Albian: Ah, I see. I thought adding a bunch of drama would be annoying, and I didn't want Amy to be hated. I just wanted to show that she was threatened by someone who could actually keep up with Sonic. As for Surge, she is struggling.
Crazybeebee: What if its Starline who dies? Will you be sad then?
/*-*/
Sonic wanted to go to sleep. He really did. His eyes were heavy, but his mind was racing. There was that one moment where they wouldn't be in this situation if he had just acted.
Sonic had seen the big mech, right there, deactivated and vulnerable, but he didn't have the heart to wreck what seemed like a glorified paper-weight at the time. Now, because Sonic had been so careless, Surge was suffering.
She had every right to be upset with him… well, almost every right. She did choose to make the day about them instead of going to stop Starline. But Sonic could have taken actions first, and he didn't.
Surge was going to power through her frustration, Sonic was sure of it. She seemed almost like a new person with how expressive she was being. She even said she was fine with giving up any information about her past.
Sonic rolled over and sighed. He felt like he was cheating them. Sonic had promised to help them find out more about their past, and now Sonic was demanding they give up that past for his sake. He felt like a fraud.
Sonic rolled over again. Eggman had built this mech with two Mobians to power it. Blaze was here for some reason, and Shadow was caught. Of course Rouge wouldn't tell Sonic, because dark and broody disappearing for long periods wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
If Blaze had come, that meant either she finally had some time off, which made the situation kind of bad, or her Sol Emeralds knew they would need her help, which made the situation really bad. Sonic hated to know which one was right.
Sonic's mind then, once again drifted back to Surge's disappointed face. He really could have pushed handling his promise to Aly back a few days if he was going to cut into his time with…
Sonic couldn't say what Surge was in his life. He loved her, but the extent that it was mutual was vague for him. He sent signals, and every one of them came back positive from her. Were they friends? Were they more? Did they want to be more?
Sonic felt so confused. Finally, he shoved his head into the pillow and laid awake until his brain exhausted itself and went to sleep. Sonic's dream took the form of happier thoughts, until Surge stood there in front of him.
"You made a promise!" She growled, balling her fist.
Sonic turned and saw the ground had changed to red sand, "I had to make a choice!"
"YOU LIED TO ME! "She suddenly was covered in dirt and scratches, and panted as if she had just gotten done with fight. "I HATE YOU!"
Sonic's eyes bolted open and he sat up in his bed. Sonic looked at the cracked curtain and saw the it was still a little dark out, but in a weird way, like it was cloudy out. Sonic sighed, and crawled out of bed. He walked over to the curtain, and opened it up and was once again right.
The clouds loomed overhead, but there wasn't any rain, at least not yet. Sonic didn't really care, because he had a feeling he wouldn't be back before the rain actually got bad. Sonic put up a confident smile. It was always important to keep spirits up, if not, Eggman had already won.
Sonic zipped down the stairs, and he could already tell that Surge was exhausted. Tails and Kit seemed much better. Sonic decided to try and raise her spirit, "Hey, you look great."
Surge groaned, "Shut up." Surge growled. She was mad at him, Sonic knew it.
"Look… I'm really happy that you stuck around and put up with me this long. Thank you." Sonic smiled at her.
Surge scrunched her eyes, and clutched her head with her face wincing in pain, "I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!" She snapped at him. Her eyes burned but also… looked hurt, like she had a splitting headache.
Sonic pulled his hands up, "S…Sorry. "
Surge shook her head, "Whatever."
Sonic turned to Tails, but kept an eye on Surge, "Alright, So Where is Eggman now?"
"He's on his way to the port city." Tails mumbled, "Amy, Knuckles and Rouge Are skirting around him, trying to slow him down, but they won't move to stop him until we get there… Sonic it looks pretty bad."
Sonic almost frowned, but he instead forced himself to smile harder, "Then let's eat up and not keep them waiting." Sonic laughed, but saw Surge scrunch her face and cocked her head.
They ate a large breakfast, eggs, bacon, toast and pancakes. As Sonic was eating, he felt a little hand grab his leg. Sonic looked down and saw Kit looking up at him with a smile. The little fox held up his hands, asking to be picked up.
Sonic lifted the little fox, who gave him a big hug, "Thank you for helping us." Kit pushed his head into Sonic's chest.
Sonic blinked a couple of times, and saw Surge grit her teeth. Sonic moved to salvage the situation, "What are you talking about. You helped me."
Kit looked up at Sonic some sort of wise smile that Sonic didn't expect from the little fennec. Sonic leaned down and gave the Fennec a hug. Sonic heard the little fennec purr with the hug.
