You know, something I didn't talk about with the last chapter is just how strangely written it was. The scenes were written out of order to the point where the chapter would've been so weird if I kept it in the order I left it in. First it was the first GUN scene, then it was a little bit of Arsenal Pyramid, a little bit of the water way stuff then it was unlocking chaos powers, then it was a little bit more of Arsenal Pyramid, the end of the chapter, Arsenal Pyramid fights and finally the conversations for the waterway warriors. Just really really weird. Y'know?
And y'know what. This chapter was similar. It just kinda written in a bit of an odd order as well. But hey, if it works, it works. Maybe the next chapter will be the same. Who knows?
But I guess that aside, welcome to another chapter of Trials of War. This time, we're going with the Classic Quartet and their latest and greatest adventure. So without further ado, let's begin.

Trials of War:
Chapter 27-
Changing Course

Holoskan nights were always calm and peaceful. Even with the Chemical Plant around, spewing toxic fumes both into the sky and sea and consistently making a racket. Even with its constant movement, Holoska still managed to stay peaceful at night. It was kind of nice.

"Attention, children of the Eggman Empire!" Eggman's loud voice announced from speaker's set up over the main settlement and capital of Holoska, breaking any semblance of peace that remained. "This is your benevolent ruler, Emperor Eggman, announcing that a new day has begun. No, you're not dreaming, at least you're not dreaming anymore! It is the glorious time of 4:45AM which means you have approximately 15 minutes to get dressed, eat and begin your wonderful days as hunters and gatherers both for yourselves and your lovely parents kept in our Chemical Plants before the sentry bots will be forced to give you extra encouragement and we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

12 year old Marketa groaned as she peeled herself off of her fur bedding, got dressed and had a quick breakfast of a few sardines she had caught the other day and some water before rushing out the door, praying that she was on time. All the while, she was sure to be mindful of her right arm, fearful that she could do more potential damage to it.

She was quick to rush outside to find that it was still dark out, just as it had always been upon wakeup call. Each and every one of the children had fallen into line in front of their igloos, standing at attention and waiting for the Eggpongs to call their names and send them into the hovercrafts where they would be dropped off in various places around the frozen tundra to begin their work.

It wasn't long until she was off on a hovercraft with other dirtied and bruised children and sent off to work. Through her ride, she just couldn't help but the events leading up to this point.

It was on that day, seven months ago that her life would change forever.

~Trials of War~

To say that the people of Holoska were not terrified would've been an understatement.

It had been about a month since the day that the lone radio in the town had announced the defeat of hero and longtime friend to the village, Sonic the Hedgehog and the rise of the Eggman Empire.

And for a month, there was nothing but radio chatter about how the Eggman Empire had been conquering the world. From the destruction of Sunset Heights and GUN to the more recent announcements that the likes of Station Square had been destroyed and a Death Egg had been constructed, they all didn't know what to do.

To make matters worse, their chief Jari-Pekka didn't have many answers either. In the time since the Shattered World crisis, the stubborn old man had remained chief of the village despite everyone's insistence that he pass the roll on to his son, Jari-Thure. But he would often refuse and continue to go about his duties, even if he would forget them.

Unfortunately, it was his forgetfulness that the villagers would lead to heartbreaking conversations every day. When concerns of the oncoming threat of the Eggman Empire would come up, Jari-Pekka would insist that they had nothing to worry about since Sonic would save them. And every day, they would have to inform him of his defeat at the hands of the Eggman Empire and that he wouldn't be coming to save them. Jari-Pekka would always grow quiet at that, excuse himself and look out into the horizon in thought for hours on end, deep in thought. Eventually, Jari-Thure would come to collect his father, ask him if he had come up with a solution to their problems and every day it would be the same.

With nothing to do and only a matter of time before Eggman would eventually come to their front doorstep, the villagers did their best to go about their days and listen to the radio in hopes that no more atrocities would be committed and they'd be able to live without fear.

Unfortunately, that was wishful thinking.

That day had been like any other for Marketa. Like many other children in Holoska, she was homeschooled and her mother Ursule had finished with lessons and had retreated to their kitchen to make dinner. Marketa had been left to finish additional work which her mother would go over later.

She had groaned as she made her way through the fractions on her math paper. She didn't see the point of doing them, what good would something like that do her when she wanted to be chief of Holoska just like her grandfather?

He didn't do fractions and decimals, he worried about the important issues of Holoska like where to find the best fishing spots and how to make the best igloos and things like that. None of these math problems or English essays!

But still, she pressed on and very quickly was finished with the assignments.

Finally finishing the last of the fractions, she jumped up from the dinner table and raced outside. "Mom, I've finished my homework! I'm going outside!"

"Alright, be back before dinner!"

"Okay, mom!"

She was quick to run outside getting excited at the prospect of starting a snowball fight with her friends or sledding down one of the many hills in the areas around the village.

But along the way, she ran into someone else that made her smile.

"Dad!" She waved to the man.

True to her word, her father and many of the other men who had gone out to go fishing for the day. Led by snow dogs, each of them came standing atop wooden sleds which had loads of game trailing behind them. Each of the men wore thicker coats than most and had spears slung across their backs. Each of them glistened in sweat after a long day of hunting and gathering food for the village.

Her father, Jari-Thure, smiled at her and hopped off his sled.

"Marketa!" He grinned and hefted the eleven year old into her air. "How was your day? Did you learn anything new?"

Marketa grinned. "No! Just boring numbers and letters!"

"Ahhhhh but that stuff is important!" He laughed. "You've got to learn so that you'll be smart when you're older."

"But I'm already smart!"

"And you could be even smarter!" He retorted. "Just have to keep working."

"Ugh. Fiiine."

He smiled at her and lightly jostled her in his arms, to which she laughed.

"Learning is one of the most important things we can do." An elderly voice declared behind them.

Jari-Thure turned around, his daughter still in hand, to see none other than Jari-Pekka walking up to them, smiling at the two.

"Grandpa!" Marketa beamed at him.

Jari-Thure's smile faltered a bit. "Father…"

Jari-Pekka took notice of this but decided not to talk about it, instead focusing on the young girl. "If you truly want to be chief then there is much you must know. How do you expect to work with outsiders for our imports and exports if you are not educated? There is more to chief than simply finding the best fishing spots."

Marketa frowned. "That's not fun."

"There is time for fun and time for work." Jari-Pekka added. "But the day is over. So go have some fun."

