Chapter 1 – Survival

"I tell you it never ends! Things never change!"

"Come on! At least it wasn't your fault this time!"

"I know but…..oooooh!"

"Calm down."

"I try but I just can't."

"I know how you feel. It's not easy. Plus we don't really understand what's really going on!"

"You're telling me?! Ever since we left Knotlake we haven't talked to anyone bar a few merchants. No kidding we don't know what's going on. I'm just glad I brought my gun."

"Who would have though we would have needed it."

"I know but that's life."

"Sure is Chalk. Well at least we've still got each other."

"Too darn right Sonia."

The brown rabbit looked up and smiled. She held out a hand and Sonia helped her onto her feet. The pair looked at each other and then out across the landscape. Since they had both left Knotlake a little over three weeks ago things had just gone out of control. Sonia sighed as she remembered. They hadn't been gone four days when they came to a small town. There had been a bar there and Chalk had gone a little overboard. It had taken herself and two others to retrain her before she demolished the whole place. Chalk had later apologized for the incident though. Since then the time they had spent together had been pretty quiet. Chalk had spent a lot of time sitting and thinking. Sonia hadn't disturbed her during these times and she could tell Chalk was glad she had left her alone. Sonia knew that she wasn't really supposed to be here but there had been times when Sonia had been sure that Chalk wouldn't have been able to go on without her. The bar incident had been one such time. Sonia sighed again. Then a week back it had happened. She didn't know who, why or anything else. All she knew was that they both had to get back to Knotlake as fast. At first Chalk had been a bit apprehensive saying she wasn't ready but then they had attacked. Sonia had never seen so many humans, and all armed with laser guns too. They had been in a small village at the time and it had only been Sonia and Chalk's efforts that had saved the village from complete destruction. After that Chalk had realized how much trouble the planet was in and they had set off back towards Knotlake. They had been traveling for several days now and weren't far from Knotlake.

"So what now Sonia?" asked Chalk.

"We carry on. Who knows what has happened at the village. I just hope everyone is ok still." replied Sonia.

"I know just how you feel."

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

A cold wind blew but it was normal. Cold winds always blew across the Great Unknown. It wasn't so unknown now but the name had stuck. Amongst the bare rock and bare trees was a small place hardly known to anyone. A small ruin known as Drood Henge. Suddenly a large blue blur shoots across the landscape. It slowed slightly as it shot behind a rock. The blur didn't come out from behind the rock, instead a blue face poked out and glanced around. He looked at the sky and then sighed.

"Phew! I lost them." he said.

Just then a buzzing noise filled the air. He raised his arm.

"Yeah." he said.

"Sonic where are you?" came a reply from his comm.

"Just south of Drood Henge." replied Sonic, "Why Sal?"

"Sonic get back to Drood Henge now. On the double." replied Sally.

Sonic switched off his comm, took a final look at the sky and tore off again. He started to think. Sally really was acting funny. Since they had abandoned Knotlake a week ago she had kept snapping at people and going off for several hours on her own. Sonic was worried about her. He was afraid that she had finally snapped. After Knuckles had saved them at Knotlake they had made for Drood Henge so they could hide for a while. Since then the Earth Alliance had pushed it's full weight against Mobius. Ships flew across the sky and men patrolled virtually ever area. Not only that but when they had fled they hadn't been able to tell anyone else. They were all worried sick. Amy was still worried about what had happened to Tails when his transmission had cut off but she knew that Lavender was in capable hands with Links and Bunnie. Sally on the other hand had been absolutely devastated. There had been no news on Miles or Alicia at all and it even worried him. T2 had said that something had happened to Petya and they had been with her. Manic was worried about Sonia and Knuckles was concerned about Bunnie. Sonic had to remind himself that Knuckles had never known Links and didn't know how strong Lavender had become so he was bound to be concerned about Bunnie.

"Am I the only one who isn't worried?" said Sonic to himself.

Even this wasn't true. He knew his friends were capable but he was still worried. He knew Miles and Alicia had to be alive but he was still worried. But most of all he was worried about Sally.

"Hold in there Sal. Things will be ok."

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

Sonia scrambled to the top of a small hill and gasped. A few seconds later Chalk appeared and had a similar reaction. They both looked down at the scene below. In a small hollow below a mountain lay the charred remains of Knotlake village. Sonia rubbed her eyes and continued to stare as Chalk turned and used a tree to steady herself as she gasped heavily.

