So… I'm a few months late but hey, Happy New Year everybody, it's been quite a year but now we're past the horror that was 2020 into a well, slightly better year so far that has been 2021.
Welp. This is certainly interesting, isn't it? I said I was gonna do a Modern Sonic chapter but now here I am with a Classic chapter in April. We're doing another classic chapter because I had started writing what will be the next chapter for the months of January and February. It's about 5K words right now and I've gotten most of Celeste's part of the chapter as well as some other stuff in there done and it's going along well.
But it was while I was writing that chapter and doing certain things at the end that you'll see sometime soon, I realized that the plans for this Classic chapter would be a lot better if it came first and the Celeste chapter (that honestly might just become both a Celeste/Modern chapter instead of just Celeste) would be better after it. Which is something that you've seen me do before what with balancing two separate plotlines in this fic (thank God, I'll be done with that soon. Lmfao) so this sort of thing happens, but I guess I'm a little disappointed that I realized it two months into writing it. So I guess I apologize to all of you how long this took, at least the next chapter should be out sooner since a good chunk of it is done, but who knows. Hopefully life and writers block don't cut in again.
With that long authors note out of the way though, let's begin with this new chapter and I'll admit, this is one I am very excited for, so without further ado… let's begin.
Trials of War: A Sonic Forces Rewrite
Chapter 29-
Good Chem, Bad Chem
Amongst the frozen fields of ice and snow was the Holoskan Empire Base that doubled as both a space port and chemical plant.
The space port was the central hub of the world for the Eggman Empire operating as both the launch point for trips to and from the former Death Egg Prison up but also as the main distributor of any and all materials that the Eggman Empire had collected over the course of the war. Anything that Eggman had collected would be sent to the Holoska in large containers and then would be distributed to locations like Green Hill Zone or Metropolis.
Then of course there was the Chemical Plant which was exactly as one might expect. There, they would mix all sorts of crazy concoctions whether that be for fuel for their robots or potential bioweapons to unleash on an unsuspecting populace, it was all done here. Monorails were suspended in the air, twisting and turning around the facility and transporting materials at incredible speeds.
And like any other Eggman Empire base it was an eyesore to the land that it forced itself into.
Smoke billowed into the air, from the plant and from the ships that flew across the sky like flies. Toxic chemicals were dumped into the ocean creating a tar like substance in the water. The Chemical Plant was insufferably loud, echoing across the fields of ice for miles. The clutter and clatter of machinery rattled against the ears like a sledgehammer was repeatedly taken to a keyboard; the rushing wooshes of the ships and the trains were like running cat claws across a million chalkboards. And the putrid odors that arose from the plant…
It was all disgusting.
And it was inside that disgusting place that did its best to absolutely destroy the frigid wonderland that an Eggpawn wearing a suit and holding a clipboard stood in front of one of the many steel plated doors and ordered other Eggpawns around that were wearing labcoats and carrying beakers and test tubes filled with chemicals as well as various other forms of scientific apparatus. It would point out in various directions, adjust its glasses and continue to look at its fellow robots in disapproval as they continued to scurry about.
One of the Lab Coat wearing Eggpawns ran across the room and ended up tripping and falling, causing the contents of their testubes to spill onto the ground while the glass shattered.
The Suited Eggpawn steamed, jumping up and down and pointing angrily at the spill only for one for the Eggpawn to run off, holding its hands up to its face as if it were crying. The Eggpawn in the suit calmed down and shook its head in disapproval before looking down at its clipboard again.
Just as it was about to give more orders, it was thrown off its feet and into the center of the room as the gigantic metal door that it was standing in front of was blown off its hinges by a massive ball of flame.
That ball of flame then zipped around the room, ramming into robots before stopping in the center, piles of robot parts all around it. It fizzled out, reveling none other than Blaze the cat, a playful smirk on her face as she posed with her legs together and her arms out like that of a ballerina.
More robots began to charge in from the opposite end of the room, these of the more garden variety Eggpong with their pale cream chells and arm blasters pointed at her.
"Oh, you are not leaving me in the dust!" Sonic's nasally voice called out as he zipped in from the smoking entrance.
Blaze looked as he ran in, jumping up and over her and homing into one of the oncoming robots.
"I believe you are usually the one who tells people to keep up." Blaze smiled as she started to back him up, slinging balls of flame at some of the other bots.
"You got all those years on you and I'm just startin' out. When I'm your age I bet I'll be five times as fast!" Sonic insisted as he did a little trick in the air after a homing attack.
Blaze laughed. "Oh, I am sure you will."
