Chapter 7 – A New Squad in Town

Clay's POV, 5:34 pm

I wasn't sure how long the ride took until I woke up. As I opened my eyes, I knew that I had a good sleep. It was one of those times that I didn't have any nightmare.

I heard noises. Sounds like Sebastian is rapping.

"Baby yeah, yeah that's if you take me a freak
I'm not sure I'm cracy crazy in love
Really know the deal is if it's cool running
Is you say I still love-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" screamed Bubblegum. "I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS RAP CRAP!"

"Well, this one rhymes…" said Emerald.

"Want me to come up with another one?" said Sebastian.

"NO WAY!" snarled Bubblegum.

"Quiet!" snarled Richard. "I thought I told you to not make such a fuss."

"Sorry…" said Mecha monotonously.

Peeking from behind the seats, I looked through the window. We were somewhere in the middle of an ocean and getting closer to gigantic rocky cliffs. The sky was fully black with the moon shining in the middle.

Again, I bit my lip in resistance to howl. It was a long time ever since I saw the moon.

"It must have been a long flight," I thought. "Good thing that I slept through it."

The shuttle was close the cliff and then something opened. The wall seemed to move, showing that there was an entrance. The plane got though the entrance and landed inside with the cliff, the entrance closing with a loud think.

Inside was a large warehouse with many fighter planes. There were also more shuttles that came in different shapes and sizes. There were a lot of crates scattered everywhere and many people dressed in army clothes; mostly black, red, camouflage and olive green.

The plane came to a halt. The door opened and I quickly hid under the seats.

"Let's go out," said Richard. "The Resistance leaders would like to meet you."

From my hiding spot, I saw them going out of the door and went down a long hallway. The door started to close, so I quickly got out and hid behind a couple of crates, even though I know that people might see me.

I looked around to see those soldiers talking to each other. For some reason, this reminded me of how I used to interact with my brother. I was all by myself. There was no one else. My mind started to remember about the tragedy of losing my brother. If I didn't cowardly run away, my brother would still be with me. I felt so alone and bluer. The darkness continued to buzz me in my right hand and it stayed right there.

I looked down and did a sad sigh. At this, I saw my left arm still covered in worn-out bandages. I hadn't take them off yet. I decided to and when I did, I caught the sight of something new I; three peach scars near my shoulder. I swallowed my guilt and walked off.


Third Person's POV

The pressure was still on for the past 6 months. The leaders of the Resistance – Knuckles, Silver, Amy Rose and the Chaotix – did all they could to combat Eggman's forces. Even though they managed to save a lot of people, the threat of Eggman and Infinite was far from over. While they mourned for Sonic, they had to continue the fight on their own.

"Eggman's army is unstoppable!" said Vector as he entered the meeting room. "Without Sonic, the people are losing hope and giving into despair. There is no way we'll get any new recruits this way."

"Despair is a luxury we don't have," said Silver.

"I still dream that Sonic is with us," said Amy. "Do you think he might be…?"

"I'm an optimist, but I'm also a realist. Sonic is gone, Amy. And Tails is…Tails has just lost it. He took Sonic's death the hardest. If we're going to win, we have to do it without them."

"Silver is right," said Espio. "We've been hoping for a miracle these past six months, but I'm afraid we have to make our own miracle."

"Eggman's army has everyone terrified. If we want the people to rally, we have to show them that strength doesn't just come from numbers. Victory will not be determined only by brute force. We must teach Eggman this lesson."

"Not everyone is terrified," pointed out Charmy. "Wasn't there supposed to be someone here today?"

"Yes. A group of young teens from Australia…according to Richard and Mic."

"I'm accessing their files now," said Amy as she set up the computer to bring up the new recruits' ID. The first two IDs appeared on the board, showing the pictures of Emerald and Sebastian; both of them were smiling.

"One of them is named Emerald Stone. Age thirteen. Female. People sees her as one of the town's idiots."

"Well that's just useful," said Vector.

"But she's pretty agile and has a good supply of stamina. The other one is Sebastian Von Tsunami. He's male and fourteen…and he's a ninja. Richard said that he brought along two katanas."

"What's a katana?" said Charmy.

The screen showed the third ID with Mecha's picture; he was smirking and had his arms crossed. From that picture, he looked confident and arrogant.

"Another one is Mecha Nism," continued Amy. "He's fifteen and male. Huh. Surprisingly, he's the town expert as he conquered many fighting skills. His IQ is 300. Good thing that he's not one of the Babylonians."

"He looks like Jet," pointed out Vector. "That blue bird must be pretty haughty."

"Let's just hope that he takes things seriously."

The last ID appeared on the monitor. The picture of Bubblegum was revealed; she had her arms behind her back, frowning. She looked pretty nervous and in a gritty mood.

"Lastly, it's Beth Lehem or to be called 'Bubblegum'. She's fourteen and female. She used to be a police cop before the war."

"That girl looks pretty fierce," said Silver, looking at the image.

"So shady like Rouge."

At this, the door on the side wall opened to reveal a red echidna.

"Knuckles!" said Silver. "Any news, Commander?"

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," said Knuckles. "There have been a lot of battle reports coming in. It took a while to sort through them. Eggman's forces have chewed through our defenses at Green Hill and that small group of G.U.N. soldiers found whatever it is that finished Sonic…"

Knuckles trailed off, noticing the tense in the room.

"Sorry," he continued. "I'm still not used to saying that. Whatever it is has got them running in fear."

At this, Richard and Mic entered with the fresh new wave of recruits behind them.

"Luckily, we got some kids who decided to join the battle. Meet our newest recruits."

Knuckles gave Bubblegum a slap on the back, but it cause her to stumble forward. Luckily, she didn't fall down. Mecha snickered at this.

"Knock it off," said Bubblegum, glaring at the bird.

"Just for show," said Richard. "Do you mind if you introduce yourselves?"

"Well, I'm Bubblegum," said Bubblegum.

"Emerald Stone," said Emerald making the peace sign.

