"Okay, where the hell are they?"
After having a quick little pow-wow, the mercs had finally arrived at the village. In the front was a large bear with thick goggles over his face and a pair of tassels affixed to a shiny badge on his chest, and as he stepped down from his motobug with his hulking cybernetic legs, he noticed one particularly egregious fact.
"Uh, hey, guys? There's supposed to be people here, right?"
"Yeah," said one of the other mercs as he and the rest stepped down from their motobugs in turn. "Why do ya ask?"
"In that case,' said the bear, "where's the people?!"
The mercs scratched their heads and started to looked around as though they hadn't a brain between them before starting to slowly trawl down the central pathway and readying their weapons, with the only two swatbots staying in the back as backup. "They've gotta be here somewhere," said the mercs. "The bosses ain't gonna be happy if we come back empty handed."
"Good," said the bear. "Better be prepared." He looked up at the buzzbombers, flying high above as they waited for their order. He whispered into a small receiver hidden in his ear, so softly only they could hear, and as he did, the buzzbombers, flew back into the plains. "Backup," he whispered to the mercs. "We fail, they can finish up. I'm not THAT stupid. Anyway, let's get moving."
As they started to step into the heart of the village, a harsh beep started to sound out from bear's satchel. "Oh, wait a minute! I remember this part!" He then reached into the satchel and took out a small handheld computer. On the screen was a large arrow pointing north, straight into the largest and most pristine house right in the middle of town. In other words, the mayor's residence.
"This must be that powersource they were talking about!", said the bear. "Which means it's gotta be in one of the houses!"
"Say," said another merc, "if the powersource in the houses, you don't think…"
"…that people are in the houses!", said the bear.
And then all hell broke loose.
Out of the windows of every single house on the path came a hail of bullets breaking through the glass and nailing a good third of the mercs right in the kisser. Even cybernetics weren't much good when you had a bullet stuck in your head. Out of all of them, only the bear and a few other mercs were left standing, and seeing as they were still bleeding somewhat profusely, they tried their best to regroup with the bulk of the mercenaries in the back and launch a counteroffensive. Only to see a yellow mongoose standing behind the lot of them, right in front of the village entrance. She stood strong and proud, with just the slightest quiver of fear portraying her.
"Don't take another step!", she said. "Please. Just stay where you are! And, uh, we won't have to hurt you! I think."
"This has gotta be a joke!". The bear clutched his side in laughter as though he were trying to stop a dam breaking through.
"If she's a joke," said a voice from the front, "then I'm the punchline." The mercs then looked back towards the center of the village. Standing dead center in front of the well was Big the Cat. "Now, I'm not one for throwing my weight around, pun intended, but I'll tell ya this much. That was just a warm-up. You don't agree to leave now, well, I can't say I didn't warn ya. And keep in mind, we've still got a fresh round of gunfire ready for you if you much as take a step towards me. Course, I don't advocate violence, but if that's how you're gonna play it, then you can't blame us for doin' the same."
"Oh yeah? And just why I am supposed to listen to the two of you anyway?"
Big lazily looked at the bear as though he couldn't be serious. And so as if to prove his case, Big took hold of a rather thick tree growing next to the wall and ripped it straight out of the ground like he was pulling weeds, and subsequently bandied it about as though it were just a noticeably large club. And in turn, the bear began to metaphorically crap himself.
"Hey!", said one of the mercs. "We've got guns. He don't. What the hell are we afraid of?!"
"Oh, I don't think you wanna do that. You'll just make me and Froggy mad. I don't like being mad. And I don't think you'll like it either." Big then slammed his tree into the ground like a mighty craftsman swinging down his hammer, leaving the mercs untouched but no less nervous.
"What do we do boss?", said another merc to the bear. "You're the Egg Foreman here. Personally, I say we we just waste the lot of them."
"They've already wasted some of us," said the Foreman. "But if we go back emptyhanded, Axel and Sleet will waste the rest of us."
"Uh, so," said Mina, "you guys gonna take off already or what?"
Silence spread across the gang of mercs like some sort of enchantment, as though they couldn't bring themselves to speak so much as one syllable or move a single muscle. The air was tense and growing tenser. And yet, maybe, just maybe, it was possible that they would do the smart and sensible thing and—
"SCREW THIS!"
