Author's note So here we are once more with another chapter and I've been itching to get these next few chapters out. I have planned out this whole story, and it's been a while, and this story is going to be around 46 chapters long. Things are going to get wild from here on out.
Also, thanks and replies to TGN, Alexandria Prime, SD321,bayj, and YamiChaos27 for leaving a review on the last chapter. As always I genuinely appreciate your reviews as they motivate me to keep going with this fic.
Disclaimer I do not own the rights to Sonic the Hedgehog.
Six months. It had been six long painful months as Sonic shifted to the least bruised side of his body against the cold floor. The hedgehog coughed ever so slightly the sharp hacking sound cut through the air. Sonic lay sprawled on his side, his wrists and ankles were still in the Chaos Inhibitor rings. His once pristine cobalt coat was dirty dotted all over with dried blood stains; his ribs were beginning to show since Eggman decided that Sonic needed to be on a "diet" over a month ago.
Sonic winced, feeling the fresh stab of pain coursing down his left leg; he looked down with disdain at the fresh wounds that covered his body, ignoring the loud rumble of his stomach. God, he was hungry. He could go for several plates of chili dogs right about now.
Tails, Knuckles, Amy were they safe? Sonic hoped that they were his teeth gritted his mind recalling all the tortures that he'd been forced to endure over the course of the last six months. Being ducked in the cold, water that was his least favorite one. There had been numerous races against Metal Sonic where, despite his best efforts, he still lost most of them.
"Nothing worse than losing a race to Metal." Sonic winced, feeling the fresh bruises that had been inflicted on him by Zavok and Shadow. The two of them seemed to take the most sadistic glee in torturing Sonic.
"Why, Shad?" I still don't get it. Why are you working for Eggman?" Sonic asked himself.
The Ultimate Lifeform's betrayal weighed heavily on Sonic's mind. His anxiety was growing, and so was his frustration outweighing his concern for his friends. Surely Tails and Amy were safe; they had to be. Otherwise, he would've seen them in the Death Egg. Knuckles he knew would've put up a fight against the robots.
"Are they even still alive anymore?"
Sonic began to tremble. It was the one question he desperately wanted the answer to the most. The worst torture that he'd been forced to endure was whenever Infinite would walk by his cell, being followed by that ringing sound followed by a wave of red and he would be forced to relive the hallucination of his friends dying repeatedly.
"They're dead," Sonic gasped out trembling with fear and guilt. "I'm so sorry guys I just wish I'd beaten Infinite when I had the chance."
A new sound echoed through the hallway. Footsteps echoing off the walkway for Sonic turned his stiff, aching neck to face the pair of black boots along with a couple of black clawed feet turning his head ever slightly to see Eggman and Zavok glaring down at him.
"Wake up Sonic. It's a brand new day," Eggman grinned. "Look at you, still holding on to that fragile spirit after all this time."
"It's impressive that his spirit hasn't even been broken after all this time." Zavok rumbled turning to look Sonic in the eye.
Sonic gritted his teeth turning his stiff, aching neck towards the sound of Eggman's voice the rotund figure stood there with his hands clasped behind his back looking down at Sonic with a sullen expression on his face.
Zavok twitched his tail from side to side the long mighty muscular appendage had delivered some nasty blows to Sonic when it was just him and Zavok for the Zeti would happily attack Sonic as revenge for the events which had occurred on Lost Hex resulting in the deaths of the rest of the Deadly Six.
"Yeah, well, your room service is still at the bottom of the barrel and what you ran out of the expired sushi already?" Sonic grinned wincing ever so slightly from the pain.
"Well, it's not my fault that the markets on Mobius are out of fresh fish."
Eggman took several steps towards the bars leaning in ever so slightly to make eye contact with the stricken hedgehog. It was still unbelievable that after all this time Sonic could even make jokes, there was always that spark of defiance that kept burning in the hedgehog's heart. Something still kept Sonic going where anyone else would've surrendered by now.
