Smoke rose up as Sunset Heights was destroyed by giant lasers. Massive robots rampaged in the background, stomping on whatever was in their way. Some of the citizens found themselves unlucky enough to caught in the crossfire as they tried to escape. Even if they ended up evading the giant robots though, smaller ones were deployed by the thousands, ordered to take whatever prisoners they could.
Flying up above this unfortunate city was an ivory hedgehog followed closely by a gliding echidna. Although they were high above the ground, smoke and debris still caught them off guard, causing brief blinding or even a sudden cough from the choking fog.
Silver bit his lip, staring at the destruction before him. "I-I'm too late..." He stated, landing on one of the buildings lucky enough to still be standing.
Knuckles landed next to him and patted his shoulder. "I wouldn't give up yet. We can still turn this around." He surveyed the area. People were scattered far and wide. If Sonic were there, he'd just jump down and return with everyone in seconds. The echidna slightly lowered his head at the thought of the azure hedgehog before turning to Silver. "You head up toward that massive robot and destroy it. I'm sure there are still some people near it. I'll stay here and try to help evacuate."
Silver nodded. "Got it," he flew up before turning around and adding, "commander."
As the ivory hedgehog flew toward the massive bot, a loud cry came to ear. The ivory hedgehog dove down toward the buildings. A wave of robots was making their way toward a group of people. A beige dog with blue stripe accents was throwing rocks at them while a young brown jackal whimpered.
"Argh! This isn't getting us anywhere, Rya!" The dog mobian shouted, growling at the threat in front of him. He kicked up a large piece of the cobblestone path toward the robots, his blue and red shoes looking like a blurred streak.
"C-calm down Lennon! G-getting angry i-isn't going to h-help us!" The jackal named Rya exclaimed, peeking her green eyes over Lennon's shoulder as the robot army closed in. She lightly pushed back her bangs before gripping the lapel of her grey button-up jacket.
Stopping in front of them, the lead Egg Boiler raised its arm up to shoot. Lennon gave a deep growl as he looked around for something, anything else to use as ammo. The ground was now hard dirt and any rocks he could have used had already been thrown at the robots. There was nothing else he could do.
The dog held an arm out in front of Rya, showing his fist to the robot who would have been amused at the attempt if it weren't for its programming. Before the robot's hand could even glow its bright orange for the shot, an aqua aura surrounded the robot, ripping it apart.
Silver landed right in front of the two mobians, facing the robot army ahead. "Hey, you two okay?" He asked, briefly looking back as held his hands out defensively.
"Tch, I could have handled that myself." Lennon crossed his arms and looked away from the ivory hedgehog.
Rya sighed, still shivering from the close call. "W-what my grumpy g-grunt of a friend is trying to say is 'thank you.'"
Silver smashed another of the robots together only for more to flood the streets. "I wouldn't thank me just yet." He grabbed a streetlight and pulled it to the ground using his psychokinesis before turning to the pair. "We better move. How are both of you on heights?"
The young jackal gave a thumbs up before nudging the dog. "Whatever." He stated.
"Alright, hang on!" An aqua aura surrounded the two as Silver used his powers to lift them all up. Just in time too. A blast was heard as one of the robots shot a hole into the wall of the building that was previously behind them.
Silver gave a sigh of relief before heading over toward a region of the city that was currently not on fire. It was a large mass of green land high above the city. "You should be safe here, but I wouldn't hang around if I were you." Explosions went off down below them. "It's too dangerous down there."
"But we can't just stay here!" Rya exclaimed, throwing her arms down as she stomped on the ground. "I was looking for a friend here. I hadn't seen in a while and I'm afraid he could be really hurt!"
Silver looked at the young jackal. She was so terrified earlier, yet she was willing to go back and look for someone? Quite honestly, he did admire that. It was something he would do, powers of no powers. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to find your friend."
