Merendinoemilano: Ahh, well you might not be too impressed by the strategy they have implemented. Double shot rifles and stubborn commanders tends to create a very simple trench tactic. Everyone gets their show though.

/*-*/

Sonic bolted into the line of Swatbots. He felt amazing! His chest was pounding, his hearts was beating, and adrenaline was flowing. Curled up into a spindash as the sound of thunder shook the battlefield from rifles fired in succession. Sonic felt his body smash through three-four-five Swatbots in the line. They moved in to try and grab Sonic, but Sonic burst out of the formation. Several swatbots collapsed from a volley, but Sonic also had to jump to avoid being hit by one of the bullets.

Sonic waved his fist at the trench, and got a wave back. At least they were paying attention. Sonic turned around, before being slammed into the ground by a blue Badnik.

"Hello metal… Always a pain to see you." Sonic muttered, whiled Metal pushed him harder into the ground.

Sonic curled up around Metal's arm, and rolled out, tearing Metal's arm off. Sonic landed behind the robot as bullets and blasts landed all around them. Sonic curled up into a ball and spin dashed at Metal, only to met with a shock, as he slammed into something hard.

Right… metal has a his forcefield.

Sonic turned around, and ran to build up moment. Metal dropped his forcefield and gave chase to Sonic. The hedgehog quickly made a sharp turn to shake metal off and build some distance. Sonic made sure to Get Metal going as fast as he could. Sonic then turned around and spindashed straight into the Metal Sonic's chest, ripping it apart.

Sonic saw that the badniks had made it close to the first line of trenches. These trenches were more like ditches, and they seemed to serve the same purpose, as Sonic saw the badniks slide down and fall over. Sonic quickly had other things to worry about, as two more metal Sonics dove down to attack him.

"Yes! Go in. Right division advance while their distracted…. This thing is still on? Oh ho-" Eggman's voice cut out.

Sonic bolted through One of the Metal Sonics, and swerved around to avoid the second one's grasp. Sonic jumped up, a before slamming down on top of the metal Sonic. That was three.

Sonic ran back up to intercept the Swatbot lines. He was surprised to see a massive amount of husks from where the Mobians had fired into them. There was hardly anything left of the badnik square. The Northern and Southern flanks seemed to be doing well too.

Sonic turned around and smiled, "Come on Eggman. Was this the best you could come up with. You plan stinks worse than you!"

Then Sonic saw the Second division. Another wave of Identical Swatbots, along with Legionares and motorbugs. Sonic put up a smile, and got ready to jump out of the trench.

"Sonic!" Sally's voice brought him back to the trench.

"What's up, more badniks to smash, lets get going!" Sonic explained in a hurry.

Sally shook her head, "No, I need you to go to the main city, twenty miles west of here, and tell them to get defenses ready."

"What, Why? You don't think we are going lose do you?" Sonic asked, dismissively.

"Listen, we need to be prepared. Ok, You can come back, but tell them to get ready." Sally bartered.

Sonic frowned, "You better not have all of the fun without me." Sonic muttered playfully.

"I will you are fast enough." Sally Smiled, before drawing her ring blades. She ran off, her little tail wagging pleasantly. Maybe Sonic starred for a bit too long, but he made up for it by running extra fast.

He ran to the city of Oxnala, and into the town square, "Hi, I need everyone to get defenses ready. Eggman is coming, hurry up!"

The people looked around. A heavy set yak looked left and right, before shouting, "Alright, lets get workin!"

Sonic smiled, and bolted back to the front in an instant. The thunder of rifles made the ground get covered in smoke. Motor bugs were in the trenches, and Sonic moved in to get them out. A couple of hops and spin dashes, and the trenches were clear.

Sonic ran up the trenches to make sure of everything, and found Sally and Fiona sitting there fighting off Swatbots.

Fiona swept under one, causing it to crumple, "28!" She shouted.

"I'm not playing your stupid game!" Sally shouted angrily as her blade ripped through a swatbot.

