Chapter 12: In a Trance

As Nite was about to reach for the door back into the main building there was a loud metallic thud behind him, he turned to see the General sitting in his own custom GUN walker. A walker more powerful than the Hot Shot, Big Foot and Flying Dog models known as the Death Wolf. It looked just like the Hot Shot model except had twin laser turrets and was painted in black with the cockpit glass being tinted red.

The General then spoke over the intercom of the deadly machine.

"Nite! This is the new model of GUN walker, the Death Wolf 3000. It is indestructible and has been upgraded from its initial fight against Streak…you don't stand a chance!"

Nite grinned as he casually dropped into his fighting pose turning the hover mode of his boots off as he readied himself for combat.

"Humph, I'll show you what a TRUE wolf can do"

"Very well…prepare to die dog boy!"

With that he aimed and fired the two laser turrets without the charging up time needed by the other models, but Nite had jumped over the blast and landed hard with both feet against the cockpit causing the huge machine to stagger back a little.

"Argh…I'll get you for that!"

"I'd like to see you try"

The second Nite landed he took off in a sideways dash around the machine as it fired a small barrage of heat seeking missiles at the wolf all of which missed and just blew small chunks out of the roof.

The two laser turrets then locked on and fired again but Nite once again dodged, this time by falling into a spinning roll and dashing around the area until leaping into the air and slamming both feet into the robot's cockpit again.

"Damn you Nite!"

The machine staggered back a bit again, and then hopped into the air where its legs folded up under it and it started to hover, its machine guns aiming for the black wolf and firing. But Nite just seemed to dance between the bullets.

It hovered to the other side of the roof and landed where it promptly fired another barrage of missiles. Nite grinned as he hopped up and started to bounce from missile to missile until he was close enough to fire himself at the cockpit again cracking the glass quite a bit.

"Argh…damn you" it hopped into the air again and fired its machine guns forcing the bounty hunter back into the center of the roof "prepare to die!"

It charged through the air firing a barrage of missiles and its machine guns at the same time as it passed over to wolf. Nite spin from side to side seemingly dancing around the attacks and then leaping through the air as the final missiles blew a large chunk out of the roof.

The General then slowly hovered the Death Wolf back onto the opposite side of the roof from Nite and pressed a combination of buttons causing the two laser turrets to face each other slightly and begin to glow with energy.

"HaHaHa! Dodge this!"

With that the two turrets lasers' combined and created a giant ball of energy which then hurtled itself across the roof towards a rather surprised Nite.

"No good can come of this…"

And then his entire side of the roof was engulfed in a blinding light as the blast hit and created a huge explosion.

OOO

Knuckles, Tails and Spike were gradually smashing their way through a new wave of GUN drones that had appeared as the group was working their way down the runway looking for any signs of their friend Nite.

The Rose Petals were the ones that were doing the looking now while the rest held of the GUN drones to let them search in peace, except for Nack who had disappeared only moments before hand.

"Any sigh of them!" yelled Spike as he bounced off of a now destroyed GUN drone using his homing attack, he landed with a slight wince of pain as he felt it flow from the blaster wound on his hip. He glanced over his shoulder at the younger group to see Amy look over to him and shake her head sadly.

Damn, where are you Nite?

He threw himself at another drone killing at then turned around surprised to see that all of the machines were retreating. He looked at his friends for answers but Tails looked equally dumbfounded, while Knuckles was grinning triumphantly.

"Ha! They must be afraid of my powerful punches!"

Tails just shook his head at the comment as did Spike, but soon they all felt a great gust of wind hit them and keep on hitting them. Spike turned and looked up into the sky with wide eyes, as did all of the other.

There above them was a huge plane which seemed to be based on the designs of the Egg-Hawk only was about three times as big with twice as many gun turrets and if he wasn't mistaken Spike was pretty sure he could also see four missile turrets as well as a large laser cannon on the jet's beak.

"Wh…what is that thing?" Amy's voice was shaky as they all slowly backed away from the colossal plane as it hovered down. Just then her question was answered as a voice boomed over loud speakers:

"This is the GUN War Hawk, designed and built by Doctor Eggman by our request. It is unstoppable, give yourselves up!"

