Chapter 8: Flashback pt. 3
(Station Square; six hours until battle)
Note: That means it is 15 years after Sonic's 'death' so keep in mind that everyone is way older!
Rogue shook Roxie until she frightfully woke up. Then he thrust the microphone to his mouth. "Sh-shadow?" He whispered. No answer. He frantically and systematically changed frequencies. Roxie huddled over her brother nervously. "Shadow?" Again, no answer. Rogue continued changing frequencies until Shadow responded.
"Kid, it is difficult enough flying this piece of crap. What is it?" Shadow responded in annoyance. However, Rogue was trembling ferociously and could not hold the speaker button down. "Kid, you there?" The bat handed the radio to his sister, but Roxie was too terrified to verbalize the events. She clutched the microphone with both hands, allowing Rogue to talk.
"Y-yes. The warrior, she is approaching us via ocean with all seven chaos emeralds!"
"WHAT!?" Shadow cried out in a state of shock and shook his fist. Slamming the dials on his plane, Shadow accidentally made the Tornado descend rapidly. Wind and the increased gravity pulled the dark hedgehog halfway out of his cockpit. There was no time to react. Shadow levitated off the plane.
The wind nipped at Shadow's face, flinging the hedgehog around the air. Despite the pounding of his heart, he focused on the plummeting Tornado. He spun downwards and reached for the plane's rusty tail. Edging towards the cockpit, Shadow heard Rogue's frantic voice on the intercom. He hastily pushed forward on the controls and pulled himself into the cockpit. Smoke sputtered out of the exhaust, and the plane was forced into a downward spin. "What the fuck? Damn this plane! I am pushing forward but it won't go up!" As the Tornado continued spiraling, Shadow thrust on his seatbelt to prevent the wind from ejecting him out of the cockpit. The dial which stated elevation dropped drastically and an annoying beeping noise blared in Shadow's ears.
Rogue's eyes shrunk, fearing for his friend's safety. "Shadow, no, no, no! Pull it back! Pull!" The hedgehog quickly did as told, saving the rusted plane. The Tornado leveled out and soared only dozens of feet above the earth. Shadow's chest heaved uncontrollably, as he nervously twitched his eyes open. One arm covered his eyes, while the other lay limp over the cockpit's railing. "Shadow, those controls tilt the rudders on the jet's wings. If you turn them upwards, then the nose of the plane goes down, and vice versa," the bat explained, temporarily forgetting about the chaos blade.
"Thanks," he panted, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Remembering Rogue's advice, Shadow regained direction of the plane by clutching the controls. "Listen, I have at least eight hours before I arrive; I just recently got out the runway. I had so much damn trouble finding the plane in the first place," he explained. Concerned of Rogue's anxiety, he continued, "You must tell the others about the warrior right away! If she is at the ocean, then she will be there shortly! Thanks for the advice, but it is too difficult flying this thing while talking to you. So, don't call me back." Shadow sensed Rogue on the other side, trembling with fear. The dark hedgehog sighed and reassured the children, "I will be there in time to help. Ok?"
Roxie and Rogue sniffed in unison, "Ok. We are signing off. Later!" Shadow smiled and clicked off the radio. The bats, without another word, ran to the briefing room.
Rogue heaved the rusty doorknob as Roxie violently banged the wooden door. However, there was no answer. Roxie plunged to the ground in defeat with her hands shaking constantly.
"Don't worry sis. I want you to head to the nursery and make sure everything is ok. There is a hidden exit there, and probably the first place the warrior would enter from. If there is any activity, run back. I am going to go through an air vent and drop from above, into the room. Understand?" The bat squeaked, attempting to sound brave. Roxie sniffed back tears, nodded her head, and tripped to her feet, deserting her brother in the hallway. Rogue fled in the opposite direction towards the kitchen. It contained the only accessible vent he knew of.
(Inside Briefing Room; three hours until battle)
Hundreds of animals gathered inside. A state of panic filtered in the air, but the creatures remained silent. Sonia, Amy, and Sally were situated in the back, each holding a red laser pen. Everyone sat on the cold, damp floor, with Tikal, Cream, Rouge, Knuckles, and Manic standing in front. Behind them, a poster hung with a humongous layout of Station Square. Once Knuckles already informed everyone of the imminent warrior's presence, he remained quiet.
"Alright everyone," Rouge began in a calm, resolute intonation, "We are all here to discuss the battle at hand. Cream will debrief us on our current strategy. Then, Tikal will explain possible tactics to neutralize the chaos blade." She explained without a sign of anxiety, despite the butterflies in her stomach. When Rouge pointed to Cream, the rabbit signaled Sally to light up her laser. Putting her weight on one leg and resting one gloved hand on her hip, Cream began.
"This plan that Manic and I thought up is quite simple. As you see here in this section of the city," Cream stated as Sally pointed, "Is a terrible location. It is the lowest part of the city, with skyscrapers surrounding it. Also, there are eight entrances from all sides." She pointed methodically to each secret access way. "If we are able to get the warrior into this area, then we will be able to fire from above and attack from all sides." Then, Sonia and Amy handed out pieces of paper to each creature. "Those letters randomly choose who you will be lead by: Knuckles, Rouge, Manic, Sally, Espio, Tails or me. Knuckles' team will be situated ...here... to lure the warrior into position. When commanded, Rouge's, Manic's, Sally's, Espio's, and my troops will enter via the secret entrances. We will surround her, and with nowhere to escape, Tails' long range shooters from above will blast the warrior, wave after wave. I am assuming the monster will bring at least one of the emeralds, so Shadow will attack from behind. He then will snatch the emerald, like Sonic would, and finish her off. Simple, no?" Cream smiled. Knuckles did not explain Shadow's location earlier, and he became nervous rethinking the strategy. Cream flung her head towards Tikal, making her ear-ponytail swerve gently. The echidna then switched places with Cream and commenced her speech.
