Third Person (Before Shadow woke up)
"...And that is why I stayed in the city." The female rabbit finished as she surveyed each individual face. She had just told them her tale of why she was in the city and it certainly wasn't pretty.
"I guess that would make sense." the white hedgehog muttered as he rubbed his arm.
The five of them had just woken up and demanded answers to where they were and Vanilla explained it all to them. She had said how she knew there would still be survivors seeing as how the hedgehogs were running amuck, she had turned to G.U.N. (who turned to Eggman seeing as how he had quite a bit of knowledge in hiding) in finding a safe-house for protection. Which is where the six - if including Shadow who was still out cold - were located. She said that if they wanted to rebel against Sonic, they were going to need all the help they could get. So with reluctance, she made herself the "go-getter" as they had said. She would've gone back and forth from underground to the surface to bring back survivors to aid in their cause. And as she just explained, they were literally more than 100 feet under the city.
"What is bothering me is why Sonic is letting there be survivors." Knuckles spoke out after a bit of silence. "I mean, don't get me wrong, but if he really didn't want anyone against him, then couldn't he have taken a little bit of time out of his busy schedule just to kill anyone on sight?"
"I think he wants to install fear in everyone so he could have that pleasure of feeling like he won." everyone looked at Blaze with wide-eyes wondering why she said that. "What? I meant what I said and what I said is that Sonic used to be a hero. Heroes are meant to win. Winning is what will make Sonic feel like he is a hero in his own right."
"But this isn't how a hero behaves!" Amy yelled out only to look at Rouge as she scoffed.
"I think you're forgetting about Mr. Sunshine hun. He is also a hero in his own way. Remember the Ark?"
"I do!" she replied while glaring at the bat before redirecting her gaze to the ground. "I do. But... but Shadow deserves better than this. Same with Sonic. His heart still has some love in it and if we could-"
"Now let me stop you right there Amy." Blaze interrupted her as she looked at the pinkette with her arms crossed across her chest and a raised eye ridge. "Love? What makes you think that love is going to save any of us?" as the pink hedgehog was about to open her mouth and clearly state her opinion that would -in her eyes- 'not fail', Blaze had beaten her to it by throwing her arms to her sides and casting her a glare that burned brighter than the flames she was able to control. "It won't! Love is just a pathetic emotion that is said to be the most powerful when that is just a load of bullshit! That same emotion is what has been clouding your better judgement for half of your life Amy and all because you believed that Sonic had 'loved' you. Well guess what? He hated you with every fiber of his very being but couldn't bare to hurt your feelings so he just simply ran away!" with every word she had said in her little rant, Blaze had gotten closer to Amy until their noses touched. She had pinned a finger directly over her chest while her glare had intensified until literate flames emerged from her eyes.
"He never loved anyone before Sally and he most certainly will never love anyone now. That includes you, you little bitch. We are all sick and tired of you and everyone has just had enough of your presence. Now why don't you take that petty hammer, your over-obsessiveness and your worthless attitude and scram you oversized pink pest." Through all of that, the cat had led Amy backed up against a wall hissing one sentence over the other with a voice just barely over a whisper creating what they would have thought to never happen. The pinkette had tears brimming on the edge of her eyes and letting out a suppressed whimper half sounding of sadness and the other from fear at what she has just been told.
"W-Why are you s-so m-mean?" she let out a choked sob before pushing past the pyrokinetic feline letting tears free fall as she dashed to her makeshift 'room'.
"Blaze, that wasn't very nice." Silver whispered to her as she looked at him.
"What choice did I have Silver?" she asked while crossing her arms over her chest and turning to look at him. "Amy is delusional to think that everything could ever be butterflies and rainbows. Nothing is that simple. Even though I admit, what I said may not be nice, I'm saving her from ever having false hope and getting herself killed over a fake fantasy." Rouge hummed out an agreement with a ghost of a smile.
"She's right you know. And you can't deny it either hun." she walked over to the psychokinetic hedgehog and placed a hand on his shoulder. Silver hung his head after looking towards the echidna for support when he simply nodded his head in agreement.
"I guess you're right but couldn't we have been a little ni-" a blood curdling scream cut him off making all Mobians jump and run after where they heard it come from. When they got there, Silver had to use his powers just in time unless they wanted to get a face full of Amy. Once she was on the ground, Rouge had grabbed her upon noticing a deep slash on her stomach and quickly flying off to get help. Vanilla had also ran after her to dress Amy's wound. In all their excitement, Knuckles, Silver and Blaze had taken a fighting stance as soon as they laid their eyes on Excalibur. His armor had splatters of blood on it but most of it was concentrated on his unsheathed sword -especially on the tip which dripped slightly onto the ground. The red and golden knight had looked at each of them looking for his target but seeing as how he wasn't there, he pointed his weapon at them and glaring slightly through his visor.
"Where is Shadow?" he asked with venom clear in his voice.
"Why should we tell you?" Knuckles returned his question with one of his own. Excalibur's grip tightened when he wasn't given an answer.
"Answer me or face the consequence!" he took a step forward trying to intimidate them but they didn't budge.
