The bright sun shone over Mobius as the day passed while many of its residents continued their day. Although the sky was as clear as it could ever be with its vibrant light blue color, the atmosphere did not feel warm whatsoever. On Angel Island, Knuckles stood at his usual post right in front of a massive, vibrant emerald green gem, the Master Emerald. His hard gaze did not move at all, fully intent on keeping the precious emerald safe at any means. After all, it was his duty as the guardian of the Master Emerald and the last known living echidna remaining on this sacred island. A cold breeze blew through the atmosphere, cold enough to send chills down on anyone's spine, but it did not faze the red echidna whatsoever.
'This breeze.. This isn't your normal fall or winter breeze.. There's something much more sinister going on… I can feel it.' Knuckles muttered quietly, his gaze not moving until he felt a surge of power spur from behind, prompting him to turn towards the Master Emerald.
The green gem had started glowing brightly, catching the echidna's attention. Placing a hand onto the emerald, Knuckles slowly closed his eyes as he allowed himself to feel the power of the gem. After a few moments, the red echidna finally opened his eyes as he slowly removed his hand from the emerald, a grim look evident on his face as he turned to face the sky once more.
"Something dark and sinister is coming… We need to prepare or else Mobius is doomed.." Knuckles said to himself, crossing his arms as he looked up at the sky while the cold, lifeless breeze blew against him.
Sonic's head pounded against his skull as he slowly started regaining consciousness, only seeing nothing but mostly darkness as he slowly woke up. As he attempted to stand, a surge of pain hit him as he moved his right leg, causing him to tightly grit his teeth. Taking a look at his leg as best as he could with the limited movement he had due to his hands being shackled, the hedgehog noticed what looked like a cast over his right foot, part of it even covering his shoe.
'A cast? I must've busted my ankle or something earlier, but how?.. The last thing I can remember was when I was trying to escape Eggman's ship…!' a realization suddenly hit Sonic as he recalled what had happened.
Before the hedgehog could do anything else though, the sound of a door opening caused his ears to perk, prompting him to turn towards the source of the noise. At the door, Raze stood menacingly over Sonic as he walked up towards the blue hedgehog with a dark grin on his face.
"I see that you've awoken from your nap, rodent." the black wolf said, but Sonic simply held a cold glare at the wolf, not in any mood for any chit-chat.
"As much as I'd like to get some work done with you, the doctor insisted on letting you get comfortable here given your little situation with your injury from your failed escape attempt." Raze remarked as he began to turn away from the hedgehog, "However… Don't expect yourself to be getting out alive, rodent."
"Don't be so sure of that. I've gotten through worse situations, and it always ends with Eggman getting beat." Sonic confidently said, still holding his cold glare at the black wolf.
"Hmph.. Fighting is futile, hedgehog. It will take more than just sheer willpower to get out of here alive." Raze darkly said as he then exited the room, the blue hedgehog by himself once again.
Once the black wolf was gone, Sonic found himself looking down at his injured leg as he recalled his last escape attempt. Seeing his friends being shot down while he was completely helpless tore at his heart. It wasn't the first time his friends got into trouble because of his own reckless actions, but he would often rescue them at the end of the day. This time though? He couldn't do anything to help them. Even if he did somehow escape, there was no guarantee he could help because of his injury preventing him from reaching his usual speed. When was the last time he even felt this way? When Chaos rampaged through Station Square? No.. He was able to at least do something back then even if he would've gotten overpowered prior to becoming Super Sonic.
'How am I going to get out of this one now?..' Sonic questioned himself solemnly, shivering a bit as not only the cold air blew against him, but also as unwelcomed emotions started flooding his head once more. To be honest, he hated this feeling. He hated being completely helpless when his friends needed him. He hated not knowing where his friends were or if they're ok. He hated being in this situation because of his own actions. Had he not decided to accept Metal Sonic's race challenge, his friends would be ok and he would not have gotten himself captured.
'You guys better be ok… I don't know what I'm gonna do or how I'll get out of here without you guys…' Sonic said silently in a solemn tone as he looked up once more, realizing he could be here for a while unless something was done, and fast.
Fortunately for Sonic, his cell was warm and cozy in comparison to the weather outside. Outside, one could only see barren trees, frozen ice that could send shivers to anyone that touched it and pure white, soft snow. The freezing temperatures did not help anyone that dared to walk through. For three men, that was indeed what they dared to do, well… maybe not willingly?
"Man.. Of all days for the Commander to call me out for a mission, he had to call right before my wedding anniversary!?" a tall, muscular, dark-skinned man complained as he pushed some branches out of the way as he walked through the freezing temperatures.
