Chapter 79; conflicted conflict part 2; last man standing
Sonic looked in sadness as Amy tried to follow him through the portal but failed. He then looked around him in the remains of the xyz dimension. An entire dimension doomed to be a dead man's land for all eternity because… he wanted to think because it was his fault. But that duel with Amy had sparked something inside his heart.
He started walking slowly through the ruins of the city trying to figure out what was different while coming across the bodies of many of the city's residents. No survivors. No mercy. Millions killed. All for that paper of nonsense buried under the city.
"If only I had known all along why this war was being waged… if I had joined him… all of them would have still been alive" he thought as he sat down on the ground.
He then heard a voice in his mind. He was sure he was alone yet he could hear it clearly. Was it what people called the voice of conscience?
"Are you an idiot? Did you kill these people? Of course not. That maniac and his followers did".
"But if I had joined him we would have…"
"You think anything would be different if you joined him? You killed his son remember? So he would still want to kill you no matter what. And plus… how do we know he is telling the truth? Just because his backstory is the same as yours doesn't mean he is telling the truth about his so called utopia"
"Yeah" he whispered.
"See now? The general was trying to wake you up. I don't know if it's really pointless to try and change the world by yourself… but she is right when she said that if anyone can end this war it's you".
"Yeah… I have to go back" he said as he got back up ready to type the number of the rebellion's base's dimension on his wristwatch.
The next moment he felt a surge of pain going through his body, his muscles being paralyzed and his eyes closing.
Sonic couldn't move. He could hear some words every now and then but nothing clear. Slowly he regained his senses and once he opened his eyes he saw he was in a dark room tied on the wall resembling an X. The first though that came to his mind was that Sonic variants had no imagination as his evil descendant had tied him up the same way all those years ago. The next thought was how he was going to escape. His body was still healing so using the power of the dragon was out of discussion. He was calculating his thoughts when the door to the room opened.
Half closing his eyes to see due to the bright light, he saw the waving of a torn cape as well an armored black suit.
"You" he said in anger.
Lord Sonic walked up to the tied Sonic 999 with a sinister smile on his face.
"So… we meet again. I have to say… you are pathetically predictable. You returned to the place that reminds you of why this war shouldn't go on. Like a moth to the flame".
Sonic 999 remained silent.
"But the fact that you returned there means that you understand and agree with me on the matter. And why shouldn't you? We are the same. So let's get to the point. What about my generous proposal?" he said getting his face close to 999's.
"Are you in or are you out?"
Sonic answered the next moment. Despite his belief that the world needed a forced change his answer radiated with lack of fear and hesitation.
"It's you who's out Sonic. Out of your mind!"
The warlord's eyes twitched for a moment but then he laughed slowly.
"Hehehe. Wrong answer!" he shouted as he punched Sonic 999 in the stomach with all his strength. Sonic 999 gasped feeling he would throw up from the pain in his stomach. Lord Sonic took the moment to press a button on the wall which opened Sonic 999's shackles. Sonic fell to the ground only to get kicked in the face immediately.
"You're plainly pathetic!" lord Sonic said calmly as he grabbed him and pushed him on the wall.
"Strong enough to have it all" he said as Sonic 999 got back up and tried to punch him. Lord Sonic blocked the punch and pushed him back to the wall.
"Too weak to take it!" he yelled as he punched 999 straight to the face.
"I offered you friendship… and you spat in my face" he said as he kicked 999 in the stomach with his knee. Sonic 999 dropped to the ground out of breath barely alive, as his mark began healing him.
"That was for my son. And soon enough you will pay for my daughters' deaths as well. Once you have completely healed that is. I really wish you would have chosen my way. But… oh well, too bad for you. Misery, misery, misery. That's all you've chosen" he said and left laughing sinisterly.
Sonic 999 crawled to the side of the wall in pain as his wounds were healing slowly. Leaving the rebellion was a huge mistake.