"We'll never tell you anything!" Silver called out.
"Fine." Excalibur said through narrowed eyes. "Then I shall find him myself after you perish!" he charged on forward but when he was about to swing his sword, Excalibur was thrown away into a wall when Silver activated his powers.
Blaze and Knuckles ran up to him -fists and fire at the ready- when all three were surprised as the knight had broken free of the psychokinetic hold and nearly nicked the echidna on his nose. Excalibur swung sideways aiming for his head due to Knuckles only having his fists available to him and being easier to predict when said red mobian had leaned back but the sword had just got him right above his mouth. The echidna let out a solid curse with his hand right over his new wound as the knight had jumped onto the wall and leapt off to perform a downward strike.
"Knuckles!" Silver yelled, getting said mobian's attention and allowing him the chance to roll backwards and then pop up into an uppercut punch into the knight's face.
Blaze had now formed a huge fireball in her hands and as their opponent staggered on his feet, she launched it making him crumble to the ground. She was about to form another when she was cut off-guard as the knight threw his sword at her. She leapt into the air but didn't take into account how the sword had changed its course at the last second and lodged itself into her foot. She shrieked as her back connected with the ground and instinctively set a stream of fire at the weapon forcing it out of her foot. With tears forcing their way out of her eyes, she looked back to the battle. Silver was now dragged in with a fist fight as Knuckles was having a hard time standing and Excalibur didn't even look remotely tired.
Not wanting to lose a battle to a foe they thought was weak, she weighed her options and seeing the damage herself, it wasn't pretty. The weapon had struck bone and she knew that if she were to stand, she was either going to fall back down from pain or end up fainting from blood-loss. Putting a fist in her mouth, she summoned fire on her other hand and applied it to her wound. She cried out in pain biting harder making both her foot and fist throb in pain. Tears she couldn't control streamed out of her eyes as she closed the cut. As soon as she was finished, she forced herself to use the wall to stand up. If this was how she was going out, Blaze would rather go out fighting till her last dying breath rather than crying like a coward. Something inside her snapped as she thought that making her feel calmer in this whole situation.
"Don't worry dear. Iblis is here. Why don't you take some time off and rest that ankle? I'll take care of that knight and make him go nighty-night."
In the fight, when Blaze had gone down, Silver let out a battle-cry. How dare that armored hedgehog hurt his friend! The psychokinetic hedgehog tossed a psycho-burst at Excalibur making sure that Knuckles wasn't anywhere in range, sending the hedgehog crashing into a wall. The knight stood back up without hesitation and chuckled as both white hedgehog and red echidna charged at him fists at the ready. He leaned back as Silver threw a punch at his head and then hit Knuckles in his stomach as said echidna had tried to get behind him. Silver tried to sweep him off his feet the same time as Knuckles leeping at him but they both landed in a heap when Excalibur back-flipped over the echidna. Upon seeing his sword just laying on the ground and purple cat attempting to stand, he held a hand out calling his sword back to him and pointed it at Blaze.
"I will give you one more chance to redeem any mercy that hasn't been torn to shreds." the knight growled at her with narrowed eyes. "Where is Shadow?" instead of answering him, the violet mobian lifted her head up and spat in his face on his cheek. He turned his head to the side and let out a mocking sigh. "Very well knave." He met her eyes and rose an eye ridge when he saw her golden -and strangely- orange narrowed eyes. Excalibur gripped his sword tighter as he rushed at the purple cat about to do the killing blow when he was suddenly blown backwards as a fire tornado surrounded her. The knight scrambled to his feet and put up an arm backing a few steps at the intensity of the flames.
"You will not harm these vigilant heroes anymore Knight." a voice called through the flames full of determination and sincerity. "I shall cast you back to your Master where you all will crumble." at this time the flames had died down leaving behind the now orangey-yellow cat. Blaze's clothes had changed to a deep red with a few wisps of blue fire on the rims and hem of her dress. Her boots were still the same design but now had flame markings running around the ankle and her hair also had blue fire on its tips. Silver and Knuckles -who had just untangled themselves stood up and was in awe at Blaze's new look. They only had a second to dodge as a ring of fire had encircled the two fighters as they circled one another.
"Iblis." Excalibur had hissed her name as he twirled his sword in anticipation.
"Knight." the cat spat back making the knight narrow his eyes into a glare.
"I go by Excalibur now you mangy fur ball."
"Is that so you heap of metal?"
"It is." the two had stopped their dance to seize each other up. "And I shall make mincemeat out of you!"
With that, the armored hedgehog charged at the cat dodging left and right when Iblis had thrown fireballs. He struck by swinging his sword to her left only to be met with a fire punch on his right. Again he tried the same tactic on her right this time but met with the same result on his opposite side. Excalibur then feinted his sword upwards catching the cat off-guard as he punched her in the face. A follow-up attack allowed him to swing downwards with his sword aimed at her head but by last second she bended backwards making the knight strike air. Iblis had forced a massive wave of fire out of her palms just as Excalibur was going in for another feint pushing him away from her and out of their ring. She panted as she looked towards her host's friends. Yes the hedgehogs weren't all at their full strength but because she was only just awakened, Iblis wasn't at full power either making this fight all the more harder. She waved a hand at the fire ring making it dissipate and smiling at the two mobians.
