Chapter Two

The Devastated Planet

Within the large, metal control room on the bridge of the ship, Sonic's sidekick Miles Tails Prower sat in his seat, feet slightly propped up on the console desk as he ate a yummy space sandwich made by the ship's food maker machine.

Due to his good piloting skills via years of flying planes, Tails had been selected to be the one to help steer and pilot the R.S.S Gerald during the course of the space voyage from Mobius to other planets and back to Mobius.

Piloting this ship almost reminded the fox of the time he flew the X Tornado in space the last time Mobius faced an alien invasion, he was also reminded of the interior of spaceships in old sci-fi movies whenever he looked at this control room.

Soon as Tails spotted the humongous, dark-gray planet in the distance, he was surprised. In fact, during the voyage out into space, they'd never come across this planet before. So, why was the ship approaching the planet now and what planet was that?

Becoming curious, the fox pressed the P.A button and told the ship's computer to notify the others. It wasn't very long until Tails was joined by Sonic, Amy and their friends on the bridge, all of them looking at the planet they'd just found.

"We've never seen this planet before nor have we passed by that." Sonic remarked, scratching his chin and holding Amy's hand, "So, should we go check it out. Hey, computer! What is the name of this planet and where are we in the galaxy?"

Loud beeps echoed all over the room as lights flashed and the Makewa computer spoke, "I have been scanning the planet, it is known as Terras 4, it was once inhabited until it was mysteriously abandoned. Whatever happened there, it probably wasn't pretty."

"I take it the people of this Terras 4 were suddenly attacked?" Rouge questioned, "It's usually unusual for a planet to suddenly become abandoned, whatever this planet is. I suggest we go explore, maybe we can learn more about Terras 4."

"Great idea, Rouge." Amy said enthusiastically, "Let's go get our space suits and get in the space lander, but somebody needs to look after the ship while we're away and be our back up just in case if something does happen down there."

Tails raised his hand, "As the semi-captain, I'll take care of the ship."

Sonic pat his pal on the shoulder, "You be useful, bro."

Shadow grunted, "What are we waiting for, we got a planet to explore."

Suiting up didn't take long and the ride down to the planet was really short, especially when the R.S.S Gerald was very close to the planet and would be in rotation around it for a while. The space lander was a small ship, carrying up to almost ten people.

G.U.N had even bigger space lander models, big enough to carry a regiment of soldiers anywhere into battle or into places where they would carry out big operations that usually did not involve military combat but search and rescue or man hunting.

Both Sonic, Amy, Shadow and their friends wore spacesuits and helmets with their breathing apparatuses on, just in case the air on the planet wasn't breathable. Most planets had breathable environments just like Mobius.

It wasn't long before the ship touched down on solid ground with a small jolt, the gang grabbed onto the railings of their seats to avoid falling as they were bumped a bit. Slowly, the doors opened and they all made their way outside to see the planet's surface.

The ground was barren and solid, a few small craters here and there and a couple rocks covering the surface. The sky was cloudy and chilly winds blew through the area, a beep in the suits' radar indicated that the air was breathable.

With the knowledge that the planet's environment was somewhat breathable, Sonic and his companions removed their helmets, breathed in the fresh air and began to look around, seeing almost nothing but rocky terrain, barren ground, rocks, mountains and... ruins?

Ahead of the exploration party, an old village sat nearby, laying in ruin. Houses seemed to have crumbled or been decimated, leaving nothing but rubble. A few cars were turned over, even small glimpses of a road could be seen buried in a bit of sand.

Somewhere close by, buildings could be seen in the distance, buildings in ruin, a city that had also been destroyed by some unknown disaster. Shadow teleported off to explore alone, volunteering to see if he could find anybody here.

Sonic, Amy, Rouge and their remaining companions were left to explore the village ruins, curious about what was going on here. Just in case, as if there was a chance they could be attacked, the pink hedgehog drew her hammer and grasped it tightly.

