the liquid began to reach him. “But then again, how do we get out here?”

“Rouge the room’s flooding, how do we get out of here?”

“There should be an opening to a room right above you. That’s where the security door is as well.”

The water quickly filled the room, and Miles and Sonic soon found themselves in a smaller room just as Rouge had said. The two stepped out of the orange liquid and walked to the security door. “This one looks a bit tougher than the others,” Miles said as he examined the door. “Rouge, is there any other way to open this door?”

“It looks like the only switch is somewhere in one of the rooms that just got flooded.”

“Great,” Miles muttered, pulling out the last of their explosives and placing them on the corners of the security door. Stepping back he set them off, but the explosion hardly seemed to weaken the door.

“Alright, my turn,” Sonic said, stepping in front of the door. He began to run in place, building up speed, then crouched into a ball and started charging up a spindash. Eventually he could hardly spin any faster, and Sonic launched himself at the door which buckled and fell forward, revealing a long hallway. Sonic stood up, dusted himself off, and turned around to display the open door with a “Ta-dah!”

“Whatever, let’s just keep moving,” Miles said, brushing past Sonic. Running along the top of the tunnel was a rail, which the two used to slide down the tunnel, launching them unto a platform with a time switch and three Artificial Chaos floating over a gap between them and the next room. While Miles held down the switch, Sonic quickly homing attacked his way across the gap, and eliminated the rest of the enemies, opening a door to the left. As Miles followed they were about to continue, when a familiar voice stopped them.

“You never cease to surprise me, blue hedgehog,” the voice called from behind them. Standing on the edge of a space where Sonic had just destroyed another Artificial Chaos stood a familiar, yet twisted figure. A red and black hedgehog, but much of his body, most obviously his right arm, much of his torso, and the left side of his face around his eye, replaced with cybernetics. But he was still unmistakable as the one who was created on this very ARK to be the Ultimate Life Form.

“Shadow,” Sonic and Miles said in unison.

“I thought that capsule you were in exploded in space,” Shadow said, his deep voice now faintly mechanical.

“You know, what can I say… I die hard!” Sonic replied. “Though you didn’t seem to get off as easy.”

“Yes, I was unfortunately still on the ARK when it crashed, but the good doctor was kind enough to… patch me up. But I do wonder how you managed to survive that explosion.”

“Not sure. Though I think it might have something to do with the Chaos Emerald, and that little trick of yours.”

“But there’s no way you could have activated the Chaos Control using an Emerald that was fake. Just what are you anyway?”

“What you see is what you get. Just a guy that loves adventure. I’m Sonic the Hedgehog!”

“I see. But you know, I can’t let you live,” Shadow said, getting into a fighting stance. “Your adventuring days, and this resistance of yours, are coming to an end!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Hero’s Death.

“Alright Shadow, time for me to finish this!” Sonic said, getting into his own fighting stance.

“Before this is over, I’ll show you the true power of Chaos Control!”

“Keep heading towards the core.” Sonic said to Miles, who was about to draw his sword. “I can handle this faker.”

“I don’t think so,” Shadow said, before disappearing from site. Using Chaos Control, he bent time so he could attack the fox before even Sonic could react. Or so he thought. Sonic got between Shadow and his target, punching the cyborg hedgehog in the face. Meanwhile Miles had headed down the corridor behind them. “So, you’ve picked up a few new tricks.” Shadow said, steadying himself.

“Looks like it. After all, I am the fastest thing alive!”

“We’ll see how true that is soon enough, but as for your friend,” Shadow said, snapping his metallic fingers, which made a high ring. Out from the space where Shadow himself appeared came a large humanoid robot, propelling itself forward with two jets in its back. “Omega here will take care of him… again.”

“AFFIRMATIVE! THE MEATBAG WILL NOT ESCAPE ME THIS TIME!” Omega declared, before blasting off after Miles.

“Now, where were we?” Shadow asked, turning his attention back to Sonic.

“Right here!” the blue hedgehog replied, once again punching Shadow in the face. However this time he quickly recovered and spun around, delivering a powerful kick to Sonic’s side. Sonic stumbled, but jumped back as Shadow spun around and tried to kick Sonic again. As his foot passed Sonic, Shadow activated his hover shoes, burning Sonic’s chest. Sonic yelled in pain as the heat seared his skin, but he regained his composure in time to duck Shadow’s punch and hit Shadow with a few quick jabs to the gut before hitting him with an uppercut. Shadow was thrown back, but stopped himself in the air.

