Chapter 9

Rob awoke as the ship made its descent into Garland. This pass month has just been crazy for him. From his home being whipped out, him losing everything, tangling with Nega Sonic a few times, and having two close calls when escaping too death traps, it had been along month. He could remember the happier times, even when ruling Maynosha things were nice. It may have been a twenty-four-seven job, but all in all it was nice.

The ship landed on the platform that extended from the hanger of the Sonic Hero academy. The engines died down and the systems were shut down. Mechanics ran over to the ship immediately getting to work repairing the well seen damage on the ship's hull and refueling the ship. The loading ramp descended and Team Chaos trotted out, worn and tired. Dash and Chris both looked like they were ready to fall down into their beds and sleep through an epileptic explosion.

Mark stood there waiting with his Team. Mark, even though he was the commissioner of the Sonic Heroes and the Prince of Garland did indeed have his own team. Team X consisted of six which was rare for a Sonic Hero Team. The members were Sepheron, a gray physic hedgehog at the age of 16. He joined the Sonic Heroes to achieve peace in the Universe, which was a common reason why people joined the Sonic Heroes. Though Sepheron seemed different, he wanted to achieve a higher peace, to put the galaxy back into balance. There was more to him than met the typical eye.

Then there was Blazor, an echidna like Knuckles, he was the teams heavy artillery master. Even on leave terms he had his arsenal of weapons with him. His double pistols on his side, his gauntlet blaster on arm, a DC-27 rifle across his back one way, and his heavy mortar launcher strapped across the other side of his back. Rob knew it be best not to mess with him.

Next was Emral 2.0. Yes he is a Giziod; story is he was the latest model on the Pandorian Assembly line. They were trying to fix the one flaw all Giziods had. Giziods had no creative mind and emotion, Nega Sonic had seen that emotion drives the Sonic Heroes and how they fight. He then decided to commission a project towards creating a Giziod with imagination and feeling. Fortunately the project went rogue and escaped the Pandorian Empire. Emral 2.0 went to Garland and joined the Sonic Heroes.

The others were Neon an average Sonic Hero, one of the many hedgehogs that were in the Sonic Heroes and finally Kay, cross bread from the looks of it between a lynx and a fox. She was an all around type of fighter and rumor around the sonic hero drama was that she had a thing for the dark blue prince.

They all just stood by the Mark waiting for orders. Rob approached him and bowed. Though Sonic Heroes didn't normally do such things, they were more laid back with greeting. But it was customary for Rob to bow to his superior.

"You won't believe what the hell we have been through…" Rob said this with much weariness in his voice. He was worn and tired and ready to pass out, he forced his fatigue back and kept his posture still.

Mark gave a light chuckle. "It's good to see you back in one piece friend. I'll want a full report later, but for now what information have you acquired?"

Rob handed him the data pad, their mission was complete, and aside from a debriefing it was done. Now it was time for all to rest. Rob trotted past Team X with the rest of his team mates.

Three days have passed since team Chaos came back from their first mission, they had been debriefed and now Mark as well as many other Sonic Heroes, were retrieving the pieces of the puzzle from the data pad. Rob looked out the window of his temporary room at the Sonic Hero academy. It was small but it suited him. Garland was so beautiful, the sun was rising and it was the start of a new day. A new day… where hundreds more would lose their lives to Nega Sonic… the nightmare. Rob still heard his voice in his dreams, every night he saw his friends die over and over with Nega Sonic holding the blade.

Rob pushed those memories away and closed his eyes, taking in the energy around him. He fell into meditation and started to contemplate the unanswered questions he had. One came to mind, one that he had been wondering since climbed out of the ruins on Maynosha. Where is she? Is she alive? Did she make it out ok…? Rob shook his head again at the thought of her not being alive. If she was truly dead then Rob would just stop living. Rob shook his head and focused his gaze back out the window. Garland was so peaceful and the people living here did not seem to have a care in the world about the war, some even seemed oblivious to what was happening in the vast regions of space. Rob almost felt like he was back on Maynosha, it would be a long time before he ever went back there.

There was a knock on his door. "Come in" He said without turning, his gaze still set on the rising sun.

"Rob?" It was DC she stood there her hands at her sides and her face with one of worry. Rob turned once he heard his name. "What is it?" Rob gave a small smile; he was always pleasant around DC when they were outside the combat zone.