"Okay, change of subject, then," Sonic shifted his gaze towards the irate Zeti. "I see that you still look stupid as ever Zavok being all chummy with Eggman."
Zavok let out a loud bellow of pure rage slamming both of his fists into the cell bars of Sonic's cage causing the hedgehog to meet his gaze calmly the small frown on his mouth tilting his head ever so slightly meeting Zavok's gaze head-on without a shred of fear in his eyes.
"I will never be friends with the fat one over there. Your Little Resistance keeps on defying us. They're still fighting, believing that you're alive. I would've killed you the moment you were captured."
Eggman let out a low, irritated moan rubbing two of his fingers between his temples a habit he picked up when he was stressed. First Infinite had gone and defied him by not transporting Shadow to the Death Egg. Zavok had overstepped his boundaries again.
"Yes, well enjoy your stay here Sonic. It won't be for much longer."
Eggman turned around walking away with Zavok slamming a fist against the cell bars in one last futile effort to startle Sonic only to see the hedgehog give him a cheeky grin causing the Zeti to fume storming off after Eggman.
The second that both Eggman and Zavok were gone the small grin vanished from Sonic's face, letting his head rest against the cold floor of his cell.
Guys, if you're still out there, please be safe.
The mad scientist was at a keyboard typing in several keys; a different expression was on his face, for he fingered a small gray watch-like device on his left wrist. His eyes focused on a small screen that displayed Mobius with most of the planet covered in red marking the Eggman Empire's territory which included almost all of Mobius with a tiny blue speck represent the Resistance's region.
"I've also ordered Infinite to destroy the prototypes of the Phantom Ruby," Eggman said. "I can't have them falling into the hands of the Resistance."
Metal Sonic and Orbot were in the room watching their creator work. Metal Sonic was Eggman's bodyguard, and most of the time he was usually at Eggman's side, watching his creator work like a silent sentinel ready to attack anyone who was foolish enough to get close to his master.
"The Resistance is defiant. They have hope. I need to find a way to crush that hope and quickly."
"I think that we both know what the answer to that solution is. We have to kill Sonic." Zavok said his tail swishing back and forth.
"No, if we eliminate Sonic at this point the people of Mobius will fight back even harder to avenge their so-called hero," Eggman said typing something on the computer screen the multitude of words appearing on the screen. "Also with Infinite being disobedient I just can't have anything else to go wrong."
"Project Jackal is almost ready and besides Sonic will be dead either of his wounds or starvation since he's been wasting away in that cell sooner or later," Eggman said. "I plan to banish him to space soon, and I'll be the one to do it."
"I should be the one to do it. We should execute Sonic and make it a public spectacle." It'll strike fear into our enemies' hearts."
Eggman rubbed at his temples again an irritated sigh escaping his lips. He wanted to be the one to execute Sonic. He could only imagine the look of pure horror on Sonic's face when he realized that there was nothing he could do to prevent his death. No, he would be the one to finish off Sonic himself as a fitting end to their rivalry.
"No, we're banishing him to Space."
"Execution."
Eggman has turned a distrustful look seeing the Zeti glaring back at him. Now of all times, they were going to argue about the manner of Sonic's execution.
"Or you could drown Sonic and broadcast it," Orbot said. Eggman and Zavok turned to glare at Orbot causing the smaller robot to flinch seeing the Zeti beginning to raise a pair of fingers to his forehead.
"Okay, fine, we'll execute him in the next twenty-four hours!"
Zavok lowered his fingers seeing Eggman glowering at him with Metal Sonic ready to protect his master even though it wouldn't have done any good due to Zavok's ability to control mechs. The Zeti simply smirked as Eggman turned back to his console the scowl was back on his face.
A loud crash alerted Eggman the robotic hedgehog charged forward, ignoring Eggman's shout for him to come back. Metal Sonic appeared in the hallway with his flexing his metallic digits eager to attack the intruder.