Sonic ran over the top of the trench and spindashed through four swatbots, stopping in front of the women, "Ladies, what you do without me?"

Sally looked up and saw Sonic, who did his best to seem confident, resting his arm on a less-than-believed sturdy badnik. It fell down, and Sally smirked, "We'll I-"

"We'd be smashing more baddies." Fiona interjected, with a sly grin.

Sonic nodded, not ready to give her the satisfaction of his amusement.

"Hey, wait up!" Fiona's voice rang as Sonic turned around.

"What? We're kind of busy." Sonic stated, ready to go.

Fiona licked her lips before nodding, "Yeah, We'll talk later."

Sonic wasn't sure they would, but what ever. Maybe he could get her back into the freedom fighters. They could use the extra hands.

Sonic bolted through another row of badniks about to jump into the army-trenches. The old trenches weren't slowing them down anymore, or not by much at least. The infantry cheered when Sonic ran by, and Sonic smashed into Formations, breaking up the swatbots.

It was going great until, Sonic began to notice a couple things. His legs were getting sore, and his head was starting to hurt from being slammed into metal.

Sonic couldn't stop though, if he did, some of the rockets flying would hit him.

So Sonic kept moving, circling back into the trench, with perfect timing. An ammo box had just arrived, so everyone was firing at full blast.

Sonic panted against the walls of the trench. Some a quick breath, nothing more. Sonic let out a sigh, trying to stabilize his heart. He then walked slowly up the trench. Riflemen were firing and reloading, but they were getting slower, and their volleys were getting sloppy.

Sonic saw a bunch of dirt getting flung up.

Tails was sitting by Sally, who then tugged the chipmunk, "He's here."

"Hey, can- Wow…are you ok?" Sally asked, seeing Sonic's tuckered out state.

"Yeah…I'm good. Just need a breather." Sonic muttered.

Sally nodded.

"GAH!" A cry came, Sonic knew the voice. He ran down the trench, and Saw Frederick clutching his shoulder, "I don't want to die. Please no, not now."

Fiona applied pressure to the shoulder with a piece of Frederick's clothes, "YOU'RE GOING TO BE ALRIGHT, OK! YOU CAN'T DIE, YOU CAN-" She lifted the cloth off, and scowled, "You aren't going to die. Stop being a baby! It's just a graze."

Frederick flinched, being more wounded from her word, "It still hurts."

"Yeah. I know." Fiona softed, and gave a weak smile, "My baby brother."

Frederick flinched again, "Please let this go."

"I will in a week… maybe." Fiona teased, jumping up. As Frederick stood up, Sonic saw it, was indeed, not worth crying over. The wound was little more than a light burn.

Sonic calmed down and caught his breath.

Sally came over to Sonic, "Are you good?"

Sonic nodded, "I'm always good. I'm the best there is."

Sally smiled cautiously, "I'm giving the order to retreat. We can't afford to lose our men to exhaustion. We'll pull back and do a counter attack soon."

Sonic nodded. Her reasoning seemed pretty smart. He couldn't argue with it, so He stood up. Sally explained more, "The Freedom Fighters are going to cover the retreat."

Ah, there was the catch. Not that it mattered, Sonic could take Eggman's entire army on alone if he needed to, "Lets go." Sonic ran out of the trenches as the armies jumped off the ledges and marched out of the trench exits.

It would be great if Sonic could keep these badniks occupied, and nothing slowed him down.

Sonic felt himself get slammed into the dirt by a rocket thruster. He didn't have the energy for a long fight, So he burst out the metal copy's grasp and smashed down on top of it. Sonic then ran around, and He saw Sally join the charge. Rotor's yellow suit flew in and blasted the badniks as they got closer to the trenches.

Sonic saw Tails swoop down, and Sonic ran to help the little guy, smashing a couple badniks that were around him. Tails promptly noticed Sonic, "I'm fine, find your own badniks!"

"I'm just trying to help." Sonic felt defensive.

"I can take care of myself!" Tails shouted. Sonic didn't have the strength to argue. The trenches were cleared anyway.

