yoo holy shit it's been. over a year since the last update. haha.

i don't have any excuses other than, my inspiration for sonic & fanfiction in general has largely faded since last year. i really don't wanna abandon this fic, bc despite everything the story is very dear to me as i've dedicated several years to it so far, but in case u can't tell continuing to write has been a huge struggle for me lately. i did manage to finally get this chapter out tho, and hopefully i can say the same for future chapters too! this one is kinda rough imo (it's been written over the span of a year after all) but i figure it's good enough and it's time to move on from this chapter.

ANYWAYS. since it's been so long i'm gonna give a brief recap (from ch12 and onwards) to refresh your memories, but feel free to skip this if ur a true homie or u just wanna reread it all yourself (which. i would kinda recommend but ik this fic is long so djgkshlfg):

infinite attacked knothole and un-alived ray, mighty ran away (to soleanna? hmm), shadow and co found knothole afterwards. meanwhile chaos flooded the resistance hq due to the corruption of the master emerald back on angel island, and infinite discovered them through this; everyone reunited yay! but infinite took knux & chaos in exchange for their lives. the resistance salvaged a shattered m.e. but have no idea how to put it back together w/o knux. everyone's distraught but decided the emeralds are their only chance, so they've all split up to track em down.

and that's sorta where we left off! i'm definitely leaving out a lot of smaller details so i'd recommend at least skimming the older chapters if u can haha

but yea. enjoy, i guess :) i missed this.


XIX.

surmount (sərˈmount)

[verb]

to prevail over.


Gadget was a blazing comet.

From Westopolis, when he fled his dorm and his massacred friends in the world before, to right now, atop a speeding train hurling toward inevitable doom, he hadn't been much more than a sitting duck. But now he was starting to come to grips with the vice-like hold his fear held over him, shackling him to the ground because he lacked the confidence to resist it.

He was tired of the passivity; the way he watched life pass him by through a window. He was always running, but it was always for the wrong reasons. He ran because he was petrified of getting hurt and not being able to do anything about it. It was easier sometimes to hide, especially when there were others that were stronger than him that could get the job done better.

But then he lost Zero, he lost his old friends, and he made new friends but now they've started to unravel too, and what did he have to show for it? What had he contributed, aside from pleading with a brainwashed, amnesiac serial killer only to watch helplessly as he slaughtered even more innocents?

He didn't really know what spurred him into action. Maybe it was just that the frenzy of it all, watching Shadow and Antoine and Amy bicker back and forth, hacking in vain at a solid steel train in a race against time—it struck something in him, a flat piano key, soft but distinguishable above all the noise, all the yelling and rushing wind.

As everything seemed to fall apart before him, he thought of Christmastime. Specifically, the last normal Christmas, before Eggman won and the world crumbled, before Infinite rose from the ashes. Because last Christmas, Gadget and Zero had decided to buy one of those little toy trains that circled around the tree, puffing out water vapor as it chugged along the plastic train tracks. Zero, however, being the ever-passionate physicist he was, decided he'd try as many harmless experiments as he could on the poor thing. And even though Gadget was the voice of reason in their apartment of two, he'd found himself enjoying the antics regardless.

Of course the experiments gradually derailed into not-so-harmless territory, culminating into one night when Gadget came home at a later hour than usual from studying at the library. Awaiting him was a burnt Christmas tree and a sheepish Zero standing in the doorway to welcome him.

"So," the jackal had unsurely began, as Gadget took it all in with paling features. "I accidently broke the train."

"You broke the tree!"

"Yes, that too. But I also learned that with faulty tracks, the train can't work anymore. Don't worry, already ordered a new set online."

Gadget punched him lightly in the shoulder. "You're such an idiot."

"But I'm your idiot."

"Reckless!"

"Maybe."

"You're very lucky to have me around, or else you probably wouldn't be alive still."

"Probably." Zero pressed his lips softly to the wolf's cheek, and placed his hands on his hips. "I'm sorry, though. I was testing something with the material of the train tracks and then—then the tree caught fire, so it was kind of—yeah."