"Let's end this puppet together." Knuckles and Silver both nodded with smiles of their own as they stood next to the cat. With new-found strength, the trio didn't wait as the knight had charged at them and they charged at him.
Knuckles had thrown the first punch but Excalibur dodged that and slashed at the echidna's leg. Said mobian yelled out and caught the knight off-guard by feinting a punch to his stomach letting Silver strike at his head. Iblis then fire-punched the knight in the back forcing him into another punch to the head from Silver. Seeing how they were all trying to get him at different angles -and slowly succeeding at it to- Excalibur growled and swung his sword in a full arch forcing both white and red mobians to jump back, then turn around mid swing and slash at the cat's face. Iblis roared when one of her eyes was directly hit and froze when two words had managed to reach her ears.
"SOUL SERGE!" her one working eye widened as she forced her head to look at the knight and everything seemed to go in slow-motion.
Excalibur moved his sword pointing at where the cat's heart would be and instead of a multi-slash attack, energy began to form on the tip. That energy had burst open and zoomed at that cat in a flash of white light. It was going so fast that the cat didn't have time to dodge. It struck its target, paralyzing her and blowing her backwards. She just kept going and going until her back connected with the wall at the end of the hall. And then that's when Excalibur charged forward. With speed his Master was known for, the knight's sword glowed as he then went into his signature multi-slash attack. Unable to move, Iblis had taken every strike including -but not limited to- a cut on her leg, an impale on her left arm and an even deeper slash that would surely leave a scar on her already hurt eye. After his attack had ended he gave one final blow by using his foot and kicking her through the wall and into her host's own makeshift 'room'. Iblis was just barely conscious as she saw Excalibur stalk his way towards her. Just as he was about to deliver the killing blow, an orange blur had gotten him and forced their way out of the room and into the hall.
"Tikal!?" that was all Iblis had heard before her host had taken over. Blaze had seen all of what the knight had done and now she had a bone to pick with him. She slowly forced her way to her feet and started to charge the biggest fireball she could manage in her state.
Meanwhile, said orange echidna had full body tackled Excalibur into the white hedgehog's awaiting psychokinetic hold as he smashed the knight into wall after wall trying to get him in the same state he had put his friend in. Knuckles was the one who said the girl echidna's name as he stood with his mouth hanging open and watching Silver brutally hurt the armored hedgehog.
"Knuckles focus!" Tikal screamed at him as she punched the knight when Silver brought him over to her.
"Oh, right!" he shook his head then charged in for a rapid multi-punch as Silver flung the knight in his direction. The red echidna went right to work throwing punch after punch at the knight's head even managing to put in a small dent. Tired of their playing, Excalibur had broken out of the white hedgehogs hold to punch said hedgehog in the face causing him to stumble back, slashed at red echidna's stomach and was about to throw his sword at Tikal when a voice stopped him.
"This is the end of the line for you!" he merely turned to the voice and only had time to widen his eyes as a fireball as big as the hall came at him.
The other three mobians had caught the warning and ducked in time before a now black armored hedgehog crashed to the ground and skid back a bit before coming to a halt. Blaze had finally stumbled out of the room towards the other three mobians giving them a smile feeling a bit better then how she looked. Suddenly all four mobians tensed as a groan came from the downed hedgehog. They all turned to Excalibur as they watched him climb to his feet and sway a bit. He sheathed his sword and forced his helmet off looking at the other mobians with such hatred, it was a miracle they didn't just spontaneously combust into flames. The light blue fur around his lime eyes had darkened making it look like he was wearing a mask.
"You think you beat me?" Excalibur laughed as he looked from one mobian to another. "I was going easy on you!" he burst out laughing with one hand clutching his helmet and the other over one of his eyes. The way he was laughing had made the four mobians uncomfortable just to be around him. Once his laughing fit had dulled down to mere chuckles he gave an eerie smile. "And you thought I was hard to beat, I'm one of the weaker hedgehogs!" he burst out laughing again as he put his helmet on. He then turned to leave looking over his shoulder towards them. "I shall leave now because you have 'beat' me. At least I have your location and someone far more powerful than me will put you all into submission." he then left in a black blur.
"Well... that was something." Knuckles muttered as he turned to look at the purple cat and saw her condition. "Are you alright Blaze?"
"Yeah." she whispered as she looked herself over. "We should probably tell everyone else what is going to go down." she then looked at Silver and Knuckles. "And get all of us fixed up." Then she looked at Tikal. "After we get some answers."
"Once everyone else is awake Blaze." Tikal said as she began to walk in the direction Vanilla had left.
"But Tikal! We can't wait that long!" Silver yelled. "What if someone stronger comes and we have yet to get any answers or if none of us had healed yet! What then?"
"Don't worry Silver." Tikal turned to look at the three mobians with a smile. "Not only will Mephiles hold Sonic and the others back, we also have Iblis helping us as well." she looked directly at Blaze when she said that and turned to continue walking. "Now come along. We need to get you all healed up."