"The quick-thinking Mecha," said Mecha smirking, causing Bubblegum to roll her eyes

"Call me Sebastian," said Sebastian, making a gangster pose.

"So, you all came here to join us?" said Amy.

"Uh huh," said Mecha.

"Yep," said Bubblegum.

"Yeah," said Sebastian.

"You know it," said Emerald. "We came here to join the Resistance and tear Eggman down!"

"By the way," said Bubblegum. "I'm sorry that Sonic is gone."

"It's alright," said Silver. "He would want us to continue to fight for him. It's what he wants."

"Besides, that's the masked monster's fault for causing all of this. He is on Eggman's side," said Amy.

"Ugh," said Bubblegum, shivering at the memory of Infinite killing her friends months ago. "You mean THAT monster? We saw him do worse. He killed a lot of people at our town and we are going to make him pay."

Everyone agreed with her.

"Wait until we take that mask off that clown," said Vector. "He has done a lot of damage already."

As Vector talk, Bubblegum noticed that Mecha was looking down in…guilt. The pink cat was about to say something to him, but decide not to interfere with him until later.

"We're depending on you guys," said Knuckles. "Let's get going, everybody. The world's not going to save itself."

Everyone agreed. However, the mood changed when you hear this.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!"

ꚙ ꚙ ꚙ

Clay's POV

I sneaked through the hallway, walking through large crowds of soldiers. There were so many of them. They seemingly were all anthropomorphic animals just like me. There were barely any humans. To my surprise, half of them didn't look like a day over fifteen, so they seemed to be as young as me. Even more confusing; there were those strange little colorful aliens flying around in the hallways, some of them were chasing with each other or next to some of the soldiers. They nearly looked like flying squids.

"But why?" I thought. "Yes, I am too young. But all of those soldiers look like teens. Why did they join?"

"Because they are selfish, Clay," said a stupid voice in my head. "Because it's all about money, little boy. They just want to earn money and fame by becoming 'awesome heroes'."

Shrugging that thought off, I found my way to the meeting room, but I hid behind the door. I watched as those four talked with the leaders there. To my surprise, I recognized some of the leaders as Sonic's friends from his adventures.

"Should I go up or should I just stay in my spot?" I thought.

I tried to go in, but…something caused me to resist.

"Dang it. If…if only I wasn't so shy, maybe…maybe I might get a chance to-"

I was snapped out from my thought when something touched my shoulder. I looked on the side and saw this.

A person wearing some kind of Freddy-bear mask.

"SSSSSCCRREEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!"

I screamed and fell down onto the floor as I saw the bear mask opened its mechanical lips wide and let out a demonic child-like scream.

THUD!

"OW!"

Crap.

At this, almost everyone in the meeting room saw at me.

Great. I was spotted.

All of a sudden, I heard laughing. I looked at the figure wearing that stupid mask who took it off. It was a male black bird with dark brown eyes, have a hairstyle that is similar to Mecha's and have white tips/stripes on his hair, tail, arms and legs. He was wearing a dark green military beret with a yellow Resistance symbol on the side, black rimmed glasses, a forest green vest, dark green gloves and green/black boots. On his shoulder was a small Chao wearing a small yellow cap.

And oh, he got a group behind him.

They exploded with laughter when they heard my scream, nearly giggling like a group of school girls.. How I screamed was more like a whining puppy than a wolf. And there was nothing I could do about it. I guessed THAT was how it felt like to be humiliated.

However, the black bird wasn't that mean.

"Sorry kid," he said, reaching his hand out to help me get up. "I didn't know that you are new here."

"Chao!" said his Chao.

I wanted to kick his groin so hard, but I didn't. That would only make things worse. I just only gave him a look of disappointment and stood up without his help. The Chao came over to check on me, but I waved my hand politely as if saying 'I'm fine'.

"Who's this?" said Knuckles.

Double crap.

"It's that wolf we saw back at our town," said Bubblegum.

"Ooooohhh!" said Emerald cheerfully.

She came up to me and grabbed me in a bunny hug (like a bear hug, but in a bunny way). "I'm happy to see you again. I never thought you came along. Is there something you want to say?"

I just remained silent, my cheeks turning red. I looked up to see Bubblegum heartily chuckling a bit. Sebastian looked confused. Mecha looked disgusted.

As I broke away from the hug, Silver said, "Did you bring this guy as well?"

"What?" said Richard. "I swear. I didn't see him when we first got to that town."

"You must have sneaked onto our shuttle, did you?" said Mic, raising his eye.

I nodded shamefully.

"So…" said Knuckles. "Why did you came here for kid?"

I opened my mouth. "I…I…ah…"

I was…loss for words.

I was screaming in my mind to say something. After a few seconds, I blurted out this:

"I was thinking of joining the Resistance."

Beat.

"OK," said Amy awkwardly.

Inside, I was slapping myself.

"Really?" said Sebastian, crossing his arms. "Dude. Are you that strong?"

Charmy flew over to look at me.

"Doesn't look like much," he said.

I blushed.

"Neither do you Charmy," said Knuckles. "But I still manage to find a use for your pointy butt."

The bee chuckled at this. I rolled my eyes at the joke.

"Say," he said. "What's your name, kid?"

"I…" I struggled to say. "…I…I…I…I…I…"

Wow. So many 'I's, Clay.

"I…I don't have a…n-name…"

Bubblegum raised an eye suspiciously.

Mecha crossed his arms, tilting his head.

Knuckles shrugged. "Oh well then. If that's the case, we might as well call you 'Rookie'. Is that fine?"

Rookie…

Hmm. That's a good name.

"Tch," tutted Mecha. "What a nice name for a weakling."

"You know we're rookies as well," said Bubblegum deadpanned.

"Alright then," said Richard. "We will take you to where you will be staying at the Resistance HQ. Then, you may go to the training room for some quick training."

"You may be dismissed," said Knuckles.


Bubblegum's POV

At this, Richard went off with us following along. So far, it was alright besides the fact of Mecha's cold criticism and Sebastian's stupid rap.

