Sonic Evolution

Unity Story

Chapter 3: The Unlikeliest Team

Rain… what appropriate weather for the mood of a certain hedgehog as he runs and runs to calm himself down about the fate of his three friends.

Sonic was only keeping his cool for two reasons: First, he was keeping to heart the final words of Amy Rose before she slipped into a coma: "Please don't be mad," and second, he wasn't too proud of losing his cool so badly either. However, he still had his mission in mind: Find the ones who did this to Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Maybe they would know how to wake them up.

So far, Sonic had two leads. One was a blood sample found at the scene of the crime. The test came out to reveal that it was the blood of Rouge the Bat. Second, Sonic himself met Amy's assailant, a hawk by the name of Talon. Whoever he'd encounter first, he'd try to get some answers from.

However, his clues had completely run dry. The Chaotix Detective Agency, or the former of such, will be no help, as they were evicted. They easily would have found some kind of trail to follow…

Sonic's head snapped up. A trail! Of course! At the scene of the museum robbery… there was a trail of blood that Rouge left behind. It was a long shot… but maybe that blood trail could help find her!

Sonic's running changed direction as he now made his way to the museum in Station Square. Once he got there, he went to the window that Rouge had apparently escaped from. Sure enough, red drops indicated Rouge's path. Sonic followed them. They were wide apart at first, but began to be close together at a certain point. Perhaps she had been flying, then had to land and continue on foot?

Sonic had to screech to a halt, for at one point, the blood trail just stopped. Maybe she simply stopped bleeding… or perhaps she found some way to stem it? Sonic sighed in frustration. The only way the blood trail would have helped him now was if Rouge wasn't far from where the trail ended.

Fortunately for Sonic, that was exactly the case.

-

Sonic looked and a few yards away was Rouge herself, sitting on the ground and leaning against a tree. She looked like a wreck. Ripped clothes, disheveled fur, smeared makeup, dried blood covering a significant amount of her body, and light marks of where bruises had been inflicted.

Normally, Sonic would have taken pity and maybe helped her out. However, given the circumstances, he felt like doing rather the opposite. He immediately betrayed Amy's parting words and his new creed all in his expression. She deserved all that she got and then some. She was going to give some answers… and if she wasn't compliant, he was going to beat it out of her.

Sonic stopped in front of Rouge. She was still sleeping soundly, looking quite pathetic. She was a criminal, yet she had the nerve to victimize herself so? Sonic watched, stewing more and more until he finally snapped and gave Rouge a hard slap across the face.

"OW!" Rouge shouted. She rubbed her cheek and looked up, "What was tha- Sonic?"

"GET UP!" Sonic shouted, grabbing one of Rouge's ears and pulling hard, yanking the yelling bat onto her feet.

"What are you doing!" Rouge demanded.

"What am I doing!" Sonic echoed, "I think the real question is what were YOU THINKING!"

"I have no clue what you're talking about!" Rogue shouted, trying to look annoyed.

Sonic's fist was faster than his mouth, for he had lashed out with his fist and smashed Rouge in the face. Rouge stood firm to that hit. A nose previously cured of bleeding now bled anew.

"Do NOT play dumb with me!" Sonic bellowed, eyes full of more righteous fury than every before, "Now what did you do to Tails and Knuckles and I will ONLY tolerate REAL ANSWERS!"

"Whatever happened to them, I didn't do it!" Rouge tried to top Sonic's volume, but her wounds kept her from making her voice too loud.

Sonic growled loudly and once again punched Rouge, this time in the stomach. Rouge completely nudged back from the hit and bumped into the tree.

"How DARE you LIE to me!" Sonic roared.

"Maybe if you'd stop being so irrational and listen for a bit-!"

"What do YOU know about being irrational! THAT line couldn't be more blurred for you, could it!"

"Don't be so childish…!"

Sonic snapped again and planted his palm on the ground. With unprecedented speed, he swung his legs and they hit Rouge's stomach head-on. Rouge flew into the tree behind her, causing it to snap into two. The pain made it feel like her spine had done the same thing. She fell on her side, but quickly picked herself up. Sonic ran to where she fell.

"I'm THROUGH playing games, all right!"

"If you'd just let me-!"

"ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!" Sonic bellowed, suddenly reaching out and choking Rouge.

Rouge had not expected this. She was lifted a bit and brought her hands to where Sonics' were and tried to pry them off to no avail.

"I just…" Sonic said, wearing a sad face and tears coming from his eyes, "I just want them back, Rouge… is that so hard?"

Rouge wore a mirroring face of sorrow, but for Sonic's pain. She had never seen him like this… he really felt for Tails and Knuckles so much.

It was at this time her air started to give out, "So… nic…"

Sonic was out of it. His mind was elsewhere. Unfortunately, that didn't mean his grip loosened any. Things were starting to blur… Rouge fought to keep both eyes opened. She must have been hallucinating, for she saw a large green figure running up to them.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A loud, gruff voice shouted. There was a grunt of pain from Sonic, and then both he and Rouge fell to the ground.

-

When Sonic came to, he was in a bed that looked familiar, but he felt he had never actually been in before. He yelped in pain, feeling his back, which had been punched in earlier. He sat up in the orange-framed bed and looked around. Blueprints lined the walls and gadgets and parts laid helter-skelter throughout the room. Also, there was a group picture of Team Sonic barely after they had defeated Metal Sonic as the Metal Overlord. Without a doubt, this was Tails's room of his laboratory. How did he get here?

Sonic got out of bed, for a few minutes forgetting entirely about the past day. Everything came back when he bumped into a large green wall. He backed up and beheld the figure of Vector the Crocodile.

"Hey, Ve-" Sonic started, but Vector stole the conversation.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" He shouted, pointing down the hallway where one could assume Rouge was sleeping, "You nearly killed her out there!"

"Vector… she had it coming to her. Do you know what she did to Tails and Knuckles?"

"You mean 'nothing!'" Vector shouted as he led the way to a table. He pointed to several pictures in black-and-white.

"What are these?" Sonic asked, picking up some of the pictures.

"These are pictures from Rouge's spy camera. Apparently, she had one on her the night the incident at the Station Square museum happened. Look CLOSELY."

Sonic didn't appreciate the patronizing, but quickly the color left his face and now his muzzle started to turn blue. The pictures were taken from various angles. All of them featured the same object: A surly raccoon. There was one particular picture where the raccoon was on one side of Tails and Knuckles, then another picture where he was on the other side and the other two were on the ground. The pictures hit the floor.

"Oh darn it…" Sonic muttered so low he even barely heard it. Vector recognized the realization on Sonic's face and nodded.

"These pictures completely clear Rouge's name. Normally I'd request some kind of pay for my detective services, but I made a special exception for this time."

Sonic sat down and buried his face in his hands for yet the umpteenth time, "I blew it again."

"Ahh, I'd be a hypocrite to lecture you. I nearly went berserk, myself." Vector found his way to a refrigerator and began to drink a soda.

"Huh?"

"Oh, I'm sure you've seen the eviction notice on the detective agency door. Some days ago, Espio and Charmy went off to run errands and never came back! It was at this time I wished we all shared one bank account, for with only one third of the rent able to pay, we, or I, rather, got evicted." Vector gave a mix between a laugh and a snort and continued to empty the soda can.

"Do you think they're missing?"

"I don't rightly know! It's the only explanation besides that they ditched me… and we're entirely too close for that!"

Sonic merely nodded. Vector tossed him a soda and they thought about their current situations.

"I think the rest of Team Chaotix suffered a fate similar to Tails and Knuckles." Both males looked to the doorway and saw Rouge as she stalked her way to the table, sitting across from Sonic, "My, Vector, you sure are the detective aren't you? Finding my spy camera and developing the film so quickly!"

"Quickly!" Vector scoffed, "You both must've been out for at least fourteen hours, minimum! You just had the stuffing beaten out of you and YOU, Sonic, mustn't have slept in a while and were under a LOT of stress. I'm sure you're both okay NOW."

Sonic quickly recalled what he nearly did to Rouge, "Um… Rouge, I-"

"I'm sure you are. I'll settle on forgiving if you just don't ask me what I was doing at that vault." Rouge said, holding up a dismissive hand to Sonic.

"What did you mean that the rest of my team suffered similar fates? You think that raccoon got to them, too?"

