27 - Knocking On Your Door

Fingers waltzed and gracefully struck against the small but thick keyboard. His ingenious brain was working to the bone, constantly going over codes, equations and binary. It was functioning several miles a second, thinking of something new every so often in only minutes. Tails was now typing on a keyboard that was installed inside of the anti-Omega's back. Above this, a screen that was similar to a laptop was installed as well. Tails couldn't tell what kind of model the computer was, but it was obviously dated. Not by that many years, but definitely something he wouldn't normally use.

The anti-Omega droid was turned around, it's back towards Tails as he worked on it. It was still active, but it was on standby. Basically waiting for Tails to be done with his hacking process. It's eyes moved from side to side occasionally, scanning the room. Meanwhile, the kitsune was making great progress. He was starting to figure out how to get rid of this weird red code. It was strange because, this was coding he's never seen before. Something he's never even studied before. However, he was starting to understand it's language and figure out how it works. This red code was blocking all of the world's networks, forcing the entire population of the planet to go without wi-fi, or in worse cases, without electricity.

It's been days now, a week without power. Who knew what kind of travesties occurred while the world went dark? But no more, because Tails was about to find the answer. Yes, all he had to do was figure out this last set of coding, and he could translate it all. His hands were sore, and he was positive he was developing carpal tunnel. Still, he didn't plan on giving up because of a little pain. He was going to make his big brother proud.

There was just, one more thing he wanted to do first...

He took his hands off the keyboard with a self assured smile, and walked from behind the giant robot. It then asked what Tails was doing. "You are no longer working on the network. Have you lost hope?" It asked.

"No," Tails simply replied. "I'm just taking a tiny break. My hands are pretty cramped here. You just wait right there, I'll be back in a few minutes." As the fox began to turn to walk away, the machine warned him.

"Please remember my previous advice," It reminded him. "Do not try and investigate something that may lead to your own downfall."

That threat again, huh? Tails has had just about enough of this jerk telling him what and what not to do. He was almost thirteen, and he was living on his own like an adult. If it wasn't for him, everyone in this room would be dead, so how dare they threaten him like that? On more than one occasion? He scowled, but didn't turn back. "If you want to hurt me or my friends, go ahead. Just know that when Sonic and Shadow get back, they're not gonna take too kindly to that, and they will find you." He retorted confidently. "I don't know who you are, or what your game is, but you're not gonna keep threatening me like I'm some five year old. I'm not scared anymore. I'm done being scared. So your threats aren't going to work." Tails swished his namesakes as he continued to walk away from the now silent robot. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to my friends. Something I'm sure you wouldn't understand."

Knuckles and Rouge were standing by each other against the entrance of the door. They were talking amongst themselves in quiet tones, making worried expressions. Seeing the little fox walk upon them, they stopped in the middle of their conversation and gave him their attention. Tails was basically their leader at this point, they had to pay respects.

"Hey guys, can you do me a favor and answer some questions for me? I got some suspicions I wanna confirm."

Knuckles nodded with a shrug. "Sure squirt, ask away."

"Alright," Tails briefly looked over his shoulder to see if that damn droid was watching them. It just continued to stand there and idled. "Rouge," He glanced at the ivory bat. "Is it possible to pilot an Omega robot?"

Her eye lids rose. "Pilot? You mean actually controlling it from the inside?" She frowned and put a hand to her chin. "Well, I know you couldn't do that with the original Omega. The most you could do was open him up to power him with something but," She darted her eyes to the side where their robot ally stood. "I've never seen him open up like that one did with that Fiona girl. I'll tell you this, though. The person who made this one obviously had different schematics for it's model."

Tails lowered his eyes. Just as he thought. He then looked at the echidna. "Knuckles, can you sense if that thing is powered by chaos power, or anything similar?"

The red mobian narrowed his eyes and made a "Hmm," sound under his breath. He then closed his eyes and concentrated. He may not have been a user like Shadow or Sonic, but he understood chaos energy almost just as much as they did. "...Yeah, I feel something alright." He continued to keep his eyes shut, focusing carefully. "It's not chaos energy, though. After all, Sonic took the chaos emeralds with him when he warped out of here. And it can't be M.E. or else the island would be sinking in the oceans by now. No," His frown tightened. "It's not chaos energy at all, but it is something very similar. That thing said it was from anti-Mobius, right? I'm not that familiar with anarchy beryl, but I'm pretty sure that's what I'm sensing." He slowly revealed his purple irises. "But, it doesn't feel like a power source, if you get what I mean. It doesn't feel like whatever that energy is, is powering a robot. It feels, alive. Like it's from an actual living person."

"..." The kitsune brought his hand up to his mouth to cover it while looking away. Was that so? Interesting. "...Thanks you guys, that was very helpful. I'm gonna go back to work."

Rouge could see the expression on his face. He just figured something out. Smart kid, Sonic would be proud. "Alright honey, just be careful around that thing. I feel like it's watching you."

