28 - Full Scale

The second Scourge disappeared, Zonic went full on army general mode. He yelled for the others to get out of the building immediately and to report outside where they were supposed to be. Colonel Zector rushed down to the HQ's back exit, which led to the path that went directly to their oceans. He was the Fleet Admiral of their navy, so he commanded the seas. He got in his favorite destroyer ship, with five silver stars on it's bow. Colonel Zespio went to the top floor of the tower. As the General of the Air Force, he hopped in the best fighter jet in their hangar. He ruled the skies, with five silver stars on his plane. Both close and powerful men to their lieutenant general, they digitized on their high ranking, specially modified Zone Cop uniforms.

Soldiers began to get in their small planes and fighter jets to take off. Others down below boarded their ships and motorboats, heading off away from the coast. The fight was predicted to happen on land, but there was a reason why they were separating like this. Like Zobotnik said, they were going off of their previous formation from the last war. That formation, was to have the branches of the military separate. The navy to the seas, and their air force to the skies. The navy, with their strongest ships, were to surround the coast of the Zedgewood greenfield. Little did their enemy know, that was directly across a beach. The navy would not only act as a wall for No Zone's perimeter, but it would also guard the rear end of their battle field.

As for their jets soaring in the sky, they were to act almost as air sentries. There would be a few flying over the main city, the HQ, the ocean, and the greenfield. This would absolutely surround their enemy from each end. As for their army who had to fight on foot, they would be in an organized and appropriately structured formation in the field. They were off now, marching to the area with weapons in their hands and their sleek uniforms fitting their bodies. Others such as the hackers, bombs squads, scientists, counselors and psychiatrists, were requested to stay inside of the building for safety as they weren't fit for combat.

However, they were still assigned to bare arms if necessary, and to be on high alert. Low ranking but strong soldiers were still to be on patrol in the prison, which was on a very strict lock down for the time being. In fact, by order of the warden, all inmates were forcefully put to sleep. They didn't want Scourge to take advantage of a fight, and cause yet another prison riot. They would not wake up until the next day. The hackers were also assigned with a special job: to detect anything that may look similar to chaos energy. Zonic didn't want what happened to Mobius prime to happen here, so he had them ready to fight off whatever control Scourge might activate in their territory. Medics were also on the scene of the battle field, while some stayed inside of HQ as well. Anyone who wasn't physically or mentally fit to fight in this war, were told to evacuate with their families, not to return until the result of the battle was confirmed.

Finally, Zonic gave both Shadow and Sonic some ear pieces so they could hear instructions during battle. They were also given control gauntlets to help boost their strengths, and special tiny chips installed in their shoes to help them walk on walls like them at any time. He then instructed Shadow to go along with some of his high ranking officers out to the greenfield, so they could get ready with the troops. He wanted to keep Sonic for just a little while longer, but he promised they'd catch up soon. Right before he left, he secretly pulled Sonic aside and gave him a quick but passionate kiss. He then went off on his own with the others, leaving Sonic red and dreamy.

The twins were now on the roof, in front of the one of the many helipads. A chopper was waiting for the commander to be escorted in, the pilot patiently waiting for them to get on. Zonic still didn't physically digitize his combat uniform on, Sonic noticed, but he knew why. With strong winds from the propellers of the attack chopper blowing their quills fiercely, Zonic loudly told the pilot to cover his eyes. Perplexed by such an odd and even childish request, the pilot just stared. Zonic scowled and ordered for him to do it more roughly this time. "I told you to look away and cover your eyes! And if you peek, not only will I revoke your license to pilot my air crafts, I will suspend you dishonorably from HQ and destroy your status. Do it, now." He shouted.

Both Sonic and the pilot flinched with fearful whimpers, and he saluted while looking away and covering the face of his helmet with his gloved hands. With a sigh, Zonic gave Sonic a small smile. He held up his finger to his lips, telling him without words that they needed to be quiet and fast. Sonic started to smile back.

This plan was going to be so awesome.

Shadow was now riding on the back of one of the zone cops' motorcycles. Well, more like standing on the back seat while looking at their surrounding with his arms crossed over his chest. So this was where they were going to fight, huh? This beautiful green field with neatly grown blades of grass. There wasn't a tree or flower in sight. Not for miles. Sure, he could have just ran there in seconds but, Zonic instructed them not to leave his troops until the fighting started. Zonic understood that Shadow and Sonic could hold their own no problem and fight alone, but he didn't want them to separate from the group before Scourge showed his face.

Other motorcycles, military vehicles and even tanks, followed behind them at a fairly decent pace. While Shadow's already seen his fair shares of militia and tanks thanks to GUN, he never saw an army like this before. Like he said previously, Zonic was one thousand times a better commander than Commander Tower. It was no surprise that their entire military was a thousand times better too. Their vehicles were highly advanced, and some of them even floated or flew above ground like the flying police cars. He had to admit, even though none of them were at his or Sonic's level, they were still a force to be reckoned with.

...

...Huh?

The hell was that?