The thing that kind of bothered me was…uh…'Rookie'. Whatever he would be called, I knew something seemed…strange about that turquoise wolf.

As we walked through the hallway, I glanced behind to see Rookie behind me, just staring at nothing. But when he noticed that I was looking at him, he turned his head.

I ignored him.

However, I looked behind to see Rookie staring at me.

I was feeling a bit annoyed.

"What is it?" I said. "If there's anything you want to say, then spit it out."

Embarrassed, Rookie snapped out of his stare and blushed.

"Oh!" he said. "S-sorry. I was just…uh…I…"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Stupid..."

That wolf was pretty strange indeed.

But…what was his real name?

That was when I stopped. I turned around and faced Rookie, much to his surprise.

"Excuse me for a moment," I said. "Do you ACTUALLY don't have a name?"

Rookie stayed quiet. He looked…nervous. He just stood there like a statue, not making a sound. Not going to lie, I felt a bit nervous. This was a bit awkward. At that moment, I realized that was how Cassie felt when we first met.

"I uh…" he muttered. "I guess not…why do you want to know?"

I looked away. "I-it's not like I'm interested or anything…I'm just curious."

The turquoise wolf huffed. "I-I thought I already told you lot. I don't have a name."

I gave me a look. "You're not playing a joke, are you?"

Rookie just looked down. At this, his golden eyes flashed…yellow again before turning back to gold. Catching a glimpse at his rings, I saw that his rings were glowing yellow like his eyes. I sighed. At this moment, there was no way of getting around that guy.

"OK then," I said, turning around. "If you want to be called Rookie, then I'll be your guest."

I heard an audible sigh from Rookie.

Leaving our bags at the bunk rooms, we went to the training room with Richard leaving us to do something else. When we got there, I noticed that the training room was a huge warehouse filled with targets and crates around. There were punching bags and weights lying on the ground. And speaking of those things, when Rookie saw them, he growled through his teeth.

Not a fan of workout, huh?

Besides, there were many people in this room either training or just messing around. And if any proof that there were accidents in here, there were burnt marks on the walls, ceiling and floor.

"More like a break room instead of a training room," I thought.

We all lined up next to each other with that black bird – the guy who freaked Rookie out – teaching us how to work as a team. Behind him was his group who were watching the session.

I noticed something.

"Wait a minute," I thought, looking around. "Where is Emerald?"

That question slipped away from my mind when the black bird started to speak.

"OK, you little fellas. My name's Ash; the leader of Yellow Squad. You're all here to train to stop Eggman, right? Good to hear that. For now onward, your team will be called…'Black Squad'. Nice ring to it, huh?"

That was a good name, but…

"Emerald won't think it's a good name," I said, under my breath.

"Eggman's gonna send a lot of robots after you. I'm talking hard boys, real killing machine. The world is on the brink of doom soon. Can you fight them all off at once? Can you be strong? Ruthless? Disciplined? Determined?"

"Geez," said Mecha irritated. "No pressure or anything."

"SILENCE!" exclaimed Ash, causing Mecha to yelp in surprise. "I'm going to train all of you like your lives depended on it! Trust me. You're going to need it. We need more squads in our army as some of them NEVER return and with them gone…you seem to be our new hope."

I gulped.

"Sorry!" said Emerald's voice. "I had to do something!"

We all looked behind to see Emerald, dressed in something different. Instead of her normally bright wardrobe, she was wearing a blue spy tech ear piece, a military blue jacket, a white collared shirt, a utility belt, a tan skirt and military yellow boots. She still wore her gloves and ripped jeans.

That was something I hardly think Emerald would wear.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming,

"Sorry," she said. "I thought that my clothes look a bit different to the Resistance, so I decided to borrow some of their gear."

"If I be honest," I said. "I think you look fine."

"Preferred the yellow jacket though," said Mecha quietly.

"OK then," said Ash shrugging. He gestured one of his teammates – a white tiger – to come over, carrying a box of something inside. "Now…each of you will be given a specific Wispon."

"Are we supposed to know what a 'Wispon' is?" said Sebastian.

"I'll spell it out for you. W. I. S. P…uh…'on'. These weapons are powered by an energy source called 'Hyper Go-On' energy that comes from these guys; the Wisps. They are little creatures that have color powers. Each of these babies have a unique ability. Remember, if there isn't a Wisp in your Wispons, you won't have power. Let's start with some random ones."

The tiger threw five Wispons at us. Mecha got a yellow cone-shaped Wispon that resembled a drill. Sebastian got a green Wispon that resembled large and small balls bundled together with a dark green handle. Emerald got a teal blaster gun – the same one like Mic's. Rookie got a turquoise blaster gun; it had an alien-like body with a black handle on the back. For me, I got a pink Wispon in the shape of a ball with spikes on the sides.

"You," said Ash, pointing to me. "Yours is a Pink Spike Wispon. It can shoot out solid pink energy balls with spikes covering them. These can be use as spinning saw-blades."

"Wow," I said. "For real?"

"Try it on those dummies over there!"

Ash moved out to reveal that behind him was a few circular targets.

"Huh," I said stepping forward, threw my Wispon in the air, watching it spin before catching it as it fall. "This look easy."

For those who don't know me well, don't worry about me. I played shooting games, so I know how to shoot properly. I got this. I raised my weapon and shot the targets with no sweat. The large energy balls flew through the air with impressive pink tails.

SAW! SAW! SAW!

Ash pressed a button that activated moving targets. They were cube-shaped and really fast. I was able to hit every last one of them easily.

Rookie's mouth was agape seeing this. Sebastian and Emerald cheered.

"Wow-wee!" said Emerald. "Good shot!"

"That's so sick, dude!" said Sebastian.

Mecha just clapped his hands politely, but didn't smile. "I'll admit you're good with firearms."

Honestly, I didn't really care about their praises.

I just shrugged. "Eh. Almost anyone can do that."

Ash nodded. "Well, she's quite a gal!"

My muzzle turned red. "W-what did you say?"