Gadget pinched the bridge of his nose to quell an oncoming headache. Zero was also very lucky he loved him too much to stay mad. "It's fine, but we're buying a new tree first thing in the morning."

Stupid. It was probably stupid of him to think about times like that, back when his biggest worries were ruined Christmas trees and staying up late to study for his upcoming finals, but sometimes he couldn't help it. Sometimes it was all Gadget could think of, when Zero still had that twinkle in his eyes, and his voice was so much gentler and ambient—not serrated and bitter.

The new tree had been expensive. Zero expressed more remorse when they'd come to that realization but Gadget hadn't really cared, because it was going to be worth it, and it was a story they'd remember for a while and look back on for a good laugh.

Gadget couldn't stop thinking about that train, now. That following morning, when they had tossed the wrecked train and its mangled tracks into the garbage, Zero went on to explain how the heat applied to the tracks made them expand so much that it split apart and it became unusable. That probably wasn't exactly replicable here, on a real train that was infinitely larger than a toy, but—but he also had a flamethrower now.

He couldn't be scared anymore. He knew, from his nightmare—the walls closing in around him, and a ghost of Zero telling him to stop running—that it was time to stop. He couldn't flee anymore; he needed to give chase.

Even if this didn't work, at least he could say he tried. Because, frankly, they were running out of time and he was tired of waiting for someone else to save him.

The rooftops of the train cars were thankfully flat enough to run across. As Gadget picked up speed, he focused on his feet, partially because he needed to maintain balance, partially because it was easier to look at the solid, yellow boxes beneath him over anywhere else, where the idea of plummeting to death in a bottomless chasm could pierce his thoughts and send him into a panicked spiral.

The wind bit at his face rabidly, but he wasn't deterred. Every time he reached the front of the next car, he had to make a leap of faith to the next, and there was a small part of him that felt like it died with each jump from the raging adrenaline that coursed over him. It wasn't until the second to last car that he slipped and careened to the side after lunging across the gap. He grasped helplessly at nothing as he tumbled over the edge, before he just barely managed to snag ahold of the roof.

"Fuck," he spat out, heart thundering in his chest and wind burning in his eyes as he sunk his claws against the grooves of the metal, trying his damnedest not to think about how he was dangling over a bottomless pit. He attempted to pull himself up but the velocity pushed back at him. "No, no, come on!"

Enough rationality peaked through the cloud of terror fogging up his insides for him to remember all the tools at his disposal. Reluctantly, he placed his faith in his right hand as he relinquished his left's grip to fiddle with the contraption on his wrist. He used his teeth to gnaw carefully at the buttons, until the grappling hook fired, and it latched onto the front of the furthermost car.

Okay. Okay. This was good, this was fine. He took a few quick breaths to amp himself up before releasing his other hand's hold. Immediately, Gadget began to freefall, and his heart stopped entirely as he began to gravely regret trusting the grappling hook.

Against his shut eyes, he almost didn't notice the tug at his wrist a moment later. He cracked them open in horror after some deliberation, and cool relief flooded him to discover a taut wire tethering him to the train, as he was dragged alongside in midair.

Thank Chaos.

With careful, deliberate movements, he started to climb along the rope, concentrating solely on his destination and nothing else. When he got close enough to the hook, still driven against the front of the train car, he was able to hoist himself up. He released a long, trembling breath, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. The train engine was right before him; he was close. Upon casting a quick glance back to the caboose, the others were much harder to discern from so far away, but he could see them still tousling with a few buzz bombers while still trying to break the coupler.

If anything, he appreciated that the buzz bombers hadn't noticed him slip away from the others—he just hoped they'd be able to hold their own for a little longer. Gadget clenched his fists and turned back to the task ahead of him, knowing it wouldn't do much good to dwell and worry.

He wasn't entirely sure what to do from here, but they were running out of time and he needed to make a decision quickly. The top of the train engine was tall enough that he couldn't just jump to it, but he needed to get to the very front somehow. Another idea came to mind, and his heart twinged with panic at the thought of a repeat with his brush with death not moments ago, but he knew, reluctantly but surely, that he had to try.

