I don't own Sonic or any of the characters!
With that out of the way… This is a longer chapter, just for you readers! Some huge, well overdue plot twists are in this one and they'll continue into the next chapter! I'm sorry for the long wait, but I've been super busy lately! I finally abandoned my homeschool ways and joined my brother at a nearby Christian School, so this brought a whole new level to my life! Juggling a part-time job, which likes giving me hours, school, and my life, makes it hard to write! But today I sat myself down after work… and wrote four hours straight! I finally finished this chapter and now I'm posting it! Happy reading! And review please!
Chapter 8: A Madman's Conquest
The storm was nowhere near dissipating as noon approached Square Gardens, Indiana. And one could interpret that as why the streets were eerily quiet, but that was only half an answer.
"They're cowards! They're all friggin' cowards!" A man in his 50's or 60's said as he dealt out some cards to his poker buddies. A few others—most all of them, actually—nodded and spoke in agreement.
One, however, didn't. "I don't think they're cowards. This madman—Robotnik or whatever his name is—is obviously powerful and dangerous! And he may not just desire to take over Mobius alone! He could come here—if he has the resources!" This man was the only of his buddies that wasn't in a previous war, which could explain why he wasn't as headstrong as the others.
The first man held a hand up. "Now, wait a minute. Our military is strong enough to handle this."
"Well, I know, but—"
"Trust me on it! I know the Bureaucratic crap will slow it down a bit, but I guarantee that they'll be all over him like flies on…" He paused as a low whistling sound filled the air of the house they were in.
"What's that?" The dissenter asked. The other veterans traded glanced about each other. They all knew the sound too well, and they also knew it was far too late to escape.
And seconds later, the missile hit, and the entire house exploded in a fiery fury.
"Come on, Karen! Move it!" Her mother called. But Karen the rebellious thirteen-year old just crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Her mother would never understand. She and Jack were meant to be and—
"If you aren't in the restaurant in two minutes, I swear you won't go out on another date until you're eighteen!" Karen smirked and watched as her mother walked off into the restaurant they were stopped at. She began counting down the seconds and after a minute and a half, she climbed out of the car and started walking towards the restaurant, fully intending on making it there with only seconds to spare.
But it would seem a few seconds was something she just didn't have; for as she began crossing the tarmac towards the restaurant her waiting family, another missile struck, completely obliterating the restaurant and everyone inside.
She didn't even have time to mourn. The explosion caused a large piece of rubble to fly off into the sky and slam into her petite body, crushing her immediately.
And so the madman's conquest began again…
"This just in: The city of Square Gardens, Indiana is under attack! Julius Eggman—now known as Robotnik—has set his army of robots on the city! Our sources say that the government plans to launch an immediate counterattack and—" Robotnik turned off his portable television and grinned.
He enters some commands in his computer console to prepare his army for a counterattack and then looks to his three-dimensional map of Square Gardens. He watched as one-by-one the taller buildings fell to his might and then came the smaller ones as well. And on the ground, although it wasn't shown on the map unless he zoomed in, he knew that his robots weren't taking any prisoners this time. Any person they came across, they shot down immediately.
All because of a single hedgehog… With a sneer, Robotnik started rapidly typing on his keyboard, entering new commands. "Go, my army. Find the hedgehog. Kill the hedgehog. Seek and destroy! Burn the entire forest!" He laughed manically. "My Hovercrafts! Shoot your arms into the forest! Corner him; blow him up!" In the dark recesses of his mind, Robotnik knew he was truly insane. He knew he had become truly insane from the decade spent alone, building his robots. But he also knew he didn't care. Not at all…
Knuckles moved quickly through the forest, dodging trees and other panicking animals as he ran. Sonic, Summer, and Miles all followed quickly behind. The forest all around them burned with fury, smoke filling the air so thick they could scarcely see ten feet in front of them.
Summer coughed hoarsely from the smoke and felt herself grow faint, but she focused and shook off the feelings of faintness. "Eddie! Knuckles! I don't know how much—" She broke into another fit of coughs so violent that she had to stop and hold her chest. When that had ended, they kept moving. "I don't know how much longer we can handle this smoke! We need to find shelter!"