"I said that you are quite a gal! A babe as good as you can shoot like that!"

OK. That sounded really disgusting.

I looked away, annoyed. "Shut up, dummy. It's not like I did it to make myself look good or anything!"

As I made back to my group, Ash turned his attention to Sebastian. "Skull, the Wispon you wield is a Green Hover Wispon. It can make shock-waves at a wide range which can take out many enemies in one shot."

"Nice," said Sebastian, before coming up with an idea. He pressed the barrel of the weapon on the ground. "What happen if I do THIS?"

"Wait! No!" said Ash.

Too late.

RUMBLE!

The impact of the Wispon was effective. As a result of its loud and strong shock-wave, it caused the whole room to shake. Just like a very strong earthquake. Fortunately, we didn't all fall down and it was just a slight tremor.

That idiot…

"Meh," said Ash, adjusting his specs. "I guess that counts."

He came up Emerald. "Your Wispon is White Boost Wispon. It can shoot out blue energy beams, so it's like a gun. Try it on this target!"

Oh boy…

"OK!" said Emerald as she saw the faraway target hanging on the wall. "Let's go!"

She started to shoot rapidly, but she kept missing the target. The bright beams of energy just hit the wall around the target, leaving burnt marks.

Missed.

Missed.

Missed.

Missed.

Missed.

Missed.

Missed.

Missed an INFINITY TIMES!

"Your aiming sucks!" crowed Mecha, exploding into laughter.

Ash face palmed himself.

"I forgot," I said, shaking my head. "She can't aim properly."

"Ugh…" said Ash, taking a different Wispon as Emerald head back to her spot. He took out what must be a cube-shaped blue hammer with a yellow face and a black handle. He swapped it with the blaster.

"What's this?" said Emerald.

"This is the Blue Cube Wispon," said Ash. "A mighty hammer I say."

"What does this do?"

"You can use this like how you swing a sledgehammer, but when you slam it onto the ground, it will trap anyone nearby into blue blocks."

"Like this?" said Emerald, raising the hammer in the air.

"Wait!"

WHAM!

She slam it onto the ground, causing a blue shock wave around us. At the same time, I felt something trapping me. I couldn't move. Everything looked blue. I heard Mecha laughing out loud. Until…

WHAM!

A blue block – in which Emerald must have accidentally made – fell from the ceiling and crashed into Mecha's head. He fell on the ground in pain, cursing.

"Too late," said Ash.

Emerald screamed. Using the hammer, she quickly broke off the cube I was trapped in.

"Oh my gosh!" she said. "I'm sorry, Bubblegum."

I glared at her.

"Better know where you use that stupid thing, idiot," I muttered.

Ash went up to Mecha who got up. "Goggles."

"The name's Mecha," said the turquoise bird.

"Your Wispon is a Yellow Drill Wispon. This allows you to pierce through enemies and spiralling you forward to destroy obstacles in front of you. You will be able to climb up walls when using it in great speed. Let's try on moving targets."

Ash pressed the button again activating the moving targets. With a smirk on his face, Mecha dashed forward using his weapon. He was speeding forwards with yellow streaks dancing around his entire body. In one speed run and direction, he wiped out a line of targets. He noticed that there were a few targets soaring through the air. Knowing that there were still some targets on the ground, he threw the Wispon at a wall which bounced off and drilled through the flying targets all while he attacked the moving targets on the ground using karate moves – mostly roundhouse kicks.

When it was all over, he raised his hand in the air and caught his Wispon without looking. He turned around smugly.

"Mech no mistake," he said.

I was really shocked at what I saw. He instantly become an expert of using Wispons. Ash – on the other hand – looked unimpressed.

"Eh…" he said. "Mediocre."

"WHAT?!" shouted Mecha.

I bit my lip.

Ignoring Mecha, Ash went up to Rookie. "Headphones, yours is a Cyan Laser Wispon. It can shoot long beams of energy. This one can shoot a continuity laser when you press on the trigger."

"OK…" said Rookie.

"Try it on these targets."

Rookie looked up to see that he activated some moving targets. He looked at the Wispon. Again, he looked nervous.

His eyes flashed yellow again.

"Bloody hell," he said as he aimed at one of the targets and pressed the trigger.

ZAP!

Rookie nearly fell down as a laser shot out from barrel. It successfully hit the target.

He sighed in relief.

He seemed to be getting used in getting the hang of this.

He continued to shoot many of the targets, even though it took longer and he was doing this slowly, gradually speeding up. Finally, he managed to shoot all the targets without missing one.

Coming up with an idea, Rookie pointed his Wispon into the air and fired a laser at the ceiling. With his finger still pressing on the trigger, he was able to draw a triangle shape on the ceiling, resembled by the burnt marks of the laser.

"Welp," said Ash. "That's some cool art."

I heard Emerald and Sebastian cheering.

"Good job, Rookie!" said Emerald.

"Nice shot!" said Sebastian.

I couldn't help but nodded approvingly.

Mecha just clapped politely.

"Congratulations," said Ash. "You passed the tutorial of Wispons. Now, feel free to use any of the facilities of the training room. Just in case, do you have any additional weapons you would like?"

"I think we're fine," said Emerald.

"I got some smoke bombs," said Mecha.

"I got some cool blades," said Sebastian. "And THIS. Look, listen and learn."

At this, his red eye started to glow, I noticed that the red lights on the sphere small drones on his belt started to glow as well. They cut themselves free from the strap and flew into the air. They all formed into one big group and hovered above the lime wolf.

I…I never seen him did THAT before.

"Whoa…" said Ash.

"H-how did…?" I said.

"This is a special ability of mine," said Sebastian, pointing to his red eye. "My right eye is actually a mechanical eye. As a bonus, I am able to control these drones with just a quick thought in mind."

No wonder why Mecha threw out Sebastian's right eye years ago.

As an example, he telepathically controlled one of the drones to fire a laser.

"That's going to be useful for the war," said Ash before walking off. "And so awesome."

