So before this story starts, I need to clarify some things. This takes place in the Archie comics universe, and this assumes that the Super Genesis Wave never happened, so the timeline did not get reset to align more with the games. This story is basically my take on the end of the war with Eggman, and will show what happened to allow some… unexplained things, that were shown to of happened during the 25 years later and 30 years later arcs in the main comics, as well as the Universe comics. Not everything will be explained, mainly just one thing that I was asking myself "how the heck did that happen?!" when I read it the other day as of the time of me writing this, but I will be trying to keep things aligned with those arcs, for the most part at least. Making one major change to it, that is all, also, timelines are hard to write with, so I am probs screwing it up somewhere. That being said, if you don't want to spoil those arcs, read them yourself. I believe that the important issues for this start at issue #137. Also, if you only play the games, there are a LOT of characters that are in this universe that never appear in the games. A good amount of them appeared in the old cartoon Sonic SatAM, so if you want to learn about these characters, watch that.

Another thing I should mention. This story takes place right after my previous Sonic story… in this timeline at least. If you want to know what that means, just read it… though it is a follow up to another story… so read that too I guess? Anyways, the events of that story are going to be pretty important for this story, so if you are lost on a couple of things, read it.

Anyways, enjoy!

Today was the day. The stage was set, and everyone was ready. Today was the day that the Eggman Empire would finally come to an end.

The day before

"Ok, is everyone here?" Princess Sally said in front of the crowd of freedom fighters who were joining in on this mission. "Ok, so as you all know, we are hoping that this will be our final battle with Dr. Eggman. Thanks to some schematics that Espio retrieved with the help from Nicole, we have a full map of Eggman's base of operations. Using this, we have developed a plan that will not only make things as simple as possible, but also hopefully allow us to capture Eggman and imprison him for good." She explained to the crowd.

"So, here is the plan." Sonic said, joining the princess. "We will be splitting up into two teams. One team will be going with a straight forward approach, attacking from the front. This team will consist of almost everyone in this room. This team, however, will only be a distraction."

"The Second team, which will be lead by Tails, will be a much smaller team, and will sneak into the base and be going here." Sally said as she pointed to a spot on a map. "When they arrive at this spot, they will find the computers that control all of Eggman's defense systems as well as his escape routes. Their job will be to simply set some charges and destroy the computer. Of course, they are going to have to be quick, as to avoid any risk."

"So is Tails going alone, or are we going to have someone go with him?" Asked Amy from the crowd.

"As much as I would like for Tails to not be alone, we might not have much choice. Like I said, this part of the mission has to be done quickly to avoid any possible danger, and our fastest runners are needed on the first team, as they are also our hardest hitters." Sonic explained. "That being said, I have full faith that Tails will pull it off, no pro-"

"I can go with him." Said a new voice from the crowd.

After looking through the crowd to find the source of the voice, Sally laid her eyes on who she was looking for. "Mina?" Sally asked, surprised to see the singer in the crowd.

"What? You thought I was gonna miss out on the final fight?" Mina said. "I am almost as fast as Sonic, so it shouldn't be an issue, right? Besides, I am not much of a fighter, so I wouldn't be too much help in the main fight."

After a moment of thought, Sally complied. "Alright, we are counting on you two."

After that, the meeting concluded, and everyone went off to prepare for the final battle.

Later that Night

Tails was on his way to meet with Mina to discuss the route that they were going to take to the computer room, when he saw Ash waiting outside her room.

"Oh hey Ash, how are you doing?" Tails asked.

"Eh, doing alright. Nervous about tomorrow?" Ash asked.

Ever since their recent adventure involving a certain four year old fox from an alternate timeline, Tails and Ash have grown to respect each other, and became good friends.

"A little, our job is really important after all. Don't worry though, I will make sure to keep Mina safe." Tails responded.

"WE will keep her safe." Ash said.

"Uh… what do you mean?"

"I talked to Sonic, I am coming with you two." Ash explained.

"Really? Are you sure that you want to do that?" Tails asked. He knew that Ash had little to no experience when it came to big battles, and didn't want Ash to do something he might regret.

"I am sure. I just want to make sure that she stays safe. Besides, someone has to bail you out if you get into trouble." Ash explained.

"Alright, if you say so… but what about travel? You can't expect me to believe that you will be able to keep up with me and Mina at full speed." Tails asked.

"Don't worry, Mina is perfectly capable of carrying me around while running, and I have faith that she will still be able to keep up with you while doing so." Ash explained.

"Dang right he does!" Mina said from behind Tails, making him jump a bit. "You have nothing to worry about Tails! The three of us will get this done no problem!"

