AN: Happy new year, everyone! Here's to come with 2021! I hope that you enjoy this chapter!


Chapter 23 – Towards the Sun

Third Person's POV, Borders of Eggman Empire Fortress, 8:45 pm

Away from the bright city of Metropolis was a large grey wasteland with mountains. In the center of this region lied the Eggman Empire Fortress itself. Located in the middle of a deep crater with high walls surrounding the edges. These walls extended into the depths of the crater – forming staircase-like levels – and the paths around the fortress consisted of bridges through metallic canyons that were fortified with lasers, missile launchers, and robots. Rising from the center of the crater was the Imperial Tower: a massive high-tech tower with tall metallic pieces forming hoops, circling around it.

However, making a LARGER CIRCLE around the crater was a large wall filled with sniper balconies to throw any intruders out.

The Resistance were already on their way there. All the soldiers piled up in Resistance trucks and ships. They also had battleships, but they needed to wait until the guards of the wall were destroyed.

Inside one of the Resistance vehicles were the Black Squad – excluding Rookie and Bubblegum – Sonic, the Red Squad and Amy along with a handful of soldiers. They were heading to the north of the fortress gates.

"Oh boy…" said Sebastian as he looked through the window.

"Oh boy," said Emerald copying him.

"Oh boy," said Sebastian again.

"Oh boy."

"Oh boy…"

"OH BOY!"

"WILL YOU JUST KATIHIA TO WAHA?!" snapped Mecha.

('Katihia to waha' means 'shut your crappy mouth' in Maori)

Emerald stopped.

Mecha just sighed and tried to cover his face with his hood, only exposing the beak.

Nervously, his Wisp hid in his Wispon.

"Sorry…" he muttered. "I am just…anxious."

"It's alright," said Sebastian. "We all are. It's our last fight!"

"No…I'm just worried of what happened to Rookie and Bubblegum."

Emerald winced. "I hope that they will be alright. I'm just glad that Mayor Wills and the others decided to stay at the Resistance HQ."

"They will be alright," said Sonic, coming up to them. "As long as the communication team sticks with them."

Emerald and Sebastian looked at the blue hedgehog.

"Sonic," said Sebastian. "Thanks for everything, dude."

"No probs!" said Sonic winking.

"Please get Rookie and Bubblegum back," said Emerald.

Sonic nodded. He knew that those two had been sucked into that void.

But if he can get his hands on the Phantom Ruby, maybe he can get them out.

Unknown to him, Amy crept up and gave him a kiss on the cheeks.

"Just in case we don't survive," said Amy smiling.

Sonic rubbed the part where he was kissed off when Amy turned her back…and saw Richard, Mic and Vlad nodding in approval.

In another vehicle were the Yellow Squad, the Pink Squad and the Chaotix along with another army. They were heading to the south of the gates.

"Let me at them!" said Charmy who was flying around in excitement. "I'll kick their metallic butts!"

"Calm down there," said Vector, grabbing his stinger. "We are sticking together, so I don't want you running off."

Charmy slightly sighed in annoyance. "Fine."

Meanwhile, Espio was checking on Ash.

"You're doing OK?" asked Espio.

"I'm alright," said Ash as he petted his Chao. "Better than ever."

"You know that this is the last fight. Just be careful and try not to die."

"I don't have to live. I just have to make sure that Eggman and Infinite DIE. And when I'm done, I and the Yellow Squad will head back to our town to see if our old folks are doing alright."

That was when he heard Angelica giving her squad final instructions.

"OK," she said. "We get out of this truck, blow the gates down and we head into the fortress to take down the generator. Any questions?"

"Yes," said Ash, stepping in. "As a matter of fact, why are you putting on MAKE-UP now?"

True to his word, Angelica was putting make-up on the side of her beak and lip gloss on the lips…or IF a bird has any lips on their beak.

"Well, I have to look like SO GOOD in battle!" said Angelica annoyed. "Do you know how important appearances in battles are?"

"You know that it will come off when you rub your face with the floor."

Angelica rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever, four eyes!"

Ash was about to talk back when he heard screaming.

It was Tyler.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT!" he screamed as he attempted to get out the vehicle through a window. "LET ME OFF! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

"You wimp," said Jayden as he and Joey grabbed him. "We are ALREADY going to the battle already."

"Yeah," said Angelica. "Don't be like some kind of big baby. There is almost nothing to worry about."

The pink bird turned to her comrades. "Isn't that right, guys?"

Her friends weren't listening. They were just talking to each other.

"Do you guys notice what happened in my first fist fight?" said a white male hedgehog wearing black leather. "I got my hip bone popped out. You should had seen it sticking right out of my side!"