"Thank you," said Sebastian as his drones made a beeline back onto his belt.

I looked to the side to see Richard coming in with Mic following behind him.

"Well it looks like you ARE true fighters," he said. "Happy that you're ready."

Upon seeing Richard, I put my hands behind my back nervously.

"Ah," said Emerald. "You again. Richard Berlin."

"Yes," he said. He paused for a moment. "So…I'm just curious. Is there a reason why you decided to join?"

The memory of that masked monster killing my friends came to me.

I gave him a sad look. "I decided to join because I wanted to avenge my friends. They were killed at the start."

"Oh my," said Mic. "I'm so sorry."

"It's…it's OK. I'm used to it."

Mecha sighed. "I thought that I might be useful if I joined."

"Sebastian and I are just tagging along with them," said Emerald.

Mic looked at Rookie. "What about you?"

Rookie just shrugged sadly, not saying a word. His eyes flashed yellow.

"You do know that Eggman is going to make it super hard," said Richard. "Right?"

"Well I say: BRING IT ON, Eggman!" said Emerald, raising her fists up and had a smirk on her face.

"Heh. Don't be too overconfident, girl. You know that…his army is quite pundit and oracle."

"Ya think?" said Mecha.

"Still, that madman is an inventor of monsters and he already created the masked one. With Infinite, their army is UNSTOPPABLE. It already cost a lot of lives and we tried to make it worth it. Without Sonic, none of us would be anywhere."

Oh. So that was what they called that masked monster. Infinite.

"We just have to believe we can achieve the possible," said Emerald. "What's worse than a worldwide, full-blown war?"

Richard sighed. "It's just that…ever since you join the Resistance, I noticed that there is some tension between all of you guys. All of your hands are tied to each other and…working with each other is the key to success. Teamwork makes the dream work."

"So…what's your point?" Rookie said nervously.

"Well…back at that bunker after we asked for volunteers, you guys were brave enough to step in front of the crowd and showed them what you were made of. However, I saw that there's a bit of a…slight feud between cats and birds."

Hearing this, I timidly sighed. Mecha just rolled his eyes. Emerald looked pretty concerned as she looked at me and then at Mecha.

Kill me already for that stupid rivalry.

"If you two are going to argue, there's no time for that. Just…stay on the good side."

At this, Richard left.

I sighed. This would be harder than I thought. I heard Rookie saying something.

"Not only am I supposed to work with a group of strangers," Rookie whispered. "But now I'm with a team who can't learn to work with each other…or so I thought. How am I going to-?"

"Hey there!" said a sudden voice.

"WAH!" he screamed, turning around and fired his Wispon.

One could hear this;

BANG!

"AAAARRRGGGHH! My dumping balls!"

Rookie stared in horror as the person he accidently shot at laid onto the floor and held onto his groin. And get this; Rookie SHOT him in the groin.

"OHMYGOSHIAMSOSORRY!" Rookie said nervously.

"Nice shot!" said Mecha and Sebastian, liking what he did.

I face palmed. "You idiot."

"It's…it's fine…" said that person.

As he got up, I was relieved that there was no burnt mark or laser hole on the groin. Guess it was just a minor harmless shot. Only painful.

I took a good look at the person. It was a male dark grey wolf with red eyes and wore a purple star necklace, a dark blue short-sleeved shirt, a black bullet proof vest, black gloves, light blue pants and red and grey shoes.

Behind him was another dark grey wolf; except she was female and have hazel brown eyes. She wore a black helmet, a black visor with a white headset connected to it, a black and white jumpsuit, dark blue gloves, a blue utility belt and dark blue boots.

"Oh um…" said the female wolf. "Hi there."

"Anyway," said the male wolf rubbing his temples. "You're the new squad here. Are you? Bubblegum, Emerald, Mecha, Sebastian and Rookie?"

"Uh-huh," said Sebastian. "Fresh from Australia."

"Who are you?" Rookie asked.

"Oh," said the male wolf. "My name's Shark. Leader of Sapphire Squad. Next to me is Genesis."

"My friends call me Gen," said Genesis.

"Where's the rest of your squad?" I asked.

"It's just the three of us," said Shark shrugging.

"Three?"

All of a sudden, I felt somebody touching my shoulders.

"And here's the third person!" said a voice. "Name's Alexia."

I let out an 'eep!' and looked behind. It was a female silver rabbit with blue eyes, yellow hair that traveled through between her long ears and tied up as a ponytail from behind, and wore a dark blue helmet, pilot googles around the neck, a dark blue hoodie, army-camouflage trousers and dark blue trainers. Much to my surprise, she had a long bushy tail with a black tip like a fox.

"HEY!" I shouted. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Am I the only one seeing this?" said Emerald.

"What?" said Rookie confused.

"She…" said Mecha. "She just appeared from that spot!"

"How did she…?" I said.

"Heh," said Gen. "She has the ability to teleport anyone."

OK. What?

"Oh, right," said Shark. "Along with some of the leaders of the Resistance, some of us soldiers have some powers. Watch."

He raised his left hand, concentrated a bit and some electricity started to flare from his palm. We all looked at him in awe.

"Holy hell," I said.

"You can REALLY do that?" said Sebastian.

Shark nodded. "Yep."

"That's so cool! Where did you get those powers from?"

While Sebastian along with Mecha and Emerald started to talk with the Blue Squad, Mic tapped on my shoulder.

"Bubblegum," he said. "I want to show you something."

I nodded and followed him. He also asked Rookie to come as well. He hesitated, but agreed to do so.

He led us to another room that was filled with shelves of different weapons. In the middle were some tables with many gadgets and some of the pieces coming out from them.

"I want to give you two something I think that will help you," said Mic, picking up two silver wrist band.

"What are those?" I asked.

"They're grappling wires or guns," said Mic as he gave us one each. "I made them myself. Like grappling guns, you can use them to aim at a target and swing your way through. An attack I came up with is if you manage to connect the wire to an enemy, you can then pull yourself towards the target and land a momentum-fueled strike on it by kicking them!"

