Chapter One - Death of a Hero
"Thanks for choosing Frankie's Flowers! Have a lovely day!" Came the chipper, slightly forced voice of a young feline. Fourteen year old Kira leaned against the floral shop's counter and sighed as soon as the last customers were out. The chocolate furred, green eyed female had just taken a large order for a wedding arrangement and the client specifically asked for flowers directly from Green Hill, all the way on the other side of town. She hung up her apron and blew out a deep breath as she gathered up the baskets needed to transport the desired flowers back to the shop. She headed outside, grabbing her bike and taking off down Park Avenue. As she pedalled out out town she noticed that Green Hill was looking a bit more desert like than the usual vibrant green grass and flowing crystal blue waters. It was odd but not a sight the feline was unused to as of late. It was more than likely the latest result of Eggman and one of his schemes. As of the last few weeks the mad scientist had been throwing the region into heaps of chaos. More and more robots were found wandering into the city lately and talks of a possible war were being whispered around by the other Mobians.
Still, she put it out of her mind. It wasn't her fight and she wanted no parts of it. As she ventured further in search of the flowers she spotted an unmistakable blue blur running right for her. She very narrowly avoided being run over by the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog who barely acknowledged her save a quick sorry thrown at her as he didn't even stop. Where he was speeding off to, she had no idea and doubted the laid-back hedgehog knew either, but her heart was racing just as fast as he was. She had only seen glimpses of him and his friends in the papers or on TV mostly from saving the world yet again from another of the bad doctor's schemes but also for the occasional good deed here and there. He was hailed as a guardian force of nature, a supernatural force for good that the heavens sent to protect them. She knew people that worshiped him and some that feared him. Her on the other hand, she idolized him and even had somewhat of a crush on him. The stories about his fearless heroics made her feel like a wide-eyed child and her heart fluttered when she did see the occasional picture of him.
She sighed a bit and gathered flowers only looking up when she heard a weird whistling sound off in the distance. She looked around and noticed a huge fleet of ships advancing towards the city. Before she could register what was going on she saw explosions blooming across the skyline. She dropped the basket, grabbed her bike and hightailed it back to town. Unfortunately it was too late. There were Eggman mechs everywhere, people running in panic, and general chaos breaking out. Buildings were burning and bullets were being fired from all sides. It was all overwhelming and confusing and Kira covered her ears as she ran for cover. She cowered in the bombed out husk of a former apartment building, trying to avoid being found or shot.
Meanwhile, several hours before the attack on Park Avenue while going to meet Omega for a recon mission, Shadow and Rouge both grew concerned as they lost all communication with their mechanical companion. While trying to get back into contact with Omega, a new voice came over the radio. The voice chuckled, as if amused with something.
"The world's most powerful robot is no more a challenge than Crabmeat. As I suspected, this power is without peer. It is THE ultimate strength." He boasted. "Ah, and still more wonderful, a not so tall, dark and brooding guest has arrived. I've been waiting for you, Shadow." He spat the hedgehog's name with such venom that even Rouge shivered a bit as she listened from their base.
"Tell me what you did to Omega." Shadow demanded, in no mood to play games with disembodied voices.
"Weaklings like him are of no consequence. Come now, Shadow." The voice said, drawing Shadow's name out like it was poisoned. "Our long awaited reunion, and still you spout such nonsense." Shadow scoffed.
"I don't know you. And the only thing of no consequence around here is that big mouth of yours." He fired back. The voice laughed haughtily and sighed.
"Ah, I supposed you would think so...oh yes." It devolved into maniacal laughter before speaking again. "I am Infinite. You say you do not know me, and yet I remember you very well. To you, it was simply another in a long list of Eggman bases you tore down without sparing a second thought. However to me, it was everything I held dear and you took it away from me. You destroyed my squad, killed my friends in cold blood and yet you spared me, the Ultimate Mercenary, and called me weak and worthless. After that day, I gave up my own unsightly face and I let go of the old me. The me that was so weak, so that I could become stronger. And then, at last, I obtained the power. The power to make ALL yield to MY will. I was reborn. I was complete. And yet you don't remember. I've only become this way because of you after all. But I suppose that's the way it goes. It simply proves that the old me was too weak, too pathetic, to remember. And as for you, well, now you've become nothing more than an insect simply waiting to be crushed underfoot and helpless to stop it."