"That's so sick!" said a brown female dog wearing white leather. "I once nearly died in an attack and all my teeth were out from their gums!"

"That's nothing!" said a male rose cat wearing white leather. "I nearly died in a fight and had my entire ribs popping out from chest that it took five doctors to hold me down while they slingshot it back into place!"

The three laughed and said in somewhat pure joy. "Good times."

Tyler's face went extremely pale.

"Um…" said Angelica awkwardly. "…see?"

Tyler's only response was to scream in fear.

In another vehicle were Knuckles, the Sapphire Squad, Silver and another army. They were heading to the east.

"We've got less than an hour before Eggman's plan goes down," explained Knuckles to all the soldiers through their communication devices.

"There's no more time," said Shadow. "We have to break into the fortress now."

"Indeed," agreed Silver. "This is it. Our last opportunity to bring peace back into the world.

"If the Phantom Ruby is gone," said Amy. "The war will be over."

"Save the sentiments for later," said Espio. "This is not over yet. We still have a battle to fight."

"Exactly," said Knuckles. "This is our last chance. When the vehicles hit near the gates, be quick on your feet and break through the gate. As some squads may already know, their job will be getting rid of the guards. Once we get through, head to the fortress, clear the base and destroy the generator. If any of you can take down Eggman, Infinite and the Phantom Ruby, we win. Put your game faces on! Give in everything you've got!"

The vehicles arrived at the battlefield. All the soldiers got into attack positions as they waited for their vehicles' door to open. The tension was high as they waited to face the danger outside.

"Shark…I'm scared," said Alexia.

"Me too…" said Shark honestly.

That was when the vehicle doors opened and the Eggman Empire took fire.

All the soldiers quickly ran out of the vehicles, dodging the incoming bullets.

On one of the north vehicles, the robots were firing lasers at the opened door. However, Sebastian quickly stood in front and used his katanas to deflect the lasers, causing them to hit the bots instead.

"LET'S GO, RIGHT NOW!" yelled Richard as his team ran out.

Meanwhile at the south vehicles, the Yellow Squad, the Pink Squad and the Chaotix came out.

"DROP YOUR NUTS AND MOVE YOUR BUTTS!" shouted Ash at his team.

…and Mandy and Blizzard were eating nuts in the vehicle. They quickly dropped them when they heard him and ran out.

"Such idiots," mumbled Angelica as they ran out. She looked at her squad. "GUYS! SIC THOSE ROBOTS!"

"RIGHT!" exclaimed her comrades.

All of the Resistance soldiers were already out on the battlefield. They fought their way through the army of robots and shot fire power at their enemies. The squads who were assigned to take out the guards were able to do the job, but they got blocked by some of the attacking robots. Explosions and debris flew over on both sides.

Mecha was charging through the battlefield using his Wispon to drill through the robots. Behind him was Emerald who threw her Wispon to knock out many of the robots. However, the hammer bounced off the last robot and accidentally hit Mecha on the head.

The bird screamed and fell on the ground.

Unknown to him, a robot sniper at one of the gate balcony looked through the aiming hole at…Mecha. It was ready to shoot when it noticed…a grenade on its side.

BOOM!

It turned out it was from Richard and Amy who were hiding behind a barrier.

"DIE, YOU BASTARDS!" roared Richard.

The brown cat tossed another grenade into the air and Amy whacked the bomb with her hammer as if she was playing tennis.

After a brief moment, Mecha quickly got up and ran through the battlefield…only to stop seeing Emerald lying on a beach chair, wearing sunglasses and eating a bottle of pickled eggs. She was watching the explosions happening the sky from the flying robots and the bullets from the Resistance.

"This is a pretty good firework show," Emerald said happily.

Mecha's eye twitched.

"LET'S GO ALREADY!" he screeched, kicking Emerald out of her chair.

Grabbing her by the ears, Mecha ran through the heavy firearms while dragging Emerald along. They eventually bumped into Sonic and Mic who were hiding behind a larger barrier, the latter shooting white laser from his Wispons at the robots.

"There you are!" said Sonic. "I thought you were burnt to ashes."

"Anything going wrong?" asked Mecha.

"None of us can get past this point!" cried Mic. "There are many robots coming from the gates! It's too heavily armed there!"

Mecha and Emerald peeked over. They saw at the edge of the gates were robots coming out from the doors. They were too many of them!

Emerald's eyes widened upon finding a window over the top of those doors. She got an idea.

"Hey Sonic!" she said.

The blue hedgehog looked at her. "What is it?"

"Hold still!"

At this, Emerald held Sonic up, confusing him. Just before Sonic could say anything, Emerald threw him upwards before hitting him in the butt with her hammer. Sonic went flying through the air, nearly screaming. Seeing that he was flying towards the window, he quickly curled up into a ball and launched himself to the window.

