Chapter Eight – Sunset City
The Restoration had set up base camp just outside of Sunset city, in a nearby forest, slightly overlooking the city. Unfortunately, Eggman had rows and rows of robots surrounding the city. No one could get in or out. Thousands of people were trapped, however not a single shot had been fired. It was definitely the calm before the storm, as it was a certainty that Eggman would begin the siege within a matter of hours. They had arrived just in time. The Restoration had managed to smuggle a few operatives into the city to rally the locals and team Chaotix were already in there, as they were resident. They had failed however, to get weapons in (Wispons). It was afternoon, by the time Sonic and Sukko arrived, who had to significantly slow down, during the latter part of their journey, as to not announce their arrival. Base camp was buzzing with activity as people were allocated job to best suit their abilities.
Sukko had followed Sonic all the way to the base camp, and now he had to land. He gulped, he felt incredibly daunted. Sonic gave him some pointers on braking, which proved helpful as headed towards the ground. He through his boots forwards and he landed feet first. Sliding across the ground, he through out his hands, and produced a bust of Magic out of them in the opposite direction, which quickly ground him to a halt. Sukko was left panting, with his hands really aching.
"Whoa!" He gasped. Whoa, indeed, as several people came running including Tangle. She grabbed Sukko into a hug so deep that it left Sonic giggling.
{Shut up!} He growled down the Psychic Link, and yet he felt something inside of her. Distress and heartache. Something odd about her, and Sukko may have pried deeper then he properly should have. But before he could ask, all of a sudden, he felt the worst pain in his stomach in his life. It was so painful, that it left him double over. Sonic grabbed him, and called to some nearby Sapients.
"Hi." He cried. "Can I get some food for my brother please?" He asked. Sukko was very confused. What? Sonic looked at him and answered down Psychic Link.
{Welcome to Super-Speed.} He grinned. Sukko looked at him, and Sonic winked at him. {It burns calories like nothing else on Mobius. Where you sleep to maintain the Magic, I eat to maintain the Super-Speed. Trust me, the pain will ease once you've eaten.} He added. Sukko nodded as he was ushered into the dinning tent. This was new territory for Sukko, just like Magical drain was for Sonic, and over the course of the next few hours, Sukko had never eaten so much food in his life. His brother was right, the pain did ease, but he never been so hungry. There was a lot of food there, but then he figured, there were catering for his brother after all, who Sukko knew could really eat, though it had been a while since he'd witnessed that, and had forgotten the link between that and the Super-Speed.
Sonic had disappeared into strategic planning, leave Sukko alone in the tent. There was a huge amount of tension in base camp, but everyone knew that they might be in for the fight for their lives in a few hours. As Sukko ate, he gentle expanded his Telepathy out of the base camp to survey the area, a Telepathic scan. He felt a lot of fear in the city, and as well as Eggman presence. There was so much fear, that Sukko decided to quickly stop as it was getting overwhelming. As he returned to normal, the bizarre feeling was back, again. Sukko frowned. He left the tent and looked around the whole base camp.
'What is that?' He thought. 'I'm feeling that presence again in the immediate area, and yet see nothing.' He growled, frustrated. Was he loosing his mind? He gulped, he hoped not as he wasn't going to solve this one, to decided to keep it to himself, as he as more pressing matters to deal with.
Something was bugging him, so much so, that he called his brother over the Psychic Link. Sukko and Sonic had yet to find the limit of their Psychic Link, and they have even heard each other from opposite ends of the planet. Therefore Sukko knew, a simple call would be enough to be heard, wherever his brother was.
{Sonikku?} He asked. There was slight pause, before Sonic responded.
{Hi.} He said cheerfully. {Anything on the grape vine?} He asked curiously. Sukko sighed.
{Well. There's a lot of fear out there and Eggman is here.} He announced. Sonic rolled his eyes.
{Huh. That makes a change. It wouldn't be for first time, I fought a robot army only for the Big Guy not to show up.} He huffed, but he could tell from the tone of Sukko voice in his head, there was more going on here. {But...} He added, trying to pry more information out of him. Sukko gritted his teeth.
{This whole thing feels like a trap!} He spat. Sonic was shocked.
{A trap!} He exclaimed. {Are you sure?} He asked. Sukko rubbed his eyes, and sighed.
{No, and that's the problem. When working in Intelligence, you don't announce your information unless your one hundred percent certain of it.} He said, sounding drained. That was Sukko's way of telling Sonic not to mention this to the Restoration. He got the message. There was a long pause before Sonic replied, as he'd been thinking this through.
{So a trap? For who?} He asked. {Me?} He wondered. Sukko looked up.