At that, Tails now flew out of the smoke, his arms flayed out at his sides before dropping out of his flight and landing next to Blaze with a thump. He whipped out his Arm blaster and was quick to fire off bolts of energy towards more of the Eggpongs.
The fox chuckled. "There's never a dull moment with you two is there?"
"I'm the coolest and she refuses to accept that!" Sonic insisted before performing a drop dash, knocking a few of them away.
"You are very cool." Blaze insisted as she joined him in running around the room, pouring on her flaming boost.
Sonic shook his head. "Nah, that ain't good enough. I have to prove it!"
Blaze laughed. "You are certainly doing a lot to do so."
At that E123 Omega came charging into the room with his machine guns out, firing upon the room without little care, declaring the destruction of all Eggman robots.
Tails laughed again. "Speaking of never having a dull moment…"
"DESTROY ALL EGGMAN ROBOTS!" He declared as he unleashed hellfire upon the room that wiped out the remainder of the robots in the room.
Sonic skidded to a stop next to Tails, casually leaning an arm on his shoulder. "Man, what do you gotta do to find some prisoners in this dump? We've already been through like five of these little labs and have only found robots so far."
Tails nodded. "Would've been a lot easier if they put them at the front door, huh?"
Sonic laughed, leaning heavily into the fox to which he smiled.
Blaze shook her head. "No rest for the wicked, it seems."
Omega stepped up to them and spoke. "Eggman oft-" He stopped, noticing the head of the suited Egg Pawn in front of him. He lifted his foot and kicked it across the room before raising his arm in the air in triumph. "Eggman often makes his more valuable workers deeper into his facilities. Should we continue deeper inside, we should find what we are looking for."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Sonic waved them forward. "Let's go, guys!"
With that, he peeled out of the room and onto one of the winding yellow paths of the Chemical Plant.
The other three were quick to follow after.
~Trials of War~
Out in the cold again, the quartet was off blazing down the winding paths of the Chemical Plant. Their feet tapped against the frigid pale yellow of the frozen metal as the water underneath them sloshed about underneath. The trains carrying supplies also moved around them at high speeds.
In front of them were Egg Chasers, that were attempting to throw lasers at them every chance they could get but were easily dodged by the group.
But Sonic couldn't help but laugh as he dodged each and every one of them, employing his older self's quickstepping technique to do so.
"You're getting really good at that!" Tails called out to Sonic. Carefully zipping around the field with his namesakes as he flew through the open skies.
"It's all in the legs, bud." Sonic gave him a thumbs up.
Tails returned this and got back to flying.
Meanwhile, as Blaze was dodging, she readied balls of flame that she hurled at the Chasers, each of them exploded into a fiery inferno.
She smirked at her accomplishment, only to be thrown off when purple blurs rushed past her and up into the air.
Her eyes widened in surprise to see a squadron of about 10 robots hovering before them. They were tiny purple robots about the size of Sonic's head. They had bird like bodies with wings and tailfins like that of an airplane. Angry, glowing green eyes pierced out at them through the snow, eagerly waiting for them to make a move.
"Valkeen units." Omega announced. "As expected of the doctor to bring out more fire power to protect one of his many bases."
Tails frowned. "They're new to me! We need to be careful, guys!"
Sonic waved him off. "Doesn't matter if the Doctor has a few new toys, we'll smash them no matter, what. Let's do it to it, team."
The Valkeens then began to fly out towards them to which the team got ready, firing off streams of fire, bullets and bolts of energy that managed to tear through three of them, while Sonic jumped through all of it and bounced on top of one and then another before landing on the ground.
Sonic landed ahead of the group as they continued running, giving them a cheeky thumbs up. Tails and Blaze couldn't help but return the smiles, while Omega focused upon the mission, his machine gun arm still primed and ready for more of the bugs.
"Look out!" Tails cried out to Sonic.
Sonic didn't react quickly enough though as one of the reobotic bugs flew right at him, knocking him high into the air while another one flew in to blast him out of the sky. The blast impacted Sonic and sent him flying through the air, up and off the pathway they were running on.
Both bugs were destroyed immediately after their work by Blaze but that did little to save the hedgehog as he went soaring through the air.
"Sonic!" Tails screamed.
Sonic flailed his arms and let out a fearful cry as he flew through the air.
Tails was about to fly off, but just then, one of the moving monorails passed by, allowing Sonic to safely land on top.
"Wo-oah!" He shouted, he flailed his arms a bit, trying to find his balance, but managed to and found himself running on top of the monorail.
Tails saw this and breathed out a sigh of relief as his rotating tails slowed back to a swish behind him and he focused on shooting down the ones ahead of him with Omega and Blaze.