Sonic looked at Sally, and She nodded. Time to retreat.

Sonic turned around and ran back, watching Sally and Tails go through the city. He was the last to leave, as he was the fastest.

The Tornado flew overhead, as they ran to join up with the Coalition forces. The city of Oxnala was in their sights after three hours of marching. Eggman was probably gloating, which would buy them time.

Time that could hopefully be used to help men sleep and get ready for the next battle.

The Sun was setting but the lines of fresh trenches, sand bags and Artillery could still be seen. Sonic walked along side Sally. Or at least he tried to, as he stumbled over some rocks, and felt a little woozy, stumbling over to Sally.

Sonic muttered with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, I'm kind of tired."

Sally nodded, "We can get some sleep in the town."

The Tornado landed in a field outside the town, and Sonic saw Tails and Antoine walking towards them.

"Good work everyone. We couldn't defend forever, but w did what we could." Sally smiled at them, before turning to the various armed Mobian, "That goes for all of you. We did good, and we wore down Eggman's bot swarm nicely. You all did well, let's get some sleep."

Sonic smiled, and walked off. Tails followed him, "Sonic, I want to talk about Fiona."

Sonic looked back at his buddy, as they walked into the small hotel that housed the soldiers. "She's with her brother, what's up?"

The Clerk handed him a key to a room on the third floor. They walked to the stairs.

"I think you really should stay away from her. She's a snake, and we need to keep her away." Tails argued.

"She's a fox not a snake. And She's actually coming around to us. I kind of want her back on our side. It's my fault she left." Sonic muttered, sadly.

Tails shook his head as they walked on to the third floor, "No, She left on her own. I didn't want to accept it, but she's cunning. What if she isn't on our side. What if she's manipulating us again."

"She's not, Fiona want's to spend time with her brother. She has family here, and a life she could have." Sonic tried to reason with his little buddy.

"You believe that? Come on Sonic, Fiona's just happens to be the sister of your new noble friend. She just happens to feel bad about everything she's done, and just happens to do a complete 180 after seeing her family. She's manipulating everyone." Tails growled, seeming really upset.

Sonic actually felt himself getting upset, "Alright Tails, what do you think is going on? Huh? She could leave tonight, and we wouldn't stop her. She could have left several night ago, Frederick sure isn't keeping her locked up."

Tails flinched, but held a challenging gaze as they walked into their room.

"I'm being smart." Tails muttered.

"You're being a child," Sonic countered, "She messed you up, and she sure as hell messed me up. The difference is that I'm hoping for her to get better, and you still want to hurt her for hurting you."

Tails scowled, and turned away. The two fell asleep in silence.

/*-*/

Fiona frowned, as she'd heard everything. Granted, what was she expecting? To have them all trust her right off the bat.

Fiona scowled, and Frederick smiled at her, "Are you ok?" His smiled was sympathetic and soft, like he was keeping his distance.

"They don't trust me. Granted, I sold them out for Scourge, but I'm trying this new life." Fiona sighed.

"Who's Scourge?" Freddy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sonic's evil counter part from another dimension." Fiona groaned, "SO yeah, He tried to conquer mobius, and I was his queen, and that sort of killed my chance with the Freedom Fighters."

"Have you tried apologizing?" Frederick asked, blinking a couple times. Fiona could feel his judgement already.

"Oh yeah, that'll work" Fiona mutter sarcastically, ""Hi, Sorry I totally destroyed your home and sold your kingdom to an evil Sonic, please forgive me." Come on, there's no redemption from that."

"No, there is no easy redemption. But it all starts with an apology… at least that's what I have been told." Frederick sighed, "It takes work… being good enough and earning your place. I'm still working at it. There are times when I would like to curl up and die from my failures. But, we have to work hard to get what we want."

Fiona almost dropped the glass of wine she had poured for herself, "Wow, you are such a philosopher." She teased once she came from shock, "What's next, "wisdom is earned through pain", "a house is not built in day"."

Her brother wasn't amused.

"I'm joking." Fiona clarified, before sighing, "I'll… try an apology."