"His name is Bandit, I gathered." Rouge muttered, making sure her voice dripped of disdain when she said the name.

"Either him or someone I met, Talon the Hawk. He… he took out Amy when he was aiming for me."

Rouge made an interested mouth noise.

"What?" Sonic asked.

"Now I can see why you were on the warpath, Romeo."

"You couldn't be more wrong!" Sonic shouted back, face red.

"Do I have to separate you two… again?" Vector asked.

There was a bit of a silence before anybody talked.

"So… What are we going to do?" Sonic asked with a smirk, indicating the return of his classic personality and sense of duty, "We have apparently two powerful guys running around taking down heroes left and right."

"Do you think there are more?" Rouge asked.

"I've seen nobody." Vector spoke up.

"Well… I've seen somebody new. A leopard named Sheena. However… I don't really think she's one of them… she was there when Talon took down Amy… she even went after him at one time.

"Innocent until proven guilty…" Vector nodded, "As Sonic has proven, we have to be careful and making harsh decisions isn't the best plan action for the time being.

"I'll vouch for that." Rouge muttered, rubbing in places where Sonic had hit her earlier.

"Our plan is obvious, then! We find these guys, we find the way to get back all that was lost, then we can bring them to justice!" Sonic said, his voice rising in an inspirational manner.

"'We?'" Vector echoed, the word cutting into the moment, "You speak as if we were a kind of team!"

Sonic flashed a grin with teeth, signaling his complete control over his emotions, "Why can't we be? We all have scores to settle with these guys, do we not?"

"Well, my vendetta is only a hypothesis, but I can't just stand by during all this! I'm in!"

At this point, Sonic had stuck his hand out and when he agreed, Vector had put his hand over Sonic's. They both looked to Rouge expectantly.

"Normally, I'd never join up with a bunch of nutcases like you two… but given the circumstances, I guess I'll have to make do with what I have."

"Those 'certain circumstances' wouldn't include fighting for the sake of a certain echidna now, would it?" Sonic asked with a wider grin.

"I'll pretend you didn't say that!" Rouge said, putting her hand above Vector's.

"So it's official, then!" Sonic declared ceremoniously, "For the lack of choices, the three of us are forming a team to take down those guys."

At the same time, all three of them shouted, "Let's go team…!"

After that, all three of them had shouted out the names of their respective former teams. Sonic had shouted his own name, Rouge had declared "Dark," and Vector called out the Chaotix. All three of them froze in the same position of their arms raised after releasing them from the center. They all then folded their arms in thought. Whose team name were they to use?

"I supplied the most vital information! The Team should be Dark!" Rouge demanded.

"No way! In a way, I save you BOTH from Sonic's wrath! You owe it to me to name the Team Chaotix!" Vector argued.

"I naturally assumed we'd name the Team after me, the one who has saved the world more times than any of you can count!" Sonic said with a thumb pointed at himself.

There was another silence.

Vector suddenly grinned, "How well are you two?"

"Fine enough." Sonic shrugged.

"Fit as a fiddle!" Rouge declared.

"In that case, I propose we hold a battle to determine whose name we use!"

Sonic chuckled, "Fine by me!"

"You're both on!" Rouge agreed.

"To Emerald Beach!" Sonic shouted, which was followed by compliance from the other two.

As they left, Sonic looked to Vector, "How DID you get into this place, anyway?"

"The door wasn't locked."

-

Now a new day, a bright sun beat down on Emerald Beach as the three combatants-to-be took their places at the scene of their battle.

"Let me warn you, Vector… Rouge is sneaky. She might try anything to win." Sonic said to Vector under his breath before they separated.

"Sonic's experienced, therefore the greatest threat." Vector had said to Rouge.

"I don't like that large build of his… one of us might not be enough." Rouge muttered to Sonic.

"All right, are we ready?" Sonic announced when all three got into place. The other two nodded. "Okay! Three… Two… One… LET'S ROCK!"

Sonic and Vector took off at runs to the center of the beach while Rouge kicked off a rock and flew directly forward. Once the three of them reached the center, Vector swung an arm at both his opponents with a yell, to which Sonic responded by ducking and Rouge pumping her wings and flying over. When she landed, she stuck out her leg backwards and kicked Vector in the back. Sonic took the opportunity to perform his trademark Sonic Flare, tripping Vector and making the crocodile dive forward. Vector noticed the other two dashing off into two different directions, not flattered that they had teamed up on him.