Marketa nodded and jumped out of her father's arms to run off and find her friends only for her to stop dead in her tracks.

A loud rumbling could be heard around them, causing the three family members to look around worriedly.

Jari-Thure had his harpoon at the ready, quick to stand protectively in front of his father and daughter.

"Dad, what's happening?!" She shouted.

"I-I-I don't know!" He shouted.

She hugged him as he stood in wait.

And then… they came.

From the entrance to the village came armies of Eggpongs marching in succession with one another. Each of them had their arm cannons pointed out at the villagers.

People ran and screamed.

"Dad. Take Marketa back to our igloo. Now!"

"Dad!" Marketa cried out.

Jari-Pekka gave a curt nod and scooped up Marketa, quickly running towards the igloo as fast his worn legs could carry him.

"Dad! Dad! Dad!" She cried out, reaching towards her father. "Grandpa! Let go! We need to help dad!"

"No, Marketa!" Jari-Pekka yelled. "We need to leave now!"

But he ignored her and ran into the igloo.

Ursule was at the doorway waiting for them. "What is happening?! Where is my husband?!"

"A bunch of robots came into the village and now dad is going to fight them! We have to help him!" Marketa shouted.

Ursule held her hand up to her mouth in shock. "No… W-we have to stay here. Your father and the other hunters in the village will be able to fight. I'm sure of it."

But they all looked on out the door with baited breath.

Jari-Thure stood proud and tall with his spear held out in front of him. "Come on, Holoska! We have one last catch of the day!"

The men of the village, each of them with their spears drawn let out a cheer as they raised their spears in the air, charging towards the robots and beginning the fight.

The robots fired upon them and some of them immediately went down. Others, including Jari Thure ran out to fight them.

Jari-Thure thrust out his spear towards a leading Eggpong, letting out a roar as it drove into the robot's head. Using all of his strength, he swung the spear and sent the Eggpong into some of the other bots around them.

The family inside the igloo let out a cheer watching this.

"Go, dad!" Marketa cried.

Jari-Pekka let out a hearty laugh and grinned. "Haha! Just how I taught him!"

"You did not." Ursule looked at him.

"Course I did. Defending against deadly robots is just like defending against polar bears."

Ursule pursed her lips at this but decided to shrug it off, focusing instead on the battle outside.

The Holoskan hunters continued the fight, charging at the robots in a wave in to push them out of the village. They drove their spears into the robots without fail as their continued to be casualties on both sides.

Jari-Thure was an unstoppable force of nature in this battle, doing anything everything he could to make sure that the robots would not harm the village.

At some point, the Eggpong army had been thinned down and a good chunk of the Holoskan hunters stood proud and tall amongst the wreckage.

Then… He appeared.

Whoosh!

Everyone stopped to look up into the sky and see none other than a familiar robot modeled after the world's greatest hero soared through the sky, its clear focus on their homes and the warriors that dared to stand against the Eggman Empire.

Every single person's blood ran cold at the sight of him. But even that fear was short lived as he immediately went on the attack.

Metal Sonic landed in the center of the village, punching the ground and sending out a shockwave of energy that knocked everyone off their feet and into all sorts of different directions as if they were ragdolls.

"No!" The family cried out from their home.

Marketa was ready to run out and try and help her father up but Ursule kept a stern grip on the girl, making sure that she would stay put.

Metal Sonic got up from his crouched position and stood, his hand lazily placed on his hip. He surveyed his handiwork, looking around at each of the downed hunters and Eggpongs. The only motion he made was a simple finger snap and flick of his nose.

Marketa's blood practically boiled to see the faker impersonate her friend that way and wanted so badly to turn the robot to scrap. But there was nothing that she could do.

Every one of the hunters were either passed out -or worse- after that maneuver, but Jari-Thure slowly but unsteadily rose to his feet.

He let out a pained cough, thankful that no bile or blood came up with it. But glared down the robot who had come down to the village.

Metal Sonic stared at him and simply raised one clawed hand towards him and gestured for him to come forward and fight him.

"Dad, no!" Marketa shouted.

But it was too late. Jari-Thure let out a battle cry and raced towards the robot. His spear held proudly in the air.

His body ached in pain and he could tell it was slowing him down, but he didn't dare stop. Not when there was so much on the line. His home, his friends, his brothers and sisters of Holoska, his family, their freedom, their way of life. Metal Sonic stood in the way of all of that.

He may not have been chief but there was absolutely no way he would let anything happen to this place. Not now and not ever.

He met the metal duplicate and he thrust his spear out towards him.

But the thrusters on the back of the robot roared to life and he jumped high into the air, up and over him.

Jari-Thure was quick to turn around and let out another cry as he swung the metal weapon down on the robot only for Metal Sonic to catch the spear with his bare hands.

Jari-Thure's eyes widened in shock at this only for Metal Sonic to wring the weapon from his hands and break it in half.

Jari-Thure could only watch in stunned shock before Metal Sonic raced up to him and sent a fist into his abdomen that sent him racing back into the ice wall.

Metal Sonic was fast though, not allowing him to reach the wall, he rocketed him off and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket for all to see. He then raised his claws, prepared to finish him off.

A rough gulp raised in his throat as he eyed the claws, gleaming in the Holoskan sunset.

"Dad!" Marketa shouted. This time, she was able to wring her way out of her mother's grasp and race out into the snow.

"Marketa!" Ursule called out.

But she was already gone and she looked to see that Jari-Pekka was gone too.

"You will not harm my child!" Jari-Pekka declared, a strong look of defiance in his eyes.

At that though, the sound of a familiar vehicle was heard and in dropped Doctor Eggman, wearing a thick winter coat and a scarf.

"Now… Now… Metal Sonic. No need for the third degree. At least not yet…"

Metal Sonic eyed the Doctor and then looked back at the man in his arms. Slowly, he curled his clawed hands into a fist, still eying him intently.

"Let him go!" Marketa shouted as she ran up, scooping up a snowball and chucking it at Metal Sonic.

It nailed him right in the side of the head and Marketa couldn't help but smile for a moment.

But that smile quickly fell when Metal snapped his deadly glare in her direction.

She shuffled backwards, falling right on her butt only for her grandfather to stand protectively over her.

"Eggman! You will leave this village now!"

"Ah… There he is, the man of the hour! Chief Jari-Pekka! What an honor it is to make your acquaintance!"

The man stood there frowning, his usual carefree composure gone and now the chief of the village stood in his place. Strong and unwavering in his direction. Jari-Thure stared in wide eyed shock, having not seen this in his father in years, decades even.

