Nephthys and the Imperial were at what was left of the fuel depot "Well, what have you found?" "Com-scans indicate stolen gunship escaped the blast however security surveillance clearly indicate the Shinobi Sonic the Hedgehog has perished". Nephthys was surprised by this "The Shinobi is dead. Are you certain?" "Yes, ma'am but the fuel depot-" "Is none of my concern". She walked away but the officer followed "But, ma'am, with the loss of the fuel work on the TIE defender will halt" "And who knows this besides you and me" "For the moment no one but it won't be long until Imperial Command realizes what's happened. What should we do?". Nephthys stopped for a moment then "We throw a parade to celebrate this victory".
Tex was waiting with G-merl when he saw the gunship coming. He smirked and waved up at them. The moment it landed Wave angrily threw her helmet to the ground and walked past Tex while wiping her tears away. "Wave, what's wrong? Wave!" Tex turned back to the shuttle and saw Sally and Tails walk out of the shuttle and blindly stare out into the distance looking utterly broken. Sally starts walking forward while Tails tries to walk past Tex. G-merl followed Sally as Tex stopped Tails "Alright, kid, what's going on?". Tails stared down at the ground "Sonic's gone" he said, barley being able to comprehend. "What'd you mean gone? Like captured" Tex asked. Tails suddenly looked angry "No! He's… He's gone". Shock hit Tex like a train before he slowly started to hug Tails. G-merl walked up next to Sally who had tears falling from her face. G-merl held her hand and her grip tighten around it.
The next morning the group were in the cave listening to the transmitter "The insurgency on Emerald Hill is over. After a brazen attack on the capital the insurgents have been crushed". Sally and Tails entered with the former clutching the computer. "Their leadership defeated. To honour the Imperials heroes who bravely fought to save you from these extremists. All citizens are invited to attend the celebration and parade at the capital. A new day for Emerald Hill has begun". "Turn it off" Wave ordered Zax who did so. Baron turned to Tails "We have to contact Freedom Command. We need reinforcements". Tails sighed "Well as far as their concerned this fight is over. Cosmo can't commit more forces here. Not after this". Baron then looked to Sally "General Acorn… Sally, what'd you think". Sally said nothing and just walked deeper in the cave. Tails sighed "She just needs time" "Well, we don't have time. We need a plan". Wave nodded "Well I have time. The Empire's gonna have a parade. Good. I'm gonna go raise some hell" "Count me in" Tex said following her. Tails was left alone with the others "What should we do?" Tangle asked. Tails didn't say anything and just walked away. Baron sighed "There's nothing we can do. It's over". Tails went outside and sat on a large rock watching Wave and Tex head for the capitol on the Extreme Gear boards. He curled up with his head in his knees, he slowly started to cry. He kept going before sensing something next to him. He wiped his eyes and saw that there was a Chaos staring at him "I guess you know about Sonic". The Chaos slowly advanced and Tails could feel rage coming from him "No". He backed away "There was nothing I could do". He fell off the rock and then saw two more Chaos on either side of him. Tails tried to run but no matter where he went a Chaos grow out of the ground. He kept trying to run eventually falling over and hitting his head knocking him out.
Reala and Nephthys were in the latter's office speaking to a hologram of Mogul "So, you lost Sally Acorn? Yet you throw a parade. Explain yourself, Governor Nephthys" "A celebration of our victory over the Freedom Fighters, Grand Admiral". She then revealed she was holding Sonic's lightsaber "As for Sally Acorn I have something better". Mogul looked slightly saddened "It's true then. But the Shinobi's death comes at a cost did it not". Nephthys tried to hide her nervousness as Mogul began to look angry "Did you really believe that holding a parade would hide the fact that you destroyed our entire fuel supply. In killing Sonic the Hedgehog, you have accomplished what the Freedom Fighters failed to and given them a victory. The operation of my TIE defender project has been compromised". Nephthys bowed his head "Uh- Grand admiral, I" "I will deal with you when I return, Governor. With their leader gone the remaining Fighters will flounder. The fox especially. Use that against them, Reala. Expect them to strike recklessly and when they do eliminate them".
Sally and G-merl entered a cave with paintings on the wall. On a table was Sonic's back outfit. Sally rested her head against the wall looking devastated "Why did I wait so long to tell him. I just-" she started to cry, and she turned around and fell back against the wall "I thought there would be more time". G-merl stepped next to her and beeped "You don't understand. If I had listened to Sonic, he would be alive. He said starting a war was a mistake and he was right. He was right and now he's gone". She held onto the computer tightly "It's my fault". G-merl beeped again "Yeah. It's mine. Sonic found it". She smiled "In the middle of everything he knew how much it meant to me. He rescued me and my history". G-merl beeped again, Sally wiped more tears from her face "You're right. No one deserves that honour more than Sonic". She hugged G-merl as she continued to cry.
Wave and Tex were watching the capital from a hill "What do you see?" "Well, the parade has begun. But look at it, Tex. Look at all the people there are. Look how much the Empire's grown". Tex shrugged "Isn't that why we're here? To reduce their numbers" "We couldn't beat them with the rest of the Freedom Fighters. What chance do we have now?". Tex lowered his binoculars "You don't see what's happening to the city". Wave looked around and realized there was no smoke coming from the factories "When was the last time you saw them shut down?" "Never. It's probably just for the parade". Tex slowly shook his head "The Empire doesn't give days off, Wave" "Huh. Let's go take a look".
Tails woke up in the field now at night "Ah! What happened!?". He stood up "I know you're out there. Show yourselves!" he said angrily but there was no answer. Tails sighed and headed back to base.