Surge scowled again, and began to tap her foot as her face scrunched up. Sonic saw… pain.
"Are you ok?" Sonic asked, reaching for Surge's hand. When his fingers brushed over her knuckles, she jerked them back and clutched her head.
"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" Surge shouted squeezing her head.
Sonic pulled his hand back as Kit and Tails watched her in horror. Sonic approached very cautiously, "Are you going to be ok? Do you need to stay back?" Sonic asked, worried about her.
"NO!" Surge shouted, and actually lost her pain for a brief moment, "I NEED TO FUCKING GO!" She stood up and panted.
Sonic wasn't sure, but… he had to put his faith in her growth he'd seen. Sonic nodded and they finished up dinner. Sonic could see that she was struggling, seeming to be in pain.
As they stood up, and zipped outside Sonic Grabbed the warp ring, "Alright, we're going to save everyone, and stomp Eggface yet again. Try not to get bored." Sonic laughed, and threw the warp ring.
Sonic landed in the desert, but they weren't close to any big mech. Tails pulled out Miles Electric and took a look, "Ok, We're about ten minutes away from Eggman… in that direction!"
Tails pointed off a little to the right of where Sonic was facing. Sonic looked behind him and saw Kit looking at Surge with Concern, a concern that he shared. Her face was twitching, reflecting anger.
Sonic asked again, "Surge, are you alright?"
Surge twitched again, "I'm… FUCKING FINE!" She snarled, before stamping her foot. She picked up Kit, and growled, "Let's just fucking go!"
Sonic watched her bolt off and He looked at Tails who asked, "She's not ok."
"I know… I should have made her go to that lab yesterday." Sonic groaned, before putting up a smile, "She was so insistent though, and I wanted her to stay… so I tried to give her a good last day." Sonic groaned, "Now she hates me because I broke my promise." Sonic sighed, again forcing himself to smile.
Tails frowned, "Have you tried apologizing? It might be good to clear the air with this fight coming up." He was giving that good advice that Sonic knew to listen to.
"I… I don't want to make things worse." Sonic smiled and got ready to take off after Surge.
"Better it gets worse now than in the middle of the fight." Tails pointed out, and Sonic had to nod. He couldn't really argue with that.
He took off after Surge, and Tails followed with him. They bolt across the sand, and found Surge running… slower. Her face was scrunched as Sonic ran up beside her.
He finally demanded, "Hey, let's talk!"
Surge slowed down, and they stopped by a cluster of large rocks, making a nice shaded area. Surge growled, "COME ON! LET'S HURRY AND GET THIS SHIT DONE!" She growled, scratching her forehead.
"Listen, I need to get this off my chest, ok?" Sonic held up his hands.
Surge clenched her fists and snarled, "FINE, HURRY THE FUCK UP!" her throat began to growl.
"Listen… I'm sorry, I'm sorry we can't go and find out whatever there was in that lab. I know it's eating at you. I shouldn't have taken that day off, but I'm glad I did." Sonic smiled at Surge as her eyes widened in pain.
Then, she did something he didn't expect: she went quiet. Sonic felt unnerved by her quietness. She finally mumbled, "Get out of my fucking head." Surge snarled, and her hands rose once again to grab her skull.
Sonic blinked, "S-Surge? What's up?"
She… calmed down, before her eyes opened, harsher and sharper, "We have to go to Starline's fucking lab!" She growled, and Kit perked up, as if sensing something was wrong.
Sonic blinked, "W-We can't. Eggman is going to destroy a town! I want to help you, I do, but I can't let those people suffer-"
"TOWNS CAN FUCKING BE REBUILT!" Surge shouted, kicking her foot against a rock, causing it to crumble.
"What about the people who couldn't evacuate in time?" Sonic asked, hoping to reach some form of reason with a clearly crumbling relationship and conversation.
"COLLATERAL FUCKING DAMAGE!" Surge shouted, "I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS! I NEED TO KNOW WHO I AM!" She screamed, clutching her head once again.
Sonic froze, before shaking his head, "We had our chance, and we blew it on fun. I can't let a bunch of people suffer because I didn't have the heart to tell you 'no' yesterday." He stood up and turned to run towards the mech.
Sonic heard electricity cackling behind him. He jerked around, as Surge's fist was inches away from his, her sneering angry face glaring at him. Sonic reacted quickly, and grabbed her hand, and threw her against the stone.