"Umm…" said Rookie. "It's fine…I don't think I want to…"

"Take it," said Mic. "I insist. You'll need it. Probably need it to trip SOME GIGANTIC ROBOTS over."

I put the band on my right wrist and Rookie did the same below his glove cuff.

"How do these things work?" I said.

"They're motion-sensory. If you can just concentrate and pose your hand in an affirmative way, you'll be able to fire the wire."

"Like this?" said Rookie, clenching his right fist.

WHISK!

At this, the wire shot out from the band and banged onto the wall. However, it was going at great speed and started to fly towards me. Just before I knew it, it started to wrap Rookie and me around. Once it stopped, we looked as if we were captives tied together in a rope.

"You idiot, Rookie!" I snarled, clearly annoyed.

"Sorry…" said Rookie, trying to retract the wire.

Rookie finally managed to retract the wire. I gave him a pointed glare.

"Let me guess," I said, turning to Mic. "Are you giving grappling guns to anyone?"

"No," said Mic. "You see. Most of the grappling guns are-"

BANG!

At this, one of the gadgets lying on the table exploded in pieces. When it settled, a black smoke could be seen pouring out from the mini wreckage.

"Pretty stupid to an extent," I said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah…" said Mic embarrassed. "Only those two are the only ones that are working properly. I'm trying to do the same with the others."

"But why do you give us these?"

"I thought you may need them. Other from that jerky bird, that quirky wolf, you two don't have any additional weapons to help you. I would have given a grappling gun for the rabbit, but…I'm hesitant to. I thought maybe if I give you something that might help, you might feel confident."

Rookie looked at him in surprise.

"Well…thank you anyway," I said, smiling before turning my head, a bit embarrassed of my gratefulness. "I mean…whatever…but…it's nice for you to give us something helpful."

"No problem!" said Mic winking, before walking off to tinker some gadgets.

Rookie and I just stood there. I looked at him.

He looked…scared.

His eyes turned yellow for a while before turning back to gold.

He just looked at his grappling gun in somewhat a sad way before walking off.

I sighed. It was pretty nice of Mic to give us those gadgets. Sure they would help us, but we didn't know what challenges I had to face.

But what could I do? I was just a mere average girl. I wasn't strong enough even though I could fight well. I was scared. Even though I had bad thoughts about myself, I REALLY didn't want to die. I feared that if I fail, I might bring everyone down. I…I just didn't know how I could be a REAL soldier.

Yes, I said before that I could do it, but…what if I couldn't?

"Maybe…" I thought sadly. "…maybe the Resistance don't need failures like me.

I bit my lip. "No. You can't think like that, Beth. You are not one. You didn't do anything wrong for the past 6 months. Just keep an eye on the real challenge."

"Even if I'm gone, I'm here for you."

I winced hearing that.

"What's the point if Addison isn't around?" I thought.

I felt like giving up.

I then remembered what my Dad said to me before.

"Can you hear me? My little Beth? I know what happened just now. I know that you are angry at yourself, but please don't be. You're broken. I am still your father, right? Do you still believe that? I know that almost everywhere you go, you feel like nothing. That is not true. I know that someday, you will grow up to become like me. I see this spark, Beth. I see this light of hope in you somewhere. But it's YOURS. I…I know that you can't hear me, but...whenever you need me, I will be there for you even when I'm gone. I can put you back together."

I remembered my father's words. That was during the time when at 8 years old, I was bullied by Mecha again. I was so angry that I yelled at my parents, resulting in having to go to my room for a time out. As I slept, I heard my father's soothing voice. That was a special memory I would never forget.

I suddenly found myself thinking back to my father. His warm, friendly eyes. His goofy laugh. His kind character.

I missed him.

"I'll try my best, Dad," I thought.

I turned around and head back to the training room.


Third Person's POV

While the rest of Black Squad continued to train, Ash and his squad were together, having a chat.

One of the members was a brown female bear with yellow eyes and wore a beret that was similar to Ash's, a brown pilot's jacket with a fluffy collar and fluffy wrist cuffs, white gloves, a tan skirt, black ripped pants and black boots.

Another was a black male dog with sky blue eyes and wore a yellow half-face racing helmet with a gold visor, a yellow bandanna, a utility belt with a strap, yellow gloves and white shoes.

Another member was a neon yellow male rabbit with green eyes and wore a black bandanna around the neck, a camouflage shirt, a black jacket, white gloves, brown pants and black shoes.

The fourth member was a purple male hedgehog with purple eyes and wore a red headband, a black vest similar to Ash's, red gloves and red sneakers.

The last one was a white tiger with mint green eyes, black stripes all over his body and wore a blue scarf, black and blue gloves, a black belt with a blue buckle and black boots.

"Man, those weeaboos are freaking scary, not going to lie," said Ash during their conservation.

"Chao!" said Ash's chao.

"Hey there!" said a voice.

They looked behind to see Emerald coming to them.

"What do you want?" growled the black dog.

"Go easy on her," said the brown bear. "She's just here to say hi."

"Chao!" said Ash's Chao again.

"So you're one of the new rookies here, huh?" said the purple hedgehog with a blank look.

"Yep," said Emerald smiling. "By the way, I haven't get to know your names yet other than Ash."

"OK then," said Ash. "Introduce yourselves, guys."

"I'm Mandy," said the brown bear.

"Jayden," said the black dog, folding his arms.

"T-Tyler," said the neon yellow rabbit nervously.

"Name's Joey," said the purple hedgehog.

"Folks call me Blizzard," said the white tiger.

"Which is NOT his real name," said Jayden.

"But they also call me the 'White Lightning'."

"Which is ALSO not his real name."

"What about that Chao?" asked Emerald.

"Just call him whatever you want," said Ash as his Chao flew onto his hat. "I haven'tn't name him yet. I was a bit too lazy, so I didn't come up with one."

"Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi," said Emerald as if she was giving each of the members a 'hi'. She sighed. "So you guys are the Yellow Squad?"

"Yep," said Ash. "One of the best in the Resistance."

