Chapter 20 – Underneath the Mask

Clay's POV (somewhere in the afternoon)

I woke up letting out a yawn. When I got up, I saw that I was back in my bunk room. I thought that I was dreaming, but when I blinked, I told myself that I was awake. At first, I was wondering why, but I remembered about that stupid chemical that drenched me and shut down my brain. For some reason, this sleep was pleasant compared to the other naps I had for the past 6 months.

I didn't have a nightmare.

I let out a sigh. I looked up to see Emerald sitting at her bed.

"What happened?" I said, rubbing my face.

"You fell asleep," giggled Emerald. "Bubblegum and Mecha had to drag you out from the Chemical Plant."

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Sorry."

"It's alright. You look well."

"I guess it's because I didn't have a nightmare."

I looked at my right arm. I noticed that the blackness had gradually spread through the elbow part.

"Do…do you think that I will make it?" I said.

"In what sense?" asked Emerald, sitting next to me.

"The darkness…" I said, trailing off. "It's still there...I can still feel it…what if...I turn into that…Dark Wolf…thing?"

Emerald placed a hand onto my shoulder. "I don't think that will ever happen."

I looked at her. "So…you think I won't give into the darkness."

Emerald just laughed. "That's impossible!"

I rolled my eyes. "That's because you are not me. I guess what Mecha said is right: you don't have a care in the real world."

"Don't be so negative."

"But what if something happen to me? I might become Infinite…"

When I said that, something filled my mind. I saw a town burning and many explosions were heard. Many people screaming and begging for their lives. And the monster who was destroying that town was…me.

I gasped and clutched my stomach.

"Rookie?!" said Emerald. "Are you alright?"

I bit my lips. "OK. That WAS a nightmare."

"Don't worry about it so much."

"But what if it is be true? What if I DO turn on everyone?"

"You won't."

"Of course, you don't know that will happen. Just why are you so…happy? You are so positive that you don't worry too much about the war."

"I do worry about the war! I know everything is not awesome all the time, but I rather believe that there is hope after all instead of being like YOU. You, Bubblegum, Mecha…you guys are so grouchy! Wearing black, being so sensitive, always gloomy, brooding...so pessimistic all the time! What kind of guys are you?"

I stuttered trying to find the right words. I felt the darkness again and I held onto my right arm. My whole started to shake and tears formed in my eyes.

"Rookie!" said Emerald. "Calm down…"

She slowly put her hand onto my forehead and rubbed it slowly. Gradually, I calmed down and my nervousness slowly calmed down. The darkness stopped spreading through my arm, but I was still worried.

"I'm…I'm scared that I might hurt you…" I choked out.

"You are not going to hurt me or anyone," said Emerald.

"Just please…" I begged. "If…if I become like Infinite, I want you to run. Run and don't look back. Including all of your friends. I…never had anyone to call my friend before…but…you are one of my friends. Sebastian…Mecha…Bubblegum…Emerald, you guys mean a lot to me. You are like my family. I won't be able to find my brother if it wasn't for you…but I'm not going to let that happen if…if I become evil…"

"Nobody is evil. They just lose their way."

"Yeah, they do…but…there are consequences. Just please. If I turn on you, just run. Get everyone to run away from me. I don't know what this Dark Wolf thing will do."

Emerald looked at me in a thoughtful manner. There was a faraway look in her eyes as she thought about it. Finally, she let out a small sigh and patted me on the back.

"OK," said Emerald. "But I'm still going to be on your side. I will still find your brother. I promise that I will get Belt for you."

I sniffed and smiled. "T-Thank you."

Emerald smiled. "No worries!"


Bubblegum's POV

Oh dear God…

I had been searching for Mecha, but for some reason…he disappeared. A few hours ago, he was in our room, but at the moment…

I finally decided to head back to my bunk room with Sebastian following behind me. Emerald was there and Rookie just woke up.

"Uh…guys…" said Sebastian. "Have you seen Mecha?"

"What?" said Emerald. "I thought he was with you."

"No," I said sadly. "We can't find him here!"

"WHAT?!" said Rookie.

"J-Just what happen to him?" said Sebastian, looking like he was about to cry.

"Just where he went?" asked Rookie.

I knew that we wouldn't know if we just stood around there doing nothing. We need to get up and find a solution.

"C'mon," I said.

We all got out from the bunk rooms and went to the meeting room.

However, I heard voices from inside there.

"According to Tails," said Knuckles' voice. "…that video was made 10 months ago. Eggman didn't edit it as this was recorded LIVE. So you must be working for Eggman!"

"That's ridiculous!" snapped Mecha's voice. "Why would I join Eggman? And if so, why would I be worried that you would find out?!"

"But you threatened Minty before…" said Tails' voice.

"Mecha?" said Sebastian.

We got into the meeting room to find the Resistance leaders together. Mecha was in the center…his hands in handcuffs behind his back. Shadow held him from behind to not let him go, the black hedgehog avoiding eye contact with everyone.

What the hell?

WHAT THE HELL?!

"What the heck is going on?" I said.

"Oh hi there, Black Squad," said Knuckles angrily. "Guess what? I think we might have a spy from YOUR squad."

Emerald and Sebastian gasped.

I was shocked.

There were ten seconds of radio silence until I could spit out a response.

"WHAT?" Rookie and I exclaimed in unison.

"What's going on?" said Emerald.

"Well, Tails and Minty found something…" said Sonic, hesitating a bit. "…when they were at Mystic Jungle, they found this video."

He pressed a button on the computer, displaying a video. The screen was blurry, but I could see that there were three figures.

One was Shadow, the other one seemed to be Infinite and the third looked like…Mecha?

NO WAY.

As the video played, there seemed a curb-stomp battle between Shadow and the figure of what must be Infinite. Black blurs could be seen jumping around the area with punches and loud groans could be heard. What was surprising was that the Mecha-like figure was seemingly trying to stop the two. At one point, the black hedgehog kicked Infinite to the ground and was about to deliver the final blow when the turquoise figure blocked him.

"STOP!" he said. "That won't lead to any-"

Shadow's only reply was to do a roundhouse kick to the cyan figure. That poor person was kicked in the stomach and flew to the wall.

WHAM!

The cyan figure hit the rocky cliff hardly and slumped to the ground.

"I said stay out of this, kid," said Shadow coldly.

Taking his chance, Infinite roared and attempted to attack Shadow only to be grabbed by the foot and thrown to the wall. Unlike the cyan figure, Infinite seemed to be fine as he struggled to get up.

"Worthless," said Shadow. "Don't show your pathetic face around me ever again."

Sonic paused the video. I just stared at the paused image on the screen in shock.

I…couldn't…believe it.

The footage was there. I wasn't sure if some idiot animated it. But this looks real. This is real.

I didn't know what to think of this.

Was Mecha involved with Infinite and Shadow before all of this?

"W-What?" sputtered out Rookie.

"Where the hell did you get that video from?" I said.

"W-Why's that?" said Emerald. "I don't understand…"

"Tails sent the video through the Resistance network system a few days ago," explained Shadow. "He found it and downloaded it."

"And Mecha threatened violence to Minty for bringing the video up before," said Tails. "He was pretty reluctant to bring it up."

Knuckles glared at Mecha. "So he was a SPY from Eggman all along! And if that wasn't bad enough, he KILLED Minty!"

"He didn't!" protested Richard. "Mecha told me it was just an accident!"

"But what if he set it up! Did you thought of that?"

Richard stayed silent.

Sebastian ran and stood in front of Mecha as a sign to protect his friend.

"Guys!" said Sebastian with his arms wide opened. "That's crazy! He never works with Eggman before!"

"But what if he was…when you had your back on him?" questioned Amy, concerned.

"That's ridiculous!" said Sebastian before looking at Mecha. "Captain! You would never work for people like Eggman before!"

Mecha was quiet.

"But he has something to do with Infinite," said Shadow in a hushed voice. "He hesitated when in a battle with him."

"Maybe, but it's not like you know ANYTHING about Infinite, right?"

Mecha sighed.

"I KNOW Infinite before," he admitted.

Everyone gasped.

I gasped as well, placing my hands over my mouth.

"I knew it," snarled Knuckles, clenching his fists. "I ought to beat you up to spill out the details of your plans!"

Mecha's eye twitched. "I'M NOT WORKING FOR EGGMAN, OK?! But…I…I know Infinite before…before all of this."

"Then what did you do?" asked Vlad.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Mecha…trembled a bit.

He finally sighed. "Fine…"

Mecha turned to Sebastian. "Sebastian…I know that you are concerned about me, but unfortunately…I haven't been REALLY honest…"

He turned to me. "…I didn't told you the real reason why I don't like to make friends."

Sebastian's mouth trembled. "What do you mean?"

"Mecha?" I said, thinking back to what he told me earlier that day. "A…are you talking about this…'massacre' you saw?"

"Let me try to start at the beginning."


Mecha's POV, Unknown Place, 10 months ago

It all started somewhere…10 months ago. I was on a trip…well a SELF-trip to be exact. Sometimes when I REALLY want to escape my problems, I would take short trips around the world to find any interesting things I could observe and bring home for research. Sure it was risky for me to be on my own, but I managed to handle it.

It was a hot September and I was hiking across a rocky, sandy landscape. The sun was shining bright and the sky was pure blue. There were no clouds to block the menacing hot sun. The environment lacked any signs of plants or vegetation except for the dry bushes. I was trudging through the unforgivable winds.

Back then, I was 14 years old. I didn't have a scar on my face during that time. For this adventure, I was wearing a black long trench jacket, an army camouflage shirt, a black singlet under my shirt, black pants and army camouflage boots along with the goggles and finger-less gloves I always wear.

Maybe I overdressed, but I need to be prepared for colder climates.

"Phew…" I said wiping my forehead. "It's pretty humid here."

I looked up at the sky. The sun was about to go down the horizon. The sky was changing from blue to black slowly. Night time was about to start, so I need to find a place to rest for the night unless I want to set up a camp.

That was when I came across a large rocky peak. There was a large hole in one of the mountains. Curious, I made my way up the peak and found myself in front of the large entrance.

"Well, hello," I said with a smirk. "What are you? Must be a cave."

Deciding to crash over at the cave for the night, I went in. I walked inside it, walking through the long deep hallway of the cave. When I reached the end of the hall, I ended up in a large room – the size of a warehouse – with many support beams touching the ceiling and rocky tower-like formations.