It was like lighting a powderkeg. One of the mercs opened fire on Big, not that it did much. The laser beamed straight into him, but other than singe his fur a tad, it might as well have just given him a slight case of irritation. "That tickles," he said. Not that it mattered. The other mercs and the two swatbots all opened fire followed by the town militia leaping and darting and rolling out of the houses and doing the same, and the whole scenario quickly devolved into a bloodbath.
"HELL!", shouted Big. He lobbed his tree over at the mercs, scattering them and wounding a few of them, but one single tree just wasn't going to do much against the lot of them. And by the time that tree reached the grass, three mercs and a Swatbot had taken a shot to the head with the same body count for the militia. "DAMN!"
"NO!" Mina tried to rush and seize the blasters out of a mercs' hand as she saw in a comic once, but his cybernetic grip was too strong. Apparently, this wasn't a comicbook.
"GETOFFAME!", said the merc.
"GOLDARRNIT!", said Mina. She didn't have a choice. She sideswiped some of the mercs and rammed into the rest like an out of control taxi, knocking them down in an instant. And two more minutemen dropped to the ground.
Big leaped over the remaining milita and jumped into the fray, taking the bulk of the fire and lashing out at the mercs and the remaining SWATbot with his fishing rod, cracking open their skulls and taking them down for the count. "Gaea this stings!" In short, with a flash of swirling, punching yellow and a blast of feline purple and an extra hail of bullets, both of the SWATbots were thrashed and the remaining mercs were either knocked unconscious or… 'incapacitated.' From the looks of it, they managed to survive. But that wasn't exactly the same as winning.
Mina was panting and ragged like a grizzled soldier and a scared civilian all at once. She looked at the remnants of the battle and the bodies strewn across the village path, and all she could do was hope that none of them were corpses. Fat chance of that.
"Oh Gaea." Mina nearly collapsed to her knees. She turned to Big, clutching his fur in an act of desperation. "Please tell me that they aren't, that we didn't—"
"We saved as many as we could, kiddo," said Big. "That's what counts. Don't tell yourself any different."
Just then, a loud groan was heard from the Egg Foreman, clutching multiple wounds on his chest with both of his large metallic hands as tried his best to hold on. Mina then rushed over him, wanting to just know she saved SOMEONE. "Careful kid!", saig Big before his ears seemed to prick up at something most unusual, as though a normal kitty-cat were sensing an intruder in their midst. "Is that a buzzing sound?"
"Are you okay?!" said Mina. The Foreman gasped and stuttered, trying his best to get the words out. Though as he did so, he slowly brought a receiver clutched in his grip like a precious keepsake straight to his lips. And with the sheer amount of effort that only a dying man could extert, he said, "Buzz…bombers…power…source…mayor's house…can't… let them… get it… attack…"
"Buzzbombers?" said Mina.
"KIDDO!" said Big. "LOOK UP"
Mina did just that. Soaring straight overheard like a small horde locusts were the buzzbombers. And they were heading right for the mayor's mansion.
Maw didn't say a word. In fact, he couldn't say a word. Not that he needed to. Instead, he rushed into action. He may not have been the fastest thing alive or anywhere close, but he was still a speedy little bugger. Tails flew up above and fired off his blaster, but Maw darted directly under before tossing a small rock like a bullet. Tails barely managed to dodge it, and it still grazed him ever so slightly.
"TAILS!", said Johnny. He briefly looked up towards the two-tailed wonder to make sure he was okay before turning his eyes back towards the problem at hand, and by the time he did, said problem was now right at his doorstep. He tried to whack Maw with his mace for the little good that would do him. With one hand, he blocked Johnny's mace with ease before crushing it into scrap metal. Johnny tried to give a good old-fashioned kick to the groin, but before he knew it, he was being held above the ground in Maw's grasp.
"JOHNNY!" said Tails. He made ready to fire only for Maw to hold his captive right in Tails' line of fire, making it clear what would happen if he did. The game was in Maw's favor. Who could have possibly have been able to save our heroes now?