"Just wondering, why did you join?"

"Well…" said Ash, scratching his back. "You see; we're a group who want to become heroes one day like Sonic, Tails, Amy Rose…it would be incredible. We all studied military armies and stuff like that. When the war happened, we heard about the Resistance, so we decided to join. What about you? What makes you want to fight as well?"

"In all honesty, I just came along to support my friend Bubblegum. I mean I'm the one who got her to join. I just thought she is good for the job. She's a police cop."

"Looks like you got a bonus!" said Blizzard.

"Two bonuses to be precise," said Emerald, holding her hands. "There's this bird named Mecha…he's this 'Know-It-All Mr Two Goody Shoes'. He's…a bully."

She immediately stopped herself, but it was too late.

The Yellow Squad looked shocked hearing this. Well, eventually.

"Huh?" said Joey deadpanned.

"Then why did he join?" said Jayden suspiciously.

"The thing is," explained Emerald. "Mecha has been a bully to me, but Bubblegum is one of his main targets. He is always smart and strong, but he isn't friendly that much. However, when I saw him raising his hand, I think that he just want to feel useful."

Jayden tutted. "Feathered fiend. What's his deal?"

Emerald tilted her head. "Lunch deal?"

Jayden face palmed.

"I think he means why Mecha is a bully in the first place?" said Mandy.

Emerald frowned. She looked behind to see Mecha and Sebastian training. Making sure they were not looking at her, she turned back and leaned forward.

"Chao?" said Ash's chao in concern.

"If you want to know the truth," she said. "Then promise me not say anything. Especially not to Mecha."


Park Avenue, America

Meanwhile in the city, Tails was trying repair E-123 Omega – a close ally to Shadow – but to no avail. There were blueprints around him to help him. Unfortunately, the robot didn't turn on.

"Hmm…" he said, fiddling with the machinery inside the broken Omega with a wrench. "That should have done it…uh, no, no…that's not it. Or is it? It's not working. It used to work, it used to…"

Despite all the efforts he put into, the robot remained off.

"I can't figure it out for you, buddy," he said. "I'm sorry I wasn't smart enough."

Unknown to the fox cub, from a sewer hole came out a strange puddle of water. It started to form into some kind of…

Tails turned around to get another tool when he was hit by a jet of water, causing him to fall down.

"Argh!" he yelped. He looked up and what he saw nearly made his heart stopped. "C-Chaos?"

The water deity didn't waste time and slammed his entire body into the poor fox. Chaos strangled Tails by the throat, making it impossible for the latter to breath. With the wrench still in his hand, he quickly swung it up and banged the water monster at the visible brain seen in the head.

WHAM!

Chaos let out a scream of pain, letting go off Tails and focused on where it was hit. At this, Tails collapsed onto the ground taking his breath. Taking his chance, he got up only for Chaos to quickly recover and lunged at the fox. It turned into a large mountain of water trapping him inside. Tails tried to swim out, but he couldn't move. Due to the lack of oxygen, he was near to passing out and eventually drowned in the large form of water. As the water was filling his mouth and lungs, he let out muffled cries which weren't enough for anyone nearby to hear.

Well…almost.

"STAHP RIT DER!" came a voice.

Before Chaos had the time to react, something hit him hard. This caused him to change back into his humanoid form, letting go of Tails. Without stopping, the figure leapt and whipped out an Indigo Asteroid Wispon.

"DIE, FREAK!"

ZAP!

From the Wispon came out five humanoid figures made from blue-purple cubes. They ran towards the water deity and with one powerful punch, Chaos collapsed. Water spilled everywhere. The remains of Chaos suddenly glitched and disappeared.

The five figures made from pixel cubes disappeared.

Tails – dazed and drenched – stood up.

Chaos was defeated and somebody must have saved him from that monster.

"Are you OK?" said the figure.

"I'm alright," said Tails.

The figure lowered her hand and helped him get up. Tails got a good look at her.

It was a mint green female hedgehog with long quills in a tangled mess as if she was living rough. Her eyes are teal and she wore an army-camouflage singlet, black leather finger-less gloves, a strap over the torso filled with small bombs, black ripped pants and black boots with a knife strapped to the right.

"Wait," said Tails recognizing the hedgehog. "Aren't you…Minty Thinson…from the Resistance?"

"Yeah…" said Minty.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," said Minty sarcastically. "Oh wait; you ran away to find Sonic. Am I right?"

Tails gave her a look. Minty sighed.

"Sorry. This war is driving me insane. After my failed mission a month ago when my ENTIRE SQUAD was blasted by that Infinite monster, I was all alone. I lost my ear piece and the shuttle disappeared, so I wasn't able to get back to the Resistance HQ. They might think that I'm dead."

Minty looked up to see Omega. "What's that?"

"You mean that guy?" said Tails. "That's Omega."

"I thought he perished according to Rouge…" said Minty tilting her head.

"Same. I found him dumped in an alley for no reason. I decided to try to fix him with the right tools. With him, I think this will give the Resistance more firepower."

"Do you think we will be able to get to the HQ?"

Tails shrugged. "I'm not sure. My Miles Electric was destroyed a long time ago. I'm not sure if I can contact them to come over."

"Is there another way we can get there by ourselves?"

Tails had an idea. "I have a workshop that's at Green Hill Zone. Maybe it's still intact, so I can probably use the computer there to contact the Resistance. The Tornado is still there, so we can get to the HQ using it."

"Maybe we can fix Omega at your workshop as well," said Minty, lightly tapping the robot with her foot. "There might be more tools there to fix him."

"Sounds like a plan. There's one thing…I…I don't know if I can go back to the Resistance…I abandoned everyone."

"I don't think it's too late. Some of your friends might still be alive."

At this, there was a loud explosion a few kilometres away from them.

Minty winced. "We should get going. It's not safe here. The longer we stay, we're done for."

"Got it."

They head to the broken Omega and picked him up. Hearing robots coming, they quickly made their way into an alley.