Gadget threw himself over the side of the train car, a scream dying in his throat from the way his blood burned under his skin, and he instantly made to launch his grappling hook yet again. Miraculously, he was still breathing, and the hook grabbed steadfastly to the face of the train engine. With the momentum from leaping into the air and tugging on the wire, he swung around and landed against the face of the engine.

Slowly, despite the wind resistance that slammed harshly against him, Gadget was able to reorient himself so his back was plastered to the train engine, giving him a front row seat to this disaster. If he weren't being eaten alive by anxiety, he might have laughed at his circumstances. Staring ahead and seeing the tracks running out was enough to make him feels sick, though, so he could only manage a grimace against his trembles. They were moving way too fast, and they were going to rocket right off the edge of the unfinished tracks at any moment.

His lungs felt constrained and deflated. For a brief time, all sensation was foreign to him except the raw fight or flight ricocheting around his frail body, and he felt like he'd cave in, like he was composed of brittle toothpicks and scaffolding destined to break apart. He wasn't really sure how he was still holding it together.

He shut his eyes, and the train bellowed out a deafening, shrill whistle just to spite him.


As the Egg Cerberus spat a searing laser from its jaw, Sonic grabbed his little brother and yanked him behind one of the pillars in the arena for cover. Both of the boys looked at each other with exhaustion, and in between labored breaths, Sonic said, "I think I have an idea."

Tails took the small moment of reprieve to mess with his wispon. It seemed to be overheating. "I'll take literally anything."

"Earlier, we almost had it, but it kicked me away. If you use that whip to grab its leg again, I can try to saw through it. The others can defend you and keep it busy while I'm at it."

The kit barely mulled it over before nodding, and Sonic couldn't really blame him—this fight was getting tiresome. The Cerberus was extremely formidable and it had proved so far that it wouldn't be easy to take down without concentrating a lot of fire power on one area at a time.

He told his brother to flank the mech with him, and they promptly charged around it from both angles. As they ran, Sonic hollered out to Vector and Bunnie, "Yo! You guys cover Tails!"

There wasn't really time to see if they fully acknowledged his orders. Stopping meant leaving himself out in the open to get trampled by a giant robot dog, so Sonic figured he just had to trust the process and hope Tails didn't get hurt amidst this impromptu plan.

The instant he caught sight of bright yellow snapping through the air, he sprinted for its leg. He had to swerve out of the way when the Cerberus started trying to buck away, but then Bunnie fired a few successive blasts at its hind leg to distract it. Sonic was quick to seize the opportunity, leaping into a spindash mid-run to burrow into its prone ankle.

A grating howl exploded over the coliseum as soon as he made contact, and as he slowly cut further into its leg, Sonic felt a scalding heat skim against his body. Part of it was probably the friction, and part of it the mere heat from all the inner piping and machinations within the Cerberus. It distantly reminded him of that time Shadow tried teaching him to ride his motorcycle, and Sonic burnt his leg when he accidently brushed it against the bare, metal engine. Except this time, of course, that sensation encased his entire body.

Sonic tried not to concentrate on the burning, because that wouldn't do anyone any good. The Cerberus' legs were thick, both in circumference and with all the robotic parts that composed the interior—something he hadn't really accounted for. After a few more seconds, though, Sonic burst back out into open air, and when he turned around he was pleased to see a gaping hole shot right through its ankle, raw electricity spitting out of torn circuits.

It definitely seemed to cripple the machine a little. The behemoth lost its balance and Tails pulled harder on his whip, grinning eagerly over Sonic's way, but then it reared back and the boy was thrown forward from the force, losing his grip entirely.

Without even thinking, Sonic pieced together the next steps that would follow in his head, which entailed of a gruesome image of his brother being crushed under the Cerberus' paws. The hedgehog was on his feet the moment Tails fell to the ground, looping an arm under his stomach and not stopping until they were behind cover a ways across the stadium.

