AN: 3 days early but happy birthday, TheLostEternity!
Special thanks to TheSensationSpiderDom321 for following this story!
Chapter 11 – Hidden Depths
Australia (10 months ago)
I know that I think about others by the actions that are showing, right? Their appearances and how they behave? Take them for granted a little too early?
Well…there was this thing Belt taught me.
I was editing a song to make it sound better on my computer when I heard Belt laughing.
"Stop it!" he giggled. "That tickles!"
I raised one eye. I wondered what Belt was doing.
To make things strange, I heard strange warbling noises.
I stood up and went out of my room. Using my sense of hearing, I heard Belt laughing from his bedroom. At this kind of time, I thought that he would be watching the YouTube videos we like to see. However, when I opened his door, he was just on his bed.
"Belt?" I said.
"Huh?" he said, sitting up.
"What's going on here? I heard you laughing and…"
"Oh. I was just talking to this fellow here."
He pointed to this person he was talking to…
…or at least at nowhere.
There was no one else in the room.
I curled my lips. "Eh…are you talking to yourself?"
Belt blinked. "That's strange, I thought that he was just next to me and…"
The red wolf looked around, trying to find the 'person' he was talking to. Eventually, he shrugged, giving up.
"Never mind," Belt said. "I was just-"
That was when out of nowhere, something appeared right up in my face.
I jumped backwards, screaming.
"ARGH!" I screamed.
This thing was some kind of small, flaming, red teardrop with two small spikes at the top, three blue eyes that form a triangular pattern on its head and three flame-like tentacles that stem from its bottom. It was hovering towards me.
I went into a fight-flight mode. I didn't know what that thing was or where it came for, but it look like a threat to me. I started to become extremely nervous and started to run back to my room. I ran across the living room, but the flying red flame went flying towards, circling around my head.
At this, I let out another scream and turned on my heel. I went to the other direction, but I tripped over the carpet and fell onto the floor.
"KYAH!" I screamed as pain flared through my body.
As I tried to get up, the red flame hovered in front of me, waving with one of its tentacles.
I cowered, my back hitting the couch and placed my hands over my head. I was unable to move due to my anxiety and I could only tremble in fear.
"P-P-Please d-d-don't hurt me…" I whimpered.
"Clay…" said Belt.
I looked upwards to see Belt in front of the red flame. For some reason, he looked…calm.
"Calm down," he said. "That little alien isn't going to do anything to us."
"A-Alien?" I said.
At this, the red alien slowly went up and rubbed my face with one of its tentacles. I flinched and immediately stood up.
"Why is there an ALIEN in our house?" I asked.
Belt chuckled. I growled frustrated.
"T-This isn't funny!" I said. "Do you know how dangerous that can be?"
"Don't worry," said Belt. "He is friendly. He's a Wisp!"
I was dumbfounded by this. "Wisp?"
"Yeah!" said Belt as the Red Wisp floated upwards and sat on his head. "Don't you know?"
I shook my head as if the answer was obvious.
"Geez," said Belt. "You REALLY need to look at the news more. These Wisps are little, cuddly aliens. Their planet was saved by Sonic, so some of them moved over to Earth to help the blue hedgehog in any need. However, a portion of them spread throughout the world, making Earth their new home. This little fellow here just came into my room. He can be sneaky at times!"
I looked at the Red Wisp as he squeaked adorably. My eyes narrowed.
"Are you crazy?" I said. "First, you disallow me from meeting any new people and NOW you let THAT stranger in?"
Belt frowned. "Clay. This is my first time seeing a Wisp for once. OUR first time. I didn't expect a small critter to be on my face this morning. I didn't really thought that he would be here as well."
"But it's an alien. We don't know what they are capable of."
Belt sighed and ruffled his hair. "Let me tell you this; I know that I told you that I can't let you go outside, but when you grow up, don't judge a book by its cover. Sometimes, not all people are what you see. They aren't really how you think they are. Some of them show their true colors, but others have hidden depths in which you might not know. The world already accepted these guys and they are friendly to all, thanks to Sonic. Not all aliens are 'bad'. I don't know which alien species are evil, but those Wisps are nice. If this Red Wisp doesn't have any ill intentions, then we can trust him."
I was skeptical by this. I kept looking at my brother and then at the Wisp. I was still wary about the little red alien, but looking at him, he looked cute and innocent. I felt slightly guilty for being impulsive, so I decided that Belt was right.
I should have known that the Wisps are living in our world now.
"OK then," I said. "Sorry…I…I g-g-g-guess that because I've never met anyone new, I thought that they are what they are…are….b-based on…t-their appearances and behaviors."
Belt smiled. "Good. Don't worry; you will know when you meet new people someday."
I looked at the Red Wisp. "I'm sorry, little guy. I thought you were a threat at first."
Seemingly understanding me, he babbled and flew towards me. He circled around me before touching one of its tentacles on my muzzle.
I chuckled.
He then touched my chest, wrapping his tentacles as if giving me a hug. When he let go, he twirled around and babbled something.
"Hmm?" I said. "What is he saying?"
Belt pulled out a notepad and a pen in which the Red Wisp happily took. He wrote something on it before showing it to us.
I read the message. "I can't stay here for any long. I still have a lot of places I want to explore."
Belt nodded and patted the wisp on the head. "Alright then, little guy. It's nice to me you."
The Red Wisp let out a happy squeal before circling around us. The moment was joyful, almost my first time meeting a new person…or alien.
I hadn't seen OR remember that Red Wisp for a while. However, I remembered what Belt told me. I shouldn't judge others by the way they look and act.
And on my mission in San Francisco, I saw a new side of Bubblegum and Mecha.
San Francisco
Anyway, we were all huddled up in one of the Resistance's rescue shuttles; enough to carry a handful of people. It was taking us to San Francisco and the current situation was really tense. Apparently, spending at least 30 minutes in a large ship would make you think that the day will never end.
I was sitting on a bench by myself. I looked on the other side to see a worried Bubblegum and a smiling Emerald.