A trooper was guarding one of the streets to the city when he was suddenly stabbed from behind by Tex. He gasped in pain before falling down dead "I needed that" Tex said coldly. Wave went up to the guards board and plugged a disc into slot "Tapping into the Imperial network… now. I'm in. The TIE defender factory was shutdown. It took serious damage when the fuel depot blew up. Tex, Sonic didn't just save us. He completed the mission". Tex crossed his arms "Then why is the Empire celebrating" "I'll bet it's because Nephthys doesn't want anybody to know instead of admitting they we hurt them". Tex smirked "She sent all the workers to the parade. So, what now". Wave took out a handful of prisms "We get even".
Later Reala and two troopers found the trooper's body which he sniffed. The troopers went over to the board and found the disc "This comm has been tampered with. Reala then hears a beeping sound and quickly ran from the board right before it exploded taking the two troopers. Not far away Wave and Tex were watching "Ha. That was fast" "Well you wanted to send a message". Wave used her mask to watch the road "I can do better than… Wait. What's that?". Tex used his binoculars and saw Reala "Tails told us about that guy". Reala was sniffing when he suddenly looked in Tex's direction "AH! He looked right at me" "Did he see you?". Tex looked scared "I don't know" "Well, check" "I don't want to. He has creepy eyes". Wave rolled her eyes and used her mask and saw Reala walking in their direction "Oh boy. He's coming this way" "What?". Tex's face then turned angry "He's alone" "So?" "So, let's even the score. They took Sonic from us. Let's take something from them". Wave stared at him for a moment "I agree with you. Only because we can't be tracked back to base" the two of them then get on their Extreme Gear.
Tails was walking aimlessly across the field before resting against a rock "I've lived her my whole life and I get lost". He sat there for while waiting when he felt a familiar presence behind him "Sonic?". He turned a saw the rock he was leaning against was a tall snake shaped version of a Chaos. Tails gasped and backed away and then realised there was a normal Chaos behind him "Who are you?" he asks the large one, "I am Maurice". Tails stared up at the Chaos in shock.
Reala was traveling across landscape and eventually saw Tex standing ahead of him holding his sword. Reala grinned under his mask and took out his electric staff. The two charged forward and fought when Wave landed behind Reala "We're not in the mood for a fair fight". They cornered him but "Neither am I" he pressed a button and he suddenly turned invisible. He punched Tex and Wave turned the infra-red on her mask "Scanning" she saw him and tried to shoot but he climbed up a rock and then lunged at her. Tex ran and threw him off and he quickly ran away.
Tails stood up "Maurice? That was my master's name. What'd you want from me?" "You ran" "Yeah. They chased me!" Tails said gesturing to the Chaos. The large Chaos leaned down to him "Why?" "I-I didn't mean to run. I just… I feel lost without my master". He fell to his knees "He was wise and brave. He was there for me when no one else was". The Chaos looked like it sniffed "Fear" "I am afraid. It's all over. I don't know what to do" "Fight". Tails stared up at him "How?" "Together". The Chaos behind Tails placed down a rock which had drawings of hands manipulating the Force "This stone. Where's it from?" "Shinobi temple".
Wave and Tex were back-to-back, and the former threw a circle of prisms around them. She then pointed her wispon at one of them. The two waited and then when she heard a step, she fired ivory coloured energy at the prism. Electricity passed through all the prisms creating an arc which hit the invisible Real who started to scream "You see him now?". Tex grabbed him and threw him against a rock wall. He started angrily punching him in the face "This is for Sonic!" "Tex, stop!". Wave held him back "I thought you wanted to get even" "I do but this isn't how we do it" "Then what do we do with them?" he asked staring down at the unconscious Reala. Wave smirked "I've got an idea".
Tails stared up at the Chaos "We accidently led the Empire to the Shinobi temple. We escaped but they captured it" "Danger" "The Empire's still there". It leaned down "Secrets within" "Secrets? There's something else inside the temple?" "Knowledge. Destruction". Tails backed away with the normal Chao stopping him "Amy said we would find knowledge in the Raiju temple on Marble Zone. But we were wrong. That's when everything changed". The large Chaos got close and growled at him "Restore past. Retain future" "How?". The Chaos growled louder and suddenly lunged forward about to eat Tails. "Sonic!" Tails woke up still leaning against the rock. He then realized that the stone with the drawings where still in front of him.
Tex was dragging Reala towards a board. He was now covered in paint which amused Tex "Always liked your art" "Thanks. I think this is a good message to send the Empire". Tex threw him on the board and kicked it away. Wave glanced at him "You set the homing beacon?" "Yeah. Well, I think I did" "Tex. Unbelievable. Do you know how hard I worked on that art?".
Sally was sitting in the cave, she was saving images of Sonic's Chaos drive, his shoes, and a symbol resembling his head "For Sonic. So, he will always be remembered as a part of my family". She smiled "You know, Gem, despite all his issues about the Freedom Fighters he always believed we could change things. That's what I'll miss the most. That when none of us could find the answer, Sonic could. Always in the most unexpected ways". She placed the computer on the table before leaving the cave and she saw Wave and Tex "Was your mission a success?". Wave smiled warmly "No. But yours was. The TIE defender factories have shut down. We didn't fail, Sally. Sonic made sure of it". Tex nodded "They have no fuel for the factories. Their entire production lines have stopped". Sally smiled hopefully "Then we have a chance. We can still beat them". Tails then appeared "And I know where to start". He showed them the stone "The Shinobi temple is in danger. And we're the only ones who can do something about it".