Chapter 35

Shadow approached, a triumphant sneer on his face, as he said, "Hmph, how fitting. Now I can squash you like the pest you are." Suddenly, a rock hit Shadow in the back of the head and clattered to the ground. He turned around to see Sonic, barely on his feet, one hand pressing his wounds and the other clutching another stone. "Dammit! Why can't you just die already!?" shouted Shadow as he stalked towards Sonic forming a huge Chaos Spear. The wounded hero threw the other rock and it hit Shadow in the chest. The black hedgehog was now fuming as he pulled his arm back to throw the spear.

"LEAVE SONIC ALONE!" yelled Miky as she launched a fireball from her hand with as much ease as her telekinesis. She could feel her anger reaching critical and the angrier she was, the easier her fire came to her. The fireball exploded on impact, leaving Shadow on the ground with the wind knocked out him and his back scorched. With a telekinetic heave, Miky threw the beam of her and jumped up, favoring her uninjured leg but still ready to resume her fight.

Shadow flipped onto his feet and Chaos Controlled back to Miky and in his rage threw a hailstorm of punches faster than the eye could see but she threw a barrier and braced herself against what would be bone-shattering blows. Finding the slightest opening in the barrage, Miky lashed out a flame-covered foot in a viscous kick. It stunned Shadow long enough for Miky to launch her own attack.

She strung together everything Sonic and Knuckles had taught her, punches, kicks, all combined with her telekinesis or pyrokinesis. Sonic had sat back down, unable to stand anymore and watched with a prideful smile despite the pain he was in and how light-headed he was becoming.

She knocked Shadow away with one more kick and he stayed down until Miky turned her back to go to Sonic's side. He raced up behind her and thrust a Chaos Spear completely through her torso. He gave it a twist and pulled it out, grabbing Miky by the throat as she fell over. Sonic gasped as he tried to get up but failed, being too weak now to do much other than pull himself into a reclined sitting position and yell, "NOOO!"

Miky was gasping for air not only from Shadow threatening to choke the life out of her but from feeling the paralyzing energy surge through her internal organs and slowing things dangerously. Shadow held his choke hold as he declared, "HA! See, no matter what powers you have or what your goody-two friends taught you, you're still no match for the TRUE Ultimate Lifeform! And when I'm done with you, I'm going to finish what I started with Sonic!"

"No…" whispered Miky as she began to black out, "No… nobody hurts..." the locket around Miky's neck began to glimmer once more like it had earlier, the light getting brighter and brighter. Shadow had to shield his eyes as Miky regained her senses and shouted, "My friends!" The locket flashed and with all of her remaining strength, Miky sent out a huge blast of telekinetic energy that threw Shadow against one of the building's support columns with so much force and energy, it shattered the concert pillar and the rubble as well as massive amounts of the floors above came crashing down on top of him, completely burying him. Shadow was finally dead; crushed to death under the flaming debris.

Miky stumbled over to Sonic who was teetering on the edge of consciousness. She knelt down again and took his hand which the blue hedgehog gratefully squeezed. His entire stomach was stained red and his glove that he was pressing the wound with was soaked. Sonic stared deep into Miky's eyes as he said. "That was incredible, you were simply amazing."

Miky shrugged bashfully, "Well I had some great teachers. Now come on, let's find a way out of here." No sooner had she finished that sentence, the G.U.N. HQ rumbled again but it was far more violent as you could hear explosions and massive CRASH! sounds as the upper floors were collapsing inward on themselves and the base was starting to fall apart.

"Miky, I have something I really need to tell you." Insisted Sonic as he watched the ceiling above them nervously.

"Ummm can it wait till later? We're kind of in a pickle right now." She replied as she scanned the room for an escape route.

"There might not be a later at this point! Please!" Miky turned and looked at Sonic's face. It was full of fear and that other something she seen before when the group had been ascending up through the tunnel.

She squeezed Sonic's hand back as she nodded and said gently, "Ok, what is it?"

"It's about… what I said earlier… about just wanting to be friends…" Sonic kept pausing not only because of nervousness but because his wounds were making it harder to focus and stay awake. "I lied... I lied about wanting to be just friends with you. I only said that because I thought… I thought it wasn't fair to ask you to return my feeling after… you know, finding out about Shadow and all… But the truth is…" Here Sonic drew in a huge breathe as he looked at Miky with tears in his eyes. It was unclear whether this was from pain or the sheer intensity of Sonic's emotions as he said, "I love you and I want to be more than friends." Sonic's passion seemed to give him extra strength as sat up more and pulled Miky in close for a big hug as he continued, "And if we die in the bottom of this Chaos-forsaken place, I just want you to know how I really feel."

Miky couldn't believe her ears as she stammered, "S-Sonic, I… I…"

The base shook again and the rest of the ceiling was caving in, narrowly missing them and filling the room with choking smoke and raging fire. It appeared as if Miky and Sonic would share the destroyed building with Shadow as a final resting place but one of the walls that would normally open up to the dirt the underground part of the base was surrounded by, gave way and Knuckles tumbled out. He was covered in dirt and wielding his Shovel Claws to cleave through the debris.