DC cleared her throat. "Um you might want to see this; we just picked up an unknown transmission on the Spin Dash's com system." Rob hopped down from the window ledge and walked out the door with her. Things like this were normal. Sonic Heroes received a lot of distress calls like this, one of their ships picks it up and that's how it goes. But as he looked over to DC he saw worry in her eyes. Something was different this time.

The two made their way to the hanger with great haste. They arrived and boarded the Spin Dash. Dash was leaning against the wall as usual and Chris was waiting for them at the ships com system.

"Good you're here then, we just received this a few hours ago, and it took us a while to decode it and clear up most of the static, but I think we can make out what they're saying." Chris turned to the console. "Or you can, I think this message is for you." With that Chris played back the message.

There was a little static. "Hello-this is-im looking for-Prince Rob- I escaped-attack on Maynosha-Giziods-looking for me-if-getting this- need your help-Mana-". The playback ended.

"Damn!" Chris slammed his fist onto the console. "Well I hope you got all that because the playback has just been degraded." He sighed and looked over to Rob. The blue hedgehog stood there in shock. He snapped out of his thoughts and pointed towards Chris. "Trace the source of the transmission and get this ship fired up! Dash get Zeke down here immediately! DC tell Mark were leaving on a urgent distress call!" Rob left the com station and headed towards the observation platform on the ship.

DC grabbed his arm. "Whoa what's the rush Rob?" Rob immediately shook free and turned around, his face with an expression of hurry and seriousness. "There's no time to explain we need to move now! Every second were wasting here counts!" DC turned and went to contact Mark.

Rob turned and stood looking out at the observation platform. If his thoughts were correct that transmission came from one of his people that survived the purge. He only hoped it was who he thought it was. He knew that his friends had not survived. He saw them struck down by Nega Sonic. The only one that could have survived was the only one he knew got away from Nega Sonic. He only hoped he wouldn't be too late.

The Spin Dash rocketed out of warp space coming to a smooth cruising speed. What lay before was a war torn planet. The planet that's cities lay in ruins, Rob's home... Maynosha. Rob stood corrected; he thought he wouldn't return to this planet for a long time, he was dead wrong. The memories of the short battle that took place on the planet flooded his head. He remembered the com traffic of the war zone, the intense heat and the blood curling screams of his troops and friends as they fell to the Giziod Army. He shook his head and focused his gaze back on the dead world. The blockade that had been there before was gone. But Rob figured there would still be a Giziod presence still on the surface of the planet.

Chris took the Spin Dash down into the atmosphere. The scanners started to generate static. "There's a lot of interference, I can't tell what's causing it." Chris set the scanners to another frequency. The static still continued, and grew louder. Dash slammed his fist down onto the console. The static still continued. They passed the atmosphere and was now it the planets main gravity. Suddenly the scanners went dead.

Chris frowned. "Well there goes doing this the easy way." He sighed and set looked out the cockpit to find a place to set down. "Were going to have to use short range scanners now, but if my calculations are correct the signal came from that area over there." Chris pointed to a half leveled building. It looked sturdy enough to land on but Chris wasn't going to take his chances. He put the ship down behind a demolished building and shut the engines down.

DC could feel the tension, anger, hate, rage, sadness, all these emotions emanating off Rob. She could feel his that his body was cold without touching him. His eyes were closed and he looked as if he was at peace. But inside all his emotions were raging in a bloody war. Rob felt like going berserk and tearing down any Giziod in his site now, but another part of him wanted to break down crying in sorrow for his dead loved ones. A blue aura was emanating of Rob's body, his hero was rising passed its normal levels. The thoughts and images of the battle, the screams of his people, the blood of his friends, and the smile on the murders face. These things all tore and thrashed at Rob's heart.

Rob opened his eyes and turned towards the loading ramp. "Let's move out". His voice was chilled and emotionless. It sounded as if he wasn't Rob anymore. DC looked at him in worry as did the others. It was distressing to see their valiant team leader in this much turmoil and despair. The group got up and exited the Spin Dash. The air outside was stale; the wind was still and motionless. Rob looked up to the sky. Dark clouds covered it; the sun hasn't shinned since the battle. Rob walked out further from the group and touched the wall of the building they landed by. The stone on it was cold and crumbling. He recognized the building; it was one of the buildings from the business district. It once gleamed in the horizon as the sun rose at the start of each day. But now there was a shadow of darkness cast over it, no light shinned off it anymore.