How can that rabbit smile at a time like this?!
"Do you think we will be able to get all those civilians out of there?" said Bubblegum.
"Don't worry too much!" insisted Emerald. "We will save them and get every last one to safety."
"But there are a LOT of them out there. The civilians are scattered around the town."
"I think we will be fine. They will be fine as well. Don't dwell on the fact that every one of them will die."
I guessed that was a good advice, but it didn't calm my nerves down.
"Alright!" said Sonic, looking out the window. "We are almost there! Time to bust some bots."
"Whoo…" said Mecha flatly.
"OK, guys," said the pilot. "When the ship lands, be quick on your feet and get out there to save the civilians. The ship has to stay here to not attract any attention from the Eggman army or else nobody can get out. Clear the town, save the people and most importantly – get the hell out of the city as soon as possible."
"Well, good luck to all of us," said Sonic, flexing his arms.
"May God be with us all," said Bubblegum nervously.
Mecha scoffed. "No stupid God is going to be with us. We are on our own."
I silently prayed under my breath. We all stood at the shuttle door as the ship landed.
"Are you all ready?" said Sonic.
At this, the door opened. We rushed out from the shuttle and onto the streets of San Francisco.
It was chaos out there.
There were a lot of robots out loose on the streets. Fires flared high from the burning buildings and random explosions could be heard. Broken debris laid on the floor. The sun was rising at that time, but its beautiful landscape was ruined by the rising, dark smokes.
"I need a status update on the people who couldn't evacuate in time!" said Amy.
Bubblegum checked her ear piece. "The people here are split up in three groups. There is one nearby the harbor, one on the east and the third in the middle. We should all split up and find those civilians!"
"Sounds like you're our only hope," said Knuckles. "The rescue is in your hands!"
There was another call.
"GUYS!" called Shark. "Shadow has found our hiding point! He found us!"
"Shadow…" said Sonic stopping. "The last time I saw him, he was fighting for Eggman."
"That doesn't make sense," said Knuckles. "Why would Shadow help the enemy?"
"Perhaps he's being controlled by that strange power?" said Silver.
"Maybe that bastard just feel like helping Eggman…again," said Mecha grimly. "Pathetic hero."
"Whatever it is," said Sonic. "I'll figure it out!"
"WATCH OUT!" cried Emerald suddenly.
She quickly tackled Sebastian to the other side as a large laser nearly shot us down. We looked up to see a robot.
A FREAKING GIGANTIC ROBOT.
It was about three times the size of an apartment building and had heavily armored legs, thin arms with cone-like forearms and jet packs on its back.
"Quick!" shouted Sonic. "Get out of the way!"
"We will catch up with you later!" said Sebastian before he and Emerald ran off.
Sonic quickly grabbed Bubblegum's hand and mine on his left with Mecha's on the right, and pulled us away before the robot shoot at us again.
"Those are Death Egg Robots!" said Silver. "They're being mass-produced now?!"
"This ain't good," said Vector. "Might be too much for the rookies to handle."
"Don't worry!" said Sonic. "Things will be fine, right guys?"
"Oh crikey…" said Bubblegum sarcastically. "It will be FUN to be blasted to pieces by THAT thing."
"See?" said Sonic cheerfully, despite being aware of her sharp mouth.
Mecha swore in a foreign language.
We were able to hide at a spot away from that robot. Sonic discussed a quick plan with us.
"OK," he said. "You guys save those civilians stuck in the middle. I'll help the civilians caught by Shadow."
"Are you sure?" I said.
"I'll be fine," said Sonic. "I fought with Shadow many times."
At this, he ran off.
"In conclusion, he's going to die…" muttered Bubblegum.
Rolling his eyes, Mecha ran off.
"Hey!" said Bubblegum. "Where are you going?"
"If you want to save those civilians, best to go now!" said Mecha matter-of-factly before pulling out his Wispon and sped off in a fast pace.
I just stood in my spot, staring at the devastating scenery.
"C'mon, you idiot!" said Bubblegum, grabbing my hand and pulled me into a run. "Let's go!"
Third Person's POV
Sonic dashed through the heavy firearms of the damaged and burning city. He charged through with his super speed, destroying many robots on the way.
"The civilians are nearby!" said Amy. "Shadow is there as well so be careful!"
"Got it!" said Sonic.
He soon reached a large clearing. There were several explosions and smoke rising high from a nearly ruined bunker.
"So that's where they are," said Sonic to himself. "I wonder what Shadow is doing with them."
The blue hedgehog busted through the metal door and raced down the stairs. He got into the underground room where he found that it was madness inside.
In a large room, Shark and Gen were in front of a large crowd of people, trying to defend them. In the middle were Shadow and Alexia in a battle. Shadow was using his chaos control while Alexia was using her teleportation. The rabbit-fox was tired due to wasting almost all of her energy, but she kept going. Their bodies were a blur, crashing into walls. Eventually, Alexia kicked Shadow into the air and used her teleportation to kick the black hedgehog from every side.
POW!
She summoned a heavy punch, throwing Shadow to the wall and his body broke through it, leaving a hedgehog-shaped hole.
"This is what you call 'an opening'!" Alexia said cheekily as she fall onto the floor, gasping for breath.
"Sonic!" said Shark.
"How is everyone?" said Sonic smiling.
All the people cheered, happy to see that their savior was alive after all those long 6 months. Hope could return at that moment.
"Everyone get out of here!" said Sonic. "All of you head outside and get to the shuttle that is parked on the mountains."
He pointed to Shark, Alexia and Gen who got together.
"You guys are one of the Resistance squads, right?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah…" said Alexia.
"You guide the civilians to safety!" said Sonic. "I'll deal with Shadow."
"What about you?" said Gen.
"I'll catch up with you guys once I'm done with-"
BOOM!
A nearby explosion could be heard. It was clear that the black hedgehog had unfinished business.
"…him," said Sonic. "GO NOW!"