I was about to grab out my sleeping bag when I saw something on the side.

There was another hole in the corner, showing a fleet of stairs that led to the underground part.

Oh…the thirst of adventure got to me.

I took out a flashlight and made my way down.

I climbed down the stairs before walking through a hallway and entered another rocky long room.

It was beautiful. There were glowing light blue and pink crystals that grew out from everywhere. Their bright lights resembled the beauties of a festival or a light show. I recognized some of the crystals as I read about them in my textbooks.

"Wow!" I said. "That is a lot of stalactites and stalagmites!"

I went up to one of the crystals and pulled it out. I smiled as I looked at it like a little child who got a Christmas present. I want to observe it when I get back home. To my embarrassment, my tail feathers were wagging in excitement. I continued to venture through the room, enjoying seeing the bright lights of the rare gems.

WHOOSH!

I looked around. I swear I heard something moved and picked up something. Warily, I looked at where the sound came from.

It was from another room with something in the middle: a large diamond-shaped gem.

The size of a birthday cake.

My smile widened.

"Lucky I am," I said, grabbing the gem.

I gingerly carried it and made my way out of the room. I…kind of noticed yellow eyes glowing in the dark, but when I turned around to see them, they were gone. It was…deviant, but I just shrugged them off with a smirk.

CRASH!

"What?" I said halting.

I froze and listened closely. There were some whispers.

I peeked around the corner to see what was going on.

There was nothing…

…and that was when a black jackal popped out of the blue.

"YARGH!" said the jackal, holding a SHARP KUNAI.

And that was when my stupid fear of sharp things provoked me.

I screamed and kicked the jackal in the face before running off, nearly tripping over like a klutz. Ignoring the jackal's groans and curses, I quickly got out and made my way back to the main cave room.

When I did, I spotted a figure leaning on one of the rock towers.

"Well, hello there, tweety," he said.

It was a black male jackal with yellow eyes and wore a red-orange beret, bandages over his arms and legs, black sharp gloves with silver streaks on the back and pointed black hi-tops with red-orange soles. He was carrying an ax.

"Are you lost, little bird?" said another voice.

More jackals appeared. They have the same black fur, gloves, black hi-tops with different colors, tall ears, white furry muzzles, yellow eyes, white stripes on their backs, white furry collars and long bushy tails. They all appeared older than me.

I felt like I was surrounded by adults.

One jackal was male with shoulder-length white hair and wore beige gloves, a red scarf, a beige strap filled with kunais and beige hi-tops.

Another was a female with long white hair tied in a ponytail and wore a green singlet, brown ripped pants and shoes with brown soles, holding nun chucks.

Standing on the side was a male with spiky short white hair styled as a Mohawk, white stripes on his arms and wore a green head bandanna and shoes with green soles, holding a green taser weapon.

Leaning on one of the towers was a female with her white hair tied in a braid ponytail and wore a purple vest, black shorts and shoes with purple soles, holding a gun and a rather large rocket launcher strapped to her back.

The closest to me was a male with spiky white hair and wore a black ripped jacket and shoes with blue soles, carrying a dagger with a blue handle.

Dropping from the ceiling was a male with long white dreadlocks tied in a ponytail and wore an orange one-sleeved shirt with black leather straps, an orange utility belt and shoes with orange solves, holding an orange trident.

The last one was a male with a left yellow eye, a right blue eye, a large scar over the right eye and wore shoes with red soles, carrying a red sword with a long curved blade, a red hilt with blue stripes and a blue gem in the middle, and a blue handle.

"What do we have here?" growled the jackal with the red sword. "When the jackals are away, the birds decided to play."

I opined that he was the leader. My eyes peered at the sharp sword.

Shoot.

I started to tremble, dreading the thought of that stupid sword cutting my skin (and hair). But I refused to let my fear of getting my feathers chopped off get to me.

"Just get to the point," I said. "What do you want?"

"What are you doing with THAT diamond?" said the leader, pointing his sword at the gem I was carrying. "You have no right to steal that from us."

"Stealing it?" I said confused. "I wasn't stealing it. I just found this gem underground here. The question is: what are YOU doing here?"

The leader was taken aback.

"Let me guess," I said bluntly. "You were after that gem as well…unless this was your home which I think not. I'm sorry. But I found it and excuse me, I have something to do, so let me pass."

The leader narrowed his eyes. "No. Give that gem to us."

"Sorry," I said, smirking. "Finders keepers, losers weepers! I found it first."

"Then I guess we have to take it from you by FORCE."

My smirk turned to a nervous frown.

I realized what that meant.

The jackals got their weapons ready. Most of them were knives, daggers and swords…the type of weapons I hated.

THEY WERE GOING TO SIC ME.

I inhaled and put on my confident face.

"Unless you have a death wish, I say that you get out of my way," said the leader.

"Why should I?" I said, keeping the gem in my backpack.

"You don't know who you are messing with. I'm the ultimate mercenary and I am the boss of the finest mercenaries ever!"

Ultimate?

Mercenary?

My bully instincts kicked in. For one, I NEVER brag about how 'perfect' I was, but I have a tendency to laugh at others' misfortune.

And that was what I did.

Laugh.

"Ultimate? You don't look like that much!" I crowed.

"ExCUSE me?" said the leader.

"If you are the 'ultimate' mercenary, then why don't I know you before? From my view, you look like savage mutts who just live in the desert."

The leader growled as his grip tightened his sword. "Give me the gem or else…"

I frowned, knowing what I said wasn't right. I was technically BULLYING A DRAGON. One look at the sword and this came in mind.

Run.

"You may try…" I said quietly. "…but you will never catch me."

The leader jackal gritted his teeth…then slightly appeased.

"Fender," he said to the female jackal wearing the purple vest. "Talk some sense into him."

"With pleasure," said Fender, smiling wickedly.

She started to laugh manically as she fired her gun, shooting out fast bullets.

But I was faster.

I leaned backwards and watched the bullets fly over me in slow motion.

"What the-?" said Fender.

It was time to burn this house down.

I laughed and clenched my fists. "Let me show you how to mech no mistakes!"

I ran towards Fender who tried to shoot me down. Even though I wasn't as fast as Sonic, I was able to dodge the bullets by doing somersaults. When I got close, I kicked the gun out of Fender's hand and kicked her in the face with the other foot.

"Sorry!" I said as I ran to the exit. "Got to go!"

That was when the green headband-wearing jackal appeared and shot a large green lightning bolt.

OK. I never been tased by a police taser before. But at that moment? I realized that is how criminals feel.

ZAP!

My body was electrocuted. I screamed as I was thrown back into the room and landed in the middle of the jackals.

I was SCREWED.

I wasn't gonna give up. I slowly stood up and took off my trench coat, quickly tying the sleeves around my waist.

"Fine," I said aggressively, raising my fists. "You want to dance? Let's dance."

"JACKAL SQUAD!" yelled the leader. "Seize him!"

"BEAT HIM UP!" yelled the jackal with the black jacket.

The jackals charged with their weapons in their hands. With a smirk, I fought with both my fists and feet against those canines. Despite being outnumbered and not armed with any weapons, I was able to fight the jackals, even though I didn't dare to kill them. I wasn't lustful for blood. I just wanted to get out while I still can.

The leader jackal swung his sword at me, but I did a back flip to get out of the way.

"Oi!" I said. "Don't pluck my feathers!"

"I don't care," hurled the leader.

Eventually, I found myself dodging every swing from that jackal's sword. I was overprotective for my feathers, so I used that as an advantage to survive. Deciding to stay away from the sword, I pulled out one of my smoke bombs.

I threw it to the ground, letting out an explosion of yellow smoke.

"GAH!" screamed the jackal, coughing from the smoke. "What is this?"

Taking advantage of the distraction, I quickly did a huge jump, landing onto one of the towers. I looked down at the jackals.

Couldn't help but mock them.

I started to make stupid faces.

"SUCK MY NOSE!" I mocked, shaking my butt.

Enraged, the jackal leader wall-jumped on two towers and leapt at me.

WITH HIS SWORD.

"Oh, dear mother of…" I said.

I ducked.

SLICE!

It was so quick that I didn't notice what occurred during that period of avoiding death. I heard that jackal landing onto another rock tower.

Opening, I stood up and saw…two tiny pieces of chopped-off feathers floating in the air.

The jackal leader chopped some tiny parts of my hair off.

OK. I was SO TICKED OFF.

My eye twitched.

"Take…that…BACK!" I snapped before jumping to the tower where the leader was.

"Make me," snarled the jackal.

My reply was to kick the sword out of the leader's hand.

There. That made things air.

"Let's dance," I said angrily.

This started a fist fight between him and me. Both of us were throwing fists and kicks. The bad news was that the jackal overpowered me. Despite being a black belt, I was assaulted with many punches on my face and chest. I couldn't concentrate. For some reason, it reminded me…of when my mother was beating me up.

I hated it.

Blinded by rage, I did a roundhouse kick, kicking the leader to the wall.

He crashed onto the floor with a sickening thud.

"EAT THIS!" yelled Fender.

She shot large missiles from the larger weapon she carried. The missiles aimed at me, but I quickly jumped and landed onto the floor.

Unluckily, the missiles hit the CEILING and exploded.

It started to crack.

The whole cave started to shake as many rocks started to fall down.

"Really?!" said the jackal with the red scarf.

"Sorry…" said Fender sheepishly.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

More parts of the cave started to crumble. This time, bigger.

"The cave is about to crumble!" screamed the jackal with the one-sleeved shirt.

"Let's get out of here!" said the jackal with the green headband.

"WAIT!" cried the jackal with the beret. "What about-?"

The jackals were nearly crushed by a falling tower. It blocked them from getting near their leader.

"Let's go!" said the jackal with the black jacket.

"NO!" said th jackal with the beret, trying to run to the leader. "We can't leave him!"

"Just leave him!" snarled the jackal with the green singlet, grabbing him.

Seeing that there was no other choice, the jackals reluctantly ran away and headed to the exit of the cave.

I gulped as I watched the entire cage started to break down.

I turned around to see the jackal leader, who was trying to get up. He was struggling. Despite having black fur, I could tell that he had bruises. Because of that, he wouldn't have the strength to get up and it would be my fault for getting him killed.

I already got Bubblegum's father killed…and I'm going to do that again.

Not this time.

