Chapter 71; the calm before the storm
Sonic woke up at dawn along with the entire resistance and after taking a quick shower to freshen up and wake up for good he proceeded to the training grounds. He figured that as a new recruit to the resistance despite his experience as a duelist he needed to do the same training as all the other soldiers. He soon found Shadow along with another soldier who looked similar to Shadow in appearance but Sonic could tell it wasn't another version of him. He waited a few steps away but could hear their conversation very clearly.
"Sir the soldiers just aren't ready for this. Please the general is out of her mind."
"Silence! You have no authority to talk like that for our general".
"There is just no point in resisting the warlord. He is invincible. Please if we surrender he might spare us."
"You mean spare you!"
"It's the only logical thing to do. Don't you see that a few victories just can't turn the tide of this war?"
Shadow was about to answer but then noticed Sonic and his face lightened up.
"Ah right on time. See him mephiles?"
"Yeah. I heard about you. You are Sonic from dimension 999 right?"
"Guilty as charged" Sonic answered.
"And you really believe commander that just because we have Sonic from 999 we can win? He is not as strong as the warlord. And once our dimension is uncovered…"
"We will crash him. Cause 999 here is our trump card against them. He defeated the warlord before we brought him here".
"Yeah sure."
"I did" Sonic intervened "the duel ended before I could land the final blow but I had him cornered."
"You can't know that. As you say you could have beaten him. You didn't. Could have is just not good enough for me to have hope."
"Ok that's it you once again took all my patience away. Go train the troops. We are attacking in 2 days end of discussion!" Shadow yelled in anger.
"Yes sir" Mephiles said forcing himself and left.
Sonic looked at him leaving.
"What was all that about?"
"My second in command. His name is Mephiles the hedgehog. He was from dimension 111 the same dimension as the warlord" Shadow said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. He watched the warlord's rise. He wanted to join him but just didn't have it in him to kill and torture so he ran away from the dimension. Eventually he met me and I protected him from an attack of the warlord's troops. I took him under my wing. However because the resistance had a few losses in its beginning he has been gradually losing hope in it. He is scared for life about fleeing his dimension and not joining the warlord."
"But we are currently on the rise against him. Why does he still have fear?"
"He is just a damn coward. I always saw him as a younger brother but he is always too pessimistic. Very few of the troops can stand him. They once wanted him out because he tried to persuade them to ask the general to stop and submit to the warlord."
"What?! Dude he could be dangerous. If he is so willing to join the warlord…"
"He doesn't want to join him. He is too scared to do that. All he wants is to survive this war."
"I see. Well you know him better I guess."
"Anyway what are you doing here?"
"Well I actually was not informed yesterday what I am meant to do as a member of the resistance. Am I supposed to train with the other soldiers or something?"
"Everyone offers the best they can to our cause. What are you good at?"
"Dueling."
"Exactly. I want you to check the decks of our troops and spot any weak points. Then have them duel each other and pinpoint their errors".
"So in essence you want me to train them in dueling?"
"Yes."
"That I can do."
"All right then get started immediately."
"Yes sir" Sonic said and proceeded to meet the troops.
The rest of the morning rolled by pretty smoothly for everyone. Sonic looked through the soldiers' decks and found plenty of errors to fix. He suspected that Shadow had picked them more because of their courage than dueling skill. But now that he was here he would make them into lean mean duel machines.
After inspecting the decks, he organized a mini tournament where the troops would duel one another and the winner would fight him in person. The duels were fierce and long which Sonic and Shadow who joined him after a while took as a good sign. The more a duel went on the longer hope lived for everyone. Eventually a winner was crowned and faced Sonic in a quick duel in which Sonic emerged victorious. Seeing Sonic's skills and power Mephiles continued with the troops' training in hand to hand combat with a little more confidence. After that lunch was served. Sonic and Shadow took their treys and sat alone to eat and were soon joined by Amy.