The robot spied a brief glimpse of gray fur with a black tip on its tail running away. In pursuit of the spy Metal, Sonic revved his engines racing ahead failing to notice a pair of turquoise eyes peering around the corner.
The gray wolf nervously waited until he was sure that Metal Sonic was gone before he peered around the corner a small smile was on his face. His tail was wagging ever so slightly in excitement at hearing the conversation that confirmed Sonic was still alive.
"So, Sonic is alive. Miss Rouge will want to hear about this."
The young wolf broke into a run slipping out of his hiding place racing down a different pathway amazed at just how vast the Death Egg was mentally having mapped out the space station. The spy came to a stop near the end of the corridor flipping over the small communicator attached to his wrist dialing in several numbers hearing, he static filtering through the device until he heard a sultry voice coming from it.
"Balti what is it, honey? Do you have anything to report?"
"Yes, Miss Rouge I have some good news for you."
The wolf hurriedly filled in Rouge what was going on, seeing the bat's tired face sport a small genuine smile. The smile faded from her face when Balti had told her about the torture that Sonic went through seeing the bat cover her mouth.
"So Eggman's going to execute him soon," Rouge mused the look of concern on her face. "Just promise me you won't do anything reckless."
"I, won't I promise," Balti said without hesitation. "I just hope that Sonic can hold on for a little longer."
He turned his communicator off looking around at his hiding hole. He felt a small spark of hope igniting in his heart. Hope that the news Sonic was still alive would be more than enough to encourage the Resistance to fight back against the ironclad grip of the Eggman Empire.
Gadget sluggishly got out of the makeshift bed, noticing that most of the beds were empty. The wolf hurried down the hallway the muttering of several of the Resistance members. A couple of them were shooting him dirty looks for his performance in the mission just last week. It had taken a full week of bedrest leaving Gadget restless, eager to rejoin the fight against the Eggman Empire.
"Hey, look, it's the wolf who got himself knocked out."
"He's going to get us killed one of these days."
Gadget blushed in embarrassment, seeing several members of the Resistance walking past him one of them mimed a robot smacking Gadget on the back of the head the other two Mobians held back their laughter.
Gadget froze when he saw Raven standing there sharpening his weapon running a critical eye over the small green flamberge seeing Gadget approaching him. Now that Gadget had managed to get a good look at the jackal he had a piece of small green fabric tucked between two of his fingers, his mane which had been previously shaved off was starting to grow back. It almost resembled the beginning of a mohawk.
"Hey, Gadget, I heard about what happened are you okay?"
There was a hint of concern in Raven's voice for Gadget opened his mouth to answer Raven's question only to have a bee come flying right into his face.
"Yes I-" Before Gadget could finish his sentence a bee flew into his face, which Gadget fought the urge to sigh.
"Hello, Charmy."
"Oh, hey Gadget! I'm glad to see that you're up! Oh, and Raven's here too." You guys need to head to the meeting room like now!"
Vector removed Charmy from Gadget's face ignoring the bee's loud protests. Espio had gone on ahead joining the crowd of the Resistance members who were making their way down the hallway into the massive meeting room speculations were about for why their Commander was calling a meeting.
"I dunno what all of this ruckus is about, but Knuckles said that he's got some big news from the Death Egg!"
Gadget and Raven broke into a run joining the large crowd which consisted of every single member of the Resistance gathering around the wooden platform as Knuckles stood on top of it with Rouge, Silver, Amy, and Tails at his side. Right away Gadget noticed the broad smile on the echidnas' face; he held out his hands' palms facing downwards signaling for silence which the crowd immediately complied.
"I'm going to get to the point," Knuckles said smiling. "I've just received some incredible news. Sonic is alive."
If someone had been walking outside the Resistance base, the sound of the loud cheering would have deafened them. As several Mobians were hugging each other, both Tails and Amy had tears of relief in their eyes. The dense cloud of despair lifted from everyone's hearts. Rouge stepped forward indicating for silence as Gadget cheered himself hoarse. Omega was there as well on the edge of the crowd.