Miky and Sonic were stunned as Knuckles shouted over the rumbling and flames, "Well don't just sit there with your mouths open! Unless you want to be buried alive, move it!"

"Sonic's been badly hurt! I don't think he can walk." explained Miky as she helped Sonic to his feet and he mostly leaned on her.

"It's ok, I've carried his scrawny butt outta this hell hole before, and I'll do it again. You can still get around though right?" asked Knuckles as he picked Sonic up bridal style to prevent irritating his injuries.

Miky nodded, "Yeah, lead the way!" They now picked their way through the wreckage as fast as possible as more and more of the upper floors began to come down.

Knuckles reached the entrance to the tunnel he had made and crouched down to enter, "Come on, Tails is waiting with the Tornado outside!"

Miky was about to follow when she saw an enormous metal beam begin to fall right where Knuckles was crouching and acting fast she shoved Knuckles forward into the tunnel with a telekinetic push and a shout of, "LOOK OUT!"

The beam landed with a sound louder than any explosion or thunderclap and when the dust cleared, the tunnel entrance was entirely blocked and Miky was nowhere to be seen. Knuckles was in state of shock as he realized what had happened but Sonic was completely unaware, the blood loss taking its toll on him. Knuckles was snapped out of his daze as Tails' voice crackled through his communicator, "Knuckles? Knuckles what are you doing down there!? The whole building is starting to implode on itself! Get out of there!"

"Uh roger! We're on our way out!" Knuckles hesitantly began to climb back through the tunnel. He was still in shock at Miky's sacrifice and was reluctant to leave without double checking whether or not she could be saved. However, he had heard nothing coming from the other side but more crashing. It was a bitter blow to handle; the beam or another collapse had crushed Miky.

When Knuckles came out of the tunnel, he jumped in the Tornado still holding Sonic. Tails turned around in the pilot's seat and was horrified at Sonic's condition but he quickly noticed Miky's absence. He opened his mouth but Knuckles cut him off with a somber look and a shake of the head. Tails' mouth dropped open and his ears drooped as his grew watery. Another explosion, the biggest yet, roared from the G.U.N. base and Tails whirred around, gunned the accelerator, and took off.

Both the noise of the explosion and plane engine roused Sonic and he looked about groggily, "Ugh… I nodded off for a second there… What happened?"

Tails threw the plane in auto-pilot and grabbed the first aid kit, "You're out of the G.U.N. base and we're going home."

"Wait…" Sonic looked around again and panic jumped to his face, "Wait, where's Miky!?" Both Tails and Knuckles looked down and didn't answer so Sonic shouted again, "Where's Miky?!"

"She… she didn't make it out…" replied Knuckles at last, his voice wavering as Tails bit down on his lower lip.

"No! No! We gotta back! We gotta help her!"

Tails put a hand on Sonic's shoulder as he said, "We can't, it's too late, that building is going to-"

"NO! I don't care we have to go back for her!" Sonic roughly brushed away Tails hand and sat up, looking back at the G.U.N. HQ which was fully ablaze. Than faster than a blink of an eye, the roof gave way and fell down into the pit that held the ruin of the other floors and was no more than a big pile of rubble. "MIIKKYYY!" cried Sonic as tears of anguish ran down his face in rivers. He sunk back down in his seat, face buried in his hands as Knuckles and Tails tried to calm him so that his wounds could be taken care of.

At last, Tails had bandaged up Sonic's wounds; luckily the bullets went all the way through him and put a temporary splint on his, once again, broken arm. The kitsune resumed his seat in front and began to fly the plane back towards home. Knuckles didn't say anything but merely sat with his head bowed, as if praying. Sonic was completely distraught, curled up in his seat and mourning.

A few weeks later, Sonic was dashing from his house in Green Hill Zone, his face like stone. He ran through the rolling, checkerboard hills, snatching up a few flowers as he sped by. Once he had a lovely bouquet gathered, the Blue Blur took off again, this time heading in a completely different direction. He ran until he was carefully winding his way through a gnarled wooded area and cautiously traversing a swatch a boggy marshes. Finally, Sonic was standing in front of a huge pile of charred rubble, the remains of a building. The solemn hero slowly approached the ruin, knelt, and placed the flowers on top. He stood, tears running down his face and dripping off his nose. Sonic turned his gaze to sky and drew in a shuddering breath. This was the first time he had been back here since the final attempt to Miky and the first bunch of flowers he had placed on what was essentially was the raccoon's grave. But, as he wiped his eyes and turned to leave, Sonic knew it wouldn't be his last visit or the last bouquet he would bring to his lost love.

THE END

Author's Note: And there you have it folks! Almost two years in the making and it's finally done! Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story, I can't thank you enough for your reviews and support. It might be a while before I post anything else cause I have school to finish up but you've all been a wonderful audience and I can't wait to write for you again. I hope you enjoyed this story, all of its twists, and my OC, and thanks for reading and reviewing. See you next time. –SonicFanaticinc.