"Oh shit." Shadow mumbled. His abnormal eyesight could see hundreds of yards away, that black trucks were coming their way. They weren't moving very fast, and were probably moving at the same pace as they were. Still, he could figure out that those black trucks belonged to yours truly. Didn't Sonic mention that he was kidnapped and put in one of those things? Definitely the property of Scourge. "Do you see that?" He asked loud enough so the driver could hear him over the bike's loud rumbles.

"Uh," She held up one hand from the handle bars and pressed her finger in the side of her helmet. Chaos, how many damn hidden buttons were in those things? She adjusted the view in the pro shield of her head ornament. She scoffed and placed her hand back down. "Yeah I see it. There's at least two hundred of trucks."

"Yeah, and there's probably more than a thousand of his minions." He added. "How much of you are there?" He looked down below. The female driver, who was a tiger, carefully tucked her tail around her waist so it wouldn't get in the way while the rode.

"Honestly? Only a little more than five thousand."

"What?" Shadow blinked. That wasn't a damn army! That was just a brigade! "You're kidding." He realized, there weren't that many people in HQ, or traveling to the battle field right now. She laughed and shrugged one of her shoulders.

"Yup. We're pretty small, but that doesn't matter. What we lack in numbers, we make up for ten fold in strategy and strength." She revved up the vehicle and pushed the pedal a little faster. "We fought an army of ten thousand robots, before. That's an army."

Holy crap did she sound reckless. Kind of reminded him of a certain someone. "True, but they're not robots."

"Yeah, but we've got commander Zonic on our side." She smirked underneath her helmet. "I've been around before he became commander, but he's really something else. Probably the smartest kid I ever met, and he deserves that position. With him guiding us, I know we're gonna win again. Even against these freaks." She looked to the side and held up a pumped fist. "Am I right guys!?" She yelled, referring to the military vehicles and tanks close by them. The men and women in said vehicles pumped up their fists as well outside of their windows and cheered on along with her. She chuckled and looked back at the road ahead of them. "Look kid," She said, making Shadow raise an eye ridge. He was for sure decades older than she was. "I know you and that Sonic guy got all these freaky cool powers and what not, but I guarantee ya, you won't have to do much here." She said with a cocky attitude. Did Sonic's spirit leave his body and possess her or something? "In fact, by the end of this, you guys won't even have to lift one finger to help us out. Just leave it to the professionals."

While he was glad their spirits were up, he didn't like the fact that they were underestimating their enemy. That was the mistake he himself made before, despite Sonic's several warnings. He paid for it too, more than once. This woman, judging by the medal on her chest, was a pretty high ranking soldier. Probably one of the best of the best. She was going to lead some of her comrades to their deaths if she kept talking like that. "...Know thyself and know thy enemy." He replied quietly.

To this, she tilted her head. "Huh, good quote. I'll remember that."

"Let's hope that you will." He narrowed his ruby eyes at the upcoming army of black trucks. "That all of you will.." He trailed off.

If you don't want to die, is what he wanted to say.

After a few minutes, she drove to a stop. Then, the vehicles behind her either stopped, or drove to the side to get in a certain position. Soon, groups of different types of military vehicles lined up in the order Zonic detailed accordingly. The motorcycles or smaller mobiles were on the front lines, the military vehicles were more in the middle, and the tanks were in the back. Even further where the coast lied, navy ships were glaring back at them all with their weapons ready. Shadow stepped down from the bike, and the female zone cop stood by with her hands behind her back. Nearly everyone got out or off of their vehicles, standing beside them silently.

They were in the same position as they would be in a line up. Shadow noted that there were quite a number of soldiers here. He then heard the sound of planes and jets. He looked up and saw their Air Force high up, standing by. They were all waiting for something, or rather, someone.

At last, an attack chopper with a large golden star on the side of it flew directly above the grounding army, and just below some of the fighter jets. It stood still, and one of the doors slid open. Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow noticed one more aircraft, and it was ginormous. It was a blimp, or some kind of airship. When the hell-no, where the hell was that thing held at? It wasn't that far away from the other aircrafts, and there was a pair of large screens on both sides of it. Like one of those air vessels that flew around with advertisements. A golden star was on it's tail, signaling that it was indeed military property.

Suddenly, it flashed on, and a familiar face showed.

Out of the chopper, a blue hedgehog jumped down and gracefully landed beside Shadow. His lover, who seemed rather serious, glanced over at him before looking away again. That was, a little strange. Usually he'd give a thumbs up, or a smile or smirk. No matter what the circumstances, Sonic would always flash a confident smile before the start of a fight. Or perhaps he couldn't, because of who they were up against.

Lights from the heavens shined down upon the chopper, a small portion of the sky directly above the helicopter glimmered through just as their lieutenant general stepped out to face the world. The clouds were parting just for him? What a coincidence. Just as he did, those trucks got close, and ended up parking in the same form as the zone cops. The bandits and criminals wearing all black stepped out of their trucks and casually stood by. Their outfits looked very similar from the last time they saw them, but more reinforced. Even stranger, why did they all seem normal? Like they weren't being controlled. Both he and Sonic witnessed first hand how a hypnotized victim looked. Lost, confused, empty or just dreadfully wrong. These guys looked like they just had a good night's rest.

