Chapter 75; turning the tide
Tails from dimension 616 defeated his opponent then ran to take cover from the heavy fire. The air whistled by his ears as if it was alive.
"Babylon rogues this is Foxy. I'm pinned down! Requesting assistance!"
"Roger that Foxy we're on our way!"
Tails opened fire on the enemy soldiers while running towards the approaching shuttle. He ran up a small mountain of debris and jumped as the door opened. Once he was inside he was greeted by Wave.
"Nice work out there. Their commander has been defeated."
"They won't stop though. We need to end this quick" Tails said.
"On it" Shadow's voice was heard from the radio. Wave and Tails looked outside the shuttle windows down on the battlefield where Shadow moved like a blur firing at everything on sight and using his metal hand to crash obstacles on his way. His reputation was also a huge help. Enemy soldiers saw only a wave of his black torn cape and immediately dropped their duel discs.
"Nice going Shadow we will provide air support" Wave said as she lined up with Jet's and Storm's shuttles as they opened fire on the enemy soldiers opening the way for Shadow and his team.
Shadow felt the adrenaline rushing through his body as he continued charging forward, an unstoppable force with only one target in mind; win the battle and save the dimension. Whether it was by eliminating every enemy soldier or by capturing them and either convincing them to join the rebellion or simply executing them made no difference.
They were stopped in their tracks however when a bunker used laser turrets powered by the singed ones who mounted the lasers. A soldier from Shadow's squad was hit by the laser and disintegrated before anyone could react.
"Damnit we lost a soldier. Can someone deal with that bunker?!"
"The great Shadow of war has dealt with harder problems from what I remember" Amy's voice was heard from his duel disc's communication system.
"This new funny version of yours is pleasing to hear general but we have to move forward quick before reinforcements arrive".
"Alright on it right now. Oh you might wanna take cover for this".
Shadow ordered his squad to get down and the singed ones soldiers to use their powers to cover themselves and their non singed ones comrades. They noticed a small ship piloted by Amy from 616 flying high then diving straight into the bunker making a perfect 90 degree angle with the ground.
"Not this again general" Shadow said half disappointed half worried.
However he had zero reason to worry. Amy bailed at the last moment and the ship crashed into the bunker blowing it up. Amy, using a parachute landed into the protection zone created by Shadow's team and witnessed as their last obstacle to victory was destroyed.
"Let's end this" she said loading her duel disc's firing system.
At that moment a portal was opened in the sky and a huge dreadnaught appeared flying very slowly to their direction.
"Oh no" Shadow said in horror "the reinforcements are here".
"A dreadnaught? This wasn't part of the plan! We don't have the firepower to destroy it!" Amy said in horror as well.
The dreadnaught launched missiles on the battlefield killing many soldiers on both sides.
"He is crazy! He is taking out his own army just to get to us!"
"General we need to retreat! That thing will blow us all up!"
"You're right! Everyone back to our campsite fast! We need to save what we can and flee!"
"Flee?" a confident voice was heard from the communication system "on the verge of victory? Of course not general"
"About time" she said smiling and regaining her hope forgetting all thoughts of retreat.
"Everyone look to your right. I want a good audience for this".
"For what?" Shadow asked but got no response.
They all looked to the right and saw a hedgehog-like figure running up a 45 degree fallen building. The figure was being followed by a drone.
"Looks like he wants to make another propo" Amy commented pleased by the turn of events.
"You all looking? I will only do it once".
"We're looking king. Entertain us" Amy joked.
Sonic from dimension 999 using the powers of the lunar dragon reached the edge of the top of the building and jumped far higher than an average person could. The dreadnaught unleashed another barrage of missiles targeting him but using his powers he redirected them and sent them on the dreadnaught causing major damage. With his mark shining, he let a battle scream and used his powers again, this time to make the dreadnaught's engines deactivate. The dreadnaught started plummeting very fast crashing into the warlord's army's campsite creating a huge explosion. Sonic landed on a pile of debris and looked at the drone which was recording him with the explosion in the background.
"Your reinforcements are in flames! And the reason is simple! You fight to enslave and we fight to free! And we will fight to the end! And if we don't win we will make sure you won't win either! You see the flames! If we burn in them, you'll burn with us!" Sonic declared and after that asked Silver to cut the transmission which was sent across the multiverse using quantonion waves.