“You fight surprisingly well blue hedgehog.”

“I guess I’ve picked up a few moves with all the times I had to beat some sense into that Knucklehead.”

“Do you speak of that echidna? It really is unfortunate what happened to his island.”

“What are you talking about? What happened to Knuckles?”

“You don’t know? Well, I guess it won’t matter soon anyway.” Shadow again activated Chaos Control, dashing down through the air. Sonic barely reacted in time to throw up his arms, blocking his opponent’s homing attack.

“How are you using Chaos Control without a Chaos Emerald?” Sonic asked as Shadow bounced off of him and landed a few feet away.

“These robotic parts due come with a few enhancements,” Shadow replied, holding up his robotic hand. Panels in the back of his hand opened up, revealing a small green gem of a similar shape to a Chaos Emerald. “This is a fake emerald developed by Robotnik, similar to the one you used, but with far more concentrated power.”

“So much for “no way using a fake emerald”, eh faker?”

“I meant for a simple hedgehog like you. But it’s a different story for the Ultimate Life form!”

“We’ll see about that!” Sonic said, dashing towards Shadow and launching a barrage of punches at all different parts of his body. Shadow moved from side to side, twisting his body to dodge most attacks, blocking those he couldn’t. Eventually Sonic attempted a roundhouse kick, but Shadow caught his leg, pulled Sonic off balance, and threw him towards the far wall. Sonic spun around in the air and stopped with his feet on the wall. He then launched himself back at Shadow, rolling into a ball for a homing attack. The black hedgehog deflected the attack, sending Sonic into the ceiling. Shadow’s hand then began to glow, and pointing it at the hole in the ceiling he yelled, “Chaos Spear!” Five small yellow bolts of Chaos Energy shot from his hand into the hole, streaking through the air like lightning Shadow smirked, but it didn’t last as Sonic soon kicked him in the back, sending him crashing into the wall. “Miss me?”

Shadow stepped out of the small hole in the wall and immediately ran towards Sonic, launching his own flurry of punches. Sonic dodged and blocked them, trying to throw in his own attacks too. But with the speed Shadow was moving Sonic was having trouble aiming at his non-metallic parts, where he knew he could cause the most damage. “If I could just slow him doAUGH!” Shadow managed to land a fist right to Sonic’s forehead, sending him flying. Sonic slid along the smooth floor a few yards before stopping himself and jumping to his feet. He jumped to the side to dodge Shadow’s high speed punch, and then ducked as Shadow made a sweeping kick. Sonic caught onto Shadow’s ankle and pulled him into the air before slamming him into the ground. Shadow tried to swing his leg up and hit Sonic, but he jumped back and dodged the kick and the following blast from Shadow’s hover shoes. Seeing them reminded Sonic of his earlier burn, but when he moved his hand to gingerly touch the spot he didn’t feel any burn. “What the… woah!” Sonic barely looked up in time to dodge the larger single Chaos Spear Shadow had just thrown. He rolled to the side to avoid Shadow’s punch, spinning around on his hands and catching Shadow with his feet, sending him off the edge of the room. Sonic got to his feet and turned to face Shadow who was floating by the wall.

“Time to put this to an end!” Shadow said, his hand glowing again. “Disappear!” Shadow waved his hand, sending out another barrage of energy.

‘Great, how am I gonna dodge this? Wait, they’re moving slower than before,’ Sonic thought as he saw the Chaos Spears streaking towards them. He jumped back as the first impacted the ground where he had just stood, then dove to the side to avoid the next two before rolling forward and right to dodge the last of them. “Hah, looks like your attacks are losing their juice, faker!”

“There’s no way you could have… this is the ultimate power!” Shadow yelled, as he started to glow red. Sonic tensed as he felt Shadow’s charged energy. As it reached its peak, Shadow began to call his attack, but suddenly stopped. “Of course, right away sir,” Shadow said, but to whom Sonic couldn’t tell. The Ultimate Life form turned his attention back to Sonic. “It seems I need to deal with some other intruders. As much as I’d like to finish you myself blue hedgehog, Omega should be capable of doing the job. Assuming he’s already done with your friend, that is!” Shadow began laughing before disappearing in a flash of energy.

“Shadow, wait!” Sonic called, but it was too late. “Great, he’s probably headed for the control room. We need to get to the core, now!” Sonic ran down the hall towards Miles. He eventually found them in a room with a floor with the yellow core fluid rushing over it. Miles was clearly injured, but he had managed to cut off one of Omega’s arms.