Francois, Ann and Dyson drew ray guns, hardly powering them up. They both had practice with guns back home before the mission, Ann's pop had been in the military for a while. Due to his air force training, Dyson had trained with a pistol just in case.

While the seasoned pilot had never been in the actual military, at least he knew how to use a gun and had often helped in the ongoing battles against the Eggman Empire. Having lost his brother to Eggman, Dyson wished to see the doctor in chains.

Shadow soon reappeared, having been scouting around. "There are ruins of settlements all over the planet," He reported grimly, "I found no survivors, only a few traces of some sort of disastrous battle. Looks like the locals didn't put up much of a fight."

"I feel sorry for the locals." Rouge said, they'd just entered the ruins of the village they were approaching, taking notice to how everything looked very grim. Amy picked up a dusty doll that had lost an arm, noticing the dried traces of blood on it.

"This is sad," The pink hedgehog said, a tear trickling down her cheek. She couldn't bear to envision what horror had unfolded; the battle that had seen everything get wiped out. THUMP! "Oof!" Sonic tripped over something and groaned, clutching his foot.

"You alright?" Francois asked, coming over to Sonic's aid just in case. The hedgehog rose to his feet and dusted himself off, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the concern, Francois." Everyone noticed what the hedgehog had just tripped on; an arm.

It looked dusty and the flesh seemed like it had been shredded, exposing a few dried-up blood vessels. One close look and the arm looked zombie-like. Ann stepped forward to examine it, struggling not to get sickened by such a sickening sight.

"Blimey!" She breathed, feeling the arm and seeing there wasn't a pulse. She kept her gloves on to make sure she didn't contaminate her hands, "Judging by the arm sticking up, I get the feeling somebody's buried."

"Ugh!" Amy almost gagged, "Who or what did this? Don't tell me there are more corpses here, I feel like we're in a science fiction horror movie." Sonic zipped off, exploring the village and coming back to report he'd found a few more mangled bodies in the ruins.

"You know, maybe there might be survivors here." Dyson suggested, "I don't think the whole planet is completely lifeless, could it be possible we might find someone who narrowly survived whatever did this and the survivor could help us?"

Rouge shivered, "I dunno, maybe it wouldn't hurt to keep exploring, even though we may find more horrors and discover what caused all of this to be wiped out."

"I agree." Amy brought out a scanner and turned it on, the device began to beep, a green light on the screen blinking softly before often going red and beeping like crazy. "Whoa," The pink hedgehog muttered, "I think I'm picking up something."

"Let's get to work." Sonic stepped forward, "We'll explore together, if we have to, we'll split up during our search for any survivors. If something happens, we meet up back here and we get out of dodge. I'll lead on, Ames, give me the scanner."

Amy handed Sonic the scanner and he studied it, taking note that it was picking up some sort of life sign from a nearby mountain. He instructed the gang to follow him, deciding that they would explore the mountains to find what they were seeking.

"Can we keep looking around the ruins and see if we can find something useful first?" Rouge asked, "You may never know when there might be some treasures here that somebody probably left behind, after all, I do love jewels and treasures."

"Thinking about treasure makes me wish that we brought Knucklehead along." Sonic commented, "Too bad Knux would rather stay on his home island in the sky, protecting that big green rock and partially isolated from the rest of the world for the rest of his life."

"Hey, guys! Look, there's something right there!" Amy interjected as the device picked up something close by. The group froze and gasped at the sight of what looked a bizarre looking creature with a skeletal body and an ugly elongated head sleeping away.

"What is that thing?" Sonic asked.

"I dunno." Shadow remarked, "But I don't think it's friendly."

Before anybody could stop him, the black hedgehog drew a gun and pulled the trigger, shooting the creature in the gut before blasting its head off, yellow blood pouring from its wounds. The alien screamed and fell silent, the tip of Shadow's gun smoked slightly.

"Better look into what these things are," Dyson said, looking around and observing the ruins for any corpses or more strange sleeping alien beasts, "In fact, I suggest we go investigate the nearby mountain caves."