Just then, Maw could hear just the slightest crinkling of grass from less than a foot away. He whirled around and hurled Johnny at the slinking Hershey, not that it deterred her any. With catlike tread, she leaped straight out of Johnny's way, leaving him to skid into the grass like a runaway train. She rushed over to Maw and did her best to dodge and parry his fearsome blows, but she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. Instead, she went for a something a tad more unconventional. Like a prize-winning boxer, she dodged one last straight before getting a good firm grip on him and tossing him high into the air like a baseball. "TAILS! FIRE! NOW!"
"GOT IT!", yelled Tails. Tails aimed at Maw as quick as he could and, as Maw continued to fly into the sky, Tails fired at just under full settings at his apex. The blast shot Maw straight into the nearest hill, and he fell right to the ground after leaving a noticeably form-fitting imprint upon it. Maw was heavily frayed, but not quite beaten, and still with some fight left in him. He did his best to get himself up, staggering all the while, ready to show that as sizzled as he was, this was far from the end of-
"JOHNNY!", said Tails.
The next thing Maw knew, he was falling to the ground with a rather large lump on his noggin, almost like one of those old cartoons. Why, he swore he could see small stars swirling around his head! How authentic. And standing right behind where Maw used to be was Johnny, wielding a time-honored frying pan he pulled from his pack. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.
"And stay down!" said Johnny.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side," said Hershey, putting a finger to her lip like the sex-kitten she was. "Or maybe I should."
"Great job, Johnny!", said Tails. "Just how much do you have in that pack of yours anyway?"
"Enough. Anyway, we need to hurry on over to Sonic. He's the only way we're gonna be able to get over to the village in time, and—"
"Hold on a minute, Johnny," said Tails. "Shouldn't we do something about Maw?"
"He's got a point," said Hershey. "He might just come after us again. Besides, he'd make a a hell of a prisoner."
"And just how are we supposed to keep this guy locked up?", said Johnny. "You saw what he could do. Hell, if you hadn't gouged that ox's eyes out, he'd probably be just as tough. Right now, we just can't handle it. So until we can, we leave them where they are. With any luck, we'll be long gone by the time they come to."
"Or we could just put them out of their misery. Why, I bet the ox there would welcome it after—"
"NO! We ain't executioners."
"You can't be serious."
"I am."
"Then maybe you're the one who's blind. Like it or not, we're in a war. If we just leave these two here, nevermind the other mercenaries, they're bound to only cause more trouble for us later. And I don't think you can afford to take that chance."
"We ain't murderers."
"But we are soldiers. When you're in a war, that's what you are. And soldiers can't afford to take risks."
"HEY!", said Tails. "Look, I can't say I know what's the right thing to do here, but I do know that every second you two spend arguing about semantics is another second wasted. We need to help Sonic and the villagers. Figuring out just what we should be doing in this war can come later. Now please tell me that's something the two of you can agree on."
Johnny looked at Tails as though he was wiser beyond his years. In that instance, he certainly didn't seem like he was twelve years old, stature aside. And that just made Johnny wonder if he wasn't the real twelve year old here. "Smart kid," he said. "He's right. We can talk about this later. Right now, we've gotta help Sonic and the others. Can we at least agree on that?"
"No problem," said Hershey. "The kid's right. What say we table this for now, shall we?"
"Right. Let's move it." And move it they did.
"Amy?"
Huddled under a mahogany table in the Mayor's mansion were Cream, Amy, and Cheese, the table's pristine nature obscuring the reality of their situation. The mayor himself was sidled right next to the door with a crossbow in hand, like a skilled yet wary hunter waiting for his prey while hoping that it'll never comes.
"Yeah, Cream?", said Amy.
Cream hugged Cheese like a teddybear. "I'm scared." This wasn't exactly an unreasonable reaction. They could hear the gunfire and chaos and bloodshed going on outside the mansion within the village streets, and in spite of themselves, all they could think was that they were glad they weren't caught up in it. Mostly.
"Me too. But being scared isn't going to change anything. All we can do is just hope for the best." In spite of this, Amy still held her crossbow tight like it was a part of herself, as though she knew it wasn't going to be that simple.