The Sapphire Squad hurried the civilians out from the room and up the stairs. Sonic looked back to see Shadow flying out of the hole.
"Alright," said Sonic. "What's the deal?"
Shadow made no response and charged towards Sonic, kicking the blue hedgehog hard in the face. Sonic hit the wall, a bruise appearing on his right cheek.
"Are you going to answer or what?" asked Sonic.
The black hedgehog made no respond and launched a chaos spear at Sonic. The latter quickly sped to the other side just before the spear hit him. It crashed into the wall, exploding. A part of the room starting to crumble.
"OK then," said Sonic. "Guess I'm gonna have to beat the heck out of you to get some information."
He curled up into a ball and did a homing attack…only for Shadow to block and kick him. The blue hedgehog uselessly zoomed to the ceiling and bounced off. He fell onto the floor covered in bruises and debris.
More parts of the bunker started to crumble. It was about to break.
Sonic quickly got up – despite being injured – and quickly charged towards Shadow only for him to teleport away. Quickly realizing what was going to happen next, Sonic jumped as Shadow attempted to roundhouse kick him.
Taking his chance, Sonic did another homing attack. This time – it was successful. The black hedgehog was beaten to the curb.
"Are you done yet or what?" said Sonic sternly.
Shadow just got up and did his OWN homing attack, but Sonic quickly bent backwards to avoid being hit in the face.
"Brings back good times huh?" said Sonic, deciding to smirk.
Again, Shadow attempted to charge at Sonic again. The blue hedgehog quickly dodged. As Sonic made his way to the other side, he spotted something leaking out from the wall.
A broken electric wire connected to a phone booth.
And oh, there was electricity spewing out from the wire.
The blue hedgehog got an idea. He looked up to see Shadow dashing towards him, ready to punch him to a pulp.
Grabbing the wire, Sonic gingerly stepped to the side. Shadow missed and teleported before he could smack into the wall.
"So far," thought Sonic. "So good."
At the right time, Shadow teleported behind Sonic and was about to deliver the final blow when Sonic turned around and used the electric wire.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTT!
As soon as the electric wire came in contact with Shadow, the black hedgehog was electrocuted. Electricity could be seen coming out from his body as he shook violently. Much to Sonic's surprise, he didn't scream in agony.
"What if it doesn't work?" thought Sonic.
Finally, Sonic lowered the wire and Shadow collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.
"Sorry bud," said Sonic. "I don't know what you are doing, but…"
He trailed off when he saw Shadow started to glitch before disappearing.
"W-what?" said Sonic. "How can this be…?"
He remembered the time when after Mecha beat up Zavok, the large Zeti disappeared. That was unusual for a living being to glitch and disappear. Unless…Tails said that the Phantom Ruby can make illusions that confuse the person's mind.
"Could this be…" thought Sonic. "…a fake?
His thoughts were interrupted when muffled screaming and loud buzzing could be heard. Deciding to worry about Shadow later, Sonic turned on his heel and ran up the stairs.
He got to the surface and spotted the civilians. Shark and Gen were in battle with a LARGE DEATH EGG ROBOT while Alexia got the civilians to safety.
Sonic thought of helping, but saw that the Sapphire Squad were handling the situation well.
Shark found himself on top of the robot and quickly used his ice powers to freeze the laser eye, but the robot was using its laser to break through the ice. The ice was glowing red, about to break. The large mech was swinging from side to side dangerously.
"NOW GEN!" howled Shark.
Swinging her Blue Wispon, Gen threw the hammer towards the robot and…
BLAM!
It went through the centre of it. The robot stopped moving as smoke and electricity spewed out from the hole.
"Phew…" said Shark, jumping down. "That was close."
"I got to say," said Sonic, coming towards them. "You guys are awesome-"
"Thanks," interrupted Gen, grabbing her Blue Wispon that fell back into her hand. "But we got to go! The robot is about to-"
KABOOM!
The robot exploded causing the buildings to crumble down. Grabbing both wolves by their hands, Sonic pulled them out from the huge explosion.
He got one group of civilians safe. He had to get the two other groups to safety already.
"This way!" said Sebastian as he and Emerald ran through the streets. "The harbor is just near!"
They stopped at the pathway that was near to the beach…well Sebastian to be exact.
Unable to quickly stop, Emerald rushed pass him and ran along a bridge platform. She went over it before stopping, floating in the air cartoon-style.
…and dropped into the ocean.
SPLASH!
Sebastian shook his head. He knew that Emerald can swim, so she would be fine. He turned around to head to an apartment where the civilians were at. It was surrounded by many robots.
"HEY!" he called as he ran up to them.
The robots turned around and shot lasers at the lime wolf. But he was quick. He whipped out his katanas and started to block them. As a bonus, the lasers bounced off the shiny swords and shot down the robots blowing them to pieces.
"OK," said Sebastian proudly. "Using my swords as light-sabers. Checked off from my 'to-do list'."
He rushed inside and looked through the ground level. He quickly ran upstairs where he saw many people on the first level, packed together. Upon seeing the wolf, many of them cowered in fear.
"Don't worry," said Sebastian. "I'm from the Resistance. Come with me."
KABOOM!
"NOW!"
Having no choice, the civilians followed Sebastian to downstairs and through the large exit…only for a large dog-like robot blocked their way out.
The people quickly took cover in the building…all except for one unlucky male rabbit. The dog grabbed him using its mouth and started to shake him around like a rag doll. The rabbit quickly got himself free and tried to run only for robot to chase him.
"OH NO!" said Sebastian. "We have to save him!"
"No!" said a female human, stopping him from getting out from the building. "Leave him! He's gone forever!"
Silence.
That was when the rabbit slid to the opening of the exit.
"I'M OVER HERE!" he yelled.
That was when the dog-like robot grabbed him again.
The woman just ignored him and closed her eyes. The rabbit appeared again, clinging on the door.
"YOU CAN GRAB MY HAND!" whimpered the rabbit, touching the woman's face only to be dragged out again.