"Good evening boys" she said with a smile.
"Hey general" Sonic said.
"I saw you training the troops today. I've never seen them so confident before."
"Well as Shadow said dueling's what I do best so I might as well share my knowledge of it."
"Even our weakest soldier was able to win 2 duels. It is just amazing how a good teacher can change a lot" Shadow said satisfied.
"Next up is fight and tag duel training right?" Amy asked them.
"Yeah,"
"Well actually I will need to borrow you for now. Silver requests your help in the labs."
"My pleasure to help but what about the tag duel training?"
"I can handle it, is it any different than what you just did?"
"Not really but you need to pair them together in as many ways as possible. We can't be sure who they will end up fighting with side by side on the battlefield. Also have them memorize each other's decks and strategies to predict their moves and plan accordingly. It helps a lot."
"Got it. Alright I'm heading out. See you later general" Shadow said.
Sonic and Amy then continued their food in silence. Once they were done they took the elevator to the lab section. On the way up Amy spoke up.
"Shadow hasn't smiled like that in weeks. Your presence here really is what we needed right now."
"Thanks general. I appreciate that."
They smiled at each other and Sonic saw for a moment Amy's cheeks turning red.
"Though I am worried about something. Shadow's second in command mephiles. They were talking in the morning and Mephiles said he wanted to submit to the warlord."
"Yeah he's been going on about surrendering ever since we found him. But don't is all talk. I know that it may sound like a risky move but it's really no risk. As Shadow probably told you he is really only a man seeking protection."
"I don't know general. The way he spoke… I mean I did manage to restore some confidence in him when I once again showcased my dueling skills earlier but I can't be sure about his loyalty".
"It's gonna be ok. Trust me."
"I trust you. So anyway what does Silver require from me?"
"He actually wants to test his complete camouflage program on your duel disc and also equip it with a firing system. You will need one when we attack 518."
"That's true. It was hard firing with a duel disc meant to be worn on the left, worn on the right hand."
They reached the labs and entered one of the rooms where Silver was giving instructions to another scientist.
"Fix the error and run the program again. That should erase the glitch."
"Yes dr Silver" the guy said.
"Any problems here?" Amy asked worried.
Silver turned to them.
"Not a big deal general. A wrong piece of code. We'll repair it and begin installing the program to the duel discs by the afternoon."
"Good. The sooner the better. Anyways Sonic are you ready?" she asked him.
"Yeah. Here you go" Sonic said giving his black duel disc to Silver.
"All right. Follow me" Silver said.
"Right behind you. Talk to you later general" Sonic said waving goodbye at her with a smile.
"Later. Good luck" she answered as she saw Silver and Sonic leaving. Afterwards she left to join the strategist team in planning the attack.
"What is that feeling I'm getting when he smiles?" she wondered as she entered the elevator.
Sonic and Silver entered a lab with duel disc and firing system parts. Silver then started working on the duel disc as Sonic wore a spare duel disc and proceeded to test his aiming abilities. As he was landing bullseye on the targets he remembered the times when he and Miles played those shooting games in that amusement park. He sighed silently missing his family.
"So I see the general has taken a liking in you" Silver said while working on the duel disc.
"Yeah. I mean I'm sure she is like this with everyone in the resistance. I mean duh she is the leader of it, so she should be nice to her comrades."
"Not really. She is typical with the leading members of the resistance and strict with the recruits, not in the bad way of course. But with you she is very relaxed, almost like another person."
"I see. Well I'm happy that I can help her relax for a little. Especially after being the one to bring her the bad news of her dimension's Sonic's death".
"Don't blame yourself for it. We don't need regrets here. Almost everyone in the resistance has lost a loved one. She is no different. Anyways it's ready" he said handing him back his duel disc "try firing with it".
"Ok" Sonic said taking the duel disc and opening fire on the targets. The shots landed exactly in the middle.
"Damn. Your aiming is tight" Silver said impressed.