The Cerberus roared irately, but it did make Sonic feel just a little better to peek around the side of the pillar and watch it struggle to walk on its lame foot.

It made him feel less better when its gaze snapped skyward, and it shot another laser from its mouth directly towards Bunnie. She tried to twist out of the way but it still caught her foot and sent her spiraling to the ground. And as the Egg Cerberus twirled to avoid a strike from Vector, it slammed its tail right into his gut, and sent him careening into debris on the other side of the coliseum.

"Chaos," Sonic muttered. He liked to keep his cool in these situations but his heart was pounding in his chest because this was going south really fast—what the hell was this thing? Slumping further behind their cover, he shook Tails' shoulders as the kit blinked his eyes tiredly. "You good, bro?"

"Ow, yeah. Just hit my head on the ground kinda hard."

He rubbed his back in commiseration. "Sorry. Just hang in there."

Sonic glanced back at their foe to see it crouching low to the ground. That thing started to protrude from its back again, seconds away from launching another storm of flames right over their heads. Instinctively, he crouched down and pushed Tails low to the ground as a precaution. He really hoped that Bunnie and Vector were going to be okay.

As he studied the machine's movements, though, something else caught his eye. From the regular entrance to the stadium Sonic thought he saw a small, red figure dashing right towards the Egg Cerberus. He wasn't really sure who or what it was because he was trying to stay hidden, but… was that Knuckles?

Once the newcomer got close enough to the Cerberus, he watched in awe as they sprung with immense force into the air and uppercut its jaw, with enough strength to send it on its back, crashing against the wall. Sonic was forced to duck behind the pillar again and cover Tails as the entire structure trembled and dust spewed across the entire area from the impact.

The Cerberus wasn't completely downed, but that person definitely did a number on it from just one punch. Sonic tried to glance over again through the debris clouding the air, but Tails beat him to it, springing elatedly to his feet and starting to run to them, too fast for Sonic to stop him.

"No shit!" he heard his brother exclaim, and with a sigh of defeat he tailed after him. "What are you doing here?"

As they got closer, Sonic made out a brawny looking guy, no one he's ever seen before, with leather gear and a red shell of sorts. He was probably an armadillo. The stranger raised his eyebrows at them. "I should ask y'all the same thing."

Tails stopped a few feet away to simply stare and laugh drily. "We're in the middle of a mission: that robot has a Chaos Emerald that we need. You're the one who deserted us, so don't play innocent."

"I needed some time to myself," the armadillo insisted, "and this seemed like the perfect place to let off some steam." He turned to look at Sonic, dawning a weird look as he furrowed his brows. "Chaos, maybe I'm going insane. Are you actually Sonic the Hedgehog? I thought you—"

"Listen guys, we don't have the time for this," Sonic cut in, locked onto the Cerberus that was rolling back onto its feet as they spoke. "I dunno who you are, but you're freakin' strong and we could really use some help right now."

Tails looked around frantically. "The others are still down? They better be okay."

"They will be." Believing otherwise wasn't going to help the situation. Sonic started to crouch into a running position as the Cerberus finished recuperating. "Now, I've got two ideas. For now, you two keep it busy, and I'm gonna try and hit it from below."

Thankfully they moved without much more argument, so Sonic blasted off once more. He took the long route, circling along the perimeter of the coliseum so the Cerberus would stay concentrated on the distractions before it would notice Sonic going in for the kill. He noticed the new guy outwardly taunting the badnik, but he was unable to actually get too close to it since the Cerberus was much more guarded after that first blow. However, Tails was able to get a few licks in with his electric whip.

When he was close enough, Sonic pushed off the ground and spun through the air, keeping his quills extra sharp as he threw himself against the machine's underbelly. He was hoping, rather desperately, that this would be its weak point—because these things always had a weak spot—but he was swiftly proven wrong as he bounced right off it with nothing but a headache and a minimal dent in its chest. Groaning to himself, Sonic rolled out of the way to avoid getting trampled.

Tails was eyeing him critically from afar as he hollered, "Is your second idea gonna be any better than that?!"