And lo and behold, the green deviant was sitting on top of one of the trucks' roofs in the front lines. He looked down upon the No Zone soldiers from afar, lightly smiling. He started shaking his head in a 'tsk tsk' fashion, with his legs crossed and his fist underneath his chin. He then winked at Sonic while licking his lips. Sonic however paid this no mind, and continued to glower. Shadow on the other hand, felt a vein throb on his head.

Zonic stood on the floor of the chopper, his combat modified night stick in his hands. His uniform was on, with his several medals glinting from the sun. His helmet was off, so they all could see his face clearly. He used the night stick like a staff, leaning against it between his legs with both of his palms, eyeing down Scourge like a peasant. He didn't need a microphone for what he was about to say.

They'd all hear him, and they'd all listen to every word.

"Ogilvie Maurice," He called with the expression of a dictator. That's how fierce he looked right now. "You act as the shepherd that guides the flock of mindless and pitiful sheep to your madness. You act as a God among the innocents who did you no wrong. You've stolen, burned, raped, abused and killed for years. While you are powerful, you were never unstoppable. You were never invincible, you were never a God who couldn't bleed." His voice was so powerful and headstrong, so booming and resilient. "You made yourself out to be the evil genius you always thought you were. Causing more havoc and destruction than any other villain we've ever encountered. Yet with that cunning intelligence of yours, you forget one thing," He slammed his night stick against the surface of the helicopter. "Ignorance is truly terrifying in action. You're no longer in Moebius, anti-Sonic. You're playing on our field, now."

He clicked one of his heels, and every soldier saluted instantaneously. Military boots stomping into the ground echoed far across the land. Scourge looked more or less impressed by the speech, and just continued to stare with anticipation in the same position.

With a frown, Sonic suddenly spoke. "Scourge," This made both Shadow and Scourge look at the blue hedgehog curiously.

"Mmn, yes daddy~?" The anti-double flirted while fluttering his eyes.

His flirting still didn't bother him, he remained undaunted. "This is your last chance." He said. "You can come with us quietly. It doesn't have to go down like this."

In response, Scourge no longer smiled. He just gave Sonic a peculiar glare. One that said, 'you've gotta be joking'. No, he wouldn't be giving up now. He honestly didn't know why he even asked that, but it was worth a shot. With his silence, he sighed, and looked up at the commander.

As the growing winds continued to blow his quills, there was a growing pause. Zonic soon started to smirk. "By the way," He began to hold up one of his arms, his hand open palmed. "You trashed our HQ and kidnapped my men to study their armor and weaponry. Well, there's one thing I'm sure you couldn't copy." He said. Scourge pointed to himself with his mouth agape in a goofy manner. "Funded by No Zone Corp and engineered by Warden Zobotnik himself,"

In the distance, No Zone Tower started shaking. Parts of the building shifted and turned, moving and functioning like a gigantic droid. Windows lifted, walls moved, dust gushed out. Cannons, large turrets, giant machines and assault weapons protruding from all sides of the entire structure appeared. All of the weapons turned and aimed in their direction, specifically at Scourge. Before their eyes, the tower became a humongous weapon. Shadow blinked. So this was probably why Scourge never dared to step inside of No Zone HQ when he had the chance. He didn't want to get hit by whatever the hell that was!

Scourge's ice blue eyes rose with alarm. He genuinely didn't anticipate that. He knew something was wrong with the building earlier, but he didn't know it'd be this.

"...The Ultimate Weapon." Zonic announced.

Instantly, one of the largest machines on the Tower, locked, loaded and blasted a thin but lengthy missile. The missile was probably as long as a fighter jet. The ground shook with how loud the weapon was, and rumbled with cracks growing in between the grass. It was traveling fast, too. Probably as fast as Sonic, or Shadow. It was nearing them, coming closer miles and miles per minute.

In only a few more seconds, that missile collided with Scourge.

It nailed him in the stomach, not even striking the truck. It literally knocked him off of his feet, taking him with it in the air. He coughed up copious amounts of spit, his eyes shrinking in pain. After traveling a good sum of feet in the air, the missile exploded. In black and grey puffs of air, everyone watched with uncertainty. Then, through the smoke, the missile reared it's head through once again. This time facing the opposite direction, the zone cops' direction. With red sparks electrifying the missile, Scourge sat on it's base with an evil expression. He had used chaos energy to possess and redirect the weapon. He was just fine, with not a scratch on his body. He then flipped off of the missile, that soon traveled across the greenfield and towards the navy ships. Not a moment later, it collided with the beach in a devastating impact.

A large explosion rose up, and sand blew and scattered everywhere.

Zonic stared at the explosion with wide eyes. He shot his hand up at his collar and pressed his fingers against it. "Colonel Zector, are you alright?!"

With some static, it didn't take long for the other to reply. "Everything's all good here, it nearly hit one of us. There's a little damage, but everyone's okay!" With a sigh of relief, Zonic smiled to himself. He should have known better than to doubt him.

