After Sonic had disappeared from the graveyard, Rouge collapsed in a heap to the ground. She was surrounded by bodies. These were agents that she had called friends, some of whom she had known for years. She was, at the very least, relieved that agents like Sally, Bunnie and Rotor weren't here. Amy emerged from where she was crouched and went over to comfort the bat. She was about to reach her arm around her friend when Rouge stood up and turned to face her. Seeing the absolute, unadulterated rage in Rouge's eyes made Amy back off. "HQ, do you copy?"

"Yes, we copy, Rouge..." Sally's voice. "Come back to HQ, Rouge. We don't know what Sonic's gonna do in his current state. Bring Amy with you. She's probably a little shellshocked."

"Affirmative, Sally. Heading to HQ now." Rouge deactivated her communicator and grabbed Amy's robotic arm before taking off back to the HQ, without a single word.

After he had vanished from the graveyard, Sonic rematerialized at Tails' Workshop, or more specifically, Tails' living quarters. Even when his workshop was opened as a museum, his home was left private. Sonic usually came here to calm down after a rage. The actual Workshop was still open to the public at this time of day, so Sonic needed to keep his volume down, as to not get discovered. He hated hiding. It was so against his nature. He liked being loud. He liked being fast. He liked being brash. He collapsed onto a sofa. He was quite drained from the one-sided battle from earlier. His Chaos Barrage attack was one of his most powerful, but also one of the most exhausting. A nice, refreshing power nap sounded good right about now. So that's exactly what he did.

Meanwhile, in a town a few miles outside Mobotropolis, Taylor was at one of the local pubs. It wasn't the cleanest pubs in the area, nor did it have the best service, but Taylor found it relaxing. Most of the time, it would be quite empty, meaning it was the perfect place to go to just sit and think without lots of noise. Usually there was a TV on behind the bar playing news or sports or whatever else happened to be on. Today, it was news, so Taylor decided to listen to the blonde haired squirrel reading the headlines. "GUN suffered a great loss today as a large number of their forces were victims of the latest act of violence by Sonic the Hedgehog. This occurred at the cemetery where Miles "Tails" Prower, the famous freedom fighter from the Eggman era, is buried. Rouge the Bat, the only agent who survived, and long time freedom fighter Amy Rose, who was visiting Tails' grave at the time of the attack, are joining us now from GUN HQ, along with Princess Sally Acorn. Good afternoon ladies. So, what exactly happened earlier?" It was Amy who answered the question. "Well, I had arrived at the grave to pay my respects to Tails when Sonic showed up. He appeared to have the same idea. Apparently, Shadow, as a GUN agent, had tracked Sonic to the graveyard. They got in a fight, and Sonic won, and he teleported Shadow away as Rouge arrived."

"And, Miss Rouge, how did you know where Sonic was, or were you just paying respects to Tails like the others?"

"No. Once Shadow had eyes on Sonic, he had sent a message to GUN HQ telling us where he was. I led the team to the graveyard and I confronted Sonic as everyone else hid to prepare for an ambush. Unfortunately, I noticed the absence of Shadow, and I made the mistake of asking where Shadow was. From Sonic's perspective, I shouldn't have known Shadow was there, so he figured out our plan and began his attacks. And then... well, you probably know the rest..."

"So, Amy, you were there for the fight between Shadow and Sonic. How bad did it really get?"

"Hard to say really. I've had a lot of experience with both of their fighting styles, so I knew it was probably best to stay out of the way. Although, from my vantage point, I could see that Sonic definitely had the upper hand for pretty much the entire fight."

"Now, this attack comes only a day after the death of Knuckles the Echidna, another former freedom fighter, marking the fifth death caused by Sonic, following the death of Eggman and the fall of the Chaotix Detective Agency. Do any of you have any comments on that?" Amy spoke up quickly. "We were all there when Knuckles died. We did try to stop Sonic, but he was determined. He blamed Knuckles for Tails' death, so he definitely had a score to settle there. In fact, Shadow is the only person still alive that Sonic blames for Tails' death. That would explain why he was so angry when Shadow showed up."

"And, Rouge, do you have any comments on this at the moment?"

"Knuckles was a good man. We had been dating for about a year before he was killed. In fact, I would say that all of the agents who were killed today were good men and women. None of them deserved this fate. Honestly, after all he has done to hurt us, I am finding it hard to believe that we were all friends of Sonic ten years ago. We all adored him as a hero, as an ally, as a friend. And look at him now: a murderer, of people who used to call him a brother. I just wish none of this had ever happened, and we could all go back to how we were ten years ago."

"Thank you, Rouge and Amy for your comments. Princess Sally, what do you have to say about all of this? You were the closest out of all of us to Sonic before he turned."

"Honestly, I don't have much else to say that hasn't already been said. But, while some of his crimes as of recent weeks and months are unforgivable, I wish we could break through and get the old Sonic back. Like everyone who has fallen by his hand, he used to be a great hero. If we ever get the chance, I hope we'd be able to make him see that he could be a hero again."

"Thank you for your time. It's now 1:48, and here's Sara with the weather."

Taylor had watched the entire conversation with rapt attention. He was always quite curious about the various exploits of Sonic. He had heard of Knuckles, of course, and he knew that he used to be friends with the hedgehog who just killed him in cold blood. Taylor didn't what to call that, but it sure as hell wasn't friendship. Seeing this recent news about Knuckles, and the Graveyard Massacre, it made Taylor think. Currently, Mobius needed a hero, and Sonic was obviously unable to fill that role this time around. He had always said there would be no way that that hero would be him, but seeing news of this nature had just changed his mind. He was going to do something that he swore he would never do.

He was going to fight Sonic.

HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THIS STORY AGAIN?! I need to get back into this properly, especially now as it's getting more intense. I will really try to keep going this time and not make you lot wait for ages again. I won't make any promises this time, just in case I do forget, but I will certainly try to have the next chapter done soon. Special thanks to "Merlikuty" for following the story. If it wasn't for you, I would have likely continued to forget about this! Anyway, this is RDFAN7669 saying see you next time. Ciao for now!