"Unstoppable huh?" Knuckles smashed his fists together as he smiled up at the jet confidently "I'd like to test that theory!"

With that he charged forward to attack. Not wanting to seem like cowards or let their friend get hurt because of his stupidity they all took off towards the place. The Rose Petals in their Fly formation while Spike, Tails and Knuckles where in Power.

"Take out the laser cannon first!" yelled Tails as Knuckles helped hurtle him at the huge weapon damaging it slightly.

"Yeah, it's the biggest threat!" continued Spike as he too was thrown at the massive cannon damaging it as he bounced back to his teammates.

"You don't stand a chance!" boomed the same voice as before over loudspeakers "All cannons! Open fire!"

With that all of the cannon, machine guns and missile launchers opened fire the two teams only just avoiding the attacks. They ducked behind large crates as they waited for the onslaught to die down, but as it did they heard the familiar hum of something charging up. Tails glanced from behind his team's hiding spot and gasped in terror as he saw that the plane was aiming its laser cannon at them.

"It'll wipe us out!"

The three knew that Spike was in no condition to get them out of range in time and closed their eyes as they awaited the worst. But all went quiet for a few moments, and then the voice boomed over the loudspeakers again.

"No! The laser's been immobilized!"

The three looked out from their hiding spot and smiled as they saw that the Rose Petals had used thunder shoot to stun the main laser. They grinned and looked at each other before Knuckles grabbed Tails ankles with the fox grabbing Spike's. All of them yelling:

"Team Blast! Sonic Cyclone!"

With that Knuckles spun on the spot before tossing Tails towards the War Hawk who in turn let go of Spike and back flipped kicking his friend even faster towards the plane, then Spike curled up into a ball and with blistering speed seemed to fly around the jet smashing into it before coming to rest beside the echidna and fox.

"Argh!" it was the loudspeaker voice again "Heavy damage! Fire at will!"

Both teams dropped back into their fighting stance all smiling and ready to continue the battle.

OOO

The General smiled at his handy work, one side of the roof covered entirely in smoke from the devastating attack he had fired at Nite only moments ago.

"Peek a Boo!" just then Nite's voice shouted out as the wolf leaped from the smoke and towards the machine, smashing both feet into it once again and making it stumble back form the force of the attack. The cockpit glass smashed under the force of the attack, and while still standing on the machine Nite leaned in and smiled at the General "I see you" with that he flipped the off switch and hopped off of it.

"Impossible…" was all the General could say as he stared down at Nite in amazement.

"Take it easy old man, don't want you to break a hip" the bounty hunter dusted his hands off before looking back up at the General a more serious expression on his face "Now I got some…"

Before he could finish he heard a loud explosion off to his side from down the runway he had raced Metal Nite. He turned wide eyed to see his friends fighting with a huge plane and instantly filled with the urge to help them. He glanced back at the General and glared slightly.

"We'll finish this later…"

He then spun back round and charged for the edge of the roof and over it. He then, with amazing speed ran down the side of the building as if he were still running on the ground.

Gotta help them. If they get hurt on account of me…

He willed himself to go faster as he neared the bottom of the building and hopped off slightly landing on his feet. He was about to run off to the fight but halted as he came face to face with a white female wolf.

She looked at him in shocked amazement; she seemed familiar to Nite somehow.

"Nite…" her voice was soft and weak, as if she was overcome with emotion just from seeing Nite.

Just then his head felt light and then he passed out in front of her, his mind falling back to his unknown past…

"Hello…"

Nite looked up towards the soft feminine voice that had just entered his cell. There in front of him was a female wolf with snow white fur that almost glowed in the dimness of the dark cell. She was only about twelve he guessed and was very much cute. She continued on:

"You must be Nite; it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Trance" she smiled sweetly at him, she obviously wasn't afraid of him like every one else on the GUN base and he found himself smiling back at her.

