Author's Note: Here's the next part! Thank you adar13, Kalex Chwell, SonicLover23, and Guest for your reviews.
Oh and Guest. As for your question of why Mighty? I like Mighty. I think he's an underrated character. Also I thought he fit well with the character I'm basing him around. Also Knuckles is, in this story. So, yeah.
•~•
"Mobius is scary," Tails said walking into his tent.
Mighty was sitting inside staring at his hands in astonishment. "No, it's amazing…" He closed his eyes and smiled. "Fresh air, trees-" he picked up a nut. "Nuts," He popped it into his mouth and ate it. "Mmm, these taste better than usual, right?" Tails stared at Mighty strangely as the armadillo plopped down onto his back. "I'd like to give Mobius a giant hug," he said in a daze.
Tails leaned in real close to his face. "You're acting weird."
Mighty laughed. "I feel weird, but in a good weird way," he said while giving him a wink.
"I gotta pee," Tails said before walking out.
Tails walked over to a corner of the fence and unzipped as he took a leak. There was a small opening in the fence were he could peer out. As he began to pee he saw something whizz past the fence. Startled he looked to where he thought he saw someone run. Tails zipped up after finishing and looked out the hole in the fence.
As he looked out a grounder ran past the fence. He shook his head thinking he was seeing things. As he leaned in closer a hand came shooting through the opening trying to grab him. "Aaah!" Tails screamed and fell back avoiding the hand.
"Rouge!" Tails shouted as he got up. Rouge was sitting outside sewing some clothes. She looked up when she heard her name being called. Tails rushed over to her side. He looked frantic. "I think I'm going crazy, or the grounders are here," he said pointing to the fence.
"Slow down. Tell me what you saw," she asked.
As Tails looked over to the bonfire, a grounder stood there with a spear in plain sight. Other teens walked around him not even noticing his presence. "Him…" Tails pointed to a spot where he saw the grounder. Rouge looked and saw nothing there.
"Tails there is no one there."
"He's right there!" he shouted while pointing. "We have to run. We have to run!" he said looking around panicked. "Why isn't anyone doing anything!" he shouted. People around camp gave him weird looks.
"Stop it!" She grabbed him. "Are you on something, Tails?"
He grabbed her by the arms. "I love you, I just want you to know this."
Rouge could see his eyes were dilated. Tails grabbed some nuts from his pocket and started to eat them, but Rouge grabbed his hand. "Is this all you've eaten today?"
"It is, but who cares now!?" he said throwing his hands up.
"You're totally stoned," she said with a deadpan expression. She bent down and grabbed a stick off the ground. "Relax, Tails." She handed him the stick. "Here buddy, take this."
He looked at it in his hands. "It's a stick…"
She shook her head. "No. This is an anti grounder stick," she smiled. "As long as you hold this, and you sit right here," she said sitting him down. "The grounders won't be able to see you."
"That makes sense…" He looked up at Rouge. "I'll just stay right here."
Rouge glanced over to the containers of rations. "Yeah… Stay right here."
Rouge came up to the level where Knuckles was held in the drop ship. Drago was keeping watch still, and became irate when he saw Rouge again. "Get out."
"Relax." She tossed him a bag of the nuts Tails was eating. "I thought you might be hungry." Drago caught it and opened it up. "I shouldn't have come up here alone earlier," she lied.
Drago fell for her fake apology and began to eat the nuts while he stared at Knuckles.
•~•
"This changes everything," Shadow said. He put up a blanket and marked it with black spray paint into an X. "No more running from spears," he explained to Amy as she sat back and watched. Shadow came up to her and smirked. "Ready to be a badass, Rose?"
Amy put down her packet of rations she was snacking on. "I'm not going to fight you on bringing guns back to camp. I know we need them, but don't expect me to like it," she said while staring down at them.
"We're lucky the rifles were packed in grease." He said as he cocked one. "The fact that they survived means we're not sitting ducks anymore." He handed her the gun. "You need to learn."
She sighed in defeat and nodded. Amy took the gun from him and positioned it against her shoulder. "So, I just hold it like this?"