Without a second thought, I rushed to the injured jackal – avoiding incoming falling debris – and grabbed the jackal. Turning around with him in my hands, I ran for the exit.

CRUMBLE!

The cave ceiling collapsed as I ran out of the cave and into the dusk sunlight. The rest of the jackals gasped as I pulled myself out. Gently, I placed the leader down onto the floor.

Silence filled the air as the jackals just stared at me.

I was troubled, unable to speak.

The jackal leader struggled to get up to his feet, trembling in anger.

"Are…are you OK?" asked the jackal with the beret.

The jackal leader started to mutter. "C-Can't…b-be…I can't be beaten…like…this…I'm…not…weak…"

I smirked. "Well, you're welcome, lousy loser!"

Whoops.

The leader snapped. He grabbed me by the arm and placed his sword near my neck.

Naturally, I became scared…of having my feathers chopped off by his sword, of course. I'm scared of death.

"SHUT UP!" barked the leader. "I'M NOT WEAK!"

I was shocked hearing that. Did he said…? He…seemed to…try to claim that he wasn't…weak.

"I…I didn't SPECIFICALLY say that you're weak," I reassured.

"Your tone of voice said it."

I didn't know what to say, but feel sorry for this jackal. It reminded him of how…my mother treated me.

"Now I'm stuck with you. The biggest mistake I EVER made."

I winced, hearing my mother's hateful voice. I felt ashamed of what I just did. Nearly getting this jackal killed and defeating him only made him hate me.

For the first time, I decided to act fair.

Calmly, I slowly break free from the jackal's grip and took out the gem of my bag. I grabbed the rear end of the gem and broke it.

"What?" said the jackals in confusion.

I just split the gem into two pieces. I gave the large one to the leader while holding the small one – the size of a cupcake.

"What?" said the leader as he looked the large gem in surprise. "I…I don't understand."

"I'll be nice to you since I saved you," I said smirking, placing the gem I was holding back in my backpack. "Besides, I only need a small bit of that gem for experimenting."

The jackal leader looked at me dumbfounded before brushing it off. He turned to face the other jackals.

"Jackal Squad!" he ordered. "Let's go."

They started to walk off.

I stood in my spot, putting back on my trench jacket.

Normally, I like being alone and I didn't really have any intentions to socialize with other people before. However, seeing those jackals…for some reason…I was interested in them…I never saw mercenaries before.

I had an idea.

A crappy idea.

"Hey uh…" I said to the leader. "Is it OK if I tag along with you for a while?"

The jackal leader looked at me suspiciously before shrugging. "OK then, but if you do anything funny, I swear-"

"Yeah, yeah," I said hastily as I looked at the red sword. "I get it."

The leader nodded and walked off with his comrades. I followed along.


After selling the gem for money, the Jackal Squad found a place to rest. They settled at a spot at a cliff and started to set up a camp. They set up dark green tents with a campfire in the middle. I decided to set up my own tent a few meters away from them. Mine was a camouflage tent.

I looked at the jackals as they made the fire.

As soon as I stepped onto their territory, all of their glowing yellow eyes were on me. It was as if there were a billion suns shining on me like spotlights.

"Hey, guys," I said, a little nervous. "I know that things are cool and swell now, but I didn't get to know your names."

"Oh," said the jackal with the beret. "I'm Ace."

"Paz," said the jackal with the red scarf.

"My name is Tempest," said the female jackal wearing the green singlet.

"Fender," said the jackal with the purple vest.

"Ryder," said the jackal with the black jacket.

"Phoenix," said the jackal with the one-sleeved shirt.

"And I'm Obsidian," said the jackal with the green headband, shaking my hand. "Sorry for shocking you."

"It's OK," I said before looking at the leader. "What about you?"

The jackal leader looked away. "I…uh…rather not talk about it."

"Aw…" said Tempest mockingly. "Still hate your name?"

"Shut up!"

"Just tell me," I said smirking, crossing my arms.

The leader sighed and blurted out, "Fine. My name is Zero."

Zero looked away.

Zero…huh?

I blinked…before nodding in approval.

"Zero," I said. "That's a good name."

"What?" said Zero. "I thought it isn't-"

"My younger brother's name is also Zero. He thinks it's a cool anime name. Always happy about it and never care about what other people say to him."

Zero looked surprised. He sighed. "OK then. What about you?"

"My name is Mecha," I said. "Mecha Nism."

"I guess people these days are into literal naming," said Phoenix to Ryder.

"So, where are you from, kid?" asked Zero.

"Oh," I said. "I'm from Australia."

"Australia?" said Obsidian. "I thought you are Britain. Your accent sounds British."

I rolled his eyes. "Who cares about the way I talk?"

"One question," said Ace. "How come you are strong back there?"

"Well, I'm probably one of the strongest and smartest individuals of all time," I said with a smirk. "You see, ever since I was young, I taught myself how to fight and study a LOT of important facts about the world…well, I'm still young, but I know how to defend myself."

"That's a shocker," said Fender. "I thought you would be easy and small to shoot."

"Face it girl," said Tempest. "If you are strong, you are strong. If you are weak, then you are weak. It doesn't matter what species people are."

"How old are you?" asked Ace.

"Well…I am 14," I said.

Almost all the jackals gasped. "14?!"

I nodded.

"That is way too YOUNG," said Ryder. "Just how were you able to survive?"

"Do you have any family that come along with you?" asked Phoenix.

Hearing this, I immediately felt sad. At that time, I didn't want to bring up about my parents' divorce and how I was treated, so I decided to keep it to myself.

"Uh…no…" I said blankly. "I…I prefer being on my own."

"I'm intrigued that you manage to fight," said Zero. "You are younger than us, but you are as strong as us."

I nodded. "You got yourself such a huge hefty crew. Again, who are you guys meant to be?"

"Well, we are the Jackal Squad. We are a group of elite mercenaries who hunt and steal for profit. We have been together for 3 years now. The money we earned helps us to buy anything we needed. I'm hoping that we can get enough money to build our own military empire. The thing is that we are from a town, but I like to make my OWN empire outside that town to nurture our skills. Let me tell you what we do; Ace, Paz and Obsidian are the combat jackals, Tempest and Ryder are the stealth spies, Fender is the mastermind behind our weapons, Phoenix is our brains and I am the leader, otherwise known as the Ultimate Mercenary."

"U-Ultimate Mercenary?" I said, tilting my head. "What gave you that title?"

"You see, when out in the real world, you have to be fearless and strong. I STEAL from many places, HUNT for any valuables and KILL many people. That is how my life is. You see, the Jackal Squad needs the best mercenaries I want. It might be hard…dense…maybe stressful…but remember. Only the strongest will survive."

"Wait…strongest?"

"Let me tell you something, Mecha. You might not know this, but the world is not all about peace, kindness and all that stupid nonsense. It's about struggle and fighting for your life for the goals you want to achieve. Only the strongest survive and the weak gets trampled because that's how it works. The weak deserves to perish and I can't let that happen to me or my squad."

I was surprised of that moral.

Strong only gets to leave.

Weak deserves to perish?

The world is not all about peace and kindness?

I thought about it.

"So…you're saying that…?" I said slowly. "If I am weak…that means…I'm…I'm just some loser…a failure…a mistake…some trash that…is it REALLY true?!"

All the jackals flinched at my question.

Zero sighed. "You can say that. I'm sorry. That's the truth. You can't be weak if you want to live. If you are, that means you are DESTINED to be weak."

I thought about this more. Maybe…maybe Zero is right. Because that I wasn't able to stand up for myself and my mother used me as a rag doll. Something that couldn't be loved. My father must had abandoned me because I am just a…mistake. I was broken during that process and it was all because I was weak back then. Worse, because of my lack of socializing and isolating myself, I felt as if the world loves to torture me. For some reason, after hearing Zero's belief, I felt like for some reason, I was DESTINED to be a mistake. I felt like I was made to because of all the bad things that happened in my life.

Again, I winced as I remembered my mother's angry voice.

"STOP, IT PLEASE! IT HURTS!"

WHAM!

"YOU THINK YOU'RE SOMETHING?! YOU THINK YOU'RE SOMEONE?! YOU'RE NOTHING! NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING!"

"Mum…"

"If you ever mention about your father to anyone ever again, I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!

"Please…just leave me alone…"

"Now I'm stuck with you. The biggest mistake I EVER made."

To my embarrassment, I felt a tear slowly rolling down on my face.

"G-Give me time alone," I croaked out.

I slowly walked away, but Ace grabbed me by the arm.

"Are you OK, buddy?" said Ace.

Something snapped inside me.

I yelled at him in his face. "I'M OK! SO JUST DAMARE!"

Ace backed away seeing my angry tears. Great. I was acting like a jerk towards him. He seemed to be…cowering.

I shook my head and walked off, sitting down at the edge of the cliff. I took the time to sit there and reflect on that moral I heard as I stared at the seemingly endless ocean and the darkness that covered the entire sky, threatening to come raining down. As I contemplated about this, I wanted nothing but the sky to swallow me up.

I felt that I was weak.

And it was because I failed to stand up for myself.

I let myself silently cry for a while, tears rolling down my face.

After a while, Zero and Ace came up to me.

"Does crying makes you feel better?" said Zero as he and Ace sat down.

"J-J-Just…leave me alone…" I said.

"Why are you upset though?" asked Ace.

"I'm not upset!" I snapped. When I saw Ace flinched, I lowered the tone of my voice. "…well…OK maybe…"

"Why so?" said Zero.

"It's just that…maybe you're right. Maybe the world is a bad place after all. I…as a little kid, I always try to think that there are more great things out there and that I can be happy…but to tell the truth…I'm…I'm not…I'm not happy with my life…"

"How come?" asked Ace.

I hesitated. "I…I rather not talk about it…"

"Well, I didn't want to tell you what my name is, kid," pointed out Zero. "I told my secret to yours and I think you should share yours. I've been around liars, tricksters, crooks and bad people my entire life. If you believe in what I told you, then why?"

I was silent. Nobody had asked me why I was so arrogant and mean to others. Nobody asked me what my mother was like. Nobody had asked me why I pushed away anything to help me.

"They won't understand me," I thought. "Not from what I went through. How can someone feel sorry for a mistake like me? A stupid bully like me?"

Reluctantly, I sighed. "M…my parents are rubbish."

"What?" said Zero.