"Oh thank you!" Rya beamed, swaying back and forth happily. "Just be warned. He can be a bit serious, much like Lenny over here." She nudged the beige dog who merely gave a gruff before crossing his arms.
Silver nodded. He was about to leave and head back toward the city when the jackal shouted, "Wait! One more thing! We have something that might help you." She paused for a moment before nudging Lennon.
"What?" The dog asked gruffly. Rya motioned toward the ivory hedgehog. "Oh, right." He pulled out a small blue gemstone, it glowing brightly in his white gloved hands. "Here."
When Silver had turned to see what they stopped him for, he wasn't expecting a Chaos Emerald. The ivory hedgehog took the gemstone and gave a nod. "Thank you. This will certainly help a lot." He flew up. "Stay safe and don't worry, I'll find who you're looking for!"
As the ivory hedgehog headed back into the city, he took a look at the Chaos Emerald. That was one they had. Six more and this could all be over.
The ivory hedgehog put the gemstone and flew a little lower toward the ground. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't find anyone else in the city. Hopefully Rya's friend escaped. He couldn't imagine if the poor soul got captured by Eggman.
Once he landed, a strange sound played. It was subtle, yet out of place. He was certain he hadn't heard that one before. With his ears perked up, attentive to even the slightest of sounds, a plop caused him to jump a bit. Something, or someone, must have landed behind him. When the ivory hedgehog turned around though, nothing was there. Maybe it was all in his imagination? If so, then it was a really active one at that.
Beep! Beep!
His communicator went off, distracting him from his thoughts. The ivory hedgehog pressed a button on the side and picked it up. Before he could say anything though, a voice called out through the device. "If anyone can hear me, Vector, Charmy, and I need assistance. Eggman has released another enemy to face, and we can't handle him alone!" It sounded like Espio. A loud crash sounded before the thwip of his ninja stars came onto the speaker. "I'm sending our location now."
Silver pulled up a small map using his glove. Fortunately, he had it connected to the communicator Tails had given him and Knuckles before he...
Anyway, a little blue dot lit up on the screen, signaling where the Chaotix were. Silver pressed down the communicator's button once again and shouted. "Espio, it's Silver! I'm on my way to help!"
The ivory hedgehog soared up, and blasted toward the location. If he was lucky, he might be able to find that missing mobian. Until then, he hoped he wasn't too late to help the Chaotix out.
💥———✨———💦———✨———💥
On the other side of the city, Knuckles soared over the buildings. From what he could tell, there weren't many mobians left in the city. Either they escaped or were unfortunate to become captured. The red echidna didn't know which, but something told him it was the latter.
He moved his arms to his side as he landed on the ground. A group of robots were patrolling. Unlucky for them, this echidna wasn't too fond of the metallic menaces. With quick hit to the stony cobblestone road, Knuckles sent some of them flying through the air with the dirt and stone.
Slapping his hands together, he created a small dust cloud before heading off again. This time he was following a group of robots. If they were just stomping around, he would have just smashed them to bits. What baffled him was the giant pipe being bashed over the metal mechanisms' heads. "What is-?" Before he could finish his thought, one of the robots was knocked his way.
The red echidna jumped off to the side, just barely avoiding the metal as it crashed behind him. "Hey! Watch it!" He shouted. Whoever was knocking the robots around better have a good reason.
He ran forward, dodging any robotic parts that came his way as he headed toward the metal pipe. Although it wasn't exactly a good reason, he did finally see why the robots were being tossed around like rag dolls.
Holding a great big pipe was a grey, female mobian. She wore a beanie which covered her short black hair. Her pants were black jeans, and her shirt was red. Although it wasn't all that strange to see a civilian fight back against robots, there was something that surprised Knuckles. She was an echidna.
He would have to ask questions later. First, he had to get her out of there. Some of the pathway was all torn up. And what was below that cobblestone? Dirt. It was perfect.