The Ultimate Weapon would take some time before it could cool off to shoot more missiles. They never tested the weapon until now, but at least they knew it worked. And at least they knew just how durable this bastard was. "Excellent. Had a feeling that would fail somehow, just not like that. In any case, move to phase one. I'll contact you if I need you to move in."

"Yes sir!"

Scourge flicked small bits of debris from his jacket and ran his hand through his quills. He checked his nails, before blowing on them with boredom. He had landed in front of his crew, one hand on his hip while flipping the No Zone soldiers off. "Oh shit, my bad guys. I didn't know your HQ was a motherfuckin' MVP. Pretty sweet, but you didn't actually plan on killing me with that, did you? Weeeellll," He held up both of his arms, and once he did, his men aimed heavy weapons at the zone cops. "Allow me to retort with a barrage of bullshit of my own. Aaaannnd..." He trailed off with a cheeky grin. "Check this out, Imma 'bout to throw some French shit at your asses-" He pointed both index fingers at them while dancing his feet around on the ground. Shadow and Sonic stiffened. "Décocher!" He yelled.

A literal barrage of bullets came their way, waiting to dart into someone's skull and kill them with a head shot.

Zonic quickly gave an order. "Central front, spread out and march." He calmly commanded with a strong voice. He bent down and picked up his helmet. Air pushed out as it slipped onto his cranium and fit his skull properly. He put two fingers to the side of it and relayed a message to Zespio. "You know what to do, Colonel. Aim to wound." The soldiers on the ground who weren't in military vehicles or tanks, easily dodged the several dozen onslaughts of bullets. This included both Sonic and Shadow. Zonic didn't want them to go off just yet. They were moving quickly not to literally march, but surround the bulk of Scourge's army. Scourge's bandits didn't let up on their shooting though, and kept at it by the green hedgehog's command.

The jets from above swooped closely and shot their own bullets from their gatling guns. Zespio's plane dropped a few bombs. Not on the people, but on the trucks. Scourge's men didn't have any big military vehicles like tanks or anything, and they were all out of their trucks to shoot, which was a stupid move. Zonic wanted them destroyed, because the close range of the explosions would damage and hurt his gang members. Like he said, he didn't want them to be killed, only wounded. The bullets from the jets were also shooting specifically at limbs of his men, not any vital areas.

But right as any projectile from the zone cops could have hit someone or something, the bullets Scourge's army shot and missed, exploded. Smoke and fire didn't come out, but a red puff of mist, did. Soon, it rose into the air and spread all throughout greenfield. Once it did, it created a red looking force field that covered the heads of anyone underneath the fire of the jets. Their bullets and bombs didn't hit, and exploded on nothing. The shield trapped everyone underneath it with that red mist. Everyone knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to hypnotize them all at once. That's why everyone was out of their trucks, because Scourge wanted a chance for every single one of his men to shoot at least one bullets that would blast out that red energy. Scourge laughed as everyone would soon become a mind slave.

"Ahahaha-Huh?" He stopped. "The fuck?" He tilted his head as his own people ceased their fire with similar confused looks on their faces.

Everyone, was fine. Even Sonic and Shadow, who were smirking at him.

"Oh-Ooohhh.." Scourge scratched his chin. "You guys got a little somethin' programmed in your cute little suits, right? Ah, that makes sense-"

The zone cops aimed their own weapons, and Sonic and Shadow straightened their postures.

Scourge blinked. "Uh oh."

All soldiers and the two hedgehogs heard their leader speak to them once more via transmitter or ear piece. "Fire."

After he uttered the word 'fire', the soldiers whipped out their weapons from their thick belts and wasted no time pressing their trigger fingers. But they didn't shoot bullets, they shot rubber bullets that acted similarly to control collars or control gauntlets. However, none of the projectiles nailed their target either, as they bounded off of smaller force fields that protected Scourge's men individually. Shadow clenched his teeth. Of course he'd have a back up plan for that. Then, they saw that the same force field used for them, wasn't used for Scourge. He didn't protect himself.

He was shot.

Multiple, times, in very vital areas. That should have drained him of energy.

But...

All of the wounds from the rubber bullets had no effect, and it did not drain him of any energy at all. The bruises healed almost immediately, and he stood in the same position with a nasty leer on his muzzle. He then stepped back to one of his own members and snatched a gun from his hands. They just allowed him to take it, even bowing his head at him after doing so. Scourge then looked down at the gun, then at Zonic's army. They aimed again just in case, but he didn't plan on using the weapon on anyone. He then grew a toothy grin as he raised the gun against the side of his own head.

Shadow felt beside him that Sonic was growing increasingly uncomfortable by this. He was shaking his head, his mouth agape. It was like he was trying to say 'no', over and over, but nothing came out. He held up one hand and tried to move forward, until Shadow gave him a look and pushed him back. He didn't want him to get near him, just in case he'd pull something out of the blue.

A single loud bang was heard.

Scourge pulled the trigger.

