Chapter 29

No one left to fight.

The battle waged on as Sonic and his friends began to fight all of the reploids of them selves and the horrid wolf/robotic creatures. During the first part of the grueling fight, Char and Kamille came with several of the Springwood wolfs and joined the fight. However, things didn't exactly go according to plan.

"Tristan, watch out one of them is behind you!" Tai said as he stabbed his sword clear through a reploid's head.

Tristan turned in time to see a gun pointed at him. He frowned as the abomination fired at him and made a clean shot through his abdomen.

Tristan whimpered. "gahh. No, brothers…someone…help me."

Sonic and Tails noticed that one of their own had gone down and wanted to help him, but they couldn't get to him. They were surrounded by too many machines.

"Someone get to him! He is going to bleed to death!" Sonic screamed.

Preston and Will tried to make it to him, but were both too involved in battle to get close enough. They noticed several of the Springwood wolves try and save him, but they were cut down. There was little anyone could do for him.

Bryce was with Rahu near the front gates and tried to make it back, but once they turned around, one of Robotnik's riot tanks came from inside the compound. They both became too occupied with their own lives to make a path to him.

"Miles, he is doing to die! Can't anyone save him?" Tails said to his twin in a desperate tone.

"No. Death is part of war. You know that Tails."

One of the abomination commanders walked up to the dying wolf.

"Help…someone…." Tristan whimpered.

"I will help you. Do not move, soon, you will feel no more pain."

The commander put a strange device on Tristan and it began to change his body. He became cold. He couldn't feel anything. He couldn't remember his name. He could only remember one thing:

Kill freedom fighters.

Tristan looked at his stomach and watched as it healed completely in a matter of seconds. He then rubbed his hand across his body.

"How did I become healed?"

"You are now half dingo half robotic. You were repaired by nano machines. Are you ready to serve me and lord Robotnik?"

Tristan nodded. "I will serve. I will destroy the freedom fighters."

Tristan took off running towards his new enemies and found the one that his new mind screamed at him to capture.

"Sonic the hedgehog, you are now my prisoner. Come with me."

Sonic turned and noticed Tristan. "What? Tristan, what did they do to you?"

"I do not know this Tristan you speak of. Come with me. The master calls for you." Tristan said as he punched his former friend hard across the head, knocking him out.

Tristan then looked at the raging battle. "Soon the freedom fighters will be destroyed."

Tristan ran back to his commander. Everyone was so busy trying to save themselves; they didn't notice Tristan was holding Sonic over his shoulder.

"Master, I have brought back Sonic the hedgehog." Tristan said as he threw Sonic to the ground.

The commander picked up Sonic and smacked him across the face to wake him up. Sonic coughed and looked up wearily, as the constant toll of the war finally showed in the hedgehog's face.

"Congratulations, you caught me. Now what are you going to do with me? Or do you even know. I mean, none of you have free will."

The wolf commander punched Sonic in the face and growled. "I have more will than you think I do hedgehog. Why do you think that you haven't been able to get in yet? These troops are much smarter than what you are used to dealing with."

Sonic didn't have a witty response. He could hear the confusion in his friend's voices as they were barking commands. Not to mention the screams of several wolves being killed. Sonic never thought Robotnik would get his forces back together this quickly.

"I am to make you one of us Sonic the Hedgehog. The master wishes to end this war once and for all." The commander said.

Sonic's eyes widened with fear. "No. You can't do that. If you change me, I will have to fight my brother. I can't do that. Not again. I'd rather just die right here on this battlefield than fight them again."

The commander looked at Sonic for a long moment and then shook its head. "Sorry, you are joining us. Death is not part of the plan. Do not worry, it won't take long."

Sonic looked over toward Tails and screamed for him, but it was too late. The commander placed the small computer on Sonic's head. After a few minutes, the deed was done.

Sonic was no longer the world's greatest hero, but the world's greatest fear.

Sonic turned and looked at his new commander. "What am I to do my master?"

"Kill the freedom fighters. Kill all of them. End this war once and for all for Lord Robotnik."

Sonic's eyes glowed as he absorbed the command. "I will end this war the only way I know I how."

"How is that Sonic?"

"Quickly."

"Get it done Sonic; we grow tired of this war."

Sonic nodded and dashed into the fray. The Freedom Fighters were destroyed in a matter of moments. Sonic mercilessly spin dashed through all of the wolves from Springwood and several of his former friends before they could do anything to stop him. Over half of the starting force was destroyed within two minutes.

Tails, Antoine, Will and Elias managed to finish off the reploids that had attacked them. Once they looked around to see the state of the battle, they were horrified. All around them, freedom fighters were doing down. All Tails could see was a blue streak going from pocket of fighting to another. As it stopped, they watched their own fighters drop.

"Antoine….what is that….what is happening?" Will said as he stood close to Tails.

"I don't know…it looks like Sonic. What do you think Tails. It couldn't be him could it?"