"There's nothing we could have done," said the woman.
At this, the dog-like robot appeared in front of the exit again, dropping the rabbit.
"Good doggy…" said the rabbit nervously.
"Well…" said Sebastian, stepping towards the large mech. "Looks like I'm going to have to-"
"DON'T WORRY!" said a familiar voice.
The lime wolf looked up to see Emerald on a tall pile of rubble.
Wearing a LONG TATTERED TAN CAPE.
"Never fear!" said Emerald as she was about to walk down the debris. "Emerald is h-"
Before she could finish her sentence, she slipped and fall off the pile. She yelped and groaned in pain as she kept hitting every step of the rubble.
"OW! OH! EEE! ARGH! OH!"
Sebastian, the robot and the civilians just watched in confusion as Emerald 'made her way down' and landed on the ground with a loud 'OOF'.
Sebastian just sighed. "Just gonna have to split it."
He took out his Wispon and shot at the robot.
Clay's POV
Bubblegum and I had been running through the streets, trying to find the group of civilians that were stuck in the center of the city. Mecha had already went too far, so he must be with the civilians. However, according to Bubblegum's ear piece, the bird was stuck in a tight spot.
"Whatever is happening there must be bad," said Bubblegum as we ran down a steep hill.
We cleared a path filled with robots and turned around a corner. We found a large army of robots surrounding a restaurant. There were many people inside that restaurant with Mecha in front of them. He was throwing many smoke bombs at them.
"GET AWAY!" squawked Mecha. "GET AWAY!"
"Wait," I said. "Where is his Wispon?"
Bubblegum pointed to something lying on the floor.
There laid a broken and severed Yellow Wispon.
No guesses to what happened to it.
I looked up to see that the Yellow Wisp that provided the energy for the Wispon was cowering behind Mecha.
"C'mon!" exclaimed Bubblegum.
From the platform we were on, we jumped down and used our grappling guns to fling ourselves in front of the army of robots.
"EAT DIRT!" screamed Bubblegum.
We both pressed the trigger of our weapons. A large beam of continuous laser shot out from my Wispon while Bubblegum shot a large ball covered in spikes. However, both of our bullets – somehow touched each other – got mixed together to turn into a…
What we saw was extraordinary.
It turned into a flaming large turquoise and pink spike ball and charged towards the robots. As it destroyed one robot, it bounced off and flew to the next one. Within seconds, it discarded all the robots like a flaming pinball rapidly bouncing off the walls.
As soon as all the robots were turned into rubble, the civilians cheered at our heroics. Mecha just stared with his mouth hanging open.
"Nice work!" said Espio through our ear pieces. "A fine display of skill."
"Wow!" squealed Charmy. "You really showed them who's boss."
"Come on," said Vector jokingly. "How am I gonna top that?"
I just stared at the wreckage of the robots dumbly.
My Cyan Wisp came out of my Wispon and started squeaking happily, somewhat congratulating me.
"Yeah…" I said, gently pushing her back into my Wispon. "It's something I didn't expect."
"WATCH OUT!" called Silver. "One of the Death Egg Robots are coming towards you!"
"WHAT?!" said Bubblegum.
BOOM!
"What was that?!" I said.
Mecha pointed upwards. We all looked up to see that same FREAKING GIGANTIC ROBOT.
TWO OF THEM to be precise.
"Everyone…GET INSIDE!" screamed Bubblegum.
The civilians screamed in fright as one of the gigantic mechs started stomping towards us. We all hid in that restaurant before it could see us. Stressed-out people started to panic and speak in delirium. Many children were running around bumping into each other. One small boy tripped and fell onto the floor.
"Are you OK?" said Mecha as he reached his hand as an offer to help the boy get up.
"W-we are all going to die…" whimpered the boy.
"We are NOT," said Mecha. "We will find a way out of this. I promise."
Depite being scared, the boy nodded and Mecha helped him up. I looked outside the window to see the rather large legs of the robots kilometres away from us. It was frightening, seeing those clunky, metal legs from here.
"W-what are we going to do…?" I stuttered.
Bubblegum looked at me and then at my grappling gun. Her blue eyes lighted up.
"I got an idea," said Bubblegum. "We need to tie those robots up with our grappling guns and we will shoot them down with…that thing we did earlier. When we shot our Wispons and our bullets mashed together."
I looked at her like she was crazy. "W-what?! Us?! You?! ME?!"
"Well, you also have a grappling gun," said Bubblegum matter-of-factly. "Don't volunteer anyone else who doesn't have one."
"B-but…I…I…" I sputtered. I was feeling nervous of her risky plan that I couldn't talk straight.
"C'mon," said Bubblegum. "You can do this."
"What happen if I can't?" I said. "What happen if something happen?"
"It's just one shot, dummy," said Bubblegum firmly. "It's our only chance."
Something snapped inside me.
"'Only chance'?" I said, getting agitated. "'ONLY CHANCE'?! Do you know what the other chance are? BEING PLUMMETED TO DEATH! You are so crazy! If you REALLY think that I can do this type of STUPID CRAP, THEN YOU ARE WRONG! I'M NOT WHAT YOU THINK I AM! I'M NOT AS TOUGH, STRONG, ACROBATIC AND BRAVE LIKE YOU! And the saddest thing? YOU ACT AS IF I'M SUPPOSED TO! I WOULD BE DEAD UP THERE AND FAIL THIS MISSION LIKE HOW I ALMOST FAILED OUR FIRST MISSION! DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER WHAT HAPPEN BACK THERE OR DO YOU JUST FORGET THAT ALL OF THIS HAPPENED?!"
Through my ranting, angry tears started to fell out of my eyes.
"Maybe you are right. Maybe I'm just an idiot. Like you said. MAYBE YOU SHOULD ASK SOMEONE ELSE TO DO YOUR BIDDING! BUT NOT ME! I'm just an average kid. Maybe I'm just worthless-"
SLAP!