SMASH!

He broke through the glass and landed in a middle of an army of robots who were newly made. With a cheeky grin, he decided to play his cards right.

From outside, you could hear explosions from Sonic destroying the robots inside the gates. After what must have been an epic battle, there were no more robots coming out from the gates which meant that the Resistance could get past the gate easily.

"THAT WAS FUN!" called Sonic through his ear piece. "Let's do this again, Emerald…or Amy…or anyone who has a mallet!"

"I was afraid for a moment that you might scratch yourself with glass," said Mecha jokingly.

All the Resistance soldiers went through the gate and met up with each other to form one massive crowd. They all marched their way until they saw the fortress.

In front of them was Infinite floating in the air with a gigantic army of many replica clones.

"Let's go!" called Knuckles.

They all let out a battle cry and ran towards the charging menacing Eggman army. The soldiers fired their Wispons, managing to shoot the clones down. Some of them – including Sonic and the Resistance leaders – used their powers and strength to take down the replicas.

Meanwhile in the sky, many Resistance battleships flew by to take down the Eggman Empire battleships. The two sides exchanged shots, fire and explosions. Oh, it never lies…some of the ships were shot down and crashed onto the ground in fiery explosions.

The Resistance continued to charge forward and easily teared through the replicas as they advanced. To their surprise, they all survived the first wave. Sonic ran towards Infinite who was looking onward at the approaching army.

"W-What?!" said Infinite, shocked to see that the blue hedgehog was still alive. "Impossible!"

"Oh," said Sonic. "You have no idea what's possible! Do you miss me?"

Infinite just get over his shock and adjusted his mask. "Why yes, I did. I've been looking forward to finishing you and your annoying friends."

The masked jackal let out a huge burst of red energy that made a huge shockwave, causing all the troops to fall on the ground.

Infinite laughed and formed an energy ball in his hand. "I trust you're all ready for oblivion? If you're not…oh well."

Just before he could open fire, something shot him. Infinite quickly deflected some of the shots. He lowered his arm to see that it was Omega who was in the front of the army.

"What?!" said Infinite. "Who dares?!"

"Target reconfirmed," said Omega, scanning the jackal. He recognized the monster who tore him to pieces. "Extermination mode initiated. Payback INEVITABLE."

"Funny," muttered Mic. "I thought I told him to stay put as I haven't finish upgrading his wiring."

"Well this is awesome!" shouted Rouge at Omega. "You joined us!"

Infinite growled. He had ENOUGH. "Is there no end to these annoying insects? Why do I have face weaklings like all of you?"

"Hey!" snapped Sonic. "No one is weak! It's not an excuse for people to die like that."

Infinite shook his head in disgust. "You all imbeciles still don't get it, do you? The world doesn't want weak people. Only the strong will survive! I will burn your resistance to ashes…and you…ALONG…WITH…IT!"

With a furious roar, Infinite lifted his hand and shot something up into the sky.

Everyone looked up and all of a sudden, a huge flaming ball of fire appeared in the sky…gigantic…near the horizon. The bright light from it was shining very brightly that it created a heatwave on the battlefield. The enormous sun was slowly descending towards the ground, kilometers away from the ships below.

The Resistance looked upwards at it in shock and disbelief.

"Whoa!" said Knuckles. "You've got to be kidding. That's just a special effect, right?"

"No, it's not!" said Amy. "While we're under the Phantom Ruby's control, it's a PART of our reality!"

"WHAT?!" said most of the soldiers in unison.

"Unbelievable!" said Espio. "What chance do we have against that?"

At this, a large hologram screen appeared in front of the Resistance. It was Eggman.

"The sun will fall upon you all," said Eggman. "BOOM! THE END! Your pathetic lives are over."

"What did you done, Eggman?!" shouted Sonic.

"Why thanks for asking, you pest. You see, even though the prototypes aren't like the Phantom Ruby, the prototype Infinite wields is the main one. The ultimate prototype. This sun is a special effect I made. Not only it is just an illusion, but it is also REAL. It will burn up ANYTHING IN ITS PATH! I mean…THE ENTIRE WORLD!"

"T-That can't be possible!" said Amy.

"Oh. It is. Just a few technical things you won't understand. But the outcome is great!"

"You will be burnt too!" pointed out Sonic.

"Maybe, but Infinite and I made a deal to not harm each other, so…technically both of us are safe from that sun. Without you or ANYONE ELSE around, the world will be only mine…no more Resistance…no more animals…no more humans…no more life…no more cities…except me and Infinite…and a world where I can finally make Eggman Land!"

He laughed maniacally before the hologram disappeared. The Resistance could only watched in shock before looking up at the sun.