Amy approached him after the drone flew away.
"Nice work. You really saved our skins there."
"My pleasure general."
"How come you came right in the nick of time? I though you would be busy investigating the next clue."
"I found I and got it. The warlord didn't make it easy of course, sent a whole squad of singed one variants to try and stop me."
"Clearly he doesn't realize how powerful you've become" she said as they walked back to their campsite.
"Yeah. It's been a crazy 4 months. If someone had told me back when both me and my friends had our powers that I could actually sharpen my powers by increasing my endurance and stamina I would call them crazy. But damn.. to think I would be able to take down a dreadnaught on my own…"
"Yeah. Too bad that it doesn't work for the most of us. Shadow has managed to increase his powers a little bit but even then he has to rely on his emotion of rage towards the warlord for what happened to Maria."
"Hm. It would be nice if it worked for everyone. It would really give us the edge."
"We already have the edge over the warlord. As long as we have you the flame of hope is burning strong" Amy said in determination.
"True" Sonic said smiling "too bad we have to deal with an idiot who won't see it no matter what" he said as they had just passed by Shadow once again scolding mephiles for being pessimistic despite their victory.
"So what about the clue?" Amy asked Sonic.
"I left it back at the base. Once we get back call the rest for a council meeting and I will explain what it is I found."
"Ok" she said as they all opened their portals making them one and the same and walking into the home dimension of their base.
"Amazing isn't it?" Amy marveled at the sight of their base.
"Truly amazing" Sonic said.
Over the past 4 months with every victory their numbers grew significantly. Rogue enemy soldiers as well as drifters who travelled across the multiverse and even residents of other dimensions who were inspired by the rebellion's resolve to end the warlord's tyranny as well as Sonic's heroics and power and Shadow's reputation would come to them and ask to join. Their numbers were now three times bigger than back when Sonic first joined the rebellion.
Of course with all these new recruits the base had to continuously be built to be bigger and house more troops. Since the dimension was already torn by the war but taken back by force, the rebels would take materials from destroyed buildings and the singed ones rebels would use their power to make them usable and construct more and more barracks for the troops. In order to make sure there was also food for everyone Sonic came up with the idea to use the power of the lunar dragon to affect the elements around them in order to grow natural food in mere minutes essentially giving them endless resources.
"We've achieved so much in such a sort amount of time" she said.
"Yeah" Sonic said as they were about to head to the council room and call the remaining members there to have Sonic explain the clue he found in his investigation.
"Sonic!" Shadow screamed as he came running up to them "one of our troops was shot by an explosive dart during the battle. For some reason it has not exploded yet. If we are careless it will detonate and take him and everyone next to him down".
"Not again. I thought after we tried to kill the warlord the same way he would discontinue these" Sonic said as he followed him with Amy following them both.
"It's the warlord we're talking about. He doesn't care."
Sonic agreed silently.
They made it to the infirmary where the injured troop, a variant of Knuckles was laying there unconscious. The medic, a variant of Tikal the echidna was trying her best to remove the dart.
"No luck sir" she told Shadow once she saw him "it is very small and unfortunately it is very close to the heart. One wrong move and …" she didn't finish the phrase.
"Take it out. 999 will make sure to stop the explosion if it occurs."
"Shadow he just took out a dreadnaught, that must have weakened him a lot!" Amy said.
"Don't worry general. I can do it. I still have enough stamina to take this."
Amy hesitated for a moment then nodded silently and told Tikal to remove the dart. Tikal being very careful grabbed the dark with a small pincer but while removing it slowly, a beep was heard and the explosion occurred.
Sonic who felt it before it happened immediately contained the explosion in a small pocket dimension but as it seemed he used too much stamina to destroy the dreadnaught. He dropped to his knees without letting go of his hold over the explosion.
"Sonic!" Amy screamed in terror.
"I didn't trigger it!" Tikal said ready to cry "this shouldn't be happening. The darts don't trigger like that!"
Sonic got up with a lot of effort and sent the pocket dimension over the infirmary's tent's roof. Once he made sure it was high enough to not kill anyone he let go and the explosion occurred for real causing many to gasp.
"Damn…." He said after dropping on a chair exhausted "the warlord made the dart a ticking time bomb…." He said breathing heavily.