After taking a quick look at the area, Knuckles went over to the open spot and began to dig. All the while, he tried to picture exactly where the ground above him was before bursting up. The unexpecting robots were launched far and wide, exploding on impact. The echidna dusted his hands off once again before turning to the other.
"I had it handled!" The grey echidna shouted, hoisting the metal pipe over her shoulder.
"Yeah, you're welcome." Knuckles answered, ignoring the statement. He would ask about her clan now but there were more pressing matters he had to deal with. Like getting out of dodge. "Let's go before any more head our way." He headed off toward the city limits.
Although the grey echidna rolled her eyes at the suggestion, she did still follow Knuckles. The metal pipe dragged along the ground and was used to bash the heads of any robots that happened to surprise the duo.
After they had been running for a while, Knuckles looked back towards her. "Say, you're an echidna, right?"
"Well yeah, what else would I be?" The female echidna shot back. "You act like it's such a rarity."
Knuckles looked forward. "You have no idea." There was silence for a while. The two stopped at the top of a cliff overlooking the city. Before Knuckles could say farewell to the other echidna, the clomp of shoes hitting the grass came to his attention. Coming their way was a pink hedgehog wielding a giant hammer. "Amy, glad to see you."
The pink hedgehog put her hammer down and rested on the handle. "Nice to see you too Knuckles, especially in this." She motioned down at the city below. Once she had finally caught her breath, Amy lifted up her hammer again and finally noticed who was next to Knuckles. "Hey, who's this?"
The grey echidna looked up. So, she finally acknowledged her. "Name's Oddette. Now, mind telling me what's going on?"
"Yeah, and where Sonic is. He's usually on top of these things. Let me guess, he wants to come in for a grand entrance?" Amy stated sarcastically. Every time they needed help, Sonic seemed to show up right when things were really bad. Not before when the trouble was small, but "giant robot about to stomp on everyone" type of timing. She couldn't argue though. He did still help out and save the day. It was why not seeing him during all this was so strange. Where was he?
To her surprise, Knuckles got very quiet. He hung his head low and gave a deep sigh. "I-I'm not sure how to explain this." He paused for a moment. "You see, before we came here, Silver and I, we came across Tails. He...he was so distressed. Almost didn't tell us anything until Silver explained why he was here. Tails...he...I...Sonic is gone, Amy. He's not coming back."
Clank!
Her hammer dropped to the ground as the pink hedgehog collapsed to her knees. "That can't be true! It just can't be! No one could ever-!"
Knuckles stomped on the ground. "Do you think I would joke about something like this? He was my friend too! We have to move forward though!"
Amy wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded, picking up her hammer as she stood up. "I-I'm sorry. It's just difficult to come to terms with. He's Sonic though. He can't just leave us hanging like this, right?"
Knuckles lowered his head. "I'm not sure if it was even his choice."
There was a moment of silence between the two. The cackling of fire was lightly heard amidst the lack of speech.
After a few moments, Oddette gave a sigh. "Look I understand the gravity of this situation but, if you hadn't noticed, the city is still on fire!" She pointed the pipe toward the smoking city. "Not to mention the giant robot!"
"Giant robot?" Knuckles looked over the city. She was right, the robot was there. "Silver was supposed to take care of that. Guess he stopped to help someone." Knuckles stated. Now that he thought about it, he remembered the lack of civilians in the streets. "Hey Amy, do you know if there's still anyone else in the city?"
Amy sniffled a bit before regaining her composure. "I already escorted a mouse out of the city. She had an AI system with her. Although the AI did say the city was cleared, I decided to still take a look for myself and that's when I met up with you. I wasn't able to find anyone else though, sorry."
"Alright, I didn't see anyone else either." The red echidna crossed his arms and turned to the grey. Hopefully they all got out. He sighed and turned to the grey echidna, who seemed to be getting more and more impatient as the minutes passed. "Oddette, I would suggest you head out. It's not safe here...even if you think you can handle yourself." He added as Oddette try to defend herself, holding up the pipe she was still carrying.