"If you say so. I do hope my Mother's alright. When I returned home for my lessons, she had left a note saying Chocolate — that's her favorite Chao — had gone missing and she had left the village to find her. Chocolate often goes out to play in a lake some ways north of here. So she should be alright."
"That's good to hear. I just hope my Dad's okay. Our house is at the edge of town, so with any luck, he should be fine, but still."
Just then, Cheese's drooping yellow ball suddenly rose up as the little Chao became as alert as a trained watchdog. "Cheese?", whispered Cream. The Chao looked up above, almost as if it could see something that the others couldn't. Like an ominous specter looming over them all.
And that was when he screamed.
"OHGAEAOHGAEAOHGAEA!"
Mina rushed over to the high-flying buzzbombers in a flash, but being a strictly ground-based speedster, there wasn't much she could do. Actually, there were a few different things she could have done, but thanks to her inexperience, she wasn't aware that there were. Instead, she gathered up some small pebbles and tried to fling them at the buzzbombers like bullet shells, but to no avail. They didn't even need to dodge; rather, the pebbles just bounced off their metal casing, as though specks of gravel were sprinkling them. And they were just within firing range of the Mayor's Mansion.
"What is it Cheese?!" Cream tried her best to calm Cheese down like an overly concerned mother, not that it did any good. The Chao may have stopped screaming, but it was still yelling and chirping to high heaven, flailing its' arms about in a desperate bid to tell everyone SOMETHING. Even the Mayor was staring at him by this point, his own eyes wide with confusion and irritation.
"What is he making that racket for?! He's going to get us all killed!"
"Cream," said Amy, "try to calm him down, please! We don't want to let them know we're here!"
"Quiet, please!", said Cream. "I think he's trying to tell me something!"
"Which is?", said the mayor.
"He's telling me, yes, he's telling me that… they're trying to kill him!"
"Hang tight kiddo!" Big let loose his fishing rod and lashed out with it like a wild snake at as many bombers as he could, slicing clean through them at a level beyond those of experts. And a bit of help from the remaining militia and their rifles didn't hurt. In short order, just about all of them had been taken care of, the task itself it a breeze thanks to the bombers not changing their line of fire. In the end, just a mere three buzzbombers were left. They were easy pickings, and like a master fisherman, Big was able to dig his hook into the lot of them; hook, line, and sinker. And yet, for all of his efforts, he still wasn't fast enough to bash in their metal skulls before they let out one last series of shots. All aimed straight at the Mayor's mansion.
"AMY!"
Cheese made one last terrible scream like a child knowing the end was surely here and clung to Cream in what it could only assume it thought were its' last moments.
"Cheese?!", said Cream. And as Cream and Amy and the Mayor looked up as they heard the incoming blasts from above, they at last knew the reason for his terror. And they couldn't blame him.
"NO!"
Mina barreled over the mansion, desperate to try and save everyone or anyone, but she was too late. The blasts struck the mansion, and like being covered with gasoline, it exploded into flame. All Mina could do was collapse to her knees in defeat, wondering just how she could have let it come to this. She buried her head into her hands, sobbing as though she could cause a flood, unsure how she could—
"KIDDO!"
Mina looked up. There in the smoldering flames of what was once the mayor's mansion was a bright blue light, shining and shimmering and crystalline in its' brilliance. It was like a gift from Gaea itself. It slowly moved closer to Mina and put out some of the flames, and as it did so, Mina knew she could see someone within it. Three someones, come to think of it. The light moved ever closer, and by the time it had finally reached Mina and made its landing, she could tell just who was within: Cream and Cheese, eyes closed and holding hands as if in a trance, with Amy floating helplessly beside them. Now on the ground, the light faded as quickly as it appeared and Cream fell right to her knees just as Mina had been. And all Mina could do was hug her. "Oh, Gaea!"
Amy fell to the ground as well, though like a reasonably skilled acrobat, she was able to keep her balance and stay on her feet. "Oh, Gaea!", she said. "I'm not even sure what that was. Cream, are you okay?!"