"Yeah and the disc is so stable now. Thanks this will be neat when we attack".
"Alright one thing left to do. Type this code in the communication system" Silver said showing him a code "and press the transform button".
Sonic did as he was told and felt a weird sensation all over his body as the program activated. He looked into a mirror and almost fell back from the shock. His face was that of Espio the chameleon.
"Woah! I'm.. I mean he… I mean I…"
"It works. If you can scan a person's face it transforms you into them for a while. Of course it has drawbacks. The illusion is only optical. If you talk your voice will sound the same as it always does. You either need to make a good impersonation or not speak at all."
"I guess I will manage. Alright I'll go let the general know it works" Sonic said deactivating the illusion and left.
He went to the strategy planning floor and walked in on Amy, Tails and the rogues as they had reached a dead end in their planning. Amy spotted him right away.
"How did it go?"
"Firing system equipped and illusion works like a charm".
"Awesome. I wish I could say the same for the plan. No matter where we start the attack there will be casualties."
Let me have a look."
"With all due respect but what more could you possibly notice?" Wave asked him raising her head from the map "We've been looking at it for a day and see no other way.
"Maybe I will see something. For once each one of us sees in different perspectives. Plus I'm the duel king of my world so I need to be 2 steps ahead of my opponents at all times. I have plenty of experience when it comes to strategy."
Wave looked at Amy who nodded positively. Sonic approached the table and looked at the map as Jet started explaining.
"Alright so in 518 just like most dimensions the warlord's army has taken over the city that the singed ones lived in. in 518 it is this dimension's version of Berlin. From our files it seems the singed ones of this dimension have joined the warlord so it highly possible that we will encounter them in the battlefield. To free the dimension we need to take over their fortress there".
"Which ironically enough is the biggest dueling stadium in the city. They turned the place into a fortress if you can believe it" Storm said grumpy.
"So as you understand there is no easy way to enter the city. If we open the portals in or close to the fortress they will immediately slaughter us. So the only option is to transport our army out of the city and take it by force."
"Not a good idea" Sonic said rubbing his chin "the warlord's army's numbers compared to ours are 10 times bigger. We need to play this carefully. A long and drawn out battle could be our end".
"Well if you have any suggestion now is the time" Wave said.
"Maybe we ought to use our newest weapon to our advantage this time" Sonic said.
"You mean the illusion program?" Amy asked him.
"Yeah. Tell me, if we took their leader as a hostage would their army surrender?"
"Normally no. Their commanders are all personally chosen by the warlord. They know the risks and they will gladly lay down their lives for him."
"I see. Wait you said normally no right?"
"Yeah."
"That gives me an idea. What if we make them think their commander turned on the warlord due to cowardice?"
"What do you mean?"
"We could use a version of their commander from our army to pose as the commander. That way we can pretend we capture him on live streaming and have him beg for his life. Then we can turn the whole part of his army that is stationed in 518 to our side".
"But what about the real commander? Won't he find out immediately?"
"That is why we need to create a strike team. A team to infiltrate the city with the help of the illusion program and capture him. Unfortunately there is a high chance we will have to take out his personal guards to get to him. Once we catch him we will interrogate him on the spot. And if he refuses to turn to our side…. We either have to kill him or.. tell me if a commander was returned to the warlord defeated what would the warlord do?"
"Kill him on the spot. As he once said no one fails him twice."
"Good then we can let the warlord kill him. We open a portal with his wristwatch so he can go through safely and we sent him to dimension 111. That will ensure the loyalty of his army to us. If they see that the warlord kills whoever fails him they will realized what a monster he is and join us by free will".
"So the attack will be an undercover mission?" Jet said visibly interested.
"Yeah. Of course we will have to bring at least part of the army to the dimension to make sure any unruly opponents are rounded up and to show that we too have numbers on our side. So they will need to be ready just in case. But most importantly should it work we need to make sure the warlord knows that part of his army turned on him. It will be a big blow to his plans and his ego".