“Sonic, perfect timing! I just need a little help finishing this guy off.”

“SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. DATA BANKS SHOW THAT HE WAS KILLED TEN YEARS AGO. CLEARLY THIS HEDGEHOG IS NOT HIM, BUT SHALL BE ELIMINATED REGARDLESS.” Omega said, turning his remaining arm towards Sonic, machine gun armed.

“Oh yeah?” Sonic crouched down and began to charge a spindash as the barrels of Omega’s gun began to spin. Sonic launched himself as Omega began firing, tearing straight through the last of the E-100 series machines. “Who’s eliminated now?” Sonic said as Omega collapsed to the floor and exploded.

Miles sheathed his sword and walked over to Sonic. “Nice work. What happened to Shadow?”

“He said he had to go take care of another group of intruders. I have a feeling he’s headed for the control room.”

“Then we need to hurry. The core should be just past here.” Miles switched on his communicator. “Rouge, we’re almost to the core. Is the cannon ready to fire?”

“Cannon is fully charged to fire on command, but the computer is picking up some weird energy already. You haven’t activated your device?”

“No… but that might be caused by Shadow.”

“Shadow?!”

“He’s alive, and we also believe he might he headed towards your location, so be ready. We’re heading into the core now.”

* * * * *

“So, Shadow is alive,” Rouge said, staring down at the floor. Her thoughts were interrupted as Sogeki called from below.

“It looks like we have company,” he said, tensing up and moving his gun slightly. “I have them in my sights.” He fire off a round, the bullet piercing the air. But just as he pulled the trigger, the target disappeared. “What? Where did he go?”

“Right behind you,” Shadow said, picking Sogeki up and throwing him straight out the room.

“It’s you, that black hedgehog,” Amy said, tightening her grip on her hammer.

“Shadow,” Rouge said, locking eyes with her former “teammate”.

“Rouge the Bat, how nice seeing you again. Thank you for all the help you’ve given the Empire.”

“I never would’ve helped you if I wasn’t under orders from the President to spy on Robotnik!”

“You thinking I’m talking about ten years ago? No, I mean the years since then, leading up to this very moment. You’re such a good spy even you don’t realize it.”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you think happened after Robotnik captured you? All you can remember is witnessing flashes of horrible things, and then you just wake up in a New Central City hospital nearly a year and a half later. What do you think happened in that time?”

“I… I… I don’t know… what are you talking about Shadow?” Rouge stammered for a moment, before regaining her focus.

“I’m talking about how you’ve serving Robotnik by being his personal spy and flushing out all of the remaining civilizations that haven’t bowed to his will.”

“There’s no way… how is that possible?”

“It’s simple enough. He planted devices in you that kept you alive, let him know where you where, what you saw… and then he let you wander the world, finding small hidden villages here and there, until you stumbled upon Subagri. It was unfortunate you got yourself locked up before we could gather more data, but at this point it doesn’t matter. And with your mission complete,” Shadow said, his hand beginning to glow. “The Empire has no need for you.” Shadow swung his arm, sending a single Chaos Spear straight through Rouge’s chest. The bat collapsed against the control console, still barely clinging to life.

“Shadow!” Amy yelled jumping into the air and swinging her hammer at the evil hedgehog. Shadow simply threw up a hand, seemingly blocked Amy with a wall of Chaos energy and throwing her back towards where Rouge sat, gasping for breath.

“Shadow… I was… wrong… about… you… You really… are… the… Ultimate Life form…” Rouge shuddered, her entire body shaking as she fought to hold on. “And you… always… talked… about… Maria… but think… what would… she… really… want… Shadow…” Rouge’s voice faded out along with her life, until she collapsed limp on the cold ground.

“Maria…” Shadow said to himself.

“Shadow, why are you doing this? Why do you serve Robotnik? Why not help us end all this suffering?” Amy asked, slowly getting to her feet.

“There’s no point in me helping you. There’s no way you can save anyone.”

“You’re wrong! We’ll stop Robotnik and save the people of this world!”

“Why bother? The beings who inhabit this world are fools who care only for themselves!”

“Sure, people are selfish, and they fight over the most trivial things. But I know that deep down everyone is basically good. They just need to follow their heart, and never give up on their wishes! That’s what gives them a reason to be happy! That’s what gives us a reason to fight!”

“A reason… to be happy?” Shadow asked. He fell to his knees, grasping his head as long suppressed memories raced through his partially robotic mind. “Maria…”

“Shadow, I beg of you, please do it for me… for a better future! For all the people who live on that planet… give them a chance to be happy… let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That’s the reason you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.”