"Fine, oh you should probably take this then. Found it inside one of those bots. I don't need it." She tossed a red Chaos Emerald his way before turning to leave. "Later and good luck. You're gonna need it."
"Thank you." Knuckles replied, holding up the glowing gemstone. He pulled out another, this one was green. "That makes two."
Amy shook her head. "Actually three." She pulled out a white one. "But without Sonic, no one could use them. It would be pretty difficult to find Shadow in all this, and you and Tails had only used it when Sonic directly lent you the power."
Looking at each gem, Knuckles gave a smile. "We still have one more option. First though, we need the other three."
Knuckles' communicator went off with a buzz. The red echidna pulled it out. "Knuckles here. What's go-" Espio was on the other side. He seemed distraught and, judging by the explosions in the background, in severe danger. Once the message went off, the red echidna looked at the pink hedgehog. "The Chaotix are in trouble. Come on!"
💥———✨———💦———✨———💥
Once Silver arrived at the battleground, he found the Chaotix struggling against someone. This new foe seemed mobian enough but the mask he was wearing was so angular. An aura of crimson red bathed this villain as it seemed to almost teleport around the Square. Even the master ninja himself was having an issue keeping up, and even staying hidden for that matter.
The ivory hedgehog attempted to grab onto the foe using his psychokinesis. Despite getting a lock on his opponent, Silver was unable to keep it for long. With a bright red flash, the crimson foe broke from Silver's hold, launching the hedgehog back. The impact was so hard, it knocked the Chaos Emerald the ivory hedgehog had to the ground.
Before he could the stony cobblestone, Silver surrounded himself in his aqua aura, hovering just inches from the injury that would have been inflicted upon him. The ivory hedgehog gave a brief sigh of relief before shooting up again to face the crimson foe.
As he fought, Knuckles and Amy arrived at the scene. The red echidna held out his two emeralds with the pink hedgehog gripping the third. They stopped right next to Vector who was watching the fight in the air. If only crocodiles could fly. Then again, Charmy could and it took a lot to keep him from flying off.
"Vector," Knuckles stated, "What's going on?" He pointed at the light-show of red and teal circling the sky.
"It's not good." Vector yanked Charmy down. "We were just trying to get rid of a few of these robots when this guy," he pointed at the crimson villain, "swooped in outta nowhere and began shooting at us!"
"We tried to fight, however our opponent was much quicker than us." Espio explained. He was up a bit, trying to figure out a way to help Silver. He would throw one of his shurikens but the confusing array of lights didn't make him certain he would hit his intended target. The purple chameleon lowered his arm and turned back toward the others. "We need a plan."
"Well I have one." Knuckles motioned for Amy to give him her emerald. The pink hedgehog obliged.
Understanding what he was getting at, Espio grabbed Silver's fallen emerald and brought it to Knuckles. The purple chameleon looked up at Vector who patted around until he found what he was looking for. It was a teal Chaos Emerald.
"Alright, that's six." Knuckles counted. "But...where's the seventh?"
The group looked around frantically. No hint of the final purple emerald gleamed anywhere. "Now what do we do?" Amy questioned.
Knuckles was about to tell everyone to get searching when Silver suddenly landed in front of the group. His quills were a complete mess, sticking out from their usual neat positions. He was also covered in what could either be dirt or bruises. Judging by the way the fight looked, the latter was more likely.
"Sorry guys, I tried to hold him off for as long as I could." The ivory hedgehog stated as he tried to stand back up.
The crimson foe was nearing and there didn't seem to be any stopping him. Knuckles took another glance around before looking back at the emeralds. "There's still one more thing we can try." He gathered each emerald and held them up to Silver. "We have six of them. The seventh one can't be far behind. You have to use them!"