"As if any of us like this." a shorter, light-skinned man, about 5 '10", grumbled in response, "Besides, I'm sure Rachel understands how urgent this is if the Commander wanted us to get out here immediately."
"He is right. We must focus on the mission at hand, and report any findings back to the Commander. Any information we can find will help us greatly in the long run." a dark-skinned man, roughly the same height as his lighter partner responded as he pulled out a device from his pocket, activating it to scan their surrounding area.
Just then the device started beeping rapidly, suggesting something was nearby. Upon looking at the location of where the device was signaling, the three men rushed to the source of the signal. There, they found what appeared to be a plane crash, as a red plane was releasing smoke from where it was damaged and two unconscious Mobians.
"What the-? What the hell happened here?" the tall man questioned, cautiously taking a look at the damage done on the plane.
"Looks like a plane crash.. Shall I report to the Commander?" the shorter, dark-skinned man questioned, readying his communicator.
"Hold on." the lighter man ordered as he took a look at the two unconscious Mobians, seeming as if he almost recognized them, "A twin-tailed fox and a white wolf? I wonder if they could be Sonic's friends? Regardless, they're still alive, but they'll freeze if we don't do something quick."
"Commander, come in." the shorter man's voice rang through the communicator once he got the signal from both of his partners.
"What's the status report on your mission agents?" a deep voice responded through the communicator.
"No information regarding Dr. Eggman's plans, but we located a plane crash not far from the base. Agent Wachowski is suggesting the victims we found could be Sonic's friends, both of whom are still alive and seem to only have minor injuries." the agent responded in a firm tone.
"Sonic's friends you say? Can you describe their appearance?" the deep voice questioned.
"Yes sir." the agent replied, "The first one appears to be an orange, twin-tailed Mobian fox while the other one seems to be a white, feral wolf with jet black markings on his ears, tail, and paws."
"Tell Agent Wachowski and Agent Randall to bring them back to the base for treatment immediately and I'll send out a team to retrieve the plane. Do I make myself clear, Agent Stone?" the deep voice ordered firmly.
"Affirmative, sir." Agent Stone responded clearly before turning the communicator off and turning to his partners, "The Commander wants us to bring them back to the base for treatment. He'll send out a team to retrieve the plane."
"Understood." Agent Wachowski responded before turning to his taller, more muscular partner, "Randall, you carry the wolf while I'll carry the fox."
"On it, Wachowski." Randall responded as he picked up the unconscious white wolf in his arms, "Yeesh, he's a heavy fella despite looking so young."
"We can't waste time if we don't want them to freeze to death." Wachowski said in a flat tone as he picked up the unconscious Mobian, "Stone, lead the way back to the base."
"Yes, sir." Stone responded as he used his device to pull up a GPS, taking the lead as the group headed back to their camp.
A little while later, White Fang found himself waking up to the noise of what seemed like voices coming from outside. His whole body ached like crazy as his eyes slowly opened, his surroundings appearing quite blurry for a bit until he managed to clear his head up. The wolf groaned as he attempted to stand up despite his aching body, struggling to do so for a few moments.
"Where… am I?" White Fang questioned once he got a better view of his surroundings. It looked as if he was in some sort of base or camp, but it didn't look like it belonged to Eggman. Surely if it was Eggman's base, he would've been either in a cell or restrained in some capacity, right?
"Tails?" the wolf called out as he managed to stand back up, taking a look around before realizing there was no sign of the orange fox anywhere, "Tails! Where are you?"
"Tails is not here right now." a deep voice spoke from within the room, causing the white wolf to jump back in surprise and get into a defensive position.
"What do you mean not here? Where is he!?" White Fang questioned angrily, ready to lunge at whoever was speaking.
"Calm down, White Fang. Tails is fine. He's just working on the Tornado right now." the voice said as it revealed itself to the white wolf.
"Wha-? Shadow!? What are you doing here?" the wolf questioned, calming down once he realized who it was, but still very much surprised to see the black hedgehog.
"I should be asking you the same thing, but from what Tails told me, it seems that Sonic got himself into trouble again from his recklessness as usual." Shadow said in a flat tone, seemingly unsurprised by the information he was given.
"You could say that." White Fang responded, slightly unsure, "Eggman's little furball managed to shoot us down while we were trying to help Sonic, and sure enough here I am waking up in some unknown base with no clue if I'm on enemy territory or not."
"I assure you if you were on enemy territory, you and Tails would have frozen to death out there. My agents found you two unconscious in the outskirts of our base while they were scouting for any sign of Eggman and his army." the black hedgehog explained, signaling the white wolf to follow him.