Sonic ran toward the water, then turned and ran back. He saw Vector ready to receive him. He started to wonder where Rouge was when suddenly; an impact hit him in the stomach. Sonic stopped cold and looked to the source of the hurt: Rouge. The force of her kick and the speed he was going caused for quite a painful collision for Sonic. He coughed and involuntarily doubled over in pain. Rouge smirked upon her handiwork when a large shadow was seen over her. She whirled around in time to get grabbed in the face by Vector. Vector made a large wind-up, nearly making Rouge sick, then let her go, heaving her into the air and making her land in the sand with a soft thud. Vector walked over to Sonic to make sure he was out. The blue hedgehog's eyes shot open.

"Psyche!"

In a motion, Sonic got on his feet and performed his Sonic upper, launching Vector into the air. Sonic wasted no time in jumping on to a rock, then propelling himself upward. He rolled into a homing attack and smashed Vector in the side. The crocodile repositioned himself in the air and landed on his feet, making large skid-marks in the sand.

Vector heard footfalls from behind. In an unexpected act of nimble grace, he performed a back flip. When Rouge had run past him, used the momentum to kick her in the back. Rouge yelped, then flew forward until she barreled into an unsuspecting Sonic. They both tumbled through the sand until momentum gave out. Once they both regained their bearings, they noticed the position they were in: Sonic flat on his back and Rouge straddling him. Both their eyes went wide and they gave panicked yells. Sonic slid out from under as Rouge jumped off. They both blushed and Rouge's face wore a scowl.

Both the hedgehog and the bat turned to see Vector enjoying a laugh at their expense.

"I say we gang up on him, again." Rouge growled. Sonic merely nodded. They both took off toward him.

"Uh oh…" Vector muttered, then tried to run away, but his speed didn't match the other two. They quickly caught up to him and did jump kicks into his back. Vector landed face-first in the sand.

"Not too bad if I say so mys-" Sonic started, but then he jumped over Rouge's incoming kick and used the jump to roll into a homing attack. She landed in the sand right next to Vector in the same fashion.

"I told you his experience would be a great threat." Vector mumbled.

"I don't need your charity." Rouge told Vector as she once again took off toward Sonic, sore that he got off a cheap shot before she did.

Sonic prepared for the oncoming combatants, not really knowing what to expect. She could turn around and hit Vector, or Vector could suddenly yank her away, but instead Vector leapt through the air and Rouge rounded about the side. Sonic wondered why she was doing that when Vector's shadow showed him falling at an alarming rate, his fists out ready to pound a certain hedgehog senseless. Sonic was about to move when he noticed Vector short a few feet. He only watched as the flailing crocodile his the ground on his stomach.

"Aim a little off?" Sonic barely had time to gloat when he felt his tail and one of the quills on his head yanked. Shortly, he was mounted on Rouge's arms.

"Gotcha!" Rouge grinned. She noticed Sonic tried running out, but she was holding him upward, where would he go, and with what ground? "All right, Vector. I'm going to toss him and you'll HIT him this time!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Vector said and leapt up again. When he was well in the air, Rouge leapt up after him.

"This isn't fair!" Sonic shouted, trying to roll off Rouge's hands.

"Well… aren't you going to let him go?" Vector asked, starting his descent.

"Oh, you mean like THIS?" At that last word, Rouge made a burst of air, spun around, and then heaved Sonic like a blue missile. Vector had not expected that and could only watch as a screaming Sonic flew toward him.

There was a huge collision and both figures hit the sand. Rouge landed calmly, and then folded her wings in.

"That'll teach you both to underestimate me! Not only am I the leader of Team Dark, but you both were knocked out at the same time, making you both the LOWEST rank!"

She emitted a soft yet evil laugh, which was short-lived. Vector's eyes had become two large swirls, indicating he was out cold, but Sonic's hand started to move and Rouge watched as he picked himself up.

"How!"

"Vector may had skin like leather… but I'm just made of something tougher." Sonic grinned, and then thumbed his nose toward Rouge.