"Alright, if you say so… Anyways, we need to plan out our route." Tails said as he walked into the room.

The Next Day

"You ready Sal?" Sonic said as he walked up to Sally.

"Yeah, I just hope that we don't have many casualties…" Sally said.

"We won't have any casualties Sal. Tails, Mina and Ash will get their job done real quick, then there will be nothing to worry about! I'll go in, kick Eggman's butt, and put an end to all of this in a matter of seconds!" Sonic explained.

"I hope it's that easy… I really do." Sally said. She then looked over to Tails, and thought about his future self and family that they had met.

'This is for you Miles… Tangle… Skye… thank you.'

"Alright, let's do this! Freedom fighters!" She said, holding her hand up into the air. "CHARGE!"

And with that, the final battle began. The majority of the fighters charged through the hole in the defenses of Eggman's base that Miles made the last time they were here, and began fighting various badniks and the like. Then, with all the main enemy forces distracted, Tails and Mina, with Ash being carried along, went up a tower to the east to begin their part of the mission.

"The coast is clear, lets get moving!" Tails said as he went full speed down the hallway, Mina and Ash close behind.

"You know, I wasn't expecting too much resistance, but this is really weird." Mina said, looking through the empty hallway.

"And here I was thinking that I would actually have to use this thing." Ash said, holding up a blaster that Tails and Rotor built for him.

"Don't let your guard down you two, the closer we get to the computer room, the more likely that we will start bumping into some enemies!" Tails said as he rounded a corner, after which he skidded to a full stop.

"Uh… you mean like that?!" Ash said, voice very clearly filled with worry.

Cause standing right in front of the computer room, eyes right on the trio, was Metal Sonic.

Sally had just cut through a badnik when she got a call from Tails.

"Sally?! We got a big problem over here!" Tails said through the communicator.

"Why? What's wrong?!" Sally asked.

"Metal Sonic was guarding the computer room, we need help!" Tails said, voice sounding very panicked.

This was something that Sally didn't expect. She knew that Tails may see some resistance, but not anything on the level of Metal Sonic! For one, she thought that the robotic hedgehog would still be out of commission at this point. And secondly, she thought that it would be attacking Sonic right about now.

That didn't matter though. What did matter is that Tails needed help ASAP. Sonic was fast, but by the time he got there, it may be too late, not to mention they needed him to fight Eggman. That only left one real option.

"Shadow!" Sally called over to the Ultimate lifeform, earning his attention. "Tails needs backup! Please get over there!"

Deciding to comply, Shadow used chaos control and warped over to Tails's location.

Meanwhile, Tails and crew were not exactly having the best of times, as Metal Sonic was currently wiping the floor with them. Tails could hold his own against most of Eggman's creations, but Metal Sonic was on a whole different level.

"Any idea when backup is getting here?" Ash asked, firing a couple of shots from his blaster.

"No, but I hope it's soon!" Tails responded.

Thankfully, it was soon, as Shadow arrived shortly after.

"Shadow! Great timing! Think you can handle this guy?" Tails asked.

"Hmph, the real Sonic is no match for me, so this fake should be no issue at all." Shadow responded, earning an eye roll from Tails.

"Sure, whatever you say. Thanks Shadow! Let's go team!" Tails said as he lead the group into the computer room as Shadow began his battle with Metal Sonic.

Once inside, the trio got to work, quickly destroying all the robots operating the computers and setting the charges, all while Shadow was have a very… explosive battle just outside the room.

"Alright, setting the timer for five minutes! That should give us plenty of time to get away." Tails said, as he started the countdown. "Ok, let's get going!"

And so they began their escape, but they didn't make it far.

As Tails was signaling Shadow that they had gotten their job done, he was not paying attention to his surroundings, and a chunk of the ceiling had began to fall straight towards him and Mina. Ash, seeing that they were about to get crushed, rushed over and pushed them out of the way.

When the dust settled, Mina frantically looked around for her companions.

"Tails?! Ash?! You guys ok?!" She called out.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to A-" Tails responded, but stopped suddenly.

Confused as to why Tails stopped, she followed Tails' gaze to see what was up. And what she saw would probably haunt her for the rest of her life.

She and Tails were perfectly fine, a couple of scrapes and bruises, but they were a good couple of feet away from where the rubble had landed.

Ash, on the other hand, was not nearly as lucky.

"ASH!" Mina screamed out, rushing to his side.

Half of his body was being crushed underneath the rubble, blood was dripping down his face and a small puddle of the stuff was forming near him.

"Ash, Ash! Come on, stay with me! We are gonna get you out of here and get you home. We will get you the help you need, and… and…" Mina stuttered out, voice beginning to break.

"Mina…" Ash said.