"However, that's the only good news I'm afraid," Rouge said with a low sigh. "Sonic is on the Death Egg, and our spy also says Eggman has been torturing him for six months and he plans to execute Sonic within the next twenty-four hours."
The good mood in the room vanished instantly. Gadget's ears flattened. The once small hope that the crowd had was now fading for Sonic's survival hearing a sharp whistle cut through the air. Tails held out his hands.
"Not all hope's lost. We have to launch a raid on Spaceport, and Knuckles, Amy, and I have come up with a plan to do so."
The hope was back in the room again the crowd was speaking in low tones again. Gadget had to wonder at the way that Tails carried himself always. He was Sonic's sidekick and the news that he'd been waiting for had ignited a small spark of hope in the fox's heart.
"The plan is simple. We're going to be sending a small team to Spaceport to borrow a shuttle," Knuckles and a small piece of paper clenched in the palm of his hand. "I've thought long and hard about this decision, and I've decided to send Vector, Charmy, and Espio, Rouge, Raven, Tails, and Gadget."
All eyes were on Gadget pinning the red wolf in the center of the attention as he swallowed nervously past the lump in his throat.
"You can't be serious," A vixen called from the crowd."You're sending the amazing flying wolf?"
"I'm willing to chalk that on the last mission due to inexperience," Knuckles replied. "Besides, I believe that Gadget is fully capable of redeeming himself and we can't waste any more time."
Gadget felt a slight tap on his shoulder, looking at Raven who gave him a small nod of encouragement.
"You can do it. I know that you can."
Gadget nodded, still trying to shake off the nervous butterflies in his stomach. He wasn't going to let the Resistance down again. This time he wasn't going to let himself down as well.
Spaceport. A more fitting name for it would be Eggman's northernmost Chemical Plant located somewhere in the freezing Holoskian tundras. The blue liquid which once flowed through the pipes was frozen over. There was no life to be found here well apart from robotics workers whose sole task was to provide both fuel and weaponry for the ships in Eggman's fleet that came to receive weaponry.
Security was tight at the plant due to it having the only space shuttle in the fleet, and no one even took notice of the black and red hedgehog that made his way into the chemical plant along with a small group of Mobians determined to rescue Sonic.
It was several hours later where the icy cold winds assaulted Gadget's ears running along a pair of platforms that twisted around each other in an infinite symbol almost slipping off the ice-covered platforms with Tails not for far behind him taking out robots in the air with the Chaotix behind him. Raven and Rouge had taken a different entrance to the Spaceport.
Gadget ran ahead the Burst Wispon clasped in his hands the stream of fire shot out of the end destroying several robots effortlessly. Tails dealt with the swarm of Buzz Bombers and robotic birds heading in their direction. Gadget briefly glanced up running out of the way of the falling robot parts. Snowflakes drifted down from the grey overcast sky, coating them all in the snow.
Stay focused. They've given you a second chance. Don't mess up this time. Gadget vowed to himself, seeing Espio run ahead of him kunai at the ready flinging them out with deadly accuracy striking the robots. Vector ran ahead of the group landing bites onto the robots punching them with his fists. Charmy flew around hitting the robots with his stinger. Rouge drill kicked several of the robots destroying them, adding to the small pile of scrap on the ground.
"We need to earn our pay boys!"
"Guys! Just as a heads up Shadow's is heading in our direction!" Raven's voice cut through the air.
Gadget turned feeling a heavyweight come slamming into his side, sending him sprawling to the ground the pained cry was on his lips the grip on his throat tightened. Gadget looked up to see Shadow's crimson orbs staring down at him without a trace of remorse in his eyes. Gadget had never gotten the chance to know Shadow personally, but from the few stories that he'd heard about the hedgehog he knew that Shadow was known as the Ultimate Lifeform and he struggled to make a desperate grab for his Wispon while being suffocated to death.