"What?" Amy said.
"They don't explode in contact with the body. They trigger when coming in contact with the body and when removed they explode."
"That sadistic bastard came up with yet another truly evil plan to take advantage of our unwillingness to lose soldiers in order to deal us blows" Shadow said utterly disgusted.
"That's to be expected actually" Sonic said regaining his breath "he was willing to destroy his own followers to destroy us".
"True. Anyway we will have the meeting to examine the clue you discovered tomorrow. You get some rest for the rest of day. And before you object" Amy said as she had come to know Sonic well enough to know he was about to say to proceed with the meeting regardless of his exhaustion "this is an order"
"Well if it's an order I can't say no. I'm off to my room then" Sonic said as he went to the elevator and rode it up. While going up he looked at the sun setting in the horizon from the window. He loved that view. As the general had explained their base was basically a five-star hotel once but after the war arrived it was abandoned. The rebellion took it over and therefore had access to basic needs as a place to grow food, bathroom and roof over their heads. Sonic made his way to his room and laid on his bed continuing to enjoy the view. He reminisced on the evening he and Amy from his dimension would just spend hours looking at the sunset from the top of the duel tower in each other's embrace. The memory drove tears to his eyes. Something rare for him.
Sonic let his mind drift away from their base back to his home dimension. The past 4 months the warlord had launched assault after assault on as many dimensions as he could trying to lure 999 out. He had experienced a lot of horrific moments which he wanted to forget back couldn't. The only thing that kept him going and even stain his hands with the blood of his enemies multiple times were the terrifying thoughts of what would happen if they lost the war. The same thing that happened to the duel monsters spirit world.
As he narrated his backstory to the rebellion's leaders they explained that they also had the same experience with the same spirit world albeit in different ways each. That world was a weird place as it connected not only different points in time but also the dimensions with each other. That world was the reason the Babylon rogues were found and recruited. They had escaped in there after their dimension was conquered and encountered the general who was searching for the spirit of the lunar dragon to hopefully get some help, who after some persuasion recruited them.
However as it turned out the warlord also knew of that world and had figured out it could be a means to travel into other dimensions. Sonic and the rebellion engaged him and his army in a brutal battle until Sonic made the ultimate decision that the only way to stop the warlord from destroying them right then and there or even worse reach dimension 999, took advantage of the warlord launching a nuke towards them. He ordered the rebellion to go back and he used his powers to launch himself towards the nuke. Once he made contact with it he used his powers to cause it to explode but also increasing its power by opening a very small space-time portal inside the nuke which amplified it drastically, essentially making its radius infinite which ended up decimating everything including the enemy soldiers left behind. Sonic himself made sure to open a portal while falling back to the ground and fell through it back to the rebellion's base. The general had understood what occurred just by the look on his face.
"It wasn't an easy thing you did" she had told him when she visited him that day as he had spent an entire day in his room hating himself "but you did it for the greater good".
It truly was for the greater good. Without the existence of the spirit world the warlord would have to continue his conquest the old-fashioned way. Now once again his loved ones, his children and his wife were safe.
"Amy" he thought as he couldn't take it anymore and needed to hear her voice. She had told him not to contact her very frequently no matter how painful it was for both of them. She wanted him to focus entirely on winning the war and saving everyone. But not contacting her very frequently was a promise Sonic couldn't always keep.
Harnessing his powers this time though he decided to try something else. He laid on the bed facing the ceiling and closed his eyes. When he opened them he was back in his living room. He looked around with much nostalgia and ready to cry again. He tried to pick up a photo album left outside probably by Amy who must have been looking into their family photos. However he couldn't pick it up because his hand passed through the album and the table and he also noticed he was slightly less physical than he thought.
He had cast a projection of himself into his living room in his dimension but it ended up having the drawback that he wouldn't be able to touch anything. With a heavy heart as the whole reason he tried that was in order to hug Amy if she was home he made his way into the bedroom and found her sleeping with his photo help in her arms. He sat on his knees he whispered very slowly one word.
"Amy?"
Her eyes opened and she jumped back from the shock.
"S-Sonic?"
Yes. It's me."
"B-But how?"
"Let's just say I'm making an experiment with my powers".