"No! We need to keep moving as fast as we can! The fire's closing in on us fast!" Knuckles yelled back, having to overpower the sound of the roaring forest fire. A missile struck the ground some short distance away and the sound nearly deafened them, as well as cause the ground and trees around them to tremble violently.
Knuckles saw an orange glow suddenly appear in front of him and he turned to the left immediately, picking up his speed a little bit. His motions looked jerky—not as fluid or smooth as normal—and Sonic saw this. He ran up beside the red ally and yelled into his ear, "You know where we're going, right!?"
"Trust me!" Knuckles yelled back. His voice was confident—strong. But his thoughts weren't nearly as sure of himself. Home is north… so it's to the left, right? No, wait, we changed directions, so it's straight ahead. No, it's… Knuckles resisted the urge to cry out in frustration. He knew the smoke had seriously hampered his ability to find his way home. He looked for any landmarks or clues that he had left for himself so he could find his way home. But with the smoke as thick as it was, he could hardly see five feet ahead of himself. And worse yet, it was still pouring rain, the dark clouds choking out any extra light. Lightning flashed and deafening thunder followed, but the rain did not seem to be calming the raging fire.
They finally stopped for a rest at a small clearing in which the smoke wasn't as dense. Miles was clinging to Summer while Sonic paced back and forth. Knuckles leaned against a large tree, looking up passively, deep in thought.
Sonic muttered something, looked to see Knuckles, and then went back to muttering. Summer, once again, noticed the blue ring on his finger. "Eddie," she began. He stopped pacing and looked up at her "Why are you still wearing that—" She was cut off as Miles body shuddered and he broke into a fit of coughs that would have forced him to his knees if Summer didn't catch him.
His coughing fit lasted only for a few seconds, but it was obvious that he was getting worse by the minute. Summer momentarily forgot about the ring and looked at Sonic with pleading eyes. Sonic nodded, understanding what she was asking him to do and walked over to Knuckles.
"Knuckles!" He called. The echidna didn't reply. "Knuckles, where the heck are we, and—more importantly—where are we going!? And how far is it? We can't handle much more of this!" The red echidna looked down at Sonic for a second, his eyes cool, and then looked back up with a snort. It was obvious that he didn't want to talk at the moment.
Another thing obvious was that Sonic didn't have the patience for this. With a snarl, he pushed Knuckles against the tree even further, getting close to Knuckles' face. "What is wrong with you!?" He demanded, his emerald green eyes blazing with fury.
"Eddie!" Summer cried from behind him, but Sonic didn't pay her any mind. Instead, he glared into Knuckles' eyes now, as the two entered into a battle of wills.
Knuckles didn't move to get Sonic off of him, knowing full well he was just stalling the inevitable—admitting to himself and to the others that he no longer knew the way to his home. He resisted the urge to run right then and there—to push Sonic off of him and take to flight, never looking back. But he knew he had a duty to accomplish. A duty passed down from generation to generation in his family and he would not let this trial get in the way of that.
He calmly pushed Sonic back, not even enough to make him stumble and looked to Sonic coolly once more. "We were resting, as I said, but it's time to start moving again." The blue hedgehog stared at Knuckles for a while before nodding slowly. It was evident in his eyes though that he wasn't so sure of Knuckles' plan.
Sonic turned around to face Summer and walked closer to her. "We're moving on." He said softly. She nodded slowly and looked back down at Miles. Sonic kneeled down and looked at Miles face-to-face. "Hey, short guy. Think you can handle this for a bit longer?" Miles nodded and smiled weakly. Sonic wasn't so totally sure he was telling the truth.
But, with a shrug, Sonic rose back up, rubbing Miles' hair, and grinned at Summer. "Let's—" He suddenly noticed something was missing from his jacket—his journal! He got frantic, looking around, and then spotted it at Summer's feet.
Summer saw the small journal as well and bent to pick it up, but suddenly Sonic snatched it from the ground, stuffing it back into his jacket pocket, and with another grin, walked off quickly.
Summer watched him for a while, contemplating the small notebook she had seen. What was that…? What's he hiding? But when Knuckles called for them to follow, she stored the thoughts away in the recesses of her mind and started running after them with Miles by her side.