"Yeah, just a little higher now," he instructed while helping her hold the gun correctly. His one hand rested on her back while his other hand moved her gun up. "Good." He realized his hand was touching her for too long, and retracted it quickly. "Yeah, uh, that's good." He walked a few feet away. "Watch and learn," he said while grabbing another rifle.
She moved out of the way and watched him. Shadow positioned his gun and aimed on his target, which was the blanket with the X. He went to fire but all the gun did was click. He cocked the gun looking at it strangely. Amy watched him to see how this was done. He tried to fire the gun again, but all it did was click.
"Still watching," Amy smirked.
He growled. "My bullets are duds. Try yours."
Amy aimed her gun and fired. A bullet flew out and hit just under the X. She had never felt such power before. "That was amazing…" she said smiling as she lowered her gun. She stopped smiling and looking back at Shadow. "Am I horrible for feeling that?"
He chuckled. "No, try again."
"We shouldn't waste the ammunition."
"You need to practice," he retorted.
"No. We need to talk about how we're going to keep guns around camp, where are we going to keep them? Who has access?"
Shadow ignored her questions and picked up another gun. He aimed and took a shot at his target. The bullet whizzed through the air and hit the target right in the middle of the X. Shadow stayed quiet and Amy stepped in front of him. "Shadow, what's going on? You've been acting weird all day." Amy's eyes landed on Shadow's backpack. "All the rations you took…you're going to run away," she deduced. "That's why you agreed to come with me."
"I don't have a choice. The ark will be here soon."
"So, you're just going to leave Rouge?" Amy asked in astonishment.
"Rouge hates me. She'll be fine," he said looking away. "I shot Jaha and they're going to kill me. Best case scenario, they lock me up with the grounder for the rest of my life. There's no way in hell I'm giving Jaha the satisfaction." He put the gun down and headed for the stairs. His head suddenly started to feel weird. "Keep practicing. I need some air."
•~•
Shadow got back to the surface and kneeled down on the floor. He rested his hands on his bent knees as he panted. He heard a branch snap and looked over to where he heard it. Standing there was Chancellor Jaha. "Shadow," he said holding his gun wound.
Shadow slowly rose to his feet as he stared in fear at the chancellor. He couldn't believe his own eyes. "How are you here?"
"You shot me but I've been waiting for you," he replied. He moved his hand and his wound started to bleed.
Shadow stared at him and kept a stoic expression. "I did what I had to do."
"To protect Rouge?"
"That's right…"
"How pathetic," he spoke as he approached him. "Using your sister to justify your crimes? Your cruelty, your selfishness?"
He narrowed his eyes at him. "If you're going to kill me just do it."
"Why should I kill you? Unlike the others, I survived your treachery," he spat.
He raised a brow. "What are you talking about?"
"The 320 souls that were culled from the ark so that others could live," he explained. "You knew that they would be sacrificed."
"I didn't know that would happen," he barked.
"It's not my forgiveness you should seek." His eyes landed to his right. "It's theirs."
Shadow looked to where Jaha was looking and saw 320 people from the ark walk out of the woods chanting. "Murderer." They looked like zombies as they staggered out from every direction around him. "Murderer."
Shadow dropped to his knees feeling the guilt sink in. "Stop!"
Meanwhile in the depot, Amy was still trying to practice with the gun, but started to feel strange. As she looked down the barrel, her surrounding began to swirl and contort strangely. She lowered her gun and backed up as she stared at the objects around her. She looked down at the gun in her hands and moved it. It appeared the gun could bend in any direction. "Whoa…"
She heard a noise behind her and spun around. Standing there was her father. "It's not what you imagined, is it?" he asked.
"Dad?" she gasped in shock. She ran and hugged him and he hugged back.
