Chapter 2

The more time that went by, the more bleak things looked. This 'war' as everyone was now calling it dragged on for months. Eggman's initial assaults on the major cities of the world turned out to be mostly successful. Because they took place all over the world, it was impossible for G.U.N. to send enough troops to deal with the attacks in every location. All too aware that what was happening was far bigger than them, Sonic and his friends had reluctantly joined forces with G.U.N and temporarily tried put aside the past. But even with them working together, everything was in a vicious downward spiral.

Early on, Eggman tried to steal the Master Emerald in a desperate attempt to protect it, Knuckles smashed it and scattered the shards all over the continent. This caused Angel Island to fall into the sea and flood nearby coastlines. Team Chaotix had joined the fight against Eggman but Vector and Charmy were tragically killed in an ambush in Mazuri. The rest of the heroes had found Espio clinging to life in the middle of the savannah where the team had been left to die. This was a hard blow for Knuckles and he slowly began to withdraw, becoming more negative and cynical. He wasn't the only one to lose hope either. As they lost more and more land to Eggman, Sonic's normally fearless and bolstering leadership began to crumble. Everyone would turn to him to boost their spirts and encourage them but the blue hedgehog would be at loss; unsure how to see the good in their situation and how they could possibly win. Sonic would disappear for days at a time to the ruins of the area that used to be their home and the wreckage of the G.U.N. base where Miky died. This caused enormous friction between him and Knuckles who accused him of being weak, stuck in the past, and irresponsible.

As a result, Tails found himself stepping up more and more to take on the role of leader to calm everyone down and try to keep everyone positive. He would lead them into battle and try to keep them all together. Several time Tails tried to talk to Sonic about resuming his role but he would refuse and say Tails was doing fine. But, while Tails tried his best, it wasn't enough. The heroes were constantly fighting and on the verge of giving up. Eventually, Eggman had pushed the heroes and G.U.N. out of almost every country and city on Mobius. He controlled Chun-Nan, Adabat, Holoska, and Empire City as well as having rebuilt EggmanLand for his central base. Mazuri and Shamar were fully engulfed as battle zones but Apotos and Spagonia were still firmly in the hands of good. In fact Spagonia was now where the world's leaders, G.U.N and the heroes resided and served as a main point of resistance as well as a massive refuge for people fleeing from Eggman-ruled countries. They had managed to hold onto these locations against more than a few attacks by Eggman but playing defense was really all they could do at this point.

Determined to at least win the areas that were still undecided war-zones and further crush the spirits of the heroes, Eggman released the pride of his armies. Much to everyone's horror, the mad scientist began to flood the battlegrounds of Mazuri and Shamar with legions of Shadow Clones. Rouge and Omega recognized these clones as the ones they had seen years ago in one of Eggman's bases sometime after Rouge had discovered Omega and Shadow locked away in a secret room. Eggman had clearly managed to improve them as all of the clones were fast, powerful, and downright vicious. However, as beaten down and discouraged our heroes were becoming, nothing could prepare them for the set of events that would happen next.

Espio, who served as the group's main source of intelligence by using his stealth to infiltrate Eggman's mini-bases in neighboring areas, discovered that Eggman was planning to launch an attack on Windmill Isle in Apotos.

"What? Apotos? There's nothing Eggman could gain strategically from taking that location. Are you sure?" asked the G.U.N. Commander as he, the world leaders, and the heroes sat in the war room of the Spagonia G.U.N. HQ.

Espio nodded as he took out a digital camera and hooked it up to the war room's projector, "I took these photos of Egg Fighters and Shadow Clones being loaded into air transports. I found out the coordinates by using Tails' new wireless hacking device to access the transports' computers."

"Good it works. Now you don't have to plug into consoles and risk getting caught. Is the range good?" inquired Tails.

"Decent. Could be a little better. So what's the plan for dealing with this?"

"Well the Commander is right; Apotos isn't exactly a good location strategically. There's no natural resources, which Eggman is in constant need of to maintain his armies. Anyone have any ideas?" Tails looked at his fellow heroes, hoping one of them would say something. Amy opened her mouth as if to speak but shook her head and continued to think. Rouge and Omega looked at each other with a shrug while Sonic appeared to be lost in his own thoughts.

Finally Knuckles spoke up, "It's a morale thing. Mazuri and Shamar, the two locations Eggman really needs, are still up in the air so he thinks that we're probably so short on man-power that Apotos would be an easy win. It would discourage us and make winning the really important countries easier."

The leader of Chun-Nan nodded as he stood to speak, "I know that my warriors have been losing heart ever since we lost our home. It would be even harder for them to continue to go on knowing that Eggman had won again…"

"He speaks the truth." Agreed the leader of Mazuri, "How are my men supposed to have hope if country after country falls and ours is next in line?"

"Same here. It would start mutiny; people will want to give up and submit themselves to Eggman." said the leader of Shamar. The other leaders were murmuring in agreement, the fear growing in their voices.