Rouge, rather than getting angry, as was characteristic of her, folded her arms and laughed.

"You know, this was actually what I was hoping for. I've always wondered what the strength of the alleged greatest hero on the planet was like. Of course, we had our go around when we fought over the Gizoid all that time ago… but I never really felt that counted."

"That's only because I won that you don't think it counted!" Sonic said, folding his arms like Rouge had.

"I wasn't in my prime back then!" Rouge insisted, jabbing Sonic's chest with a finger, "But right now I feel like a million rings!"

"Oh really?" Sonic made a grin as he poked a purple spot on Rouge's shoulder where he remembered having hit her earlier.

"YOW!" Rouge yelped and smacked Sonic's finger away, "Okay, so I'm a few rings short of perfection, but that's YOUR fault for not controlling yourself!"

"We both know WHY I was that way, and I was completely justified!"

"Humph! Yeah… you seemed really torn up about those two."

"You know… it's kind of sad that this is the closest we've ever come to having a heart-to-heart talk."

"I notice that as well. Maybe later when I lead this group we can talk more."

"Well! The bat has a heart!"

"Wha-! Well, whether you have a BRAIN is still in question, isn't it?"

"Ouch. That hurt more than any kick you've placed."

"Allow me to CHANGE that!"

Rouge kicked forward and Sonic back flipped. When he reoriented himself, Rouge was gone! Sonic looked about and saw a formation of rocks that made a little shadowy cave. If he knew Rouge, and he didn't, she'd be there, taking advantage of the shadows.

Rouge waited in the formation for Sonic to come. She knew he would. At least, EVENTUALLY. Where was he! Rouge looked as finally Sonic walked into the cave. He was either too confident or stupid. Rouge backed up so all her features were covered in shadows.

Sonic looked around the cave-like area and tried in vain to spot Rouge. He had no such luck. He then stopped in the middle and looked around some more. The round area of flesh on his stomach might as well have been a target sign for the crafty bat as she landed right in front of he blue hedgehog, but still in the shadows. She waited for a bit, for when he was not looking, then kicked off the wall and flew toward Sonic.

Sonic, with a "ho-hum" quickly shifted to the side and only then did Rouge see the real purpose for his entering. Out of sight from her and covered up by Sonic was Vector, still very much knocked out cold, but propped up and in Rouge's path. Rouge tried to turn on a dime, but only ended up colliding into Vector at a high speed. In all rights, it was almost like hitting a brick wall covered in leather. After the rough thud sound, Sonic turned and saw Rouge comically peel off of Vector and both of them fell to the sand, knocked out.

Sonic gave a toothy grin, took a couple of steps, and then swept his hand over the two fallen combatants, "Battle set, everybody!"

-

A bit of time later, both Vector and Rouge came to at roughly the same time. They both noticed that they were lying on beach chairs with a parasol over them.

"Welcome back, team!" Sonic said. He looked toward them wearing sunglasses. He took the sunglasses off, "As team leader, the first order of business is some relaxing by the beach… I'm beat!"

Vector didn't know what to think about first, how Sonic got them there, how he got the equipment, or about how random this all was. Rather than try to swallow all that, Vector put his hands behind his head, "Sounds good to me!"

Rouge, however, had her legs crossed and arms folded and was wearing a scowl, "I can't believe that battle ended with such an anti-climax!"

"You only think it's anti-climactic because you lost… again."

"Hmph! Well… I'm bound by my word, so I guess I'll be staying in this 'team.'"

"Nice to know you're in the team spirit." Vector rolled his eyes.

"Let's not worry about it," Sonic said with a peaceful smile, "we'll work on our team dynamics tomorrow… then it's off to getting some answers! By the way… I have an original team name for us… Team Unity! You know, because we seem to be the unity of three teams: Sonic, Dark, and Chaotix. Not to mention how united we are against this new threat."

"That'll work." Vector said.

"Not too stupid…" Rouge muttered.

Tails… Knuckles… Amy… I'll get you back. Sonic thought.

Espio… Charmy… you guys had better not just have copped out on me… Vector thought.

Rouge, however, was too busy inwardly seething about being only second in command to think about who or what she was fighting for.