"That is one convoluted plan. It will require perfect planning" Wave said mostly speaking to herself.
"I find it perfect and diabolical at the same time" Amy said visibly happy "Get to planning team. I will personally choose the strike team. Come with me" she said to Sonic as they went to the elevator.
Inside she was once again the first to talk.
"I honestly have no words to thank you enough. You have remobilized our army and made an amazing attack plan to prevent unnecessary casualties. You are plainly awesome."
"Thanks general but I can't take all the credit. You started all of this. It is you who assembled the resistance. You are the true hero here."
She smiled with one of the most beautiful and honest smiles Sonic had ever seen. For a moment he felt like he was gazing into the eyes of his wife. He brought himself back to reality when the elevator reached the ground floor.
"Shadow!" Amy screamed and he immediately came to them
"Right here general!" he said standing at attention.
"The attack plan has been finalized. The soldiers need to be in tiptop shape by tomorrow."
"Yes general!" he said and proceeded to push the soldiers who were at the moment training in hand to hand combat train even harder.
"Come" Amy said to Sonic "we need to discuss the members of the strike team."
"You just said you would choose it yourself."
"I know I said it but truth is I don't know each individual soldier's values as well as you do. We need to decide this together."
"Got it" Sonic said as they took the elevator to the meeting room on the top floor. Once they got there they sat at the table and Sonic spoke up first.
"Alright. If I remember correctly the commander's personal guard… actually who is their commander?"
"Vector the crocodile from dimension 410".
"Alright. So we will need at least a version of Vector from our side to pose as that one in order for the rouse to work. Also his personal guard consists of 20 highly trained and…" at that moment he stopped as Amy received a call from the strategic division.
"What's new?"
"Our spies in 518 have discovered something important. Actually 2 things. Number one the commander's personal guard is only 6 people. And they are pretty sure that they are the singed ones from 518 but not 100% sure."
"That complicates things" Amy said in deep thought.
"And the second thing, inside the fortress has just been stored a very important relic. Very important to the warlord at least. Whatever it is maybe we need to rethink the plan."
"No rethinking" Sonic declared surprising Amy "whatever they are guarding if the plan works we will have access to it. So nothing to think about."
Amy looked at him for a moment, without Sonic knowing, in deep admiration and thanked Wave for the info. They then picked up where they left off.
"So the commander's guard are 6 singed ones. This limits our choices for the strike team quite a bit."
"Yeah. They need to be singed ones so they can't be affected by the enemies' powers."
"Of course the reverse will also be true. They be affected by our powers either. Which means that we will need our best soldiers in terms of actual combat to tag along. We will probably have to restrain them by force."
"Yeah but what after?"
Sonic was lost in deep thought.
"I know I earlier said I don't want to kill the commander or his personal guard. But truth is we can't let them live either if they refuse to join us. They will be a huge loose end. And maybe we can have the commander executed by the warlord but this won't work with the guard".
"Yeah. If even one of them tells their army of the rouse it will be our end."
"No matter what our plan of action is there is bound to be blood in our hands."
"Let's not discuss this right now. We need to choose the strike team's members. They need to be skilled duelists, highly capable in combat and at least one of them needs to be a version of Vector."
They spend the next few hours discussing their possible options. When night came they were finally done. They returned to their rooms for the night. The next day in the morning Amy made an announcement revealing the plan of attack and the soldiers who would compose the strike team and infiltrate the city with Sonic and Shadow. The soldiers had mixed reactions about the plan but no one raised an objection. No one except Mephiles.
"An undercover mission? General are you crazy? The warlord will see right through that and break the rouse in an instant."
His comrades responded to his cowardly statement by throwing potato peeling at him.
Sonic felt once again disappointed by the presence of Mephiles there. However respecting Amy and Shadow in their choice to keep him around, he walked to the midst of them and helped the latter get to safety.