Silver looked from Knuckles to the emeralds. He was about to grab them when he second guessed himself. "How can you be so sure that I'll be able to use them? I've never gone Super like Sonic or Shadow!" This was the first time he remembered even being in contact with the gemstones. The most he'd heard were passing conversations about them in the future...when it wasn't on fire.
"Well no one else here can. Sonic is gone, Shadow is missing, and I'm the only other one here to use them but I'm more in tune with the Master Emerald. Amy has never used them and neither have the Chaotix. You're the only one with a chance to go Super!" Knuckles practically shoved them into Silver's hands before the ivory hedgehog could protest.
He can come to the past to save the future. What if him failing here caused those events? He looked over at the others who gave him nods, thumbs ups, and words of encouragement. Well, he wouldn't know if could do it unless he tried. Hopefully he knew what he was doing.
Silver used his psychokinesis to hold the six emeralds out around him. Knuckles said the seventh shouldn't be far behind so hopefully drawing power from these six would bring the seventh to him.
The crimson villain merely hovered above, intrigued by the process. He didn't attack despite the prime moment. Only waited silently.
After a few moments had passed with no sign of the seventh emerald, Silver looked back at Knuckles. The red echidna shook his head. Just when all hope seemed lost, a bright purple light gleamed, bursting toward the ivory hedgehog before joining with the other seven.
In a flash of white light, the emeralds disappeared leaving Silver a more golden color. "I-I did it? I did it!"
"Way to go Silver!" Knuckles exclaimed. "I knew you could do it!"
The crimson foe moved to a fighting position, facing Super Silver. The ivory hedgehog did the same. It was time to end this.
💥———✨———💦———✨———💥
It had been six months since that battle and nothing had changed. Despite everyone's best efforts, Eggman still had his chains around the world. In the midst of the dark times, a new light shone from those Freedom Fighters who grouped together that day. They decided to band together and form a force strong enough to defeat the Eggman Empire. A Resistance.
Vector walked down the hallway of the hidden base they had made, hanging his head low. Yet another battle that Eggman had won. He was walking with a lonesome survivor. The emerald hedgehog was being carried in his arms. If she had any protests about the situation, she was keeping very quiet about them. He was just lucky to have been able to find her in all the wreckage.
Vector dropped the hedgehog off in the infirmary before heading to the command center for a meeting. Knuckles had wanted to speak with him and the others regarding any information they might have found out about the situation or the new foe plaguing them.
The crocodile opened the door to the command center and walked in. Amy was over by the computer, typing madly on the keyboard. Espio and Charmy seemed to be bouncing information back and forth. The two had begun to get along better. Charmy was even a little less rambunctious than usual. One person was missing from the room though.
"Hey, anyone seen Knuckles lately?" Vector asked. The commander called them there so him not being at his own meeting was strange.
Amy looked up from the computer. "No, I thought he was coming with you."
"Amy," Silver started, "Vector and Knuckles were on opposite ends of the base. They would have come in through different entrances." The base had multiple hidden entry points. These included the sewers, trees, and a hidden back door that led to the least destroyed part of the city.
Amy groaned as she leaned against the computer. "Oh, it's so much to keep track of. I...I wish he were here to help us."
No one had dared to speak of Sonic for the past six months. It was too painful of a topic. Even without stating his actual name, referring to him caused everyone to look down in sorrow.
Amy bit her lip. "S-sorry. It's just...I still can't believe that-"
Silver placed a hand on her shoulder. "None of us can but we've gotten this far and survived this long. I'm sure he'd be proud of us for still fighting." Amy looked up at him and gave a smile.
The pink hedgehog looked down at the computer. "Hey! A new file showed up!" She exclaimed, clicking on it. "It looks like it was transferred from the Westopolis Resistance." She read what it said before giving a grimace.
"What is it?" Espio asked, heading over toward her to peer at the screen.
"It's not good. Westopolis has been wiped out."
"What?!" Everyone exclaimed.
"How is that even possible?" Vector questioned, walking away from the screen and holding his head down low.