"Move, move, move! C'mon, we don't have much time!" A short chipmunk-squirrel cried to her friends—her subordinates—not that she'd ever treat them much like that. "There are animals dying in there!"
Demihumans leapt out of the large hole in the ground, spreading out into the burning forest, looking for any trapped or hurt animals. She looked down back into the hole, knowing full well it snaked underground for miles until it reached their home of Knothole in a forest quite a ways away. Anybody who found it could find them, of course, but they had come up with two ways to keep them away. The tunnel had very many branches in it that led to dozens of other forests—and plenty of dead ends just for added measure. It would be very difficult for anyone to find them! And the other measure was the fact that it was so long back to their home that they had to ride in a tunnel car just to reach most of the other forests. And they only had two cars, one in use and the other as a backup if the first ever broke down. They never left the car anywhere but their home in its garage hut, therefore preventing anyone else to use it.
A twig cracked and she spun around to face a black hedgehog. "Shadow. What are you doing!? Get moving!" The hedgehog's red eyes narrowed.
"Princess Acorn," He said, using her formal name. The chipmunk glared at him and he corrected himself by adding, "Sally," to his statement, "Why are we even here? We can't save them all. And what happens if we run into some humans!? If that happens, everything our ancestors have worked to do for centuries will be rendered useless! We'll be found out!"
Sally sighed, shaking her head. "Shadow Hedgehog, you are hopeless. Listen, I don't have time to explain this… again. Not now. Just go! If you see any humans, just run away! You're fast enough!"
"What about if you get seen? Or worse—captured!" Shadow, long ago, had taken it upon himself to be Sally's unofficial bodyguard, although she had absolutely no need for it. Back in the days where Demihumans ran freely and happily, Hedgehogs were the royal bodyguards to the current kings and queens of their time—this was because of their lightning quick reflexes and unnatural speed. Now, when kingdoms no longer exists in the Demihuman lives, there was no royal bodyguards. However, Shadow's heritage was no secret to him and he had decided to bring it back after a human hunter inadvertently killed their last 'prince'.
Sally waved him off and patted the combat pole strapped to her side. "Shut up and go, Hedgehog. I'll be all right." Shadow's icy eyes stared into hers and she stared back into his. It was a battle of will and strength—of which neither hedgehog nor chipmunk would back down.
Finally, Shadow sighed heavily, nodding. "Fine. Be careful." He turned around and ran into the forest, disappearing quickly into the smoke. Sally watched him with soft eyes and then ran in the opposite direction.
He was coughing again. Miles doubled over, clenching his eyes in pain. His throat was sorer than it had ever been before. This coughing fit kept going on though, even after Eddie and Knuckles had run to him. Summer rubbed his back and was there from the beginning. Miles' coughs kept coming and his stomach heaved suddenly. He threw up what berries and fruits he had for breakfast that morning—that and whatever stomach acid he had left in his stomach.
He fell to his knees and moaned pitifully in pain. He could go on anymore… it was too much. He was deaf to the world and his breathing was scarce. His eyelids began to close and he succumbed to darkness.
"Miles! C'mon, Miles! Wake up!" He was jarred from unconsciousness seconds later as Eddie shook him roughly. He noticed though that his eyes weren't focusing right… Eddie looked sort of sick himself… he was blue…
"Eddie… you look weird…" He giggled then and then broke into another fit of rancid coughs, this time coughing up blood. As he coughed, memories flooded back to him—the attack, his father's death, the escape, the change… it all came back to him and he felt unconsciousness begin to sneak up on him again.
Summer shook him awake this time. After all, Eddie—or Sonic as Miles' remembered he was told to call the blue hedgehog—was no longer in front of him. In fact, he had cornered Knuckles again.
The sound was muffled for the fox, his ears once again not working right. Or maybe it was the roaring of the flames… they were close, he knew—too close for any illusion of safety. Far too close.
He caught a few words—many of them words he wasn't allowed actually to say. Knuckles pushed him away, but Sonic was a blue blur, immediately right back into his face, merely inches away. "Where… going!?" Miles managed to catch. But he didn't actually care anymore. He was seeing colorful spots in his eyes… so pretty…
"I don't know, okay!?" He heard. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he recognized the voice as Knuckles'. "I'm lost! The smoke has… off!"