"Easy there, kiddo." Big walked over to the youngsters, wanting to make sure they were alright like a concerned parent. "She looks pretty tuckered out. Though if she's the one who saved your butts, I'm not even sure how she did it. Though I am wondering one thing. Where's the mayor?"
Amy almost gasped, clasping her hands to her mouth in horror as she looked back at the mansion, now smoldering underneath the balmy bloodred sunset. "Oh Gaea!"
"Damn. If he's still in there, he's likely grilled Mobian by now."
"Did you have to put it like that?!", shouted Amy.
"Just telling it like it is. You're right though. He deserved better than that."
Just then, Cream slowly came to her senses, with Cheese coming to beside her.
"Oh… what happened?"
"Oh thank Gaea!", said Mina, hugging her again as if seeing Cream up and at em was all she needed to see. "Don't worry now, it's gonna be alright! All that matters is you're safe and sound! Doesn't really matter how!"
Cream and Cheese rubbed their eyes, Cream in particular still feeling a tad sleepy. "Oh my! Just what in…"
And then she saw the village. Bodies on either side, beaten and bloody and full of holes. Houses torn right through. And the mayor's fashion was smoldering like a bonfire, with the mayor himself nowhere to be seen.
"What, what in…"
"Don't worry, Cream," said Amy, placing her gloved hands on her shoulders. "It's going to be alright. Just don't think about it, please."
Cream just couldn't grasp it. Fred was dead. She knew Fred. Before he became a minuteman, Fred was the owner of the bakery. He baked the best bread anybody had ever seen. And now he was gone.
"What is…"
"Easy now, kiddo." Big took another step closer, just short of closing the gap. "It's gonna be okay. Nothin' to worry 'bout."
But Cream knew better. She tried to stand up, but she found herself kneeling again before she knew it, just short of collapsing altogether out of sheer exhaustion. "What, why…"
"Please," said Mina, "just—"
But it was too late. "WHAT ON MOBIUS IS HAPPENING?!" A surge of energy then shot straight out of Cream like a wave of blue, electric energy, blasting Mina, Amy, and Big to the four winds but without damaging them directly. Mina managed to bounce off of a tree back to where she'd been while Big stood his ground, taking the wave full force and doing nothing else but squinting a bit.
"Damn, that tickles."
And as for Amy, she did what any sane daughter trained by a former milita leader would do; catch herself as soon as her hand neared the ground and flip herself to safety as though were she in a movie. Not that she knew what a movie was, but still.
"Well. That was close."
And Cheese? Cheese for whatever reason was not affected in the slightest. He stood there, watching Cream with both a sense of intrigue and dread. As if it were something to be fascinated by and something to hear. And yet, none of this was enough to overcome his love towards her as he grabbed Cream's ankle and gripped it with his rounded off arms like a scared babe.
"Well. That was different. Big held up his arms as if to brace himself for an even stronger blow, not that he was sure he'd need to. This time, Cream was wide awake, and as she slumped back to the floor, she knew without a shadow of a doubt what she'd just done.
"No. This cannnot be happening. I couldn't have done…" And she stopped herself as she realized she very well could have. Or rather, someone could have let her.
"Cheese?"
"Cheese?" said Amy. "What's Cheese got to do with this?"
"No. You couldn't have. You couldn't possibly be…"
"Be what?" said Big.
For a moment, all Cream do was stare at Cheese, not aware in the slightest at just what Cream was hinting at. All he cared about was making sure his master and best friend was A-OK. That was all he needed to know.
Just then, Cream saw something out of the corner of her eye. The Egg Foreman was lying at the foot of the village, trembling, the lights in his eyes nearly going out. And yet, he just had enough will in him to lift up his blaster. And with the last of his strength, his blaster aimed at Amy, he pulled the trigger.
Amy meanwhile had a different problem. She'd been standing there as she looked back and forth between Cream and the Mayor, doing her best to take it all in as best she could. And that was when she noticed one lone buzz bomber. It was trashed and battered, but it was still wriggling, and it had just enough energy left to fire up one final shot. And it was aimed at Cream.
Amy readied her crossbow and with one solitary shot, she nailed the buzzbomber in the head like shooting a bullseye.