"Perhaps it would be better for us to surrender to Dr. Eggman? It would minimize casualties and destruction in the cities if we come up with some sort of peace terms." Suggested the leader of Adabat.

The leader of Holoska scoffed, "Coward! Your tiny, weak country may be willing to bow to that mad-man but my people resisted to the very end and are stilling fighting from within in every small way they can! The only reason you're here is because your people exiled you to show their loyalty for Eggman!"

The Chun-Nan leader snorted in contempt, "The people of Adabat always lacked honor." At this the leaders began arguing and yelling back forth insults and accusations as the heroes tried to calm everyone down.

"QUIET!" roared the G.U.N. Commander. An eerie hush fell over the room as the Commander swept his gaze over all of them, "It doesn't matter whose country surrendered and whose was defeated. What matters is that they are now in the hands of Dr. Eggman and we must get them back. But before we can do that, we have to make sure he doesn't acquire anymore territory. And that starts by ensuring Apotos stays free. It's clear that Eggman is planning to demoralize us by winning it. Fighting is only one half of war. The other half is psychology."

"The Commander has a point." Added Tails, "And we can do both if we manage to fight and defend Apotos. It could at least make Eggman a little more cautious and insecure if we can beat him. First we defend Apotos, than we win Mazuri and Shamar, than we start to take back land form Eggman!"

Knuckles stood beside Tails, "And don't forget, we found the 6th Emerald last month. If we could find the 7th sooner rather than later…"

Rouge jumped up, "We have a real shot at winning this war!"

"No amount of robots, or clones, or whatever has stood up to the 7 Emeralds!" piped up Amy. "We just have to keep working as a team! All of us!"

The President now stood, "Team Heroes, will you go to Apotos and defend it against Dr. Eggman? We have literally no troops to spare and you are the country's last line of defense."

Tails drew himself up to his full height, his little furry chest puffed out, "We'd be honored, Sir. We won't let you down. Espio, when do you think Eggman will launch the attack?"

"Within the next 12 hours I should think." Replied the ninja as he reviewed his photos and data again.

Omega took another quick look as well, "Taking into account the size of the transports, their maximum speed, capacity, and distance from location… I calculate the attack to be in 3 hours, 27 minutes and 16 seconds to be precise. Shall I initiate a countdown?"

"Not quite yet Omega. Come on everyone, to Apotos!" ordered Tails as everyone headed for the aircraft hangar.

On the way, Knuckles noticed Sonic walking with them and said coldly, "I'm surprised you're coming with us. You were so quiet during the meeting; I almost forgot you were there."

Sonic looked at him briefly before turning his eyes forward again, "What do you want from me Knuckles? Why do you keep acting like a jerk to me?"

"Why do you keep moping around and being generally useless?"

"I'm not moping around."

"Then why do you disappear and not come back for two or three days at a time?"

The azure hedgehog whipped his head around to glare at Knuckles and retort, "Why do YOU disappear for two or three days at a time?"

"Because I'm looking for the shards of the Master Emerald so they don't fall into the hands of that mad scientist who controls more than HALF the world!" shot back the dread-sporting echidna "Look Sonic, it's been long enough. Get over it, get over her. Stop going back to that pile of rubble and just staring at it. It's not going to change anything."

"I know that! I keep trying to tell you guys that something's not right there but you never listen!" protested Sonic.

"That's because you're not reliable! There's nothing there!"

"Wh-what!? Not reliable!? Are you kidding me?!"

Knuckles scoffed, "I wish I was! Ever since… well you know, you've been a wreck! You've dumped, quite literally, the world on Tails' shoulders and left him to deal with it. Do you call that reliable?" As they were arguing, Sonic and Knuckles had stopped walking and everyone else noticed and watched awkwardly, unsure what to do.

Amy sighed and whispered sarcastically, "This mission is off to a great start…"

Omega whirred before saying "I calculate our chances of success at-"

"Just don't Omega." Interrupted Rouge as she rubbed her temples to try and ease her headache, "I want to maintain a little hope."

"Then it might please you to know that our chances of survival are slightly better than that of our success." Rouge groaned and continued walking towards the hanger.

Espio nudged Tails towards the bickering males, "You're our leader; Put a stop to this before it comes to blows again. We don't have time to waste."

Reluctantly, Tails went over to Sonic and Knuckles and forced his way between them, "Knock it off you two, we need to get going." The two continued to glare at each other as Tails went on, "We need to be a team now more than ever. So whatever you're arguing about, put it aside." After a final glare, Sonic and Knuckles continued walking with everyone one else. Upon arriving in the hangar, Tails, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy got in the Tornado while Rouge, Omega, and Espio jumped into a G.U.N. plane. After being cleared for take-off, they began flying towards Apotos.

Author's Note: Man, things sure are rough for our heroes. But they can still win right? Right? 0.0 Guess we'll have to find out. Don't worry I'll try and post it ASAP. I'm working from an outline of the plot that was made ahead of time so it should go a little faster but who knows lol Please read, review, and most of all enjoy.