Hours went by incredibly slowly as his body healed and his stamina was restored. He got up no problem and attempted to break down the door to escape but it opened suddenly. Outside was Knuckles 111. He punched Sonic very hard and taking advantage of the surprise restrained him by tying his hands with handcuffs.
"Got you now rebel scum. I know how your healing power works. If you break this cuffs now you will be too weak to escape. Now hold still" he said while injecting something in Sonic's right hand under his mark. Sonic groaned in pain. Immediately after Knuckles 111 pushed him "move!" he said as he pushed him down the corridor.
After some seconds of walking they walked into a big room with several spectators sitting in tables. Once they saw Sonic they started booing at him. Sonic recognized several variants of people he knew despite them wearing masks over their eyes. In the center of the room was a dueling field covered in a boxing ring style barrier. Knuckles 111 pushed Sonic into the ring. Sonic looked around and saw the warlord and his wife sitting in the side of the room in 2 thrones. Amy 111 was looking at him in a serious look but Sonic could tell she wanted to shoot him dead. The warlord on the other hand was excited. He raised his hand to stop the spectators' booing.
"Good evening my loyal followers. Tonight I present to you our latest captive. Sonic 999. The so called strongest in the multiverse.
Many from the crowd started laughing, others simply booed again.
"Tonight he shall be our entertainer. I would love to see his dueling abilities as well as his heart" more laughs were heard "be put to the test. Bring forth our champion" he shouted to the guards on the other side of the room.
Sonic 999 looked at the direction the warlord had yelled at and saw a door open. 3 rows of guards came in walking slowly. After them came a truly terrifying spectacle. It was a variant of Knuckles. But this one was much buffer and stronger, let alone much taller than Sonic. Roughly estimating Sonic thought him to be at least 2 meters tall.
"Chill" he said to himself "they're obviously pitting me against him in a duel. I can beat him".
Buff Knuckles entered the arena. Once he did a cage dropped on them. above them duel discs were lowered connected to the ceiling of the cage via a cord and a metal rod. Sonic turned to the warlord.
"You want me to duel? Fine! Give me my deck and I will demolish your champion!"
Everyone started laughing including the warlord and his wife. After the warlord stopped laughing he motioned everyone to stop and revealed he had Sonic 999's deck.
"You really think I will let you duel with this? This now belongs to my wife. But don't worry. You can choose a new deck" he said as holograms of cards started appearing in front of both Sonic 999's and buff Knuckles' faces projected by the duel discs.
"Just tap on the card you want to add to your deck. Once you've chosen at least 40 tap on the ready hologram and the deck will manifest in your duel discs" the warlord explained in obvious impatience for the match to start.
Sonic looked at the holograms passing in front of his eyes. All the cards were from generation 1, the dawn of duel monsters. The warlord had made a huge mistake. Despite blackwings being his favorite deck, his favorite era of the game was its dawn where there were no archetypes or huge combos, it was all about how well you managed your cards. And the cards also contained his favorite combo. He started adding cards to his deck slowly considering all the possibilities. Once he was done, he waited for buff Knuckles to complete his deck. After that a variant of Shadow called them both to the center of the arena. They stood opposite of each other with buff Knuckles looking Sonic straight in the eye. Sonic felt intimidated but also saw a weird mix of emotions in buff Knuckles' eyes. A mix of regret combined with impatience and a burning passion to fight. Shadow motioned to the spectators to quiet down and spoke.
"I want a clean fight. No hits under the belt. Once an attack is complete wait for the opponent to get back up. Once the battle phase ends, return to your positions. Are we clear?"
"Yes" Sonic 999 said despite not understanding what he meant.
Buff Knuckles only motioned positively to Shadow and spoke to Sonic in heavy words "I must break you". Sonic felt cold sweat running down his spine after hearing this. Buff Knuckles returned to his side of the arena while Shadow took a few steps back while looking at Sonic.
"Try not to die too fast" he said seriously. Sonic tried to ask him what he meant but was pressured to go back to his side of the arena. The warlord rose from his throne.