Third Person's POV, Forest Tournament Town Bunker

On the other side, Tom woke up in a bed. As he struggled to open his eyes, he noticed that he was in a hospital room. Covering his mouth was a mask connected to a breathing machine.

"Calm down there," said Xander, touching his arm. "Take a deep few breaths."

Breathing in deep lungfuls of oxygen, he felt comfortable at ease. He looked around to see Cassie, Nicki, Fuchsia and Mayor Wills in the room.

"Ugh…" groaned Tom, taking off the mouthpiece. "What happened?"

"You were unconscious due to your fever," explained Mayor Wills. "You were lucky that Nicki here was able to see you first before you hit your head. You're better now."

Tom looked at Nicki who gave a wave. Even though Tom didn't like that cyan bird (as she's Mecha's twin sister), he mouthed an awkward 'thank you'.

"Thank God that you didn't die," said Cassie. "We thought we might lose you."

"I'm fine," said Tom, getting up from the bed.

"Um…Tom…" said Mayor Wills.

"Yes?"

"Since you and the others weren't at the main room, there was…an announcement."

"What announcement?" said Cassie.

"Well…a few Resistance soldiers came over; asking for volunteers to help the army to stop Eggman Empire. Beth Lehem, Emerald Stone, Mecha Nism and Sebastian Von Tsunami joined. All four of them."

There was silence in the room as they heard those news.

"What?" said Nicki, breaking the silence.

"WHAT?!" said Tom. "I…Is this some kind of gag?!"

"No," said Mayor Wills, shaking his head. "It's true."

"Are they still around?" said Cassie.

"No," said Fuchsia. "They left a few hours ago."

"Without even telling us they're going?!" snarled Tom, standing up. "That's outrageous!"

"Tom…" said Mayor Wills.

"You can't just send them to some hopeless war without my PERMISSION to!"

"It was their choice! And they already left. There's almost nothing I could to do to prevent them. You don't own Beth and Emerald."

Tom sounded slightly hurt. "OK then. Then I will go off and find them."

"What?!" everyone said.

"But you know the risks!" said Cassie. "Plus you're still not well yet."

Tom gave her a look. "Being sick wasn't MY choice. I just thought that Bubblegum and Emerald might prefer NOT to join an army and IMMEDIATELY become soldiers. I kind of have this silly idea that they might NOT know the fighting techniques or how to use their weapons. And call me crazy; but is having a THOUSAND rounds of bullets through their chest, the flesh STRIPPED from their bones, attacked by ROBOTS, buried in an CRAPALANCHE, crushed by FALLING buildings, asphyxiate by TOXIC GAS, thrown off ships without a PARACHUTE, run over by HUGE WARSHIPS, drown in WASTE, get infected by SICKNESS, exploded in ATOMIC BOMBINGS and being subjected by illusions by Infinite-FREAKING-SELF is how they hope to DIE?!"

"Captain," said Fuchsia. "You're not well. Just calm-"

"SHUT UP! I might be harsh to them, but they are my sisters. I can't afford to lose a teammate."

"Then how come you get to live?" said Nicki.

"We only survived this far for the past 6 months by the grace of God and a fair measure of good luck. The world outside here is the 'sick' place. It won't give mercy on them. Bubblegum and Emerald are in danger and no matter how agile or unshakable they may be, it's too dangerous. Too high for them. And that's not even taking into account that the Eggman Empire conquered the entire world. I'm going out there to find them and that's final."

There was silence.

Just when it seemed that nobody accepted Tom's speech, Nicki and Xander stepped forward.

"I agree with the Blazers Captain," Nicki said. "I want to keep my brother safe, but just sitting here and doing nothing…that's no point of letting them die. I rather die finding him."

Cassie sighed. "I-I agree. We don't know what might happen to Bubblegum and Emerald, but the chances of them getting out alive alone is small. We're a highly trained tournament team. That will be enough to for us to survive that tough war. If we can't get everyone together, then we're not worthy of the name 'Blazers'. I say we go find them."

Mayor Wills sighed in defeat. "Well, if you kids are so crazy to find your friends, then I may as well supervise you all. The government team can take over my place while I'm gone."

Tom nodded. "Alright then. Pack your bags and choose your weapons. We got someone to find."

"I'm not going with you guys," said Fuchsia sadly. "I have to stay here."

"What?" said Cassie shocked.

"Why not?" said Tom.

"Mecha already told Ryan and Ian to stay put," said Fuchsia. "I think I should as well. I still have my family and I want to look out for them. Go. Find our friends. Bring them back here. I'm going to focus on keeping everyone in the bunker safe."

"Right," said Mayor Wills. "If you feel like you need to stay, stay."

Fuchsia nodded. "Take care out there. Please hurry."


AN: And with that, the group back in Forest Tournament Town are on their way to find Bubblegum and Emerald.

With the destination of the Resistance HQ, I wonder where it would be. I thought that it would be a good idea for the HQ to be hidden in the mountains. When the HQ's entrance appeared in the IDW comic series, I find it a dead-way for it to be in the middle of a city because that would be were Eggman would most likely find them.

Also, some of the OCs made for the story aren't made by me. Ash - the leader of Yellow Squad - is made by a friend of mine. Even though his description of the character is little, I managed to make his anthro counterpart come to life.

Shark, Genesis and Alexia are made by Shark The SnowWolf, anthonyba10 and teharrisonfox respectively. I came to them to make those cool characters for the story and since there are just three of them, they make a great squad. You will see them soon in the story. Thanks to them for helping me out!

This might be overdue, but I have decided to not include Classic Sonic in the story. I find that he - as a character from the classic, cartoon games - doesn't fit in and his reaction to the war can be devastating for him. So, I made this character named 'Minty Thinson' to take the role in helping Tails. Expect to see her as a major character alongside the protagonists.

If you enjoy this chapter, be sure to follow or favorite this story, so you can get updates about this story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you think about this chapter. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).

The next chapter will be the start of Black Squad's first mission and new mysteries about Clay...

Until next time, keep on rocking!