•~•
Back at camp, everyone had gotten into the nuts and were hallucinating around camp. People were dancing with themselves. Teens were laughing or rolling on the floor and making dirt angels. Rouge took this opportunity and grabbed a spare jacket on the ground. She made her way to the drop ship with it. She saw Drago was outside no longer guarding Knuckles. He was hugging a tree while he talked to it. "Good bunny…"
Inside a tent, Sonic and Sally lay in bed naked together. Sally laid her head on Sonic's chest as they cuddled together. Sonic had his arm around her and stared at the top of the tent. He felt like he needed to talk to her, but couldn't come up with anything. Suddenly Mighty burst into their tent. "Hey, is the moon in here?" he said looking around frantically.
Sonic grabbed their blanket and draped it over Sally to cover her more. "Mighty!"
"I can't change the tide if the moon won't cooperate!" he argued with panicked wide eyes.
Sonic stared at him bewildered. "Get out of here!"
Mighty's face hit realization. "It's basic physics." He turned around and left.
Sonic plopped his head onto his pillow and sighed. Sally sighed and got up. "Stay here."
Sally got dressed and walked out of the tent. As she got out she saw everyone was acting insane. She bent down and poked her head in the tent. "Scratch that. Get out here."
•~•
Back with Amy, she was still tripping out on the rations she had eaten previously. She hugged her father but then broke away. "You're not real, are you?" she asked while looking up at him with doubt.
"Sorry, kiddo. I wish I were," he replied.
"How is this possible?"
"This is about what you want," he replied.
"You're dead because of her," she sad sadly. "She doesn't deserve my forgiveness."
"Whatever. Crazy bitch," her father said with an angered look. Her reality snapped back and her father was no longer there.
"Dad?" she said looking around. Predator knocked her out from behind with a gun. Amy fell on the ground passed out.
•~•
Rouge returned to Knuckles with an assortment of clothes. "Don't move." She undid his chains and released him from his hold. "We need to go now!" she said as she quickly undid the ones around his legs.
"Why are you doing this? he asked as he fell to his knees. He was very weak.
She grabbed the jacket and put it on him. "Just get dressed."
He slipped on the jacket. "They'll know you helped me."
"You said it yourself. Stay here, you die," She zipped up the jacket. "I'm not letting that happen."
"I'm not going to put you in danger," he argued.
"You need to do this now!" she ordered.
"Okay, but even in these clothes I'll be seen."
"People are seeing plenty of things right now," she chuckled. She helped him walk and he grunted.
"What'd you do?" he asked curiously.
"Set out some of our winter rations," she smirked. She showed him the nuts.
"Jobi nuts, the food you gave my guard, they go bad. They cause visions but they wear off eventually."
"Just try to get as far away as you can," she encouraged. She patted his shoulders smoothing out his clothes so he could slip out easily undetected. "Try not to get yourself killed."
"Thank you." He leaned in and caught her in a kiss. She was surprised at first but then kissed him back. He broke away after a few moments and climbed down the ladder. Rouge stood there stunned by the romantic gesture.
•~•
Sonic burned the rest of the nuts after realizing they were causing hallucinations. He threw the last ones into the fire. Sally was busy hugging Bark and comforting him through his visions. "Tell me again," Bark smiled goofily.
"You're the most beautiful broom in a broom closet of brooms," she said rolling her eyes.
"Mmmm…" he hugged her and laughed. Sally allowed him to hug her and patted his pack reassuringly. Sonic watched and just laughed. He walked over when he saw another ration packet on the ground by the drop ship. He bent over while grunting to pick it up when Knuckles came out of the drop ship. They locked eyes and Knuckles froze in place fearing Sonic would call for help or stop him.
Sonic did nothing but nod his head in the direction of the exit. There was no talking but Knuckles could understand their communication through looks. Knuckles nodded his head in respect and bolted out of there before anyone else noticed.
•~•
Meanwhile, Shadow was still dealing with his vision as the 320 victims of the ark surrounded him. "Murderer!" He was trapped as they encircled him. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Jaha. Shadow looked up at him with mercy. "Please, just kill me," he begged. It started to rain down on them. "I deserve it, please," he whispered. Jaha backhanded Shadow hard in the face making him fall to his right. Shadow stumbled to his hands in knees in the mud. "I can't fight anymore…"
"Don't you know? Life is a fight," Jaha laughed. He kicked him hard in the stomach making him land further back.
