"We're going in hot, folks. Hold onto your lunches." Jason Powers said into his flight helmet's microphone. There were no replies, but he knew they were all out there, listening and waiting for his signal. And when he said the simple word, "Go," they did just that. Silent save the hum of the electro-magnets, the jets cut through the air light sunlight might cut through darkness. Dark clouds still covered the land with their darkness and rain pattered on his domed windshield. At his speed though, the rain merely moved off to the side of the windshield. Within seconds, his jet would increase it's speed to nearing its top speed and the friction would cause the outside of the ship to heat up very much—enough to cause the raindrops to sizzle into a gas as they hit the supersonic jet.
A gray shadow had been cast over the leveled city. It seemed as though the very color had vacated the place just like the life that used to be abundant there. Leftover newspapers, cans, bottles, and virtually anything else anyone was carrying around at the time of the attack littered the ghost town and added to the overall affect of the place of destruction. Buildings were skeletal at most—most all that was left was bent and broken metal supporters—if even that. Some of the luckier ones had entire walls left standing, but those were also few.
Powers willed himself to stay strong while surveying the monumental damage to the city. He had heard the news reports. And, seeing it himself again, this time closer than before, he knew they were correct. The country of America, in its entire history, had never seen such horrible destruction on her soil. Not Pearl Harbor, nor the Twin Tower incident. Thousands of people had been killed in this city—in only a day. Looking over the destruction, it was impossible for Powers to stop the blast of ice that ran down his spine. As the jet screamed over the city—dangerously close to the ground—he could have sworn he heard a scream from a person long lost whose scream was ended abruptly by laser fire. People cried out to him—begging him to save them. "What are you doing!?" They screamed. "Powers, we're under attack! We're under—" The voice was cut off by the short sound of a laser bolt before it was silenced.
Then Powers woke up. His eyes widened and he cursed loudly, looking frantically at his radar screen. Two of his green allies were gone from the screen—blown to pieces while he was away in dreamland. He cursed himself and checked again the radar, now looking for those living—and who they were. He saw Chris's ship. Red blips surrounded it and he cried out in frustration before swinging the jet in a wide arc, trying desperately to reach his love before it was too late. As military protocol and instincts kicked in, he checked once more his radar, checking to see if there were any others in distress. It would seem that after the first two were caught off-guard by the blasts, the rest were able to get into the battle in time.
He kept flying towards Chris, but suddenly alarms went off in the F-16x. Enemy fighters were approaching rapidly—from directly in front of him. He saw them now. There was three of the strange egg-shaped Hovercraft. Lasers sprayed toward him, but they were not very accurate and merely scraped his wings or missed altogether. He let loose his own ammunitions, but his foes dodged and kept coming. They screamed past him and turned around quickly. More laser fire came from behind.
"Crap! I'm in need of assistance!" He cried into the microphone, putting the jet into a mad spin to avoid the lasers.
"Hang on, Captain! I'm com—" His voice ended abruptly and Jason was left with only static. Another green blip disappeared from his radar.
Lightning cracked across the sky and when the flash came, Knuckles' and Shadow's feet were pounding across the dirt and grass towards each other. Dirt was kicked into the humid air and the tension was so thick, it could be cut with a knife.
Knuckles leapt forward. He flew towards Shadow, his knuckles ready to shred anything in their path. Shadow's eyes widened and he leapt, barely sailing over the red echidna. He landed and spun around….
…And leapt back immediately as Knuckles' fist slept past his nose so closely that he heard the air whistle as the gloved fist cut through it. Knuckles responded with another fist—this one aimed for Shadow's midsection. Shadow was hit squarely in the stomach, and, although the knuckles didn't gut him, they left gashes in his stomach as he flew backwards, crashing roughly into a tree.
He's much stronger than I am. Shadow told himself as he saw Knuckles breathing heavily from the other side of the clearing. His red dreadlocks fell over his face, but Shadow was able to see his icy blue eyes. But I'm faster. It's time to exploit that! He rushed forward, his shoes tearing up grass and dirt. Knuckles charged toward him as well. Wait… wait… NOW! Shadow made a very slight change in his direction and the two barely missed each other. But the charge wasn't all worth nothing. Shadow stuck out arm horizontally in the last second and his fist collided solidly with Knuckles' snout, causing the Echidna to fall backward while still moving forward. Momentum called him to slide across the wet grass and then he went into a roll, finally coming to a stop a bit of a way before.
"Knuckles!" Summer cried from the edge of the clearing.
"So, Knuckles is your name…" Shadow said as his shoes stepped across the mud and grass. Every footstep was followed by a sickening squish because of the now soaked dirt-changed-to-mud. Knuckles slowly stood to his feet, wiping away blood pouring from his nose, but not really doing much. It would inevitably stain his fur for some time.