I was cut off when Bubblegum slapped me in the face. She grabbed the collar of my vest and pulled me near her.
"Two words: SHUT UP!" yelled Bubblegum. "ARE YOU A SOLDIER OR AN IDIOT?! If you are a REAL SOLDIER, then don't say stupid things like that! I know that you're scared and don't want to let us down, BUT JUST WHINING WILL HELP YOU?! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO ACCEPT EVERY STUPID COMMENT YOU RECEIVED?! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LET THOSE EMOTIONS GET THE BEST OF YOU?! NO! Don't even think of doing so. I know you can do it! Prove me wrong! Prove them wrong! Show them that you are not a waste of space! If there are any stronger words, I would have said them to you."
I was stunned by what Bubblegum said. Maybe I deserved that slap. We both breathed heavily from our shouting.
"Just make sure," said Bubblegum, holding up my cross necklace. "You are not alone in this. We are NOT alone in this. Believe in yourself. I believe in you. God believes in you as well."
It was silent between me and her until I said, "O-OK…I…I guess I can try…"
To be honest, I wasn't ready for this idea. But I wanted to save those civilians so much like my brother. I didn't want every one of them to die. This would be my chance to shine.
Bubblegum grabbed my arm. "Get a grip, Rookie."
She jerked me to the door.
"WAIT!" shouted Mecha. "Where are you going?"
"Got a robot to bust!" said Bubblegum.
"But that robot is too huge! You won't be able to get rid of it!"
Despite Mecha yelling at us to stop, Bubblegum and I ran out from the restaurant. We poured into the streets and were spotted by the large robots.
"Oh boy," said Bubblegum.
Seeing the large robots, I started to tremble. I felt like a deer in headlights instead of a wolf at that moment. I started to think I was going to die until…
"You are not worthless."
I heard Sonic's words.
"You have to forgive yourself."
…for my mistakes.
"Don't let your worries and fears get to you."
My hands clenched into fists.
"You're stronger than you think."
"I won't let Eggman hurt anybody else," I thought. "I'M DONE OF MAKING MISTAKES!"
The large robots shot large red lasers at us, but I quickly created a yellow shield. The lasers reflected off the shield and blasted into the clouds. However, the shield began to crack.
"When the shield breaks," explained Bubblegum. "You head to the right. I will head to the left. Go onto the highest building and swing around the robots. I will concentrate on the legs. We will be able to tie them up. Once that's done, meet up with me and we will finish it."
The shield broke.
"NOW!" yelled Bubblegum.
As soon as the shield fell apart, I ran to the left while Bubblegum ran to the right. I ran to the nearest high building and used my grappling gun to raise myself high to the top of the building. Once I got up, I saw Bubblegum climbing on a smaller building.
But the robots were about to shoot at her – its laser was charging up.
"Oh no," I thought.
Then I got an idea.
It might be risky, but it would give Bubblegum the time to get up on the building.
I sucked my breath and let out a loud thunderous howl.
"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
This attracted the robot. I felt my throat nearly cracking, but damn…it felt good to howl after so long.
"OI, TIN CANS!" I yelled, even though my voice cracked a bit. "You're about as much use as a 'Jack-in-a-box'!"
I guessed that triggered the robots because they immediately shot lasers at me. I quickly jumped – seeing Bubblegum jumping from her building, activating her grappling gun – and shot my grappling gun at the robot. Both our hooks attached to the robots and we swung around the large mechs.
I have to admit; it was so awesome and scary flying through the air without a safety suit at the same time. I guessed this is how it feels like to be on an airplane with no ceiling.
Our ropes were able to tie the two robots together. Bubblegum and I detached our ropes, and landed onto another building…
I meant Bubblegum DID.
Not so much for me.
As soon as she landed on a small apartment, I accidentally smashed into her.
We fell over.
"Sorry…" I said, rubbing my painful sides.
"I'll call you an idiot if we don't destroy those bots," grumbled Bubblegum, getting me up onto my feet.
I looked up to see the robots struggling to get out from the tied ropes. It wouldn't be long before they break free.
"NOW!" instructed Bubblegum.
Pointing in the direction of where our bullets would meet, we both pressed the trigger of our weapons. The laser from my Wispon and the spike ball from Bubblegum's weapon came into contact and turned into the same flaming large turquoise and pink spike ball. It charged towards the robots and cut a hole through them.
BLAM!
We watched as the robots stopped moving. As still as a statue. They slowly fell to the ground and once they crashed onto the ground, they both exploded.
Smoke, fire and many robots pieces flew everywhere. I quickly placed my hand over my eyes, so that ashes wouldn't get into my eyes.
Bubblegum did the same.
I just hoped that no one was in that explosion.
Once the dust cleared, both Bubblegum and I sighed in relief.
We DID it.
I looked at Bubblegum who gave me a smile.
"Now, you're not an idiot," she said.
To my surprise, I returned the smile.
I felt…pride.
I felt happy and proud of myself to save those civilians from those big robots. It felt like I hadn't smile for a while ever since Emerald complimented on how nice my headphones were.
I wished it lasted long.
Mecha's POV
IM...POS...SI...BLE!
I couldn't believe what I saw. Both Rookie and Bubblegum risked their lives to destroy TWO GODZILLA-SIZED ROBOTS and they managed to pull the job off.
I couldn't believe that.
At that moment, I wished that I had a grappling gun as well.
I watched in shock as both of them leapt down from the building and headed towards the civilians who emerged from the restaurant. They looked at them shocked before cheering out loudly for their heroic actions.
I just stared at Rookie and Bubblegum; beak opened wide and eyes widened.
To my surprise, Rookie was…smiling. This was the first time he ever smiled and it was kind of…
"Cute," said Bubblegum, playfully punching Rookie's shoulder. "This is the first time I saw you smile. Look nice. Including the teeth."
I saw my Yellow Wisp bouncing around, cheering at those two.
