Two days later...
"Eggman's Army has broken through!" Amy exclaimed. "They're inside of Park Avenue!" She stared at the display on the monitor in front of her. "We need to get those people out of there!"
"Who can we send?" Knuckles asked, frustrated. "Silver needs to heal, and Sonic is still tied up in the Mystic Jungle."
Espio the Chameleon suddenly spoke up over the radio. "We've engaged enemy forces at Seaside Hill. We can see Park Avenue from here, but we can't spare anyone!"
"This is Patrol Group Eight!" A fox's voice spoke from another distress channel. "We're pinned down under heavy fire! Park Avenue is falling, fast!"
Knuckles stared intently at the holographic display on the Command Room's center table. Various symbols and numbers sat hovering all over a virtual map of the Mystic Jungle and its surrounding area. On the Eastern side sat Park Avenue and the neighboring Seaside Hill. Personnel counts sat above the locations' names, showing how many Resistance soldiers had been assigned to defend those locations.
Even though the initial battle in and around the Mystic Jungle had been won, Eggman's robotic forces were still pushing hard to retake lost ground. The less-defensible villages were being evacuated, but a number of locations simply had too many people to relocate quickly, or a local militia that had insisted on defending their families and homes to the last.
The display couldn't show changes as they happened, but the red echidna knew that the longer things went on, the more people perished under his command. He sighed. "Looks like I've got no choice." He thought aloud.
POV: Kyle "Red" Rubyen
I was still shepherding people to an evacuation shuttle when my comm link beeped at me. "Rookie, come in." Commander Knuckles's voice spoke through it.
I tapped my communicator, knowing he'd receive a blip telling him I was listening.
"Change of plans. There's a pair of connected towns a few miles away from you, and they're under heavy attack. I need you to get over there and counterattack. I know it'll be tough, but we're stretched thin; all local forces are already strained. You're our best troop available, so we're counting on you. Get over there and save those civilians!"
"Ten-Four." I responded, reflexively using police terminology. I glanced around, and saw a pair of fighter pilots gearing up for takeoff. They'd serve as aerial escort for the evac shuttles. I happened to know the route they'd take, and it just so happened that we'd be flying right past Park Avenue.
I dipped through the crowd of people boarding the crowded shuttles, and approached one of the pilots. "I need to get to Park Avenue." I told her. "Fast. Think I could get a lift?"
The wolf blinked, and thought for a moment. I could almost see the lightbulb go off in her mind as she grinned, a devious plan forming inside her head. "Sure," she began, "but my ride's only got room for two, and I need my copilot." She winked at me. "I got an idea, though. How strong is your Wispon grapple?"
15 minutes later...
"Jump!" The pilot ordered over the radio. I could only just hear her over the raging wind buffeting me, hanging onto the wing by one hand and a carefully-placed grappling hook. Below me, a citywide warzone was being waged. Explosions everywhere, and I could hear the gunfire even from two hundred feet in the air, zipping past at a speed shockingly close to that of sound itself.
I released the hook keeping me on the wing, and leapt. The wind ironically calmed down a little at that precise moment, as I immediately started losing the forward momentum from the fighter jet.
Then I began to freefall. The wind picked up again, this time buffeting not just my face but my entire body. I was so high up I had a bird's-eye view of almost an entire quarter of the city.
It wasn't looking good. The Resistance was putting up a fight, but Eggman's forces outnumbered us more than five-to-one. There had to be over a thousand Eggbots in Park Avenue alone.
An Egg Drone happened to fly past me, missing me by only a few yards. It whipped around, putting me directly in its sights.
But I didn't have to worry. A missile soared past me from behind, slamming directly into the drone and engulfing it in a fiery explosion that left nothing but scraps of metal small enough to hold in your hand. A second Resistance jet roared past me.
"That one's on the house." The jet's pilot radioed me. "You're on your own from here on out, though, Agent. Good luck!"
I wanted to reply, but the wind likely would have stretched my lips so wide I'd be unable to say anything, anyways. So instead, I settled for a mid-air thumbs-up, hoping the fighter's occupants could see it as they zipped past me again, heading back for the village we'd left only a few minutes ago.