"Can do, Rouge." The vulpine nodded and returned to the droid. He got behind it's back and continued to study this strange code. Oh? That was odd. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked the robot. Something else was popping up on the screen here.

The anti-Omega made some static sounds. "You have received a request for a video call."

"W-What? But how? I thought nobody had any means of communication."

"You are using the universal wi-fi, which is ultimately connected from No Zone Corp in No Zone. You are using it without their permission, and this message is also from No Zone Corp. I presume they are contacting you as a consequence."

"Hey," Tails started to smile. "Maybe they can help us! Accept the request, hurry!"

"Request accepted. Connecting to No Zone Corp. Please wait a few moments..."

"I know I said we were going to the meeting room but, there is something you need to see. I wasn't going to show you at first, but...I cannot keep it way from you."

The commander of No Zone Corp continued to strut his way towards his office with the two hedgehogs following behind him. No one was on this floor, it was absolutely empty. Everyone was either downstairs preparing, or down in No Zone Prison to make sure the prisoners were secured.

As they walked, Zonic gave them some tragic news. "During the days of the festival, I was not present. Not just because of work, but because of a series of unfortunate and strange events." Finally, they came upon their destination. Zonic then proceeded to pick through the pocket of his military top to grab his keys. "A coupe days ago," He heaved a heavy sigh. "Four of my missing soldiers that were with officer Zhadow in anti-Mobius, returned to me. However, they were not in their right mind. Apparently, Scourge managed to get to them, and mind controlled them." He took his keys out of his pocket and turned to the door. "My professional shrink, Counselor Zouge, was able to break them out of his spell. But then," He closed his eyes and lightly punched his fist into the door while looking down. It took him a minute before speaking again. "I...They," He stumbled in his words. "They refused to seek help. They purposefully activated some kind of self destructing sequence in their helmets. They put them on, the helmets exploded, and they killed themselves."

Both Sonic and Shadow's irises dilated drastically. Sonic rose his hand up to his mouth in shock, his lips slightly gaping. Shadow was as speechless as his partner, his eyes slowly looking away with dejection. The hero had more disbelief than sorrow, as he just couldn't believe anyone who worked in this kind of facility would dare to do such a thing. Everyone who worked here, everyone who lived here, were all strong people. Both in body, and mind. To hear that not one, but four people committed suicide, was more than just a tragedy. That was Zonic's men, that was his lover's team mates. At least Zhadow was somewhat alive, but they were gone for good now. And in such a gruesome way-Oh God...Their heads exploding...He forced himself to hold down his lunch. "Zonic," Sonic whispered. "I...I'm so sorry."

What else could he say?

It was like Zonic didn't even notice he apologized for his loss. He just continued to frown angrily while opening his eyes back at the knob. He shoved his key in and twisted it around to unlock it. He gripped the handle and tossed the door open. "In." He commanded. The two didn't waste any time and walked in with Zonic closing and locking the door back. "And now, more bad news. No, horrible news." He corrected himself. He traveled over to the Room of Realities, and pushed the door open. It was unusually unlocked. He then whipped his nightstick from his belt and pointed towards the Mobius prime monitors inside of the room. Sonic and Shadow moved around Zonic to get closer to the screens.

What they saw, made the very oxygen in their lungs vanish into nothing.

Their hearts had stopped.

Red. Scarlet.

Those were the only colors they could see. Wait, no there was more. Crimson fires, black soot, grey ashes...Destroyed buildings, crumbling cities, torn up streets. Broken traffic lights, toppled and naked cars. There was no sun, there was only a blood moon. Red mist filled the entire globe. Zonic then moved forward and tapped his nightstick on the channel buttons on the monitor. It didn't matter what channel he switched to, it was all the same. A barren, destroyed wasteland. Except, with every channel switch, the scenery only got worse. There were dead bodies. There were corpses everywhere. Their people, all of those innocent people. Men, women, children, elderly...All dead.

While Shadow tried to stop himself from screaming in rage, he felt weight fall against his side. He looked beside him and saw that Sonic was passing out. With a curse, he reached out and grabbed him by the arms. He tried shaking him to force him to wake up back up, but it wasn't working. Sonic wasn't just fainting, he was becoming delirious. Zonic glanced over, but then turned away with a scowl. He didn't want to show them this, he really didn't, but what kind of person would he be if he didn't show them the truth?

Sonic was hyperventilating. Sonic never, ever, reacted to anything like this before. He was gasping and wheezing as if someone was strangling him. This was worse than when Zonic had his mental break down. He at least had some state of mind left, but Sonic, it was as if his mind was gone. He was rapidly shaking in Shadow's hold, and he was foaming at the mouth. His fur was growing darker, and his green irises were disappearing. Zonic watched with worry, concerned that he might have to step in. No, no no! Shadow thought.

No, he refused to let this happen again!