"Begin the fight" he declared as the life points of both duelists appeared on a big screen.
"I'll start!" Sonic said "since we're playing with the rules of gen 1 I draw for my first turn! I will set a monster face down along with 1 card face down in my backrow. Come at me!" he said.
"You're gonna wish you never asked me this!" buff Knuckles said "I draw. I summon forth gemini elf. Then I activate the spell card nobleman of crossout to destroy your set monster!"
"Damnit! It was my gravekeeper's spy. And because it was a flip monster we both have to banish all copies from our decks".
"I don't play any" he declared as the duel algorithm ran to verify this confirming it with a small ding. Sonic realized buff Knuckles was playing an agro deck with only attacking as his strategy. He banished the remaining 2 copies from his deck.
"And now I attack! Go gemini elf! Attack him!"
"AAAh!" the attack landed successfully but Sonic's LP didn't change.
"What the..? What's going on?" he said as the duel disc was disengaged from his hand and raised back to the ceiling of the cage.
"It's fighting time" the Shadow variant refereeing said grimly.
Sonic turned around and saw buff Knuckles right in front of him, his huge fist coming for him. He ducked and dived to avoid getting punched. However before he was able to ask someone what was happening buff Knuckles moving very fast got right to his side and landed a devastating punch to his face. Sonic dropped to the ground in terrible pain almost unable to breathe. Dizzy and his sight blurred, he saw the life point meter showing his life points at 6100 exactly as it should have been before buff Knuckles attacked him head on.
"My battle phase is over!" buff Knuckles declared and walked back to his side of the arena.
Sonic looked at him in shock while coughing and spitting blood. He got up with a lot of effort and tried to heal himself. However once his mark started shining electricity ran through his entire body roasting him alive. He screamed in agony for 5 seconds until the pain stopped.
"What…." He yelled in deep breaths "what is going on?!"
The crowd once again laughed and booed him while some were chanting Knuckles' name. He got up slowly and headed back to his side of the arena where the duel disc was waiting to be reattached to his hand. Sonic grabbed the cage's bars and yelled at the warlord.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Isn't it obvious? In order for an attack to connect you need to knock down the opponent. Knock him out or beat him in terms of life points and you win".
"What went wrong with my mark?!" he looked at Knuckles 111 "what did you do to me?!"
"I injected a shock chip in your arm. Every time you attempt to use your powers to heal yourself you will be electrocuted. There is no more healing for you" he said with an evil grin.
Sonic looked at both Knuckles 111 and the warlord in anger then turned back to have the disc reattached in his hand. This wasn't a duel. Not even a fight. This was an execution.
"I'll set 2 face down cards and end my turn" buff Knuckles said.
Sonic weighted his options. Escaping wasn't one as the cage was blocking his way out, let alone all the enemies around him. However fighting that buff Knuckles hand to hand was suicide. He decided to play defensively until a chance would present itself.
"I draw" he said while coughing from the pain "I activate heavy storm to blow your set cards away".
"Good. They were mirror force and sakuretsu armor. Now come and get me".
Sonic wanted to attack but decided against it.
"I set a monster and end my turn".
"Too much of a coward huh? Alright then. I'll get you myself. I summon forth mad sword beast. Attack his set monster!"
Mad sword beast attacked revealing marshamallon. It was not destroyed but since mad sword beast deal piercing damage both players' duel disc were disengaged.
Buff Knuckles charged at Sonic, who dodged the punch and hit him in the stomach. However to Sonic's horror it barely tickled him. Buff Knuckles took the chance and landed a devastating blow in Sonic's right cheek knocking him down again and even knocking one of his teeth out. Sonic crawled on the ground in pain, trying to resist the urge to use his mark to heal. He got up to the surprise of buff Knuckles.
"Good punch…" he said coughing "but you attacked marshmallon. So you take 1000 damage".
"Alright then" buff Knuckles said as he approached Sonic again. Sonic was so confused because this was effect damage not physical damage.