"My parents are rubbish! My parents got a divorce after an argument, my father left me and my mother threw her anger at me! I hate her for the way she treated me! I never did anything to her! I don't really understand why she always pick on me; either because she was hurting from the break-up or I am a mistake! There. I'm the mistake! She always call me that and I didn't have the courage to stand up at her! And wonder why I was called a mistake?"

I took off my gloves to reveal my hidden stripes.

"There!" I said. "That what's make me a mistake! I studied a lot, I worked a lot to earn money and I bought my own house for myself. But I am not proud or satisfied of those things! I am not proud of who I am! I…I can't take this anymore…"

Overwhelmed, I placed my head into my hands and continued to cry, sobbing uncontrollably. Ace patted me on the back in sympathy, but I felt like I didn't deserve comfort.

Zero sighed.

"The world can be cruel sometimes," said Zero. "Trust me. I rather not tell about my backstory, but it's similar to yours."

I wiped my tears. "W…what did you say?"

"You see, people won't be nice to you all the time. You can't trust everyone…including your parents. If they abandon you, then that's their problem or because they are much stronger than you. You did the right thing about hiding your mistakes, but are you just going to cry there and be weak?"

He turned to me with an encouraging look.

"If you give up easily, what will you do about the situation? You got to fight, Mecha. If you want to fight, then fight. You can't let that softness swallow you up and if you're still living now, what else to do? Crying is a sign of weakness. You got to define yourself as a strong and brave man. You can't die as a weak coward, because that isn't what everyone wants to be. The world doesn't have space for weaklings."

I was silent as I took his word. "I…I guess so…"

"Then are you going to prove your mother wrong?"

"Yes…"

"Then are you going to prove your father wrong?"

"…not really. I…I never know him…we haven't seen each other's faces before…I just wanted to see him…"

Zero placed a hand onto my shoulder.

"I think he will be proud of how strong you are," said Zero, smiling a little. "I'll admit that you are nearly as good as I am. Maybe that will lead you to see your dad. Hopefully, he is better than mine."

I felt as if a heavy weight came off my shoulders.

My sadness started to disappear.

I smiled. "Well…thank you…you are a really wise person, Zero. A bit better than I am. It's nice to talk to someone about my problems."

Ace gave me a hug. I gently pushed him aside.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"I'm just giving you a good old hug," said Ace.

"That's…that's a bit gross. Isn't that a bit too close for personal space?"

"I just thought you need it."

I rolled my eyes. "Just…please don't tell this to anyone…especially not to the Jackal Squad."

Zero and Ace nodded.

At this, I felt something flying behind me.

PFFT!

My eyes widened.

I slowly looked behind to see a kunai stuck on MY TAIL FEATHERS. When I pulled the kunai out, it left a small hole in my tail feather.

I looked up to see the other jackals still at the campfire. They were snickering and trying not to laugh too loudly.

Tempest was pointing at Obsidian as if to say 'he did it'.

OK. I lost it.

My eye twitched.

I stood up and stomped to Obsidian.

Zero and Ace just watched.

"Wait," said Obsidian. "What are you doing?"

OK. I…don't really remember what happened, but all I know is during my rage, I heard this

PUNCH! THWACK! CRACK!

"Ow! Stop! Hey, that doesn't feel nice! A bit of extra tender loving care here! OW! Not my tail!"


I hung around with the Jackal Squad for a week. During that time, they went on one robbery, but I decided to stay out of it, promising not to tell that the Jackal Squad were responsible for the crime. I started to learn more about the Jackal Squad a bit more. I learnt that they grew up in the same town – which have a very strong belief that is similar to Zero's belief – and they all went off at the age of 17.

They hadn't return home ever since.

Ace was the youngest of the group despite having the same age and it turned out that he was bullied – I won't going to lie, hearing this made me feel a little worried. He became Zero's closest friend when they met.

With the others, Paz and Phoenix used to work as blacksmiths, Obsidian was a newspaperman who sold newspapers to the town, Tempest and Ryder were twins, and Fender stole technology from people.

To my surprise, I started to see Zero as his friend. Even though Zero never told me about his past, I…felt comfortable being with him. The jackal understood my pain and cared for me. Yes, I have a team who looked up to me, but during that time, I never saw them as true friends, even though I cared for them. At that time, I started to think if maybe having a friend would be a good idea after all.

Another surprising thing was that Obsidian would try to get into a conservation with me most of the time. He seemed to be interested of me. That jackal must have looked up to me as a brother…like Sebastian and Finn. The thought made me laugh as Obsidian is older than me, but I've decided to let it be.

During the week, I started to absorb in more about this 'strong and weak' belief. I started to believe that it is true. Due to my hard life, it became more than a belief. To me, it became a WAY OF LIFE.

The week was alright and I was about to say goodbye to them, until one day, the Jackal Squad had a plan.

"Guys!" called Ryder as he came back to the group after wandering off to find something valuable. "I found something!"

"What is it?" said Zero.

"I found some pyramid-like base out in the desert! There was this fat man – which I believed who is named Doctor Eggman – who found this weird magenta ruby and took it inside."

"An Eggman base, huh?" Zero rubbed his chin. "That technology…is pretty advanced. It will be enough to make a bounty. I got a plan."

"What is it, boss?" asked Ace.

"We will head to Eggman. We will invade his base and steal anything that is valuable inside there."

"Oh, ho ho ho!" I laughed. "Now that's a GOOD steal! Best to steal from an enemy!"

Even though I wanted to play no part of the crime, I was willing to help.

The plan went into action.

Soon enough, the Jackal Squad managed to break through the protection walls with no sweat and got into the main area of the pyramid.

"Jackal Squad!" yelled Zero as his comrades went in for the kill. "Raid the base for any technology that would be enough to fetch a hefty bounty!"

All of a sudden, the jackals were surrounded by an army of robots that appeared from out of nowhere.

"DANG IT!" yelled Tempest. "We're surrounded!"

"Don't give up!" yelled Zero, slicing his way through, making a path. "Take care of the robots! I'll handle the fat man!"

Meanwhile, I snuck in, avoiding the battle. Hiding behind one of the machinery towers, I spotted where Eggman was at.

He flew out from his base in a flying vehicle…with a magenta icosahedron-shaped ruby with black ripple patterns.

The ruby. It was…glowing.

Glitching…

…and multiple illusions of robots spawned around Eggman.

I felt my heart dropping into my stomach.

"What the-?" I thought. "Is that…the Phantom Ruby?"

Impossible.

That can't happen.

My mouth trembled.

I learnt about the Phantom Ruby before in a special history class. It was a powerful weapon that takes control of people's visual and depth perception, to feed false information to the brain…creating a new reality for them. It can even make things real. People can tap into its energy through strong emotional stimuli, depending on how they can manage their feelings.

There were many theories of where it was or what happened to it.

One said that it was founded in Egypt during the ancient years only to be stolen and never seen again.

Another claimed that it was in the lost city of Atlantis.

Some said that it might come from another dimension.

One of my students claimed that it was found on Angel Island.

Whatever happened, Eggman must have found it and started to take use of it…way too early.

I gulped. That ruby cannot fall into the wrong hands. Many people believed that if anyone touched the ruby for the first time, they would get an illusion of how they wanted their life AND their world to be.

And what was Eggman's dream?

To rule the world and make Eggman Land. For a madman like him.

I gripped a nearby rock hardly as I gripped my teeth.

"He need to be stopped before he could do anything with that ruby," I thought. "He had hurt a lot people in the past and I won't let that happen to anyone."

I rushed over and dodged the army of robots, jumping on their heads. As I ran through, I spotted Zero getting into a fight with a larger robot wielding a hammer. Zero swung his sword upwards, but the robot blocked that attack and swung his hammer upwards, hitting Zero right in the face.

I shook my head. I feared that my friends would be destroyed by those robots. If I don't take the Phantom Ruby, then it would be all over.

I jumped upwards and unexpectedly surprised Eggman.

He screamed.

With a growl, I roundhouse kicked him in the face, stunning the mad scientist for a while. The Phantom Ruby was sent flying out of his hand and I quickly caught it.

That was when the ruby warped into my mind.

I saw the whole world was glitching and replaced by something else.

For…some reason…I was…in a large endless garden of golden flowers and the sky was golden.

I gasped.

The golden garden…I recognized it. I painted this view as a painting before, making sure that it looked like paradise. I never knew that I would in a world where this kind of dream came true.

Coming out from the flowers was a golden figure. It looked like…

"Mum?" I said shocked.

"Hey…" said the figure. "I know you might not believe this…but…I'm sorry."

I was shocked what my mother said to me. "I…I'm fine…"

I trailed off when the figure disappeared into golden streaks. Then, I saw an outline of a person a long distance away from him. I couldn't see how the figure looked like as the sun was behind it and its body was in shadows.

"Come…" said the figure. "Come here…my son."

I gasped.

I recognized that voice.

I thought I won't hear that voice again.

"D-Dad?" I said.

Before I had time to think what was going on, the world started to glitch.

"WAIT!" I cried. "I-I need to see! Come back!"

That was when I was back in the real world.

Just in time to see Zero cutting the large robot in half. Both halves fell sideways as they revealed the gritty look on Zero's face.

I realized that the Phantom Ruby caused a hallucination of my deepest desire to me.

"So…" I thought. "That wasn't real…and yet, I didn't see how my dad looked like?!"

I forgotten about EGGMAN. He quickly got over his shock and grabbed me by the leg. The doctor held me upside down and grabbed the Phantom Ruby.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Let go off me!"

And that was the perfect timing for Zero to strike.

"HA-HAH!" laughed Zero as he leapt, his eyes shining.

"NO!" yelled Eggman.

Eggman raised the Phantom Ruby to take cover and that was when Zero's sword hit the ruby.

CLUNG!

Again, the world glitched and another illusion happened.

As the three of us were in the hallucination, I saw that we were in the middle of a destroyed city. The sky was dark. The buildings were about to break. Fire and smoke spew into the air.

It was hell.

"What the hell?" I thought. "WHAT THE HELL?! W-what is this? Why are we in this illusion? This can't be real! I never seen something so devastating as that. I can't believe my eyes!"

And then, it hit me.

Since Zero touched the Phantom Ruby, his dream was…TOTAL DESTRUCTION. I remembered how he told me about this belief of 'strongest always survive' and seemed to see the world as a cruel place. Nobody would want the world to be like a dystopia, but…for a person like Zero.

Something wasn't right with him.

"What the…?" said Zero.