"That's a unique name, nice to…"

She giggled slightly as she blushed and sat down next to him, still smiling warmly at him.

"It suits my skills…so Nite, you're not allowed off the base either?"

He frowned slightly as he pondered what she meant by skills but decided it would be a conversation for another time, right now it seemed as though this young wolf girl wanted to befriend him.

"Yeah…they think I'm some kind of threat…aren't you allowed off the base?"

"Nope…" she frowned slightly and looked away from him "my parents died when I was only five…GUN's been taking care of me, I'm kind'a like one of their scientists now because I'm real smart…I'm supposed to be working on you…but I wanted to meet you first and ask if you didn't want us to…"

"Oh…experiments eh? Nite took a moment to think then smiled warmly at her "well if you're doing them then I guess I'm fine with it as long as they aren't embarrassing for me"

She smiled sweetly back at him "Nope, just to see your top speed and stuff like that, we think you might be able to help us cure some diseases and stuff like that…" she paused for a moment and looked away from Nite "Um…do you want to be friends"

Nite smiled and replied "Cool…but I've never had any friends before…but why the hell not, you seem nice"

She turned back to him smiling with unguarded joy seemingly ecstatic that Nite wanted to be friends with her "Really?"

He smiled at her, she would be the first and probably only friend he'd ever have but he was happy, some how he knew that she was a real good person and could just tell that he'd love to be her friend "Really, really"

OOO

Tails bounced back down next to Knuckles, everyone was breathing heavily all very exhausted form the fight. They had taken out the War Hawk's main weapons but two of the missile launchers were still active as were several gun turrets and it didn't seem to be taking any real damage itself.

"How tough IS this thing?" he asked no one in particular.

"I know…our attacks barely dent it" replied Spike after returning from his attack on the machine. Tails straightened himself and prepared for another attack.

"We can't give up!"

He was about to attack when all of a sudden a huge beam of blue energy cut right through the plane as it fell to the ground destroyed. They all turned as the saw another War Hawk flying in and a familiar voice boomed over the loudspeakers.

"WOOHOO MATES!"

They all smiled as the plane got closer and they could see Nack the weasel was the pilot, part of the jet opened down to reveal stairs leading into the plane. They all decided it best to just get in and then go find Nite now that they had some real power of their own.

They walked up to the cockpit to see Nack smiling as he worked the controls and closed the doors; he turned to them a huge smile on his face.

"Hey mates, like my new toy"

With that he took off again and headed back towards the main building, Tails eyes widened as he saw an unconscious Nite lying next to a white wolf he had never seen before. The only thing that made him feel slightly better about the sight was that the white wolf seemed to be protecting Nite.

"Land next to them we'll pick them both up and get out of here before any more of GUN's troops appear"

"Right you are mate"

The jet landed beside the two wolves and Tails and Knuckles jumped out, Tails ran up to the two and checked to see if his friend had a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found it he then turned to the other wolf that was already helping to lift the unconscious bounty hunter up.

"We should get him out of here, GUN wants to kill him" her voice was quiet yet serious and all Tails could do was nod as he helped her carry Nite into the jet, Knuckles watching their backs.

The doors closed automatically as the gently laid Nite down on the floor, everyone except Nack then turned to the female wolf who was still sitting next to Nite extremely worried about the other wolf. She looked up at them and spoke:

"I know him…from a long time ago…"

OOO

A man made of metal sat next to a console with a giant screen to his left which played various video clips of all of the world's heroes. Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Miles, Tails, Metal Sonic, Mighty, the Chaotix and Dynamic Dynamites, the Rose Petals, Knuckles and Hunters.

He grinned to himself as he turned around to face another console which seemed to be attached to some sort of mechanical arms set. He started to hit various controls making the mechanical arms move and work on a strange robot. He talked to himself as he worked.

"Soon I will fulfill what I promised so long ago…what Shadow failed to fulfill…the death sentence for every human on Earth shall be fulfilled even without ARK…they shall all feel my loss and despair only this time a hundred times more potent…"

He smiled insanely from behind his metallic moustache as he continued to work.