Tails stood motionlessly staring at the carnage that was ensuing. Everyone, including Rahu, was down. Once the blur stopped to defend against a volley of shots Tails knew who it was. Somehow, they had gotten Sonic, and he certainly wasn't mindless. He knew exactly what he was doing.

"It is Sonic. We are in trouble…..Is anyone else still alive? Look carefully. Where is Joey…where are Hunter and Knuckles?"

Will pointed to several bodies that were lying near the entrance to the stronghold. Knuckles and Hunter had been killed by Sonic as well. "Look Joey is running this way!"

Sure enough Joey was running toward the small remaining band of fighters. He began screaming. "Run, we've gotta run! Sonic is gonna kill everyone here!"

Joey was right as Sonic was coming towards them quickly. They didn't have much time. Antoine pulled his sword. "Go. I will delay the hedgehog. You have to find the time stones. We've used them once before. We failed, and the time stones grew weaker. We figured we'd never need to use them again. I don't think it will work, but it's our last chance. Go to Springwood and get the time stones from Sally. You have to go back and stop this. You are our last hope."

Tails looked at Antoine uneasily. Then, he noticed as a small band of warriors came running from the base. It looked like Fang, but that was impossible; he was dead. He had died long ago.

Elias noticed as well. "They cloned Fang. He has a new army. Look! They are fighting the reploids!"

Sonic turned and immediately went for the small group if warriors. It would not take him long to finish them off.

"Go! Now!" Antoine said as he ran to help the warriors. "This is our last chance! Get the time stones and stop this from happening!"

The four warriors ran as fast as they could away from the base. However, they did not escape unnoticed. The commander of the abominations pulled out a small palm computer and typed something to Robotnik and waited for a reply. He smiled and headed back toward the compound after he saw the response. He had his warriors bring any surviving freedom fighters back with them. They wouldn't like what he had planned for them.

Tails, Will and Elias ran as far and as long as they could until all three were too exhausted to go on. Tails looked at Elias and then at Will. He then realized how grave the situation was and how they had lost everything….and everyone they loved.

"Elias….did you know anything about these creatures? They were smart, fast and had free will! They didn't need commanded and were damn good at leading their warriors. How were we supposed to know about this?"

Elias shrugged. "I knew nothing about this. I knew Robotnik was experimenting with Robotocizing brains, but this seems to be a lot more than that. We have to do what Antoine said. The time stones are the only way to stop this from happening."

"But if the time stones were weakened, how will they help?" Will said.

Tails shook his head. "I am not really sure Will. The only thing I can think is when Sonic and Sally went back and tried to stop the war from evening starting, they drained the stones of almost all of their power. The only thing I can think of is they were either hoping to never have to use them again, or they were waiting for the right time to try again."

Will stood up and sighed heavily. "Don't you think now is a good time to use them?"

"Yes Will, I do think it's a good time to use them. The question is….how long will it take to charge them for use again. I don't know if we can even get the Sonic's old power ring pool. It could take years before we are capable of going back."

Elias stood and looked over the horizon. "Guys….smoke is coming from Springwood. We had better get back. If they destroy the time stones, this present is set. We will be forced to live out our lives in this horrid nightmare."

"You helped cause this nightmare. Don't ever forget that." Tails spat.

"Can we argue later?" Joey said sadly. "You aren't the only ones suffering."

Everyone stopped arguing and headed as fast as they could for Springwood, but it was far too late for their home base. The foursome stopped in their tracks as they noticed the small town was completely engulfed in flames. Bodies were strewn all over the place and it was clear that Sonic had done this. No one else could have gotten there that fast.

"Quick, Will, Tails, Joey….we've got to get into the base before everything is destroyed!"

The four ran into the building that lead underground and ran for the elevator. Once they made it underground, things got worse. Everything was destroyed and every soldier was lying dead on the floor. However, once they reached Sally's room their worst fears were realized.

Sally lay on the floor, dying very slowly from a wound on her side.

"Tails….come here….thank god…they didn't get you too."

"Hey Aunt Sally, hang on and we will get you some help. Just hang on ok?"

Sally coughed and sighed. "It is too late for me. Just take the time stones from the safe on the wall. Go back and stop this."

"But….how long will it take to power them up, Aunt Sally? How long do we have to keep living in this world?"

"It should only take a few minutes once you get a power ring. You will just have to have make it to Knothole. Once they gain back what little power they have, all of you must touch them and say what time and date you want to go back to. Remember, everyone is counting on you. Don't let Sonic be the one that kills us all. I saw the tears running down his face as he killed everyone. He knows what his body is being forced to do."

"Don't worry Aunt Sally, we will stop this." Tails said. As he began to speak again he noticed that Sally had died. He stood up and silently walked to the safe and deftly opened it and took the stones. They glowed slightly in his hands before going dark once again.

"Well….we have them. Now what is the plan?" Elias said in a grim voice.

Tails looked at the only three people left that could stop this war and frowned. "The plan? The plan is to get these stones working and go back and kick Robotnik's ass and stop this from happening."

"What if we fail Tails?" Will said sadly.

"We won't fail. We mustn't fail."

To be continued…