Sonic waved a hand dismissively as he struggled to his feet. His legs were shaking, and he felt riddled with aches and all sorts of cuts. The shoulder to his prosthetic burned, and he was sure that he was putting far too much strain on the tender wound, but he didn't really have another choice.

When he felt capable enough of going for attempt number two, he yelled back to the others, "Hopefully. Just keep its head low and buy me some time!"

He decidedly ignored the looks of disillusionment he was casted as he whirled around to the backside of the Cerberus, grateful that it hadn't really taken much notice to him yet. He knew they were all growing weary (except for maybe the mystery armadillo who seemed to be pretty fired up) but they couldn't stop now. Bunnie and Vector were already down for the count.

Throughout the battle, Sonic had noticed the crimson rod protruding from the back of the machine's head. Eggman was possibly remotely controlling it through that antenna, which meant it might be a good idea to break it. He'd only been avoiding it so far because he figured the Cerberus was going to make it particularly difficult to even lay a finger on its antenna.

They were running out of options, though, and Sonic couldn't afford to hesitate anymore. Tails got a good hit on its shin that made it lose its balance, and Sonic took that as his cue to leap onto the tip of the Cerberus' tail.

He trailed up its spine with unsteady footing, praying he wouldn't get bucked off, but the Cerberus still seemed highly focused on the fox and armadillo before it. Sonic picked up more speed as he ran up its back, and then scaled its neck and reached the top of its head, before homing into the rod at full force, his spines erect and razor sharp.

Something metal groaned and creaked as the antenna was knocked astray, and spurts of electricity sputtered angrily from the contraption. Sonic nearly fell off as the Cerberus suddenly seemed to lose its balance entirely, stumbling side to side.

For a moment, it seemed like maybe they'd won.

This was, unfortunately, not so. Sonic yelped as the Cerberus began to thrash around to get him off, and he dove forward, clutching onto the antenna that was now nearly snapped completely in half from his prior assault on it. The Cerberus began to charge across the stadium in a haphazard route, swerving around erratically and clearly unable to maintain stability or a sense of direction, and Sonic felt panic swell within him as he tried to formulate a plan.

His stomach burned, from where he lay flat against the top of its head, gripping the crippled rod. And at first he thought to chalk it off to an overheating robot, but there was also a reminiscent tingle at his fingertips; a familiarly exhilarating rush tumbling around in his stomach like a washing machine on hyperdrive.

The Chaos Emerald.

There was a panel bolted down right beneath him, and it struck him now that the miracle gem just had to be inside. Keeping one hand on the antenna, he started prying at the panel with his much stronger prosthetic arm. It began to give after putting up some resistance, and with just a few more seconds he could've gotten it off, but then he heard Tails shout something from behind and when he looked up he was confronted with the terrifying view a rapidly approaching wall that the Egg Cerberus was about to send them both flying into.

Heart plummeting, Sonic relinquished his hold and leapt off just in time, as the Cerberus collided and teetered into a catastrophic fall.

Its eyes continued to burn red, demonic, limbs twitching as it stared Sonic down in its prone position. Neither of them moved for a moment; the Cerberus lay unnervingly still, all hissing steam and glitches, and Sonic remained on the ground, heaving for breath and not taking his eyes off it. There was no way the Cerberus would recover, but a sharp fear still gripped him with the thought that this wasn't over yet, and he couldn't let his guard down.

A few seconds later, Tails and the armadillo caught up, and his brother helped him to his feet.

"You alright?"

Sonic blew hot air from his nostrils. "Spiffy." He looked to the newcomer expectantly. The Cerberus' optics persisted a gleaming red. "Hey, uh, punchy-guy. Wanna do some punching?"

He received a simple nod, before the armadillo rushed forward, leaping up to pummel its face until the red lights flickered out and it was left with nothing but gray, steel hues. While the armadillo finished the job, Sonic and Tails split up to go help their other friends strewn about the stadium.