"Be careful!" the referee Shadow said "if you launch damage towards him and he knocks you down you take half of it!"
"What?!" Sonic said in horror as buff Knuckles landed another punch which Sonic used his hands to cover his face. Buff Knuckles however moved Sonic's arms out of the way and punched him again sending him flying back to his side of the arena. Sonic landed roughly as blood started dropping to the ground from his mouth and nose wounds. He got back up with a lot of effort despite the jeering and the laughter of the crowd. Buff Knuckles was now looking at him in disbelief.
"You…" he tried to say while coughing out blood and raising his fists again as the battle phase wasn't over "are you attacking with gemini elf?"
"No point" buff Knuckles said half-confused "it can't deal piercing. I end my battle phase" he said as the duel discs were re-attatched to their arms (Sonic LP 4700) "and then my turn".
"I draw then. I will set a card and end my turn".
"Then I will draw. I activate the spell card tribute to the doomed discarding sinister serpent. I destroy marshmallon"
"Damn" Sonic said in horror of what would follow.
"And now I sacrifice my two monsters to summon the almighty blue eyes white dragon!"
"The strongest normal summon in the early days of duel monsters!" Sonic said remembering in horror.
"And I will play the spell card giant trunade to put your card back in your hand! Blue-eyes! Attack him with white lightning!"
"Oh no!" Sonic said as the duel discs disengaged again. This time however deciding to try instead of just sitting there, he charged at buff Knuckles who was taken aback. Sonic managed to land a punch in buff Knuckles' side but it merely phased him. Buff Knuckles once again landed another devastating punch in Sonic's face this time though only causing him to take a few steps back and almost keep his balance but eventually being knocked down. Sonic looked in pain and blur as the score changed again. His life points were now at just 1700. One more attack and he would lose. And the jeering wasn't helping. He looked at the warlord and his wife. The latter was laughing hysterically but Sonic could tell it was also pleasing to see him in this state. At that moment Knuckles 111 approached the warlord. While Sonic got back up and walked semi-limping to his side of the arena, the warlord left Sonic's deck to his wife and approached the arena clearly intending to leave. Before he left though he called out to Sonic.
"Just as I told you. In spite of everything you do everyone will hate you. Now be a good dog and die at my champion's hands to entertain my wife. I got some urgent business to attend to" he said and left laughing.
This small exchange made Sonic incredibly furious. His face was distorted in rage. Buff Knuckles brought his attention back to the duel.
"You heard what my master said. Time to die. I activate surprise attack from beyond granting me a second battle phase! Blue eyes attack!"
The duel discs were once again disengaged. Buff Knuckles charged at Sonic who just raised his fists with the same face. Knuckles attempted to finish him off with a quick right punch but Sonic used his hand to block it. Buff Knuckles was taken aback at this display of strength despite hi injuries. He looked momentarily in Sonic's eyes and gulped in terror from the sheer rage he saw in them. Before he knew it, Sonic had landed a perfect right hook on his left cheek causing him to stumble back and fall to the ground in pain. A huge gasp sounded in the entire room. Buff Knuckles was in shock as he saw his life point meter dropping to 6500. However he also felt something running down his left cheek. Rubbing his hand against it, his face was covered in fear and shock as he saw his blood on his fist. One of the spectators noticed it as well.
"He's cut! He's cut! The champion's cut!" he yelled in disbelief.
Buff Knuckles laid there on the ground raising his eyes at Sonic. The latter turned around and addressed the crown in confidence.
"Yes. What's so surprising about it?! I cut him! I hurt him! Do you all see your champion?! He's not a machine! He's a normal person like all of you!" he said as he walked back to his side of the arena and stood against buff Knuckles.
"Proceed with your turn!"
Buff Knuckles got up trembling unbeknown to everyone else and walked back to his side declaring his battle phase was over. He looked at his cards trying to decide what to do but he noticed his own trembling. Amy 111 saw it as well.