His brains splattered from the side of his head while his eyes widened unexpectedly. His limbs started shaking, and he dropped the gun. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and fell face first to the ground. Up above in the helicopter, Zonic watched in horror at the suicide. Scourge's men just stared down at his body with uncaring expressions. Why? Why did they not care? When Scourge's hand began twitching, Sonic narrowed his eyes. That bastard was regenerating! Soon he stood up with blood pooling down his face, which seemed a little too dark to be considered 'red' anymore, and laughed while carefully patting out his quills to get out any brain matter they may have stuck onto him after shooting himself. "It's a lie! Heheheh." He pouted and looked off to the side. "Silly zone cops, you can't hurt me." He then put his hands in his pockets and leaned back onto one of his men. "And you can't kill me either."

"You're immortal..?" Shadow found himself whispering.

"Nm, kinda. But not like you." He said with disgust. "Unlike you, I actually have a slab of immortality, not that 'Oh I don't age so I must be immortal!' bullshit." He snapped his fingers, and his bandits in black clad rushed off from the scene to move away from the army while dropping their weapons. The forcefield enveloping them all disappeared. They were heading over to the soldiers who stayed in their tanks and military vehicles. "Lemem give you the actual fuckin' definition for immortality, kay Stripes?" In red mist, his signature red glasses materialized in his fingers. He twirled them before placing them on his face, and pushing them up from the base of his black nose. With a know-it-all-like tone, he began relaying the actual meaning of immortality, as his gang went to attack the no zone soldiers. "Immortality, the long lasting ability to live forever. Never dying, never decaying, deathless and eternal..."

Meanwhile, the commander's instincts went off the radar.

Zonic ran to his pilot's side and motioned for him to get the chopper moving as he planned to speak into his transmitter. They nodded and quickly grabbed at the controls. "Attention everyone! This a warning. The anti-Sonic is semi-immortal. He cannot be wounded, and cannot die by physical harm alone! Do not engage with him, leave him to me, Sonic or Shadow prime!" He watched from the front window down below, the tanks starting to fire their turrets. Now those tanks didn't hold rubber bullets, they were armed with actual ammo. "No, stop!" He commanded. "They cannot be wounded, they are protecting by anti-Sonic's power! You are wasting ammo, do not shoot at any of them." He frowned and glared at the green dot below them from high up. "We're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way." He slammed his fist on the wall of the chopper. "Out of your vehicles! Don't pull any punches, and don't let any of them get their hands on our tanks!" He bent down to check his shoes and properly fastened them with a click.

The pilot looked over before looking right back at the sky. "Sir, what are you doing?"

"What's it look like?" Zonic curtly replied. "I'm going down there."

"What?!" He turned around completely this time. "Sir, with all due respect-"

"Your permission to speak is now being denied."

"Sir, please." He pleaded. "Let us fight for you. These tyrants, they're dangerous! You could get killed-" He was getting a transmission from inside of the helicopter. They both paused and glanced at each other. The pilot then slowly picked up the transmitter from it's compartment next to the dashboard, and held it near his lips.

"Mayday, the general's going down! Colonel Zepsio's been hit!" A soldier cried.

Zonic made a growl of anger and ran to the side of the helicopter from it's open doors, to see Zespio's brand new fighter jet twist around and make a mechanical screech of death as explosions imploded from inside of the aircraft. Damn it, he was still in there! The other planes or jets had moved away to avoid being crashed into, but that jet was about to land on some of his men. "All of you down below, move now!" Zonic yelled. Zone cops who were below the crashing vessel yelled and screamed as they barely ran or jumped to get away. Zonic then hopped out of the chopper, with his pilot yelling his name along the way. Zonic's shoes blasted air from the soles and boosted him forward in the purple chameleon's way.

He looked as if he was unconscious, because he wasn't activating his equipment to fly either. Shit, the commander thought. He flew even faster towards the ground, trying to get some distance between him and his colonel. He then traveled far enough as to where he was below him in the air, and spread out his arms. The chameleon landed in his arms roughly, causing Zonic to slightly lose his balance from the impact of his falling weight. He grunted and prepared himself to land on the ground while holding Zespio tightly in his arms. Once his feet made contact with the ground, he landed with a stumble and almost fell backwards. He landed so hard, he made skid marks in the grass on the ground. He forced himself to stay up, refusing to lose balance again. Once he finally stopped moving, he blew out a large sigh of relief and knelt below to place his colonel's body down. He pushed his finger onto his helmet with another order.

"I need a medic, Colonel Zespio is down. I repeat, Colonel Zespio is in need of medical attention! Prepare the base and ready the infirmary!"

"...Furthermore, it's quite often people confuse vampiric themes with the concept of 'immortality', but this is completely and utterly inaccurate as vampires are not immortal..." Holy shit, this asshole was actually reciting an actual monologue about the word 'immortal'. He literally just stood there as his own men and women of his were fighting with their very lives against the universe's best military ever known, ignoring the brutal violence of simple hand-to-hand combat. While most of Zonic's men ran from this area to go fight off Scourge's, they stood there just as mind blown as they were that Scourge was actually doing this right now.

His speech was soon interrupted by a falling jet.