"Thrown you off!? What do you mean!? You've been leading us on a wild goose…" Miles heard Sonic say before it was muffled again. Look… An orange glow… He said to himself. With the foggy stuff all around, it looks pretty too… just like the spots… Delusional, he knew he was becoming. But, like before, he didn't even care. Not anymore.
"Listen to me! I'll fly up and look…" Knuckles' voice faded completely as Miles' vision faded to black and his breath became very soft…
"Fine! Go fly!" Sonic screamed, his voice hoarse. He backed away from Knuckles, who now looked on the verge of cracking. The normally stern Echidna looked terribly hurt and like an absolute failure—which in Sonic's mind was the truth.
Knuckles clenched his fists so tightly his palm hurt. He closed his eyes and crouched down to fly off, but Summer's scream stopped him cold.
"Wake up, Miles! Come on, wake up!" He noticed that Sonic had run to the others and was now shaking Miles violently. The fox wasn't responding. Knuckles got closer and saw that Miles was breathing faintly, but had entered a comatose state. The smoke was too thick for the child to handle.
Sonic looked back at Knuckles, his formerly anger hardened face now soft. Tears were threatening to pour over his eyelids. "Knuckles, please… we don't have time for you to fly… just… get us to safety." Knuckles tore his eyes from Sonic's to Summer's and then to Miles' still form. He couldn't give up. He had to find safety. He had no choice.
Clenching his fist with determination, he nodded. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and his senses were heightened from it. Panic threatened to overtake him, but he pushed it down. "Follow me." He said without emotion and took off in a different direction—away from the mow very bright orange glow. Sonic looked at Summer and then picked up Miles, cradling him in his arms. And together, the two friends followed the red echidna.
Sonic ran behind Summer to keep track of where she was, still cradling Miles. "Hurry up, Eddie!" Summer cried from ahead of him. "He's moving fast!" She poured on a burst of speed herself, one of which Sonic didn't know she could accomplish and pressed ahead. Sonic poured on his own speed, focusing solely on her yellow back. In his determination and concentration, he never saw the flaming tree. He never saw its splintered trunk (damaged by a nearby missile hit) finally give way. It crashed right in front of him, less than a foot away. His fur was singed by flame. Sparks and embers flew up and he cried in pain as his eyes were hit badly. He leapt, knowing the tree was still there, now keeping his eyes closed in pain. He felt the fire touch his legs and cried out in worse pain as his fur caught fire.
He hit the ground with a roll, still clutching onto Miles tightly. The fire was put out; the burns were still very real.
He was blind and lame. His legs still felt as though they were on fire and his eyes were no better. He tried to open his eyes to at least get a sense of where he was, but even that proved excruciating. He cried out for Summer—for Knuckles. No answer came to him.
A twig cracked near him. He ignored it. "C'mon, Miles…" He said, his voice barely audible over the raging inferno that he could feel was all around him. "Wake up…" Miles didn't wake up and Sonic was still blind.
He slowly—painfully—stood to his feet, but his legs collapses. So he settled to crawling away from the flaming tree he knew was close, barely pulling Miles along with one arm.
He found a place that didn't seem as hot and set Miles on the ground. He clawed at his eyes, desperately trying to help them. He opened his eyelids, but only found a blur. He was unable to make out anything. He closed his eyes once more and dropped his face in his hands.
"I'm going to die here…" He said softly. "I lost Knuckles and Summer. I can't even see! I'm sorry, Miles. I can't… I can't do anything anymore…"
He heard another branch crack and a gasp behind him. He looked to his behind in confusion. "Who's there!?" He asked loudly. A stammering voice. He frowned and tried to focus. His sight was getting better and he could barely make out a brown blur next to the gray and orange blurs all around him.
"Who… who are you…?" It was a girl, Sonic realized.
"Don't you mean what?" Sonic said incredulously. Why wasn't this girl scared. There was a bit of silence before she answered.
"Here. You're eyes look kind of bad and I'm willing to bet you can't see very well. I have a water canteen." Sonic felt her hands touch his own and he was surprised that she was so close. He felt a canteen be placed in his own hands and he immediately tipped his head backwards and to the side, eyes wide open. He poured the water into his eyes, relishing in the coolness of the liquid. He blinked out the water for a bit and then looked at her. His sight was still a little blurry, but it was obvious that she wasn't human.