Sonic couldn't help but let out a wicked smirk as he ran on top of the speeding train only for more of the robots to come zooming past him and attempt to fire at him again. But he was quick, just as he had done before before homing in on them, being a little cockier and employing little tricks in between jumps as well.
Once finished off with the enemies, Sonic dropped into a spindash and catapulted himself off and landed back on the path with the trio as they finished off their opponents as well. He gave Tails a fist bump as they continued to run off.
~Trials of War~
Emperor Eggman stood in his lab overlooking the city of Metropolis, his brow furrowed in thought as he looked out at the world that he had called his own.
The pristine blues and whites of the city boasted that of the greatest technological marvels that the world had to offer as a breeding ground for the sciences and businesses alike. It all clashed horribly with the oppressive reds of the Eggman Empire propaganda littered around the city through banners and billboards that were hung all about.
This was a view that he had gotten quite used to over the course of his time as the leader of the free world. So many times had he looked over it all and just took it all in, knowing that all the people who lived down there and in the world as a whole were under his control. He relished in it, thrived on that feeling of strength that he had never once tasted in his life.
But now, all he could do was look on with a sense of dread. Sonic was back in the picture and wreaking havoc across the globe as if they had owned the place. One by one, his strongholds had fallen and he realized that Metropolis was truly among one of the last places that he could call his own.
"Magnificent is it not?" A voice asked him.
He looked to see Doctor Starline standing next to him. He gestured out towards the land with a proud smile on his face before looking up at the doctor with such a look of admiration that he had never seen before. Hell, his own parents had never looked at him like that.
Uncomfortable by this, the emperor looked away and back out the window. "I suppose. It's the same view I've had for months and the same view I'll have for time to come."
Starline faltered a bit, expecting boasting instead of the sorrowful tone that he took on. "C-come now, Emperor. It is something to take pride in. Taking control over the entire world, toppling the world's armies and even taking out the Sonic Heroes! Why, if I were in your position, I would be in constant awe of my own brilliance."
Eggman simply grumbled at this.
"But of course, even if I had such brilliance, it would always pale in comparison to yours. In fact if I were ruler of such a world, I know I would never be a match for you and your armies."
Eggman let out a low sigh as he pinched the ridge of his nose in frustration. He turned away from the window and hunched over his desk.
"I am sorry, Emperor… D-did I distress you?" Starline asked timidly.
Eggman exhaled. "It's not you…"
"I would hope not. I would never want to harm you in any way, your benevolence."
Eggman simply groaned.
Starline blinked at this and hung his head down in shame. "I-I'm sorry…"
Eggman was surprised to hear the distress in his voice and looked down at the platypus. Under his gaze he did his best to straighten up and smile, raising his arm up into a salute.
"B-but of course, that only encourages me to do better, my beloved Emperor."
Eggman scrutinized him for a bit, eying the platypus who had done his best not to falter in his sights. Finally after a moment, he just sighed again. "Stop that."
Once again, Starline slumped his shoulders in defeat and looked down towards the floor. "I am sorry."
"Don't do that either."
"What can I do to please you sir?" Starline asked, looking up at the doctor with pleading eyes.
Eggman shook his head. "No. Don't do that either."
Starline once again faltered under his gaze. "Very well. What should I do then?"
Eggman narrowed his eyes at him once more. Doctor Starline for all his intellect intrigued him in a way that he didn't quite understand. Doctor Starline was one of the few people on the planet to come anywhere near his level of intellect and unlike Tails, he understood what to do with this cursed planet. He wasn't like the rest of them and held undying loyalty unlike anyone that he had ever known before. No matter what snide or snarky comment Eggman would make towards him, he'd take it in stride and do his best to correct his behavior to be more pleasing to his eye. Hell, within hours of being expelled from his empire, Starline had responded by delivering the Queen of Soleanna to him to prove his worth.
It was unprecedented. Starline wasn't a machine coded to do his bidding; Starline was not some being that had been brainwashed to follow his every command with little question; Starline wasn't even someone he had threatened or tricked or even known of prior to his silly little reality show… Starline was nothing more than a man who wanted so desperately to please him.
He frowned. "Why do you do that?"
"Do what?" Starline asked.
"All of this. You worship me as if I am some sort of god. While I am flattered, it's unbecoming of most beings on this planet."
Doctor Starline couldn't help but let out a wistful smile. "It is just as I said when we had met for the first time, Emperor. You truly do inspire me!"
"If you're looking for inspiration, you should try the rodent." Eggman scoffed.