They all watched as it fell and landed on the ground in a pitiful state, exploding one last time with pieces of it's metal body flying away in different directions. A scratched up golden star was on it. Wasn't Zespio in there? Sonic bit his lip nervously, as some of the other remaining soldiers gasped and ran off to investigate. Scourge shrugged and took off his glasses. "That was me, sorry 'bout that." He said to them. The two hedgehogs grit their teeth in rage, and readied themselves to strike. "No no," Scourge sighed and faced them while stuffing his glasses in his varsity jacket pocket. "Just stop, come on. You guys can't fight me, I'd crush you like a couple of gnats." He then looked at Sonic. "Come on big daddy~"

"Stop calling him that." Shadow snarled.

Scourge just lowered his eyes and made a lopsided frown. "'Not talking to you, you half-assed immortal Ultimate Lifeform. I'm talking to my future wife over here."

...Wife? Sonic felt bile developing in his stomach.

"Unless you're going to hit one of us, I'd advise you piss off." The black hedgehog was stepping closer. Shit, they were going to do this now? While being slightly taller than Scourge by perhaps, a couple centimeters, he glared down at the green menace while charging chaotic energy into his arms. His red eyes were furious, and almost looked like fire was brewing in them. Scourge just stared back with his arms pleasantly behind his back. He rose a brow and cocked his head to the side with a curious, almost child-like gaze.

"Well what are you waiting for?" He asked softly. "Come on bad boy," He murmured. "Be a good boyfriend and kick my ass for your hubby."

Shadow, without looking back at Sonic, just told him to leave. "Help the others." He hissed. "I got this."

"...Shadow-" He tried to protest.

"Go." He said.

While still biting his lip, Sonic closed his eyes shut and turned away sharply. Sprinting away and leaving a blue streak with a strong wind. Scourge saw this in the corner of his eye and started to frown. "Aye, aye aye! Hold on now-" He stepped around Shadow and ran in the exact same direction as Sonic. "Hold on damn it, I need to capture you! Blue, wait a damn second!" He just up and ran away from Shadow. That actually made him want to chew his damn throat out. That little shit was running away from a fight just like that? The ebony hedgehog bared his teeth and sprinted the same way while preparing a surprise.

As they all ran, Sonic turned to look behind and see Scourge running while desperately asking for him to stop. That maniac was chasing after him!

"Come on Blue, stoooop!" He whined loudly, earning the attention of anyone they ran passed. "If you're mad about us sabotaging all of step daddy's cool fighter jets, then I'm sooorrrrry! Please don't be mad!"

Wait, what did he just say!?

Sonic skidded with a stop and whipped his head around to look into his face head on with an angry expression. "What did you just say?" He asked lowly. "You did what?"

Scourge saw his anger and sadly looked at the ground while poking his fingers together. His cheeks were red, and he seemed embarrassed. "Oh, well, I kinda got the idea to sabotage all of step daddy's planes so they'd all blow up and crash down onto you guys. I bombed the boats too..."

"And now," He smirked. "I got a motherfuckin' class assignment for all y'all. Let's pay a visit to the big man himself, shall we? After all, there's still one more piece of preparation..." He turned his head towards the direction of No Zone Corp HQ. "...that I haven't finished yet."

He carefully looked up at Sonic's angry green eyes, just to blush even more and hug himself while looking away in a flustered state. "I um, call Zonic 'step daddy'. Heheh, get it?" After hearing no response from a now pissed off Sonic, he chuckled nervously. "Ehh, sorry about that. You can forgive me though right?" Sonic was about to open his mouth to holler at him, until he saw something behind his evil twin. So he just shut his mouth and began backing away. Scourge noticed this and started to follow him slowly all over again. "Hm? Hey, don't leave, I'm talking to you-"

A chaos lance was shoved into the side of his head.

Well would you look at that, he's been impaled.

He stood still as another stabbed right through his back. Ooh, twice in one go. That was just another Saturday night for him. The force of the second lance striking him from behind was so powerful, it knocked him onto the ground. It stabbed him through the grass and down below the outer core of the planet. Blood spewed from his wounds, and stained the grass blades. Sonic was gone, and he could see a blue streak whirling around the battle field. Scourge sighed to himself again, and tapped his finger irritably.

"Never, turn your back on me." A deep voice growled.

"Oh fuck me..." Scourge mumbled while grabbing the lance behind him to rip it out of his body. He tossed it away and it disappeared in dusts of light. He stood up and ripped the other one out of his head, only to see it disappear in little chaotic embers as well. He dusted off his ruined jacket for the hundredth time today.

"Did you enjoy being impaled, freak?" Shadow asked even as he watched his enermy's mortal wounds heal quickly.

"Well, you ruined one of my favorite jackets and put a hole in both my brain and my back." He said as he carelessly shrugged off his varsity jacket, now only wearing a white T with black trims on the sleeves and collar. It fit his body flawlessly, and not one part of it was loose. "Given the fact that I'm a masochist with a terribly unhealthy and violent sexual obsession with your fuck buddy, I guess that's kinda true. So yeah, 'impaled's a good one." He wrapped his destroyed jacket by it's sleeves around his waist and put his hands back in their pockets. "Lucky for me, I've already had my fair shares of both consensual and non-consensual group orgies, so that didn't sting too bad."

"You're repulsive."