I heard somebody coming behind us. I looked behind to see Sonic, Emerald and Sebastian coming to us. Judging by their looks, they must have seen what Rookie and Bubblegum just did there.
"Oh…my…GOODNESS!" squealed Emerald, starting to jump up and down.
In excitement, she threw her Wispon into the air…and expectedly, it unexpectedly hit me on the head.
DONK!
"Ow!" I groaned, falling to the ground.
I should have moved out of the way…
My Yellow Wisp hovered above my head. He babbled something and reached out his tentacle to me.
"I-I'm fine," I said, slapping his tentacle away.
I slowly got up to see Emerald ran to Rookie and Bubblegum, and hugged them. TOO TIGHT. I swore I saw her ears wrapped around them. I started to think that she was pretty hefty. If I got a hug from HER, I didn't know what was worse; being zapped by a gigantic robot or squeezed to death by a hyper rabbit. Trust me, I would take death by a robot in a heartbeat then someone who was the winner of 'most likely to be hugged by a girl to death'.
"You are AWESOME, you two!" cheered Emerald. "I KNEW you could do something incredible!"
"That's…great…!" Rookie choked. "…I…can't…breathe…my tailbone…"
Bubblegum – on the other hand – seemed fine by the tight hug. "Let go of us, Emerald. You are going to get another person killed."
"Oh," said Emerald before letting them go. "Sorry."
"That was SO DOPE, dudes!" said Sebastian, coming up to Rookie and Bubblegum. "Can you teach me how to do this type of thing?"
"I'm not sure if we can," said Bubblegum.
"Good job, you two!" said Sonic, fist-bumping Bubblegum. "I knew you could do it if you believed in yourself! You two are great Resistance soldiers."
Bubblegum blushed. He went up to Rookie.
"OK," Rookie chuckled, fist-bumping him. "But please no more of those fist bumps…not used to them…"
"Oh c'mon!" said Sonic jokingly. "You got to try something new!"
Knuckles called us. "I got updates. The enemy is retreating."
"Good job, everyone," said Espio. "Get the other civilians to the shuttle. We need to get everyone out from the city already."
"Okie dokie," said Emerald as she and Sebastian went to the civilians and guided them to the shuttle.
"Let's get back to the HQ," said Sonic.
Rookie saw the look on my face…and frowned. He looked…timorous.
"Give us some time alone," said Bubblegum to Sonic. "We will catch up with you before the shuttle leave."
The blue hedgehog nodded and ran off to catch up with the civilians. At this, Bubblegum turned around and walked towards me. Rookie kept his distance from me.
"So…" said Bubblegum smirking. "Jealous, loser?"
What could I say? Those two won fair and square. I always brag about how awesome I can be and always tease others that they couldn't win. But if I lost and someone win?
Then who deserved the gold trophy then?
I laughed slightly, hanging my head a bit.
But not out of derision.
"Of course," I said smirking. "I got to admit, I am a bit jealous and I'm impressed of such a thing you two could do."
"That was unexpected," said Bubblegum under her breath.
"BUT…" I said, my smirk changing to a stern frown.
"And that was expected…"
"You…scared…me!" I said.
Silence.
"What?" said Bubblegum.
"The point is for someone who has no experience in…this type of thing…like you," I explained, feeling heavy inside. "You risked your own life. You almost died. Just because you got lucky and managed to defeat TWO DEATH EGG ROBOTS doesn't mean you're a pro. Doing this is like going on a suicidal mission."
"We're not the only ones," said Bubblegum, annoyed. "You also do stupid things like putting people down. You…you are good at everything, so you would have done the same."
I sighed. "I'm not saying that it's not impressive. It's just that…as a tournament team leader…it's my job to look out for my team. Believe or not; I actually care about my teammates' safety. I…I guess I'm just a bit overprotective about my squad…especially after what happened to Finn."
I slowly trailed off upon saying that last line. Rookie and Bubblegum looked shocked of what I said to them. Believe me, I was even astonished of what I said. This was one of the first times I decided to act nice in front of people I didn't get along with.
Despite being a bully, I was being sincere.
Finally, Bubblegum opened her mouth to say something, but I waved it off.
"Don't even say it," I said, interrupting her from saying something and turning my back. "I don't need your acclamation."
Bubblegum's POV
I was surprised of Mecha acting nice to me. He only laughed once, but I think that was out of astonishment.
The fact that he was worried about us caught me off guard. I didn't know that. I thought he wouldn't care for anyone.
Yet, he watched out for his entire tournament team and I never seen him bullying his teammates.
When he mentioned Finn, I was thinking of saying sorry for what happened to Finn. However, Mecha interrupted me, thinking that I was going to thank him back.
I couldn't expect more.
In the midst of Mecha acting genuine to us, I failed to notice that a male human in his thirties – one of the civilians – was running towards us.
"You!" he cried. "Resistance soldiers! I need help! I can't find my children!"
"What?!" I said, looking up at that man (as an anthropomorphic animal, I'm shorter than humans; that goes the same for Rookie and Mecha).
"I…I can't find them! I'm…supposed to take care of my brother's children…but…but…"
"Hey," I said, trying to calm down the man. "Calm down. We will find them. When was the last time you saw them?"
Out of nowhere, crying could be heard.
"What the…?" said Mecha.
"There!" said Rookie, pointing to a broke house. "There's someone there!"
We all ran to that broken house and I kicked the door opened. What I saw was…upsetting. There, we saw two people in a bedroom.
One was a little 6 years old girl…and the other…a BABY.
The baby was crying loudly while the little girl was crying, cowering under a blanket. She was hugging a picture that showed a couple of two humans. You don't need to be Einstein to know WHO those two were on the portrait and WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM.
The scene was pretty heart-breaking.
I couldn't believe that children – who were younger than me – were also caught up in the horrible war, becoming sad, scared and broken. Even from far away, it looked like things had become so hard for everyone. This was one hell everyone is in.
This…this felt…SO WRONG!
"Oh…my…" Rookie choked out, his eyes turning yellow.