"Eggman. Do you hear me?!" The man commanded. "I asked you to leave!"

"Nope. I don't think I will." Eggman insisted. "In case you haven't heard? I'm the uncontested ruler of the world. Everyone bows to my knees these days and somehow you're foolish enough to stand against me in your old age."

"You?" Jari Thure let out a hearty laugh. "Ruler of the world? Do not make me laugh!"

Eggman looked confusedly at this while Jari-Thure let out a pained sigh. "I don't know if you've heard but I've conquered the vast majority of Mobius."

The man rolled his eyes. "Bah, please! Sonic will stop you just as he always has! In fact, I'm sure he'll be right along to save us in no time!"

At that, everyone could feel a chill in the air that they wished was from the natural cold of the frozen north. The mention of how Sonic would be there for them was hard in these trying times considering what had happened for the entire world to see just a month ago. But Jari-Pekka had forgotten all about that and hadn't been reminded today. They weren't sure what was sadder, the fact that their hero and friend would never be around to protect them again or the fact that their chief had forgotten and had so much hope in what was impossible at this point.

And Eggman enjoyed every moment of it, bursting out into uncontrollable fits of laughter at the man's words.

Jari-Pekka was confused. "What? What are you laughing at?!"

"Oh, that's just rich. You think Sonic is coming to save you? Man, I haven't heard that one in a while! In case you didn't get the memo your so called hero is dead! I killed him live on TV for the world to see just last month!"

Jari-Pekka's eyes widened in sock at this. "L-Lies! You did no such thing!"

"Oh, that's hilarious! You actually don't believe it do you?!" Eggman continued laughing. "Wait, wait. Please. Allow me to show you!"

Eggman then brought out a holographic image against the ice wall that was large enough for all of them to see. And for the first time, the people of Holoska saw the defeat of Sonic the Hedgehog before their very eyes rather than just hearing about it on the radio. Marketa watched in wide-eyed shock and horror as her friend of three years was beaten by the generals of his army and what she believed to be his eyes closing one final time.

"N-no…" She gasped.

Jari-Thure had closed his eyes, refusing to watch any more by the time Infinite had thrown Sonic into the wall.

Jari-Pekka had now lost all semblance of strength and was trembling in fear before the doctor.
"I-I- Th-that- must b-be fa-ake…"

"Everything you see is real." Eggman smirked. "And this could be your reality…"

From there, the image changed and showed a live feed of Sunset Heights. All the people gasped seeing the city in flames, massive Death Egg Robots attacking it from all sides.

"Unless of course, you submit to me…" He crossed his arms and looked at them triumphantly.

"N-n-nev-er!"

Eggman simply shrugged. "How disappointing. But Alright. Metal…"

A certain glint appeared in Metal Sonic's eyes and he raised Jari-Thure higher into the air.

"Daddy!" Marketa cried out.

"No!" Jari-Pekka shouted. "Stop this! Stop this at once."

"I knew you'd see reason." Eggman smirked once again, gesturing Metal to let the man go. He obliged and threw Jari-Thure roughly along the ground with his family.

Jari-Pekka and Ursule tended to the man, hugging him tightly.

"Here is what is going to happen. Thanks to the great power of Infinite, in just a few short hours, a Chemical Plant will be placed out in the Cool Edge area. There, everyone over the age of 18 will be forced to work for the rest of their miserable lives while the children will stay here and begin to hunt and gather food for themselves and all of you working in the factory. Failure to comply of course will result in very dire consequences."

"I- y-you can't…" Jari-Pekka shouted.

"I can and I have." Eggman simply retorted. "Welcome to the Eggman Empire. I will give you the remainder of the night to enjoy time with your families as my armies move in. But first thing tomorrow, it's off to work."

Eggman began to hover away and laughed.

"Welcome to the Eggman Empire!" He yelled to them with a wave before shooting off into the sky.

Metal gave them one last glare and flew on after him.

~Trials of War~

"We've arrived at your fishing spot, Child Number 472." A robotic voice drawled out.

Marketa blinked out of her thoughts at that and let out a heavy sigh before collecting her fishing gear and hopping off of the hovercraft. Heading towards the fishing spot where she would spend her day. Thinking about her parents, her former life and the hope that was gone from this world.

~Trials of War~

Emperor Eggman and Doctor Starline watched with baited breath as a bunch of Egg Pawns in hard hats and all sorts of equipment carefully put together the final parts of the Egg Collider.

They were behind a reinforced glass wall to ensure that it was safe while Cubot and Orbot instructed the bots from the inside.

Orbot had a clipboard in hand and a pencil leaning against the side of his head. "Alright boys, now we just need to test the fusion core and we'll have earned our paycheck."

The other bots nodded at this and were quick to run over to a certain machine while Orbot grabbed Cubot and ran behind a blast shield.

Then the robots flipped the switch.

For a moment, absolutely nothing happened and Orbot and Cubot peaked their heads out from their safety zone in confusion.

But the Egg Collider stood proud and tall with its core glowing with its strange multicolored energy.

"Success! Success!" Starline cheered. "Now your ultimate weapon will be-"

But the platypus was cut off as sparks soon began to sputter and fly around the machine at an alarming rate. Fire quickly began to break out and it wasn't long before a massive explosion let out.

When the smoke cleared, robot parts were scattered around all over and Cubot and Orbot once again popped their heads out from their safety spot.

"Again?!" Starline growled. "Bah! Useless! How is it that we still cannot stabilize the reaction core?!"

Eggman stroked his moustache in thought. "I don't know. It's clear to me that while the main body is stable, we still cannot get the core to work. A little too much of one energy. A little too much of the other. In order for the Collider to truly work, we'll need to figure it out."

"Yes, but Chemistry is one of my specialties. I know how to balance an equation, I know how to make sure that a reaction will be safe. But this..." Starline slammed his fist on the table. "Useless! Absolutely useless!"

Eggman just shook his head. "You never learn anything if you don't have it blow up in your face a few times, take it from the ruler of the free world."

"Yes, but I only want to please you, Master." Starline sighed. "Every time we get this wrong, it means that we'll be unable to put an end to Sonic and the resistance."

Eggman simply shook his head and put a hand on his shoulder. "Not to worry, friend. We will stop them one way or another, with or without the collider."

Starline let out a smile at that. "R-right."