“That’s what I’ve promised her and I must keep that promise,” Shadow said, slowly getting to his feet. “That’s what Maria wished for.”

“Shadow?”

“I’ve got to go now! I’ve got to keep my promise to Maria… and you,” Shadow said, before disappearing in a blast of energy.

Amy stood there for a moment, confused by what Shadow had just said. As she came back to her senses, she knelt down by Rouge and laid her on her back. Strangely, she seemed to have a faint smile on her face. But maybe she had just known what Shadow would do. Standing back up, Amy turned on her radio. “This is Amy. Rouge… is dead. Shadow killed her. But then, something happened to him, and he disappeared. He said something about keeping a promise… but I have a feeling he’s changed for the better.”

* * * * *

Sonic and Miles dropped off of the yellow waterfall and landed on a stone platform. Looking around the room yielded in an interesting surprise. “This is the core? It looks like the Master Emerald shrine on Angel Island!” Sonic said when he saw the structure at the far side of the room beneath a strange bulbous device.

“They probably designed it like the shrine to better harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Which will only make my machine work better,” Miles said, pulling out the device which was about the size of a basketball flattened on one side.

“Then let’s hurry!” The two started to run down the stone path, but as they reached a circle halfway to the pseudo-shrine the bulbous machine began to move, and the voice of a worn, old man rang out in the core chamber. Miles recognized as the one he had heard when he was last on the ARK. It was the voice of Professor Gerald Robotnik.

“All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me, will feel my loss and despair!”

“Something’s coming!” Sonic said as the voice clip began to repeat over itself as holographic images of the Professor’s final video flew out from the machine hanging over the pseudo-shrine. Sparks of electricity began to flow out, and suddenly a massive creature formed in the air. It let forth a fowl roar reminiscent of Perfect Chaos, silencing Gerald’s death threat. The creature dropped to the floor in the center of the circle, blocking Sonic and Miles’s path. The two got ready to fight, but were surprised to once again be interrupted by a voice from behind them.

“Leave this one to me,” Shadow said as he strolled past the two straight towards the creature.

“Shadow, what…?” Sonic began, but he was cut off.

“This is the prototype of the Ultimate Life form. It’s hard to believe but I suppose you could consider this beast my “older brother”.” Shadow turned back towards Miles and Sonic. “I’ll take care of this, while you run to get the Chaos Emeralds!”

“Okay Shadow, we’ll leave this one to you,” Sonic said. “Let’s go.”

“I don’t fully believe you’re on our side, Shadow,” Miles said.

“I can understand if you don’t trust me… I just killed my former ally after all,” Shadow looked raised his hand, staring at the fake emerald embedded in it before clenching his fist. “But if these hands must kill, then I will use them to destroy all the evil the Professor has created!” The beast released another growl, swinging its head toward Shadow in an attempt to catch him in its mouth. “Now go!”

Miles nodded and he and Sonic made their way around the creature on the other side while Shadow distracted it. He threw a Chaos Spear, only for it to bounce off the prototype’s body. “So, you have invulnerability. Perhaps that glowing red device on your back!” Shadow threw another Chaos Spear, this time at the machine on the prototype’s back, but it was once again deflected. “Long range attacks seem ineffective,” Shadow said as he rolled under a black ball of energy fired from the prototype’s mouth, and jumped over another that was low to the ground. After using these, the prototype paused, panting for breath. Shadow ran towards it, and grinded up the rails that ran along its neck up to its back. He jumped into the air as he reached the top of the machine, and began to charge energy into his fist. With a burst of speed he slammed a Chaos-fueled punch into the glowing red dome of the prototype’s life sustaining device, smashing it. The prototype roared and thrashed as Shadow fell back to the stone platform. The beast turned towards Shadow and let out a roar. Just as he had hoped it would.

“Here I come, you ugly prototype!” Channeling all his Chaos energy, Shadow blasted straight down the prototype’s throat, tearing through it and blasting out of the top of its back, as he grabbed onto the edges of the broken machine, Shadow focused his energy a final time. “Maria, this is what you wanted right?” Shadow said as everything around him began to glow. “This is my promise I made to you… Chaos Control!” With a final massive wave of energy, the prototype, and Shadow, disappeared.

“They just disappeared,” Miles said, as he and Sonic stared at the empty space in awe. “Is that the true power of Chaos Control?”