"Time out!" she yelled as she approached him and got some of his guards to give him water. She also ordered the Shadow referee to give some to Sonic. While buff Knuckles was drinking and trying to calm down she talked to him from outside the cage.
"What is wrong with you?! It's just a scratch!"
"He…. he cut me".
"It's just a cut you useless oaf! Stop pulling your punches and kill him!"
Buff Knuckles turned around and was restrained by his guards before he got too close to Amy. His eyes were filled with fear.
"I have been using enough strength to kill him this whole fight! I'm not pulling my punches! This Sonic isn't normal! It's like hitting a piece of iron! He won't go down!"
"Will you listen to yourself?! He is weak and useless and can't heal himself! Kill him or you know what your fate will be!" she said and walked back up to her throne.
Buff Knuckles looked back at Sonic. He tried to calm himself thinking he had blue eyes on his field so even if Sonic could fight him hand to hand again he would need to get around it.
"I end my turn".
"And I will end you right now!" Sonic said in determination "I draw! I activate graceful charity! I draw 3 and discard 2. Then I activate upstart goblin healing you by 1000" (buff Knuckles LP 7500) to draw another one. Perfect! Everything is right in place! I activate monster reborn to revive the dark magician I just discarded! Now I equip dark magician with shooting star bow ceal! My dark magician loses 1000 attack but can strike directily! Dark magician! Attack him with dark magic attack!"
Buff Knuckles was blasted from dark magician as the duel discs disengaged. However this time Sonic was the one on the offensive. He charged at Knuckles who covered his face with his hand in defense as Sonic punched him repeatedly over and over with all his strength eventually breaking through and knocking him down reducing his LP to 6000. He walked back to the center of the arena and asked Shadow to remotely control the duel disc as he was about to activate a battle phase only card.
"My attack was successful! But I'm not stopping now! You're going down! I activate the spell card berserker rage!" he shouted as the card was activated and his remaining hand cards were discarded as cost.
"I will excavate cards until I hit a spell or trap. Meanwhile every time I excavate a monster my magician will strike you again!"
"W-what?!" Knuckles said in horror.
"Excavate!" Sonic shouted as the top card of his deck was flipped and revealed to the crowd.
"White magical hat! I send it to the graveyard! Dark magic attack!" he screamed as he charged at buff Knuckles again. Buff Knuckles got up and dodged putting Sonic in the corner of the cage while swinging his punches. Two of them landed right on Sonic's face but he continued to dodge and hit back undeterred eventually knocking Knuckles back and down, his life points going down to 4500. However he would allow time to rest.
"Excavate!" he yelled as another card was excavated, revealed to be air-knight parshath which was sent to the graveyard. Not waiting Sonic grabbed Knuckles by the shoulders and raised him to his feet before punching him straight in the face. Buff Knuckles was knocked back but before going down punched Sonic sending him flying. Both of them were knocked down both taking the damage according to the rules (Sonic LP 950, buff Knuckles LP 3000). Sonic sprang back up and started taunting buff Knuckles.
"Get up you oaf we're not done! Excavate!" he shouted as another monster, chaos sorcerer was revealed and sent off to the graveyard. Sonic charged but this time was met by buff Knuckles. The two of them traded and dodged blows taking heavy damage, Sonic even managed to get payback for his tooth by knocking one of buff Knuckles' out. They once again managed to punch each other so hard they were both knocked down, their life points now at 200 and 1500. Whoever managed to knock their opponent down with the next attack would win. Every single one of the spectators who up until now were jeering Sonic had now begun chanting his name. Sonic and buff Knuckles got back up with a lot of effort, the latter in shock that they were not chanting his name for the first time. He looked at Sonic.
"How?!" was the only thing he was able to say with his face swollen from the punches.
Sonic with a less swollen face but bleeding extensively in his mouth and above one of his eyes answered with pride.
"Because I'm not drawing power just from the lunar dragon! Now excavate the final card!"