The two stood there for a moment. Starline taking comfort in the emperor's hopeful words before a beep began to ring out from one of the buckles on Eggman's jacket. Eggman pressed it and saw Infinite flying into Metropolis towards his office building.

"Seems someone finally decided to claw his way out of the sand and make his way back home?" Eggman mused. "Good. I have words for him."

Starline couldn't help but smirk at this. "Oh please. Allow me to accompany you, my beloved ruler. It would be the greatest honor if I could witness you show a true failure what he deserves."

Eggman couldn't help but return the smirk and patted him on the back. "Now that's exactly the kind of attitude I'm looking for! Let's go!"

Starline grinned and followed him out. "Right behind you, sir!"

~Trials of War~

High in the sky, the Tornado flew off in no particular direction in particular. Just trying to find something to do.

For the four occupants on the plane, not much was happening. Tails was focused on flying; Omega was attached to the back, currently in sleep mode; Blaze was in the passenger seat, staring out at the horizon and Sonic was lying lazily across atop the plane wing, absolutely bored out of his mind.

The hedgehog groaned, impatiently drumming his fingers across the wing of the plane. "I'm boooooooooooooreeeeed…"

Tails and Blaze got out of their focus and turned their attention to the 12 year-old. "What?"

"I said I'm bored! Can't we do something other than fly? We've been at this for days and our only stops have been for fuel and food!"

"Well, you are the one who wanted to look for where Eggman's forces may be gathering." Blaze noted. "We simply just haven't found them yet."

"Yeah, I did and I was hoping that after three days we'd have found something by now!"

"Give it time, Sonic." Tails insisted. "I promise that at some point we'll run into one of Eggman's bases."

"Yeah, well for a guy that has control over 99% of the planet, there seems to be not a lot of places that he's got control over these days. We stopped in Apotos and Spagonia and both of them seemed to be living fine without the empire."

Tails smiled. "That means the world is changing. Even though we haven't been with them, it means that Sonic and the resistance have been to those places. The tide of this war is turning and people are finally making a stand against the Eggman Empire."

"But there is still much work to be done." Blaze noted. "Places are beginning to be saved but Eggman still has control over many lands including the capital of his empire."

"Yeah, and I'm ready to do some business if you catch my drift." Sonic replied.

"We'll find something." Tails insisted.

They continued to fly for some time without much word. Sonic continued being bored, electing to pace along the wings of the plane in hopes of satiating that need but it was to no avail.

But it was throughout that pacing that he couldn't help but notice something.

Sonic rubbed his arms. "Is it… Is it getting colder to you guys?"

"No." Blaze deadpanned before giving a light smirk at the young one.

"Oh, don't give me that! You radiate heat." Sonic brushed her off while she let out a light chuckle.

Tails frowned. "Yeah, now that you mention it, it is a lot chillier than it has been so far. Hmmmmm where are we?"

Unfortunately, they didn't get an answer as a cannonball, about the size of Sonic's head flew past the Tornado. Barely missing the plane.

"What the heck was that?!" Sonic shouted.

"We're under attack. Brace yourselves!" Tails shouted.

Immediately, he lurched the plane forward and the sudden jolt alerted Omega.

"I detect danger! What is happening?!"

"Hold on tight, Omega!" Sonic shouted. "It's about to be a bumpy ride!"

And just then, more cannonballs began to fire out at the group forcing Sonic and friends to hold tight while Tails did his best to dodge and weave from the projectiles.

But it was to no avail as eventually, a cannonball hit the tail, causing it to come off and send them spiraling down towards the ground.

"Not again! Not again!" Sonic shouted.

"Everybody abandon ship!" Tails shouted as he jumped out and began spinning his namesakes, quickly grabbing onto Sonic's hand.

Blaze was quick to eject too and Omega set himself to hover above the ground.

The plane crash landed out in the distance, which appeared to be a frozen field of ice.

Sonic and the others landed and took in their surroundings. Snow and ice surrounded them in a village consisting of igloos. But among all of that were all sorts of mechanical gadgets including the cannons that just shot them down, watch towers and the like.

A bunch of Eggpongs faced them. "Freeze! You are hereby under arrest!"

Sonic just looked at his friends and smirked. "You guys forget who you're talkin' to?"

The robots looked confusedly between one another before Sonic did the same to his friends, giving them curt nods before peeling out and into the robots before them.

~Trials of War~

Marketa and the children of Holoska had been careful to set up the meeting that night all those months ago. But somehow in the dead of the night, they had managed to avoid the strict curfew that the Eggman robots had given them to find themselves gathered in the Thure family Igloo.

"This is crazy…" An older boy, Panuk shook his head. "Just because the resistance is here does not mean that we're saved."

"Yes it does!" Marketa insisted. "With the help of those magicians from Soleana, they'll be able to destroy the Chemical Plant, free our parents and then come back for us! We're going to be saved!"

"No!" Panuk shook his head. "The Empire is too strong, they're never going to pull this off! What we need to do is just get back to work, pretend we never had this conversation and hope to Gaia that they don't think we're instigating an uprising."

"Sonic and friends have stopped them before!" Marketa insisted. "If they're here now then-"

"Sonic is dead!" The boy snapped back. "We all saw it with our own eyes when Eggman took our home. Without him, they can't possibly hope to keep things under control, not when they have been fighting a three month long battle for the planet and according to our radios, they've been failing!"

The room went silent at that, taking in the boy's words.

Tears threatened to spill from the corners of Marketa's eyes at the mention of her fallen friend. She tried her best to let the memories of both that fateful day and the happier ones from the time they'd met during the Shattered World Crisis to his visits over the years as he was constantly traveling the world. Always telling her and other people of Holoska about his travels and the adventures that he'd had, always making sure that no matter the circumstances, everybody was happy. But now… he was gone and the world had suffered greatly because of it.

But she knew that she couldn't sit there and cry about it, she knew that she had to have faith that the resistance would be able to free them.

"I know that things seem bad now, but if we hold out and wait, trust in the resistance then… then maybe things will change! Have hope that things will be better!"

"The only hope that I have is that the buckets out there don't hear us!"

Marketa glared at the boy and he glared right back. For a few moments the two were locked in a standoff with one another, completely unwavering in their opposition.

"FREEZE!"

Both children as they were told and looked to see a pack of Egg Pawns pouring into the igloo, all with their weapons drawn. At the head of the group was none other than Metal Sonic. While the rest of the robots were clean, Metal was a bit dinged up with all sorts of dents and scratches along his metal frame. Marketa would later learn that he had stopped by their village to get repairs from the other robots after a minor victory from the joint forces of the resistance and Soleana Guard.