Frederick smiled, blinking a couple times. "Very well."

The two curled up on their beds, and went to sleep.

Fiona awoke in the dog style position, a style she had ultimately become accustomed to. Her tail tickled her nose, wagging at the sound of a Hedgehog zipping around. Stop it She commanded, as she rose from her bed. It complied.

Fiona stretched out, and walked over to the window. She opened the curtains to see a the defenses of the city. They had expanded since nightfall, and the disconnected trenches had unified into a network. The Citizens had been rounded up into a caravan and were walking southward, being led by the coyote.

"It is time to move. We have to get ready for battle." Frederick muttered nervously.

Fiona turned around and saw he looked terrified. His arms were shaking, and his breathing was off.

Fiona smiled at him, "We'll be fine. Just stay in cover, and you'll be good. This isn't my first time smashing Eggman's toys."

Frederick gave a weak smile, "Very well…. I suppose I have little to worry about."

"Don't jinx it." Fiona muttered as they walked outside.

Sally, the ever moral Princess was standing on a box, barking orders, scrambling the army into defensive positions.

Sonic zipped around, carrying sandbags. He passed them to soldiers, who assembled them in a line on the trenches.

Fiona walked down the stairs, and walked through the town.

Sally spotted them, "Glad you two could join us." She was such a pain to deal with.

"Forgive our late arrive." Frederick bowed.

"Listen, get some breakfast, and get ready. Eggman's fleet is a few miles out." Sally commanded.

Fiona already planned to get breakfast, but still, being told she can eat breakfast made Fiona a but upset.

They ate eggs and Sausage, under the ever watchful eyes of Tails, they Yellow Fox who seemed very fascinated with Fiona. Then again, his suspicion was probably a large portion of his reasoning.

Fiona couldn't say that he was wrong. The Shame she felt as her hand burned. Her right hand. The hand she had slapped the fox with. She looked down at the burning open palm. Frederick's hand clasped hers, and he nodded about something.

Right, last night they'd had a talk. Fiona took a deep breath, not looking forward to this, but it needed to happen. She stood up and walked over to the yellow fox. He began to back away, scowling begrudgingly at her.

Fiona walked faster, and Tails turned to run away, but she got to the wall just in time, "Hey, wait. Listen…"

Tails stopped, and scowled at her, "I'm listening."

Fiona smiled, which was not returned, "Hey, listen….I uh…. Um…"

Tails tapped his foot patiently, teeth beginning to bare.

"I'm… Sorry." Fiona burst out, "Look, I was mad at Sonic, so I sort of hurt you to hurt him. I don't actually hate you or anything. But I am trying to be good, I hope you'll believe me."

Tails was quiet, seeming to think.

Fiona smiled, "Can you forgive me."

Tails let out a relieved breath. Fiona felt a happiness, as what was coming next was going to make her feel less guilty.

"I'm not an idiot, or a child. I know you're up to something, and I will stop you from hurting anyone here ever again. I know you are going to betray us, so just go back to Scourge." Tails growled with an angry grin.

Fiona was wrong by a long shot. In a slightly less depressing note, Frederick was wrong. An Apology did nothing for them.

"EGGMAN SPOTTED, EVERYONE TO YOUR STATIONS!" the Call went out, and Fiona looked at Frederick. The two ran to the trenches.

There flew one of the dreadful egg carriers. It's black and red hull shining over them.

"HAHAHA! You thought you could run away from me? The Glorious Doctor Eggman never gives up!" The intercom shouted across the field.

Fiona saw several metal specks fly out and land, forming a tight square formation yet again. Why was he using these formations? The bots were easier targets for the infantry, the only people at risk would be-

Sonic… Of course. He relied on momentum, so to pierce so many would slow him down.

Fiona didn't have time to worry about him as rockets flew from the top of the Egg Carrier into the city. She ducked down, as some of the rockets flew into the trenches as well.

She saw a soldier, "Give me a rifle!"

"You're a prisoner Fiona! You don't get rifles. You shouldn't even be here!" The Soldier scowled angrily.