"What are you going on about?" Shadow asked. Infinite chuckled.
"Thanks to this limitless power I have obtained, I have become unstoppable! Take this!" Shadow braced himself as a red shockwave rocked the area and odd, virus like cubed formations began snaking across Green Hill, which is not at all where he had previously been.
"...dow? Sha..ow! Shadow..o yo...ad me?!" Rouge's voice crackled in over the radio's quickly garbling transmission.
"What the...? Where am I?" he questioned, moving forward destroying Egg Pawns as they came after him. "That guy...What happened to Infinite?"
"Huh, what are you going on about Shadow? Are you okay?" She asked, the transmission getting clearer. "We're going to pick up Omega remember? He got destroyed three months ago, remember? Get it together!" That made no sense, three months ago? Didn't that just happen? What did Infinite do to him? Still he continued forward, Omega had to be around here somewhere.
"Odd, this is where Omega was destroyed. But there's no sign of him anywhere." He radioed to Rouge. She laughed, as if he just told her the funniest joke on the planet.
"Sure seems that way, doesn't it? Probably because it never happened." She said coldly.
"What?" He questioned. Suddenly the radio cut out and Omega's voice warped directly into his head.
"Affirmative. I have never known d-d-de-defeat!" The robot said, voice glitching out a bit.
"Omega?!" He yelled, feeling and unnatural twinge of fear creeping up his spine as Omega continued ranting.
"I am not defeated. I am not weak. I am not weak. I AM NOT WEAK. I AM NOT WEAK. IAMNOTWEAKIAMNOTWEAKIAMNOTWEAKIAMNOTWEA-" The transmission ended with Omega powering down and Shadow's head began throbbing something fierce.
"What is this? My head..." He groaned. He blinked a bit, blearily coming back to some level of reality. "What, where? Where am I? I'm...back? Back here? No. What is this an illusion?!" Infinite's laughter echoed in his ears over the communicator.
"No. This is reality. YOUR reality, Shadow. I honestly didn't expect to see you come back alive. But you must admit, it was a truly wonderful show, wasn't it?" He taunted with a laugh. "Oh, this power. And before we've even tuned it! Just as I thought, it is unrivaled! Not even Sonic will be able to stand against me!" Shadow growled a bit. He may not particularly adore the blue hedgehog, but if anyone was going to defeat him it would be him.
"What are you planning to do to Sonic?" He asked through slightly clenched teeth. "What? What is this? Wait, where do you think you're going?! Infinite! Get back here! Stop!" Before he could do anything, Infinite took off laughing like a maniac.
"...adow? Shadow! Finally, the connections back in. What are you doing?!" Rouge yelled.
"Rouge? Where have you been?" He asked.
"Never mind that, you have to get out of there as soon as possible! There's explosions going off all over that facility!" She said. "That facility is gonna collapse!"
"I copy, withdrawing now." He said, managing to escape just before it collapsed. "What's the meaning of all this..." He mused as he sped away from the wreckage. Once he was a safe distance away he contacted Rouge to try and figure out what the hell was going on when she dropped the mother of all news bombs on him. "Are you telling me the truth Rouge?" He asked.
"What would be the point of lying about it?" She asked with a heavy sigh. "Eggman got a bead on Sonic and launched a massive, full scale attack. I mean sure, A for effort and all, but we've got the advantage. Besides that, Sonic is there too. I don't think its a big enough deal for you to head out right now. Take a load off and...what? Who?! Get off my-"
"Rouge? Rouge! What happened?!" He demanded. The radio crackled with static before a voice he was quickly becoming far too familiar with spoke up.
"Not even Sonic will be able to stand against me now! You all are powerless to stop me." He laughed before Rouge came back in.
"Shadow, change of plans. Get over there, now! And hurry!" She ordered.