Amy overcame the initial shock and approached him slowly. She raised her hand to his cheek and Sonic was expecting it to go through him but to his pleasant surprise he felt her warmth on his cheek. He grabbed her hand closing his eyes to her touch and once he opened them again he saw her in tears of both joy and sadness.
"I.. I... dammit I don't know what to say. It's been… so long…"
"I know baby. I miss you so much too".
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a strong kiss. Sonic felt that time had stopped. He wished for it to stop so that he wouldn't have to go back to his room in the rebellion's base and away from her.
They broke their kiss but kept hugging each other.
"How is the war going?" she asked worried.
"We won another battle today. Hopefully this will be the last one for now so that we can focus once again on the mission."
"Promise me you will take care".
"I will".
"That's what you said when you left when you left and you lost the backpack with the supplies after 10 minutes" she said joking in an attempt to make him laugh as she knew what had occurred with the spirit world and wanted to help somehow".
"Forgot" Sonic said laughing "not lost. I forgot it in Sonic 616's hideout".
They both laughed and kissed again.
"How are the kids?" Sonic asked her once they broke the kiss again.
"Miles is doing his best to keep up with the challenges but everyone keeps asking both him and our daughters about you. Even Luna is asked in school where you are. I don't know if the world will keep believing the excuses we give for your disappearance. If things go very south we are planning to have Knuckles appear posing as you in public to throw them off a bit".
"Tell him to tell them that I'm considering retirement and this is why I'm off the grid for the time being."
"Good idea. The fans will believe it for sure. Rumors of your retirement have been going around for the past 2 years it is sure to make them stop asking for you".
"Good then. But you still didn't answer my question completely. Are they ok?"
"Yes. Perfectly fine. Don't worry about us ok" she said as she hugged him again "just make sure you end this war and come back safe".
"I will" Sonic said but then felt a sudden burst of exhaustion in his real body. It caused his projection to kneel down.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked him frightened.
"I'm fine. It's just that my stamina was already lowered due to an earlier unfortunate accident and as it seems my experiment is reducing it further. I have to go".
Sonic realized from Amy's forced serious expression that her heart had shattered. However she nodded and hugged him one last time.
"Take care ok?"
"I will. Tell our kids I love them and to take care as well. I love you Ames" he said as he finally opened his eyes again and found himself back in his room. He realized the sun had now set. He closed his eyes again and let himself fall into a deep slumber in order to get away from the barrage of emotions that his heart was being blasted with.
MEANWHILE ON THE OTHER SIDE
"AAAAAARRRGHHH!" a scream of rage echoed in the halls of a very familiar stronghold. An invisible aura of anger and hatred radiated through the entire building and down to the barracks.
"HOOWWWW?!" lord Sonic screamed as he had just ended watching the latest propo of the rebellion seeing his nemesis Sonic 999 taking down a dreadnaught. A dreadnaught.
Lord Sonic screamed in anger again as he started throwing things around breaking them. These past 4 months he had been bested by the rebellion and 999 too many times to count. He even wondered how he still sane. And to think that not only he had lost his personal assassin but the rebellion had the list as he had learnt and now 999 was on his way of acquiring the true form of the lunar dragon.
"That murderous bastard will have my destiny?! The destiny my son died for?!" he screamed once again.
"Please calm down my lord" a female voice was heard coming from a shadowy corner in the room.
"Shut up woman".
"I can't bear to watch you throw away your conquest just like that. Not to mention watch you lose it over 999's taunts and act like a total idiot".
"I said shut up! You don't have the right to talk. You didn't even mourn our son!"
"I did mourn. I will never stop mourning. A mother losing her child never stops mourning. But that doesn't mean I will let 999 get away with it."
"And what do you propose I do?! No matter what I throw at him he always comes out on top. He destroyed a damn dreadnaught ON HIS OWN!" he said as he threw the device he watched the propo on, on the wall breaking it.
"You will never best him head on like that. You need to start operating in the shadows as well. Construct elaborate plans that will either end up in his capture or give us long term advantages".
"And I suppose you will construct those plans?" he asked a bit more calm.
The figure got up from the chair she was sitting on and slowly entered the light.
"Oh but of course. And trust me" Amy Rose 111 said "all of them will aim to have 999 suffer a lot before he pays for what he did".