"No! Not him!" Starline shouted. "He and his band of miscreants are nothing more than a nuisance. Always getting in the way of your true genius. You are the one who will bring this world to a brighter tomorrow where people like you- people like us, if I may be so bold, will be able to show those beneath us who is truly superior!"
"Alright. You're gonna have to take a few steps back. Where did this all begin?"
Starline looked down at the floor and sighed. "As a child… Well, I cannot imagine you know anything about this as all must've bowed before your feet at even a young age. But my intellect was not something to be revered, but a point of contention for my peers. I was a social outcast, mocked and belittled despite being so much better than those ignorant buffoons who plagued my life before."
Eggman shrugged. "I had bullies. I just disposed of them like I do anything else."
Starline couldn't help but beam at him. "I could never have found that strength. Not back then. Oh… how childhood was, continuing to waste away as my intellect continued to grow and I received little appreciation it. I had eventually graduated from university at the top of my class with all sorts of degrees, constantly studying and soon found myself working for GUN, building weapons of mass destruction for what fools like Abraham Tower insisted were for a greater cause. But even he did not respect me for my work as I continued to make my way through their ranks."
Eggman was genuinely interested now, looking at the platypus with even more intrigue as he continued his tale.
"It was near the tail end of my time at GUN that I had begun to hear rumblings of a blue hedgehog from South Island that was making change across the Mobian islands of the world. Eyes were on him in those days as to whether or not they could consider him a friend or a foe. Quite frankly, I simply did not care. Heroes are a dime a dozen and at the time you were nothing more than another deranged lunatic who would be stopped at every turn. Honestly, your eminence, the Death Egg was simply something to scoff at in those days."
"I was naïve back then." Eggman shrugged. "Shoddy craftsmanship and still underestimating my enemies."
"Precisely!" Starline clapped his hands. "You were nothing back then, just as I was. But then… It happened. You stood before the world, telling everyone who you were and your demands for global conquest. Destroying the moon and bringing the likes of men like Tower and the President to their knees, it- it- it was finally what I was looking for! It was someone who was willing to take the world for their own no matter what others had said and you had proven to me that you were the winning side to go for. You may have saved the world along with Project Shadow, but I knew that you were the one to look forward to. I knew that it would be you who would lead the world into prosperity for people like us to rule!"
Doctor Eggman took off his glasses and stared at Starline with wide eyes in utter disbelief at what he'd heard. Someone actually believed in him and wanted him to succeed. Starline stared back at him with a look of such complete and utter seriousness and loyalty that he knew that he would never abandon him.
"So for years, I followed your work, continuing to toil away at my day job where I still received zero respect waiting for the day that hopefully, someday, I'd be able to follow you at your side. And then the day came… When you seized control of this pitiful planet and painted it in your own image, I knew that the time had come. I've worked so hard to get here, Emperor and this is a position I refuse to let go of. Doctor, I believe that you can lead us into a better tomorrow! Those miscreants may have retaken some of our territories but you still remain strong. We have the power of Infinite and the Ruby on our side, we have our trump card in the collider. I believe in you!"
Doctor Eggman was practically beaming now as he put on his glasses again and stood up to his feet. "How could I have been so blind? Starline, you're right. I am the greatest mind the world has ever seen and even if Sonic and the resistance have retaken the planet that does not mean they've won this war just yet."
"That's my emperor!" Starline cheered.
"Come Starline, there is work to be-"
But he was cut off by the sound of beeping on both his and Starline's consoles.
Both pulled up their holographic screens and were shocked to see red alerts sounding off throughout their northern Chemical Plant facility.
Eggman frowned. "So the Resistance has made another move?"
"Please, emperor. Allow me to-"
"No." Eggman simply stated. "This has Sonic written all over it and if it's him, then I'm going to need to call out those more qualified to deal with him."
"Doctor?"
Eggman clicked his console once again. "Shadow! Infinite! We have a breech. You're both needed in the Chemical Plant on the double!"
"Starline, come with me. We have to prepare."
"For what sir?"
"The next act." Eggman grinned menacingly.
Starline was practically giddy with excitement as he followed Eggman out of the room, leaving the sliding door to close behind them.
~Trials of War~
Work in the Chemical Plant was… hard.
Day in and day out the people of Holoska would stand around amongst rows upon rows of conveyor belts, placing materials to be sent off who knows where. Those who were competent enough were asked to mix them to precise levels and would be reprimanded if they were not careful; the two Egg Hammers sitting in the room that wouldn't hesitate to show you the business end of their namesakes made sure that fact was known.
It was difficult for Jari-Thure as he did his best to keep the people together and alive in hopes that someday they would be rescued. There were times that they had hope. The battle for Holoska that had taken place early on in the war or the time just a month or so ago that the Resistance had been in the Chemical Plant doing who knows what? But in the end, the Empire triumphed and the resistance had left them behind.