We all started to come towards to the children there and stopped by the opened door. The girl just backed away and covered her face with the blanket.
"Kids," said Mecha. "We got to go now."
The girl just looked away from him. She just buried her head between her legs and continued to cry.
"Mummy…" she whimpered. "Daddy…I…I…I missed you…"
"C'mon," said Mecha firmly. "It's not safe here."
"Just leave me alone!" cried the girl in tears.
I saw Mecha's eye twitched. "Listen, girl. We got to go NOW. We can't stay here any longer. The Eggman Army will be here any second now. We can't focus on what's already lost."
The girl just ignored him and looked away.
"C'mon!" said Mecha, his voice raising. "Let's go now!"
"No!" said the girl.
Mecha's hands clenched into fists. "Do…you…hear...me? I said; let's go now!"
"Just go away!"
"We are not leaving until you come with us."
"I…I…I don't want to be saved…I just…I just want to be with my mummy and daddy!"
"Oh COME ON!" yelled Mecha, making the girl flinched. "Are you deaf or are you STUPID?! I said that WE GOT TO GO! It's not safe out here! We are trying to get everyone to safety, but you are MAKING THIS SO DIFFICULT! Do you understand?! We haven't got that much time! Do you want Eggman to kill you?! COME! RIGHT NOW! You little PUNK!"
Mecha's shouting only caused the girl to cower in fear and tried to hide under the bed. I looked at Mecha who looked REALLY ticked off.
I didn't know what he was intending to do, but it looked bad.
"You know what," said Mecha, shaking his fists. "Whether you like it or not, I will DRAG you and meddling darn baby out of this-"
"Don't," said the man, placing a hand. "It will only make things worse."
Mecha looked at him. "Let's just go."
"What?" Rookie said. "We can't just leave them there!"
"IT'S THEIR OWN STUPID CHOICE!" snapped Mecha.
"O-own choice?" I said in confusion. "But they are just children!"
"DO YOU THINK ANYONE ELSE WOULD CARE FOR THEM?!"
A thick air of silence played in the air.
I felt tears forming at my eyes and my mouth started to tremble.
Who the hell would abandoned some defenseless children who lost their parents?
I…I couldn't believe how cold Mecha was. It seemed that he wanted to just go already as the girl wouldn't budge to move out. I didn't understand why he just think it was best to leave them as some kind of trash. Would anyone do that to their OWN children? Their own babies? Just why? Why did he want to leave them there? What kind of horrible, cruel person was he? And I never seen him around younger kids before, so was that how he acted towards them? Maybe it was all because of…
The thought of what I know about Mecha made my heart hurt and my stomach to twist and turn.
Judging by the look of Rookie's face, he had the same thoughts as I did. He just stared at Mecha, his eyes openly revealing tears.
The bird just looked at us with a hostile expression, his hands clenched into fists. However…I swore that I saw…small tears at the corner of his eyes that didn't fall off yet.
All of a sudden, my Pink Wisp popped out from my Wispon and flew towards Mecha. Once face to face, she started to babble angrily.
Mecha just shoved her away. "I don't understand what you are even saying."
My Wisp turned to me – wrath circling around her darkened blue eye – and squeaked at me. She pointed at Mecha as if saying that I needed to do something with him.
I gently pulled her away from Mecha and behind my back.
It was all silence as unhappiness and tension filled the entire air. I wasn't sure what to do at that moment. I…I wanted to help those kids so badly…maybe…
The baby let out a loud cry.
The man looked down in shame and guilt. I looked at Rookie, Mecha and then at the children – the girl crying under the bed and the baby crying. The two were crying for their parents, but…they know that they aren't coming back.
Could I do it?
I felt really uneasy and sorrowful as I stared at the weeping children. Silence still filled the air as I just gazed at them. My heart was hurting badly and I was filled with emotion.
Maybe…maybe it was worth a shot.
I closed my eyes…took a deep breath…and opened them. I felt something bubbling in my mind.
Compassion.
Sympathetic.
Pity.
Empathy.
I smiled.
Slowly, I walked towards the crying girl who only tried to stay away from me as long as possible.
"Please…" sniffed the girl. "…go away…"
"Easy there," I said in a soft voice. "I'm a friend."
I held out my hand and gestured for the girl to come. I was worried that she wouldn't listen due to my appearance. She looked reluctant, but slowly did so. She crawled out from the bed. She looked up at me, staring at my light navy blue eyes. To my surprise, the girl have the same eye color like mine.
"It's OK," I said. "It will be alright."
"But…" bawled the girl. "My…my parents are…I don't know where they are…what do I do, miss?"
I made my best determined and brave face. "All you have to do is to continue to live. Succeed. Achieve. SURVIVE. You and your baby are still alive. Come. You will be under the safety and care of the Resistance and we will do everything we can to bring your home back. It's what your parents would want you to do. I know…I know how it feels like to lose someone you love very much…that doesn't mean that your parents will be gone from your memory forever. Take good care of yourself and your little brother."
The girl still had tears in her eyes, but she smiled and hugged me. There was a long moment as the girl cried in my hands before letting go.
I turned her attention to the baby and tenderly picked him up and stroked his head.
"It's OK," I said slowly rocking him. "Don't cry. You will be OK. I promise. I promise to MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE."
The baby started to cry less and looked at me. He cooed in happiness and hugged me. I smiled as the small infant's arms wrapped around me. I felt my long tail wrapping around the girl in a warm hug.
The man looked pretty choked up and walked up to them smiling. I gave the baby to him. The girl looked up at him.
"Sorry…" she said. "Sorry, Uncle…"
"It's OK," said the man, pulling her and the baby into a warm hug. "What matters is that we are all together now."
He looked up at me. "Thank you."
I faintly laughed heartly, having great tears in my eyes.
My eyes turned to Rookie. He looked…surprised. The gold appearing in his eyes showed that he saw me in a new light. I wouldn't expect more than that. I knew that I was being nasty to him, but I was indeed kind. I guessed…maybe I should be kinder towards him.