With Zero distracted, Eggman swung me at the jackal. We both got knocked off the vehicle. I squawked in pain as I hit the floor while Zero landed beside me, nearly breaking his jaw when he crashed.

The mad doctor laughed as he went close to Zero.

"Now, you are an interesting guy," chuckled Eggman. "I like you. How about I hire you to lead my forces? Together, we'll take over the world!"

Zero looked baffled. I looked behind to see the rest of the Jackal Squad surrounded by robots, completely cornered.

"Boss!" called Obsidian. "Don't be tempted by him! We'll be fine!"

Zero scowled suspiciously. "Join YOU? Why would I?"

Eggman smiled, making him look insane. "I saw that vision you had; a destroyed world with nobody in there. Honestly, I would want that type of world, but that's the first step to make Eggman Land."

I scoffed. "Eggman Land? OK, really?"

"If you join me, then you can have that vision."

Zero raised one of his eyes. "And what will I get out of it? I…I do wish for the world to burn…but for what sake? What price?"

Eggman leaned forward, appearing as if he was a giant. "I found this ruby and it might have the power to make illusions. This here is the Phantom Ruby…makes illusions and even better, makes dreams come true. If you help me, I can help you to obtain power…all by the power of this. I can probably make more of these and give you INCREDIBLE power. Wonder what that will mean? You can be the most powerful mercenary in the world. You can have all the bounty in the world. You can build your own empire. After what I saw from your fight, you seem to be the perfect representative of the strong. Better yet, I can make you stronger. That will go the same for your gang."

Zero was silent as he thought about the offer. I just stared at the scene, rolling my eyes at the knowledge that no one – especially the most desperate idiots – would join Eggman.

The jackals were worried.

"Don't listen to him!" called Ace. "What will happen to us?"

"We are better off on our own!" pointed out Tempest.

"Boss!" called Ryder. "Listen to us!"

"Don't take that offer!" barked Paz. "We will be fine!"

Zero was far from hearing their pleads as he was in thought of the offer.

I crossed my arms, pouted and looked away from Eggman…

…unfortunately, I then realized that ANYONE can join Eggman.

Zero smiled in evil.

"Interesting…" he said. "All this time…I've been going through the motions…I'm growing tired of the world as it is…it would be about time for it to burn…"

The jackal raised his hand to shake Eggman's. "Let's do it, Doctor. I'll help you change this world!"

I gasped.

So did the jackals.

"Amhosibl," I sputtered, shaking my head.

('Amhosibl' means 'impossible' in Welsh)

Up until today, I'm in shock.

I never thought that that Zero – my first ever friend – would join Eggman.

Was he that desperate to be seen as the strongest of all?

Zero turned to his comrades who stared back at him in horror and disbelief.

"Z-Zero?" said Ace.

"Jackal Squad!" commanded Zero. "For now on, we'll help Eggman."

The Jackal Squad remained silent. From the look of their eyes, they don't want to help Eggman, but…they didn't have a choice. If they decide not to join, than that meant Zero would abandon them. They would need a new leader. Or worse, they would be disbanded. In the end – wanting to follow Zero's orders – they silently agreed.

I frowned.

"Pathetic squad," I grumbled. "Glad I am NOT with them."

Eggman heard that.

"And you," he said. "How about you join me?"

I glared at Eggman for a while before shaking my head.

"Why should I?" I said. "I don't want to join your side."

"C'mon, Mecha," said Zero. "You'll be able to take over the world. Better yet, you can teach your mother a lesson or two…and get to make her own grave."

Silence fell as eyes stared at me.

Me?

Getting revenge on my mother?

That's CRAZY.

In fact, this thought started to humor me.

My cheeks puffed up…and I stared…laughing. Either I was mocking Eggman or pretending, I don't know. All I know that I was completely confused of why Zero accepted the offer.

"Will that REALLY give me ANYTHING?" I said bitterly. "You think I'm not good to anyone? At least I have the brains and the metamorphic balls to say that I'm smarter and richer than her. I don't need to take over the world. I am already rich, powerful and indeed intelligent than you, Eggman. Isn't it a bit wrong to torture or kill people as well?"

My eyes narrowed

"Now don't mind me, but give me that gem and go to hell, you egg-sized, obsessed, half-brained BABY!"

Eggman's smirk faded. "Fine then. ROBOTS! GET HIM!"

"WAIT!" said Zero.

Too late.

All the robots turned their attention to their new target: me.

Thinking fast, I ran towards the robots. They shot out lasers, but I leapt and jumped over every one of them. I dodged the lasers, barely being shot. As I made my way through the hostile robots, I looked down to see the worried looks of the Jackal Squad.

"Sorry, guys," I said. "I can't stay here."

I was able to get through every wave of the robots and was about to escape through the gates, but that was when a large robot blocked my path.

"Oh crud…" I said.

And that was the last thing I said before the robot smashed my head and everything went dark.


The next thing I knew was struggling to open my heavy eyes.

I groaned.

I felt so sweaty and smelly.

My vision was blurry.

My throat was burning.

I tried to get up, but my feet and hands were tied to something.

I didn't know how long I was out cold.

It could have been a few minutes.

It could have been a few days.

I had no idea.

All I knew was that I got hit by a robot and must have been kidnapped by Eggman. Whatever happened, I wanted to get out and head back home.

"You're finally awake," said a robot's voice. "Now we can get started."

I froze.

Looking up, I saw a small red robot coming towards me. Looking down, I realized that I was strapped to a white operating table by thick metal cuffs. The place I was in was some kind of laboratory. On my left were a row of huge human-sized water containers and several tables that had many scientific equipment.

"You have been out cold for a week now," said the robot. "Good thing that we fed you some food to survive!"

"A week?!" I said.

"That's right!"

"One question; who are you?"

"My name is Orbot and I am Eggman's trusty robot!"

"…"

"To be exact, I'm his stupid slave. That lazy butt."

I sighed. "Just get to the point, tin can. What are you going to do to me?"

"Well…" said Orbot nervously. "Eggman is planning to do some more tests with you. He already went through some. He managed to collect some DNA from your feathers and used them to make some Phantom Ruby prototypes!"

My eyes widened. "Excusez-moi? P-Prototypes?"

"Yeah. He also used DNA from different other animals to make these gems along with some complicated chemicals. I don't really know the combinations. Just today, he is ready to experiment on YOU."

I tensed up in fear. "F-For what?"

"Apparently, he is planning to rip your chest open and put a prototype into your chest today. That way, he can learn and teach you how to use those crazy powers."

I gulped again, but there was no saliva in my mouth.

Getting my hair cut is scary. Getting people killed is scary. Sharp weapons are scary.

But having my chest opened?

That is BAD NEWS.

I groaned. I couldn't stand being in Eggman's lab and I knew that I wouldn't survive for one day. Besides, the people back home would be wondering where I am.

"OK then," I said calmly. "But you need to have some ethical considerations for this experiment."

"Ooh! What is it?" said Orbot suddenly excited.

"Rule number one. Don't watch the MOUTH. Watch the HANDS."

I lifted my hands up to show that my hands were FREE. The whole time, I was wriggling my arms and legs to break free of the cuffs, and it WORKED.

How?

An expert never tells his secrets.

You wish, people.

"Oh boy," said Orbot.

I immediately leapt from the table and roundhouse kicked Orbot. The red robot fell onto the floor in a silly manner.

I felt kind of guilty, but that robot is just following Eggman's orders.

"Ow!" said Orbot, trying to get up. "That is NOT nice!"

"So is capturing people," I said, grabbing my backpack which was nearby me for some reason.

I ran off, finding a way to get out of the lab. I ran out of the room and into the hallways. Without a map, I was running blind.

That was until I bumped into Zero.

I immediately halt to a stop.

"Zero?" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just finished having a conversation with Eggman," said Zero bluntly. "What are you doing out from your table?"

All of a sudden, I felt anger. Why's that?

Zero agreed to join Eggman.

Zero agreed to risk his squad.

Zero agreed to let me be killed.

My eye twitched. "You…you are a monster."

Zero was dumbfounded. "Excuse me?"

"What kind of sick mercenary would join a bad guy like him?"

Zero growled. "Me? I'm not the only one who joined Eggman."

"YOU force them to!"

"It's THEIR choice! I can let them go. Just why won't you accept the offer? You know what you will get! You will have a better place in the world."

I was silent for a while. "Zero, if this is my place, then I don't want to be a part of it."

"Will you listen to me? Before all of this, I lived a purposeful life. But it's not enough. I want to make the Jackal Squad the best empire in the world! Don't you see? If we side with Eggman, the world is ours! We can become the most powerful mercenaries in the world! In this world, the strong survive and the weak perish. Nothing but strong people deserve to exist. You know the truth. I told you. And you believe in it."

And did I believed it DEEPLY?

WRONG.

I sputtered in outburst. "M-ME?! Y-Y-You're saying that I REALLY believed in what you said?! I only believed in that because I feel like it all relates to me…but not others! I don't care about how strong people are or their appearance, status, health, knowledge, sanity or WHAT-SO-EVER?! Killing people isn't my desire and believe me; I ACCIDENTALLY killed someone older than me…and I wasn't proud of it. Will burning the world be anything to you?"

"Hey. It's my choice. Many people would have the same dream. I have been struggling through my life ever since I was born. I suffered and I was scarred a lot of times. But I'm not going to die as a weak person. I rather kill those who are weak. That's the truth in the world."

"T-The truth?! That isn't the truth! That's just living in a belief to not die! There'a difference! I bet that my people back home don't believe in these sort of things. Don't you have the time to stop and think about it? Do you have any doubts about them?"

"When it is a tradition, it is a tradition!"

I shook my head. "Just…just what happened to you? You're…not my friend…not the person I once knew…"

Zero appeared shocked when I told him this. He tried to say something, but shook his head and gritted his teeth.

"Fool…" he growled. "You…you will never understand my reasons…you never understand how it REALLY feels like to be inferior…MISTAKE."

My eye twitched. "Says the guy who screwed up by getting innocent people into trouble who have nothing to do with you! Don't you realize what you are doing is crazy? Call me what you want, but I'm not a mistake! Hear me, jackal! I'm not a mistake. I'm not a mistake! I'M NOT A MISTAKE! And you know what makes YOU weak? Your own ignorance! You don't look before you leap! That's your weakness!"

Zero snarled. "TAKE THAT BACK! I'M NOT WEAK!"