But those questions didn't matter to any of the children right now as they stared at the metal menace and the band of grunts before them, the same one that had taken their village those two months ago.

But the Egg Pawns continued. "As citizens of the Eggman Empire, you all are in violation of curfew. Strict punishment will be delivered swiftly and an example will be made of you all."

The robots then went on to list their names, during this time Metal Sonic decided to stand there with his arms crossed and wag his finger towards them.

Marketa couldn't help but flashback to her friend in flesh and blood who had often done the same when she had attempted to race him on foot with her sled. His kind emerald eyes full of life and his laughter warm, iniviting and infectious.

To see Metal mocking him in that way, made her snap in such a way that made her throw all caution, all sanity out the window as she only saw red and she only wanted revenge. Revenge for her fallen friend, revenge for her home and family, revenge for the world at large. She was going to put an end to Metal right then.

Marketa let out a battle cry as she charged towards the robot, fist held high above her head.

The other robots pointed their blasters towards her but Metal held up a single open palm, signaling them not to act further.

Marketa swung a fist towards the robotic doppelganger.

Metal didn't even bat an eye and sidestepped her.

Marketa had put far too much of her weight into her swing and quickly stumbled into the path of the other robots.

Metal was quick to "help" her though, grabbing her wrist from the air and was quick to twist it to which a sickening crunch could be heard.

Marketa cried out in agony while Metal could only stare down at her. For a brief few moments, the robot processed what to do while the girl writhed in his iron grip.

Then Metal simply narrowed his optics, bored with the girl before tossing her into the other children.

Metal then gestured to the other robots and pointed at the group.

They were all punished.

~Trials of War~

Infinite stood in Doctor Eggman's office waiting with baited breath for the doctor to arrive.

He knew he'd screwed up. He knew that he had failed his objective and had failed to beat Sonic. He knew that he had overclocked the Ruby and had forced his inhibitors to check in before he could go any further. Then that rotten resistance leader had shown up and he had allowed her, Sonic and their fleet to escape.

Infinite knew that the consequences for such a failure would be great.

And now it was time to face the music as Doctor Eggman rose from a platform, looking absolutely disgusted with what he saw before him.

The jackal looked a little better than he had before, but he was still covered from head to toe in scratches from his encounter with Sonic. His mask was still cracked giving Eggman full view of the nothing that was Infinite and the ruby on his chest instead of completely faded and devoid of color and life now only had a bit of color to show for it.

But the part that surprised him most was the fact that Doctor Starline was standing next to Eggman, He had his arms crossed and wore the smuggest smirk on his face that the jackal had ever seen in his life.

Infinite was almost taken aback by that as the platypus so casually strutted over to the corner of the room, still looking at him with a knowing smile before taking his spot in the corner of the room.

He wanted to address the platypus but he had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Useless! Absolutely useless!" Eggman roared at Infinite causing to hang his head down in shame. "I give you one simple task, to eliminate our enemy once and for all and not only do you fail spectacularly, but you also manage to make things worse?!"

"Master, please. I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't mean to what?! Make a fool of yourself, but more importantly me and this empire in front of the entire planet?! How you've inspired pitiful hope for any areas that the resistance or that smaller hedgehog have yet to overtake?! How you've practically turned your status as the symbol of fear, the authority of the Eggman Empire into nothing but a joke?!"

Infinite hung his head down in shame, shifting into a kneeling position as he continued going on.

"After everything I have done for you?! You repay me like this?! I have half the nerve to expel you from your position as the right hand in my army! Just be rid of you like all other past failures!"

Infinite gasped, rising to his feet. "N-no! M-Master, you wouldn't dare! I am still of use to you!"

"You better hope that you are…" Eggman growled, pinching the ridge of his nose before letting out a sigh.

"Leave me at once. Head back to your pod and wait for further orders." Eggman insisted.

Infinite slowly nodded and turned to walk off.

"Oh and one more thing…" Eggman noted. "You're not to get your mask fixed. It will stay broken as a constant reminder of your failure."

Infinite snapped back towards Eggman in absolute shock.

Starline was elated at this, a hand covering his beak as he looked on in wonder at the doctor.

"Master, please! Don't do this!" Infinite insisted. "You must restore my mask, if you don't then I-"

"Will live on, looking in the mirror every day, knowing what failure looks like. I say that's a pretty good tradeoff."

Infinite glared at him, but the emperor looked completely unwavering in his composure.

Starline stepped forward, pressing buttons on his wrist computer before a flurry of starbots rose to greet him.

"Did you not hear the emperor? He has spoken, now leave his presence at once!"

For a moment, Infinite flared with the Phantom Ruby's power ready to attack Starline for daring to question his strength. But as it had been, the Phantom Ruby still wasn't ready and that energy quickly faded. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed his pod.

Infinite let out a sigh but followed their orders, turning to walk away from them.

Infinite didn't need to look at Starline to see his bravado grow even larger from the events that just transpired.

He groaned as the glass door slid open and slunk his way back to his chambers.

As he walked out of the room, he paid no mind to Shadow who was casually leaning against the wall next to the door, his arms crossed and eyes closed in thought.

~Trials of War~

"Man, this is whack!" Sonic laughed as he was running around the battlefield dodging projectile attacks coming from every whichway on the battlefield. "You'd think these lame-os would know not to mess with us anymore."

Tails flew up into the air, also dodging some of the same fire before swiping his namesakes out at a buzzbomber flying above. "Nah, Eggman's robots think they can beat us all the time. It's sad really."

Blaze the cat, who had her fists ignited with flame, was quick to jump backwards in order to avoid a swing from one of the classic Egg Pawns that were there. "After all your years, you would think they would be more mindful of their health? Why, if I were one of Eggman's robots, I would know not to get into a fight with Sonic, Tails or any of his friends. No offense of course, Omega."

The robot in question charged through all sorts of gunfire as if it were nothing. "While this unit may be a creation of the doctor, I am a superior to the cannon fodder that makes up the majority of the Eggman's army. As such, the only offense that should be taken is the fact that you would dare compare me to such inferior machines!"

Sonic laughed, using one Egg Pawn's head to hop vault over and bounce into another one. "Oh relax, big guy. She wouldn't dare think of you as one of those tin cans? Would ya, Blaze?"