She let out a gasp as she got ready to attack him, "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
"Surge, we don't have time for this!" Sonic shouted, and Surge tried to pounce on him. Tails and Kit weren't involved in this yet, and Sonic grabbed her arms and pulled back.
"YOU DON'T HAVE TIME FOR ANYTHING I FUCKING NEED! YOU'RE JUST LIKE STARLINE! USING ME TO FIGHT YOUR BATTLES YOU CAN'T!" Surge screamed, as Sonic kicked her upwards into the rock behind them.
She slammed against it, and Sonic growled, "I didn't want to do that!" He walked over to her. It was clear she had energy that needed to be burned. He saw her rise up and she flinched when he stopped over her. Sonic saw it: her face.
She was in pain, and not just the physical kind. They were close, and that only made it hurt worse, because she did need to know. It was a need he could never meet, but now that they were friends, it hurt twice as hard.
And Sonic felt terrible. HE had hurt her in this situation. No one else. But he also loved her, and didn't want to hurt her.
Which was why he hesitated, and gave her an opening. Surge lunged forward and punched Sonic in the face once again. Sonic staggered back, and narrowly avoided an axe kick which crushed a rock underneath him.
She was going for the kill, and Sonic couldn't afford hold back too much with her. So Sonic spun into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her back, but not enough to hurt her. Of course, that meant Surge just got back up, and pulsed electricity.
She spun up and they clashed with their spin-dashes, Sonic knocking her back, "Come on, You know how this goes! We've had this fight a number of times."
Surge shouted, "FUCK YOU!" She recovered and tried to rush at him.
Sonic slammed into her, "You're making it really hard not to hurt you!" He shouted.
"YOU'VE FUCKING HURT ME PLENTY!" Surge shouted, trying to bounce back by flying at him with a kick.
Sonic stepped to the side to try and grab her leg, before she kneed him in the face, and they fell back. Surge sat on top of him, straddling his waist as she raised a fist.
Sonic grabbed her hips and rolled them over, trying to pin her arms down. As He raised a fist of his own, he saw her flinch.
Right… he'd roughed her up pretty good the first few times they'd fought. That would leave a mental mark. Sonic felt a wave of guilt wash over him.
Surge slammed her forehead into his face and got up on top of him.
"STOP FIGHTING!" a high pitched scream shouted, and Surge and Sonic were both yanked apart and slammed into different rocks by water tentacles.
Kit was… crying. His face was visibly angry and sad, "S-Stop fighting… please." He mumbled, shaking.
Surge's glare at Sonic softened as she turned to look at the little fennec. Sonic sighed, "Alright… I'm done."
Surge glared at him as they were both released by the tentacles. Kit whined, "I don't like this… We're… we're all…" he struggled to find the words.
"I'm fucking done!" Surge snarled, balling her fist.
"The lab is that way." Tails pointed out the west end of the rock formation, "It's under the mountain, you'll find it eventually."
"Why are you helping me you little freaky piece of shit!" Surge growled, balling her fist.
"You're going to go anyway." Tails and Sonic met eyes, "I want the best for you."
"I do too." Sonic stood up, "I hope you get what you want, Surge. I've enjoyed these few days with you, if nothing else."
"Fuck you." Surge spat, and started walked, "You lied to me!" She shouted back at Sonic, cutting into his soul. "YOU'RE A FUCKING FRAUD!" Sonic felt another cut. He didn't want to hurt her, why did she think he did? "I HATE YOU!" Sonic felt the emotional gash in his chest widen.
She stopped, just in earshot, "I HOPE YOU FUCKING DIE IN THAT DESERT! IF NOT, I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU MYSELF!"
She picked up Kit, and bolted off into the distance.
Sonic clutched his chest. It hurt just as bad as a physical cut. He partially hated himself for letting her down. Tails picked up Sonic and handed him a ring, "You look like you could use this."
Sonic realized he had a bloody nose, and flipped the ring in the air. It sparkled, and healed him. Tails kept the pouch on his side. Sonic sighed, "Alright, I guess we're going to have to do this on our own."
Tails frowned at Sonic, "How are you doing?" He was piercing Sonic's defenses, but Sonic quickly smiled.
"I'm great. Just a little loop in the adventure. I'm sure everything will work out fine." The two of them took off, and made the rest of the trip, missing their two party members.
They arrived at the small little area on the outskirts of the town where Amy, Rogue and Knuckles were waiting, "Where's the other two?" Knuckles asked, almost making Sonic wince.
Tails stepped in, "They kind of want us dead. Difference in opinion."
Amy looked at Sonic cautiously, "How are you?"