"How?" he said in utter horror "how has the general made all those fools so blind to the horror the warlord will bring upon us?"
"Dude you need to relax. We're all fighting the warlord because we refuse to spend our lives under his tyranny."
"At what cost? Death?"
"In the general's words yes".
"So it's freedom or death? You are all crazy. What do you think we are? Disposable pawns you can sacrifice to win?"
"Look. I'm in no position to say this but this is one of your two choices. You either stay with us and help free the multiverse or we just send you off to faraway dimension and let you live out your days there."
"You think I'm a fool? Go out there on my own and have the warlord have my head?"
Sonic was just speechless. Again and again Mephiles only thought of his own safety.
"So you're only gonna think about your own survival? There are other versions of you out there along with trillions of others suffering because of the warlord."
"You don't understand! I fled! It doesn't matter that I was never sided with him! The whole dimension joined him in his conquest! If I'm not with him I am against him there is no middle ground!"
Sonic decided he was done. But before he went out he warned Mephiles.
"You might want to be a cowardly worm who hides behind strong people like Amy and Shadow. Fine by me. But don't expect any protection from me. I don't value people like you who are only out for themselves."
Mephiles was looking at him leaving. But he had one last thing to say.
"Stop playing high and mighty already. You have already lost. You killed the warlord's son and burned the warlord's face. You are already a dead man."
Sonic stopped and turned back to look at Mephiles.
"Yes I did. And you know what? I regret nothing. He had it coming."
"You are crazy. You can't beat him."
"I can and I will. Cause I have something he doesn't have and will never have."
"And what is that?"
Sonic showed him a photo framed on his deckbox. It was a picture of his family during one of his victorious title defense matches.
"Something worth living for, fighting for and dying for".
He then turned to leave but and didn't look back despite the rage that flooded his soul when Mephiles uttered something worth giving him back to the soldiers and joining them in throwing potato peeling at him.
"Laying down your life for others. What a load of crap."
Sonic then received a message from Amy to join him in the meeting room to inform him about the route he and the strike team would follow the next day. He took the elevator to the top floor and joined Amy who had already laid the map on the table and had prepared tea for them. When she saw him however he could tell something was wrong.
"What is it? Why do you look so angry?"
"Because I'm mad! Mephiles not only objected to your plan like the coward he is, he even said it's not worth dying for my family! I don't know how I kept myself from strangling him!"
"Oh man. I guess he will stay here tomorrow. We don't need his negativity on the battlefield. I'm sure once we win the battle, free the dimension and strike a huge blow against the man he fears the most, he will come to his senses".
"Good. Because forgive me for what I'm about to say general but I wouldn't protect him out there. I have no respect for people like him who only look out for themselves and with no same on top of it".
"Drink some tea please. You need to relax" she said visibly concerned.
Sonic sat down and drank some of the tea. Minutes went by in silence and he had started to feel better. Amy noticed his deckbox with his family photo on it while waiting for him.
"Your family?" she asked pointing at it.
"Yeah" he said putting it on the table so she could see better "my wife, the version of you from 999 and our 4 children. Our only son Miles, who is gonna be my successor when I retire from dueling and our daughters Aurora, Evelyn and Luna".
"Why is does Luna look so different compared to the rest of your kids?"
"We adopted her. In our last adventure my Amy and some of my friends encountered a wild tribe in the Amazonian jungle who wanted to stop them from saving our world. Long story short my wife and my friends had to slaughter the tribe. Only Luna was spared. She had become friends with Aurora and Evelyn while they stayed there and she asked us to adopt her. So we did".
"Such a beautiful family" Amy said moved.
Sonic took the chance to ask her about her past.
"Did you have a family?"
He could see in her eyes she was taken by surprise but she remained still.
"No."
"You never found a guy for you huh? Well these things are lucky so…"
But then she started tearing up.