"I got to say that I am slightly impressed of your efforts," said Infinite, catching all of the troops' attention. "Sadly, this is the end of the line."

"You monster!" yelled Richard.

"This isn't the end!" said Sonic. "You will never get away with this!"

"Oh really? And how do you propose to stop me? Your Resistance failed to destroy the generator and you lost those prototypes that could have been used for this. I mean…those two weaklings were able to get their hands on them…but they are still stuck in Null Space. It is impossible for them to use the prototypes to get out."

"We can still destroy that generator! We aren't going anywhere!"

"Oh…I don't think so."

At this, Infinite formed a large huge red shield surrounding the Resistance. At the sight of this, all the soldiers started to panic. They tried banging on the walls or dig through the floor, but thanks to the Phantom Ruby's strong power, they couldn't get out. To their shock, telekinesis, Chaos Control or any other powers couldn't break through the shield OR teleport outside.

Infinite sighed. "Honestly, I feel bad for you…but the world doesn't want weak people…or cowards…or fools."

"That's not true!" said Sonic. "We aren't!"

"But how do you explain this?"

Infinite pointed to the soldiers. Sonic looked behind along with his friends. Most of the soldiers were panicking. They were trying to break out from the shield. They looked hurt…broken…scared…sad…tears were rolling down some of their faces.

"N-no…" said Sonic. "No…we can still…"

He can't believe that the Resistance would give up hope already.

He is there for them!

He inspired them!

They can't be defeated!

"Oh Sonic," said Infinite in disgust. "You might have experienced a lot of things, but you don't really know what the world is really about. Maybe it's because you don't know ANYTHING about the world. Maybe you should open up your eyes for ONCE."

At this, he flew off, leaving the Resistance trapped under a shield.

The sun was lowering down, about to burn down anything that it touched.

They lost.

The world is doomed.

Sonic felt anger.

"NO!" he screamed. "There's got to be another way!"

"Another way?" said Richard sarcastically. "Pfft! Yeah, there will always be another way…BUT THERE ISN'T!"

"But Sonic's right!" protested Shadow. "We can't let Eggman win."

"NO!" screamed Richard. "There's nothing to stop that sun. NOTHING. We have nowhere to run. There's no escaping. We're all doomed…j-just accept it."

As the crying Richard said that, he dropped his weapon hopelessly.

Sonic watched as the despair spread over.

"You're just giving up so soon?" said Sonic.

"Just accepting reality," said Richard with tears. "We tried to break through that shield already. It won't budge. We tried breaking through the floor. We're goners."

"No way!"

"Yes…there is no way."

"No. I meant no way is there is no way!"

"No way is there no way that there is no way…"

Sonic nearly lost it. "THIS IS SOMETHING WE CAN'T GIVE UP ON! WE ARE SO CLOSE AND YET YOU ARE ALL GIVING UP?! I THOUGHT THAT THE RESISTANCE ARE SUPPOSED TO STAND UP FOR THOSE WHO ARE WEAK, BUT NOW WE ARE SWITCHING SIDES?! Are we going to give up on our home? Our families? Our planet? Our rights? Isn't that what you all want or do all of you believe that you are nothing?"

That was when he heard someone laughing. He looked to see it came from Mecha. But…he seemed to be faking it.

"You know what?" said Mecha, his voice laced with bitterness. "You're so stupid. If you're so brave, than what would you do? Call a genie? Pray for luck? Use your super form? What are you going to do? What can you do to save us? How can you prove to us that we can still win? And how are you going to win after being defeated? Letting everyone die?"

Sonic was speechless.

However, he knew that there was still one more thing to do.

He pressed his ear piece.

"Tails," he called. "Have you found Rookie or Bubblegum yet?"


Clay's POV, Far Away from the Eggman Empire Fortress

My eyes were blinded by bright lights. My ears were ringing, so I squeezed them tightly.

When my vision cleared, I found myself in the middle of a grey wasteland, sandwiched between tall mountains. They sky was filled with many battleships from the Resistance and the Eggman Empire. Night had fallen, giving a devilish dark red cloudy sky to set the cruel war.

I looked around.

I didn't see anyone beside me.

There was no one, except me and my Cyan Wisp.

Maybe the Resistance already got to the fortress.

And then, it hit me.

"Bubblegum," I said.

I pressed on my headphones and called her.

"B-Bubblegum…" I said worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah," said Bubblegum. "I'm fine. Where are you?"

"I'm outside," I said. "Away from the battlefield."

"For some reason, a few seconds ago, I'm inside the Eggman Empire Fortress!"

"What?!"

"Yeah. How come we got separated from each other? We grabbed on each other, so that we wouldn't come apart."