"I am here, everything is gonna be just fine." Mina said.

"Listen to me… there isn't much time. You two need to get out of here, before the bombs go off." Ash said, his voice very weak.

"No… no I can't do that! I…" Mina whispered, tears falling freely.

"Tails…" Ash said, earning the fox's attention. "Promise me… that you will keep her safe. You are the only one I can… I can count on right now."

"…Ok… I will… I promise." Tails responded, his eyes beginning to water.

Everyone in the room knew at the time, but no-one wanted to admit it. Getting Ash out from there would take several minutes, time that they didn't have. They couldn't delay the charges either, since they were made so that once they started counting down, there was no stopping it. And finally, even if they by some miracle managed to get Ash out in time, his chance of survival was minuscule at best. There was no avoiding the inevitable.

So Tails took Mina's hand, and simply said, "Let's go."

Mina obliged, but not before having one last kiss with Ash. "I love you…"

"I love you too…"

And with that, they left.

Ash just laid there, waiting for his fate. That is, until Metal Sonic decided to drop in.

It had abandoned it's fight with Shadow, and it was dead-set on stopping the explosions.

Seeing this, Ash, with the last of his strength, pulled his arm from out of the rubble, blaster in his hand, aimed and fired at the robot, earning a satisfying ding for his efforts.

5

"There is no way… that I am letting you put everything we did to waste."

4

Metal Sonic looked over to the Yellow Mongoose, which bought enough time for Shadow to come in through the wall, and charge into Metal Sonic, sending them both through another wall.

3

Tails and Mina were approaching the exit to the tower. When they arrived, they leapt out of the very same window that they entered through.

2

Deciding that he needed to slow down their decent, Tails grabbed Mina's hands and flew away as fast as he possibly could.

1

When they landed, they turned around, and were only able to watch…

0

The entire tower suddenly went up in flames, in a massive explosion that shook the ground around them.

"AAAAAASH!"

Mina collapsed to her knees, and began sobbing. Tails kneeled down beside her and hugged her, hoping to give her some kind of comfort.

"Sally… mission accomplished."

When Sally got the call from Tails, she was just relieved to be hearing his voice. She was worried as to why he sounded so upset, but that could wait.

"SONIC!" Sally called over. "GO!"

Hearing the signal, Sonic gave her the thumbs up, and rushed off to finish the job.

Moments later, he arrived in the center of the base. "Ok Egghead, it's time we finished this!" He said to Eggman, who was very clearly in a giant robot, which appeared to be an upgraded Egg Emperor.

"I couldn't agree more. Today is the day that I am finally rid of you Sonic! Prepare yourself!" Eggman responded.

And with that, the final battle began.

Meanwhile, outside.

The battle outside was beginning to tilt in The Freedom Fighters favor, as the robots began thinning out. It also helped that Shadow had returned to the battle shortly after Sonic had left.

"What happened to Metal?" Sally asked when Shadow returned.

Shadow looked like he was in deep thought as he fought off some robots, so he didn't respond.

"Shadow?" Sally asked again.

"Huh, oh sorry, Metal Sonic was caught in the explosion, he was probably destroyed." Shadow reported.

Sally could tell that Shadow was keeping something from her, but she decided that it could wait, they still had a job to do. Deciding that they could probably handle the rest of the robots regardless, she decided to start sending some backup after Sonic.

"Silver! When you finish with those robots, head in and provide Sonic with some backup!" Sally called over to the psychic.

"Got it!" Silver said as he used his psychic powers to dismantle a couple of robots, then sent the pieces hurdling towards a crowd of enemies, destroying all of them. Afterwards, he flew into the base at full speed, hoping to help Sonic.

Only to arrive at his destination and realize that there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Oh hey Silver! You're just in time to see the end of this!" Sonic says, standing on top of a completely wrecked robot as the chaos emeralds flew off into the distance, all while Eggman was laying on his back in defeat.

"Heh, and here I was worried that you needed help." Silver said, fist bumping his fellow hedgehog. "It's over Eggman, there is no escape this time, and your army is about to be completely destroyed."

"Heh… I figured that something like this may happen one day…" Eggman said with a sinister tone to his voice. "Which is why, I decided to place one last trap for you Sonic!" He said as he pushed a button.

Then, the entirety of the base began to shake.

"What did you do?!" Sonic asked.

"Simple, if I am going down, I am taking you all with me! Farewell hedgehog!" Eggman said with one last maniacal laugh as a wall of energy was erected in between him and Sonic.

"EGGMAN!" Sonic yelled, as he charged into the barrier, only to be sent flying backwards.

"Sonic! We need to get going! Now!" Silver said as he began flying towards the exit.

