Shadow's Odyssey 2: The Chaos Continues

Han wasn't exactly sure how the ceiling above him was blown into pieces, but he certainly wasn't going to complain about it. "Hey, furball! Give me a boost!"

Chewbacca grabbed Han and tossed him through the hole.

"I said boost me, not throw me!"

Chewbacca just climbed out himself. Han stood up and looked around. The city had been destroyed.

"It looks like someone dropped a warhead on this place."

Chewbacca blamed Sonic.

"I don't think so. He saved me from falling to my death when I was trying shoot him. Plus, this is his base of operations. Why would he blow it up?"

As Chewbacca tried to think of a reason, he smelled something. He followed the scent to a pile of rubble.

"Hey, where are you going? The exit's that way!"

Chewbacca ignored him and started digging through the pile of rubble.

Han walked over. "What are you doing?" As he got closer, he saw a hand poking out of the rubble. Upon noticing this, he too began moving rubble out of the way.

They uncovered a young woman in a red dress. Blood was oozing out of one of her arms. She lay still, but a quick check of her pulse told them that she was still alive.

"Maybe she can tell us what happened here."

"Okay, we start with populated areas of the city, and spread out from there." Tails outlined.

"Okay, but someone should probably tell him that." Knuckles pointed to Ezra, who was striding purposefully away from the group.

"You guys go ahead; we'll catch up later." Sonic followed Ezra. "Where are we going?"

Ezra gave him no acknowledgment and continued walking. Sonic silently followed. Ezra eventually stopped in front of one the wreaked houses. The young Jedi stood there, staring at the ruined building.

"Is… that your house?" Sonic asked with a sinking feeling.

Ezra slowly nodded.

"Come on, we need to check if anyone's still alive in there."

"There isn't."

The words hit Sonic like physical blows. "I… I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's his."

Tails scanned the area from above, looking for any signs of life. Knuckles moved large chunks of rubble, looking for anyone who might be underneath.

Luke on the other hand, wasn't doing much searching at all. He was mostly lost in thought. He thought about the possibility of Leia being dead. It was clearly the most likely scenario, given how many corpses they had found during their search. But for whatever reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that she was alive. It was obvious the Force was giving him this feeling, but how was it possible?

Then he felt something. A presence. Someone was close.

"Guys, I think I found a survivor!"

Tails dropped back to the ground and looked around. "Where?"

"Behind that building, I think!" Luke pointed.

As they approached closer, an arm stuck out from the other side of the building and threw something at them. The object landed at their feet. It took a moment for Tails to realize what it was, but by then it was too late.

A pulse of energy burst from the device and shorted out all their communication devices. The Mandalorian stepped out from around the corner with two blaster pistols at the ready. They dived behind a pile of rubble for cover.

"You have no weapons and nowhere to run." The Mandalorian shouted cockily. "So you might as well just come on out and make this all quick and painless."

Knuckles picked up the large piece of rubble they were hiding behind.

The Mandalorian took a step back. "What the-?"

Knuckles threw it with a roar. The bolder sailed towards the Mandalorian and just missed as he ducked. Tails was able to use this get in close and tail-swipe his legs, knocking him over. Knuckles, following closely behind, pounced on the Mandalorian and pined his arms.

But he was able to activate his jet pack. They were both launched into the side of a flipped-over landspeeder. Knuckles was knocked loose and the Mandalorian shot upwards to gain some distance. He performed a strafing run, raining blaster bolts on the group from above.

They scattered. Tails pursued the Mandalorian into the sky. He fired a cable at the fox that tied his tails together and caused him to plummet. Luke saved Tails from impact with the ground by catching him with the Force.

Knuckles threw more rocks, but the jetpacked warrior proved annoyingly hard to hit. "Get down here and fight us!" Knuckles bellowed in frustration.

The Mandalorian responded by firing a missile at the echidna. He dived out of the way and it exploded harmlessly.

"We can't fight him like this!" Tails cried.

"Follow me!" Quick as a fish diving underwater, Knuckles burrowed underground. Luke jumped in, still carrying Tails.

The Mandalorian landed beside the hole. Following them down would mean giving up his main advantage. He scanned the area for life and followed the signal from above.

Ezra started at his destroyed house and destroyed life. Sonic hovered nearby, trying to think of a way to comfort him.

"Maybe we should go back and help the others search?" Sonic suggested tentatively.

"You go ahead. I've got something else I need to do."

"Are you sure you don't need my help?"

"Just go."

Sonic's ears flattened as he realized that Ezra must be mad at him. Sonic left to avoid bothering him any further. Ezra started making his way to the Jedi Temple.

Han attempted the start the engines of a cargo freighter to no avail. The ship was too heavily damaged and not in any shape to fly. Just like the past dozen ships he'd already tried.

"Come on! There has to be one ship around here that still works!"

Han exited the ship and walked towards the next one. Chewbacca, carrying the still unconscious Leia, followed.

Before they could reach it, Leia's eyes shot open and she cried out, "Luke!"

She flailed wildly, causing Chewbacca to drop her on the ground.

"Well, rise and shine." Han remarked sardonically.

"What's happening? Who are you people?"

"Just a couple guys trying to find a working ship."

Leia tried to stand up, but her legs crumpled beneath her.

"I wouldn't recommend trying to walk, you're in really bad shape. Speaking of which, you mind telling us what happened to this place?"

Leia thought back to before the explosion. "He was here. That… hedgehog."

Chewbacca began to growl.

"That hedgehog did all this?" Han exclaimed in disbelief.

"He was glowing. And I just… knew something bad was going to happen."

"Sounds to me like all the more reason to get out of here."

Chewbacca roared in protest.

Han stared. "You seriously want to go hunt down the hedgehog who singled-handedly caused all this damage? Have you got a death wish?"

"I need to get back to the temple and find my brother." Leia insisted.

"That place will probably be blown up too."

A rapid thumping of feet announced Sonic's arrival. "Survivors! Are you guys-" Sonic cut off as he realized who he was looking at.

Chewbacca charged at him with a roar.

Sonic easily sidestepped. "Come on, guys! Why can't we all just get along?"

"Get along? You blew up this entire city!" Han accused.

"That wasn't me! That was Shadow! Except it wasn't him, was this crazy, evil wizard who was controlling him."

"It wasn't him." Leia agreed. "I saw the one who destroyed the city. He was different. We had a plan to stop him and Sonic was part of it."

Chewbacca lunged for Sonic again, with no success. The movement caught the attention of the Mandalorian who was pursuing Knuckles, Tails, and Luke. It wasn't the group that he was looking for, but he saw the blue hedgehog marked for termination and target: gamma. He flew towards them and fired a rocket from his jetpack at Sonic.

"Look, you're not gonna catch me, so why don't we just sit down and talk about it?" Sonic looked up to see the missile coming at him.

At the same time Chewbacca charged again.

"Wait! No no no!"

The missile struck the ground between them and exploded.