As the new chief of the village, it was disheartening to know what had happened and did his best to keep things going.
Now he stood amongst the crowd, carefully packing chemicals into their proper containment units to hand off to others to move along the conveyor belt. As he did so, he cautiously eyed the closest Egg Hammer to him. With its gold coloring and cold robotic eyes staring at attention with the hammer in hand. [1]
He sighed. Knowing to get back to work. They truly were in a hopeless situation and there was nothing they could do.
Boom!
Jari-Thure and all the others in the factory looked confusedly as the steel plated door at the front of the room was blown off of its hinges and down into the center of the room.
Everyone was shocked only to see a rush of blue to come roaring out of the fire before coming to a halt on top of the downed door.
The people in the room were shocked to see that it was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog standing in all his glory.
Jari-Thure blinked, completely flabbergasted by the sight of the young hero. D-dad was right?!
He flicked his nose and smirked. "Let's juice and jam people, it's jailbreak time!"
He jumped up into the air just in time as the two Egg Hammers came at him from opposing directions and attempted to swing at him, only to strike each other's weapons instead. A loud metallic clang echoed throughout the room as the two robots vibrated from the force for a few moments before they regained their composure and resumed their attack.
Jari-Thure looked confused again. This was most certainly Sonic the Hedgehog, very few people on the planet could run like that and even less of them were blue hedgehogs. Yet… Sonic was shorter… more stout… he was a lot lighter than he knew him to be and his voice had this pre-pubescent ring to it that confused him. What exactly had happened to Sonic…?
But he didn't have time to dwell on that as Tails came flying into the room with his arm canon at the ready. He fired bolts of light from his cannon at one of the robots that peppered its body leaving scorch marks behind.
"Sonic, you can't just go barging in like that!"
Tails at least looked normal. So he assumed next would come the guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles.
"ELIMINATE ALL EGGMAN ROBOTS!" Omega roared as he emerged from the smoke with his twin machine guns unleashing hellfire on the Egg Hammers.
Jari-Thure was unsure what to think of that. Either the war had not been very kind to Knuckles… or it was somebody else. He swore he had seen that robot before, but it was hard to say.
Just when he thought he had seen the last of the group out of the flames stepped a purple cat with flames liking at her fingertips. She gave a comforting smile to the prisoners.
"Just a moment, we'll be taking care of them."
Jari-Thure had given up, he had absolutely no idea who any of those people were outside of Tails and maybe… Sonic…? If that even was Sonic but he decided to roll with it. They were being rescued.
~Trials of War~
"Strike one!" Sonic laughed as he quickstepped out of the way of the first of the Egg Hammer's swings.
"Strike two!" Sonic used a spindash to get out of the way yet again, being sure to do a figure eight on the ground as he dodged that one.
"And strike three! You're out buddy!" Sonic announced as he lunged over the hammer, running the robots arm and conking it in the head. It sputtered and snapped for a few brief moments but remained standing.
Sonic landed on his feet, dusted off his hands and turned to admire his handiwork only to see that the Egg Hammer was not only still operational but was coming upon him with its massive weapon at the ready.
He was lucky that Omega had begun his spray of bullets, distracting it and forcing its attention to him.
"Huh, looks tougher than the usual Eggbutts. Fun."
Sonic dashed off to help Omega by homing in on the robots stomach but was quick to swing its hammer up and send him flying into Omega.
Sonic groaned as he rose to his feet.
"Move." Omega told him.
Sonic groaned. "Aw come on. I just got thrown into you."
"No, move!" Omega shouted as he was standing up and used his propulsion system to narrowly avoid the hammer.
"Oh… Hehe. Thanks, buddy."
Omega raised his gun up in the air while still holding Sonic in his other hand and fired yet again but was still having little effect. Omega decided to shift gears again, electing to open up his systems to reveal the laser that was stored in his chest.
He fired upon it and the laser met its mark in the center of its chest, blasting a hole wide open to its central processor.
"Nice one, big guy!" Sonic gave him a thumbs up before he hopped out of his grasp and homed into the center, slicing clean through the robot and blowing it to bits.
Sonic landed on the other end and gave Omega a thumbs up at this which the robot returned.
~Trials of War~
Meanwhile on the other end of the room, Tails was having his own bit of trouble with his Egg Hammer as he did his best to fire bolts of light from his gauntlet while dodging through the air. But they did very little to do much to the robot.