"Get off him you monster!"
Something tackled Shadow as Gadget slowly sat up, rubbing at his throat wincing seeing both Raven and Shadow tussling on the ground, with the black hedgehog lunging at the jackal's arms, seeing a flash of white against the black fur the pair of white stripes slowly began to appear against the ebony fur. A yelp of pain came from Raven's direction exposing a small pink scar on the bridge of his muzzle.
Gadget's eyes widened upon seeing the small pink scar across the bridge of the jackal's muzzle. "Kaito!" Gadget broke into a run preparing his Wispon the stream of flame shot out of the end of the Wispon hearing Shadow growl in pain turning around to glare at him running forward to land another attack on Gadget.
The second sound of footsteps could be heard spying another black and red hedgehog racing towards them a scowl on his face. Tails tensed seeing the small look of confusion on Rouge's face as the Ultimate Lifeform briefly reaching back withdrawing the Chaos Emerald from his spines.
"Chaos Control!"
The black and red hedgehog teleported into the air, landing a roundhouse kick on the other Shadow sending him crashing to the ground, the Ultimate Lifeform landed on his feet, his expression set in a scowl looking down at the other Shadow lying on the floor.
"Wait a minute there are two Shadows?" Charmy exclaimed in shock. "So we'd been fighting a fake Shadow all along?"
The other Shadow began to glitch out reddish purple particles vanishing with a strange ringing noise. Rouge took several hesitant steps seeing Shadow turn around to meet her. He spied Kaito glaring at him, his lip curled ever so slightly in anger, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his flamberge.
"I knew it," Rouge said with a small hint of emotion."I knew that there was no way that you would break your promise to Maira."
"It's a long story, but the Doctor created a fake of me, and I'll tell you the rest of it later."
"Wait a minute Kaito?" I thought that your name was Raven." Vector growled with suspicion his eyes focusing on the jackal who held his hands up in a peaceful gesture.
"Yes, I know that I lied and my real name is Kaito," Kaito replied. "I know that you have a shit ton of questions and I know Gadget because he's my adoptive brother. I will answer those questions in time."
"Kaito! I thought you were dead." Gadget said, rushing over to embrace the jackal who returned the hug. The sounds of the communicator attached to Rouge's wrist went off the bat opened it.
"Rouge, all of you need to step on it and get to that shuttle. Infinite is heading towards your location, and Shadow was also sighted coming here so you'll have two threats to deal with."
"No, we have just Infinite to deal with," Rouge said with a coy smile. "Eggman created a fake Shadow, and he never sided with the Doctor in the first place."
Rouge explained everything to Knuckles, who listened intently. For Rouge, she felt nothing, but relief for Shadow had never betrayed her and Omega. He'd hadn't broken his promise to Maria.
Tails hovered in the air with the Miles Electric clasped in his hands. "The Space shuttle is just north ahead of here, and there's we need someone to hold of Infinite." Tails said.
"We'll do it. I'm sure that we can distract Infinite long enough for you guys to grab a shuttle," Vector said the rest of the Chaotix nodded in agreement.
"We'll be fine," Espio said calmly withdrawing his kunai. "Besides rescuing Sonic is the goal of the mission."
Shadow clenched his teeth looking up at the approaching black blur. He'd come here to get his revenge on Infinite to make the jackal pay for what he did to him and the rest of the world, but for now, saving Sonic was their top priority. He could get revenge on Infinite another time.
"We need to go now," Gadget said. "We haven't come all this way just to fail."
Gadget, Kaito, Shadow, Tails, and Rouge broke away, heading in the direction of the space shuttle the Chaotix prepared themselves to engage against the masked monster, for they immediately had to avoid several blasts of red energy raining down seeing Infinite hovering there.
"Look at you scurrying about like pathetic insects," Infinite sneered. "It's a hopeless situation, and you're still choosing to delay your inevitable demise."