With a yell of surprise, he jumped back, landing on his feet—only to collapse again. "Whoa! Calm down!" She cried. "I'm on your side!" It was interesting, Sonic thought, that she automatically judged who's 'side' he was on.
She was a strange creature. Brown fur covered most of her body, but she had a patch of tan fur on her chest and stomach like Sonic did. An unbuttoned blue vest covered any inappropriate areas and she was wearing a pair of shorts made from a blue material. The fur around her face was tan as well. She had pretty green eyes and a head full of red hair that reached down to her shoulders. She was petite, but held a wooden pole protectively enough for Sonic to know she knew how to use it.
"You're a… a…" Sonic stammered.
"A Demihuman! Come on, Hedgehog, figure it out!" She said, now a little exasperated. This blue hedgehog was a surprise, sure, but he was acting like he'd never even seen one of her kind before! He was acting like a human when they caught sight of a Demihuman (not that it happened often)!
Sonic stared at her for a long time and then, in unison both pairs of eyes traveled to Miles' sleeping form. "You need some help. For that leg. And he's sick. Come on, I'll take you to some shelter." Sally said, brushing off her surprise, vowing to find more out about this hedgehog after they were safe.
"W-what?" Sonic asked incredulously. "But, my friends…"
"You're friends will be fine! Trust me!" The leader of Knothole said sternly. "Now, come on!"
Sonic stared into her eyes. He didn't know why, but he trusted her. Maybe it was something in her voice. Or maybe her eyes. Whatever it was, every ounce of his being trusted her. So, without further conversation, he slowly pushed himself to his feet. She handed him her pole and he used it like a cane. He then looked to Miles' prone form and frowned. But the woman put his thoughts to ease when she lifted Miles up into her own arms. She was stronger than she looked.
"I'll take care of the fox. You just lean on the pole." Sonic, still too stunned by this turn of events to resist, nodded in agreement. "Now, come on. We have to hurry—we're already behind schedule." And with that, she began walking. And Sonic the Hedgehog followed.
This was all too much for the red echidna. Less than a minute ago, he was sure he was the only real Demihuman left alive. The echidnas were the last of the race, he thought! Yes, there was always his trio of allies, but they were half-lings if even that. Humans in the bodies of Demihumans.
But now this black hedgehog stood in front of him. Cold eyes glared at Knuckles and Knuckles replied with the same. The hedgehog was different than Sonic. While Sonic's quills were vertically challenged—falling from his head like hair—this hedgehog's quills fell slightly before slanting upwards. He was mostly covered in black fur and quills, but the upper sides of the spikes of quills on his head were all red while the sides and undersides were black. He had a patch of unruly white fur that extended from the midpoint of his chest up to his neck.
The hedgehog had no weapons, but it was obvious he knew how to fight. Unknowingly, they started circling each other, waiting for the other to crack. Knuckles had no reason to fight this hedgehog. Part of him knew that. He should have been overjoyed to see that he wasn't the last of his kind! But he had pushed those thoughts out of his head. He had to protect Summer at any cost. After losing Sonic and Miles, he had promised to, at least, see her safety and then go out to look for the other two. And then they had stumbled onto the menacing hedgehog with eyes that were too dark for Knuckles' taste. Few words had been exchanged. It was obvious that each was slightly intimidated by the other. It was a power struggle now. A battle of the mind. And it was obvious to Knuckles that the hedgehog wouldn't crack. Well, neither would he.
Summer stood back wide-eyed and watched. She knew what was coming. Not a doubt in her mind. She knew she should stop it, but her confusion and fear for her friends was too great for her to even try. No, she would watch the coming events unfold and hope for the best.
Silence reigned between the two fighters. And a fare amount of silence would continue between them even long after the oncoming battle. The battle itself would only be interrupted by grunts of pain or frustration. Neither was in a talking mood.
A flash of lightning. A crash of thunder. The rain, which had finally ended, started up again. And that was all they needed. Without a sound, the true power struggle began. Hedgehog verses Echidna. And neither had any intention of losing.