Blood Bonds

Part 8 - From Exposition to Ebullition

Several days later, Sonic the hedgehog cruised into the Resistance's base, casually greeting his fellow members who carried in boxes of supplies or relaxed in the hallways, chatting idly. He entered the main control room, which abruptly stopped a panicked conversation that had been going on between his little brother, Tails the fox, and two familiar faces.

"Mighty, Ray, long time no see!" The blue blur exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

"Sonic! Hi!" Ray stuttered, smiling broadly at the sight of him.

The lemon-colored flying squirrel moved aside as Mighty the red armadillo stepped forward and clasped hands with the hero, giving him an intense handshake. Sonic pulled his sore hand back, attempting to hide his wince of pain with a cheery grin.

"What brings you two here?"

Mighty scoffed, planting his fists on his hips. "Are you kidding? The world nearly ended and it's a mystery that we're here? What the heck happened while we were gone?!"

"Th-the ground exploded." Ray chattered. "Right when w-we were p-passing through the woods."

The armadillo glanced, wide-eyed, at his adopted brother. "Yeah, that happened." He looked back at the blue blur. "Bunch of ninjas ran away from the explosion- it was frickin' pouring for the first time in months- Jeez..." He stopped, catching his breath, and leaned over with his hands on his knees, staring in distress at the ground. "We probably sound like total loons right now, don't we?"

Sonic snickered and shook his head. "Maybe to anyone else, you would, but I happen to know exactly what you're talking about."

Mighty smiled up at him, relieved. "For real?"

"Can you catch them up to date for me, Sonic?" Tails asked, equally relieved. "I'm looking into a new invention right now."

"Of course, buddy!" The hedgehog laughed. "Why don't we go for a walk, guys? I know a place you might find interesting."

"Yes, please." Mighty smirked, following the blue blur out the door as Ray trailed behind. "And start from the beginning. I want to know why the sky turned red, first..."

The three left the base, Sonic giving them a detailed summary of the events that had happened in the last few months. He explained Eggman's doomsday device, how Infinite had been fused inside the Phantom Ruby and used to power it, and how the Resistance had managed to destroy the machine's power sources. He explained that the residual Phantom Energy was why the sky was red, and that after they blew up the machine, left the site, and secured both Eggman and Infinite, someone had stolen the remnants of the Doomsday device. He introduced them to N.I.T.E., explaining the meaning of the name, and how they were a former branch of G.U.N., having rebelled many years ago.

"Ninja's Investigation of Technology and Engineering? Are you serious?" Mighty was dumbfounded. "Those were the ninjas we saw fleeing the explosion?"

"Yup." Sonic stated. "But that was only the beginning of our problems..."

He told them about F.V.R. and about how the Resistance and F.V.R.'s joined efforts to identify where N.I.T.E.'s base were in vain, and how several valuable prisoners and G.U.N. personnel were kidnapped. He described the MIND chip program, how it influenced their lost friends, and how despite all the pressure of facing such skilled fighters and N.I.T.E.'s skill of concealment, the Resistance aided the F.V.R. Head Counselors in recovering their friends successfully in the end, with G.U.N.'s assistance. He added that the explosion was the underground base self-destructing to keep the Resistance from gathering any vital information about the N.I.T.E. organization.

"F.V.R. is actually where we're headed right now." He concluded, gazing up at the cloudy sky pleasantly as they passed under several leaning trees.