"I don't know. Maybe there was an error in our prototypes."

I remembered about Eggman's plan to destroy the world.

"Bubblegum," I said. "Any minute now and Eggman is ready to take us to hell. QUICK! Find that generator and destroy it!"

"Got it! Meet the Resistance now! I will take it from…oh no…"

She trailed off.

"What is it?" I said.

Silence.

"Bubblegum?" I said.

And this was what I heard next.

"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

BANG!

"OW!"

I sweat dropped.

Possibly, she teleported into the fortress at the TOP OF THE CEILING of a high room.

"Stupid ruby!" said Bubblegum in pain and annoyance. "Scratch that. You head to the Resistance. I'll take care of the generator."

I nodded to myself and walked off to find the Resistance. I should have run, but I guess that I was feeling a little tired. I hiked through the large mountains when I stopped.

Something appeared in the sky.

A LARGE BALL OF FIRE.

It was the size of the moon.

It looked like…

"…the sun?!" I said in disbelief.

It was growing bigger at every passing second, slowly descending to the ground. For some reason, I could feel the heat of it.

"Oh…oh my lord…" I said.

My Cyan Wisp squeaked something at me in fear.

Whatever was happening there, it didn't look good. I quickly ran and made my way through the wasteland. Unfortunately, I tripped again. As I got up, I noticed that the prototype I placed in my vest came out again. Groaning, I picked it up and then…I felt a strange power running through my body.

But it wasn't my Dark Rings.

That was when I saw something flying towards me.

It was Tails.

"There you are!" he said as he landed beside me. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Tails?" I said. "What's going on?"

Tails hesitated. "Infinite made that sun. The Resistance are trapped under a shield. We can't head further to the generator."

"Bubblegum is already making her way there," I said.

"Really? That's awesome!" said Tails, impressed. His ears drooped a little when he looked doubtful. "But, I'm not sure if she will get there in time. The sun is about to collapse onto the Earth and it's speeding up!"

That was when I felt my Phantom Ruby prototype vibrating.

It was glowing again.

"Huh?" said Tails, looking at it. "What's that?"

"You mean this thing?" I said, raising it up for him to look. "Found it a few days ago."

"It's reacting. Eggman said something about the Phantom Ruby prototypes. Let me see."

I gave the young fox the prototype. It stopped glowing.

"Whoa…it is!" said Tails, giving it back to me. "Eggman said that the Phantom Ruby prototypes only react to the person who has activated it. That must be you, buddy!"

"What?" I said. "Me?"

"Yeah! Apparently, there are some DNA linked in the ruby's power. Maybe…it connects to you. If you can tap into its energy through strong emotional stimuli, you can use it. Just maybe, it can make that sun disappear!"

My jaw slightly opened in surprise, nodding slowly.

No wonder that I could activate that prototype.

I remembered using it that time at Metropolis when my instincts kicked in and I lifted up my hand, letting the prototype do the job. During that time, I was in an emotional state and this kind of information was sent to the ruby to give it the command to protect me and my friends from the missiles.

Bubblegum knew very well how to use hers as well.

Maybe…I can stop that sun.

Save them all.

Save the world.

"OK," I said, looking at it. "Do I just come up with a thought to get rid of it?"

Tails winced. "I…I don't think so. This is a PROTOTYPE and I don't think you can go to extreme measures just to get rid of one gigantic sun. I don't think the connection of the sun is strong here! If you want to…I think…you need to…get up there…to get rid of that sun. You need to be close to it."

My eyes widened as realization kicked in. I felt everything nearly shutting down around me as I thought about what I was in for. I looked up at the dreadful sun again. It was coming closer to the planet. I looked at the prototype I was carrying.

I was scared. I could smell my own fear. I was afraid that if I didn't make it, I wouldn't be able to see the world, the Resistance, Sonic or…even the rest of the Black Squad! Or my brother.

But…I got to stop that sun, whether sacrificing myself or not!

I have the prototype and I am responsible for saving our home. The world's safety is more important than mine at that moment. I can't just watch and let the world die.

I was scared…but I was filled with hope.

I looked at my Cyan Wisp. She looked nervous, but when I put on my brave face, she did her own as well. She flew back into my Wispon.

I clenched my hands into fists, trying to relax.

I can't let Eggman win.

I looked at Tails.

"Do you have something to get up there?" I asked. "I don't think I can do this alone."

Tails' face lit up. "Of course! Follow me!"

He ran off, so I ran after him. He led me to a vintage biplane with two grey main wings tipped in red, poles that ran perpendicular between the wings and a red fuselage armed with a power plant with a grey tractor screw.

To my dismay, there was only one cockpit seat.

"Bloody hell…" I said.