"My god." said Sonia slowly.

Chalk looked back at the village with her jaw hanging loose. An almost sleepy expression settled on her face. She started to shake and finally collapsed to the ground.

"CHALK!" cried Sonia as she ran to her side.

Sonia pulled Chalk into a sitting position and moved her so she was sitting up against a tree. Chalk sat for a moment and suddenly spun her head and was sick. She took a deep breath.

"Chalk, are you ok?" asked Sonia gripping her hand.

Chalk shook her head.

"Not after seeing that." she replied between her gulps.

Sonia looked back at the scene. Knotlake village lay in total ruins. Parts of the mountain lay scattered around the place and only a few huts were left standing. Sonia looked back at Chalk. She had a hand to her chest and was breathing heavily.

"We should go down Chalk." said Sonia.

Chalk looked up at her and slowly nodded.

"Just give me a moment." she replied.

Sonia nodded. Soon afterwards the pair were scrambling down a steep bank into the village. When they reached the bottom they stopped. The destruction looked even worse close up. The village had been effectively leveled, pot holes lay all over and even the lake, due to the bombardment, has escaped and flowed away. It was nothing like what they knew. Chalk suddenly burst into tears and Sonia felt herself going that way too. He put an arm on Chalk's shoulder and hugged her.

"It's ok Chalk. Everything will be ok." she said.

"How can everything be ok?" wailed Chalk, "We don't even know if they are alive."

"They have to be Chalk. There's no other way about it!"

They both looked around the village again and fell silent.

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

Morgan stormed into the newly established command centre in Robotropolis. His troops had recently taken it over after his prisoners had provided him with the co-ordinates. He had decided to keep the city as it was but had upgraded the defense and the control room with Earth technology. The Earth was uninterested in the city but it served as a good central base of operations for their harvesting projects. Morgan wasn't even concerned with this at the moment. He was more interested in cracking the high security coded file on the cities main database. After Robotnik had been defeated the Freedom Fighters had attempted to delete his files but had encountered a lot of tough security codes. To remedy the problem they simply installed more blocks and had planned to destroy the computers as they started to rebuilt. They had never got the chance and now Morgan was intent on breaking into the files. With the Earth tech behind him it was progressing but too slowly for his liking.

"Haven't you unlocked those files yet?!" he roared.

"Sorry sir but these blocks are alien to us and they are taking time to figure out." replied a soldier.

Morgan just scowled at him and walked off. As he was leaving the room an officer ran up to him. He saluted and held out a small report sheet.

"What's this?" asked Morgan.

"Sir we are having more trouble at the lake." replied the officer.

"MORE?! I thought I told you to remedy that situation."

"You did sir but we have been unable to stop it happening again."

Morgan growled as he scanned the report.

"Five drilling rigs, two process centers, 3 pumping stations, seventeen ground units and nine advanced mark II fighter crafts!" he cried throwing the report at the ground, "You had better stop this soon or I will be making YOU disappear!"

The officer visibly shook, saluted and ran off at a fair pace. Morgan clenched his fists. It was getting too much. Since his troops had landed a week ago they had encountered very little resistance. The entire planet was now under the control of the Earth Alliance and four days ago they had commenced operation leach. Basically the plan was to strip mine the planet and leave. Earth command and the president didn't care about the planets population just its resources but they had suffered several snags recently. In most places the drilling and extraction had gone smoothly. A few small attacks but nothing they couldn't handle. However one region had been very troublesome. It was also a great stress to Morgan as the most concentrated sources of resources could be found at Never Lake. The first drilling team had been destroyed the day after drilling had started, the second was gone before they had even set up and the third most recent team had been destroyed an hour into drilling. Maybe destroyed wasn't the right word. Vanished would be more appropriate. The drilling rigs and all their support facilities had just disappeared. The next team to arrive had found no trace of the previous team bar the holes in the ground they had made. The most frustrating thing was that they had no idea who or what was causing it.

Morgan turned and walked back into the control room. As he did he found that at least something was going his way. On a large screen in front of him was a plan view of an area of Mobius. On it two small red dots flashed.

"Sir we have blips at co-ordin…" started an officer.

"I know the location." interrupted Morgan, "Dispatch a team."

"Aye sir."

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

Chalk slowly shifted through the remains of her hut. Being on the forest side of the village it had been the worse hit and it was virtually a hole in the ground. A few pieces still remained but it was mostly just charred timber. She sighed sadly and stood up. Nothing of hers had survived and all she had left now was what she had taken with her. She looked over at the pack she had been carrying for three weeks.