I plummeted through the air, rapidly approaching the hard ground below me. The buildings grew larger and larger as I drew closer, and I readied my Wispon, aiming for the edge of one tall building's roof.
Wait for it… too far… bad angle… NOW! I fired the grappling hook. The line shot out of my wrist-mount and sailed through the air as I fell. The hook slammed into the corner of the roof and latched on tight. The line freely retracted as I fell closer and closer, just off to the side of the building. One more second… and… go time! I locked the grapple line, stopping it from retracting any further. Now, it was short enough that I wouldn't just slam into the pavement, but long enough to be useful.
I dropped below the building, the line went taut. My momentum swung me forwards at a blistering speed. With practiced ease, I released the hook from the building as I reached the peak of my arch, and the line immediately zipped back into my Wispon. I soared through the air faster than I could ever run, clearing an entire war-torn street in the blink of an eye.
Ahead of me was an intact archway. Far enough ahead that I wouldn't fly over it, but close enough that I could still use it to get me further along. I waited until I was close enough before firing my grapple line out at it. The hook snagged onto the archway just as I was about to hit the ground, carrying me only a few feet about the hard, concrete road as I began to swing upwards again.
With my sheer momentum rapidly depleting to one where I could manage a safe landing, I started looking around for a good spot to do so. Finding one in only a few short moments, I immediately veered towards it.
I let my swing propel me almost straight up into the sky, which would help reduce my uncontrollable momentum even further. As I began to fall, I aimed my Wispon at a convenient rooftop near my chosen landing zone.
A few moments passed as I freefell, gaining speed rapidly. One more second… Now. I fired the line. This time, instead of swinging, I forced it to retract very quickly, pulling me forwards along with it.
As I neared the roof, I released the line, angling my body so I could sail clear past the side of the building without slamming into it facefirst. I soared through the air, rapidly approaching the hard ground. A quick redirecting grapple line swing changed my direction midair, allowing me to land on my feet at a full sprint.
I nailed the landing as perfectly as if I'd practiced it a hundred times. It wasn't even hard enough to force a grunt out of me. With my momentum, I was running fairly fast just to keep myself from toppling over, which suited my need to get closer to the distant action just fine. Breaking into a sprint, I dashed down the road.
My comms crackled to life. Amy Rose's voice spoke with authority. She'd obviously been speaking to someone already, and I'd only just gotten close enough to receive the transmission. "...aotix, I need a status update on the people who couldn't evacuate in time."
"Espio here." The chameleon responded. Evidently, he was in the area. "We're engaging enemy forces, and can't search for civilians right now."
"The fighting is too fierce for us to help out, either!" A soldier spoke from somewhere else. I could hear gunfire in the background through his mic.
"I'm on site." I reported, verbally barging in.
"Well," Commander Knuckles said, "it sounds like you're our only hope, Rookie. The rescue is in your hands!"
Oh, ok. No pressure there, at all. I thought sarcastically. Just gotta blaze through a few thousand robots and search for people who are no doubt trying to remain as hidden as possible. Piece of cake.
I dashed down the road, rapidly approaching its end, leading into a building. To my left was a river channel leading through the city. A bridge extending from the top of the building in front of me led across. I could hear gunfire in the distance from that direction. That's where I need to go.
Evidently, the building in front of me had been built to support skateboard athletes, because the road led straight into an arch that would land me directly on the second floor of the building, an open-ended balcony awaiting anyone who might use the loop-de-loop. The bridge I needed to get to was on the third floor, just above the balcony.
I poured more effort into running as fast as I could, and that extra burst of speed allowed me to run all the way up the loop, ending up almost completely upside-down by the end of it.
Deciding to be theatrical for myself, I leapt off the loop, straight past the balcony railing and into the open air. Spinning around to face the building again, I fired my grapple line at the roof. A forced retraction shot me clear over the railing, letting me perform a nice little aerial roll before landing on my feet, ready to sprint down the bridge.
A few Eggbots on the bridge turned to face me, and I smiled mirthlessly. You pieces of scrap can't stop me. I dashed forward, letting off a bout of flame towards the first robot, and using my grappling hook to reel me in for a rather powerful kick to the second bot. Leaping straight up into the air from that, I launched my grapple line at the third and final Eggbot, which was still hopelessly trying to aim at me. I was just too fast for them.