Rob's hand slid off the wall and he turned back to his team. "Let's spread out, we will be able to cover more ground that way." He took his sword off his back and turned away from his team. "If you come across any Giziods take them out quietly, if you find any life form contact me immediately, if not stay off the com channel. We don't need the Giziods detecting our communications." Rob walked off and disappeared behind a building.

Zeke crossed his arms. "What's with him, he's been acting like this ever since we got the message about the survivor?" He looked to DC who still had a worried look on her face. She was wondering as well what was wrong with Rob.

"Use your heads guys, were on his home planet, this is where he lost everything to Nega Sonic. Don't you think the possibility of a survivor might make him go crazy like this?" Dash said as he walked off. DC knew he was right; it was the only explanation for Rob acting like this.

"Whatever his reasons are fine." Zeke swung his leg over his scout speeder he brought in the Spin Dash. "I'll find this 'survivor' only to get him back to his normal self." He kicked on the engine and stormed off, leaving DC and Chris to look in the surrounding areas.

Rob walked through the streets of the war torn city. The city was once filled with lush green trees and plants mixed with a scent of repulsion fuel creating a very peculiar scent that no one seemed to mind, but enjoy. Now the city smelt of decaying rubble and smoke. Rob could feel the weight of his failing here drop onto his heart as it had done a month ago. His memories of the peaceful life of Maynosha in every part of the city was now replaced with the mechanical stomping of the Giziods and the screams of death as his Freedom Fighters and his citizens all fell to not just the mindless army, but the killer who led it all.

'Were in this together dude' the pain, 'I'll fight with you to my last breath.' the suffering, 'I'll see you when we beat these back to where they came from!' the loose, 'I'll never give up!' the sadness, 'NEGA SONIC!' the hatred, 'I love you Rob the Hedgehog…' the failure. Rob would never forget his failing, nor would he forgive himself for it. Each night he remembered this place and remembered the life he once lived, but as he slept the nightmare of the battle broke him. He wanted to end the pain and suffering for good, sure he had this new life of his… but it wasn't the same to him.

He found himself in front of a small market, the sign now blackened, the stainless windows shattered, the roof on the floor of the store, and the life that was once inside… gone. He kept walking and for every building he passed it was the same story. Each building now decimated, shattered, lifeless, destroyed. He felt then the wind brush by him in a great burst. Almost like it is when Sonic were to run by him back on Garland. He looked toward the direction of the wind, and saw the remnants of a bright blue streak across the air but close to the ground. He knew his mind was just playing tricks with him.

"No… it's not her…" He said softly as he continued on with his search.

Zeke torn down the streets of Maynosha on his scout speeder, all that was on his mind was find Rob's friend and getting off this rock. The matter of the fact was he didn't really care about what was going on. He preferred to be on the front lines cutting down Giziods for the glory and honor of battle. He couldn't really help it. It was instinct to him. Back on his home world he remembered the great hunt. The members of his tribe would run on all fours through the jungles to find the largest beast. He who had slaughtered the largest beast would be given the highest honor of the tribe. In most cases food was gathered using weapons and high technology. But the great hunt was something done only by using a Lions instincts.

He remembered those days and smiled as he looked back on them. He left to join the Sonic Heroes when he was ten, he did it for the highest glory of the lions… or so he wished it were that. He would never be given that glory, his hedgehog half prevented that. He shook his head and came back to reality. He swerved around a corner lowered his speed. He picked up the sound of mechanical walking and peered over a pile of rubble down into a canyon filled with decaying buildings.

"Surrender or be blasted." The head Giziod of the platoon had his rifle raised at something. Zeke couldn't really see so he got on top of the pile of rubble and jumped down to an open ledge to get a better look.

"This is your last warning scum." Zeke heard the safety on the blasters go off. Now he could see who they were pointing at. They had their blasters raised at a female hedgehog. From the looks of it she was blue with black streaks in her hair, he clothes were torn and there was blood on his cheek. She looked warn out and tired. Zeke didn't take another second to observe, Sonic Hero protocol was to help anyone in need, and that's exactly what he was going to do. He jumped off the ledge drawing his swords. He came down on the head Giziod hard slicing him right down the middle. The pieces fell to the sides with sparks and smoke emanating from them.