Since they weren't too far away, he caught hints of conversation between Tails and Bunnie as he went to retrieve Vector, and it was an immense relief to know she was still conscious. He heard Tails promise to fix her cybernetic leg up when they got back, which was apparently almost completely incinerated from the battle. Vector was buried in some rubble, but he squinted through the dust as Sonic came to dig him out.

As he came to his senses, Sonic asked him, "You alright, big guy?"

He received only a low grumble, and ended up having to let the crocodile lean some of his weight on him. Vector could hardly keep his eyes opened, but his feet were moving; he was likely concussed, but otherwise in decent condition.

The four reconvened back at the defeated Egg Cerberus, where the armadillo was waiting for them. He was smiling at Sonic strangely, and if he didn't know any better he'd almost say he seemed a little nervous. Sonic thought back to the last time someone had looked at him in that way; the old days where society still existed and people would find him and ask him for autographs or pictures.

Was this guy some sort of fan? Or was he simply uncertain of this group? And how did Tails fit into all this, because apparently they knew each other too?

The stranger looked him over a little longer before finally speaking. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"A lotta shit hasn't gone the way it's supposed to, lately," he shrugged back.

In turn, the stranger grinned and approached him to extend a hand. Sonic took it after a beat. "I'm Mighty."

"And I'm assuming you already know you I am."

A nod. "Who's the gator?"

"Crocodile, and it's Vector," Sonic introduced in his stead, because Vector definitely wasn't capable of a cohesive conversation right now. "Apparently you've met Tails before, but that rabbit is—"

Mighty was already over by the other pair, patting her shoulder. "Bunnie, yeah. I'm from Knothole. You guys alright?"

Bunnie gave Mighty a warm smile. "Just glad you're alright, sugar."

Tails looked at him wryly. "Are you done playing lone wolf yet?"

Sonic decided to withdraw from the conversation to let them all catch up. He settled Vector onto the ground before springing up on top of the Cerberus' corpse to extract the emerald he'd had to abandon earlier. Giddiness welled up inside him as he went back to prying at the grate on its skull, wisps of its energy leaking out and rushing along his skin longingly, almost as though it had missed him. When he pulled the grate off, warm magenta light twinkled at him from beneath all the electrodes hooked up to the gem; he yanked it out and stored it in his quills for the time being, before hopping back down to rejoin the others.

Mighty was already distancing himself, looking a little remorseful. "I'm glad you're all doing alright. I just don't think I'm ready yet, is all."

Some frustration hid under Tails' features, but Bunnie nodded tiredly. "That's alright. Just stay safe, okay?"

"You too." Mighty smiled, and nodded to Sonic. "Good luck saving the world, you'll need it."

Sonic squinted back at him keenly. "Y'know, we could really use someone like you among our ranks. And it seems like the trust is already there."

Mighty faltered, firming up his features as he considered a response. "Teamwork has never been my favorite. Too many liabilities, I think. Empathy is a bitch."

"Yeah," Sonic said with a shake of the head. Something twisted up painfully inside him. Part of him wanted to refute, but part of him couldn't get the words out. "I understand."

Mighty turned and left, and Tails shot his brother a scornful look. "What happened to your wise words about the power of friendship?"

Sonic moved to help Vector back onto his feet as they all began to take their leave back to the Tornado outside, and ignored the burn at the back of his throat. He didn't know how to say that telling Mighty otherwise would've only felt hypocritical.


Gadget had never been well acquainted with the concept of security. The manner of his life resembled something closer to that of an endless chasm, with no end in sight, in which he was hurtling downwards at breakneck speeds. He was spinning out of control, coming undone, as each second passed him by and he was helpless to do anything to stop it.

Leaning against the footboard of his bed at three in the morning, curled into himself and keeping his knees up over his face to muffle his sobs and moans so as not to awaken his boyfriend, wasn't entirely out of the ordinary for this reason. If he was well acquainted with anything, it was anxiety attacks.

This time, however, it seemed he wasn't quiet enough, and unfortunately he roused Zero. If he weren't so busy trying to remember how to breathe, he would've felt more guilty; the guilt could wait, though.