The card was excavated. It was chaos emperor dragon – envoy of the end.
"Fitting! The envoy of the end! You're end!" Sonic screamed as both he and buff Knuckles attacked each other. However the latter was had started losing his endurance. Both of them traded heavy blows refusing to dodge. They both stared at each other's eyes, fists raised, panting hravily, Sonic filled with determination and rage, buff Knuckles in disbelief and to his own surprise awe.
"To the end" he said.
"Yeah" Sonic agreed as they started punching each other again, this time even dropping their defenses. It was a street fight now. Buff Knuckles landed some devastating hooks but Sonic kept his ground and at the last second ducked under his opponent's punch and landed a powerful uppercut sending buff Knuckles flying for a second and knocking him down and out. Sonic tried to maintain his balance as now that the fight was over his senses began leaving him.
Amy 111 witnessed all of this in shock. Angrily she approached the cage and grabbed one of the guards by the shirt.
"Open the cage and kill them both!"
"But ma'am. Lord Sonic will be mad if we do this!"
Amy 111 punched him, grabbed his duel disc and pressed a button which opened the cage. Sonic had dropped to his knees from exhaustion as he saw her walking into the cage and preparing to shoot him dead.
"No!" he thought as he closed his eyes and covered his face.
A shot was heard but Sonic despite the initial shock realized he wasn't the one shot. He opened his eyes and saw the duel disc blown up in Amy 111's hand. More shots were fired as the spectator rushed to the exit. Armed soldiers burst in through the roof.
"It's the rebellion!" Sonic heard as he looked around trying to see despite his blurry vision and the blood streaming down his face. During the ensuing chaos he tried to crawl to the exit of the cage but Amy 111 grabbed him by the leg and stabbed him on the side with a broken piece of the duel disc.
"AAAAAHH!" Sonic screamed in pain as he tried to kick her off. He witnessed her get shot 3 times dying in the process. The combination of that sight and the pain proved too much as he started zoning out, looking at the ceiling. A familiar face hovered above him.
"Sonic?!" was the last thing he heard before lost consciousness.
After what felt like an eternity Sonic started slowly regaining his senses but dared not open his eyes yet. He tried to tell if he was dead or not. He felt he was wrapped in blankets which felt like a dream. Pinching himself on the side he felt a sharp pain where he had been stabbed realizing he was still alive. He opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar room. His room in the rebellion's headquarters. On the side of his bed was Amy 616 sleeping with her head over his right hand, using it as a pillow.
"G-general?" he whispered in surprise.
She opened her eyes slowly and looked at him in tearful joy.
"You're alive!" she said trying to not cry her eyes out "don't you ever fucking do that again you hear me?!" she said hugging him as better as she could as he was laying on the bed.
"General I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been manipulated this easily. I shouldn't have let my guilt get the best of me and cause all this. I was an idiot".
"Shh. It's ok. It's over now. You're safe you're back with us".
"How long was I off?"
"A week. We weren't sure you would survive. The damage you took was almost too much. And what they did to suppress your healing ability… Silver had to remove the device immediately after we saved you. It was very risky. You could have lost your hand."
"Oh my god" Sonic said not believing his ears.
"Thankfully he was able to remove the device. But even then we weren't sure. I watched your body heal but you wouldn't wake up. I'm just so thankful you're not dead" she said as tears streamed down her face.
"How did you find me?" he asked her.
"Well after you left…"
FLASHBACK
Dimension 111 was displayed on Silver's computer as the location of Sonic's duel disc.
"That bastard betrayed us!" Shadow screamed breaking a glass wall with his metal arm.
"No! I don't believe it!" Amy said "Sonic isn't that kind of person!"
"But general… why else would he go there? He knows the warlord is after him" Silver asked her.
"I don't know. But I'm planning to find out!" she said as she left the lab. Shadow and Silver chased after her.
"Where are you going?"
"To find him!"
"Have you lost it?! You can't go into enemy territory!"