It didn't take another second for the Giziods to respond. The turned and poured down multiple shots on Zeke. Zeke twirled around and spun his blades deflecting the shots away from him. He charged the first Giziod and cut it across the chest the whirled around slicing the others blaster in two. Grabbing it by the arm he spun it around and threw it into the other Giziod causing it to fall. The last Giziod drew its blade and charged Zeke. But he was already on the move. He ducked under the Giziod and brought his sword up into its chest. It fell down hard and shut down.

He turned to see the girl run past him in an instant at sonic speeds. Zeke fell back from the force of the wind and did a double take in the direction of the girl. "What the hell?" He pressed a button on his wrist buckle and his speeder came down to his position. He hopped on and revved off immediately after the girl. He could barely see her in the distance but kept going. Suspecting that this was the survivor they had gotten the message from he was determined not to lose her.

The sound of a speeder drive came up behind him. Zeke looked back to see two Giziod scouts heading towards him. "Damn, so much for being undercover." He pushed the speeder farther to catch up to the girl. She was indeed fast though Zeke could tell she was lagging from her injuries. The two Giziods pointed aimed the concussion riffles on their speeders. Zeke swore again under his breath and started swerving so they couldn't get a lock on him. They still fired. The concussion rockets flew over Zeke's head and he realized they weren't aiming for him they were aiming for the girl!

The rockets exploded and the girl flew off her feet flying back towards them. Zeke swore again and cut his engine drive. He fell back towards the Giziod scouts. "Gotcha!" He drew his swords and flew past them cutting them through the chest. The remains of the scouts swerved out of control and crashed into a pile of rubble on the side of the street. Zeke reactivated the engine and revved towards the girl. She was in the air and falling towards him. He jumped off his speeder and soared towards her. At the last moment he caught her hand and pulled her into him.

The two fell and hit the ground landing on Zeke's back. Zeke gritted his teeth and held in the scream of pain from his shattered back. His speeder came to a halt next to them. Still holding the girl he breathed deeply regaining his strength and suppressing the pain from his back. "Sometimes I wonder if this hero stuff is worth it." Zeke grunted and stood up. He set the girl down and clicked his com link, sending out a signal to the others that he found who he thinks they were looking for.

He stared back at the girl and noticed something peculiar. She looked like Rob, she had the same fur as Rob and around her waist was a holstered dagger, and the markings on it looked just like the ones on Rob's buster sword. Zeke couldn't see her eyes though. He turned and looked towards the sky waiting for the others to come. The next thing that came was a fist slamming into the back of his head, followed by a spin dash to the back. Zeke fell forwards but stopped his fall by flipping himself over.

The girl had woken up panting. "Get away from me!" She through a constant stream of blows at Zeke. He dodges by moving to the side.

"What the hell are you doing! I just saved you!" She didn't hear him; she pulled out her dagger and lashed out at him. Zeke dodged left and right, he through his foot up and kicked the dagger out of her hand. She snapped back and grabbed his foot, causing him to fall onto the ground. Zeke grunted now getting a little ticked off at this. She jumped on to him and tried to pin his shoulders down. Zeke was stronger than her; he flipped her over and pinned her down on the ground. The clouds were starting to clear up, it was night time now. The moon gleamed in the night sky.

She struggled to get out of his hold. Zeke didn't budge; he could tell she was scared and frightened. Getting her to calm down was the key in this. The girl stopped struggling and growled. The growl started out weak but then grew in base tone. Zeke noticed her eyes thinned out and her teeth sharpened. Zeke did a quick look back and realized the present moon in the sky.

'Damn! She's a werehog!' Zeke swore in his mind. Werehogs were a rare breed of hedgehog. Not many of the hedgehog species had it; stories were that Sonic turned into a werehog before. But the werehogs came out at night when the moon comes out. It's a hard form to control; the werehog is a ferocious beast, with no moral of loyalty. They attack anything in site with amazing strength and power. Stories were that females were as bad as the male werehogs. Zeke didn't know why all he knew is he was in trouble. Even his lion instincts wouldn't be enough to defend against a werehog.

The werehog threw him off her, and fully transformed. Zeke had to do a double take on her; she didn't look like the animal he was expecting, though her presence was still intimidating. He tensed up and drew his claws, he growled letting his lion instincts take over. The girl charged him slashing her claws in a fury of anger and rage. Zeke jumped up dodging and came down hard on top of her. He missed as she flipped back. She immediately went after him showing her canines in a loud roar. Zeke swerved to the side but was to slow to miss her from sinking her teeth into his neck.