"If I'd know this was going to happen I would have taken more. So many memories lost. Everything's gone."

She sighed again and wiped away a tear. She knelt to the ground and ran her fingers through the dry earth. She scooped up a handful and let it run out between her fingers.

"Time seems to slip away like earth on my hand and at the same time so does our hope."

"Don't worry Chalk." said a voice.

Chalk looked up to see Sonia walking towards her. Sonia stopped and put her pack down next to Chalks.

"I've checked out the rest of the village." continued Sonia, "It looks like everyone got out. I can't find any……yeah anyway."

Chalks nodded and stood up.

"Well at least that is something I suppose." she replied.

"Chalk please don't be so sad. It's rubbing off on me and I'd rather not be sad."

"I can't help it Sonia. Even if everyone is ok I still feel sad. This was our home. We made it during a time of no hope and as this place came together our hopes started to build again. Now it is gone it's like the hope has drained away, just like the lake."

Sonia took hold of Chalk's chin and looked her directly into her eyes.

"Chalk listen to me. We have to keep going. Everyone got out of here, I can feel it. This village was our home but like all objects it is impermanent. It's sad that it is gone but there is nothing we can do about it. Right now we have to be strong and we have to find the others. THAT'S our new hope."

Chalk held Sonia's gaze and finally blinked. Sonia let go of her chin and Chalk looked down, closing her eyes. Her lips twitched and she clenched her fists. Finally she looked up at Sonia again.

"I guess you're right Sonia. It's just hard." she said.

"I know Chalk. I know."

Sonia slowly hugged Chalk and Chalk returned the gesture. They stood like that for several moments before releasing. When they did Sonia smiled.

"Now come over here and I'll cook something up." she said.

"So long as you don't burn it." replied Chalk with a sad joking laugh.

"That's the spirit Chalk." smiled Sonia as she sat down on the ground next to her pack.

She took out a camp stove and a pan, followed by some instant soup packets and water. As the water for the soup boiled, Chalk leaned over and took hold of Catrina. During her time out in the open with Sonia, Chalk had decided it was high time to give her gun a name. Catrina was a name that held a lot of feeling for her. She couldn't remember why but then most of her past was a blank anyway. She brought her gun onto her knee and took out a cloth from her pocket. She spat on it and then proceeded to wipe a bit of mud off Catrina. Sonia looked up from her cooking.

"If you polish that thing anymore you will wear away the metal." she joked.

Chalk looked up and smiled.

"She deserves the attention." smiled Chalk patting the gun on her lap, "Without her we would have been in some tricky situation in the past."

"Yeah I guess so but…..wait a sec. Do you hear that?"

Chalk cocked her head and her ears, which normally hung down in front of her face, stuck straight up. She listened for a moment and suddenly her face froze. She looked back at Sonia, her eyes wide open.

"Jet engines." she said.

"It's them! Get do…."

Sonia didn't have time to finish as a huge explosion demolished what was left of the medical hut. They looked up as six small fighter crafts flew over head.

"They just don't learn!" screamed Chalk.

She flew to her feet, the metal boom around her waist extending as she did. Chalk quickly clipped Catrina into place and charged her up. The fighter wheeled back round ready for another pass.

"Have some of this!" screamed Chalk, "I'll teach you to do this to our village!"

As she screamed out loud, Catrina reached a pitch. A yellow glow built on her tip and a huge beam of energy shot into the sky. The beam struck one of the oncoming ships and passed straight through it. Seconds later the craft exploded. The remaining five crafts suddenly split formation and banked off.

"How'd you like that?!" screamed Chalk.

"Just fire Chalk!" cried Sonia as her medallion activated and her keyboard appeared.

"You got it." replied Chalk with a smile.

The fighters came in from different directions firing. Several shots hit close but Chalk and Sonia stood firm. They moved closer together and put their backs against each other. Sonia raised her keyboard and sent a volley of laser fire into the air. One of the fighters was clipped and it spiraled out of control and hit the ground before exploding.

"Four left!" she cried.

"Soon to be two!" answered Chalk, "Explosive projectile Catrina!"

Catrina made a small whine and then bleeped. Chalk fired twice. Two small dots with spiraling white smoke trails behind them shot into the air. As they neared the two targeted crafts they exploded. The explosions were huge and vaporized half of each fighter causing the other half to explode in a giant fireball. Chalk gave a small cry and fired again. All that happened was that Catrina clicked. Chalk looked at the gun and gasped.