In a blind fit of anger, Zero slashed his claws upwards on MY face.

I quickly closed my eyes, but the damage was there.

I screamed in pain as the jackal's claws scratched me across the face and right eyelid.

Nearly losing my own vision, I staggered backwards.

Trembling, I touched the part where I was scratched and looked at my finger.

A stain of red blood.

The scratch was nasty, but it was only bleeding a bit.

Zero's eyes widened at what he just did.

I was about to snap when I stopped. I thought about it. I can't believe that Zero – my first ever friend – would do that to me. This isn't how I thought of him.

At first, I saw him as a brave, trustful and understanding friend…but there was an evil side of him.

And fighting back wouldn't change him.

Tears started to form at my eyes as I finally discovered the truth.

"I see how it is…" I said quietly. "…I should have known that I shouldn't make friends…I shouldn't have followed you…I'm sorry…I was so naïve…"

I held onto my right eye and turned around.

"Mecha…" said Zero, trying to say something.

I didn't listen.

I ran away, turning around the corner of the hallway.

I could hear Zero growled in frustration.

"FINE!" yelled Zero. "Go ahead and cry off for all I care, weakling! I don't need you, mistake!"

The person who was once a friend is now a fiend.

The saddest thing?

I only became his friend TWO WEEKS AGO and the relationship ended so quickly.

"I'm a mistake," I thought bitterly.

After putting some distance between Zero and myself, I stopped. There was a nearby table with medical needs and a mirror.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I saw a reflection of me with the new scratch I earned on my eye. I winced when I touched it again. It just told me how much of a mistake I was. That scratch would eventually heal became the scar I have today.

For some reason, it looks like the same scar Zero had.

Sighing, I grabbed some long bandage and covered the nasty scratch up. Even though that meant covering up right eye, at least I could still see with my left eye.

Once I was done, I heard footsteps.

It must be Eggman

Spotting a nearby opened vent, I quickly dashed towards it and used it to escape…just in time. With good navigation skills, I was able to find my way out of the lab.

Once I managed to escape, I collapsed onto the ground tired.

Turning my head, I looked up to see that I was on the side of the building.

I sighed. I just wanted to go home and forget about the whole thing. I was so distraught by everything that happened that I started to try to forget it.

"Good lord…" I thought. "Why does this have to happen? I…I just wish that things can go my way for once…"

I got up and made my way out of the base. To my surprise, there were no guard robots and I was able to find the exit without having to fight anyone.

However, when I got closer to the gates, I froze.

There was yelling, screaming, thuds and…

KABOOM!

A red explosion could be seen over the gates.

My eyes widened as I heard the large explosion and a set of cries.

"What the-?" I thought.

I quickly made my way to the top of the gates and peeked over. The scene was horrifying. Scattered around the outside area were…Ace, Paz, Phoenix, Tempest and Fender.

Lying on the floor.

Motionless.

Dead.

They didn't seem to be bleeding OR breathing.

Their eyes were closed.

Standing in the middle was…Shadow…breathing heavily.

On the sides were Ryder and Obsidian. They looked…devastated.

Defeated.

Something I never saw from them before.

Obsidian was looking around in shock.

A crying Ryder was pleading for his sister Tempest to get up. He was on his knees as he shook the female jackal in hopes that she would wake up.

She didn't.

Ryder snapped.

"MURDERER!" he howled as he charged towards Shadow in the classic karate kick position.

Not having the time to progress what happened, Shadow instantly grabbed Ryder by the neck and threw him. The jackal screamed as he was thrown far away before crashing into a nearby mountain. As soon as his body hit the wall, it cracked.

This caused a set of rock formations and boulders to come crumbling down onto Ryder.

I…I didn't see how it looked like – as it was blocked off by the thick forest of trees – but it was as brutal. The last thing you could hear from Ryder were his screams as he was crushed to death.

And then, silence.

Obsidian just watched in horror.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" yelled Eggman through Obsidian's ear piece. "GET HIM!"

Reluctantly, Obsidian charged at Shadow, only to be roundhouse kicked to a tree.

WHAM!

The jackal blacked out as his head came into contact with the stump.

Shadow looked around at the dead bodies of the Jackal Squad.

He sighed and shook his head.

"Got no choice," he said.

The black hedgehog ran off, heading into the facility.

I just watched over the wall, my mouth shaking.

Slowly, I crept over to the scene and bent down at Ace's body.

I placed my hand on the jackal's chest…his heart wasn't beating. There wasn't a single pulse.

I placed my hand on the jackal's forehead…and he felt…so cold.

"A-Ace?" I said. "Can you hear me?"

No words came out from Ace's hanging mouth.

My mind refused to acknowledge what happened to the Jackal Squad.

"C-C'mon, guys," I said, forcing myself to put on a smile as tears formed in my eyes. "You can't be dead…right?"

Nothing.

I let out a small hiccuping sob as I hugged Ace's limp body.

The Jackal Squad is gone.

I looked up to the group of jackals as good friends, but their lives are taken away by someone else.

Even worse, this was my first time seeing Shadow. I thought of him as a hero and ally to Sonic, but this scene changed EVERYTHING for me.

I heard something.

More like someone.

Somebody was coming.

Quickly, I jumped and hid in the thick leaves of the tree branches.

It was Zero.

Apparently, he ran over to see what was going on.

The sight he saw was nothing, but…despair.

All of his comrades' bodies.

He started to panic, trembling at the sight of this.

He ran up to Ace's body.

"ACE!" yelled Zero. shaking Ace "ACE! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Ace didn't reply. He didn't wake up.

Zero ran to the other bodies of the Jackal Squad. "PAZ?! FENDER?! OBSIDIAN?! PHOENIX?! TEMPEST?! PLEASE! WAKE UP! PLEASE WAKE UP!"

He ran to every body of his fallen teammates and attempted to get them up.

He realized that Ryder was missing.

"RYDER?!" he called out. "RYDER?! WHERE ARE YOU?! RYDER?!"

There was no reply from Ryder. He is gone…forever.

Zero started to shake in anger.

"No…" he said, gritting his teeth. "No…no…NO…NOOOOOOOO!"

Tears formed in Zero's eyes, but he wiped them away and ran off to find Shadow. He was blinded in rage. I watched as the angered jackal disappeared in sight.

I slowly got down and looked at Obsidian. As he was the only one who wasn't killed, he looked fine, but it almost look like he isn't breathing.

"Obsidian?" I said, placing a hand onto his chest. To my surprise, I felt a pulse. "Obsidian! Wake up!"

I slightly shook the body.

Obsidian didn't reply.

"Obsidian! Please! You can't go! Not now! WAKE UP!"

At this, I punched Obsidian in the face. This startled him as he screamed and shot upwards.

As he rubbed the part where Shadow kicked, he coughed violently.

"Easy there!" I said, relieved that he is still alive. "Easy! Take a few breaths."

I took out my water bottle and placed it into his hands.

Obsidian slowly drank a tiny sip before looking at me.

"Mecha?" said Obsidian. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw the whole thing," I said. "Zero just came here and saw the dead bodies. He ran to get Shadow."

Obsidian coughed again.

"You look bad," I said. "Do you need my help to get up?"

Obsidian tried to. "I…I can't. I'm going to be out of action for a while. Until I get myself sorted out…you…you got to go to Zero before he's next."

I hesitated. "But…but he won't listen. He already agreed to help Eggman…and I just got into an argument with him."

"Pfft. Zero's one to get into arguments. What argument?"

"I…It's just…we had different views…and I disagreed to Zero's. He…slashed me on the right eye."

That was when Obsidian noticed the bandage. "Oh my Anubis. Is it that bad?"

"It's fine. He didn't damage my eye...just the skin."

Obsidian nodded. "Whatever. You have to go to Zero. Stop him. Tell him to stop."

"B…but I can't," I said. "He won't listen, like I said."

"Listen, Zero is YOUR friend. You got to convince him to turn his back on Eggman. I can't get back up now. Sure, Ace would try to put some sense into him, but now he's gone. Zero trust you more than me. Please. I beg you. Stop Zero before Shadow kill him."

I stayed silent. He was right. I knew that. But I was scared. Scared of how Zero would react to this. I was afraid that Zero would do something horrible and unforgiving that I would be the next to die. The jackal was already absorbed into Eggman's plan and he wouldn't listen to anyone.

But it was worth a shot.

"OK then," I said. "I'll try. Tweet tweet!"

I slapped Obsidian on the back hardly as a parting gesture before running off.

OK. Maybe I hit him too hard.

"OW!" yelped Obsidian. "Oi! With extra tender loving care!"

I didn't hear that as I was already off. I ran through the gigantic base of the facility where I spotted many robot debris – possibly destroyed by Shadow. I eventually reached the entrance of the lab where Shadow was hiding behind a rock formation for cover.

I was thinking of approaching him…but I saw Zero jumping over the rocky pillars that rose from the ground.

He spotted Shadow.

"You…you destroyed my squad," growled the jackal. "I'll show you why they call me the ultimate mercenary!"

Roaring, Zero charged at Shadow.

"TAKE THIS!"

At where Zero would hit, Shadow disappeared.

Zero froze, confused of where the black hedgehog went…

…and that was when he was kicked behind by Shadow.

He was repeatedly assaulted from every side before crashing onto the ground, weak and injured.

But refusing to die a weakling, Zero got back up.

There was a wild fight between Shadow and Zero, but the former was too strong.

Too fast.

Too powerful.

Always teleporting out of danger and reappearing in an instant.

Forming Chaos Spears.

All Zero did was trying to fight with fists and teeth, but nothing worked.

"I have to do something!" I thought as I went into a full-blown panic. "I have to stop them before they destroy each other!"

Grabbing a nearby blaster that was chopped off from a malfunctioned robot, I skidded across the ground and stood in the middle of the fight.

"Hold it right there!" I yelled, raising up the blaster. "Or I'll fire."

The two opponents froze.

"Stay out of this, kid," grumbled Shadow, glancing at Zero.

"Mecha?!" said Zero flabbergasted.

"Hold it right there," I said, my voice low. "Both…of…you."

I didn't want to hurt them. I'm a cold murderer, but I knew that I have to put some sense into them.

"If you don't step out of this now," threatened Shadow. "I'll blast you and him."

Zero growled. "You son of-"

"Violence isn't going to solve anything," I protested. "Zero. I need to talk to y-"

But the jackal was in no mood for talking.

He grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me to the ground, advancing on Shadow.

The two continued to fight.

I groaned in pain as I held onto my painful side, When I stood back up, Shadow was about to deliver the final blow to Zero.

"STOP!" I pleaded, blocking Shadow. "That won't lead to any-"

Shadow's only reply was to do a roundhouse kick.

I was sent flying and my head hit the wall.

WHAM!

Everything went dark.

My skull felt like it was cracked.

My head was throbbing in pain.

I can't remember what happened, but I could only hear voices.

"I said stay out of this, kid."

There was a loud roar from Zero…followed by a loud thud.

"Worthless," said Shadow's voice, cold and full of disgust. "Don't show your pathetic face around me ever again."

I tried to open my eyes, but my vision was blurry. I couldn't get up. I couldn't wake up. I couldn't concentrate.

What a wonderful time to have a concussion here, people.

However, I could only to see that Shadow was gone and Zero was lying on the ground. He get up, but fell to his knees.

"I'm…I'm shaking…me?" Zero said as my vision kept blurring in and out. "Me…afraid?! Ugh…pathetic?! Me…he's calling ME weak?! No…! I am not weak. I'm…I'm not weak…I am not weak. I'm…I'm not weak. I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I'M NOT WEAK!"

I heard his loud angry screams and howls. He was crying in agony, pain, anger, sadness and grief.

I closed my eyes.

I nearly drifted off when I saw Zero in front of me

"You…you…you DIRTY TREACHEROUS BIRD! LIAR! TRAITOR! COWARD! WEAKLING!"

A sharp pain shot through my arm as something hit me.

Then, I felt a feet kicking into my stomach.

And then a punch to my leg.

"YOU! ARE! THE! PATHETIC ONE HERE!" roared Zero as he kept punching and kicking me. "I'M NOT WEAK! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I'M NOT WEAK! I'M NOT WEAK! YOU ARE JUST A MISTAKE! YOU SHOULDN'T EXIST!"

Zero kept roaring and attacked me.

I was nearly unconscious, so I couldn't get myself to get up.

I couldn't move.

I couldn't breathe properly.

I tried to scream, but Zero kept hitting me multiple times which made my lungs hurt.

I felt as if all my breath was gone.

I only let myself be beaten up by him.

After what seemed to be an hour of torture, Zero bent down as he tried to regain his breath. He had been wasting his energy to hurt me, but it was clear that he was still mad as hell.

He raised his claws up…but stopped when Eggman called him through his ear piece to head back to the lab immediately.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance," growled Zero, punching me in the head before running off.

Finally isolated, I finally woke up.

I coughed in pain.

My poor muscles and ribs were sore.

I got up, but nearly collapse.

I looked at my body.

It was a good thing that I wasn't bleeding, but I was bruised.

I feared that some of my bones were broken.

I grabbed the wall to help me get up.

I felt a huge pang of pain in my head. As I held my hand to my bruised head, I tried to fight back the tears…but the emotions were too strong.

Overwhelmed, I started to cry loudly.

I felt guilty.

I felt sad.

I felt angry.

I was…broken.

Mistake.

That was all I am. Unable to stand up for myself from my mother who was stronger than I was as a child. Unable to convince Zero to not take the offer. Unable to save the Jackal Squad from peril. What's worse? I just made new friends – friends I proudly called them – but they are taken away from me. My best friend Zero already hated me. For a fourteen year old bird like me, I cann't manage to stop all the bad things in my life. I let myself be pushed around, hit, yelled at and insulted for being a mistake.

It was my own fault.

With no one to see me, I cried harder as I slumped onto the ground, my head in my hands. The pain that was throbbing in my body didn't help.

"Weak…" I thought, disgusted of myself. "…that's what makes me a mistake. I'm a mistake…and that's what I will always be. I'm weak…I'm weak…I'm weak…"


Bubblegum's POV

"I went back to collect the bodies of the Jackal Squad," said Mecha upon finishing his story. He was already in tears. "Obsidian already went off, so I-I-I was on my own. I-I-I don't know if I was able to find all the jackals as they were scattered everywhere. At least I was able to make a quick grave for them. It must be still standing now. I never knew what h-h-happened to Obsidian or Zero ever since…until when Infinite attacked my town at the beginning of the war."

He paused.

"Zero IS Infinite."

Everyone gasped.

I gasped as well.

I can't believe that Mecha was once a friend of Infinite, but was shunned out.

That would be another reason why Mecha was so mean to us or why he hated teamwork.

Now just to tell you, Mecha NEVER mentioned anything about his family, mother, father or his parents' divorce or how Infinite truly looks like.

Also, Mecha claimed that Infinite never talked about his past, so the question of why Infinite became the monster he was remained unknown.

"C-Captain…" said Sebastian, nearly on the brink of tears.

Mecha looked at Sebastian. "I'm…I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for not telling you this…it's just that…I hate remembering all these bad things in my life. It's my job as a person to tell the truth…but…it hits me hard. I'm…I'm just a coward. I just want to forget everything, but…running away won't last long I'm guessing."

"And is that why?" I asked. "That's why you refuse to have friends in the first place? Because Zero betrayed you? The squad was slain?"

Mecha nodded gravely and looked at me. "Look…I'm not really honest to all of you…not even to myself. I'm…I'm just scared that making friends will just make them die because or me…or they will betray me…see me as nothing but pathetic. More importantly, I just want to run away from pain. I'm scared that might happen to me and our entire squad, Bubblegum."

I stayed quiet, unable to speak. I held my right arm uncomfortably.

Knuckles raised an eye. "So…that is the whole truth? You're not a spy? You're not working for Eggman."

Mecha shook his head. "…no. I don't work for Eggman."

Knuckles sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Sorry for mistaking you as a spy. We won't interrogate you again for these kind of events. Shadow, you may let him go."

Shadow nodded and unlocked the handcuffs.

Mecha's hands just fell to his sides. "Apology accepted. Besides, I have it coming."

"That scar on your face," said Silver. "You got it from Infinite himself?"

"Yeah," said Mecha bitterly as if it was obvious. "And I was nearly compelled to hide it from everyone…but it didn't work out well. I tried putting on an eye-patch, but this got everyone suspicious, so I have to take it off. Worse, I can't look at myself in the mirror properly. The scar on my face…would tell me…how much of a mistake I am. How stupidly weak I am…"

"Maybe you ARE a mistake now," grumbled Vlad.

Mecha turned around. "Excusez-moi?"

"You are one, right now. If you haven't finish off Infinite or at least convince him to stop, none of this would happen."

Mecha's eye twitched. "So you're blaming ME for the war?!"

"You didn't try to kill him yesterday!" pointed out Knuckles. "You had one job and you decided to let him live?! You just let yourself be captured?!"

Mecha started to stutter. He was lost.

"You got your emotions to you," said Sonic, glancing at me. "You…refused to tell about this…just like how the other Resistance soldiers refused to tell anything that is troubling them."

"You know what," said Vlad. "Forget it. If you don't want to fight him, then fine. We will just have to rip that ruby out from his chest and make him suffer like how he made EVERYONE suffer."

"I say we put him in a bedrock prison and fill it with lava!" agreed Richard.

I bit my lip. I knew that everyone will agree to this, but after I saw Infinite's real face, I'm not sure if we could just prejudice Infinite as a monster when underneath, he was just a normal guy in the past. It didn't feel right. I was about to speak when Emerald explained my point.

"Kill him?!" said Emerald. "Just one jackal?!"

"He's not a jackal for my family's sake!" snarled Richard. "He's a cold-hearted, bloodthirsty monster. Have you forgotten what he did? He destroyed many cities and many lives! He also ruined MY LIFE!"

He pointed to Rookie. "Including yours…"

To me. "…yours…"

Then to Mecha. "…and yours as well!"

"But…isn't there some good in him?" wondered Amy.

"That's IMPOSSIBLE!" shouted Richard. "If he WAS a villain before, then he IS a villain. You can't change people unless they see what they are ACTUALLY doing. Look. Right now, life is tough. Especially BEFORE and AFTER the war. Do any of you know how hard war can be? For each and every one of you? If that Infinite/Zero guy decided to use that freaking ruby, then he deserves whatever is going to happen to him! He will have to blame himself for the consequences! He deserves to die!"

"I agree," said Knuckles. "I don't like any of this, but Infinite already crossed the line. He is way over his head by now. We can't let him continue to hurt people and it's about time we put the foot on him. He MUST be stopped for the world."

"But…" choked Emerald. She looked like she was going to cry again. "Heroes HELP people…not kill people."

"There is no good in Infinite," said Espio grimly. "No redemption. Nothing."

"It doesn't really matter if he is good or bad. There are no good guys or bad guys! They are just…people who need help."

"Evil DOESN'T care if you're nice," hissed Knuckles. "Just look at the damage of what Infinite did. He is going to pay for all of this."

"Just please don't!" said Mecha. "There must be some way to change him! Maybe it is that ruby that's controlling him! I swear. I think there must be conflict in him."

Ricahrd glared at Mecha. "Shame on you. Shame…ON…YOU! Look here. Just accept the truth that we have to get rid of him once and for all. Just face the facts: why would you put your faith on someone who want to badly destroy the world? Do you even want to save that jackal or…? I don't know. Are you trying to prove that you are not weak by joining his side, bastard?"

I inhaled sharply.

Mecha's eye twitched.

Infuriated, Mecha threw a nearby wooden plank at Richard, but it only hit the wall. He stomped up to the brown cat and grabbed him by the scarf.

"OH YEAH?!" snapped Mecha. "I'M A BASTARD TO YOU?! MAYBE I SHOULD SHOVE YOUR OWN TAIL RIGHT UP YOUR STINKY MOU-!"

"Mecha!" cried Sebastian.

Mecha stopped upon hearing Sebastian calling for him.

His hazel brown eyes widened when he saw the look on Richard's face: shocked and scared.

The bird slowly let go off Richard and looked around to see all the worried looks and glares of everyone in the room.

He looked at us.

I tried to hide my fear, but I couldn't mask how frightened I was.

"I…I…I haven't change…" was what Mecha can blurt out.

Quickly getting over his anger, Richard regretted what he said. "Mecha…I'm…I'm sorry for what I said…"

"No…it…it was my fault. I'm sorry, everyone. If I only I…the war shouldn't started. Everyone died because of me. I'm…I'm a mistake. I s-s-shouldn't even ex…"

He trailed off before running out of the room in broken tears.