With a growl, he slammed a now very Dark Sonic against the wall, which was just a wall of numerous TV screens. He thought he may have cracked one of them, but this was necessary. Sonic's eyes were gone, and were now completely white. He was starting to shove against Shadow now, hissing under his breath in a very heinous tone, to let him go. "Let me go...Let me go this instant, I said let me go..." His voice was deep, demonic. "Get off of me..! GET OFF!" He screeched, his voice becoming strange.

Shadow wouldn't have it. He continued to grip his hands into his arms, shoving him further. He ignored the power surge coming from his partner, and the navy blue aura drifting into the air. "Commander," The ultimate life form roughly addressed the third hedgehog in the room, but he didn't take his eyes off of Sonic. "Please leave for about ten minutes. I promise you, I will have Sonic under control."

"Shadow prime, I implore you to-"

"-Just trust me!"

Zonic bit his lip and turned away while rushing out of the room without a word.

Now that they were alone, Shadow held up his hand and wrapped his fingers around Sonic's throat. Not enough to choke him, but definitely harsh enough to keep him still. He then rose his other hand, green energy engulfing his palm. With a bright light, red wire-like material made of chaos energy appeared. With movements quicker than Sonic's eyes could follow, he was wrapped in the red strings. He couldn't move, but he violently thrashed around. He even opened his mouth to yell, but something that took the form of dark flames came out instead. Okay, that was new. Apparently Sonic could breathe dark blue looking fire in this form. Thankfully, Shadow had backed away before it could nail him. This didn't discourage him, however.

"Sonic," Shadow called out to him loudly. "Sonic!" He cried even louder. It was useless, he just couldn't hear him. At least not mentally. He was too caught up in his own wrath to notice him. He just wanted to kill, to hurt someone. But he couldn't let that happen, he had to do something! Damn, this was going to be really corny, but it was the only thing he could think of. He placed one of his hands back near Sonic's muzzle, but not to grab him by the throat again. To caress the side of his face. The thrashing had ceased from the gesture, now glaring at Shadow with a white void for eyeballs. Yes, he finally noticed him. He was listening. "It's me." He said in a softer tone. "I'm here."

I'm here.

"Even if everything gets destroyed, it doesn't matter. I'm here, and we'll fix it."

Dark Sonic was still glowering at him, and his aura didn't fade away.

"We'll fix it. You'll fix it. You always do." He tried to dig through his brain to think of anything that might snap him out of it. "You fought this form's influence off before, and I need you to do it again. Not just me, and not just Zonic. Those soldiers, your friends, your loved ones. Tails," He saw something spark in Sonic when he mentioned him. "We all need you. You can't break like this." He then placed his other hand behind Sonic, gripping the back of his head through his now risen quills. "I love you, remember when I finally said that to you last night?" He murmured. "Remember when I had you, when I took you with everything I had to offer?" He leaned his face closer, their noses brushing against each other. He gently rubbed his hand down against his cheek. "When I utterly destroyed you, when I built you back up again, in that one single moment?" He shook his head. "I'm the only one who's allowed to have you. This thing that you turned into, I won't let it have you. And I won't let Scourge steal you away either. You're mine, do you understand?"

Slowly, dark green eyes began to face back into the white eyes.

"Please, fight it off," He lowered his eyes. "And come back to me." He pressed his mouth on Sonic's, feeling his still lightly bruised lips from their rough lovemaking. Their lips consummated, but it wasn't as perfect as it should have been. The monster controlling Sonic's anger, it was screwing up their chemistry. The kiss was heated, but he could still feel him trying to refuse. With a growl, Shadow stuck out his tongue and seized Dark Sonic's neck once again. This thing liked that roughness. It was the only way to get through to it, fight fire with fire. He used his mouth more aggressively, even biting at his lower lip to bruise it even further. He could feel Sonic shift against him, and he was becoming warm. His cheeks grew a dark red, and his eyes tried looking away. He was moaning, but was trying to keep them silent under his breath. "You bastard," Shadow hissed as he took a breather. "Let him go," He demanded. "Give him back!" He darted his blazing ruby eyes down at his throat, and dived for it.

His tongue slithered against his skin.

"Aah..!" Sonic gasped and clenched his eyes closed. His green eyes became brighter, the aura was dispersing from view. His upper torso had chills sent up his spine. "S-Shadow," That was his voice. He was coming back to him. "Please," He shivered. He was trying to fight it, but he needed help. That's why he was talking so submissive like this. Shadow wasted no time to repeat his actions, only this time, he sucked against his flesh. Sonic rolled his eyes back and his muscles became weak. Shadow's power was penetrating his own, it was cutting this negative influence out of him. It was nearly all gone. "I-It's going away..." His voice became more quiet, more calm.

His fur became more blue, and his quills settled down. His lime green eyes were now normal, and he was himself again. Shadow lifted his mouth off of his body, and softly sighed at the sight of his lover finally relaxing. "Thank goodness." He mumbled in relief. Sonic, who was now beet red, was out of breath. Probably from both his sweet spot being sucked at, and his Dark form attempting to take over him. The chaos wires snapped, and disappeared. There was no need for them anymore.