One reel-in kick later, and I was the only combatant left standing. I sprinted across the bridge. An explosion some point in the past had blown off the end of the bridge, but I could still use the buildings on either side of the road ahead to cross the gap safely.
A fun little swing later, and I was back on solid ground. I found myself face-to-face with an entire 8-robot group of Eggbots. They were as surprised to see me as they were unprepared for the wall of flames I shot out at them, incinerating their circuitry in seconds.
The road eventually led me to the top of a hill. When I reached the top, I found myself on the wrong side of a giant gap. A glance down told me it was more than deep enough to cause some rather unfortunate injuries if I happened to trip.
So, like the sensible person I am, I sprinted forward and leapt straight into the gap. Using my impeccable sense of timing, I fired my Wispon grapple at the closest building on the far side of the gap just as I started to fall. The line just barely reached the building, snagging on the corner of its wall and reeling me in rapidly. I released the line whence I was close enough to the edge, and landed back on the road a few feet ahead of the sudden drop behind me.
I could see a bonafide warzone to my left, at the bottom of the hill, which was starting to look more and more like a mountain as I realized just how high up I was. Half a dozen rows of trenches lined the earth over a hundred feet below me. Sporadic bursts of gunfire erupted out of them at the innumerable lines of Eggbots marching steadily towards them.
The robots were definitely taking heavy losses, but there were so many of them that even from here I could tell the trenches would be overrun within half an hour. And that's if the men in the trenches don't just run out of ammo before the Eggbots even reach them.
In the thick of it, I spied Vector the Crocodile going to town on any Eggbots that were unfortunate enough to come near him. As I watched from far above, Vector threw a punch at one such Eggbot, sending it flying away from him, an indent deep enough that I could see it from all the way up the hill making it obvious the robot wouldn't be getting back up.
Vector spun to face the next robot, and almost as fast as I could blink, he lunged forward and slammed his crocodile teeth around the walking mechanical sphere. He shook his head from side to side, ensuring major internal damage to the bot, before tossing its metallic corpse at a nearby group of Eggbots, bowling them all over before they could react.
The Team Chaotix leader followed up his ranged attack with a leap into the air, his arms above his head and his fists clenched. The croc used his sheer strength to slam into the ground hard enough to make a shockwave that demolished what few Eggbots had survived the impact from the large projectile that had previously been another robot.
I smiled, and almost chuckled. No Eggbot's gonna get past Captain Vector. I returned my attention to the road in front of me. Just in time, too. Before my eyes, a cluster of transport robots barreled onto the road from a side path. A couple of them, amusingly, slammed into one of the buildings, unable to slow down enough to avoid hitting it. A few Eggbots were crushed, and their bulky scrap bodies tumbled off of the transport, landing lifelessly on the concrete road.
Still, more than enough of them remained to provide quite a powerful defense against attackers such as myself. I'd have to be nimble and very careful if I wanted to take out this herd before they reached their destination.
I raced forward, getting closer and closer by the second. The Eggbots sitting atop the herdbots finally spotted me, and opened fire. I ducked and dodged, leaping over some energy bolts, and sliding underneath the path of others. I settled into a good zig-zag rhythm, changing it up every few seconds to throw them off, ensuring they could never properly line up a shot on me.
After the longest fifteen seconds I'd experienced all day, I finally got close enough to go on the offensive. A grappling hook latching onto the center of the nearest herdbot allowed me to reel in, a quick burst of fire turning the closest Eggbots to cinders before they could turn around.
In a happy accident, I realized that the sheer force of my reel-in was enough for a conclusive kick attack to send the herdbot toppling over. Its legs tangled and wrapped around each other, and after a surprisingly short amount of time, one of the legs was snapped in half from the strength the others put on it in the chaotic scramble as the herdbot's CPU was unable to process what was happening to it.
The snapped-off end of the leg was hurtled downard with enough force to pierce through the metal carapace. From the sheer amount of resulting sparks that came out of the hole around the impalement zone, I knew the leg had gone clean through the herdbot's core reactor.