"Oh my goodness I'm sorry general I didn't mean to…"
"It's nothing" she said wiping up her tears "let's start we have work to do".
Sonic realized that it was a sensitive topic for her so he didn't push it. She started explaining the plan.
"Alright so the quickest way to Vector's stronghold is through the sewers."
"Oh come on… is there a knife around here?"
"What for?"
"To get it over with and chop my nose off. I had to stay in a safe room in the sewers with Sonic 616, got into a trash bin with moldy food and spend 3 hours in that fortress smelling the disgusting scent of the soldiers' legs".
Amy burst out laughing after hearing all those misadventures. Sonic couldn't resist and laughed too. After a few seconds they continued.
"We will open the portals right outside the dump. The entrance is right there. And don't worry" she said forcing herself not to laugh again "the team will be provided with suits to keep you from stepping into dirty water and face masks to keep the stench away".
"Oh thank you. Thank you, you saved my nose".
"Once you reach under the dueling stadium you will cut open a hole on the ground and get out there and into one of the locker rooms. From there you will use the illusion system to take the shape of other soldiers. Hopefully once we free the dimension the original ones won't cause issues. From their perspective they will have just been knocked out and when they wake up the whole dimension will have changed sides so they should just go with the flow."
"Do we know where his guard will be? We need to take them out before executing the plan to turn the dimension against the warlord."
"They are stationed on a room right next to his office 24/7. At least one is standing guard at the hallway at all times."
"So we will have to find a way to draw them out."
"That unfortunately will have to be a gamble. Our spies have never entered the stadium therefore they don't know its layout. We will have to draw them out on the spot with some improvising."
"I see. Ok. I have a few ideas for that but I suggest that the squad splits in 2 and get into 2 rooms".
"Split up? Not a good idea you guys will need to stick together".
"I know but if like 20 people appear in front of Vector's personal guard they will immediately realize something is wrong."
"True. Ok".
"As for after we capture them if they refuse to turn to our side we should just throw them into a portal. They will disintegrate without any pain. At least it will be merciful."
"Yeah. I don't like the idea but this is war."
They spent the next hour finalizing the details of the plan and then called to the meeting room the members of the strike squad to inform them of everything. The squad consisted of Vector from dimension 924, a singed ones team from dimension 751, a version of Espio from dimension 458 and his little brother charmy the bee, several versions of people he recognized like Blaze, zeena and even zazz, the fake brother of zeena Sonic knew from his dimension and finally Tails from 616 aka Foxy.
"Is the plan absolutely clear?" Amy asked them after she was done explaining.
"Yes general" they all said at once.
"Good. Off you go now. And sleep immediately. Tomorrow will be hard for everyone."
They all left and Sonic, Amy and Tails went to their floor. Tails bid them goodnight and entered his room while Sonic and Amy whose rooms were next to each other walked through the hallway for a few more seconds before arriving. Right before Sonic could wish her goodnight she unexpectedly hugged him but pulled away immediately.
"S-sorry. I j-just wanted to wish you good luck tomorrow."
"Don't worry general everything will turn out fine."
"I know but still… I will be in the safety of the army with Shadow outside of the city. You will be in there."
"It will all go according to plan general. Trust me. Goodnight" Sonic said and entered his room. Amy looked at his door for a little more and walked into her room. The thought of Sonic in the chaos of tomorrow's fight scared her. She tried to process that fear. Tails would be right there with him but she wasn't that scared for him.
"What is going on with me? Am I… falling for him?" she asked herself in silence while closing her eyes.
Sonic in his own room was already fast asleep after reaching out with his powers to his family in his own dimension. After catching up with his children and letting Luna know he was ok, he told them of the plan. Amy 999 pleaded that he be careful. She knew he had gone through a lot and would be ok though. Sonic remembered the last phrase he spoke to them before ending the connection with their minds to let his mind rest. That phrase gave him confidence and enough peace to sleep well.
"Tomorrow's battle is for you guys."