Prelude

This is a tale of victory and loss, a of triumph and defeat, of good and evil. It is the story of a world on uneasy balance, of conflict, of despair. Above all, this is the story of the turning point of the fate of the universe. This is not a tale for the faint-hearted.

And whence the mage hath restored the emerald,
The world will for sure be lost

Lest yonder mage to th' just be held,
By five great ones whose might hast been must,

Two hedgehogs tainted with chaos pure
And two whose bodies are clean and pure

The bastard scion of two heavenly beings,
Father yoko and mother angel
The orphaned king shall conquer then
And yonder mage shall burn in hell. Kitsune lore, c. 2000 BC

Chapter 1

Sonic ran through the workshop in a hurry.

"Tails? Tails? We're leaving in ten minutes!"

"Just a second!" The young fox called from behind a damaged tank. He had just turned 18 a few months ago, and had been part of the away team ever since. He hopped over it, grabbing a few guns and stuffing them into his pack as he went.

"Hurry up!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Sonic ran the whole way to the helipad. Tails arrived a few minutes later and caught his breath as he got in.

"Everyone got everything?" Sonic asked. Tails checked through his pack for all the various firearms and gadgets.

"Got my guns right here!" Knuckles said as he punched his fist against his palm. Julie cocked her blaster.

"Let's see… roll call… one, two, three… yep! Got everything." Amy said as she counted the quarterstaff, sword and hammer stashed on her back. Sonic put his hand on the pistol in his holster to reassure himself.

"Let's go!" He called to Jet, piloting the chopper.

The helicopter raised itself above the serene tree canopy of the broken forestland. It swiftly left the tranquil greenery for mountainous scrub. The fortified gate that protected their homeland passed underneath; a guard waved to them as they passed overhead. Another ten minutes later and the terrain could not have been more unforgiving. Jet set the craft down in one of the maze of ravines that stretched for miles around.

"I'll be back in two hours. Send up a flare for your extraction!" He called after them as they got out. The chopper lifted away and disappeared over the rim of the canyon. Everyone looked around.

"So… which way, Tails?" Knuckles asked, a little clueless.

"Uh… damn… I need to pee…"

"Fine…" Tails ran over to the canyon wall and undid his flys. He sighed with relief.

Amy heard a noise. Some footsteps.

"What's that?"

"It can't be Shadow or Rouge, they're not due out today."

The sound got louder. Amy pulled the sword slowly from its scabbard on her back. It was a long thin katana, very lightweight, but still strong.

"Hide!" She whispered loudly. Sonic and Knuckles ducked behind a rock. Tails hastily pulled his flys up and ran behind another. He pulled a shotgun from his pack. Amy backed up against the far wall. Julie hid herself in a hole behind a rock on Amy's side. Four of Eggman's soldiers appeared around the corner, accompanied by eight hover-bots, series SIPR-2002, relatively basic. This was a routine patrol. Eggman is clearly not expecting trouble. The patrol wandered into the middle of the canyon. Not one of them noticed Amy's bright pink furry face as they went round the corner. The patrol noticed footsteps on the ground. One of the humans stooped to inspect them. He swiftly got up.

"They're around here somewhere!"

Suddenly, Amy shouted:

"NOW!" She leapt from her cover and placed a well-timed slash to a robot's neck, causing its head to pop off. She carried her momentum into the robot and used it to knock a soldier over. While this was happening, Sonic and Knuckles leapt over the rock behind which they were hiding. Knuckles leapt on a robot and put his fist into the body shell. Those thick leather gloves came in handy. Sonic leapt on to another robot. He was behind the robot, so it couldn't see him or shoot him. He pulled out his pistol and shot the robot between the eyes. He jumped off before it collapsed to the ground. Also during this, Tails had hopped up behind the rock and shot two robots and a human. He then threw the shotgun a side, as it carried too high a risk of hitting a friend. He instead pulled out two pistols and advanced towards them firing at them. Knuckles punched a soldier in the face and kneed him in the stomach, causing him to double over. He spun him around and snapped his neck. Sonic hit a robot across the face with the butt of the pistol. The robot spun around in the air. It came to a stop facing the barrel of Sonic's pistol. He unloaded another shot right between the eyes. Amy stuck her sword through a robot. She pushed herself into it. As she carried forward, she pulled the hammer from her back and smashed it into the last robot's face. She jumped off and pulled her sword out, and the robot carried on a few metres. She swung the hammer into the soldier lying on the ground, spraying a few drops of blood on her white and pink boots. She turned to the last remaining human. In a triple spin, she appeared to have not hit him, but for the flecks of blood she was now spattered with. She stood there, admiring her handiwork. The soldier's head promptly slid off and his body off of his legs. The dismembered legs fell over a few seconds later.

"Damn! Blood never comes out!"

"Amy… you always say that, and it always does come out,"

"I know, but it makes for a good rhetoric." She giggled.

"Base to away team… Base to away team…" crackled the message over the radio on Tails' pack. He went to answer it. Amy snatched it off him.

"Cream?"

"Hi!"

They conversed at length about personal matters, while everyone else scoffed and picked up their discarded items. Since Cream was rescued ten years ago, Amy had been protective of her, even a mother figure. The two were the closest of friends. Amy was now 22 and being sent out on missions, so Cream, 16, worked in the mission support centre.

"Anyway, I hate to cut things short…"

"Finally!" Sonic said in the background.

"…I'm going to ignore that. Anyway, there's a small hold of Eggman's troops a short way from your location, so make your way there and see how hot it is. If you can take it, go for it, but if it's too big, we'll send in Shadow's team to help you,"

"Got it."

"I'm uploading it to your GPS now." Tails pulled a small device from his pack. He pressed a few buttons and saw a blinking red dot. He pointed in the direction from which the soldiers had come.

"That way!"