Before I could begin to properly fall back to the ground, I used my Wispon to reel onto the next herdbot. The defeated one behind me dramatically exploded as its damaged core overloaded. The fireball consumed all of the Eggbots that had survived the tumble.
The second herbot soon joined its fallen brother as I stuck my Wispon into a maintenance hatch and burned a hole clear through the reactor inside. Leaping to the next transport in the herd brought me a safe distance away from the subsequent explosion.
By now, I was so close that even a simple turn of my body was enough to majorly throw off the aim of the Eggbots. I couldn't help but chuckle as a few of them happened to nail their own comrades in their futile attempts to shoot me out of the air.
As I set about wreaking havoc and destruction upon the herd of transport bots, it occurred to me that I'd come a long way from the scared hedgehog from just a few months ago. That man had been terrified by the sight of just a few Eggbots. Now, here I was, facing down an entire deployment of them, thoroughly outmatching them to the point they couldn't even land a hit on me. The ease with which I dealt blow upon blow to them all surprised even me.
Almost before I knew it, it was over. The final herdbot fell below me, its reactor going critical. I grappled onto the nearest building, using it to swing me forward, clear past the explosion that claimed the last of the Eggbots around me.
Ha! And the other Agents call me Rookie. I pumped my fist once in a brief celebration before continuing on. I ran forward, eventually reaching a sudden end to the road. There had previously been a bridge or a ramp of some sort leading down the hill into a plaza almost fifty feet below me, but the entire ramp had been blown to smithereens some unknown amount of time ago. Now, all that awaited me was open air and a hard landing.
That is, until I realized the building edges around me were still viable grapple points. Using an overhanging balcony, I performed a theatrical aerial loop-de-loop, sending me hurtling downwards towards the plaza in a controlled fashion.
The Eggbots in the center of the plaza didn't even see me coming. Their first indication was the sudden appearance of a grappling hook latching onto one of them. Before even I could blink, I was upon them, slamming into the Eggbot feet first. Backflipping off, I landed in the center of the plaza, the other Eggbots positioned in a circle around me.
It was almost too easy to turn up the heat. I spun in a circle, discharging my Wispon's flames towards the gathered robots. In mere seconds, I was surrounded by burning hulks of steel and melting circuits.
I immediately broke into a run, leaping clear above the flames and firing my grapple at the plaza's upper level. After dealing with the three Eggbots that had been up there, I continued onwards, working my way towards the front lines.
An hour passed as I continued to wreak havoc upon any Eggbots I encountered. The Sun was almost ready to set.
Suddenly, an ecstatic soldier's voice shouted over the radio channels. "This is Rescue Force Seven! We've broken through the enemy lines!" He exclaimed. "The rescue is underway! Seaside Hill is already secure, and Park Avenue is holding strong! The enemy's starting to retreat!"
I could almost feel the atmosphere shift as Resistance forces all over the city gained renewed vigor, the hope of victory pushing them onward. The renewed strength brought about by this second wind was immediately obvious; every time I glimpsed allied forces, they were steadily advancing on the Eggbot army, and the robots were falling fast.
So distracted by it all, I didn't even see Agent Espio until I'd already passed him, having blown through the Eggbots that had been attacking the infantry under his command. My first indication of his presence was when he radioed me.
"Nice work, Rookie!" The chameleon congratulated me. "A fine display of skill. There are still a few squads further ahead that could use your support." He informed me. "My men and I will hold this area." After a brief pause, he spoke again. "My second wants me to tell you to 'bring the heat.'"
I smirked. "Those robots will be nothing but ashes when I'm through with them." I replied.
As I crested over the next hill, I saw a line of Eggbots approaching. As they reacted to my approach, all I could do was smile. Time to teach these metal goons that the Resistance isn't going anywhere. This battle ends, today.
I was a force to be reckoned with, and today, Eggman's army would learn this the hard way. The city of Park Avenue would hold. Eggman had lost this battle, already.
He just didn't know it yet. I primed my Wispon for more flames, and leapt forward at the line of robots ahead. Time for reality to catch up.