Scourge smiled. "And you're a lucky man too, Stripes. You got to fuck the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog. Do you not get how fucking monumental that is?" He walked and paced around in circles, continuing to talk and talk and talk. Shadow didn't care for any of it, he just wanted to punch him. "God I'm so jealous of you, dude. I'm so damn jealous, man. I know he felt good."

Shadow was nearing his breaking point. "Quit your rambling and put up, or shut the fuck up."

"Ugh, so rude." He flagged the dark hedgehog off. "What, you don't wanna hear about my rape fantasies? The things I wanna do to your precious Sonic when I finally have his sexy ass in my hands? How I'll rape him, beat him, cut him, starve him-"

"Enough!" Shadow rose a charging fist at him.

"Nah ah ah!" Scourge held up a finger quickly, then pointed it in the sky. "I think you might wanna take a look at that up there." His eyes glinted red and he looked as well, his arm at a specific angle at the clouds. Strange, he wasn't pointing near the fighter jets. Shadow squinted his eyes and followed his finger, and saw something in the distance. That was the blimp, wasn't it? The screen was off now, but it looked as if it was traveling towards the city. That is, until red energy engulfed it's form. It then moved and turned, facing the greenfield. Shadow blinked. He was making it fly this way, but why? Was he planning on crashing that down too?

Red electricity surged throughout the screen planted on the blimp, and glitched it's picture back online. Scourge face was now showing. He had hacked it in order to record him instead of their commander. Shadow glanced back at his green adversary with venom as he started walking around again.

"I wanna show you guys something..." He began, his voice echoing all over the greenfield.

The screen's footage glitched into another video, but it wasn't showing anything live. It was showing something that was already prerecorded. The screen then began to show an obscene scenario. Prisoners, former prisoners of No Zone were being...executed. In various and gruesome ways. It was just a quick compilation of their deaths, one by one, year after year printed at the bottom of each tape. Warden Zobotnik was present in every single one, and so was that Zhadow guy. A lot of high ranking soldiers were present-Was that Zonic? He was there too? He just stood by and watched the executions too?

The various methods of executions ranged from hanging, to very obscure killing devices that was probably created by the Warden himself. Shadow couldn't stand watching this. For one, because it brought back way too many bad memories of his days with GUN. And two, because he couldn't stand watching knowing that Zonic, was actually okay with participating in these events. This footage had to have been real, since it had real dates and real people's information being read aloud before they died. Their names, their birthdates, why they're in prison and so on. And was it really that farfetched to think that the warden here would be malicious enough to not only watch the executions, but even create the very devices that ended their lives? This was still an alternative version of Eggman we were talking about here. Zonic said that before he was in power, a lot of bad things were legal in the prison. Perhaps he had no choice but to participate in the executions at the time but...

Scourge began to speak, as the fighting seemed to have died down so everyone could see the videos on that big blimp. It got closer to the battle grounds, giving them all a good view of the sins being committed by the very people they were fighting for. "To all my minions fighting for me, I just wanna show you what's gonna happen if you let these assholes win. Say they show mercy and arrest you, they're just gonna kill you in the worse way possible once they've got you in their clutches."

Sonic, who was in the middle of punching a thug, was speechless.

That was just, God awful.

That was just pure evil. Who did that on a regular basis, nearly every year? To just create killing devices and entertain themselves with an execution? Why were some of the cops in these videos smiling? Why were they laughing?

"Now you see what these people really are. They're all just pigs, devils!" He exclaimed malevolently. "They're the monsters, they're the ones who create monsters! Kill or be killed, sin to stop the sinners! And the pinnacle of it all,"

The screen glitched to live footage again, this time showing Zonic's face who was currently with a medic and an unconscious Zespio.

"Is their precious commander! Zonic the Overseer!" Scourge winked and directed the live footage back to himself with another glitch. "So we're gonna play a motherfuckin' game," He pointed at Shadow, to which the footage switched to him. "Catching wannabe semi-immortal bitches, are twenty points." The screen switched to random soldiers. "Regular pigs are, oh and no offense to anyone who's an actual pig, ahem-Are worth ten points." The screen switched to Zonic. "If you manage to catch this low-life piece of shit, you get thirty." Finally, The screen showed Sonic, who looked rather surprised to be on live video. "And if you come across my beautiful, but oh so pitiful blue dopple ganger and bring him to me," He sneered. "You win."

He just placed bounties on all of their heads.

He needed to get that asshole, right now. When Shadow looked to where the hedgehog previously stood, he realized Scourge was gone. Of course he'd run off while they were all distracted. Damn it, he should have used his chaos binds on that son of a bitch. Sonic was off on his own and he was probably after him again.

He needed to find him and fast so he could protect him.

Sonic needed to tell the others to get out of those planes. He placed his hand on his ear, trying to activate the ear piece Zonic gave him while running and dodging anyone in black who tried to stop him. "Hello? Zonic, is that you?"

"I'm here. What's wrong?"

"All of the planes have been sabotaged, they're all rigged to blow! You gotta tell your men to abort and abandon ship!"