Blaze on the other hand took a far more direct approach when it came to approaching the problem, her entire body was alight with flame as she did her best to jump at it with punches or kicks, but each time was meant with a swing of her hammer that knocked her in the opposite direction.
At one point, just when Blaze thought she had placed a perfect hit on the robot, it had swung at her yet again, this time sending her flying into Tails, leaving the two of them to land in a heap in a corner of the room.
The two groaned as they helped each other up off the ground.
"Well this isn't working…" Tails sighed.
"It is able to match my speed with its hammer and you're largely ineffective with your own blows. What should we do?"
Tails scanned the room, doing his best to eye a solution.
Unfortunately, he didn't really have much more time to look as he was whisked off his feet by Blaze. Tails shuddered at the sight of the hammer that narrowly avoided them.
Blaze boosted around the room again before hefting Tails up in the air. He let out a cry at this but was quick to get his namesakes going in order to fly around the room.
Blaze got to work again, running around the room, being careful to steer very clear of any of the people that were there while Tails did his best to analyze the situation.
Blaze's running was seemingly erratic and random and with every step, the robot would immediately turn its attention towards her, ignoring anything else in the room. He looked down at his arm cannon and thought about firing again but knew that he wouldn't be able to do much of anything with it.
So he got to scanning the robot again and that's when he noticed it, a small hatch on top of the robot's head that was just big enough for him to tinker with.
Tails flew over to the Egg Hammer, very carefully slipping on top of it and getting to work. He pried open the hatch with his bare hands and saw all the wiring inside. Under normal circumstances, he'd probably be careful about it and look for the perfect wire to pull but not today when he was holding on for dear life and had to free prisoners. So with little ceremony or fanfare, Tails yanked at the wiring with so much of his might that he had actually fallen off the robot in the process.
Blaze was quick to the rescue and caught him when he fell. She then placed him on the ground as the robot began to sputter and clank as electricity ran across its body.
Blaze couldn't help but let out a coy smile as she got into position, trained and ready, before doing a little twirl and sending a fireball right into the malfunctioning robot causing it to explode into pieces.
Tails ran up to Blaze and offered her a fistbump which she gladly returned.
~Trials of War~
The prisoners looked on in stunned silence as the two robots that had been terrorizing them for months on end fell to the ground in heaps of scrap. At first they were unsure of what to do.
They didn't know where it started, but first there was a single person clapping. Then two, then five, then ten and it just grew and grew until cheers were breaking out throughout the room.
The quartet didn't know how to react at first until it was Sonic who started doing a little break dance for the room to see which ended with a flick of his nose. Tails followed this up by sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, a blush spread across his face. Blaze had taken a theatrical bow and Omega gave a curt military salute to the crowd.
When the applause finally subsided it was Jari-Thure who stepped out from the group and greeted the heroes.
"As Chief of Holoska's Capital Village, thank you so much for your help in freeing us from those robots, Sonic Heroes." He bowed before them.
"Eh, it was nothin'" Sonic smiled. "We're always happy to lend a hand and when we heard what was happenin' to you guys we knew we had to step in."
"And we are forever in your debt for that." He smiled back.
Blaze just shook her head. "Please, there is no need for that."
"The knowledge that all of you are safe and be free of the clutches of the empire are more than enough."
He nodded. "Thank you. You all are really too kind."
Tails couldn't help but frown at this. "Jari-Thure… You said that you were chief of the village."
"Yes." He nodded.
"Where is Jari-Pekka?"
Jari-Thure looked down at the ground and let out a heavy, labored sigh that dropped tension upon the room like a bag of bricks. "He… He is no longer with us…"
Tails ever so slowly nodded, looking down at the floor too. "Oh. I- I'm sorry…"
The man looked at the fox and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's fine. The important thing is that you all are here now to save that. Even if dad was losing his mind in the end, he never stopped believing that you would come for us. We all may have lost that hope, but in the end it still prevailed. Thank you."
Tails gave a shaky nod, careful to wipe away the few tears that fell.
Omega then turned to the group. "The time for small talk is over now. We must complete the liberation by having you all vacate the premises at once!"
Jari-Thure shook his head. "We can handle getting ourselves out of here. What you need to do is destroy this place as soon as possible."
Blaze was flabbergasted by this statement. "We are not going to leave you all to your own devices!"
Jari-Thure couldn't help but smirk. "We will be fine. Now that you got rid of the worst of the robots, we'll be able to handle ourselves."
"We can't do that!" Tails shouted. "What if something happens?!"
"Tails, you have entire tribes of angry Holoskans versus Eggman's smallest robots." Jari-Thure smirked. "This time, we'll fight and we're going to win our freedom thanks to all of you. Go take this place out before it's too late. Okay?"