Deciding to not take any risks, Sonic began to run himself.

"Sally! The whole place is going to blow! We need to get everyone out of here! Now!" Sonic yelled through his communicator.

"Got it!" Sally said through the communicator. "Everyone! Clear out now!"

And with that, everyone rushed away from the base. When everyone was a safe distance away, they watched as the last of the Eggman Empire went up into smoke, signaling the end to the war.

And so the cheers of joy began. Everyone was celebrating both a job well done, as well as celebrating the end to a war that went on most of their lives.

Sonic, however, didn't know how to feel.

Sure, he was happy that everything had finally came to an end, but at the same time, he didn't want Eggman to end up kicking the bucket. He wanted the mad doctor to pay for his crimes, and, despite all that he had done, Sonic didn't believe that anyone deserves to die, and that includes Eggman.

His thoughts were interrupted however when he noticed Sally coming over, looking very worried.

"Hey Sal, what's up?" Sonic asked.

"I… I can't find Tails anywhere!" Sally explained. "He's not answering me either… did… did he not get out in time?!"

Now this, got Sonic worried. Tails was like a little brother to him, and the thought of him not getting out on time was something he didn't even want to consider.

"Don't worry Sal, I am sure he is around here somewhere!" Sonic explained. "Come on, let's go looking for him!"

And with that, the search for Tails' team began. It didn't last long however, as Amy was able to find them relatively quickly.

"Uh Sonic?" Amy said, earning the hedgehog's attention. "I uh… I think I found him." She said pointing to her right.

Sure enough, there Tails was. Sonic could recognize his buddy anywhere. What got him worried however, was that he appeared to be kneeling on the ground, and holding something… or rather, someone.

Deciding to get to the bottom of this, Sonic rushed over. When he got closer, he noticed just who Tails was holding onto, and from there, he realized that someone was missing.

"Tails..?" Sonic asked, getting his friend's attention. At this point, Sally and Amy had caught up to him. "Where's Ash?"

Tails looked up, tears in his eyes, but he didn't respond. He simply shook his head as he continued to console the weeping Mina.

And from that point it was clear. They may have won the war, but it came at a price.

End of Prologue Part 1

And we are back in business! Sorry again about taking a break like that, I just needed to rest my brain a bit. That being said, I am ready to get back into it! I just wanted to talk a little bit about what I was doing during that break though. I mentioned in the last chapter I posted that I was planning on watching through Sonic X again to prepare for another story that I am thinking about writing. I have actually written a few chapters of that story already, and I am liking where it is going, so I am thinking I will keep going with it and post it once I am done with this story, though that is still a ways away. We are for sure going to be in 2021 by the time this story wraps up after all. That is honestly a good thing, cause I am not at all close to being done writing it. If you are wondering what the story is, it is actually something very different for me: a rewrite of the whole series, basing it in the Sonic X universe, and starting with Sonic X. The big thing though, is that multiple future characters introduced after Sonic X's airing will have a role in this story. Mainly the IDW characters, meaning Tangle, Whisper and Jewel. It's basically "what would the series be like if these characters were around for it?" That being said, the story is mostly gonna be about Tangle… cause of course… hey, she's quickly become my favorite character, ok? Anyways, enough about that, let's talk about this story now!

So, I guess I should address the elephant in the room… yes, I did actually kill multiple people off in this story already. This is something I typically never do, mostly because I don't want it to just be a death for the sake of having a death. However, as I said before I started this story, this was my take on the end of the war with Eggman in this universe, and I wanted to put out my theories as to how exactly a couple of things went down, mainly how the end of Eggman happened, as well as what happened to Ash. After all, in the 25 and 30 years later arcs, Mina gets married with Tails at some point… and yet a few chapters earlier, Ash is introduced as her boyfriend, and it is never explained what exactly happened to him. I didn't want to simply say "Oh, they broke up" cause that would be boring. Also, I wanted to have him go out in a cool way, so saving Tails' life, and distracting Metal Sonic like that was the best way I could think to do it. That will also play into something later btw. Also, in the comics, the end of Eggman actually is explained, with him being vaporized by Knuckles, but I couldn't really come up with a story with that, so I changed that in this story. It's not like any of this is actually canon :)

Also, if people are interested in actually seeing the fight between Sonic and Eggman that I didn't include in this chapter, I am considering writing a bonus chapter that is all about that fight. It would come at the very end though after everything else is done.

Anyways, believe it or not, this is only part one of the Prologue. I decided to split it into two parts cause it was getting to be a bit long for my liking, and I figured that this would be a great stopping point. So, I hope you enjoyed, and I will see you next time for part 2 of the Prologue.