He felt a warm hand slide over the back of his neck and grasp his shoulder tenderly. A furry body made itself known at his side, as another hand nudged Gadget's chin to look at him and find those mismatched eyes gazing at him through tears.

Zero furrowed his brows. "Take a deep breath," he said. "Here, I'll do it with you. In—one, two, out—one, two. In… out."

They repeated this together until Gadget was better synchronized with him, and he wasn't shaking so harshly. His thoughts started to clear up, and he became more cognizant of the floor beneath him, the bed at his back, Zero beside him, the ringing in his ears. His heart was unsteady, thunderous, aching against his ribcage.

Gadget slowly tipped his head down to lean his forehead into the crook of Zero's neck.

"You wanna talk about it?"

It took him a few moments to collect his words. He knew Zero wasn't bothered by it. "I haven't talked to my parents in months. They don't know how bad my grades have gotten, and now—? Now I'm supposed to visit them for the weekend and tell them I wanna switch majors?"

Zero combed his claws through Gadget's scalp; they felt gentle, deliberately stroking his fur but withholding from digging any deeper. Zero was always considerate like that, excessively attentive. Too much for his own good, Gadget thought. "They'll understand."

"I've wasted so much of their time and money," he pressed on, despite himself. He felt fresh moisture welling up in his eyes just talking about it. "And they're gonna be so disappointed that I won't continue the family business."

"But it doesn't matter what they think, at the end of the day," Zero said. "It doesn't matter what they think. You can't force yourself into a life of appeasement when it'll only make you miserable. Plus, you're gonna make some fat stacks once you become the smartest doctor in the world someday."

That last comment managed to elicit a smile from Gadget, despite himself, and he giggled wetly and shoved against Zero's chest. "Shut up."

He reveled in the warmth of Zero's body, the heaves of his torso as he laughed back, the rumble of his voice in his throat. But then the jackal had him sit up, so they could look at each other. Zero caressed his cheek to swipe away some tears, staring at him resolutely. Yellow and blue, loud against the dim room.

"I'm serious, though. You're one of the bravest people I've ever met, Gadget. You just need to trust yourself. I know you're going to do amazing things."


His gloves were nearly soaked through with sweat, and yet he felt frozen to the front of the train engine. Even though his muscles were locked firmly on the wispon in his hands, it was like he had forsaken control of his body, overcome entirely by fear, unable to move. His fingers trembled over the trigger.

Gadget closed his eyes against the wind biting against his face, and he thought of Christmas, and Zero, and bravery. And he smiled, just to himself, thankful—thankful that the man he loved gave him the key to fixing this.

Heat expanded metal.

Without wasting another second, Gadget thrusted the wispon in front of him and activated it, flames instantly spewing from its barrel. The residual heat skimmed against his body, but it was a balm from the wind, soothing, reassuring. He could already feel the platform under his feet warming up, and to his delight, the train began to screech against the tracks from the friction.

The end of the bridge was still nearing at a dangerous pace, though, and even if this was able to slow the train it didn't look like it would be enough. He just needed more time—

A flash of light beamed over him from atop the engine, and Gadget tentatively looked up while maintaining his hold on the wispon, relieved to be greeted by Shadow. The hedgehog nodded to him, before leaping down and grabbing his arm. In another flash they were suddenly standing on the caboose again. Gadget stumbled forward, stray rivulets of Chaos Energy streaming over him in pinpricks as he regained his bearings from the teleportation. He definitely wasn't used to that yet.

Amy and Antoine looked him over as Gadget returned a look of confusion, because they were still speeding towards their deaths with what seemed to be no solution. However, as a few more moments ticked by, the caboose seemed to slow significantly faster than the rest of the train.

"We managed to break it off," Amy told him, before turning her attention to Shadow—who, although Gadget hadn't noticed until now, was looking particularly drained. "We need to go. Can you Chaos Control the entire car?"

Shadow clutched his temples, before kneeling down to press his palm against the roof of the caboose. Sparks of golden light hissed from his fingertips like a spitting flame. "I don't have any other choice."