"Thank you." The hero tried to smile, but he couldn't even fake one. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Save it." Shadow pressed a peck on his mouth. "You're back, that's all that matters."

"I-I, I had it under control, I don't know what happened. I just," He looked behind Shadow with a deep grimace. "..." He didn't say anything else. He didn't have to.

"Believe me," Shadow began to say. "I am very close to setting this entire world on fire after seeing that. Trust me when I say, I am one step away from breaking myself." He took his hand away from his neck and let it rub down his arm. "But you can't, Sonic. I'm not losing you too."

"You'll never lose me. I'll never leave you."

"Hn," The red striped hedgehog nearly smiled, but he found it too difficult as of now. "I wouldn't let you, anyway."

Some heavy, but hesitant footsteps made them look towards the entrance of the room. Shadow let go of Sonic, but not before giving him a longing and trusting gaze. Sonic's chest became hot, and he stepped away from the wall while holding his hand towards his heart. They both turned their heads at the two Mobius prime monitors, and clenched their teeth.

Zonic slowly stepped in, eyeing Sonic immediately. Seeing his now blue fur and green eyes, he exhaled while dragging his hand down his face. Thank Chaos. "You're okay. You're both okay." It's probably been over ten minutes, but he looked like he was in a hurry to get here. Not just because of the wait time, but because of something else. "Both of you, listen to me." He said in a pleading voice. The two lovers turned to look from behind, and saw Zonic walk towards them. He had another transmitter in his hand. He wasn't smiling, but he was giving them an expression that seemed almost happy. "I have good news, this time." He then stepped in front of the Mobius prime screens, and began pressing his fingers on the channel buttons again. "I just got word from Colonel Zespio, someone connected to our universal wi-fi without permission. Whenever this happens, No Zone Corp's security system is contacted instantaneously. When we traced the connection back to it's origin," He looked into his twin's saddened eyes. "We found out that it was from Mobius prime. Your home."

Sonic made a sound that may have been a gasp, but he was so riled up that it barely came out. Shadow grasped his shoulder, and watched the commander press the channel button once again. It landed on GUN HQ. It was a wreck, just like everywhere else. Shadow unfortunately saw some dead humans in front of the building, with blood smeared on the doors. Then, Zonic pressed it one last time. The screen then showed live footage of the GUN commander's personal office. It was a mess as well but, that's not what they were concerned about.

Their friends were in there.

They were alive.

"Tails..!" Sonic exclaimed, running to the monitors and pressing his hands on the screens. He nearly fell to his knees, his eyes almost became watery, but he forced away any emotional tears. Shadow joined his side, seeing Rouge sitting in front of the entrance of the door along with the echidna. Amy was standing in front of someone he didn't recognize, and the rabbit girl and her mother was sitting in the corner of the room. He blew out a huge puff of air, chuckling at how worried they were. On the second monitor, it was shown from Tails' point of view. His face was very close to the screen, but it looked like he was on a laptop of some kind. Zonic smiled to himself, and pressed the audio controls to increase the volume.

"We're connected. They should be able to hear us now."

They heard some kind of robotic voice from the other end telling Tails that he was getting a connection.

"Request accepted. Connecting to No Zone Corp. Please wait a few moments..."

Zonic cleared his throat and placed his hands behind his back professionally. "Hello, Miles prime. Can you hear me?"

"W-Woah..! Sonic, it's really you!" The boy cheered with wide eyes and a big smile. "I can't believe-"

"Oh no, I'm not Sonic prime. Actually," Zonic stepped aside, and allowed Sonic to get a little closer.

The hero covered his mouth, his eyes lowering as he felt himself nearly crying. He sucked it in, and uncovered his face to smile at his little brother. "Tails, it's me, buddy."

"S-Sonic," Tails stuttered. "You're okay! Thank Chaos..." He looked away from the screen and started to yell at the others in the room. "Guys! Come over here, I got contact with Sonic and Shadow!"

They automatically heard several footsteps charging towards the fox. Amy was the first one to shove over, before Rouge came into view. Well, more like her breasts came into view. All the three hedgehogs saw was her cleavage, and some uncomfortable grunts and shouting. Then they saw a flash of red, and a jaggy tail. They saw some long bunny ears in the background, and some sounds of confusion. Finally, they managed to settle themselves down in front of the laptop, so they could see all of their faces. Tails was in front, Amy was on his right and Rouge was on his left. Knuckles was behind them, and Vanilla, who was carrying an unconscious Cream, was beside him. They all looked so relieved, and happy.

Sonic just started to laugh. He was so grateful that they were okay, he was so overjoyed. He nearly lost his mind, but they were all fine. Thank God, thank God...

"You both are...Oh goodness." They heard Vanilla say.