Shadow gasped as he had the air winded from him. "What am I suppose to do?" he asked through gasped breaths.
"Suffer…" Jaha said as he circled him.
Shadow looked up, and Jaha punched him hard in the face. Suddenly Shadow's visions wore off and instead of Jaha standing in front of him, it was Predator. "Nothing personal, man" he smirked as he cocked a gun in his face. Shadow laid on his back looking up at him in surprise. Predator went to shoot his gun but it didn't fire. It was the bad gun Shadow had tried to use earlier.
"Put it down, P." Amy said while holding a gun behind Predator's head.
He spun around and aimed his gun at her. "You should've stayed down there, Amy. I tried not to kill you, but here you are. And Antoine said no witnesses."
"What is he talking about?" Amy asked to Shadow.
Shadow realized what was happening. "Antoine set it up… He gave me the gun to shoot the chancellor."
"Walk away now, and I won't kill you," Predator warned to Amy.
"Put. It. Down," she ordered.
"Your choice," he smirked.
She went to shoot her gun but only got a click, as her gun was empty. Realizing she had no ammo she moved behind a tree just as he shot at her. The bullet missed but grazed the side of the tree she was hiding behind. Shadow growled and lunged for Predator as his back was turned. "Noo!" He tackled him to the ground making him lose his gun.
Shadow sat on top of him as he punched him in the face over and over again. Predator got a moment, and uppercut him with his fist making Shadow fall back. Amy reloaded her gun while the two fought. Predator got on top of him and began to punch Shadow in the face over and over again. He reached for his gun but Shadow reached for it too.
Predator grabbed the gun and punched the side of it into Shadow's face, making his nose bleed. "Augh!" While Shadow's head was turned to the side he saw an empty sharp shell casing. Predator used the gun and forced it against Shadow's neck to strangle him.
Amy came charging back with her gun loaded. "Get the hell off of him!" she screamed. Predator punched her hard in the gut with the end of his gun making her fall on her side. He had winded her as well. While his attention was turned away, Shadow quickly grabbed the shell casing, and stabbed it into the side of his neck. Predator choked out a gasp, as blood poured from his mouth. He fell on the floor and gasped his last breath.
Shadow panted and got up as he grunted. Amy was still on her side holding her hurt side. "Rose, are you okay?" he asked crawling towards her. He lifted her up so she was sitting in his between his legs. He held her as they sat under a tree as it continued to rain.
She felt a blush creep up on her face as he held her. She quickly looked away. "Yeah, are you?"
"No." He closed his eyes. "If my mother knew what I did…" his voice trailed off for a moment. "She raised me to be better-"
"—Shadow…" she cut off.
"All I do is hurt people. I'm a monster."
"Hey," she looked up at him. "You saved my life today. This is the second time you've done that. You may be a total ass half the time, but I need you. We all do," she spoke. "None of us would have survived if it wasn't for your leadership." Shadow looked at her sincerely. "You have to come back with me, Shadow. You have to face it."
"Like you faced your mom?" he quipped.
He got her there. "You're right. I don't want to face my mom, but I don't have a choice."
"Jaha will kill me when he comes down."
"We'll figure something out."
Shadow rested his head against the tree. "Can we figure it out later?" Thunder began to rumble.
Amy rested her head against his chest. "Yeah."
•~•
Back at camp, everyone was coming out of their stoned state and going back to normal. Tails was asleep on the floor hugging the stick as he slept by the fire. Rouge walked through camp and saw Mighty was up and moving. "Rough night?" he asked to her while rubbing his head.
"Yeah, trying to control all of you was a nightmare."
"I'm pretty sure I ate a pinecone," he said as he recalled back to his stoned phase.
Suddenly Drago came running out of the drop ship. "He's gone!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the wolf. "The grounder escaped!" The hundred got up and started looking around. They were afraid of where he could be.
"What if he brings other grounders back?" Mighty asked.