"Never!" The cat insisted as she chucked balls of fire at an oncoming group, causing them to explode into a flaming pile of scrap on the ice floor.

Omega fired off his machine gun arm towards the group of Eggpongs. "Very well then. All is forgiven."

Tails was now chasing down some of the Buzzbombers in the air. "I hate to break up this riveting conversation, but can we focus on the killer robots?"

"Relax, buddy." Sonic brushed him off. "We've got it perfectly under control."

Tails let out a sigh at this and continued his chase after the Eggpongs.

However, true to Sonic's word they actually did have most things under control in the Holoskan Village. When they had crash landed in the middle of it, the vast majority of Eggman's forces overlooking the place had come to stop them only for the quartet to pretty much mop the floor with them.

The firepower in this area wasn't all that big after all, mostly designed to look after humans more than anything else. Tearing through them was absolutely no problem.

And now, all that was left for the quartet were a group of Egg Pawns that gathered together to fire on the group with their comically sized laser pistols.

Sonic, Tails, Blaze and Omega converged with one another behind an igloo where they managed to peek out at the Eggpongs.

"Alright guys, how about we wrap this up?" Sonic asked. "I'm thinking of giving these guys some sort of an all-out attack to finish things off."

"What did you have in mind?"

Sonic smirked at this and told them all the plan to which they agreed.

Quickly the home that they had hid behind had been reduced to nothing but a pile of snow and ice, its belongings scattered about inside and that was all the robots needed to begin to charge their blasters and deliver a finisher of their own.

But Sonic was quick, running out at the group while Tails flew straight up into the air, Blaze ran to the right and Omega to the left.

But they all turned their attention towards the smaller hedgehog who jumped up into the air and homed into the ground right in front of the robots.

Needless to say, the trio were confused at this while he wagged his finger in front of them, waved and ran away.

And then the hellfire came for them. Tails fired balls of energy from above, Blaze and Omega with their fire and bullets from opposite sides.

The robots were torn apart in mere moments.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Sonic grinned he raised his fist.

"Great work everyone!" Blaze announced as she joined him and returned the gesture by touching her own fist to his.

Sonic tried to mimic an explosion with his hand which Blaze chuckled at.

Omega raised his fist in the air. "Success!"

Tails landed nearby and smiled happy to see that he and his friends had succeeded only to finally begin to take a look around his surroundings and frowned.

The Holoskan Village was much different than he had remembered it. No one was around, the entire place was completely devoid of any and all life and gone were the smiling faces of the people; around the igloos were all sorts of machines, watchtowers and the like which the robots would use.

Tails frowned and a gust of chilled wind blew by causing the fox to rub his arms.

"Eggman…" Tails frowned. "He took this village for himself and now… the people are all gone."

The others looked around at the village and saw that it was true. The village were completely devoid of life.

"No…" Sonic frowned. "This can't be…"

Tails shook his head. "Sonic and I have been here. Back when the planet split apart, we came to Holoska to get to one of the Gaia Temples and… the Holoskan people had welcomed us like we were family and… and… Chaos… I haven't been here since then and now…?"

Sonic was quick to give him a hug. "It's okay, Tails. We're gonna set this right. I know it's tough to look at but that's why we gotta fight Eggman."

Tails wiped away tears which were threatening to fall and nodded. "R-right…"

Blaze put a hand to her chin in thought and took a look around the world around her. "I do not think that this place is abandoned."

The two children looked up in surprise. "What?"

Omega stepped up too. "Blaze would be correct. It appears that the igloos have been used recently and the robots were meant to keep watch over the inhabitants."

Sonic and Tails looked at each other, letting out relieved smiles.

"Thank goodness." Tails sighed.

Sonic shook his head. "Alright, but where are they? If they aren't here then what did Eggman do with them?"

The quartet wasn't really sure and looked around before Blaze pointed out in the distance. "Look!"

The three boys looked out in that direction and saw it, the massive chemical plant spewing oil into the ocean as if it was nothing with ships floating around heading off into space and lugging cargo around.

Sonic glared at the facility. "Eggman…"

"It appears that if we want to bring the inhabitants of this village back to their homes, the Chemical Plant will be where we'll find them." Omega noted.

Blaze began to stretch. "Finally, something I can take pleasure in burning."

Tails nodded. "Well, Sonic… You wanted to show Eggman what was coming to him..."

Sonic smirked at this and peeled out in the direction of the Chemical Plant, leaving snow and ice in his wake.

Tails looked towards Blaze and Omega, an actual, genuine smile on his face as he took off into the sky with the two quickly following after him.

~Trials of War~

Marketa let out a long sigh and looked at the piles of fish that were laid out in front of her. They were dirtied with oil from the Chemical Plant and would need to be taken to the robots for decontamination, but otherwise not a bad haul for the day.

Now it was time to wait for the robots to come and collect her and she could call it a day.

~Trials of War~

"Next stop the Chemical Plant!" Sonic announced as he lead the quartet through the frozen tundra.

Just as Sonic had so many years ago, they were quick to jump over, sidestep and avoid any and all matter of spikes that would come along their way in the icy field before them.

However, just as they were about to head out to the ocean they were quick to stop.

"Look!" Tails cried out.

They all stopped to see the mostly blue water have lines of a black substance that shimmered with multiple colors in the sunlight.

Sonic gagged. "Ugh! What is that?!"

"Oil coming from the Chemical Plant."

Blaze frowned. "To think that the doctor would stoop so low. Ruining a planet that he already has control over. It's truly detestable."

"I know. I can't imagine what we'll have to do in order to clean this up." Tails sighed.

"Modern science should find a way. But first, we must focus on our goal."

They nodded and continued on.

For Sonic and Blaze it was easy to run atop the water while Omega and Tails respectfully hovered over it. In such a cold climate, Blaze was careful to simply use her speed rather than to ignite her flames especially now that they weren't in battle.

After making it across the water, they found themselves going down a snowy hill, at the bottom of which was an incline that formed a natural ramp for them to launch off of and go high into the air.

When they did so, they soared high, landing atop a glacier which rocked a bit at the addition of their weight, but they were thankfully able to stay on.

In front of them were multiple glaciers both big and small scattered about the vast ocean of Holoska which the quartet quickly jumped across while Tails simply flew.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh and have a little fun at this, which became contagious to the others joined in. Blaze couldn't help but have a big grin cross her face, while Tails was all smiles as well, making sure often flying by Sonic and the others and giving them high fives as they continued across the ice flows.