Rouge rubbed the bottom of her palm against her eyes, her make up beginning to run down her face. She sniffed with a smirk and crossed her arms. "Shame on you two. Worrying us like that," She tried to sound annoyed, but her tone was far too ecstatic to be angry.

Knuckles pushed his fists together, and nodded with a confident expression. He smiled warmly, knowing full well that they were okay all along. "I knew you two were alive. I never doubted it!"

Amy balled and wailed, clenching her hands together against her chest while sobbing uncontrollably. "Y-Y-You're both, you're really-" She sniffled. "I-I'm so happy!"

Tails was crying as well, but not as profusely as Amy. They were small, gentle tears. The kitsune just grinned, giving his older brother a thumbs up. "We're all here. And we're all waiting for you!"

Zonic rolled up his sleeve and checked his wrist watch, property of No Zone Corp. "I can buy you a little more time before the meeting." He announced. Sonic nearly cursed, he forgot they had a war to attend to. "Plus, I need to give Miles prime some important information." He talked very cautiously, as he didn't want them to think this call was unimportant. However, they didn't have much time to do this. Zonic needed to give Tails info, and they had to hurry before Scourge attacked.

"Hey," They heard the vulpine say with a confused expression. "Who's that? And why does he looks like Sonic? That can't be Scourge."

Rouge frowned a little. "Isn't that the No Zone counterpart anti-Omega was talking about?"

Shadow's ears twitched. Anti-Omega? What was she talking about? Zonic softly excused himself to the two hedgehogs as he moved in front of them. "I am indeed the No Zone counterpart to Sonic prime. Nice to meet all of you. I am sorry I could not meet any of you on better circumstances, but I am afraid this call cannot last for long." He bowed his head low. "Forgive me, but we're in a hurry here-"

"Wow~" Amy swooned. "He's pretty dreamy, and so professional too!"

Knuckles put a fist under his chin. "Hey yeah, he's a lot more mature than Sonic."

The hero made a lopsided grin, and gave Knuckles a playful glare while folding his arms. "I can hear you, ya know." Quickly, his smile disappeared. They needed to wrap this up. "Tails," He called his little sibling, who attentively stared back. "Scourge is here, and he's about to start a war. We're trying to get ready right now, and we're gonna fight."

The group on the other side of the TVs gave each other certain looks. Tails didn't look too happy about that. "A war? Darn, I don't think there's anything we can do to help you."

"There is one thing," Zonic cut in. "Miles prime, I am aware that you are attempting to take down Scourge's control in your world." He saw the shocked expression on the preteen's face, and continued. "There's no time to explain. You cannot take down the network just yet. If you do, it will not effect him. However, I have a plan. I never anticipated that you'd be able to contact us, so it's a bit rushed, but no matter. We have to time this right during battle. When I give the word, I want you to take it down, but only until then. Understand?"

"Uh, yes." The boy nodded. "But, how will I know? It's not like you can call me back while fighting."

"I have a fix for that. Do not worry. I will make it so that you will be able to watch and see the battle through our eyes, so you'll know when I give the signal."

Both Shadow and Sonic blinked. "Huh?"

"Huh?" Tails became puzzled.

Zonic saluted the fox respectfully. "We will be in contact once again in due time, but for now we need to depart. Godspeed, Miles prime. And to the rest of you." He then stepped away, and allowed Sonic and Shadow to give their goodbyes. Sonic scratched his head. What did he mean by that? He just shook his head and smiled at his friends.

"We're gonna come back home soon. All we gotta do is finish this once and for all."

Shadow looked at Rouge particularly and faintly smiled himself. "We will not return until the state of Mobius is restored, and until that menace gets what's coming to him. We won't fail."

The white bat gave him a wink and tilted her head towards Sonic. Ah, he knew what that meant. He secretly winked back with a smirk, which in turn caused her jaw to drop. She looked as if she was asking, 'For real..!?' Shadow nodded once, and this made the woman internally squeal. She tried to keep her expressions to a minimum so no one would notice, but he could tell she was very happy for them. Amy balled up her hands, puffing smoke out of her nose with determination. "We're rooting for you! Kick his butt!"

Knuckles smirked and punched one of his namesakes into his hand. "Kick his freakin' ass! No holding back!"

Vanilla looked beyond the levels of just 'worried', but she wished them luck nevertheless. "Please be careful! Fight with everything you have."

"Leave nothing left of him when you're done, sweetie. Oh, and give him a good whack for me. Right in his skull." Rouge nudged Amy a bit when she said that.

Tails frowned, but he wasn't discouraged, that's just how confident he was. He had more than just hope, he had pride in his big brother. "You're gonna do this. You won't lose, I know you won't. Like Rouge said," His expression became dark. "Beat him, and end this for good." His grin returned, and gave both hedgehogs a peace sign. "We'll be okay. Just focus on the fight, and win no matter what!" He held up his hand, and pushed his fist against the screen. Sonic did the same, touching his knuckles against Tails', almost as if he was actually there.