{No.} He spat. {Me!} He announced. Now Sonic was extremely shocked.
{You!} He gasped. {But that would mean...} He stammered, but Sukko cut across him.
{That Eggman knows about me, yes.} He sighed, again. {But It's just a hunch, I can't prove any of it.} He added. There was another long pause. When Sonic finally responded, he sounded somewhat stern, in full on combat mode, like someone had flipped a switch.
{Sukko. Find Silver and meet me at the entrance to base camp. I have an idea!} He spat. Sukko was surprised.
{Silver?} He questioned. But Sonic quickly grilled him.
{Just do it. We don't have much time.} He added.
He was absolutely correct. The explosions had already started as the sun was going down. The siege had begun.
As it turns out, Sukko had actually been paired with Silver, as to two most powerful fliers in the Restoration. In fact, everyone in the Restoration had been grouped, into twos or threes, as to utilise the best use of their skills. Shadow and Rouge, Tangle and Whisper, Sonic and Tails etc, and the groups quickly spanned out across the city. Sukko and Silver were hovering high above the city, waiting for their call to arms. While they waited, they cleared multiple paths for the Resistance to evacuate to city. They were successfully getting thousands of people out. The people had had enough in the fight against Eggman. They had stood their ground well. Time to get them out and get the professionals in. The Resistance. After several hours, the Sunset City was cleared of civilians, and now it was just a fight between the Resistance and Eggman. Sukko was quickly getting used to his Magical ability to fly, and now it was about to be put to the test. Sukko and Silver were both heavy hitters in terms of Chaos Powers and therefore they were not here for the ground robots. The sentry Badniks that littered that city by the thousand. They were easier dispatched via Wispons, so the others could deal with those. They were here, for the giant boss robot, that Sonic knew Eggman always hide at every battle or siege, and the Blue Blur job was to simply annoy Eggman enough to unleash it. The sooner they got it gone and destroyed, to sooner they could force Eggman out of the city.
It worked, and a scream of sheer frustration from the Human, sent the giant robot running. However, it was far bigger and more powerful then they had anticipated. Coming straight out of the sea at the port of Sunset City, the giant metal octopus-shaped robot rose, sending his horrible, razor sharp tentacles out across the city. Sukko was forced to land and use his Magical Force-Fields on the beast, to stop it was slicing a group of Resistance fighters in half. Silver, likewise. But it was immediately on them, trashing like mad, trying to despatch each and every one of them. As Sukko and Silver dealt with the tentacles, Sonic and Tails, used their Rolling Combo to try and take out the body. But it wasn't buckling. It stayed strong, and soon, Sunset City was getting flatten. Soon there'd be nothing left.
But they did have one advantage, in the darkness of the night, Eggman and thus the octopus was struggling to keep up with the multiple Blue Hedgehogs on the field. This proved very effective as Sonic and Sukko unleashed their Cannonball move. Over and over they smacked Eggman with it, but the machine didn't buckle. Unfortunately, it didn't stop Eggman, setting his Octopus walking out of the sea and into the city itself. This extended the reach of the tentacles, with their razor sharp blade running the full length of them, even further. This forced Sukko to pull all the stops as he unleashed hell. Psionic Energy Manipulation, Telekinesis, and Force-Field Generation sent every robot flying in all directions. Silver was struggling to keep up and Eggman, piloting the machine from it glassed domed centre, rounded on Sukko. Now almost fighting single handedly, he found himself dodging tentacle after tentacle desperately trying to grab him.
But as the Resistance had used the cover of darkness to hide from Eggman the fact that there were identical twins out on the pitch, so had Eggman. All of the sudden, Sukko's Chaos Sorcery surged like nothing before, causing him to double over, grabbing his head, his eyes glow bright blue. Unable to defend himself with the bombardment of Telepathic information, Sukko found himself immediately caught.
Bombs came flying down onto the city, a blitz, a rain of fire that left the city in tatters. Sukko screamed with everything he had despite the pain of being grabbed.
"ARMADA!" He shouted. "Get out, Get out!" He cried, as he'd felt its presence. More bombs came flying down, bombarding the Resistance with everything it had, and as the sun came up, the true horror of Eggman secret plan became apparent. An almighty Armada of more then a dozen flying battleships were raining down Armageddon on the city, forcing the Resistance to retreat.
The civilians that the Resistance had rescued from the city, had been recaptured and being marched back into it, as a show of Eggman's extraordinary might. Hoards of over a million robots secretly coming out of the forest, now had thousands of people hostage. The line was so strong, including the almighty Armada, that the Resistance had no choice but to leave, Sonic abandoning his brother.
The battle was lost.
Sukko was right. It was a trap!