Shadow stopped a mere five feet away from Knuckles. He said nothing else. They stared into each other's eyes—one pair was red and the other, blue. He smirked. Knuckles' grit his teeth and tried to keep his emotions in line as to not fight blindly. There was another flash of lightning and, at once, the fight was on once again.
"No!" Powers cried as the laser bolt hit. The jet's engine exploded in a ball of fire. The F-16x shuddered horribly and its nose tipped downward. It gave one more shudder and there was another explosion—this one blew off the entire tail section. "NO!" The jet started in a downward plummet to earth. Smoke filled the cockpit. Sparks flew from the control panels. There was a fire in the cockpit, but robotic fire extinguishers put it out even as the jet plummeted. Warning lights flashed. Alarms went off.
And Jason Powers screamed in anguish as Christina Carmichael's F-16x went into the nosedive. There was no way to even level it out with the destroyed tail. There was no chance of anything else than a straight dive into the ground—that would end her life quickly and painlessly. But that did not soften the blow for Jason Powers—not one bit.
"NO, CHRIS!!!" Powers screamed. He threw the jet into dangerous charge right at the Hovercraft that shot her down. It was a game of chicken. He was firing his ammunitions the entire way to blow it up long before they'd collide, yet… part of him willed the bullets to miss to he could collide with it and end his meaningless existence—the one without Chris. Every bullet seemed to hit the Hovercraft with unwanted, but deadly accuracy. It blew into little pieces and the Wolf flew straight through the flames, coming out unscathed.
He was in a rage now. A blind rage. He flew at another Hovercraft, this time not even firing at it. He planned to suicide-crash into it and end the pain. Closer… closer… He was urging his jet to go faster. And then, suddenly, a missile collided with the Hovercraft and it suffered the fate of its former companion. Jason roared in frustration and pain. He looked around for the source of the missile and found one of his crewmates, Brock Howard.
"Snap out of it, Jason! She's gone! There's nothing you can do about it! Don't kill yourself! We need you!" Brock screamed into the intercom. Powers shook with rage and turned off the intercom. He would have his revenge. He would avenge his fallen angel!
There! Another Hovercraft! He piloted the jet towards the nearest Hovercraft, not noticing the one that came up directly behind him. If he had his intercom on, he would have heard Brock screaming at him to look at his six, but, unfortunately, he didn't. It didn't take long, though, for Jason to notice it. But, by then, it was too late.
There was an explosion and Powers' jet rocked violently. His eyes widened and he looked at the radar and saw the red blip right behind him. "No! I won't be shot down!" But, when he tried to turn to the side, he found the controls sluggish and unresponsive. "NO!" He cried, pulling on the control stick violently. A new sound filled his ears as he did this. A loud whistling filled the cockpit—and he knew why. The ground was rushing up to meet him—much faster than it should have been. Part of him wanted to just let go and let his jet meet the ground as Chris's had, but instinct took over. He pulled back on the control stick as hard as he could… and there was a slight lurch in his descent. It was leveling out! He was not going to be able to keep in the air, but maybe… There! He forced the jet to turn slightly towards a freeway that had managed to survive the mayhem. He had no landing gear, so it was going to be rough.
The jet's tail section hit first, screeching loudly across the concrete, creating a shower of sparks behind the jet. The body and nose hit after, sliding and screeching the same. It began to rotate while sliding across the ground in the worst way. He had absolutely no control now. He let go of the control stick and put his hand on the ejection swift. But he never saw the solid wall created by an upheaval of dirt and concrete until it was too late. The F-16x had slowed down to the point that when the back of the jet hit it, it didn't do much more damage than already done, but it was going fast enough that the sudden stop made Powers' head jerked back and then got thrown to the side. When his head connected with the wall to the jet, darkness flooded his mind and he lost consciousness.
And, only a short bit away, a woman, carried by the wind in a parachute, landed and was quickly surrounded by multiple SwatBots that placed her into a Hovercraft surrounded by two other Hovercrafts. And then, after rising from the ground, the trio of Hovercraft flew towards Robotnik's central tower.
Knuckles let out a slight cry as Shadow, rolled up into a very tight and very quick ball, slammed into his knees with probably enough force to shatter the said knees if Knuckles was a mere human. In that moment of surprise, Shadow bounded up, out of his ball, and landed a strong punch on Knuckles' jaw. Knuckles took a step back, slightly stunned, but Shadow wasn't able to land another punch so easily!