"Yeah," Sonic said. "We won't lose, I can definitely promise all of you that." Their fist bump ended, and they solemnly, but assuredly shared a look of pride and ambition. "Tails, I'm so proud of you." He was so proud to call him his little brother. He really was a chip off the old block. "Love you, lil' bro. We're gonna do this, and we're gonna come home."

Tails rubbed his nose. "Love you too, buddy." He nodded and started to wave his hand. "Goodbye-"

Shadow interrupted him. "No, Tails." He remembered that Maria told him, loved ones should never tell each other 'goodbye'. "See you later." He corrected him.

Surprised by Shadow's words, the fox's smile only grew bigger. "Right. See you later." Everyone either waved, or gave a thumbs up. They all were cheering for them, and they were all confident that they would do this. Their despair, their worries and guilt, it was all going away. They were the ray of hope they needed. They were the light they were looking for in this disgusting red abyss of darkness. Their morale shot through the stars, and traveled light years in the galaxy above. They couldn't give up, not now. They had too much to live for. They could fix this, they could do something. The world wasn't done for just yet.

Sonic turned to Shadow, who shared a glance with him. They knew now what they had to do. Zonic waved his hand towards the entrance, gesturing that they needed to leave. With a brighter sense of aspiration and anticipation, they all walked out of the Room of Realities.

Together, side by side.

Warden Zobotnik really was a fat ass tub of lard.

This meting room was like a round table, while the warden sat behind a podium in the center of the room. Zonic was there, along with Zector, Zespio, a few other important looking soldiers of high ranks, and other normal soldiers with lower ranks surrounding the room. The big heads stood at the table, while everyone else stood by. They didn't sit down yet, though. Shadow and Sonic were near Zonic's seat, but they noticed there was one next to him, that was empty. They sadly assumed officer Zhadow was supposed to sit there. Out of respect, they didn't touch the sturdy, blue cushioned chair.

A large and wide projection was shown behind the warden a little above his head. This is where a map of the capital and the main city of No Zone was shown, which was all located here. He folded his hands on top of the podium, where some scattered papers laid. He then adjusted his glasses and gave an order. "Attention!" He barked. Just then, everyone saluted all at once. Sonic and Shadow abruptly felt the need to do the same. The warden, after eyeing his men, finally said, "At ease." And everyone put down their hands and moved to sit down. "My fellow soldiers," He began in a prude tone. "The time of war is nigh. As you all know, there is a mad man, who was previously one of our own dear prisoners, running amok in our beloved city. Our lieutenant general has been searching for this maniac for months, and now he finally decides to show his face after destroying our city and our prison not once, not twice, but three times in a row."

Zonic didn't seem to like the fact that he mentioned him. His face became very resentful once hd did. He really must have hated him, more than Sonic hated Eggman.

"We've all known for a long time that he'd return, and we've been preparing for this. This is where all your years of training measures up to. After receiving some crucial information, we also know that this menace has an army, and power beyond our understanding. Unfortunately, this power has extorted the very souls of some of our most powerful and loyal officers, even forcing some of them to take their own lives." To this, some of the officers in the room either looked down and closed their eyes for a moment of silence, or looked away shamefully. "After all the things this evil tyrant has thrown at us, we finally found a way to combat everything he has up his sleeve." He held up his finger. "I've been hard at work at fixing my lieutenant general's reality monitors and universal warp rings. But I had to stop and move onto working on something else, something vital to our victory against the interloper who dared to trespass into our home again." He glanced to the side towards the projection, that switched to another image. It was something similar to concept art, or schematics of a helmet. "I have engineered new helmets for all of you. They will shield you from the mysterious power of the anti-Sonic's. Do not take these off when in battle, or you will seal your own fate instantly. And as for our visitors," He turned in Zonic's direction, where Shadow and Sonic stood. "I have ear pieces for you that work exactly the same way."

They shared a gaze that seemed more or less impressed. They were surprised he even cared about them, but then they figured Zonic probably chastised him about their significance here earlier.

"You all have new modified uniforms, and weapons that can do more than just offend or defend. Now be mindful of your morale, because we are now fighting for anyone who's lost their mind and their life to the anti-Sonic. We are avenging them, and we are avenging our fallen soldiers. We will not fail. We didn't fall to Nega, and we surely won't lose to the likes of him!" He slammed his fist against the surface. "This is my city, this is my facility! I'll be damned if I allow any brat to be the downfall of me! I beseech you to share this mindset, should you doubt yourself in battle. This war will never be over until I have him executed for the last time, with his head on a stake in my office!" He hollered, standing up from his seat. The image of the projection changed back to the map from before. "I predict he and his pitiful army will appear right at the nose of Zero Bridge, less than twenty minutes away from Zenon Park. We will travel to Zedgewood, which is directly west of the bridge. It is also home to the Zedgewood Greenfield, where there's plenty of room to fight without risking collateral damage. Finally, there is where we go to war." He stepped from behind the podium and stood in front of the round table. "I want you to capture him, and I want him alive. As for his army, leave no one left. Rip them apart. We normally don't take lives in combat, but this isn't Nega, this is a deviant. So I will say this one more time," He placed his hands on the table. "If need be, don't hesitate. This is life or death! This is a real war! Am I clear?"

