STAND STRONG, STAND TOGETHER
Sonic hadn't shut his eyes all night. He wasn't tired, either. It was the oddest feeling. 'I should be exhausted, but I'm wide awake,' he thought to himself as he sat up. He threw on his shirt and walked out the door. Todd's mansion was pretty big. There was enough space for everyone to have a room. He turned to go down the stairs, and saw Nick on the porch, staring into the distance. Sonic opened the sliding screen door and leaned against the guardrail next to Nick. Nick's eyes didn't move. "Couldn't sleep?" Nick asked, finally turning to Sonic. "How could I? This could be my last day...my last few hours," Sonic said. "Think like that, and they will be. Have some faith. We can overcome any obstacle if we stick together," Nick said, turning back to the horizon. Sonic chuckled, turned to Nick with a smile and said, "Nothing ever bothers you, huh?" Nick sighed and turned away, walking back into the mansion. "If only," Nick muttered. Sonic watched as Nick threw on a jacket and walked out the front door. "Nick's gone?" Todd asked Sonic. The blue blur nodded and turned to Todd. "What's with him?" Todd took a deep breath and said, "Nick is the strongest guy I know. Sometimes it seems like nothing could ever get to him. But there's always one thing that does," Todd said. Sonic raised a brow. "What's that?" To Sonic's surprise, a tear rolled down Todd's face as he muttered, "Gramps..."
Nick was standing in front of a gray tombstone. At its base, there were beautiful white flowers. Inscribed on the stone was:
JOSHUA ROGERS
BELOVED GRANDFATHER
Nick sighed as the wind blew his spiked hair. "Gramps...I wish you were here...now more than ever. Everyone expects me to lead them into this fight...but for the first time in a long time, I'm scared, Gramps," Nick said as he knelt down in front of the tombstone, placing his right hand on top of it. "You were a better leader than I am now. Maybe if I were smarter...you'd still be here right now. I just met some of these guys...and they're willing to follow my lead into something we can only hope to win. Gramps..." Nick sighed as he lowered his head.
"So, even you have problems," a familiar voice said. Nick turned his head to see Knuckles. "What are you doing here, Knux?" Nick asked, rising to his feet. "I've been here all morning. To pay my respects," the echidna answered as he turned and pointed at a field of freshly dug graves, "and to beg them for forgiveness." They stood in silence for quite some time, not knowing what to say next. "If it's forgiveness you're looking for, I know where you can get it," Nick said. Knuckles raised a brow. He wasn't quite sure of what Nick was saying. "What?" he asked. "Follow me. Randy's probably already there," Nick said as he turned around and began to walk. Knuckles turned back to look at the fresh graves, sighed, and then turned back to follow Nick.
"What is this place?" Knuckles asked. "This is Church," Nick replied. Knuckles was looking around, trying to take in his surroundings. The windows were stained glass with images of people and angelic figures. There were several rows of chairs, leading up to an altar, which Randy knelt before. "What's he doing?" Knuckles asked. Nick pointed up to a large cross behind the altar. "He's praying for guidance," Nick answered. "From who?" Knuckles asked. "God," Nick replied. "I never believed in God. When I was younger, I always thought, 'If there was such a thing as God, then why am I all alone on this island?'. Besides, what's the point in religion, anyway?" Nick smiled and simply answered, "It gives us something to believe in. Something to hold on to. I believe in God because He is always with me, and He loves me no matter what I do." Knuckles sighed and muttered, "Doubt He could love someone like me." "That's what's so great about God. No matter what we do, He loves us. He's also willing to forgive us for whatever sins we commit. ANY sins, as long as we're truly sorry. What happened last week wasn't your own fault, but if you believe it was, just ask God to forgive you, and He will."
Knuckles was awestruck. "But that's crazy! Why would anyone forgive me for what I've done???" "Because He loves you...whether you believe it or not," Nick said, turning to Randy, who was still praying. He himself walked over and knelt next to Randy. Randy opened his right eye to glance over at Nick, then closed it again. Knuckles stood and watched them for about a minute, trying to process all of this in his mind. 'It makes no sense to forgive sins like that. Could such a merciful being actually exist?' he thought to himself. After another minute, he slowly walked over and knelt down next to Nick and Randy. As he did so, Nick couldn't help but smile.
Back at the mansion, everyone was watching the news, which was all about the mayor's evacuation plans. "Well, at least everything worked out," Amy said. "Yeah. The people tend to listen when invasions are involved," Ken commented. Sonic glanced over at Sally, who was sitting next to him and had been staring at him with fearful eyes for the past few minutes. He smiled at her and took her hand, causing her to smile. Everyone turned to the door as it opened, and watched Randy, Nick and Knuckles walk in. "Where were you guys?" Bunnie asked. Randy smiled and said, "Simply taking some pain off of our shoulders," as he glanced over at Knuckles, who very slightly smiled.