That was when Tails opened another cockpit to reveal a second seat.

"Oh…" I said. "My mistake. Sorry for swearing."

"Jump in," said Tails, turning on the machine.

It took me a while to get onto the plane, but I managed to push myself onto the seat. Tails sat in front of me, his signature twin tails in front of me. I was nearly about to touch them when I registered something that was missing.

"Where are the seatbelts?" I said.

"I didn't add them yet," said Tails. "So…to the sun?"

"Yeah. Don't worry. I will form a shield to keep us safe."

Tails nodded and flipped the switch. The plane roared to life, shaking a bit. I felt my seat warming up as the machine sputtered loudly.

"Again…where are the seatbelts?" I said. "There must be some!"

"Just hold on!" said Tails.

The biplane took off. I screamed as I nearly fell off, but I grabbed on the sides as the plane flew off into the air. I felt the cold wind blowing onto my face despite the humid weather.

As the plane flew higher, I was able to see the back of the fortress along with the Resistance who was a long way from us, trapped under a shield.

I turned on my headphones to hear Knuckles growling. "We made it so far. We were SO close."

"This is truly world-shattering!" said Silver.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" said Vector.

As we got closer to the crater, I formed a shield around the plane.

At this, we saw many of Eggman's flying robots – shaped like bees – flying towards us.

"Uh oh," said Tails. "We got company."

The robots fired at us…only for the bullets to bounce off the shield. We just flew past them easily, unharmed.

"Lasers…" Tails said in a surprising deadpanned tone. "So primitive. Anyway, we are already near the Imperial Tower. Maybe we need to fight fire with fire. If you can get close enough to that sun, the prototype should cancel out the effect."

At this, the Resistance heard what we were doing.

"What?" said Sonic. "Rookie?! Tails?!"

"You'll be burnt to a crisp before then!" pointed out Knuckles. "Give it up, you two! Fall back!"

"Not now!" I said. "We got a world to save."

That was when Bubblegum and Mecha called us.

"Rookie?" she said. "What's going on?"

"What the heck are you doing, dude?" said Mecha.

"There's a huge sun that's about to crash into the horizon and I have to get up there to get rid of it."

"What?! No! You can't do that!" said Bubblegum.

"This is too risky! You'll die!" said Mecha.

"I'm sorry…I have to do it…but Bubblegum…please hurry up…find that generator."

Bubblegum was quiet for a while…before sighing.

"OK then, you idiot," she said in concern. "But please be careful. I'm on my way to the generator."

"You're seriously going to end your life to stop a sun?!" said Mecha. "Your skin will melt before you can feel the heat!"

"It's a chance, Mecha!" I said. "Besides…I'm doing this for my brother…whether he's alive or not."

Mecha sighed and said something foreign. "OK…but please don't die for me."

Tails continued to fly through the swarm of robots. Those drones just kept shooting lasers at us, but the shield was able to deflect them. Some of the lasers shot down the robots as we flew through them casually.

The shield was starting to crack. Groaning, I quickly made a new one.

"Wow!" said Tails. "Your powers are so amazing! It's like using Chaos Control!"

"Heh," I said before looking at my right arm. It was still black. "Yet…I want to take them off."

"It's all up to you two now," said Silver.

"The chances of success are minuscule," said Tails. "But it's a desperate long shot!"

"Please come back in one piece!" said Amy.

"GUYS!" yelled Sonic. "There's something chasing after you!"

"LOOK OUT!" I screamed, pointing to something ahead.

"Say what?" said Tails nearly off guard.

That was when a something flew towards us. Because it was going so fast, it smashed RIGHT THROUGH the shield, thus destroying it.

The plane faltered for a while before hovering upwards.

"What was that?" I said.

Tails looked behind…then gulped. "Oh no."

Behind us was what seemed to be a robot created in the image of Sonic. However, its eyes were black with red pupils, had claw-like hands and rocket shoes. It was gigantic – larger than the plane – and had a glitchy red aura around it.

"Not him…" said Tails, breaking into a sweat. "Not him again."

"Who is this?" I said.

"That's Metal Sonic! One of Eggman's creations. But…this must be an illusion. Metal Sonic…isn't that big before…"

At this, the robot replica started to charge up and blue sparks emitted from the body.

"Hold on tight!" said Tails, pushing the throttle.

The robot formed a bright yellow energy field around its body and charged towards us. Tails quickly flipped the plane upwards, dodging the robot's attack. I grabbed onto the sides of the plane – nearly falling out from my seat – as the plane did a HUGE 360.

The robot wasn't done. It came charging back at us, but the plane quickly did a quick spin to the left to avoid being penetrated.

I found myself nearly hanging on the edge of my seat as the plane flew around in huge circles, trying to lose Metal Sonic.