"Enemy advancing!" The Former Princess's voice echoed across the field.

Fiona looked at Frederick, "At least let me reload one. We need all hands on deck for this!" She was begging, Oh gosh, how pathetic.

Frederick paused, before nodding. He passed Fiona rifle, "Get her a box of ammunition!"

A small box was passed by Frederick's retinue.

Fiona ducked down, and began to load the rifle, and pass it along. Hopefully, this would speed things up.

/*-*/

Johan resided in his cell. The Feeble shackles that held him were of no concern. Rather, it was better to play the prisoner and wait for opportunity.

An opportunity came in. A shriveled old troll, in a crown and garments. "They don't want to listen to me. They want to keep me from my rightful place. Well now they'll pay for it!" He chuckled, "I'm still getting my men ready. Ready for a siege that we will win." The Sorcerer chuckled at the Wolverine.

Johan remained quiet. This was not an opportunity he would take. Never make a deal with a sorcerer.

Johan held the red hair in one hand, and bloody blade in the other. His warband watched, and his nephew seemed horrified by the head that dangled in from the hair in his fist.

Johan's eyes turned to the Gesith who panted on the ground.

Johan snarled, "You could not strike her. You negotiated with her!"

"I had no choice. My son was ill. I needed a solid cure." The Gesith pleaded. There was no defiance in his voice, but shame and pain filled in for it.

"You compromised my security. Your loyalties were tied." Johan walked over to the soldier. The Lang Seax dripping, thirsting once again. "You knew the law. All witches and Sorcerers were to denounce their practices, or die. Any who harbor or hide them will suffer and die. You knew this full well and you betrayed me."

His nephew watched as Johan his thumb across the back of the blade.

The Gesith growled, "Do it."

Johan smiled. In the end, the Gesith was brave, and just. A fool, but brave and just none-the-less. He plunged the sword through the Gesith's neck, tearing open the armor and spilling his blood. The head rolled onto the ground.

Johan turned to his warband, "Never, Ever Negotiate with a witch, a sorcerer, or soothsayer. They are Liars who bring only death to our home. Any deal you make, ensures that the sorcerer has power over you. I will ensure that death is shared by you."

Johan gazed into the line of Gesith and Gedriht, "Does anyone wish to confess to conspiring with a caster?"

They remained silent. Even the pagans rejected casters, and upheld Johan's law.

"Now, these men knew of her practices. They held no surprise when I cut her head off for her crimes. Punish them accordingly." Johan turned around. The Locals drew their weapons. A fight was fine. It was a Saxon Solution to a Saxon Problem.

Johan remembered those acts well. The Sorcerer troll smiled, "I don't think I'll even bother trying to help them. But don't tell anyone." He chuckled.

Johan realized why he was like this, why he would abandon his nation. He was a terrible leader, but He still might serve a purpose…

"No one respects you… do they." Johan muttered

The troll Jerked around, "Which one of you said that!" He was talking to air… A mad king… hilarious.

"You!" The Troll shouted, pointing at Johan. Johan remained silent. The troll eyed him up before calming down. "Bah… you're an animal… I'm losing my mind. Rest… I need rest… Geoffrey! Punish this animal for… existing."

A strange black and white weasel came in as the troll left. "Geoffrey" opened the cell doors, and pulled out a knife. "Sorry… He gets like this… sometimes." He muttered, with regret.

Johan was getting pissed. Why did these men insist on useless emotions like grudges and regret?

The Weasel didn't want to do it, but he was still going to out of orders. Johan hated the lack of commitment to freedom this creature had. Time to punish him… discretely.

A few steps closer… and….

Geoffrey, pressed the Knife to Johan's chest. Johan jerked forward within the shackle's confine, and clamped his teeth down on Geoffrey's arm. The Sound of bones crunching was music to Johan's ears, almost as much as the screams of agony.

Guards came in, and Johan made sure to flash a bloody smile at the weak weasel. Maybe he wouldn't hesitate next time.

They dragged his horrified body away as he screamed. This was going great.