"Captain Mecha!" called Sebastian. "Wait!"

"I'll go talk to him," sighed Shadow before teleporting out of the room.

Sebastian shook his head. "Mecha is always deferential to me, so he will listen to me. I'll check on him."

Sebastian left the room.

The room was filled with tension and awkwardness.

I thought about Mecha's story more.

It made a lot of sense.

Is that how Infinite is?

Some normal individual blinded by power and wants to be strong?

What kind of stupid culture did he pick up about this 'strong lives and weak dies'?

A jackal so angry, upset and confused who wants to hurt people?

He is just like…Mecha before…and me.

And speaking of stupid culture, it nearly passed onto Mecha.

At least, Mecha didn't think that people who are weak shouldn't deserve to exist.

I couldn't shake the fact that Infinite isn't worth being killed.

If it wasn't for me catching a sight of Infinite's real face, I wouldn't be wondering if Infinite was an innocent person before.

Richard rubbed his face. "Ah….what am I saying? I'm…I'm just upset that…"

"We are all in the same boat," said Sonic. "We all dislike Infinite, but at least we get to know why he decided to fall into this kind of madness."

Knuckles sighed, leaning onto the computer panel. "All we know is that we can't forget what Infinite is doing. All we have to do is to stop him before he can cause more trouble."

I nodded. I looked over to my remaining teammates.

Rookie's head was bowed down, tears in his eyes. Again, his eyes turned yellow. I guessed that it was all too much for him to take.

Emerald had a faraway look in her eyes. Something told me that she suddenly felt sorry for Infinite.

I felt nothing but guilt and sadness for Mecha.

As if the mood wasn't bad enough, a loud phone ringtone rang from the main computer. It was ringing loudly.

"Nice ringtone," said Emerald flatly.

"Who is it?" said Vlad.

"It seemed to be from…Eggman," said Silver.

The ivory hedgehog pressed the call button and up came a phone message.

"H…hey there. My name is Belt Colourz and I lived in Australia."

"BELT?!" Rookie said out loud.

Everyone stared at the computer in shock.

"That's your brother?" said Knuckles at Rookie.

The turquoise wolf nodded my head.

Whoever made the message must be Belt and I recognized that voice alright.

And yet, I thought I would never hear Belt again.

"Your brother sounds a bit like you," said Sonic to Rookie.

"Just before the war started, I was captured. I don't know who is gonna hear this, but please. If anyone finds this, please let the Resistance know this no matter what; the Phantom Ruby is still in full power and there's a BACK-UP generator at Eggman Empire Fortress!"

"WHAT?!" nearly everyone said.

"B-But we destroyed both the Phantom Ruby's power source," said Tails.

"T-That's impossible!" said Vector in disbelief.

"Like always," sighed Espio. "Eggman always have a back-up plan."

"Oh no. They're coming back. T-T-This is a plea for all the people of the world…"

"INFINITE! GET HIM!" screamed Eggman's voice from the message.

"Get out of your homes, find something that can fly and get out of Earth! I repeat. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN! NO ONE IS SAFE! EGGMAN IS READY TO DESTROY THE WORLD ANY MIN-!"

Belt's voice was interrupted by a loud thud.

"L-Let me go! LET ME GO RIGHT NOW!" he yelled.

"Begging won't lead you to anyway," said Infinite's voice. "You seem to cling onto life."

"I-I d…don't care if…my life is in danger…I…I…I'm more interested in g-getting your darn empire…burn to He-!"

His curse was cut off when the message ended.

We all stared at the screen in disbelief.

"W-What?" said Amy. "The Phantom Ruby is still working?"

What? So…after all this time, we FAILED to stop the Phantom Ruby? Infinite wasn't powered down yet?

ALL FOR NOTHING.

HORRIBLE. This whole war is HORRIBLE.

At first, I thought that the war was awful. But at that moment, it just got worse that it would NEVER end.

I was suddenly filled with anger.

"WHAT DID THEY DO TO BELT?!" I screamed.

Knuckles tried to play the message again. "I can't get their signal! The message is already wiped off."

Suddenly, I heard…somebody sobbing. I looked to my side. Rookie was on the floor…covering his head. He was crying.

It seemed that the fact that Eggman had taken Belt again hit him hard.

"Hey…" said Sonic, coming up to me and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Easy there, buddy. Don't worry. We will find Belt."

Rookie whimpered in response.

I felt sorry, so I gently patted his head.

"What are we going to do now?" said Charmy.

Knuckles remained silent before speaking. "We stick to the plan. Slightly. Eggman is still in Metropolis, so if we can, we will capture him. When all squads come back, I want them to head to that fortress and destroy the generator."

"Are you sure?" said Amy. "We don't want what happened in Operation Big Wave to occur again. Besides, there isn't a shortcut to head into that fortress."

"This is the final battle. The Fortress is not as big and complicated as Metropolis. This time, we won't lose many lives. It is our last opportunity to bring peace back to the world."


Mecha's POV

I covered my eyes as I ran through the hallways, not caring about who I accidentally bumped into. I was broken and devastated that I couldn't get myself to open my eyes. I wanted to be alone for a while.

I accidently collided into another person.

"Mecha?" said Angelica upon seeing me in tears. "What's with the water works?"

She sounded…shocked.

I just ignored her and pushed her aside. However, Angelica grabbed me by the back of my shirt.

"I'm not letting you go until I get some answers," said Angelica, skepticism in her voice.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said, breaking free and left the pink bird confused.

I opened the bunk room hallway. Through my anger, I was surprised to see Shadow.

"Kid," said the black hedgehog.

"Get out of my sight," I said.

"Listen. Your story may be accurate, but…I'm not sure if I can trust you. Do you REALLY work for Eggman or Infinite?"

I just scowled. "What did I told you? I said I wasn't working with Eggman. I…I was only an ex-friend of Zero."

Shadow gave me a dubious, but understandable look. "OK then. If you say so. I'll still check on you."

"But you should have killed me when you got the chance to," I said, pushing him aside. "It's not like I care about my stupid life anymore."

I walked towards my bunk room.

In the silence, Shadow let out an audible sigh.

"This isn't what I wanted," he said.

I halt.

I turned around, opened my eyes and screeched.

"OH DAMARE! THAT MEANS 'SHUT UP'! What do you want with me?! I told you to leave me alone and it's the SIMPLEST THING anyone can do! ARE YOU DUMB ENOUGH TO NOT UNDERSTAND?!"

There was an uncomfortable silence between us.

Shadow crossed his arms.

There was…regret in his eyes.

"All I want to say is that…I'm sorry for what happened that night."

My anger slightly calmed down. I didn't even try to yell back.

"I was just doing to my job there. I believed that…they all agreed that they were willing to work with Eggman...but I was wrong. G.U.N killed a friend who was important to me and now I work with them. I understand if you are angry with me for taking away your friends' lives."

Honest to God, I wasn't angry at him. I was just mad that he and the rest of the Resistance forced me to open up about my past.

For bothering me.

"I-I don't care," I said quietly. "I don't blame you. I don't deserve your apology. It's what I get for being such a lousy mistake. I…I accidentally took someone's life…that was one of my teammates' father…I tried to rescue him, but…my efforts weren't enough."

I pointed at my scar. "At least…at least THIS taught me something. This scar; it reminds me that I CAN'T trust anyone. I CAN'T make friends with anyone. The second I feel like I am satisfied of the friendship, they will just BURN IT DOWN like everyone else or DIE in my care! I don't need anyone, but myself!"

I paused for a moment.

I remembered how Sebastian Finn, Ryan, Ian and Nicki looked up to me and wanted to be my friends.

How Rookie, Bubblegum and Emerald were willing to give me a chance.

I still can't change.

"I…I was wrong eventually," I said. "Apparently, it shows the...bad side of me."

"What do you mean?" asked Shadow.

"A bully. That was what I was…because I was upset. Maybe…maybe because I can't change…this is my punishment…and everyone has to suffer through it as well. I'm sorry for yelling."

Shadow shook his head. "You're naïve, kid. I don't know much about you, but according to Tails, you are nearly as bad as Eggman. But you don't remind me of that now. I don't believe that the deaths of the Jackal Squad and the war were your consequences for your actions, but you now see that what you did was wrong. Believe me, I also thought it was my fault for causing Infinite to destroy this world."

I nodded.

"Forgiveness isn't easy, kid. You still have a long way to go. I'm not sure if Infinite still cares about you, but you need to forgive yourself."

I exhaled and trudged back to my bunk room. I slammed myself onto the bed and started to shed tears, not caring that my pillow was wet. Thinking about the deaths of the Jackal Squad and my friend Zero disowning me totally shake me badly. I felt like I wanted to punch someone, but I told myself that wouldn't solve anything, so I just lied on my bed and wept.

I heard a squeak.

It was coming from my Yellow Wisp.

I looked upwards to see his concerned look.

"I'm…I'm not OK," I said quietly. "I'm not OK…I'm not OK…"

That was when I felt a hand on my back.

I sat up to see Sebastian.

"Captain…" said the lime wolf.

I looked down with teary eyes. "I'm sorry…sorry for lying…I just can't stand sharing those stupid things…"

"At least we get to hear it now. Either early or late."

I hugged myself. "I…I guess I'm not honest to others…not even to myself…"

Sebastian gave me a quick hug and so did my Yellow Wisp. "Mecha. When we get back home, are you comfortable about telling everyone about your problems? Including Ryan and Ian?"

I sighed. "Just…give me time. I need to learn how to change…I don't know how I will say all of this…I'm not sure if I am fine…"

Sebastian closed his eyes. "Neither am I."


AN: Writing about Mecha's background about Infinite is kind of difficult. Back before the game's release, I was coming up with ideas of how Infinite might be connected to my main characters. At first, I thought that he would be a normal black wolf who knows Bubblegum and Mecha well before he was unintentionally 'killed'. He survived, thinking that the two left him to die which prompted him to become Infinite. However, due to the release of Episode Shadow and the online comic series, I want to make my story canon to the game's storyline. In the end, I have Mecha meeting Infinite before the war and became good friends with him.

Of course, I haven't put in Infinite's backstory about his own...past.

I didn't forget. I'm saving this for another story.

As always, thanks for reading this chapter! If you enjoy this story, 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).

Until next time, keep on rocking!