As for Cream, she didn't know how she did it, and while she had an inkling why, she wasn't sure if she could believe it. And yet, she was doing it. Like a blessing from Gaea, her eyes lit up a bright blue and she fired out one powerful blast of energy. The Foreman was consumed within the blast, and with one frightening scream was sent to a place there'd be no coming back from.
Amy and Cream slowly looked at one another, both realizing they'd just saved the others' bacon. But while Amy breathed with a sigh of relief, all Cream could do was look up at the cloudy, darkening sky above her before turning her eyes down upon her hands. She gripped one of them, and she could feel the power now flowing within her veins. Power that she just used to save another. And in the process, go against everything she believed.
"Holy cow!", said Mina. "How did you do that?! I mean, I'm the second fastest thing alive, but that?! That's just, I mean, what the heck?!"
"She's got a point, kiddo," said Big. "I may be a hulking blob of blubber and Mina might be a living bullet, but you? That's somethin' else. And as far I know, flying with those ears of yours is the only thing you've been able to do. That was something else entirely."
"I…" Cream looked again at Cheese, still hugging her leg and wanting nothing more but to tell Cream it was alright, even if his lack of Mobian vocal cords prevented him from doing so. And yet, one look in his eyes was also enough to tell her that somehow, someway, he was responsible for this. That he was the one who turned Cream into a walking force of destruction.
By this point, the other villagers and the remaining militia had started to come out from their hiding spots. They stared and gaped at the burning mansion like a flock left without their Shepherd. And then they turned their gaze over to the remains of the bloodbath near the village entrance. Some put their hands over their mouths in horror. Others nearly felt the need to vomit. And some did. But in spite of themselves, all of them could feel one solitary thing more than anything else; 'At least it wasn't me.'
That is, all of them except for Cream. She looked at the devastation and nearly puked. She was no less horrified by what she saw before her, and yet, though she believed at that moment that she wasn't responsible for most of it, she knew a small part for which she was. The Egg Foreman. And as his dead, lifeless eyes seemed to stare into hers, she could feel nothing short of the gaping maw of the Abyss staring straight back.
Amy slowly walked over to Cream. She knew that something was wrong. Heck, all of this was wrong, but Cream most of all. It just wasn't like her to be so, so traumatized. And she knew she had to do anything to help her. "Cream? What's wrong?" She tried to place a white gloved hand on her shoulder, to try to let her know that she was there for her. That they were all there. But that was the last thing Cream wanted.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She slapped away Amy's hand as though it were that of the dark side of Gaea and rose to her feet as a rabbit possessed. "Just stay away! Please."
The villagers weren't sure what to make of this. They weren't sure what to make of anything just now. On the other hand, Big knew full well what to make of it, and he tried his best to de-escalate things as much as he could. Before it got ugly. "Easy, kiddo. It's alright. I know it's been rough, but it's gonna be okay."
Cream shouted right at the top of her lungs. ""NO IT'S NOT! I KILLED HIM! I KNOW HE WAS TRYING TO KILL AMY, BUT I STILL KILLED HIM! And nothing you do or say can change that!"
Big took one small step forward, or at least as small as he could make it, like a father trying to comfort a crying child. "Kiddo…"
"DON'T 'KIDDO' ME! I JUST… I just…" And then she broke down into one big weeping sob, her head buried in her knees like a wailing sinner. "I didn't ask for any of this! I never wanted to kill anyone! How could I? How? I just don't know…"
In this moment of sheer and utter vulnerability, Amy saw her chance. Big was about to take another step forward, but Amy gave him one good look as if to say, 'I got this'. And one long look later told Amy that he agreed. Amy steadily walked towards Cream. She slowly placed one hand on her shoulder. And Cream didn't so much as budge. To Amy, this was Cream finally giving Amy the go-ahead to kneel down beside her and give Cream the biggest hug of her life. And so she did. "It's okay Cream. It's okay."
"It's not okay," whispered Cream. "It's not."
"You did it to save me. That's what counts. Now hush. Come on. Just let it all out.
The sky crackled. The clouds erupted with sound and fury. And the floodgates of heaven opened up from the sky above. And as Cream let out one big sob, she and Amy could care less.