“He really was the Ultimate Life form,” Sonic said as he and Miles turned back towards the pseudo-shrine. “Sayonara… Shadow the Hedgehog…”

Once they reached the top of the replica relic, Miles got to work setting up his machine right where the Master Emerald would have gone on the real shrine. Within a few minutes he was done. “The Chaos Disruptor is set. Amy, set the cannon to fire.”

“Cannon is set to fire in five minutes. Initiating countdown now.”

“Alright everyone, you heard her. Five minutes till the cannon, then five more till our charges go off. Drop what you’ve got left and get out of here, our mission is done.” Miles turned to Sonic, smiling as he ended his communication. “It’s finally over. Let’s get out of here.”

“You go. I still have unfinished business.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m gonna find Eggman and personally make sure he gets what’s coming to him.”

“Then I’m coming with you! I’ve been waiting ten years for my chance to finally pay back Robotnik!”

“No, this isn’t your fight. Let Eggman be my problem. You need to get out of here and live on, and if you go after Eggman you won’t have time for that.”

“But what about you?”

“Me? I’m already dead!” Sonic laughed, placing his hands on Miles’s shoulders “I’ve had a revelation since this battle started; live and learn, you know? And I know that it’s not your destiny to seek revenge. You need let go and move on with your life. I’m counting on you, Tails.”

“I…” Sonic’s young fox friend was at a loss for words, his eyes begin to water, though he fought back the tears. Finally he sighed, and then looked up at Sonic with determination. “You can count on me Sonic. I won’t let you down,” he said, taking a step back. “So don’t let me down!”

Sonic just smiled and gave a thumbs up, then watched as his friend ran down the stone path and flew back up the way they had come. “I know you won’t let me down, buddy. And now… I’ve got an Eggman to find!”

* * * * *

ARK: Research Lab

Cannon Countdown: 3:00 minutes

Sonic stood in front of the gray metal door. Ten years ago he walked through this door to confront Eggman. Ten years ago he tried to use Chaos Control with a fake emerald. Ten years ago his gamble failed and he was killed. Ten years ago something happened which saved him from actual death. Ten years later he awakened in Green Hill. Ten years later he intended to finish this battle.

As the door slowly slid up, Sonic entered the dark room. As the door closed behind him, he was greeted by the familiar voice of his arch-nemesis. “You’re pretty persistent for a hedgehog, aren’t you? You’re still alive, huh?”

“Ha, just letting Knuckles pilot that shuttle we took was more dangerous than you could ever be!”

“Ah yes, your friend Knuckles. It’s most unfortunate what happened to him, and his home. But I suppose you wouldn’t know about that, would you?”

“Oh, I know what happened to Knuckles. And I know what you did to his island. And I know everything you’ve done to everyone else on this planet.”

“So you know everything now, is that it Sonic? Then I suppose it’s no surprise you were able to find me.”

“I would’ve found you even if I hadn’t figured everything out. It’s just your style to make your command room in the place where you finally defeated your biggest enemy. But that didn’t last long, eh Eggman?”

“No, it didn’t,” Robotnik said and suddenly the lights in the room turned on allowing Sonic to finally see the one he was speaking to. Strangely, even in ten years, Robotnik’s basic appearance hadn’t changed much, his usual outfit now fitting large shoulder pads and a cape befitting his empirical image. However, his body seemed to be hooked up to the various machines the lined all the sides of the room, with cables and wires extending out from his throne. And while it was not visible on the outside, his presence had changed. While long ago he gave off an air of confident genius, achieving to one day rule the world, he now gave the feeling of a broken, twisted madman corrupted by power. “I would very much like to know how you survived.”

“That I can’t quite figure out. I tried using Chaos Control with the fake emerald, and something weird must have happened with the Chaos energy. I wound up in this weird limbo, space, but after Knuckles used his power as Guardian to destroy the Master Emerald, all the energy that was released broke me out. And I now know my purpose for coming back.”

“And what is that?”

“To destroy you. Once and for all.”

Robotnik let out a twisted laugh. “Destroy me? You sound so serious Sonic, it’s not like you! But I suppose time changes people. But if it is a fight you want… it’s a fight you’ll get.” Robotnik pressed a series of buttons on the arm rest of his throne, then stood up, his body shifting and changing as pieces of his throne began to move. “I should warn you though; I’ve made some changes in the years since we last met.” Within a few moments, Robotnik’s body had transformed and become encased in a battle mech bearing his likeness, with a checkered wrecking ball on one arm, a shield on the other, two shoulder mounted missile launchers, and two wrist mounted laser blasters. “Get a load of this!” Robotnik declared as he showed off his latest “creation”. “It’s too bad you don’t have the Chaos Emeralds with you to activate your super form.”