"I've been meaning to ask, where'd you guys get a name like 'The Ravagers'?" Rotor asked. "Well, it's a very funny story..." Luke began.
"How about...The Super Squad!" Luke suggested. "Yes, Luke. We wanna sound like a Saturday morning cartoon," Ken said sarcastically. They were all sitting in the living room, Todd with a notepad in his hand. The page he was on was divided in to halves. One side read 'Maybes', the other read 'No's'. The 'Maybes' was empty, and the 'No's' ran off the page. "How about...the Flaming-"Randy began to suggest, until he was cut off by, "Nothing to do with fire." "How about...the Revengers?" Todd suggested. They all stared at him. "Wha...???" Steve finally said. "Ya know, The Revengers! You commit crimes and we take our revenge!" Todd said dramatically. "That doesn't make too much sense," Li said. "Well, we can at least put it on the 'Maybe' list," Todd said. "Let me see the list," Nick said as Todd passed it to him. Nick glanced at it, then looked up at Todd. "You spelt...'Revengers' wrong," Nick said. Randy glanced up with a raised brow and very slowly said, "How the hell did you do that?" "I dunno. How'd I spell it?" Todd asked. "Ravagers," Nick said. Todd's head shot up. "Say that again," he asked. "Ravagers." "One mo' time." "Ravagers," Nick said, now smiling. They all looked at each other, grinning. "Wow. It just rolls off the tongue. It's like blah, only it comes out in a neater fashion!" Luke said. "That decides it, from now on, we are...The Ravagers!" Nick declared.
Everyone stared at Luke as he concluded the story. They then glanced at Todd and said together, "How'd you spell 'Revengers' wrong?" "Still don't know to this day," Todd answered. "It wasn't until months later, after we were all over the news, that we found out what a Ravager was," Luke said. "What happened?" Tails asked. "Well, it's a funny story," Luke began. "Ahh! Zees again!" Antoine moaned.
It was another typical day. Li and Zack were playing chess, Nick, Ken and Steve were reading, Randy was listening to his headphones, and Luke was playing a video game. Todd walked into the room carrying a dictionary. "Gonna beat that hi score!" Luke declared. "Guys, I became interested and decided to look up Ravager in the dictionary," Todd said. "Oh really, what does it mean," Randy said as he pulled off his headphones. "One who commits ravages," Todd answered. Randy grumbled and said, "Well, what does that mean?" "The act or practice of violently destroying; destruction." Everyone raised their brows as their jaws dropped and they stared into space, not moving at all. All was silent, until the TV beeped, "Game over." "DAMN IT!" Luke yelled, finally snapping out of it. "Uhh...Slap 'of Evil' at the end of it, and we should be fine," Nick said.
"We never did get to doing that," Steve said as he scratched his head. Someone chuckled, and soon everyone was laughing hysterically. Mighty, in his laughter, glanced over to see Knuckles chuckling as well. 'I guess those two really helped him out a bit,' he thought to himself. "I hate to break up this happy moment, but we need to get to the five block limit now to get ready for tonight," Todd said, causing the laughter and good humor to fade.
The five-block limit was a mess. There were G.U.N troops scurrying about everywhere, setting up gun turrets and other weapons. The President was a nervous wreck. "Those kids better show up after I made all these preparations," he muttered. "We did," Cap said as they walked out from an alley. "Everything's set. We blew up a ditch ten feet deep, fifteen deep wide in Rail Canyon. We should have no trouble with tanks now. That'll also slow down ground troops, too," DJ said. "Now are you sure you want to do this?" the President asked, "I could still have a G.U.N team assist you." Cap shook his head and said. "We've made our decision. Our plan should keep the casualty toll low. Time to rise to meet the challenge."
Sally was in tears with her arm around Sonic. "Please, don't do this!" she begged him. "Sal...I have to. I know what can happen, but if I don't do my part, then the entire plan could fall apart. Me and Freezie could grab all the front lines' weapons, giving us the edge. I have to do my part. Sal...I'm coming back for you. Don't worry," he said as he kissed her.
Knuckles sighed as he watched this interaction. He glanced over at Julie-Su, took a deep breath and sighed once more. "At least she doesn't have to worry about me," he said. "She still does," Espio said. "Y-yeah, Knux. Sh-she's still y-your friend," Ray said with a smile. "Yeah...a friend," Knuckles muttered. He stared at her for a moment, then began to walk over. She turned to him and looked at the ground, not sure of what to say to him. "Julie-Su...I just wanna say...I'm sorry if I embarrassed you last night. I was...out of it. Saying things without thinking first," he said. She looked up at him and smiled. "It's fine. Listen...don't get yourself killed out there," she said. "Sure," he answered. There was an uneasy silence. Neither of them knew what to say next. "Bye," Knuckles finally said as he turned around and left. "Bye," Julie-Su said to him as he left.