Amy knelt beside him, placing her hand over his. When Shadow looked to her questioningly, she gave him a look of affirmation. "I can help."

Up ahead, crumbling and squealing metal drew all of their attention. Gadget felt frost wash over him as the train engine finally reached its end and drove straight off the unfinished tracks, diving down into the canyon below. The train cars behind it were quick to follow suit, and although the caboose was now detached, it still had a lot of momentum and was bound to chase after them in just a few more seconds.

"Now!" Amy exclaimed, returning everyone's focus to her and Shadow. Uncertainly, Gadget lowered himself against the roof and Antoine did as well.

Shadow squeezed his eyes shut, muttering, "Hold on."

In unison, the Chaos users cried out the magic words, and Gadget was nearly blinded by the scalding energy that washed over them all in a tidal wave. It felt like death, all-encompassing, his body too brittle against the resolve of the raw energy surging past them and through them in every direction. He was shrinking, melting, warping, and he could only see iridescence and nothing and everything.

And a moment later, it was over, and Gadget was greeted with the smell of damp earth and yawning flora. He opened his eyes, and they were mere feet away from the entrance to Knothole, all huddled together against the roof of a train car looking a little worse for wear. Shadow looked to be on the verge of passing out.

Sally came right out, a few other Knothole residents on her heels, all of them dawning varying degrees of surprise on their faces at the large metal box before them. Antoine grinned wildly at them, the first to slide down onto the ground.

"It was a success!" he announced unabashedly. "We cut it quite close, but the emerald is just inside there!"

Everyone else rejoiced together, while Gadget, Amy, and Shadow all started to hop down onto solid ground as well. Gadget saw Shadow make his way to Sally, talking in a low, concerned voice—he was probably asking about Sonic's group, whom Gadget frankly wanted to know the status of too.

Sally said something softly back to Shadow, before turning to the other three, who she'd come to notice were watching her with similar worry. Raising her voice, she repeated to them, "They're still not back yet. Hopefully they will be soon."

Antoine fidgeted with his gloves, and Gadget winced as he thought about the panic he must have been warring with over whether his wife was even alive. The other two didn't look much better off, but Antoine insisted, slightly more withdrawn this time, "No use in us dwelling on bad thoughts, now. Let us crack open this train car and acquire our prize!"

With that, everyone got to work trying to pry open the doors. A few people headed back into the town to look for any crowbars or other tools that could help. Gadget lingered behind, and found himself glancing over at Amy. She leveled him with an unreadable look in her eyes.

"Hey, uh, good job back there," he appraised.

She almost looked sad, unable to respond for a minute. He half-expected her to explode on him, tell him to leave and never show his face around here again. And if she were to do that, he wouldn't even blame her.

In the end, she didn't, though; just looked at him morosely. "You too. Look, I know we didn't start off on the best terms, but I don't hate you or anything like that. I was just… apprehensive, given your history with Infinite."

"It's okay," he said. "I understand it was probably hard for you to learn that. And… I probably should've handled such sensitive information more maturely, instead of just blurting it out in front of everyone and expecting acceptance."

Amy clenched her jaw, looking unsure as to how to respond. She bit her lip. "You know, that was some quick thinking back there. We might not have had enough time if you hadn't slowed down the train."

He shrugged her off. "It was really kind of a dumb idea, I just wanted to do whatever I could to help."

But she was apparently intent on not letting him deflect anymore, as she gave him a look and smirked almost playfully just before she turned to leave.

"You put yourself down too much, buddy. You should try confidence for a change, because I think you might actually have some really good ideas in that head of yours."

Gadget swallowed the knot in his throat as he watched her amble back into town. For the first time in a long time, his heart was calm, and he felt a sensation foreign to him seize him up, that felt unnervingly right, like a missing puzzle piece that had found its way back to him. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he thought maybe if Zero were there now, he'd say something like, I knew you had it in you.


if you've made it this far and you still care about this fic then i love you and thank u for the support :') i honestly can't promise when next update will be, but we're nearing the climax and i'm still too stubborn to give up just yet. please r&r if u can!