"Agents? But I thought you usually worked alone unless you're with Rouge and Omega?" White Fang questioned, raising a brow in confusion as he followed the hedgehog.
"I do, but that doesn't mean I don't have responsibilities as G.U.N.'s commander. After all, dealing with Dr. Eggman is one thing, but having a power-hungry buffoon running G.U.N would only cause more problems for the planet than it needs to deal with." Shadow explained, pressing a button on a wall that opened up a door that led the two to another room. Upon entering the room, White Fang had immediately noticed that the Tornado was already looking much better than it did merely hours ago.
"White Fang! You're finally awake!" Tails exclaimed as he heard the wolf enter the room behind Shadow, running up to greet them.
"Thank goodness you're alright, Tails. How long was I out for? It feels like I got ran over by a truck.." the white wolf questioned, still feeling a little sore.
"You've been out all day considering that you took the brunt of that crash. It's already dark out." Tails answered with a worried tone as he pointed outside.
"Geez! Was I really out for that long?" White Fang questioned, eyes wide in shock as he realized it wasn't just dark outside, but it was also freezing out there.
"I'm surprised you hardly had any injuries when my agents found you two, let alone any signs of frostbite or hypothermia considering the unforgiving weather that Holoska has at this time of the year. You two are lucky to be alive right now considering the circumstances you were facing." Shadow said.
"Holoska, huh?" the wolf pondered as he looked outside, "No wonder it was getting colder as we got closer to the Egg Carrier."
"I wouldn't be surprised if the Doctor has a base somewhere here in Holoska if he has Sonic as a prisoner. The terrain and cold weather makes it difficult for anyone to traverse the lands, especially if they aren't in good shape. One wrong step as well can result in you falling into some ice cold water, so even if you did manage to get out, you would get frostbite or hypothermia much faster than if you were to traverse the lands without getting wet." Shadow said in a serious tone, looking outside.
"What are we going to do? The weather is too unstable for me to fly the Tornado even after repairs." Tails asked, concerned about how the group would rescue Sonic.
"That's where White Fang comes in." the black hedgehog responded, turning towards the white wolf.
"Huh? Me?" White Fang questioned in confusion, raising a brow.
"You remember Sonic's scent, don't you?" Shadow questioned, to which the wolf nodded in response, "Shortly after you two were brought in, my agents found what looks like one of Eggmna's bases. If you can detect Sonic's scent inside the base, then we can form a plan to not only invade the base and stop the Doctor's plans but also get Sonic out of there. This mission will be dangerous, so do you think you're up to the task, White Fang?"
"...I am. If we can get Sonic out of Eggman's grasp, we'll be able to stop his plans once and for all. This may be the best chance we have if we do find Sonic in that base." White Fang responded in a serious tone.
"Good. We'll leave for that base within a few days. That should give you enough time to rest and recover from your injuries." Shadow explained before teleporting out of the room, leaving White Fang and Tails to their own devices.
"White Fang. Are you sure you want to do this? This will be dangerous." Tails questioned the white wolf in a worried tone, knowing all too well just how dangerous Dr. Eggman can be.
"It's like what Shadow said. If we can find Sonic inside that base and get him out of there, we'll be able to stop Eggman's plans before it's too late. We don't even know what he even wants with Sonic, but the sooner we get him out of there, the better." White Fang responded, looking up at the night sky with a serious look on his face.
"Right.. This is a big risk you're taking, White Fang. If something goes wrong, there goes our chance at not only rescuing Sonic, but possibly even saving Mobius." Tails said.
"...I know. It's a risk I'm willing to take, Tails. Even if it means I could lose my own life, I won't let Eggman take more innocent lives like how he took my mother from me all those months ago. No matter what it takes, we will stop Eggman." the white wolf said in a serious tone, determined to stop the evil genius at all costs and rescue Sonic.
To be continued…
Hey guys. I know it has been a while, and a lot has happened over the last year or so. However, just know that I am set on completing this story, one way or another. Now I actually did decide to bring in a few movie characters in as cameo appearances, but they aren't exactly like their movie counterparts. Things are starting to pick up in this story, and I'm really thankful for everyone that is supporting this fanfic. I originally started writing this almost a decade ago, and here we are almost 10 years later here we are 9 chapters in and things are only going to get better.
Once again, please feel free to drop any critiques or even share some fan art. I have designs for most of the wolf characters on my DeviantArt (ZekromAmaterasu). Until then, see y'all next time with chapter 10!
~ZekromAmaterasu