The President sighed as he looked out at his city. "What has brought us down to this level? Fighting for our lives, our very freedom? How have we sunk so?" he said. "You must have faith, Mr. President. Your people will not lose their city," Sally said, wiping the last tear from her eye. "But look at them! Look at my people! Their hearts hang heavy with grief and worry! My troops? Their courage hangs on by but a thread! And now I'm sending a group of young boys to fight my battles for me. How have I sunk so low?" the President asked. Vipes walked over to the President, went to his knees, and presented his sword. "Mr. President, we ninja live by the sword and die by the sword. Whether you would have it or not, I would fight for our city, as would the rest of my comrades." Vipes came back to his feet as the President stared at him. "You young men are a mindless, selfless lot. Thank you. You give me the faith I need. The faith that tells me...that this city will be peaceful once again," the President said.
"Ravagers, team meeting," Cap said as he and the other Ravagers walked into an alley. Out of interest and plain curiosity, the others stood by the corner to listen to the meeting. "I just want to remind you guys...that it's okay if you wanna back down. You're all as scared as I am, so it's no problem if you wanna leave," Cap said. "I speak for all of us when I say...that we're sticking together through this. Cap...Nick...do you remember what Gramps said before he died?" Swiper said. "Yeah. He said, 'Always be true to each other'," Cap muttered. "And we will. No matter what the price," Swiper said as he outstretched his arm. "No matter what the personal cost," Morph said as he put his hand in. "No matter how great the danger," Grim said, putting his hand in. "No matter how great the odds are against us," DJ said, putting his hand in. "No matter how powerful the adversary," Vipes said as he put his hand in. "No matter how hard it will be to go on," Freezie said, adding his hand in. "No matter what," F.C. said as he put his hand in and they all turned to Cap. "Always be true to each other," Cap said as he put his hand on top of the pile. "We are teammates, we are friends, we are brothers. Brothers are family, and family always sticks together. We fight together, we die together," Cap said.
Suddenly, their hands began to glow in a green energy. When they pulled their hands away, they noticed a letter on it. "If you notice, each of us has a letter on his hand, and the letters spell out the word 'RAVAGERS'," F.C. said. "Cool. Now...let's do this," Cap said with bold new confidence as they all nodded and walked towards the exit of the alley. Everyone hurried away as they exited the alley. "Wow. They've got the strongest bond I've ever seen," Bunnie whispered to Vector. "Yeah. Those dudes are really tight," Vector whispered back.
Everyone said their final good byes as the heroes walked down the deserted streets. "Fire a salute," the President said to his lieutenant. They were surprised when they heard the crowds of civilians blocks away begin to cheer for them as G.U.N fired a salute for them. "After doing that for us, there's no way we can let them down now," Mighty said as they continued to walk down the cold, lonely streets.
Julie-Su slipped into an alley and watched as her friends left. Tails had been very quiet. He must be worried about losing Sonic. She sighed as they got farther and farther away until they disappeared. 'I may never see them again,' she thought to herself as a tear fell from her eye. 'They've all been so good to me...and even though Knux wasn't truthful...he was still my friend.' She leaned back against the wall as she looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were gathering, heading towards the horizon. It was quite symbolic actually. Two huge, dark forces would collide, with a slight glimmer of good in-between. She closed her eyes, not noticing the shadows moving on the wall behind her. She suddenly felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She opened her eye to see an arm slowly creeping out of the wall behind her. 'Oh no! It's one of those Shadow Legionnaires!' she thought to herself. She lunged forward, trying to escape and call for help, but a hand clamped over her mouth and pulled her back, smacking the back of her head against the wall and knocking her out.
Rouge thought she heard something in the alley behind her and slowly went to peek around the corner. When she did, she screamed. There was a menacing Shadow Legionnaire, standing over the unmoving form of Julie-Su. In knelt down next to her, threw its cloak over her, and they sank into the ground. "NO!" Rouge yelled as she ran after the moving shadow, which crept under a door. Rouge quickly kicked the door down and gasped when she looked inside. The lights were out in the room, and the room was one big blotted shadow. Sally, Antoine, Rotor, Tails, Bunnie and Amy ran over to her as she turned around panicking. "Rouge, what's wrong? Why'd you scream?" Tails asked. "Because the Dark Legion just captured Julie-Su!" Rouge yelled.
Author's Note: Cliffhanger!!! Sorry, but I have to leave you all in suspense for now. But don't worry, the conclusion of the Station Square Saga will be posted next weekend. So until then, you'll just have to lose sleep wondering what's gonna happen! MWA-HA-HA!!!...uhhh...sorry.