Zeke yelled and grabbed her by her shoulders and through her on to the ground. He quickly touched his neck to feel blood dripping from his wound. Zeke didn't want to hurt her but he also didn't want to get his own butt kicked in the process. He fidgeted in his belt and pulled out a concussion detonator. He smirked and looked up at her. "Come and get me puppy!" Zeke waved his hand towards himself trying to goad her into attacking.

The girl charged and lashed out at him. Zeke only had a second to react before being cut down. He planted his feet on the ground and jumped spinning himself to her side as she went past him. In a split second he slapped the grenade on her back. He braced for impact and was thrown back in the explosion. All that could be seen was rock and dust thrown up from the ground. Zeke regained himself and landed on his feet skidding on the ground. It took a moment for him to regain his posture, his was breathing hard as he looked up. The girl now back to normal was lying on the ground.

"You're real handful" Zeke commented picking her up. She didn't respond though. A concussion grenade would knock others unconscious for a while depending on the rate of impact. Zeke placed her on the back seat of his speeder. He swung his leg back over the driver seat and started the engine.

"Hopefully you're the one Rob is looking." He muttered to himself. He was about to take off when he felt her fall against his back. Zeke sighed and took her hand so that she would be steady during the ride.

"Thank…..you." The girl murmured, gently intertwining her fingers with his. Her voice was dry and tired, but it sounded so sweet to Zeke. He sighed and muttered your welcome back and set off back towards the ship.

"Guys I've found someone meet me back at the Spin Dash." Zeke said over his comlink waiting for a response. The device crackled with static and finally there was a response. "You got it Zeke." It was DC. "I'll have the others back here on the double."

Zeke smirked and nodded to the invisible DC. "Good and I was wondering if you would want to get a bite to eat after were done here?" He said in a very charming manner. There was silence then he almost jerked his head back as she burst into laughter.

"Haha not on your life Hedgelion! Nice try though!" She was cracking up over the com, her voice now more high pitch which Zeke was slightly irritated by. He closed the com and focused his eyes back on the road ahead.

Rob jumped over another ledge and landed in front of the Spin Dash. His face was smeared with dirt and his right arm was bleeding. But it didn't seem to bother him; his hero reduced pain so that he could focus on the challenge ahead. Hero was tied with every part of his body. DC was already standing by the Spin Dash waiting for the rest. She noticed Rob and ran over to him, noticing his arm her eyes widened and a concerned look grew on her face.

"What happened, are you okay?" She hugged him gently. A face of concern spread across her face, one that Rob could only smile and love so much, but felt ashamed at him for causing it. He didn't like it when DC worried about him, especially when it was something that he caused. Rob wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, but he restrained himself. He didn't want to doom their friendship to awkwardness and more worry.

Rob hugged her gently. "I'm fine DC, I just scrapped myself on some metal. Don't worry." He nuzzled his face against hers causing her to blush. DC wondered what was happening to her sometimes. She was normally like Dash who never showed any emotion except for anger and hate. She was always quite, she never laughed, and she never thought of herself as an enjoyable person to be around. But for some reason when she met Rob that changed. He was kind and understanding to her. DC just felt safe and comfortable around him.

They broke away at the sound of the low hum of Zeke's speeder. He pulled up in front of them and smirked. "Well mission accomplished." His gaze drifted to Rob. "You owe me hedgehog." He dismounted his bike and picked up the girl sitting unconscious behind him. "This one was not very corporative."

The girl's eyes were closed and she was covered in dried blood, her clothes were partly torn and her hair was a mess. Rob stared down at her hard. Rob taped in to his memories, due to the fact that the girl looked familiar to him. The girl started in Zeke's arms and her eyes flicked open, surprising Rob that they glowed a bright yellow like his. For a moment the girl stared at Zeke then moved her eyes to Rob and DC. In an instant she jumped out of Zeke's arms and tackled Rob, who barley had enough time to respond and fell onto the ground.

"Rob!" The girl said choking on her tears. Rob's eyes widened as he buried her face into his shoulder. He realized who he was hugging now. "Manakai? S-Sis?." Zeke and DC just stood there, their mouths open.

To Be Continued