Tails and Omega were about to object once more but Sonic stepped up and out of the group and smiled, offering a hand towards him.
"I believe him."
Jari-Thure took Sonic's hand and gave him a firm shake.
"You guys do what you can to get out of here safe, y'here? I know you can do it. There's a nice little girl out there waiting to see you."
Jari-Thure smirked. "I promise."
"Alright then, let's move out!"
The two groups went their separate ways but before they could leave someone else approached them.
A young man looking no older than 20 years old followed them. He was of rather average build for a young man his age and wore a cream colored sweater.
"Chris?!" Tails asked surprised.
All three of them looked confused.
"Who?" Sonic asked.
The young man, Chris, couldn't help but chuckle. "Figured you wouldn't know me because from the looks of it, you haven't met me yet, Sonic."
Sonic was surprised. "Wait! You know that I'm a time traveler?!"
Chris chuckled. "I've heard stories about this sort of thing. Definitely not the craziest adventure you've had and probably won't be the craziest one you will have."
Blaze looked confusedly. "Um… I am sorry, who is this?"
Tails couldn't help but smile. "This is Chris Thorndyke, he's an old friend of Sonic's that he helped through a rough time in his life. One of the first humans he had ever actually met… that didn't try to blast him."
"Yeah, it's thanks to you that I was able to reconnect with my parents. Thank you."
Sonic couldn't help but smile. "Like I said, I'm always happy to help."
Chris chuckled. "I know."
Tails couldn't help but wonder though. "Wait. What are you doing here though? This is a long ways away from Station Square!"
Chris couldn't help but laugh. "I'm in college now and when Eggman attacked I was up here in Holoska doing an expedition for my degree. Ended up here with everyone else."
"Oh wow. That makes sense." Tails nodded.
Chris returned the gesture and began to run off to the group. "I didn't mean to hold you up. Just wanted to say thanks for saving us. Make sure to blow this place sky high and kick some Eggman butt for us!"
Sonic waved at the young man and grinned. "With pleasure!"
The group then turned away, prepared to go their own way to destroy the Chemical Plant.
~Trials of War~
The first things his senses took in was the sharp hiss of the machinery and the fresh gust of wind blowing into his face… His partially maskless face.
The wind rushed into his eye, making him flinch and do his best to hold up one of his clawed hands to keep it from getting into his eye but to very little effect. But once the plate was firmly locked into place with a loud clank, he ever so slowly peeled himself out of the machine, feeling refreshed.
Infinite let out a sigh of relief at this.
"Sleep well?" A voice called out to him.
Infinite looked to the side and saw none other than Shadow the Hedgehog, casually leaning next to the entrance to the door.
Infinite frowned. "Shadow… To what do I owe the displeasure?"
Shadow smirked. "Is it wrong for me to greet a friend? One of the same mind?"
"You can. But trust is something that I do not hold in anyone here other than the master."
Shadow frowned. "You shouldn't call him that. I know what he is to you, but that doesn't mean you should-"
"Show my undying gratitude to him." Infinite insisted. "That I do hold for him, but I do not expect you to understand what that would be like."
Shadow couldn't help but smile. "Far more than you know, Infinite. Far more than you know. Why do you think I'm so persistent with you?"
"Yes. You've made that very clear to me in the past." Infinite rolled his eyes. "But I can promise you that you and I are nothing alike. You may be a general of this army, but we all know that deep down you care for the people of this pathetic planet and their wellbeing, yet I only serve one true master. He stands proud and tall against the rest of them."
Shadow just snickered. "You're right. I do care about them and that's because I had people out there who cared about me to show me the way not only early on but even when I was lost and seeking only vengeance against the world. In your time in this war, has he ever shown any care towards you? Any at all?"
Infinite turned away from him, letting out a huff. "It does not matter."
Shadow grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him around so he could look him in the eyes. "Yes. It does. Just look at what he's done with your face, Infinite! Does that show any care at all?"
Infinite turned away from him once again, doing his best to cover the exposed eye with a miasmic energy so that it would be obscured from view.
"You know nothing!" Infinite snapped.
"Yes, I do. Dammit! There is no one out there that is going to understand you like I do. And that is why I am telling you and have been telling you for months now that this is not where you belong! You deserve to follow your own path and live not because of some false sense of gratitude. Please, Infinite."
Infinite simply shook his head. Storming out of the room. "My place will always be with the Eggman Empire."
"After all of this?" Shadow demanded. "This is what you choose?"
"Yes."
"Alright." Shadow turned away from him this time, walking out of the room.