"Any more of this and I'm going to be dizzy…" groaned Tails.

"I feel the same way," I said wearily.

With the replica behind us, I sat up and pointed my Wispon at the robot, pressing the trigger. However, the robot was quick and managed to dodge every laser I shot. It only tried to attack us by charging towards us as if the robot itself was a homing missile.

I didn't know how long this chase was going to take and the sun was getting close, but the plane was flying to the top of the Imperial Tower.

However, if we can't lose that robot, it would blast the plane into pieces and I might not be able to get up to the sun.

"We are almost there!" said Tails as he flew the plane upwards the tower.

I looked behind to see that freaking cyborg coming to us.

"I can REALLY use a bucket of water here!" I said.

"Water isn't going to destroy THIS robot!" pointed out Tails. "We just need to somehow burn up his wiring for a good amount of time."

"Then how the heck are we…?"

I trailed upon seeing something under my seat. To my surprise, there was a Lightning Wispon there!

I let out a happy bark. "Did you kept this here?"

Tails quickly glanced behind. "I…I don't think so. I don't know who put it there. Maybe it was Minty."

I looked behind to see Metal Sonic…coming towards us. It was almost near. Just as it reached the tail bit of the plane, I quickly pressed the trigger.

Normally, I would be frighten by this, but I was focusing on taking down the robot. I was marveling the large lightning bolt that zapped it as a thousand bolts ran through the fake-Sonic robot. While still hovering in the air, it twitched dangerously and sparks flew out.

When the bolts cleared, the robot started to spew out smoke before falling to the ground. As it fell into the crater, I saw it glitched and disappeared from existence.

"WHOO!" I said, throwing my hands into the air. "That's a good sh-!"

ZAP!

At this, the Wispon let out ANOTHER lightning bolt.

BOOM!

It zapped out and accidentally hit the left side of the plane. As soon as it came into contact, there was a minor explosion before smoke spewed out.

The plane started to shake violently and faltered.

"Uh oh…" said Tails.

"Sorry…" I said, sheepishly putting down the Lighting Wispon.

Tails sighed and shook his head. "Should have gotten a better plane."

At that moment, the plane started to fall. To my surprise, before the plane stopped, it was already over the top of the tower.

"Quick!" said Tails to me. "Jump!"

I didn't argue and immediately jumped from the plane. Everything went into slow motion as I flew across the air. To my relief, I crashed onto the top roof of the tower. As I quickly got myself up, I looked up to see the tall antenna of the tower.

The sun was getting closer.

I looked down to see Tails giving me the thumbs-up as the plane fall. He was able to use the wings to fly down through the air to make a landing somewhere else. At least I knew that he was going to be fine.

I looked up to see the sun. Alright…let's do this.

"MAKE PEACE WITH YOUR FATE, BECAUSE YOUR LIVES ARE NOW OVER!" yelled Eggman's voice from somewhere.

I growled hearing that and I fired my grappling gun at the antenna. I quickly used it to pull myself up and flew upwards towards the flaming ball of death.

Killed by flying straight to the sun.

That's a good death.

I felt the air getting warmer then hotter as I flew to the sun.

I bit my lip and held onto my prototype hardly.

I got to do this and I can't mess it up.

If I don't get rid of the deadly illusion, then it would be all over.

Letting out a growl, I quickly raised the prototype into the air…and it came into contact with the sun as soon as I thought of a command.

DING!

KABOOM!

Everything went white.

A huge wave of heat swept over me before the temperature changed back to cool.

My ears were ringing.

My vision wasn't clear, but when it was, I saw the sun…or at least where it USED to be.

It disappeared in a trail of red energy.

And the next thing I knew was falling down.

I fell through the air, but quickly shoot my grappling gun at a tower. I pulled myself towards it and landed on the platform with a heavy thud.

"Ow…" I said, lying face down. Pain and heat shot through my body due to the effects of going to the sun a little too close.

I looked up and saw my prototype…it was slightly cracked.

"Don't shatter for me please…" I said.

I slowly stood up, but nearly fell. I quickly used my right hand and grabbed the wall so that I could stand. I looked down to see the Resistance.

Along with the sun gone, the shield that blocked them disappeared as well. Must have been a side effect.

I felt a smile crept on my face as the Resistance cheered for me…everyone.

I did it.

The sun is gone.

I am still alive.

I saved the world.

The world can continue to live in peace.

But it's not over.

I chuckled a bit, trembling. I can't believe that a young child like me would be able to become a great hero.

My Cyan Wisp got out from my Wispon and flew around me in excitement, letting out cries of victory. She sweetly nuzzled my face.

"T-Thank you," I said to her. "Both of us did a good job."