"Sonia! I'm out of rounds!" she yelled.

"You WHAT?!" cried Sonia, "Oh crap!"

Chalk looked at the status panel on her gun. The laser round charge counter read 0%, the explosive rounds read zero and the normal ammo counter was flashing red.

"I hardly got anything left." she said.

"That's not good." replied Sonia.

The two remaining fighters hadn't given up yet and the next volley almost hit them but they managed to dodge. Chalk looked up as the crafts flew overhead and banked to avoid the mountain. The mountain! She unclipped Catrina and shouted to Sonia.

"Sonia! The village defense systems still might be active! If I can get to the control centre I can take these things down!" she yelled.

"You got it Chalk. I'll cover you." yelled Sonia.

Chalk sprung forward running at full pelt across the village. Sonia stood up and fired wildly into the air. She couldn't fire too much or she'd exhaust the power of her medallion. The crafts came round again and fired. The lead craft fired forcing Sonia to dive to the side. As she did the second craft fired. Sonia was in the air and could do nothing as the shot hit the ground below her throwing her into the air. She landed with a crunching thud in a pile of debris. A few moments passed before an intense pain ripped across her body. Her eyes went wide and she took a gasping breath before reacting.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" she cried.

Chalk, who was almost at the mountainside, spun as she heard the scream. She could see Sonia lying in a pile of debris and was about to rush back to her. Suddenly she stopped and spun back to the mountainside. She hit a section of the rock and a panel opened in the rock face. She keyed in a code and a large door swung open. She raced inside.

"Sorry Sonia, but if I don't shoot these guys down we are both dead!" she said to herself, "Please hold on."

Chalk stopped as she entered a room inside the mountain. Most of the room was caved in but a bit was not. She raced to a console and surveyed it. A green radar circle flickered in the dark light. Next to it a number of gauges were lit red. Most of the defense systems were destroyed or had run out of energy but one dial was still green. Chalk looked at it. The dial read 23%.

"That's all I need! One shot." she said quickly activating the battery.

Outside on the cliff face a door slowly slid open. A laser cannon slowly emerged from it. In the control room Chalk watched on a monitor as the fighters came in for another run. She couldn't afford to miss. Two green cursors appeared on the monitor and slowly moved over the fighters. As they did they flashed and turned red. Chalk slammed her hand down on a key. As she did the laser cannon fired two controlled bursts into the sky. The fighters weren't expecting it and both exploded.

"YES!" cried Chalk banging her hand on the console.

She suddenly remembered Sonia, turned and fled the room. As she raced outside Sonia was still screaming. Chalk was at her side in a second.

"It'll be ok Sonia, hold still now." said Chalk looking at Sonia.

Chalk was almost sick. Sonia had landed in the debris of one of the huts and at the force she had hit…..Chalk looked again. Wooden beams from the hut had impaled Sonia through the right leg and left kidney. She also had other grazed all over from the impact. Sonia was crying in pain now and Chalk was at a loss for what to do. Whenever someone in the group had been hurt before, others had been there to help. Now it was just up to her, she couldn't fail!

"Hold still Sonia, I'll have to pull these things out. It will hurt." she said.

Chalk took hold of the beam through Sonia's leg and closed her eyes tight. She hoped she was doing the right thing. With a sharp upwards movement, Chalk pulled the wooden beam from Sonia's leg. Sonia's screams suddenly pitched and tears flooded from her eyes.

"It's ok Sonia. Just one more." said Chalk nervously as she gripped Sonia's shoulder.

She flung the first beam away and gripped the second one. With a sharp tug she pulled it out and again Sonia's scream pitched. Chalk now rolled her onto her back and gingerly picked her up. Blood was flowing freely from both wounds and already both of them were covered in Sonia's blood. Chalk quickly put Sonia down and fished through her pack. She took out a large wad of bandages. Screwing some up she packed them against Sonia's would to try and stop the blood. She then got some more and wrapped every last bandage they had around her two wounds. The blood was flowing so freely thought that all the bandages were soon covered in blood. Chalk shot a glance at her pack and Catrina and then another at Sonia.

"Possessions don't matter now. I need to find the others quickly before Sonia…"

Chalk sprung to her feet scooping Sonia up as she went. Without looking back she fled the village at a sprit.