"Those poor people..." Charmy buzzed, flying over toward Vector.
After a few clicks, Amy slightly lit up. "One did survive the attack though!" She exclaimed. Due to the fact that no one had been able to reach Tails, Amy had taken the role of organizer and techie. It took a while to get used to but she'd figured almost everything.
"It seems like the survivor is a young wolf named Wendy. She's said to be quite skittish around new people. It doesn't seem like she has much fighting experience either." She picked her hands off the keys. "Poor girl having to go through such a terrible ordeal." She added.
"Maybe Knuckles found her and that's why he's late?" Silver suggested. Knuckles had gone that way for patrol. It seemed like a likely place for him to end up.
The door opened to show Knuckles. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, especially at the sight of Vector who had also gone on a dangerous patrol. "I'm so glad to see that you're all alive."
Silver gave a salute. "Glad to see you too, commander."
Knuckles gave a sigh. "I've already told you; no formalities, but I'm glad to see you too."
Silver lowered his hand and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I keep forgetting."
"So, commander," Espio started as he walked over toward the red echidna, "where exactly have you been?"
Lowering his head, Knuckles walked over to the front wall where a giant screen was displayed. "I made my way over to Westopolis after getting a distress call. Apparently that masked foe had attacked their troops. I tried to get there as quickly as I could..." he gave a hefty sigh, "but I was too late."
The room was filled with silence. So their info had been right. A whole army...gone in the blink of an eye. It was almost too much to stomach.
Knuckles looked back at the door before opening it to grab someone. "I was able to rescue this girl though. I'm sure you've already seen the file I sent over from their command center."
A brown wolf wearing a black and navy green jumpsuit, brown boots, and blue gloves stumbled in as she was pulled. Once the tugging stopped, she rubbed her arm and looked toward the ground. They were talking about her team. She understood that much. All she hoped was that she wasn't bombarded with questions. That was the last thing she wanted to think about right now.
"Welcome to our Resistance base. Wendy, right? I'm Amy, the organizer." Amy waved over at her before going back to her computer.
"And I'm Silver. It's nice to meet you." The ivory hedgehog stated. He motioned toward the Chaotix. "That's Vector, Espio, and Charmy. You sorta already met our commander, Knuckles."
Wendy nodded slightly before giving a quick wave. "H-hi, it's nice to meet you all." She stood with both of her hands placed one on top of the other on her leg. She continuously twitched one of her ears, which were lying flat on her face.
Knuckles went over to a storage unit and grabbed a red wispon. With him came a little wisp. "Here, I understand that your weapon got lost in the battle." He handed Wendy the wispon. "The Wisps are nice creatures who came to help us. They aren't too fond of Eggman." He added.
The red wisp flew around her before jumping into the wispon. Wendy looked at the device and cocked her head. What exactly did this do? She pulled the trigger out of curiosity. Bursting from the nozzle came a blast of fire. Wendy went wide-eyed before dropping the Wispon, ceasing the flames. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-!"
Knuckles sighed. "It's okay. Just don't use those things in here all willy nilly, got it?" Wendy nodded.
The red echidna picked up the wispon and handed it to her once again. The red wisp flew out of the wispon and hovered next to her, giving out gibberish that she figured was meant to be encouragement. The wisp landed on her head.
Knuckles sighed as he continued. "Alright, everyone. Meeting adjourned. I need to talk to one of our spies about the situation on the Death Egg." He looked up at the screen before turning towards the computer. "Amy, stay here with me. I may need help using this tech." He looked at everyone else. "The rest of you, head into the break room until we need you."
Filing out one by one, everyone left the command room. Wendy looked around. Everyone seemed to have some sort of strength and determination. Even the young bee seemed courageous and he wasn't even half her height! What could she do to help?
The red wisp glanced over at her and made a few sad sounds. He flew right over to her and snuggled against her face. "Okay," she whispered to him, "I'll try."
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To be continued...
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