That was when my Wisp shook her head. She pointed at me.

"But I have to give credit to you," I joked. "I don't want you to live in the dark while the spotlight shines on me."

She laughed.

Just before I knew it, I fell weakly. Lying on the platform, I put up a shaky thumbs up showing that I was OK. Just tired.

"And yet I thought that soldiers don't get tired," I heard Mecha said through my headphones.

"Well down, Rookie!" said Emerald.

"That was so WICKED!" said Sebastian.

"This is the turning point, guys!" called Knuckles. "Time to press our advantage and kick major butt!"


Bubblegum's POV, Inside the Eggman Empire Fortress

Just how many times do I need to go through the fortress?

Again, I was running through the long halls of the fortress. This time, I didn't bothered if I was spotted by any robots. I just ripped them to pieces as I went pass them. How I dismantled them? By just shooting my Wispon or kicking them while not looking. It was taking long for me to find that generator. Like always, a fortress is VERY BIG that you can almost NEVER find the room you want to be in.

I wished that I found an elevator in the first place.

Also, if you guys are concerned, don't worry. My Pink Wisp was already fine at the time and decided to stay in my Wispon. Yes, both of us were covered in bruises, but we could still fight.

Halfway, I spotted a small room. There was something in there. Quickly taking a peek inside, I saw that it was an office with several monitors around.

It seemed to be an office for a security guard.

"Why of all the places does Eggman want to put THIS in?" I said to myself.

I was about to go when I spotted something. In one of the monitors, there was a large sun in the sky.

I gasped and remembered.

The sun.

It was going to crash down onto Earth. Rookie was going there!

I hadn't reach to the generator yet.

"No…no…no…" I said, coming up to the monitor.

To my horror, I saw Rookie flying towards it. He raised the prototype in the air and it touched the sun. The whole screen went white before showing that the sun had disappeared.

Rookie was able to land safely on a tower.

Loud cheering from the Resistance could be heard.

I chuckled seeing that. I wished that I was there to see what happened. I was proud of Rookie. I knew at first I saw him as some cowardly, timid and weak boy, but as time went by, I saw him a new light. Rookie has become a confident, humble and brave hero despite being scared of the war. Like me, he has been inspired by Sonic to keep going no matter what.

"I'm sorry for doubting you," I said, feeling tears in my eyes. "Not bad, Rookie. Not bad at…"

During this, my Pink Wisp watched the whole footage and even cheered in joy. She was flying around in excitement. I was surprised by this because this was probably the first time I saw her this happy.

"I see that you like how Rookie saved the world," I said to her.

Hearing this, my Pink Wisp quickly snapped back to her cold self, pushed my face away with her tentacle and babbled something as if saying 'nobody asked you'. A faint red blush appeared on her face.

I decided to tease her a bit. "Aww…do you like Rookie?"

At this, my Pink Wisp glared at me and started ranting as if trying to deny that she 'likes' Rookie. I couldn't help but chuckle. She looked cute like that.

Of course I didn't say that to her.

Wait, huh?

I saw something flashed on one of the monitors.

"What was that?" I said.

My Pink Wisp stopped talking and turned around to see what I was looking at.

I saw something on another monitor. The image was blurry, but I could identify the image of a bathroom. There was something…green there.

Some kind of green figure moving around.

It didn't look like a robot.

"What?" I said.

Then, I noticed something at the corner of my eye. I looked behind and saw the one person everyone would try to get away from;

Fender.

She was just right there.

"AH, CHAOS!" I screamed.

Quickly, I grabbed a weapon that was lying on the table and aimed it at Fender.

POW!

A bullet shot out from the mouth…only to bounce off Fender harmlessly. The bullet was made from rubber.

That was confusing.

Dumbfounded, I looked at the gun I was holding. It had the words 'NERF' on it.

Oh…that…that wasn't a real gun, was it?

I looked back up at Fender who was just staring at me with that same slasher smile. Almost wanting to say hi before tearing off my head.

My Pink Wisp placed a tentacle onto her forehead in disappointment

I just stood there, grinning awkwardly.

I knew what was going to happen.

It was at that time that I knew I was screwed and I have to face the consequences.

"Heh…" I chuckled sheepishly.


AN: When writing the scene where the Resistance are going to the Eggman Empire Fortress, I noticed a slight gap of how they managed to get there, so I expanded the scene. Inspirations come from SMG4: 'World War Mario'. I even decided that running up to the tower is a bit too much of a challenge for the Rookie, so I have Tails to assist Clay to stop the sun from falling down.

Yeah...Bubblegum now has company to deal with. A bit of a 'Captain Marvel' reference if you noticed. Won't be long for her though.

As always, 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!