"What? What happened?" He asked.
"No time to explain, just go!" Shadow growled but if Infinite was involved then there was no time to waste.
Back in town, Tails was defending a group of defenseless Mobians from Eggman directly and some of his mechs as he waited for back up to arrive.
"Everyone stay down! Help will be here soon." The fox said, bashing another mech to pieces. He fought off a few more but there were just too many to handle on his own. Thankfully Sonic leapt in to help at just the right time.
"Is everyone okay?" He asked after destroying all the remaining mechs in a fraction of a second.
"Thanks to you we are. But you're cuttin' it kinda close there." The fox kit snarked a bit, glad to see his best friend.
"Yeah I know, but that's just how I roll." He said with a chuckle before turning his attention to Eggman while Tails evacuated the civilians to safety. "Alright Egghead, lets finish this!"
"Oh but it will be your finish, Sonic." The bad doctor said with a cocky sneer. "Behold! The power of my ultimate masterpiece!" Sonic scoffed and jumped up, spindashing at Eggman only to be knocked back by Shadow of all people.
"Shadow?! Its you?!" He asked in disbelief. He was about to chew out the black hedgehog when three more villains from the recent past appeared alongside him. "Zavok?! Metal and Chaos too?!" And finally a new comer, someone Sonic had never seen before. Still he was never one to turn down a challenge and charged the stranger, only for him to dodge with ease. Sonic couldn't believe it, was this guy faster than him?! It couldn't be, he was the fastest thing alive! Tails couldn't believe it either, quickly booting up the Miles Electric to try and scan him while Sonic was fighting off the others. "What are, how are you doing this?!" He questioned while he grappled with Chaos, only to get no response as Zavok knocked him away like a cheap rag doll.
"T-Tails, I need to know what's going on!" He said, struggling to get back on his feet.
"I'm trying but the readings are all messed up! They don't make any sense! Just keep stalling until I figure something out!" He responded, trying his damnedest to get some form of information to pop up. Sonic tried his best to keep the villain group busy and get in a few hits himself while Tails worked but all they did was toss him around like a volleyball.
"I-I'm running outta time here Tails! Hurry!" He yelled before being slammed into the ground. The blue hedgehog was battered and slightly bloody, his breath coming in strangled pants as he most certainly had a broken rib or two. He struggled to stand and found that he couldn't, collapsing back onto the ground with a soft cry of pain. His vision was fuzzy on the edges as he saw the new comer walking towards him. "T-Tails...run. G-get...as f-far away from here...as you can...please..." He struggled to get out. The last thing he wanted his young friend to see was what might be his death. Tears of fear and fury built up in Tails's eyes and part of him wanted to stay and fight but if Sonic was no match for any of them then neither was he, even with the training Shadow and Knuckles gave him. As much as he wanted to stay, at least so Sonic wouldn't be alone, he wanted to respect his friend's wishes. He turned to the doctor and his gang, glaring at Shadow.
"I am going to destroy you Eggman, just you wait." The fox kit declared. "And you too Shadow. I thought you were better than this." He gave Sonic one final look, trembling a little as he took to the skies. And with one defeat the tide of battle turned in Eggman and Infinite's hands. At first the people tried fighting back but hope was quickly lost as rumor of Sonic's defeat and subsequent death spread across Mobius like wildfire. Tails went into seclusion, driven by mad guilt and shame, refusing Knuckles's numerous requests to help them fight back against the ever growing and increasingly more powerful Eggman Empire until the Echidna was forced to refer to him as a lost cause. Left and right large swaths of land were taken over by Eggman and his right hand Infinite. Countless lives were lost and displaced by the war and with each passing day over the next six months it was beginning to look hopeless. The Team Sonic resistance, named in Sonic's honor and spearheaded by Knuckles, was getting increasingly desperate for troops and taking any one they could get. People who had no combat training or experience were thrust onto the battlefields to fight what was getting to be a more and more hopeless battle. If ever there was a time for a miracle, it was now. The world needed a hero. They needed Sonic but Sonic was dead.