Blaze was the first to finish jumping across the ice flows and landed in yet another field of ice and snow before dashing off.

Sonic soon followed and ran after. He quickly passed by and blew a raspberry at her before continuing to race off.

Blaze's eyes widened in shock at this before she smirked and chased after him.

She was quick to overtake and Sonic did the same, the cycle continued for a while as the two were neck and neck in their impromptu race while Tails and Omega simply followed behind. Tails let out cheers for Sonic to win and get past her while Omega simply grumbled about the objective at hand and keeping focused.

Sonic and Blaze ended up making it to the end of the field at the same time, stopping in their tracks as a natural waterfall was standing before them only it was frozen over with ice.

"Got any bright ideas?" Sonic asked.

Blaze simply rolled her eyes at this before she walked over to the waterfall and placed her hand, red hot with heat to the water. It instantly melted and revealed an icy cavern for them to walk to.

Tails and Omega caught up as Sonic scratched the back of his head.

"Heh. I knew that."

"Did you now?"

"Shut up." He laughed before running inside.

The others were quick to follow.

Inside, they found themselves in a long tube which they were able to slide down. Blaze ice skated through it all with the grace of an Olympic medalist while Sonic and Tails simply rolled into their spinballs. Poor Omega was sitting on his bottom, flailing about as he made his descent. Occasionally he would pass into Blaze's path, but she would just jump over him, twirling about as she did so.

When they got to the end of the tunnel, Blaze skidded to a halt and struck a pose where she had her legs crossed and stuck her arms above her head like a ballerina.

Sonic and Tails came next and hopped out of their ball forms and back to normal.

"You really are your dimensions, Sonic. Aren't you?" Tails chuckled.

Blaze slyly opened her eyes and couldn't help but smirk. "I don't recall the young one having such poise and skill?"

Tails covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.

"Hey, I have lots of poise!" Sonic insisted. He then frowned, trying to process what exactly was said before finall whispered to Tails. "What does poise mean?"

This time, Tails actually let out a laugh while Blaze got out of her pose and patted the little hedgehog on the shoulder.

Just then, Omega came sliding out of the cave uncontrollably and slammed into an ice wall, causing a pile of snow to land on top of them.

Tails was letting out guffaws while Blaze calmly melted the snow.

"Yeah, yeah… Let's go!" Sonic insisted before he started off again.

The three once again followed after and as they made their way along the snow, it was soon that they actually saw someone and they saw them.

~Trials of War~

Marketa couldn't believe her eyes.

Standing before her was Sonic the Hedgehog, alive and well.

It was on instinct that she cast everything aside and ran towards him, throwing her arms around him despite the aching in her arm.

"Sonic! Sonic! I can't believe it!" She wailed. "I thought you were gone! I thought you had died! I thought- I thought… I'm just so happy that you're back…"

Sonic wasn't really sure what to do with the younger girl hugging him but decided to roll with it. The girl embraced him for a few moments, tears rolling down her cheeks until it had finally gotten awkward again.

He let out a light cough to which she opened her eyes and looked down at the hedgehog, seeing that it was not the friend she had come to know over all these years but it was another hedgehog, smaller, a little chubbier and a lighter shade of blue. He shared so many of the features of her hero but he was just too young.

"Oh…" She frowned, looking down at the floor. "I'm sorry… I thought you were…"

"I mean, I a-"

Tails was quit to cut in. "He's uh… Sonic's little brother."

Sonic looked to the others and they were all nodding so he just rolled with it. "Yep. That's me. Sonic Jr. And well, I'm here to save the day and if I'm lucky, find my uh… big bro."

Marketa frowned once again. "Your brother's gone, Junior… H-he…"

Marketa was crying again, sobbing into the ice. Without hesitation, Sonic was quick to wrap her in a hug, letting her let it out once again. She sobbed and sobbed at just how horrible things had gotten since Eggman had seized control of the planet and how everything had gone wrong.

It wasn't until Sonic let go and looked her in the eyes that she was able to stop.

"It's okay… Sonic is alive."

Marketa's heart stopped. "What?"

"Sonic is alive." Sonic said again. "He's been out and about for about a month now, doing everything he can to save the world with the Resistance."

Marketa couldn't believe what she was hearing. She absolutely couldn't believe it after months of believing that her friend was dead, it was confirmed that he was in fact alive.

Tears continued to flow down her face. "S-S-Sonic is al-ive? I-I…"

Blaze couldn't help but smile and nod. "Yes. Sonic has been out there fighting and has been doing his best to protect the planet."

"But the war continues to wage on. Doctor Eggman continues to hold the world, but his strength diminishes everyday with each victory on our side."

"And we're gonna keep fighting until the battle's won." Sonic smirked, punching a fist into his open palm.

Marketa wiped the tears away and smiled. "What can I do to help?"

The quartet looked at one another before Blaze finally answered. "Tell us what happened to your village. Then we should be able to find the best thing to do about this place."

Marketa nodded and told them everything; about how they had been pretty isolated from the war until Eggman came to conquer them, about how their parents had been taken to the Chemical Plant and what life had been like for the children of Holoska. Throughout the story, the quartet had turned to scowls at the thought that Eggman would do something like this.

"Oh, he is so gonna pay!" Sonic announced, slamming his fist into his open palm. "When I get my hands on that no good rotten Eggman, I'll show him!"

"Agreed." Blaze shook her head. "We cannot allow this to persist. You will be reunited with your families!"

"Posthaste! We shall infiltrate the Chemical Plant and liberate them without hesitation!"

Tails then stepped up to the girl and smiled. "Marketa, can you gather up the rest of the children and get them back into the village?"

"I can but I'd have to leave behind my hull for the day. But then there's the robots…"

Sonic scoffed. "Those scrapheaps? Already took care of them back when when we got here. Village is safe and a-okay to go through."

Marketa smiled. "You guys are the best, thank you."

"Go and find your friends." Blaze insisted.

Sonic pointed at the massive factory and smirked. "We'll take care of the Chemical Plant and handle the rest."

Marketa gave Sonic one last hug, before rushing off into the snow.

"Thank you!"

The quartet waved back at her and then turned back towards the Chemical Plant.

"Let's do this!"