"He'll kill us all or worse," Sally said cutting in.
"Let the grounders come," a familiar voice said from behind the hundred. Everyone turned and saw Shadow and Amy enter camp together. "We've been afraid of them for too long." He held a blanket with something heavy inside. "I don't know about you but I'm tired of being afraid." Shadow and Amy both put down a set of blankets that contained a large amount of guns.
Everyone around camp looked impressed at the weaponry. "These are weapons, okay, not toys," Amy explained. "We have to be prepared to give them up to the guard when they come down. Until then, they're going to help keep us safe."
"There's plenty more where that came from," Shadow added. "Tomorrow we start training."
•~•
Later after everyone got settled in, Amy came out of the drop ship to look for Shadow. She spotted him over with Rouge. It appeared the two had made up with their disagreement. "Shadow." He turned looking over his shoulder. "It's time," she said.
Shadow and Amy sat in the drop ship in front of the monitor and wore headsets. Jaha was on the screen as he talked to the two. "Shadow, I've wanted to talk to you now for some time," he started.
"Before you do," Amy interrupted. "I'd like to say something. When you sent us down here, you sent us down to die, but miraculously most of are still alive." She looked to Shadow. "In large part that is because of him. Because of Shadow," she defended. "He's one of us and he deserves to be pardoned of his crimes."
"Amy, I appreciate your point of view, but its not that simple," Jaha stated.
"It is if you want to know who on the ark wants you dead," Shadow bartered.
The two watched as Jaha looked conflicted. He sat in silence thinking about his options before leaning in further towards the screen. "Shadow the hedgehog, you're pardoned for your crimes." Shadow smiled and blew out a sigh of relief. "Now, tell me who gave you the gun."
•~•
On the ark, Kane and his men marched down the corridors to find Antoine. They calmly surrounded the surprised coyote as he jotted notes down on his tablet. He looked at his fellow guards surround him. All the guards whipped out their taser batons in case he tried to escape. One guard came up from behind Antoine and put his hands behind his back handcuffing him.
Kane walked up to his commander and looked at him in disgust. "You're a disgrace."
"I'm fighting for what I believe in, just like you," he smirked.
"Take him away," Kane ordered. Two guards escorted Antoine down the hall towards the prison.
•~•
Back at camp, Amy visited Sonic in his tent. "I need to check this," she said while kneeling down by his side.
"Guns, really?" he asked while he lay on his back.
"We have to expect retaliation," she argued while peeling his bandages away.
"Yeah. Our ancestors wanted to be prepared, too. So they built bombs," he scoffed.
She placed a new bandage on him. "Rifles are not the same as nukes."
"In Shadow's hands, they are," he argued. "Ames, come on. You can't predict what he's going to do."
"There's no perfect answer, Sonic."
"The grounder saved Rouge's life, and Shadow brought him back here and tortured him."
"Yeah, but if he hadn't brought him back here, you'd be dead!"
"I know..."
"I trust him!"
He shook his head. "You can't be serious…"
She closed her eyes. "I am."
"You and Shadow are leading us down a dangerous road." He sat up slightly. "I wish you would've talked to me about it first."
"I wish you talked to me about a lot of things, but you didn't." The tent flap opened and Sally popped her head in. The two suddenly went quiet and Sally started to become suspicious. Amy didn't say another word and got up and left. Sally watched her leave the tent, and came inside sitting besides Sonic.
•~•
Inside a cell, Antoine paced back and fourth fearing for his life. He heard his cell door open and showed a sign of relief. "Thank god it's you. I thought I was about to float." Alicia and another guard stood in the doorway.
"It won't come to that, commander," she smiled darkly, as she stepped inside the cell. The guard came in and tasered him. When Antoine was knocked out from the shock. The guard took some broken glass, and slit his wrist then discarded the glass next to his hand so it would look like he committed suicide.
"Let's go," she said as they left.
•~•
Author's Note: Sorry for the long update. I've been busy getting settled in now that I live in CA. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Be sure to read and review. Also, yes, there will be more SonAmy moments later down the line. I promise.