“I don’t need those to beat you,” Sonic said, placing a hand on his chest. “Besides, I’ve picked up a few tricks of my own.” As Sonic pulled his hand away from his chest, he revealed a glowing symbol in the image of the Master Emerald.

“Hah, so you have, but it still won’t be enough to stop me!” Robotnik began to swing the wrecking ball around in small circles, building up momentum. Suddenly, the entire room seemed to shake. “That must be the Eclipse Cannon firing. Seems you don’t have much time to spare.”

“I’m not leaving until you’re finished!” Sonic said, and then dashed towards Robotnik. Robotnik threw the wrecking ball at Sonic with ferocious speed, but the hedgehog simply jumped to the side, letting the checkered sphere fly past him and smash into the floor. With the chain tight Sonic buzzed straight through it, cutting it off from Robotnik’s arm. Robotnik began to launch missiles at Sonic, but he moved between them with speed even Robotnik was surprised by. But for Sonic, he had simply slowed down time. Grabbing onto one of the missiles he spun around and sent it flying right back into the launcher it came from. But he hadn’t seen the lasers Robotnik had fired and was hit in the shoulder and knocked back, breaking his Chaos Control.

As Sonic fell to the ground, Robotnik continued firing missiles from the remaining launcher. Sonic barely got to his feet in time to jump up, dodging the missiles. The force from their explosions helped push Sonic through the air, landing a well timed homing attack to Robotnik’s head just as the ARK was shook by another tremor. Sonic tried to hit Robotnik with a kick, but Robotnik threw him off with his shield arm. Sonic landed and slid back a few feet, before building up speed in a spindash. He shot forward, and Robotnik brought up his shield to block, only to get hit from behind. He stumbled forward, but regained his balance and turned around. However he was too late to block Sonic’s next attack, and his shield arm was broken off. Robotnik began to fire more lasers from his remaining arm, but Sonic weaved between them and cut off the hand of his remaining arm. Before Robotnik could do anything else, Sonic began to spin around him, building up a whirlwind, before slashing off his legs and sending him flying back to where his throne once was. The power of Sonic’s attack had ripped off much of the extra armor, revealing Robotnik underneath. Sonic slowly advanced on the helpless tyrant, as the room continued to shake violently.

Stepping up onto Robotnik’s metal chest, Sonic looked at the now exposed face of his longtime enemy. “The suffering you brought this world ends here. And while I may have told Tails to move on, that doesn’t mean I can’t have my own vengeance.” Raising his fists, they began to glow with green energy. “This is for all the lives you ruined! This is for the world you destroyed!” Sonic yelled, emphasizing his points with a fist to the face. “This is for forcing Knuckles to destroy his home! This is for using Rouge for your selfish plans! This is for turning Shadow into a monster! This is for killing me!” Sonic paused to take one last look at the bloodied face of his enemy. The ARK was shaking more and more violently, pieces of equipment falling off the walls of Robotnik’s throne room. Sonic began to channel the last of his energy. “This is for making Amy cry!” Sonic stabbed his fist through Robotnik’s chest. “And this is for everything you’ve done to Tails!” Sonic stabbed his other fist into Robotnik, then his entire body started to glow. “Game Over, Robotnik!”

* * * * *

Outside, everyone had made it out safely and gathered at the rendezvous point. Amy and Sogeki had carried Rouge out, knowing that she still deserved a proper burial. She lay behind them under Hellsing’s coat. Everyone else stood on the edge of the skyscraper’s roof, watching as the explosions appeared from all over the ARK, and the dome began to collapse in on itself.

“Miles, Sonic hasn’t made it out yet,” Amy said, as the explosions grew more powerful.

“No, he made it,” the fox said, as he saw something shoot out from the top of the ARK, exploding then disappearing in a flash of blue. “He did what he came to do, and he got what he truly deserves.”

“What do you mean?”

“A hero’s death,” Tails said, putting an arm around Amy.

“Miles…”

“Amy, call me Tails,” the fox said, giving Amy a smile not unlike the one that belonged to his hedgehog friend and mentor. “That’s what he used to call me.”

===========================================================================================================================================

And because I love me some shameless plugs, if you'd like to read more of my work, it can be located at my website, Ekajra's Emerald Shrine.

Edited October 3, 2010 by Ekajra