"Sonic would do the same for us! I refuse to believe someone like him would ever become like the warlord or join him! If you don't wanna come fine! If I don't return in 3 days you take over this place Shadow!" she said and began to walk away.
"Wait general" Shadow said.
She turned around.
"I'm sorry. For doubting him. When I dueled him after meeting him I knew he had a strong, righteous and brave heart. I will come with you to save him".
"Good. Then mobilize a team! Quick!"
END OF FLASHBACK
"After that we gathered a small team and secretly invaded 111. We followed the signal of your duel disc and found you in the warlord's stronghold. I wanted to break in and save you as the fight began but Shadow stopped me in order to wait for the perfect chance. We broke through the roof when they opened the cage and everyone was in a state of confusion. I'm sorry you had to go through that".
"No hard feelings general. But how did we escape?"
"Mephiles stole one of the warlord's ships after he had to leave our ship once it was discovered. I am impressed he managed to steal it with his fear of the warlord and us being in his dimension. However it took too long to remove the chip and allow your body to start healing. Tails 312 got off the ship and got their attention".
"WHO?!" Sonic said in horror realizing this was the Tails variant he had mentored.
"Yes. The young kid you taught about your deck. We tried to go back for him but he told us to leave. He said to tell you once you woke up that he believes in you" Amy said as her voice cracked unable to continue.
Sonic laid back down. He almost abandoned the rebellion and caused the death of such a young person like Tails 312. But this time he didn't allow himself to drown in regret. He got up and healed his body in determination.
"Then we shall avenge him. I promise that!" he said to an awe-filled Amy.
"Wow. You healed so quickly. You're so full of wonders" she said as followed him outside of the room "I wonder if your performance in that ring was connected to your powers".
"It is something to ponder about" Sonic said as they took the elevator to the ground floor. Once down there everyone saw them and started cheering for Sonic's complete recovery. Shadow and Mephiles approached them.
"Good to have you back king" he said smiling.
"Good to be back" Sonic answered shaking his hand "and thanks for saving me".
"Thank Mephiles. If he hadn't stolen that ship we would have perished".
"True. Thanks man. Sorry for what I said when we met" Sonic apologized.
"No hard feelings. You're back now. At the turn of the tide".
"Indeed" Amy said "that rescue mission was indeed the turn of tide. We saved you and all the captured duel fighters the warlord had kept in that arena.
"Really?" Sonic said in surprise "he had his own colosseum?" Sonic asked interested.
"Yeah. You won't believe where he got the idea from".
"Where?"
"You'll see. But first we must have a council meeting to discuss the map".
"Alright" Sonic said following her to the council room as Shadow went to call the other council members.
Once there they went to the window to enjoy the view while waiting.
"I missed that view" Sonic said.
"You're back now but enjoy it while you can until the meeting starts" Amy teased him.
At that moment the elevator door opened. Amy turned around.
"Oh he is here. The duelist from that arena the warlord took inspiration from for that colosseum".
Sonic turned around and immediately jumped back. Buff Knuckles was standing there in front of the elevator door.
"Hi" he said.
Sonic raised his fists ready to charge.
"You came back for round 2?!" he screamed but was stopped by Amy before he could attack.
"It's ok. He is on our side".
"What?!"
"We recruited him. His immeasurable strength was something we couldn't just pass up".
"General that guy almost killed me!" Sonic said.
"Look" buff Knuckles spoke "I know you don't trust me after the fight we had. But I had no other choice. Every fight was an extension of my life there. If I didn't entertain them they would kill me".
"And that means I can suddenly trust you?"
"I understand that you don't. But I assure you I'm on your side. All I want is to kill the warlord for all the time I spent as his personal clown".
"….Fine. But I've got my eye on you" Sonic said.
Buff Knuckles nodded and sat down. Sonic looked at Amy and then back outside the window waiting for the remaining members of the council to show up for the meeting. Little did he know that the news they would bring him would make him forget all about his mistrust of buff Knuckles.