Shadow blasted forward, using his hedgehog speed. Knuckles eyes widened and he crouched down and then leapt up, at the last second, and floated in the air about thirty feet up. Shadow skid to a stop, turned around, and prepared to blast at Knuckles again, but then his eyes widened… and he turned around again. He grunted and turned around—this time finally looking up. Knuckles gave him a smirk and prepared to fly down again, but suddenly something very hard hit him in the chest! It was Shadow! He had jumped up thirty feet, went into a ball, and imitated a cannonball! Knuckles, his concentration broken fell backwards through the air, Shadow on his chest, still as a ball, and slammed into the rain-soaked ground. The air was knocked from his lungs and he wheezed as he skidded across the ground before finally sliding to a stop ten feet away from the place he had hit.
Shadow, however, had bounced off of Knuckles when he first hit the ground and now stood, slightly hunched, breathing heavily, and glaring at the Echidna. Knuckles clenched his eyes shut, gritted his teeth, and forced himself up using his arms for support. He stood and looked at Shadow. Shadow looked at him. Both of them straightened. Knuckles' back joints all popped loudly. Shadow, twisting his neck, popped his neck in such a way it sounded like just a long crunch.
"Why are you two—" Summer started, but before she could finish, Shadow and Knuckles charged again. Knuckles threw a high punch, but Shadow ducked and tried to punch the former in the gut. Knuckles swept to the side and did a bone-shattering roundhouse kick to Shadow's head. But, instead of connecting with a solid object, it hit only air as Shadow dropped to the floor, rolling out of the way. Knuckles had barely enough time to land his foot before Shadow retaliated with a sweeping kick. Knuckles jumped into the air, doing a half flip so his face was at an angle aiming towards Shadow and then blasted through the, Knuckles outstretched. He hit Shadow in the chest and the two slammed back into the ground, rolling along the ground in a red and black ball. It was about two seconds before they were both back up, fighting with the same furiousness. But both were getting tired and hedgehogs, while able to be trained to fight extremely well, were built for speed and not battle—to be lovers and not fighters. Echidnas, however, were the exact opposite.
WHAM! Knuckles' fist collided with Shadow's jaw like a pile driver. Before Shadow could fall to the side, Knuckles arm swung into motion, coming from the other way, cutting off Shadow's descent with a brain-jarring uppercut that sent the latter into the air into a slow back flip before hitting the ground, face first, on his belly. Shadow let out a low groan. His arms moved to push him up, but before he could reach halfway, they collapsed and he fell back down. He did not move to get up again.
Sonic ripped the ring off his finger and stuffed it in his jacket pocket. It was something Knuckles had told him. Injuries that one form received would not transfer to the second form and, more so, when the change had been completed, the form that had received injury would be healed. In layman's terms, it meant that Sonic was invincible to a great degree. Now, the only problem was actually waiting out the change…
The woman he had met was walking right in front of him—carrying the young Miles in her arms. Although Miles was about three-quarters her size and probably weighed nearly as much as she did—or so he thought—she was strong and carried him with a fair amount of ease.
So far, they had been walking in utter silence—and they'd been walking for maybe fifteen minutes. Sonic decided it was time to break the silence. "Hey, uh… thanks for saving my butt back there… I thought I was—"
She turned around and flashed him a grin, showing pearly white teeth. "Don't mention it—it's why I was in the forest in the first place!"
"You were in here just to save me?"
"To save anyone, you dummy!"
"Then… where do you live?"
The woman looked back again. "In another forest quite a long way from here. We'll be going there now."
Sonic blinked rapidly. "But…! I have friends in this forest! They could be…" He trailed off, not willing to finish the thought.
"I have my friends—my entire village—scouring the forest right now. If your friends are still out there…" She paused and winced slightly at her choice of words. "…They'll find them. I promise."
Sonic's eyes betrayed his conflicting emotions, but he nodded weakly. "I hope you're right…" The woman didn't answer him. "Say… what's your name anyway?"
The woman looked back at him and smiled again—Sonic felt comforted in that smile and smiled back. "My name's Sally. Sally Acorn—the leader of the Knothole tribe!"
"Leader?"
"Well, my formal title is Princess—because I'm literally part of the royal family of Acorns—back when we had actual kings and queens… Now, the title stays, but the absolute power is gone. It's more of a democracy than a monarchy. But, either way, I am the official princess."
Sonic grinned and bowed—despite her moans of embarrassment and pleading with him to stop. "Sonic Hedgehog at your service, m'lady." At that moment, his eyes had been closed in mock deference. When he opened them, however, he found himself peering down in a puddle… and staring into deep, joyful brown eyes that twinkled with optimism. He found himself staring at short brown—nearly black—hair. He saw an oval-shaped face—unlike the circular face he had before. He had no snout, no quills, and no blue fur. And when his eyes shot back up to Sally's, she emitted an ear-piercing scream…