How is it that I keep writing reunions that I didn't initially intend to make when starting the reunion arc? First Topaz and Tower, now Sonic and Marketa at least sorta and still not the big one that everyone's waiting for. Haha. Alright, next time we're gonna have Scratch and Grounder make a fantastic return and have a touching reunion with Eggman as they learn to live with Cubot and Orbot as their new roommates. Hahaha.
Honestly, this whole chapter just kinda didn't go the way I initially planned but when writing it, a lot of the decisions made definitely felt right.
Otherwise, I think that'll do for this chapter. Totally unplanned but returning to Holoska and the Chemical Plant in December feels right and that should lead me into what else I wanna say for this chapter.
But happy holidays, everybody. It's been quite the eventful year with 2020 but I'm glad to see that we'll all be able to get out of it. As far as December 21
st goes, the planet didn't blow up! Woohoo! Haha. For real though, thank you all for such a tremendous year and sticking with this story as long as you all have. You all really are the best and I am thankful to have you guys reading my stuff. I hope moving forward into 2021 I'll be seeing you all continue to read this and I just hope you all have a much better year than this one has been in general.
Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to you all.
And with that said, review replies.

TGN:
Thanks for the concern, man. I am feeling so much better now.
Sonic and Celeste's partnership is just one of my favorite things to write in this story. They're great and I love them. Putting them through this scene was also another thing I wanted to do to test their friendship. Sonic certainly won't be forgetting what he's seen anytime soon.
Ooooo that's great. Gonna have to check out the sequel sometime soon.
I understand completely. Forces was somethin' but it did give us the good rewrites, so some good came out of it. It is a shame to see SpiderDom step away, but I definitely understand where he's coming from.
Thanks as always for the support!

AnimationAdventures:
Professor Pickle has just become my favorite character to write. He's just so much fun to work with the serious professor side of him and of course the goofball that he is. I picked the Mobian that I did because she's the OC from that one project that fell through that was mentioned in this story a while back. I've decided to lift her from the clutches of that awful memory and place her in a minor role in this story because of that. She'll have a little bit more significance in this story past this scene though.
I love my Betas and getting them a little bit of interaction with the Chaotix was fun.
More on what's up with Sonic later. But to sum up, I do have to make some changes to my initial final battle plans since I've officially decided to move forward with this.
This is kinda always the reason I've believed Sonic has an attachment to Green Hill and is what I'm rolling with in this canon. Sonic grew up there and to him, as someone who doesn't quite believe in a home being a place but rather in the people, I feel this is the closest place that he would consider one. I really do like your amnesia theory when it pertains to Sonic though. It suits the character a lot.
Thanks as always!

zack24:
The supplies have been donated from places/raided from Eggman over the course of the war.

AlexandriaPrime:
Good question.

TheLostEternity:
Hiya, friend.
It's good to be back. And yeah, haha. Soooooooo close.
You know, it's funny. Before the game first came out and we saw Arsenal Pyramid for the first time, I thought that when we saw that room with the bombs that it would lead to some sort of cutscene especially since it was with our custom characters. I mean, a bunch of nukes like that is such a simple but noteworthy setpiece that it just feels kinda wasted for it to get absolutely no comment from our characters. That's why when I finally got to this point, I knew that I wanted to give this a moment and I'm so glad that it's as well received by you all as it has been. As for your questions, more on that later.
Hope this chapter satisfied you with the Classic Quartet.
I'm glad to hear that you had a good birthday.
Looks like you got your wish and here I am. I doubt it, but I am gonna actually try to get something else out this year but as always, no promises.
Thank you for the well wishes.
Until next time!

numberjacksoctonauts:
I always do like to throw in dialogue from the actual level if it fits what I'm doing. It did with Arsenal Pyramid and I'm happy that it worked out. I actually threw in the "Pretty thrilling. Ey, partner?" from Final Judgement because I don't think I'll be able to fit that line in with what I have planned so it seemed right with the skydiving section. I do not have enough Sonic & Knuckles banter in this story so I had to throw it in here. Haha.
I so cannot wait to touch on Team Dark more. Don't worry, they're gonna be talked about
quite a bit very soon. But yeah, they absolutely are tragic being on three different sides on the war and I just love writing Rouge and Shadow's misery about it a lot.
I'm glad that people are liking the Betas as much as they have been. They've become some of my favorite characters to write and I love them a lot. And you gotta have some nice fluff here and there.
I really am glad people love the Sonic and Celeste scene.

SilverNova:
First off, I think I'm just gonna put all your reviews in one response to make things easier on me. But with that said…
Fastidious Beaver is a fun one and I actually had him in the story earlier. He was a judge on one of these talent contest shows like The X Factor, so I guess that's what he does on a day to day basis in my world. I personally love Sonic Boom though, I think it's really funny but I definitely understand where you're coming from. Funnily enough, I actually did do a oneshot about Dave a few years ago. Haha.
I really hate Sega's "two world" nonsense when it comes to Modern Sonic because it just makes continuity a mess. Hence why I completely ignore it and just roll with both as one in this. As I said earlier, two worlds only works if you set it up like X or the Movie did.
As I've said, Professor Pickle is an absolute gift and I just have so much fun writing him. He's just so easy and fun for me.
I'm glad that you enjoyed the Sonic and Celeste scene. One of the things I think is important with Sonic as a character is to actually treat him as a character rather than a cardboard cutout hero like Sega likes to do. He's a guy with a full range of emotions and while he might be fast and cool, he's also got his own feelings and sometimes, stuff can get to him. Y'know? Personally, I think they never should've gone with the torture thing for Sonic Forces since it just comes off, as Sonic Boom would put it, "hilariously edgy." I do like that he was imprisoned but torture was a bit much. But even then, that's only a thing in the English script. I greatly appreciate you think that I did well with the way the torture, but I admittedly think I could've done a lot better with that. But that's something I'll likely talk about at the end of the story. As far as Dark Sonic goes, stay tuned.
Chaos Sensitives are a rare breed, but definitely around. Although with the dire situation, The Master Emerald may have helped just a little bit.

tekina fiction:
Our girl is far too good to die in Islands, so here she is for a small role in Trials of War. I'm glad it excited you to see her, haha.
Sonic and Celeste have grown so much and it makes me happy.
Thanks again, bud.

Infinite's Ruby:
Thanks, good to be back.
Sonic and Celeste's relationship and even the relationships between all the characters is what's most important to me when it comes to this story. That and worldbuilding. I really did love writing that scene and showing how far the two have come and I'm looking forward to exploring their relationship further as the story goes on.
I'm glad you think that it was so strong. Thank you for the well wishes and it's also good to see you in reviews again.

CVGWJames, SonicDash:
Thank you!