The turquoise wolf slowly looked at the family hugging. His eyes turned yellow again. He looked…sad. He wrapped his arms around him and muttered something to himself.
"God…" I whispered. "Can you…can you tell me please when I can have my brother back?"
I was surprised when I heard what he whispered.
Brother?
Did he have a…?
The thoughts brushed away when I heard Mecha saying something. I slowly turned my head towards him. He looked…shocked.
"B…" he stuttered. "W-why…why…I…I wasn't…"
I saw tears forming at his eyes, but he quickly just wiped them away. He noticed that I was looking at him.
"J-just forget it," was all he could say before turning and ran away.
His Yellow Wisp tried to call him to stop, but Mecha was already off.
I just stared at the direction of where he went. He sounded…sad as well. I knew that I shouldn't feel any pity for him – I mean HE was the one who hurt those poor children – but…I didn't want to be an enemy to him in the first place.
I looked over at Rookie who had a faraway look in his eyes.
At this, I noticed that his Cyan Wisp came out. My Pink Wisp and Mecha's Yellow Wisp popped in.
Those three Wisps flew towards each other and started to communicate (even though the Pink Wisp looked reluctant). After ten seconds, they were done.
They looked at Rookie and then at me.
I gave them a solemn look.
There was a lot I still needed to know.
Clay's POV
Ya see now?
That mission was really surprising to me.
I shouldn't have taken them for granted and I felt really stupid to believe that they were jerks.
Let me get my points straight.
First, Bubblegum was a complete different person at that time. When I started to self-loath about myself, she had the strength to snap me out and encourage me to keep going. Although she said this in a strict way, she was just trying to yell at me to not say stupid things about myself. She nearly have the power of a woman army commander.
She even showed softness when comforting those kids. I thought that she would be pretty nasty to others, but she was gentle to the kids. She convinced them that everything would be alright and that she would support them in any way.
Her snapping me out of my funk and bringing hope to those poor kids like Sonic…it nearly appeared to me that Bubblegum is like a…sister.
Also, Mecha didn't show any direct jealously towards me for destroying those robots. He didn't try to boast about himself. He appeared to be a graceful loser and even expressed his concern to us, even though he sounded reluctant in saying so.
When he started to yell at these two kids, this was the first time I saw him that mad. He was also willing to leave them behind. I couldn't believe how cruel he could be at that time. He was a bully, but there seemed to be something going on in his head…and it scares me.
Maybe he isn't what I thought he would be.
Seriously…I should have considered Belt's lesson for me; I shouldn't take people for granted too much as first impressions aren't everything.
?, 6 years ago
"Hey, Mama. Can we chat please?"
"Ugh…I told you not to interrupt me when I'm watching the news!"
"But it's on sport now and it's kind of unimportant…especially for the two of us."
"…point made. What is it?"
"I'm tired of this."
"What do you mean? Be specific for heck's sake!"
"You know what I'm referring to. I'm tired hearing you scolding me every time I did something that is simply small and harmless!"
"…shut up. Be quiet now."
"Huh? Me? Be QUIET?! Mama! You always told me to stay quiet. Stay silent. No words. How much will this go on for? How much will I have to hurt? Will I even get some respect from you?"
"I SAID 'SHUT UP'! You do as I say, you filthy mistake."
"…oh. Mistake. Huh?"
PWAP!
"ARGH! What the heck?! WHAT ARE YOU T-?!"
"I'M SICK OF ALL OF THIS! I don't want to keep living like THIS every day. It's getting worse since I'm stuck with YOU! You don't know what I have been though just because you say that I'm 'too young'. You don't know what I did to get better and purposeful life."
"Shut your darn mouth right now! That's an order."
"Yeah. And this is me breaking it! However, the reason why I'm doing this is because I don't know what's wrong with you. I always see other kids playing with their parents. With mothers, they were rocked around gently while listening to a beautiful song. That never happened between us before, Mama. And I think it is not only me who is suffering."
"Just deal with it! It's what you got for being an abomination of a disgrace."
"Deal with it? DEAL WITH IT?! Just trying to deal with it like how you tried to deal with your break up with Papa! You just sulked ever since I came into your life and nothing good happened! NOTHING!"
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY A WORD ABOUT YOUR FATHER!"
"I just did. I need to make a point."
"…GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW!"
"I won't."
"I SAID 'GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW', FREAK! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE SAY THAT?!"
"NOT UNTIL YOU AT LEAST TRY TO CHANGE! NOT UNTIL I HAVE A BETTER LIFE! NOT UNTIL THE WHOLE FAMILY HAVE A BETTER LIFE! ISN'T THAT WHAT FAMILIES DO?"
"ENOUGH!"
WHAM!
"ARGH! M-Mama!"
"I SAID 'GET OUT OF HERE AND GO TO YOUR ROOM'! ISN'T THAT SIMPLE ENOUGH? SORRY IF YOU DON'T GET IT, BUT THAT ISN'T MY BUSINESS! IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR BEING A DEAF MISTAKE! GO TO YOUR ROOM!"
"…fine then. But I swear I won't be this worthless when I grow up. I wonder how the rest of your children will feel about this.""
"LEAVE!"
"…"
AN: Clay has a strong point about Bubblegum and Mecha, and he is even at fault here. The flashback with Clay and Belt meeting a Red Wisp was something I quickly add in, so that Clay can remember to not judge a book by its cover. He's been judging Bubblegum and Mecha for their actions and he didn't consider if they are actually good people or not.
Gave a bit of a more good scene time with the Blue Squad. 5 stars for Shark, Gen and Alexia for their amazing work.
The dog robot scene is a reference to UglyDolls. And oh, Emerald wearing a freaking cape is something that just pop up from my mind.
If you enjoy this chapter, be sure to follow or favorite this story, so you can get updates about this story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you think about this chapter. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).
The next chapter will be when...uh...things fall apart to say the least.
Until next time, keep on rocking!