All officers stood up from their seats and saluted with a loud, "Sir!"

"You all know your formation from last time, right? Nothing's changed, and you all know what to do! Now get out there and-" He stopped. He heard something rather annoying bugging his ear drum. Was, was that whispering? During one of his meetings? He whipped his head towards his lieutenant general, only to see his prime twin leaning over to murmur something in his blue ear. The others in the room did the same, and looked in their direction. Zonic seemed rather intrigued in whatever he was saying to him, while Shadow prime seemed confused as to what they were whispering about.

Zonic then nodded and Sonic prime stepped away while quietly apologizing to everyone with a sheepish grin on his face. Their commander then explained what that was. "Ah, please excuse us sir. Sonic prime gave me a rather, interesting proposal for the war."

"And this, 'proposal' of yours couldn't wait until after I was finished Lieutenant General?" The warden scowled. As a retort, Zonic gave him a cold glare and crossed his arms.

"No. No it couldn't have. My dearest apologies for interrupting your 'hand written speech', that you totally didn't plagiarize from my personal email-"

Warden Zobotnik growled. "And enough out of you!" The tension in the room became so thick, it was getting a little difficult to breathe in here. Even the other high ranking offers adjusted their collars while darting their eyes away. Those two always bickered when there was a meeting or an important court session at hand.

Zonic continued to glare at him for another minute before speaking again. He then gave his attention to his fellow men and women in uniform. "As your lieutenant general, I will guide you to the path of victory. This is my first time leading a war, as this is my first year of being the lieutenant general. You are all very loyal, and were very accepting when I was rewarded with such a status. For that, I thank you. I will not fail you, and I won't let them die in vain. As the warden said, we will avenge them, and we will achieve victory once again. There is no guarantee, but let us see to it that we will lose not one of our ranks." He got up out of his seat and walked towards the podium, despite his general who was also his boss, giving him a very stinky eye. Suddenly, the slide changed to something very different.

It was a picture of Scourge.

...No, it was a picture of the anti-Sonic, before he was green.

It was so, strange to see him like this. Not the fact that he was blue, but because he didn't have all that stupid leather on. He was wearing normal casual clothing, without those stupid red glasses. He looked tired, or uncaring when this picture was taken. He didn't look like he was a prisoner here, he looked like someone close to him took this. He was looking somewhere else, with a book in his hand. He was smiling a little, with his eyes lowered and dark bags under them. But, Chaos, he looked so normal. Was this the picture Sonic saw right after Shadow blew up that bed and breakfast house? "This is Scourge, before mutation. As you all know from the prisoner IQ tests and evaluations, this man is extremely intelligent. He hit a score of 250 in his IQ tests, but they only increased after every month he spent here. Though his insanity obscures his intellect, he was still an outstanding scholar and a notorious genius. Do not be fooled by his appearance or the way he presents himself. This is one person you do not want to underestimate. When you fight, hold nothing back. Do I make myself clear?"

The No Zone soldiers gave a loud cry of honor and approval, throwing up their fists with confidence and pride. They stomped their feet and saluted, before placing their hands on their hearts and bowing low for their commander. Zonic almost smiled at this with flattery, while the warden just scoffed bitterly and moved to walk back around the podium.

"Very good. Then it's settled," Zonic announced. "This meeting is over, you are all dismissed. Go to your designated areas and await your orders. Be prepared to set off for war-" The commander halted his words, as he suddenly felt a bad feeling hit his gut. He then took a few steps back while yelling for his general to move. "Warden Zobotnik, move-!" He tried to say, but it was too late.

The wall behind the warden crumbled, and a large hole was printed. The instant impact caused the warden to lose his balance and fall over onto the floor and the rubble. Smoke and dust filled the room, and the soldiers instantly held up their guns. Out of the hole in the wall, the silhouette of their favorite criminal surfaced. He stepped over the warden's now unconscious body, brushing bits and pieces of dust and rocks off of his shoulders. He sneered, his hands in his jacket pockets while leaning back. He looked back and forth at the party of officers, and gave a wink at Sonic. Shadow was steaming, and he even tried to lunge forward, until Sonic grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. No, not here. They couldn't fight him here. Zonic's face was the darkest, and angriest they've ever seen yet. He was more livid than Shadow was, if that were even possible.