She smirked at Cream, "Actually, it isn't quite that simple. The chaos blade has many different capabilities that will endanger this tactic. It has the ability to fuse with the chaos emeralds and borrows power from the master emerald. Therefore, this warrior can perform chaos control, materialize items, create force fields, and even neutralize the seven chaos emeralds." The room fell dead silent. "If this occurs, Shadow will be incapable of transforming, let alone gain power." Knuckles sighed with relief, knowing that Shadow was incapable of arriving at the battlefield in time, anyway. "Also, if this female soldier can fuse the emeralds with her sword, then that would mean the emeralds would disappear. She would be the embodiment of the master emerald's mystical power. I need more time to fully understand what this would mean. It has never happened before, and to be frank, I think such a case would prove catastrophic. Our first priority is to get that blade out of her hands! I think Tails should shoot smoke bombs at her and then someone can snatch the blade." Cream nodded in agreement at the adjusted plan.
Rouge continued, "I understand that we are all afraid. However, this plan will only succeed if we are all at our posts and follow instructions! There were rumors concerning Sonic's death, but this is no time to blame Knuckles or anyone else!" She exclaimed, thinking of her son's words. Tails was nowhere to be found, and Rouge, infuriated, desperately searched for his expression in the crowd. "We are on the verge of battle. Get a good night's rest and no more pointing fingers." Manic opened his mouth to say a few words regarding Sonic until Rogue plunged on Amy's teary face. Everyone, startled in astonishment, twisted around to see the blue bat in cobwebs.
"Knuckles, Knuckles!" He coughed, gliding to the front of the room, and tumbled on the ground. "The warrior!" Rogue exclaimed in a shrilly voice, tugging on Knuckles glove. "She has all seven chaos emeralds!" His body was trembling from the icy air vent and reawakened fear. "My sister and I, we saw her on the water front several hours ago. I tried to warn you all by going in through the main doors, but they were locked! She was very casually sauntering over here, taking her time, so ...she should be here in an hour!" The room froze. Manic's face became hard and made his statement.
"You all heard the boy! When you are dismissed, you will have ten minutes to gather supplies, rest, eat... whatever. Then, you will meet with your captains in your designated area. Knuckles is in charge of this entire operation, and will give commands during the battle, so be prepared." Manic stated and then paused. Closing his eyes he continued, "Sonic was my brother, and I am sure he meant as much to all of you as me." Tears streamed down Amy's face. "We will show Eggman what happens if he messes with one of our own!" The crowd cheered. "We will not rest until this evil is defeated! We will not surrender! And, we will fight," Manic raised his fist into the air, "in the name of Sonic's memory until the bitter end!"
"For Sonic!" The crowed bellowed in unison.
"Dismissed!" Knuckles exclaimed. As the creatures filtered out of the room, Rouge lovingly clasped her arms around Rogue, whose heart vibrated rapidly. Only Amy, Tikal, Rogue, and the 'captains' remained. "Where is Tails?" Knuckles asked, struggling to forget his previous argument.
Amy wailed, "He doesn't want to fight by your side anymore, and neither do I!" Whimpering, the pink hedgehog glared into Knuckles' mortified eyes. Suddenly, Tikal slapped Amy's wet face.
Cream, as well as everyone else, gasped. "I thought you abhorred violence," Cream pondered, despite her excitement at Tikal's decision.
Disregarding Cream, Tikal retorted, "How dare you, Amy. We all miss Sonic, but your depression does not give you the right. Knuckles is trying his best to mend his mistakes, and move forward. Well, what have you done? I'll tell you. You, Amy, hibernated in a room for ten years, weeping over someone who didn't even like you back! You have never fought by Knuckles' side in the first place, so don't dare say that you will stop if you never began! Shame on you, Amy. Shame on you!" Tikal yelled with fire emblazoned in her eyes. Cream smiled at the pink hedgehog's needed reality check. Amy silently gazed at the floor, rethinking Tikal's outburst. The tears finally stopped.
"I will find Tails and tell him about his position. Excuse me." With that, Amy left the room.
A/N: Thank you for reading chapter 9! Oh, and if you want to comment...you know the drill. Thanks to those of you who already reviewed
Now I should explain Tikal's and Cream's personalities, right? I know that Tikal is the peaceful type, which is usually something I don't like. Though, for some reason I like her. Honestly, I can't say why...but I thought that since this my fiction, I would change Tikal's personality into a more... battle-ready yet compassionate type. Tikal never really knew Sonic except for those flashbacks in Sonic Adventure...so I wouldn't think she would be extremely upset by his death...she would still be sad, but not as much as Tails or Amy. Oh and I felt Amy literally needed a slap in the face so I thought Tikal would be the perfect echidna to do it, since she is kind of my favorite of all the women. Cream: Like I have said many times before, I don't like kids. So, since Cream would be technically twenty-one years old in this scene... I figured she would be relatively mature, but have a rebellious, youthful attitude. Also, Cream never really met Sonic either (unless you include the TV show Sonic X... but I'm not). Cream would be upset but, just like Tikal, not as much. Also, because she was six at the time, that means she grew up in this hellish world, right? So, don't you guys think she would become more... military-like? Also, I got rid of her girly dress and added combat boots and a pony tail because I think that is cooler. Eh, I kind of like the new personality I gave her: a teaser, an independent, plus a little sugar and spice... You guys get what I mean right?
Wow, this rant I just did is kinda long, isn't it? Sorry about that!