"All of them...?! Even the ships? Damn him!" He could soon hear from the other end that he was ordering for everyone else to get away from their vehicles immediately. "Attention! If you are inside of a vehicle, aircraft or sea vessel, leave now! They've all be rigged to explode in an uncertain amount of time. Heed this warning or you will end up in a worser state than Colonel Zespio! I don't need any casualties, you hear me?!"

Good, he warned them. Sonic could see from above that some of the jets were either flying or being abandoned by jumping out of them in safe areas. He could see from afar that others were running away from the beach and coming in their direction. The tanks drove themselves away from the battle so the drivers could desert them. Thank goodness, no one else would get hurt.

Just as he felt himself smile, he was socked in the face.

He grunted in pain and gnawed both sets of his teeth together. A grand hot mess of Scourge's bandits were surrounding him. They looked furiuos, and ready to cause serious harm. That execution compilation video probably boosted their intentions to kill no zone soldiers. That, and the fact that Scourge put bounties on their heads. Sonic scowled and cracked his knuckles.

He'd be damned if he let himself get captured by a couple of floozies like them.

They may have been armored up and kinda of strong, but he had this nice little control gauntlet, and he was positive it'd do a lot more damage than those rubber bullets. Using his speed, he charged into the closest guy nearby with a knee to the stomach. He then grabbed his body, holding up his body weight with both arms, and swung it into the others to knock a bulk of them down. Before one of them could raise their fists to attack him next, Sonic aimed his gauntlet at them and shot a pretty narrow laser right into their face. They went down immediately.

Sonic smiled to himself. These control thingies worked perfectly, and they were pretty cool. And if his eyes were correct, the laser also worked to paralyze enemies, because he saw red sparks surge throughout the gang member's body. With a smirk, he aimed at the others, who looked put off by this. They probably didn't anticipate the fact that Zonic had all of the control gauntlets boosted with a stronger power of neutralization.

He shot the rest of them who pathetically tried backing away, and they met the same fate.

He turned around to see a female soldier on the ground, her helmet off of her head and destroyed. She cried for help as other members of Scourge's gang cornered her and raised blunt objects. Sonic quickly sped up and sprinted at full force. He then collided himself with one of their abdomens. A headbutt to the gut. As the larger Moebian tried to recover, Sonic reached up and gripped his chin tightly, before taking a step and pushing his entire weight to shove him down into the ground. This made him land head first, knocking him out. He shot the control gauntlet at his skull to paralyze him before dealing with the next one.

The others who were previously beating the female officer gave their attention to Sonic and ran towards him while willing to strike him with their bludgeoning weapons. Bats, crowbars or chains. Yup, that was about right. Sonic forced himself dip low and moved his figure to the left as one of them almost nailed him in the shoulder with that crowbar. Three guys? He could take them. Sonic waited for the next attack before noticing they were planning on attacking him all at once this time. Smart.

Just as they swung, he went to the ground and swiped his leg around to kick them all off their feet. Once they were down, more came his way from another direction. It was fine though, he still had his stamina. Some of them had blunt objects as well, he noticed. He let them come to him, as he had a plan forming in his brain. As they came just a bit too close to his personal space, Sonic ran and disappeared in a gust of wind.

Both the female officer and the gang members were confused. Where'd he go?

Suddenly, they all fell down one by one.

Pains in their necks, pains in their knees, pains in their calfs, backs or stomach, caused them all to wallow in agony and fall down. In a blue streak, Sonic appeared before the officer again, flexing his fingers in the gauntlet. All he did was strike them in their vital areas and drained them of energy, nothing more. Sonic then jogged over to the woman and knelt down to her side. Hey, wasn't this the woman that was escorting Shadow to the battle location? She was a white tiger, so yeah this was her for sure.

"Are you okay? I'm surprised they got you down like that." He said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She made a sound of discomfort and immediately covered her chest with her arms. Sonic then realized, not only were parts of her uniform destroyed, but some of her breasts were visible. Oh wow...

Sonic cleared his throat and respectively looked away. "I uh, was told that female soldiers had special binds and wraps for situations like this." He looked across the field at the war to distract himself from her.

She sighed heavily. "I didn't bring them with me, I didn't think this would happen." She admitted sheepishly. "I'm such an idiot..."

"Seems that you underestimated your enemy." He pointed out, with an unusual stern tone. "That's one of the first things they teach in the army, isn't it?"

"Yes," She cursed to herself. "Commander Zonic would be ashamed to call me his Captain..."

"..." Sonic couldn't waste anymore time here, but he was glad he saved her. Hopefully she'd get some help and get back in the battle soon. "Just get to one of the bases set up around the field. They're on the outskirts though, so you'll have to go a long way."

She nodded and thanked him. "Yes, thank you. I'll make it on my own no problem." She pointed her finger beside him at something rather peculiar. "I saw that green asshole run in the middle of the field. Of course, he's looking for you."

Sonic scoffed. He had a little plan for that too. "Thanks for the heads up. Good luck!" He said before running off and leaving her in the dust of a fading blue streak.

"Be careful!" She yelled. Sonic was making a straight bee-line for Scourge.

He didn't plan on slowing down until he got at least one good hit in.

END - 28