Scourge blew out some air and huffed in a grunt. He took his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms with a blush on his face. "Hmph! Show 'em my baby pictures why don't ya!?" He kicked the dirt off the floor with a pout. He then looked towards the wall were the projector showed his old picture, and sucked his teeth. "Like, eeww! this is a suuuper old one! I'm like, totes uggo in this one. Ugh..." He spawned something similar to a chaos spear in his hand, filled with dark energy, and tossed it upwards at the machine that produced the projection. It stabbed right through it, black smoke shooting out and soon exploding with the pieces falling down. He jumped up, and landed on the round table, crossing his legs like a pretzel. "Well, since you all wanna talk about me, I'll give ya a little trivia on yours truly." He pointed to his glasses. "These glasses? They ain't just sick shades, they got medicine in 'em. Well the other pair does, anyway. I'm actually wearing contacts right now. Can't see a God damn thing without 'em!"

Zonic glanced over at his twin, the look on his face being very peculiar. Sonic caught it, and understood immediately what that meant. He nodded at him, before looking back at Scourge who continued to talk.

"Leeet's seeeee," Scourge looked at the ceiling. "Well, I was a super nerd. Wore converse kicks and everything. Got straight A's and all that jazz. Believe it or not, I was actually a book worm. Guilty pleasure of mine. I still kinda am, ya know?" He pushed himself off of the table and landed on his feet. "Finally, I almost went to college at the age of thirteen years old. Can ya believe it? Neither can I! To be honest, it's only because my dad pulled some strings but, my grades were still so fuckin' awesome that I skipped a grade like every year or so." He then scowled. "That is, before I got dropped out by daddio to do his stupid work at the castle. He was such a spazz..." He chuckled a little, until it became a full-on cackle. "Hahaha! I'm so glad I killed him! Such a fuckin' pain in my ass, let me tell ya. Dude would not lay the fuck off. Oh well," He looked at everyone and shrugged. "Anyone else got a question about me? No? Well then," He looked directly at Zonic. "About your monitors, I did indeed lock them. Back in the day, I'd just bash a computer with my bat whenever it crashed on me. But I got my smarts back, so I'm like a pro-level hacker. And look at you now! You almost got all the pieces in the puzzle! Good job commander!" He applauded with a smile.

Sonic tightened his fist, and let go of Shadow's arm. "...If you're so smart, why did you fail at killing me and my friends in the past?" The fact that someone dared to speak up and say something to their enemy, caused everyone to look his way.

"It's, my friends and I, my dear blue lover." He wagged his finger at him. "Believe it one not, I've got an IQ score bigger than your world's Robotnik. But when these fuckers arrested me," He pointed at Zonic specifically. "They did everything they could to fuck my brain up, to make me stupid!" He snarled. "That's why when I escaped the first time, I failed in killing you so many times, because I was so stupid! They ruined my brain. In a way, I guess you could say my failed attempts were just a phase."

"Just a phase?" Sonic repeated slowly. "Just a phase?! You trying to kill me and my friends, that was just a damn phase?!" He yelled.

"Tch, yeah, durr." He threw up his hands nonchalantly. "Not my fault, they're the ones who made me stupid. They turned me into a normal, ignorant teenager. Remember, I'm the same age as you. I was fifteen, sixteen at the time. Of course it was just a phase. No no no, see the real shit's gonna happen here, now in No Zone." He pointed to the floor as a gesture. "What I did in the past compared to now, was child's play. And soon, you'll see why you should have just stayed in my control in the first place!" He spawned his spiked bat in his hand, twirling it with his fingers. He was going to come at them, he was going to swing at them, and his eyes were turning red!

Zonic instantly turned to the ultimate life form. "Shadow prime!"

The ebony hedgehog held out one hand, open palm. With clenched teeth, he charged power into his hand. Sonic then yelled for everyone to get down or move out of the way. With a grunt, Shadow cried out his special move. "Chaos Blast!"

A large energy blast shot throughout the room, destroying eighty percent of the meeting room. The very sound of the blast was so loud, some of the officers covered their ears or shielded their eyes from how bright it was. They took cover in certain parts of the room, but a majority of the cops were using themselves as meat shields for their commander or the warden.

When the light eminitating from the blast died down, Sonic went to Shadow's side to look at the damage. Then his eyes widened.

Scourge was no longer there.

That monster, he just initiated the war.

END - 27

EDIT: It says edit because I didn't plan on writing an author's note for this chapter. This chapter was ready a long time, just never sent it out. Uh, right now's a super bad time for me. I'm writing this note minutes before I post it, it was literally on the spot. I'm writing it for people who don't read my Yugioh stories, because I vaguely explained in an update there about what's going on with me. Basically, it's personal family shit that is making me tear my fucking hair out, that's also preventing me from having my main desktop. If you wanna read it, it's the ending author's note in chapter 18 of 95.I: Aftermath. If you don't care, that's fine. It was a really whiny and stupid note anyway that will soon be deleted.

I wanted to update this story at least once because I did promise that I'd return around the beginning of summer time. I'm kinda all over the place right now, and I'm not even giving the Sonic community of this site that much attention as of now.

...

I don't know when I'll fully be back here, updates are gonna be pretty fucked from now on. (As if they weren't already.)

I'm sorry about my inactiveness, I just pretty much suck at everything I do.

Hope you all have a better day.