Before he could make his way out of the sliding glass door, only for both the normal side of Infinite's mask and a communicator on Shadow's wrist to start flashing an angry red.
Both clicked their communicators and answered.
Eggman's voice came from the other end immediately. "Sonic and Tails have infiltrated the Holoskan Base! I need you both to go over there right away!"
"Understood."
The two looked at one another at this and without another word, they raced out of the room.
~Trials of War~
The quartet were running out along the winding paths of the Chemical Plant.
"We have almost arrived!" Omega announced. "Once we are there, Tails will work on the main console to make sure The Chemical Plant ceases operation."
Tails couldn't help but get confident now. "Leave it to me!"
Sonic beamed. "Aw yeah, when we got the best tech guy this side of any timeline on our side, nothing can stop us!"
It was at that moment that they arrived at the end of their path and arrived on a square platform that rose out of the sea of oil. Brittle steel that let out a sort of mixture of a tap and a crunch when they stepped atop the snow covered sheet.
And then it happened.
Sonic and Blaze's ears perked up as they both sensed something come from above. Without thinking, Blaze was quick to run in front of Omega, stopping him from moving forward while Sonic reached a hand out to Tails and made him come to a halt.
And just in time too as a laser shot down from above, right where they would have run had they not stopped.
Tails was shocked at this, jumping back at the sight of what had happened only to freeze in place when he saw where the blast had come from, trembling before who was there.
Before them was none other than Infinite who came down to the opposite end of the platform and landed, glaring at them before Shadow appeared next to him, not looking at the group.
Sonic growled, his fists clenched and ready for action. Blaze had fire already at her fingertips and Omega had his gun raised.
Infinite couldn't help the amusement in his voice as he took them all in. "My… My… What do we have here?"
[1] Guess I gave the Egg Hammer a Forces redesign.
And that'll be it for this chapter! We are coming down on the wire when it comes to the reunion arc and I cannot wait to show you all what happens next! Hopefully I'll be seeing you all soon with the next chapter but until then let's answer some reviews.
CVGWJames:
Thanks, man. We're getting close but not quite there yet.
numberjacksoctonauts:
And the bad news just keeps on coming for Infinite doesn't it?
Blaze is so much fun to write here, honestly.
Getting their characters together was all sorts of fun.
Thanks so much!
TGN:
Eggman's certainly an interesting character, isn't he? Honestly, watching his decay is some of the most fun I have with this fic and he's definitely going to keep going on that downward spiral. We'll have to wait in time as to what that'll mean for Infinite.
Thanks for the kind words!
TheLostEternity:
Everybody loves Marketa and I'm honestly glad that she went off well. Playing with the random characters from Unleashed every now and again has been a good time.
As for Metal, I've decided that he's the flashback king that way he still occasionally gets a bit of love even after being destroyed so quick into the story. I'm glad you think I'm doing him justice. I know that the things of him mocking Sonic are not part of the character I wrote for him before, but as I was writing, I honestly felt like it was right. The eerie chill to it was exactly what I was going for with that.
Cracks are beginning to form in the Infinite and Eggman relationship while things only seem to get stronger with Starline. Very interesting. Who knows where I might be going with that?
I'm glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the well wishes!
Animation Adventures:
Thanks, fam.
Hope you liked your Chris cameo because I slid it in here just for you.
tekinafiction:
Setting up a cohesive world for Sonic is so much fun and little things like characters from Unleashed having their time to shine is always good.
SilverNova:
I think occasionally showing what people's lives are like under the empire is pretty important and I'm glad you think I do well with it. As you've said, "Why are they fighting?" if we don't see the world that they've been forced to deal with.
Slow build up on the reunion arc continues. Haha. Really making you guys work for it but don't worry, we're so close now.
Chemical Plant isn't in Holoska in the actual game, just simply "The frigid north of Sonic's world" as quoted by one of the game's prerelease videos. So like most fans, I headcanon that it's Holoska as that what makes most sense.
I know it's been a while, but I hope you're doing a lot better now that must've been awful.
Scratch and Grounder probably won't be in this story unless I do some sort of flashback for them or something. The mention of them was just more worldbuilding that he's had more assistants.
SonicDash:
Thank you!
SpiderDom:
Dude, no worries. Life happens and you gotta do what you gotta do.
We've talked a bit about it already but definitely gotta sit and find the time.
Taking characters everybody dislikes and doing new and interesting things with them is fun as not only does it play into my idea of building a far more cohesive world for Sonic, but it's also taking concepts that didn't work before and making them shine here.
Glad people really liked Marketa's arc!
Thanks again!
SilverNova:
Most of the stuff is stolen from Eggman.
Guest 1:
Thank you!