Sonic put up his brave face, "I'm great. It'll work out in the end. I'm sure we can make it up to them."
The Sound of the giant mech approaching gave Sonic a shudder, not helped by the laughter that followed it, "HAHAHA, BEHOLD YOUR NEW EMPEROR!"
Sonic smirked, "Well, I'll go stop him, you guys go and get the town evacuated."
Before they could respond, Sonic zipped off in front of ATLAS, which prompted the Large Gorilla Badnik to stop right in front of him.
"Hey Eggzy, how ya been?" Sonic smirked up at the Eggman's toy.
"I was wondering when you were going to show up, Hedgehog!" Eggman's voice laughed, "What do you think." The Large Gorilla raised it's arms, showing it's two mobian power sources.
Sonic felt his ears deflate ever so slightly as he saw Shadow and Blaze, curled up in each of the pects of the Gorilla. His eyes grew wider as he looked lower and saw the seven notches, all filled in.
"Oh, Hedgehog, you noticed. I took my time gathering them. A good way to keep you from getting them, right?" Eggman laughed as the seven chaos emeralds studded the stomach of the large super badnik.
"You've been busy doc, I'll give you that." Sonic put up his smirk. He could handle this… right?
"I've been preparing for this ever since you started making problems for me with the… Where is Starline's little freak?" Eggman asked, sounding surprised when he realized Sonic was alone.
"Don't call her that." Sonic growled at Eggman, feeling his suppressed guilt and anger resurfacing, "She's off doing her own thing."
Eggman's wind seemed to leave him, "Oh… After I went through all of this trouble… Oh well." Eggman sighed, before growling, "I guess I'll find her after I'm done with you!"
Sonic barely had time to react before one of the arms fired a flame thrower at him, scorching the sand mound he was on. Sonic zipped around the back and slammed into ATLAS, only to be met by the shields that gave him so much trouble before.
He was really missing Surge right around now.
Sonic rolled back, and zipped around as rockets began to blast around the desert. Sonic was fast enough to avoid them, but the explosions were still jarring as Eggman laughed, "HAHA HEDGEHOG! YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO ME!"
Sonic zipped around in front of ATLAS, "Come on Eggface, how many times have we done this song and dance? You know how this is going to go."
Eggman's laughter slowed down, "Yes, and when you're ready to stop me, give it your best shot." Eggman's Gorilla Badnik thrust its fist forward, knocking Sonic into the village.
Sonic let out a breath once he stopped moving. Everything kind of stung.
"SONIC!" Tails' voice called out, and Sonic looked up to see him throwing a ring. Sonic caught it and flipped it, Feeling his bones heal and bruises heal up.
Sonic zipped back a Tails called out, "Most of the town is clear, I'm coming in to help!"
Sonic and Tails began to run circles around ATLAS, When Tails asked, "What's the plan?"
"I don't know? Hit it from two places at once?" Sonic admitted, feeling a little overwhelmed as more rockets and a fist come down to smash him. Sonic avoided them, which was good as Tails flew overhead.
"I have a better one, there's a hatch, if we can get inside, we might be able to break something." Tails shouted as he came back down.
"I'M RIGHT HERE!" Eggman shouted, swinging the Massive fist around as it smacked Tails into the dirt.
Sonic zipped over, only to hear the sound of a ring flipping and the Fox stood up, panting, "Ow… Watch out for the fists."
Sonic and Tails ran back at ATLAS With Sonic jumping up, and Tails flying over to dive down. This time, however, two Shields blocked each of them.
"Oh… you like that? I learned from all the other prototypes you destroyed. I didn't have enough power to have multiple shields, but now, thanks to these two, and the emeralds, I can guard almost everywhere." Eggman laughed, gesturing to his power sources.
Sonic laughed, "Same old story, just different parts. This one will go down all the same!" Sonic shouted up as Knuckles and Amy came around.
Sonic charged with a grin. He didn't have a plan, and things did not look good, but they'd fought worse… probably.
/*-*/
I can hear the shippers thoughts: "NONONONO….WAITWAITWAIT…..WAITWAITWAITWAIT!"
I know a lot of people are probably either going to get mad at me or Surge for her little collapse, but I'm going to point to Tolkien on this one(when explaining why Frodo was still a hero despite succumbing to the power of the ring):
"At the last moment the pressure of the Ring would reach its maximum - impossible, I should have said, for anyone to resist, certainly after long possession"
So…yeah, Leave a review and I'll respond in the next chapter, or send a Private Message and I will respond when I can. Thanks to all of you who had reviewed and showed your enthusiasm for this story.