"Yeah, well we're a team, and we'll go down fighting!"
The jackal simply smirked underneath his mask. Espio responded by throwing several kunai aimed at the jackal when the distorted noise sounded briefly with several more clones hovering in the place. The kunai passed through the glitching clones harmlessly the blades clattering to the ground.
Charmy was being pursued by a couple more of the clones hovering int he air seeing two of the clones come racing at him; he ducked at the last moment grinning as the clones collide with each other vanishing into particles.
Vector unleashed several bubblegum blasts the attack colliding with the clones the jackal stayed in the air an amused smirk firing of a small laser at the gum which exploded covering the crocodile in the pink stinky substance. Espio hurried over to Vector pulling at the little pink wads of gum stuck to the crocodile's body.
"So then this is what you mean by a team going down together," Infinite said. "I think I can honor that request."
Suddenly a sharp, searing pain seared up his backside. The jackal yelped in pain the sound muffled by his mask twisting his whole body around to see Charmy grinning up at him. While Infinite focusing his attention on Vector, the bee had stung him on his backside.
"Hah! Take that; you masked freak!"
Infinite lunged for the bee who flew out of range ignoring the searing pain emitting from his backside for Espio and Charmy had gotten Vector free the four combatants stood glaring at each other a loud vibration tore through the whole of Spaceport the jackal looked around in confusion seeing the broad smile on Charmy's face.
"They made it!"
Infinite swung out a wave of red energy knocking the Chaotix back into a pile of snow. They weren't even worth the effort to finish off in the jackal's mind. He ascended into the air seeing the massive orange and white space shuttle lifting off from the ground.
"You were just a distraction," Infinite snarled. "You're the type of rabble that's not even worth finishing off."
The jackal fired off one last wave of red energy at the Chaotix knocking them down again. He made sure to adjust his mask again before he flew off in the direction away from Spaceport to carry out the other set of orders that the Doctor had given him.
The Chaotix watched him go with Espio glaring after the retreating black dot in the sky.
The thrust that emitted from the space shuttle's engines powered the space shuttle into the air the ground rapidly shrinking. Gadget looked out of the window in wonder as the space shuttle passed through the atmosphere the vast void of space stretched out before the wolf's eyes. Rouge, Kaito, and Shadow glared at each other briefly.
A look of pure hatred was in Kaito's eyes, his fingers resting on the hilt of his sword, his tail swishing from side to side.
"You killed several members of my squad and my half-brother," Kaito growled pinning his ears back against his head. "I will never forgive you,"
"I know that it's too soon for forgiveness and I don't expect it, but I suggest that we call a truce for now," Shadow replied. "For now I suggest that we focus on the mission at hand."
Kaito quietly grunted in response walking away from Shadow going to stand at the window next to Gadget.
"Okay, we'll need to make a plan to rescue Sonic." Tails said, calling everyone over to the table where Gadget felt his anxiety slightly rise before he pushed it down again.
They were on their way to rescue Sonic at last and bring hope back to Mobius. Gadget inhaled deeply his chest rising and falling relieving some of his anxiety, no matter what happened, everyone on board this space shuttle was going to do everything they can to bring both Sonic back home safely.
Author's note This had to be one of the longest chapters of this fic just over 4000 then Kaito is our mystery jackal, and I do try to keep my work mostly sticking to canon, and one of the things that diverge from canon is the fact that some members of the Jackal Squad survived Shadow's attack. I like these guys, and they are another bunch of character that I wanted to expand on.
As for how Kaito and three other members of the Jackal Squad survived you'll have to wait and see who the three survivors are.
It was also my intention to the end the Shadow is evil and working for Eggman again plot in this chapter and if I had, to be honest, I felt like I dragged it out long enough.
Things will start to get better for Sonic, and we're not going to see Infinite for a while.
As always Suggestions/opinions and reviews are welcome and appreciated and I'll see you guys with the next chapter soon.